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)

39. Act II-Ch XVII: I Know Geofu

[ - Author's Note - ]

Well, here we are. We will now enter Geofu to meet Claudia, Klaus... and Grave. And of course things aren't quite right. Beyond, you know, Grave.

There will be a bit of travel in this one, a little bit of action, a little bit of 'action' and set up for the next chapter coming with a small dash of plot for seasoning.

That being said...

Fair Warning on Incoming Content

There will be references to rape and rather dark scenes in the last segment of this chapter. While this is a Kuroinu fan fic it's still fair to give a heads up for the more squeamish including goblin rape. The normal sort of goblin rape. Consider it a glimpse at what James and company are facing and what could be if they fail.

Consider yourself forewarned. Now that I've said that, let us begin...

[ - Act II - Chapter XVII: I Know Geofu - ]

Of the Seven Legendary Shield Maidens, Sheila the Huntress of the Wilds was the least equipped to rule a nation. She was a hunter by trade who was born in a small village that was burned to ashes by the cruel Brazen Emperor, forced to live apart from people to survive she was not adept at statecraft, economics or law making. As such she felt ill-equipped to rule so turned to her aides and friends; Gallice the knight, Erin the mage, Orvus the judge, Fredrick the scholar and Urus the politician is who she turned to when she created her nation. And from the first letters of their names she would dub her land with a new moniker; Geofu.

The Dominion of Geofu, therefore, was organized with three rulers; The High General who commanded the land in all affairs of the military, The High Chancellor who oversaw the affairs and needs of the common folk and lastly The High Governor who was the overall leader of the realm and arbitrated in areas where military and civilian interests collided. While the High Governor has the final say over any matter and law in the lands he or she is expected to differ to the High General and High Chancellor in their realms of expertise.

Unlike many territories in Eostia these positions of great power are not hereditary, rather the leaders are expected to name a person who worked under them that they felt would best lead the nation. Should one position be vacated without an heir the other two would name a successor. This has made Geofu the nation with the most upwards mobility within it; the best example being High Governor Alexandria Freebird who was a slave who escaped at age twelve, joined the military at age sixteen, rose to commander by age twenty five and named successor to the seat of Geofu's throne at age thirty.

Anyone can become a leader of Geofu no matter the standing they started with; so long as they have the drive and ability to prove themselves.

~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia

[-]

In order to ride to the Dominion of Geofu we first had to cross over northern Ferra. Our initial plan had been to ride to Wallace City and visit Jamaica Galeraven but we were behind schedule as it stood, doubly so as Cyrus' manipulations had sent everyone off in all directions. As it turns out upon arriving in Moara my father had an idea something was off; he was meeting a notable minor lord who promised to ensure a good word with House Sunfield but got talked into circles. Eventually he learned from the servants a letter came to the lord he was visiting and Merlin simply got in contact with Baron Brendon Sunfield directly who was unaware of anything in regards to these talks. Eventually the minor lord was made to talk by a very upset pair of Barons and my mother (Who could be quite scary on her own regardless of title) and he spilled the beans on a solid trade offer from a 'Balanar Merchant' if he did as asked; lure my parents to Moara during a specific period of time.

From what I heard Baron Sunfield was about to do some 'House Cleaning', which was a polite way of saying 'we're finding a new house to take your place as a minor lord of our Barony. Jackass'.

Gregory's goblin hunt was real as it turned out and the locals were advised to call on him but it was clear that his help was unneeded as the goblins were a lesser threat. Once he learned what happened at the manor he asked about and, like the circlet job in Mungale, tracked the recommendation down to a 'concerned citizen' who had foreign, Balanar coin. Sora was the one most hurt by the situation though; she had found and spoken with Terra and learned then and there the letter she was given was a false one and while she took the chance to reach out to try to rekindle her relationship with her daughter Terra rebuked her, sadly. By the time I got a hold of her she was clearly upset and distraught.

As for my Aunt and Uncle the paid for resort was quite real and I imagine Cyrus just paid for them and made some suggestion to some resort owner. Additionally they were the first to return; Sora had to return from Rad, Mom and Dad (Once assured things were now fine at home) stayed in Moara for a bit to talk trade with Baron Sunfield and Gregory decided to take the long way home; which is to say the way with the most Aberrant to kill. Yeah.

This also meant our party increased by one; my cousin Cress. He less volunteered to join us as his father suggested it as a way for him to get out, see Eostia and get some experience. Cress did jump at the chance once it was suggested of course (After all, more time to spend with Miria) and I welcomed it as well for two reasons. One; we encountered enough problems to warrant another able fighter in the group and two; he was a pretty good singer and played a pretty mean harp!

No, really. I made a mental note to invent board games for these trips; they were long, boring and you needed something to entertain you; books, chatter, games or music. And sadly I left my Nintendo Switch in my other world along with my Pokemon and Zelda games.

Part of the trip had us playing music together; me on the flute and him on the harp making and sharing melodies along the way. In addition I got another weekly twenty five spars in along the way, mixing in the members of our escort. Eighteen wins and seven losses. That's forty three hundred XP, plus the Dark Horse Bonus bumping it up to five thousand, one hundred and sixty. That put me in striking distance of another level up. Speaking of which...

I first slapped all eleven RSP I had into Strength. I then took my two USP and moved them into Accuracy. That brought them closer to what I'd need for my upgrade down the line. Next I moved to my Spell Blade Skills. I had four skill points left to spend and until I upgraded my class it was all I had. In the end I split them between Magical Avatar and Swashbuckler to get more magical and physical damage respectively.

Of course we would eventually come to the former Capital of the Unitum Imperium and the current Capital of the Dominion of Geofu. It still stood as one of the oldest cities, not just in Eostia but all of Sererus. Fortress Geofu stood nearby the city, proud and strong. There was two walls surrounding the keep but neither were like usual walls; they were more like defensive towers planted one next to the other, giving ample room for siege weapons and cover for the men manning them. In addition the bottoms of the outer most wall boasted slopes from the base to just over half way up that made using siege ladders much more difficult and helped deflect any sort of cannonball attack and other such siege weaponry. The traditional moat was also around the outer wall, of course.

The central keep itself was an octagonal building with, effectively, a tower at each corner plus two by the front, framing the main gate plus a larger tower in the center of the keep. In addition the gate for the second wall was on the other side from the gate of the first wall, forcing anyone assaulting it to take a long trip around or try and break through a wall that was fifty feet thick. Something worth noting is that the other Six Great Fortresses of Eostia were built early into the start of the Eostian/Garanian war while Fortress Geofu was an old Imperium stronghold; it was merely upgraded during that time and with a second wall and moat built. According to what I knew, Fortress Geofu (Known originally as Primum Castellum) was the home and seat of power of the Emperors and Empresses of the Imperium.

As we approached Fortress Geofu the emblem of the Dominion of Geofu could be seen more clearly over the gate of the first wall. It was a tower style shield, but with a rounded top, two rounded notches on the sides near the top and a pointed bottom. The outline was green and under it was an olive branch, split in a V, framing the bottom of it. There was a green divider that angled down from the bottom of the notch before moving straight across horizontally. At the middle of it was a green line splitting the bottom section into two. Each panel made had a different color and theme.

The lower left panel bore a large, white book with a quill on it, a white dove hanging over it's left side with a green olive branch in the beak and finally three, white diamonds over it. All of it was outlined with a thin, gray color. The bottom right bore a dark red background with a spartan style helmet at the top center of it a gladius under it with the point aimed down and two circles at the upper corners of the panel with three chevrons in them, pointing up all colored orange and outlined in black, save the solid black chevrons. The gladius had a green wreath behind it. The top's background was purple with seven yellow, gold trimmed stars in vertical lines on both sides. In the center was a gold set of scales with a yellow crown on the top of it. On the left scale was a white, gray outlined diamond and on the right was an orange circle, outlined in black with three black chevrons on it and both surrounded by a green wreath.

The Emblem of the Dominion of Geofu; the lower left representing the High Chancellor, the lower right representing the High General and the upper section the High Governor.

Once we arrived we were admitted through the front gates and rode between the walls to get to the opposite side and reach the other gate. It should be noted that there were additional gates bridging the two walls, likely to slow invaders further. Once we were inside the second wall we were able to ride up towards the massive keep and it wasn't hard to see we were expected; flanking the gate was two lines of women in scantly clad mana armor, all of whom were standing at attention; the Dawn Templars. As under-dressed as they might have looked that mana armor was seriously tough and protected each wearer pretty damn well; to plate mail levels of resistance. The cost of those things would have been enough to equip a force a hundred times the size, maybe. The Emblem of Geofu hung over the keep's gate and on a set of banners on either side of it was another shield emblem of note.

This shield was a kite style shield with notches on the upper corners with a yellow outline and baby blue background. At the top was a sun, framed by a pair of crossed swords under it with blue handles and red gems in the pommels. Under that was a visage on a woman with long, untamed brown hair from the waist up with a green eye, the other hidden by a sword she was holding up; the silver blade coupled with a gold colored cross guard with a green gem in it and a red handle. The woman's armor was a dark steel breastplate, lighter gray pauldrons and forearm bracers and gold colored, fingerless gauntlets. It was the image of the Dawn Templars founder, supposedly.

Under that, just under the middle of the shield was a horizontal line of seven, eight pointed white stars outlined with yellow. Under that was a trio of lines in Latin with a Gothic type font, colored yellow with a red outline followed by a line with rounded ends, a flower in the center with vine like wraps on each side of the bar in the same colors, followed by one more line of Latin text.

Superbus et Victoriuus
Custodes Lucis
Innocentii Defensores

Aurora Templarii

Or roughly translated...

Proud and Victorious
Guardians of the Light
Innocent Defenders

Dawn Templars

I think it wasn't perfect Latin, but that was the rough idea. Finally at the bottom was the image of a tree with a brown trunk, green leaves and a single, red apple on a branch. Under it a series of green lines, likely meant to indicate the ground.

Near the gate waiting for us was two figures; the first was Klaus who was giving a gentle smile as we approached. The other I didn't recognize right away. She stood some five foot seven in height and wore the standard Dawn Templar armor. She had black hair that brushed her shoulders, framing a pretty face with bright, blue eyes. Her full body was on display in said armor, of course, and aside from a mole on the top of her right, D-Cup breast I noticed no real flaws on her toned skin. She bore a shield on her back and sword at her hip with an additional claymore styled sword at her back under the shield as well.

(-)

Name: Ryder Blackedge
Title: Sub-Commander of the Dawn Templars
Class: Templar
Level: 25
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 54
Status: Healthy, Proud, At Attention

Romance Rating: 81
Corruption Rating: 5

Known Traits
[?]
[Sword Master] You are a master of any sword set to your hand. +2 Damage to all one handed swords in your use, +4 Damage to all two handed swords in your use.

[The Best Defense] Half of the average of your armor's defense resistances is added to your weapon's damage bonus
[Unbreakable Shield] Any shield you hold has it's durability doubled. Additionally increase your Con by 15% when using a shield

One of Claudia Levantine's most prominent squires she's risen the ranks from a spoiled daughter of a minor lord to a hardened knight of Eostia's most famous order. Some are even speaking of her as the most prominent heir of the order; although even she admits she has a lot more to learn from her Commander.

