Eostia: Harem Quest

by EostianScribe

The Gods have given mortals the power of The Gamer as a pass time. A hobby. A means to compete and relax. One goddess, however, sees it as a means of salvation; starting with one world. As such, she rolls the dice... (Harem, Citrus and Eventual Dark Content Warning)

12. Act I-Ch VII: Maid to Love

[ - Author's Note - ]

Okay, proper chapter now! That said, the interlude chapter was better received then I thought it would be, and I'm already thinking of ones I can do for Sora and Miria. Thanks to everyone for the support so far. I'm hoping I can have more people enjoy the story. Once I post this I'll officially end the polls and... Well, I'm surprised on both cases.

One the Gods poll I imagined Anncastel and Benterra would be at the top but so far Benterra, Carlongera and Debcorra all have one vote a piece... And Anncastel has fourteen!

I... didn't think it's be so one sided. Not like this anyway.

For the kinks poll, well that had some surprises for me too. For the kinks poll from the bottom up we have...

Hotdogging and Gangbang at two votes each for 4.44%. I thought gangbangs would be higher up given that this is, well, Kuroinu. Maybe people want something else then?

Trap is at five votes for 11.11% of the total. Honestly, I expected Traps to be at the very bottom. Maybe we're all only 99% straight?

At fourth place is Public/Stealth Sex at six votes or 13.33% of the total. I sort of expected this to be in the middle or a bit higher up.

Tied at second place with nine votes each, with 20% even of the vote is Bondage/BDSM and Femdom. BDSM is one I did expect to be at the top but not Femdom. I thought it would be lower down because of what series this was set in, but hey, maybe it's for the same reason gangbangs is at the bottom?

And at number one, winning the poll with twelve votes at 26.67% total is... Boobjobs! ...

We just all love tits, huh? Let me know what you think of the poll results in the comments.

On a more serious note, this is the longest chapter written so far at over twenty two thousand words. Yeeeeeeeesh, I didn't expect it to balloon up so much to fit in all I wanted. Took awhile to write to. Not helped by the time sink that is Final Fantasy Fourteen.

I am glad I cut off the opening Riri bit and made it an interlude! Anyway, enough of that.

James Noxdecus.

Sir John Mandeville.

Final Round!

FIGHT!

[ - Act I - Chapter VII: Maid to Love - ]

Sir John Mandeville's Room,
Watchmen's Rest Inn and Tavern

John Mandeville sipped at his tea as he sat before the table in his inn room with Wesland was sitting on his bed once more, simply shivering and watching him and the guards. In one of his hands was a book covered in red leather; the letters on the book identifying it as 'The Knight, The Bandit and the Slave', a newer story written in his home country. His favorite novel was called The Chained Elf and he was told that this book had similar themes to it. As it turned out, that was correct but it from a different perspective. It was fascinating to him. He turned the page, having another sip of his drink, enjoying the early evening as the sun started to lower over the horizon.

With Blackjack out in the field he was lacking chess opponents. His guard captain had come over to The Watchman's Rest to check on the men there, but he preferred some eastern 'Shogi' game to Chess, Wesland couldn't bring himself to move a piece when playing against him, Brendon would try and cheat and the other men cared little for chess. It was annoying, but that was life some of the time. It just meant he had some time to enjoy a good book.

The illustrations were also very pleasant to look at as well.

The story was supposed to take place during the The Xenera/Hopkins Trial War where the first county absorbed the other; one of the slave states of Eostia imposing itself and it's proper laws on the lands of the second, forming one, larger slave province. Pity then that they abolished slavery some two hundred years later...

He snorted in irritation at the thought. High Queen Celestine was an advocate of ending slavery across her land, and while the Aegis Accords kept her from doing so directly she had a few indirect means at her disposal. The slightly higher taxes in slave provinces, the subtle pushes she made directing foreign trade towards abolitionist provinces, funding writers and artists and their so called depictions of the 'horrors of slavery'.

'Fools.' The old man thought to himself, sipping his tea once more. 'Someone needs to impose a real rule over this Kingdom.'

He took a moment to think. Would it be possible to push Elddale into a Casus Belli to have a Trial By War with Mungale? He was sure his friend, the Count Blitzhaus, would be more then willing to engage in such. Elddale was more powerful by far then Mungale. House Blitzhaus held no love for House Noxdecus and coveted their lands. If anything, it served to benefit everyone for Elddale to absorb Mungale or turn it to a slave state.

A Trial By War was a very rare occurance in Eostia. In it's some odd two thousand odd year history a Trial By War had only happened five times. Just five. He wasn't fully aware of how the precedent came to be, but as he understood it they only came about when two lords could not, by any other means, settle their differences and one had enough proof of damage, disruption or undermining of one side to the other. The seven great kingdoms of Eostia were unable to be challenged in such a manner, and in fact would oversee these Trial By Wars to ensure the rules were followed.

He frowned deeper. Of course that would require the other party to accept the challenge. Without a significant enough grievance there was no way to force the matter. Still he'd have to note when a chance came up. He decided to keep reading instead. He was truly enjoying the book; it was some three hundred pages but he'd read half of it the other day!

"Sir..." His sentry at the window spoke up, looking back at him. "Brendon is riding back into town. And he's riding his horse hard."

"What?" He let off, looking to the man in shock. That wasn't in the plan! The plan was to have Blackjack and Brendon look over the slaves once caught as they were the more experienced ones in dealing with them; maybe even teach his men a thing or two. One of the guards was supposed to sent out to collect them once the slaves were caught so they could retreat to Elddale with them. What had happened? He turned to the guard at the door as he frowned. "You! Get me Captain Axiom! I want him here when Brendon arrives!" He barked out as he set a book-marker in his tome, setting it aside. The man saluted in a crisp manner. Normally the men could get away with a more relaxed salute, but it was clear that the man was in a mood.

Clearly something had gone wrong.

Not three minutes later the guard retook his post and Captain Axiom had walked in. Harold Axiom was his guard captain of two years now, after Captain Saramon had retired. Saramon had been a divine captain of his guard and he threw a large retirement party for him; even gave him a prized slave in the form of a dwarven redhead. Saramon loved his women short, stacked and thick and it was a perfect choice for him.

Axiom had been his vice-captain for three years before that. Axiom was six feet even, wearing polished, full plate steel armor with brass trim. His helm was hanging off his hip; a full helm with a visor and a brass cross over the front of it. Axiom himself was a handsome devil with a blonde mullet of hair, well trimmed mustache with curled tips and bright green eyes. His face was without scars or blemishes and he was very popular with the women. "Sir." He said, saluting to him before moving to stand next to the table. At Mandeville's nod he sat down and waited with him.

It was almost ten minutes later when Brendon came into the room. He was panting, having clearly ridden hard and fast on his steed. John's eyes widened seeing the battle damage his leather armor had taken; it was repairable of course but it was still worrying; he should have taken none! The man moved to the table, threw his jacket off to a bed and half fell into a seat. He looked up to them and finally spoke. "They were ready..."

"What... What do you mean by that?" Axiom asked, blinking to him. "What were they ready for?" Mandeville was about to ask a second question before the mercenary slammed the bottom of a fist into the table, shaking it hard as the man glared up at them.

"For us! That fucking lordling and his party were ready for our ambush! They saw it coming!" Brendon let off, speaking to them, half shouting his words as he gestured wildly with his hands. "They knew what our trap was before they got there and sprung it! They had their own men to cut off our reinforcements! They fucking killed Blackjack! And all ten of our men! I barley escaped! I just... They were ready for us!"

"But... That's impossible!" Axiom let off in shock. Mandeville agreed with him; there was no way they could have seen them coming. It was, in fact, impossible! Were they betrayed somehow? "That's just... I can't see..."

"Brendon, control yourself!" John Mandeville said in a firm, harsh tone. "Stop. Breathe. Calm yourself and then explain what happened. Tell me everything; from your journey there to your journey back." A gesture to the guard at the door and a salute was given before he left. When he came back a mug of berry juice and set it before the one-eyed hunter. The man took a long sip and once he'd collected himself fully started to tell the tale.

He told them everything that had happened. From the trip to the mine, clearing out the goblins, setting the trap, talking with the men, the feeling in his gut and then when everything went wrong. Mandeville had crossed his arms and frowned deeper and deeper as the story went on. Finally he growled out lowly. "Obvious trap... Bah!" He let off, tapping his foot loudly under the table. "That lordling was tipped off somehow..."

"Fucked if I knew by who." Brendon let off, rubbing his chin. "All the men were dead. The outside party never made it to the mines; I saw the bodies before I came back. If I had to guess our man putting in the job must have tipped his hand too much. Lordling must have smelled something."

"Hmm. Aside from Brendon being the betrayer, that's the only thing that makes sense." Axiom said frowning himself. "But I can see the hole over your heart in the armor. That was an attempt at a lethal strike. And on top of that, he's been a professional merc. I doubt he'd betray a good paying employer."

"Harrumph. Brendon has been a good agent since he was hired." Mandeville said firmly. "And if he had been a backstabber he'd have fled well away from here. No, no, it's clear that this was caused by someone's idiocy and the lordling was just smart enough to put the pieces together. Blast it all... We'll need a new plan."

"Look, I'm all about taking another shot at this..." Brendon began. He had been offended by the suggestion he might have betrayed them, but given what happened he understood why. "But... I think it's safe to say that if you're going to think that little lordling is stupid then you're better off packing up and heading home." He said not withering a bit under Mandeville's harsh glare. "He's young, but he's not an idiot. He was smart enough to work out our plan, work out a counter to it and kill Blackjack with his own hand." He said as Mandeville's stare softened. "Treat him like he's an idiot and you'll lose more men. We underestimated that little shit and we lost good people because of it."

"Wait... Was Richard one of the men with you? Richard Donnars?" Axiom asked, looking to him as Brendon nodded solemnly.

"Yeah. He was the guy I chatted with in the mine. Good kid."

"He was turning eighteen in a week. I promised I'd take him to the brothel and we'd have fun with four whores between us. A real party between two men, you know?" The captain said, setting his head into his hands and his elbows on the table. He groaned softly as he rubbed at his face. "What am I going to tell his mother? Damn... Damn..."

"Sorry to say, but he was one of the first to die." Brendon said, sighing. "Poor kid. Never saw it coming either. One minute he was about to spring the trap, then the next laying on the ground and living just long enough to understand he was about to die. He... Said he wanted his mother told something, but he couldn't get it out."

"Damn..." Axiom said with a sigh. "I'll draft a letter. I'm not sure I can face her in person; not after what I promised. I told her her baby boy would come home safe and sound. Just... Damn..."

"Do that, Axiom. But for now..." Mandeville began as he huffed. "What do we do?"

"We have to consider that the lordling knew we were going to try something." Brendon began, folding his arms on the table as he spoke. "It's possible he resumed his routine as a means to lure us out. He knew we'd strike at him sooner or later. But he also knows that won't work a second time. He'll lock himself in the manor and keep his people close to his side."

"Hmm..." Axion let off, sitting upright once more as he thought. "If anyone had to go to town I would create an escort of at least four to six men. Too heavy a guard to take on discreetly. Could we have Brendon kidnap someone?"

"Who? Aside from the guild's receptionist I can't think of anyone in the town he's close to, and I do not want to fuck with the Guild." While the guild was normally an organization that leaned to the benevolent it did not tolerate people threatening it or it's workers, and it had reach up and down Sererus. Kidnapping a receptionist wasn't the worst thing you could to, but they liked to make examples of people who went after their key members. It wasn't quite a death sentence, but it would be more trouble then it's worth.

"No, the lordling isn't going to go for it, and I have dealings with the guild." Mandeville said, humming. "We need to draw him out or draw out one of his wenches. If we could get our hands on someone we can force a trade. The lordling preferred, but the elf or mongrel would do as well. Even if he wanted to play the hero Riri would agree to it. That's what matters. Once we reach Elddale with her he'll have no means to get her back; even if he tries an underhanded method he'd be in violation of Elddale's laws. We could nail him to the wall then. No one could protect him after that."

"The question is how. He knows we're on a timer. I imagine by this time next week the Baron will be back." Brendon said, snorting. "Merlin might be softhearted, but he's no fool. And his wife is said to be almost as strong as Claudia." The three men at the table shivered. Claudia Levantine was the famous leader of the Dawn Templars and said to be the strongest swordswoman in the realm. In fact the list of men who were said to be stronger then her could be counted on one hand with fingers left over.

