Eli POV

I was down in the basement testing area in the early morning, doing my best to ignore the tangle of stress in every fiber of my being. The large cavernous walls of the place and occasional mana lamp dotted along the ceiling did little to dispel the heat of the dirigible. The long frame of the near house sized body was now a fully formed hull of seamless oak wood with two large open floors that would be made into more proper three and a half floors at a later date. While the middle of the deck was dual lines of six large copper spheres, the main component was the elongated tube in the center with its lower heating coils ready to blast out tremendous heat even as their casings were smeared in the fire slug goo that kept the intense heat going where it should.

Along the sides of the deck were two long poles that would swing up and the cloth that was stitched around the round pieces of wood should then use that momentum of the swing to properly unfurl the multilayered cloth balloon stored below deck with the blast of heat from the furnace providing the lift to stretch it out to its full size. This design put the strain along the main inner beams and several other points. The biggest obstacle had been getting good material for the balloon itself.

The average cloth here was mostly for the outer layer, but the stuff was too heavy and prone to ripping to be the main inner layer. While I was sitting on a bench in the right corner working on plant enhanced fiber from the flesh of an oak to make it flexible enough to serve as the main section of the inner balloon layer, I had an impulse to make some pre-emptive nooses. It was two days since that meeting in Tansen’s office and nothing we had found out since then had dispelled my worries about the coming changes.

There was the sound metal footsteps behind me, and I turned to see Salamede in her typical hawk like armor.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked as I put the long cloth of intermeshed fibers down.

‘I wanted to see how the airship is coming along. Also, later today I wanted to taste what our cooks have done with the dwarf’s food in their recipes,’ Salamede said eagerly in a spirit connection.

With the censure pretty much dead, we had been going back into the regular Kelton shops and restaurants. They had plenty of food to give us with the dwarves being more than happy to supply all their needs at cost when three space expanded chests were their reward. The wood on the chests they provided was also some really tough white material that had the rough uneven flow of wood but when I ran my hands over it, the texture was more like metal.

Whatever it was made of, it was a really secretive affair. I had to make the spell in the back of the smithing tent and was sworn to secrecy about everything I did for them concerning the chests. Even though they had denied our request for asylum in their mountains, a secretive lot if there ever was one, they had still come through for me and showed that they were reliable.

I smiled and got up to walk over to her and kiss her.

‘Honey, I said that I would be working on the balloon today. After yesterday, I’m mostly going to try and keep the balloon from ripping then I’m testing the crash impact absorbers.’

Salamede gave a little pout which was no less adorable with her being in the armor.

‘Fine. I’ll keep an eye open for the new law enforcement arrivals.’ She said, a sour note coming through near the end.

The replacement for Rand was coming in today, as far as the local gossip said. A lot could happen based on how heavy handed the new guy was, but I made sure to be mentally prepared for the worst. A lot of the stories around the Central government Enforcement Organization told of law officers more concerned with getting an arrest, mostly through wearing down their victims with endless investigations or bank breaking trials, rather than trying to find the truth. No one knew anything about who they were sending, but bad organizations can have good people. If nothing else, it would be a good exercise in how much… leeway being a quad element caster gave me when I corrected any missteps on their part.

Of course, this did nothing to ease the knot of worry that had lingered in my gut the past few days.

I continued working on the fabric for the balloon and going over the math for how much space I would need as a distraction. Keeping to the side of caution, I made the balloon far larger than it probably needed to be, but the heat from the blower would more than fill it. I had managed to make smaller ones that would lift the ship but that was without a full cargo hold and crew. Which was a big issue if this was going to be my introduction of science to this world. But making larger copper spheres and coils meant I could carry more weight while simply lowering the power output if it provided too much lift, so I wasn’t too worried on that front.

With the completion of my advanced alchemy class, the only thing left until I became an official mage was the expedition out west. With the rising of the dead also came a great chance to gather a huge number of magical hides, meats, and bones. Even with the lessened plant resources from the trees retreat into the earth, it was still apparently enough to fire up the greed of the prospective students and even their staff. Especially now that the famed trip was happening tomorrow.

It was when I was working on the final touches for the balloon and attaching the rope for the back attachments that I heard a knock from a wooden pad by the workshop door. The plain wooden plank had a leather strap attached to it leading from the front door, and the upper floors as well, that all met up with a fine oak pad on the right front door so that it’s activation square would activate the air enchantments in the planks.

I was only clothed in my white shirt and brown pants as I made my way up the stairs and closed the basement hatch as I made my way to the wide oak doors with iron bands that was my main entrance. Opening it revealed a scrawny Kelton lad with black horns and a heaving chest as his grey shirt and brown leather jeans were dripped with sweat from his brown furred top.

“M-Master mage. There are men brutalizing some of our shopkeepers. Might need some looking to, but oddest thing is they’re dressed real nice” He said with a trembling tone as he avoided my gaze.

On one of our outings in the Kelton quarter, we had talked with the Kelton patriarch about doing more to secure our community and them being allowed to come get me when Salamede was out of the house was an item we agreed on.

“All right, I’ll get my gear while you take the healing boards.” I said with a pointed finger to a stack of planks by the kitchen section to my left. Having more mobile healing crafts on hand that most people could easily use was a low effort protection that I had set up yesterday. Each of the boards had a black dot on the bottom along with some quick instruction on how to use them. The lad ran and picked up the stack before I closed the door and rushed upstairs to the middle floor.

Taking off my armor from a mannequin on the left side of the room, the clacking of my steel boots clanked across the copper floor as I took my hammer off the wall. Turning around, I walked out of the shop and down the staircase until I got back to the entrance to go out the main door. The rancid smell of the dead was as present as it always was now, even as the biting cold receded to a mild lower temperature, but I kept the conscious part of my mind focused on the town as I engaged the wheels and boosters in my suit and propelled myself forward at a horses sprint and quickly beyond even that speed. Zipping past the kid from earlier, I made my way down the regular dirt path into the town proper. The shoddy, poor buildings on this side of town were in their typical misshapen, haphazard order that still made way for straight road lines. But that did little good for the passerby as further down the road a wide circle of Kelton’s blocked the roads.

Even as their wide assortment of horns partially blocked my view of the spectacle, the sound of thudding flesh and screams was unmistakable.

Moving through the crowd as the onlookers parted for my entrance, I came upon the source of the trouble. Two young men in their mid-20’s were kicking the Kelton patriarch. Dressed in black pants and sleeveless jackets with white undershirts, they had regular brown hair but the strong chin and green eyes of the left side one distinguished the one on the right who had brown eyes and sharp cheek bones.

Wasting no time, I marched up to the two boys as I quickly looked over the patriarch and saw his blue jacket and pants were mostly dirty with minimal bruising along the arms and neck.

“Oi! We got this whelp good. Back to your post guardsman.” The strong chined one said in a bored tone even as he scowled at the balled-up Kelton man he was kicking.

Lowering my wheels, I strode up to the two men as the crowd mostly pulled back while a few actually moved a bit forward with faces of eager anticipation for the coming blood sport. Metal clanking announced my approach to the men as I walked over the stone brickwork.

“You deaf boy?” The left one said as he looked up with an irritated scowl at me. His green eyes went wide when he saw I wasn’t a proper guard. His mouth moved with a question but I got there first.

“What is going on here?” I asked patiently. That brought a nasty grin to the man’s face with a faint shadow of facial hair.

“Ain’t none of your business. Now piss off before we show you a proper shakedown with-”

I summoned and shot out a block of stone into his left knee cap. The wet crunch of his kneecap shattering under the grey rock was followed by his scream and some of the onlookers covering their mouths as he went down in a heap clutching at the ruined leg. He gave another yell when the stone slab fell on his foot before it disappeared.

His fellow was only just leaning back up to take in his situation when I used the same simple and crude earth spell on his left hip. Another crunch and scream of pain rang out but momentum was on my side and I intended to use it. While his fellow was falling down, I moved back over to the first fellow and flipped him face down with a swift kick.

“You fucking – AUGHH!!” His curse gave way to a guttural scream as I lifted up his right arm and drove my steel covered boot into his elbow, snapping the joint with a sharp crack. The other thug was laying on the ground with a high whimper as he tried to keep off the shattered hip bone, but it became a proper scream when I walked over and put my now bloody right boot on his hip to put him fully on his back. He looked at me with petulant hatred which was quickly replaced with fear when I pulled back my hammer.

“No, don’t you dare-“

A wet snapping was the next sound that came out of his body when my hammer shattered his right arms shoulder, causing bits of bone and blood to cover a small patch of the stone street.

The rest of the crowd had fully pulled back now, with even the more blood thirsty spectators having more than their fill. Looking behind me, I saw the patriarch getting up off the ground and dusting off the dirt from his portly frame.

“Thanks, Eli.” He said grumpily with a shake of his twirling brown horns.

“No problem. Do you know who these idiots are?” I asked casually as I looked them over for gang tattoos even as they whimpered and squirmed in agony.

“Not in the slightest. Just came in talking about disciplining the Kelton’s for their manipulative way’s.” He said irritably. The two men tried to scowl at him, but they were too busy trying to find a way to not lean on anything broken. I huffed at the pathetic display and turned to the patriarch

“I thought we had dealt with the gangs already. Ah well. I’ll set up two thick stone poles by the river and strap them to it as I flay them. From there –“

The stomping of metal boots to the left from the main road stopped me as a small squad of guards looked over the scene and one of the men stepped forward with a raised hand and a shaky voice.

“Sir mage, please step away from the officers.” He said with sweat running down his clean-shaven face and brown eyes looking towards the two injured men.