(-)

Once we came to a stop we stepped out of the carriage as I took a moment to stretch. Klaus was quick to step towards us and greet me as he moved to shake hands with me, his warm smile wide as his other hand patting my shoulder. "James, James, welcome! Ahhh, it's been too long since we could really stop and speak with each other, eh?" He said, smiling. Indeed; aside from his brief, surprise visit with Claudia and Celestine in Mungale when we showcased the booster's ability to double as a public address system we didn't really have any chance to talk; even at Prim's party other things called on our respective attentions.

"Good to see you once more, Klaus. It'll be good to talk again." I replied, chuckling a bit. "If I can ask, where's Claudia at?" I asked as he nodded and adjusted his glasses for a moment.

"She received a voxlux call of some import." He replied, still smiling. "She'll join us as soon as she can, of course. In the meantime allow me to introduce you to Sub-Commander Ryder Blackedge; Second in Command of the Dawn Templars; Sword Division." The Dawn Templars, it should be noted, are divided into three parts; Helm Division, Sword Division and Shield Division. Helm was focused on gathering intelligence, scouting and striking behind the enemy lines; it was the smallest but most mobile of the divisions and was consider to be an Irregular Unit, over all. Shield was the order assigned to the High Throne (Celestine, in this case) and other VIPs as bodyguards. Lastly was Sword; the largest division and the one that marches to the front lines when the time for war comes.

Ryder gave me a crisp salute and polite, simple smile. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Noxdecus! Commander Claudia has spoken well of you and yours." She let off before setting her hands behind her, almost pushing her breasts out of her scantly mana armor. "Until the Commander returns I've been asked to show you in and make sure you all have quarters for the night." I nodded and smiled to her, expecting a few servants to help with our luggage... Only for her to snap her fingers once and the lines of Dawn Templars to salute as one and move to the carriage to help with said luggage; much to my visible surprise as Ryder spoke up. "To join the Defenders of the Next Dawn one must be willing to serve in any capacity." She said with a proud smile. I looked back and chuckled soft with a gentle shake of my head.

"Don't say it like that; someone might ask you to serve them in bed." I replied in a teasing and joking tone... and in response she smiled wider.

"Any capacity." She reaffirmed to my surprise... Before two Templars passed behind me, giving out a long, loud wolf whistle as they passed by. Klaus snickered a bit into his hand as Ryder simply moved to assist with the unloading.

"Ahhh... Let's just say as much as I love and adore my wife..." He began as he did his best to maintain his composure. "I do enjoy the... odd time she drags her subordinates to bed with her and points them to me. They are... eager to please."

I sighed deeply. I wasn't going to end up in another massive orgy so soon, was I?

Please...? I can only handle so much...

[-]

Thankfully not all of the Dawn Templars were doing some combination of flirting, teasing, ogling and eyeing me. Yes, not every woman in the area was focused on me; the world did not revolve around my dick!

That said, the rest were doing all of that to Cress much to his own embarrassment. At least I had someone to relate to now.

We got our stuff settled before moving to the diner room; it was close to lunch and I was told Claudia would join us there as everyone was introduced to one another formally. It was then that I noted that the Templars weren't limiting their flirting to me and Cress; Miria and Makoto was also getting a bit of attention too; doubly so as Makoto was asked to join in on training... With one, short, green haired knight mentioning how good it was to bathe together after a hard day's work.

Hoo boy... I remember in my old world about hearing how horny Olympic athletes can get, with stories of orgies coming from them but does that apply to knights as well? It would explain a lot about this world... Regardless, Geofu would be the shortest leg of our journey as we only had two boosters to place; one here in Primus City and one in the southern territory of the Barony of Forestside which had an... odd reputation.

Yes, a sexual one. This is Eostia, what did you expect? A land where the pecking order was decided by who was the best at Rap Battles?

It was a few minutes before lunch was finally served when Claudia arrived, smiling to Klaus, Ryder then myself in turn before looking to the rest of her unit. Along with her was a hulking, older, bearded man who walked in a manner to flank her as she moved to sit at the head of the table; myself to her left, Klaus to her right. Klaus regarded the older man with some controlled discomfort; like he didn't like the man but had become accustomed to his presence in spite of this. "James, it's good to see you once more. I don't think you've met my father-in-law yet; this is Grave Levantine, the famed Retired General." She said, gesturing to the older man she came in with who was looking at me with an openly judgmental look on his aged face.

Ah... That explains a lot.

The Retired General Grave Levantine was a famed hero of multiple Eostian/Garanian conflicts. The man spent the better part of forty odd years since he was fourteen on the front lines and earned the respect of his men and peers, leading attacks and defenses. He was considered one of the major reasons that Eostia defeated Garan at the highly important Second Siege of Featherblade City in Jetra despite an undermanned garrison and no reinforcement or resupply for over a month. He was considered to be the ideal solider and military tactician. His family founded the Dawn Templars (Well, they kinda did; like most things there was more to the story then just that) and he used to be the Charlie to their Angels; giving them their marching orders.

Well, if Charlie didn't speak to the Angels over a speaker and actually led them on missions in person, that is. Not being a woman he was consider apart from the Templars as opposed to a part of them but that's semantics. By all accounts he was one of the best Generals Eostia ever had in recent memory from a line of knights and commanders who led from the front and served Eostia since the Second Age of Conflict. He had the pedigree and resume of what one wanted for a commander. Indeed, as a leader of war he was exceptional.

Outside of that however...

There were rumors of him berating and slapping scared soldiers back into action, corporal punishment well in excess of what was required, a tendency to look down on civilians who weren't doing something to directly help a war effort and the bare minimum of respect for those who did in some fashion help, excessive brutality to prisoners of war, an advocate for subjugating every enemy around Eostia in spite of the looming threat of Garan and who's first response to a problem was 'stab it until it stops moving', even if stab wounds would just complicate matters.

In addition from some of my talks with Klaus I knew he sucked as a father. He was emotionally abusive and at least was, on some level, physically abusive and had been so since Klaus was a small boy. Seriously, Gendou Ikari would look at this man, sigh deeply, push up his glasses, press his fingers together and mock his parenting abilities relentlessly. In short I didn't want to deal with him, but I knew Claudia respected the man as he all but yanked her from the proverbial gutter and turned her into the woman she is today. How she turned into such a kind woman despite this baffles me. She wasn't unaware of his short comings of course, she just tolerated them as she thought well of him as a leader, knight and the man who raised and trained her like his own daughter and to be fair to the man, he did train her well.

Okay, Observe time.

(-)

Name: Grave Levantine
Title: ?
Class: Hero
Level: 41
Alignment: Neutral
Reputation: 33
Status: Healthy - Aged, Judgmental, Confident

Known Traits
[?]
[Rise to the Challenge] When facing an opponent with a higher level then you increase your stats by 3% per level difference; for up to 15% total
[Heavy Weapons Master] You can use any two handed weapon in one hand and use it with only a 5% damage penalty

[?]

[Steelclad] You wear any metal armor like you were born in it. +15% bonus to all Resistances for Chain Mail, Scale Mail, Splint Mail and Plate Mail. Additionally you can wear any type of metal armor.

Famed General of many battles ranging from the Second Siege of Featherblade City to the Battle of Grip Fields, he has won almost a hundred battles and lost less then six since starting in the military at age fourteen. Earning the nickname of the Raging Griffon he's now retired due to his age, but despite this he is still involved in training new commanders and knights for Eostia's military.

(-)

Oh, this mother fucker...

Just my luck... Just my fucking luck...

"Nice to put a face to the name, finally." I said keeping my tone polite and relaxed, or as polite and relaxed as I could given the situation. He nodded in reply as he turned to walk to an empty seat, sitting down next to Makoto on my side of the table as he gave a soft huff. This was bad. A very new kind of bad. Beardsley was a threat as his position gave him access to all of Feoh and it's coffers in particular. Grave? The man knows Eostia's military doctrine inside out. And that's not talking about the doctrine he likely wrote himself. On top of that he likely knew each territory's doctrine, military strength and more. I also didn't doubt for a moment that he was still a powerful fighter despite his age; and with a level of forty-one he was not someone I could pick a fight with yet, not even close. I'd have to be careful to not tip my hand that I had reason to suspect him of treachery, even if I had no evidence to point to him. I had a feeling he wouldn't mind sorting things out in a bloody fashion; and I was sure he was smart enough to act through a third party.

"Do forgive Father, he's a bit... overly curt with most people." Claudia said with a warm smile as I nodded back to her, smiling to her at least.

Overly curt was one way to put it...

"We all have faults." I heard a snort from down the table (Guess who?) before speaking once more. "Regardless, we can install the booster in Primus City before we head off to Forestside in the morning." I said as Claudia's smile faltered slightly. That is... worrying.

"About that. I fear I must ask that we detour to Alterun for brief tour." She said as I blinked. That was unexpected to say the least; the County of Alterun was north of Geofu; the County of Jetra separated them from the border with Garan while the Baronies of Tyn and Hakla separated it from Geofu proper in the north and north east respectfully. The distance between Geofu and Alterun wasn't particularly wide, but it would add two to four days to the journey based on a rough estimate. Oh, and it was in the direct opposite direction of Forestside.

"If I can ask, why the detour?" I asked, tilting my head slightly as the maids came in with food on rolling trays. "I imagine we're not going there for a visit."

"You're right." She said nodding once, leaning on the table with an arm as she spoke to me. "Your voxluxs have proved invaluable to the Dawn Templars; so much so I've ordered more from your people. They've come in handy, especially with Helm Division. They were out on training and exercises in Alterun when they came across evidence of a large group of Aberrant."

"Are they Legion"? I asked quickly. It was more likely they'd reach into Jetra only so they could retreat back if needed, but Alterun was close enough to push to if they wanted to scout or raid.

"We're unsure; it could be Legion, it could be unrelated." Claudia said with an unsure look on her face as Grave spoke up, his voice booming slightly in the room before he started to eat.

"Based on the reports it's clear that they are organized." He let off with a huff. "Very much so. They've hit soft targets mostly; wagons or carriages with no or small escorts, raiding small villages in the darkness, accosting lone targets, or small targets. They have hit light escorts and have ambushed some larger ones. They've been mostly kidnapping women and girls of breeding age, food, anything that would be useful as a weapon or could be made into one..." He huffed for a moment, moving his food on his plate as he readied to eat while he spoke further. "Also, most Dark Elves are more then happy to challenge Eostian forces, anytime, anywhere regardless of the odds; so sure are they in their superiority to us. These ones are doing their best to avoid patrols or destroy them fully. I suspect they've been active for years, growing slowly like a parasite, unfelt until it's gorged on enough of the lifeblood of it's host that it can no longer be ignored."

As much as I didn't like the man, and those question marks were good reason to not trust him, his view fit with what I've seen thus far. "Fits with what we ran into in Arafe." I mused. "Either we have a smart Dark Elf leading them or an Aberrant that is some combination of smart and cautious."

"Based on what we know this group has been operating some four odd months in Alterun. Beyond that, it could be up to years." Klaus interjected, pausing from eating his own delivered food as I started to dig into mine. "We believe one, smaller group has been finding means to pull others into their orbit, growing in size overtime. They've been doing raids from as far west as Rockquarry and as far east as Ellis." That was... quite a wide region of western and central Eostia. "Based on our intel they've been gathering in one place and amassing their assets. To what end we don't know yet."

"Nothing good for Eostia or her people, that is for sure." Claudia said with a nod and a firm look. "As such we've been called out to action. I had planned to send Father to battle with Sword Division so I could do my duty as your escort, but Father insisted we bring you along to Alterun to challenge them." I raised an eyebrow and leaned over the table to glance at Grave who paused in his eating to speak to me.

