A few moments since the last chapter…

Tristan, Royal Capitol, King’s Cup Tavern

 

Many kingdoms in history had been torn apart due to a fight that happened for the throne when there was more than one heir. The War of the Roses was a famous instance of this happening in British history that occurred after the Hundred Years’ War. In Tristain there were strict rules regarding inheritance and property, but these could become questionable when it came to things like the throne. While these rules were supposed to apply to the crown, if the King didn’t make it official then someone would always want to question it.

 

“Brother, don’t you see that he is more interested in other’s endeavors than your own? Maybe you should take this as a sign that your ideas just aren’t as popular as you think.” A young man said with a gentle smile that contrasted the venom in his words. 

 

The first words that came to Ashton’s mind when he saw the man was a snake, his appearance was almost picturesque. The man looked dainty with a lithe figure that gave him a roguish appearance with long dark brown wavy hair, and his eyes were a steel gray color that he had inherited from his mother. This brother was wearing the same royal purple color, but this one featured pink highlights along the sleeves and trousers which resulted from an incredibly expensive dye that had only been found in the desert regions.  

 

“I didn’t invite you here Tolerance, why did you crawl out of your hole?” Prince Valiant said aggressively.

 

“It says on the invitation that it is a gathering for young and promising nobles and I must be promising since father refuses to make you the heir. So here I am.” Prince Tolerance told him proudly before chuckling and fiddling with his ring to produce a large sack that was colored purple with the seal of the royal family. It made a heavy metallic thump as it fell to the floor at Ashton’s feet where it sat on the ground. “Besides, it isn’t your establishment, it is Lord Grayfield’s.” 

 

Ashton almost wanted to bend over and pick up the large bag of gold but before he had a chance he heard another heavy thump and saw the second land next to the first in the same colors and with the same logo. Following its path of flight, he could see Prince Valiant who seemed incredibly angry as he grits his teeth and scowled at his brother. He then schooled his features and put on the same smile he had on before as he once again entreated Ashton to sign the document with his eyes. Just as Ashton was getting confused and starting to panic a flash of white and red went streaking through the air in front of him causing both bags of gold and the document to disappear.

 

The drunk fox woman, Kumiho, was sitting on the table as she seemed to tilt from side to side as her balance was off from all of the alcohol. She set a piece of paper down on the table and Ashton realized it was the prince’s treaty. Taking both bags of gold she opened them up and began slowly counting them against each other on the table one gold coin at a time. Both princes had their attention turned to her and gave each other cold glances from the corners of their eyes. 

 

“I bet five gold that the priest is going to fall to the last two, she got lucky with that beastman.” A young noble commented. “That musketeer had incredible accuracy. I want to see him fight some more.” 

 

“I don’t know, she is somehow healed when she never moved from her prone position. That means she completed a prayer when no one was paying attention.” Another noble said who was watching the screen carefully. “Galvonians are famous for their close combat skills and she has already closed with the alchemist.”

 

On the screen, the dark elf nun wielding the segmented staff like a spear was moving side to side and managed to evade a flintlock pistol that was fired by the alchemist. The small lead ball flying by her head and disturbing her headdress seemed to only excite her as she suddenly stopped moving side to side and charged straight at the alchemist. The alchemist dropped the smoking flintlock into the wet grass and reached into his coat and pulled out a glass jar filled with viscous black fluid that looked like sludge. 

 

“Dammit, this shit is expensive!” He cursed as he threw the bottle towards the feet of the nun causing the glass jar to shatter. 

 

The moment the air contacted the black sludge it burst into flames and caused the remaining glass to go flying like shrapnel. Some of the shards hit his leather coat and dug into his flesh painfully, but he focused on shielding his face and chest. If he had to use a medium healing potion on top of the enchanted oil then even if Lord Grayfield paid extra for the fur they had gathered he would still make a loss from the cost of all of the potions they had used. Watching the flames engulf her body brought him a feeling of relief and joy until he saw a flaming figure charge through the fire holding her staff like a spear.

 

“The second!” She cried, driving her spear forward with the perfect form for a spearman.

 

The sharp spike from the but cap made a sick crunching noise as it impacted his sternum and proceeded to bury its way into his chest. The alchemist gave out a pitiful cry as he dropped the vials he was holding onto the ground and reached up for the pole that was buried in his center. The flaming nun then reached down with her gloved hands and proceeded to rip off her outfit that was covered in the oil and tossed it onto the alchemist. The musketeer watched this scene as he moved to reload his rifle, he was busy packing down the musket ball using his push rod. 

 

The dark elf woman had a good figure with decent curves and a moderate bust that was hidden behind a tight undershirt with a cloth wrap around her chest and bloomers. These moderate pieces of underwear had burns on them that revealed more of the dark elf’s flesh and she was revealed to have indigo purple hair. Ashton might have considered her pretty if she wasn’t sporting a savage scowl as she ran right at the musketeer who was just starting to raise his rifle. The moment it got to his shoulder she began to use the same zigzagging tactic she used on the alchemist.

