Author's Note: I am better, or at least I'm getting better. While I can say for certain that the one I lost was one of the most important individuals to have ever existed for me perhaps nothing will be able to fill that void, it's because she knew that I love her so much that I'm able to move on, for her if no one else. So with that, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!


Chapter 8: The Way of a Noble

Koriander had retreated to her room within Nazarick, where she was currently in the process of receiving a report from Carne Village delivered by Gnarl.

"With the presence of the goblins from the forest of Tob, you personally entering the village for the near future is ill advised. Assuming that is you wish to maintain your image of a benevolent ruler." Gnarl explained reading the details from a length of paper attached to a clipboard. "Aside from that, the magics used to augment the quality of the feed is also fully on schedule, and we should be receiving our first shipment of life force from that place within the next few months."

"Hmm. I see." Koriander stated, nodding as she crossed one bath robe leg over the other. "If that is all then I'll have to ask you to leave us be for a while, as I have to collect some life force via alternative means." Having said that, Gnarl reluctantly left the room. "Now where was I?" The reason for this reluctance, one could assume, was what Koriander was currently sitting on, for it was neither her bed nor a chair but rather the succubus Albedo, who had been flipped upside down with her arms spread like a chair, her legs bent so that her ass could be used as a seat, and her ankles chained to the ceiling while her knees were chained to to her nipple rings, suffice to say, she was in no small amount of pain right now, but the look on her face that was both gagged and blindfolded was one of complete joy. "Did you hear that? It will be some time before that Village will be ready with it's first tribute." Koriander stated as disrobed herself. "So in the mean time, horny little sluts like yourself will just have to make do." Koriander stated rubbing the abnormal bulge that was Albedo's stomach. By the way, no, Albedo was not pregnant, yet one could say that she still carried life within her. "Now than, back to work." Koriander stated readying the 'wand' that was between her legs, the prosthetic she created in order to convert her feminine magical power into a much more appetizing to a succubus masculine power. "What do you think? Will that be enough for now? Or should I put a few more in?" Koriander asked as she held up a small jewel like object in her hand. "I think I will actually, there looks like there's a little more room in there after all." Saying that Koriander pushed the jewel inside of the ass hole of Albedo, and shortly there after, took something that resembled a wine stopper, and shoved it in as well. As if a circuit had been completed, the magic symbols on the stopper interacted with the magic symbols that had been carved into the Succubus's pasty white flesh, as if to say that it wouldn't be removed any time soon. "Now than, down to business." Koriander moved around to Albedo's front where she squeezed herself in between the demons legs, lined her 'wand' up, and slammed it in head long into the demon.

"GYAAHHAHAHAHAAAAAA~!" Albedo shrieked, agony and pleasure mixing together in equal measures as her brain that already had most of her blood rushed into it started to go numb. Her stomach which had been stuffed until it bulged rippled and slowly expanded, which only seemed to contribute to the intense agony that the demon was going through while Koriander continued to ram her. Finally, once Albedo looked like she was on the verge of giving birth, Koriander decided to stop. The half elf in question walked over to a lever that was coming out of the wall and pulled it down, dropping Albedo flat on her stomach.

"What's the matter, too tired to get them out by yourself?" Simply concluding that there was nothing for it, Koriander removed the stopper, and then stomped on the back of the Succubus. "HYAAHAHAHAAA~!" And immediately, a collection of beetles colored brown, blue, red and green started to spew out of the Succubus's ass hole, nearly causing the demon to pass out in the process. "Seriously? Didn't I tell you to work on your stamina?" Saying that, Koriander kicked the succubus over, bent down and hooked each of the rings of the Succubus's tits into one of the two holes in her ball gag in her mouth, and held her nose close, forcing her to suck on her own tits. Koriander had taken the liberty of heavily modifying the Succubus's breasts, binding powerful healing and stamina restoring spells directly into the creamy white liquid through the use of tattoo's. Thus, when someone drank that creamy white stuff, their body was instantly healed and their stamina fully restored. "Honestly, I need this more than you do." Saying that, Koriander used the succubus as a pillow as she took one of Albedo's tits out of her mouth and began sucking on it.