“What miserable organization would have them as officers?” I asked as I looked over the men again.

“Central Enforcement, sir. They were brought in with a group arriving from the coast and acting under orders of Harold, the new overseer for the law.”

A stone dropped in my stomach, not from hurting the men, but from the fact that this was the first action Harold took. It appears the heavy handedness will be coming to my front doorstep. I had hoped to go the reasonable ‘let’s talk this out’ route, but that apparently wasn’t an option from the start. Well, going halfway with this won’t do me any good now so I might as well commit.

“All right,” I said with as casual a tone as I could manage. “I’m going to set up a pillar on the river and flay these two. Are there any building regulations for the placement of the stone used?”

The guards looked confused but gulped and tried his best to answer.

“You’re going to… the building requirements would… I think it would be best if I brought you to Tansen’s office to discuss this.” He lowered his head and bit his lip at the last part.

I nodded but before I turned to go, I walked back over to the two men lying on the ground whimpering in agony.

“I’m going now but consider this-” I said with a grand gesture to their injuries “A warning. Next time, I’m skewering you through the eyes with a spear of flame.”

With the warning delivered leaving the now paler faces of the guard’s slack jawed, I was led to Tansen’s office in a few short minutes. The academy head was behind his oak desk dressed in the white kimono with gold leaves embroidered along the sleeves. While the mana lamp in the middle of the ceiling and the white/blue striped walls were the same as ever, a new man was standing to the right. Wearing the same black pants and sleeveless jacket with white undershirt as the two thugs, the main distinguishing feature was the gold pin on his left breast shaped into a star with the letters CE over it.

He was in his mid-30’s and had short brown hair with deep green eyes and a square jaw. Muscular with an arrogant air, he looked at me with his thick bushy eyebrows raised in a question.

“Sir, we’ve brought him.” The guard from before pulled back as I stepped forward.

“I’m guessing you’re the new guy.” I asked.

“Indeed. Purple eyes. Looks like you’re the quad mage with the problem we were sent to fix.” Harold said with crossed arms and a standoffish manner.

“Indeed. Tell me, good sir, what are the regulations for placing stone pillars on the riverside?” I asked innocently. That prompted him to raise both eyebrows.

“Why do you want to know that?” He asked.

“Two of your men were being most uncouth in the Kelton quarter earlier so I’m going to strap them both to a stone pillar and flay their skin across it. I wanted to know what the regulations for building it are?” I asked again, now in a far sweeter tone.

Harold just laughed, much to the surprise of Tansen and everyone else.

“Lad, joking about hurting officers of the law is something you only do once. Now run along and-“

“He wasn’t joking, sir” The scared voice of the guard’s leader said behind me. “He’s done it before, and that fellow still hasn’t totally recovered. The two men you sent were too badly injured to come with us and are being put on the healing beds for now.”

Harold looked between him and me with a gradually reddening face until he finally walked forward with an accusing finger as I prepared an earth spell.

“Boy. You best learn right quick that-“ I summoned a stone shard aimed right at his forehead that stopped him dead as sweat started running down his face.

“We are at an academy and where else would be more suited to learning. Tell me, oh wise man of the law, what lesson do you have for me today?” I asked as I moved a bit closer to him, driving the spike into his skin and drawing a bit of blood that dripped down his face.

His teeth gritted and he took a deep breath with a flared nose but his quick look to Tansen for help gave away his fear.

Tansen put out a placative hand towards me with a firm look. After a few moments, I sighed and dispelled the stone shard. The academy head gave a sigh of relief before he sat up straight and resumed his usual cool demeanor before speaking.

“We all need to calm down. Harold, what were your men doing in the Kelton quarter? I thought you were here to oversee Eli first and foremost.” Tansen asked calmly as his black eyebrows stayed totally even as his brown eyes showed his true irritation.

“What were they doing?” Harold huffed indignantly. “They were laying down how things have to be. These goat things have stolen the greatest prize of our lifetimes from us and you haven’t even given them a bit of grief over it.”

Something between a laugh and an indignant cry escaped my lips as I looked at this increasingly irritating man.

“I think they’ve been given enough grief. Try that shit again and you’ll be getting corpses instead of injured men.” I said, the previous veil of calm demeanor now gone.

Harold drew himself up to his full height, now at eye level and looked towards the guards behind me.

“Arrest this man. He clearly needs some time in a cell to reflect on his obligations to the Coalition.” He said, a cocky grin and arrogant tilt to his head now in full bloom. A bloom that quickly wilted when I didn’t hear the sound of guards moving. Taking a deep breath, he snarled before laying into the men.

“Are you lot deaf? I said arrest him!” He said in an outraged voice.

“We want to see the order having you take authority over us.” The leader of the guard squad said.

“What?!” Harold screamed in outrage. I turned back to see the guards had bunched together more tightly in a move of body language that showed resistance to their new leadership. Even the two blue and white striped guards by the door could be seen smirking and that was probably what was drove Harold over the top.

“We’re not tussling with Eli until we know the full extent of our requirements to do so under your orders. Get Rand and have him go over the document” The guard leader said, his chin coming up with a clear look of defiance.

Harold went fully red in the face but a small laugh from Tansen drew everyone’s gaze to him.

“It looks like you put both feet on the ice without testing it first, Harold. I need to discuss somethings with Eli, so you will need to have this discussion with Rand somewhere else.” Tansen said in a calm tone.

The new law of the land walked forward and slammed his hands down on the desk.

“Tansen, don’t you try this bullshit with me. I have the ear of congress and I could make any amount of trouble for you if I wanted to.” Harold was breathing hard now with a positively feral look in his green eyes. Tansen just adopted a serene look as he leaned back into his chair.

“Oh? When a load off eyewitness testimony says your reckless actions put the quad mage in danger by getting your men into fights with him, what sweet words will you use to dissuade people of your incompetence? Now, don’t mistake my polite way of saying ‘get out of my office or I’ll throw you out’ as only being a suggestion.” Tansen said, his black goatee and long black hair totally still as he sat there patiently.

Harold’s face went deep red as he turned around and stomped out of the office with the guards following shortly thereafter. I turned back towards Tansen, who was leaning over his desk with a tired look in his face.

“What do we need to talk about?” I asked him.

His eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch before answering.

“Your position in the expedition, of course. You haven’t gone to acquire any gear for it, not that we have any weapons that could match yours, or even inquired as to what it was as far as the teachers can tell.”

“Oh. I forgot.” I said with a shrug.

Tansen huffed with scrunched eyebrows.

“You forgot?” He asked in a disbelieving tone.

“I was too busy thinking about how the government wants to kill my wife.”

That got a nod of agreement from him as a tired sigh escaped his lips.

“You are going to be a butcher for this trip. Cleaning animals and getting as much of their products off as cleanly as you can. Report at the classrooms first thing in the morning.” He said in a lighthearted tone.

“And you’ll make sure Harold behaves himself when I’m gone?” I asked.

Tansen nodded.

“If he tries anything, I will personally put him in the healing beds.” He said with a firm tone.

I nodded before heading out of his office and back into my home. The numbing ache of worry in my gut only intensified as I put my armor and mask away on the second-floor mannequin and went back down into the actual workshop to work on the ship. When it must have been past lunch Salamede came back down into the shop as I was tying some rope around the back end of the balloon to loop it through the ship’s various metal hoops attached to the floor.

On the front and back ends of the wooden ship were supports to hold it up the relatively flat bottom of the air ship and beside them was a large ladder. But the loud clanking of metal stopped me as I was growing wood around the end strands of the rope attached to the flat balloon laying across the deck behind me. As I was getting up, I heard her coming up the ladder and before I could make it to the railing, my wife came up over the rail and stood in front of me. The plain white shirt and grey pants she typically wore under her armor had sweat marks along her armpits and heaving chest.

‘Eli, I heard you nearly killed two members of Central Enforcement today.’ She asked in a spirit connection with a heated tone as she moved forward and put a finger into my white shirt.

‘Those babies. I only broke an arm and a leg. Well, one of them I shattered his hip, but they’ll make full recoveries.’ I said casually, taking in her flaring snout with the white stripe over the nose ridge and her white eyes showing irritation even as she came up a few inches shorter than me.

‘Eli! You can’t attack men of the law like that!’ She scolded. But she moved closer to me and her heavy breathing now sent her hot breath over my neck.

‘I didn’t know they were men of the law when I stopped them, not that it would have made a difference. They were attacking people and I had to show them where the line was.’ I responded defensively.

She puckered her lips for a long moment before kissing me. Her tongue was down my throat as I struggled to maintain a coherent thought with her sweetness flooding my mouth. It was when she worked off my pants and took her top off to expose her two swinging breasts with hard brown nipples that I managed to get out an actual sentence.

‘I thought you were angry, but the communication is getting very mixed.’ I said as she pushed me down before taking her own pants off.

‘I am. But even when I’m angry at what you did, my body aches for the man who boldly rode out to provide protection for my people. The pain and conflict of being a woman. You’ll just have to bear it for now.’ She said with wild lust clear in her voice. The slightly grey skin of her whole body was now totally bare before me and as I took in all the generous curves of my wife’s hips, breasts, and licking lips, my reaction was inevitable.

‘Ah, good. He’s ready to go.’ Salamede said impatiently as she used her knees to force my legs open for access to my stiff manhood.

We spent what must have been a few hours trying out different positions on top of the deck of our ship. An experience made all the better because it suppressed the ever-present worry about our future. During our play such concerns were left inconsequential but sadly it had to end at some point. As we lay in an exhausted heap, with us switching between rubbing our various bits, me giving her hard nipples an idle suck, and some kissing to smooth out the end of our climax, we caught each other’s eyes every now and then. I must have been as bad at hiding my worries as she was because each time our eyes met the anxiety shined clear through.

