When Logic Sinks In 5 - or 'From Soulless Nerd, to Mighty Lich God' (Pre-Kuroinu, Kin!SI)

Our departure from Geofu was as chaotic as it could get.

I want to say that getting two new party members helped, that stealing a fuckton of souls helped, or even that some other stuff was going on that made the pursuing group less interested to give chase helped, but the overall feeling I had was quite somber.

We should have stuck to get Maia. This new element, this elf known only as Tia, something about her worried me. She felt fake- a trap? No, she had plenty of opportunities to do damage to us, and I had the means to monitor her long enough to know she wasn't trying to attack us.

She just wanted to... actually leave Geofu?

While it made sense as she may have been one of the elves meant to be used as slaves for the clergy, her age should not make her capable to plotting an escape so suddenly. Fear, for one, should have made her hesitant. She looked fresh and innocent, further adding to the notion that she was leaving willingly and without any regret or hesitation.

Too calculated of a choice for a girl meant to be as 'shy and scared' as she was selling her part.

Ignoring this immense frustrating situation, I had other worries to keep in mind. Our escape had made the carriage too memorable.

A change of vehicle was needed, and I planned to do so as we rushed to Iedian.

While I had originally planned to turn for Ur and Feoh before turning to the Dark Tower and the Ruins, the current state of notoriety made the approach impossible. And while I had recently gotten the means to go loud against massive threats, I still wasn't certain I could handle pseudo-divine elf bitches.

So yes, my plan was to get our asses into Iedian, then into the Forest of Esride and rapidly northward into the desolate lands. Which was very risky, but I could actually protect my party there: the forest was the nest of vicious creatures and natural elementals, but none were enough to threaten divine retribution.

Chloe kept a vigilant eye on the newly-acquired duo, making short talk with Maia as the girl proudly showed her 'mad skills with a sword'. Girl was definitely a starter in the art, but she was very far from being a threat to anyone but herself. Cockiness was the leading factor to rape in this world, may you be a man or a woman.

I kept myself away from the rest, but I could sense two pairs of eyes on me. Chloe, who was aware of my presence as I showed her how to notice me, but also Tia. Once again, the blonde elf left me baffled as my capacity to be hidden should exceed the means of sensorial skill her kind should be blessed with.

A high elf? No, not in Geofu. Not so young and meant to be used as a broodmare.

"Still, I don't get it, why were the men trying to hurt Tia and me like that? Like, what were they trying to do?" The redhead asked innocently, the kind of naivety that drew a scowl from Chloe as she was well too familiar with the topic.

"To hurt you where it mattered. Your pride and innocence," The dark elf remarked darkly, gaining the two girls' attention. "You are collateral damage, Maia, but Tia? She is a prime meal for those monsters. Of course, being an elf so pretty means that they have to take your purity and shatter your identity."

"S-Surely it can't be that bad... right? Lady Celestine- she would stop them for sure if it was that bad."

Chloe looked ready to jump her. It wasn't an appropriate reaction, and she was reacting by legitimate trauma, so I stopped her by 'reaching out'. She froze up, her angry look mellowing into a strained scowl.

"Of course you don't know, little flower. But under the noses of those that 'goddess', the men preaching for peace are those growing richer and luxurious with the war. How many prisoners have been 'tamed', how many 'wicked elves' have been made subdued animals."

This exchange heightened Tia's unusually keen attention as Maia interjected once more.

"I-I don't get it. What do you mean with that? How is it different than a normal fight?"

To my surprise, Chloe suddenly grew calmer at this. Maybe it was the genuine confusion from Maia, or perhaps the attempt to 'reach out' by the redhead herself.

"The violence they use is not about punches or kicks. It's about what make us girls. You have bits that you don't with for strangers to see or touch or worse, yes?" The dark elf pressed and Maia nodded.

"Y-Yeah! I wouldn't want them-"

"They don't care for that. For how you feel or how much you would scream them to stop," Chloe got once more heated up, but it was anger. It was pain. "They would hurt you through that. They would put you down, insult you, demean you, and then drown you with those horrible things."

...

"I... I am sorry," Maia muttered, sounding a bit stiff but overall shaken as she saw how intensely Chloe spoke of this, even more as they both could see she was crying now. "I didn't- I didn't mean-"

"It's not your fault. I was just... I have lived it. I have seen it. And I know what those eyes and smiles mean. And never once think that you weren't lucky today. Your future is uncertain now, but you are stilll... Whole."

After that, the entire talking ceased. I could tell that the air was tense, but they all had much to think. Once we arrived in Iedian, we had more to think and ponder.

Iedian wasn't talked much since it was a border city. It was the nearest to the forest where Olga had made her base of operations- where orcs and dark elves made their raids from. The town itself was mostly abandoned. Only a bunch of homeless people had made their homes there. People that had nothing to lose in case of a ride.

Truly a husk of what once was a fairly safe town for both humans and dark elves.

Finding a manor was easy, setting up an army of ghouls and undead helped warding off trouble while I contemplated what to do next in the eventuality of brute-forcing our way in the forest.

This meant butting heads with Olga, to get her attention... which wasn't totally bad. Before Geofu, I would have worried about it, but Olga was... not really a threat. The orcs could be handled with undead orcs, the real issue was how to tackle the fight on a 1v1 level. After all, Olga was a sorceress, she could use magic, and she may have more energy than me. But...

If I tricked her? Like, if I made her attack the 'wrong' Kin? That was a possibility, and I took steps to plan this one more as the undeads made the manor suitable for our stay.

Both Maia and Tia were mesmerized by the sight. Creepy as it may be, the zombies were relatively tame and were making the place more homely for them to stay. They had one of the master bedrooms for themselves, while I chose to share one with Chloe.

And by that last bit, I meant her taking the bed while I sat on a nice chair beside her-

"No, we are sharing it."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not about the talk," I tried to lie but-

"And it isn't," She convincingly rebuked. "After all, you are not a proper man, so you can hardly 'feel' difficult to cuddle with."

I opened my mouth at that. "Who ever said anything about-"

So yes, we are cuddling. And by that I mean I am as stiff as a board while Chloe is giving me a back-breaking hug and pressing her face onto my chest.

To an extent, I got what she was going for: I was too tiny to remind her of the older men that hurt her. I was literally a teddy bear- a living one, and a lich one at that.

...

Despite my own refusal to think this a convincing common habit to allow to fester, I knew that... well, cuddling is nice. And the bed was a change of pace after resting on the damn carriage for so long.

Plus, tomorrow was going to see some tough route-planning to avoid an immediate confrontation. I planned to go right around the forest, keeping close to the edge, and then rightfully rush at the Dark Castle. Then? I would take over. And I would turn it into my crib to stop any war and prevent Vult's rise to power.

So yes, these days were going to get even more hectic than usual.

AN

Lich boy vs Dark Elf Mama. Who wins? Probably Tia. Or Chloe. Maia? Nah, that's too much.