Rupegia

Chapter 51: Challenger – Part 1

"I expected Mom to keep a spy on us, but to work with Vanea and share information? That's a little surprising," Alissa says through [Bind].

"You expected her to spy on us?" I send her my raised eyebrow through the connection.

"If she didn't, Dad would end up interfering with our lives."

She gets up and walks back to the table.

"Should we be concerned about that?"

"If he did show up, then I would be very angry."

"Hm… when you become my wife in writing, will we be able to use your connection to the Low Forest?"

She sits down and goes back to hugging my arm lovingly.

"Certainly. Mom rules the Forest with an iron grip. At the very least, we will be safe from Katasko over there."

"I'm tired of being ambushed, so I have no intention to hide… but the Forest will be a good starting point. And there's also Crown Lord Confiel…"

"Allying ourselves with someone that Vanea trusts seems suspicious, but if Mom is also advising us to do it, then I trust her."

"Oh yeah, are you sure this message is legitimate?"

"Only Mom has ever called me Nocturna."

I felt no hesitation from her, so I'll trust her judgment.

The message had a very sobering effect on me, allowing me to easily overcome my stupid jealousy. Not that it went away, it just became much more manageable.

"Say, Klein, when are you going to tell us your fellowship's name?" The joker teases her.

She rolls her eyes and groans. "Why would I tell you that? You are just going to make fun of me."

"Well, yes, but we will all also have a lot of fun with it, so it's a net benefit for us all," the joker answers with a smirk.

"Wow, didn't expect you to know what a net benefit is," Klein shoots back.

"I know very well how to balance my skills and soul potential." He gives her a phony smile.

"She didn't even tell us what it is," Roxanne comments with feigned offense.

Klein scoffs. "You are worse than Lotopios. I would have to listen to your teasing every day if I told you."

"Damn, is it really that bad?" I ask.

Klein becomes a little shy and awkward. "Well, no, but…"

"Everyone wants to know," Laertes chimes in and smirks. I see his fluffy tail sway softly.

"Oh come on, Klein. I'll smack anyone who makes too much fun of you," Hana says with a smirk.

"It's only going to get worse if you don't say it," Roxanne piles on.

The entire table starts to pay attention to her and even Aoi and Gify become interested.

Klein covers her eyes with her brown tail and groans. "Fine. The name is 'No Defeat.'"

The table goes silent. I close my eyes and exhale a long sigh.

That's a pun in Andraste made to sound like "no eyes." The system translated a goddamn dad joke.

"BAHAHAHA!" Hana holds her stomach as she laughs. "That's perfect! I knew Anton had a hand in that!"

"You only need a dick and you would be a perfect 'dad,'" I say.

The joker chuckles and looks at his own empty mug. "Okay, I need two more mugs so I can properly laugh at this. Angel of the alcohol! Bring me salvation!"

"My condolences," Laertes says and reaches over the give Klein's shoulder a squeeze.

Julien and Ciel laugh softly and look around at the others. "What? It's funny," Julien defends himself while the others send them glances.

Alissa wordlessly moves on and continues pimping me to the elven sisters.

Eventually, the reality-bending experiment I caused gets mentioned. Nobody knows how that happened and they think that the mage got interrupted by an arrow or something and then got so scared that he completely botched the spell.

When Hana starts singing with her two new friends, we decide that it's time to leave. Not because she's drunk, she's only just starting, but because everyone else is.

Hana carries the drunk Klein while also giving a piggy-back ride to a very chipper Roxanne.

"I'm not a horse, you know," Hana says with a frown.

"Yah! Yah!" Roxanne slaps Hana's ass twice.

"I'm gonna throw you off!" Hana jumps once and kicks the air backward like a bucking horse.

"Hahaha, [Riding] is taking effect!"

We reach our inn and climb the spiral stairs to our rooms. The architecture is quite novel, there's a single circular corridor that we walk along to get to our almost pizza-slice-shaped room.