Damn these bastards, I can’t even properly enjoy my wife’s body now.

But there was nothing left to say. We had gone over all of the alternatives again and again and found no avenue for legal respite, not that there were any lawyers who wanted to be known for giving me legal advice to subvert the will of congress and the associations. I was too valuable for the Coalition to accept us just disappearing and now it looked like they weren’t above going after the Kelton community if it served their ends. Knowing that, I didn’t even bother suggesting we steal away some dark night in the airship. The airship was pretty much our only play, a desperate play but a play none the less. We will try to get them to accept science over magic, but that might backfire since they could take it as another wonder Salamede was stealing from them. To say nothing of the difficulty of going against the magical breeding prerogatives of this world.

We eventually sated each other’s bodies and got a shower. For dinner we went out to a river side bar and ate a spicy fish stew. Our table was totally silent as we both looked at each other in between bites and sips, waiting for some visual cue that either of us had come up with a real plan to fix this mess. Stopping an entire society from acting on tens of thousands of years of magical breeding preferences and just leaving me alone was a task even I wasn’t fully prepared for.

Heading back to the tower in the bitter cold with drops of snow now falling in the pitch black of the night, we went to the top floor of our home and fell asleep in the sheets of our large bed as a crude heater with bare coils by the door kept the room warm. The next morning, we were rushing to get out of the house after a quick bowl of oatmeal and the putting together of a few days of clothes in a sack by the door. Cell wouldn’t have anyone to play with today as all the familiars would be accompanying their partners on the trip out west. I had weighed bringing him with me, but there was no way I would trust Harold to not try and work over the Kelton’s or even Salamede herself when I was gone.

Salamede was putting her helmet on and getting her spear off the wall hooks when Cell came down the hole in the corner of the ceiling. My familiar got into the back left of her shoulder piece and snugly fit inside a hole, an image that now mirrored the one on her right shoulder piece.

Making our way out the door dressed in our battle armor, we both were still worried about the situation, but a quick kiss and wave goodbye made the day seem more bearable as I picked up my sack of clothes and headed out the door. The winter was properly setting in now, even with the faint glow of gold mana along the ground making the snow take of a goldish tint. A grey overcast with ice where water collected in various holes and dips was now the norm out here in the back end of town. Wealthier and with access to the academy heating crafts, the roofs of the multi-story houses on the opposite side of the town had none of the snow that now covered the shops and peasant housing.

My breath was fogging up as it came around my smiling metal mask while I headed towards the designated waiting area by the gate to the academy with the sack slung over my shoulder. The long wall of grey stone had been brushed clean of snow and everyone huddled around the ever-burning bonfires of reanimated bodies for warmth. All the students had cloth head covers, mitts, and scarfs as their white and blue striped robes occasionally made it hard to distinguish them in the tightly packed masses around the now four pyres along the right side of the road.

A line of the metal boxes that served as carriages for transporting students were being outfitted for the biting cold with extra blankets and cover for the horses. It took only a few more minutes before the full plate bodyguards gave the all clear. A stampede almost broke out as the students rushed from the pyre’s warmth and into the metal boxes. Looking at the top of the opposite end of my carriage, I saw a blooming wooden flower by the central mana lamp in the ceiling and felt how it was warmer inside. The mana being absorbed by the wooden flower said it was fueling the spell to warm the interior.

I suppose these precious eggs could not bear even this short trip in any discomfort.

With the trip passing by in the usual haze of heated looks and suggestive poses, we made it to the two towers that made up the classrooms.

Going through the wide stone wall, I saw the typical line of carriages on the left side was now a full-blown caravan with sacks and chests being moved back and forth to be placed on various carriages and steel wagon beds. Most of the new additions to the fleet were long, rectangular metal beds with three-foot-high walls around their perimeter. These new additions had patches on near untouched grass beneath them, having apparently been left out overnight in the snow.

Getting out of my carriage and through the wide double doors of the towers entrance, I saw a lot of the students standing around with various weapons to hand as long tables on the left saw some of them moving away happily while others were seen arguing with the staff sitting behind the stacks of papers. While I walked past them, I caught snippets of the conversations.

“Scout? Are you kidding me?”

“Good. I got hunter, just like I was always supposed to.”

“There is a mistake. I want the judges down here to-“

“Eli!”

I turned towards the end of the table and saw Bess waving to me with a happy grin. Her green eyes and short brown hair were the same as always. The faint lines around her face from her smile above the sharp chin accentuated the 30’s woman’s positive nature.

“Hello, what’s my position Bess? Tansen told me yesterday but I forgot.” I asked.

She sat back down and perused the papers until she got the right one and pulled it out to hand to me.

“Butcher. The scouts will check out an area and track any good quarry. Once that is done, the hunters will move in and do the killing part of this exercise. Once the prey has been brought down, haulers will escort and transport the bodies back to a designated safe zone. Your task will be to dissect the kills the haulers bring in.”

I nodded and took my paper before heading towards the canteen. Whatever their provisions, a few bits of jerky and nuts for extra rations would not be amiss. Coming up to the wide double doors of the canteen, it was open with the bar on the far side decked out with travelling treats and hot serving pots of various teas and flavored milks for driving away the cold. The long line of tables was filled with armored students, their usual attire of white and blue striped robes being replaced with metal suits of armor or leather with metal studs, depending on whether they were a crafter or a caster.

Most of the tables remained empty as the students were in a hurry to get what they needed and leave. Taking a few bits of beef jerky and honeyed nuts, the treats were placed in a sack I slung along my hip. Satisfied, I headed back out through the crowd to get my seat in the right carriage. One good thing was that with how busy everyone was, none of the women made any attempt to get a feel in or press themselves against me.

Except one.

Beth was waiting out by right of the entrance and didn’t say a word as she approached. The woman with curvy brown hair and thick pink lips was happy to see me today. Her puffy full body coat of pink fur came with some ear coverings of an equally puffy pink and her mole on the left lip was up with her puckered lips.

“Oh darling, I would ask how you’ve been, but one need not ask with that dreadful order they put out. Damned congress. I like seeing you, but I do wish it was under better circumstances” she said with seemingly genuine pity as she wrapped me in a hug, her purple eyes looking me up and down.

“We’ll get through it. Salamede is a good woman and more than well equipped to defend herself” I said confidently.

“I know. Still, I’ll be visiting her regularly. It’s dangerous for you out there, but I don’t think men appreciate how hard it is on us as well. Some company will do her good.” Beth said with that same smug smile, something I had begun to assume was just her default facial expression rather than an indication of any one emotion. It still felt awkward being so friendly with another man’s wife, but I had started to feel positively tolerant towards her since she started providing some support to Salamede when I wasn’t there.

“Thanks.” I said with a light bow.

Beth took that as an opportunity to give me a peck on the cheek just above my mask and below my left eye. I involuntarily flinched. That prompted her to put on a mock look of hurt.

“Eli! Are my lips on you really so painful? I can only imagine how restricted Salamede must be in her bed-time duties with a husband so sensitive.” She said with a fake pout and a hand to her pink fur covered chest.

“Pff. You know damned well why putting your lips there prompted that.” I said with crossed arms.

Beth gave a light-hearted huff before giving me another hug and whispering in my ear.

“Can you blame a girl? I thought I knew what I wanted when I dropped all that money for the eye color alteration, but seeing you made even my dreams seem like peasant aspirations.” She said, her purple eyes now fixing on my own with that same intensity.

“Well, as long as you’re helping my wife, I’ll let it slide.” I said before I gave a final nod and we parted ways as I headed towards the caravan.

The long metal beds were further off to the right while the majority of the activity was in the center near the passenger carriages. Guild members could be seen moving in and out of the gate of the grey wall now surrounding the grounds of the two towers, reducing the snow in front of it to a muddy slush. Something that was happening around the passenger carriages as well with the students milling about waiting for the staff to come out with the assigned seating. I uselessly ambled around for a while trying to find my group until a whistle blew off near the main tower doors.

“All right!” A middle-aged staff member called from near the doors of the tower. She had thick brown hair and green eyes with a sharp chin. “This is our annual expedition. The next few days will see you lot either become mages or fail for another year. We expect great things from you lot and know the mage associations take your performance in these duties very seriously in their assessments. Knowing how to handle yourself in a mana rich environment and collect its natural bounty is an essential part of mage hood. Good luck and may your harvest be plentiful.”

From there, a swarm of the staff moved through the crowd of students and started directing people towards their designated carriages. The carriages and their passengers were divided into the four groups of scouts, haulers, butchers and hunters. I had assumed the scouts would be in the front but apparently being first was a matter of prestige and the hunters were going to be the first group out. The extra guards from the guild on every carriage suggested our ‘performance’ was only going to be examined once we got into the western area proper.

I was eventually led into the group of carriages third from the front, with only the haulers coming in behind us. It took a lot longer than it should have with everyone awkwardly trying to get their weapons through the relatively small door on the metal boxes, but I eventually got in. With two benches of either side, I immediately sat in the far-left corner as I laid my sack of clothes between my legs. The mana lamp in the center bathed everyone in a soft golden glow as they shuffled in. The lustful teasing from the women that usually accompanied me everywhere was nowhere to be seen. From biting lips, sweaty foreheads, and the strumming of fingers on wooden benches, the energy of my travelling companions was pure trepidation.

“What are you doing here?” A male student with leather armor and metal guards said. He was looking at me with green eyes from down the right side of the opposite bench as his brown hair showed below the metal helmet.