 

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Cotton, Bert, Groller! You are all worthless bastards!” The musketeer screamed angrily as he took aim and fired his rifle towards the elf.

 

Her rapid movements caused his aim to be off and the ball went over her shoulder cutting a few strands of her indigo hair. Just like with the alchemist she immediately started charging straight at the musketeer when his gun was empty and he knew he wouldn’t get a second chance to shoot it before she closed with him. Looking over he could see Bert, the alchemist, with the staff sticking in his chest like a spear he had fallen to his knees and the staff was preventing him from falling forward as his body burned from the oil on the nun’s clothes. Fire was something you used if you didn’t want a priest to be able to revive someone after using a spell to restore their corpse. 

 

“Why don’t we team up, lass? We both have useless partners. What do ya say?” He tried as he drew the knife he carried and got into a stance with it held to the side with both hands. His knees were bent and he was getting ready to spring forward.

 

“You shot me you piece of shit! Now you are fucked!” She screamed in rage as the two finally got in range of each other.

 

The musketeer sprang forward with his knife, it was small and straight and meant to attach to his rifle.  Aiming for his chest he drove the blade forward using both hands to try to overpower her. The underwear-clad priest reached forward and used her arm to catch his wrists and shift his aim over her shoulder. Grabbing his side with her free hand she leaned forward towards him and opened her mouth as she sank her small teeth into the man’s neck and bit down savagely.

 

He screamed as he tried to bring the knife to bear against the woman but he could only cut at her side uselessly. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and held on as she continued to chew at the right side of the musketeer's neck causing blood to fly everywhere. Ashton could tell from the intense flow that she must have finally hit the artery and that the musketeer was not long for this world. While he had cut her side pretty badly, she just needed some stitches while he needed a new life.

 

Ashton reached up and rubbed his eyes to get the image of the terrifying dark elf out of his mind and tried to focus his attention on the two princes. Prince Valiant looked like he was having problems holding in his rage as his face was turning red and his veins were bulging. Prince Tolerance had a cold look on his face as he also looked like he wanted to have the fox woman killed. All this while Kumiho continued to try to count the gold coins they used to bribe Ashe, but she had already mixed some of the coins and she kept knocking over the counted stacks in her drunkenness. 

 

So this is their true character… For once he was happy that he had chosen Kumhio over Natalay to accompany him, if it had been her then she wouldn’t have had the gall to provoke the two princes. He doubted Kumiho did it intentionally, but the effect was pretty clear from their behaviors. While this is a mess, I shouldn’t commit to either side without more information… If I have to live here I don’t want to live under the rule of a psychopath…

 

If someone didn’t have the patience to deal with some minor needling then they had no right to have a crown on their head. The second prince must have come to make sure that I didn’t take sides, or at least didn’t take Valiant’s side. Ashton decided to walk up next to Kumiho so that he could see the petition more clearly, he scanned over the names one more time but the one thing he noticed was that none of the great house lords had signed it. Are they choosing to not take sides? This is strange… I need more information…

 

“I have decided…” Ashton stated seriously.

 

Both of the princes looked at each other with malice as if his words were going to be like a knife to the other. Tolerance didn’t show his anger anywhere but his eyes, these were the people that Ashton hated most, at least with Valiant he would be direct about things.

 

“Not to... decide.” Ashton finished shaking his head. “I… want no part of this.” 

 

War is bad and people get killed, that person could be him if he chose to take sides in a battle over the crown. If war was going to break out he would leave without a moment's notice after taking all of the servants with him. Why would he ever risk his life for a country that had no value to him? He had none of Ashe Grayfield’s memories or emotions so he had no idea what his thoughts or feelings were in regards to the nation. 

 

“Wait! Why is she taking all of the money then?!” Prince Valiant called in anger.

 

Ashton looked over and saw that Kumiho had finished putting the gold back into the sacks where she got it from. She was no longer stumbling around and her actions were smooth and crisp as she shoved the two large bags of money right into her cleavage. Magically the two bags entered her brassiere and seemed to disappear as the bulk seemed to fall into an extradimensional pocket. 

 

Wait! What!?! Ashton had to fight to keep his face neutral but he didn’t have to wait for long before the first prince stated the reason.

 

“You equipped your maid with a bra of holding?! How much money did you spend on her!?!” He exclaimed in shock.

 

Wow! So that is a storage item? His mind went blank here when he found his eyes staring at Kumiho’s well-endowed chest, he had a lot of questions suddenly. He first wondered if her breasts were even bigger than what she was showing, he then wondered if there was a special space somewhere were a pair of breasts were just floating in a void. Shaking his head to clear these thoughts he looked up to see that both princes were staring at him with flat expressions. 

