Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Join me?
Beta read by Shigiya, Fluffy Slayer and DOOMRAIDER.
Next update will be Broly, Snafu and HP.
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-Dark Lands-
The world of Serenus housed a multitude of intelligent species. From mystical creatures like fairies, giants, and even dragons—there was little one could not find here.
Celestine ruled the land of Eostia, divided into seven parts and which mainly consisted of the human majority, along with a varying degree of light elves and demi-humans.
One would think that Celestine Lucross, the patron deity of the Church of Lucross and ruler of Eostia, would invite more of the light elves to live in the seven kingdoms. But unfortunately, that was not the case, as the total population of light elves in all of Celestine's territory barely surpassed tens of thousands compared to the millions of humans.
This stemmed from the fact that light elves generally were a reclusive species. Choosing to stay separate from man's world and live among the trees and nature. The main population was said to live on an island far off the east coast. Every year, a single ship would sail across the waters, carrying a handful of migrating elves wanting to start a new life in Eostia. These people were immediately taken care of by Celestine herself and offered a home, a job, and even some monthly allowance.
But they were not the only ones.
On the mass of lands west of Eostia, one could find the Wildlands. The territory of the beastmen, dwarves, and demi-humans; Luu Luu's former home. Eostia interacted with their neighbors through multiple trade routes for spices, armors, and other merchandise.
One reason Eostia stood above the Dark Lands in terms of infrastructure, economy, and general appeal was because these resources came from various areas around the world. Some kingdoms even produced goods that could be sold to the traveling merchants. Luu Luu's creations in Geofu could be considered one of them, being weapons, armors, and shields of perfect craftsmanship desired by many high-ranking individuals. One of her swords could cause up to a few thousand gold coins or a few orichalcum coins. Out of the seven Shields, the halfling could be considered the richest after Celestine herself. Some even argued that she might hold more wealth than the Goddess Reborn herself.
The local crops and special spice fields in Ur were managed by Prim, who worked with the nobles to produce as many crops as possible for the Mortadella brothers—her main buyers.
While the other Shields occupied themselves with local management.
But the Dark Lands, on the other hand, remained a territory ruled by Olga herself. Where demons, some beast tribes, and dark elves lived—did not share the same luxury.
The Queen stood on top of a cliff near the western borders of her territory, which also connected to the Wildlands. She was preparing herself for a small invasion of a nearby small halfling settlement for their resources.
Due to Olga's and the Dark Land's infamous reputation, barely anyone came to them for trading and other things. Leaving her population with the bare minimum to survive. Famine ravaged the land as the soil could hardly grow anything sustainable for long, thus giving it the much appropriate Dark Land name. Didn't help that the Shields have even placed an embargo on her territory on certain crucial supplies needed for survival.
Olga had been forced to take a more drastic approach long ago to keep her kingdom from falling not to opposing forces but from internal problems.
"Olga-sama!" Chloe arrived, wearing her same attire and carrying a long sword on her belt and a cape. "The first battalion is ready."
Next to her, another figure appeared.
Far bigger than the woman beside him and covered in black fur, it was a beastman, more accurately, a Lycan named Howler.
"The second battalion is waiting for your command."
His gruff voice sounded more like an angry growl than anything. Chloe sent a stink eye at this mongrel who dared to even come so close to her Queen, but since he worked for her, she let it go. Olga had many races working for her. While also using her castle to control them with the curse of obedience she placed on their leaders to control them—Howler being one of them. She didn't need to use the power of the curse right now, nor did she need to be seated on her throne as her cane temporarily carried the connection. Unlike the mentally challenged orcs, goblins, trolls, and imps who actively needed to be shown who's their Queen. Species like Lycans were smart enough to not try anything dangerous.
They needed her as much as she needed them. They were among the species actively hunted by the Church of Lucross and the disgusting class of noble humans Olga despised to her core.
"Howler, have the Mortadella brothers delivered the batch of freed Dark Elves slaves?"
The giant wolf-like creature nodded.
"Indeed, my Queen, twenty Dark Elves bought from the underground slave market owned by the Blueborn family. They were taken back to the capital and given proper care. But…" he hesitated.
"Spit it out!" Olga snapped, having her staff's gem glow brightly, making Howler wail in pain as he clutched his chest.