Of course if they could actually defeat her was up in the air.

" Harrumph. Well then, the time for being subtle is over. I suggest a more direct approach." Mandeville said, as he began smirking. "We'll set fire to the forest."

"...Ex...Excuse me?" Brendon let off as Axion hummed, stroking his mustache softly. "How exactly does that help us?"

"I think I see..." Axiom let off. "If we set fire near a farm or a town then the lordling will have to respond. Only him and the elf are the only mages we know of, and he knows ice magic. He'd be one of the ones most likely to put out fires."

"The magic school will have some more..." Brendon added as he hummed. "But those will be teachers, mostly. Only a couple would leave; the rest would stay closer to town I think. Even if they all went, if the local lord doesn't show up to take command it could look bad."

"And even if he doesn't come out..." Mandeville began with a chuckle. "We'll be able to get in. After all, even if he stayed behind he'd have to send a large amount of his guard to help out. Brendon might be able to sneak in then."

"Hmm. No promises, but if I had enough rope it's possible." Brendon replied, stroking his chin once more. "But that's a hell of a risk."

"Hmm. Fair. It's better if we bring him out." Brendon's boss replied with a nod.

"We'll need oil. Tinder. Dry wood. Black powder or a mage would be ideal but we have none of the second, and I doubt this town sells much of the first." Axiom let off as he thought.

"I can ask around, see what's on offer. If I sneak back to Argon I could find some. I browsed the general store. Couldn't tell you shit about the owner, but he does carry a small barrel of the stuff. It's pricey though." Brendon added as he crossed his arms.

"I'll supply the coin. And the magic." Mandeville said, smirking. "I can send out a summoned beast with you. As long as it has a fire aspect then it'll work fine. How long until the supplies are acquired?" The captain and the mercenary shared a look as both frowned in thought.

"If we work hard and fast we can be ready for anytime the day after tomorrow." Axiom said with a nod. "I think the early evening will be the best time to strike. The night's darkness will make the fire stand out more."

"I know just the place to set up." Brendon added. "There's a watchtower to the east of Argon. I know there are farms and a town nearby. If we go some, say, three or four miles east of that tower they'll spot the smoke and flames before long. It's close enough that the guards should rush to the lordling for help, but far enough away that the trip will tire him out a bit. The best time to strike will be right as he's finishing up fighting the fires."

"Yes, exactly!" Axiom said, smirking. "He'll be exhausted from the trip over and fighting the fires. His mana will be low, as will the elf's. And guards will likewise be tired. Even if we are outnumbered our fresh men will be able to take then with ease."

"The big question here is this." Brendon said, looking around to the other men. "What can go wrong this time?"

"Spying..." The men at the table looked to the giant sitting on the bed as he flinched under their glares. "... He could have a way to spy on us."

"Bah. Impossible!" Mandeville let off. "Inns like these pay for anti-scry enchantments. Even if they didn't..." He said, reaching into his jacket's pocket, slipping out a pendant. On the front of the flat, golden circle was a small, white spell stone, round with one side sanded flat to set into the pattern on the jewelry. "This does. The anti-scry spell in this covers the whole building it's in. If he tried to scry us his spell would only get as far as the building across the street. They'd hear nothing from there."

"Hmm. And the boss' guards are keeping an eye around the room. And the building for that matter." Brendon added after a moment. "If he has a man spying on us without us knowing, well shit, that man needs a pay raise."

"I'd spare the man for the sole purpose of offering him a job." Axiom added as he smiled softly, nodding once. "Worry not, we're not under direct watch. That said, we must consider that he has a man in town. If he does then he'll see us as we mobilize and know something is up, even if not what. It would behoove us, then, to not leave as a block. We should send twenty men down to the south west; see who follows them."

"Twenty? That's like half our remaining men." Brendon let off, humming as he leaned back in his seat.

"I agree with Axiom's tactic; we need to know what, if any, scouts he has watching us." Mandeville said as he nodded once. "Once we confirm he has no one watching us or deal with his scouts we can make our move."

"What else do we need to consider?" Axiom aid as he leaned back in his own seat.

"... I can't help but feel something's off again." Brendon let off, crossing his arms once more as his foot tapped. "I know something is off again. Not what, just it's off."

"Hmmm..." Mandeville let off considering the situation for a moment before speaking up once more. "It doesn't matter. We will push forwards. If something goes amiss we'll adapt."

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." Axiom said with a grave nod.

"That lordling's plan survived pretty will." Brendon let off with a sigh.

"Stop griping." Mandeville let off. "Harrumph. Brendon. Axiom. First thing tomorrow morning you will get to work. The next night we will deal with that lordling and reclaim what was stolen from me. And I will oversee the operations myself."

[-]

I stood at the top of the keep of the manor looking out off into the distance as I sighed in the breeze, taking a short break from my duties. The keep was capped with a sort of pointed roof in the middle of it; it gave shelter from the rain if need be and gave a place for the guards to get our of the sun. It didn't cover the whole of the top, just the center. Inside the roof, nestled within was a large spell stone. By large I mean it was the size of a Buick, a pearl white in color and in the shape of an uneven bean. It was placed there to be used as a defensive enhancement to bolster the spells of the one using it. My father knew how to use it at it's full power, I did not. Not yet anyway. I could use it to a point.

The downside, of course, was that in order to use it one had to be in the manor proper. That said I had questions! Who found a spell stone of that size? How did they get it up there? Why is it used here and not in one of the great fortresses like Ur or Feoh? Also, how much was it worth? No, seriously, small spell stones the size of a coin could be up to a silver, depending on the quality. The one in my sword was worth four gold alone. This?

You could buy a kingdom with a stone that size. No joke.

I was looking out towards the Town of Calfield. I couldn't see the town from the top of the keep, of course, but I could feel the tracking spell on Mandeville's cane. I had no idea on the range of it but I knew he was still there in that town. One of Gregory's men had gotten a head count of his remaining men; about thirty two guards, plus ten light cavalry. Throw in Brendon and Wesland and we had forty four foes to fight and that was assuming Mandeville didn't get off his old ass and join in himself.

We had to fight a full platoon, in short. Plus all of our horses were out of the stables with my parents. That meant our foes would have a mobility advantage we'd need to deal with quickly.

"Whew!" I heard, turning as I saw someone step up the last few steps. "You'd think that a dwarf born in the mountains would be able to handle a few stairs!"

"Serra?" I let off, turning to the short woman. "What brings you up here?" I asked her, seeking the redhead walk over to the edge of the keep to join me, moving to sit on the edge.

"Ah, I've been bored. All the horses are gone and I have far, far too much free time right now." She said, smiling back to me. I nodded as I smiled back. It made sense; her job was to care for the horses and there were no horses here right now. She was literally sitting on her hands all day then. "Figured I'm come spend some time with you."

"Ah, with me?" I let off, blinking. I liked Serra well enough, and we were always cordial, but we never talked much before. Really, aside from a few comments over the odd dinner we never really spoke.

"Ah, I know. I thought I'd speak with you since I don't... We don't speak that often, and I figured it'd be nice to change that. You never rode horseback that much, so I thought I could offer to get you up to speed once the horses are back."

"Ah. That's a good idea, really." I said, chuckling as I rubbed the back of my head. "Really, should have done that before..." She giggled at me, covering her mouth as she crossed her legs (And flashed me with some sky blue silk under her dress) as she looked up to me.

"Not to worry. It's not too hard; we'll practice with White Peach once your father is home; she's gentle and easygoing so she'll be a great place to start." I nodded once and smiled.

"She's the white one with blonde mane, huh? I do sometimes see you giving her a lot of attention at the stables." I told her as she nodded.

"Yeah, she and Sweet Pea were meant to be bred, but right now things are a bit weird. There was a bit of breeding but nothing's taken yet... I think it was just a little too early. We'll try again soon." She said, blushing a bit. "The girls might be a bit late in their cycle. It happens, sometimes animals will sometimes generate mana on their own and, well, it can interfere with their estrus and heat a bit. It's just a little set back, is all."

"Huh. Yeah, it is weird animals can draw on mana but don't really do anything with it." Animals couldn't really learn how to mold and use the stuff really, not in the ways humans could. Now and then you had one that could draw on mana and maybe figured out something they could do with it, but it was rare.

"I know." Serra said, nodding. "I'd be nice if someone could teach them how to use magic properly. Can you imagine what a horse could do as a mage?"

"Not sure if that would be cool or scary." I replied, moving to lean on the edge of the battlements as I looked back out to Calfield. "I suppose it depends on how much that horse liked people." I said as she nodded and giggled.

"I could guess. Be useful now." She said, moving back to her feet and turning around to look out to where I was as well. "... Do you think he'll take another go at catching Riri?"

"I don't think he will, I know he will." I replied nodding gravely. "That damned old fart is stubborn and arrogant; he thinks he's got this in the bag. I've got my tricks though; it'll be just a matter of putting his cavalry down."

"Hmm... Well... It's not something I'd advocate normally, but..."

"Huh?" I let off as Serra began to explain something and as she did bit by bit my eyes widened.

I had a plan in mind now, thanks to Serra.

[-]

A Forest East of Argon City and the Village of Aldencry
Early Evening, the Following Day

With the window of his parked carriage open Sir John Mandeville held one hand out side of it as he sat down, a spell book in the other hand. He drew mana to his extended hand as he focused his energies. Summoning magic was so flexible, you could send your summoned beast off to do your bidding from a distance, attack with your own magic and use the beast as shield, distraction and weapon all at the same time. You could form it as you wanted with any element you wanted. There was one downside however; casting time.

Most spells took seconds if not less to cast, but a summoned beast was different. It took some time to draw the mana, shape the mana and give it life. You couldn't summon something rapidly; at least not without the proper preparations.

He, of course, had the means to summon a select few beasts quickly but wanted to reserve them; preparing the summons took time after all and he could only hold so many in reserve at a single time. Better then to summon one fresh. It wasn't as if he couldn't spend a few minutes on what he needed at the moment anyway, and he could customize is as he wanted it; mana reserves being the one true limit.

Outside on the tall grass on the side of the road Axiom was giving orders to the men, a dozen, small casks of oil being passed to them. Two larger one were carried by four of the men with more effort. Two barrels of black powder were also held with two men each. The men were walking to the forest; it wasn't a thick one, but it was good for their needs; a fair bit of dry branches and leaves on the ground and a road leading into it. It was surprisingly hard to start a forest fire, really.

Then again, plants needed water; he could only imagine how full of the stuff living brush held. Setting fire to water sounded rather difficult.

The men were off to the forest with what they needed. The forest's edge was a short mile away, and wouldn't be much of a march for his men. Finally once he had the mana fully gathered he cast his spell, a ball of concentrated mana floating from the carriage a few feet before growing into a five foot, humanoid being of solid fire; it's skin and surface flickering with embers and flame of magic made substance.

The being was hunched over slightly and had long, gangly limbs, a long, beak like jaw and a thin, three foot tail with a spike at the end of it. A pair of goat like horns curled back from it's head. It was nude but bore no genitalia. Both hands and feet ended in claws. It would seem not unlike a demon called to the land, but around it's neck was a burning collar from which hung five links of blazing chain. Mandeville looked out to Brendon and smirked. "Your fire-starter is ready."

"Got it. Come on 'Fire-Starter', let's go." The summoned beast gave a soft growl as Brendon turned his horse about, trotting off after the men, summoned beast in tow, lumbering behind him. Smirking softly Mandeville leaned back and pulled out his copy of The Knight, The Bandit and the Slave and resumed reading it once more. Everything was now in motion, despite a large set back.

Behind the men carrying the various casks the others moved along. They bore other tools and items for the task at hand; extra water for the heat and to cool any burns that happened, rope for capture, shovels to dig earth if needed, hatchets to break up wood and potions for medical supplies. One of them was a young man, Samuel Elken. He stood some five feet seven inches and bore a mop of brown hair in a mullet, some of that hair sticking out of the bottom of his sallet. "You ever wonder why the boss gets so anal about these things?" He asked his counterpart as he had his spear resting on his shoulder, kite shield on his left arm.

