A set of local skirmishes all across Buranikka bore no apparent winner. Only a few dozen corpses and a bunch of footholds came as a result. For better or worse, even with hundreds of refugees already leaving the city, it still brimmed with vividness.
Soldiers and spies, knights and tribesmen, all prepared for the inevitable confrontation, but for some that was but a background activity. The city survived numerous invasions, such as this one. It devoured all who tried to conquer it during the past ten years.
"Now then, little kitten…" Blade was among those uncaring. Swaggering around in some girl`s bedroom, whose name she didn`t even bother remembering, the Hero of Sword shone with her scoundrel smile.
"I`m Nina." The young woman with wheat-colored hair said uncertainly. She sat on the bed, waiting for the imposing blond swordmaster to finally embrace her.
"Heh, whatever, kitty." The warrior replied dismissively. She unfastened her sheath, letting the heavy sword loudly crush into the floor. It even left a dent, but Nina couldn`t care less, as Blade moved closer and closer, gracefully strolling forward. "You want me, huh? Think I`m a man of your dreams." She spoke cheekily, tinkering with narrow belts, fastened to the white cuirass.
"I`ve been waiting you for my whole life, my hero." The other girl said enthusiastically, leaving less and less skin covered with the fabric of her dress.
"Magnificent!" Blade exclaimed, dramatically raising her left arm. After that… "Then you`re up for a little surprise, kitten." …the breastplate had fallen, along with the green padded shirt. "Yes! I`m not some filthy man-scum! I`m actually a woman!" The hero stated, revealing her voluminous breasts. "Don`t be scared, kitten."
"I`m…" Nina gulped, gazing at Blade`s generous forms. "Shiva forbid…" She gasped, crawling closer and closer to that mighty-looking swordswoman.
"Nah, kitty…" The hero interrupted her mate with a finger to the lips. "No dicker has any saying in this." The blonde pronounced with all the possible smug she could ever get. A smirk, a stance, the entire attitude left no choice for Nina other than to submit herself to Blade`s power. The latter started with a lick, her tongue boldly swept through the girl`s cheek. The wheat-haired beauty shuddered, tried crawling away, but the wall treacherously blocked her pass, leaving the young woman in a pushy embrace.
Blade was swift and precise, in mere instant she coiled around her one-night partner. Nina was troubled; neither too scared of the hero, nor too infatuated with her true self. And so, the blonde met almost no resistance, when her silky fingers began stirring the diligently shaved vagina.
"Ugh…" The girl moaned, having her attire ultimately discarded, along with any sense of agency. Blade licked her belly, played with nipples, sometimes giggled without any apparent reason. Nina wasn`t a stranger to sexual life, so much so that having another woman in her bed seemed like a nice change of pace.
"Ho-ho! I`m all you`ll ever need, kitten." The Hero of Sword murmured during the frantic fingering. "Forget them, forget the men, forget, forget, forget!" And then, she started blabbering all the sudden.
"Gh!.." Combined with Blade`s neurotic shuddering, Nina just couldn`t suppress her anxiety any further. She tried slipping away from the madding hero…
"NO-O-O-O-O!!!" Though, it was a little too late. The blonde caught her fleeing prey by the neck. Mindless rage boiled in her green eyes, as the swordswoman`s gaze jumped from place to place. Until they stopped on her right hand.
"Chk… G-g-gh…" While Nina painfully choked, and her head grew more and more red…
"A-a…" Blade couldn`t avert her eyes from her own palm. There, mixed among the love juices, she saw the yellowish pox. An infection dwelled in her poor one-time companion. "Khh… No… G-g-give… back…" Just like the one Josephine was suffering in the past.
They threw the young woman into a rotten cell. The putrid smell never left that cursed place, and the prisoner had long since stopped feeling it.
"Gh…" The girl dropped on the cold floor, like a bag of bones. Her slender and malnourished body had long since stopped struggling. Her will was shattered, her hope was crushed. Bruises covered her face, lice roamed in her pale blonde hair.
"Pa-pa, Josie! We`ll come later!" A man`s voice ranged in her shattered skull. A prison warden? His friends? All at once? She didn`t care. Only an uncaring doll remained of what used to be a human. She was one… years ago. Josephine barely even remembered how she got there. There was her uncle, a drunk miserable man, who fell so deep he just raped his niece one day. And again, and again. And with his drinking buddies. And with a stick. And… she killed him. What then?
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing but daily violence, physical, sexual, mental. Josephine`s battered body was rotting, her sore throat burned with at least three pox chancres, her skin was painted with red rash, and whenever she crawled, a trace of bloody pus always dripped from between her legs. A pitiful state indeed.