"I've heard you've been establishing yourself as some sort of combat mage." He let off with a huff. "I'd like to see for myself. This will be a good trail by fire."

Translation; figure out my combat style and strength... "Really now?"

"Grave seems to have heard of your recent deeds." Klaus said as I sat up fully, turning to the gentle man. "It's a bit odd as he doesn't usually pay attention to mages of any stripe but I imagine your physical combat abilities have interested him."

I almost went deaf from the alarm bells ringing in my head at hearing that. So, Grave didn't think that much of mages... And he took an interest in me, a mage? Sure, I was more of a warrior/mage mix, but point stands. Coupled with those question marks in the status? Okay, let's assume that he is a part of the Black Storm as I think he is. What does this interest in me mean?

It means the guy behind the storm has noted me to at least some degree. To what degree, I don't know. If I was listed as 'a person of interest', 'a possible ally', 'a credible threat' or 'future court jester' I didn't know. I doubted it was any of my deeds in combat that caused this so I could only assume one thing; the voxlux has been noticed by the guy behind this. That's not exactly unexpected; it's an open secret now and becoming less and less of a secret of any sort by the day. Additionally if Beardsley was a part of this storm (And I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure he was) then he would have sent word of it over to his boss.

In the end it didn't matter; I knew the voxlux would be noticed by whoever was behind this and I slapped in the best defenses that I could think of to keep it from being copied, manipulated or used against me and mine. I had to trust it would hold now it was out in the wild, so to speak.

"Father was quite taken with the voxlux once he saw what it could do." Claudia added as I looked back to her. "He was quite impressed with the military applications; this situation being a clear showcase of it's use."

Ah. Grave would love that, wouldn't he? Also I was now sure I had guessed right; it was the voxlux that garnered me the interest from the big, bad boss. This would also give me a chance to gauge Grave a bit more as I considered what to do. Like Beardsley I couldn't hang around and investigate him long term; I needed someone to do that for me. Unlike with Beardsley in Arafe I knew who was a good choice for it in Geofu; his own son, Klaus.

He was intelligent, had resources to throw into the investigation and had a big axe to grind with his old man; all reasons he'd be willing to do so... If enough cause to do so could be given. That would be the tricky part, of course. But he would be a reliable one to search for me and his proximity to Grave gave an extra plus to it, but I liked the man so manipulating him into it didn't sit right with me and it wasn't a completely safe job; unlike siccing Albert on Beardsley the reality was Grave was a far more formidable threat then Klaus. Still, I needed someone to do it and I couldn't think of anyone better and if worse came to worse he'd have Claudia backing him up.

"Well then, I have no issue with this detour; it will throw off our schedule but we can't let something like this go on." I told Claudia as she smiled and clasped her hands together as she smiled to me.

"Most of Sword Division will accompany us to Alterun, including our escort for the whole trip. We'll leave in the morning!" Claudia declared as I nodded.

[-]

Elsewhere in Fortress Geofu
Dawn Templar's Training Room

All chatter stopped as Ryder Blackedge entered the room. The room had a line of training dummies on one side of the room, several places for sparring, equipment for physical exercise and more. In addition a connected bathhouse gave the women who used it a place to wash the sweat off and relax after a hard day. It was not training that brought them there at the moment, however.

In full the three divisions of Dawn Templars numbered some two hundred and fifty members; fifty in Helm Division, seventy five in Shield Division and one hundred twenty five in Sword Division. These numbers of course varied based on losses, recruitment and other factors; their numbers have dropped to as low as one hundred and eighty and as high as three hundred and twenty. Regardless of their number they were the elite. They weren't the best female knights of Eostia, they were the best of the best. But they weren't just famed for their ability to fight anywhere, anytime in any condition. They were also famed for their figures and their beauty.

Due to the expense of even one set of Mana Armor minimal material was needed to ensure that costs were (Somewhat) manageable and allow for more suits to be made and the early suits used by the Dawn Templars were not unlike what they wore now; covering the bare minimum due to these costs. As such the women of the Dawn Templars weren't just trained in the arts of combat but also trained to take pride in their bodies, pride in their looks and pride at the work they put into their figures. They were trained to not be embarrassed by their exposure but rather embrace it and treat their womanly figures as something to be seen, be inspired by and be proud of. Indeed, many believed that the reason the women of Eostia were willing to dress in such a skimpy manner was to emulate the looks and strength of the Seven Legendary Shield Maidens at first and the Dawn Templars later on.

Of course all of this had other effects on the members of the order...

"Okay ladies... In our coming Escort we have two gentlemen." Ryder said addressing the women standing in a loose semi-circle before her. "You know what we say; We fight like hell... And we fuck like hell!"

"Yeah!"

"You know it!"

"Fuck yeah!"

"That's right!" A few of the members let off as Ryder let off a short chuckle.

"Okay, okay, settle down girls. Twelve of us are going to be playing escort, the other dozen are just joining us for the Alterun mission." Ryder laid out, smiling. "So; you have to decide your target; Cress or James. First to seduce and get herself a creampie wins." Sadly as their superior officer she couldn't join the competition but with luck she'd have her share of the males over her time with them.

Indeed, the Dawn Templars were proud of their bodies... And of their use. The girls giggled and made playful boasts and brags before each woman declared which of the boys there were going for. They had plans to make and as soon as they left the room the game was on...

[-]

Elsewhere in Fortress Geofu
Quarters of Retired General Grave Levantine
Later That Night

The room of Grave Levantine tended to be spartan and sparse; one shelf of various military books and records, a table with four chairs around it, a bed in a separate room with ways to bar the door and the windows to help ward against assassination and intrusion. A closet and dresser for clothing and racks for armors and weapons. It was all he needed, in his opinion as he entered and shut the door behind him firmly and loudly. It was a custom of his to nearly slam doors, really. After all he was a man of authority and his presence was to be noted by friend and foe alike. It projected his temperament, his personality and his power all in one, simple movement.

"Usual mood then, General?" Came a voice from the room.

The side effect was that he attracted the attention; which meant certain people around him could be more easily ignored in their comings and goings because of it. "Lorcan. You're here."

Lounging on a couch at the back of the room was on Lorcan Pugio, a coffee table across from him and another couch across from that. Wearing pure black, leather scale gambeson with a skull cap that was resting on the coffee table he had a set of falcatas at each hip, throwing knifes at his lower back and a claymore in a sheathe resting next to the cap. Aside from the crescent moon emblem over his chest with each point starting at the shoulder tinted a faintly off-black color it was basic looking but well made armor. The man himself stood just under six feet tall and had a limber but surprisingly strong frame and black, messy hair that was pulled behind his head and slicked back. Green eyes were fitted into his sharp face, the lower half coated with a seemingly perfect perma-stubble.

Lorcan had been one of Grave's best projects; a street thug and runner of contraband and messages he was caught when his gang was busted up by the Primus City Guard. Seeing potential in the lad Grave gave him an offer; rot in jail or join his unit under his command. While Lorcan, in both build and personality, was ill-suited to front line combat like Grave was he was well suited to irregular combat, scouting, assassination and raiding. Grave was very pleased with what the lad became, even if his lax and casual personality made him an annoyance at times.

Grave had a reputation for only respecting knights and front line warriors. This was in fact not true; he just placed the highest respect on them of course. Nothing was nobler then using your own body and life to win glory, to fight the enemy head to head and to show your worth, at least to him but he was well aware that other elements were needed so the warriors could do their job in full. Healers to keep men alive, healthy and fighting, archers to pick off the weakest of foes so the knights did not waste their energy, scouts to find the enemy in order to fight them and survey the ground to avoid being downhill of both archers and cavalry, engineers to build siege weapons to assault castles and fortifications, blacksmiths to maintain weapons and armor... And... mages for magical support and heavy, directed fire.

Of course some elements deserved less respect then others in his own personal opinion. There was little bravery to be found in just chucking a fireball into the fray while standing behind lines of heavily armored men taking the hits and risking their necks for you and your expensive robes. There had been the odd mage who had earned his respect and showed true bravery, but even then they were part of irregular or mercenary units as opposed to serving in a more proper fashion or serve on the front.

"I've good reason to be, Lorcan. I don't think the Noxdecus Lordling likes or trust me all that much." Grave let off with a huff, moving towards Lorcan who moved to sit up straight on his seat as Grave sat down opposite of him. The younger man would reach under the short table, pulling up a set of glasses and a bottle of scotch (Lorcan's preferred drink; Grave preferred whiskey but enjoyed a good scotch) as the scout poured them each a glass.

"Well, with all due respect, General, you're kind of a gruff, angry looking guy." Lorcan responded to the larger man, pointing to him with a finger and a short chuckle before picking up the glass he made for himself as Grave picked up his own. "Not many people like you, and they kinda have to learn to adjust."

"Humph." Grave let off having a sip of the drink before him. Getting drunk was a poor idea for a warrior but a single glass or two this late at night would effect him about as much as a glass of apple juice. "I don't care about being liked, I demand to be respected. Failing that, then feared." He let off before giving a huff. "Not that I am unaware of the need of a friendlier face in our line of command." Indeed, it was one of the reason he stepped aside despite still being more then able and willing to fight; Claudia was far more popular with the masses and was better as a face to drive up recruitment for new troops. Even Klaus was better in that regard, annoying as it was for him to admit it. "Regardless, your talents will be needed. I'll have you attached to the escort of the Noxdecus lad. Hopefully you'll be able to get more then I would. You'll be acting as my eyes and ears once more."

The man had a roguish charm that got the ladies talking and with four women around the Noxdecus heir (Five if you included the sissy archer) someone was sure mention something; assuming Lorcan didn't get something from James himself. Grave knew better then to expect the blueprints to the voxlux (Or whatever mages had that were like blueprints. Why were they even called blueprints? Were they drawn with blue ink?) or a long lecture of how it worked but any hint to it's operations would be useful.

"Sounds like fun." Lorcan said having his sip of the drink, swishing it in his mouth before swallowing. "And hey, the Templars are easy on the eyes if nothing else. And I saw the Catalan girl with the Lordling; veeeeeery cute." He said, smirking as he swished his drink gently. "I'm sure I'll get something. But even then, I don't expect much. If none of those girls are a mage then I don't expect them to know jack shit about that foreign language magic tends to be." Grave snorted in slight amusement as the black clad man took another sip of his drink. "Anything else I should be doing?"

"I want you to learn all you can about the lad, his House and his affairs." Grave began. "Get an idea on his combat capacity; I'm sure I won't see it all during my brief stint with him. If he has lovers I want their names. If he's sired bastards I want to know. If he eyes men, even if only the sissy types then I want to know."

"Kinky." Lorcan said with a snort of amusement as Grave sipped his drink with a soft 'humph'. "Joking aside I'll have a report on your desk when I return. I'm guessing when it comes to your new friends I'll be running those letters too?"

"Lorcan..." Despite not raising the volume of his voice Grave's tone echoed and filled the room with a deep, commanding voice as he tapped the glass with the index finger of the hand holding it. "This could be the path to making a truly strong empire in the near future in the Imperium's image. There are few men I can trust to help in it's formation. We cannot have any mistakes. I'll need you for this."

"Heh, of course you do." Lorcan said with a smirk. "No worries, my good General. All going well we'll see that empire of yours... And maybe an... Emperor Levantine?"

