March 14th, 1566 ME
Order-Controlled City of Floria
Elise Maxwell
I woke up to the sounds of bells outside my manor, signaling the end of my sleep. Slowly, I worked up the energy to get out of bed and open the large window in my bedroom. I was greeted with a beautiful sunrise, one that made me just want to sit on the balcony and stare at it for however long I wanted to. Unfortunately, today was going to be a busy day, and the Order would not tolerate me lazing around. And frankly, I had zero intention of disobeying the organization that paid for me and my younger brother's livelihood.
I pulled my eyes away from the beautiful view and went to my bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. A girl with relatively long platinum blonde hair and slightly tanned skin from spending so much time outside stared back at me. I washed my face with some cold water from the basin, then combed my hair and tied it in a ponytail to prevent it from covering my working eye.
Yes. Eye. A couple years ago I had been sent to investigate a mamono realm that had formed too close to Floria. Things went sideways halfway through the mission, and during a particularly nasty showdown with a Hellhound I had gotten my right eye scratched out. The bastard had run away after that, likely to protect her husband, while I stumbled my way out of the mamono realm. When I had made it back to Floria a healer tried to mend the injury the best he could, but the damage had been done. I had become practically blind in that eye.
I was a hero of the Order; An experienced one, at that. The Order had sent me on many expeditions into several different mamono realms, and I came back from all of them, alive and uncorrupted. Occasionally, I would come back alone, all of my allies having been dragged off by monsters. Half the payment the Order had given me as a reward went straight to my brother's livelihood, to make sure he was comfortable.
Speaking of which, I decided before I went to eat breakfast I would check up on him. Putting on my clothes, I exited my bedroom, greeting all the maids that I came across on my way to my brother's room. Some Order nobles mistreated their maids, which I viewed as incredibly stupid behavior. They dedicate hours of their day to making sure our homes are clean, so they deserve to be treated with respect. However Amias, a maid that had been with me for almost five years now, stopped me.
"Miss Maxwell, may I speak with you for a moment?"
"Of course." My brother could wait a little longer.
"About the monsters… I've been told to inform you that Order forces have identified the two major leaders of the invasion force. A Malef Dragon and a Lilim."
Immediately a pit formed in my stomach. I had known that there were monsters outside of Floria for a while now, but I didn't know we were dealing with two of the biggest threats to the Order. Malef Dragons were even worse than normal dragons, because at least normal dragons weren't capable of spreading rampant corruption everywhere they went. Their blood was capable of turning human women into Dragonewts and human men into incubi incredibly quickly, making them one of the biggest threats to the Order.
As for the Lilim, they were daughters of the Mamono Lord and her husband. That was all that needed to be said about them. A single one managed to take over Lescatie, the second strongest country of the Order, overnight.
"I see. Thank you for the reminder." I responded to my maid as calmly as I could and dismissed her. I would need to notify my fellow heroes to start preparing for battle. We would need everyone in top condition if we wanted a chance of getting out of this alive.
Finally I reached my brother's room, marked with a silver plate with "Eryn Maxwell". I knocked to let him know I was coming in, and opened the door slowly. My brother was already awake, and eating breakfast that the maids had delivered straight to his room. He put down his fork as I entered the room.
"Good morning, Elise." He greeted me with a smile. His positivity, in the face of his condition, never ceases to amaze me. I smiled back at him.
"Hi, Eryn. How are you feeling today?"
"Just the usual…" As soon as he finished his sentence, he began coughing loudly. He reached for the glass of water on his tray and quickly drank half of it, which seemed to stop the coughing fit.
"Breathe. Just breathe, it's going to be okay." I reassured him. He nodded his head slowly.
"God dammit. I hate being bedridden so much…" He complained sadly. I sighed, sharing his sadness. He had been born with an incredibly rare disease, of which there was only one other recorded case in the entire world, the fourth daughter of the king of Lescatie. Strangely, Eryn didn't start having symptoms of the disease until he was six years old. It was called, "Noble's disease".
