“Oh, it’s nothing worth concerning yourself about.”  She said trying to brush my question aside by waving of her hand and wearing a casual smile.

“You called yourself ‘defective.’  I want to know why you would refer to yourself like that?”  I pressed on resolutely.

After a minute Aura dropped any pretense of casually dropping my question.  She stood in front of me staring into my face intently, a solemn look now on her face.  It seemed another minute passed as we stared into each other’s eyes, I held firm in front of her scowl that was clearly meant to intimidate me. 

“Hah, Fine.  It really is nothing grand or noteworthy, but if you are so determined to pry into my past then I’ll tell you.”  She finally relented with a sniff.

Aura took a few seconds to prepare herself.  “Remember the Battle Maidens that I told of you.  Girls who have sworn oaths to travel the land, honing their skills in battle always bound to seek greater opponents to challenge.”

I nodded affirmatively.

“Well, I was once a Battle Maiden, I took the oath outside of my home village years ago alongside several other girls.  Following my oath I traveled the land, at first from village to village fighting the local young warrior-girls, slowly losing my fellow Battle Maidens as they were defeated one by one, but as I exhausted the local population of women to fight, I went further afield.  Taking on a job as an escort for a merchant caravan I left my homeland for these wonderfully strange lands, traveling from place to place, not just as an caravan guard but also as a mercenary, bounty hunter and even on occasion as the bandit with plenty of opportunities to battle many, many girls.  I’ve fought bandit leaders, elven raiders, barbarian warlords and even champions of the goddesses.”  She smiled gleefully at her own words.  “It really had been eventful life I’ve lived.”

“But you said you were ‘once a Battle Maiden.’”  I asked confused about her words.

Aura’s smile dropped off as her somber mood returned.

“If ever a Battle Maiden was to be defeated in combat she is to dedicate herself utterly to the girl who bested her.  One seemingly normal day I ran across a girl, she wore strange clothing that I’ve never seen, before or since, consisting of blue skin tight trousers made of a tough material and white shirt with strangely uniform stitching.  She had long black hair tied into high ponytail that cascaded down her back and wearing a perpetually stern expression.  Wielding a long curved sword she fought me in a duel, the quality of her blade and the disciplined, precise strength progressively wore me down.  With one final swing of her blade she broke my sword, I had been defeated.

“But when I kneeled before her, presenting the remnants of my sword and myself to her service, she rejected me.”  Aura’s voice turned angry as her words came to ‘rejected.’  “I tried to explain to her that this was apart of my oath and that I expected nothing from her other than to fulfill my oath by following her.  She refused, said something about how she didn’t require my service, that girls shouldn’t be ‘involved in that way’ and ignored me as she walked away.  For days I followed her anyway, futilely hoping that she would eventually accept me, then one day…” 

Aura paused for a moment when she did resume her voice was noticeably more melancholy.  “…she was gone.  I had woken up to find that she had disappeared, where she went, how much time had past or even what she planned on doing, I knew none of it.  I thought to myself, ‘Is this my fate?  To be abandoned, rejected by the girl who overcame me, left unable to complete my oaths.’  I grew bitter because of the experience, eventually finding my way to a tavern I began to drink away my sorrow.  And that night I lost my virginity in a drunk frenzy with some random serving girl, I don’t even remember her name.  At the time I was acting out of despair, having been rejected, and believing that my oath as a Battle Maiden were essentially null and void.  But ultimately, I’m no one of worth, a failed Battle Maiden turned slut who’ll play with unfamiliar girls.”  She momentarily flashed a self-depreciating smile before reverting to her sorrowful grimace.  “That’s why I didn’t want to take your virginity, and for good reason.  Sarduna’s devotion to you, her willingness to follow you is beautiful to see, the two of you will make a cute couple.”  She finished as her smile started to return.

I had stood in silence while listening to Aura’s story, it was definitely quite a heartrending tale.  This girl who defeated Aura then just left her behind like that, feels kind of callous to me.  I mean what did she think was going to happen, a prideful, head strong warrior like Aura would just shrug her shoulders and pretend a life altering event that she was preparing for didn’t happen. 

No, it’s obvious that Aura would have emotional difficulties as a result of that girl’s dismissive attitude.  And the way Aura described her clothing, blue skin tight trousers, were those jeans?  Is it possible that this girl who fought Aura could have been summoned to this world by the Dragon-Goddess like me?  Well, the Dragon-Goddess did say that she had brought several hundred girls to this world, so it’s certainly possible that could be the case.  But the Dragon-Goddess also stated that almost all of those girl’s have been captured or defected to opposing factions.  So that begs the question, where is this girl and what is she currently doing at this time?

…I don’t have an answer right now, but I’ll have to keep an eye out for any clues about this girl. 

