The day started out like any other in these past few months- me waking up buck naked with two beautiful women by my side (equally naked, I may add!). Sure, I was usually exhausted from a jam-packed 10+ hour workday by the time I got back home, but the sight of 2 alluringly half-naked women bent over on my bed invigorated me in ways that even a potent cocaine and methamphetamine cocktail could not.
The women of my harem had decided that 2 of them would “service” me at any given night while the other one would rest up and watch the kids. Of course, some part of me wanted to take all 3 of them at once every night. But I think I would drive myself into an early grave if I overworked my poor heart like that, especially if I had to work 10+ hours the day after…
Tali had fortunately integrated into the harem with no drama. Of course, since my 1st wife Emma was the one that encouraged her to jump into the degeneracy, she had no problem with handing over the nominal role of the “head wife” to Tali. In a way, I was thankful that Emma preemptively headed off any dramatic power-struggle that tends to happen when a new girl is introduced into the harem dynamic. This silly dream of mine could’ve collapsed due to infighting and disharmony, but thanks to the preexisting friendships amongst the women, it held strong even after all these months.
Officially, I was to be named a “Consort of the Lady of Pridwen”. I’ve never cared for all of the titles I’ve had, but it was important for the town to acknowledge the choice that Tali made in picking her life partner. Despite the title, no marriage would take place for now. After all, a Lady’s wedding was not something that could be put together in a few weeks or even months. So Tali decided to fold it into the next Founding Day celebrations so we can save on the town budget while throwing a party worth a Lady’s name. What a practical woman!
“Be careful in Elven territory, my beloved.” Tali murmured before drifting peacefully back into sleep.
I gave Tali a quick peck on her cheeks before getting ready to head out. After 3 months of arms production, mortar pre-sighting, and additional terrain fortification, I felt safe enough to go scout and hopefully recover that Time elemental mana crystal. Except, this time I would bring Loki and Sapphy with me.
***
As Loki gently paced across the eastern bank of the Acheron River with me and Sapphy in tow, I enjoyed the gorgeous view of the river and the fact that Sapphy was hugging me tightly from behind. I offhandedly asked Sapphy. “Hey Sapphy, do you think it’s a Master-level Time elemental mana crystal?”
After a moment of thought, she serenely replied, “Based on my previous life, I know what you’ve described is at least an Expert-level crystal. Adept-level crystals just aren’t that big. But Master-level crystals are typically the size of wagons or cabins and are extremely rare. I don’t know, husband. I have my doubts…”
Sapphy had explained that the Adept-level spell for Time is <
Beyond that, the lore gets a lot more speculative since there simply hadn’t been many known incidents of its use. There was one famous story involving Artorius XIV, the Undefeated Emperor, who’d won every battle he’d fought with Expert-level Time elemental crystals by literally freezing his enemy in time with the spell <
Whatever he did, Artorian society frowned upon it. As a result, there were constant rebellions during his reign, challenging his legitimacy. Despite winning every single battle, his reign was continuously pockmarked by ill-fated noble rebellions. According to Sapphy, the man got so annoyed at the end that he instituted agrarian reforms that pulled peasants from the countryside into Imperial cities and started a draft system (that lasted to this day) to feed them into his Legions. The implicit threat of pulling peasants out of noble fiefs and turning them into the Legions that could be used to subjugate them would finally get the nobles to pipe down. Artorius XIV ruled for 5 peaceful years after the reforms before kicking the bucket, thereby kickstarting another round of senseless bloodletting.
Yeah, the whole thing was a sad clown fiesta. And Artorius XIV was one of the good emperors! The draft system that he instituted was one of the main reasons I’m here today.
Getting back on topic, if that’s the power of an Expert-level crystal, imagine the game-breaking abilities of a Master-level! Unlike Artorius XIV, I don’t give a flying fuck whether people think I “legitimately” won a battle or not. In this unforgiving death jungle, my mantra is and always will be: just win, baby!
***
“Ah, there it is! Good boy, Loki!” I scratched his fluffy ears as I lavished well-earned praises. Despite the trees in front of us, I saw the hill just ahead of us.
Finding that hill again without leaving behind any obvious signs that I was here was a challenge. Fortunately, I had an excellent solution at the time- I pissed on the tree next to the hill before I left. After all, Loki was intimately familiar with all of my scents and his nose was sensitive enough to detect that scent once we were close.
Just when I was about to order Loki to advance forward, an ominous feeling washed over me.
“Sniper!” Sapphy yelled in panic as she quickly erected 2 earthen walls with <
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
The fact that my shoulders were shot and not my face was a good sign. It meant that there was some room to negotiate. If they wanted me dead no matter what, I’d be eating an arrow right about now. Either scenario wouldn’t need a Garand. Even with my tech advantage, getting into a shootout with Elves is just not a bright idea.
