Chapter Sixty Seven: A Plea For Help…
Contrary to what Greg had been expecting when he'd been planning the décor of his office, most of the magical items inside weren't for lascivious purposes. Instead, they were aimed at secrecy and his own security. With his innate title and the title items he had at his disposal, Greg wasn't really lacking in the seduction department. And that's even before one considered all the trinkets he could obtain from the Eros shop to make the experience that much more pleasurable. After a long back and forth with his familiar, Greg had finally conceded the point that keeping what he was doing from being discovered by the rest of the town was the best use of his resources.
The large desk in his office wasn't a power move or an attempt to intimidate. Instead, as a few of the women in town could attest to, it was aimed at more pleasurable ends. On one side of the desk was his own seat. On the other side were two seats. One for his patient and another for whatever chaperone they came with, if they came with one. Regardless of how many chaperones escorted a woman to the clinic, Greg would only ever allow one into his office, the rest would have to wait outside. Off to one side of the room, there was a bed large enough for one person to comfortably lay on. Although it was rare as most serious cases were dealt with by his teacher, he had on a few occasions received a patient who was either too sick or injured to sit in the chair. In such cases, the bed had been used to receive those patients. On most days, however, the bed was used for more lewd ends.
Most of the magical formations in the office were for basic functions. A locking formation on the door that would ensure no one could enter the room without his say-so. There was also a reinforcing formation on it that made the wooden door as strong as the door to a bank vault. Short of a full-on charge by an obsidian earthmover, no one in town would be able to get through it. Carved on all four corners of the room's floor was a silencing rune that would ensure that no noise left the room. This way, Greg didn't have to worry about the moaners and the one screamer that he'd thus far encountered. The sheets and blanket on the bed both had a self-cleaning enchantment that would rid it of any dirt, discharges, or stains just minutes after they'd been sullied. On top of Greg's desk was a small green plant that looked a lot like a bonsai tree. This special little tree had the ability to convert any scent it encountered into a fresh minty smell that left one feeling refreshed. As such, Greg could have an orgy within the office, and within a few moments, not even a hint of the smell of sex would be left behind.
Carved into each of the two of the chairs were two peak tier-one formations. Both of them were aimed at the chaperones that usually escorted his patients. The first of the two was called the BEFUDDLEMENT FORMATION in the Magic shop. If the people who walked into his office kept coming out with a chunk of their memories missing, it wouldn't have taken long before the townspeople started looking at him with suspicion. This was why Olivia had directed him to pick this particular formation. Rather than just simply confusing the target, this formation worked in a rather unique way. Just like it would be impossible for someone who wasn't a rocket scientist to stop one and tell them that what they were doing was wrong, the formation made the same true for the chaperones. In other words, it made them believe that whatever Greg was doing was a necessary part of the healing that any healer would do, it's just they who weren't able to understand it. As such, Greg could spread the legs of a man's wife right before him and fuck them while he watched and they would be convinced that this was some sort of treatment that they couldn't understand.
As most history proves, however, ignorance has never been a good bulwark against people's emotions. Getting angry at what they can't understand is a staple of people everywhere and Greg doubted that this town was different. Especially because what he planned on doing actually warranted their anger. This was where the second formation came into play. Simply called the SERENITY FORMATION in the Magic shop, this formation was like the ultimate chill pill. This formation would drain anyone subjected to it of fear, stress, anger, pain, or any other negative emotion that might affect their peace. When applied to one of a comparable tier, like a tier one formation to a tier one mage, then it was a powerful way to help one calm down. When the formation was more powerful than the one it was being aimed at, like a tier-one formation to a mundane person, then it had the unintended effect of deadening their emotions, turning serenity into apathy. As such, a man could watch their wife being fucked and it wouldn't even cause a ripple in their minds.
The reason both seats were carved with the same two formations was a simple issue of probability. Rather than hope that the chaperone would pick one particular seat, Greg had made it so that regardless of which one they ended up in, they'd still be right where he wanted them. Greg had wanted to get the tier-two, maybe even the tier-three versions of the same formations just to be extra safe. Olivia, however, had been quick to shut down that impulse. Apart from the fact that it would use up Olivia's mana far too quickly, it would be like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly, to say nothing of the unintended consequences that would follow. Against mundane humans, tier-one formations were the right amount of power to employ. If they used tier-two formations, chances are that the effects would last far longer than just their short visit to the healer, leading to people behaving oddly apathetic for a while after they'd left his office. Which in turn would lead to questions that Greg wouldn't be able to answer. If they used tier-three formations against mundane humans, then more than likely, their effects would be permanent. Needless to say, such an outcome would be more trouble than it was worth for Greg. Using peak tier-one formations was already overkill, but at the very least their effects wouldn't last longer than was necessary.
