“I need some questions answered.”
Aralen sat in Lady Selene’s cozy study with his arm outstretched as the Auralin healer inspected the tiny cuts from the magic rain. Oddly enough, the larger cut on his arm was an easy fix, but something about the magic attacks made them more difficult to heal, according to the healer woman.
“Oh? All that I’m doing for you, free of charge, and you still ask for more?”
“Um, was I supposed to pay you or something? Sam never…,” Aralen started to say before he noticed the slight grin on her face and the twinkle in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, Mr Wilaen. Your condition is much more valuable to me than any amount of coins. Besides, I’m sure you wouldn’t be opposed to running a few errands for me once you become a monster girl hunter.”
“O-of course, Lady Selene…,” Aralen said, a waver in his voice as he tried to figure out if she was joking or not.
“But you had questions, yes? I suppose that while I do this I can answer some,” she said as she poked one of his numerous cuts with a device that looked like a telescope that someone had stuck a needle and a long, spiraling piece of metal on either side of. He winced at the sharp but brief pain that accompanied it before continuing.
“First of all, I need to know exactly how much this Demonic Aura is going to affect me, and if you can maybe stop these side effects I’m having.”
She cocked her head to the side as she heard this, looking up from her examination of his arm, which she was now doing with a short, dull knife with a glass tube sticking out the handle.
“Side effects? I hope it’s nothing serious.”
“Well, I think I would definitely consider a dryad tracking spell to be something serious. I can’t think of any other reason she was able to find me deep in that forest,” Aralen responded, trying to ignore how close the golden-eyed woman was getting to him while doing her inspection, and how horny his thoughts were. I seriously need to ask her about these lewd thoughts as well…
“Hmm, yes. That does sound rather important to know about.” The Auralin reclined a bit in her chair, creating some distance between the two. “Well, I do know a little about that, although I was not entirely sure this would apply to you, given your special case.
“Normally, when a monster girl takes a man as her husband, their bonded Aura creates a connection that draws them to each other and lets them know where their partner is. The Demonic Aura within you is only present in tiny quantities, so the connection isn’t strong. I would guess that you have no knowledge of Penora’s whereabouts, and only a tiny feeling drawing you to her.”
As much as the elf hated to admit it, Selene was pretty much spot-on with her observations. He did feel a bit of a mental draw towards her, even if he suppressed it as much as possible. And he certainly did not know where she was.
“Let me guess, it’s stronger for monster girls?”
“Precisely!” Selene beamed at him, and he felt yet another of those unfamiliar feelings, this time a slight fluttering in his stomach.
Ignoring it, he pressed on. “But if she can sense where I am, why hasn’t she chased me all the way to the city? And why is she chasing me to begin with?”
Selene paused for a moment, mulling it over. “Well, I would guess that it’s still too weak for her to sense you this far away. You did only spend a single night with her, after all. She might not have had enough time to fill you with as much Demonic Aura as she would have liked. As to the why, well, I think it’s rather obvious. Penora’s clearly decided that you are her husband now, and she’ll probably be chasing you until she’s defeated or she catches you.”
Well, that’s a lovely thought, Aralen thought grimly. I don’t know how many more times I can escape her before I get caught. Although maybe that wouldn’t be… stop, brain, it would absolutely be bad!
“And these l-lewd thoughts I’m having? I’d rather I… didn’t have those,” he said as a follow-up, his cheeks flaring up a bit as he did.
She giggled a bit at that. “Oh, I always forget how prudish all you elves are. Personally, I don’t think it’s that much of an issue. You clearly are able to control yourself and it’s not affecting your work. If you really want them gone, I can probably limit them to some capacity. Just let me finish up with your injuries.”
Aralen sat in silence as the healer continued doing who-knows-what to his nick-covered arms, enduring the sharp pains as she poked him with a needle here, prodded him with a strange wand there, until she stopped, a confused expression coming over her face.
“That’s odd,” she said softly, her hands’ movements slowing.
“What is?”
“It appears I may have missed something in my last assessment of your condition,” she replied before waving her hands, sending a wave of light up Aralen’s body, healing his cuts as it passed them. “Have you felt any stronger, smarter, or any other increase in your abilities in the last few days?”