“They said I was a butcher. Unless the staff put me in the wrong carriage, I’m where I should be.” I replied politely.

That sent out some whispers until one thin black-haired girl spoke out.

“It was miss Koal. The judges were going to make you a hunter but I heard when she found out about it, she stomped right into Tansen’s office. Apparently, putting you at risk was unacceptable so they moved you with us. Your also why they’ve given us those guards from the coast.”

“Hmm?” I hummed towards her with a raised eyebrow.

“Them guys with the black pants and jackets with white undershirts. A few of them are coming along just to watch the butchers.”

“Pff! Yeah right,” One woman further down my bench said. “They’re here to watch us. Bullshit. They’re here to make sure the quad mage stays unblemished without suffering a single scratch. They don’t give a damn what happens to us.”

“Hey at least we’re not the haulers.”

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest and I thought about leaving the conversation at that, but it couldn’t hurt to get more information on the expedition.

“What’s with some of the teams being preferred over others?” I asked the carriage. I could guess as some of it but knowing is better than guessing. The rest of the group looked askance at me, but the black-haired girl beat the rest to the punch.

“It’s all about getting the eyes of the associations. Hunters are the ones one bring down the kills and that typically means they’re the most skilled and capable at using magic. Scouts come in a close second since they’re still doing some dangerous work. The last two are basically saying ‘I’m just above a peasant’. You can still distinguish yourself as a butcher by being good at the job but being a hauler for the association is living on the bottom of the pile, only going through areas already cleared by your betters to do the job of a mule. Though I suppose that’s not going to be an issue for you.” She said with an endearing tone at the end.

That got a few scowls from the surrounding men, but I didn’t care. I spent the rest of my time staring at the ceiling for some long amount of time like I could find the answer to the mess I was trapped in by taking in the all the imperfections of the hand forged metal. That was until a call was heard off in the distance. I couldn’t make out what was said, but the sound of carriages taking off in the distance was shortly followed with ours shifting forward with the neighing horses pulling us along.

While the windows along the tops of the carriage provided me a view of the grey sky, the most that happened along the way was a onetime stop that started and ended with the typical crunching of flesh and battle songs of the struggle between the dead and living. But otherwise the road was spent in silence as the other students were too intimidated or stressed to bother me.

It was near mid-day, after a long day of staring at the ceiling and coming up with nothing to solve the treason charge against Salamede, that we finally arrived at our destination. When our carriage came to a total stop, there was a call from a guard and the door opened. I saw a few trees over the heads of the student ahead of me. After a few moments, I was finally out the door.

Before me lay a vast landscape of rolling hills and scars of torn earth that became hard to distinguish between the massive splotches of bark from the sunk trees far off. In the distance I could vaguely make out a river from our heightened vantage point as it ambled across the open landscape. The mid-day sun played out over the cold landscape even as the snow was only seen on the occasional boulder. Nearby on the slightly lower plane in front of me was the main campsite.

Although campsite was only an apt description for the outer layer of our home for the next few days.

The inner circle was long rows of stone houses with the places for the camp workers, regular guards, and cook staff going around the stone abodes in a thick layer of tents of varying sizes and dull colors. People scampered about the camp seeing to the innumerable tasks needed to keep this beach head of civilization into these mana rich lands going. As far as I could see, the tales of place to the west lived up to their boasts.

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The faint blue mana wasn’t everywhere but at the spots where it was located along the ground and at certain dips from the trees, it was far thicker than the academy area. Stepping forward, I tried to make way for the other students getting out of the carriage, but my foot met unexpected resistance. Looking down, I saw the grass had started forming around my feet. A sharp tug was still more than enough to free myself from the restriction and I saw it was just an annoyance for the other students as well.

I took a deep breath and noted that the air was actually pretty fresh compared to the constant undead smell back in town. Off past the road behind me where we had come in, I saw a few of the shambling corpses of deer and pigs struggling through the grass. It was then that I realized what the occasional bump on the hill was. Looking back over the landscape, I saw with fresh eyes the various grass silhouettes and odd shapes along the ground of what I now knew was the undead being consumed by the grass.

“Come along students!” One of the staff members called up ahead. That got everyone moving as the blue and white stripped robes of the staff fluttered around us, looking us over for injuries and helping the few stuck in the grass. Coming down the hill, the scouts and hunters pulled ahead of my group with a haughty air, though none showed such an attitude when I was near. When I came onto the campground proper, I noticed that the entire stone house section had been put over a wide, muddy brown slab of stone. As the surrounding camp workers stopped to look at us approach, most of their eyes went immediately to me. Ignoring the attention, I made my way to the stone houses that lay at the center of the camp.

The houses were grey with minimal aesthetic consideration. Comprised of only a single floor and with the only outwards features, aside from a shingled roof, being a wood door and a window beside it. Near the very heart of the camp was a cooking area and rows of benches with tables, all very prim and clean with the same extravagant sense of taste in embellishments and woodwork.

One of the staff members got up on one of the tables to look over the crowds and brought the small army of students to a standstill. Her blond hair flowed in the wind as her green eyes surveyed the crowd.

“All right lads, we’ve got work to do. The scouts will head out immediately with the hunters flowing shortly behind them. As for the rest, you’ll be shown your work area and the houses you’ll be staying at.”

That prompted a wave of groans further in front of the crowd.

“My back hurts”

“Right now? What about a proper lunch? We only had travel snacks?”

“So the haulers and butchers get to just lay about?”

That prompted a smile from the staff member on the table.

“Did you think the people with greater combat ability would be doing less work? Know this, today is as close to being real mages as you’ve ever been. Safe spots in areas like these are always in high demand, sometimes your allotted time will be measured in hours, not days. In a real gathering expedition, you will quite often not have time to rest when getting to the safe area. That you will be getting three days to gather magical resources is very generous.

We are not here to pamper you; we are here to give you a taste of the real struggles of being a mage.”

Off to the left in the front of the crowd was the scions and Jeff. While the rocky armor of Ryan was easy to distinguish, the blue, yellow, and red of Andrew, Jeff, and Veronica were harder to see as the front of the crowd was directed off to the left and out onto the wide open planes.

From there, the haulers and butchers separated. The haulers were taken back to the carriages with the wide metal beds while we were taken behind the kitchen area to several long tables surrounded with barrels of what looked like salt. From there we were instructed in the basics of the job. While butchering magically enhanced animals was covered for in the survival courses, that had been for us out in the field by ourselves to immediately eat them.

For the expedition, we were actually breaking down the animals at the joints and putting them in salt barrels. What happens to the meat pieces after that depended on whether or not necrosis was in full swing. When it wasn’t, the meat joints would be sold as is to the highest bidders. But at this time of year, the joints would be exposed to the ambient healing mana as it tried to reform the whole body from the joint. While the vast majority of mages were rather squeamish about eating undead flesh, the pigs were not. The bodies would usually be chained up to a guillotine that was being watched over by a peasant who would cut off the forming head as the pigs devoured the healing flesh, only to be in turn devoured by the mage of the house.

The cook’s instructions for preparing the salt barrels, placement, and the various knives needed for the job were short and to the point as the tubby man with red hair gave us chickens to test our skills on. A task I laid my armor beside me for. As the late mid-day turned to proper afternoon with the orange starting to play over the sky, the scouts and hunter returned. Their entry into the camp was one of misery as the total haul was only a single horned rabbit.

As the staff grilled them on their practices and skills, the rest of us just awkwardly stood around with nothing to do. Which was really hard for me because that meant I had nothing to distract myself from my life’s situation. Dinner was grilled chicken in a hearty gravy with potatoes and green beans. But it might as well have been flavorless gruel for all I cared. The food was too busy competing for space with the knot of ever-growing worry in my gut to be tasty.

The night came and we were all shown to our houses as torches flickered in the wind at the corners of the houses. Along the way, I saw the Central enforcement officers who were going to be watching over me. Two burly gentlemen who only looked my way in passing as they flirted with some of the maids. Although the rest of the students apparently had no qualms about getting some bed-time company as well.

Most of the male students took a maid or kitchen server directly into their small houses and the noises that came out of the windows afterwards left no doubt as to their activities. The women, be they student, staff member, or camp worker, made their intentions abundantly clear when I came up to my house. Standing around expectantly, they all looked at me like they were waiting for me to take my pick as I held my armor in my hands and set it inside just besides the door. After activating the mana lamp in the center of my new homes ceiling, I summoned a stone slab to block the door and window in front of my house. There were a few earth mages in the crowd, and they all got quizzical looks but none of them acted fast enough when the wide grey stone cut off the entrance to my house.

A chorus of huffs, flabbergasted cries and moans rang out, but I ignored it as I put down my sack of clothes by the door and quickly put small holes in the walls to allow for air flow. Once that was completed, I took in the whole house and the relatively bare luxuries.

At least, relative to Diamond academy standards.

The floor was a lot of dark oak boards with a plush bed on the opposite side of the door. The walls were plain grey stone but the embroidery in the bed and sheets showed an expensive taste, even though the mana lamp for every house was already a tremendous luxury for the people of this world. On the head of the bed was a small hole with small instructions to activate its heating enchantment by pressing into a small black square in the middle, which I quickly turned on as I tucked in for the night.

Putting my mask on the head of the bed and laying down in the soft sheets, I tossed and turned in the darkness. My mind was running itself ragged with all the various ways I could possibly get out of this situation but eventually rejected them. It was bad at home, but now that I was far away in some hovel, I had the added worry of what I was coming back to.

Tansen seemed genuine in his actions and while he certainly wasn’t blameless for the situation, he was one of the few people who didn’t doubt my convictions on staying with Salamede. Even so, he was one person. The fact that the assholes who were descending on me took no issue with picking on innocent bystanders left me doubting that I could talk this out. The image of a burnt out hellscape where Salamede’s community used to be was all I saw as I fell asleep.

