Day 5 / Finishing What Was Started
"Annika… Annika… Come on, get up, we've got a schedule to keep…"
"Nyug… Just five more hours…"
Garret gently shook her shoulder, trying to coax his companion out of her bunk.
"Annika, you didn't drink that much, you've got no excuse. Come on." When she showed no signs of moving, Garret sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "… I will drag you if I have to."
"No,… no, it's fine… it's fine, I'm up." Annika yawned and slowly sat up, stretching.
He couldn't help but smile at this pitiful, sleepy display. "And you said I needed to keep up with you."
"I'm just..." She yawned again. "Not a morning person." The conversation dried up as the two of them turned away from each other to strip out of their sleeping garments and dress for the day. After Garret had pulled on his pants and robes, he helped Annika don her plate mail. A few minutes later, the two were suited up and ready for a fight.
Outside, the sun was barely cresting the horizon, bathing the city in a dim orange light. At least the sky was clear, so it looked like they'd have good weather, but being in the shadows of the buildings was not helping Garret, nor Annika wake up. The two found themselves yawning occasionally as they walked towards the main gate, trying to shake the grogginess off. By the time they had arrived, the sun had risen enough to light their path and begin to burn away the fog covering the fields and forests beyond the castle wall. Around the gate, a group of about two dozen soldiers were gathered, all in various states of consciousness. This was an early morning for everyone, and it seemed the majority were not enjoying it.
"Mornin', Annika. Hey, Garret."
"Good Morning~"
A familiar blonde-haired guard strode over to them, with a short, brown-haired girl following behind him. She echoed his greeting in a melodic voice.
"Ah! Good morning."
"Good morning, Eric, did ya sleep well?"
"Like a rock." He gave a thumbs up, before gesturing to the girl following behind him. "I don't think you've met Aisha before. She's my-"
"Lover!~"
"partner." Garret and Annika couldn't help but smile and giggle respectively at the sudden interruption, to which Eric could only shrug. "Well, yes, but also combat partner."
While Annika teased Eric about his taste in women, Garret looked over the girl, trying to guess what she did. She had an arming sword sheathed at her hip but wasn't particularly muscular. She couldn't be a frontline fighter. Her colourful doublet, full of reds, golds and blues, was likewise unsuited for any sort of physical combat, and her red, feathered cap, was painfully distinct from the helmets the other guards wore.
"Is something the matter, Garret?" Aisha picked up on him staring at her and tilted her head quizzically.
"Oh. No, no, I was just trying to figure out what you did."
"I'm a spellsinger, couldn't you tell?"
In truth, the performers outfit should have given that away long ago. Garret blamed his grogginess for missing the connection. "Ah… You'll be singing marching songs for us then?"
"Mhmm!" She nodded her head, the massive plume feather bobbing ridiculously in her cap. "I'll sing songs of travel by morning light and songs of battle to help us fight~"
"Alright Gentlemen. Ladies. Everyone form up and listen for your name… Vance?... Richardsson? … Fax?" The sergeant destined to command their mission cut their conversation short when he arrived and began his roll call.
Garret scrambled with the rest of the guards into formation and raised his hand when his name was called. "Here!"
"Nyman… Fields… Gregor…" Somewhere in there, he saw a certain wizard shoot her hand up and announce her presence. Catherine must have just shown up. He hadn't seen her when they first arrived, but she was still technically on time.
"Alright… That seems to be everyone. For those of you who weren't at the mess tents yesterday, our mission is to kill a slime queen that one of our guards spotted a few days ago. The Natonian rangers have been scouting for the past few days, tracking its movements, and it seems to have settled down in the forests near the edge of the Green Sea plains. The reports have also told us that the slime queen is no longer alone. She can split off auxiliary slimes to fight for her, but has also seemingly come to an agreement with the local slime population. The slime colony there is rapidly becoming a threat to the roads, so we're going to have to…" He paused for emphasis. "Deal with it. It shouldn't take more than a half-day to get there. Add in an hour or two for the operation, and we should be home just after dinner. Does everyone have a combat partner?"
A pair of hands shot up. Two guys from Northreach apparently hadn't been assigned one yet.
"Hmm… two men… unfortunate. You'll each have to work in with another pair. It seems we'll have a few trios for this mission." The two soldiers looked at each other, confused, before one of them dared to raise his hand.