"W-we a-are run-running out of supplies to feed the army!" he bit out in pain, hating Olga's actions and wishing to rip her apart.
But had to reel in his beastly instincts, for the curse would just recognize it and increase the pain.
"The Orcs and Ogres are getting restless these last few days."
Olga went silent, a cold light flashing past her eyes as she looked at the decently big village on the horizon. The army of Lycans, Orcs, and imps below, not daring to look up at her after hearing one of their general's howls of pain. On the other hand, the Dark Elves kept stoic faces and stayed in formation, waiting for either Chloe or Olga's orders.
"The incompetent creatures dare to ask for more food when they failed to invade Grünes. Have you gotten any more reports on the mage behind it, Chloe?"
The blonde, Dark Elf bowed further and gave her Queen every information she came to learn. "From our spies, the Queen of Mercenaries visited the village and conversed with the man responsible. We found his facial features to be of a human with somewhat dark skin and white hair, capable of wielding enormous amounts of magic."
That intrigued Olga slightly.
"A possible Dark Elf descendant?"
Elves, in general, were known to be more in tune with magic. Their most average mages were capable of surpassing the best humanity had to offer. But this was the cast a few hundred years back when her people weren't enslaved. Now, the only remnant most carried was their natural attunement. Even Chloe could switch in a spell battle if the situation required it. So for a human to have not only dark skin, white hair, and powerful magic—Olga couldn't help but grow suspicious.
"I… I am not sure. Maybe he's a descendant of one of the slaves from years past." the Lycan answered, unsure of what conclusion to present to his master with this piece of information.
Humans with dark or tanned skin weren't rare in the first place, but one coupled with white hair and strong magic did raise some flags in his head. But it still wasn't enough to say that the man might be a Dark Elf descended. Humanity always had those rare monsters born every hundred years capable to match a powerful Elf. It was possible that this man was just one of these rare cases and didn't have anything to do with his queen's people. Though Howler wanted to stay on the safe side and just label the man as a possible descendant.
Meanwhile, Chloe was oblivious to this piece of news from Eostia, she cursed her spies for giving her so little information for her Queen.
"Some reports state that the man is not from Eostia but is instead a foreign Outlander." she proceeded to speak after Howler's report.
"I see, continue." Olga said.
"Yes, this man was later spotted in Ken, where he proceeded to kill a group of men under the rule of Hicks of the Kuroinu."
The distaste in her tone was quite obvious. Aside from Chloe's hate for humans, she detested anyone from the Kuroinu group the most.
"The man was imprisoned later on, and that's all our spies could gather."
Now that seemed odd, barely entering the domain of Maia, and he managed to get imprisoned in less than a day? Talk about bad luck. At least this confirmed that there was no relationship between him and Vault—or even Celestine.
Olga watched the sun in the sky, "We are running out of time. Howler, if the army is hungry, then have them feast on the beastmen and people of the village. Take every supply and bring them back to the capital."
Howler's expression turned grave when he heard her orders.
"But some of those villagers are Lyca—bzt!"
A large static shock hit the beastman as he fell to his knees.
"Argh!" he screamed again after feeling the stinging pain on his left chest with the spell burning his skin.
"Did I ask you to talk back to me?" Olga said, uncaring of her general's pain. "They abandoned us to serve Celestine. Even those who remain on the sidelines never once tried to help us in our time of need—making them no different than the Kuroinu themselves. Kill them, eat them, raid, rape, do whatever you want. But at the end of the day, this attack must send a message to Eostia, to our enemy, that we are coming for them next."
Olga didn't have much of a choice.
For the survival of her people, she needed to become the devil itself, to erase her emotions and focus solely on victory—no matter the atrocities she was going to unleash on the world.
Her staff turned red as she shot a spell in the sky, exploding in intense red light.
This was the signal to her troops.
The battle had started.
{Break}
-Ken-
Back in Ken's main palace, in the main bedroom of Maia, the Queen of Mercenaries woke up from her slumber with a splitting headache.
"Hurgh…, did I have too much to drink again?" she said while feeling her eyelids barely open from how heavy they felt.
The familiar blurry outline of the ceiling came to view after a few seconds of adjusting her eyes.
Her body felt miserable, she couldn't even move a single finger, and her headache worsened with the sunlight hitting her eyes.