"He pays the bills, let him be anal about these things if he wants." His counterpart was the only woman Mandeville had brought along for the operation, Carrie Saxous. She was five foot nine and bore short black hair and had a caramel skin tone. She glanced further ahead to where Wesland followed at Axiom's heel. "Besides he's always been a heavy traditionalist, you know? Letting a slave escape doesn't sit right with him." She said, shrugging a little.

"Eh, I guess I'm more of a reformist, really." The man said, rubbing the back of his head under his helmet.

"Slave rights, huh? I guess I can understand that; just don't let the boss hear it. He thinks that reformist and abolitionists are in league with each other." Carrie replied. By contrast she had a short bow on her back and sword at her hip, a quiver at her other hip. She also bore a kite shield on her left arm, but it was modified to give her left hand more room to use her bow.

"Really? Shit, not like that. Although my brother's an abolitionist. We both saw an old slave covered in scars, you know? I mean I doubt 'free the slaves' is going to happen, but do we really need to beat them half to death?"

"Mmm, I guess it depends on how much the slave needs to be punished. But I think I understand what you mean." She said, shrugging once more in reply. "Although the one who needs to be punished right now is that lordling. Fuck, we lost some good guys because of him..."

"Fuuuuck, me and Harold were going to go drinking when we got home. And Peter was talking about how he'd be visiting his sister once we were done. Damn..." Samuel let off, huffing. "If the boss didn't forbid it I'd kill the bastard myself."

"Aye, aye... Fuck..." Carrie said with a sigh. "Harold, Peter, Richard, Tomas, Kaldur, Davis, Cater, Orsin, Bertus and Jeremy... They were good men who didn't deserve that..."

"Yeah... That's the job for you though; sometimes things go wrong." Samuel said with a sigh. "All we can do is our part to avenge them and see that lordling driven to despair. I'd prefer the grave, but that'll have to do."

"Less chatting you two." The pair glanced back as Brendon rode closer to them, a burning summoned beast following him. "Eyes open. I want to be sure we're not going to be ambushed." His horse snorted and shook it's head as the man rubbed at it's neck. "We got careless and got jumped last time. I don't want a repeat, or we're adding more to that list of names of yours." The man then directed his horse onward towards Axiom, Samuel waiting until the man was out of earshot to give off a deep scoff.

"If he did his job last time we'd be on our way home. And Davis would be getting ready to become a father." He let off, watching the demonic summoned beast chase after the man on the horse. The rest of their cavalry was at their back, ready to react quickly. Unknown to the pair of soldiers, Captain Axiom had taken Brendon's gut feeling to heart.

"What, you think he caused everyone to die?" Carrie asked him, heard turning to look at her counterpart who shrugged.

"I dunno. I don't think he back-stabbed us, but he clearly fucked the hell up." He said, snorting. "How hard could a bastard lordling and four or five sluts be to handle after all?"

"Why do you men keep using 'slut' as an insult?" She let off, sighing. "I mean it's not like there's anything wrong with a girl having her fun."

"Well, nothing wrong with being a bastard either, but it's still a right good insult." He replied with a huff. Carrie shrugged as the two walked in silence for a bit. It wasn't until they were close to the forest's edge that he spoke up once more. "Well, here we are I guess. Time to make the little lordling cry, eh?"

"Hey, think the boss will let me have a turn with the lordling? I do have a leather belt to use as a nice strap." Carrie let off, looking to Samuel who smirked.

"Heh, he really could use a spanking that, one. Well we can ask- hey, what's that light?"

It had been the early evening, the sun going down and the sky starting to dim but above them it was as if the sun returned to peek back at them. They looked up to see what was going on...

Only to see a fireball roaring down to the men in the front. Some started to look upwards, but not all of them did as Samuel cried out. "Incoming!"

Some men looked back in shock. Others drew weapons. But by the time others fully realized what was happened the fireball had already made impact...

Right into a barrel of black powder, detonating it and creating an fiery explosion that engulfed the area the men carrying it were in (They had to be dead from the blast, he thought) as burning bits of wood flew from the impact site. Shouts of shock and confusion let off as one of the men carrying a smaller keg of oil squawked at the explosion and fell backwards; the wooden containing bursting open (Maybe it landed on a rock, he imagined) and coating his right half in oil only to have a bit of the burning debris land right into the broken barrel, quickly setting the oil ablaze

The man started screaming and rolling about the ground as half his body caught fire likey starting to cook inside his armor as another man ran over to him. Other barrels hit the ground, dropped as everyone looked about for where the attack came from. Axiom shouted out a rallying cry only to have to have two smaller fireballs smash into two of the larger oil barrels, causing the men yelp and back away from the flames that started up.

"We're under attack!" One of the men shouted out. It was Brendon that would call out next, pointing upwards and to the front of the force.

"Up there! It's the elf!" The mercenary let off, eyes following his finger. Sure enough, standing atop a horizontal staff, hovering over the tree and clad in green was the apprentice of Baron Merlin Noxdecus, the high elf Aeris Willowglow. A fireball was held in one hand as she shrugged before pulling the hand back and throwing yet another fireball down into another barrel of oil.

"My, my, my... Causing us trouble once more, are you?" She let off, smirking at them as she hovered over the trees, covering her mouth with the back of her hand and giving them a haughty laugh. "Well now, we can't have that can we?"

"They knew!?"

"How'd they'd know!?"

"Calm yourself men!" Axiom called out, pointing to her. "Bring her down! Fire all weapons!" He let off, drawing a throwing knife of his own and hurling it at her. The elf smirked and waved her left hand, coated in mana as a wind started to roar in front of her, defecting the knife.

"Ah, ah, ah..." She chided as those with ranged weapons, Carrie included, started to fire arrows at her. The arrows were blown off course almost right away by her wind magic as Brendon snorted, drawing his crossbow. "You pitiful people really should learn how to behave."

Brendon locked his crossbow into place before pulling a bolt from the inside of his jacket. The tip was rounded and blunted but under it was a small, purple spell stone. It was tiny, the size of an un-shelled sunflower seed but was charged with a simple spell. Another fireball struck, this time knocking two men onto their backs as he loaded his bolt before cocking the weapon. He squeezed his heels in a soft manner; his horse lowering it's head as it held stock still. He just hoped he could find the bolt after this...

He took aim at the elf's center mass and pulled the trigger, sending the bolt sailing up at her. To her it must have been just another missile, one of many raining up at her. In fact it was a specialty made slaver bolt; blunted to help avoid killing the target and with a potent payload. He smirked as his bolt slammed into the wall of wind, being pushed aside... Just as an explosion of lightning struck out, some of it hitting the elf and making her shriek in pain. She shuddered before falling backwards off her staff and down towards the trees, her staff following her soon after. "Grab her before she can recover!" The mercenary bellowed out as she fell into the leaves and from their view.

"You heard him, move, move!" Axiom added after a moment. All of the men that were not injured, burning or dead started to quickly march towards the forest, weapons at the ready; a collection of mostly spears, some swords and bows with a few maces. With anger in their hearts and murder in their eyes they readied to visit hell and rape on the elven woman...

Before an arrow sailed out and slammed into a man's gut, striking under his plate armor and punching through the chain mail. Another followed and struck another man, but caught the steel plate over his chest, deflecting it. "Shields! Shields, use your shields!" Axiom calling out, every man bringing up his kite shield. Three moved ahead of the wounded man as another knelt by him, reaching down to attend to his wounds. Brendon, send the beast in first and torch the forest!"

"You heard him Fire-Starter, burn it down!" Brendon let off, pointing to the woods as the summoned beast lumbered forwards into range to unleash it's burning mana...

Only for a frozen ball of mana to slam into it next; the beast roaring as it's skin hissed.

"Now, now, no need to get so heated." A new voice called out. "You guys need to cool off a bit."

"It's him!" Brendon half yelled, half hissed out pointing out into the forest. There, standing between two of the thick trees that was the opening to the forest road was the lordling, James Noxdecus, the Heir of Mungale.

[-]

Aeris taking a hit like that wasn't part of the plan, but thankfully she'd done most of her job already. Sora had caught her before she was seriously hurt and fed her a potion to help with the damage from the lightning magic, at least to a point. If we had one weakness it was that we have no, true, dedicated healer, just myself and Gregory. To be fair, by all accounts our foe had the same weakness but worse. I was unaware of what Mandeville himself could pull for healing. As I stepped out I drew the Unicorn's Horn, pointing the tip to the enemy. I took a moment to quickly use observe on the grunts; same story as before except the one in heavier armor.

(-)

Name: Captain Harold Axiom
Title: Handsome Mandeville Knight
Class: Knight
Level: 20
Alignment: Neutral
Reputation: 22
Status: Healthy, Calm, Angry

Known Traits

[?]

[Mr. Handsome] You are a hit with the ladies. +10 to all Romance Values

[In Charge] +5% to Con, End & Str when leading men into battle

The fifth son of a Balanar Noble he was originally sent off to work overseeing slave markets. When that job didn't tickle his fancy he decided to become an Adventurer. After a few years he found himself under Mandeville's employ, rising up to become the new Captain of his forces. While he'll gladly use the slaves of others he keeps none himself and in private thinks some reforms are in order for the industry.

(-)

Yeah, he'd be a bit too much for me to try and solo right now. Thankfully I wouldn't need to. I used Observe on the summoned beast next.

(-)

Name: Summoned Fire Beast: Nicknamed 'Fire-Starter'
Title: Burning Beast of Mandeville
Class: Mid-Level Summoning Beast
Level: 18
Alignment: N/A
Reputation: N/A
Status: Stable, Mild Damage Taken

Known Traits
[Fire Mana] This monster is created by fire type mana. Resist fire attacks by 85%. Take additional damage from water and ice attacks by 20%
[Commanded Beast] This beast listens to commands of it's summoner and people the summoner selects.

A summoned beast given form by the mana of Sir John Mandeville. This one boasts a fire based elemental affinity and is highly resistant to fire attacks, but it is weaker to water and ice ones.

(-)

I smiled and cast levitation on myself but didn't lift up yet, giving them a bit of a smirk as I reached back with my free hand and pulled out an item from my Inventory, something I borrowed from the family vault. It was a metal goblet made of brass with a set of eight, blue spell stones set around the rim. Inside of it was an orb, large enough to fit into the rim snugly. The orb was also blue and sparkled softly and seemed to have a liquid filling it. I gave it a light shake as Brendon pointed to me, face twisting into an angry grimace.

"Don't you dare do it!" He let off to me.

"Don't I dare do what?" I called back to him.

"Don't you dare use that!" He all but shouted out to me as my smirk widened.

"You mean... Like this?" I said pushing a little magic into the orb. The liquid inside of that orb started to brightly glow with a silver light as it started to churn then turning into clouds within the orb before said clouds spewed from the orb in a fierce, rapid and frankly aggressive fashion as it rose rapidly up into the air.

"Gods damn it!" Brendon cried out as Mandeville's men stiffened, most of them unsure of what was happening. I smirked back as the clouds filled the air over the forest, putting the item away. It only took about fifteen seconds for the clouds to finish pouring out before I pushed my feet off the ground and flew into the forest over the road, my left hand before me. A rumble of thunder sounded behind me before rain poured out from the clouds started where I came from as I heard a cry of 'after him' and the pounding of hooves on the ground.

The item I had just used, for the record, was called a Rain Caller. It gathered mana over time in a passive fashion, converted it to water, stored it with a storage spell and then unleashed it in the form of clouds. Said clouds would then pour rain down onto the ground as the user chose. How large a cloud varied depending on how much mana infused water the user let come out, how much mana had been stored over time and a few other details. They were created during a heavy drought period some nine hundred years ago and was used to keep farmers farming and prevent a famine; this one had been in the family for some five hundred years.

It also had uses in fighting (And preventing) forest fires. I had worked over the plan with Gregory and he agreed that if I presented myself and did something to piss them off then they'd give chase with their horses. Because of this I needed to move fast had took the chance to learn and practice a wind spell from the library, Gale Burst. It was, in short, the wind magic equivalent of a shotgun; low range (Like maybe ten feet) but had good punch to it with a focused or wide arc and low mana cost, and best of all, it had a quick recast time.