I vaguely remember my nine year old self watching from outside my parent's bedroom as they discussed what they were going to do about it, not understanding all of the medical terms being thrown around, but still being worried. I hadn't made any friends at that point but I enjoyed playing with him, and seeing him suffer was painful for everyone.
The daughter of the king of Lescatie had supposedly survived her condition when the city had been overrun. Monsterization cured human diseases apparently, but I was not willing to hand my brother over to some Manticore or Ushi-Oni and let them use him as a sex slave.
I'd rather he die than let that happen.
"I'm sure the mages will find a cure eventually. Everyone is working their hardest." I tried to comfort him the best I could.
"Are you sure? It's been twenty nine years now…" He said, sounding crestfallen.
"Don't give up hope, Eryn. I will find a way to cure that disease, even if it takes my entire life. I promise." I reassured him. "Do you want me to keep you company while you eat your breakfast or are you fine on your own?"
"I'll be okay on my own, Elise."
"Are you sure? Do you need me to get anything for you?" I asked. On the inside I wanted to stay with him a bit more. I didn't want to deal with the doomsday scenario of an army of monsters led by the two of the greatest threats to humanity invading our city.
"I'll be fine. I promise." Said Eryn.
"Alright then. Just know I'm not going to be back for a while. There's…" I quickly stopped myself from telling him about the Lilim and the Malef Dragon. That would stress him out even more than he needed to be. "...Important things that need to be dealt with. Ask the maids if you need anything."
"Thank you, Elise. I'm so lucky to have you."
"Likewise, Eryn." I responded as I left the room. Closing the door behind me, I felt a strange sense of renewal. Maybe the army of monsters could be dealt with. Maybe Floria would survive another day without being corrupted.
I headed towards the exit of the manor, opening the double doors of the building. I was greeted by the sun shining incredibly brightly in my face. I immediately cupped my hand over my working eye, the world suddenly becoming incredibly blurry and unfocused. I mentally slapped myself, realizing that I had left my eye patch inside. I rushed back into the house, up the stairs to my room and grabbed the eye patch off my nightstand.
Some people decorated their eye patches to take their minds off the fact that they were half blind, turning them into flowers, or even drawing an eye on them to give the impression that they weren't blind. As for me, I had drawn the symbol of the Order on the eyepatch.
I left my house the second time, being prepared. This time, I kept my head down as I left the building so as to not get temporarily blinded by the sun. I began heading down the path to the barracks, where my allies would be planning on how to stop the imminent invasion.
Walking through the city reminded me of what was at stake. Floria was in the top twenty most comfortable Order states. The roads were well maintained. The houses, while generic looking, were comfortable. Poverty was kept low. I recall hearing my parents telling me about how the city had changed.
Wanna hear something ironic, Elise? Reality was, the invasion of Lescatie actually made life in the Order better. Rumor has it that Lescatie was invaded because of how much poverty there was. I guess that scared all the higher-ups into actually making things better for everyone. My takeaway? Learn from other's mistakes and don't let history repeat itself!
Unfortunately it looked like I would be late today. A sizable crowd had gathered in front of my usual path to the barracks, filled with people carrying handmade signs with messages berating the Order with things like "Tell us the truth!" and "Stop wasting our money!" and even a few saying things like "Monsters are our friends". I groaned in annoyance and began to push past the protestors. These had been going on for about a month now, and they always seemed to show up blocking some important path for me.
"Hey. Hero." A voice said from behind me. I whirled around, seeing a middle aged woman looking at me judgmentally. "What do you think of all this? You're an Order higher up. Give us your opinion."
"I understand your reasons for protesting. The Order not being transparent is frustrating for me, too. On the other hand, I wish you didn't block the road. I have places to be." I said.
"You hear that? Even the heroes don't like the Order lying to us!" The woman shouted, making the crowd roar even louder. I shook my head and pushed through the crowd, keeping my head down so nobody would ask me any more questions. Unfortunately my conversation with that woman had drawn a lot more attention to me, and began getting swarmed.