'Why couldn't those damned maids not keep the fucking curtains closed!?' for Maia, there was nothing worse than having the morning sun hit your face.
She presented herself as more of a night owl and not an early bird like Claudia—the latter waking up before the sun would even rise! Her training with the strongest member of the Shields already made her fear those kinds of people the most.
"Why… does everything hurt so much…" her voice sounded like gravel and dehydrated, like she hadn't had anything to drink for days.
Not only that, her skin and hair felt oily, like she hadn't taken a bath for days, and she hated this feeling. It reminded her of the times she grew up back in the slums. Being covered in mud and dirt, wearing nothing but a roughly put-together rag of cloth while trying to steal some food from the local vendors.
"Because I hit you through a stone wall."
"—!"
Shock traveled through Maia's body as she hadn't noticed anyone, only to be surprised by the gruff voice.
"Ar…cher?"
She couldn't talk properly.
Turning her head to her right, where the voice came from, she saw the man who she had kept having mixed feelings about these last few days. No longer wearing his red cloth around his arms, leaving with just the black piece chest plate and black pants… most surprisingly, he wore a green apron.
It felt weird seeing him wear something so mundane. He almost looked like a different person with his hair down, unlike his usual slick back style and a fucking apron of all things. It reminded her of the day when she first met him back at the village.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty. You look and smell awful." he said without hesitation and walked into the middle of her room, where a cart filled with food was left.
Even though she couldn't see the content, the smell alone made her stomach roar in hunger as her mouth started to salivate. Maia felt like she could eat a horse.
"What… happened?" Maia couldn't even remember how she ended up like this, still having a hard time moving her body. "And what are… you doing here?"
It also bothered her why none of her Knights barged through the door to apprehend him. Despite their difficult nature, they still took their mission of guarding her quite seriously, and for none of them to be present inside her room when Archer stood beside her was a miracle in itself.
"You don't remember? Guess your mind is more jumbled up than I thought. Basically, you were annoying, tried to challenge me in a duel for a silly reason, and got your face kissed by the castle wall. The latter couldn't handle it and broke. It might have caused you to suffer some brain damage, but that might be a pre-existing condition. Oh, and I also—accidentally—broke both your arms and swords."
"..." Maia just looked at him wide-eyed, feeling speechless at his nonchalant attitude.
Archer just shrugged, "Don't look at me like that. At least you're still alive."
"You're mean, you know that?" she said with a pout before turning into a flirty smile, as she gave him an exaggerated once over, "At least I get to have a nice view of your sexy body while resting in bed."
"Har har, save it till you get better." he grabbed a bowl of soup and brought it near her face.
Maia thought he was passing her the bowl, but when she tried to move—both her arms felt like they weighed a ton.
"Oh…" this would complicate things. Maybe she can call one of the maids to help h—
"Open your mouth," Archer said as he picked a spoonful of soup and brought it close to her mouth. "Don't make this more awkward than it already is."
Maia's face flushed in a crimson blush as she couldn't believe what was happening right now.
"Whoa, whoa there!"
Clarity returned to her in a flash as she tried to move away but was once again unable to with the terrible state of her body.
"That's a bit forward there, handsome. Take me out to dinner first before you start feeding me."
"Don't make me mother you back to health. I'd go bald from your antics." he brought the spoon closer to her mouth and gave her an annoyed look. "Open your mouth, or else I'll have to use force."
"I don't wan—hmmn!" she couldn't even finish her sentence when he just jammed the spoon inside her mouth, much to her shock.
The soup itself wasn't that hot, so she didn't get burned. Her outburst died in her throat when her tongue registered the taste.
'So good!'
It outclassed anything and everything she had so far, aside from the food he made for him back at the Inn. The texture, the combinations of spices, and the slight tingly feeling she felt from the chili made her taste buds dance in joy.
"Hmmm~" she couldn't help but moan sensually. She frowned at its delicious taste before swallowing it.
"More…" her mouth opened as she looked at the disturbed Archer pleadingly.
"What is wrong with you people?"
Did she need to have such a strong reaction? Archer dreaded what would happen if he actually tried to cook his best dish.
'Will they experience an orgasm from that? I pray to every single existing god that that doesn't happen.'