"Hrmmm... Perhaps... Perhaps..." Grave chuckled darkly. "For now we'll prepare this test of our allies... And of this Noxdecus brat..."

[-]

When the morning came we moved to Primus City to install the booster. The city bore large, square towers connected with thick walls; by thick I mean sixty feet thick. Yeah; when the Imperium wanted to ensure their city was defended they did not screw around. That's not even getting into the castle within the city where the High Governor, High General and High Chancellor lived and worked. Once past the four gates installed in the wall (Yes, seriously) we were inside the city proper. The city was very Roman in design from what I could tell; lots of square building designs with peaked roofs that were mostly covered with red, clay tiles. The buildings were a mix of whites, various colors or a color with a thick trim of another. As I recall white walls were the Imperium law, but in the modern age of the Dominion every color under the sun was allowed. It was one of the largest cities in all of Eostia and it was as busy as could be as people went to and fro between various, colorful buildings.

In spite of the Unitum Imperium's flaws (Doubly so in the lead up to and during the First Age of Conflict) there was a sense of romanticism and respect for the long gone empire. To be fair to the Imperium it came up with a lot of concepts and institutions still used by most kingdoms today, doing much to lay the foundation of what would come after it. You could still see the odd person wearing a toga moving about (With the women, of course, wearing ones that looked like it came off of a lingerie website) and the town guard wore Roman Style armor; although with modern improvements and shields shaped in the fashion of the Geofu emblem.

The Adventurers Guild's branch was next to the market district and was run by an older woman who, Observe told me, was a grandmother of three. A bit of help from Aeris and the booster was installed quickly.

[(⸜∕ ) Place Booster in The Dominion of Geofu]

Once done I told everyone they had an hour to shop for whatever equipment they needed to get or supplies they might have been short on. Claudia agreed and we split up; Riri and Makoto of course sticking with me, as did a pair of the Dawn Templars as escort. I checked the weapon and armor shops first but saw nothing I could really upgrade to save a suit of Mana Armor for men that was well out of my price range (Which looked like something He-Man would wear, but with less fur) and my additional guard giggled and pointed to me and the suit, clearly imagining me in it... Which in turn clearly got Makoto then Riri thinking and blushing about it.

My eye twitched and I hoped I wasn't blushing.

The large general store had a couple of interesting things for me though. A few spell scrolls were there and a casual browse turned into a more serious bout of shopping as I wound up buying a total of eight new spells; two of them wind based. I had plans and I think these would help with that; doubly so the wind spells. There was another book about combat enchantments I hadn't read before; it was worn and with nicks in the cover but I felt it was worth the price. The other thing I bought was a bit of an odd one, compared to everything else I had picked up until then at least; a small toy wagon.

As mentioned I had plans for something, but before I could make what I wanted I needed test beds; something small scale, something larger scale and then I could go up to full scale. This toy wagon, about the size of a soda can, was going to be my small scale. Once bought we moved back to the wagons, spending the last fifteen odd minutes as I stored my newly bought items and was ready to board. Soon everyone else was back and so we got set to go; Claudia and Klaus joining myself, Riri and Makoto in my carriage and we were off.

First stop; the Barony of Tyn.

[-]

In the days of the Imperium one of the things their generals felt they needed was a place for the training of mass amounts of infantry, cavalry and to simulate war and large scale combat under controlled conditions. The fields of Burson was chosen for this purpose, what is today eastern Tyn. It is of little surprise that although not overly large the Barony boasts a deep, military culture. Even the local militia often participates in drills with both Tyn and Eostian Regulars and Castle Tyn is among the most fortified in the Alliance, short of the Seven Great Fortresses and Skycrown City's Castle Ken. This does leave to an oddly large number of the Barony's people becoming mercenaries or Eostian soldiers.

Beyond that the Barony boasts many fertile fields to feed such military action and wool for gambeson armors, wood for spear shafts and shields. While they've lacked mineral wealth they've always been able to maintain a stable economy due in a large part to cattle for beef and dairy, especially cheese. Under the directions of House Calloway they've maintained good order and discipline while doing their best to maintain freedom and prosperity. This is doubly so as many of the pushes Garan made early on in their war on Eostia had pushed into and even past their borders.

No matter the odds however Tyn has always stood firm and ready to face any foe, anytime, anywhere in defense of Eostia.

~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia

[-]

I spent the ride with my time split between three things; first being catching up with Claudia and Klaus; mostly Klaus. Once he learned I ended up with a book written by Wicker Zauberei, well, he looked like a kid who got told his best friend got the hottest new game and wanted to be player two. I was more then happy to loan him the book for the ride. Claudia would read over his shoulder as he looked over the pages; I don't know how much she understood of what was inside the book, but she seemed to just enjoy her husband geeking out over it. It was pretty cute, to be frank.

Second was looking up traits. I flipped from some useful ones that I couldn't use due to class restrictions, some too expensive ones for the moment, ones with effects I didn't really need or just ones that wasn't what I was looking for. Finally, however, I found one very useful looking one called Dual Cast that I bought for twenty five trait points. In the Final Fantasy series it allowed a Red Mage to cast one spell and follow it either with the same spell or another one but here it allowed you to cast two spells at the same time, even the same spell twice over. This could let me, say, cast a Fireball and follow it with another or I could cast one spell and combine it with another. This could be a very useful tool for me, even with it's one, notable downside being that both spells would cost a tenth extra in mana so I would have to keep that in mind. I'd have to use it when I could gain the maximum effect. I could upgrade the trait to remove the negative effect, but I couldn't afford it just yet.

The other was planning and work. I took out the toy wagon and affixed a decent quality spell stone to it and another to a small device I had made. I kept what I was doing with it a secret so far as I wanted it to be a surprise; although I think Klaus had some clue as to what it was I was planning, at least in part. As for the spells I bought I would spend the next night we had with a good rest reading them, but given the situation we were pushing hard ahead; there was currently no real time to do so. That said, one of the spells I had grabbed would be of great use to be down the line, and it was one I had taken the time to read, study and learn along the way and would practice once the chance came up.

(-)

Vortex Tunnel [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Wind
Cool Down: None
Mana Cost: Moderate to Very High
Allows the user to generate a directed cylinder of spiraling wind in a direction of their choosing. The size and power varies on how much mana is used in it's creation. Additionally one can create a vertical version of this spell, directing the winds straight upwards.

(-)

This wasn't just a combat spell; it would factor into my plans a bit, once I had the chance to practice with it and gain some mastery over it. Eventually, however, we arrived at our stop for the night; Fort Burson. Fort Burson and the towns nearby had a reputation for being excellent training grounds for knights, soldiers and mercenaries. The sun was going down when we arrived, maybe in time for dinner. The fort in question bore square towers and strong walls, although only one layer. The north half of the fort had a moat as the fort itself was used to practice sieges and other castle based tactics. Above the gate was the banner of the ruling House of Tyn.

It was a simple banner overall. Five sides; the left and right sides going straight up and down with rounded upper corners and a flat top and the bottom coming to a point with a black outline and a dark red background. The bottom half of the banner bore the yellow outline of a chevron with a smaller one set inside it, filled in with a dark gold color. In the same colors over it was a pair of falcata swords, crossed at the blades over the chevron. Finally, under the chevron and the blades was a striking, white spear that nearly touched the bottom and top of the banner, standing in the direct center of it.

We arrived and was let in after Claudia explained our reasons for being there. The fort's courtyard was very large with two keeps that were each comparatively small given the size of the courtyard, but it allowed for different set ups for training. No castle was the same, of course, but I could see the value of this place in particular being used as a training ground.

We weren't given rooms in the keeps, rather we would be housed in barracks for our stay which was fine. The keeps were, once more, set up for training and wasn't well furnished for guests. I took a moment to stretch as Grave all but stomped out of his carriage and moved to walk towards the mess hall. Three men followed him out; bodyguards or subordinates I had to guess, with one black clad one breaking off to wander over to me, giving a lazy grin and wave as he approached.

"Ah, M'Lord Noxdecus. Name's Lorcan Pugio." He said, grinning softly and easily. "I've been asked by the General to join your escort for your tour in Geofu. With luck we'll get along, ne?" He said with a slight shrug and slight tilt of his head to one side.

(-)

Name: Lorcan Pugio
Title: Shadow Walker
Class: Assassin
Level: 31
Alignment: Neutral
Reputation: 41
Status: Healthy, Relaxed, Alert

Known Traits
[?]
[Silent But Violent] If attacking from stealth double your crit chance
[Shadow Walker] You are harder to notice in darkness and shadow. +2 Acc when attacking from these places
[?]

Former member of the Scarred Hand Gang the band of criminals was rounded up and jailed. Grave Levantine noted his potential and gave him a choice; serve Eostia in the military or rot in jail. Choosing to serve he has since earned his freedom, fighting as a scout and irregular against Garan. He still serves as a favored underling of Grave, even after his retirement referring to the man by his former title of General.

(-)

"Ah, I see, Well, I suppose we'll have some time together then, hmm?" I said in a friendly tone, but I was wary of him; I suspected Grave, naturally, and if Lorcan was loyal to him he could be an issue, question mark title or no. Even so the fact was, One: I couldn't just come out and say a major war hero like Grave was sus without good evidence to back it up and Two: if I acted unfriendly or overly strange I might tip my hand too much that I lacked trust for these guys which could come back and bit me down the line. "Regardless, let's get some food; we have little time before we go to bed and head off come the morning."

"Of course, of course." He let off, chuckling before looking over to Cress and nodding to him. "Also, is she single?"

"Yes, yes he is."

"Oh, how good to kn-wait, he!?"

[-]

One of the first independent countries to join the Unitum Imperium after it's founding was the small Kingdom of Artiria. Early pioneers of the magics gathered here and experimented and practiced what they had theorized. Many advancements of holy based magics in general and healing based magics in specific were made in this kingdom. Once brought into the Imperium they brought this wealth of knowledge with them and their legions would have at least one healer attached to each unit with over twenty men and with at least one healer for each one hundred men to ensure the health of their soldiers; each solider who survives is one who learns and grows from experience after all.

The First Age of Conflict saw the region staying with the Imperium but being shattered when the Brazen Empire brought them low and was raised in it's place. Thanks to the efforts of the Larentian Clergy, the Three Wise Archmages and a few, scattered men of healing the collected knowledge they had gleaned was mostly preserved. Gottes Verlangen awarded the region to his favorite mage who's family ruled until the Emperor was overthrown. The line of House Carrion stayed loyal to the Brazen Emperor and was removed from power with much of the house dying in resistance before seeing the rise of House Verdant in their place and the founding of the Duchy of Alterun before joining Eostia. For five hundred years they would rule, but a slave uprising saw their position become unstable when the general populace supported the abolition of slavery. Duke Bret Verdant ordered all who opposed the institution of slavery be put to the blade but found that his own territory's military splintered in two; with the larger splinter supporting the peasantry and abolitionists.

By the end of it Bret Verdant was forced into fleeing to Jetra and found himself and his house demoted to the rank of minor lords. House DeSagesse was brought in to control the situation by a Council of Lords who were, at the time, still dominated by Traditionalist Lords to force slavery back into the the Duchy and onto it's population. Duke Harold DeSagesse quickly realized that he could not reapply slavery without more revolts and instability in his new realm so rather then force the matter he downgraded Alterun to a Limited State in an attempt to compromise.