I couldn't fly quickly with Levitation, but by casting Gale Burst before me I could create a vacuum in front of me that would pull me along. Rather then pushing myself forwards I was pulling myself forwards with the wind spell. It wasn't cheap on mana, but I would last more then long enough. The horses were gaining on me, I could hear them and a glance told backwards confirmed it, but that was the aim of my little plan. I turned and hovered in place, charging a Scatter Bolt in my left hand as I smirked at them, hovering over the ground. What I could see of their eyes and faces spoke of anger and rage. They moved their shields to cover their torsos and in position to cover their heads once my attack came... only to be startled as their horses stopped suddenly and whinnied in pain for seemingly no reason.

Seemingly.

Serra had provided me with a whistle that I passed to one of the guards. It's sound was too high pitched to be heard by a human's ears but some animals could hear it very well and it could be used as a means to train them; cats, dogs...

Horses.

I fired my attack off, directing the bolts into a wide, flat arc aimed to their torsos, the bolts sailing quickly at them. Some got hit in the chests and shoulders, denting their armor and knocking a couple off of their saddles. One got caught in the head, knocking his helmet off and dazing him. The rest brought up their shields and blocked; most resisting the attack well enough but one being knocked off his horse. However the whistle and my attack were covers for what was really coming.

Sixteen of our guards came out from the brush from behind them at the road's side. Half of them bore halberds; polearms with a pointed tip, axe head on one side and a slightly hooked pick on the other. The men used the pick ends to hook Mandeville's cavalry by their armor and pulled, catching them off guard and pulling them off their horses, making them land hard on the ground. My men piled on them, some using the points of their polearms to drive their weapons into the downed men; others drew daggers to stab into their chainmail or pushed their visors up to stab into their faces.

It was a slaughter; the enemy cavalry had no chance to really defend themselves caught off guard as they were. Killing them wasn't the only thing my men did though; other men were able to grab the reins of the horses and, as the whistle stopped blowing, get control over the animals with the ten horses now being mounted by my own men as I landed and walked over to them. "Good job, guys." I said as I took a moment to let my mana refill as one of the now mounted men saluted me; Richard Barrens. He was one of Gregory's trusted lieutenants and as far as my interactions with the five foot ten man went, he was reliable. "If you think the horses will listen well enough then get moving. Sooner we hit them then the sooner we end this and keep anyone of us from getting hurt."

"Aye-aye M'lord." Richard said with a salute. His weapon of choice was a mace; a flanged one with a spike at the cap of it. He banged it twice to his own shield; a standard enough knight's one with the Noxdecus emblem over it. "You heard the good lord! Let's bash in those slave-loving whore-sons heads in and piss on the remains!" He let off as the men cheered. He drew his weapons and pointed it forwards. "Onwards!"

I could see why Gregory liked the man.

There was a side road that our cavalry was going to take, allowing them to hit the enemy in the flanks and he led the men on horse back off and around, turning at a moss covered tree, leaving me with six other guards and ten dead bodies.

"Sire! Orders!" I turned to one of the men left over.

Well, woman, in actuality. It was common enough to refer to all the guards as 'men' and such for simplicity, but we had a number of women enlisted in our ranks. This woman was one of them; a young but very tall lady by the name of Kelly Conners. And by tall, I mean she was six feet four, so she had a bit of height on me.

(-)

Name: Kelly Conners
Title: Honorable Woman-At-Arms
Class: Fighter
Level: 9
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 48
Status: Healthy, Stoic, Eager
Romance Rating: 91
Corruption Rating: 9

Known Traits

[?]
[Little Miss Serious] You treat every situation with care and seriousness. +2 to all stats when in combat with more then six people involved.
[Ironclad] You wear any metal armor like you were born in it. +10% bonus to all Resistances for Chain Mail, Scale Mail, Splint Mail and Plate Mail.

[?]

Born and raised in a small town within the County of Ferra she was initially a blacksmith's daughter who was fascinated by weapons and armor. She believed she'd be an apprentice to her father until a group of bandits raided their hometown. Her father was nearly killed in the fighting until Claudia Levantine, passing on her way to visit Feoh, came upon them and saved their lives, driving the bandits off with the help of her escort. Inspired she decided that she too would become a knight in honor of her hero. Starting as an adventurer she came to the attention of Baroness Saxon Noxdecus and was hired to work and serve under Gregory Hammersmith as a sergeant.

(-)

She bore short, boyishly cut cherry red hair and had reddish brown eyes. She wore the usual armor for the Noxdecus Manor Guard; a layer of gambeson under plate armor on the torso (Under the tabard, of course), shins, forearms and shoulders with chain mail covering the rest. In addition, she wore a helm with the visor currently raised. She had a pretty face, but it was kept in a very serious stare. I knew of her more then I knew her directly but what I knew was she was a very serious woman. If someone above her in rank said jump she didn't ask how high, she jumped as high as she could. Really, she could seem a bit tense at times. We passed each other in the manor, of course, but never really talked; she was polite and curt though.

She held a spear in one hand with a long, double edged blade as a tip, a short sword at her hip and a knight's shield on her back. All in all she was battle ready. And also, the most covered up woman I've met so far; I couldn't really see her figure under all that plate and chain mail.

"For now stick with me, Sergeant. We'll head into the woods and move to see what we can do. As it sits we have them off balance, but they will rally. It'll be nice to give them another surprise if need be, but I have somewhere I want us to be."

"Yes Sir!" She barked out with a snappy salute as I heard then felt the rain come down on us. I looked up, the clouds expanding over the forest further and further. I didn't know how much of the woods it would cover, but it would be a good chunk, I was pretty sure of that. If nothing else it would be impossible for Mandeville and his group to set fire to the woods under these conditions. Drops pinged off my leather armor and the men's metal armor as we moved into the trees to sneak around any of our enemies.

I just hoped things were going well for everyone else too...

[-]

"Stop, stop!" Axiom called out as his cavalry chased after the damned lordling as the rain fell hard before them, Wesland standing behind him. He wondered if the rain was drowning out his voice to his men as they rode off or if they were trying to be heroes in their anger. He scoffed, his infantry also charging, but at least in a smarter manner. Those with ranged weapons fired back into the woods, trying to suppress the snipers firing at them. There were at least two, but more might have been waiting deeper into the woods. Brendon rode up next to him grunting softly.

"Well, the plan's gone to shit. Again." The mercenary said, almost growling the words out. "What do you want to do? Do we charge in and try to take them or do we retreat, work out how they got the drop on us a second time and make another go of it later?"

"No, we'll press on." Axiom let off, huffing softly. "Clearly they have a means to work out what our plans are, be it spying or betrayal. We do not have a third chance at this." He said grimly, turning to Wesland. "Wesland. You're with me." He said before looking to the summoned beast next to Brendon. "Beast, with me. We'll go after the cavalry and try to get them back in line. Brendon." He let off, looking to the mercenary. "Stay with the rest of the men. Try and guide them through the woods and towards the enemy."

"You got it, chief." Brendon let off before guiding his horse down towards the men, reloading his cross bow as they went. Axiom strode forwards, flanked by a slave and a beast.

"You three, with me!" Axiom said, pointing to three of his guards who nodded and fell in behind him, the titan and the summoned beast as they stormed into the woods along the road. Brendon looked into the woods before him and saw where the arrows were coming from and aimed his crossbow with a hand staying on the reins of his horse. Even with one hand his aim was steady as he let loose the missile into the thick brush of the leaves to where the arrow came from. He heard the thunk of bolt meeting wood and knew he missed but after a moment he noticed arrows stopping coming from that area; he'd come close to his mark, he was sure.

"Slow and steady men!" Brendon called out, reloading his weapon. "They'll use the cover of the woods to ambush you! Stay in a group; no less then three at a time!" He called out, as the men started entering the forest proper, their shields in front of them. Now and then an arrow would bounce off a shield and in response now and then the missile fire would be returned. The sound of rain filled their ears and soaked all under it as the clouds above spread out further. He growled out; the rain would make ambush all the easier; hiding the sound of the enemy from them. In his mind retreating was the better option, but he had to agree with Axiom; they'd likely have the next plan sniffed out too.

The lordling had figured out three of their plans now. This wasn't luck, this wasn't by chance. That lordling was either smarter then he let on, had a hell of a tactician under his employ or got an ear into their room somehow.

"Shhhhhh!" One of the men hushed, gesturing for his fellows to duck down. There, behind a bush was the top of a metal helm and not one of theirs. All the men ducked down and stepped forwards slowly. Brendon frowned, took aim at the helm and fired his bolt single handed.

A loud clang came from the impact as the helm was knocked to the ground, clattering as it bounced. The top of a stick could be seen where it was. Brendon scoffed as he started to reload his weapon.

"Shit." One of the men let off, huffing. "Crafty little assholes, aren't they?"

"Crafty or not we'll get them. We will crush these enemies, we will see them driven before us, and we will hear the lamentations of their wom-gah!" The man let off as an arrow struck him in the eye through the visor, making him fall onto his back, dead from the single shot. The soldiers around him brought up their shields and backed up into each other to form a pair of small, steel fortresses about them with their shields up. Brendon let off a snarl and aimed at the origin point of the arrow.

"Dammit!" He let off as he pulled the trigger... And was slapped in the side of the head by a loose cord, the blow stinging him above the ear. "What?" He let off, looking to his crossbow, the string cut. A glance downwards showed a throwing knife sticking out of the ground by him.

"I think we'll hear the lamentations of your men." He heard looking upwards and giving a snarl. There above him and to the side was the mongrel Miria Noxdecus, smirking down at him. On a lower branch spinning two throwing knives in her hand was the main target, the half-runt Riri. Behind them, sitting on her floating staff was a frowning elf in the form of Aeris.

"Well, of him at least. He's at least a bit of trouble." The elf said as she huffed, looking to the mercenary as she held a finger up, fire coming to it before turn inverted her hand, fire forming into her palm. Steam hissed from it as the rain struck it.

"Heh. A fire attack? In heavy rain?" He let off as the elf smirked wider. His gut knotted softly. The smirk faded even before one of his men spoke up at her.

"Haughty bitch, come down here and we'll-gahhh!" One of the men let off as the sounds of several breaking pots sounded on their heads and shoulders as small, clay pots smashed into them from above and to one side, thrown at an arc with a thick, viscous liquid splashing over their armors. The elf grinned wider as she drew her hand back.

"Gah, I'm covered in something!" Another of the men let off before looking as some of it dripping off his shoulder. "Huh, it's black... Like it's..."

"Tar!" Another man shouted out as the elf threw the fireball into the center of the mass of one batch of the soldiers who jumped away from each other. The fireball impacted, sending bits of flame out, hitting the thick tar. Despite the water coming down from the sky some of the tar covered armor caught alight, causing the men to try and scrape it off save one who grabbed the straps of his plate armor, tearing it off and tossing it aside. It was then that the Noxdecus guard charged in from around the trees, weapons at the ready and Makoto with them, blade drawn.

The Mandeville soldiers that weren't suffering from burning armor clashed with the opposing guards as Brendon threw a knife at the Catalan woman who nimbly jumped to another branch before landing on the ground, turning to face him and firing an arrow to his chest. Brendon leaned back, rolling off the flank of his horse and onto his feet as Riri attempted to launch herself at him as his horse moved away from the fight. He rolled under her, sheathing his cross bow and drawing his swords as he charged at the archer. He knocked the next arrow out of the air as another arrow fired up but this one from one of his allies at the elf who flew behind a tree; she clearly learned from her last fight. He glanced back long enough to see one of his men engage Riri in combat.

Good; that left the mongrel to him.

She fired another arrow at him and he was able to duck it, the missile whizzing by his head before she drew her own sword before taking a swung at him. He blocked with one blade stabbing at her with the other only to have her slide to the side and stab her own sword at him. He'd deflect it hard, swinging for her neck, making her bring up her bow and block his attack with it's shaft before she leapt back. He was about to put pressure onto her only for his gut to knot.

He leapt to the side only to have a ball of wind slam into where he was. "Tsk. Great." He let off. That mongrel and the elf slut. This wouldn't be fun.

[-]

Gregory saw what seemed to be the enemy slave storming over to him behind the man whom he assumed was the enemy commander. He had planted himself in the road once his lord and the enemy cavalry had passed, two of his men flanking him on both of his sides for a total of four. He set the point of his battleaxe to the ground; a heavy, two handed one with a single rounded blade and a pick at the other end. The sides of it had a pattern set to it in bronze and a spiral of bronze down the shaft.

