Chapter 373 – Maraag’s Crossing
291 0 5
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

8pz03t6.png

Don't forget to check out my other stories!

Adventurers Gone Wild [Patreon] | [Amazon

I am Succubus! [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

The Caretaker of Otherworldly Tenants [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

Magical Girl Kari: Apocalypse System [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

The Hero Became a Succubus! [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] [Amazon]

Micchi Versus the New world [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

Ellori, the Ero Witch of Parthun [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

The Housewife's Netorare App [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

Social Links: [Patreon] | [Twitter] | [Discord]

Hero Succ! Vol. 7 is available on Amazon!

I Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to... What?! Vol. 7

https://i.gyazo.com/9190ddfcc502f76c97d0720aaff6db9f.jpg

The town was much more crowded than any of them had expected. Maraag's Crossing filled to the brim with people, thanks in no small part to not one but two edirashems stopping by. Beastmasters of each caravan led their large gwarmceroses and other beasts of burden to the oasis to drink from. Kanae gulped hard watching them dip their heads into the water. They took enormous gulps that caused ripples in the pools.

"Just looking at them is making me thirsty," Kanae muttered.

"Hah! I wouldn't drink from the water if I were you, little miss!" A narrow-eyed hell hound man, who held the lead to a pair of ronoas, stopped and smiled at her. "The oases are poisonous."

"But not to beasts?" Renya asked, rubbing her ear with the barrel of her gun.

He shook his head. "Nope. See, these pools are chock full of salt. Ronoas, gwarmceroses, pilapidus… They get their salt from the oases because they can't get 'em anywhere else. A foreigner from Ortesia drank from there the other day. Barfed their brains out, poor fool."

Ortesians…

It couldn't have been Riley. She would know better having lived here for years. That left Arnault Pyrelle and his people. They were new and ignorant enough of Savir to have possibly done something like that.

Kanae searched the crowded entrance into the town, but all she saw were legs, feet, and the sand everyone kicked up. Flying was only going to draw unwanted attention, too. The beastman had already gone, disappeared into the crowds and likely on his way to the oasis for his ronoas. It was too late to ask him for more details.

"Hm? What's wrong, Kanae?" Kris glanced down and asked.

"I miss my boobs and being able to see the sky!" Kanae cried.

"I got an idea!" she exclaimed, and picked Kanae up onto her shoulders. "There. Now you can see!"

Renya bursted into knee-slapping laughter… until Kanae casted Turn Horny. Her knees buckled. She dropped to all fours, gasping for air on the edge of climax. When she recovered, they continued into Maraag's Crossing. 

People packed into the main road and only moved at a snail's pace. Large wagons detached from edirashems now served as trading posts. Merchants set up shop on top, while curious shoppers climbed aboard to take a look at their wares.

"How long are you going to stay like that anyway?" Renya asked.

"You say that like I have a choice… Hopefully, not for much longer. While fighting Praijya last night, I found out that she can reverse the berinath's magical effect as a Spellbreaker. We need to capture her the next time we find her. I'm going to fuck that spell out of her and turn back to normal," Kanae explained.

"But you're so cute as a little succubus girl! I feel like a big sister carrying you around— ow, ow, ow!" Kris wailed as Kanae pulled on her ears in retaliation.

The trio paused in front of a pull cart manned by an old, toothless Arkesian woman. She was selling ocarinas, intricately carved and painted with unique designs. Kanae recognized a geometric pattern of spiraling squares often worn by dark elves of Highgreen. Even Suvee had a frock with them on it.

Renya picked up a plain ocarina and played a whimsical tune, one fit to be heard while sailing on the seas. The old woman applauded, nodding her head to the beat. When Renya finished, she set down a stack of gold coins in the ocarina's place.

"I didn't know you could play an ocarina," Kanae said.

"That's because I stopped playing it for years. I'm a little rusty though. My old man could make one sing! Glad I still remember his old shanty." Renya tied a little string around the ocarina and fastened it to her belt.