"I'm the one who's being worked like a dog down here." Indeed, Koriander had been conducting experiments with necromancy and reanimation for several days straight, had been mass producing potions, scrolls and magic tools for Balloma to sell in the nearby kingdoms and to support their troops, and had to go out and collect most of the raw materials for her work by herself. Taking a day off wasn't too much to ask, that said, even her day off was still filled with work, as she found herself busily producing these beetles that fed off of the magical energy she and Albedo were producing so that they might be slaughtered for their life force. Fortunately though Albedo was a succubus, who converted male essence, such as what Koriander was artificially producing, into huge amounts of magical power, so the process was still somewhat enjoyable.

"Huu. No days off for people trying to build a empire I guess." Saying that, Koriander got to her feet and went for the lever once more grabbing holding of it and moving it back into it's previous position.

"MUUU UUU~!" Albedo moaned pleasantly as her fully recovered body moved back to it's previous position.

"What you thought that it was over after just this much?" Koriander stated as she used control magic to order the insects into a hole that led directly to the minion hives to be slaughtered. "We aren't even close to meeting our quota." Koriander explained pointing to the quarter of the room that had been piled all the way up to the ceiling with similar jewel like eggs as the ones that had hatched inside of Albedo's body.


After the group arrived at the village they were immediately let on through, thanks to Kieran's presence that is. Nifirea's confusion for this turn of events lasted only for moment though.

"Mr. Black Knight! You came back!" Enri looked like she was in the middle of explaining how to work a plow to the Ogres when she saw Nifirea's group entering the village.

"'Mr. Black Knight?'" Nifirea asked looking to Kieran.

"I stopped by here on my way over to E-Rantle." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders. "Had I known that my sister's goblins were living here now I wouldn't have been concerned about this forest rift raft causing trouble." Kieran stated gesturing to the Ogre in question.

"In that case then shouldn't we go back to E-Rantle to cut off the ones going that way?" Peter asked causing the others to nod their heads.

"You can send a warning if you want, but the city has walls and archers protecting it, the ogres and goblins have wooden sticks." There was no doubt in Kieran's mind on who would win that confrontation, together with the weakness of the creatures in question and the fact that Koriander had already culled their numbers was the main reasons why he hadn't jumped back to the city himself.

"In that case, I'll go and deliver a warning to the town guards about the ogres." Peter stated as he climbed onto the back of the wagon. "Nabe if you wouldn't mind?"

A activation type magic circle appeared from Nabe's hand and the circle carved into the floor of the wagon glowed before it punted Peter off else where. What Nifirea noticed most about the magic just now was not it's effect on Peter but rather the effect it had on the villagers. Namely, they were completely non-plussed, as if such a sight was normal to them, then again given the thick stone wall that could fend off a army, the little multicolored creatures running around that gave off the impression of a army of professional soldiers, and who knows what else had popped up since last he was here, maybe it was.

"Um. I'm going to go see how some friends of mine are doing." Nifirea stated walking away.

Like wise, Kieran spotted the familiar form of a tanned young lady who was busy scribbling down notes on a clipboard like thing with a extinguished candle on top.

"Wait here for me to get back." Kieran ordered prompting the others to look at him strangely as he walked towards the young woman with a noble like atmosphere about her.

"Oi you think that's Kieran's lady love?" Lukrut asked while he drooled lecherously in the direction of the woman Kieran had gone to talk to.

"She does have the look of a foreigner about her, and she's got the same kind of tats on her arms as Kieran has on his face." Nina explained while making note of the familiar spiral design on the woman's arms. "At the very least, I think that they know each other."


"I was wondering what you were up to." Kieran stated as Balloma briefly looked up from her clipboard. "Lately it feels like me and Kori are the only ones getting any work done."