On top of Greg's desk was a matte black orb that allowed no light to penetrate it. At first glance, the thing looked like a tacky item that Greg had for whatever reason chosen to have on his desk. The fact that it seemed to independently float an inch off the desk was perhaps the only curiosity about it that might justify its presence. This little orb, however, was called the MEMORY SEALING ORB in the Magic shop. While the formation dealt with the chaperones in particular, the Orb was both for his patients and their chaperones. And while the formations were for when they were inside his office, the orb dealt with when they left. Rather than wipe out their memories, this little sinister-looking orb divorced the memory of whatever happened inside the room from any impetus to action. The memories would be like a flower sealed inside a glass case. While it was possible to see the flower, one wouldn't be able to smell its fragrance. In the same way, while the individual would be able to remember what happened inside the office, they wouldn't be able to take the next step of either feeling or doing anything about the memory. It also had the added effect of forcing one to give vague answers when asked about the particular memories in question.
In other words, for all intents and purposes, whatever happened inside his office, truly stayed inside his office. He could meet in the afternoon a woman that he'd been fucking inside his office that morning and so long as they weren't inside his office, the woman would act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As someone with twenty-first-century sensibilities, Greg hadn't been comfortable with meddling with people's minds. While he wasn't at all a saint by any stretch of the imagination, this came a little too close to mutilating someone's mind for his comfort. To her credit, Olivia didn't try to force him to do it regardless. Instead, all she did was ask him if he was willing to entrust his life and safety to the townspeople. That when the men remembered what happened inside his office, they wouldn't want to kill him. Or that the women wouldn't want to gossip and reveal what he was actually doing in his office. It didn't take a lot of thinking on Greg's part for him to realize that it wasn't an issue of what he liked or not. Sealing those memories was a must if he hoped to go on living within the town.
The Town-head's wife was among the few women that Greg didn't have to use the memory-sealing orb on, seeing as their affair had started long before he'd gotten this office. This was why Greg couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched his cum leaking out of her pussy. Her chest was rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath while lying back on his desk with her legs spread. They both knew that she couldn't spend too much time inside his office without questions being raised. As such, they had wasted little time before they were locked in the familiar dance of pleasure. Unlike her daughter, the Town-head's wife didn't have a submissive streak to her. But what she lacked in submissiveness, she more than made up for in enthusiasm for sex. While Greg made sure that all the women he slept with enjoyed the experience, with her it was like they climbed into a realm higher than the rest in both desire and pleasure.
"So what is it?" Greg spoke up after giving her a few moments to catch her breath.
The woman who'd been looking up dazedly at the air turned her gaze in his direction. Despite her exposed position, there was no shame whatsoever to be found anywhere in her expression. If anything, Greg got the impression that she enjoyed putting herself on such lewd display for him. Not objecting to this in any way, Greg couldn't help but move his hips back and forth, moving the head of his cock up and down her labia, and from time to time, pushing the head of his cock past her folds before pulling out again. Despite this, his gaze remained on the Town-head's wife, still awaiting an answer from her. "What?" She replied, trying and failing to sound casual.
From the moment Greg caught sight of her waiting in the hallway, he'd noticed that she didn't have the same easy air about her that she usually did. Something was weighing on her mind and it had brought her to him. After they'd both indulged in carnal pleasures, it was now time for them to deal with whatever it was. "Something's been bothering you," Greg stated simply, leaving the implied question unspoken.
"Perhaps I was just missing the feeling of having this great monster inside me," she said coyly, her hand reaching down to wrap around his cock and pull him deeper into her.
Not resisting, Greg allowed himself to be sheathed inside her warm and wet love tunnel. "If you are here to forget your problems, I'm more than happy to help," Greg said pushing all the way inside her, drawing a gasp, followed by a moan of pleasure from the woman. "But if you have an issue that you need my help with, it'll be a bit hard for me to offer that help if you aren't even willing to tell me what it is?" he added, locking gazes with her in a manner to suggest that this would be the last time he asked.
