Tristain, HQ formerly Mott's mansion
Aeron was in the kitchen preparing their meals when he spotted a carriage entering the courtyard. It's too soon for Mott to return, it seems we have unannounced visitors. Discarding his black apron with a yellow smiley and a 'Kill the Chef' sign he went to great them. The wizard was rather surprised when from the carriage a familiar face stepped forth.
She bowed "Good day, my name is Siesta, I was hired as a new maid for Count Mott" after taking a better look of him she started drooling...Creepy he thought. From probing her mind, he came to some interesting insight's. She was envious of mages, a hard worker, loyal, a good person...and a pervert...well if you ignore the last character trait, he actually found what he was searching for.
"Ahh miss Siesta, I'm sorry to say but Count Mott has sold his land to my master and so has no authority here anymore. But if you wish we would gladly hire you, we don't need a another maid, but we could use someone to take the position of Housekeeper if you are interested?"
Her eyes widened "H-housekeeper?! But I'm only a maid, I don't know if I can take on such responsibility. Wouldn't someone older be better suited?"
The necromancer laughed "You can always learn as you work, if I take someone younger he or she will fill the position longer then someone who we have to replace after he strains his hip." He then pulled a scroll he summoned behind his back and handed it to her "This would be your contract if you accept."
After reading the document she gaped at the sum she would be paid for her services "T-this is five times as much as I earn as a maid!"
He waited patiently as she snapped out of her daze and wrote her name on the paper.
"Excellent!" he grinned before turning to a boy standing nearby "You there, take her luggage up to the housekeepers room" he commanded to the stable boy before he turned to the carriage driver. Since the man was one of Mott's servants, he will have to be dealt with as soon as Siesta was out of sight.
XXXX
Siesta found her new quarters excellent. The only thing she was worried about was that the room next to her own belonged to the new lord of the land. That also meant that her village also now belonged to him. She hoped he was not a bad noble, the taxes were already high enough, and they could not afford to pay more with their small vineyard.
She was brought out of her thoughts by someone knocking on her door.
"Yes, come in" she said.
The hunk that greeted her when she arrived stepped in to the room.
"I'm sorry to be a bother, but could you help me in the kitchen, I could really use a hand and everybody else is already busy" he lied.
"Oh, certainly mister..." the former maid remembered that she never asked for his name...or the name of their master either.
He bowed "My name is Aeron, a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Siesta, shall we?"
"Yes" she followed him to the kitchen.
The kitchen was clean and well equipped observed Siesta, the thing that surprised her the most was that Aeron alone was making a large number of dishes. She recognized some but most were rather unfamiliar and that was impressive considering her time working in the academy.
"Pardon me, but what should I do?"
He smiled warmly "Do you know how to prepare tea?"
She nodded "What flavor?"
The necromancer taped his index finger on his chin "Hmmm, what would you recommend to serve with sweet dishes?"
Happy her opinion mattered she thought quickly "W-well usually with honey black or jasmine tea would compliment it nicely, preferably jasmine tea."
He smiled again "Excellent suggestion Siesta, would you make some please?"
She nodded "Where is the tea-ware?"
Aeron pointed to a nearby cabinet.
After finishing the tea she helped him prepare dough for the croissants. She found Aeron very amusing, not only is he a great listener, he always has some funny story to tell and being eye candy helped also.
"You know Aeron, if the head chef from the academy was here he would eat his hat from envy" she giggled.
"Ohhh, I don't know about that, I had the pleasure to observe Marteau's skills and they are nothing but first class, my only advantage is that in my travels I picked up a lot of recipes."
"Never the less the master is lucky he found such a good servant."
He had to suppress his laughter good servant indeed.
"Now that I think about it, I never learned master's name."
"Ahh, that would be Miss Vallière."
"You mean the Vallière family bought these lands?!" it was quit a shock, the duchess was already the most powerful noble in Tristain, gaining Mott's land will only anger the other noble families. Bur she was also relieved, the Vallières also had the reputation of being harsh, but just lords.
"Actually their youngest daughter bought it, her family had nothing to do with it."
Siesta was shocked "Louise?!"
"Indeed" he smiled.
She laughed sadly "A girl my age and already grasping the future in her hands, mages really are something special."
Aeron snorted "Don't sell yourself short, the world does not revolve around magic. I can tell by a glance that you are a good hardworking person, I would not be surprised if you came here expecting the worst from Mott but were ready to sacrifice yourself for the good of your family" not to mention stupid.
"H-how did you know that!" she looked surprised.
"I'm a pretty good judge of character" and a master mind reader.
Siesta smiled and bowed "Thank you, I-I really feared the worst when I came here. Your words mean a lot to me. I just wished that mages don't treat us like dirt, can you believe the things they get away with!" she proclaimed angrily.
"I can guess that they allow themselves a lot of freedom."
She nodded sadly "Before I left we got a new maid in the academy, her name was Lorelei, she went with some nobles and then disappeared, the nobles are probably covering it up to preserve their honor" she spat "Brimir knows what they have done to her" said the girl as tears formed in her eyes.
Aeron nodded "Ja, that sound like something nobles would do."