“No? Should I have?”
“Interesting. Likely, the small amount of Demonic Aura wasn’t enough to change much, but the increase in your Aura pool is…,” she muttered under her breath, seemingly lost in thought.
“Wait, what are you talking about? I asked for explanations, but I’m just getting more confused here,” he responded as he watched her start to fumble around with her various vials and syringes filled with a thin, wispy substance that she seemed to have extracted from his injuries.
“Well, it’s a little complicated, but I’ll try to keep it simple. I presumed, from my previous studies on this topic, that your Neutral Aura would have been replaced by the Demonic Aura. Oh, and Neutral Aura is the low potency Aura that fills all space without Pure or Demonic Aura, or the other types of Aura that aren’t quite relevant right now,” she said upon seeing his confusion at the new term.
“But in your case, you simply gained Demonic Aura without any loss of Pure or Neutral Aura. This implies that you can add Aura to your ‘pool’, so to speak.”
Despite understanding the words themselves, Aralen didn’t quite get why that mattered, but Selene noticed his confusion.
“Simply put, more Aura makes you stronger. Hence the questioning earlier. Most higher-power adventurers or mages replace their Neutral Aura with Pure Aura to gain strength, but it appears you may be able to tack on additional Demonic Aura to increase your abilities.
“But I can’t be certain that’s exactly how it will work for you. So far, you haven’t shown any higher level of abilities, according to you, but maybe with more Demonic Aura, you’d become even stronger,” Selene mused, twirling one of her strange instruments between her fingers.
More Demonic Aura for more power? Part of Aralen was horrified, the thought of probably having to interact more with monster girls sending chills down his back. But another part was happy. This was a perfect chance for him to become a proper adventurer, maybe even a hero. Paired with his fantasy of helping retake Rosia, it was a tempting prospect.
“For now, though, I’m going to recommend you do nothing with that bit of info. Presumably, once your monster girl hunter training begins, you’ll run into more monster girls, and I can run more tests on you then. Additionally, I know you requested to have your naughtier thoughts restricted, but I’ve decided I’m not going to do anything to them. I think they’ll serve as a valuable benchmark for how any increased Demonic Aura impacts you. If they turn out to be problematic, I’ll help remove them.”
While Aralen wasn't particularly happy with that decision, he decided not to press the issue, finding her reasoning to be logical at the very least. Selene waved her hand, and the numerous silver devices scattered across her dark wood desk vanished, replaced by a large, engraved wooden bowl filled with a golden substance. Another wave and it shimmered and rose, slowly molding itself into a large, armored figure. The details started to get more precise, and eventually, an incredibly convincing, if entirely golden, model of Rylei was standing in the bowl.
“Miss Lisai, are you and Mr Stoneborn busy right now?” she asked the golden figure, who for a moment looked surprised before realizing and rummaging through her bag, pulling out a plate of some kind and speaking into it.
“Hello, Lady Selene. I must say, I completely forgot you gave me this weird mirror!” She laughed loudly, the golden bowl distorting her voice and giving it a wavery, hollow aspect.
“To answer your question, we’re not super busy. Just got back from the forest a bit ago, and we were planning to go refill our supplies, but that can wait.”
Selene clapped her hands together. “Perfect. In that case, I’d like to meet up with you now to discuss a few things. Mr Wilaen, you’re free to go, unless you have any more questions?”
Aralen shook his head and turned to leave, but was stopped by the hollow voice of Rylei.
“Aralen, we were thinking of starting your proper training tomorrow. Does that sound good to you?”
“Yes! I mean, yeah, that should be fine.”
The miniature version of Rylei’s face was hard to make out, but he could still hear the smile in her voice when she replied.
“Perfect. Meet us at Selene’s lobby at noon. See you then!”
The golden mini melted down back into the bowl, and Aralen excused himself, a pep in his step as he imagined all the things he could learn, or feats he may accomplish in the future. Granted, it was very far in the future, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about it anyway.
