Last chapter didn't exactly end on a high note, but it's always darkest before the dawn, as they say.
Wrongly, because the sky starts lightening before dawn actually occurs, but let's not let reality get in the way of a good metaphor.
Just like I don't let the idea of practical defensive gear get in the way of writing hot chicks in bikini armor.
Edit- I used a bit of a narrative skip to showcase an altered perception, but it mostly just confused people so I changed it.
I've never updated a story through the mobile app, so hopefully it works out properly.
She wished to do nothing more than run to his side, not stopping for a moment until she reached him, no matter how far distant he may have been.
Had it not been revealed by the 'announcers' of the Queen's Blade Tournament that her male student was still considered a part of the competition roster, nothing could have stopped Alleyne from doing so.
That would not be the case if he or the Vance woman had been gravely injured… at least in the period when the gaze of Heaven was still upon them.
It felt as if her chest was being crushed by an unseen pressure. An invisible clenched fist formed of her own guilt and fear.
What good was she, if she could not be there for those she loved?
What was the point of all her strength and skill, if-
A branch cracked, and Alleyne whirled, her staff returning to her hands as if it had never left.
Frozen in place with her arms behind her back, a young girl stared wide-eyed at the blunt stone point inches from her big amber eye.
With a click of Alleyne's tongue, the point of Alleyne's weapon retreated with unnecessary swiftness. As a brittle, stoic mask was hastily thrown into place, blue eyes turned sharp as they scrutinized the intruder.
Though Alleyne could tell from a glance that the girl had nudged her way into adulthood, the girl's features were still more 'cute' than 'pretty'. Her long brown hair was done up in long twintails, her figure on the thin side of slender. She had no weapons save a small knife that clearly wasn't meant to be one, and the simple dress and shoes she had on were worn from travel. Travel they were certainly not meant for.
"U-um… I'm sorry for startling you, Miss," the girl said with a shaky smile when the silence threatened to stretch, and the little monkey on her shoulder growled angrily. "B-but uum… are you… alright?"
With a harsh sigh, Alleyne relaxed her body, muttering a stilted apology. Being snuck up upon, by one who hadn't been sneaking, was one too many shocks in a single day.
As she took in the first elf she'd ever met aside from her mother, Nowa's lopsided, hesitant smile softened. It wasn't how she imagined that first meeting, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but…
There was just no way she could turn her back on someone so sad, sitting all alone.
It was all her fault.
The sight of her big sister falling out of sight, and a stranger whose face Leina didn't know running to save Claudette when her own little sister couldn't even think straight.
It was all her fault, for challenging Claudette over something so stupid.
Claudette, who had heard her scream and came running to save her, just like she always did.
There, staring down into the raging river that had devoured her sister, there, for the first time, Leina was confronted with the enormity of just how truly selfish she was. She, who had been given everything she ever wanted, granted every wish except for her most dangerous. And even the consequences of her actions were a price to be paid for by another.
What good was she, if all the love and adoration she'd been freely given resulted in this.
She didn't even know if her sister, or her companion, were alive or dead. All Leina could do was pray to the Goddess above that the young man named Yuuji could swim enough for two.
… Wait a moment…
The… Goddess?
Twisting clumsily, desperately, to her feet, Leina stumbled her way over to where the angel hovered, seemingly consumed by self-recrimination.
Almost as quickly as Leina rose, she was back on her knees.
Head pressed into the soil.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
She was getting fired for sure!
She let the first boy ever into the Queen's Blade tournament… by accident!
And she couldn't even help those two when they fell into the river… though she probably couldn't have, even if she'd reacted in time… but still! Still, wow that Yuuji guy was crazy fast!
Why'd that Yuuji guy have to have such amazing hair!?
"I'm gonna get scolded, then fired, then scolded again!" Nanael flailed in mid air. Forget scolded, she was gonna go down in Heavenly history as the first angel to get spanked by the Goddess!
"I-!"
"Your Holiness, please!"
"... Eh?"
Mismatched wings fluttering awkwardly, Nanael rotated herself in mid air to find the third human she'd forgotten about right in front of her.
… More like below her, because the human was prostrating herself for some reason.
Nanael reminded herself that prostrating was going to be the first thing she did when she got back up top-
"Please!" The young human shouted. "Can you help my sister and her friend!? Point the way for me, anything, Lady Angel please, I'm begging you!"
"Whoa whoa," 'Lady Angel' had a nice ring to it, "I can't interfere with Queen's Blade competitors! I did like… a century worth of rule-breaking in like five minutes!"
The girl lifted her head to look at her, and Nanael felt her heart sink as she caught tears stains that even the rain couldn't mask.
"C-can you… at least tell me if they're safe…?" Her voice barely made it over the gentle patter of the rain. "Please, Lady Angel… it's all my fault… please, I'm begging-"
"L-look, human," Nanael shook her head. "These are centuries-old rules, practically sacred! No wait, not even practically sacred, just sacred sacred! But… um…"
Even Nanael herself couldn't wholly deny that she had many flaws.