His left arm boasted a heavy knight's shield with the Noxdecus family emblem proudly set over it. His lord had been building his communication devices and managed to get messages out to others while looking in on them, seeing what they saw. They couldn't talk back to him at will, only when James was addressing them (Save Aeris) but it was still a point in their favor. Thanks to Riri, James knew where the enemy's strongest fighters were going and had sent Gregory and some of their strongest waiting in the wings to intercept them; including Sora, hidden in the woods.

His lord seemed to think that the enemy slave was Mandeville's strongest fighter, and he was forced to agree. That man would be a handful he was sure. But he was Gregory Hammersmith, a crusader in the Order of the First Light. He was equal if not better then the task at hand. He lifted his axe and shouldered it as the foes came closer. "I imagine that an offer for your surrender would be ignored, wouldn't it?" The crusader had let off, huffing softly.

The opposing leader huffed himself, flanked by men and the summoned, burning beast. "I imagine that a likewise offer from me would be rejected." Axiom drew a well made steel sword from his side as the titan reached behind him, pulling out a heavy looking black axe, holding it in both hands.

Gregory lifted his shield in one hand, a two handed axe in the other hand; a weapon most men would struggle to use with two. Both sides charged at each other...

Just as a bola shot out from the woods binding Axiom's legs and sending him to the ground. He was able to roll to the side before the point of a katana slammed to the ground. The figure with the sword dodged as he swung his sword, a second swing cutting the cords around his legs letting him stand as he faced the new foe; a masked dark elf with a heavy, heavy chest in purple leather, a katana in one hand as she swung her other hand at him.

He raised his shield, blocking a pair of throwing knives before he felt a weight at the top of kite shield, lurching him forwards slightly; she had jumped up and stomped on his shield, her other foot lifted up. Before he could react her heel slammed into his face, the visor taking the blow as he staggered back as she pushed off and leapt back, the dark elf making hand signs in the air mid-back flip before blasting off a spear of water from her mouth (From under the mask and through it! He was left wondering how did that work?), piercing the summoned beast's back as it charged a guard and blew it apart before she landed, soft embers left in the beast's wake. Instinct had him stab out as she dashed at him, his sword deflected as he regained his stance, trying to charge her with his shield. He made an impact, but softer then he'd hoped... As he saw the woman spin to his side. He jumped to the side, avoiding a slash to his knee.

A glance over to his men showed that the two titans of both sides were clashing; the opposing knight grabbing Wesland's right wrist with his shield hand, Wesland grabbing the knight's weapon hand with his left, the two pushing at one another. The other guards on both sides fought, four versus three, locked in combat. He glanced back, his reflexes keeping him from taking another kick to the face. A slash with his sword met air as the woman rolled away throwing a ball of some sort at him. He blocked it with his shield before it exploded into white smoke tinted with a hint of mint green, filling the small area they were fighting in. Rather then retreat or charge he planted his feet, attempting to listen patently to find his foe. He took long, deep breaths for a moment as he glanced about.

Finally the smoke vanished and the dark elf was simply standing there, her arms crossed under her bust. She was smirking at him, he could tell even under her mask. He stepped forwards, aiming to end that smirk only for her figure to... blur... Along with everything else. And his footsteps became heavy and uneven, staggering about as a weakness started to creep over him. "Po...Poison..." He gasped out, feeling his strength leave him. That wasn't normal smoke; it was full of poison!

"Don't worry. I'll not leave you to suffer." She said, walking to him in a casual, relaxed gait, spinning her sword once as she approached. He shook his head, growling out as he dropped his sword. He had no choice, it seemed. He pulled a small orb from a pouch at his side; it was a dark blue in color and held a mass of swirling star like dots. He quickly startedsqueezing it with his fading strength. Sora's eyes widened as she threw a knife at his hand.

The orb cracked then broke.

And in a flash of light the man was gone, the knife passing through air. "Tsk. That's unfortunate." Sora let off. The item was a teleportation orb which was set to a location before hand. Once used the user would be teleported away to that location. They were very expensive and hard to replace, seeing as they had to be broken to be used; it was the same price as twenty suits of good armor. Where he ended up she didn't know, Balanar she was sure. It didn't matter for the moment; in the end he was gone and if nothing else couldn't impact the rest of the battle.

She turned, spinning her katana once before moving in to slay Mandeville's guards. She knew where James was going, and they needed to be ready for him.

[-]

"Damn you both..." Brendon let off as he grunted with effort. On one side he had a blade locked with Miria's; the archer leaning in and trying to shove his blade aside. At the other side of him was Riri; both of her blades locked with the other, trying to push into him for an attack. The halfling had dealt with her last opponent and came to assist Miria in her battle, it seemed. The rest of the battle was a stalemate for the moment; three of their archers were doing their best to try and pin down the elf, but couldn't manage it; two took injuries from her counter attacks but were still fighting on.

The rest of the guard was fighting the Mungale forces and were locked in battle with roughly even numbers, and there were injuries on both sides. Six of Mungale's were down; dead, unconscious or disabled he didn't know. Meanwhile five of theirs were down (Dead or not, he didn't know) and they had two more showing signs of serious injury. Two of his men were fighting the eastern swordswoman, but were being held off deftly as a third, injured man hobbled over to help. Something needed to tip the balance, or things were going to be stuck like this.

Lifting a foot up he sent a brutal sidekick into the catgirl's midsection, knocking the air from her lungs and knocking her away from him before swinging his boot around to kick at the halfling. She ducked under it, rolling back over her shoulder before dashing back at him, swinging her blade wide. He saw the tactic and deflected it, then caught the following stab with his own blade, trying to twist the blade from her hand. She turned with it, spinning fully before sending a roundhouse kick to his ribs, making him grunt with the impact but he slapped his arm down over her leg, catching her shin. While she tried to regain her balance after failing to pull her leg back he slammed the pommel of his sword into her knee making her scream out in pain.

Before he could continue she lifted her other foot up and kicked his chest with enough force to stagger him back. She rolled back to her feet but nearly stumbled as her right leg buckled for a moment; nothing broken but he caused some solid damage Good.

He turned about to go after the mongrel in time to catch an arrow in the shoulder, grunting as he staggered back. The arrow penetrated, but only the tip met flesh. A bruise was visible over her abs as she reloaded and fired a second shot, only for him to dodge. He was about to charge only to feel his gut knot.

A backflip avoided a stab to the back from the halfling. He was about to retaliate once he landed... Only to catch an arrow to the chest, grunting. That one hit deeper though his armor; enough to both be painful and worrying. He jumped back, reversing a grip on a blade to make it easier to pull the arrows from his armor. He stepped back frowning. "Shit..." And then he heard it.

Hooves.

"What? What's the cavalry doing here?" He let off as he turned to look...

And seeing Mungale soldiers on their men's horses charging into the woods. "Well, shit..." He let off at the sight. He knew where this was going to go; the balance was about to be tipped and tipped hard. They ran down the Mandeville archers first, freeing the elf up to blast at their men with her wind magic once more. He gave off a soft 'tsk' before then giving off a shrill whistle before calling out. "Everyone! Retreat! Retreat!" He called out as Miria took aim at him...

Only for her to hear hooves coming in behind her as she rolled to the side, avoiding the black horse barreling by. Brendon turned as he sheathed his weapons before he dashed before jumping, grabbing onto his horse and turning away from the battle, deflecting a spear aimed to him from another rider with the armor on his forearm as he made his getaway. The Noxdecus Manor Guard ignored him for the moment to run down the rest of the men as Miria took aim and fired at Brendon, only for him to duck low and have the missile hit a tree.

"He got away again!" Miria hissed out, her tail lifting up in irritation. Riri sighed and shook her head as she limped slightly towards her, clearly favoring one of her legs.

"It's fine. After this there won't be much left of their men after this, right? Let's make sure they don't get away and go help our guys." She said, starting to limp towards the ongoing melee.

[-]

By the time me and my small group of guards had snuck around to the ongoing melee down the road Mandeville's guards were all dead. Sora had made short work of them, thanks in part to our own guards holding their attention and her being a sneaky ninja. Gregory and Wesland were clashing, axes locked as they pressed into one another; if one was stronger then the other I couldn't say. I had a look to the others to see how it was going with my scrying orb. Things were under control on Miria's end (Although it looked too hairy for my liking for awhile) so I moved to do my own plan. I managed to catch Sora's eye while hiding behind the brush and gave her a nod. Sora nodded back and blurred into motion. Gregory noticed and disengaged, hopping backwards. Wesland seemed confused at first before Sora landed behind him after doing something with her hands, mana channeled into said hands before she slammed them to the ground, palms to the earth.

"Earth Bind!" She let off as several roots rose up from the wet soil of the road, grabbing at Wesland arms as I dashed out to the slave, the six guards with me emerging as well but not as quickly. I jumped up, landing on his back as he struggled against the roots Sora summoned to bind him up. From my pouch I slipped a small spell stone with a shield spell on it out into my hand and reached down towards his neck as he squirmed and rocked about harder; it was like holding on to an angry (If contained) bull.

"Hold still a second, hold still..." I said softly before I finally managed to wedge the small stone between his collar and his skin before turning on it's spell with a sliver of mana, a small, silver colored shield separating him from the collar now. It was a weak spell, but it was as strong as it needed to be. "Done!" Wesland stiffened under me as the collar's effects were cut from him. "Hang on a second there buddy. I'll have that collar off of you in a minute."

"What? Th-the collar...?" He let off, sounding shocked as I nodded to him. I looked over his shoulder to the collar, reaching out to it as I saw him glance to me, eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah. I put a little shield around the collar. So you're not under it's control, so just relax now. I'll pop it off in a second." I said, smiling to the large man. It was over now.

Or... So I thought...

"RAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHH!" The primal roar coming from the man under me caught me fully off guard as he pulled with his arms, squirming about as he nearly dislodged me from my perch before, to the shock of all watching (Myself included), he managed to tear his arm free of the roots binding him, before reaching back to grab me by the back of my armor before he tossed me away like I was a rag doll with one arm! I hit the ground and landed on my back hard. I grunted roughly and Sora dashed to my side in a second, helping me up as I cast Minor Heal on myself as I tried to get the air back into my lungs; the breath being knocked out from the impact. I looked back in shock as he tore his other arm free of the roots, shaking them off then slashing them with his axe before looking over and glaring at me.

"What the..? Hey! I'm trying to free you here!" I called out, glaring back at him as I got up to my feet, Sora moving to stand between me and the massive man.

"Indeed! Your freedom is at hand! All you need to do is reach out and take it!" Gregory added as all the guards moved to surround Wesland. They'd been relaxed until he'd roared out and were watching him the same way you watched an angry bull elephant.

"You think it's that easy! You think it'll end like that!" He shouted out at us, shivering hard as we watched him. Not in anger, no, I didn't see rage in his eyes. "The collar was... It's just a formality. Being a slave is all I know. And even if... Even if that was an option... He'll find me. He always does... No one escapes him..." He let off, shivering. No, this titan of a man wasn't angry.

He was afraid.

"Is freedom not worth fighting for?" Sora let off at him next, pointing to him. "You would rather live on your knees in fear then rise to your feet in pride?"

"...When I die, I'll be free..." He said quivering. "Until then... Until then, I know my place..." He let off grunting and bringing his arms close to his torso as he started to scream out... And then... He gained an aura. I mean a full on Dragonball Z style, charging up aura. It was a dark red in color and after a moment took the form of a demonic skull around his whole body. Gregory gawked for a moment and stepped back.

As a reminder; this man thought arm wrestling an orge made for a good time. And he also won. And he's currently backing up from this. I knew this would be trouble from that alone.

"Bloody seven hells!" Gregory let off, bringing his shield to the ready. "That Berserker's Soul!" He let off, grimacing darkly. That sounded bad.

"Berserker's Soul!?" Sora let off, slack jawed. "But that's a forbidden technique!" That sounded more bad.

"What's Berserker's Soul?" I asked as the aura started to sink back into Wesland's skin. Gregory was the one to speak up.

