[ - Author's Note - ]
A new chapter appears! So, let's get on with a few things first.
The current poll is going well, I'd say. I'll leave it up for this chapter and close it on the next. Once more I have the strawpoll link posted on Twitter with the handle of eostain. That should make polls easier to find from here on out.
We've also passed nine hundred reviews now! For all those who have left one, thank you. I enjoy the encouragement and criticism. Less so the ones who leave insulting commentary, but that happens to any work, I guess. Regardless, let's see how far it gets before year's end.
Also a new fic has appeared by one MasterNito on AO3, titled 'A New World', a Kuroinu/Elder Scrolls crossover. It's only at two chapters for now, but seems promising.
As for this story; we stop in at Erogus before having a little break in Bria... And after that little hints at what the rest of the Ken arc will have for us...
Let us begin...
[ - Act II - Chapter XXIV: Lakeside Rest - ]
The Country of Erogus, barring hills on their west and north, is one of the flattest lands in Eostia and with rich, fertile grass was always going to have good luck with farms of all kinds, livestock among them. Horses, however, were very prominent as well and in the era of the Imperium races of horses were quite common; originally chariot races but now horseback strictly. In fact before abolishing slavery many slaves would risk their lives in chariot races to earn freedom for themselves. This would translate into their military as well; being well known for their heavy cavalry with some light cavalry as support.
Coupled with connections to both the Una Vertais and Anima Lux Churches as well as a solid, magical education system the state employs a large amount of magic using knights and crusaders leading it to being named 'The Crusader County'. This has made jousting contests another popular activity among the populous. Often once called upon to fight Garan their knights will act as the point of the spear; charging into the fore as the lighter cavalry strikes at the flanks.
Backing them up further is a collection of pikemen and archers to round things out. Thankfully western Erogus, like southeast Smol, boasts a mythril mine but also iron mines to the north, granting the military local steel to forge. Coupled with smart investments Erogus has kept it's County status were it's neighbors have fallen into becoming baronies; mostly thanks to it's current rulers in House Rigald.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
Our one stop on route to Bria was Erogus; given the talk I had with Fredrick Rigald it made sense to call ahead and inform him of our arrival and he was more then happy to receive us. The light hills of Caul's southeast and Erogus' north gave way to flat plains and grasslands with plenty of fenced off farms with large amounts of cattle. You could also see more then a few horses, even wild ones, along the way and an abundance of apple trees speckled across the way.
We arrived in the capital of Saddleborne City late in the morning. It was an interesting city; the castle was an Imperium era one and planted in the middle of the city and walled off with seventy foot walls. Fifty foot walls spread out to the northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest, segmenting the city into four districts with an eighty foot wall around the whole thing. A second wall was set outside of that, fifty foot in height but only ten feet from the inner walls limiting the movement of people between the two walls.
We would see House Rigald's banner outside of the gates, hanging on either side, and as we rode in I noticed the buildings were often a combination of blue and white in colors but almost all had a slight, outwards extension to where the door was. Stone first floors with wooden second floors were common, often with the second floors having a larger footprint then the first.
We had to enter the city through the west and had to go around the city to reach the nobility district on the east which had the only entrance to the castle grounds. The keep was a single, large, sixty foot square keep with what was essentially a forty foot keep atop of it. Waiting outside for us was Fredrick himself and a pair of guards by the open gates of the keep. Beside him was a young woman in full, plate armor. At first I thought it was orichalcum given the color and hue but I used Observe on the armor; it was instead golden mythril; one part gold and eleven parts mythril. Somehow the metal kept the color of gold and the strength of mythril; although too much gold would compromise the strength and too little would ruin the color. It still looked impressive.
For the woman herself she was maybe five eight with shoulder length, fire red hair and emerald, green eyes. It was hard to see her figure under the golden plates but given the breastplate her breasts couldn't be bigger then B-Cups, small Cs at most. A flat, emerald brooch was at the top of the breastplate and held a red cape in place that billowed behind her. Her sword was the same golden mythril as her armor with an wider then normal cross guard. A matching shield on her back had the right shape to match the House Rigald Emblem.
As we disembarked I helped Celestine down as usual before we moved over to the aged count who smiled to us and extended his arms wide. "Welcome, welcome! I'm so glad to see you once more so soon. Permit me to introduce my daughter and heir, and soon to be Countess of Erogus, Tamah Rigald."
"A pleasure to finally meet you, Master Noxdecus." She said with a slight bow as I waved my hand.
"Just Mage; I've yet to take the Master's test." I replied. The Spellcaster's Guild held several ranks that it handed out to people who applied. It wasn't a strict determination of how good or powerful you were in magic; you could be considered a master, respected mage and never advance past the rank of, well, Mage but having the rank was a shorthand to people of your expected abilities and knowledge, as well as what level of magical knowledge they'd allow you to have access to. Apprentice and Graduate were the starting ranks followed by Mage, Master, Grand Master, Magus, Grand Magus and Archmage. There was also Archmage Prime, but that was just set aside for the Spellcaster's Guild's leader.
"I'm sure you'll excel once you apply for the rank, then." She said, smiling at me warmly.
(-)
Name: Tamah Rigald
Title: Heiress of the Crusaders
Class: Crusader
Level: 17
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 58
Status: Healthy, Happy, Relaxed
Romance Rating: 94
Corruption Rating: 9
Known Traits
[Ironclad] You wear any metal armor like you were born in it. +10% bonus to all Resistances for Chain Mail, Scale Mail, Splint Mail and Plate Mail.
[Fire of the Faithful] Your faith burns within you! All fire spells you cast gain a golden color and has all of their damage converted to Holy.
The middle child of Fredrick Rigald with his second wife, she found herself as the heir in spite of her relative youth and inexperience compared to her older brothers, one of whom renounced his claims to become a priest and member of the Church's Forces and the other opted to become a free knight, traveling Sererus to help the common folk. The responsibility of the County, thus, will be set upon her shoulders upon her father's retirement.
(-)
"Regardless, I've heard of the problems in Caul." She said, looking to me with a bit of sadness. "Assassins, was it?"
"Mercenaries hired to assassinate, but yes." I said with a nod as Fredrick sighed.
"Mmm, always nasty business that." He said, shaking his head. "Well, with luck your victory sends their employer a message." He said, tapping his cane to the ground twice. "Please, stay the night and rest; you'll have all the time to relax when you've reached Bria of course but no reason not to enjoy yourself while you're here as well."
"And if it please you..." Tamah added with a smile. "I'll join your escort to Bria." She said as I raised an eyebrow. "I've a few friends in Bria I'd like to see and firming up your guard would ensure further problems are avoided." She said. I had my own suspicions that her desire to come with was tinged with the fact Fredrick had, right to my face, said he wanted a relationship with myself and Mungale and having Tamah tag along was a way to help with that. Also; Bria was a resort state and that was a tempting prospect as well.
"Additionally I'd like to assign one of my men to your escort, at least until your quest is done." Fredrick said as he stroked his chin with a thumb. "A loss of even one man in a small group can be an issue for the rest and he can make up the difference." Much as I hated to say it he was right... And I had no reason to deny him.
"Very well; your man can join us until we're returning home." I said as he smiled and tapped his cane to the ground.
"Excellent. Come in then, and let's get you settled." He said, turning along with his daughter as we walked inside Erogus Castle...
[-]
The Barony of Bria is a bit of an odd one in the Seven Shield's Alliance. It is, for starters, one of the only matriarchies on Sererus and the only one in Eostia. The founding house was House Solanas and the initial line of Baronesses are rather notorious for being among the worst sexists in the realm. No, seriously. They felt that men had no place as generals or commanders of armies, managing economies, managing people, passing laws, ruling, so on and so on. To them men were fit for working as labor, breeding stock, basic soldiers, as servants and maybe, at best if they met some sort of merit decided by the rulers, low level commanders. They were, as one might expect, unpopular with their neighbors and peers.
This would end some three hundred and twenty years later when Ferren Solanas came into a problem. She bore four children in order to gain an heir and all were male. At the time she was unwilling to even raise her sons, shunting them off to random families to raise; she only kept her fourth son. To gain an heir, a female heir, she decided to adopt a child from a female knight who died in her service and claim her as a daughter (Over the objections of the girl's father, it should be noted) and pressed her into marrying her son to secure her line. Ferren was sure that Paloma Solanas (Formerly Hannah Venus) would continue her proud line. She would live long enough to realize she was wrong; very, very wrong.
First when she was adopted 'Paloma' was nine and never forgot her father or her real name and resented her new 'mother' for tearing her away from him but knowing she was powerless in her position she instead decided to wait. When Ferren fell ill and became bedridden when 'Paloma' turned twenty-one the title of Baroness was transferred to her... And she instantly rejected the name of Paloma, asserting her name as Hannah Venus, renaming the house fully and adopting a new banner. She ordered Ferren to be kept well and abreast of the goings on of the Barony as she changed everything; undoing the female superiority that had been in place until then and brought in a level of equality in line of the rest of Eostia. In addition while she did retain the Barony as a matriarchy she added that she had to have a male chief advisor. She would also ensure her father would be able to live in comfort until the end of his days.
The second major point is that Bria is the host of the headquarters of the Temple of Fertility who follow the Larentian Saint Maya Utero (Hence the other name of the faith, the Followers of Utero) who was a pioneer for orphanages and the raising of abandoned children. She would praise motherhood as a sacred position and that being a mother is the most important job of the land, followed by that of the father. Ironically the woman who would become the Saint of Fertility was herself barren and unable to give birth to her own children. While the religion would always be considered niche and small it's considered a Larentian religion and, as such, has never really been opposed by the Faith or the Church (Or supported by the same). They promote women to marry and bare children and if they have the means to support themselves without a husband then to bare children by themselves.