Thinking on the consequences for Aura, I started to see parallels with me and Sarduna.  After killing Makuri I ran off from the village, leaving both Sarduna and her elder sister, Sardura, behind.  Sarduna has come all this way chasing me down, and giving me a rather energetic, or maybe frisky is more accurate, greeting once she caught up.  How would she feel if I was to continue to push her away?  Well, I don’t want to upset Sarduna like that and the thought of her getting drunk then having a casual fling is causing a tightening sensation in my chest.  But then how is Sardura doing?

“Aura.  You’ve had it rough haven’t you?”  I stated wistfully.

She shrugged in a nonchalant manner.  “In the end I blame myself really, though that’s not going to stop me.” 

“…Do you know the name of that girl?”  I asked hesitantly.

“Hanabishi Hanako.  That was what the name she gave just before we fought.” 

Hmm, A Japanese name.  I wonder if there are any Japanese like societies around here?  Whatever, this girl’s name combined with her clothes is reinforcing my suspicions, finding this girl should be a priority in the future.

“Well, thank you.  I’m happy that you were willing to tell me all of that.”

“There no need to thank me, getting to vent felt nice.”  She talked with a calm, but still lively stir in her voice.  Her hands on her hips and her chest pushed out, I can see that her confidence was returning.

Aura then took my chin in her fingers and pulled me in for a kiss.  “Once you and Sarduna have expressed your love for each other call me and I’ll give you two some pointers on how you girls can better satisfy the other, directly of course.”  She purred softly right in front of my face, her fingers still gripping my chin.

“Now I’ve spent enough time here, I have to go and check the remaining supplies for pesky deserters.”  She then turned around and started walking off.  I swear that way she is sashaying while emphasizing her hips and long thighs as she walked away, must be deliberate. 

As I watched her walk off I felt a thump to my back as a large but soft mass collide with it.  Judging by the hands that wrapped around me, and onto my breasts to cop a feel, it must be Sarduna who has latched onto me.

“Yuuuriiii!”  She squealed while rubbing her entire body along mine.

I thought of what Aura had just told me, about how bitterness and disappointment lead her to actions that she clearly regrets.  I don’t want to do that to Sarduna, she’s too cute to mistreat like that.  So that means no matter what I’ll be taking her with me.

“Sarduna would you please stop it…” I paused for dramatic effect.  “…so I can turn around and embrace you as well.”  My comment elicited a giggling squeal from Sarduna while her friend Naira just rolled her eyes.

Sarduna loosened her grip so I could wriggle around till I was facing her.  Pressing up to her, I draped my arms around the small of her back as her limbs tightened again pushing our bodies together.  We stood in place in the other’s embrace for long moments, our faces hovering affectionately close.  Being a couple of inches shorter than me, I could feel her warm breadth tickling my neck as I gazed down into her gorgeous eyes.  I truly felt a soothing, calming warmth from her that reassured my soul.

“Tell me you’re not going to ravish each other out here, it’s embarrassing to have to watch you two carry on like this.”  Naira spoke dejectedly, with dead glazed over eyes.

Looking over at her, I saw her standing next to us with her arms crossed just below her breasts.  She had a sour expression and though she looked as if bored her eyes were fixed to us.

“Okay, okay.  I guess we’ll save this for later.”  I said a little smugly, still holding Sarduna tightly and sensually rubbing her back.

“Uh, why this girl Sarduna?”  Naira mumbled dejectedly mostly to herself.

“Yuri, are you hungry?  I can prepare you something.”  Sarduna cut in, defusing our little spat.  Since I STILL had yet to eat anything today I quickly accepted Sarduna’s offer, after all getting to eat a meal made by Sarduna was many times better than a bowl of grains with a piece of jerky on top.

As we began to head out, with Sarduna leaning up against me, my arm still wrapped around her waist and Naira alongside on the other side of Sarduna, I cast my gaze back towards the world beyond.  It was then that I was suddenly unnerved by the silence and stillness that pervaded the surrounding camp. 

Something seemed off about that silence, well more off, something…unnatural.  The more I dwelled on this the more apparent of how bizarre this was, I couldn’t even hear the ambient noises of rustling of the tents or the sounds of the bugs.  Tipped off by this strange premonition I decided to use my enhanced senses, focusing my ears to pierce through this odd silence.  The seconds seemed to drag on as I strained to pick up any noise, anything beyond the movements of me, Sarduna and Naira.  It all felt distant, suppressed, almost like someone was causing this.

From behind me I felt a vibration…of air, making a parting motion for no apparent reason.  Suddenly realization dawns on me, fear gripped me as I immediately responded.

“Get down, NOW!”  I yelled as pulled Sarduna into a ducking position with me.

A grey glinting blade slices through the air above us.

Naira was a second slower, which resulted in a large chunk of her hair being shorn off.

Rushing to escape from my awkward predicament I lurched forward to put some distance between me and that blade as well as get myself together.  Turning around I finally caught sight of my attacker.

Standing before me, with arms hold a sword, was a shockingly beautiful, blonde haired elf.