I woke up feeling like I had barely slept aside from my now sore jaw, courtesy of grinding my teeth.

Getting up, I threw on my clothes from yesterday and took up a replacement from my sack before I put on my mask from the bed post. When I used earth magic to break apart the slab of stone in front of my house into large chunks, which I promptly stored on my porch, I stepped out into the bracing cold of the day. Camp workers scurried around the various houses as the sun was only a vague suggestion of light across the sky. I moved along with the crowd going about the dozens of tasks needed to keep this little town going with my change of clothes being tucked under my right arm. Some raised an eyebrow at me still wearing my mask but none of them said anything to me, even as the occasional maid looked at me with clear interest.

Making my way towards the center to the cooking area, I was going to ask where the bathing area was but that was already obvious when I got into the more spacious square. A wide series of white tents were off to the right. The steam and patter of water around the place told of showers and the table in front of them affirmed that observation. Laden with fluffy white towels and the usual unisex robes, a few maids stood by to assist a few of the other early comers.

“Ah, the quad mage.” One buxom black-haired maid called to me from the left of the table.

That brought on a deluge of head turning and looks from the surrounding women, but I just walked up and took a towel with a new set of robes. Walking around the table, I looked down to see a large basket and noted the pile of dirty clothes in it. Making a mental note to drop off my laundry later, I started walking towards the closest tent when two of the maids stopped me. The black haired one from before who was looking at me with hungry brown eyes, and another petite blond with coy blue eyes and pigtails.

“Good mage, sir.”

“Quad castering, sir”

Their words stumbled over each other but after shooting a quick glare at each other, they coughed and resumed speaking.

“Lord mage, I know you were probably well used last night but some company in the shower is often a good way to soothe the aches of a long night’s work.” The black-haired maid said suggestively, her shoulder length hair swaying as she moved to puff out her chest. The white aprons over their plain black dresses provided a good deal of modesty but she did the best with what she had, making sure to pull down the neckline as low as she could get it.

The petite blond puffed up her cheeks in a put-out look and stepped forward with her hands on her hips as she tried to maintain a cool demeanor.

“If I may be so bold, lord mage, perhaps some company with someone who will actually massage a part of you that isn’t your manhood would be preferable?” She said in a honey sweet tone as she put out her right hand in a come-hither motion.

I took in a deep breath to scold the two women to leave me alone but then I looked at the blonde’s arm. There was a long series of scratches along her hand and they ran down near to her elbow as far as I could see.

“What happened to your arm?” I asked her.

She quickly drew the arm back like I had hit her.

“I-I assure you such insignificant things like that will not impede my ability to perform for you, lord mage.” She said, her tone becoming mildly panicked. A quick look over the black-haired maid and I could see some similar marks around her arms and legs.

“What happened?” I demanded again in a firmer tone.

They both looked at each other now and I could see the staff around us had stopped with towels and dirty clothes in hand. The black-haired maid bit her lip before answering for the two of them.

“It’s the grass, me lord. They gave us thick matted sheets to help keep it off of us, but the sheets are not terribly big and rolling off them in the night is easier than staying on them.” She said with a soft tone as she looked down at the muddy stone floor.

“But please, we are not the priority here.” The blonde said in an eager tone “Let your mind focus on more important tasks. We are here to serve you and your needs, be they mundane or physical. It would not do to have you fussing over the help.” Her blue eyes stayed totally sincere even as the other maid looked a little bitter in her smile and tense gaze.

Sighing, I put my clothes down on the floor and outstretched my arms to use healing spells on the two girls. They’re jaws swung open as they tried to object but all that I heard from them was two light cooing sounds as the warmth of the healing spell flooded their bodies.

“There. After breakfast I’ll work on another slab of stone for the workers here to sleep on.” I said as I picked up my clothes and walked past them to get a shower.

“Lord mage!” The black-haired maid squeaked in a scandalized tone. “That… we could not bear the shame of forcing a mage to make up for our weakness.”

“Bah!” I growled as I walked into the tent, “It will give me something to do besides sitting around and brooding at cleavers all day.”

My last view of the two was the blond looking over her now smooth skin with wide blue eyes while her fellow looked at me with shimmering brown eyes with her hands to her chest.

The shower head was at the far side on a wooden pole with the same heated flower head at the showers in the practice tower with a bench to the right. A quick dose and rub of the provided bar of soap and I was back out there with the stench of flowers covering me. Walking over to the kitchen area, I noticed some of the workers looking at me like I was an oddity that came out of nowhere. Ignoring the looks, I got my breakfast of eggs, bread, and ham slices from the breakfast bar.

As I sat down to my meal with a mug of water, Jeff, Andrew, Ryan, and Veronica sat down around me with their breakfasts. This naturally caused a stir among the onlooking staff and still semi-early rising students at the other tables as they gawked and whispered at the gathering of such powerful mages.

“You lot are up early.” I commented.

Andrew’s shoulder length red hair twirled as he looked skyward with a disappointed look as he spoke.

“Well, it’s not like going out late helped us yesterday. Maybe getting the scouts out earlier will give us the advantage we need.”

Veronica huffed, the blonde’s heart shaped face looking like a scolding mother.

“Come on, Andrew. We both know that early season is the worst pickings. Why do you think they let us students take an entire gathering spot?” Her blue eyes, however, only portrayed a similar disappointment.

“Still,” Ryan said after swallowing a muffin. His black hair swayed over his sharp cheek bones as he held up the conversation to take a swig of juice from his mug. “Would have liked to have something to show for our troubles besides a single rabbit. It’s slim pickings but it shouldn’t be this slim from what I’ve been told.”

Jeff and Andrew’s oceanic eyes met for a moment before they both turned towards me.

“We may have had more to show for it if they had put you were you belong.” Andrew said bitterly.

Jeff’s slight chin came up with a tired smile as he stroked a hand through his black hair before deflating his brother’s ambition.

“If you think they were ever going to let him go anywhere dangerous, I have some dragon hides back at my place I’d love to sell you.”

Ryan’s dark green eyes showed some mirth while Andrew just moped.

“But we were so close to catching a fire bear yesterday.” Andrew said despondently before taking a breath and nodding. “Yeah, all right. I suppose if it was my neck on the line if Eli got his head bitten off, I’d make him stay at the camp as well.”

“Of course, you would also not want the guilt of having me die on your watch as well.” I said in a lighthearted tone.

“Meh. At least there would be more sex for the rest of us. After the teary-eyed speech I’d give at your funeral, of course” Andrew scoffed casually as he bit into a slice of toasted bread.

That made Jeff and Ryan chuckle as I raised my eyebrow at Andrew.

“Unless my loins have been visiting the dorms without my permission, I’d say they haven’t been taking the women’s night time energy away from any of the other men.” I said with a curious tone.

It was a scoff from Veronica that drew everyone’s attention.

“Eli, do you really think you being here has had no effect on the women? I’ve heard quite a few of the men complaining about the sudden chastity of the female mages at the academy, even if the peasant women are still putting out for them. Why would a woman take herself out of commission for nine months to have a crafters baby when she could wait a week or two to have yours?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because that’s not happening. Once that becomes clear, the men will go back to having all the nighttime company they need.” I said firmly, leaving no room for disagreement.

Veronica gave me a disbelieving look, all but saying ‘Really?’ as she put both elbows on the table. Another cough and she began speaking again in a calm tone.

“There are two ways for we people of the breasted variety to get ahead in the world: Spend decades in grueling life and death struggles trying to fight for every scrap of mana enhanced food available, all the while dealing with bloodthirsty rivals or allies who will backstab you at a moment’s notice. Or we can bend over for you in a ten-minute session and be regarded as legends ever after. That’s a bit of math even the dumbest woman here can do and you’re quite foolish if you think that’s going to change.”

I gave a light laugh as I held her gaze.

“Perhaps I am. But at least we’ll all be fools together.”

Veronica got a puzzled look but didn’t say anything as the table went totally silent. In the background the rest of the students were waking up now and the workers had to run around getting enough towels and tableware available for them.

“I’m not sure they’ll be so flippant about it.” Veronica said as she got up from the table and took her empty plate and mug with her. The others nodded as they got up and bid goodbye.

Putting away my dishes to be washed, I talked with the head chef who was also the leader of the staff here. His long face got a distressed look as I told him of my plan to make proper quarters for the staff, but he eventually relented. An empty workshop by the butcher’s tables had bits of wood that had been cut for the various carpentry work here and from there I started working on the round pieces of wood for enchanting.

I decided to also make some extra beds for the stone slab and was planning on having a grey pod design with an open bottom for the occupant to get in through the ‘feet’ of the pod and wide cuts at the top that would let air in while having rain drip over it without getting inside the sleeping area. Along the bed would be small wooden disks that would give a light heating effect along their sheets. I had to use plant magic to make the small tufts of plant fiber around the wood pieces properly comfortable, but I eventually got enough of the magic crafts that I could quickly assemble the pods with ease.

It took a few hours, with me having to stop every now and then to work on a captured horned rabbit or water turtle, but after lunch I had the set up to make pods with soft, heated beds. The biggest challenge, at least for most people, was getting the vicious grass out of the way but that was trivial for me as I drained the life out of the grass along a big square patch. It pulled back from the assault and when I put down the grey slab, I started putting together the pods. A large board on the bottom to summon the body around it that would be stuffed with the blankets and sheets when it was done.