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It had been less than a week in Alvode, but already Aralen was feeling a little homesick. The missing taste of salt in the air and the silence in the air from the lack of waves, along with staying in an inn for the past few days, all didn’t help Aralen with the sense of unease. As he walked from Selene’s tower to the inn where the Trading Company guards were staying, he thought about his home in Alugala.
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He had already come to terms with the idea of spending less time there now that he had a job as a Trading Company guard, but he hadn’t expected to get offered training for monster girl hunting, and he was certain once he started with that profession he’d be spending even less time than he thought at home. The thought occurred to him that his mother would want to know all about his experiences out in the world, and he resolved to visit her as soon as he returned to the capital.
Lost in thoughts as he was, it took him no time to reach the inn, where Eirik was sitting in their shared room, reading some kind of tome. Now that Aralen knew he was a spellcaster of some kind, he felt silly for not having noticed it earlier, especially given that they had been sharing a room for a few days now.
“Hey, you’re back. Get everything fixed up nicely?” Eirik asked him as he stepped into the cramped inn room.
“Yeah, it seems like I’m good as new. I, uh, did find out something new about my ‘condition’ but she said not to worry about it right now. And apparently the monster girl hunters want to start training tomorrow.”
“Ooh, that seems like pretty big news, huh? About to start your career as a Hero of Estelia, yeah?” Eirik put his book down as he said this, adopting a loose smile and sitting up in his chair.
“I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t even know what they’re going to teach me since neither of them looks like they know how to use a spear.”
“I’m sure they’ll be able to teach you tons. Nobody becomes a monster girl hunter without knowing lots about… well, everything.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Speaking of knowing stuff, I thought you were a brand new guard too. Since when were you such a good spellcaster? I know Summon Weapon and Magic Shield aren’t easy spells,” Aralen asked, remembering the ethereal arsenal Eirik used in the forest.
Eirik only grinned. “Didn’t I tell you when we first met? I took this job ‘cause it’s easy, and pays well. And I think you’re overestimating my magical skills. Summon Weapon is basically all I know, and I only learned it to have a cooler sword.”
“Don’t you ever think expanding your magical skill set would serve you better? I mean, magic is known for being good at range, yet you’re just using it for better melee,” Aralen replied, slightly put off by Eirik’s lackadaisical response.
“I guess I could do that, but I never really wanted to spend much time on magic. I know my bread ‘n butter, a few wards and protection spells, and I don’t know if I need much more. So far, this little bandit encounter is the most dangerous thing I’ve run into on this job, and it was easily handled.”
Aralen’s only response was a noncommittal nod, not entirely buying Eirik’s words. Just the thought of having spent the time and effort to learn magic and how to control Aura, only to spend it doing the same things he would have done without it left a sour taste in Aralen’s mouth, but he didn’t press it any further. Instead, he flopped into his bed, tired from the long day and ready for the next.
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Either due to going to bed so early or the excitement of starting training, Aralen awoke at the crack of dawn the next day. The nervous energy bubbling inside of him as he got dressed and ate his breakfast was almost too much to handle, as he imagined what the two experienced adventurers would teach him. He cursed himself for waking so early, not looking forward to the long wait between then and noon when he was supposed to meet the duo.
Luckily, as he was about to leave the inn, he was stopped by Alae. The merchant looked a little tired, her short blond hair sticking up in places, and dark bags were underneath her eyes. Accompanying her was a second elf merchant who Aralen vaguely remembered having been on the trading convoy. He had red hair cut short, an unusual look compared to most elves around these parts, and his bright green eyes darted around rapidly as if he was watching out for a possible threat.
“Ah, Aralen, good morning. You’re up early, aren’t you?” Aralen was about to say the same to her, but he was cut off before he could say a word.
“First of all, good job with your mission yesterday. I’m glad you could retrieve the letter in good condition and were unharmed in doing so.”
Aralen almost thought to correct her, but reconsidered just in time to avoid getting cut off a second time, this time by the red-headed elf. “However, we noticed that the letter’s seal was broken upon return, and unless one of you in the retrieval group broke the seal, we fear information about future trade operations has been leaked.” His voice was high-pitched and thin, matching well with his tall and lanky figure.