I regret not wearing a hood today.
Somehow I managed to lose the crowd and get to the road leading to the barracks. A few minutes later, I was there. Written on the door was the word "Jackals", the name that the Order had given my team of heroes. I had originally thought it was stupid, but the name grew on me over time.
I let myself in. It was still relatively early in the morning, so barely anyone was here. I flopped down on one of the plush chairs in the meeting room and waited for everyone to arrive.
Thirty minutes passed without anyone coming. I began getting worried; Is the protest slowing us down? Had a monster snatched them up before they had even had a chance to fight back? It was a very real possibility. Monsters seemed to like heroes even more than normal humans.
Finally, there was a knock at the door. I jumped out of my chair and sprinted over to the door, upset that my team had made me wait this long.
"Finally. Has the protest been keeping you busy-"I began, before seeing something that explained everything.
I saw my most trusted ally, a man by the name of Nikolas Mason, holding a Ratatoskr bound in several meters of glowing white rope. Next to him was my swordsman and strategist, Kenton Liu and Suvina Henson, backing him up to make sure that the Ratatoskr didn't get away.
"Sorry, Elise. We've been busy all morning trying to catch this rat. We caught her spying on Suv on our way here. We've been chasing her for twenty five minutes." Nikolas explained.
"I am not a rat, I am a squirrel-"
"Quiet." Kenton slapped the Ratatoskr on the back of the head to shut her up.
I leaned down in front of the Ratatoskr and looked her directly in the eyes. "Why were you spying on us?" I asked. The Ratatoskr looked down at the ground, refusing to answer my question. I lifted her up by the chin, making her look at me. "I'm going to ask you again. Why were you watching us?"
"Our dearest lady, or should I say, ladies, have taken an interest in you," The Ratatoskr finally responded. "Your dedication towards your brother's life and your record of successful battles against monsterkind has made you a high priority target for the both of them. In fact, the two of them have had their sights set on all of you for a while now. They have tasked me with observing you."
Well, that's just brilliant… Our days as humans are numbered now.
"What are their names?"
"The lilim is called Amaya and the dragon is called Delilah. You would do well to memorize the names of your future leaders." The Ratatoskr grinned back at me, which worried me greatly.
"You seem incredibly confident." Suvina remarked as she tried to keep a calm exterior.
"I am willing to die for my cause. And even if you kill me, we have the most experienced necromancers prepared to revive us or any Mamono you kill. Maybe we'd be willing to work something out if your king surrendered right now. But as it stands right now, Floria is going to be under new management very, very soon." The Ratatoskr smirked and let out a laugh.
"I think I've heard enough from you." I stood up, looking down at the squirrel-like monster. "Get her out of here."
"What are we going to do with her, Elise? Do we spare her or get rid of her?" Nikolas asked. The monster still showed zero signs of fear at being executed.
"I say we get rid of her. She's been incredibly disrespectful towards you, captain." Kenton offered, drawing his sword.
I found myself being worryingly apathetic about deciding the monster's fate. The fact that she was so confident that she was willing to divulge her goals and her leader's names meant that they must have an overwhelming advantage. She said it herself, even if we killed her it wouldn't matter.
"Do whatever you want with her. I don't care." I waved Kenton and Suvina off, and the two of them dragged the Ratatoskr outside.
"Captain?"
"Yes, Nikolas?"
"You're acting weirdly apathetic, almost nihilistic. The Elise from a year ago would've made a decision on what to do immediately. Letting your subordinates decide what they want to do with a hostage is unlike you." My ally remarked, sounding genuinely worried for me.
"It's just… We've known that there was a huge force of monsters about to attack us for a while now, but knowing that there's both a goddamn Malef Dragon and a Lilim at the head of the invasion is making me feel very outmatched and helpless. On top of all that, my brother's health has gradually been getting worse each and each year. I'm stressed here and I'm stressed at home." I explained to Nikolas.