"Uh… couldn't we just work together, sergeant?"
The sergeant shook his head. "No. You need at least one female and one male per group. She'll keep you safe from any monster charms, and you're there to guard her against corruption. Just work with, uh… you go with them, you with them." To expedite the process, he paired them essentially at random.
"The spellsingers will keep us moving with their songs. If you have any questions, you can ask them while we march. Daylight's burning, so let's go."
The group began their journey in a somewhat disorganized fashion, before forming into what was more-or-less a column formation after they were outside the city gates. That didn't stop some of their members from darting around to chat, though. In particular, Aisha sprinted off to find the other spellsinger and plan their harmony. A brief flurry of chatter later, they began their duet. By singing one of the songs of travel, they filled the air with magically imbued music, quickening the groups pace and preventing them from tiring.
"Mr. Fax, Ann, I'm working in with you two." Catherine suddenly caught them from behind announcing their new partnership.
Annika certainly didn't seem to have any objections, her eyes lighting up. "Sure! But why didn't you go with one of the other two?"
Catherine shrugged, her crystals jingling. "I only work with people I know."
"You've been here a while though, haven't you? Did you not get assigned a partner?"
"No, I did… she went missing a year ago. Haven't had a new one since." As if sensing the coming question of why she was paired with another woman, Catherine smirked. "I'm a special case, Garret." She chuckled before dropping the topic.
Well, it was one more person for him to watch, but also one more watching him. Plus, Catherine seemed to know her way around the arcane arts. There were worse people Garret could be stuck with.
The march through the forest was surprisingly peaceful. The wind started to pick up, but not enough to hinder them or cover much noise, and their large group caused most monsters to give them a wide berth. Occasionally they came across a monster girl too stupid or too desperate to stay away, but the foolish ones were quickly dispatched by a flurry of swords and spears without too much trouble. They couldn't afford to chase down individual mamono, they didn't have the time, but any that strayed within reach were fair game.
Eventually they came to a bend in the road where the forest thickened, and this was where they spotted something unusual. Off to the side lay a seemingly abandoned handcart, in perfect condition, but with no sign of the owner. The sergeant gave a quick whistle, signaling for everyone to stop and be on the lookout. Something didn't seem right here.
Slowly, with weapons drawn, the group approached the cart, scanning the forest along the road for potential ambushers. Nothing. They crept forward a bit further. Still nothing. Eventually they reached the cart and got a chance to look inside. It still had some of its cargo there – a few large, empty pots, a pick, a shovel, and a couple other ground-breaking tools. Maybe it belonged to a farmer?
"Sarge, take a look at this."
One of the rangers attached to them had spotted an area where the undergrowth of the forest had been trampled slightly and pushed back. It was barely noticeable from the road, but the professional tracker managed to make it out. It looked like something had been either carried or dragged through here…
"What should we do, sir?"
Garret examined the path as well, which snaked deep into the forest, out of sight. Probably only a handful of people had followed it, or maybe one person walked it multiple times. The sergeant took a moment to think before making his decision. "Make a note of this, we'll send a party to check it out tomorrow. We don't have the time right now, we need to keep moving. Let's go."
With that, Aisha and the other spellsinger began to sing again, serenading the group with a song about a man walking a long and tiring journey to be reunited with his lover. As they left, Garret could have sworn he smelled a light fragrance on the wind…
By midday, they had arrived at one of the fortified villages in the forest and were allowed to take a quick break. Garret and Annika found a nice shaded spot to rest and sat down, leaning against the village's stockade. Most of the other guards, Catherine and Eric included, tried to take advantage of the brief respite to get a drink from the tavern. Meanwhile, the sergeant could be heard questioning the village guards on the battlements, asking them if they'd seen anything suspicions or if any carts had been through recently. From the sounds of it, though, no one had seen anything.
A half hour later, they were back on the road and in high spirits. The song had changed again, and Aisha was now singing a much more cheerful tune that brought a smile to most of the guard's faces. No doubt the alcohol also helped. In the distance, a hill loomed before them, the last one before the forest would give away to great plains. That was their destination – the reports said the slime queen had settled somewhere near the hill. As they approached, the sergeant sent a pair of ranger teams off to scout ahead and see if they could find the queen's new location. By the time they returned, the group had made it to the top and been arranged into a rough defensive circle formation to observe movements on the road while they waited.