And of her many flaws, being heartless was not one of them.
Casting a nervous glance skyward, Nanael hovered even lower.
"Look, I can't mention specifics. I really can't! But, I am allowed to say that someone isn't considered a valid competitor unless they're in fighting shape," Nanael whispered hastily, "And I can remind you that Claudette Vance and Kazami Yuuji weren't eliminated from the qualifiers, you get me?"
Slowly, the human girl's eyes widened. They were really a pretty shade of blue, now that Nanael got a closer look, not as pretty a shade as her hair, but still pretty pretty for a human-
The human girl sat up straight, tilted her head back and began bawling her eyes out.
… In a better way than she had been a few minutes ago, maybe.
Nanael knew very well that she should be soaring straight up to Heaven to get right on top of the 'begging for forgiveness plan', but it wasn't like she could get in any more trouble at this point.
So instead, she sighed and raised her hand, creating an invisible canopy to block the rain falling on the sobbing girl's face. Be bad if the girl caught a cold, right? She'd heard her sisters saying that mortals could die from getting colds!
Even putting aside that it was an angel's job to watch over mortals, if Nanael was going to be honest with herself…
There was just no way she could turn her back on someone so sad, sitting all alone.
Though they were hemmed in between high canyon walls and fiercely rushing river, the banks of said river were not devoid of shelter.
Thus, with but a brief search, Claudette had the good fortune to find a small cave to shelter both herself, and the still unconscious Yuuji from the cold rain hammering down from above.
Lighting a fire had been something of a struggle, given that all the firewood available was predictably soaked, but Claudette had taken well to the survival lessons from Vance scouts, and brute-forced through the rest of her struggles with heat-infused mana.
Thunderclap, and Yuuji's nameless knife, had been mere paces away from where Yuuji had dragged their bodies from the river, which was dearly welcome though not entirely unexpected.
A warrior's weapon did not easily desert them.
… The same could not be said for their packs, regrettably, and there was no way of knowing if their other belongings had tumbled with them, or remained among the tree roots they'd been stowed among. At least they still had their cloaks, which would certainly be a boon, once they were dry along with the rest of their clothes.
… Which tied into the third 'challenge' Claudette had been faced with- the necessity of removing their wet clothes to allow their bodies to properly dry and warm, as well as check for injuries (of which were blessedly minor, and healing quickly).
This had naturally required her to remove Yuuji's garments as well, which had been quite the interesting- or rather complex affair, given the way the cold (and nothing else) made her fingers shake.
Truly.
And then, there she was, for the very first time clinging tightly to a man without a single stitch in between them.
… And she was doing so because it was a matter of life and death.
If that was not a depressing representation of her love life, she didn't know what was.
Honestly, though…
… Was his back made of flesh or stone? She was confident that Vance Castle contained less chiseled statues.
Pressed up against him as she was, it was the first time in memory where Claudette's considerable bosom had felt 'flat', yielding as it was to the hard contours of Yuuji's back muscles.
Hard, but warm, and far from unpleasant.
She did her best not to dwell on how her fingertips rested in the grooves and divots of exquisitely chiseled abdominals.
Did her best to keep her twitching hands as motionless as she could.
She was a general, not a tavern wench.
A general who, once again, had never laid with a man in any way shape or form, and was now… what was the term, 'spooning'(?) with an extremely attractive and extremely naked man whom she had already viewed with some level of…
No, there was no point in pursuing that line of thought.
He may have saved her life, but she could not take the kindness she did not deserve for granted.
The blame for their dire circumstances rested solely with her. All the more galling that her greatest contribution to saving their lives, thus far, was passing out when they hit the water.
She would not have been able to keep her panic at bay, and could have quite easily doomed them both.
… Hm?
Something had brushed her fingertips, something hot, and hard, whatever could that be? Furtively, cautiously, her hand conducted a careful investigation.
When Yuuji awoke to find himself playing little spoon to a warm and curvy body, he promptly began pretending that he wasn't awake.
… Last thing he wanted to do was startle someone with grip strength like Claudette when she had a hand around his morning wood.
… Come to think of it, was it morning?
And come to think of it, why did she have her hand around his dick?
A morning grope was more Echidna's speed.
… Sometimes more than groping.
Echidna held the questionable honor of being the only woman he'd ever met who could give head in her sleep.
… Speaking of head, his kind of hurt, but his thoughts and vision were clear and the dull pain was fading, so that had to count for something. Things like not having a concussion.
A cute little gasp tickled the back of his neck as his boner twitched in a curious hand, and Yuuji thanked whatever gods were listening that Claudette's instinct had been to freeze and not squeeze. It was hard to miss though, from the way she was murmuring to herself, how it almost sounded like she had no idea at all what she was touching…
… She didn't have any idea at all, did she.
… First Alleyne, then Claudette…
Was Gainos doing okay in terms of population growth?