"And what work have you been doing Mr. Copper plate Adventurer hmm? Exterminating Goblins and Ogres? Picking flowers for second rate Alchemists?" Balloma asked cocking a brow knowingly. "I on the other hand, have spent the past couple of days reviewing the entirety of the expenses produced by this village, comparing it to it's previous output, current output..." It was at that moment that Balloma noticed the Ogres who were being escorted to the fields by the Villagers. "... and now it would seem I must do those calculations over again." Saying that, Balloma tore out a section of her notes and held it out to one of the reds, who quickly incinerated the parchment. "Taking stock of the inventory produced by Koriander's department, making contacts with the Merchant's guild within the kingdoms and I'm in the midst of negotiating a meeting with a influential royal within the capital. Koriander, as the one I have to thank for a fraction of those achievements I will grant has also been working hard. Though I received a notice earlier that she was taking the day off." Now Balloma pointed the tail end of her fountain pen towards Kieran accusingly. "But that just leaves you, who have accomplished nothing to further our agenda, unless of course you have anything to counter my statements." As if waiting for a answer Balloma readied her pen to jot down notes on her clip board.

"See that kid over there?" Kieran asked pointing to Nifirea who had confronted Enri about something and was now being led away by her. "He's got a talent that lets him use any magic item, and he's suppose to be the grandson of the best alchemist in the kingdom. Koriander can produce any magic item she can think of. What do you think that combination can do?" As if expressing her opinion on that, Balloma scribbled something down before turning back to Kieran cocking a expecting brow. "Those guys over there know where to find all of the top monsters in the area and are in the know about all the legendary weapons in the area, after they've built up a sense of comradely with me I'll get them to tell me about them."

"So then they know how to make these things do they? Or do they know where we can find them." Kieran's silence was all the answer she needed. "Become someone the royalty of the land will make note of, then come back and tell me you've been working hard. Now if you excuse me, I have to talk to a mayoress about some Ogres."


Enri had led Nifirea to a field where a variety of different plants were being grown, gone were vast swaths of wheat which had been the village's mainstay. Now there were a variety of plants that Nifirea recognized in his capacity as a alchemist, ranging from mushrooms, herbs, fruit bearing bushes, root vegetables and ones that he didn't recognize either.

"Alchemy ingredients?" Nifirea stated his jaw dropped open. Not only plants, but there were bee hives, as well as sheep, cows, pigs and Chickens where there weren't any before.

"Lady Koriander has magic which can rapidly rot away food byproducts and turn them into rich soil which she then sinks into the ground to make plants grow healthier and faster then before." Enri stated prompting Nifirea to drop his jaw shocked.

"Really?" The young alchemist asked unable to shake off his feeling of shock.

"Indeed. Not only that but we've been given a large number of cattle to work with too. Since our reduction in population we don't need as much of the fields any more so we've agreed to give her control over those as well." Enri explained her voice turning slightly sad.

"'Reduction in population?'" Indeed, there were far fewer humans here then the last time he had come here to visit, which made him think that something had happened to cause this reduction in population. "What happened here Enri?"

"About a week ago, a group of knights came here and killed a large number of our people, including my parents." That shocking statement filled Nifirea with rage and Enri with dread. "We're only alive now because that knight and his sister were passing through this small village on their way by."

"Oh my gosh I'm so Sor..." Nifirea reached his hand out to comfort Enri, but suddenly she snapped to attention like the depressed person from earlier was just a lie.

"But I can't let that get to me!" Enri declared with tears in her eyes. "I have my sister and everyone else counting on me to do a good job!"

"I know you'll do good." Nifirea stated forcing a smile having just been viciously smacked down. A matter of more personal concern to Nifirea though was this admiration that Enri seemed to have developed for Kieran, as a fellow male competing for her attention this was a problem for him. "Is that woman Kieran was talking to earlier his sister?"

"As I understand it, she is but not the same sister who helped to protect this village earlier." Enri began scratching the side of her head as she thought about the situation. "Rather then a sorceress or a warrior, she strikes me more as a merchant or Noble woman."