"More!"
Wanting to end this quickly, Archer just fed the girl more spoonfuls and sat through the torturous sequence of moans and the many off comments Maia kept muttering. If anyone were to eavesdrop, they would have an enormous misunderstanding.
"..."
'Oh, no…'
The people outside...
Maia, on the other hand, felt like she was in heaven. After finishing the soup, Archer brought her other dishes of his creation, and every one of them was just as good as the last. How could she have lived through so many years without his cooking gracing her taste buds? Could she even let him go at this point? Her body heavily rejected that idea and her mind agreed.
The Queen of Mercenaries felt comfortable. Even if she couldn't move much due to her broken bones, she felt a sense of peace with him by her side. She noticed how caring he could be, when he was not acting like a smug bastard. Whenever his food was too hot, Archer would blow some cold air to chill it down. If her lips or cheeks became stained, he would wipe it away gently with a wet towel.
Now that her memory was back in shape, she remembered the fight and how he dominated her in the end. That last strike would have killed her had she not blocked and deflected the strike. Yet she still suffered so many injuries from that.
'Just who is he?'
To be so powerful without anyone knowing who he was or even hearing a whisper of his fame. He stated to be from the lands outside of Eostia, yet she had never heard of such a capable fighter. His spells of self-enhancement or the possible blessings that he received from his deity felt so powerful. He could give Claudia a run for her money… no, not even the strongest Shield possessed such a ridiculous strength. It couldn't be dark magic. He never showcased any of the traits of such magic that Celestine had described to her in order to identify if she came across it.
After an entire hour and a large stack of empty plates in the background, Maia was stuffed.
"Are you feeling okay now?" he asked gently.
Maia realized something about Archer. He acted like a jerk and a hardass but was actually a sweetheart inside.
"Yeah," she answered.
Archer nodded at her answer before cleaning up the plates and arranging them back on the cart.
She noticed another detail as well.
"Did you clean my room?"
No one was allowed inside without her permission, not even the cleaning maids. For this reason and Maia's general lack of hygiene, her room used to look like a mess. Clothes and empty bottles of mead lying around everywhere. Random pieces of armor and swords on the ground and numerous piles of official documents she left growing on her main desk as she couldn't be bothered to go through them all at once.
Now, all of them are gone.
Her room was pristine and clean, her nose picking up the slight smell of lavender and other kinds of floral scents. Her clothes were clean and neatly folded. The swords and armors were most likely thrown out. Maia almost thought that she was in another room for a second if it wasn't for her desk being in the room.
"I did. It looked like a pigsty, and I just couldn't accept the state in which you lived."
Not even Rin was this messy. Granted, the state of her mansion was due to the lack of funds and her financial crisis, but there were still areas she purposely neglected out of laziness. That girl just couldn't be bothered to do any sort of cleaning in the morning due to her not being a morning person. And she was too busy practicing her magecraft at night.
'Is this guy a mercenary or a househusband!?' thought Maia, just getting thrown around by this two-faced bastard.
"Why are you still here? You won. I honestly expected you to leave after breaking my skull through a wall… surprised to see you here nursing me back to health. Did you fall in love with me or something? I wouldn't mind that if I'm being honest."
Just what was she saying!?
If Vault ever heard her saying something like this to another man, he would most likely never accept her love!
'Calm down, girl, it's just your head playing tricks on you. Your mind is still recovering from the tasty food. Ooh~ If I can have that every day by mar- FOCUS!'
"Won?" Archer chuckled. "I can see how you came to that conclusion, if only that were the case."
What? Maia was confused.
"You lost me there, bud, cause at this moment, I'm the one in bed with a fucked up body while you don't even have a scratch on you."
In fact, he looked in better condition than before!
"Don't you remember the term that we agreed upon?"
The terms? Now that she thought of it, the exact words slowly returned to her.
'Let's make a bet,'
'You're quite obviously a strong fighter who can use magic with the blessing of a god.'
'Let's have a duel. If you manage to survive and avoid any injuries from my swords, you'll be free to go. But if I manage to make you bleed, you'll join MY group instead—happy?'
"Oh, right."
"Finally, remember now?" Archer asked as they came back to her side. His apron was removed and neatly folded around his arm. From her angle, she could see a tiny message embroidered on its side.