Yuuji couldn't stop himself from tensing as the hand holding the most sensitive part of his body stiffened. The breath that had been warming his neck was conspicuously absent as a quivering hand began an awkward retreat.
"Good morning to you too, Claudette."
From behind his back, a brief noise emerged, reminiscent of steam escaping from a kettle.
With faint amusement, Yuuji sat cross-legged, taking the idle note that the 'dogeza' apparently wasn't unique to Earth. He was also a bit curious to know whether or not doing it naked was standard, but he wasn't exactly in a hurry to ask Claudette.
She might stop doing it if he distracted her.
Honestly though, he was kind of just impressed by how much boob he could see from the angle he was at, and he'd probably let her squirm enough, so…
"Apology accepted," Yuuji cut Claudette off, in the middle of the litany of apologies he'd barely paid attention to.
Claudette's wide-eyed, guilty yet hopeful look made her seem like a scolded child. Given how wildly that differed from her usual way of carrying herself, the contrast was stark.
Adorable, but stark.
Claudette lifted herself slowly into a seated position, legs pressed tightly together, one arm in her lap while the other was across her chest, emphasizing more than it concealed.
Despite her state of undress, the vulnerability made her seem younger, and paradoxically more innocent.
"You made the right call anyways," Yuuji said. "Hypothermia gets nasty fast."
"'Hypothermia'? I can't say I'm familiar with the term," Claudette tilted her head to one side.
"Losing body heat faster than your body can regain it," Yuuji summarized.
"I see, I shall remember that."
The brief distraction all too quickly resolving itself, Claudette fought the urge not to fidget.
"... Please, allow me to apologize again for… it was not my intention to…"
"Claudette."
Claudette stiffened as Yuuji spoke her name without the slightest hint of emotion, whether in his tone or his expression. Inwardly, she was berating herself for damaging his trust so thoughtlessly… if any of that trust still remained after he'd been forced to endure her 'tantrum'-
"Look, I think you're vastly overestimating how mad I would get about waking up with a hot girl playing with my dangly bits."
For several moments, the quiet crackle of the fire was the only noise.
The faint blush that had never quite made it off Claudette's face slowly grew violent, and a faint smirk spread across Yuuji's lips.
If making her too embarrassed to be depressed was the only thing that would stick, he wasn't going to feel any shame about taking advantage.
"Oh, and thanks for pulling me out of the river, by the way," Yuuji casually remarked, relenting just a little. "I owe you one."
"Hm? I did no such thing, we both would have drowned if-" Claudette's mouth snapped shut. "... Suffice to say, my debt to you is greater."
Recognizing it wasn't something to poke at, Yuuji let her words pass by with a noncommittal hum.
"We're still at the bottom of the ravine, right?" He could still see the river through the rain- couldn't exactly cover the mouth of the cave with a fire and no ventilation.
"Indeed," Claudette latched onto the change of topic. "Almost at the end of it, in fact, the river carried us quite some distance."
"Good, wasn't keen on the idea of having to climb our way out."
With a river this big, the cliff walls were probably a bit slippery, regardless of weather.
"... Yuuji, if I may," she was aware of how phenomenally ungrateful the line of questioning was, but she just could not maintain her silence on the matter any longer.
"Why did you fight… to protect Leina?" It was the most neutral phrasing she could manage.
And of all the expressions she might have expected to be greeted with in return, blatant confusion was not one of them.
"Huh? I wasn't protecting Leina."
"P-pardon me? Then-" the words caught in her throat as he looked her dead in the eyes.
"I was protecting you."
…Protecting…
"Me?"
What on earth did he mean? Protect her? From who? Surely he did not think so little of her skills that-
"... You really didn't realize how one-sided that fight was, did you?" Yuuji asked softly.
One-sided? Of course it was one-sided, she had trained since she was a girl, fought in numberless life and death battles, bested countless foes, and yet…
For the first time, the dissonance in her thoughts was laid bare by virtue of hindsight.
Even as she had felt every swing of Leina's blade as a personal offense, she had found herself in admiration.
'Ah, as expected of Leina.'
It was a stark reminder that for all she doted on her sisters as blood of her blood…
They, and not she, were the true Vance.
On some deep, intrinsic level, she was keenly aware that she was always meant to be their inferior.
And she had let that blind her, let herself be dazzled by the image of Leina Vance she held in her head, to the point that the actual Leina right in front of her had been neglected, no… not just neglected. It hadn't truly dawned on her what a danger to Leina she had been.
"... I… I very nearly… oh Leina, what have I done to you-?"
"Nothing you can't take back." Toneless words pierced through her mental disarray like a monotone dagger.
"But I!" Claudette burst out. "I wielded my sword against my own sister! I- I could have-!"
"-Didn't put a scratch on her," Yuuji indifferently cut her off once more. "Made sure of it."
Claudette was speechless.