"The queen hasn't moved, she's in the same spot… though there's more slime girls now than before. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like she's caught any humans yet." The sergeant nodded when he received this report. "Good... Good. Alright everyone, form up, it's time."
The guards returned to their column formation and one of the ranger pairs lead them down the road to the base of the hill, where the woman pointed into the forest beside them. "There aren't any roads leading to the slimes, so we'll have to go through the brush. We didn't see any monsters on the way, but please be careful. We don't want to attract any attention until we're ready."
They continued to guide them through the forest in a single line, with everyone hunched over, creeping slowly through the bush and generally trying to be as inconspicuous as possible… or at least as quiet as a column of soldiers wearing metal armour could be… The thick bushes and overgrowth made movements difficult, hence the need for stealth. If the slimes happened to ambush them, Garret doubted they'd be able to escape. Slimes didn't trip over branches, after all.
As they moved, he kept craning his neck, surveying the surroundings and forest canopy above them. The further they went, the more oppressive the forest got. It wasn't getting thicker, and light was still filtering through the treetops, but the atmosphere started to change. It felt more dangerous, like something was there, always watching you. It didn't seem to bother Annika, or any of the other guards, but a quick glance at Catherine and Aisha found them to be similarly on edge. The whole area was saturated with demonic energy.
"Hey Annika… look." He whispered to his partner and pointed to one of the trees. About half way up, a small tentacle had sprouted from its bark, flexing and grasping at random. Under a bush, a small troop of grey lamentation mushrooms had grown as well, the face-like patterns on their caps oozing red sap and unnerving Garret as he passed them. The area was in the beginning stages of transforming into a demon realm. It wasn't too far gone just yet… if they removed the source of the corruption, the mushrooms, corrupted plants and tentacles would die on their own. Hopefully the slime queen was the source of it, otherwise they would have a lot of work ahead of them…
"So, the corruption has spread this far…"
"I might just be from the slime queen. The plains ahead seem pure."
"I hope you're right, Garret…"
Behind them, Eric had spotted the mushrooms as well and apparently couldn't help himself. He took a step outwards and swept his flaming sword at them, severing their stems and incinerating the remains. Fortunately, no monsters seemed to be around to notice that.
Eventually they came to a clearing. One of the rangers signaled for them to stop and dropped to her stomach, crawling forward in near perfect silence. After a few minutes, she came back holding a small sheet of parchment with a crude drawing of the clearing on it. She and the sergeant discussed it in hushed tones, pointing at different spots on the drawing, before eventually coming to an agreement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, gather 'round, here's the plan." The sergeant waited for the rest of the group to get a bit closer, before continuing in a low voice.
"The clearing has more slimes than we expected, so we're going to have to be careful about this. We're going to split into three groups of eight. One will remain here, the other two will sneak around to the sides. We'll use our spellsingers to signal the attack. Once you hear them, you're going to charge in to surround the slimes. If we can keep them packed close around their queen, they'll be easy targets for our mages and rangers. Aside from that, you need to keep some space between each other at all times. We don't want multiple people caught in spells like what happened at the gate. Any questions?"
The group either stayed silent or shook their heads.
"Good. Now listen up, here's how we'll divide ourselves..."
Garret crept forward, crouched low as his group – the central one – approached the edge of the clearing. Annika, Eric, and two halberdiers (one of them being the sergeant) were acting as the frontline fighters for their group, with Garret, Catherine, Aisha and the other spellsinger composing their second line. In the clearing ahead of them lay a colourful assortment of slimes, most blue, some red, and the occasional bubble slime (though how those, who mostly dwelt in caves and sewers, managed to get here, Garret had no idea). Of course, there were also a small cluster of slime 'knights' belonging to the queen in the clearing, as well as a bunch of tiny pink slime-like balls hopping around through the grass. Garret was likewise confused about those tiny slimes. They were only about the size of a peach and clearly didn't have enough mass to manifest a female body to feed. Maybe this was the form of an underdeveloped slime that hadn't gotten enough liquids? In the center of it all lay the unmissable bulk of the slime queen. Right now, she seemed to be resting.