Nikolas paused for a moment."...About your brother's health. There's a way for him to be cured, but you're probably going to hate it. It goes against everything you've been taught."
"Tell me anyway. We'll see what I think about it." Nikolas was right. I was acting incredibly unnatural. If my past self saw me right now, she would be distraught beyond belief.
"So. The monsters. Do you genuinely believe the Order when they say that they capture humans to kill and eat them or do you know the truth?"
The room went silent for a good ten seconds as I considered what I was going to say next. "I know the truth," I eventually whispered. "They don't kill people. They take human men to use as sex slaves and they monsterize human women. Not much better than death, if you ask me." Saying that in front of an Order official would've probably gotten me a nasty lecture. I thought back to the protest; Those people saying that monsters were friendly were playing with fire.
"Sex slaves isn't the word I would use, unless you're talking about the dark elves. Even then, they still love their husbands underneath all of their weird activities."
"...You're sympathizing with them?"
Nikolas frowned, irritated at my response. "Do you want to save your brother or not? Because the Order isn't going to find a cure for your brother's illness, and you know that."
"Nik, I have the best mages the Order has to offer working together to find a cure for Noble's disease. My brother will be healthy again one day. I promised him that."
"You shouldn't make promises you aren't able to fulfill, Elise. Lescatie had the best mages that the Order had to offer, too. And they still weren't able to cure Francisca. Anyways, I have a better idea. When the monsters invade, you should ask one of them to incubize Eryn."
"...What?!" I said in disbelief.
"Francisca was cured by monsterization. It's not a stretch to think that incubizing could solve your brother's condition. Would be faster, easier, and less expensive than those mages you've been throwing money at." Nikolas explained.
"I'm not letting some monster turn my brother into some sex addicted maniac, even if it cures his illness. I might be desperate but that's crossing the line."
"Fine, how about this. Has it ever occurred to you that the mages you hired are just in it for the money? That they're just using your brother?" Nikolas shot back, his voice getting louder.
"They wouldn't do that. They genuinely wanted to help. I talked to them myself!" I responded, also raising my voice.
"Yet you're so readily willing to admit that monsters don't care about us and just want to use us as their sex slaves, and that they don't love us, despite them doing everything they can to show us that they do?"
"What's going on in that head of yours, Nik? Don't tell me you're actually buying into the stuff those protests have been shouting about for the past month."
"What if I have, huh?" Nikolas growled back at me as he turned towards the exit, opening the door and shutting it behind him "I'm leaving." He said from outside.
"You're leaving?! We need to plan! There's a Lilim and a Malef Dragon outside our walls, waiting to attack at any moment. And here you are, throwing a fit over-"
"Plan yourself. I'm sick and tired of fighting an enemy that isn't even a real threat." He turned and began sprinting off.
"Nik!" I yelled after him. "Nikolas!"
He must have used a spell of invisibility on himself, because he just randomly vanished after turning a corner. My forehead was throbbing. I felt like punching something. I leaned against a wall, taking several deep breaths to calm down. I needed a clear mind if we were going to fight off this attack. After that, I slowly began heading back to the barracks.
Kenton was in the training yard, practicing sword techniques, while Suvina was nowhere to be found. As I entered the yard, Kenton dropped what he was doing and came over to me, sharing my expression of frustration and anger.
"Where's Suvina?" I asked.
"She went on some massive rant about how the Order is in the wrong, and that our campaigns against the monsters are a waste of time and money, and that we're actually the bad guys, yadda yadda." Kenton explained, shaking his head. "I told her that if we didn't keep the monsters in our territory in check, they would spread uncontrollably, and eventually they would gain enough power to overthrow us. She ended up storming off." He continued as he picked up his longsword again to take out his anger on the training dummy.
"What a coincidence. Nikolas just ran off as well, for similar reasons too. Everyone's going insane." I told Kenton. "I'm heading back inside to start planning. Even though I think our strategist just up and quit. You're welcome to join me if you wish."