The Temple of Fertility would become a semi-official State Religion of the barony when Madra Venus converted to this segment of faith, birthing and raising a total of twenty-one children of her own by a total of fourteen different fathers. Most would be married off over the course of her life with her seventh daughter, Zelda Venus, taking over the Barony and being a Follower of Utero as well and bare eleven children herself. Since then it was rare for a Venus to bear less then five children which has made making orders of succession a pain.
And then there's the third major point; the resorts. With no ores or other grand natural resources they needed to invest in farming to both feed their people and produce what was needed for production and trade. Their downfall was while they had an abundance of good farm land none of it had easy access to water. Eventually Zelda Venus the Second came up with a solid idea; partially redirecting a trio of creeks towards the Burned Pit. Despite the name it did not appear to be burned at the time, but it likely was when it was made in the First Age of Conflict as a battle of mages tore the land into a pit over two hundred feet across and up to twenty feet down. Zelda the Second would direct people to flatten out the pit's bottom and round it out as much as able as the creeks was given a path to the pit, slowly turning it into a lake. From there smaller creeks and use of left over Imperium aqueducts sent water across the barony, feeding the farms and towns of the realm. Over the years this lake would be expanded in width and depth as well, reaching upwards of five hundred feet across and fifty feet deep.
It was then that Zelda the Second's son, Albert Venus, noticed that all of the lords of the Alliance went next door to the High Kingdom of Ken routinely for the Council of Lords. He then had an idea; what if the lords of the land, after a long, draining, aggravating series of meetings had a place to go afterwards and unwind? And so he founded a massive resort by the man made lake as it was slowly, gradually expanded outwards for additional capacity. As the Council of Lords dispersed the next time, their meetings over, he invited them over to enjoy what he had built.
Lake side swimming, good foods, massage services, an abundance of brothels for high end clientele, the best liquors and wines, luxury accommodations and so much more. While the first trips the lords took was a heavy loss for the resort in terms of finance in the end Albert's gamble would pay off in the long run; the lords of the land loved that they could go someplace to unwind, socialize, have fun, relax and hire a whore or three. Soon the place became well known to lords, high ranking bureaucrats, wealthy merchants, foreign nobility and royalty and even the rising middle class as the place to go for a vacation, relaxation and even weddings.
Bria is an odd one. But as it stands now it shows how far a territory of Eostia can grow and change.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
The ride to Bria was mostly smooth and calm. I had thought Tamah would ride in a carriage with us but instead she rode her own warhorse; one clad in golden mythril armor as well. It made sense; she wasn't joining our escort beyond Bria, after all. In addition Fredrick deployed one of his men, a Crusader called Micheal Verdant, who rode his own horse alongside our escort; an often overlooked aspect of our ride I'd add. Speaking of; Celestine informed me that two more Dawn Templars would be meeting us in Bria to join the escort and further replace our lost people.
Like much of Ken's land, Bria was fairly flat plains and grasslands with some, scattered small forests here and there. We arrived near the capital of Aphrodite City in the late morning although we didn't ride towards it. Rather we rode towards Sweetheart Lake and the attached Sweetheart Resort. Calling ahead to the place Celestine double checked that, yes, the bulk of the lords had left for their own holdings. A few lingered still; notably the Four Heirs of Engold. Hooo-boy, where to start on that?
Engold was (I stress, was) a duchy to Rad's east and north and was quite large. Led by House Blacksing they were a slave state (Not unusual at the start of Eostia, to be frank) and a rich trading hub. They were a fairly powerful and a major player in the region... At least until the Great Pox came along and changed that in a hurry; only Xilla Blacksing survived it from his house and he only hung on until the war with Dominious ended. House Blacksing ended, but the pre-pox Duke of Engold, Alex Blacksing, had six daughters married into each of the minor houses of his realm and each of those six houses laid claim to Engold's throne and in addition to that the Captain of the Guard decided to try and consolidate House Blacksing's assets under his command to make his own play for power. You can see where this is going...
The Engold Civil War was not a happy time for anyone living there and it dragged on for two years. Based on what history I know of it you could call it a small scale Romance of the Three Kingdoms or even a small scale Game of Thrones. In the end the then Archon, Peter Guildford, was petitioned by the slave states of Eostia (Who feared that High King Rictor Rodimus was waiting until the situation got worse before he stepped in and replaced the warring factions with an abolitionist duke) as well as the other states of Rad to do something to end the civil war. At the next Council of Lords Peter asked for permission to intervene as he saw fit with the understanding that the circumstances were unusual and extraordinary. The response was a unanimous yes and he immediately drew on the collected armies of Rad and marched to the Engold border. Once in place he sent out orders to the factions to cease hostilities immediately or he would destroy them all in totality.
When the fighting ended the Captain and two of the Houses were gone; one House and the Captain marrying into others and one other being ruined and destroyed in totality. The four remaining leaders were brought before Peter Guildford who listened to their arguments on who should rule, what happened and so on before making his final decision; the Duchy of Engold would be split into four parts and given to each House based on the parts of Engold they currently controlled. He then gave them ten hours to barter current holdings and come to a base agreement. The four new barons agreed and began to talk; mostly on cities currently occupied by two forces. Despite some issues things were resolved mostly peacefully. Mostly.
The loser of the civil war was House Xill; their holdings in what was northwest Engold would become Price and it was, and still is, the smallest territory in Eostia. To put this in perspective Mungale was a smaller territory overall and it's was larger then Price by over three times. And Elddale was four times the size. On the other hand had the Engold Civil War gone on one more week there might not be a House Xill left.
House Bhlis would take Pulha from what was central and north Engold, nearly reaching the south of it. It was the second largest of the lot and the only one to rise into becoming a County. The southwest and most of the mid-south was now Ellis and ruled by House Sidusgladio. Lastly, dominating the east from north to south was House Ambacht of Longroad; the last of the four to denounce slavery and the only one that was currently a Limited State.
Initially the Heirs of Engold were rivals but overtime things settled down, marriage between the four houses happened and mutual need brought them together. Today the four houses are fairly close and given that Bria is on the western border of what was Engold it's not a long journey to meet at the resort; they could afford to linger longer then others before returning to their holdings.
The resort we traveled to was surrounded by a fifteen foot wall that was white washed but with the crenelations being colored a bright pink. The gate also boasted the emblem of House Venus on either side of them as they owned the resort itself directly. It was a knight's shield; flat top and sides that curved down to a point. The border was a bright pink and the background a darker pink, almost entering into purple. The top was dominated by a crescent moon with an eight pointed star on the sides with extended bottom points; all yellow with a slightly deeper yellow outline. At the bottom was a pale pink silhouette of a woman's chest, one arm, neck and the side of her face cradling a pink baby in her arm that matched a long, curtain of hair. I sort of liked it; simple but expressive. I imagine being mostly pink it stood out among the other shield emblems in Eoatia; aside from Forestside I think there was, maybe three or four others that had pink as a major color.
The building we arrived at was two stories tall and looked like it was some sort of resort, beach hut that was just scaled up; bamboo walls and a straw roof although on closer examination the straw was glued down onto a wooden roof and the bamboo was set to the outside of a wooden wall. We would disembark and moved into the main building. Celestine had called ahead for us and made the requests on behalf of the crown so we should be expected. Indeed, when we walked in we were greeted by the receptionist, a pink haired elven man, who got our details and gave us the brief rules of the resort; weapons are to be left in your quarters and not taken to the lakeside, other quarters, ect. Duels are to be taken off resort grounds (Which is why weapons were left in your room; so you could defend yourself in your room but not go around picking fights), no fist fighting, no offensive magic (Both had the caveat of being allowed in case of self defense), the resort grounds are closed from two in the morning until six, respect the staff, do not seduce the staff (They had prostitutes for that. Both male and female, if you were curious), and no pulling staff into plots.
Given that the Council of Lords frequented the place twice a year I'm not surprised at the rules.
After some talk we agreed to get our things sorted into our quarters, go to the shop for swimwear and then meet for lunch. The quarters, in question, were huts built like the main building, merely smaller and single story. Mine had a decent view of the city on one side and the lake on another; set up on four, thick stilts on each corner and a thicker pillar in the center with a set of stairs that moved up from one corner up to the middle before turning in to face the door giving the building a balcony that wrapped around it. Inside was what I expected; bamboo covered walls, good furniture, soft beds and a bathroom. Oh, and a hot tub on the balcony. Because why not?
I left the Unicorn's Horn there and moved to the shop. Swimwear wasn't exactly common in Mungale... Well, it wasn't common anywhere in Eostia that wasn't near the Atlas River or the Great Sererian Lake. Places with a large enough lake, creek or river might have but places to swim in Eostia was uncommon. Having a man made lake (Well, war made lake more like it) Bria was an exception. Swimwear was not unlike my original world in cuts and types but materials were the main difference; cotton and silk but given a treatment process.
In short someone attempted to make a new type of cheaper mage robe with a thin application of liquid mana. He failed, but found that one of the results made a somewhat water repellent fabric. Pivoting his research he ended up making a process that made any fabric waterproof in full that was more effective then any other treatment type and was reasonably cheap. It was used in umbrellas, cloaks and coats meant for outdoors use and, as you may have guessed, swimwear.
Once at the store we split up, grabbed what was there, tried it on and finally bought something before having our normal clothes sent back to our rooms before moving near the restaurant. All of the seating was outdoors; to avoid getting rained on the resort had a massive shield over it; it was weak enough that it wouldn't stop a determined woodpecker, mind you, but it was enough to repel rain.