At that point, Josephine had no strength to yell, cry, curse or beg. No hate toward the torturers, no wrath, nothing. She was just slowly dying in a hole, alone and abandoned.
"Ugh…" Pain. Pain and groans were her only companions in that pit. The girl`s stomach burned from the inside, as she vomited on the stones underneath her. It always did. At that point Josephine was fed forcefully, and whatever garbage they put in her mouth, the ever-present hunger cared nothing for it. "A… AGH!" The girl gasped, feeling blood and piss dripping down her bare hip. It always hurt, no matter how or when she relieved, so Josephine had long since abandoned the last bit of decency. This time, though… This time… something deep, something primordial possessed her. An urge to look back, to sit and look at… at what even this broken soul would be much better not seeing.
"N… Uh…" The dying girl stared in a puddle of pus and viscera. Inside it, she saw a chunk of deformed flesh. This… This was a fetus. A child. Her child. Josephine never saw one, but only one slight glimpse was enough to understand the terrifying meaning of that tragedy.
"Hic…Ah… A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!" And ultimately, she cried. Josephine shed tears, holding onto the gnarled chunk of necrotic flesh. She had nothing. Even worse, her cruel fate devoured yet another soul.
With no more reason to live, the girl bashed her head into the floor. And again! Again! Again! Again! Again! Up until crimson veil covered her eyes, and the girl collapsed due to an immense pain and bloodloss. But… at least… At least, with her consciousness crumbling in darkness, the girl finally got her closure. The end…
…
"Finally! I`ve been thinking you`d never show up." Karman, the green-haired beastman, called upon Keyaruga. The latter was accompanied by three of his pretty companions. Freia was walking beside him, a bright smile radiated from her lips. Setsuna stepped before the hero, her seemingly indifferent face was hiding undiluted jealousy toward her apprentice. Finally, Eve stayed behind. Once again, the queen-to-be covered her wings with a rag. She didn`t feel too confident, but the healer`s company kept her in at least somewhat good mood.
Karman wasn't alone, either. He shared his table with a dark-skinned individual, whose body was covered in ornamental tattoos.
"Orn haku (I`ll be on my way)." The mysterious man said before leaving the dining hall. It was morning, so no wonder the premise was empty. The enthusiastic merchant only nodded and shifted his sight toward the company of four.
"Glad to see you, especially your gorgeous companions." The shopkeeper winked at them.
"No." Setsuna stated coldly. As she took her place at the table, she never let the beastman out of her sight. "Setsuna belon…"
"Please, Setty…" Freia interrupted the she-wolf, before she could stir up any troubles. "Why are you here?" The princess quarried with pretentious courtesy in her voice.
"Let me double that question." Keyaruga pronounced, slapping the nearby chair. An inviting gesture, aimed at Eve Reese.
"Why, to profit, of course! You and I have innumerable riches to obtain." Karman boldly spoke, moving four refined goblets toward the company. "Here, have a drink. Come on, don`t worry, I`m not going to steal your girls."
"You wouldn`t…" The red-eyed lad replied sneeringly. He was the first to have a taste of the exquisite drink. "…otherwise, I`d gut you." Keyaruga warned with a smile on his face. A threat, yet it sounded lighthearted enough to be taken as a joke. "Excellent wine. A soft flavor, and also I taste… peach aroma in it. Peculiar." The man added, making a gesture to his girls. Everything on the table was safe to eat.
"As much as I respect the host, I know no better wines than this. Right from the Anthar mountains. Only I know, where and how to purchase it, so think twice before murdering me." The merchant responded with a gag of his own. At that point Eve just shook her head in disbelief. Now there`re two of them…
"I wouldn`t say it`s perfect, though." The Hero of Healing added, glancing at the exit. "I like my drinks slightly more… sweet."
"Egh, you don't chug it! Here!" Karman pushed a plate with four fine steaks toward the man. "Wash your meat down with it! Also, don`t be shy, girls! Eat to your heart`s content!" The vendor exclaimed, boasting seven bowls with bull heart stew with sour-cream topping, sets of roasted chicken ribs, a plate full of exotic vegetables, numerous soups of all colors, and salads for everyone`s taste.
So many dishes, so much aroma. Setsuna had been eating for a while with barely to no regards to manners. Freia had little success in persuading the ice warrior to sustain any decency, so the sorceress did the best thing to do at that point — grabbed some violet soup and drowned in culinary enjoyment. Eve, though, felt like she didn`t belong there. Didn`t stop her from enjoying the cuisine, though.
"You`re right, the meat makes all the difference." Keyaruga mused, enjoying the drink the proper way. Although, no matter how friendly the atmosphere was, one thing remained impossible to ignore. "That man you were talking to, who was he?"
"I wonder… I`m rather interested in who am I talking to now." Karman deflected the question with an query of his own.