'I was protecting you.' In an inane flight of fancy, Claudette imagined she could see that four word sentence, rebounding merrily back and forth across the inside of her thick skull. Echoing, repeating, again and again, until she could no longer deny their sound.
… Without a moment's hesitation, Yuuji had protected her from the consequences of her own actions. Bore her ire to prevent her from doing something that would have haunted her all her life.
And at the same time, even if it had not been his true aim, he had defended her dearly beloved sister as well.
Regardless, in a situation where a 'choice' needed to be made… she had been the one that Yuuji had chosen to prioritize.
The crimson on Claudette's cheeks returned with a hot vengeance, and the quietly flustered general averted her gaze, covering her burning face with both hands.
Yuuji waited for a moment, patiently, then spoke idly while turning his field of view away from his companion.
"I wonder if our clothes are dry yet?"
Woodenly, Claudette glanced downward to find a rather large and rather naked bosom, presenting itself brazenly in the dim firelight.
As a sound suspiciously like a muffled whimper filled the cave, Yuuji was reminded that he wasn't very good at being considerate.
Nowa.
The girl's name was Noah, and the chittering fluff on her shoulder was named Lou.
"Wait, a boy is in the Queen's Blade?" Nowa tilted her head. "I didn't know boys could be queens! Do you think he'd make a good queen if he wins?"
'Queen… Yuuji'?
The mental image was shockingly clear- her student seated upon a tall throne, with a crown upon his head. Expressionless, yet radiating annoyance nonetheless.
History's most reluctant queen, Kazami Yuuji-
There was a cheery sparkle in Nowa's large amber eyes as she leaned over from the side, smiling brightly.
"Wow, that was a pretty sound! And hey, that's the first time I've seen you smile," she said happily. "You must care about him a lot, huh?"
Blinking, after a moment, Alleyne gave a helpless sigh.
"Indeed, I… care about him a great deal," she admitted softly. "He is my student, after all."
"Your student? Wow!" Nowa's eyes widened in wonder. "Is that why he's so strong!? He must be, to fight in the Queen's Blade!"
"Indeed, my student is most impressive," Alleyne drew herself up with pride. "I will not lie and claim sole credit," despite what Yuuji seemed to believe, no teacher could, "but our time spent training together was endlessly rewarding, even if…"
The tips of pointed ears drooped as Alleyne sighed, the sound even more wistful than before.
"Even if the time we shared was brief, and ended all too quickly, I don't regret a moment spent."
This time, the silence left in memory's wake stung just a little less.
He would surely have no patience for her useless moping, either.
Nowa opened her mouth to speak, then twisted her head slightly to the monkey on her shoulder.
"What was that, Lou? Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I'm kind of-"
The deep growl of a ferocious beast left Nowa blushing to the tips of her pointed ears, and Alleyne surreptitiously biting her lip to muffle the fresh bout of laughter threatening to bubble free.
No one had missed that the 'lair' of that ferocious beast seemed to be the flat stomach of a slender girl, after all.
"As luck would have it, I was about to return to my home for a midday meal," Alleyne said with a merry undercurrent in her clear, steady voice. "Would the two of you care to join me?"
"I-if it's no trouble," Nowa stammered, suddenly reluctant.
"I would not make the offer if it was," came the simple reply. "Come along, now."
Alleyne turned on her heel, but stopped after a few paces when there were no sounds of her being followed.
With an eyebrow raised, she turned her head.
"U-um, n-not that I don't believe you, but…are you s-sure?" It wasn't precisely hesitance, the girl was… bracing herself. Curling inwards. "I-I mean, did you… notice?"
Awkwardly, the girl gestured to her ear.
An ear that was pointed, it was true, but gently so, more akin to a raindrop in shape. Rather than the long, almost sharp silhouette of Alleyne's ear, or that of any other elf that either had ever met.
"That you are a half-elf?" Alleyne asked, voice soft, and carefully neutral.
Nowa gave a shaky nod, Lou chirping in worry as he sat on that slender shoulder.
"I did, yes," Alleyne replied. "And, if memory serves," Nowa cringed, "being half-elven does not exempt you from the need for a decent meal, does it?"
The skittishness bled away, to be replaced by wide-eyed confusion and a glimmer of hope as Nowa slowly shook her head.
"I thought as much," Alleyne nodded. "Now, why don't we go and see if we can track one down?"
Without another word, Alleyne turned her head back forward, making her way deeper into the forest once more.
This time, bright eyes and eager footsteps followed her trail.
Alleyne was maybe just a teensy bit scary, but she was very nice, and kind, and pretty, so it balanced out.
Also, it turned out that elves from the forest really did live in trees!
Not that she didn't believe Mama, but hearing about it wasn't the same as being in one!
"It's the first time I've seen someone treat the climb to my home as such a wondrous thing," Alleyne said with a hint of a smile. Yuuji had undeniably found it interesting, but wide-eyed wonder was not his way.
"I'd never even seen trees this big before today," Nowa waved her hands in excitement in the midst of her nimble ascent. "And now I get to climb one? It's so cool!"