A sigh of resignation left the woman. Despite this, her legs wrapped around his waist holding him inside her. Greg had to admire her core strength as her abs tightened, her back rising off the desk as she brought her face close to his. "Well, the somewhat good news is that come spring, my husband is planning to hold a feast to celebrate the conception of our child," She informed him. Greg didn't miss the careful vagueness in her words. A third party listening in would have assumed that by saying 'our child', she was referring to herself and her husband. The two of them, however, knew that the child developing in her womb was Greg's and not the Town-head's. From the sly gleam in her eyes as she said this, Greg knew that the vagueness in her statement was deliberate.
Despite already being hard and deep inside her, Greg could feel his cock twitch . And by the way her smile widened, she too had felt it. Greg made it a point to carefully watch the women that he managed to seduce to learn what made them tick. What were their fantasies? What got the fires of their lust raging? What buttons to push to drive them crazy with desire? The Town-head's wife, however, had shown herself to be every bit the careful observer that he was. It hadn't taken all that long to figure out that the idea that he was fucking the Town-head's wife and had even managed to impregnate her drove him crazy with arousal. Far from being bothered by the idea, she was all too happy to use this weakness of his whenever she could to fuel the passion between them. And just like was presently the case, it never failed to make him want to fuck her even more.
"If your husband wants to celebrate having my child inside your womb," Greg said placing a hand on her belly, slowly caressing her small baby bump. "Then I see no problem with that," He said even as he slowly drove his thick, veiny monster in and out of her, all the while holding the woman's burning gaze.
In a voice shaking with pleasure, she answered him. "He wants to invite the whole town. To make sure that everyone sees that his wife is carrying your child," she whispered in a husky tone dripping with lust. While the Town-head didn't know that the child wasn't his, this was essentially what he would be doing and Greg couldn't help but pick up pace at the image.
"And this is just the beginning," Greg replied in a firm tone causing the Town-head's wife to tremble with lust. "I am going to keep pumping you full of my seed for years to come. You are going to bear a little brood for me and that cuck husband of yours is going to celebrate and raise them for me!" He declared, the lewd sound of flesh meeting flesh filling the room as he kept driving himself all the way to the hilt inside her. It wasn't long before they both climbed to the peak of pleasure and once again lost themselves to it. Their lips met in a passionate kiss even as Greg once again came inside her twitching pussy.
"You've already been inside my office longer than is usual," Greg spoke up when he finally managed to pull himself together again. Despite his earlier urgings, she had succeeded in seducing his mind away from whatever it was she was avoiding. "If we don't want any unnecessary rumors to start spreading, then you'll have to leave soon. Now's your last chance to speak," He said, even as he began to fix his clothes. After this second round of fucking, not much time was left for them to discuss whatever it was that was bothering her. Even if she planned on revealing it, she'd only get to mention it before she had to exit his office.
"Like I said, my husband will be holding a party at the start of spring to celebrate our child. Everyone in town will be invited. Naturally, this also includes the three families," She said, sounding displeased at the prospect. "Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem. Or, at least, it shouldn't have been one for a few more years. Unfortunately, my husband's condition has been getting worse far faster than anyone expected. We thought that he at least had another three to five years to go before he lost enough power for the other families to start getting ideas. But at the rate things are going, he has just one more year, perhaps two more years if we are lucky," She informed him.
It took every bit of self-control that Greg could muster to keep his expression calm even as he regarded the woman before him. All of a sudden, it was as if he was in a cage with a hungry viper and he was the prey. The reason for Greg's sudden fear wasn't because of any threatening word or action on the woman's part but as a result of what he knew. Unbeknownst to the woman, Olivia had already sniffed out the fact that she was the descendant of a bloodline mage the night he was first invited over to the Town-head's home to have dinner with them. Being a descendant of a bloodline mage in and of itself wasn't that big a deal. It was the particular bloodline that was the crux of the matter. His familiar had sussed out that the bloodline she possessed was that of a nymph. Creatures that fed on powerful men, draining them of their power and vitality.
When Greg had first learned of this, he had been scared of the prospect of falling into her clutches. Despite all the boons he had, Greg still recognized the fact that he was in a new world that operated on very different principles from his first one. If he grew arrogant, chances are that he would end up dead without knowing how it even happened. Which was why he'd been fully planning on avoiding the Town-head's wife. His familiar, however, had assuaged his fears by pointing out the fact that whatever powers she still had were probably too weak to pose any danger to him. After all, she had been with her husband for the past twenty cycles and still, he was the most powerful man in town. It was this reassurance that had just been shattered by the woman's words. If the speed at which her husband was losing his power had suddenly picked up speed, then it could only mean one thing. The woman before him had somehow grown stronger. How or why it had happened, Greg couldn't puzzle out. It, however, would require that he reevaluate his association with her. Ending up a thrall to a bloodline mage wasn't how he planned to end his second chance at life.