The heating enchantments on the coins would give enough heat in the space to keep the occupant slightly warm but not enough to present any fire hazards. I continued working on the pods, adding other functions on small wood coins that would summon and heat a bulb of water to provide some massaging functions. These would all be attached along strings and the two functions would be done pressing on the edges of a wooden triangle. Putting so much effort and time into the beds kept me from moping when the meager portions brought by the haulers wasn’t coming my way. Despite my best efforts, the dire situation I was in still weighed on me.

The airship wasn’t anywhere close to being done. I had even considered simply disappearing or faking my death but had thrown away the ideas, considering the whole of humanity would immediately dispatch every resource to catching me and I didn’t have the greatest success when I had attempted that in the past. Faking my death would mean upending my family and the only place I could think to go after that would be some lifeless rocks on the northern part of the central continent, that was even without considering the innumerable dangers surrounding such a voyage. The same tired thoughts ran through my head again and again for the whole day until I had all the heating coins strung together with their triangles. Around late afternoon we got the word that the last of the kills were coming through and I took that as an opportunity to finish out the additional beds.

I had been alternating between setting up the board to summon the stone frames and making the fire/water enchantments all day and I was on the cusp of getting the finishing touches done on the last of a good twenty of the beds when I heard the sound of a large scuffle break out near the central canteen. Heading back towards the long lines of dining tables, I saw Andrew and another guy with short blonde hair arguing. The other guy was a scout as far as I could tell from his light armor and I couldn’t tell what they were arguing about but as long as it wasn’t an attack on the camp, I didn’t care.

Heading back towards the large stone slab I had made, I looked around at how crowded it now was. The right side had a lot of tents that had gotten pretty crowded before I expanded on it further. When I had explained what the beds I was working on did, the head of the staff had to intervene to make sure a scuffle didn’t break out over who got them. The last touch was taking two more boards and using them to make healing items for any injuries sustained while they worked. A gift the heavy-set chef and kitchen staff stopped to look wide eyed at when I dumped them off on a cooking table with the gravitas and importance of a hammer.

My task for the day now completed with the falling of the sun in the orange sky, I got a sandwich, cooked potatoes, and a fruity drink, courtesy of a grateful head chef, from the bar as I went back towards the dining tables.

The first thing that hit me was how positively fowl the mood was. The faces of the students were mixes of scowls and pent up frustration with a far-left table holding a positively livid looking Andrew. He was sitting with a merely peeved Jeff and Ryan, all dressed in the typical white and blue striped robes of the academy. Walking up to them, they seemed to cool down a bit when I approached.

“Hey, what’s got everyone so down?” I asked as sat down opposite of them.

Andrew immediately exploded before anyone else said anything.

“Those fucking scouts! We’ve been having a bad time of it because they’ve been trying to take down the big game themselves. But, of course, they’re suited to track and move and taking down the big game isn’t what they’re equipped for. So those assholes have been trying to take on our kills and instead have just been driving them away.”

“Ah” I said as I sipped the fruity “That explains a lot.”

“Damn right it does.” Jeff said irritably. His short black hair did nothing to hide the irritated scowl above his slight chin.

“And it’s all the scouts doing it?” I asked politely.

That deflated the anger a bit as Ryan answered.

“Nah. It was just a few of them, but it was the ones who always insisted on taking the best hunting grounds. Tomorrow we’ll see how much we get without a bunch of idiots screwing everything up.”

Andrew vigorously nodded in agreement.

“Damn right we will.”

The next few minutes everyone sat around eating in peace until there was the sound of shouting off to my right by the bar.

“I don’t give a damn! This is ridiculous such lowly people having such luxury.”

I turned to see the short-haired blonde from earlier laying into the head chef along with a few other students. While bigger, the head chef cowered before the student in his brown pants, white shirt, and kitchen apron as he put his hands up with his red hair swaying from his nervous head movements.

“G-Good sir. You must understand that the quad mage is the one who directed they be used for-“

“Silence, you wretch! I don’t want to hear such excuses. We will be taking those stone beds for our personal use. And send me a kitchen wench later, I will need someone to relieve me of this bad day I’ve had.”

“Ah, there’s the lot who cost us all so much.” Jeff said with a strained voice.

Tired as I was, this involved my work so I might as well not only be halfway involved. As I got up from the table and moved closer, a few of the students buddies turned to scowl at me, an expression that quickly turned to fear before they moved aside for me. The blonde continued the argument even when I was right behind him. He was still totally oblivious as everyone else stopped to stare at the coming fight.

Quite a poor scout indeed.

“This is unacceptable. I as a caster cannot-“

“What is going on here?” I said.

The short haired blonde jumped straight up and turned to scowl at me, but his fiery green eyes quickly cooled when he saw who he was talking to. He came up a good three inches shorter than me, but he still had a decently muscular frame.

“The beds, quad mage.” The head chef said as he wiped his sweaty palms across his wide white apron. “They are very good. But servants ought not have better quarters than the ones they serve, what with the heated bed and massage abilities. The young master here was talking about us moving some for him and his friends personal use but moving so many this late in the day would be quite a burden on the staff here.”

“Bah!” The blond said, his face looking at the head of staff and chef in contempt. “Your lot is to bear the burdens we mages are too important to deal with. That you get to serve me is a privilege you should be all too happy to enjoy.”

All the surrounding staff members were impeccably well trained, for they all gave light nods as only their eyes betrayed their true irritation.

The well spring of aggrievement in my gut was churning but I did my best to quell it before speaking to him.

“I made those beds for the staff members who are working so hard to keep this place going. It would be most impolite of you to demand that be taken from them. Any irritation borne from today should not be taken out on those who are only trying to help you.” I said calmly even as I felt my patience thin.

“PFF! They should be grateful to interact with a caster. I guess you being so soft is how the goat women snaked herself into your be-“

He was on the ground with a bloody mouth. I had some vague vision of a fist connecting with his jaw and a new soreness in my right hand, but I pushed forward as I put myself standing over him with my foots brown shoe on his throat as he struggled to push me off him.

“All right, let me explain it to you like this.” I said, totally giving up any pretense of calm. “Those servants are worth more than you are”

That stopped his struggle as that stubborn mage pride suddenly absorbed the worst assault it had ever taken, all delivered in a single sentence. He looked properly stunned now as his previous fury was replaced with a blank stare.

“The servants have done their job. You have not. The difference between a tool and trash is whether or not it can do its intended function. You useless lot, as scouts, have shown you cannot do your job while they can. So, if you ever talk with me again, know that I that in my eyes the person who cleaned your clothes is more valuable than you are.

And God help you if I find out you scum so much as look at anyone wrong again.

Have I made myself clear?”

He got a defiant look, but that quickly went away as I pressed down on his throat again. Still determined to make a mess of everything, I saw him form a fire construct in his right hand. Kicking aside his hand, I knocked the construct into red mist but he used that as an opportunity to get up. Tired of this, I encased my foot in stone and swung it back towards his head. His green eyes went wide for a moment as the stone foot went right into his face.

A loud thud and the annoyance was out cold on the brown stone floor.

After I spit on him, I turned back towards my table. His small gang immediately scattered even as the head of staff put one of my healing boards to the downed mages skull. The other students also made way for me even as the staff members looked positively reverent towards me. Looking out over the crowd, I saw Veronica with her two friends, Eska and Mia, sitting at a table on the right. All three looked at me with approving nods as the rest of the crowd gradually went back to their previous conversations.

My table remained silent, but I could tell Andrew, Jeff, and Ryan silently approved of my actions. Maybe not the statements I gave, but the looks of satisfaction they were giving the downed mage said my actions were welcomed. The rest of the dinner passed with nothing else happening. My tasks for the day finished, I headed back to my cabin to sleep.

As I moved through the streets, I eventually came upon the house with large grey chunks of stone in front of it. When I moved through the doorway, I started the earth spell to reform the wall when my tired mind registered the two women present. They were the black-haired and petite blonde maids from earlier. Although their duties as maids were far from their minds as they lounged naked on my bed.

“We’ve become quite popular amongst the staff when they heard we were the ones who prompted you to help us.” The blonde said, her thin body and pert breasts bouncing with excitement as she rubbed herself in eager anticipation against my bed’s pillow and headboard.

“Indeed, everyone couldn’t stop talking about the heroic quad caster and we certainly can’t let his bed go cold when he has done so much to warm ours… with his magic. With your magic I mean” The black haired maid stumbled, but she made sure to keep lounging at the foot of my bed like a cat while leaning back on her hands and knees to expose her breasts brown nipples into full view. The petite blonde got a scowl before getting off the bed, striding up to me and pressing her small pink nipples against my chest with a lustful grin, even as she came up a full head shorter than me.

“I assure you, the aches from today will be smoothed out quite thoroughly by tomorrow morning.” She said before planting a kiss on my collar bone, which was as high as she could reach.

That got the other maid quite irritable, prompting her to abandon the bed and come over to take up space on the left side of my chest. The two glared at each other for a moment before taking the opportunity to put their hands on my pants knot. A move I quickly blocked with both of my hands.

“Ladies, I very much appreciate the offer, but I have aches and worries your bodies cannot soothe.” I said as kindly as I could.

They got hurt looks at that, even though they kept pressing themselves against me.

“Are we so unappealing in your eyes?” The blonde said with tears in her blue eyes.

“I know we cannot compare to some beauties you have laid with, but I assure you we have plenty to offer-“

I put up a finger to both their lips as my sigh escaped behind my smiling metal mask.

“It’s not a matter of appeal. The sword on my wife’s neck haunts me. Unless you have unmatched legal expertise or substantial influence with congress, I’m afraid there is no soothing my worries tonight.”