Ciel casts [Refresh] on the girls so we can relax.

"Oh, the sheets smell so nice," Alissa says and rubs her face on the bed.

Klein snorts and looks at Alissa oddly.

"Yesterday, Osaria and Roxanne drained Wolfy so much that the room was starting to smell a little bad," Ciel says.

"I thought it was odd that you were too tired to play around," Klein says with raised eyebrows.

"You girls are making me feel like I'm not even a humanoid anymore," I say and awkwardly scratch my neck.

Alissa pulls my hand and kisses the spot I was scratching.

"You are a humanoid, but you are not 'normal,'" she says and continues kissing.

It's too late for training, so I give Klein a little of my attention and we go to sleep.

Today is the 22nd.

Lina wakes me up and Ciel holds her hair for her while she warmly watches her little girl milk me.

I feel recovered today, so the girls will resume having their needs fulfilled.

Hana gained the title "One Thousand Strikes."

"The investigators must have spread the details of our battle with Dawn of Fire," Lina says.

"Hm…" Hana crosses her arms, squishing her balloons, and stares at nothing, likely her own "Status" screen. "I don't really feel like it's cringe-worthy, I love this title. 'Hana of the One Thousand Strikes.'" Her eyes look out of the window and she smiles fearsomely.

"When am I getting a title too?" Roxanne asks.

Lina and Ciel frown, disliking the way things are going.

"'Roxanne of the Finger of Death,'" Hana says and they smirk at each other.

"'Ciel of the Angelic Touch,'" Roxanne says and Ciel looks very conflicted.

"'Lina of the Evil Eyes,'" Alissa says and Lina looks horrified.

"W-why do you think my eyes look 'evil'?" She questions.

"Your [Cursing Magic] can be done with just a look. That's slightly more frightening than Roxanne's ability."

Lina frowns. "That still doesn't make them 'evil.'"

"It makes you sound more threatening. Just accept it," Hana says.

"We don't have to. It's not like we are getting these titles anytime soon," Ciel says.

"If I stick around I might get an embarrassing title too," Klein says with a smirk.

Hana's scales flicker in annoyance.

As we eat our dinner, a delightful pitter-patter massages my ears. Rain.

"Well, this is annoying," Klein says as she looks out the window.

"What?" Lina asks.

"What, what?" Klein returns the question.

"What's annoying? The rain?"

"Yes! I wanted to practice archery in the sun." Klein pouts.

"Hm… this is a perfect day to work. Rain helps me concentrate," Lina says a little shyly.

Klein approaches Lina and the closeness of their faces makes my little girl blush. "Don't dwarves usually live underground?"

"I lived on the surface. It's quite dry, so the rain was always a good thing. We had good acoustics so the rain made a calming hum when it hit the roof of my house."

"Ooh…" Klein moans in understanding.

"I want to visit the Academy's library, today is a good day for reading," I say.

Lina's eyes gleam but deflate shortly after. "I want to fix Ted and Suzy, and enchant all our weapons with [Double Strike]."

"Can you do it all in the morning? We can go in the afternoon."

"Yes!" She nods energetically.

I pat her head and turn to the other girls. "Right. There's some new information I have to share with you all, but first, I have another secret to tell Klein."

"Ooh…" She moans in wonder again.

"I have special abilities, like a Hero of a story," I say.

Klein's hands hit her cheeks with a smack and her mouth hangs open. "OH! Now it all makes sense!"

"So, you understand why we want to become nobles? We want to grow in power and standing while also slowly making connections."

Klein nods repeatedly, too overwhelmed with excitement to speak.

"This means that we will have a 'Hero's destiny,' so our lives won't be easy from now on," Ciel says.

Klein's excitement disappears like a popped balloon and her tail hits the ground. "Oooh…"

"It's not the kind of life that you want, right?" Ciel asks softly.