Still, Greg didn't let any of his inner turmoil show on his face. A slight frown was all he allowed himself in response to her words. "Has neither one of you figured out why he's losing his power, or why it's suddenly gotten worse?" He asked. Greg wasn't really expecting an answer from the woman. Instead, he was watching her expression like a hawk to see if she revealed anything.
Whether she had a good poker face or truly didn't know anything, however, Greg didn't notice anything on her face even as a bitter smile crossed her lips. "This would all be so much easier if we did," She said with a sigh.
Greg studied her face for a second longer before speaking. "Well then, why hold the party? If he is getting worse much faster than expected, as you say, then why would your husband put himself on open display allowing his enemies to see his vulnerable state," Greg questioned, clearly not seeing the logic behind the move.
"Because silence would be just as loud. Even now, my belly has started to show. By the end of winter, my pregnancy will be impossible to hide. It's expected that my husband will hold some sort of ceremony to celebrate this happy occasion. No one will fault him for not holding the ceremony immediately, given how harsh this winter has been. In fact, it would be in poor taste to do so. But after the winter has passed, people will start to talk if he doesn't do so. The three families will wonder why, and very quickly, simple curiosity will morph into dangerous suspicions. We need to portray an image of strength and control to keep them from attacking us," she laid out, her distress clear to be heard. "Only half of winter has passed, and the other half yet remains, so you don't have to worry about it now. But you are the only one I can think of that can help us navigate this without losing our lives," She said looking up at him pleadingly.
Greg was silent for a while before he let out a sigh and nodded. "I'll think of something, " He said noncommittally. "Now go, before unsavory rumors start to spread and we find ourselves in an even deeper quagmire," He said.
Even though she seemed to want to go on discussing, she seemed to understand that Greg was right about staying too long in his office. So, fixing her clothes, she kissed him one last time before making her way out of his office. Despite the situation, Greg couldn't help the slight twitch in his pants at the thought that she was going back to her husband with his cum slowly leaking out of her pussy. He allowed himself a few moments of indulgence before calling in his last patient for the day, the woman that had allowed the Town-head's wife to go before her. In just ten minutes, Greg had helped her with the mild case of pneumonia that had brought her to him.
Greg turned a color-coded sign on his door to indicate that he was closed for the day. The reason it was color-coded and not written was because most of the town wasn't literate. But two colors to indicate whether he was receiving patients or not was an easily comprehensible concept so that's what he'd gone with. Sitting back in his chair, Greg called on Olivia causing a mote of light to emerge from his glabella, cross the desk, and materialize into the form of his familiar seated on the seat opposite him to his right. There was a relaxed air about her that caught Greg somewhat off guard. He expected her to be somewhat worried just like he was. At the same time, however, her calm helped him to calm down as well, at least a little bit.
"What are we going to do?" He asked already seeing that the familiar seemed to have some sort of plan.
"About the Town-head, that's easy," Olivia answered with a dismissive wave of the hand. "I know a few potions that can act as a pick-me-up, at least for a day. Of course, the crash afterward will be just as bad, but for one day, the man will be no different than if he was at the peak of his power. All you need to decide is if you want a potion that is all show and no substance, or one that will actually grant him power on ingestion. While the first one will only give a façade of power, they are far easier to recover from. Depending on how powerful the second type of potion is, the man could be anywhere from sick for a week to bedridden for a month," His familiar laid out his options.
"Now, the case of the Town-head's wife is a little bit more complicated," Olivia conceded. "Do you want her as a tool? An ally? A lover? Or do you just want to be rid of her?" Greg couldn't help the chill that coursed through him at the last option. The words were spoken so casually that it would have been easy to miss the fact that she was talking about ending the woman's life.