"It focuses all of the user's mana into the muscles." He let off, glancing to me. "Depending on the user you can boost your power, speed and reflexes from a quarter to a half or even more of what you have already... But it takes a toll on the body. A terrible one." He said, gritting his teeth. "We can outlast him but his strength will be... demonic." He let off as I looked to the slave now, my vision flashing white as it panned in on his face before pulling back slowly.

His eyes were white. Pure, stark white. No pupils or anything, just pure white and glowing softly. He let off a huff as a red mist pushed from his mouth with each breath. He held his axe in both hands as he glared to us.

This didn't just sound bad, this was very bad.

"You Will Be Crushed!" He let off as he flexed his neck, making a cracking sound as boss music started up once more, but in a darker remix...

_Enslaved Bodyguard_
Wesland Chained

Fuck...

As my vision returned to normal it was Wesland that was the first to charge, axe raised up high as he leapt and me an Sora. We both leapt to opposite sides as his axe crashed to the ground, Gregory's axe slamming into the side of his head almost right after. Wesland flinched and almost fell to a knee but pushed back, standing up fully and swung his axe, catching the crusader on his shield and lifting the huge man off the ground and sending him back almost fifteen feet on his back! I quickly fired off a fireball at him. He didn't move and just tanked it on the shoulder. Even with the rain around the fire and concussive force should have knocked him down, made him flinch, something.

He just looked back at me and roared before lifting his axe up and slamming the blade to the ground and sending a cascade of dirt and rocks from the ground at me!

Holy hell!

I managed to jump aside from the attack but the sheer force of the moving earth launched me some eight feet away and to the ground making me roll with the impact.

Sora made some hand signs, Naruto style, before blowing a fireball from her mouth (Through the mask Kakashi style, how I don't know!) and caught him in the face. He staggered lightly and before he could move Kelly jammed her spear into his left armpit. It seemed to do little but get his attention as he swung his arm and not only knocked it from her hands but when the spear's butt hit the ground snapped it in two. Sora hit him with another fireball in the side of the head as Kelly moved back, other guards moving in with their weapons.

He roared and spun his axe about before swinging it hard twice, once on each side of him in a wide, heavy arc. The air pressure from this sent everyone around him flying backwards. I'd gotten back to my feet as I shook my head out, wondering what to do. This was like fighting King Kong with nerf guns. I charged mana up and threw an Arctic Orb down at his feet, the impact freezing the ground. Wesland let off a yelp as he tried to retain his balance before planting both feet and jamming the butt of his axe to the ground. The impact of the axe cracked and shattered the ice into shards as he pushed himself fully upright...

Only to meet Gregory's axe to the face glowing with a bright, yellow light. Wesland staggered back, his helm taking the worse of the hit and took a second, upswing axe blow to the chest, followed by a heavy haymaker with the shield to his face. Wesland grunted and swung his axe downwards at Gregory who blocked with his own axe... And was forced to a knee. Wesland roared out only to have something small and round smash into his face, a brief cloud of black dust coming off of it. He roared out, backing up before swinging his axe wildly about as Gregory moved back, the slave's left hand covering his face as his head shook about. Whatever Sora tossed into his face had blinded him for a moment.

I'd later learn it was a ninja favorite; a hollowed out egg filled with pepper and ground glass shards. Nasty to have in the eyes, by the looks of it.

Almost everyone on the ground started to get up, Kelly drawing her sword sword. One of the men groaned and lifted his head but didn't stand, another pulling him aside and towards the trees. "It's like we're children fighting a gorilla!" I let off, frowning as I channeled mana once more to my hands. Gregory nodded once as he frowned under his helm.

"He can't keep it up forever. Another three minutes maybe, five tops." The crusader said as Wesland shook out his head as he tried to clear his vision. "If he holds it any longer it'll be worse and worse for him."

"I hate to say it... But I think he'll hold it until we're dead or he's dead..." I said shivering a bit. I wasn't sure of what to do; the plan of 'hit him' wasn't working and 'hit him harder' didn't seem much better. And these were the back up plans to 'free him' that backfired in epic fashion right in my face.

"Agreed, but what choice do we have?" Sora said, frowning as she flexed her fingers. I frowned as well and had decided that if I couldn't put him down I could at least hobble him. I glanced to Sora and gave a jerk of my head. She nodded and did her hand signs before blowing another fireball at him. Wesland simply smacked it from the air with his axe... And missed my Magic Missile that slammed into the side of his knee. His leg buckled lightly, but he didn't fall, he simply turned to me and lifted his axe up, roaring out...

Only to have a spear slam into the back of his knee. He howled and turned to swing, the guard who stabbed him rolled away to the side, abandoning his weapon that stuck out of the back of the titan's knee. Wesland had to turn his head to let his helm block a war dart aimed at his face from another guard.

You know lawn darts? Yeah, they used to be Roman weapons once upon a time.

Another guard didn't bother with a weapon and charged, jumping up and drop kicking the side of the slave's other knee, making him stagger slightly.

"Sora, his weapon!" I called out as the guard started to move away, and got out of the axe swing's arc, but the air pressure still sent him flying away and to the ground. Hand signs made and Sora's hands slammed to the ground a new set of roots rising up to grab at Wesland's axe as he tried to swing it again. When he couldn't move it he looked back and tugged on it harder as Gregory's axe glowed once more as he lifted it up and swung it down hard onto Wesland's axe, breaking it under the head.

His response was to grab Gregory's axe with both hands and tried to pull it away, roaring out as the crusader tried to prevent his weapon from being torn away from his hands. I sent a Magic Missile and slammed it into the side of his head, knocking his helm off and sending his black hair falling out to his neck. He still kept pulling until one of Sora's throwing knives sailed into his left eye sending blood spurting out and making him howl, letting go of Gregory's weapon and stepping back once. Gregory pulled his weapon back and swung it down into him, the slave lifting an arm up to protect his head as one hit came down, then two, then three, almost forcing him to a knee once more before the titan roared and punched Gregory hard enough to stagger him back five feet.

"He's weakening!" The crusader called out to everyone.

"Hard for me to tell!" I let off, frowning deeper as I looked to the guard who drop kicked Wesland's knee. He wasn't moving, another guard rushing to check on him. A thumbs up showed he was still alive. That was good. No one died to this guy.

Yet.

The guards, myself, Gregory and Sora kept him surrounded. One of the guard ground his foot to the ground, another splashing his into a puddle made from the rain, making noise to try and attract the titan's attention, trying to make him look to them; likely to give someone else an opening to attack. I was drawing mana and saw Sora was making her hand signs. In the end none of us moved first as a ball of wind blasted out from the forest to slam into Wesland's shoulder, making him flinch.

"Jeeze, I thought you guys were going to deal with that collar!" Aeris let off as she flew over us on her staff, Miria hopping over some roots to join us, bow in hand. Makoto followed on her heels, sword in hand. Riri was the last one to arrive with blades in her hands; I was worried about her as she was visibly limping. The guards that were with them followed quickly and moved to join their brothers-in-arms.

"I did! He kept fighting us anyway!" I called back to the girl's shock. "He's used a technique that boosted him up; we have to stop him, quickly!"

"R-right..." Aeris let off, Riri looking wide eyed as Makoto moved to join the circle of guards. Wesland snarled and reached up, pulling the knife out of his ruined eye throwing it away; one guard lifting his shield to let it bounce off.

"There's No Escape For Me, Fools! And None For You!" The slave roared out, charging me with his fists up. Sora moved first, blasting another fireball into his face. Gregory moved second, roaring out with a wide, heavy swing and going low, slamming the axe to the back of his knee, staggering him once more. I was third, aiming for his feet and I blasted out with another Arctic Orb, freezing the ground as Gregory leapt back. Wesland slipped and landed hard on the ground, taken off his feet for the first time in the fight, as I started to charge mana into my hands once more. He roared and slammed both elbows to the ground, shattering the ice under him once more as he rose up to a knee.

Makoto dashed in, swinging for his arm, aiming for the gap at the inside of armor at his elbow and slashed at it. He roared out in anger only to have an arrow slam into the inside of his other elbow that Miria fired. The arrow stuck in and clearly punched past the chain mail. Aeris fired another burst of wind at him next, slamming it into his knee as he stood up with enough force to nearly send him back down. He stayed standing, but was clearly starting to favor the other leg; we were in fact wearing him down, but it felt like we were doing so via death by a thousand cuts.

One of the guards moved next, giving a battle cry at the last moment and jamming his spear into the back of his other knee. Wesland roared in pain and turned to attack only for Gregory to dash in and slam his axe's head into his chest, forcing him to take a step back. Aeris flew over behind the slave and slammed another wind spell to the back of his head and shoulders making him lean forwards. Without a word of agreement all of the guards charged and tackled him, some around the knees, some the waist and managed to knock him down before they piled onto his back and arms.

"Pin him down!"

"I am!"

"Get control over his arms!"

"I am!"

"Subdue him, quickly!"

"I am, gods dammit!"

Wesland was shifting under roughly fourteen men (Including Kelly, for the record) who were pinning him down, each one of them wearing heavy armor.

"RAAAAAAAAAARAGGGHHHHHHH!" Wesland let off, the pile of guards shifting before starting to rise up. To my amazement Wesland was starting to rise back up to his feet under all that weight. He got a knee under him and stood right up, arms lifting up as he flung fourteen people off of him like they were a blanket! I was gawking and knew I wasn't the only one as I hear several metallic splats on the wet ground. I was nearly about to piss myself when I saw him hobble and stagger about as if dazed. My eyes widened and I continued to charge mana up.

"Gregory!" I called out, the crusader charging in and giving a battle cry as he swung his axe at him, the weapon glowing yellow once more. Wesland blocked with his arms, being pushed back with each swing, grunting out. Finally he punched Gregory in the chest, but didn't move him back much this time as Gregory punched him in the side of the head with his shield.

I kept charging mana.

Finally Wesland punched Gregory in the face with enough force to knock him to the ground only to bring his arms back up to block Sora's fireball. Aeris' wind spell followed the fire attack, hitting his shoulder hard and making him take a step back, Miria following that by firing an arrow that pinged off his armor. Kelly managed to get to her feet and picked up someone's spear and charged, jamming it into Wesland's knee making him howl out. Despite the heavy blows he'd taken so far he just refused to go down. And when we did get him down he refused to stay down! He just wouldn't stop at all! He was like a god damned juggernaut!

Just... This fight was such a bitch!

"Move!" I called out Kelly and the other guards parting from the line between me and Welsand. The mana in my hand started glowing brightly to a near blinding degree as I overcharged a spell by quite the degree. It was mana inefficient as hell and would waste most of my remaining mana pool, but we needed to end this quickly. I fired off a Scatter Bolt, some dozen, bright, and long blasts coming out. Wesland tried to move but the accumulated wounds seemed to finally catch up to him and he grunted, wavering for a moment allowing the multiple bolts strike him around the arms, legs, and torso. The one going for his head missed, but I could see blood splattering out from each impact I had made with my spell. Once the attack had ended I could fully see the effect I had with my Scatter Bolt and was almost horrified by what I'd done to him.

A chunk was missing out of his right thigh and calf. A bolt hit his left elbow and blew most of it away; a bit of muscle, skin and a bit of armor keeping it from hitting the ground. His right shoulder had a hole in it now making his other arm hang limply as the metal of the armor rolled into his wound. The left side of his chest piece was peeled back like a banana at his side under his arm, exposing what was under it. Which was now a bloody mess showing off a pair of his ribs that were exposed to the air and rain. Blood poured from each wound and mixed with the falling water and I felt quite queasy at that moment. He tried to step forwards only to wince in pain and finally fell backwards down onto his back. He panted there for a moment before he coughed out, blood spattering from his lips. I walked forwards slowly gulping as I looked down to him. His one remaining eye was normal once more, a brown eye darting about. He couldn't move; his right leg was mangled now and both of his arms were disabled, beyond use. Hell, his left arm was destroyed beyond repair now.

'What have I done?' Is what I wondered as I looked down at him. I knew I had to stop him before someone else died but...

But in that moment I had failed to do one of the most important things I set out to do. Free him.

A strong hand fell on my shoulder. I stiffened and looked up to see Gregory, a steeled look in his eyes as he smiled sadly to me. "You've done well, Mi'lord. I'll... I'll grant him mercy. Free him in the only way he'll accept it." I tightened my jaw as sucked in a breath... Before shaking my head.