Lou, who was cheerfully running up the trunk in a spiral, gave a loud hoot, sending the young half-elf into a fit of giggles and confirming one of Alleyne's earlier suspicions.
"All elves can understand plants and animals, to a degree," Alleyne said mildly, just as she hopped onto the main branches supporting her hut. "But it's different for you, is it not? You converse with Lou as easily as you converse with me."
"Mhm, me and Lou talk a whole bunch!" Nowa brightly confirmed. "... That's not weird is it?"
Alleyne shook her head, smiling gently.
"Beast Speech is a rare, but greatly respected gift among our people," she explained. "A reason to hold your head up high."
And hopefully, one that would soften the demeanors of those who would look down upon Nowa for having a human parent.
"... She's the only one other than Mama who called it a 'gift'," Nowa murmured quietly.
Knowing the words hadn't been meant for her, Alleyne pretended not to hear.
And when Nowa needed to quietly gather courage to accept the invitation into her home, Alleyne pretended not to notice that, either.
Consideration would never be her strong suit, but that didn't stop her from making the effort.
A woman's heart was a fickle thing, Claudette reflected.
She was relieved that her garments had dried enough that she could recover some semblance of modesty, yet at the same time, left with the niggling sense that an opportunity had been missed.
It wasn't as if she minded if Yuuji's eyes lingered upon her body, and had found herself both honestly appreciative yet vaguely disappointed that very little lingering had occurred. He had rather bluntly declared her to be attractive, yet there was no indecency involved. An earnest statement that had been neither an outpouring of lust nor a backhanded appeal.
Claudette being a 'hot girl', as he put it, was not something Yuuji seemed to feel any need to dwell upon.
Reassuring yet vexing- whilst she did not believe she lost too badly in terms of physical appeal compared to the mercenary or the bandit, Claudette was fully aware that were it to come down to a contest of leveraging that appeal, calling herself a contestant at all was laughable.
The proof was in how Yuuji's 'appreciation' of Echidna and Risty had been a great deal more hands on.
Though, in that regard, if Yuuji wished to be a bit more… forward in demonstrating his 'appreciation' of her then Claudette would not be… opposed. For someone who seemed so determined to stack high reasons to cherish his presence, and seemed to enjoy hers well enough, Yuuji ultimately seemed to 'want' very little from her.
It was impossible for Claudette to put into words how freeing that knowledge was.
Having felt pretty refreshed after his little 'power nap', Yuuji had taken it upon himself to scout ahead up the river.
As expected, there was no safe way for them to get back up to the forest, but the water had carried them far enough that there wasn't a lot of canyon, and there was only one point that he could spot where they'd have to get their feet wet.
Problem was, they were currently on the banks of the Elysian River. The largest river in Gainos that more or less bisected the continent. And though his map had been lost with the rest of his gear, Yuuji remembered exactly what was downriver of the forest.
The Great Amaran Desert, generally shortened to Amara after the mighty kingdom that had once dominated the land. Following the river guaranteed their water supply, and from what he remembered, there was a greenbelt of sorts lining the river, but… they'd still be surrounded by desert with no gear.
It really wasn't any different from following the Nile River back on Earth… though given how that had turned out for him, Yuuji kind of wished he knew whether or not hippos existed in Gainos.
Of course, if they tried to follow the cliff faces heading north or south, it was a shorter journey, but one they'd need to do without any gear or access to fresh water, over a distance Yuuji couldn't be certain of. Maybe Claudette knew better, but otherwise, down the Elysian they went.
It took him about twenty minutes to get back to Claudette, and the scent of fish cooking on the fire. Difference was, his companion was currently leaning forward against the hilt of her sword, busy doing her best impression of a fantasy bikini model.
And it was a really, really good impression.
Violet locks billowing in the damp river wind, dappled sunlight highlighting the contours of both lush curves and sleek muscle. That same light lent a muted gleam to the armored bikini top she was wearing, while further heightening the contrast between fair skin and black thong.
But even more than that, it was the faint smile on her lips that drew his eye.
She seemed… at peace.
The weight of countless burdens left behind, even if just for a moment.
Without meaning to, Yuuji found himself slowing his steps, loath to interrupt the serenity laid out before his eyes.
…. When she did at last catch sight of him, her smile only widened.
How unfair of him.
She was wholly uncertain of why he'd felt the need to slow his stride, but did Yuuji not realize how… picturesque he looked?
Dark of hair and dark of eye. Traversing wet rock and damp earth with the indifferent grace of a wild beast, one that neither sought a challenge nor feared one.
The scars on his bare and chiseled torso only enhanced that image, and even through her haze of fascination, Claudette felt a pang of sympathy.
But most of all, what drew her gaze without fail was the faint smile upon his lips.
A lopsided expression that seemed bemused by its own existence, yet determined to exist.
Within a quiet corner of her heart, the small but earnest wish was born to be the cause of his smile, one day.