"I-I'm afraid that the same could happen to me, to my family. We are only peasants, the ones with power don't protect us and we don't have strength to do it ourselves" she was openly crying now.
"Would it help if you had magic?" he asked innocently.
"..ors i-it would help, at l-least it c-couldn't h-hurt" she sobbed.
"So do you want me to teach you magic?" a melodically feminine voice asked.
She looked up and her teary eyes widening in shock "L-Lorelei? Wha- wher.."
The white haired maid only giggled "My, Siesta and here I thought you would be happy to see me safe."
"H-how, where's Aeron?"
The maid spoke, but this time with Aeron's voice "I'm here, where else would I be?"
Her face went pale "What is going on here, who-what are you?!" she fell on her behind and crawled away into a corner.
"I'm Aeron, I'm Lorelei, I'm Thanatos, I'm Boris, I'm John Smith and many more. What I'm not is your enemy, in fact I can help you" she smiled "you wish to gain power, to have the strength to protect yourself and those you love from harm, I can give you that power" she grinned.
"Y-you're a d-demon!" she was panicking, she knew that, but she could not move, her muscles refused to obey her.
"No, not really. I'm only offering an opportunity of a life-time, an opportunity offered only once. I can teach you magic, It won't cost you anything. Accept or refuse, it's your choice. If you do accept I will be in the laboratory, you can seek me out there" and with a flash of light she/he was gone leaving a shocked Siesta behind.
XXXX
HQ-lab
Aeron was making notes when he felt a presence enter the lab. The necromancer smiled but didn't react in any way to alert the person that he already knew about her being here. A few hours passed since he left the former maid in the kitchen to think things through.
"You said you can turn me into a mage?" she asked rather sternly.
"Indeed I can, if you wish to become a mage" the wizard responded.
"Why would you do this for me?"
"I had a bet with my foolish master, she was certain commoners can't use magic, and I wish to prove her wrong, simple as that. But enough about that, you came here for magic and I wasted enough time. Normally learning magic if you are not born with it takes decades to master, but I will give you a shortcut."
"What shortcut?" she asked suspiciously.
"You are going to make a pact with a demon" he answered simply.
"...you're joking..."
"I'm undead serious."
"I would rather keep my soul thank you" she growled at the assassin.
"Don't worry, yes the usual pay is the contractor's soul, but it's not the only way. In short I will pay your price. You will become a warlock and the demon will have my services in...six battles of his own choosing, is that acceptable?"
"..Why would you go to such lengths for a simple bet?" she asked suspiciously, she had no love for mages and any promise made by one should be carefully examined.
He taped his finger on his chin "Chaos."
"What?"
"I love breaking order, and traditions, by turning you into a mage I give a rather big finger to the sorcerers of this land."
"That can't be your only reason, there must be something you gain!" she persisted.
"But it is!" he chirped happily.
After a minute of thinking over his words she finally nodded in agreement "Please proceed."
It took half an hour till he prepared the summoning circle and the binding runes in the lab. A lengthy summoning ritual and the result was instantaneous.
A burst of fire from which a huge demon rose was enough to shake up the soon to be warlock out of her sleepiness. The demon was huge, dwarfing Siesta with his size. He had a human torso with great leathery wings on his back and in its hand he carried a blade longer than any human. Its hideous face looked down until he saw Aeron and the demon...facepalmed?
"I can't believe it" the balor shook his head.
"Yo Winny how ya doin'!" Aeron proclaimed happily.
"Drop dead" the balor growled.
"Winny, I'm hurt I thought we were friends" said the necromancer with a sad face.
"I'm no friend of yours cyricist" the demon hissed, searching over the runes to spot a flaw in them.
Aeron then started to cry mock tears "And I thought you loved me, you cheater. Don't you remember that day we met on the beach? The passion we shared?"
Siesta went red in an instant, while the balor rolled his eyes.
Soon the sobs and tears were turned into laughter with Aeron clutching his belly.
"I-I'm sorry I couldn't resist" he said through laughter.
"S-so that was a joke?" asked Siesta.
The balor snorted "He wouldn't know a joke if it impaled him on a 20 foot halberd."
Aeron grinned "Remembering our first night together?"
"Pike off! I'm tired of your stupidity jester, what is the reason you called me for?"
"I wanted to talk about the good old times?" his grin widened as the demon's frustration rose.
"Which one? When you summon me into Celestia and cast a Dimensional anchor, trapping me in that place? Or, how about that quest you had to infiltrate that noble house in Cormyr? No wait, I know, how about the time you imprisoned me in the body of a cat for a decade, which one do you want to talk about?" the demon growled.
Siesta had a feeling the meeting was not going very well.
"I think my favorite was when we fought Elminster in Shadow Dale, we certainly send him packing" Aeron remembered fondly.
"Sure you do, probably because it never happened! Now I will ask you only one more time – What-do-you-want!" The balor was burning up (literally) from frustration.
Satisfied with the number of laughs he got out of the fiend Aeron decided to go down to business "Well, you see this lovely girl here would like to make a pact with you to become a warlock."
The balor snorted "And is she prepared to pay the price?"
The necromancer shook his head "Actually I will be paying the price."
The demon stared at him "Hell, to torment your soul for all eternity I would give her divinity!"
