Kalla and everyone inside the walls now came close to my core with eager eyes and some strange light sparkling in them. I felt like prey hunted down by some predators. The women scared me with their desperate and hungry eyes.
“Does this mean, that you can double our chances of having children?” the princess asked speaking especially loud.
Okay, the secret was out and I could use the chance to increase my reputation with my citizen.
“Yes, that's exactly what it does. It's one of my city buffs, the other one gives my defenders a skin like ironwood, which should be somewhat helpful in a fight, don't you think?”
Galen and his wives with Chara in tow stood by my core now with the old guy the speaker for them, “Master, what do you need for these buffs to enact them?”
“Both need 1000 mana and some upkeep with the fertility buff using much less mana to prolong the effect. I'm not sure if an enemy also gives me mana when he enters my domain, so I will be a little bit restricted with spells if the goblins don't spare some mana for me. Nonetheless I will be able to keep the defence buff active for all of you to reduce any casualties. And before any of you want me to activate the fertility buff now, please consider that we need to build up our defences first.”
Dorien suddenly rose his right hand and after most of the elves looked his direction, said, “Lord Marcus, I know that you have to build many things but some of us will die in the battle and perhaps we can give our wives at least a child to remember us with using your buff. All of us will give you any mana we can spare if you can give us this chance, even the children.”
I was surprised that the otherwise shy craftsman spoke up but when I watched the elven women looking to their husbands with unspoken fear for them in their eyes I understood that they needed this, and I had to admit that if I was on the verge of being extinct by my mortal enemies I would grab any straw to fight for survival.
So I sighed and used my spare mana to activate the buff right away. Looking at their faces they at once felt the change and I suddenly felt Gillian trying to connect with my mind.
“Yeah, Gillian, what's up? Do you also want to propagate like the rest of my citizen?”
Okay, maybe I wanted to mess a little with her, but I wasn't prepared for her next statement.
“Don't start something you cannot fulfil! You could have told me that you had such a spell up your sleeve. As a hearth tree I have also a way to increase the chance of my elves to conceive child. Working together we could give almost a third of them a sporting chance of new kids. The only problem is that they will do nothing else than fucking each other for the next 10 hours. Time that will be lost for your defence plans.”
I saw Kalla looking at the hearth tree and knew what her request to Gillian would be.
“Okay fellows, please just do me the favor and have sex outside my wall, preferable down at the river somewhere. At least I will be able to work on the shelters this way with you out of my way. As I understood it, Gillian will also give you her blessing, so use your chances. Now get lost and have some fun.”
Most of them had the decency to blush at least when they went outside and down to the river to find a secluded place for their fun. Galen was towed away also by his two wives, but he seemed quite happy about it. If they somehow happened to get children I was curious if the kids had any kind of connection with me as their parents were my guardians. That would be very nice. Additional guardians without having to designate them and using my little slots for them. Tiria won't allow me something like that, but I at least could dream, couldn't I?
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Now that most of the elves had went outside with only some children left, Chara one of them, I could resume my work with the shelters. I called to Chara to follow me to my next project and waited for her, watching her eyeing me with care and caution.
“Come here, Chara, I won't bite. I'm sorry that I have reprimanded you so hard before, but I absolutely dislike the way you behaved earlier. I know that you are young and want to show off, but as a city guardian you have to be an example for the citizen, a fair and nice noble of some kind that doesn't ridicule anyone just because the other has little skill with something you have more of. You are lovely, intelligent and some day you will be a very beautiful lady but I also want you to have a beautiful personality. My citizen shall adore you and try to follow your steps. If that means that I have to discipline you here and there, I will do without remorse, but never forget that I like you and I took you as my first city guardian to show it.”
I saw tears swell in her eyes and she sniffed more than a bit. The poor thing thought perhaps that I would abandon her and I wished more than ever that I had a real body to embrace her and pat her head a bit to show my affection. But hey, perhaps I could use the same mental technique I used for punishing her to send her my feelings.
Opening the connection to her I tried to embrace her with my affection and love. I didn't have any children back on earth and maybe will never have as being a crystal being, so Chara was a good alternative. Sending my feelings for her down the connection I felt her fear and insecurity, the need to please me and not being abandoned. The dam of her feelings broke and she cried falling to her knees, releasing all the pent up tension and grief from loosing her grandparents, the terror of the escape and the fear of being hunted down.
Gillian stood at the tree and watched the scene with an approving nod and smiled at me. I gave my little guardian a bit of time to gather herself and went back to building some pillars.
It became easier to cut the stone with mana every time as my sculptor skill increased and I could even add minor details to the stone itself. Nothing fancy like built in pictures, just some basic reliefs, but with enough time I would be able to create some nice things, that I was sure of.
“Thanks, my lord.” I heard Chara speaking silently.
“No problem small kitten! Join me and help me build some pillars. I will give you access to my inventory and you can use my workspace to cut the stones with mana. It's hard work, but it will train your mana pool hopefully and also your other skills. Hm, thinking about it, I will copy all my known skills to you now, so work with them. They should help you with the project. If you are done with a pillar stone like this one,” I floated to an already created one, “try to take it out of my inventory and put it over there. If you have any problems, call me, okay?”
She still had red eyes and sniffed a bit but she seemed much happier now to me and started the work right away. I wanted her to use my workspace because I hoped that my guardians would also be able to use my building powers to increase the overall work speed.
And if that also made them renowned architecs and builders it would also increase my own reputation in this world.
With part of my mind I watched Chara working in my workspace, concentrating hard on the stone before her, using only her mana to cut the stone the same way I did. She had a much smaller mana pool than I did now, but her regeneration was amazing when she had to rest. I used a bit of my mana to replenish hers and felt her thanks through our connection.
I was quite sure what I would feel from my other guardians, so I didn't open their connection to me right now. Restricted to this crystal body it was hard enough to know that they were having fun, so I didn't want to also feel it. I wasn't a big womanizer back on earth but I had the run in with the fairer sex here and there. Now that were memories I didn't have any use for, so could we make a deal dear Tiria, and you take them and give some useful information back instead?....No answer, thanks for helping!
I appeared also in my workspace and cut some stones to give my girl some company and together we worked in determined silence. She was talented in her use of mana. First her cuts were somewhat crude and broke pieces of the stone but after 2 hours she had it down to lasercutter. Sure, she burned through her energy faster than a racing car through gas, but it increased her skill nicely and if that helped me to train an additional builder, then the loss of some mana was well invested.
Regarding her finished work I was content and took her outside to put the stone in place. She concentrated on our connection and felt her grabbing the pillar stone, enveloping it with her mana and then pull it out. It felt strange at first, but I will adapt. The stone appeared exactly at the right spot and I patted her mind softly, getting a strange kind of purring back from her.
“Good work, Chara. Let's get back and finish the rest of the stones. You will create the whole pillar yourself while I create the rest of the shelter. In the future I will let you create complete buildings alone, so work hard and make me proud.”
“That would be nice. Can I build my own castle some day?”
I wasn't sure why, but I dreaded the idea of a hello kitty castle in pink in my city.