"No. I started this. I can finish it." I said walking over to the downed man. I knelt beside him and reached out with one hand and used the Unlock spell on his collar, popping it off his neck. I drew a throwing knife from my side and set it to his neck as I looked to his one good eye. "What's your name?" I knew thanks to observe, but I wanted everyone to hear it from his own lips.

"Wes...Wesland... Wesland Chained." He gasped out looking up to me. There was no fear in his eye. No hate. No anger. No despair or rage or sadness. I saw one thing there.

Acceptance.

"Be free then, Wesland Unchained." I said softly before I slit his throat. Life drained from his eye as his head turned to one side. The last thing he did was offer a tiny, small smile.

I shivered as I stood, pulling a cloth out to wash the blade of blood, the sound of rain the only thing I heard for a time. I looked down to the slave's body as the still able, standing guards gathered around, looking down at him. "Did any of them escape?" I asked softly after several moments as I gulped, trying to keep the bile from rising up my throat.

"Brendon escaped on horseback." Makoto told me, her voice wavering as well. "The rest were run down by our cavalry. They're turning back here now."

"The enemy captain used a Teleportation Orb to escape as well." Sora added with a firm but soft voice, pulling the part of her mask covering her mouth down to her neck. "The rest are dead."

"I see." I said, needing a moment before I could speak once more. "Strip them of anything useful. It's too wet to burn the bodies so just bury them somewhere; they can feed the worms." I looked over to Riri who was limping closer to the body of Wesland, eyes locked on him. She was giving a thousand yard, sad stare. She looked to me and I nodded once as she came closer until she could hug me about the waist. I gulped once more, sighing out as I wrapped an arm about her shoulders. "Gregory, I want Wesland's body brought back. I want him buried in the graveyard. We'll give him a headstone."

"So, 'Wesland Unchained' is to be written on it then?" He asked as I nodded once.

"His equipment should be buried with him." I said before finally turning and looking down the road. I could feel it, that tracking spell on his cane. Mandeville was watching. I could just make out his carriage past the road, rain and trees on a slight rise. I was sure he was looking though something at us. I lifted two fingers of my free hand up and pointed to my eyes before pointing to him with both fingers. I glared over to him before his vehicle started to move on the road, starting eastwards. I also felt the other tracking spell I had placed was moving to rendezvous with him.

Back when Brendon was scouting in Argon I arranged for him to find a magic ring and, greedy bastard that he was, he took it with him. Said ring was a reward from the ring collector I helped in my first week in this world. It had a tracking spell put on it, but also my modified scrying spell, letting us listen in on every conversation Brendon was a part of. The plans they outlined, details on their troops, Wesland's slave status (Even if I myself knew it from Observe) and even more. The ability to listen even past anti-scry spells was a nice side effect of my little spell, and would make the communication devices I had in mind viable and a useful spying tool in a pinch. Once he was out of sight I sighed and turned to Gregory.

"If he left the wagons behind then I want them brought here; it'll make getting home easier. Bring the injured to me and Gregory; We'll do what we can for them until we can get them to a proper healer." I made a mental note to get a better healing spell after this. "And everyone... Good work."

A loud cheer sounded out from the men as Gregory started directing them; sending six out to see about the wagons and the rest to help the injured, bringing them to me and himself.

Defeated List

5 Mandeville Cavalry x 200=1000XP
4 Mandeville Veteran Cavalry x 210=840XP
Mandeville Cavalry Leader=220XP
Wesland Chained=2000XP x 1.25 Kill Bonus=2500XP
Gain 4560XP Total

The kill bonus made it a bit worse, to be honest.

[-]

Sir John Mandeville seethed as he clutched his cane, his old knuckles turning white as he squeezed down, his spyglass forgotten on the seat beside him. "How..? How? How?" He let off his arms trembling in fury and frustration. The damned brat had countered him yet again! How could he could he divine his plans not once, not twice but three times! He seethed as his carriage rode down the road looking back to the forest, rain still falling hard on it. The rain didn't extend past the forest so the road before him was dry, thankfully, but it was the one good thing he had right now. He heard a horse ride up to him seeing a flustered and frustrated Brendon ride up to him.

"Fucking Bastard! He had us by the short and curlies from the start!" The mercenary let off, looking like he was about to punch something, self restraint being the only thing keeping his horse from taking a blow. Despite being coated in rainwater the old man could see the blood leaking softly from one of the two holes in his armor. "Fuck! I knew we underestimated him at the start, but not by this fucking much."

"Calm yourself, Brendon..." Mandeville hissed out the window to the man. "We can do nothing more; it happened. I want nothing more then to unleash my fury upon that damned brat, but it will do us no good right now." Each word was tense and filled with frustration; it was clear that the old man was forcing himself to remain calm and he was managing in a questionable fashion. "Now we can only think of the losses we suffered and recover as best as we can." And indeed, he took losses. Heavy losses.

He lost over fifty men in total. Captain Axiom might have survived thanks to the Teleportation Orb he gave him, but if so he and Brendon were the only two that survived save his carriage drivers. More over the loss of Wesland was particularly devastating for him; he invested a lot of money, time and favors to train him up to the level he was at. Finding a trainer for Berserker's Soul was difficult at best and few could even learn it. The other men were less of a loss individually but the sheer amount he lost was also rough; he brought so many just in case and it represented a quarter of his total guard. The rest were tied up at his manor, various investments and training with the Balanar Knights. He was going to be short handed on his return for a time.

And then there was the materialcosts to consider. Everyone of his men wore solid armor, carried good weapons, quality rations and other equipment that he paid for. Four wagons and several horses that he paid for. Nights of lodging, cooked food and entertainment that he paid for. And when he got back he'd have death contracts to fulfill, paying out money to their next of kin that he'd have to pay for.

A platoon's worth of men, equipment, provisions and contracts and what did he have to show for it in the end? What did he have after throwing away so much useful, trained personnel and good, hard earned coin?

Nothing.

Nothing!

Absolutely nothing!

There was no humiliated lordling, learning what a pathetic waste of his father's seed he was. There was no adopted, flea-bitten mongrel, disgraced and broken by rape and men far better then she ever could be. There was no new slaves to bring back, to be trained, broken and sold to recoup his losses. Worst of all after all of that he had failed in the very singular objective that brought him there to start with; to retake his slave, Riri. Once more she had slipped though his fingers and remained beyond his reach. He snarled softly as he tried to reassert himself over his anger and force himself to calm down, his hands trembling as he took in a breath.

Worse still he was the one leaving humiliated and defeated with nothing to show for his efforts aside from a list of losses and expenses. He looked ahead, speaking as calmly as he could manage through a sea of hateful rage. "We'll return home to Balanar. Rest assured, Brendon that this is not over, not by a long shot. He's won the battle for now but I assure you my good man, there will. Be. A reckoning!" He let off as he glared to the wall of his carriage.

To Sir John Mandeville the battle was utterly lost...

But the war had now begun.

[-]

As it turned out, yes, the wagons were left abandoned. I used Minor Heal on pretty well everyone with lighter injuries and Gregory, who had a stronger healing spell, healed the major ones, starting with the worst off. Thankfully none of our guys died, although everyone had some form injury. Mostly minor, but some major. Neither I nor Gregory could mend broken bones fully, but our magic could still set them and patch them enough to not shift around as they were splinted. Really, I was leaning on Gregory for the worst of the injuries here.

Wesland broke about six limbs on five guards in total. A few head injuries were about, a couple rib injuries. The worst off was one that was launched off of Wesland's doggy pile; he landed hard on his back and neck and couldn't feel anything from the neck down. Gregory's magic seemed to partially fix it; he could feel again anyway but I ordered people to be ginger with him. A pair of broken spear shafts were tied to his torso and his head to the shafts to stabilize it for transport. Talk was made about padding his head and neck with blankets for the trip back to lessen the jostling of the wagon; Gregory was going to be riding with him; again he had a better healing spell then I did, after all. In fact all the worst of the injured would ride with him. The lesser injured would ride with me and those with very minor injuries would get into the other wagons.

Once equipment was taken, bodies buried and Wesland's corpse loaded we were off for home, a blanket laid over the dead slave's body. We made it home just before the sun was down fully and I sent for a proper healer despite the time of day, if only to mend up our man with the wounded neck. Thankfully a local priest was willing to stop by and heal him up; he'd be on the mend for a week at least but a full recovery was expected. He insisted on healing the rest of my men (And myself), as well as the girls and Gregory and I offered him a bed for the night, a meal for the morning and a five gold donation for his church.

Needless to say the priest was well fed as were all of the men who fought for us come the next morning. Once the priest had left I made sure everyone was in the large dining room before I gave a short speech to everyone who fought Mandeville's men; that they didn't need to fight (I had only asked for volunteers for the two battles) but I appreciated their efforts and they stood up for the right thing.

One of the men (I didn't know his name) laughed and barked out 'Only good slaver's a dead one!' to the cheers of everyone around me. I gave a chuckle and nodded to him.

I made sure every man (And Kelly) was given an extra five copper for their efforts. Those who took serious injuries gained an additional two silver, save our neck injury who got three. The next announcement I made was the one that got the most cheer; Mandeville was fleeing to the south that morning. It was hard for me to tell the exact distance, but I was sure he was most of the way though Ferra and close to the border of The Dominion of Geofu or Harcal's Barony and Brendon was with him. In short he was in full retreat. We'd won.

The cheer was deafening and Miria leapt up onto the dinner table threw her hands up and shouted something out at the top of her lungs as she pointed upwards with a finger. "Tonight I declare... A victory feast!" She let off to an even larger cheer. I hadn't wanted to go that far but the cheer made me rethink that. The last few days were tense, so it would be a good way to blow off steam. I had Sora assign a maid to getting the food needed (And told her she was taking the day off in thanks to her own efforts and that she was to rest) and appoint someone in organizing things.

And to get the ale, of course. Before telling the men to go easy on it, to a gale of laughter.

I spent most of the day working on my little projects and doing some paperwork. Now and then one of the guards would come by to congratulate me on the victory. A few would shake my hand and claim they were proud to serve House Noxdecus. There were two exceptions. The first was Kelly who gave me a firm salute and asked if I was alright after the events of the battle. I wasn't fully okay, but I had accepted the outcome and thanked her for her concern. She was dressed out of her armor now; she was in a red tunic that was cut low, stopping short of the navel with black laces keeping the top tight and showing off a modest bust. It was long enough to cover her ass and groin, but she went without pants or a skirt of any sort; wearing thigh high leather boots with slight heels. Not that she needed heels. She nodded and accepted what I said at face value before leaving, saluting once more.

Late in the afternoon came the second exception; Gregory. He knocked and once on my door and when I replied for the knocker to enter he came in and walked over to me, huffing softly.

"I've seen Wesland laid to rest. I'll take you to the grave tomorrow so you can say your piece." He told me as I nodded once, standing to my feet to look at him.

"We should take Riri too." I said sighing. "Given her background I think she has more to say then I do." He nodded solemnly as I leaned back into my desk. Gregory said nothing else, standing cross-armed as he looked at me. He seemed to know I had something on my chest and just... Waited. He didn't tell me to spit it out, he didn't try to coax it out, he just waited for it to come out. Finally I spoke. "I failed him."

"You didn't." Came his curt reply.

"How did I not fail him?" I asked crossing my own arms as he sighed.

"You cannot save a man who does not wish to be saved. You reached your hand out to him and offered to pull him upwards into freedom. He was the one that slapped your hand away, not out of malice but fear." He said softly, moving his hands to his sides. "Physically he was powerful, the strongest man I've ever fought. Mentally? ... Mentally, he was broken. Broken long before we met him. Broken by that... monster calling himself a merchant. Bah!"

"...I know that, I know that..." I said, a hand moving to rub at my face, sighing hard. "But... But it feels like I had another option... I couldn't see it, but it was there, I know it..."

"The mind and heart are not always as one in regard to what is the truth. And the truth is there is always another option. But in my belief... I don't think you had a better one." He said, shifting a bit for a moment. "It sometimes... It sometimes takes more courage to do what you know needs to be done then to find a way that you know may well fail." He stepped in and set both hands to my shoulders. "You saved him in the only way he'd accept. Can you accept that?"