I had grabbed a dark blue set of trunks that were slightly loose and fell to mid-thigh with some dark yellow trim. Miria grabbed a red, thong bikini with a white trim and a faint, dark red net pattern over the fabric. Cress wore what were, essentially, red yoga pants with twin, silver stripes going down the sides and silver trim at the waist and ankles. Aeris wore a one piece that was green with a yellow floral pattern over it, moving from the bottom and over the left side. Makoto wore something that resembled a white, Japanese school swimsuit; white bloomers and a sleeveless top that fell to her hips with a red fan set to the chest. Riri put on something a tad more daring; a thong bikini and a tube top that were both blue with the top baring a white, feather-like pattern set over it.
Tamah was also dressed daring; a thong bikini with tiny side straps and tiny, matching top both in a gold color that shimmered a bit. Commander Keen Dux wore a white bikini that also bore a thong back (It covered her torso slightly more then her mana armor) and of course there was Celestine; she had on a white bikini with thin straps at the bottom and a thong back that was low on the hips and a matching sarong over it. The top had a brass ring under the neck that the cups attached too with two white straps going over the shoulder and behind the back and a brown strap that was at the bottom edge of the top. It was hard to say if the High Queen was wearing more or less then usual, but she still wore it well.
We would end up at an oval table with a view of the lake, although at a bit of a distance, with Celestine seated at one end and myself next to her, Miria next to me, Cress next to her, Aeris by him and Keen at the other end. Across from me was Tamah with Makoto next to her, Riri by her and one space left empty. The waitress seemed a bit nervous as the High Queen was right before her, seated and awaiting the same service anyone else would ask for but she did take orders quickly and professionally and set down a pitcher of water with lemon slices soaking in it along with a glass for everyone as we did our best to ignore the other, somewhat scattered, guests of the resort looking at us, or rather at Celestine. The menu was wide and varied; salads, steaks (Commander Keen was rather, well, keen on a medium rare one), fish (Miria ordered the sea trout, of course), pastas, Eastern dishes (Makoto was surprised to see ramen on the menu and ordered a bowl of a beef one), Desh Kahoian dishes (IE; Indian dishes with Riri ordering a butter chicken) and much more. No expenses were spared; clearly.
I ordered an Imperial Salad with chicken, Cress ordering a butter chicken of his own, but requesting the triple spice one (I wasn't aware he liked spicy food), with both Aeris and Celestine ordering a large salad with a small Dwarven salad to go with it. A 'Dwarven Salad', I should note, wasn't a salad by most definitions; it had no leafy vegetables in it. It was a mix of ground beef with spices, chopped bell peppers, cheddar cheese (Shredded or chopped into small pieces) and an option of things like other cheeses, tomatoes or onions served in a bread bowl. Really, it was more like a taco minus the taco shell.
Oddly while the United Elven Kingdoms and the Dwarven Confederation had a very... poor relationship with each other Elves outside of the Kingdoms and especially in Eostia loved Dwarven Salads. No idea about inside of them, however.
(I would later ask Aeris about it; in short they were outright banned in the United Elven Kingdoms. Go figure.)
Then again Elves and Dwarves outside of the United Kingdoms and Confederation were mostly cordial with each other, so it must have been a national thing as opposed to a racial thing.
Conversation was general and light for the moment, an unsaid agreement to leave work in our quarters made, as a few conversations cropped up. Celestine, Tamah and myself chatted about theater plays. I, obviously, didn't have the chance to view many notable troupes; Mungale isn't exactly the biggest place on the map and tends to be a stopover place at best for them; at most one would perform for a day or two before moving on. That said being the son of a noble I had at least read many of the famous plays of the region.
Miria and Cress were pulled into a talk with Makoto who talked about her homeland back in Mizutaku and the sort of archery competitions she saw there. Aeris, Keen and Riri were then left talking with themselves over the subject of tea of all things. Talk would die down as the food arrived as we relaxed and just enjoyed although I noticed Miria looking over to Cress' plate for a bit.
"What is that, exactly?" She asked him as he looked up to him.
"Oh, it's a Desh Kaho dish. Butter chicken. Well, they use dodo I hear, but we don't usually have them in Eostia so it's chicken." He said, smiling to her. "It's very warm down there so food can spoil quicker; so they spiced it a lot to cover that. I think they have ice boxes now to prevent that, but the spices stuck." He said, blowing on his food softly. His chicken, boneless strips cut into thin pieces, were covered in the golden sauce; the meat laid on a bed of rice which itself was laid onto a piece of naan bread. I've no idea how Indian restaurants would serve the dish but in Desh Kaho the layers of 'meat and sauce on rice on naan bread' was supposed to be the traditional means.
Miria let off a 'huh' as Riri looked over to her with a giggle. "Want a piece?" She offered, holding up a bit of chicken. Miria snorted for a moment and grinned.
"His is closer." She let off, snagging one off of Cress' plate and popped it in her mouth before anyone could warn her.
"M-Miria! I ordered the spicier one!" He let off as she shrugged.
"What, they added more pepper into-ohhhhhh fuck!" She let off before starting to sweat as she gasped and starting to cough. "My mouth is burning!" She let off, grabbing her glass of water and gulping at it at a rate you'd think she was trying to drown herself.
"Yeeeaaaaaaah, sis... When he said they added spices... He wasn't joking..." To put it simply most Eostian made butter chicken would qualify as mild to medium in heat at most. Desh Kaho's qualified as being betweeen high medium to mid hot. Double spice qualified as the upper levels of hot... And triple was extra hot. "And triple spice is about the second hottest kind you can serve without someone signing a waver.
"You're joking..." She gasped out, refilling her glass and drinking more water.
"Nope. The hottest is called quad spiced... Or suicide spiced." She whimpered as she refilled her glass tilting her glass and sticking her tongue into it as she panted. "And after that is called hell spiced."
"Yeah, I don't recommend that to anyone." I looked to Cress. Miria looked to him. Everyone looked to him. "... I, ugh... A Desh Kaho maid serves at our manor and she likes to cook. She made it for father thinking he couldn't handle it. And well, he couldn't for two years until he built up enough spice resistance."
"It is very tasty, once you can tolerate it." Everyone turned to look over to the newest speaker; Celestine. "Now ghost spiced is difficult to handle." She said casually before going back to her food as myself and Cress gawked at her while the rest of the table could make out that ghost heat was a step up from hell heat. And yeah, it was.
When your food has three ghost peppers in it the spice levels tends to ram into the moon.
"We don't sell anything over triple spiced for that reason." Someone flanked by two others said as she walked over to our table, wearing a pink bikini with the front of her bottoms made to look like the emblem of House Venus. Standing some five foot eight she had brown hair with bangs framing a lightly tanned face and blue eyes, the bulk of her hair pulled back into a bun. Her body was fit but not overly so; D-Cup Breasts, nice curves that weren't exaggerated. "My good High Queen, I am pleased to see you at our resort, finally. I hope you'll enjoy your stay."
"Rissa, please. This is not a time nor place for titles." Celestine replied with a smile as Miria huffed softly, tongue still driven into her water until a waitress came by with a small glass of milk and a whisper into her ear. Her eyes widened, setting the water down and taking a large sip of the milk, swishing it into her mouth.
"Indeed. For the unaware I am Rissa Venus, Baroness of Bria. Welcome to my little home away from home." She said, smiling to us all as she gestured wide with an arm.
(-)
Name: Rissa Venus
Title: Baroness of Relaxation
Class: Performer
Level: 19
Alignment: Neutral
Reputation: 61
Status: Healthy, Calm, Pondering
Romance Rating: 101
Corruption Rating: 31
Known Traits
[?]
[High Fertility] You get pregnant easier then normal and giving birth is less painful. +1 to all Stats of all children you give birth to
[Art in Motion] You know how to dance and you dance well. +5% to all Sexual Stats when engaging with partners who saw you dance within an hour.
[Dance Battler] Your dancing is a boon to your combat abilities. +3% to Dex, Agi and Acc.
The current Baroness of Venus she is less of a Follower of Utero then many before her but still agrees that one should have more then one child and having three herself; her eldest married off to a Rycall General. Considered shrewd she seeks ways to further uplift her barony and bring more wealth into it's coffers.
(-)
"And if I may introduce you to my heirs, Ambre and Ambra." She said to the women flanking her; a set of twins with mid-back length, blonde hair, long bangs that framed tanned skin and purple eyes. Both girls wore matching pink/dark pink bikinis that was one color on the left and the other on the right; with dark pink on Ambre's left and Ambra's right with the House Venus emblem over the darker pink bra cup. At five six both girls were curvier then their mother with Double D Breasts, slightly wider hips then Rissa and fuller asses.
"A pleasure to meet you all; I'm Ambre-"
"-and I'm Ambra. Let's all be friends." Ambre then Ambra let off; one after the other before bowing at once shallowly. Huh...
(-)
Name: Ambre & Ambra Venus
Title: Twin Heiresses of Bria
Class: Wizard & Sage
Level: 21
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 41
Status: Healthy - Connected, Joyful, Relaxed
Romance Rating: 99
Corruption Rating: 13
Known Traits
[Connected Twins] Somehow these twins have been connected on magically deep level. Low level telepathy between the twins only.
[Magical Connection] Your connection gives you your twin's abilities. You can use the same equipment as your twin and use the same spells and combat arts, regardless of class.
[?]
[High Fertility] You get pregnant easier then normal and giving birth is less painful. +1 to all Stats of all children you give birth to
[Tap For Mana] You know how to use magic to it's fullest. All magic costs 5% less mana.