“Loki, don’t fight back yet. Sapphy, save your mana.”
“Don’t shoot!” I screamed in rudimentary Elvish.
Thud* Thud*
2 more arrows land centimeters away from my crotch. Despite being shot from 2 different angles, they managed to hit exactly 3 centimeters from my ballsack. Heh, didn’t know Elves could have a sense of humor. The implicit threat was also crystal clear- trick us and die painfully.
I stood up slowly and raised my injured arms. Oh fuck that hurt like hell. Not that I had time to dress my wounds or use <
“Here… to trade…” I spoke in very broken Elvish. I didn’t know enough words to make complete sentences, but it should be enough to convey the point. In fact, I think the brokenness of it all made it more authentic and not a trap.
After a moment of silence, a response was shouted back from the brushes about 25-30 meters.
“You have… gibberish* we want.” Based on the tone, I assumed it was a negative response. Fine by me. If they'd actually called my bluff, I’d have to put up Aurelia as a “trade item”.
“We… leave.” I replied.
Another arrow whizzed by my face and buried itself deep into a tree next to me. “Leave…gibberish* wolf. Gibberish*”
Fucking bitch, now you’re pushing it. I shook my head and firmly answered. “No, wolf… family.” I gave Loki a reassuring smile. You can take him from me over my cold dead body.
Another arrow landed next to my foot. “This… gibberish* last warning.”
I pulled out the arrows slowly and began casting <
Then I heard shouting from the other side. “No! Gibberish*! Gibberish* Contractor…gibberish* too far! Gibberish*”
After a tense second, the other elf seemed to stand down. “Leave, and never come back. Gibberish*... only once.”
Contractor? Guess that favor I did for that pushy elf way back when finally paid off. Not that I was that glad about it. I finally found a trump card to use, but the damn elves were sitting on top of it. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised they knew about its presence all along given their superior senses. Shit, back to the drawing board, it seemed.
***
“YOU WHAT?!?” Skera’s voice echoed throughout the meeting room in City Hall. She was understandably livid. After all, I just made her job twice as hard.
“We knew this could happen when we agreed on this.” Tali, ever the calming influence, interjected with a serene voice.
“For the record, this was why I was against it!” Skera gritted her teeth in barely-concealed rage.
“The potential reward justified the risk.” I answered back. “To have the power of the Undefeated Emperor? It sucks that we failed to recover it, but it was worth the risk.”
“But now I have to increase patrol and shift them all to the north. Who knows if the elves followed you back for your wolf?”
“Speaking of patrols, have we heard from Mike yet?” I just remembered he should be sending us a 3 month update on how Carnwennan is doing after our little escapade. That was one of our arrangements so I could keep tabs on the city.
“He did. We’re in the clear, at least for now.” Skera handed me a scrap of paper. It read “City still in chaos. Might join you soon.”
Wait, something wasn’t right. I’ve had countless conversations with Mike on this very topic, begging him to take Jennai and the kids to Pridwen. But the man was too attached to the tavern he’d built with his own hands to ever seriously consider moving. Even when things got really bad, he hung on believing that eventually the higher-ups would finally get their shit together and clean up this mess. (Besides, people love drinking their sorrows away in tough times, so business was booming for him~)
Could the man who believed in the system all his life finally lose his faith? Had things gotten that bad? Or is there some hidden meaning behind all of this…
“Hold on, something doesn’t smell right about the message.” I said.
Tali furrowed her brows in concern. “Why? What’s wrong? This seemed to be his handwriting.”
“True, but this doesn’t sound like him. Mike would rather die than to abandon the livelihood he’d spent his entire life building.”
Skera scoffed. “Perhaps the recent chaos was the straw that finally broke the mule’s back. After all, the nobles of Carnwennan could only disappoint.”
I nodded in agreement. “True, maybe he finally realized how much danger there is in Carnwennan. But I just can’t shake this feeling that something’s off.”
Annoyed, Skera relented. “Bah! Fine! I’ll pull Ratty off from his scheduled break and have him patrol the east while the other 4 patrol squads focus on the north. Let’s not forget the more immediate threat is the elf problem that you brought to our doorstep!”
I sheepishly smiled. “Thanks Skera. I appreciate your consideration. Sorry for making things harder for you. I’m sure I’m just being paranoid here…”
***
As it turned out, it’s not paranoia if they are actually out to get you. The very next day, I saw a black signal flare that was shot out somewhere to our east. Patrols were trained to shoot the flares only if they are unable to report back to us in person. Our emergency signal code was pretty simple considering the 3 major threats facing Pridwen. Green for goblins. Blue for elves. And Black for humans.
In other words, the Imperial Legion was coming.