"Yeah… I… I think I'm like my dad. This job is something I do for a living, not because I like it."

"If you end up becoming our knight, we won't send you off to do dangerous things," Hana says.

Klein crosses her arms and frowns. As she thinks, her frowns deeper so much that she starts to resemble Anton.

"If I become your knight, will you… will you approve of me and Hermann?"

"I was never against it," Hana says calmly.

Klein thinks for a while and says, "It feels like I'm asking for charity. You are going to go out to fight while I stay behind and only get the easy jobs?"

Hana shrugs. "I don't think I'll ever send my brother out to die, but I also want him to grow, so it's not like we are going to be sheltering you."

She bites her lip and walks over to Hana's chair to give her a hug. Both of them are naked, of course. "I'll agree to be your knight, but I won't be a mere decoration. I'll work hard to show that I've earned the position."

Hana smirks and pulls Klein onto her lap. "If that's what you wish, I'll accept it." Then they kiss.

"Awn…" Ciel moans and Roxanne sniffs.

"Why do you dislike Wolfy's, destiny?" Aoi asks.

Her voice is improving.

"I don't think I'm ready for something like this," Klein answers.

"What is 'this'?"

"Well, in the stories, if you involve yourself too much with the Hero, you get responsibilities that you never asked for. Like saving the Hero when he's in trouble or helping lead people who flock to the hero."

"Isn't becoming a knight, 'involving too much'?" Aoi tilts her head.

"Maybe. But it's enough responsibility that I think it's worth it. Staying close to Hana and Hermann is all I want." She shrugs and smiles bitterly.

"And Mimi?" Hana asks and raises an eyebrow.

"Y-yeah, her too." Klein smiles wryly.

"Now that everything is said and done, let me tell you who Alissa talked to yesterday," I say and retell the encounter with the informant.

Lina nods her head along and says, "This is good. Even though Alissa is a Blood Slave, Léonne seems to want to keep a connection."

"But why can't she interfere?" Roxanne asks.

"It's the contract with Rabanara. I belong to Wolfy, nothing more, nothing less," Alissa says.

"Hard to believe any ruler of the Misty Low Forest would 'give' their children away so easily." Roxanne frowns.

"This is why any 'contact' is prohibited. It discourages them from even trying to interfere."

"Ooh. So you are going to live in the Misty Low Forest?" Klein asks.

"Possibly," I say.

"Anyway. Do you really want to get involved in this struggle between the two Crown Lords, Wolfy?" Ciel asks.

"Not sure. I know the eastern Lord has the advantage, so I don't think we would be betting on a losing horse, but our 'help' would almost certainly be mercenary work."

Hana crosses her arms again and thinks. "Hm… we'll have to meet him first. See how he is in person before making a decision. What if he's like Vanea?"

"What's the problem with Vanea?" Klein asks.

"She's a huge bitch," Alissa says and I chuckle but nod.

"Wow. I never heard that one before." Klein looks legitimately surprised. "They say her eyes are frightening, but then so are the rest of the Anaras."

"She's extremely vengeful against anyone who antagonizes her," I say.

Klein shrugs. "I would never have guessed that."

"It's like she wears a mask."

If she does, then what about the others around her, like Haaran, Silvane, and Nononya? She seems very emotional, but the others are much more stoic, so how much are they hiding from me?

Meh, paranoia.

"We could get an audience with the Lord through Ricardo, he owes us one," Hana says.

"You are the one suggesting we meet with nobility?" Lina questions Hana.

Hana looks a little conflicted but says, "Wolfy can't avoid the higher powers all his life. We'll need them and I'll need to adapt."

"That's good to hear," Ciel says and smiles. Hana snorts in response.

"You grew up a lot," Klein says and pats Hana's back with a mocking smile warping her face.

"She's finally reaching maturity," Roxanne says and fakes drying tears in the corner of her eyes.

Hana's glare sends fear into our hearts and blood to my dick.