Aeron chuckled "Not my soul Winny" the balor scowled, knowing the cyricist was not that foolish "In exchange for the power I would bind myself to fight for you six times."
The demon was actually thinking it over, for all his stupid behavior Aeron Blackheart was as powerful as any balor if not more.
"I have two additional conditions."
"Let's hear them."
"First you will address me with my title Lord Winzeraxary, second you will never EVER summon me again!" The balor roared.
"Deal!" Aeron proclaimed happily.
With that the balor made the ritual pact with Siesta allowing her usage of his infernal powers.
"You will not regret this Lord Winzeraxary!" he grinned.
The balor hissed "I already do, now send me back."
With a nod and a dismissal, the demon returned to Hell in a burst of fire.
Aeron turned to the new addition to Halkeginia.
Siesta marveled at the power and knowledge she received from the pact.
"So how does it feel?"
"Its amazing!" she pointed out her fingers and a ray of pure arcane energy struck and drilled a hole in a nearby wall.
Aeron chuckled "Yes, I can imagine."
Siesta nodded her head "What did he mean by cyricist?"
"Oh that, I'm a follower of the mad god Cyric, the demons are a little mad at poor little us cyricists since the Spellplague."
"The Spellplague?"
"A cataclysm made by Cyric after he killed Mystra the goddess of magic."
"Then why would you worship him? Are you not a mage?" asked Siesta.
Actually I'm an assassin first and foremost, magic is simply a tool that makes killing easier he though to himself "It's simple, from all the gods he is the only one I respect, and he gives the most freedom. I can do whatever I want, be it killing or saving people and he will not object."
Siesta was looking over to the spot where the balor was standing "..a mad god...well it could have been worse, a god of nobility, that would be a nightmare."
He snorted "Got that right. Siamorphe, the demigod of nobility makes anybody want to vomit."
"I'm sorry that you won't be able to call the demon back" Siesta apologized to the necromancer, though more out of formality than actual regret.
"Oh don't worry, I promised I wont summon him, that doesn't mean I can't have someone else summon him for me" he snickered and the warlock sweatdroped.
"Well it's late already, shall we go introduce you to our little master?"
She nodded and followed him to the dinning area
XXXX
HQ-Louise's room
Louise lost the better part of the day examining all the magic items Aeron had collected, and after reading the books on magic theory finally understood what Aeron meant with wizard and sorcerer difference...wizards were commoners...who learned magic. She remembered that bet she had with him and had a really bad feeling in her gut. But she still had time to think, to learn magic the wizard way takes years and even century old wizards were still learning and discovering new things. As a sorceress she can copy and cast spells but that's about it, even with Aeron and Zanven teaching her, even with her experience with magic and willpower she is nothing more than a wizard apprentice in understanding magic.
She sighted and concentrated back on the scrying pool, Zanven had explained divination in detail. She was intrigued why Aeron would discard such a useful art, it's not like he had to specialize in one magic school.
Zanven looked out of the window, it was already dark outside "Louise, it's time we finish up here, you did great, not unexpected you are a bright girl" he had no illusion that with her rather large willpower and the new spells she could easily defeat him. The curious thing was that she has some affinity for destructive spells, every spell came out maximized without her knowing it. Not to mention she actually learned more spells before reaching her limit then any other sorcerer could. All in all she was a powerhouse.
"In a minute, I wish to see Cattleya before we go downstairs, Scrying" in the water the red and sweating face of her sister appeared. "Cattleya!" she cried.
"What is it Louise!" he asked worriedly.
"It's Cattleya it seems she has a fever again!" she sobbed.
"Let me see" and indeed she was on the bed red faced, sweating and moaning.
"Zanven we have to help her! Can you transport us there now?" she asked.
The elf nodded "Just give me a minu..." before he could finish the sentence, through the scyring pool they saw Cattleya push down the bed sheets that covered her, revealing her hands between her legs, her panties around her ankles. Every time her fingers moved more moans followed. She seems actually healthy to me. The elf thought.
Louise did the only thing she could...she screamed, threw the scrying pool at Zanven who caught it with his face and collapsed unconscious while the red faced girl started foaming from her mouth before running out to throw some fireballs at Aeron.
XXXX
HQ-corridor
Louise wanted to forget, she desperately wanted to forget, the last thing she wanted to do was to see her sister's less than noble side. So when she saw Aeron carrying a teapot she rushed in and jump kicked him in the back of his head sending him face first into the floor. Since she was still not satisfied she took the opportunity to stomp on him some more.
"M-Miss Vallièrer, what are you doing!" Siesta gasped.
"Zanven! Pool! Sister! Garghhhh!"
"I-I don't understand."
Aeron managed to pull his face from the floor "Louise, if you don't like jasmine tea you don't have to beat me up over it" but as soon as he finished his sentence another kick to the head made him kiss the floor again.
"S-Shut up! I just had the shock of my life and you are thinking about tea!" she screamed.
"W-what happened?" Siesta asked.
"She saw her sister pleasure herself" came a melodious voice from behind them.
Siesta could not believe it, a man even more handsome than Aeron...and she was in the same house as them...she could already imagine some of the chapters of her favorite books happening to here in this place.