The Traditionalists, either not understanding or not caring about the situation that necessitated this, turned on House DeSagesse and did their best to block the trade, wealth and power of Alterun to spite the House for daring to not reimpose slavery on the people. Over the next one hundred and thirty years the Duchy would be demoted to a County due to this loss of influence and economy. In response Harold's descendant, Victoria DeSagesse, abolished slavery fully, making Alterun a fully free Abolitionist State. This would prove to be a tipping point in the slavery debate, bringing more lords closer towards abolition and I think it is why by 1005 AF the Abolitionist and Slavist States of Eostia were roughly equal in number.

The County of Alterun carries on the tradition of Artiria as a center of magical knowledge; one of the three, great magical academies in the form of the Academiae Magicae Reparationis or the Academy of Magical Restoration which was founded by siblings Terrance and Patricia DeSagesse before the former took over the County and the later was married to Gerald Ucanam.

Alterun is still the home of magical knowledge and power and currently it seems that the state will return to becoming a Duchy.

~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia

[-]

According to Claudia our first move was going to be to hook up with the Dawn Templar's Helm Division. We would assess what information we had, work out a plan and head out to deal with the Aberrant who were causing the problems. This isn't the first time on this trip we've paused what we were doing to handle a situation but this is the first time we detoured so far and more importantly I was going to be watched by an 'ally' I couldn't really trust (Grave) and be joined by another 'ally' I couldn't fully trust (Lorcan) all while fighting a very deadly force of unknown numbers and composition beyond 'Aberrant' and 'too many'.

This was gonna be fun...

That was sarcasm by the way. Feel free to say 'well, duh' if you want.

We rode up on Alterun's capital, Lumiere Sacree City. The city boasted double walls, white washed sixty foot tall walls with eighty foot walls behind them with square towers with pointed, cyan roofs capping them. On the outer gates I could see the DeSagesse Banner hanging on both sides of the gate. The banner was a kite style shield with extensions at the upper sides. The background in the middle was cyan with yellow on either side on the extensions of it and outlined in black. On each of the yellow panels was a red lightning bolt with a darker red outline and in the center a healer's staff; a silver colored shaft with dark gold caps on both ends. On the top end, over the cap was a blue extension that curled out before coiling in on itself like a snail's shell with small thorns on the outer edge.

Castle Alterun was located inside of the city, but that was not our destination. Instead we were going to a keep located on the western side of the city within it's own, fifty foot walls; a small military district was located here with barracks, training areas and warehouses for weapons, armor, food and other assorted supplies for local and Eostian units. In fact a lot of territories near but not on the Eostian/Garanian border had large warehouses that was rented out to the militaries of other territories as forward supplies during a conflict with the north; Alterun, Feoh, Ironheart, Smol, Erogus, Peerus, southern Maros, northern Steel Lock, Thorn and, of course, Mungale all had these large warehouses kept at the ready.

More important to our current tasks was that the Dawn Templar's Helm Division had their primary headquarters here in said keep. Once we arrived and disembarked we were split into two groups as we entered the keep; Cress took the bulk of my party along with a still confused looking Lorcan checking him out to sort our quarters out for our brief stay while I along with Claudia, Klaus, Grave and Ryder moved into the main building of the headquarters and moved to what looked like a modestly sized war room; given the overall size of the Dawn Templars they didn't really need an overly large room. Shelves of books along with what I assumed were records and maps filled two walls of the room, a desk near the back and a large, square table near the center. Spread out over it was a large map with Alterun in the center of it which also covered southern Jetra, northern Hakla, almost all of Tyn, northeast Ferra and a hint of southeast Elddale.

Small banners with the Dawn Templar emblem on it (Although with the designs under the crossed swords and sun removed to showcase a gold helm) were placed like game pieces on small, weighted bases to indicate the location of the local units. Meanwhile black banners with red axes printed on them were also likewise placed; estimated locations of the enemy, I presumed. Behind the table was two women who were looking over it; the first was a short and stout woman with wide hips and at least F-Cup sized breasts in Dawn Templar Mana Armor with a round shield on her back and a heavy looking hammer at her left hip; looking like Thor's Mjolnir but with a shaft trice as long. Standing at four foot ten and with thicker then normal limbs I presumed she was a dwarf baring red hair pulled back in a high ponytail that fell to the top of her shoulder blades, blue eyes and a relaxed face with flat cut bangs framing the top of her visage.

"Ah, Axelia, good to see you." Claudia addressed her, smiling warmly. "Axelia this is James Noxdecus. James this is Lieutenant Commander Axelia Blodsjungfru, Commanding Officer of the Helm Division of our order."

(-)

Name: Axelia Blodsjungfru
Title: Helm Division Commander
Class: Cleric
Level: 32
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 41
Status: Healthy, Relaxed, Prepared

Romance Rating: 82
Corruption Rating: 13

Known Traits
[Manaclad] You wear any Mana Armor like they were made for you. +10% bonus to all Resistances to any Mana Armor or Mana Weave you wear
[Drop the Hammer] You are adept at hammers and maces. +2 Damage to all one handed hammers or maces. +4 Damage to all two handed hammers or maces

[Light of the Defender] All defensive and curative Holy based spells have their mana costs halved. In addition casting time for these spells is decreased by 10%
[?]

Born to a Dwarven mining family in Skerion at a young age, two of her brothers and her father marched off north to war when Garan engaged in another one of their attempted invasions. Both of her brothers would die in combat and her father returned home a cripple. In response she trained as both in the arts of a healer and a warrior to protect her home and family. Recognized by Claudia Levantine for her abilities she would rise in the ranks into the position of the commanding officer of the Dawn Templar's Helm Division.

(-)

"Pleasure to meet you, M'lord." Axelia said, smacking her chest with a fist twice with a wide grin. "Those little devices of yours have been a damned boon. I'll be more then happy to give ya all the thanks you want!" She said with a suggestive smile and wink that I tried to ignore.

"Thank you, Commander..." I said as I looked to the other woman while trying to keep a straight, non-exasperated face.

"And while I'm not sure why she is here, the other woman is Lady Nikita DeSagesse; Daughter of Count Arron DeSagesse and Heriess of Alterun." Claudia explained as she gave a questioning look to the young woman. She stood some five foot five and wore a dress with a very, very short skirt. The middle from the center of the breasts had a purple stripe with rest of it as red with a couple black stripes and gold trim and outlines with a trio of gems hanging under C-Cup breasts; light blue, light purple and darker purple. Epaulettes in a gold color was on each shoulder and under them and falling over her upper arms was a white fur lined cape with gold designs on them; purple on the inside and red on the outside. Red sleeves with gold trimmed black stripes and a puff at the biceps led into gauntlets of the same color. Red, thigh high greaves with gold trim were on her legs with black, gold trimmed stockings under them. A choker around her neck with light blue and purple and darker purple gems set to it in gold.

In her hand was a red shafted staff with a long, pointed gem at the bottom with cyan shifting to light purple at the point, capped with a gold tip, a larger matching gem at the top pointing upwards set into gold with a long halo of gold attaching it to further down the shaft, under it a heart shaped halo. Under the upper most gem was a blue gem with short, gold wings sticking out and a rope sticking out that came down and coiled around the bottom half of the staff. Her face was slightly haughty with bright, purple eyes and knee length hair that, somehow was black on the outside and red on the inside. I could sense an enchantment on a gold hairpin on the right side of her head with a slight, white cloth extension; an illusion spell to achieve the effect? Either way it was clear; she wanted to be seen as important from a glance.

(-)

Name: Nikita DeSagesse
Title: Learned Heiress of Alterun
Class: Sorceress
Level: 22
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 29
Status: Healthy, Confident, Self Assured

Romance Rating: 91
Corruption Rating: 18

Known Traits
[Tap for Mana] You know how to use magic to it's fullest. All magic costs 5% less mana
[Playground of Destruction] You've found a value in dealing damage to an area; harder to dodge after all. +5% Damage to all AoE attacks

[?]
[Staff Fighter] You are able to fight in melee with staves and staff like weapons. +5% to Str, End, Dex and Agi when using such a weapon

Daughter and heiress of Count Arron DeSagesse she graduated at the top of her class in the Academiae Magicae Reparationis. When she heard rumors of the school's headmaster being paid off to ensure her marks were at the top she demanded that this preference end and simply studied harder. In addition to her spells she's becoming a master Alchemist and has some experience in Enchanting.

(-)

"Father insisted that I improve my magical learning but I found myself lacking in more... How do you say, practical experience." Nikita said, coiling a lock of hair between gauntleted fingers with a soft huff. "So when I heard that an expedition was off to fight a series of disgusting monsters it seemed like a good stepping stone to becoming a true Archmage." She explained simply with a soft, self smug smirk as I blinked, sharing a look with Claudia then Klaus. The latter spoke up first.

"Experience is important, no one will deny that it can be often the best teacher..." He said, adjusting his glasses. "But M'lady, we are not fighting simple opponents or weak foes; we are expecting forces under an able mind and well seasoned foes. Even an ogre can be clever when he's learned from battles past."

She huffed softly in turn, smirking. "My Good Magus, I assure you I am well ready to face these foes. I am the top of my class, after all." Grave huffed nearby while Axelia seemed annoyed and concerned about the young woman and I sensed an argument coming and decided it was best to cut it off; for now at least.

"Perhaps we should discuss this later." I said, interjecting before it got too far out of hand. "Perhaps for the time being we should discuss what we know about the enemy's location, composition, estimated strength and goals." I said moving up to the table to get a better view as I leaned over it, hands set to the edge of it. "If I were to speak from my own experience Aberrant and monsters can be a lot more clever then you think. It would be best if we can get the drop on them."

"Agreed." Axelia let off as Claudia and Klaus moved to my right side... And Grave to my immediate left. I could feel his almost oppressive presence over my shoulder as I tried to ignore it. "Here's what we have got at the moment." She said pulling a long, simple stick with a U shaped end at the tip; pointing to the positions of the Templar's flags on the map. "These are where our girls are right now. We've been narrowing down the enemy's location bit by bit. We think that here-" She tapped at a flag which was offset to the west of Alterun's center. "-is where their main force is, possibly even their main base. We don't have a full scope of their numbers but we've know they are mostly made up of goblins, ogres and orcs. In addition what seems to be a tame or allied slime woman was spotted with them along with a trio of gargoyles, a pair of centaurs and a small group of wolfmen."

"That's... Unusual..." Klaus let off as I nodded, raising a hand and rubbing my chin with a thumb. Outside of the Legion most Aberrant groups and gangs tended to be mono-species or duo-species; usually goblins and ogres together. This may have meant that someone had risen up to become a sizable leader and through force or diplomacy was able to unite them all into a single unit.

I had encountered goblins, slime women (Well, one) and ogres before and knew the orcs were of the pig orc variety. As for the rest; Gargoyles were winged beast-men able to take flight. They weren't overly fast or nimble fliers but they were quite strong and bore hardened skin that felt like stone to the touch; it wasn't but blades and spears had a hard time punching through and they could even shrug off arrow fire. Spells, enchanted weapons or blunt weapons worked best to fight them. Centaurs and wolfmen were both formed by transmutation magic; patchwork and fusion respectively. Centaurs were men or women combined at the waist with a horse's body at the neck and somehow enough of them were made to become a full on race. Slightly stronger in the human half then normal humans they were, effectively, cavalry where horse and rider were one, literally.