Twin Daughters of Rissa Venus, the two share a connection beyond the physical. They will often finish the other's sentences and seems to know what the other is doing, even from a mile away. Many people, even their mother, treats them as a single person rather then two. Even the twins fall into this; wanting to marry the same man and to become Co-Baronesses someday.
(-)
"A pleasure." Celestine said as she took a moment to introduce us all. I felt the eyes of the newcomers on me; because I was one of two males at the table or some other reason, I didn't know. "I would invite you to join us, but we lack the seating for you and your daughters."
"Oh, it's fine. I just wanted to introduce myself and my daughters. After all, James here made such a stir at the Council; I figured it was worth taking a closer look." Rissa said with a warm smile... That didn't match a calculating look in her eye... I didn't know what she was thinking; it wasn't enough to make me worried but enough to make me cautious. "While your time here might be brief I'm sure we'll be seeing you about. Until then." She said, taking a moment to bow deeply before turning and walking off, her daughter doing the same a moment later.
"See you-"
"-all later!"
I raised my eyebrow as Celestine sighed. Looking to her she leaned towards me to whisper. "It seems we cannot avoid the realm's politics; subtle as this play might be."
Okay, now I was more cautious.
[-]
Once dinner was done it was off to enjoy the resort. Aeris, Makoto and Riri went off to see a masseuse while Miria moved to a creek fed pond set aside for fishing (Yes, really). Keen walked off in a direction with no explanation on where she was going (Not that she had to explain herself, of course) while Cress walked off to the lake to swim. Tamah seemed to want to hang around me while Celestine seemed... stumped. Just stumped. She stood not far away from the resort's restaurant and close to the edge of the lake as she glanced about, pondering. I reached out and tapped her shoulder twice with the back of my hand as she looked over to me. "Any idea on what you want to do?"
"Sadly, no... It's not my first time at the resort, but it is the first time I haven't had my time petitioned by various lords." She replied as she held her hands folded in her lap, trying not to fiddle or squirm and mostly managing it but you could still see a hint of it. "I'm... not terribly sure what I should be doing." She said with a sigh.
"You're meant to relax, have fun... Enjoy yourself!" I let off as she looked to me and tilted her head to one side. Tamah shrugged in my view, although not Celestine's, and I was sure nearby were a few of our Dawn Templar escort in bikinis, relaxing but watching over their High Queen (And I would see a couple after a bit), along with a few actual guests as I sighed... And decided to take control of the situation, grabbing her by the wrist as she blinked to me. "Come on. You can swim, right?" I asked her as she nodded as I started to gently lead her towards the lake.
"Yes, of course." She said with a nod. "It's a useful skill to have." She said as I guided her into the lake, moving until we were hip deep in the water; it was a bit chilled but not too cold. The lake itself was mostly circular and fairly large, at least for bodies of water inside of Eostia itself. The water was clear and pure looking and the lake bottom was covered by a layer of sand and soft, rounded pebbles. She looked about as I let go of her wrist, still seeming confused. "But I do not understand why you would lead me over like thi-" Anything else she had to say was cut off; while she was talking I dipped both hands into the water, made a cup of them and lifted them up and sending water splashing into her chest and torso. "Hey!"
"You play of course!" I replied, splashing her once more as she brought her arms up to guard against the liquid assault. I got another two splashes on her, with some of it hitting the side of her face before she got the right idea and dipped her hands down into the water and returned fire (Er, returned water) at me with her own splashes hitting my chest and hips before I fired back, a smile starting to rise on her face. A subtle bit of water based magic allowed by to gather and throw more water... Which might have been a mistake as Celestine smirked and used a very not subtle use of water magic to lift her hand up over her head... With a loose ball of water over her head the size of yoga ball and threw it at me!
It missed due to me ducking under the water. Not that I was done yet, of course; I moved a bit closer and reached out to grab the High Queen by the ankles and pulled on them, sending her crashing harmlessly into the water. While she recovered I made sure to cast Aqua Breath to be able to both breathe underwater and swim away. A glance back showed that Celestine had mimicked me and was giving chase; although not as quick as me yet oddly graceful. I slowed down to let her catch up but swam to the side to dodge her attempt to grab at me. What I saw was beautiful; and it had nothing to do with her bikini-clad body.
An honest, wide and happy smile was on her face that reached up to her green eyes as she adjusted herself to try and tackle me under the water. "Not going to be that easy!" I let off with my voice distorting softly from the water, dropping under her. For the record; Aqua Breath worked by making a thin, flexible shield over the nose and mouth; it kept water out and nothing else; letting the oxygen in the water to pass through. I moved to dodge her next grab but she adjusted and grabbed me by the shoulders before using her magic to manipulate the water over her legs to adjust herself and angle herself in a way to pin me down to the lake floor before her body floated down to me, her hips landing onto my abs. She was still smiling as I chuckle. "I guess you didn't need that much of an explanation."
"Well, I've used Aqua Breath to help the boys learn to swim and I've watched them play... I just... Never got dragged into it before now..." Well, that made sense... But...
"Not even as a kid? I mean, hundreds of years old or not you were a little girl once, right?"
"Well... No. Before coming to Eostia I was of House Lucross in the Elven Kingdoms and the Sapphire Crown and the free time young children are given in the Elven Houses is rather... Limited..." She said as her shoulders slumped over me as I blinked up at her. "Aside from ar maeth, chess and gul strategui I was permitted no games and such play as tag was forbidden. Most of my time was dominated by traditional and magical education, learning the ways of the court and so forth... Once my connection with the goddess became known I had even less time to myself, let alone to make friends."
As a references, ar maeth is an elven version of chess with different pieces and four raised boards in the corner like some sort of four dimensional chess and gul stategui was more or else Stratego but the pieces were moved with magic. I noted that all three were tactical based games...
"Sorry... I would have never guessed..." I said moving my hands to her shoulders, rubbing them softly. She smiled, a bit sadly now and looked down to me.
"Don't be. But much of the reason I wish to have those children to have fun and learn more then just books and lectures is how torturous my own upbringing was." She said with a sigh... Before she was tapped on the shoulder, making us both look to the side to see Tamah hovering by us, arms crossed and looking expectantly... with her cheeks puffed up with held air. "Ah, allow me." Celestine said as she reached out and tapped a finger to the redhead's forehead, casting Aqua Breath on her.
"Ahhh... Many thanks. Makes swimming a lot easier when you don't have to worry about drowning." She let off with a giggle. "I beg your pardon; I guess I was interrupting a moment."
"It's fine." Celestine said, moving off me and hovering in the water before the Erogus Heir. I myself moved off my back, brushing myself off slightly, before looking between the ladies. "If anything I think I should have an extended swim for a bit... This has reminded me how enjoyable this can be... And that it's been some time since I had a true moment to myself. I'll see you both later..." She said, half bowing in the water before swimming up and back, turning in the water rather gracefully with her long, long hair moving like a fish's tail; almost like a mermaid. It took me a moment to note she was using water magic to help propel herself.
"I think she likes you." Tamah let off as she moved over to me, pushing me on my shoulder.
"What are you, a gossiping schoolgirl?" I shot back as she giggled.
"I was, once. Come on..." She said, starting to swim off in another direction. "Let's have some real fun." Real fun, huh?
I wonder where this was going...
...
I knew, you don't have to tell me, I knew.
[-]
Sweetheart Resort
Private Quarters of House Venus
"So, what do you two think of the boy?" Rissa asked casually as she looked out to the lake. Given the boy was a mage he was likely still under the water, swimming about with a spell to help him breathe. She'd seen it more then once from her own daughters.
Her private quarters were as luxurious as any other in the resort but set at two stories tall giving it more room in addition to a private maid. One other difference was a patio set on top of the flat roof as she stood with a glass of a grape juice (It was too early for wine) as she swirled her glass.
"Well, he's pretty cute and fit looking-"
"-but we don't understand why you-"
"-want to focus on him so much with-"
"-the High Queen finally here for once." Ambre followed by Ambra let off in their usual verbal exchange.
"Simple... To do Utero's will and get you two pregnant with his children." Rissa said with a wide grin as the twins shared a look, tilted their heads before looking back to their mother.
"You want us to get knocked up by-"
"-him? Why would you want that?" Ambra then Ambre let off as Rissa turned to face them.
"Isn't it clear?" She said, sipping her drink. "That boy... He's made the voxlux, a means of communication this world has never seen before. He is, by all means, an enchanting prodigy with a lot more to offer the Alliance... And he clearly has the High Queen's favor to at least some degree." She said with a smile. "And if he's moving up then Mungale is moving up with him, sooner or later. Which means by having one, or better yet two children related to him we make a link to that rise that can be useful."
Rissa wasn't stupid enough to think any granddaughters the two would give her from him would be in Mungale's line of succession; at least not directly or high enough to matter. But if she could provide a proof of his link to them they could be married off to provide even stronger links to other states and, more importantly, links to Mungale itself as it rose upwards.
In truth while Bria was wealthier then many counties there was a reason it was stuck in a rut as a mere barony; much of that wealth came in from from the resorts set around the lake, Sweetheart Resort above the rest. While Albert's idea paid dividends they've caused a major problem; the resorts gave them the bulk of their wealth and they had trouble diversifying their economy beyond that, leaving it brittle. Indeed, they've had lean years that had harshly drained their coffers. They needed more diversity but with Sweetheart Lake being their biggest money maker they couldn't do too much with the water that wasn't going downstream from the lake which limited some industry. They had no mines to speak of and their attempts to leverage what natural resources they had didn't pan out as they had hoped.