Louise, Zanven and even Aeron who managed to crawl away under Louise backed away from the drooling maid with the far away look.
"If she comes this way...run" Aeron whispered to the two who promptly nodded.
Luckily Siesta snapped out of her fantasies and accompanied the rest of the group to the parlor, where they enjoyed some snacks and tea while discussing matters of great importance.
"Certainly NOT!" shouted Zanven.
"Bah! What would an elf know of such things!" scoffed Aeron.
"I think you're both wrong" mentioned Siesta thoughtfully.
Louise could only gritte her teeth in frustration at her company, she hoped for too much from them if she thought they would provide some advice "Enough! I did not ask you lot on your opinions on my sister's panties!" she yelled.
Aeron crossed his arms "Pink panties...just the color makes me want to gag" he complained.
Zanven shot him a glare "What's wrong with pink! It's a wonderfully cheerful color, one often reminding people of flowers, and their sweet fragrance."
"...more like fish in this case..." the necromancer growled.
Louise gave him a killer look but held her tongue.
"I think she would probably look good in black laced underwear" interjected Siesta as she started drooling...again.
Louise buried her face in her knees, there was no reasoning with them.
"Personally I don't know what's the big deal Louise. Your sister has needs as any normal person, masturbating is as normal as eating. I'm guessing that she's even desperate for intimate human contact that she can't get because your parents would castrate any man who even looks at her the wrong way" Aeron commented.
"Naturally they would! There is nobody who's worthy enough to be with sis!"
"Soooo, you would rather she remains innocent and unhappy?" asked the elf.
"I always knew you nobles are closet perverts, it's all because you have the need to hide your true desires and lead such stressful lives. Masturbation is a great stress reliever you know" chirped Siesta happily.
Louise shot her a dirty look "And who are you again?"
"This is Siesta, she is the newest part of our little happy family. She will take over the position of housekeeper, not to mention a commoner who thanks to me can now use magic" Aeron finished with a smirk.
Louise blinked, she remembered the maid from the academy, and she worked there as a commoner for at least a year "But-but that's impossible!"
Siesta smirked and let her hands be engulfed with flames that quickly shot fort to incinerated a chair leaving only dust on the blackened marble floor. She knew that Aeron wont give a damn for the furniture.
"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." smirked Aeron.
Louise hung her head in defeat "Very well you win the bet, what do you want."
Aeron laughed "I already got what I want" he then pulled a copy of the contract and tossed it to the pink haired girl. She picked it up and with every sentence read she paled a bit more until she resembled the paper she was holding "M-my soul."
Zanven looked at the necromancer aghast "A magic contract?!"
"Yup" the wizard proclaimed proudly.
The paper fell from her shaking hands, she learned about magic contracts in one of Aeron's books "S-so it's over, I gave away my soul on a stupid bet."
"Well, I did try to warn you to read the bloody thing first" he commented seriously.
"What made you use it now? You never resorted to this before" asked Zanven, he was obviously not happy with what Aeron did.
"It's something of a punishment. I dislike stupidity, not taking into account that commoners can use magic, ridiculing my abilities to teach magic, not being bothered to read a bloody piece of paper because it's too long. Louise when people rub me the wrong way things like this happen."
She looked down on the floor dejectedly "So what now, I'm already finished if this contract is correct."
"It is true that I have your soul, but that does not mean I can't give it back to you" he smiled deviously.
She eyed him warily but with hope "What do I have to do?"
"I meddled too much in your life as it is, so I will step back to watch from the sidelines. You have allies in Zanven and Siesta here so you don't have to do everything alone. If I judge that you have grown in wisdom as well as power, then I will return your soul no strings attached. If on the other hand you die or remain passive and don't do anything relevant with your power your soul will remain in my possession. Personally I will only make you an army since you are not a necromancer" he answered in all seriousness.
Silence dragged on since Aeron finished his speech.
Zanven and Siesta both thought the same thing, ONLY an army?
Louise rose up from her couch and went to leave "I'm going to bed" but as soon as she opened the door she did something unsuspected, she laughed "I promise you Aeron, in the future everybody will know my name, and when I'm at my strongest I will kick your ass and take my soul back" with that she left the room.
Aeron had a positively big cheshire smile on his face "I will be waiting Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière" and the breaking game continues with that he melted into his own shadow leaving a surprised Siesta and a facepalming Zanven behind.
"M-more tea Mister Zanven?" she asked after gathering her wits.
After thinking for a minute he came to a decision "Do you perhaps have anything stronger?"
HQ-Louise's room
This was probably the worst day of her life, but what surprised her was that she didn't despair. Yes, the bastard has her soul in his hand, but she also has the means to take it back. She had a purpose in life beyond gaining attention and respect of the people around her, she will gain her soul back and beat the life out of that manipulative bastard. With that thought she went to bed, but as hard as she tried sleep eluded her. Slowly her hand edged lower, and lower until they reached a sensitive spot, imagining Cattleya she started slowly to move her fingers touching the sensitive area. Feeling her panties starting to get moist she quickly removed them. Lying on her belly she let her fingers slide deeper into her, rubbing her insides she started to pant and moan. Every touch made her body twitch, every twitch made her mind go a little more blank, letting the bed soak in all the fluids that gushed out of her. It was a sensation she never knew before...and though reluctant to admit it, she could understand why her sister was doing it.