 

Just as he was trying to figure out what he should do to get himself out of this situation, Kumiho walked over to his side and reached into her cleavage, and fished out one of the bags of gold before handing it to him and nodding. Deciding that she hadn’t gone far enough yet she then turned and had her tails part so that they could see her face clearly and stuck her tongue out at the two princes. These actions caused Valiant to begin scowling as several veins bulged out of his neck and forehead. Tolerance went pale at first before his face also gained a bit of colo,r but he was much better at schooling his features.

 

What is she doing!?! Is she trying to get me into a duel with them? Just as these thoughts crossed his mind a cold smile crossed Tolerance’s face as he looked behind him and nodded his head. He looked at his brother before he turned his attention to Ashton and Kumiho who were standing in front of him. From behind him, a man walked out who was wearing a heavy suit of armor that was black with silver ornaments, for weapons he was wielding a trident and a net.

 

“If I am not mistaken, that is a combat slave. No one would put one of those callers on someone who wasn’t in the high-tier. You seemed to like watching those low-tier rubbish fighting earlier, why not let our slaves have a battle for the nobles' entertainment?” He proposed. “I recently purchased this gladiator who was a former bandit leader, his tongue was cut out or he would introduce himself to you. I am sure you have heard the name Mavis Deadhand, no?”

 

Nope, never heard of him… Ashton thought.

 

“Wait! Why don’t we make this even more interesting! I happened to acquire a new combat slave recently myself.” The first prince chuckled as he snapped his fingers. 

 

Loud footsteps heralded the arrival of a slave that the prince had brought who stood head and shoulders over the rest of the people in the hall and had a fierce body odor to match it. Thick tusks grew from his mouth and hair that looked like wire bristles were coming from the top of his head and he bore leathery skin that was a dark brown. His snout was like a pig’s and his eyes were hard to see under his thick brows. This walking pig creature was also wearing a heavy suit of gray full-plate armor and had a massive battle-ax on his back. 

 

“I was wondering who bought Pigor, so it was you brother? He quite suits you I think.” The second prince said and began laughing merrily.

 

The more they talk the less I like either of them… If he was asked if he was worried about Kumiho in a fight, the answer was no. Monsters were called monsters for a reason and that was because within the same tier they would always be stronger than one of the sentient races if it was an equal fight. Humans, beastmen, elves, all of the sentient races had been fighting monsters since the beginning of history on this planet and the continent was still mostly controlled by the monsters. 

 

Do they know what they are getting into? She only looks like a kitsune! A kitsune was a subspecies of the fox beastmen who could store mana inside of their tails for abilities or spells of their choosing. They were good at virtually everything they put their minds to and were cherished when they were captured as slaves. But why are they challenging my “slave” to a duel? Are they that afraid of challenging me?

 

Ashton couldn’t figure out how to make Ashe’s ability work in the short time he had in the bathroom to prepare. But Ashe Grayfield had an ability that was almost custom-tailored to defeating people in duels with ease. Hold on… did they prepare these slaves because they were worried about dueling me? The second prince I can understand, but why did the first prince prepare one as well?

 

Prince Valiant was said to be a warrior who wielded a large heirloom sword that belonged to the royal family and was created long ago for fighting giants. To put it simply, it was huge and unwieldy by anyone who wasn’t training in martial force. Most nobles considered this barbaric and dirty and instead became magicians or musketeers who could stand back and fight from a distance. Alchemy was also popular since they had the money to invest in the materials and the ultimate goal of alchemy was eternal life.

 

“A battle between high-tier battle slaves?! That would be incredible! The priest is just looting the bodies... it looks like she was the only one left..” A noble commented before others started excitedly discussing it.

 

“You pieces of shit couldn’t even take one down with you before you died!” The nun yelled out in anger as she wiped the blood from her mouth. 

 

On the mirror, she had a twisted smile as she laid out all of the items on the musketeer's bloody cloak that was of value. Several firearms that were spent, the mage’s staff and spellbook, and the alchemists surviving potions that weren’t burned. The swords and ax she had left as they were too heavy to be as valuable to her but she had unrolled the bundle that the beastman was carrying to reveal a fur that was freshly taken from a monster. It was black with gray furrs mixed into it and Ashton immediately recognized it. 

 

“Lord Grayfield wanted a bigger coat and this is the fur he ordered! They managed to get it off the monster without damaging it!” The nun was ecstatic when she finished her inspection of it before she turned an angry scowl at a decapitated head that was laying on the ground. “I spent your deposit buying the healing potion that saved my life from that gunshot wound! It is bad that our enemies were more useful than you!”