While a bit of a long shot a connection to Mungale would give her a chance to turn that around in the future; supporting Bria through trade and perhaps finding some form of magical based industry she could pivot to... "So, perhaps it would behoove you two to get to his hut this evening and... make merry." Rissa added as the pair looked to one another before looking back to her before Ambre then Ambra spoke to her.
"Well it's not that we're unwilling, but you must know-"
"-male mages often keep spells on themselves to keep-"
"-such bastards from being born. And as he is a mage-"
"-it's a safe bet that he knows it and uses it on himself."
"Oh, I am well aware girls." Rissa said with a smile as she moved over to a table and tapped something on it; a bottle of expensive looking, fine wine. "Which is why I kept this on the rack for so many years. This wine has a subtle, weak poison in it. Harmless to anyone who drinks it, but it suppresses magical effects upon the drinker. Any contraception spell he has on him will be irrelevant for hours. Two glasses, ensure you take some fertility potions and you'll be carrying babies in your wombs before you know it!" She said as her daughters took on matching, thoughtful looks as Ambre spoke before Ambra.
"I wonder if our children-"
"-would be twins too?"
"...That's not how it works and you know it." Rissa said with a sigh before lifted a hand and snapping her fingers twice. "Now, go get the wine chilled and ready. And make sure to be as seductive as possible. Not that you'll need it; what male wouldn't want to have sex with such delightful twins?"
[-]
Tamah had led me to a deeper part of the lake; a mostly private place as I couldn't see anyone about and what I expected more or less happened; Tamah swam over to me and pressed into me, chest to breast and gave me a firm kiss on the lips, arms around my neck as I held her by her hips. I'd let my hands slide around to her ass, squeezing softly as exchanged tongues underwater, groaning into the mouth of the other. This was a bit... different, I'd have to say given we were floating underwater but I didn't complain at all.
Not unlike when I bedded Nikita there was little talking once the kissing had began; instead I just let one of my hands move around to cup her sex, grinding my palm into her groin as she moaned into my mouth. Lustful, sexual passion was the order of the moment as her own palm cupped my groin in turn before moving under the trunks to push them down a hint, just enough to free my manhood and balls from their confines. In return I reached down and pulled the crotch of her bikini bottoms aside, exposing her own sex and rubbing her with two fingers. Needless to say how wet she was from her own fluids was a tad difficult to tell when underwater. I drove two fingers up into her to see if I could tell better if she was sexually wet or not but my own water logged fingers was unable to tell.
As I was doing this she took my cock in her hand and began to stroke as we hovered over the lake's bottom. During our swim over I played with using water based magic to move about like Celestine had; the results weren't as graceful as what she did when she pinned me down and when she swam off, but it worked. It let me to hover in the water down near the lake floor without floating upwards as we rubbed reach other's sexes; mine in her hand being stroked with long, firm but soft movements as I pressed a third finger up into her, rocking it slowly as my thumb pressed onto her clit gently, rolling it about.
It wasn't long, however until she was moving to wrap her legs about my hips, moving to set my cock to her pussy. Getting the hint I withdrew my fingers and helped guide her into place before gently pushing up into her. She was nice and tight as her arms wrapped about my neck, pulling herself closer as we kissed deeper and firmer, her small breasts flattening to my chest as we groaned, my hips starting to rock up into her.
I groaned into her, squeezing her rump firmer as she kept up the kiss as we rocked our hips into one another but soon an idea came to me. After one thrust I moved my grip and more or less tossed her off of me as she yelped, only to grab her by the thigh and spin her about as I lowered down until my feet were planted on the lake's floor. I pushed myself back into her but held her body sideways, letting her body float horizontally over the ground as I started to rock into her as she moaned and floated; her body rocking about, up and down and a bit side to side as I pulled her into me and rutted into her.
Hey, if you're going to take advantage of underwater sex while being able to breathe underwater, why not take full advantage of it and use the water's buoyancy as well?
After a moment she turned in my grip, turning herself so she was facing up and leaned in to set her hands onto my shoulders, legs wrapping about me as I held onto her hips, hammering into her. Her breasts swayed on her chest, but slower thanks to being in the water as I groaned, hearing her own water-distorted moans. She gave me a playful smiled before leaning back and using her arms to adjust herself, started to turn herself on my cock, legs unlocking as she did (And feeling both odd and good on my dick as she did so) before she was facing down, reaching her legs behind me once more and locking them before looking back at me, arms held behind her.
Getting the hint I took hold of her wrists and pulled her into me, groaning a bit before starting to rut into her with more vigor. Normally a position like this could be uncomfortable for the woman in the equation but with the buoyancy of the water helping with her weight it wasn't difficult at all for us. As much as I'd love to enjoy this all day I had my limits; it wasn't long after that I came into her, groaning out as she shuddered and followed me in the peaks of pleasure; my cock pushing up cum from my balls into her womb and her pussy milking me for all I could give. After a long moment I groaned as I slipped her off my cock, sighing a bit. "Whew..."
"That's what I was about to say..." Tamah let off, giggling as she turned to me in the water, hovering before me as she adjusted her swimsuit; I taking a moment to adjust mine. "... Your hut?"
"My hut."
[Fucked List]
Banged Tamah Rigald=100xp x 5 First Time Bonus=500XP
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
Gain 600xp Total
Achievement Unlocked: Under the Sea
Bang at least one girl underwater
[-]
Myself and Tamah had our share of fun for the afternoon... And early evening when we finally headed out to join the others for dinner. Celestine stopped me short for a moment, however, as she ended up with a report from Stark Angelus, the Baroness of Caul, in regards to the Bloody Griffins. She seems to think one or more scouts were missed at the small village of Glad Creek and they got to the other divisions of the mercenary order before Stark did and reported in. They must have gotten the idea they were about to have a bad time and packed up and left southwards out of Caul into Erogus before turning westwards through Smol and, by current reports, were now passing through Jetra.
I had doubts that the Griffins would find work in Eostia and Celestine agreed; she thought they were aiming to cross the Atlas to reach Dominious and do work in the Civil War. My bets are they would reorganize under a new leader, rip up the old banners, raise a new one with a new name based on a new animal or thing, give it a couple years then return to find work while hoping it was enough time for everyone to forget about the Bloody Griffins and not notice (Or pretend to not notice) that they just re-branded. There was also a chance some members would splinter off; form their own mercenary orders or join others, go solo or in smaller groups as Adventurer's or find work in some noble's guard. It was hard to say what would happen exactly, but the Bloody Griffins would be no more; if only on paper.
Frankly I cared more about who hired them, but that was neither here nor there.
For the time being it wasn't a problem; at worst it was a problem kicked down the road and out of reach for us to do much more about it for the moment. For dinner I decided to expand on my pallet a bit with a western curry; in short there were a few nations further west that enjoyed Desh Kaho/Indian food but lacked rice in large quantities or certain spices so they made due with what they had. The result was a spicy (Milder in my case, but still spicy) chicken coated in sauce served with thin slices of garlic bread. It was surprisingly good, although not like any curry I ever had before.
Miria was the interesting one at dinner; she had caught a fish on her little trip... A fourteen pound, golden lake bass (Which despite the name was more of a yellow-ish green hue) and had it cooked up for herself with a nice sauce I didn't recognize off hand with a nice salad. The cooks clearly took care in preparing it and she clearly enjoyed feasting upon it.
As for tales of our time here Cress was the one who had the most interesting/worst one; in that he got hit on for the better part of an hour. That wasn't unusual; his girlish looks could draw guys in... But it wasn't a guy this time... It was... ughhh, Victoria Draken. I had memories of her given to me when I entered this world... Oh god...
She was six foot two, weighed in the ballpark of three hundred and fifty pounds, had a face that looked like a gorilla because of that House's inbreeding, teeth that looked like a chimp's and caked herself with enough make-up that a clown would tell her to lay off. Oh, and she thought she was hotter then Celestine. No, I am sadly not joking. She apparently chased Cress around like Pepe LePew; except not French and less funny. Yikes.
After dinner I retired to my room to read for a bit with a focus on the creation and function of mana armor. As it turned out mana armor's force fields were layered, or at least ones not made in the first hundred years or so did; there were ways to punch past magical shields such as Dark Flare. However if the shield could be layered then only the outer layer would break leaving the others to guard the wearer. This meant if one layer fell it could regenerate while the others kept up protection. I was thinking of maybe adjusting the shield in my glove in a similar fashion, but I doubted the current stone I had there would have enough power to manage it. Even modern mana armors managed only three to four layers; five at most.
I also learned of the existence of a spell that would lighten non-living materials; usually on metal armors to make them easier to wear and sometimes on ships to make them quicker to sail. I made a note to dig that spell up if possible as it would be useful down the line on what I wanted to make. Regardless I had a lot of plans to prepare and then start on once I was home.
My reading would be interrupted just as I was getting ready to put on a pot of coffee (I remembered to grab some while at Ken. And sent more to Mungale Manor, because why not) by a knock on the door to my luxurious little hut. "Come in!" I called out as I set the pot down but didn't turn it on as the door opened with the Venus twins walking in with a few things in hand; a bottle of wine held by one with a small basket with a few glasses, raisins held by the other, both smiling. They came in matching... dresses, although they looked like a pair of Virgin Killer Sweaters made of layered silk fabrics. And yes; you could tell there was no underwear on; because Eostia.
Both of the 'dresses' were white with one wearing an earring on her left ear and the other on her right; both pearl studs. Beyond that I couldn't tell who was who.