"I'd like to practice a little more if you don't mind, Captain."
"Fine. Thirty more minutes, and then you join me. I need all the help I can get." I turned around and headed back inside.
March 14th, 1566 ME
?
Amaya, 58th daughter of the Mamono Lord
Whenever a lilim was born, our parents made sure to teach us one thing. We didn't have to spread our mother's vision of love and peace, although she certainly appreciated it when a lilim told her about how they managed to topple a town of fanatical Order zealots, or how they single handedly stopped a war between two human kingdoms by monsterizing everyone and everything. She just encouraged us to do what made us happy.
Our father, on the other hand, seemed to like telling us stories about his time in the Order when we were young. These were mostly negative given the religious organization's awful ways of treating its subjects and enforcing its rule, and had the unintended effect of giving Lilims mild savior complexes at a young age, wanting to stop all conflict and make the world a place of love and pleasure. It was how Druella, and by extension, the entire extremist faction was born.
Like many of my sisters I still kept the stories that my father had told me in my mind, vowing to make the world a better place. During my travels, I came across a kingdom of Malef Dragons and their subjects on the outskirts of Dragonia. Speaking of which…
I heard the beating of wings as my Malef Dragon second-in-command flew up to the perch I was standing on, landing next to me. The seven foot tall monster held the appearance typical of most Malef Dragons, but with red hair and more curvy horns looking like they belonged on a succubus rather than a dragon.
"Amaya, are you daydreaming again?" Delilah playfully punched me in the side to wake me up from my daydreaming. "You know you've got an entire army of ladies waiting for your orders."
I had stationed my army in a gigantic cavern near the city of Floria, with hidden exits and entrances to prevent any human forces from finding us. Despite that, some of Floria's scouting parties still managed to find us, not like my army was complaining. The monsters I gathered were incredibly varied. A meek looking kobold stood next to a fierce looking ogre, who was standing next to a salamander sharpening their sword. Managing so many different monsters at once had been a nightmare for me at first, but having Delilah by my side had helped greatly.
"I'm waiting for our spy to rejoin us." I explained to Delilah. "Once he comes back, it will be a matter of days before we can strike. Aren't you excited, Delilah?"
"Of course. I snuck into the city to watch their king a few days ago. We must have been causing him so much stress lately. Imagine trying to calm down an entire city full of people who think that there's an army of flesh hungry monsters about to kill them. I cannot wait to get rid of all his stress and show him how loving we can be." Delilah turned her gaze away from our army back to me. "Although concerning your spy, why haven't you, you know, married him yet?"
"He must be kept free of mamono mana for now. It is annoying but it's crucial he stays under the Order's radar. They would most likely execute him if they found out he was collaborating with a monster." As I said that last statement, I was once again reminded of why I was here.
Floria had been under my eye for a long time now. It had been known for its teams of heroes that were incredibly violent towards any mamono for being even remotely close to their territory. A step up from the downright barbaric "Attack all monsters" mindset that Lescatie had. I had talked with a couple displaced monsters and their husbands and promised them that they would get their homes back, while offering to recruit the unmarried ones who wanted revenge.
On the opposite side of the cavern, I spotted a man seemingly phasing through the cave wall. The nearby monsters cleared the way immediately. I had given them a stern order not to touch my spy, lest they suffer severe consequences. I was a forgiving woman, but I had my limits.
"He's here." I told Delilah, trying and failing to not sound like an excited schoolgirl. The dragon snickered.
"Don't get too excited. You need to keep him clean of your energy, remember?" I nodded hastily and began flying to the other side of the cavern with Delilah following close behind me. I practically tackled my spy to the ground with a hug. I knew I was supposed to keep my energy off of him, but a brief hug shouldn't leave too much residual mana.
My spy gently pulled himself out of my grasp. "Nice to see you again, Amaya. As much as I would like to cuddle there's been some strange developments I need to discuss with you."
