The Ascendants, which is the name I chose for the collective of my elite combatants, gathered before me to learn just what could’ve caused me such distress that I called upon them without explanation.
Our members now included my four lovers; Ayame, Blossom, Aurora, and Lucille. The people I subjugated/allied with during the Phenom Trials; Kaelira, Iris, Cedric, Selene, Abudha, and Lyra. The gains from my little Wraithclaw escapade; Blackjack, Shallan, Liora, and the four other ex-slaves of Kai.
Last was Seraphiel who didn’t quite fit into any of the three groups, but my heart told me that she was already a proud member of the first one. Naturally, we would have to officialize that sentiment for it to become the proper reality.
The three of us already changed from our incognito attire to our battle armor. Continue reading stories on empire
“Thank you for gathering at such quick notice. I’ll be brief. During my outing to the capital, I came across two horrible women, Amara Greenvale and Vivienne Greenvale, the full-blooded daughters of the Greenvale Duke. They committed numerous offenses against me, for which I promised to end them – but I planned to do so at a later, more convenient date.”
I took a breath before continuing; “However, they forced my hand when they spent seven hundred gold to outbid me on a certain slave, who just so happened to be Seraphiel’s mother, Sylvaris.”
“You crazy motherfucker…!! Zehahaha!” Blackjack erupted into his trademark crazed laughter as he desperately clutched his stomach.
“Don’t speak of Master Quinlan like that!!!” Lyra admonished the man, though she had very little success as Blackjack completely ignored her.
“Quin… Are you saying that we’re about to attack the daughters of a duke?” Ayame asked with disbelief.
“Yes. This is a reckless move I know, but not an impossible one. I would never lead you people into certain death. They only seemed to have five guards, all of whom appeared to be in the level 30-35 range. With surprise and numbers being on our side, we can win.”
“It’s not just five enemies though, isn’t it?” Iris spoke up this time while glancing at my anxious healer.
I nodded; “That’s right, they will have an enslaved level 39 Mooncaller on their side as well. Furthermore, we don’t know if they have more guards, nor do we know how strong our two targets are.”
“They’re weak.” Lucille declared while having a strangely furious expression.
“You sound very certain…” I murmured while eyeing my lover.
She steeled her resolve and looked right into my eyes before responding; “I didn’t tell you my tale because it’s a painful and ugly memory I wanted to leave in the past, but it seems I can’t escape it.”
“Would you elaborate for me?”
“Do we have time for it?”
“You’re right… Blossom, go ahead and begin surveilling our targets. The auction should end in a couple of minutes, we left close to the finale. You can’t miss them, they look like…”
I detailed their physical description to my beloved dog-girl who eagerly nodded along my words, doing her best to memorize every information. I also told her to surveil from a distance and remain in the crowd, if she started spying on them from rooftops and the like, the chances of her getting detected by the many guards patrolling the city that was the gem of the kingdom would increase drastically.
To better help her blend into the crowds, she put an iron collar around her neck. If she wore capes and hoods that hid her dog-kin features, she would stick out like a sore thumb even in crowds. This way, she could just pretend to be a slave going about her master’s business.
I opened a [Warp Gate] for her, after which I gestured for Lucille to begin.
Her discomfort was visible to all, but she pushed through for me. “My name is – or rather was – Eveliana Mirabelle Althea Greenvale, full-blooded daughter of the Greenvale Duke.”
“What in the…?!” Ayame asked with shock. “I heard about you, but I was too young to meet nobles from other dutchies before you… uh, died?”
I already knew that Lucille was a noblewoman, but even I didn’t expect such a twist.
“I heard many tales about you as well, Ayame Fujimori, prodigious warrior princess of the Fujimori clan.” Lucille replied with a faint smile before returning to her ashes features and continuing; “And yes, you’re right. That’s the official story. The unofficial one is that my father had two wives, my mother, and the twins’ mother. The two women gave birth to the three of us at around the same time so Amara and Vivienne are my age, meaning they’re in their late thirties.
My mother, Mirabelle, was a serene one; a typical noble lady who just wanted to enjoy her privileged life by going to tea parties and shopping sprees in the capital, painting, organizing events, decorating our mansion, and the like.
The twins’ mother on the other hand was a real snake who hated my mother and wished to be the sole wife, and to reach that goal, she continuously worked her way into my father’s heart while also undermining my mother by speaking ill of her among other things.
Over the many years of her effort, it got to a point where he was infatuated with the snake and didn’t care at all about my mother, despite her being his first wife. This was the time she decided to strike – she ordered an assassination on my mother, which was set up to seem like an unfortunate accident.
Despite my mother’s lacking strength to fight back against the other woman, she was smart enough to tell me that if she died by accident, it would be no accident at all and that I had to run immediately. I listened to her words and escaped our territories, this happened when I was in my early adult years.
I had no allies to call upon, the snake woman had ensured that. Thus, I was forced to throw away all my privileges and blend into the ranks of the common folk to hide from the pursuers she surely sent after me. That was when I decided that if I had to hide, it was best if I became the most ordinary person I could become. I searched for the most average man I could find, which ended up being Robert who ran his little inn. It didn’t take me more than a minute after I stumbled upon the man to make him fall head over heels for me.
Yes… I’m a horrible woman who never once loved him and merely used his extreme mundaneness to give myself the highest chances of survival.”
… Damn. “And since you grew up with the twins…”
She nodded, “I can tell you that they’re vile, hedonistic creatures who would never willingly put themselves into harm’s way. They must’ve leveled up a bit, but by using the strategy most nobles use; have yourself be bodyguarded at all times and go for the finishing strikes. We all know from our experiences just how ineffective that method is for leveling at a respectable pace. I can’t imagine them being higher than level 20, and even then, they would be weak compared to others of the same level.”
Kaelira agreed; “You’re right, they appeared to be in their mid-twenties age-wise. If they were higher level, they should be younger physically if only twenty years passed since they reached adulthood.”
“I didn’t need more motivation to ruin the lives of these two women, but you’d supplied me with more fuel nonetheless, Lucille. Are you okay?” I asked.