Greg wasn't a saint, by any means. Not only had he taken a life before, but months of dungeon delving had soundly disabused him of the notion that if you avoid trouble, trouble will avoid you. He wasn't even averse to the idea of dealing with an enemy before they grew to become an even bigger threat. But that was precisely the crux of the issue. Everyone he'd so far dealt with was an enemy. Be it his uncle, or those inside the dungeon that would have hurt or killed him if he didn't act first. The Town-head's wife, however, wasn't his enemy. True, she was descended from bloodline mages who had assimilated a problematic bloodline. But she was no more to blame for that than anyone could be for who their parents were. Not to mention the fact that, this far, the woman hadn't shown any inclination to harm him. Sure she had her own selfish interests in her interactions with him, but if he considered everyone that had some personal interest in interacting with him an enemy, then he'd only be able to interact with trees and mindless beasts. And as if all this didn't complicate the situation enough, the woman was carrying his child. By killing her he'd be killing his own family.
"Death… is not an option… for now," Greg carefully replied, not missing the way the familiar smiled like a Cheshire cat at the last bit. While he could read approval in her eyes, Greg couldn't help but feel like he was a wretch for even leaving the option on the table. But his teacher had warned him when she made him sign the contract between them, just because someone was smiling at you, doesn't mean they can't drive a dagger through your heart. While it would only be a last resort if all else fails, it would still be among the options. "Before we jump to any drastic measures, I think it would be prudent to first understand what kind of danger I'm actually in," Greg stated, turning a curious gaze in Olivia's direction. "How do nymphs capture and enthrall the men that they do? How do they drain them of their power and vitality? Without this information, I don't even know what to look for in guarding myself against the Town-head's wife," he said.
"Nymphs don't exactly feed in public so that last question is not one that can be easily answered. Someone somewhere probably has the answers. Unfortunately, I don't," The familiar straightforwardly admitted. "What I do know, however, is that nymphs are patient hunters. They won't start feeding on their targets until they are firmly in their grasp, and enthralled by them. As such, whether she's aware of what she's doing or acting on instincts, you are still safe from the Town-head's wife for now. As to how a nymph enthralls a man, well, that's rather simple. How do you enthrall anyone? First, seduce them and then, slowly over time make the idea of not being with you completely intolerable to them. Needless to say, this is an oversimplification of the process and skips over the mix of pheromones, charm magic, and actual seduction skills involved. But in the end, whatever the details in between, the final aim of any enthrallment is not to override the will of your target. Instead, it's to make it so that their most ardent desire will be to do what you will them to. A slave submits to the chain holding them, a thrall loves the chain," Olivia relayed.
Greg couldn't help but shudder at the idea. To be stripped of one's will was frightening enough already. To be made to desire that state, however, was a new chamber of hell that even the former couldn't hold a candle to.
"Now, as you've just said, It is important to know who and what you are dealing with," His familiar continued. "Overestimating a foe can sometimes be just as dangerous as underestimating them. While the Town-head's wife currently poses some level of risk to you, it doesn't mean we know absolutely nothing about her that can help us. For starters, you need to keep in mind that she isn't a nymph! She isn't even a bloodline mage. She just happens to be a descendant of one and not even a first or second-generation one. You can't completely write her off as a threat but you also shouldn't fear her like she's some great evil. Even if the worst possible case is true and she's fully aware of her abilities and is actively working towards turning you into a thrall, it'll still be a multi-year project for someone weak like her. Chances are that she won't make it in the shrunk-down window that she now has," Olivia stated with confidence.
An arched eyebrow from Greg quietly asked what the familiar was talking about. His familiar obliged. "Haven't you thought about it, Master? The initial estimate for how long your awakening process would take was for someone with next to no affinity with the earth element. You and the person you were at the start of this process are worlds apart. According to your teacher, to raise you to the equivalent of a third-tier mage in terms of mana capacity should have taken almost three years. A little under a year or so for each tier. That's all out the window now. With your increased affinity, you'll probably cross the next two tiers in mana capacity in a year and a month or two. And that's only if you maintain your current affinity to the earth element. If it happens that you can still increase your affinity after you've climbed to the first tier, then that timeline can be shrunk down even further.."
"Dissolving your teacher's broken mana pathways will take roughly two or so months of constant work from you. After that, you will get to experience the true gap between mages with a low affinity for magic and the ones with a high affinity. It should drive home why I kept insisting that you shouldn't harm your affinity. Given that a higher affinity to magic means a faster awakening using the sigil, your teacher will probably take only a month to achieve the same result that took you almost nine or so months to do," Olivia laid out for him. "In short, Master, should all things stay the same, you and your teacher will probably be fully awakened just two years from now," The familiar informed him…