Yet her words were tinged with a bittersweet drawl rather than nostalgia. Did Solasta Rown's unfinished business with the Harpy King really mean that much to Renya? Or was she putting on airs?

They wandered deeper into the city, passed enormous tents underneath which people lounged and smoked. In another, women in erotic dancing raiments decorated with many feathers performed for crowds. However, there was no sign of any Dryoak Consortium members or Claudia, Alicia, and Petyr.

Kris suggested climbing onto one of the large trade wagons. Since they were elevated, it would offer them a better view than being on ground level. The three boarded a wagon with a rooftop, but in place of four walls were heavy drapes currently drawn aside. A pair of guards bearing the crest of a coiled, pitch black cobra tapped their glaives on the ground and welcomed them in.

This wagon was much fancier than any of the ones on Zayn's edirashem. Magical crystal lanterns floated above, shining light down on people. Every shop operated under its own canopy large enough for people to enter and browse goods. Guards, dressed in the same tabard as the two at the entrance, patrolled the floor.

When Kris spotted an enchanted items store, she raced inside and nearly caused Kanae to fall off her shoulders. Few patrons visited the store. Which was odd, because a store that sold enchanted or things magical in nature should be extremely popular. They sure as hell were in Radevic, Ehmvier, and Lograin. The dark elven shopkeeper, a man in a simple green tunic, smiled as they entered.

"Oh, my gods. Kanae, look! A self-purifying, self-refilling flask!" Kris picked up a canteen made from the hollowed out horn of a giant animal. Going off by the runic inscriptions on the surface, it really was enchanted. Having a readily available source of water, and one that purified its contents, must be expensive.

"How much is something like this?" Kanae asked the shopkeeper behind the counter.

"For that, my dear, only one hundred gold pieces!" he exclaimed.

Kanae and Renya recoiled.

"Now, hold on a damn second. Yeah, a hundred gold can buy you a lot of stuff. But for a refilling flask? That sounds a little too cheap. You trying to pull a fast one on us?" Renya asked what they were thinking.

"N-No! Perish the thought! I, uhh… I just acquire goods that have a rather… unfortunate quirk. For example, that enchanted flask does provide you with water. However, it does so by firing water out at incredible speeds," the shopkeeper explained.

"Really?" Kris twisted the cap off, and a jet of water shot out at incredible force into Kanae's face.

"S-Stop it! Close… brllpp… CLOSE THE LID!" Kanae shouted.

Kris screwed the cap back on, but the damage was done. Kanae was soaking wet, but at least the arid Saviran atmosphere would quickly dry her.

The dark elven shopkeeper put both hands in the air as if to show that he meant no harm. His goods, on the other hand… 

"You know what? I'll buy it! Hehe. I won't ever almost die of dehydration again. Kanae, weren't you thirsty? Would you like a drink?" Kris offered.

"I'm good. Not exactly keen on getting waterboarded again… Hey, mister? Is this wagon that we're on part of Maraag's Crossing?" Kanae asked.

"Hm? Oh, no. This wagon belongs to Edirashok Levain. Her edirashem is at the north end. I believe the one south is Edirashok Zayn. Really, it's night and day between the two. I heard from a couple of passersby from his edirashem that his caravan was devastated by an attack. How terrible! Lady Levain would never have allowed such a thing to come to pass," he explained proudly of his edirashok.

Considering how many armed guards there were on this wagon alone, Kanae believed it. However, Zayn's edirashem wasn't attacked by just anyone. The Harpy King's most trusted, infused with elemental powers, had battered the caravan. Not many townships of similar size would have survived them.

They returned to searching for the others to no avail. Maraag's Crossing was far too dense in population to find any one person in particular, especially not with two edirashem's worth of people visiting.

Instead of her companions, Kanae's gaze landed on a familiar child from the edirashem.

"Oh, hey! It's you!" Kanae waved at the human girl, whose friend she had saved when he fell from the canopy.

"You're the harpy kid! Hi! Are you moving, too?" she asked.