They both got sympathetic looks at that before looking to each other. Their decision made, they put on their clothes from a small pile under the window and gave a light bow. As they moved to go out the door, the black-haired maid stole a quick kiss across my neck before scooting out the door. The petite blond followed soon after with a dark scowl. I rolled my eyes at the antics of youth before getting the stone wall in place and going to sleep.

It was another long night of endless mental exhaustion, exasperated by my wife’s absence. In the morning, I couldn’t even concentrate on how tired I was as I moved through the icy morning. Even as I got ready for my shower, to the giggling delight of the maids as they blushed from even falling under my gaze, my mind was still trapped in the same track it had run itself to exhaustion on. I’m not giving the Coalition thirty kids from thirty women and I can’t just disappear if I don’t want them torching the Kelton’s looking for me, but I need to do one or the other soon because my wife’s head is going to be cut from her shoulders in the next few weeks. But no matter the struggle, that third option remained as elusive as ever.

Fortunately, we were getting a fair amount of game now and I was kept busy taking apart fire element birds. The morning passed through its typical motions until an hour before lunch. Off on the planes came a bloody looking student in leather armor and metal shoulder guards, the typical attire of scouts or haulers. He was totally exhausted as the staff crowded around him. It was a few more minutes still before the word got out about what had happened.

The hunters had managed to bring down a big deer with the water element, but a pack of rock wolves had been missed by the scouts. A mistake that now meant the haulers were stuck on the metal bed as they fended off the wolves who had made short work of the horses. A relief force was being gathered to kill the wolves and I volunteered, if for no other reason than to get away from my own thoughts and it looked like they might have to send the staff which was a guarantee that there would be deaths.

Going back to my house and donning my armor, I quickly made my way towards the left side of the camp where the expedition force of staff members and students was heading out. There was some concerned looks passed between the teachers but ultimately this was a part of the exercise and no one made an official objection, especially with the two members of Central enforcement accompanying us. The two muscle heads had apparently made enough time between flirting with the maids to actually do their job and were donned in full plate armor for the trip. I would be in the front since I could suck the life out of the grass around me to make the trip there easier.

Once everyone was ready, we headed out on the wind-swept plains of biting cold as I walked ahead of the group in my hawk embellished armor. Using a plant draining spell, I left a wide circle of dead earth around me as I moved on ahead of the group. The planes still held a few high hills and the occasional deep gash in the earth sometimes made it hard to determine what would properly be considered above ground at certain points.

“What are these odd dips and rises in the dirt from?” I called behind me to one of the staff members who insisted on staying close to me even as they jostled with the two Enforcers for room.

“Moles. They munch on the mana rich roots and turn into the size of dogs. That and their earth magic means they can tear up the landscape in just a few days. Luckily the grass grows and pulls down obstructions so fast that only the underground tunnels stay behind as a reminder.” The mid-30’s man in a suit of plate armor said.

Nodding and turning back towards the direction they were leading me, we eventually reached the spot even if the smell of blood announced our arrival before the actual site of the attack did. This spot was were some of the most churned earth was and sharp, near jagged hills were behind the ruined carriage.

The horses were mostly shredded meat and bones inside their armor now with bits of steam coming off the hot meat in the near freezing temperature. Around the carcasses were brown-furred wolves, with stones on their joints and spines, biting into the feast. The long metal bed behind them had a horse-sized blue deer surrounded with a mess of earth and water walls and the rest of the students, all of whom were frantically trying to hold up various barriers against the onslaught of the remaining wolf pack.

A lot of the beasts watched us warily but not enough to prevent my first attack. I used a plant spell to grow the grass around the feasting wolves and the ones attacking the barriers, entwining them in the now viny blades of green as it took them around their waists and legs. The rest of my group stood back and started firing off fireballs, wind blades, water spikes, and boulders.

Off to the left behind more of the churned earth came more cries and sounds of fighting.

“Someone go save them! We can handle these nuisances.” I heard behind me.

Taking off behind my party as they kept moving forward, I rushed off with two other students. The grass pulled at us, slowing us down as we came around a few bends in the tall, twisted earth especially when we went around a corner and had to take a moment to peek. The cry went out again as we went through the wide corridors. Eventually we turned left as the sound of fighting with crushing bone and flesh grew. In front of us with grass along the sides was a deep cut in the earth and as we moved forward, we saw who we were sent to rescue.

Orcs.

There were near a dozen of them at the bottom of the gash in the earth with a low slope on the opposite side, fighting off undead dogs and rats with their typical assortment of axes, hammers, and shields in the wide tunnel that kept going on and on in both the right and left direction. Their leather armor was scratched and bloody as a few lay dead in the dirt. The undead were absorbing all of the ambient healing magic and were giving the orcs a harder time than any they could have given in life.

“Hey, maybe the quad mage shouldn’t be here.” One of the students said to my left, her green eyes swaying nervously under her long brown hair.

But she spoke too loudly as her voice carried down the hole. That sent a lot of the orcs heads up towards me. Their black eyes with red and gold irises regarded me with looks of fear, awe, and hatred. Looks that quickly faded when they turned their attention back to their opponents. I just stood there still as a statue as I took in the fight with little interest, my mind too busy running at breakneck speed as a new plan formed.

The third option.

Gula.

Yeah, the orcs swampland would be the last place the Coalition would look and I might even be able to get the dwarves to help me. Gashton told me his higherups had shot down his proposal to let me bum it in their mountains, but he had also told me at our very first meeting that they wouldn’t let me fall into the hands of the orcs. Sending Salamede to live with Gula would take her out of the line of fire. Making it clear that I was going to do this regardless of whether they assisted me getting her there and sending her letters, the dwarves would probably help since they would have to monitor my presence there anyway. Even if it wasn’t a solution to all of my problems, or even a solution to anything in the long term, it would get Salamede’s head off the chopping block.

Another point in this plans favor was that Gula was the only person outside of the Coalition or dwarfs who would be relatively reliable in hiding Salamede. Exposing me to her compatriots would only see herself killed when the obvious questions were asked. Being a quad mage, there had to be something I could give her or non-sexual service I could perform that would entice her to take in my wife. Hell, I could probably pay her in whatever amount of crops or metal she wanted.

I noticed an older orc with black and grey striped hair done up in a single ponytail was taking her time staring at me as I stood dead still. Her leather armor and axe with shield had scratches everywhere and she was in the back of the pack panting heavily. Her sharp chin and thin eyebrows were on an inscrutable face as my mind jerked me back into the present.

“Let’s get out of here.” I told the other two students. They quickly pulled back with no argument, eager to get away from the mortal enemy of humanity. I hid an earth spell in front of me as I pulled the earth in the tunnel onto the undead. The left side of the tunnel collapsed further, its wide slope on that side still too high for the orcs to climb up but not so high that it would compromise the tunnel's structure.

The older orc looked over the undead crushed under the dirt and boulders as her companions ran back to get away from them and flee down the tunnel. Her black and red eyes turned back up to me and showed a sense of confusion, which twisted into bewilderment when I politely nodded and turned back to catch up with my fleeing companions. We made our back to where we came, moving in between the shorn lumps of earth.

Coming back onto the planes, I saw the large metal bed with the blue deer and now two bodies of the rock wolves to accompany it. A few of the students were being fed bottles of red liquid, healing potions, and the staff were supervising the remaining people. To my right I saw three people off in the distance heading towards the camp in the mid-day sun.

“Good. No one died,” One of the staff members dressed in metal armor said as she got onto the metal bed to start directing people. “Students from the camp should stay here for a few more minutes until help arrives.”

My two companions seemed nervous about what we had seen back in the hole and it was when the new horses from the camp came that one of the girls finally worked up the courage to tell the staff. The girl was whispering in the ear of a mid-30’s woman with leather armor and red hair. The staff members green eyes went wide and moved over to me.

“You are heading back to the camp with three of the staff members.” She said with pale skin and a bit lip.

I nodded and headed back towards the large, flat slab of stone that marked the campgrounds with three very perturbed looking women behind me. After getting to my designated house, I changed back into my regular white shirt and brown pants. As I made my way to the center of the camp to get back to the butchers table, it was a mess of people running around moving boxes and various items. The work of the corpses was being seen to, but now the staff members were the ones cutting up the magical animals.

“Eli!”

I turned around to see three staff members with four guards, all done up in full plate armor. The women looked worried and they quickly took me by the arms and dragged me towards the back end of the camp.

“What’s happening?” I demanded, trying my best not to knock them on their asses with a boulder.

The one pulling my left arm looked at me like I was crazy.

“The orcs.” She said like I was being intentionally ignorant. “The trip is cancelled early. We’re pulling you, the scions, and Jeff out immediately with us following a few hours after.”

From there they let me pick up the armor from my room along the way to the back end of the camp with seven guards around me. Eventually, as I stood around after getting my armor on, the two minions from Central Enforcement came back and joined my little entourage. As they were fussing around with some weapons and shields, the rest of the group came back from the planes. Jeff was wearing his full plate armor doused in yellow with the armors red twin around Andrew to his left. Behind them was Veronica in the blue leather and metal shoulder guards with the rock looking armor of Ryan trudging beside her.

My view of them became blocked by the grey stone of the house I was behind, but they were quickly seen coming down the main lane leading to us. A whistle behind me sent one of the more heavily armored carriages pulling up with four horses shod in enough armor to make them look like they were going to war.

“What’s going on?” Veronica asked with a pout as the staff members came up behind the four and started pushing us all into the carriage. “We were on the trail of-“

“Orcs.” The women pushing Jeff forward grunted.

That stopped the grumpy faces and objections as we were all now pushed towards the open door of the big metal carriage.

