Auvanini's political map was a patchwork of small kingdoms.
Pekothas had the Empire dominating the northwest, some human kingdoms on the southwest, Fulgen controlled most of the south separating the western humans from the centaur plains to the southeast. Finally, a northeastern protrusion of land that was controlled by savage species bordering the Empire to the north and separated from the rest by the central mountain range. You could separate the continent in these five political groups.
Not Auvanini. Depending on the century, it had up to fifty or seventy - depending on who was counting - separate countries and independent duchies which in turn contested the legitimacy of each other. It was the definition of a political fuckcluster. The countries weren't too small by early middle ages European standards. Windemere, for example, had twice the area of Rhode Island if you didn't count the claim to Dragonfall Valley and the foothills beyond that. A claim which no other nation, not even our allies in Lonid recognized.
Most of these countries, Windemere included, was landlocked. Oceanic navigation was a dangerous business but was still the cheapest way to transport large amounts of goods in a reasonable timeframe. Laws and policies were very disparate. But there were two points where most nations agreed. One, that the Kings ruled by divine mandate - and they could very well be right this time - and two, that they practiced forced servitude, id est, slavery.
Windemere, because of my personal beliefs, was one of the few exceptions. In Windemere, criminals were either fined if the crimes were light, or executed by the [Assassins] employed by the crown under Kazuyran's tutelage. The strong sense of community ingrained in the species that, in some countries near Windemere, were not even considered people and the investigative techniques employed by that organization controlled by one of the last disciples of The Master's guild kept the crime rate low. The fact that the entire country was walled also helped keep the casual criminals away. An invading army would just breach the unenchanted wall with Earth magic and move on with their war business, but small bandit gangs had trouble crossing the barrier. It was better than nothing and a strong affirmation of intent.
But back to the stain that was slavery. The damned enchanted collars were too convenient. Why keep a criminal imprisoned, wasting food and guards when you could just compel him to obey and work? Suddenly, that guy was not a drain to the Kingdom's resources but an asset! On paper that worked really fine, but reality had those little stupid concepts called greed and corruption. So, what stops me, the Keeper of Collars, from turning any of these stupid maggots into slaves? Why wait for someone to commit a crime before putting them to work? Worse, once they start relying on that workforce, they needed a stable supply. Therefore, we now have a quota of prisoners to meet. If there's not enough crime, let's just make up some new crimes or upscale the minor ones.
Just like the private prison system of some countries back on Earth, but I digress.
Once collared, that was it. You were merchandise and nobody batted an eye at your origins. Almost nobody knew how to remove the damn collars anyway. And those that found out were quickly crushed by the status quo. What's stopping gangs of slavers from operating just like the privateers in the XVIII century and raid foreigners for this valuable asset? Nothing.
Especially if there's a country full of sub-people that you don't like at all because they banned your main religion. Heretics and beasts, all of them.
And that brings us to the current scenario I was facing. A very organized and well-supplied band of slavers targeted Windemere, thinking we were prime for harvest. The ones I "captured" were just the tip of the iceberg.
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The guard came with some wagons and took the slaves away. Talbain refused to go help them, telling the guards he would stay behind to watch over me. When they asked me what I thought, I told the guards to let an adult and free werewolf choose his own path. After the wagons went away with the escort, we went to the now-empty farmhouse and I set a table with food and some ale for us.
The werewolf stares at the tankards and sniffles. Then he stares at me with wide eyes, "Ale? Matriarch, you..."
I let out a belly chortle. "I prefer deathberry juice, although people think it is too sweet and..."
"Deadly?" He tries.
"Yes. Deadly. I'm immune to poisons, including ale and Deathberry. And I'm your matriarch. So, bottoms up."
"Aye."
We down our drinks, the werewolf shifting to his wolf-kin form before drinking because downing a tankard of ale with a werewolf's muzzle is not a clean business. That was one interesting change after all these centuries of cross-breeding. The were-kin no longer had a "human" form. Most would laugh in your face if you told them the first were-kin were humans, and they were were-jaguars and not werewolves. A lot of "weres" going on there.
I took a look at Talbain's Status again.
> [Wolf Raider]
>
> Level 57 male werewolf
>
> Strength 60
>
> Dexterity 50
>
> Endurance 80
>
> HP 561,427
He leveled up after the fight with the slavers. But he is really a cute little cub. My sense of strength is so skewed these last two lives that it is hard to remember Apricot went to fight the second Demon Lord with what, fifteen thousand HP? Less than that, I think. I'm nearing fifty million. Damn.
After we are fed and hydrated - with ale but who cares? Our regenerating physiology can deal with some degenerate sugar - I ask Talbain what he wants to do. The werewolf grins.