The minutes ticked by at a glacial pace while they waited for the other groups to arrive at their positions. How was he going to start? He could blast the closest slime, but maybe he would be more effective throwing a flame spear into the slime queen. See if the explosion would stun her, maybe prevent her from ordering her 'knights' around. He shivered involuntarily as the tension started to get to him. What to do… what to do… Maybe the gasses coming up from a bubble slime were flammable? If he torched one of them, he might not need to use an immolating lance to destroy it in a single blow. How fast was he going to cast? If his tempo was too high, he'd do horrific damage at the start, but be completely exhausted for the remainder of the fight. If the situation went sour later, he wouldn't be able to help, but then again, killing a bunch of slimes early might give them the advantage they needed to win. Garret sighed and shook his head, taking a moment to breath and staring at the dirt. He was overthinking this. Eventually he decided on a plan and settled down. Now he just had to wait and pray they weren't spotted until the time was right…
"Is everyone ready?" The sergeant's rough voice whispered through the quiet.
"Ready." "Yes." "Good to Go!"
No one in the group said they needed more time, so he nodded to Aisha and the other spellsinger. "Let's begin then."
"Yes sir!"
The two singers began their song in low voices, building their magic as they recited one of the Order's battle hymns. Catherine tapped Garret's shoulder and whispered into his ear while they waited. "Stay close to me, Garret, I'll share my energy with you if you need it." Once the hymn had reached its chorus and the magic was about to take full effect, the two spellsingers raised their voices, projecting their song across the clearing. In that moment, all hell broke loose.
The rangers on both sides of the clearing began a rain of fiery arrows towards their targets and the guards charged in, quickly dispatching the startled slimes near the edges of the clearing. Garret conjured one of his flaming spears and hurled it into the upper half of the slime queen's blob. When it detonated, the slime knights around the clearing froze and momentarily lost cohesion while the queen put herself back together. Surprisingly, he didn't feel tired at all after that, just a light tingling in his arms and legs. Beside him, he saw the glow of a magic circle as Catherine chanted an incantation, her voice rising throughout it. When she screamed the last part, she threw a massive bolt of chain lightning forward, which arced between a half dozen slimes. It didn't kill them, not quite, but it did stun them as the electricity crackled around their bodies, leaving them to be easy targets for the guards, who boiled them away with their fiery weapons. She didn't seem any worse for wear either after that massive expenditure of energy. The battle hymn must be masking their fatigue, letting them fight stronger for longer. Or maybe she was just that good at what she did…
The initial slaughter gave the guards a fantastic start, allowing them to easily dispatch a quarter of the slimes in the span of a few minutes, but once the initial shock wore off, the battle became much more even. The goo composing a slime knight's shield and armour was thicker than usual, enough to deflect a sword blow, and the red slimes could move faster than their blue cousins. The bubble slimes and blue slimes weren't much of a threat individually, but they still easily outnumbered the guards three to one. According to the plan, the guards with melee weapons spread out, encircling the slimes, while the rangers and other mages prevented too many from attacking a single guard at once.
A red slime surged forward, dodging around a guard's swings, before engulfing the man. It was intelligent enough to know it couldn't turn him there, so it began to drag the man with it, back towards the slime queen. In response, someone, who seemed to be an earth sorcerer, shot a blast of small pebbles into it, like grapeshot from a cannon. This disrupted it enough for the man to escape, but the slime managed to pack the pebbled floating inside it together into a ball and sent it flying right back! The sorcerer was caught by surprise and was knocked over by the projectile, dazed. For the rest of the battle, Garret was amused to see that he only fired shards of rock with enough force to pierce entirely through a slime, no doubt to prevent that from happening again.
While this was going on, Eric and the two halberdiers were working closely together. With his shield, he was blocking slime advances and deflecting the occasional slime arrow while the sergeant and other guard stayed behind him, jabbing and chopping at any slime within reach. All together, they defended their two spellsingers and pressed forward. Annika, in the meantime, was remaining a bit closer to Garret and Catherine, still hacking away at slimes, but more trying to keep them far enough away that they had time to work their magic. The occasional bolt of lightning from Catherine or fireball from Garret dealt with any slimes that made it past her guard. As he continued to fight, the strange feeling in Garret's body increased, eventually reaching the point where it was becoming physically painful. That must be his signal to stop. He took a knee and began to syphon energy from the crystal Catherine had given him. Sure enough, as he drained the crystal his body returned to normal. He'd have to remember that for the future.