"Hello once more, it's is I Ambre-"
"-and I, Ambra! We come with-"
"-wine and snacks for our very-"
"-cute guest, if we can join you?" Left earring (Ambre) and right earring (Ambra) said, smiling.
"Oh... Well, I can entertain a couple ladies for a bit." I said, chuckling as I moved to the table, setting my book aside and making sure my bookmark was in between the pages. "Do you come to visit guests often?" I asked them.
"Now and-"
"-then, yes." Ambra then Ambre said sitting down and setting the basket down the wine. Their back-and-forth means of talking was one part cute, two parts odd and one part creepy, but I imagined it was just how they were.
"May I?" I asked as I extended a hand to the wine bottle. They nodded as I picked it up. I didn't know if the year was good or not, but it was a brand grown and made in South Point so it was Eostian, and a higher end one too. Not too bad over all. Out of habit I used Detect Toxin, not that I expected to be poisoned by my hosts who planned on drinking the same bottle as I-
pang-pang-pang-pang
...
Well, that was unexpected.
Detect Toxin was a spell that, well, detected toxins... Duh. But it also gave me an idea of the strength of the poison in the wine and this was... weak. Really, like weak. And no, the reading was not from the alcohol, the spell filtered that out, I checked. Whatever it was this poison was mostly harmless but had an effect. An aphrodisiac was possible, something to disrupt spells on someone was another or just make them need to use the bathroom a lot. It was hard to say.
Hmmm...
I also knew Ease Toxin, but it was meant to be used on a person... I wonder...
As the girls laid out the snacks and glasses I subtly casted Ease Toxin on the bottle before following up with Detect Toxin once more and... Sure enough, it worked! No more poisoned wine! Once the glasses were set out I took the corkscrew and pulled the cork free pouring us each a glass but made a show of taking some un-poisoned raisins (Yes, I checked) first. "Did you ladies have a topic you wanted to start on?" I asked as Ambre sipped her glass, followed by Ambra. So, either they A) didn't know there was a poison in the wine, B) took an antidote to it before hand or C) weren't worried about the effects.
"Oh well, we heard about the awful mess that-"
"-happened with Princess Prim's butler. It-"
"-sounded awful, but we wanted to hear what-"
"-caused it from someone who was there, directly." They let off. Interesting topic and I obliged, starting to tell that tale as I kept pondering the situation.
For the bottle I decided on option C; A presumed someone was out to harm them or their mother but if the wine was from their stocks, as I assumed it was, then there was no reason to assume it would be dragged out quickly; a lousy means to do whatever the spell did. B was still possible, and if they looked confused as nothing happened then it was what they did, but it seemed a bit much. Anything that would require an antidote would be a hell of a nasty prank to pull on someone and make an enemy of House Noxdecus. More importantly doing anything to someone under the High Queen's escort was... ill-advised to say the least.
So that left C; something harmless enough that an antidote wasn't needed and I could only think of a few ideas. The one that stood at the front was a means to block or suppress a contraception spell; it was a common spell among mages in general and mages within the nobility in particular. Okay, let's assume that was their aim. If so they wanted to get knocked up. Given the effort of grabbing this sort of tainted wine they wanted to get knocked up by me but at least with Nimrah she had the decency to ask first. Regardless the question was then why?
I had two conclusions to that; first was Bria was home to the Followers of Utero; effectively a Larentian offshoot with a focus on fertility. Although based on my limited knowledge of Utero their whole deal was they weren't too concerned about who the father was if the mother was unwed; any healthy guy would do and permission was at least supposed to be asked first. The second was that they wanted children linked to House Noxdecus. That was also possible; with the voxlux I was making waves and it was important enough that escort via the Seven Shield Princesses was considered warranted by Celestine. To any lord with eyes I was a new, rising star and perhaps worth placing a bet on.
Having a bastard child or two of mine in House Venus wouldn't be frowned upon in my case as once more, this is Eostia; sex was semi-common and pregnancies could happen from it when it did. However not owning up to them as mine would cause trouble as long as House Venus could prove it to some degree and the magical version of a parental test was possible. Once proven, well, the children could be married off with the 'Blood of the Noxdecus Heir' as a selling point. They could petition to end up in Mungale's line of succession but it was likely they wouldn't make it or end up way at the bottom of it.
There were other possibilities but this was the most likely, in my opinion.
I eventually finished my tale, setting the glass in my hand on the table, empty save a small puddle of wine. Ambre's and Ambra's mirrored my own as they looked on.
"Wow... We can see why there are so-"
"-many rumors of you bedding Prim..."
"Ummm... Rumors, you say?" I let off as I tried not to let my eyebrow twitch. I mean it was to be expected, but still... The twins nodded before speaking, starting with Ambre.
"Oh yeah... And rumors of a ship-"
"-full of pirates, a bathhouse full-"
"-of women, a pair of Dawn-"
"-Templars and Ferra's Countess."
"Oh my... I'd ask where these come from, but I'm scared to ask..." I said as I pinched my nose with a thumb and finger. Dear god; do I want to know how many more rumors there were? I mean each one they mentioned did happen, after all...
"Well some of the ladies of the Council like to talk-"
"-about the guys that gave them a good time." Ambra then Ambre said as I looked between the two as they leaned over the table, chins on their hands in matching poses, elbows resting on the table.
"...I'm not sure I've ever talked with anyone over women I've had sex with before." I mused audibly as they giggled and stood up, moving to either side of me.
"Well then, maybe we should-"
"-give you something to talk-"
"-about." Ambre then Ambra let off before saying the final word together with matching, sultry smiles as they gently took hold of my arms and guided me to my feet and to the bed.
Seems it was indeed, option C.
Ambre kissed me once I was by my bed as Ambra started to undo my shirt, my hands holding the former by her hips and the latter near the shoulder, rubbing both softly. Once that was done Ambra pulled my face to her to kiss as Ambre moved to handle my pants. I let my hands move to Ambra's ass, giving it a good squeeze before lifting her dress to fully expose her ass and give it a swat, getting a giggle from her... and her sister. Interesting...
Once I was undressed I moved one hand to Ambra's sex, rubbing it with two fingers but I paid attention to Ambre. I'd seen their linked trait with Observe before and was curious at how linked they were. Sure enough both girls gave me a moan from my touches; Ambra's a bit louder then her twin's but still... Ambra gave me a peck on the cheek before both sister knelt by my feet, looking up as they brought their faces to my semi hard cock.
"Mmm! This big cock-"
"-looks delicious! Mmm!" Ambre then Ambra let off as they kissed the sides of my cock-head before licking their way down my shaft, twin eyes locked on mine as they worked on me as I stiffened. As they reached the base of it they moved to take one ball each with their lips before suckling them into their mouths, pressing their tongues to each. I set a hand on each of their heads, petting them softly as I softly rocked my hips, enjoying their attentions. Once I was fully hard Ambra moved her lips to the tip of my cock, kissing it before dipping over the head and suckling on it as her twin moved to suck on the shaft from the side, slipping her lips side to side like playing a harmonica.
"Fuck, that's a sight..." I let off as the twins giggled under me before Ambra slipped her lips over to the other side of the shaft, Ambre sliding over to the tip and dipping her lips over it, sucking just as much as her sister had as Ambra suckled on the shaft from the side. After they moved to trap the tip between their mouths, sucking on it from two direction; I couldn't help but give a deep, loving groan from it all. Hell, a sight of tanned, blonde twins sucking on your dick at once would make even a gay man happy.
They gave a combined giggle and stood up, taking my arms and guiding me to lay on the bed before moving to either side of it, stripping their own dressed off. "If you liked that-"
"-then you'll love this!" Ambre then Ambra let off as the moved onto the bed and turned their backs to one another, squatting with parted legs on either side of my hips. I was confused as to what they were doing before they pushed their asses into one another with my cock caught and sandwiched in the cracks of their rumps. And then they started to rock their plush, soft and large backside up and down, stroking me off in a double buttjob! I couldn't help but let out a long, drawn out and deep groan from this; this was a very new thing and dear lord did it feel good.
The twins had me panting in delight in no time and despite my best efforts I just came not long after spurting my semen out of my dick like a volcano; the white seed splashing over their ass cheeks as they gave a pair of matching, cute smirks and giggles. "It's like putty-"
"-in our hands." Ambra then Ambre let off as I shivered a bit as the two separated, Ambre moving aside to lay next to me as Ambra mounted my hips. She used a light, gentle healing spell on me to perk my cock back up to full and moved to adjust me to her slit. She took no time to drop onto my lap with a long, deep moan as her sister rolled over to stroke at my chest, giving a matching, if softer, moan to match her sister. I held onto Ambra's hips as she started to rock herself up and down on my cock and rather quickly at that as she shivered, her breasts bouncing over my head as I started to rock my hips up to match her motions.
"It's so thick...-"
"-and so manly..." Ambra then Ambre let off as they gave off matching moans as I rocked up into the blonde twin harder, groaning out as I moved my hands up her body, cupping then squeezing her breasts firmly as Ambra shivered over me for a long moment. The sounds of the room was limited to their moaning, my groaning and the sounds of hips clapping together. Oddly it was Ambre, laying beside me once more, who came first, shivering and giving a soft squeal before Ambra came, giving a deeper and longer one. As her sex clenched hard on me I gave her what she wanted as I too came, pumping my seed straight up into her, likely splashing the entrance of her womb.
We were left panting for a long moment before Ambra moved off me, moving to lay at my other side as Ambre moved to kneel up. Like her sister she used a healing spell to keep me hard before straddling me; although with her back and ass with splashed cum on it facing me this time as she set my cock to her sex. She moaned as she dropped down, her thick backside clapping to my pelvis as Ambra shivered and moaned next to me. In short, second verse same as the first as she started to bounce on my lap.