It took some time, but when she finally climaxed, exhaustion took her and she fell asleep.
XXX
Aeron watched the sleeping girl with no small amount of amusement. Seems my false scrying did the trick thought the necromancer as he gazed down on the sleeping figure. The girl acted more than a bit prudish but in reality she was desperate for love and even physical contact, a sad side effect of having been left in the care of servants while being ignored by her parents. The only reason she didn't develop more serious personality disorders was thanks to her older sister who provided the love and kindness she didn't receive from others...and the Academy certainly didn't improve her state of mind.
Frail as glass...though the assassin but with the potential to become glassteel if broken and remade correctly.
Like always Louise was nude since she felt better sleeping that way, nothing new there. What was new was the stench usually associated with more...intimate matters.
The wizard chuckled as he brushed her hair away from her face, his fingers gliding over her cheeks, then her lips before going to the tip of her nose.
Such a innocent little girl...mused the wizard with his omnipresent grin...then he let the electricity flow through his fingers.
Oh how she screamed...
"Good morning!" said the necromancer jovially as Louise fell out of her bed.
The electricity made every strand of her pink hair stand on end... if her hairdo was a mess before, now it was absolutely comical.
Regrettably for him Louise didn't find his shenanigans very funny, so as she glared at the pain in the rear her hand grabbed the old wand near the nigh table and blasted his face with a explosion.
...it took him a minute after that to regenerate his eyeballs.
"Can't you wake me up like any normal person!" growled the girl as she used a Prestidigitation spell to fix her appearance.
Aeron only raise a eyebrow at that.
Yeaaa, calling Aeron a normal person is wrong on so many levels though the pinkette as she made her way to the bathroom "I'm going to take a bath and I don't want to see you until breakfast is that understood!"
"Yes master" grinned the wizard "though we could discus a somewhat important topic now."
Louise sighed, she really didn't want to deal with him so early in the morning but she could at least hear him out "Make it short."
"It's about your love life."
"And I'm out" she said before going into the bathroom, leaving the assassin behind in her bedroom.
Well, she will have to address the issue sooner or later mused the necromancer as he left for the kitchen, hope she likes the new shower head I installed thought the grinning assassin. Apparently the way it spray's water is pure ecstasy...or at least the woman using them said so.
The breakfast was already done and waiting so he didn't need to rush. Aeron pushed his hand in front of himself, the appendage distorted the air, or rather the fabric of the universe and opened a hole to his little pocket plane where he threw things that could be interesting but weren't that essential. In this case he pulled a book from the place, the hole closing under the force of his pure will.
The necromancer started to go through the pages looking for something interesting. The tome was the payment he requested for one of his assassinations – a cookbook. Khusrau was a well traveled rakshasa darshaka serving a powerful raja, and through his travels he sampled meals from many different cultures spanning the multiverse. The outsider then compiled his findings into a magic book so that it would not only endure the wheel of time but also offer the reader an illusion how the food smelled and tasted.
So far Louise was very pleased with the few dishes he knew how to make like banjari gosht, biryani and bisi bele bhath. But it was time to try out something new...
"Hmmm shepherd's pie..." mused Aeron as he went through the recipe, though it was a bit different from the one he was familiar with.
After reading the ingredients he frowned "...where am I supposed to get a fresh shepherd at this hour?"
The wizard stopped and turned a few more pages Perhaps I should consider making one of those unicorn steaks instead.
The thing would be a bit too muscular though, he would need to marinade the meat and that would take some time.
It could probably be done with magic a lot quicker but he'll be damned before he starts wasting spells on such trivia.
"Marinade it is then..." mused the necromancer.
XXX
It took some time until Louise was ready to join the others in the dinning area, mostly because she found out another function for the shower head...the way it sprayed water was even better than doing it by hand.
Louise sat down at the table and pulled her chair closer, she immediately went for the fried egg on the toast. It was nothing special, but that was all she needed for breakfast.
"So what are we going to do today?" she asked her two 'mentors' before drinking her orange juice.
"First we will have combat practices" said the necromancer as he stood up from the table "after that we should really decide what spells you should focus on. So far you have been doing a little of everything to get more familiar with arcane magic but a choice has to be made unless you wish to end up as Zanven."
The bard turned to the wizard "What is that supposed to mean?"
"That you are all over the place with your skills and spells, that's what."
"Look who's talking" scoffed the elf.
"Well unlike a wizard all three of you are a bit more limited in what you can and cannot do. Don't get me wrong, warlocks, bards and sorcerers are capable but you have to be extra careful what you focus on. A wizard has the luxury of learning all kinds of spell, even if they are not that useful or are useful depending on the circumstances, but you don't have that luxury."
Louise and Siesta nodded their heads in understanding, while Zanven continue to glare at the shadovar. The bard knew that his selection of predominantly enchantment based spells as well as his rapier were very poorly suited for combating certain enemies, like the undead and constructs but that didn't make him a poster boy for failure.
"And what would you suggest?" asked the pink haired girl "what spells would be the best for me?"