"Keyaruga, a simple alchemist." The lad replied without much thought. "This is Eve, Freia, and Setsuna." The hero introduced his lovely companions prior to raising his cup. "To friendship!"
"Right. And money." The vendor returned his smile and the toast with his own. "Karman, Just Karman. A simple merchant. From tomatoes and torches, to mythril armor and legendary weapons. I can get you everything, as long as you can afford it. I love this craft." The beastman spoke with a bright mirth.
"That`s nice. But what makes you think we`re interested in gold? And why did order so much if you and your pal haven`t eaten a thing?" The red-eyed man asked the vendor. That whole endeavor seemed unnecessary, and the hero`s brief invitation wasn`t given too much thought.
"Well then, you`re a capable craftsman, your companion is one of the strongest mages I`ve ever seen, and I can only guess, what are two other beauties hiding in their sleeves."
"You don`t want to know." Eve reacted rashly. "Don`t cling with us, it`s dangerous." She added to the heroes` utmost joy. After all, the girl deemed herself a part of their small party now.
"Yeah, not hard to notice. You`re a wild bet, but I`ll put my money on you nonetheless. My instincts tell me, you can be valuable assets, and they haven`t failed me so far." Karman stated boldly. "Buranikka is a city of trade, but with all that war raging around, it doesn`t have a lot to offer. I won`t delve into questions about your goals, but I know an ambitious man the moment when I see one."
"We could sell him our potions, don`t you think?" Freia suggested, taking a phial with green medicine. Keyaruga gave this idea a quick thought, and finally, with a brief nod, presented the vendor with the bottled wonder of restoration.
"Hmm… Magnificent!" The beastman declared, shaking the vessel. He had an extensive experience with enchanted goods, and that one was among the finest. "Say, can it mend massive bones fractures?"
"That`s an oddly specific question." Keyaruga sneered, looking at Karman. The latter dropped his smiling mask, and the hero wouldn`t miss the opportunity. "Is that what that was all about? Explain us, and maybe we`ll be able to help you."
"That`s a cruel trick you`ve pulled there, brother." The vendor pronounced coldly, staring at the wondrous brew. "All right, can`t be that much worse… Buranikka is infested. People are fighting and dying out there. But… there`s the thing, I can get behind some soldier, who stands his ground, but this… There is something else out there, a golden-haired man, who…"
"FUCK!!!" Finally, Freia exploded. She swung both of her hands to slam the table, but Setsuna blocked that move with just one hand. "I`m… I`m sorry…" The princess said tremblingly. "This… she hurt someone else, didn`t she? Blade… This is…"
"Sad." The ice warrior interfered with the sorceress` lamentation. To calm the pink-haired girl down, the she-wolf took her shivering hand.
"T…Thanks…" Freia thanked her sincerely, trying not to fall into the trap of futile self-flagellation. "What… did she do?"
"You can tell us. We`re not allied with Jioral." Keyaruga spoke carefully.
"This… thing, it almost murdered my friend`s niece." Karman admitted. He tried forming his iconic smile, but his lips shivered with sorrow. "Broken collarbone, fractured head, dislocated joints, glass shards… Nina was literally tossed out of a window… Now, that you know what happened to her, will this potion help her?" The vendor concluded his unsettling narration with a simple question.
"Yes." Keyaruga answered, grabbing the phial. Karman tried holding it, but the healer proved more agile. Then, the hero pulled out a cork, ripped off the skin off his fingertip, and drained his blood right into the vessel. Majestic green light illuminated the entire process. That act of compassion was too revealing, but it had to be done. "Now it`s even better than those elixirs." Keyaruga admitted, handing the phial back.
"…" Karman, though, wasn`t so sure. It was a question of life and death, so the beastman took a clean cup, poured a few drops of reddish blood brew there, and…
"Another madman…" Eve admonished, watching Karman stab his own palm. A knife went through the bone.
"A-A-A-AGH!!!" Unlike Keyaruga, he couldn`t boast the unnatural pain threshold, so the vendor cried in agony. But even so, that didn`t stop him from gulping the potion. A couple drops of it… completely restored his flesh and tendrils. Even the blade popped out by itself. "Oh… Ugh… You… Who the hell are you exactly, Keyaruga? Or… Well, who you are is not my business. My business is to know, how much you want in return."
"I…" The red-haired lad wanted to gain money he would later use for the destabilization of Jioral. Or maybe some enchanted sword, that would surpass his mundane saber? Rare materials? "This costs me nothing and I need nothing for that brew." The healer spoke to Freia`s utmost delight. "Instead, I`ll have you pull some strings for me."
"What do you need of me?" The merchant asked valiantly.
"Tell your friends to keep away from Blade. She`s my prey."