After a few of the slime knights were dispatched, the circle began to close as the guards forced the slimes closer and closer to their queen. At one point, the queen started casting her own magic, conjuring balls of adhesive goop over the guards, trying to trap them. Some of them got caught in it and dragged away, but most managed to escape. Though a few were captured, they weren't losing soldiers fast enough to make a difference. At one point, the queen switched tactics and tried to arc a slime ball towards the mages and archers, but the earth mage spotted it before it arrived and intercepted it with a chunk of rock. His aim was a little off, with the rock shard impacting the side of the sphere, but it was enough. The force of impact caused the ball to burst and splatter its adhesive payload over mostly empty grass. As the battle progressed, the slime queen rapidly began to look more and more exhausted. Eventually she stopped casting spells all together.
The remaining twenty or so slimes were getting packed increasingly tightly as they tried to defend their queen. The situation was getting desperate, and it looked like they might make a last, frantic push to try and overwhelm the guards. If they managed to break through, they might be able to reverse the tides of battle. Sensing the turning point, the sergeant shouted a command to his soldiers. "They're close enough, this is it! Mages! Spellsingers! You know what to do!"
While the other spellsinger kept the hymn of battle going to sustain them, Aisha stopped singing and began a speech. "Mages of The Order, make ready! The Chief Goddess smiles upon our cause and is with us here, today! She longs for us to show the demons the true power of righteousness! Unleash your fury and your magic! Conjure a great conflagration to demonstrate our power! All the world must know!"
The forest and clearing around Garret disappeared, and he found himself in a desert. He was leading a cavalry charge, a part of a grand knight's company, breaking through monster lines in a battle long since passed into legend. Then he was an archer, frantically firing from the top of a sand dune, trying to keep monsters at bay as the battle's favour turned against them. Suddenly he was a foot soldier locked in a desperate duel with an Amazoness as the army around him routed. He slipped and she batted his sword to the side, before picking him up to take him as her own. Finally, he was himself. A lone mage perched atop a cliff, overlooking the battle, with the knowledge that he was the only one who could save them. And he was going to. He brought forth all of his energy and began to focus his magic one last time.
The illusion around him faded, but the feeling of doom and destiny remained, along with a surge of magical energy granted by the spell. Back in the clearing, Garret directed his magic to swirl beneath the remaining slimes, before exploding upward in a spectacular pillar of flame. The fires lasted only a few seconds, but that was all that was needed to incinerate a handful of slimes and severely wound the queen. Catherine was likewise affected by Aisha's spell and called a massive bolt of lighting from the heavens, vaporizing a half dozen. The earth sorcerer's own contribution was much smaller than their spells, likely because he lacked the energy crystals Garret and Catherine had. He had conjured a whirling storm of rocks and dust which would have stripped flesh from bone, but instead, splattered the last few slimes across the ground, finishing them off.
With her 'army' dealt with, the queen cowered behind the five or so human guards stuck in her slime, who had been captured but not yet turned. No doubt they were happy that Garret had kept the presence of mind to scorch the queen from the opposite side of them.
"Please! Please stop! I'll do anything you want!"
Unlike the common red and blue slimes who never knew when to quit, the queen was intelligent enough to realize she was about to die and began to beg for mercy, shrinking down and trying to look as helpless and submissive as possible.
"I'll be your slave! I'll fuck you as much as you want! I'll do anything you desire, so please! Please don't kill me! I was just so hungry!"
… But apparently not quite intelligent enough to realize that sex with a monster was the last thing an Order soldier was supposed to want.
The sergeant stepped forward to address her. "Release our men."
"But…"
"Release them now and you might make it out alive." He half smirked, probably enjoying the feeling of power before one of The Order's sworn enemies. "You're really not in a position to argue."
The slime queen looked at her captives, who were still struggling to escape, then at the swords and spears leveled at her, before making what was probably the hardest decision for a monster to make. Her slime receded and the captured guards were released alive, unharmed and unchanged.
The sergeant nodded as the captives scrambled back behind their lines. "Thank you." Turning to address the rest of the soldiers, he congratulated them on their success.
"Excellent work, ladies and gentlemen. We faced a queen with her slime army and triumphed with no losses. You should all be proud of your work, but now it's time to wrap things up here." He pointed back to the queen, who was looking saddened at her loss, but relieved at being allowed to live.