"I'm not actually a harpy… Huh? What do you mean by moving?"

"Awww, you're not moving?" The girl pointed to the Levain's edirashem on the opposite side of town. "Momma and Papa say staying on Edirashok Zayn's edirashem isn't safe anymore. I'm gonna miss my friends, but I hear Edirashok Levain has better food."

The girl's parents beckoned to their daughter from a grocery stand. She waved goodbye and skipped over to catch up.

"I recognize them! That's the family of tailors. They patched up some holes in my bedroll. Awww. Does that mean they won't be around to sew my other stuff?" Kris frowned.

"Not looking too hot for Zayn," Renya said. "I had to deal with competition poaching my talents before. Seems this Levain is a better boss. Last night's attack probably convinced some people to pack up and move."

That couldn't be good news.

Wait. Riley and her Dryoak Consortium goons had to have entered Avanesse territory somehow. The most common mode of transportation on this side of Savir was by edirashems caravans. Edirashok Levain. They had to have been riding on her edirashem, and it made sense because moving between them wasn't an uncommon thing.

Kanae explained this to Kris and Renya, and the two agreed that it was their best lead. They descended from the wagon and headed to the north end of Maraag's Crossing. Levain's edirashem was something to behold. Her caravan was massive compared to Zayn's. Ten enormous wagons, twenty medium sized, and around thirty satellite carriages. Pulling them all were creatures larger than gwarmceros— pilapidus, scaled beasts possessing the body of a lizard but with long necks high enough for them to graze the trees surrounding the oasis.

There, they finally found members of the elusive Dryoak Consortium distinguished by the emblem of a bare branch tree.

Riley's crew unloaded cargo from the rearmost wagon. Workers on deck lowered heavy crates by rope and platform onto smaller wagons. At a quick glance, there were twenty of them, likely all bound for Zayn's edirashem. Just how in the Many gods' names were they supposed to seize all of that to bring back to Rasheena's resistance?

"Supreme One's beard… That's not a small shipment. If those are all magical armaments, it's enough to fit a whole army. Where in three hells did they acquire that much firepower? Actually, how?!" Renya was taken aback by the sheer amount of equipment being moved.

"This isn't a theatre show. Quit gawking and get lost!" A Dryoak guild member shooed them.

"Tell them we're looking for Riley," Kanae whispered into Kris' ear.

"We're looking for Riley!" Kris shouted.

"And that you're representatives from Zayn's edirashem so we don't look suspicious."

"You're representatives from Zayn's edirashem so we don't look suspicious!" she added.

Kanae slapped a hand to her face, and another in Kris' face.

"Excuse my apprentice!" Renya butted in before things got tense. "What my nervous fellow is trying to say is, we wanted to meet with Riley to confirm the contents of the cargo. You know Avanessi customs. Tea precedes every meeting!"

The elven man sheathed his saber and said, "Guildmaster Riley left for Maraag's Cross an hour ago. We haven't seen her since. She instructed us to move the goods to Zayn's edirashem and meet her there." He made a final shooing motion before walking off." Now get outta here. We have work to do."

Too late then. Petyr might have already met up with Riley in town. Kanae had hoped to find them before then. There was no telling if Petyr intended to betray them to help Riley instead. She wanted badly to trust the paladin, but… Riley was her childhood friend.

"Levain, I'm begging you here. My edirashem can't afford to lose any more workers! We will quite literally be unable to move an inch at this rate!"

Kanae tensed up to the sound of Zayn's voice. She hopped off Kris' shoulders and hid behind her legs instead. They took advantage of the many vehicles to take cover in. One pair of footfalls walked to the edge of the upper wagon, but two voices spoke over each other.

"It is the will of the sands, Zayn." A woman's voice spoke with vainglory wisdom. "I cannot stop them. You cannot stop them. Just as Sultan Cerberus has welcomed succubi and Ortesians into his court. All you must do now is surrender yourself to which dune you, a little grain, shall end up next. He intends to call for a Meeting of Sands in the coming months to decide the future of Avanesse, you know? You better shape up soon or risk falling from His Majesty's favor. I imagine that is what this cargo is for, yes?"