“Sir, I can assure you that nobody in our group opened the letter. The seal was broken when we found it, presumably by the bandits we fought”
“That is what we thought as well. As such, we’re moving our schedule around a bit. We haven't finalized anything yet, as we still need to communicate with our partners, but it’s likely that the next trade convoy will depart later than expected. Alae will let you know any details as we progress, but we’d appreciate it if you could pass the word on to your fellow guards.”
Aralen nodded and saluted, and the pair of finely dressed merchants left, muttering quietly to each other as they did. Before he met Selene and the two adventurers, the boredom caused by the gap between jobs would have driven him mad. With the guarantee of training to fill the empty days, however, he instead found himself thankful for the longer delay.
The hours leading up to midday dragged on and on, giving the elf a taste of that boredom as he awaited his meeting. He was given a small reprieve when the other guards finally awoke and he could give them the news about their jobs, but he found himself too antsy to stay with them for long, and he found himself wandering the streets of Alvode, admiring the city until noon approached.
Right as the sun reached its zenith, Aralen walked into the magical lobby of Selene’s tower, yet again marveling at the change in scenery once inside. He gave the elemental receptionist a wave, who returned it energetically, but his attention was quickly grabbed by the enormous figure of Rylei standing off to the side, with Jyce right beside her.
Unusually, both were in much more casual clothes than the last couple of times Aralen had seen them, with Rylei wearing a black, sleeveless shirt and hardy-looking pants, which did little to hide her massive figure and bulging biceps. Her singular green eye peered at him with a grin accompanying it, and she beckoned him over to the pair. The elf was surprised at how large the cyclops woman looked even without her plate armor, and mentally rectified the idea he had about her armor amplifying her size; if anything, she looked bigger without it.
The drow stood to her side, his pitch-black eyes covered slightly by his still-messy hair but still creepy as ever. He was wearing a simple gray tunic and much less hardy but also more comfortable-looking pants. Somehow, his arms and legs looked even longer than they had at their first meeting, making Jyce look taller than he actually was. Aralen supposed that he may have missed it due to the hunter’s cape, boots, and armor on their first meeting, but he decided against bringing it up to the drow, lest he offend him.
“Hey, kid. Ready to start your training?” Rylei’s deep voice reverberated through the large open room, adding even more punch to it than before, but it only served to pump Aralen up even more.
“I absolutely am. What’s on the schedule for today?”
“Given that it’s your first day of training, we just want to see where you are at skill-wise, and maybe give you a bit of an explanation for how this is going to work moving forward,” Jyce replied, beckoning the elf to follow him and the cyclops as they started moving.
“So the first stop is the testing room. A testing room, I should say; Selene has a lot of them, and you should consider yourself lucky that you probably won’t ever see most of them. Probably,” Rylei said as she opened the door at the back of the lobby for the two men, and they stepped through to a circular room, barely large enough for the three of them, and closed the door.
The room was brightly lit from some engravings on the floor and ceiling that glowed a cold white light, and when the cyclops loudly said “Physical Assessment Room,” causing the entire room to jolt, giving Aralen a sense of vertigo. It eventually stopped and the door opened, revealing a wide, grassy field with various training dummies scattered around. There was no ceiling and no walls, just an endless field of rolling hills and green grass, a bright blue sky above with the sun shining down on everything.
Racks of weapons littered the room as well, with weapons of all kinds on each, made of various materials. Some were shining steel, others were a cold, icy material similar to Rylei’s warhammer, and still others were a fiery black and red. The training dummies were just as diverse, with some made of straw, others leather, and others still made of metal. Even their shapes were different and numerous, with humanoids, beasts, and everything in-between present, even some oddly sexualized-looking figures that Aralen supposed were meant to represent monster girls.
“Welcome to the training room, my personal favorite part of Selene’s whole tower!” Rylei introduced excitedly, her arms spread wide and an even wider grin on her face.
The strange cylindrical room the trio just exited slowly sank into the ground, leaving only a stone plate in the ground as Jyce started to speak.