I couldn't help but groan at the sight of her plush, soft ass clapped down onto me over and over, once more rocking my own hips back into her in turn. It was a very nice sight as I rocked myself into her, panting as Ambra mewled next to me. Ambre gave a deeper, long moan as she rocked her hips in a slow circle as I moved my hands to grip her ass, giving one cheek a crisp spank as both girls sucked in a breath at it. I started to rock up quicker, hoping to get Ambre off before I did and once more it was the twin laying next to me, Ambra, who came first; squealing and quivering next to me before Ambre came atop of me, pressing her ass down onto me as I came once more in third; spurting a nice load of white cream up into her. Both girls panted as Ambre slipped off me and moved to lay by my side.
"Well... Never had twins before..." I let off, panting gently.
"Well, don't be shy on our behalf and-"
"-do brag to your friends about us." Ambre and Ambra let off before giggling and cuddling to my sides as I wrapped my arms around them as we started to settle in for the night.
[Fucked List]
Ambre Venus=100xp x 5 First Time Bonus=500xp
Ambra Venus=100xp x 5 First Time Bonus=500xp
Multi Girl Bonus=10 x 2 Girls=20xp
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
x2 Twins Bonus
Gain 2448xp Total
Achievement Unlocked: Double Vision
You fucked some twins! Hell yeah!
Achievement Unlocked: Another Award for Awards
Unlocked fifty Achievements! Here's Another!
Oh... That's a hell of a bonus for twins...
Doubt I'd be lucky enough to find another set...
[-]
South Side of the Great Sererian Lake
Aboard the Merchant Ship SS Lange Afstand
Currently Sailing Northwards
"[Stop hitting on the crew!]"
"[Mah, mah, you Ur boy, what are we supposed to do? This is boring!]"
"[Perhaps find something worth doing instead of acting like it's your heat season! As much as we enjoy sex this is a bit much.]"
"[Ughh, why must Nym women be so infuriating!?]"
"[Indeed, my tribe-brother. The Kull would not let such women go about beyond our camp! Their jobs are to breed and cook what men give them!]"
"[Oiiiiiy, you Kull bastard, you wanna swim the rest of the way!?]"
"[Infuriating children. Perhaps you should follow the Mir example and learn to meditate?]"
"Stop your bickering, all of you." Across the deck of a ship several people stood about, leaned into railings or sat. All wore garb the sailors would call 'tribal' or 'savage'; not helped by the fact that all of them were Catalans and the final one was the only to speak the common tongue. "And enough with speaking tra'gul. We are to speak the common language; we are guests taking passage on this vessel. Let us be respectful of the crew who hosts us."
The others grumbled for a moment but obeyed the older man, clad in pants and a vest made of hide and decorated with feathers at the neck and waist. Sandals at his feet also boasted feathers at the ankles. He wore a headdress made of a thick fur with feathers at the sides. The man was wrinkled and showing his age, once black hair and tail fur grayed with age as he looked over the collected tribes as he gripped his crooked, wooden staff in his hand, a jagged spell stone set into it's head and decorated with two, large feathers.
"The Dinn'ur'kur (Spirit Eagle) selected your tribes and sent one across this lake; one which the Dinn'ur'khan (Spirit Dove) followed. The fifth tribe that will join the Ur, the Mir, the Kull and the Nym will be there, surely." The man said, looking them over. "As Zon'ka (Chieftain) of the Cent I am the overseer of this trial, this decade's Ungla'pul (Trial of the Hunters). Until it begins there will be no fighting among your tribes. During and after you may fight to your heart's content; not before. Those who do so shall offend the Dinn (Spirits) and will be denied the right to attempt this trial."
There was some grumbling but the collected tribes stopped their bickering; if for the moment. The Zon'ka huffed and looked from tribe to tribe; each different and with their own subculture among the savanna's assa'gul (The People). The Mir came dressed in leather clothing; covering their legs, groins and torsos in full. Only two women came with them; one healer and one who traded with the assa'enn (Outsiders from the savanna) often and had more cultural knowledge of their destination; both wearing dresses. For the most part the Mir was a standard tribe of the savanna.
The Kull, by contrast, wore leather loincloths or briefs, straps at most to cover their chests and boots but with iron guards on their forearms, shins, calves and shoulders. All of the members present were male; even their healer was a younger lad. The Kull, by contrast, was a patriarchal tribe in which the men dominated. Their female mates were expected to submit, cook, breed, pleasure their males, raise their children and little else. They were also the most notable raiders of the savanna; attacking other tribes or assa'enn for females to claim.
The Nym, in contrast, were the direct opposite of the Kull in most ways but dress; they wore skimpy clothing featuring briefs, loincloths and small tops. All the members present were female and they lived in a matriarchal system. Rather then use conquest to gain mates they used seduction and pleasure to breed, although rape of males was not unheard of. Girls birthed would be kept, males birthed would be offered to other, friendly tribes to be raised as their own.
Then there was the Ur; wearing fur trimmed clothing and often wore fabrics made by assa'enn in various styles; although usually leaning to less covering. While the Kull present were male only, the Nym were female only and the Mir were male only with females brought as support the Ur were mixed between men and women and treated each other as equals. The Ur was also, at current, the largest tribe on the savanna making them a regular sight in the Ungla'pul, decade to decade.
Then there was his own tribe, the Cent. The Cent have never taken part of the Ungla'pul as they were selected by the Dinn to act as arbiters of the assa'gul. As the only tribe to have a permanent settlement on the savanna they were given the tasks of judging and mediating problems between tribes and ensure the Ungla'pul went smoothly. Indeed; it was why he brought more people then the others; the competing tribes could bring five hunters and two others as support who would help manage their camps. Twenty members of the Cent came under his command to ensure fairness in the contest to come.
With the bickering over he moved to the bow of the ship, looking out to the north. He could feel them; the last of the Dinn'ur'kur and the Dinn'ur'khan. This wasn't the first time that the Ungla'pal had been taken outside of the savanna, nor to the lands of this 'Eostia' across the lake. However it was the first time that a Dinn'ur'kur had traveled beyond the savanna to find a tribe, to find an assa'gul beyond the savanna. Which begged the question...
Who lived in Eostia that the Dinn'ur'kur would fly to and select for the Ungla'pul?
[-]
Two days flew by like nothing else as we reloaded our things into the carriages. We were almost ready to depart as Rissa and the Twins approached me. I excused myself to speak with them, a bit away from everyone else. "We hope your time here, while brief, was enjoyable."
"Oh, it was. Your daughters were... Rather eager to make sure of that." I said politely with a nod as she smiled wider.
"Well, I would hope after all that a... connection can be formed between our houses." She said with a smile. I could almost see her hiding a smirk, but it did reach her eyes.
"I'm sure we'll have dealings down the line, Baroness Venus." I said with a slight bow. I made to turn but stopped short. "Oh, before I forget, you might want to check where you get your wine from."
"I... beg your pardon?" Rissa said, blinking in surprise.
"Ah, I should explain." I said, hiding my own smirk. "I nearly got poisoned by a rather unfriendly butler, you might have heard the story. Rather deadly one too. Came very close dying if Victor wasn't trying to flex on me. I make it a point to check everything I eat or drink for poisons after that with a spell now, make it into a habit. You know how it is. Anyway, there was a poison in the wine, if a weak one." I could see her face twitch; she tried to keep a neutral look but you could see realization hit her. "Thankfully I had a small spell that also removes such toxins and it worked on the bottle. Oh, the poison was fairly harmless. At worst I imagine it could have been used for a bad prank."
"I... I see... I'll be sure to have my stocks looked at." I could tell she was hiding a face of anger now as I nodded.
"Thank you. It was a good wine though. Might have had too much of it." I said before smiling and nodding. "Until next time." I said before finally turning to the carriages.
Before I boarded I could just barley hear her hiss out something. "You idiots!"
"It's not-"
"-our fault!"
[-]
The history of Whitewell is a bit interesting. After the First Age of Conflict and the Imperium shrinking to a fraction of it's size Whitewell was ruled by a small council of leaders called the 'Directors Council'. Slowly rules of who could become a director was made and the small kingdom was starting to rise. As you might have guessed, however, this ended upon the entry of Verlangen and the formation of the Brazen Empire.
The Directors Council was destroyed in full and in it's place was Commander Simon Ghetta who was, surprisingly, fair compared to many who followed Verlangen. While rape and oppression was still present and common he promoted a level of safety and tolerance many of his peers hadn't. This mostly followed with his son but Albert Ghetta was replaced with Eric 'the Butcher' Burnhart who was much closer to what the Brazen Emperor preferred.
After the fall of Brazen there was a brief power struggle before Peter Ghetta rose into the rulership of Whitewell. Despite of his House's connections to Verlangen he was allowed to rule in the new Kingdom of Eostia, but his son would find himself challenged often. For better or worse, however, a fire at Castle Whitewell ended up killing all members of House Ghetta; the origin of which was never discovered. In the aftermath Victor Quinguard became Acting Count until the High King could work out what to do when unexpected visitors arrived; the Exiled of the New Dawn, also known as the Pilgrims of the New Dawn; refugees from the United Elven Kingdoms.
They were a group of people who thought that the Seven Elven Kingdoms was too conservative and needed to change. By this point in history much of the technologies elves had used for thousands of years had been discovered and employed by humans and our magical knowledge was rising rapidly as well. By contrast elven innovation and improvement had ceased and nothing new had been invented or created in over a millennia. In fact stagnation was enforced by the 'Grand Council of the Seven Regal Crowns' (Often called the Regal Council by outsiders for simplicity's sake) by their policies.
