“Oh my God, this is like friggin’ Hogwarts!”
My three companions didn’t understand my meaning, but they could easily recognize my excitement as I jumped up and down, squealing.
The university we were headed for in the hope of raising my meagre intelligence and preparing me for possible necromantic threats had just come into view, and I was in love. Tall turrets of white marble, tiled with steep purple slate tips. A castle to put any Disney princess to shame, surrounded by what looked like a thriving city.
The Citadel. An entirely uninspired name, much like Market Town and all of the other lackluster monikers that James had come up with for this world, but it was beautiful.
“I’m glad you like it,” Brick said, and Bruiser let out a gruff huff of amusement, still in his bear form.
“It’s not all that,” Bastion gave me a grouchy sidelong look. “The novelty wears off when you have to actually start studying.”
“Bastion dropped out,” Brick cut in before I could start squabbling with him. We’d been at each other’s throats most of the journey, although on my side of the equation I was just enjoying winding him up. There was no real heat behind my jabs, but I suspected Bastion truly hated me, both because of my succubus race and the dual relationship I had with Brick and Bruiser.
“You dropped out?” I repeated, looking at Bastion with a sharkish grin.
“Technically, my studies are on hold, and I can pick them up whenever I please,” Bastion defended himself haughtily. “I’ve just never seen any reason to.”
“Really? Because I reckon you could do with the extra intelligence points,” I cackled.
Every degree, no matter what the topic, increased your base intelligence stats: 2 points for a major, 1 for a minor. As I had discovered my intelligence was only 5/20, I was desperate to increase it. I couldn’t even make sense of books without using stat boosting accessories like my Adorkable Glasses that Bruiser had helped me pick out.
Bastion shot me a glare, but Brick clapped his brother on the shoulder. “You’re only one point ahead of Emma as it is. By the time she’s finished her studies, she’ll be smarter than you unless you do something about it.”
Bastion shook the orc’s hand off his shoulder and sulked. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to finish it, since we’re stuck following your girlfriend around for the foreseeable future. What are you going to be doing? Carrying her books around?”
Brick snorted. “I hardly think she needs me to do that. I’ll have plenty to do, don’t you worry.”
A blur of orange streaked across the fields towards us. I only noticed when it got closer that it was Bonaparte the dire-weasel, one of Bruiser’s good friends. He’d come to scout the area out ahead of us and was now apparently making his report to Bruiser, chattering at an incredible pace.
When he paused to take a breath, Bruiser shifted back to his human form, standing up tall to address us eye to eye.
“Nightfall is here, and Jackal is around, doing short daily quests. Nightfall is in the student accommodation, but Jackal’s got a room for us at The Postman’s Keg,” he informed us. “There are a few other things, but they’ll take a while to work through. Brick, why don’t you go and get Emma oriented and enrolled in some courses. I’ll catch up with you at The Postman later.”
We agreed, and Bruiser pressed a kiss to my forehead before shifting back into a bear.
Bruiser left with Bonaparte, and it took us another hour before we reached the large marble walls that circled the Citadel. I stared wide-eyed at the gorgeous buildings that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. It looked like one of those AI art images that was impossibly perfect, and I wondered if it was built using one as a reference. This was James’ world after all, my computer engineering real-world boyfriend, and I knew he’d been using AI engines to supplement his writing in the few months that led up to the moment I accidentally appeared here.
He’d been studying AI models as part of his degree, but I’d never paid it much mind other than the initial wonderment at its capabilities before returning to my social media doomscrolling. It seemed a bit too techy for me to care much about, even if my original body had felt a little smarter than the one I currently inhabited.
But to be in one of those images… It made me wish I’d paid a little more attention. Heck, if I knew I’d be living in one of the images one day, I may have put in a few requests myself. I’d always liked the creative games more than the adventuring sort. I could spend hours designing houses on The Sims or getting my civilizations in city building games picture perfect. I even liked the old games like Age of Empires except for the fact that my building efforts kept getting disrupted by stupid wars.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
It had always irritated me when James would lean over my chair and offer me advice on how to make things more efficient instead of more beautiful. It’s like he missed the entire point of why I was enjoying them.
Looking around me, I knew he didn’t have the capability to build something like this.
“I hate this place,” Bastion muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and trailing behind us. “You guys should go ahead without me. I think I need a drink if I’m going to have to step foot in those halls again.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise, looking back at him with curiosity. “Why on earth would you hate this place? It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, and only beautiful things are acceptable here as well. Including people,” Bastion sneered. “I’m sure you’ll fit in fine but do me a favour and take a look at how this lot treats others before you decide to make this your permanent home.”
“But… you’re not ugly,” I said, my eyebrows knitting together. “At least your appearance, anyway. Your personality could do with some work.”