“Where were they?” Jeff asked.

“What’s their numbers?” Ryan asked.

“Ask Eli, he’s the one who ran into them.” The staff member pushing Andrew said.

The four students faces went pale and their jaws worked soundlessly but Jeff was the one who spoke first.

“E-Eli! They almost got Eli?!” His short black hair tussled with the wind as he turned back to me. He was biting his lower lip above his slight chin and the rest just had stunned expressions.

“He can explain on the way back.” One of the full plated guards said as he held open the carriage door and we were pushed in one by one.

It was the typical affair with a heating flower behind the mana lamp and two benches on both sides. We all were shuffled in and the door barely had time to close before we heard the stomping of metal boots to the front of the carriage and we all jerked back from the horses immediately taking off at a gallop. Ryan was directly in front of me while sitting to the left of Veronica, with Andrew to my right and Jeff to the right of him.

“What happened Eli?” Veronica demanded as she took off her blue painted metal helmet to let her now shoulder length blond hair free. The previous complacency and irritation in their faces was gone now as they all leaned towards me.

I leaned back into the metal wall as we took a heavy curve. For a while I explained what happened, which took far longer than it should have because one of them would always stop me to go over some agonizing detail. It was when we were near the base on our way back to the academy that I finally got to the end of my tale.

“Damn.” Ryan said. The rest looked less shocked now, but Jeff was still looking off in the distance.

“Just think about it.” Andrew said as he strummed the bench in a nervous pattern. “Quad element orcs. The gods would have truly abandoned us on such a day. I can see why they decided to just pull out completely.”

“Not just that,” Jeff cut in, “There’s probably going to be a lot of screaming amongst the higher-ups when word of this gets out. An overreaction will help mitigate blame when all the orders that lead to Eli meeting orcs are reviewed.” All the others nodded at his assessment.

“Eli,” Veronica said with a curious look on her heart shaped face as her blond hair moved with the slight tilt of her head, “When you talked about the orcs, you… I hope I don’t offend, but you didn’t seem particularly perturbed when talking about them.”

The truth was that I didn’t hate the orcs and was actively planning to work with them. As bad as I felt for deceiving them, this was a situation where lying was the lesser evil. Not that I had a hard time lying recently. I was just glad I had my metal mask to hide my pained grimace before I answered.

“I’m too busy thinking about the government killing my wife to worry about some orcs in a hole.” I said irritably.

That got a few understanding nods before Jeff spoke up.

“Still, I imagine there are going to be a lot of people in the capital worried sick about this. We might have just participated in a major national scandal.”

“Good,” I scoffed, “I hope it keeps them up at night and haunts their dreams for ever after.”

A few grimaces were the only other communication that they had as we rode back to the academy in silence. Eventually we passed the grey wall of the main academy town as Tansen and Koal wanted to meet us when we arrived. Apparently, we didn’t even have to wait to get to Tansen’s office as they decided to meet us right there on the side of the road.

The black kimono clad academy head was positively furious as Koal stood beside him with furrowed eyebrows. Off to her right was Harold, looking rather angry about being out in the cold with just a regular brown jacket over his typical sleeveless black tunic. The ever-burning pyres were on the opposite side of the road behind them as all the soldiers stood around watching. As we stepped outside and onto the ice-covered grass with a soft crunch, we moved a little awkwardly as our minds re-adjusted to the sensation of the grass no longer fighting our every footfall.

“What happened?” Tansen said, his goatee twisted with a scowl.

“Did they not send a hawk?” Veronica asked. Koal had a cool face as she answered for Tansen.

“Yes, but it was vague, saying something about the expedition meeting orcs with them being in an operation that had Eli.” Her voice was calm but the wrangling of her snake familiar inside her red robes shoulder showed her inner irritation.

“We didn’t meet them,” Andrew said with a downcast look, “Eli… was the one they ran into.”

Tansen looked like he just had the air sucked out of his lungs through his hanging jaw while a small patch of green sprouted around Koal as heat blasted away the winter cold around her in a widening circle. After I gave a quick explanation, the two immediately turned on Harold. His strong jaw clenched in fear as the two scions turned to him.

“You were the one who insisted on taking over his security.” Tansen said as he walked around Koal to face Harold.

“Please, this is hardly an inditement on my men considering we don’t know-“

Koal strolled forward and took his Jaw in her hands, making his green eyes go wide as he bit his lip. Despite the heating blasting off of her, her voice was cold as her lighter green eyes met his.

“No, just no. You insisted on lowering the academy security for your own people to guard him and the fucking quad mage got some one on one time with the orcs. Not one word from you as we go over the incident with the staff coming back. Get the fuck out of here before I decide to be merciful and throw you into one of the pyres.”

That reminded me that I may need to provide some earth and heating crafts to set up a comfortable house in the swamps considering Gula may not have the room to take on Salamede with little to no notice. I coughed and spoke when everyone turned to me.

“May I go? I’m eager to see my wife early.”

That got an irritated sigh from Koal but Tansen put on a strained smile.

“Sure. We didn’t inform her you were coming home early since the letter wasn’t very clear on what condition you would be in.”

I nodded to them before leaving Harold to their tender mercies. Behind me the soft crunch of footsteps turning right said my former travelling companion were heading to their houses. Over the icy plane I saw my tower in the distance, the three stories of stone with cut corners stood out from the snow and moving river behind it. While the outer walls were covered with black marble flecked with white, the light grey stone of the lawn with its corners all flowing out from the tower like a flower provided a nice contrast. While a thin layer of ice was over most of the lawn, I had put in heating wood coins in the walkway towards the main door with two wings of inward facing stone.

Walking up to my home, I knocked on the ornate oak pad on the right of the door. After a few moments wait, Salamede opened the door wearing her typical green dress with white embroidery. Her white eyes went wide and before I could say anything, she jumped me. Pulling down the mask on my armor, she stuck her tongue down my throat as I awkwardly tried to shuffle into the room. But that task was made a lot harder as my wife started working the clasps on my steel suit and put her legs around my hips as the sound of our smacking lips filled the room.

By the time I got to the far couch by the fireplace on the left, my chest and arm pieces were discarded on the floor as Salamede started working my pants off as we plowed into the couch with a soft thunk, which did nothing to slow her down.

‘Don’t you want to know how my trip went?’ I teased her in a spirit connection as Salamede took my head with one hand and worked her dress up with the other.

‘Why would I when I already know how it’s going to end?’ She growled back as she lifted her dress totally off her to expose herself to me.

Sometime later, we cuddled together as we looked at the fireplace opposite of us. Taking in the magical flames above the enchanted boards, Salamede pressed her bust against my bare chest as we lay in a tangled heap on the couch with Salamede putting her snout against my collar bone.

‘That was very good, Eli’ Salamede said, her heaving breathes still coming clear through in the spirit connection. ‘I could actually relax and looking you in the eyes, I definitely felt like you were steady now.’

The unsaid question actually touched on the difficult subject I wanted to discuss, so I might as well get it over with.

‘I think I have come up with a… temporary… easing of our situation.’

Salamede turned her head up with a flare of her snout. Her goat-like face got a smug look as she did a light kiss on my lips.

‘My man. What is this solution?’

I took a deep breath before taking the plunge.

‘Gula. The solution came to me when I saw some orcs on the expedition. She’s far away from anywhere the humans would think to look for you and I’m pretty sure I could get the dwarves to act as a go-between for letters or transport. Of course, this is a last resort that we will use only if they decide to have you executed.’

Salamede went wide eyed as she bit her lip. But for a long moment she said nothing, which I took as an opportunity to grope her left breast and hip.

‘Eli, that’s not fair. It’s very hard for a woman to tell her man no when he’s got his hands all over her body.’ She pouted, sounding rather pleased with my actions, nonetheless. ‘We worked with the orcs because we were desperate.’

I took her lower jaw in my right hand and looked her straight in the eye’s.

‘As opposed to now? What are we now if not desperate?’ I asked in the mildest tone I could. She gulped as she looked down, the light of the fire playing across her face and the rest of the darkened room. After a minute of biting her lip, she spoke up again.

‘If they find out… I cannot even begin to imagine what the consequences would be.’ She said worriedly.

‘And if I came home one day to find they did another ‘trial’ and executed you while my back was turned, what do you think the consequences would be? What do you think would happen after that?’ I asked calmly. Despite my best efforts, my appearance was apparently still intimidating because Salamede bit her lower lip harder and her ears pulled back. I decided to plow ahead to capitalize on my momentum.

‘Whatever happens after today is their own doing. If I can get the airship going, that might whet their appetites for more scientific thinking, but it might make them come after you harder than before for denying another ‘quad element miracle’ from them. We’re fighting against the magical breeding preferences every society is built upon and the airship is the only card we have to play. But I would be a lot more comfortable playing that card if we had a backup.’ I finished.

Salamede looked at me for a long moment before cuddling her snout against my chest.

‘Fine. I will defer to your immense experience on this.’ She said in a resigned tone.

‘This is our decision, Salamede.’ I said with a firm squeeze of her bum. ‘I am your husband and you are my wife. Your happiness is my happiness. I love to lead but we are still partners in this and if you have an objection or opinion, do not hesitate to share it.’ I finished with a playful kiss on her cheek.

She hugged me even more tightly as she gave a happy little coo.

‘Ok. I’ll make us something to eat while we go over a pretty big event that happened while you were away. Also, my mother had a request that I wanted to run by you.’

I nodded as my wife got up, stopping only to plant a deep kiss on my lips before moving across the oak floor to get to the kitchen. After staring at her retreating form, I turned back to the flames in the fireplace, going over the logistics involved in moving Salamede to the swamps.