"We discussed that topic in private, making sure to see how every spell would fit your abilities for maximum effect." said Zanven "Normally we would have both said conjuration or transmutation, with the second being a better option out of the two...but - "
" - but your ability to maximize spells without any difficulty or increased willpower consumption makes this a factor predominantly favorable for evocation" finished the wizard.
"What's wrong with evocation?" asked Louise "if those spells suit me the best I should focus on mastering them."
"Too limited" replied the necromancer "with conjuration you can summon things that can be useful in any situation. Transmutation allows much of the same, but evocation...it's only good for blowing people up and nothing else. Normally I only bring wands with evocation spells since it's more than enough in any situation."
"Isn't necromancy also limited?" asked Siesta.
"Not really" replied the shadovar "Like a conjurer I can summon creatures, though only undead via necromancy. But any undead summoned by a necromancer will be far stronger than an undead summoned by a conjurer. Our summons also aren't as prone to turning on us as the conjurers demons are. We are very good at preserving our lives with the Clone spell as well as having a path to lichdom. And on top of that we have a nice selection of curses and instant kill spells. If all else fails I can kill an evocer or a conjurer, reanimate his corpse and use him as a puppet to fight for me...hells, I can have an army full of them."
Louise crossed her arms "I don't fancy myself a necromancer."
"Oh good, because sorcerers make very poor necromancers" smiled Aeron "but it's time we do some actual training. Ready?"
Louise felt a shiver run down her spine "No?..." she answered meekly, but resigned herself for one more day of pain.
Tristain, Academy of Magic, two days later.
Life in the academy quickly returned to normal after the capture of the infamous Foquet, though the stories about ghosts and elves were still used to frighten the first year students. Nobody doubted that it would most likely become a common thing for a very long time...new students will come to study magic every year, and it would be a terrible shame if their seniors didn't try to frighten them out of their skin.
But for now the nobles entertained themselves with mingling in the courtyard, and enjoying their daily parfait.
Amongst them was also a pink haired girl.
Louise relaxed in her chair and spend her time observing how her classmates interacted, a big parfait in front of her.
But unlike the previous days, this Louise was the original one.
After listening to Aeron and Zanven drone on too many time about the workings of arcane magic her mind came grinding to a halt. She considered herself a very smart young woman, with only Tabitha getting better grades in all written exams, but even she could hardly keep up with those two...
Sure they made the stuff easy to understand but she felt her concentration slipping more and more...the tempo Aeron wanted to keep was simply something she wasn't used to.
It was no different regarding her physical or as the necromancer called it combat exercises. Having suffered through one too many of Aeron's tort- ehem, training sessions she decided that she deserved some rest...and that was the academy.
So here she was, enjoying her dessert while listening to the voices that weren't talking about arcane theory...it was very relaxing.
Her clone was temporarily send to Mott's place so she could practice her conjuration spells in the necromancers laboratory. It was the only place that was safe enough to attempt such magic, so it worked out well for her.
In any case, as long as she had her day off she was okay with it.
Not far away from her Aeron and Zanven, back in their animal forms were going through a spellbook of some kind...she didn't understand much of what they were saying but as long as they didn't bother her too much she was okay with that as well.
She lazily took a great spoonful of the heavenly parfait and allowed it to dissolve on her tongue...oh, yes life was good...
That is until she felt something big and soft land on her head...she had experienced it more than once during her stay in the academy so she was familiar with the culprit.
"Get you udders of my head!" hissed the pinkette.
"My, how uncouth" came the irritating voice of the red haired nuisance as she lifted her over sized breasts. Louise really didn't want to see her today...well, that wouldn't be completely true. Kirche was actually the only student she ever talked to...and now that she wasn't a zero anymore the feeling of inferiority wasn't there.
Well...there was one area that still stung, but that wasn't that important...
The red haired girl smirked as she stared down on the petite girl "How rare to see you outside Louise, the last few days you barely left your room...almost made me wonder if you found that special someone."
Louise was about to reply when Kirche continued.
"Not that you would have much to offer, but some like them small."
Aeron and Zanven stopped their examination of the spellbook and focused their attention on the the bickering girls, who were currently trading insults over the size of their mamaries.
Suddenly something bit down on Aeron's tail and dragged him off the table...naturally Zanven acted if he didn't see a thing.
"Is there something I can help you with?" asked the necromancer even as he was hanging upside down, his tail being chewed upon by Kirche's 'salamander'...ugh, even thinking of this thing as a salamander gave him a headache.
The overgrown lizard didn't reply and calmly continued to eat the wizard. With every bite intense pain raced through the necromancer's body...Aeron had to stop himself from actually moaning from the sensation, there was hardly anything more pleasurable as having ones flesh torn and devoured.
But alas, he still had work to do.
Before Flame could even make a sound the snake he was munching on wrapped itself around his snout...then surprisingly the morsel started to grow bigger.
He tried to claw the thing off of him but the serpent wasn't that easy to get rid off, it soon coiled itself around his body and constricted his legs.
Flame watched helplessly as the supposed lunch dragged him under the table and looked into his eyes.
The salamander tried to open his mouth and burn the snake, but failed...then the serpents mouth opened and the lower jaw stretched.
Flame's struggle against the snake intensified but failed to achieve anything. The unfortunate animal watched as its head was engulfed by the serpent's mouth.