"So, do we all agree on talking with Lord Confiel?" I ask.

They all nod, even Aoi.

"Any questions or comments?"

They all shake their heads.

"Then The Council has reached a conclusion and I declare the meeting adjourned."

We spend the rest of our morning casually. Hana, Ciel, and Klein spread scented oil on their bodies and wrestle naked… Greco-Roman style. Very distracting. Alissa helps me with the Soul Map and identifying skills. Lina and Roxanne work together to fix Ted and Suzy, then they separate. Lina starts enchanting all our weapons while Roxanne continues studying [Warp Space]. Aoi starts flapping her wings and messing with the ambient mana so much that Lina complains and she has to practice in the bath pool. Gify spends his time in my lap being petted while I study.

Lunch comes around and we fill our bellies again with gourmet-level food.

"I'm going to get fat…" Klein complains.

Ciel discreetly pinches her own bellies and her expression strains.

After we're done, I pull out two rain cloaks for me and Lina.

"So, we are going to the library, what about you girls?" I ask.

"We'll coach Ted, Suzy, and Aoi," Ciel says and points to Roxanne.

"I'll go visit Dad and Mom. Wanna come too, Hana?" Klein asks.

"Sure."

"Can I come with you?" Alissa asks me innocently.

"How could I say no?" I answer and pat her head, making her tail sway a little.

I pull out the armored dinghy for us to cross the town. As we fly above the streets, I notice how most elves don't use any protection from the light rain and walk around casually as if nothing was different.

We fly northwest and enter the Nobles' Quarters. Like in Rabanara, our entry isn't blocked, but we are heavily watched and our IDs are checked.

Goloria's Knight Academy is one of many imperial academies spread around the world, but in the High Forest, this one is the biggest. Unfortunately, they do not have a public university like Rabanara because the circles of magi are much more powerful and monopolize most of the magical knowledge.

A familiar dark bark wall decorated with golden inlays blocks our way.

We approach the gate and see turnstiles made of wood blocking our way. A cloaked student presses something on the top of the turnstile and it unlocks for him to pass.

We approach the guardhouse and ask how to pass. The imperial guard takes a long look at our outfits before pulling out an Inspection Crystal. We have all come with our best clothes and shining necklaces, so he shows a lot of respect towards us.

He ignores the "Golemancer" title and focuses on the "Scholar of Rabanara." He eyes me oddly but allows us to pass. Lina and Alissa are both my slaves, so he might have thought that I'm a wealthy commoner from an influential family.

We cross the gate and I'm immediately assaulted by the uncomfortable feeling of having my [Gate] blocked.

After getting over it, I see something rather similar to greek architecture: huge yellow columns supporting a red low angled roof, both made of wood but camouflaged to look like bricks; rows upon rows of statues of mages, soldiers, warriors, and naked body-builders with the "swoleness" of the statues seemingly increasing the further in we go; huge tiles with colorful geometrical patterns show the way; short green grass fills the rest of the path, but it's dotted with very visible signs of "DO NOT WALK ON THE GRASS"; behind it all, a golden castle that looks like someone stacked dozens of the huge-column-buildings one on top of another.

"It's like everything was made for giants here," I comment.

"Bigger is better," Lina says.

She puckers her lips when I give her a suggestive look but does not retract her statement.

We continue walking forward and notice that there are dueling pits spread out between the buildings. We know they are dueling pits because plenty of them are being used.

From knights in armor; barbarians in loincloths; archers using acrobatics and speed-firing (something that amused Alissa greatly); unarmed fighting; group combat; summoner battles; to mages yelling their spells and fighting with rapiers. All kinds of fighting are going on.

I also quickly notice how everyone is wearing a uniform, making us stand out like sore thumbs. It's a black coat and pants with vertical colored lines on the chest, possibly representing some form of classification of the students.

The walk to the castle is annoyingly long, almost making me pull out the dinghy.

