Alex's POV
We flew over the city walls and straight toward the tallest and best inn of the whole city. Of course she lives here, she's a princess after all. She flew in through a window on the top floor and I followed after her.
I landed and the first thing I thought was 'this is a really good room', so far its the best I've seen in this world. The bed seems comfortable while the room is quite spacious and there is some nice art on the walls. Definetly worth the price they charge for it.
"Take a seat." she said while sitting herself on a comfy looking sofa and motioning to the one oppsite. There is even a well crafted table with some intricate carvings in the middle.
"Explain" I sat down and stared at her waiting for her elaboration of the story she told earlier.
"First of all my name is Princess Inra Bertoldo, I was the next in line for the throne of a small vampire nation where my father and mother ruled. Mortas, my father's aide, plotted alongside other conspirators and they had my parents killed when they were seperated from their gaurds. He tried to do the same to me but I was able to slip away while my royal gaurds held off the attackers. Everyone I could trust is now dead and frankly the thought of going back to that place haunts me. However, it is my right and duty to rule those people and no matter what happens I will fulfill that duty and exercise that right. Of course, I can't do this alone so I have been searching for someone capable enough to help me. I couldn't ask another vampire for help because they would use me and then take over the throne themself meanwhile all the humans I met were nowhere near my level. You are the only one who has shown promise even though all the skills you use aren't the greatest but they fact that you can use all of them and with such beautiful cordination makes you a deadly weapon." she took a breath and continued, " If you bond with me all of your strengths will become stronger while your weaknesses will for the most part disappear."
"What the fuck does it mean to bond with you?" I was extremely confused when she mentioned bonding with her. "Bonding is a process where a vampire and a member of another race magically which causes both to gain strengths from the other race or loose the weakness of their own race. For example, with me and you, I would loose my weakness against sunlight and light magic and I will also no longer have to drink blood, whereas you would gain an unlimited lifespan, a better understanding of magic and stronger physique."
"That sounds too good to be true, what's the catch?" I asked back while doubting such a convinient thing. "The catch is that if 1 dies so does the other, this way we won't be able to betray ecah other." is she really that naieve or is she just pretending. "You can still betray each other, you would just imprison the other person instead of killing them." the look on her face showed that she was just waitin for this question so she must have a way to get rid of the loophole. "After the process of bonding each person gains the abillity to commit suicide even if they are unconsious or out of mana, so if one were to betray the other in that manner the other can then commit suicide killing both bonded individuals."
She continued with her sales pitch, "On top of all this, you would be the husband of the queen, no one could question your actions." she smiled thinking she just put the icing on the cake and I will say being her husband does sound pretty delicious. "I don't plan on settling down so quickly, what do vampires think about polygamy?"
"Polygamy isn't very common in vampires but it isn't shunned and I don't plan on forcing you to become my husband or to not have other women." This seems to be a very good offer but I don't want to rush into some sort of magical contract so easily.
"The offer is quite good, can I sleep on it?" I asked her to which she seemed a bit disappointed but quickly changed her look to respond, "Okay, you can sleep on the sofa for tonight but if you accept my offer you can sleep on the bed with me." she walked towards her bed while shaking her hips seductively. In this world there aren't any real laws regarding at what age you can marry or have sex but you become an adult at age 15. That's probably because most people die between 20-35. Anyway, she is really trying to sell this bonding thing isn't she?
I can't really see any loopholes where she can take advantage of me so I don't think there is any downside to taking the deal. If i can get stronger as well as gain a vampire princess as my woman there isn't much to loose. Well, for now let's sleep.
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Inra's POV
I can't believe it, he didn't instantly say yes when I mentioned I would be his wife. I know I just became an adult by vampire standards but I'm much older than this human, how did my charm not work on him. I'll try it on him as he sleeps.
I pretended to sleep for an hour or so before walking over to the sofa. I was about to start the charm magic but all of a sudden he started saying "Katy" with a look of severe pain on his face. I couldn't bring myself to use the charm magic on him when he looks like this. I hope he will still chose to bond with me but I can't take advantage of someone who is already suffering. I used a different magic on him and he seemd to sleeping more peacefully now.
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I can't believe I'm becoming so soft. I have killed so many innocents before but I can't make myself take advantage of this man who seems innocent but most likely isn't. An innocent person doesn't gain that kind of strength at such a young age. He seems to have lost someone just as I have lost people, hopefully this similarity will bring him to empathise with me. Oh well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow. For now I'll go and find something to drink.
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That night, a small group of bandits that had been hiding near the capital and robbing merchants dispappeared forever.
At the same time a small army, filled with strong knights, was heading towards a frontier village at the southwest corner of Shankira kingdom ready to start a war they were sure their country would win. If nothing goes wrong then, they should arrive at their destination in one month.