Aeron took his time as he devoured the lizard whole, it wont take long until the thing uses up all its remaining oxygen and dies. Digesting it will be a bother but oh well...at least it wasn't a knight, the last one gave him indigestion from all the armor for at least a week.
This went completely unnoticed by the two girls, who switched subjects from breasts to grades...or to be more precise how Louise went from a completely inept mage to someone who succeeded in every spell without making any mistakes...especially the explosive kind.
Louise smirked "Jealous?"
"Hardly" responded the red haired girl "I was only wondering who you are and what did you do with the real Louise."
Now that would be a good question if she asked it some other day, when her clone was here for example mused Zanven.
"I am the real Louise" deadpanned the pinkette, missing that the words were said in jest.
"It seems your sense of humor is as flat as your feminine charms" responded the red haired girl as she took her wand and directed it at the flaming tail that was trashing all over the place.
With a short incantation her familiar was pulled into the air.
The salamander blinked a few times when the darkness was replaced with the welcomed sunlight, his lunges greedily inhaling the fresh air...he was too close to losing consciousness for his liking.
"Now be nice Flame, we don't want to cause any fires" she playfully chided her familiar. It nodded dumbly, Aeron's saliva dripping down its head. The realization that he was almost eaten having to still sink in.
The necromancer also slithered back on to the table, though now in his normal small size.
"Problems?" inquired Zanven as he saw that the snakes lower jaw was ripped apart...not too surprising considering how forcefully Kirche's levitation spell pulled the lizard out of his stomach.
"No, did I miss something?" asked the necromancer telepathically as his body regenerated.
"Much, nothing interesting though" replied the bard "they simply traded a few uninspiring insults and compared their grades, the usual."
"Ah...I was hoping at least for some witty remarks or a good debate" said the shapeshifted wizard.
Little did he know that his wish was heard.
Kirche's gaze went from Louise until it landed on the table "So what are you doing?" asked the Germanian as she lifted the book the shapeshifted duo was reading.
"Nothing you would understand Zerbs."
"Hmmm...what kind of writing is this?" frowned the Germanian as she examined the unfamiliar runes. Too bad for her, without knowing elvish she wasn't reading the text.
"Is this some sort of code? Trying to keep the secret of your sudden success hidden or something?"
Louise smirked and snatched the book out of her hands "Like I would tell you."
"Spoilsport."
"Don't you have anything better to do?" grumbled the pinkette as she returned the book back on the table.
"Not really" said Kirche "I just had the most amazing creampie ever, so now I'm feeling a bit sluggish. Not that you would know."
Louise glared at her "What's that supposed to mean? For your information I had plenty of cream pies."
Hook, line and sinker...thought Kirche and took a spoonful of the parfait that Louise was eating "Even if you did, I doubt it was as good as the one I had."
"Hey! That's mine!"
Kirche only smiled as she licked the spoon clean and returned it to her enraged rival, she then looked down to her familiar "Come Flame, let's see what Tabitha's doing."
"Hey! Don't ignore me!"
Kirche blinked "What? Do you wish that we continue or discussion?"
"Of course not!"
"Oh well, see you later then."
"..."
"She played you like a fidel" commented Aeron.
Louise shifted her glare from Kirche to Aeron "...shut up" she then started to chew on her lower lip "Aeron do you know how to make a good cream pie?"
"...yes" the snake answered in an even voice.
"Then make me a cream pie, the best one you can" she growled "ill show her!"
"Do you want to explain it to her or should I?" thought Zanven, allowing Aeron to telepathically read his question.
"Nah, too easy" answered the necromancer as he contemplated how to squeeze the most fun out of this situation.
"As you wish master" said the wizard as he slithered towards the rarely visited part of the academy...the library.
Louise was perplexed why her familiar was leading her there of all places but she followed him anyway.
As expected nobody was in the library at the moment, even Tabitha, the biggest bookworm of the academy prefer to read the books in her room.
Once they were safely lost in the maze of bookshelves Aeron and Zanven shed their disguises. The necromancer then pulled out a small black figurine from his bag and whispered the trigger word.
In front of the trio a shimmering door opened.
"What's that?" asked the pink haired girl.
"It's an item that allows me to use the spell Mage's Magnificent Manor three times a day" said the necromancer as he entered through the ethereal door.
"It's a spell that allows the user to conjure a extradimensional mansion, it's very useful when going on adventures, especially if the environment is hostile" explained the bard as he followed behind Aeron.
Thanks to the lessons in arcane theory she received from the two Louise managed to understand what the elf said, but she also understood that she won't be making her own extradimensional mansions any time soon.
With a few steps she found herself in a beautiful foyer, but she didn't have much time to admire her surroundings seeing how both Aeron and Zanven went on ahead and forced her to catch up with them.
As they walked past the large dining area, she noticed that there were servants waiting for them and the table was already set for a meal...though she wasn't very hungry, the smell of the food still made her salivate.
Is he going to make the pie in here or will he let those servants do it? wondered the girl as she followed the duo up the staircase and right into a grand bedroom.
Louise frowned, she though they were going to the kitchen but it seemed like Aeron wouldn't be doing the pie himself "What are we doing here? do we have to get dressed for the feast?"