… Claudette would get her wish all too soon, though not entirely in the way she was hoping.
When Yuuji asked her how she'd acquired fish from the river, after mentioning briefly that she'd found a breakwater pool a short distance upstream, she'd chosen to demonstrate rather than further explain.
By miming thrusting the tip of Thunderclap towards the water, and letting sparks dance across the edge of the blade.
Yuuji said not a word, yet the approval in his half-smile felt audible, somehow.
It was late in the morning when they'd made their plans and set off down the riverbank.
And after about twenty minutes of walking, Yuuji led her to their most daunting challenge yet.
The last stretch of water before the canyon opened up into the green belt that lined the riverbank as it wound through the Amaran Desert.
No matter how carefully she looked, there was simply no way to avoid getting into the water.
"... Can't swim?" Yuuji asked quietly.
Claudette stiffly shook her head.
It did not matter that the water was now calm, nor that she could likely walk with naught but her chin submerged.
The limit of what she could endure without being reduced to a trembling wreck was water reaching up to shoulder height.
Claudette Vance, the mighty Lord of Thundercloud, was absolutely terrified of water too deep to comfortably stand in.
But for all she was somewhat contemplating drowning herself to escape the shame roiling within her gut, Yuuji's expression hardly seemed to change at all, despite how he'd most certainly seen through her silence.
After several minutes of silence, what he offered was neither comfort nor pity, but a solution.
"... Do you think you'll be okay not touching the ground, as long as you're not floating, either?"
"... I would… like to believe so, but in truth, I am uncertain," she couldn't even meet his eyes while replying.
"Okay, then stand up straight, eyes front, and spread your feet apart a little," Yuuji briskly instructed. "Little wider."
Puzzled but obedient, Claudette did what she was told, confusion only growing when Yuuji circled around behind her.
"Not putting on that skirt thingie of yours makes this easier," his voice came from behind her.
While Claudette was wondering just what he was doing, Yuuji was mostly wondering if a skirt with no front could still be called a skirt, and…
Violet eyes blinked several times in succession as Claudette looked down to find the back of Yuuji's head poking out from between her thighs.
The next thing she knew, her feet had left the ground entirely, her field of view rising several feet into the air as she found herself abruptly saddled atop Yuuji's shoulders.
"Y-Y-Yuuji!? What are you-"
"Try not to crush my head with your legs," So saying, Yuuji walked slowly into the water.
Claudette's muscles tensed, and her breath caught, but after a dozen strides, the water was barely lapping at her knees.
"Feeling okay up there?" A bland voice enquired.
"... Y-yes," it was… bearable.
Truthfully, the shame was present still, the reason behind it had just shifted. She was being carried by a man several years her junior like a parent carrying a child.
… Something she herself had only ever experienced because a much younger Leina had reminded their father that he'd 'almost forgotten Claudette'.
Her head was turning strange, yet there she was, in water deeper than she could stomach, feeling embarrassment and not terror, so she supposed Yuuji's gamble had paid off-
"Put your legs together a little more."
Claudette did as instructed, then belatedly and hesitantly questioned said instruction.
"My ears were getting cold," Yuuji said, without the slightest bit of shame.
Claudette's phobia was wholly forgotten in favor of gratitude… gratitude that it was entirely impossible for Yuuji to see the furious heat rising to her cheeks.
The temptation to drown herself to escape her shame would have returned with a vengeance, had Yuuji decided to mention how well he could see Claudette's reflection in the water.
Out into the Amara, Yuuji's concerns ebbed, or rather shifted somewhat.
The Elysian River was essentially hemmed in by colorful strips of desert oasis, lush and inviting to an almost suspicious degree.
It was a similar yet unique feeling to the Forest of the Elves, a glimpse of a clear but subtle sentience acting just out of sight. But if the forest felt friendly but aloof, the oasis felt like…
A mildly sketchy tourist trap.
Like all the 'attractions' were being presented a little too blatantly. The scent of ripe fruit was so thick in the air that even a blind person would have a hard time starving. Accepting that they were equally paranoid people, neither Yuuji nor Claudette dropped their guard for a moment.
But they couldn't get around the need to eat, and Yuuji was the one who volunteered. He had been trained for stuff like that, after all.
Carefully slicing away a coin-sized piece of a healthy but otherwise ordinary mango, Yuuji put a piece in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it slowly, and…
"Tastes like mango," he blandly confirmed for the benefit of his fretful companion.
With an amused huff, Claudette relaxed her shoulders.
Before long, she too was confirming that the mango tasted like mango… though in truth she had only ever tried mango once, at a feast many years back.
Though able to fill their stomachs without incident, it took more than that to make either truly relax their guard.
But there were some things you couldn't 'guard' against.
Like the erratic weather patterns that came from a temperate forest overlooking a sprawling, arid desert.
In the dead of night, the winds carried in the storm.
And with the storm came the rain, and with the rain came the flood.