"Kill her."
Her relief turned to horror as she heard these words. "No! But I-"
The words died in her throat as the guards descended on her, slashing her apart and boiling away her slime until there was nothing left.
"No half measures means no regrets! Take no prisoners and do not become one!" He raised a fist in triumph. "For the Chief Goddess and for The Order."
"For the Goddess and The Order!" A chorus of voices echoed him.
"Spellsingers, thank you for your work, you can rest your voices. We'll recover here for an hour before we begin our march back. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
When Aisha and the other spellsinger ceased their hymns, it felt like the world came crashing down on Garret. The strain of his spell, hidden by the hymn, finally rushed back to him, causing his vision to flicker as he dropped to his knees. If he hadn't used the crystal's energy earlier, he'd probably have passed out immediately. Around him, most of the guards were in similar shape, their weapon enchantments having sapped more energy than they were used to. Only the rangers were spared, who kindly volunteered to keep watch while the group rested.
In the sleepy confusion of everyone trying to find their partners, Annika managed to make her way over to him. "Good work, Garret."
"You too, Annika… Hang on, you've got a bit of slime on you."
One of the pink slime balls had attached itself to Annika's boot and seemed to be trying to ooze into her armour unnoticed. Garret didn't have the energy for a spell, so he smashed it with a nearby rock. Fortunately, with its small size, that was all it took to kill it.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
She dropped her pack to use as a makeshift pillow and lay down on it, patting the ground beside her for Garret to join her. When he did, she shot her arm under him and pulled him close. Cuddling like this, the pair quickly fell asleep from their exertions.
An hour-long nap was not nearly enough for a full recovery, but it was enough to get them moving again. Catherine stopped by and was kind enough to share the energy from her last crystal with Garret and Annika, as well as Eric and Aisha, putting them leagues beyond the rest of the soldiers in terms of fatigue. Because of that, when they returned to the capital, they were the only ones visiting the tavern for a celebratory drink. Everyone else immediately went to sleep in the barracks.
"I really didn't think a Spellsinger could do things like that."
"Oh, we can do a lot more than that, Garret! Just keep us safe as we sing like some… … Parrots?"
Aisha paused, grasping at fleeting thoughts, trying to come up with a better rhyme, before shrugging and taking a large gulp of ale. "We can't really fight on our own, but we'll help you make history. Or at least make marching a lot more enjoyable!" She giggled as Eric put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.
"Aisha is extremely talented with her singing. I couldn't ask for a better partner."
Annika nodded at this and smiled. The couple's happiness was infectious. "Mhmm, yes, you two do suit each other very well."
"Did you do any operations like that back in Northreach, Garret?" This time Catherine was the one who kept the conversation going.
"No,… not really. Northern monsters are more isolated. Less social. They rarely band together in groups, so small patrols are all we need to keep an area clear." He took another swig from his mug, choking down the bitter beverage. It wasn't that he didn't drink, just that Northreach mead tasted much better than this swill.
Their conversations lasted long into the night, but of course, with increased alcohol consumption, filters were lost, and less appropriate topics were brought up. When Annika left to get them another round of drinks, Catherine sidled up to Garret and pulled him towards her.
"So Garret~ What's going on with you and Annika?"
"Hmm? We're combat partners."
Eric leaned across the table and cut in, a mischievous look on his face. "Are you… more than combat partners?"
"No, we're-"
Catherine suddenly interrupted him. "Have you fucked her?"
"What?! N-No!"
"Hehe… He looks so cute when he's blushing." Now Aisha was giggling at his expense and Garret was feeling very much outnumbered. Flustered, he shook Catherine off of his arm and retreated to the corner of their bench.
"W-What's up with this? Come on, stop ganging up on me!"
"Well she's just such a cute girl, and you two work so well together…" Suddenly Catherine grabbed him again. "If you don't want her, Garret, can I have her?" Immediately, the nature of her 'special case' became apparent.
"No, Cathy, I think Annika is into guys."
"Hmm… what a waste…" Catherine pouted and let go of him. "You do like her though, right?"
Garret sighed. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get out of this unless he gave them a little… "Yeah… yes I do like her."
This proved to be a mistake, as he was immediately barraged with questions like 'Why haven't you told her?' 'Did she turn you down?' and 'Are you a Eunuch?". The last one caused him to spit out his drink.