By contrast wolfmen were, in short, werewolves minus being effected by the moon, berserker rage, transformations and all that stuff. They had heightened senses and stamina compared to humans but, for some reason, were male only. They could sire female offspring but they would be of their mother's race. They were a sizable part of the population of Wereagell with some in eastern Thorn but were often lumped in with Aberrant despite not actually being Aberrant. Still, the Legion had some of them in their numbers quite often which likely led to the confusion.

"Hrmmm..." Grave let off, crossing his arms before glancing to me. "What are your thoughts, Lad?"

Sure, put the spotlight on me... I hummed as I leaned over the table a bit further. "Well... Their leader has to be one of two things; someone strong enough to beat everyone else in line or someone able to provide everyone else with what they need and want; food, booze, weapons, women, so on and so forth. Given the disposition this person is forwards thinking; knowing the value of flexibility in forces and tactics. ... But..."

"But...?" Claudia prompted as I thought for a long moment, looking over the map taking my time to consider things before speaking up once more.

"...But if they have wolfmen in their number they have to know someone's on their scent." I said, looking to the Dawn Templar's Commander. "As good and as stealthy as Helm Division must be it's difficult to hide your smell from noses that sensitive." I turned my head to look at Axelia. "They've made no moves to escape or to capture your scouts?"

"No, they haven't." Axelia said, shaking her head. "At most they move their patrols to push our girls back a bit, but otherwise they aren't trying to escape or hide their position. They haven't even made a go at catching or fighting them."

"So... They're bracing for us then." I summarized as Nikita nodded and gave a short, haughty laugh.

"The fools must want to die!" The heiress let off as I frowned in thought, looking over the map further. "Or they're too stupid to find a way out."

"No." I replied simply. "Maybe it's a trap, maybe it's not, but they want to fight us there... The question is why?"

"What do you think?" Grave let out gruffly as I sighed, standing up fully and crossing my arms over my chest as I thought once more.

"I can only guess without knowing anything about their leader, but if I had to make an assumption they want to make a statement." I mused as I took a moment to fully collect my thoughts on the situation. Nikita looked confused but the rest of the people in the room seemed to be interested in my words while looking like they came to the same or similar conclusion I had. "They want to fight the Dawn Templars. More to the point, they want to win and defeat them in open combat and it seems they at least think they can do it."

"I concur." Claudia let off, nodding. "For them it would be of a dual purpose; they intend to breed any woman they capture and as the Dawn Templars are solely made up of women this would bring their potential broodmares to them. More to the point, we are considered among the most elite combat units in Eostia; defeating us would grant them a great morale boost and propaganda win to recruit more to their banner and send a message to Eostian forces that we can be defeated by them."

"Exactly." I replied as I nodded once. "The other possible contacts could be reinforcements or secondary bases or storage of some sort. If this leader is smart he'll attempt to flank us. Even he doesn't try or is rendered unable to, he might hope we'll divide our forces to deal with them as well."

"We also need to consider they're deliberately set up to be decoys for us." Grave pointed out as I hummed. "They could be trying to get us to divide our forces as he concentrates his forces in one place. They could well be storage depots or trapped caves set up to make our people explore and hope they get bogged down in them as the real battle goes on."

"Good observation, General Grave." Axelia let off. I had to concur, it was a good point. "For that reason I recommend we keep our forces together. We'll hold a reserve to ensure we're not flanked and that it can move and intercept anyone who tries. Sadly we have few ways to handle the bloody gargoyles."

"I have an elven mage with me, Aeris. She specializes in wind magic and uses her staff to fly." I injected as I stood up fully. "With the proper support she should be able to counter them."

"I've a good mage who's able to snipe targets; she should be of use to support her then." Axelia said, pumping her arm once with a grin. "We've enough magic and enchanted weapons between us to handle the slime. The wolfmen will likely be the ones trying to flank us though." I nodded and hummed. "We've a Catalan in our order, but just the one."

"My sister, adopted, is also Catalan as is her maid." I added as Axelia smiled wider. "That'll bring it up to three and my own maid is a trained scout."

"Bringing a lot to the table, are we Lad?" The dwarf said with a chuckle. "Alright. We're going to march out tomorrow. We should be at their lair in a day and change of marching."

"What else should we consider then?" I asked as I rubbed my chin softly.

"Does it matter...?" Nikita let off with a huff. "Let's just prepare to march; I'll decimate the lot myself if I have to." I sighed deeply to her haughty boasts.

It was later.

"Listen..." I said before Klaus or Claudia could (Grave didn't look like he was about to speak up; he looked more amused by her then anything else) as I looked to her. "These aren't training dummies. These aren't sparring partners. They will not play by any rules but their own and they will not hold back. There's a good chance you'll die and a good chance you'll be raped. You need to take this seriously."

"Did you not hear me when I said I was at the top of my class." She said, grinning as she set her hand to her chest. "Really, what can you say that you've done that can compare to that?"

"I've fought several goblins, ogres, a large feral slime, a royal slime, two Garanian dark elves, won a duel with a Dominious captain, and a would-be kidnapper." I listed off quickly. "All of that in the last few months. Now, how many real fights have you been in?"

"I've been trained by the best mages in Eostia, why-"

"I don't give a shit about who taught you." I let off to her shock as I verbally cut her off. "Whatever you think you know about a fight goes out the window the first time someone punches you the nose." She narrowed her eyes at me as she huffed and looked down her nose to me.

"Very well. There is a training ground here, yes? I challenge you to a duel." She declared as she sneered to me.

Oh, it was on...

[-]

News of the challenge offered by Nikita and my acceptance of said duel spread quickly through the headquarters. We were escorted outside behind the keep to a training area with a shield spell raised over it after we entered to keep our magic from spilling over to the onlookers. I adjusted my armor and made a few, last checks as I got ready to fight while considering the differences between us, sizing her up and making mental notes. She was two levels higher then I was but I was willing to bet she's never been any proper fight before given what was said in the war room; not even a girlish slap fight. Additionally while the Staff Fighter trait was noted I was very confident that I could beat her in melee if it came down to it.

That said she was a more dedicated mage then myself so I imagined combat at a distance would be more difficult but I had a trick or two up my sleeve; my new Dual Cast trait being one of them. Additionally I had no idea how many spells she had learned or mastered; I just assumed 'more then me' at a bare minimum. Once ready on the field, said field being soft sand in a pit six inches down from the ground, and with her on the opposite end of the field she smirked to me as I drew the Unicorn's Horn, inverting it in my grip to better bring the stone in it's pommel to bear. My other hand flexed a bit as I slowly drew mana to it to try and hide the flow, eyeing my foe for a long moment.

"Come on James, whoop her ass!" Miria let off as I spared a moment to look at her and give a confident smile and nod, the other girls and Cress cheering me on. The Dawn Templars was a bit more split; a slight majority cheering for me and the rest behind Nikita. Grave stood at the middle just off the field watching with a stone faced glare with Lorcan standing next to him while Claudia and Klaus were on the other side; the four collectively acting as referees. Rules were laid out before hand as Claudia looked to us both.

"Ready?" She asked me as I nodded. "Ready?" She called out to Nikita who nodded as well before she chopped the air before her with an open hand. "Begin!"

My view quickly shifted towards Nikia's face as she smirked to me, spinning her staff once before pointing it's top to me as the boss music spun up. "Prepare to face the might of a true, purebred mage!" She let off, covering her mouth with her other hand to give a haughty laugh (An ojou laugh, I think it's called) with a long, drawn out 'Ohh-ho-ho-ho-ho-hooo!' as she grinned at me as the camera view panned backwards to show her body in full.

_Learned Heiress of Alterun_
Nikita DeSagesse

As soon as my view flashed back to normal I could see that she was drawing mana quickly into the staff she held. She was going for a big spell right off the bat...

And so I decided to interrupt her.

I drew mana into the Unicorn's Horn and tried my first Dual Cast combination using a tightened Gale Burst from my hand with my subtly gathered mana and Frost Stream from the rapier's stone with both aimed at her and both spells intersecting. The result? The effect was more or less a small, directed blizzard aimed right at her and slamming into her from across the field. She yelped on impact and used the mana she was gathering to cast a barrier but she was lightly coated in a bit of frost by the time it was up and shivering as my Dual Cast spells kept going for a moment more. From the corner of my eye I could see Klaus raise an eyebrow as I resumed a ready stance once my spell was over, although I started to approach slowly. I drew mana to my rapier once more as I smirked to her; I felt the extra strain of the mana cost penalty but it was worth it for the early first hit and advantage.

She tried drawing mana once more only to need to dodge as I snapped a Magic Missile at her. She grit her teeth and in reply shot off a lightning bolt at me as I brought up my left arm and activated up my mana shield in the glove, blocking the blast with it; although I felt a bit of static from the impact and there was a flash of numbness in my arm for a moment. She was about to fire off another but I used a proper shield spell to block her lightning attack this time as I approached closer. Rather then waste the mana she reformed it into a new, larger spell. She drew her staff back to cast but I had inched myself close enough now and used Piercing Strike to dash closer as I returned my sword to a normal grip. She yelped and spun her staff to deflect my rapier, pulling her free hand back as wind gathered in it, channeling a spell as she gave a large grin. Clearly she was thinking I had no counter to the oncoming spell from her palm. However I did have one, a very simple one even.

I used Power Punch and planted my left fist into her solar plexus and knocking the wind from her lungs. To her credit she responded quickly, aiming her hand down and unleashing her spell as the result knocked us both back. I rolled over my shoulder as I rolled with the fall and came back up to my feet as she landed on her back, groaning as she used her staff to push herself up to her feet as she glared to me, panting as she tried to breathe once more, casting a shield spell about herself as a guard while she recovered. Despite the glare I could tell she was taking me much more seriously now as she reached back behind her pulling out two vials; a healing potion and a mana potion. She kept her eyes on me as she downed one, then the other before setting the vials away. The shield flickered away as she drew in magic but she was now in a ready stance; prepared to shift to whatever spell she needed.

I was a bit impressed; I didn't pull that punch and she was not only back to her feet from such a hard strike but she got enough space and room to recover; sure I could have pressed the advantage but with how attentive she was she could have had a proper response. With the lull in combat I was more aware of the cheering going on around us, Riri being the loudest of the lot as amount of female voices making it sound like a bunch of fangirls cheering us on. Fan girls in skimpy armor, mind you. I waited for Nikita's move while she awaited mine. It was clear she was trying to think of a new opening move as she was taking in what I'd done so far; she must have realized I was as comfortable at fighting at range as fighting up close, as happy slinging a spell as I was slinging a weapon or a fist and with more then a couple of tricks up my sleeve. I was more well rounded then herself and she must have realized that she needed more distance if she wanted a better chance to win, but the fight was now on the half of the field she started off on and she was pushed back to the wall the shield made. I inched closer and closer as I waited to see what she'd do.

Finally she moved to snap a Blaze Missile (Think Magic Missile but on fire, because everything can be made better by setting it on fire) at me as I swatted the bolt of flame aside with my blade as I charged. To her credit it was clear her next spell was going to be a faster channeled one and she was about to swing her staff's butt up at my face but I had my own spell channeled and ready as I opened my mouth and from there shot off my own spell; Aqua Stream. The spell wasn't overly powerful (I didn't use enough mana to hit with more force then a garden hose) but the stream of water struck her right in the face as she yelped in surprise, sputtering as water went up her nose and down her mouth, forcing her to back up and flail her arms a bit as my free hand pulled back for another Power Punch. She recovered enough to block with her staff but I was able to just keep moving forwards and delivered a hard and sudden headbutt to her face just above the nose and between the eyes, staggering her back. She tried to defend with her staff but I grabbed the shaft with my free hand before bringing the blade of my rapier to her throat, tapping the side of her neck with the flat of my blade.