 

Ashton decided that there was too much in that statement to unpack and that he would deal with his thoughts on it later. Turning his attention back to the two princes and the combat slaves, Kummiho took the time to speak before he even had a chance. She was nodding with a pleased expression as if she had just been given a free pizza and a two-liter of soda.  

 

“Kumiho accepts! Both of you can fight her at the same time!” The way that she kept licking her lips when she was eyeing the man wearing armor was giving Ashton the chills, but she seemed much less interested in the pigman. 

 

The more shocking thing he noticed was that the large wooden barrel that had been sitting a few feet away from her was empty. It was large enough that he could have sat down inside of it with room to close the lid but all of the alcohol had disappeared. Looking over at the maid that he knew was responsible, he couldn’t even see a bulge on her flat belly.

 

“What say you Lord Grayfield? We all know that you collect many rare species of women for your brothels, but do you also collect powerful ones as well?” Prince Valiant egged him on as he looked back at the large pigman in pride.

 

For a high-tier warrior or mage to fall into slavery they were either a heinous criminal or they were born into it with no way to escape. Thinking about it carefully, he had only seen low-tier adventures who were only slightly above human abilities. They had moved fast and been very efficient in their movements but it felt like things that humans on Earth were capable of doing except for the magic. While he knew that this duel was going to end terribly, he also felt like he needed to understand the various power levels in this world.

 

I have to live here now, death is everywhere and the morals that were everywhere on Earth are absent here. I also can’t refuse this battle because that would be out of character for Ashe Grayfield. These thoughts rapidly flew through his head as he made his decision. Reaching towards the table he picked up the heavy bag of gold and tossed it towards the two princes where it fell heavily onto the ground. A smile crossed his face as he felt himself getting swept up in the act since he had never been able to throw around money so liberally on Earth.

 

“I believe that money… should be placed where the mouth is… I don’t like that I am not the one dueling… so I need to find another way to… get my pound of flesh…” Ashton said dramatically as he channeled his inner mobster. 

 

He had seen the look of hesitation on the Prince Valiant’s face when he parted with the gold initially, but it look like Kumhiho also liked this idea as she began to fish around in her blouse and at one point had her entire arm in her top but it never showed a change below her breasts. He suddenly realized that she must have had quite an impressive storage item attached to her chest. She finally removed her arm from her top and had a second identical bag of gold in her hand and tossed it at her own feet to make her stance clear.

 

“Making bets against us using our gold… some people might think that you are trying to disrespect the crown…” The second price said with some venom in his voice.

 

“The moment it enters my hand… money just becomes money… Do you think I have time to remember where it came from?” Ashton replied as he felt a cold sweat break out on his back. “I pay my taxes on time… and in full…” 

 

Two can play at that game, I contribute to the kingdom! Ashe Grayfield took nothing lying down and even if it scared him he knew that the princes were no exception. However the more he interacted with them the more he realized that there was truth in the old stories he had read. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and being accountable to no one from a young age is a quick way to become corrupted.

 

I bet they all had it so easy! They probably never faced any real trial or hardship! The worst people he met in school were the ones who came from wealthy families and looked down on him coming from nothing at all. His clothes came from thrift stores and sometimes he wore his work uniform to his later classes so he could go straight there after school without having to find a bathroom to change in. 

 

“Of course… if you don’t have the money… we don’t have to bet…” Ashton added as if he was talking to little kids. “I wouldn’t want to… embarrass... both of you…”

 

Kumiho turned and looked at Ashe as if she was suddenly seeing a new side of him. She chuckled maliciously as she made a show of bending over and using her hands to pick up the two large bags of gold as she looked at the two princes with a pitying gaze. The gathered nobles were also beginning to discuss the prospect of this battle heatedly, and soon an old man wearing a uniform that made him resemble a butler stepped forward and motioned to Ashton Respectfully. Turning his attention to him he acknowledged the old man who began speaking to him very respectfully.

 

“Boss, I have taken the liberty to prepare Arena A for your match. It was short notice so please tell me if anything is not to your liking.” The old man said and bowed nearly ninety degrees, so fast that his upper body became a blur.

 

Prince Valiant was the first to react as he used his ring to produce two bags of gold as he had hatred in his eyes as he stared at the fox woman. Even if his brother declined the challenge he was not going to take these slights to his honor sitting down. He had fought his combat slave many times and was impressed with his skill and grace with a battle-ax. This also allowed him to turn a mocking grin to his little brother who now felt like he was forced to pull out two more bags of gold and throw them onto the ground angrily.

 

Looking at the older prince the words rash and reckless popped into his mind along with the term hot-headed. Then when he looked at the younger brother he thought of the words cold and conniving and he thought of an inferiority complex. They don’t compliment each other's personalities so there is no way that they could work together… What awful princes this kingdom has…

 

Next Time: Surrounded by Killers