My happiness was replaced with fearful curiosity. "Oh no! What happened? Did they find out where we're hiding?"
"Calm down, Amaya. It's actually rather good news. I talked with the king; He seems to be tired of fighting. He said he would be willing to surrender if we did not turn Floria into a mamono realm."
"Hmmm…" I mused. This was an interesting turn of events. "Looks like all the preparations we made for a battle were all for naught. The salamanders and lizardmen aren't going to be too happy about this."
Delilah on the other hand, didn't seem satisfied. "Why should we listen to him, though? Leaving Floria uncorrupted would allow for human resistance efforts, and that means innocent Mamono could get hurt. Turning Floria into a mamono realm would wipe out any chance of that happening."
"Druella allows some extremist territory to remain uncorrupted, Delilah. It worked for her, why won't it work for us?" I rationalized. "While I wouldn't be opposed to having a mamono realm, allowing humans to warm up to us on their own terms would form stronger relationships."
"Our relationships would be stronger if they got a taste of dragon's blood. I was sort of hoping they would've put up a fight." Delilah objected, looking disappointed.
"You are already getting a husband out of this. You can feed him or any human woman that wants to be a Dragonewt as much blood as they want. That should be enough for you, Delilah." I told her.
The dragon grumbled. "I guess you're right. Either way, you're the boss."
The spy handed over several documents to me from his coat. "Another thing. You should read these."
"Oh?" I quickly skimmed through the documents. They appeared to be talking about a certain veteran hero by the name "Elise Maxwell".
Parents passed away during a house fire… Younger brother suffering from Noble's disease… Trained to be a hero from age sixteen… Near flawless record in battles against Mamono… Short tempered and incredibly protective of her sibling.
Immediately, Lilim instincts kicked in, thinking of all the possible monsters I could turn this fine young lady into. She seems like a Salamander in the making. No, she sounds more like an Ochimsuha or a Dullahan. Actually… with how much she loves her brother, turning her into a dark elf would be funny…
"Uh, Amaya? You're drooling…" Delilah said. I quickly wiped it away, feeling more embarrassed than I've ever been in my entire life.
"You're not thinking of turning her into a dark elf, are you? My spy asked, with a somewhat worried expression on her face.
"Uh… No…"
"Good. Because she has a vendetta against dark elves. In fact," My spy gulped. "I would prefer if you just didn't monsterize her at all."
"What?!" Both me and Delilah simultaneously shared our disbelief.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't pour an entire jug of my blood down her throat for what she's done." Delilah shouted.
"First off, that would kill her." My spy sighed. "Second, I think she deserves a choice just like everyone else. Elise is just as misled as the rest of the Order in Floria."
"Which is why she needs to be monsterized. That's the best way to get these Order types to see the error of their ways." I shot back, repeating the words of a certain extremist group that I looked up to. Delilah nodded her head furiously.
"Listen, I'm her friend, alright? I'll try and stop her from doing anything rash." The spy explained. "Trust me. I can fix her."
"Your voice is really, really cute when you're begging, you know that right? Fine. I'll humor you. But if she gets out of line, she is getting monsterized on the spot." Knowing that my future husband cared for his friends even when they were violently anti-mamono made me love him even more. I truly got lucky with you…
"You people are insane. Fine, do what you want. Just make sure to inform the army that the invasion is being changed to a surrender deal." Delilah spread her wings and flew back to the perch we were sitting on earlier, leaving the two of us alone.
"Actually… Since mamono are going to be allowed in the city now, that means we don't have to keep you clean of my mana anymore. And you know what that means, don't you?" I slowly strutted over to my spy, my tail wrapping around his leg as soon as I got close, with my white wings wrapping around his torso.
"O-o-of course…" He stuttered, sounding both excited and scared of our first time together.
"I know a good place in the forest where nobody will bother us for a few hours. Hold onto me." I grabbed my soon-to-be husband and flew off, through the fake entrance to the cave and out to the spot I specifically chose for this moment.