"Kill some slavers. That's what the Matriarch is going to do, right? Take me with you. It's going to be a great honor to fight alongside the Matriarch."
I can't help but laugh as I see the bloodlust burning in his eyes. "Let's spar, cub. Convince me you are worthy of fighting alongside me."
He nodded solemnly. His excitement was only betrayed by a wagging tail.
We walked out and prepared. I stored all my gear including the silk bodysuit. I wore only linen shorts over silk panties, leaving my torso and legs bare. Lily had no breasts whatsoever and I could pass for a boy anytime I wanted. The {Fox-Kin Disguise Kit} changed into black cat ears and tails. I only needed a blasé attitude and a wolf-guard greatsword that held the soul of a reincarnated Japanese guy hit by a red convertible to be complete. Talbain transformed into his werewolf form and snarled. I beckoned him.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Aren't you going to shift?" He asked me, clearly wary.
"I'm not looking down on you, cub. But this is not my real form. I am unable to take my moon-bound shape. Even these cat ears and tail are fake. Now, come and get your tail handed over to you."
"Well, Matriarch, this 'cub' will obey. {Antimagic Claws}!"
His claws took on that green glow again and he came with his fangs bared. He lashed out with both claws, pressing me back and forcing me to deflect the blows. {Aikido Master} allowed me to deflect the claws without taking damage. Physically, we were matched. I had more Dexterity but he had a longer reach. It hindered my ability to attack unless I could enter and get closer to him.
I ducked under one of his swings and found the other claw coming from my blind spot. I could see thanks to {Skin Sight}. I dodged forward, delivering a chokozuki punch to his belly. He activated some defensive Perk at the last moment.
> You punched Talbain for 73 HP of damage. (Base 12 x1.96 Karate x2.3 Strength x3 Mana Strike x 0,75 Reinforced Fur x 0,6 Raider Defense)
He took a step back. He looked and sounded insulted by my punch. "I demand you fight with all you got, Matriarch."
I nodded. Although that was all I got with a human's body, I could improvise. I gave a mental command to the disguise kit and black fur wrapped down my neck, back, and shoulders, wrapping around my arms and covering it as I shifted my forearms and hands into those of a lion.
Talbain nodded. He barked and rushed back into the fray.
"{First Strike}!" He shouted.
> Talbain clawed you for 7,524 HP of damage. Mana shield burned 2,508 MP. (Base 57 x 5 Skill x2.2 Strength x4 First Strike x2 Antimagic Claws x2 Specialization)
>
> You are afflicted with {Bleed} (...)
That's ten thousand damage with a claw. My turn. I focus and wait. Talbain strikes with another claw but without that ridiculous multiplier of {First Strike}, I let him. The window for {Mind's Blank} comes and I strike with a flurry of twin swipes.
"{Frenzied Barrage}!"
> You clawed Talbain for 31,894 HP of vulnerability damage. (Base 61 x 3.2 Skill x2.3 Strength x3 Mana Strike x2 Silvered Soul x2.96 Backstab x3 critical).
>
> Talbain is afflicted with {Bleed} (...)
>
> Talbain is afflicted with {Stunning Bleed} (...)
>
> Talbain's right leg is {Maimed}.
>
> You clawed Talbain for 34,518 HP of vulnerability damage. (Base 66 x 523 modifiers)
>
> Talbain is afflicted with {Bleed} (...)
>
> Talbain's left leg is {Maimed}.
>
> You clawed Talbain for 27,196 HP of vulnerability damage. (Base 52 x 523 modifiers)
>
> Talbain is afflicted with {Bleed} (...)
>
> Talbain's right arm is {Maimed}.
>
> You clawed Talbain for 29,811 HP of vulnerability damage. (Base 57 x 523 modifiers)
>
> Talbain is afflicted with {Bleed} (...)
>
> Talbain's left arm is {Maimed}.
Shit, I forgot about {Silvered Soul}. "{Healing Water}! {Spirit Healing}!"
Talbain was clearly in plain, bleeding like Dragon Shiryu. But he was cackling like a maniac. I was afraid I'd awakened something weird in him. I healed him and used surgery to fix his {Maimied} debuffs.
I sat next to the werewolf, still lying in his pool of blood. "Satisfied?"
"It's true. The Matriarch's claws are silver. I'm honored to have fought you."
"It was my pleasure."
He was still giggling. "Did you fight all out?"
"Nah," I scoffed and bragged. "If I had, your measly half-million HP would've vanished in a single blow."
He laughed harder. I laughed along with him.