"No, no nothing like that" the necromancer said as he pulled a scroll from his bag.
Suddenly with a flash of light a dozen naked men appeared, humans, elves and more.
Louise went red in an instant "W-what are you doing?!" she screamed making Zanven wince and place his hands on his aching ears. Elves had very sensitive hearing, and though it's mostly an asset it still had its obvious drawbacks...like sensitivity to sonic damage. The necromancer himself loved to use noise to disable agility and speed oriented enemies by attacking the inner ear.
Aeron shrugged "Summon Harem spell, I'm sure one of them can make a good creampie."
"W-what? Cream pie? W-what in Brimir's name is going on here?!" stuttered Louise as she held her hands in front of her face...though both Zanven and Aeron noticed when her fingers parted a bit so she could still see the naked men.
Zanven sighed, humans are such awkward creatures "Well you see a creampie is..."
After the elven bard explained the situation, Louise started to shout in outrage at being tricked by the Zerbst skank. In her fury she lashed out and exploded Aeron's face with a spell before she finally cooled down.
"T-that" growled Louise as she stomped her foot on the ground "when I get my hands on that cow!"
"Actually you rushed into this yourself" said Aeron.
"You should have told me!"
"And where would be the fun in that?" laughed the wizard "but it isn't such a bad idea."
"What isn't such a bad idea?" asked the girl.
"Having some intercourse lessons. Conflict is a constant through human history" began the necromancer "wars have been fought on both large or small scale almost none stop, and it is only a matter of time before you are entangled in one. One aspect of war that is usually glossed over is the problem of rape."
She blinked once...then twice "Rape?"
The assassin nodded "The history of war is practically a history of rape, since I believe that you will be participating in any military conflict related to Tristain it would be wise to get yourself better informed about such things."
"You are worried that someone would violate me?" asked the flustered girl. Of course, it was only natural that men would find it difficult to contain themselves when confronted with her beauty but she was a mage, she won't lose to some filthy dog that thinks to dominate her.
"I don't really get worried. It's simply an aspect of combat you should not ignore" was his reply "rape is a subject many wish to keep away from their minds as much as possible, but that doesn't make it any less of a problem. Especially if it happened to someone who has no experience with intercourse like yourself."
Now that hit a nerve...
"W-What's that superposed to mean?"
"That means that you are a seventeen year old virgin who wants to fight wars from the front line. Usually that is a recipe for disaster that more often than not comes faster than one could anticipate it."
Louise wasn't happy with the way this discussion was progressing "And?..."
"You should get some experience with intercourse" was his bland reply "better to have someone professional do it gently under your terms, than a bunch of enemies on their terms."
"..." the girl stared at the wizard as if he went insane...even if he was actually insane. She didn't really know how to react to this...she was not only embarrassed but also angry that he meddled in her life this much.
"How dare you say such a thing! To – to suggest that I throw away my purity for such a stupid reason! For Brimir sake I'm engaged!"
Aeron shrugged "I'm advocating pragmatism here. Personally I don't care if you are a virgin or not. To me you are simply a thing like any other living organism...or spork. You eat, drink, defecate and with time you will also mate and reproduce. Humanity likes to present intercourse as something special but it's only another function of your body no different from digesting organic matter inside your stomach. There is nothing sacred or special in sex, the whole idea of chastity is made by society where males want to be sure that they don't get 'used' goods."
Louise opened her mouth to object but stopped...she wasn't the most popular girl in class but she still heard things. When Kirche wasn't in the classroom or anywhere nearby both girls and boys would call her all kinds of names, with loose woman being the kindest. Even the boys who took part in her nightly activities joined the bandwagon, boasting how she was simply practice.
But when Guiche courted and bedded a bunch of first years he was a male roll model...
"B-be that as it may I won't sink so low!" she growled.
"In the end it's your choice" he then pulled two rings out of his bag "here take these."
The pink haired girl took the two items and looked quizzically over them "What are they?"
"One is a Ring of Regeneration" answered the necromancer "If that patch of tissue really means so much to you, this ring will make sure it is restored no matter how much it is damaged. Not that its that important, many young girls break their hymens while horse riding, it's really no big deal."
"It is a big deal, it's proof of purity!" she growled.
Aeron snorted "Proof? If you can't trust your lover then what's the whole point of it all? If someone truly loved you he wouldn't be bothered with such trivia like who was your lover before."
Louise sighed Aeron was right, but like always his worldview was so radically different from her own that it wasn't easy to accept it. Perhaps he could function outside the boundaries of society but she could not "I'm sorry Aeron, but I don't think I can do this..."
"Nobody is forcing you to do anything" he answered "do things you feel most comfortable with. Virgin or not it's irrelevant as long as you feel good with yourself."
Louise nodded "And the second ring?"
"That's a Ring of Gender. Whoever wears this ring will find his gender switched into the opposite. For example if Zanven took the ring he would now be male."
"Oh ho ho how funny" grumbled the elf "aren't you a comedian."
Louise watched as the two started to bicker amongst themselves, trading insults and what not. Well it wasn't her concern, as long as they don't kill each other it was fine.
Leaving the two behind she went out for a walk, she really needed to clear her mind.