The inside of the castle makes us feel dwarfed by the architecture, pun intended. The ceiling is so high that I think at least three floors would fit in all this empty space. Thankfully, there are magic elevators everywhere, so we don't have to actually walk up the stupidly long stairs.

A map at the entrance guides us to the library, it occupies exactly one half of the castle, the other half is purely classrooms.

"Starting from the entrance, we've been walking in a straight line for nearly half an hour. Not even dwarven architecture is this straight," Lina comments.

"That's imperial pragmatism. If you can make everything straight, why not?" Alissa imparts us with another of her tidbits of varied knowledge.

We finally pass the middle line of the castle, and suddenly our corridor changes. We enter a wide room full of desks for study, exactly the same as in Rabanara's library.

At least now the huge empty space above us is used more efficiently. What was previously a single floor is now divided into three floors and filled with rows upon rows of books. The number of floors is so high that I feel a little dizzy just trying to see the top.

"That's a lot of books," Alissa comments, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Gih."

"That's called megalophobia. It's harmless, it's just that our primal fears are activated when we see something so inconceivably large," I say.

"So, what are we searching for?" Lina asks.

"Whatever you want, go nuts."

"Nuts?" She tilts her head cutely.

I smile at her. "Do what you want."

She twiddles her thumbs a little, then nods and gives me an adorable smile.

The building is imperial, and the students are a mixed bag, but the administration is completely elven. As if the elves would ever let an imperial military installation in their own territory run unsupervised.

We spread out and look for interesting books by ourselves. Lina goes to find some books on enchanting, Alissa searches for [Illusion Magic], while I search for something related to the soul.

I find something interesting in the index: "Using [Alteration Magic] for Soul Surgeries." It's a book that describes how Chimeric mages fix birth defects using [Alteration Magic].

What I did during Dawn of Fire's attack was a real fucking mess. I used my will to break a spell and ended up bending mana in a wild and uncontrolled manner. One of the first warnings of the book is what made me realize that: "Do not use Alteration while someone is casting a spell." Then the book goes on to describe in gruesome detail how reality broke and… shit happened. The most horrible consequences are: people fusing, exploding, warping their own souls until it is beyond recognition, or just simply dying in nightmarish ways. Other "accidents" include: noxious fumes killing people for kilometers around, dungeons appearing on top of people, earthquakes and other natural destructive phenomena, and even the Deadlands is a result of an Emperor interrupting a doomsday ritual made by a cult of undead.

He bent the mana to his will and reversed the effects of the ritual, but then all of the corruption spread around the land and made it uninhabitable for a thousand years. It's still only populated by researchers and priests who can cast [Sanctuary] because the corruption is preventing nature from retaking the land. Maybe in a few generations the first plants will finally be able to grow again over there.

The problem with bending mana that way is that there are two minds fighting over it, but what if I used Redirect on an enchantment? I must test this.

Moving past the warnings, the rest of the book is quite interesting. They bend souls using pure "Willpower" and can basically do anything.

Maybe we should visit the Chimeras soon and pay for Roxanne's eyes to be fixed, then she wouldn't need glasses anymore.

The soul itself is bent quite easily, it's just that they require extensive knowledge of the organ being "altered" so that they can recreate it perfectly. Modifying the mana organ that way is actually a bad idea, though. The Alteration will mix with the patient's mana and shit will happen, but Golemancy's [Mold] seems to not have this problem, for some reason. Another thing to test.

The most important information I learned from this book is how they can create appendages.

"Wolfy, let's eat something?" Alissa asks.

"Goodness me, look at the time. It's tea time!" I say excitedly in a low tone.

Both of the girls roll their eyes at my silliness.

We walk out of the library and move towards the gigantic restaurant.

Halfway there, a young pompous elven boy with a familiar face stops in our way and sends us a glare.

Oh boy.

Crown Lord Confiel's first son.