"But seriously, I specialize in bite attacks. My teeth are too deadly to use in a friendly spar."
"I heard you bit off the head of a king," he commented with awe.
"Respect, cub!" I growled. "I bit the head of several kings. I still have their bloody crowns to prove."
He stared at me and my serious facade broke as I devolved down into a fit of chortles. Once I was done, Talbain rose from his pool of blood. I cleaned his fur with {House Magic}.
"Matriarch, I want to help you fight the slavers," He pleaded, serious.
"Okay. Come, let's run back to the city. I need to get you geared, and then train you. You are going nowhere near me with this low level of yours.
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I planned to spend the next few months training with Talbain in the Dragonfall Dungeon, crafting some enchanted items to enhance his abilities, and harvesting as much information I could from the slavers, contacts, associates, bosses, known nobles to buy their slaves, government officials. I would treat them like rot and excise the whole tumor. We went to Dragonfall.
In the three decades since we first brought them here, the dwarves expanded the walls to circle almost the entire valley and built a fort with a walled village between the Iceking Road and Dragonfall Valley. The walled compound I enchanted was another fort with tall watchtowers that killed any monster that dared wander too close to it. The Dragonfall Dungeon was solidly under control.
I met Alfondric at the compound, doing drill exercises with a new squad of young dwarven warriors. I had to reveal my true identity to him but that was as simple as getting Nenandil to vouch for me. After that, he invited us to stay there with him. I assumed another identity, of an older werewolf woman using Apricot's body mixed with a bit of Alloralla's face to make the Death Princess' face more angular.
We were at the compound, eating brunch with Thane Ashshield. I explained what happened to make me go underground leaving a statue behind.
"That was a fucking low blow," the dwarven Thane cursed. "They came to die and petrify you? The fanatics of this 'God of Butts' has gone too far. Nice monicker, though."
"Yeah. I'm available to power-level your novices if you want. I'm taking Talbain to get a share of the Exp. And I want you to send trustworthy enchanters my way so I can teach them the wall enchantment."
The dwarf nodded, "Aye, that can be done, lass."
I equipped an enchanted set that gave me twenty points in Charisma. A week after our arrival, I tool Talbain and thirty-nine selected dwarven recruits to the Dungeon to train. I did the same thing as before. Put an illusionary ring around the area the recruits should stand and start to kill with Nenandil everything in our path. But now that I knew what the Dungeon had in store for us, I tripled the number of monsters on each pull. Using long-range weak spells, I would draw them a kilometer away toward me and kill once they entered the auto-loot range. I needed to replenish my stock of magic cores.
Fun fact, I got a rebate on all the Exp Talbain earned. If I bought more stacks of {Improved Exp Split} and led a party of kin, I think I could gain more Exp than I shared.
We still took a week to clear the whole crater and valley. We were nowhere near ranking up the dwarves but the combined Exp awarded represented months of grinding for them. As the weaker monsters respawned first, I left Talbain with the recruits to hunt near the compound and worked on the walls, teaching the dwarven enchanters how to do the wall enchantment to repel the valley monsters. Alfondric offered to swear them to secrecy but I refused. I earned a great deal of respect from him as I told him I would just trust them.
I returned to the east mountains to gather stone. As I used Earth magic to trigger avalanches and dislodge a lot of rocks, I uncovered a mineral vein. One hundred and sixty Luck. That might've been it. My luck was spent. Maybe.
I landed next to the vein and used my [Cartographer] abilities. While it might sound strange that a [Cartographer] had prospecting abilities, there were some overlaps between professions. A [Prospector] had a wider range of detection and could estimate mine yield, stability, and other aspects. The [Prospector] in turn had its own overlaps with [Miner] and [Smith] to both mine with increased yield and smelt the metals.
I only dabbled in it. I picked a few different pieces of ore. {Chemical Analysis} gave me its composition. It had copper pyrites, galena, magnetite, vanadate, a bit of platinum, and auriferous quartz. The milky crystals with yellow specks were mouth-watering. I shifted into a hawk and flew up, committing to mind the location of the vein. Back on the ground, I used {Survey} and {Sense Minerals} to estimate the size of the vein. It stretched for as far as I could detect.
That's when I remembered I could move through stone, a boon from Rosewise's {Deep Eleon} species. I dove into the rock, following the mineral vein for a few hundred meters down. It still went on and on.
Satisfied, I floated out of the stone and collected the rocks along with some mineral samples to let the dwarves play. I had to tell that to Alfondric and Eric. If the dwarf Thane had a heart attack, I would just resurrect him.
Spoiler alert, dwarves had tremendous Endurance. He survived.