I sighed once more... And after a long moment nodded. "I... I think so. It was... It was a failure, but not one I had control over."

"Indeed. You can fight without mistake or error and still fail, partially or fully. It is not weakness, my young master, it is just life. And you are strong enough to bear the weight." He gave my shoulders a last squeeze before turning and leaving me alone in my room. Despite what I was still feeling... It was a weight off my shoulders.

Eventually it was time for the victory party and we held it in our reception hall, used to host parties and such. The maids were hosting and both the men who fought and guards not on duty joined. Our neck injury (Who's name I would finally learn was Donald Stone) was seated in a chair in a place of honor by the dance floor and had two of the maids attending him; a short blonde with her hair in a ponytail and a brunette with cropped hair; the former giving him a shoulder rub the latter seated in his lap.

The other injured men also got a lot of preferential treatment from the maids. A lot of food and drink were passed around... And I was rudely reminded that Sora... Could not hold her liquor. At all.

I couldn't hear what she was saying, but she was red faced, swaying hard and hanging onto a guard who's face was buried in her giant bust. And, well, giving how his arms were pinwheeling it wasn't fully willing on his end. Or he couldn't breathe, it was hard for me to tell. Another maid moved over to help him with that and get him some fresh air.

Makoto and Kelly were speaking with one another, each with an ale in hand as they sipped their drinks, content to not get shit-faced. Miria was dancing on a round table to the cheers of everyone watching. No calls to 'take it off' came, and she made no attempt to strip, but I half expected her to offer a lap dance to someone. Really, she was a pole away from a stripper dance. Aeris was sitting on her staff, one of the guards clearly hitting on her but she lacked any real interest in him, it seemed.

As for Riri she came up to me, wearing a black mini dress that was... Um... How do I put this..? I'd seen her earlier when I walked in. The front was fully covering; from her neck to the top of her thighs. The back however was a series of laces crisscrossing it's way down. Yes, even over her ass; her bare cheeks were on full display with a short, wagging tail over her cute little butt. It was hard not to get stiff at the sight. She held an ale in each hand and smiled, passing me one. I smiled, took the mug and jerked my head, gesturing to a small table. She blushed and nodded as we walked over, silent for the moment. We sat down, sipped drinks and had a maid say she'd bring us plates of food. Once she was out of ear shot I smiled to my maid and lifted my drink up.

"How are you feeling, Riri?" I asked softly, smiling as I sipped at my mug before setting it down and leaned on the table as I watched her. She smiled back, blushing deeper at me.

"G-great... It's like... It's like coming out of that carriage a second time... Being freed of another cage..." She said softly before sipping her drink a bit deeply. Unlike Sora, Riri could hold her drink. To a crazy level. Her former... person who really needs an extra large ass kicking had forced her to drink herself under the table time and again she told me, ever since she was, like, around ten years old. She could drink even Gregory under the table and he was like six times her size.

How in the name of any and all gods she wasn't an full on alcoholic I will never have the faintest clue. "Well if Mandeville comes sniffing around a second time I'll be more then happy to send him packing once more." She blushed deeper, nursing her drink for a moment before speaking once more.

"I'm worth that much to you, huh Master?" She said as I chuckled and nodded. Then a question hit me that I hadn't thought of until now.

"I have to ask... Why call me 'Master'?" I asked as she blinked at me. "Everyone else calls me 'M'lord' or 'sir' or 'sire', but you always use Master. I... I figured given your past..."

"I... It's because of my past that I call you that." I blinked as she smiled warmly, if also a bit sadly, to me as she squirmed a moment. "I... I was always told 'a slave doesn't choose her master' and... Well... I understand why Wesland did what he did. I... I was free of physical chains when you brought me here, but there were still chains around my mind. I... My one freedom, I thought at the time, was that I could... I could at least now choose my Master, who I was a slave to."

"I... Riri..." I let off, shocked, open mouthed at her as she held up a hand before my thoughts could go downwards.

"I... No... Don't worry. I don't think that now. I still felt like a slave when I came here but... You... Sora... Everyone... You freed me of the physical chains, but being here, being around everyone broke the mental ones. You... You put me back together." She said, smiling up at me, wiping her eyes for a moment. "When I came here I called you Master because... That's what you were to me. I call you that now because... Well, it's a way for me to spit back at those who used and owned me. I didn't just choose my own Master, I chose a master who was better man then they could ever hope to be. It's kind of petty, but you are the only one I'll call Master now... Because you're who I chose. If that... If that makes any sense..."

I couldn't help but smile and reached out, ruffling her hair softly. "I don't think I'm so demanding. Or much of a disciplinarian. And I don't like leather collars on my women."

"Best. Master. Ever." She replied as we shared a brief laugh. One of the maids brought two plates of food and we ate well.

I was pestered into playing the flute for a bit and ended up doing a duet with a guard and his lute. When I stopped playing Miria pulled me onto the floor for a dance, smiling and laughing with me. I then offered Makoto, Aeris and even Kelly dances as well (Kelly's dance was for the hell of it) but denied Sora who was stumbling about, drunk as could be.

How was a woman that old unable to hold her drink?

Riri was the last girl I danced with and near the end I told her to be in my room in fifteen minutes after I left. After that dance I bid everyone to have fun, but that I had to retire for the evening. I got to my room and very quickly got undressed and moved to get ready.

[-]

It was about fifteen minutes later that she showed up, opening the door without a knock and slipping in. She locked the door once inside and faced away from me, short halfling tail still waggling as she pulled her dress off and tossed it aside before turning to look at me. I was seated on the bed, smiling back, finally letting my cock come to full mast as I thought of what would transpire here and now. Despite how immature the bodies of the halflings looked I couldn't help but think of how cute and sexy she looked as she walked over to me. Besides, she was an adult woman, regardless of looks. Her hands wrapped around the back of my neck, mine around her hips as I pulled her onto my lap as we kissed, firm, lovingly and in lustful desire.

My hands slipped down and cupped her ass as she rocked her groin to my cock, pressing it to my abs and trapping it under her pussy. I gave her a squeeze as the kiss deepened further, groaning into her lips as our tongues slipped from our lips and wrestled in the space between our lips. My cock twitched as we ground into each other. Finally I lifted her up and moved onto the bed on my knees. We were both panting as the kiss broke and I laid her on the bed under me. She blushed, smiling as she laid on her back with her legs spread wide. I then decided to do something I had yet to try.

You'd think I'd have done this or been asked to do this long before now, but no I haven't. Oh well, there's no time to start like the present, right? I lifted her legs up, pushing them up and to her chest as I leaned down, kissing her pussy and making her gasp before giving it a long lick with my tongue. She moaned out under me, her hands grabbing at my hair. "M-master, you... You don't need to-"

"Shush you." I said kissing her near her clit before I looked up to her. "I want to. So spread your legs and let me have my sweet desert."

"Master... Ahhh!" She let off as I went back to work on her wet hole. I kissed her directly on the clit, suckling on it softly as I tried to push my tongue over it, rubbing it back and forth. She squirmed under me as I moved a pair of fingers to her sex. She was very wet now as I gently pushed the tips forwards into her as I looked up to her eyes. As I pushed the fingers deeper I twisted them counter clockwise as she gave a long moan in reply. Soon I was slowly finger-fucking her as I let the clit go from my lips before lapping at it slowly with the tip of my tongue.

She squirmed harder under me, mewling and rocking her hips up. I wasn't sure how long we were at this but soon I was rewarded as her little pussy squeezed down as she gave a longer, louder squeal of pleasure, cumming on my fingers and tongue. I didn't stop, I just kept going, wanting to drive her pleasure higher and higher. Her moans and squeals started to become shrill as her hips rocked up into my mouth.

She'd confess later she came maybe three times from that. Overboard?

She was left panting once I stopped, pausing to wipe off my mouth. She tasted sweeter then I thought as I moved over her softly, tapping my cock to her pussy softly. I then rubbed myself into her sex with the tip of my cock, letting her catch her breath. I smiled down at her as she smiled back up through her pants. As her panting slowed she nodded. I nodded back and pushed firmly down with my dick into her vagina. It was always a bit hard to push into her given Riri's sex is extra tight (Part and parcel of being a halfling, I guess) but she gasped once I popped the head in. I held her by the thighs and started to thrust into her. Slowly I moved my body forwards a bit more, going deeper and deeper. It always amazed me that such a tiny body could take so much cock.

I would later learn that halflings, for some reason, had a cervix that wouldn't bar entry from a cock unless the owner was pregnant. It was like a second pussy for them... Unless, of course, they were carrying a child, then it was painful for them to have something press up into it.

Once I was balls deep I leaned over her, elbows to the bed as I humped into her. Her arms wrapped under mine and around my torso as she humped back, legs locking around my hips. We moaned hard and it felt... better then usual. Maybe it was the reasons we were fucking, but it would be one of the best bouts of sex I would have. She moaned under me and pressed her face to my chest as we rocked into one another, feeling as if two heartbeats sounded as one. She panted, squeezing with her limbs and moaned right into my chest. "Fuck..." I panted out as I rocked my hips in a slow circle.

She came not long after and her squeezing down triggered my own reaction as my balls squeezed down and unleashed a load of thick, heavy cream right into her womb. We panted hard together as her limbs loosened a bit as she laid back. I recovered first and grabbed one leg, lifting it up as I moved to straddle her other thigh. She yelped in surprise as I started to fuck her a second time with her on her side. She gripped the sheets now as I rammed into her, panting as I let lust overtake me a bit, slamming a little roughly into her; I knew she could take it with ease. Honestly, I could go as hard as I could manage and not hurt her; but I felt that just a little rough was enough.

I panted hard over her, one hand stroking her thigh before leaning over as I cupped one of her small breasts, rubbing it firmly as I gently pinched her nipple as she groaned out with me. One of her hands reached up, grabbing me under the elbow and pulling herself back onto me as we engaged in the most primal of all dances; the mating one. She came first once more, but I held out for almost a minute more before I couldn't hold it anymore and came a second time inside of her. I gave another load for her womb, but not as heavy as before. Pleasure hit up both of our spines as I adjusted her, slowly moving my body behind hers, spooning her softly. We laid down and panted for a moment with my cock still hard enough for one more.

Soon she reached back and cupped the back of my head with a single hand. I groaned into her ear as I started to ram back into her once more. I leaned my lips down and kissed her ear and cheek only for her to turn her head, and pull herself to kiss me. Doing so meant I wasn't so deep into her, only half way, but it was still good for me and, given the squeals, good for her.

I don't know how long we humped into each other; minutes, hours, I don't know. It was almost magical though as I pumped her tight sex. Finally she gave one last moan of pleasure as she came. This time I came with her, my cock quivering as I gave one last load up into her tight, wet sex. My cock softened a bit and popped out of her, letting her pussy leak out onto the bed. We panted as she turned into me, kissing my lips as I smiled.

We just... Cuddled from there on. Said nothing, did nothing, just softly stroked each other's bodies and enjoyed the other's heat under the growing moonlight. Before I knew it I was lulled to a deep sleep; dreaming of families old and new, blood and adopted.

And, of course, my little maid.

Fucked List

Banged Riri=75xp
Gain 75xp Total

[-]

Riri fought sleep for as long as she could but was quickly following her Master into the land of dreams and wishes. She gave one last smiled and moved in, kissing his cheek.

"Thank you... For being my hero, Master. I love you."

Finally she laid her head onto his arm, snuggling to his chest as she to fell asleep. Once upon a time, even years after becoming a maid at Noxdecus Manor she had nightmares of unwanted pain and pleasure, cruel masters and flogs, rape and despair.

Now she dreamed of warmth, love and home.

Her home here, in Noxdecus Manor, in her Master's arms.

[ - Author's Note - ]

And that's the end of the Noxdecus vs. Mandeville arc. Needless to say, both Mandeville and Brendon will likely return to cause more trouble for our characters sooner or later. For now, though, they'll be licking their wounds (Metaphorically, in Mandeville's case) and won't be in a position to threaten them for quite some time.

There will be a few chapters to wind down a bit before moving onto the next big arc; Prim's Birthday.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a comment on what you thought of the fights, chapter length, sex scene and so on. It all helps me understand what I'm doing right and what I can do better. Fave and follow if it pleases you as well.

Until next time!

~~Eostian Scribe