The New Dawn were led by Elyon Silverglade and she requested that she and her refugees, some two thousand high elves, be allowed to settle in Eostia. Seeing a means to both solve a current issue and bring the knowledge her people brought with them into Eostia, High King Victor Rodimus decided to have them settle into Whitewell and appointed Elyon as Countess; although assigning Carl von Weiserritter as Vice-Count to help assist her until she adjusted as a ruler and fully understood Eostian laws. As one might expect House Silverglade has the fewest rulers from it's line even through they've ruled to the current day at three.
The United Elven Kingdoms have an Embassy within the borders of Whitewell, the only embassy they have in another nations in fact. Indeed this is the reason that Eostia has an embassy within the Elven Kingdoms as well as one of the few to have diplomatic relations with them, despite the distance between the nations; the Kingdoms desire to bring all of the members of the New Dawn back to their fold and often made attempts to woo them back into the 'Grand Land and Regions of the United Seven Regal Elven Kingdoms' where they 'rightfully belong'. By contrast the New Dawn often uses the Embassy as a way to try and get the United Elven Kingdoms to make actual progression in their society; although to say it moves at a snails pace is to insult the speed of snails everywhere.
That said Whitewell has the highest amount of High Elves in Eostia and is the largest refuge of both those escaping the United Elven Kingdoms and, perplexingly, from Garan. Indeed, Whitewell is also home to the largest amount of Free Dark Elves in Eostia, leading to the nickname 'The County of Elves'.
Thank goodness it's such a short nickname. I imagine the Elven Kingdoms refers to it as 'The Grand County of High Elves in That Un-Regal Human Kingdom' or some utter nonsense like that.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
While there were thicker forests as we entered Whitewell they didn't fill the region and were, in general, fairly small over all. An abundance of grasslands and flat, roads were the order of the day once more with a few, soft, shallow hills at the current part of the journey; a little under half a day from Dawnrise City. It was still early in the morning so we could be there by the evening, if we wished. I was talking it over with Celestine, Miria and Aeris in one carriage, mulling over the merits of pressing on to Dawnrise and stopping short in a town outside of it.
We were still considering our options when a knock came to our window which I reached over and opened, seeing Commander Keen on horseback, riding next to the carriage and looking in at us. "Your Highness; we've spotted something odd. A number of flying peacocks!"
"Well, that's not a common sight here..." Celestine mused with a small frown. Indeed, it wasn't a common sight in Eostia... Mostly because they were the mounts for the United Elven Kingdoms.
Known either as the Western Giant Peafowl or the Enchanted Western Peafowl both names summarized the beasts quite well. Imagine a peacock that was scaled up to the size of an ostrich. Cut the tail length in half, make the feathers on the wing resemble those on the tail a bit. Make their main feathers come in shades of blue, yellow, red and purple (Purple being the most desired of colors) and you have an idea of what it was. They originated in the lands owned by the United Elven Kingdoms, were domesticated by them and employed by them as mounts; they were strong enough to carry a man and thanks to inherent magic in their bodies, namely wind magic, they could also fly long distances while carrying a rider and at least some cargo.
I stuck my head out the window to look and, sure enough, seven of the things were overhead and off to the side; two blue, one purple, three yellow and one green. I could see a rider on each but also three riding pillion. I reported that to Celestine as I kept watch seeing them move into a modest dive before banking towards the road we were on. "I think they're here for us." Because that's just my luck, isn't it?
Indeed, they vanished from my sight as I moved to look forwards of the carriage. I wasn't able to see them land, but I could see where they would set down, roughly, ahead of us. Indeed, it was only another five minutes until we arrived to where they landed; our own convoy slowing down. I was a bit on guard as we readied to step outside; I had no idea what they wanted and the people of the United Elven Kingdom weren't known to be the most... polite of sorts. At least not to humans. Or halflings. Hell, to anyone not an elf of some stripe. And half-elves didn't count.
"Should we expect problems?" Miria asked as the convoy slowed down further before coming to a full stop.
"With the United Kingdoms; yes." Celestine said with a sigh. "The question is; will this be a mere headache or a real issue?" I opened the door and stepped outside, Celestine, Miria and Aeris following me. We let the rest of the group gather up with us and saw Commander Keen had arranged the escort in a defensive line. I thought at first that was a bit much but as I saw the Elven group I couldn't blame them.
For starters one of their number held a pole with a purple spell stone at it's top that caused a soft breeze to make the flag on it flap in it's magic. The background of the flag was a rich purple with a thick, golden outline that itself was framed by darker gold. This outline would turn ninety degrees before the corners before turning back in giving it an odd shape. In the direct corner was a gold colored square with a darker colored outline and thin, ring inside of it filled with cyan. At the inside corner was a dark gold line that shot vertically or horizontally to the other boxes, under the the other outline. The small edges of the flag that these boxes and outlines didn't cover had a thin, dark gold line along the edge.
On either side was the image of a staff; gold with a darker gold outline capped with a hexagonal ring in segments with the top segment extending upwards and downwards slightly. A cyan diamond with a dark gold outline was under this six sided ring with a matching, lone, upside down water drop shape on the elongated segment. In the center of the flag, dominating the bulk of it, was a thicker, dark gold ring filled with cyan. Inside this circle in a two-three-two pattern from top to bottom was seven, detailed gems; each with five sides with a flat top, short upper sides and longer bottom sides leading to a point. The upper gems were blue and red, the sides purple and yellow, the bottom green and orange and in the center was a pure, white gem. In short, the flag for the United Elven Kingdoms.
They wore mostly mythril armor and carried likewise spears with spell stones set under the blades. The exception was three of them; two were wearing silken mage robes. The last one in the center, by contrast, wore an armor of emerald colored dragon scale armor with a rounded, red spell stone just under the center chest. He bore a pair of mini capes coming out from under each pauldron that were a rich purple in color with a sword at his left hip; an Elven Sabre by the looks of it; I couldn't tell what it was made from. A tiara made of golden mythril sat on his forehead with an ruby red spell stone in the center of it, shaped as a tall, six sided diamond. He bore a stern, hawkish face, long pointed ears and bright, blue eyes. His hair was long, at least mid-back, blonde and well cared for.
It was the dragon scale armor the man wore was the main thing to note here; given dragons had mostly stopped existing several thousand years ago it's clearly a very rare, hard to find substance to get your hands on. It was considered an ideal material for armor and shields; bearing a strength against damage that that was higher then mythril, although not reaching the levels of orichalcum it bore a weight more comparable to wood then metal. That made it very light, durable and resistant to both physical and magical attacks. Short of mana armor or orichalcum armor with a spell stone granting it magical resistance it was the best armor you could find.
"Father?" Aeris let off as she blinked at him. Oh...
Oh...
Oooooooooooh...
This is going to go poorly, I'm sure.
(-)
Name: Folas Willowglow
Title: Regal Lord of the Emerald Throne
Class: Mage Knight
Level: 29
Alignment: Hostile
Reputation: 3
Status: Healthy, Proud, Haughty
Known Traits
[?]
[Nature's Gift] Gain 5% Mnc while outside of settlements.
[Misanthrope] You hate humans for you own reasons. You are unable to romance or be romanced by humans.
[Blast & Blade] 5% of your Str is added to magical damage. Add 5% of your Mag to physical damage
One of the Regal Lords of the Emerald Kingdom of the United Elven Kingdoms he serves the Emerald King proudly and plans to rise up to claim that throne, becoming one of the Regal Crowns himself in the future. He finds the so called 'New Dawn' to be a movement of fools and traitors and cares little for bringing them back to the fold like his peers.
(-)
"Indeed... Lord Willowglow is known to me." Celestine said with a sigh. "This is going to be curious." I made sure to be at Aeris' side as we flanked Celestine, the Templars parting enough to let us by, although Celestine only stopped only slightly ahead of their lines. "Folas Willowglow, Regal Lord of the Emerald Kingdom, welcome to Eostia. I presume you have some important business with us to bother seeking us out while on the road?"
"Lady Celestine... Your greetings are far too informal and blunt. Should you not be giving a more formal and regal greeting to-"
"In the event you haven't noticed, we are currently traveling Folas." She let off, cutting the man off as he frowned deeply. "Additionally this is Eostia; a land where formalities are nowhere near as long and complicated. Humans prefer practicality in times like these."
"You have wasted much time among the humans, Reborn Fragment of the Grand Goddess of the Light." He huffed, giving her a firm glare.
"Time well wasted, I would say." She replied without a missed beat. He started to speak but Celestine cut him off. "Also; you are barring our path with armed men while we are, as I have said, traveling. While I presume you have no hostile intent I also must insist you explain your reasons for halting us. After all, this means of addressing us is quite disrespectful and could even be considered hostile."
He took a long, drawn out sigh while giving a face. "Very well. At your insistence I shall be brief. I have chosen a groom for my daughter and need her returned to me; ending the contract of apprenticeship with Merlin Noxdecus."
[ - Author's Note - ]
Annnnnd I'll leave it here.
I had planned to press it a little further, but this seems like a good place to leave it; a neat little cliffhanger to leave you wanting. Some fun was had, some lovin' was had... And plot for the rest of the stay in Ken.
The Best Banners of Geofu Poll will stay up until the start of the next chapter. It's up on strawpoll(dot com)(slash)polls(slash)poy9RVMBpnJ and the link to it is also on Twitter with the handle eostian.
So next chapter will deal with this and maybe see a bit more of where all the Catalans are going to! Until then!
~Eostian Scribe