“If Rylei had her way, all three of us would be locked in this room for the next month until you came out a fully fledged monster girl hunter. I, however, would much rather give you that same experience out in the field. It’s not all manufactured, like this whole place is, you know? Now, we’re going to start by seeing how you take on a simple foe with your spear, and we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
With that simple explanation given, the drow pushed Aralen forward without giving him a chance to ask any questions, and without delay, one of the training dummies came to life, turning towards the elf with a vicious expression on its face.
Well, as vicious an expression as a straw head can manage. This dummy was some kind of six-legged creature, with a long tail wrapped in some kind of cloth and thin wooden sticks poking out from each of its limbs to act as feet. Maybe it’s supposed to be some kind of giant insect? Or maybe an aggressive mammal?
Aralen’s thoughts were cut short when the straw golem lunged at him, taking a swipe with one of its stick legs. Caught off guard, he was barely able to dodge it. He pulled his spear from his back and brandished it at the creature, but possibly due to its inorganic nature, it simply lunged at him again, ignoring the threat of the spear. It was faster than Aralen expected, and his first thrust wasn’t nearly fast enough to stop its movements. He still managed to dodge it, but it was keeping up the pressure.
As he readied another strike at the dummy, he remembered the two hunters watching him. Rylei seemed to be enjoying herself, yelling out every time an attack was made, but Jyce was much more reserved, his arms crossed as he observed the mock battle. Determined to show his skills, Aralen thrust his spearhead into the mass of straw crawling at him.
This time, his aim was true, and the creature was embedded on his spear handle, impaled all the way through. Even though he doubted it had any actual semblance of life, it still went still as it ‘died’, its wriggling and writhing ceasing as the elf lifted the creature on the spear into the air in triumph. From across the grassy plain, Rylei cheered loudly, pumping her hands in the air as if she hadn’t just watched an inexperienced elf kill a straw dummy.
“Your form isn’t terrible, but you’re much too slow, and you give away a lot of openings. If you weren’t so fast on your feet, I’d be a lot more concerned,” Jyce commented as the pair of adventurers made their way over to Aralen, and Rylei nodded in agreement even as she still smiled from the fight.
“You can probably tell neither of us use spears, so your form in that regard is all up to you. But, like Jyce just did, we can point out mistakes we see and our thoughts on how to fix them. For example, you’re way too willing to let them into your zone. Maybe try incorporating the shaft as a weapon as well, or use it to push opponents away. Or, for targets lower to the ground like that dummy, you can use your legs as an extra tool to gain an advantage. Stuff like that.” Rylei’s advice was good, but Aralen was a little let down by their admission of inexperience with spears. Still, with two experienced combatants pointing out flaws, he was certain he could improve to be better. His spirits were raised even more when Jyce spoke again.
“Even though you’re a little inexperienced, after a week or so of training with us, you should be able to go on a simple mission with us. We’ve got a lot of requests for quests as monster girl hunters, and we ignore most of them, but I think we can find a couple that are good for showing you the ropes.”
After a little more chatter, during which Jyce showed off some tricks he had as a sword user, and Rylei gave him some advice with closer-quarters combat, he was thrust into another fight, this time with a small, humanoid dummy. Again, he dispatched it with little trouble, and again the cyclops and the drow gave some pointers. It didn’t take long for his enthusiasm to fade as he was sent to fight a barrage of straw golems and given a pile of advice, too much for him to apply immediately, and soon after his limbs started to feel heavy and exhaustion set in. Even still, his instructors sicced more and more creatures at him, until the late afternoon and he finally got a decent amount of rest.
“Good showing from the kid, don’t you think, Rylei?” Jyce said as he stood over Aralen’s panting and sprawled out body.
Rylei nodded. “Yeah, it’s rough around the edges but I think we can work with this. So, Aralen, what do you think about doing this again tomorrow?”
Even in his exhausted state, the words for Rylei were almost enough to get the elf back on his feet, though only so he could sprint away from the two torturers and live a peaceful life as a trading guild guard. The expression on his face must have made that desire very clear to the cyclops, but if she showed any remorse for the grueling training they had put him through, she didn’t show it.
In fact, she started to laugh at his wide eyes, only promising to ‘let up a bit’ the next day, and Aralen was left thinking that if every day of training was like this, maybe a peaceful life as a monster girl’s sex slave was preferable.