She winced with the tap but her shoulder slumped as she groaned. "I yield..." She let off as I stepped back and sheathed my weapon. Once done I extended my hand as a show of respect. She huffed and turned her head away but shifted her staff to her left and reached out with her right hand before she shook my hand firmly. "I concede that I've... a few things to learn about field combat..." She let off with a wince; as if allergic to humility as I got a brief victory jingle in my head.

[Defeated List]

Nikita DeSagesse=1800XP x 1.5 Yield Bonus=2700XP
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
Gain 3240XP Total

Level Up!

You are now Level 21!

+1 to Dex, Acc & Mnc!

+1 to End!

+1 to Rap!

+2 RSP & SSP!

+5 UTP!

Achievement Unlocked: Class Dismissed
Taught a Top Graduate in the School of Hard Knocks

The shield around the field was brought down and Klaus moved over to Nikita right off the bat to check her over for injury. I used Minor Heal on myself for a moment as I relaxed; I wasn't really hurt but it was best to make sure a minor strain wouldn't make itself known hours later. Grave looked to me with a judging look before giving a small nod. A nod of approval? A nod of respect? A nod of acknowledgment? A nod for the sake of nodding? I had no real idea. He spoke quietly to Lorcan as Claudia walked over to me.

"Well fought. You seem to blend magic and swordplay together quite well." She said, one hand on her hip as she smiled to me. "You handled it very well; that stream of water got a laugh from me but I can see how much it would throw someone off if they were on the other end of it." She said with a soft, warm chuckle.

"I am much more interested about the fact you cast two spells at once." Klaus said as he came closer, smiling softly as he did. "I am rather impressed."

"What's the big deal about that?" I felt more then anything else Grave overbearing presence as I turned to face him, eyebrow raised slightly as Lorcan flanked him. Klaus was the one to insert the explanation for me.

"Casting two spells at the same time, let alone combining them together, takes quite a bit of focus." Klaus said, his voice a bit sterner then usual as he looked to his father from the corner of his eye. "It's the minimum needed to attain the rank of Magus and something not every spell caster can do; even with intense practice."

"Hrmmm..." Grave let off, crossing his arms in thought. "I see. Regardless, it's good to see you're more then someone who leans on magic like a crutch. I am... Satisfied with your abilities."

"High praise." Klaus snorted as he stole the words from my mouth. Grave huffed at him before he turned to walk off giving a gruff snort while leaving as Nikita coughed beside me as I turned to face her fully.

"Yes?" I said as she squirmed on the spot.

"Ah, p-perhaps you can... Give me a few... Um... Lessons on how to better engage in combat?" She let off, biting her lip as she blushed. "You... do seem to know what you are doing... By the headache you've given me, anyway..." I chuckled and smiled, stepping in and setting a hand on her shoulder, gesturing to guide her away towards the keep.

"Well for starters; never underestimate the value of easy to cast, quickly used spells." I began as we walked along. "After all, the other guy isn't going to wait for your spell to be ready."

[-]

Unlike in Fort Burson I had private quarters where I could speak at length with Nikita until dinner after which we returned there to talk some more. It was quite the chat and once you got past the slightly condescending attitude she was rather enjoyable to talk with; she was knowledgeable, intelligent and shared some bits of spell craft I wasn't aware of. In turn she was very attentive as I told her of my fights and scrapes and very attentive as I talked about my enchanting (More so when she realized I made the Ice Cream Makers) and asked a lot of questions about the voxlux as I answered a bit but just a bit; an enchanter has to have some secrets after all. There was tea, there was talk, there was stories...

And then we were naked as I pinned her to the bed kissing her fiercely, lip to lip.

If that seems like it was randomly inserted without any build up, well... I forgot how things got there really... I think she was talking about spells her male peers used to impress girls and something about never having a chance to have fun of any sort with all the studying and I think made an offer? Maybe?

I forget... It just... Happened.

Pulling her arms over her head I pinned her wrists down as I moved over her body as I aimed my stiff my cock to her lips and pressed down softly as her mouth parted seemingly on it's own, accepting the penis and sucking awkwardly as she bobbed her head up to meet my shaft. "Use your tongue Nikita, use your tongue... Yeah, like that..." She said as I groaned, her organ starting to wrap loosely around my shaft and stroking it a bit clumsily with a focus over the head. She groaned, bobbing her head as she squirmed and freed her arms from my grip, slapping her hands onto my ass to help lift herself up to accept more cock into her lips.

I smiled down to her as I leaned back a bit, reaching an arm back to set two fingers to her sex and rub at the waiting slit gently. She moaned under me as she rocked her hips up into my hand as I focused directly on her clit as best as I could before sliding them up into her vaginal passage. She was very tight as I pressed in and I suspected she was a virgin; her comments suggested it of course but this was helping solidify that idea in my mind. I groaned deeper as I moved off of her and moved back over her body. She seemed disappointed briefly until I pulled her legs up and pushed them firmly to her shoulders as she gasped out, flexible enough to not strain from this movement. She held her legs as I looked to her sex with a cap of soft, black fur, spitting on the moist hole in front of me before pressing my lips down to it firmly and drove my tongue into it as deep as I could as she gave a long, throaty groan under me, shivering as my hands gripped her thighs to adjust the position of her hips to better gain access to her pussy.

I groaned into her sex, wriggling my tongue as she looked me in the eye as I tried to drag the tip along the wall of her vagina. After a moment I slipped it out and pressed said tip to her clit, wriggling it about slowly as she gasped, quivering under me as she bit her lip before squealing out and shuddering harder. Satisfied about how wet she was I moved to crawl up her body, kissing from her sex up her abs to her belly button before moving up to her left breast before opening my mouth wide and planting it over the nipple and sucking in as much breast as I could, the tip of my tongue pressing down onto her nipple and squirming it about as my hands grabbed both of her tits, my thumb rubbing her other nipple. Her legs wrapped about my hips as my cock's shaft pressed it's underside to her wet sex as she ground up into me. It was clear she was eager for the main event, but I wanted to tease her a moment longer, moving my mouth to her other breast and giving it the same treatment as the first.

There were no more words after my small bit of advice in giving oral; for some reason neither of us wanted to talk, just fuck. She just groaned then moaned and then she gave a needy whine as she rocked her hips up harder. I decided I had teased her enough, pulling my hips back enough as I started to rock them softly to try and wedge the tip into her waiting womanhood while her own movements made that more difficult then it needed to be. She figured out what I was trying to do after a few moments and stopped moving and I was finally able to plant the tip in place and wedge it into her wet slit before sinking in deeper, driving down into her depths. I felt her virginal barrier for a moment but I pressed on even when I felt it, breaking through as she hissed under me. I only stopped pushing in once my cock bottomed out as I moved my mouth up to kiss hers, feeling her arms wrap around my neck.

I waited for a while over her while not moving, giving her a chance to adjust to my cock as I felt her quiver on my cock as she moaned under me. Once she rocked her hips up into me I knew she was ready and I started to rock my hips down into her slowly and gently, finding my range as I liked to do before finally starting to pick up the pace as we groaned into the other's mouth as I pressed harder into her sex. Both of my hands stayed on her breasts, groping and almost mauling them as we made out, my hips slamming down into her. This only changed once I let her breasts go to hook my hands under her legs and pulled them up, adjusting her into a mating press before slamming down into her harder, getting rewarded with a squeal from her and a shiver as her sex gripped me harder.

She broke the kiss to moan openly as we looked to the other's faces before I felt her sex clench down hard as she squirted softly and cried out, cumming on my cock as I rammed harder into her for a long moment. Rather then cum inside her I had a different desire, pulling out and moving over her body, aiming my cock to her face. She shut her eyes just as I stoked myself to a climax with one hand, my seed shooting out and splashing onto her face, coating her cheeks, nose and even the forehead above her left eye. I kept stroking as a bit more seed dribbled from me and onto her lips as I lowered myself, panting softly. Her eyes fluttered open and I first felt then saw her lips lift up and suckle on my cocktip.

I groaned out in surprise form this and let her work her lips for a moment as it kept me hard; doubly so as she was working her cum-stained face on my manhood. Finally I had enough of this and was ready for more. I gently grabbed her and moved her face down on the bed, pulling her long hair to one side of her body to expose a heart shaped backside that was lifted up as she seemed to understand what was coming as I moved behind her, kneeling down. I held her hips with one hand and my cock in the other, pressing into her sex once more. Once it was wedged once more in my hand moved to the other side of her hips as I started to rock into her slowly as I once more first went to find my range and then started to ram harder into her; our groans mixing into an audible delight.

I gave her ass a firm smack with one hand as I reached over, my thrusting slowing as I moved to pull her long, long hair into a ponytail before gripping the base by her head, gently pulling her head back before picking up speed, using her locks as a handle to ram into her firmer. Give the higher pitch of her moans she was more then happy about this situation as I groaned deeper as she tightened on my manhood. I rammed harder into her, spurred on my her pleased moans and groans as I panted harder behind her as I held onto her hair, my other hand giving her ass another smack as she squealed and tightened on my cock once more. I groaned out and shivered as she was rocking herself back harder and harder.

Watching her ass ripple as I slammed home into her sex was a visual delight to go with the physical pleasure of the act as well as the vocal pleasure of her loving moans. Still; everything ends sooner or later no matter what and as she clenched on my cock and came with another loud cry of pleasure I replied by cumming soon after, pressing in and pumping a second load of my cream from my balls, this time into her sex as I leaned over, hugging her around the waist as I softly rolled us to the side; making sure I didn't pin her hair under me as I moved us to a spoon position.

I figured that would be enough for her but she gently pulled away from me and moved to all fours before giving me a soft shove onto my back. She straddled my hips quickly, planting her sex down on the underside of my shift, grinding herself to me with a long, drawn out moan from herself and a long, drawn out groan from myself as she ended up keeping me hard yet again. My hands held her hips but I didn't control her motions, letting her direct things this time. Finally she had enough of teasing herself and lifted herself up, using one hand to guide my cock to her sex before wedging it into her waiting, dripping sex before sitting down on it, gasping then howling out in pleasure as she was filled back up fully with dick.

I used my grip on her hips to help add power and speed to her thrusting onto my cock as she leaned over, hands on my shoulders but this time she was in charge and clearly enjoying it as I started to rock my hips back up into her. She smiled a bit, shivering as she leaned down to kiss at me firmly as I returned it, my hands sliding over to her ass, gripping those sweet cheeks as she worked her hips. The kiss was broken as she pushed herself up with her arms, moaning as her back arched as she dropped onto my cock as quick and hard as she could, her louder cries making it clear she was near another climax as I took my cue to speed up. On round three I would be the one to cum first as my cock quivered in her and pumped another load into her sex as I gasped out, shuddering in pleasure as she cried out not long after and dropping down onto my hips and quivering harder as she grit her teeth and squealed out before moving to lay down on my chest.

She was panting hard as I hugged her around the waist as I panted softly myself as I recovered as she smiled, planted her head on my chest and just moved to cuddle. Once more there were no words; we just went to sleep.