Shaking his head with a trace of annoyance, Yuuji dismissed thoughts of the flood from his mind. Having to be fished out of the same river twice in as many days wasn't exactly a proud memory for him.
And the Princess would sulk if he didn't pay her enough attention.
She had been very clear that she expected her chief human servant (only human servant) to be the one to rouse her from her slumber each morning, after all.
Setra was perfectly capable of waking her up as well, and in fact had done so before Yuuji's arrival, but the Princess, in all her royal wisdom, had decreed that it was to be among Yuuji's duties for the foreseeable future.
Yuuji's working theory was that she'd chosen him because, unlike Setra, Yuuji had hands. He also wasn't a floating stick (or scepter, which Setra insisted was totally different).
Entering the royal chambers, Yuuji strolled right up to the royal bed, pulling off the royal sheets to expose the royal body.
A regal groan was muffled by a fancy pillow as the Princess stirred.
"My servant," she mumbled, "the blankets seem to have abandoned their duty."
"That so?"
"That is indeed so, have them killed for their insubordination."
"Before or after breakfast?"
"After," the Princess murmured decisively. "It would be most unfortunate if the scent of blood lingered to spoil my appetite."
"Understood."
Having said her piece, the Princess sat up in bed, stretching her hands up above her head and giving a moan of satisfaction as her back quietly popped.
As the Princess slept in the nude, this naturally meant that the perky royal bust was fully exposed to Yuuji's gaze, but he took it in stride. He'd commented on the first casual display of noble nudity, and the Princess had promptly responded with 'your gratitude is unnecessary, but I accept it nonetheless'.
Apparently modesty only applied to those with something to be modest about. Yuuji would be the first to admit that the Princess didn't fit that category, at least when it came to looks.
Flawless, lightly tanned skin that seemed to have claimed the sun's warmth for its own. Pleasantly toned but very curvy, a subtle reminder that the Princess was a warrior princess. Onyx black hair in a blunt and elegant bob cut, smoky dark kohl eyeliner framing innocent but insightful blue eyes.
Indeed, the Royal Princess Menace of Amara had nothing to be ashamed of, when it came to looks.
Now if only she had a few more subjects to appreciate that beauty. The consequences of trying to revive a kingdom that had ended 4000 years before her resurrection.
Menace didn't seem to think that was such a big deal, however. Sweating the small stuff was what servants were for.
"Menace, you're going to get fat if all you do is laze around all day."
"I am a Princess, Yuuji, I do not get fat," Menace countered primly. "It all goes straight to my bust and bottom anyways."
For that matter, while her memories of 4000 years ago were rather shaky, Menace was quite confident that none of her servants back then had been so rude. Why, half the time he didn't even address her by any of her many titles!
Yuuji was very good with his hands though, and hearing her name spoken aloud was somewhat pleasant, so she forgave him as she always did.
She was magnanimous like that.
"You are welcome, my servant," she made sure to tell him.
"Save the sleeptalking for when you're asleep, your Majesty."
She was magnanimous like that, even if her servant wasn't very good at appreciating it.
Not for the first time, Setra, who had just floated his way to the threshold of the royal chambers, was left wondering if Her Majesty's Charm had really worked properly.
It wasn't that he doubted the Sun of Amara, of course, but even the gods themselves might find they required… a bit of practice to perform their miracles, after several millennia of sabbatical.
The Charm was supposed to draw upon the target's 'innermost feelings' to increase favorability towards the caster, but weren't the people of the modern age a bit too eccentric?
The servant performed his duties with excellence, yet spoke with a tongue sharper than a viper's fang, and didn't seem to respect the Princess at all. And for the chesty prisoner in the royal dungeon, the Charm had inspired not rightful obedience, but brutish rebellion.
The ungrateful wench was just fortunate that the Princess had been too shocked by her alleged 'failure' to execute the helpless woman on the spot. It would have truly been a waste for the owner of the largest breasts Setra had ever seen to die so messily.
He hadn't even had the chance to see her in servant's attire yet. Ooh, but dancer's garb would be good too, wouldn't it? Not that the 'restraints' didn't have their own appeal, but variety was the spice of life.
"-Yuuji, after you are done feeding me, you may go and deliver your companion her meal," the Princess was saying. "But don't take too long, you need to come back and give me my massage."
"There's an odd amount of hand-feeding grown women in my life."
Menace gave him an innocently puzzled look.
"How could obeying my orders be odd?"
"I'm not gonna touch that one." The servant spoke with indifference as he carried out his appointed task, not a hint of gratitude to be found, despite having been blessed with the sacred task of clothing the Princess!
Yet, for all his irreverence, he worked with gentle hands. And despite how she would chastise him when his barbs hit their mark, the Princess seemed to find the servant's foul mouth to be a source of endless interest.
If the Princess was happy, then Setra supposed all was well and just in the world.
"Oh look, the flying party favor has arrived."