"Enri." A calculating voice suddenly appeared behind her, and the two turned around to see Balloma standing in front of them. "We need to discuss housing and supplies for the Ogres and new goblins."

"Right, just let me say bye to my friend first." Enri replied in a energetic tone of voice.

"Bring him along, this won't take long." Balloma stated as she turned around to walk into the village.

"Right." Received with a unexpected reply, Enri grabbed Nifirea and dragged him along as she followed Balloma. "Building above ground means knocking down one of the walls to expand the village proper, doing so would be a waste of the time and resources spent on that wall already. Instead it would be cheaper and faster to expand underground, in other words a basement. The store house next to your residence and the stables would be the most ideal location, because those buildings are so large we'll need to acquire lumber suitable for support beams." Balloma explained as she quickly jotted down blue prints for the expansion in question in her clipboard. "Large creatures with sharp teeth require a large protein intake, since we can't expect the farm animals to reach a suitable size for some time yet, we'll have to ask for meat when we go into the city to trade supplies. Get a idea on how much food the Ogres consume in the run of a day after they're done in the field."

"Understood." Enri stated her tone of voice someone who had just been handed marching orders by her taskmaster.

"Good. You can go, but you on the other hand I would have words with." Saying that, Enri ran off into the village leaving behind a confused Nifirea. "So you're the alchemist my brother got to look at our potion for us. Cute. How much is it worth?" Balloma asked prompting Nifirea to become confused for a moment, but just a moment. Instead of going to get it appraised himself, knowing that they knew he knew where to get more, Kieran got a third party to do it for them, skipping out on the need to negotiate and risk being undersold in the process. "I said 'how much is it worth?'" A empty look entered Nifirea's eyes.

"Eight Gold Coins. It's equal to third tier healing magic." Nifirea stated in a hollow tone of voice. Not a inconsiderable amount of coin around these parts, as Balloma has learned from studying the local economy.

"'And how much are you willing to pay for it?'" Balloma asked making note of the value of Koriander's potion with her pen.

"The last offer we made was for forty gold coins." Nifirea replied in a equally hollow tone of voice as before. So they intend to reverse engineer their potion.

"Understand something boy!" Nifirea suddenly snapped to attention as if being addressed by a higher power. "We are not interesting in giving away our secrets. If you and your grandmother wants what's ours then both of you work for me!" Balloma stated in a voice that hid no small measure of contempt for Nifirea, one that looked down on him from a impossible height.

"Enri thought that you carry yourself like a merchant or a noble woman, I'm beginning to think it's the latter, you certainly seem to think poorly of lesser people." Nifirea stated making his displeasure known.

"How I think about you is not your concern, nor for that matter is how you think about me my concern. People require two things in order ensure that they are productive in their workings, happiness and health. That is my concern as the manager of this village. And as for my status as a noble woman, do not lob me in the same category as the ones you are use to dealing with. My family are the descendants of a god, what can you say about their's?" Balloma stated, more concerned with the contents of her clipboard than actually having a conversation with Nifirea.

"A god?" Her choice of words left the young alchemist confused. "Which one?"

"Forty years ago he broke into the Abyss and slaughtered the Forgotten One and claimed his power for his own. Someone who hasn't kept up to date with the divine wouldn't know about him." Balloma explained which caused, Nifirea to roll his eyes.

"Really, I think I would know about something like a gate to the divine realm opening up." Nifirea stated in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Why are you concerned with the divine realm when you haven't even explored all of your own continent yet, let alone the rest of the world?" Balloma stated as she walked away.

"The rest of the world?" Nifirea asked sounding confused.

"Huu. I've got no patience to teach geography to a child." Saying that, Balloma once again went to work.


Author's Note:

Helkil: Calm down now. Calm down.

Pervy Sage Chuck: I am better now. I've taken the steps I've needed to heal and move on. It's nice to know that you can find nice people on the internet.