[Fucked List]
Nikita DeSagesse=100xp x 5 First Time Bonus=500xp
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
Gain 600xp Total

[-]

"He really gave it to her..."

"Yeah... Damn..."

Two of the Dawn Templars of Helm Division giggled softly as they giggled and shut the door they had cracked open. It was clear to them something was going to start up and so they loitered near his room for a time before approaching and listening in. Sure enough, they arrived in time to see the Noxdecus heir feeding his cock to DeSagesse pussy. They weren't voyeuristic by nature, but after hearing his current escort rib each other and make bets on bedding the Heir of Mungale they wanted a peek, if only to tell the girls what to expect.

And did they have something to expect. Of course, there was another lad from Mungale to account for...

They moved to his door next and set an ear each to the door and smirked. Yup; he was occupied too. One of them opened the door, creaking it open just a sliver to let them peek in-

"Oiy! What do you brats think you're doing!?"

The pair blinked. Naked on the bed was Cress Bijoux. Over him, riding his cock was Axelia Blodsjungfru, their commanding officer who's breasts were squashing into the boy's blushing face. "Ahhh..." One of them let off, blinking. They had barley opened the door and without any sound and despite the distraction under her it was impressive that she had caught them in the act.

"We'll talk when I'm not busy." She said, her hips still rocking on the cock below her as she glared to them. "Now, kindly go and fuck off."

"Yes L.C.!" They let off as one and shut the door.

They would quickly retreat to their barracks for the night.

[-]

Central Alterun
Hidden Cave in a Forest
Two Hours March From the Town of Gorgel

The red-skinned goblin moved down the tunnel, grinning as he took his time. The cave system was natural but they had done work within to make improvements; widening or adding height to some chambers to make more space or give easier access, blocking off some passages to set up choke points, adding a couple of hidden passages to ambush intruders... Indeed, it was no simple set up. The deepest, coldest chambers were used as larders to store food while those higher up were used to store weapons and items. Many floors of the chambers, especially the lower ones, had wooden floors built slightly above the cave's floors to ensure any water that ran through the rooms didn't soak them or their supplies and the water was directed to flow into wells and a place for emergency exits; forcing anyone who wanted to give chase to abandon their armor to swim.

On his way to his destination he took a detour, grinning as he moved to look into one of the largest chambers and his personal favorite. The sounds from it was music to his ears as he stepped in and licked his lips at the entrance; the Breeding Chamber which was full of human women of different lovely shapes and figures; many pregnant with Aberrant children in their wombs.

There were several cages to house, feed and bathe the women in. For more dangerous ones pillories were set up so they could be used safely and without risk. The trolls and larger ogres were often asked to focus on them to break them in quicker. He chuckled and walked in deeper; three of his brothers piled onto a woman who was not resisting as she was gang fucked but clearly disgusted. She'd learn, of course. This was her place now.

A troll, meanwhile broke in another woman as the slime woman in their number moved about. She didn't join in on the sex but was happy to gobble up the semen, girl juices and sweat and clean the area. The goblin chuckled as one woman, a defiant adventurer, bore glazed over eyes as if her mind had shut down as an orc used her fuck hole for all it was worth. That was often a state the wenches entered before they finally broke into more willing, eager whores. He chuckled as he moved to the next chamber attached to the Breeding Chamber by a short tunnel; the Nursery Chamber.

"Ooooh, Flint Edge..." One woman let off as she saw him making him grin harder. Her belly was fat with Aberrant child as she knelt on soft wool. In each hand the brown haired woman held a young, toddler sized goblin with their lips attached to her nipples; both feeding on her mothers milk. "Your children are so greedy! They keep milking me dry!" Flint Edge chuckled at her before moving closer, reaching down to cup her sex under her swollen belly and hearing her gasp.

"That's how goblin young are; they grow fast you know! They need their food!" He told her, snickering. "Once you push out the next batch I want to knock you up again!"

"Ahhh, you're greedy too! Let others use my womb too!" She let off as he chuckled.

The Nursery Chamber was used to raise their collective young. A few goblins were watching the next generation of Aberrant but the main caregivers were human women (And one Catalan) who were fully tamed and accepted their roles as holes for pleasures, mares to breed and mothers to raise. It often took months to break them, years in a couple of cases. A pair of older ogres play wrestled one another as another woman watched on, a younger ogre in her arms and feeding on her milk. That one wasn't pregnant but she was flirting with one of the goblins.

They knew their place. They were taught well of where they belonged and what they were good for.

"For now I need to see the boss. I just wanted to see you for a moment." Flint Edge explained before grunting. "And to see how far along your sister is."

"She'll be happy with me soon, I'm sure." The woman let off as he chuckled and left. He did see her sister, yes. Her protests to the gargoyle fucking her was much weaker then a week ago, so she was making good progress!

Once he left the Breeding Chamber he moved to one of the highest chambers in the cave system. Before it was two guards in chain mail armor, both ogres, who let him pass with a nod, knocking their spear's butts to the floor twice in greeting. Among the few males humans they caught was a blacksmith they forced to make quality items for them; well as quality as a whipped man with whatever metal was at hand could make anyway...

Inside the Throne Chamber was only two people; one was an elven woman and a real beauty too; long, long legs, waist length blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, girlish figure, small but pert and well shaped breasts and the prettiest face he had ever seen. She was nude save a leather collar as she sat on soft furs and openly showed herself off. Her belly was ever so softly swollen; a child within. Given she was a kept and tamed slave of the one on the throne there was no doubt who's child it was.

"Ah, Flint. You've come with something then?" The being on the throne let off in a soft but deep, rumbling voice. Said throne was cared out of a boulder and given padded cushions to make it comfortable as his loincloth was pulled aside allowing the elf seated on the floor next to him to lean in and suck on his large shaft with ease. His torso was covered in a steel breastplate with an additional plate over the center of the plate shaped like a lion's head with pauldrons and chain mail sleeves moving to the wrists. Steel gauntlets were set on a stone table nearby with a mug of some liquor or another. His greaves and leather pants were fully off, set aside on the floor. The figure looked like a goblin to the casual observer save for two things; a pair of points sticking out from the sides of his chin and forwards like short, four inch long horns and the second was his size; he stood at six foot three meaning he stood head and shoulders above any normal goblin.

It was said one such as him was birthed ten times in a generation across the realm; a goblin larger, stronger and smarter then the others. One able to do more then any normal goblin, conquer more then any other goblin. They were heroes to not just the goblin race but to all Aberrants as a whole; he was a Hobgoblin. Flint moved to kneel and reached into a pouch at his hip. "Indeed. This was at the appointed drop site." He said, pulling from his storage a folded, black letter with edges stained slightly with moisture.

"Indeed." The Hobgoblin let off as he opened the letter. Flint Edge didn't bother to read it; mostly because he didn't know how to read but the boss had learned. The elven woman slipped her lips off, sensing her master's desire to have his attention on the letter undivided as he started to read. "Mmm... I see. Our benefactor's ally has given us some forewarning; the Whores of the Dawn come and will soon be riding for us. He wants us to defeat the women and claim as many as we can and allow the men to escape."

"Let the men escape? Really?" Flint let off as he snorted. "Why would they want that?"

"Isn't it obvious, you fool? An ally of ours will be among them." The boss let off with a chuckle, setting the letter aside and snapping his sharpened nails once. The elf rose to her feet and turned her back to the boss, reaching between her legs to guide his thick length to her sex. She moaned out as she sat down as he guided her hips and spoke once more. "And in addition he wants us to ensure that there are survivors to spread the Tale of the Red Fang Tribe and it's new found power." He said, cupping the elven woman's breast as she gasped out as he sneered. "There's a request to allow one woman to escape, claiming further plans... But he stresses it's a request not a demand."

"Would you?"

"Hmm... Eventually." He let off laughing as he grunted softly at the woman's efforts as he spoke to Flint Edge. "But for now let the boys know we're going to ready for combat. We'll meet them in the field and when we beat their best in open combat their reports will spread more fear in the hearts of the weaklings who rules these realms. Now, off with you. And fuck a wench when your done!"

"Yes boss!" Flint Edge let off, chuckling before scurrying off as the Hobgoblin sneered, watching the fine, elven ass bounce on his lap.

"Soon... Soon my work will pay off..." He let off, chuckling. He had founded the Red Fang Tribe with his two brothers over seven years ago now. Before then he was just a mercenary, following a very powerful, great sword wielding man heading a very powerful band of men and Aberrant. One day the man spoke about his plans to bring a dark storm of conquest across Eostia, one where every woman was common property of the masses. Of course he approached soon after and offered to help in his own way. Raiding. Stealing. Breeding. Building his new band's strength and undermining what he could and where within Eostia. Bit by bit he rose his gang of Aberrant, bringing in other races through a showcase of his success, his power and his tactics. That wasn't to say there wasn't any set backs.

His younger brother Blood Drinker, thanks in no small part to a distraction on his own part, got close enough to the Princess of Ur to nearly claim her virginity and showcase his reach. The bitch being bred by a goblin would have been a humiliation to the realm of Ur and all of Eostia... Only for him to be slain by a random spell blade sticking his nose where it didn't belong...

And not so long ago his youngest brother, Blood Maker, stumbled over that same spell blade on another raid for supplies... Only to meet the same fate by the same hand. He snorted at the old angers the memories of hearing their deaths called up as he pulled harder on the woman's hips making her cry out as she came; he himself uncaring of her status of pleasure and if she was overwhelmed or not; she was a toy to be used and a womb to be bred.

'Blood Drinker... Blood Maker... Why do I think of you two now? Is this a sign that my revenge is on the horizon?'

That would be a welcome thing; he couldn't just let the one who slew his kin get away with it. If he could find the bastard then he would make him suffer and suffer dearly.

He groaned deeply, howling in dominance as he shot his thick, Aberrant seed into the elf on his cock.

The bastard would suffer at the hands of Blood Caller, the Scourge of Eostia!

[ - Author's Note - ]

Yes, the Red Fang Tribe returns. James was warned he'd rue the day he crossed them all the way back in the third prologue chapter. Well they're baaaaaaaack!

And what he dealt with in the past was the tip of the iceberg. Go figure.

As I was writing this chapter I realized how long it has been since James really had a good, steamy, one on one fuck. Sure, he banged Nimrah but he felt awkward in that, and Theron was a different thing (And in a Questline's chapter) and both the Fighting/Defiant Wench Crew and the Prim/Carmen/Troya sets weren't one on one. I did enjoy this one; although I wasn't fully happy with the duel; I wanted Nikita to look capable but both inexperienced and holding misconceptions of how a fight will go. Feel free to tel me how well I did or didn't do on it.

Once more; the Best banners of Feoh Poll is still up. I think I'll end it next chapter. It's at strawpoll (dot com) /polls/7MZ0zvBoBno

Ah, also while I'm thinking of it; I hang out on Reddit at r/KuroinuKedakaki quite often. I'll make sure to post the poll link there as well. I make a post there when I make a new chapter, so it'll be there.

So next time we have the seemingly required clash with James and the currently accompanying Shield Princess versus A Batch of Bad Guys... And yes, Claudia will have her chance to be a Bad Ass Mother I'd Like To Fuck Despite Not Yet Being A Mother. Or BAMILFDNYBAM.

I'm not putting that on a t-shirt.

Until then!

~~Eostian Scribe