"Brat, if the Princess wasn't so fond of you, I'd-"
"Entertain me to death?"
As he fired back a retort, Setra reminded himself that the only thing good about the modern age was how the Princess had graced it with her presence.
Watching her two servants bicker, even as they went about seeing to her needs, brought a bright smile to Menace's face.
It was good to see them getting along so well.
Claudette hadn't seen the sun in a week, locked away in the depth of the desert citadel.
She hadn't seen the sun in a week, yet she'd seen Yuuji multiple times a day, as he delivered her meals and… fed her by hand.
It couldn't be helped, as her body was bound in bandages soft as linen yet stronger than steel.
The bandages were imbued with strange magics- when left to her own devices, the bandages served as a meager form of garments that only just preserved her modesty. But whenever another person entered the cell, the bandages would tug and ensnare, restraining her limbs without fail and leaving her body presented in thoroughly embarrassing poses.
When he first laid eyes upon her, Yuuji had muttered something incomprehensible about 'Egyptian-themed bondage', but had not deigned to elaborate.
… Nor make known the slightest intention of freeing her from captivity.
The sorceress must have done something to him, why else would he so patiently serve their lascivious captor? The woman had availed herself of Claudette's bosom with a curiosity that reminded her all too much of Echidna.
Perhaps if he were a lesser man, Claudette may have suspected that their captor had simply used her feminine wiles to place Yuuji under her control, but any woman with more than a passing familiarity with him would know that to be a laughable idea.
Her thoughts were interrupted in splendid fashion by a fat and juicy strawberry pressed against her lips.
Yuuji looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and Claudette acquiesced to the wordless request, opening her lips and taking a bite.
… She had well since learned that trying to have any sort of conversation was futile until she'd eaten a bit- Yuuji would shamelessly and skillfully feed her mid-syllable.
Obediently, Claudette finished the morsel before beginning her first of many attempts to get through to her ensorcelled companion.
"Yuuji, I need you to listen very closely," she began. "As the tales go, all such enchantments that ensnare the mind possess loopholes by necessity, so if you could just tell me a bit more-" her sentenced dissolved into a muffled, husky moan as she found herself biting down onto another succulent berry, sweet, tart juices spurting down her throat.
"Sorry Claudette, didn't quite catch that?" Yuuji said in his dry voice, a corner of his lips tugging faintly upwards.
Claudette furrowed her brow, glaring as she ate, but given Yuuji's smirk only became more fully formed, she suspected she had come across as more petulant than intimidating. Allegedly, she had a reputation for cold stoicism, yet she doubted Yuuji would believe it if he were to be told, given how effortlessly he coaxed her emotions forth.
No, that was not entirely true… that made her seem an unwilling party to his laconic wit.
She envied him, in many ways.
Her life had been planned out since the moment of her birth, while in contrast, even being enslaved to the whims of a desert sorceress seemed to have little effect on Yuuji's way of being.
It was a small source of vindication to witness how… sharp-tongued his obedience to their captor was, yet there was a patience there as well, a faint edge of something almost like amusement.
Why, if she didn't know any better, Claudette might have begun to wonder if he wasn't just humoring their captor-
"You know your face is gonna stick like that if you keep frowning, right?" Yuuji set about rectifying the situation by poking her lips with a strip of dried meat.
Humoring their captor… and her.
In spite of how Amara was eternal, the world continued to move and turn.
A maiden of the blade took a keen interest in their male countryman who had found himself entered in an all-female tournament… while her faithful shadow found herself more interested in the hot spring bath they were about to share.
A woman of the cloth was called upon to sacrifice for her faith, unaware of just how easily both plans and prayers could be reduced to ash as a sacred flame ran rampant.
But the first of many changes began with spilled blood and shattered bones as a mighty predator was denied its meal, left broken on the riverbank by smooth bronze hands.
Sandalled footprints in damp soil marked a clear and ominous trail.
The first warning that if a dynasty could be reborn, so too could the source of its downfall.
That last scene kind of felt like a trailer of sorts, and it kind of was, given it alludes to characters that will be relevant in the near future of this fic.
But in the meantime, Menace and Nowa get to take up a bit of the main stage.
Menace and Yuuji is going to be fun- she really, really has no idea how to deal with someone who rudely obeys her orders to the letter, but let's just say there's more than one reason she tolerates it.
Claudette's arc is just getting started, though, so expect to see much, much more of her- she keeps meeting women who shamelessly go after what (and who) they want, and she most certainly has her own thoughts about that.
Meanwhile, Nowa and Alleyne… well, they have their own struggles, but Nowa is a precious creature and Alleyne judges by merit and not birth, so they'll do alright.
The last thing I want to address is the scene with Nanael- since she's mostly going to stir the pot and get into trouble in a truly Nanael-like fashion, I felt it appropriate to show early on that she does have her good qualities.
The Goddess puts up with her for a reason, after all.
… No but really, Nanael is a comedic plot device with wings, and I will take full advantage.