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Alex's POV
I woke up in the morning feeling well rested. It seems I didn't have the nightmare last night, a rare occurence. Whatever, let's start the day.
I got off the sofa, splashed some water magic on my face which I dried with fire magic. I didn't see the princess anywhere so I decided I would go and get paid for the goblins first. I jumped out the window and then walked towards the guild. I bought a couple skewers on the way and I chewed on them while walking, not the most balanced breakfast but it doesn't matter much.
I walked into the guild and saw that is was a lot busier than yesterday. Most people were hovering near the request board while some were having breakfast on the tables. I came here in the middle of the day yesterday so I must have missed the morning rush of adventurers looking for requests. I ignored them and walked in line for the receptionist.
After a while it was finally my turn, "Hello, how can I help you today?" Its a different one from yesterday but she's cute as well. "I killed some goblins yesterday and wanted to get the money for them."
"Okay, it will be 2 bronze coins per ear, how many ears do you have?" her face went pale when I pulled out the ears from my void space. They were wrapped in cloth but I know she could tell what was in there, "This is 2400 goblin ears and one goblin king." I stted while pulling out the goblin kings corpse.
"Please give me just a moment!" she shouted in a fluster as she ran to the back. At this point all of the adventurers stopped what they were doing and jsut started at me. I could hear whispers among them saying "thats a lot of goblins,"..."he killed them all on his own?"..."its just goblins, they're weak."..."dumbass, 2400 goblins and a goblin king, that's an army not some small ragtag group of goblins."..."Who you calling a dumbass!". The whispers became shouts while they argued with each other.
I enjoyed the small entertainment while the recpetionist came back with a man probably in his late 30s. "Young man, are you the one who brought back 2400 goblin ears and a goblin king?" as soon as he started talking all the voices around me stopped. "Well, I'm standing next to them aren't I?" I responded with my best friend, sarcasm. It seems though, that this guy doesn't like it as much. I heard gasps from all around me, they fear this guy. "I'm not here for jokes kid, but you do have a point. Bringyour spoils and come with me." I put my stuff back into the void space and followed him to some sort of reception room probably reserved for higher level guests.
"You can set them down here. My name is Jack, I'm one of the guild managers and a retired adventurer. What's your name?" he sat down before motioning to the opposite sofa after I had set the loot to the side of the room. "I'm Alex" the receptionist walked away out of the room.
"What's your adventurer rank?" I showed him my green card. "F ranked?!" he showed surprise pretty easily.
"I just registered yesterday and needed money so I went hunting afterwards." I put away my card, "Can I just get paid already?"
"You will get paid but please answer my questions first. Where did you find this big a group of goblins and how did you hunt them?"
"I hunted in the west forest and how I killed them isn't any of your business, but if you must know I shot arrows at them." I responded while annoyed at his questions. Why can't they just fucking pay me and get on with it?
"Please cooperate here, did you leave any goblins alive because if you did they will reproduce quickly and get a big population again. We have never had goblins in that forest before." he's getting annoyed with me because I'm getting annoyed at his idiotic questions.
"I am cooperating. This is the best I can do, I don't really like answering stupid questions. As far as remaining goblins go I'm not sure, Before I left I thought I killed them all but they are sneaky little shits."
"That's not how you talk to a superior.Are you trying to piss me off?" I sighed heavily and got up, "Are you gonna pay me or not?"
He grinded his teeth obviously wanting to punch me through the wall but there's probably some sort of rule against guild staff attcking adventurers and same probably vice versa. He rang a bell on the table and the same recptionist walked back in a few moments later.
"Karen, check and count the ears and then pay him for both the ears and the corpse."
The receptionist, Karen, nodded and went to the corner to count the ears, I sat back down and had a staring contest with the idiotic Jack. After a while karen came back over.
"For the goblin ears, 2400 of them, the total comes to 4 gold and 80 silver coins plus 4 silver coins for slaying a goblin king plus 10 silver coins for materials from the corpse brings you to a total of 4 gold coins and 94 silver. Please wait here while I grab your payment."
That's a decent amount of money, it should help out in the future. Karen came back a few moments after leaving with a small pouch in her hand. "Please count it." I opened the puch to make sure the gold coins were there and then made sure there were a good amount of silver coins but I'm not gonna bother counting them. I tossed them into my void space which still has the goblin weapons but I'll hold on to them for now.
"Appreciate the business, by the way Karen would you like to have lunch with me later?" she started panicking as soon as I asked. This is fun. I'll be back again to tease her. "Stop messing with my employees and leave." demanded Jack. I'll have to make sure he isn't around to ruin my fun.
I walked out of the room while invoking a fun little magic. I wish you luck Jack.