"No! No, I assure you everything is where it should be down there…"
Unable to hold the gaze of those interrogating him, Garret took another swig and then stared into his drink. Even with the alcohol loosening his lips and boosting his confidence, he could only take so much.
"It's just… we're in a war, you know? It didn't seem right, and what if she does say no? Then working together is going to be awkward and just… no…" When he looked up, he saw shit-eating grins plastered across everyone's faces.
"You're not fooling anyone with that 'she might say no' crap, Garret. Everyone knows she likes you."
"Yeah, you two were practically napping on top of each other a few hours ago."
"You really need to learn how to read a woman's heart. She's waiting for you to make the first move!"
"Alright, alright! Fine! I'll think about it."
"You'd better." Catherine punched him in the shoulder. She was unusually physical and playful tonight… Maybe that was how she was while drunk.
When Annika returned with the next round of ale, the group looked expectantly at Garret, who began blushing furiously. "What?"
"I-It's nothing. I'll tell you later."
The group let out a collective disappointed sigh and got back to their drinking. Eventually, though, all 'good' things must come to an end and Eric and Aisha excused themselves, citing the need to get some sleep.
"Yeah… I sh…sh…should sleep too…" Catherine stood up and started to walk with them, only to trip over her own feet and collapse, much to the group's amusement.
"I don't think she's going anywhere." Eric laughed and picked her up, literally slinging the woman over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Alright, Cathy, lets get you home… ew, you're all sticky. Did you spill your drink on yourself?"
With everyone else leaving, Annika and Garret weren't far behind. It was late and they were both exhausted, so they began the trek back to their rooms in the barracks as well.
As they changed into their night clothes, Annika poked Garret in the back.
"So… what was that all about? Why ya blushin'?"
"Nothing… Nothing, they were just teasing me."
"Is that so…"
Annika didn't look like she believed a word of that but didn't pry further. The two crawled into their respective beds and snuffed the lantern. Almost immediately, though, Garret was feeling regret. He should have told her. Maybe it was the alcohol… ok, it was definitely the alcohol, but he did love her.
"Hey Annika?"
"mmm… Yes, Garret?"
"I uh… Thanks for all your help, Annika. For everything. Uh… I love you…"
Already he was blushing again, embarrassed and having no idea how to say it aside from just blurting it out. Annika didn't seem to mind though. She giggled a little, before replying "No problem, Garret. I love you too."
His mood lifted, Garret smiled as he rolled over and settled in for sleep. It was nice… nice to have his feelings returned, and someone to-
"Are you serious, Garret?! Are you really just going to leave it like that? God, you really are hopeless, you know…" He felt someone lift the covers and crawl into his bed with him. Annika hugged him from behind, pressing her body against his.
"That's better… Goodnight, Garret."
He patted her arm affectionately. "Goodnight, Annika."
Author's Note: Well that's that. Romance is set up, the slime queen has been slain, toss a little world building and characterization in there, and we've got another chapter. Something about this just feels… off, though. Like I couldn't quite strike the balance I was looking for between dialogue, travel descriptions and combat. Can't figure out how to fix that, unfortunately, despite spending a few days editing this, so if anyone has any ideas, you know what to do.
As for the combat side of things, I'm trying to avoid the typical 'adventuring party against the world' sort of dynamic. This is a war, after all, and despite the plot following Garret and company, there are thousands of other soldiers out there fighting with them, and he is very much just a member of the rank and file. There might be the occasional chapter where I send them on a mission alone, but for the most part, I'm going to try to write combat as a series of small unit skirmishes. If any of you have ever read 'The Forever War', you'll know what I'm trying to get at. Coincidentally, that's also where I took the inspiration for the hypnotism spell from. In that book, they used hypnotism once to make soldiers fight better and without restraint, so why couldn't there be a way to do that with mages, boosting their moral and facilitating their magic?
Again, thank you all for stopping by to read this, it's always nice to see that view count tick up. Doubly so if it's followed by an increase in reviews or follows, haha.
You can probably expect the next update sometime around the beginning of April. I'm swamped with work, as I try to finish off my exams. This is what a Master's does to you, kids. It makes you want to write monster girl fanfiction, and then takes away all your time to do it.
Until next time, Sayonara!