'From Alice, don't do anything stupid :).'
She wondered who was this Alice... That name sounded familiar though.
"Yeah, but I lost. You literally threw me like a ragdoll while I couldn't even touch you once." she said with a grumpy voice.
"Not true. Look." he turned his face and pointed at his right cheek, where she saw a faint outline of a nearly healed cut. "Your swords broke my weapon, and you grazed me a bit. I bled only a few drops but bled nonetheless. So you won."
"..."
This guy was unbelievable.
"You could have just lied and left. I wouldn't have known jack shit with my current state. And from what I saw during the fight, not like my Knights could have stopped you or anything."
For that split second, when he was about to hit, he moved faster than her eyes could track him. Archer could have left with no real obstacles in his way.
"A deal is a deal, I gave you my word, and I don't plan on going back on it."
"..."
What a weird guy.
He could be a jerk who could trick you with words, a powerful combatant, a caring person, and an honorable man. She had never met someone like him, and a part of her got intrigued. She wanted to get to know him more. Just how much more was he hiding from her?
"Don't be mistaken. I had initially agreed to join your group and no one else's, if you won. Not the Kuroinu, not the other Princess Knights, and not even your Goddess Reborn. I could care less about these people and will attack them if they turn hostile towards me."
A smile bloomed on her face, which soon turned into a small grin.
"But you also lost, thus you have to respect the other side of the deal. I won't follow your orders blindly and will only accompany you on your journeys. I am my own man, and if you want to give me orders, forget it—unless it's for a good reason. I will ask for compensation for the travel and for accommodation. I'm doing this for myself and not you or the people of Eostia. Your battle with the Dark Queen is as trivial to me as an argument between two kids. I'd rather look out for other types of danger. When you will reach your destination, we will part ways."
Yeah, this guy was just too shy to admit it.
'Is this the tsundere that Kaguya's mikos once talked about when I visited them last time?'
For some reason, she neither felt angered nor disliked his comments about the others. Maia was just happy that he agreed to join her, even though it was temporary, and that made her heart flutter a bit. He gave her a sense of comfort she had never felt in the past, safe, wanted, and taken care of.
Despite telling her that he didn't want to mother Maia back to health, this was exactly what he was doing now, but he just couldn't bring himself to admit it.
"I need a shower…."
"I'll wipe off the sweat with a hot towel. You are in no condition to take a bath on your own without breaking something else or possibly dying from drowning in your own tub. It would be quite funny but not the best way to go."
For some reason, she felt her body grow hot at his words but forced this unknown feeling down.
"Sorry, honey, but I only show my naked body to those who will be having some fun with me under the sheets~."
"..."
He suddenly grew silent and looked at her intently
The sudden change in attitude caught her off guard.
"W-what?"
Why did she stutter!?
"You do realize that you've been naked this entire time?" Archer spoke slowly while pointing at her body.
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"Eh?"
She tilted her head downwards and noticed how indeed, she wore no clothing at all aside from the plaster on her arms.
It felt like a volcano had erupted in her mind.
"Don't look!" she said in a panic, feeling embarrassed that Archer had to see her naked despite her normally not being ashamed of her nudity with others.
"Why the sudden change? You were quite open with all the flirting a few minutes ago. Not that your clothes leave much to the imagination anyway."
"Still, don't look!"
"Humph!" Archer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, I've seen better."
"The fuck did you say asshole!?"
Archer laughed as he left the room to get more water with an angry Maia scream in the background.
The moment he closed the door behind him, he was met with a chaotic scene in the corridor leading to the room behind. Dozens of Knights, all unable to move with black keys pinning their shadows. Many were giving him a hateful glare, while others just blushed heavily from the sounds they kept hearing on the other side.
"See? I told you that I won't cause her any harm... Aside from the fight, of course. And no, nothing happened between us, so get your mind out of the gutters, you degenerates."
These girls didn't want him to meet Maia initially, so he had to get a bit forceful.
"You'll be freed in a bit after I take care of that brat."
At the end of the corridor stood the only Knight which Archer didn't have to use any black keys against—standing awkwardly while trying to avoid her fellow Knights' look of betrayal.
Brynn approached him.
"Ummm, so... Have you given my request any thought?"
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.
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