“He means me,” Brick said, sounding fatigued. “Orcs are not frequent visitors of the Citadel. My race is more welcome in the smaller towns like Isekai and Market Town, where there are more adventurers and fewer academics.”
“But you got your degree here!” I looked around and noticed that the people passing – all humans, catfolk, and elves were giving us a wide berth and giving Brick the side-eye.
“It’s not often an orc gets accepted into the university, and there are some courses that are not available to me. Dragon Slaying was one of the few acceptable majors I could take.”
I clenched my fists, outraged on his behalf. “Racist pricks.”
“It is what it is,” Brick shrugged. “I can only try to disprove expectations with my behaviour. It worked with you, after all.”
“I didn’t have any expectations of you, sweetheart,” I reminded him. “I didn’t know anything about this world when I came here, and my only first impression of you was that you were totally droolworthy.”
“Barf!” Bastion cut in, glaring at me again. “It’s disgusting watching your powers of seduction at work, you know that? I’m out of here. See you later Brick, enjoy your succubus girlfriend leeching away all your free will.”
I made a rude gesture at his back as he walked away. He didn’t get how it worked at all. I got experience for every little seductive thing I did so long as it worked, even a saucy wink or a lame pick-up line, but that was well out of my control. Brick had informed me that due to his warrior class he got experience every time he hit something too, even if he was just slapping a mosquito.
The really dangerous thing was my pheromones, which were basically like an aerosol love potion, but I’d gained control over that when I levelled up and unlocked my Charm ability… And before then, I’d covered my pheromone pores with clay as soon as I’d figured out what they were doing to try and stop the miasma of attraction I was inadvertently exuding. But I hadn’t exactly chosen that either. I’d felt a bit like a horny plug-in air freshener.
I tried actively to not use Seduction on Bastion by guarding my words around him. I couldn’t totally avoid it with Bruiser of Brick, but they knew what I was and how it worked and consented, and I’d been really careful to make sure they truly loved me without the tricks of my biological trade before I’d taken up with either of them.
Brick had known what he was getting into, as he’d been the one to explain a lot of it to me. And Bruiser had been bonded to a succubus in a previous relationship so no-harm no-foul.
But… Bastion had experienced a succubus’ pheromones before as well. Lily’s. It was the one thing that made me forgive his attitude towards me, having seen how badly he’d been affected, and it was the thing that kept my eyes glued to his back as he walked away from me.
If I could ever figure out how, I’d get rid of these abilities. They caused me more annoyance than anything else, and I still found it totally mortifying using pick-up lines on dire-wolves before killing them. But I wasn’t a warrior, and if I didn’t want to get my face bitten off, I had to use whatever skills I had at hand.
“Come on,” Brick pulled me away. “I’ll get you a map, so you won’t get lost on your own. It would probably be best if you navigated the university by yourself until you’re enrolled in everything you want. I wouldn’t want to have my association with you damage your chances of getting into your courses of choice.”
“Why would that happen?” I asked, seeking his hand with my own but he pulled it away.
“Those with associations with my kind have their own reputations tainted as well,” he admitted, sounding troubled. “Perhaps I should have been more forthcoming when we got into this back in Isekai, but you were too tempting for me to resist. I’d hoped we would have… something occur between us when I invited you to join us as our Healer, but I never imagined I could have what I do with you. A real relationship… You don’t understand what it means to me, Emma. Having you in my arms, knowing I’m in your heart… It is beyond anything I had ever imagined in my wildest dreams.”
“Brick…”
“Orcs in your party are not a terrible thing. We are powerful warriors, but most others consider us expendable brawn. Frontline sacrifices to draw in attacks,” he frowned. “I’ve seen it in my early adventuring days; before we formed our current party. Other orcs lying injured and dying. Left for dead, even when one in our number had a potion that could save them.”
“Succubus slime,” I murmured. No wonder he’d been so shocked when I had freely used it to heal his minor injuries. But then again, I had an unlimited quantity on tap. The magical cure-all ingredient that had others weighing it out by the gram, I could produce by the bottle load if given enough privacy.
“Slime is expensive and rare. Orcs are not,” he said grimly. “Now, I should find a place to buy clothes here, too. I have little interest in fashion, but I do not wish to embarrass you.”
“You don’t embarrass me, Brick. I’d kiss you here in the street, if only you’d let me.”
He smiled at me, amused. “Perhaps wait until your studies are complete before declaring your association with me openly. The reason Bastion left his studies incomplete was because we were found out to be brothers. It… wasn’t pleasant.”
“I see why he hates it here then, too,” I said. “We’ll stay here while we need to, but we won’t be making a home in a place you’re not welcome. I promise. Besides, I don’t imagine Bruiser likes being walled in much either.”
“You’re right about that,” Brick smirked. “Now, I need you to tell me what clothes to buy. There’s not a lot on offer for a guy my size, but I want to look acceptable to you.”