"Kuh… There better not be one piece of merchandise missing, Levain! Stealing from another edirashok is punishable by death," Zayn growled in his best attempt at being threatening.

Kanae, Renya, and Kris peered around the corner of the carriage. Zayn stood beside a shorter lamia woman in shamanistic attire, her clothes interwoven with small wind chimes that whistled whenever a breeze picked up. Neck flaps flared outwards like a cobra's, and her skin and scales were as black as obsidian.

Unlike Zayn, who was weighed down by jewelry and trinkets, Levain's only show of wealth was a small opalescent jewel embedded into her forehead that radiated with magic. No doubt enchanted.

"Why would I want anything from your edirashem? It all pales in comparison to what I intend to gift Sultan Cerberus and his concubines." Levain grinned.

"And what exactly do you have that would trump even a fraction of an armory of magical weaponry?" Zayn folded his arms in indignation.

"What else? Bravost and Elusis, of course. What need have we for war if I can simply hand two-thirds of Savir over to His Majesty?"

"Y-You… How?! You don't have the power to do that!" he exclaimed.

Edirashok Levain said nothing more and signalled for her guards to escort Zayn off her edirashem. He shook them off, then stormed away in a huff.

"Kanae," Renya began after clearing her throat, "it just hit me. Help me connect some dots here. This Riley chick. She despises Ortesia for what they did to her family, right?"

"Right…" Kanae nodded.

"And the Ortesians here are being led by a high elf belonging to a pretty important family in the empire, to get in bed with Avanesse and its sultan?" she asked.

"Where are you going with this?"

The pirate lord rubbed her chin. "Why in three hells would Riley and the Dryoak Consortium deliver magical armaments straight to the imperials who wronged her?"

Renya was right. Riley had no reason at all to help the Ortesians' efforts in Savir, but every reason to hinder them. However, they couldn't be delivering it to the resistance. Rasheena wouldn't have them intercept the shipment otherwise.

No, it was the Harpy King. That must have been why Praijya and Nasiri led a massive assault. They were supposed to arm themselves there but missed their chance.

"There's good reason to believe the Harpy King paid off Riley and traitors in the East Saviran Trading Association. They're here to attack Avanesse, just like they did Bravost," Kanae concluded.

"You in a gambling mood? Think we can convince 'em to defect to Rasheena's resistance without a fight?" Renya flipped a coin into the air and caught it.

"I'm not going to call anything. My luck has been terrible ever since I turned into this! You heard the hell hound at the gate earlier. There's Ortesians here. If Riley or Petyr runs into them, that can only end badly. We've got to find them before something bad—"

An explosion rocked Maraag's Crossing. People screamed and raced out the north end of the gate, some quickly boarding Levain's edirashem for safety. Smoke billowed out from the center of town, followed by another explosion that made Kanae and her companions wince. Dryoak Consortium members stared in disbelief for a moment before taking off in full sprint towards the commotion.

"Before something bad happens like that?" Kris pointed to the chaos.

"Just our luck! After the Dryoak guild, they seem to know where they're going!" Kanae jumped back onto Kris' shoulders.

8pz03t6.png

Don't forget to check out my other stories!

I am Succubus! [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon]

The Caretaker of Otherworldly Tenants [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

Magical Girl Kari: Apocalypse System [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

The Hero Became a Succubus! [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] [Amazon]

Micchi Versus the New world [Scribble Hub] | [Patreon] | [Amazon]

Ellori, the Ero Witch of Parthun [Scribble Hub] | [Amazon]

The Housewife's Netorare App [Scribble Hub] | [Amazon]

Social Links: [Patreon] | [Twitter] | [Discord]

Dakimakura available for purchase here: Kanae Toyomi – Cuddly Octopus

8c29bc950b6a9270ed0f30cac20a2e59.png09cba2a1d785c6ca69385137bf56b3cb.png

5