Chapter 3: Departure

The next morning, after a very early visit to the bathhouse, the three of us made our way to the Adventurer's Guild where Yume and the Chosen One were already waiting for us, Yume once again clad in the brown cloak that hid her features. I wasn't sure if he was embarrassed of her or worried she'd be harassed but I already disliked him enough and so I didn't ask. He already had his arms crossed, his feet tapping the ground impatiently. Thanks to the metal sabatons he wore the sound was rather obnoxious.

“You're late”, he told us by way of greeting.

I felt Alisha bristle beside me. We were not, in fact, late. The Adventurer's Guild hadn't even opened yet. But I just shrugged and we set out to the nearest node in the caravan network.

The roads from the capital to Calice and to Carthage formed a V-shape and our target was located in between the two lines of the V, so the caravan network was of limited use to us, but it still let us shave a day off of our travel time, even if it would suck to be stuck with that guy on a caravan for most of a day.

The caravans were wooden wagons with canvas coverings and were larger than the elephants native to the southeastern jungles. They were pulled by four oxen each, meant to transport large quantities of goods between the largest cities of the kingdom and the large roads built for them had become a travel network, with smaller nodes along the way connecting to smaller roads and thus to smaller villages as well. And yes, they already used bags of holding to increase the storage space exponentially and the freed-up space was used to allow passengers along. You'd be stuck within the storage and didn't really get to see much of the outside but the enchantments on the canvas covering kept the storage spaces pleasantly tempered, not too cold and not too warm.

In all honesty, the caravans weren't all that much faster than a motivated wanderer could walk but the huge beasts of burden didn't tire and were able to keep up their pace for long stretches of time with little rest.

By the time we reached the node in the network that was our stop it had become dark and we only just got to the nearest inn in time to get rooms for the night. Thankfully, despite our Chosen One being a phenomenal creep he was still a Chosen One and so we got rooms and food for free. At dinner I noticed that Yume was having a surprising amount of trouble handling the silverware, as if she wasn't used to eating with a fork. It was actually kind of cute the way she seemed embarrassed and wouldn't ask for help until Alisha walked over and showed her how to use a knife and fork.

“Thank you”, Yume told her quietly. It didn't sound mechanical or forced like most of what she'd spoken up to that point, just meek and desperately embarrassed. As she spoke I also noticed something on her back twitching. I had a pretty good idea of what that might have been given her ears but obviously I couldn't just check.

**

Once we got to our rooms the first thing we noticed was how thin the walls were as we heard a couple arguing in the room to our left. They weren't even being all that loud but we could still hear every word if we tried. As the room to our right was the one Yume and her Chosen One stayed in we knew we needed to keep quiet if we wanted to talk about them.

Thus, Alisha tried to be very quiet as she started gushing. “She's so cute!”, she squeaked, drawing out the last word as she started hugging herself. “You've got to get her away from him, Felix. He doesn't deserve her.”

“Did you seriously just tell him to steal someone else's woman away?”, Selene asked quietly, then added: “We don't even know her.”

“We know she's cute as a button, for one thing”, Alisha countered. “I want to scratch behind those furry ears. And that tiny smile when I showed her how to use a fork? My heart!”

“So”, I cut in and they both quieted down, “did you notice her collar flash when he gave her a command?”

They looked at me, confused, so I clarified:

“I don't think she's with him by choice. I think the collar makes her unable to refuse his commands.”

Their confused looks turned into angry frowns.

“If the opportunity arises I will try to get her away from him, yes. But I do agree with Selene, we don't even know her, so wanting her to join us is maybe a little... premature? But I'm surprised that you both seem fine with the idea of me adding yet another woman to our little group.”

“If she's nice”, Selene said, shrugging, “it's fine by me.” Even though she played it cool I did notice a slight smile on her lips at the thought.

“Same here”, Alisha added. “I told you from the start, didn't I? If we found another woman as amazing as Selene I'd be fine with sharing you.”

Selene turned to face Alisha, a smug smile on her face. “You think I'm amazing, do you?”

Alisha swallowed but then got a smirk on her face. “I think I didn't really thank you enough for taking care of me yesterday”, she said, then leaned in to kiss the blonde.

But before their lips met we were once again reminded of the thin walls as we heard a man let out a deep satisfied groan. As the couple to our left was still arguing it was pretty clear who'd made that sound. It was then followed by a retch and a cough from a woman.

“Was that...?”, Selene asked.

Alisha's face contorted in distaste. It clearly was. Yume had probably just sucked the Chosen One off, probably while under compulsion from that collar.

“If I find out that collar does what I think it does, I am going to murder this guy”, I growled.

“I'll hold him down while you do”, Selene added.

Then we heard him growl out: “Why didn't you swallow?”

Yume's voice, in response, was not mechanical or subdued. It was a low growl, defiance in her tone, and it made my opinion of her skyrocket. “Because you didn't tell me to, Master”, she growled and as she called him 'Master' she put so much venom and sarcasm into that one word it felt like it should have exploded.

“Alisha?”, I asked and the elf looked up. “You're right. I do have to get her away from him.”

With the mood thoroughly ruined we just huddled up on the bed and went to sleep.

**

The next morning, during breakfast, Yume looked a bit green around the gills, not that I could blame her. I wanted to go talk to her but on the one hand I didn't want to spook her and on the other I didn't want the Chosen One to realize I was trying to get her away from him so I left things to Alisha. A few minutes later the two girls were eating something sweet together, probably trying to help wash the taste out of Yume's mouth.

Soon enough we had left the little township built around the crossroad in the travel network behind and the Chosen One told Yume: “You can take the cloak off now.”

She nodded and finally removed the cloak altogether and my appreciation for her looks gained another level as we could see all of her. She was clad in a garment that I'd seen advertised as being from the lands to the south. To me it mostly looked like a bathrobe but made of sheer cloth, royal blue with white trim and instead of a flimsy belt a large ribbon, eight inches wide, was wrapped around her waist, holding the garment closed. Her feet were covered in white socks and she wore a weird kind of footwear. They were like the sandals I knew but made of wood and elevated by two wooden teeth to add another two inches to the wearer's height.

Even that didn't distract from the fact that Yume was tiny, five feet even with the ears adding another two inches or so. Despite her short stature she had a very attractive figure, with a thin waist but shapely hips and decently sized breasts. But the most distinctive feature that had only just become apparent were her tails. Yes, tails, plural. After seeing her fox ears and seeing something on her back twitch I'd already assumed the cloak was hiding a fox tail, and it was, but what I hadn't expected was the fact that instead of a single bushy tail Yume had three, all of them fluffy and the same red color as her hair and ears but with snow white tips. It took everything I had not to reach out and test if they were as fluffy as they looked.

Apparently the Chosen One caught me staring as he told me: “Eyes to yourself, mercenary, she's mine.”

For now, I thought, shocking myself with the thought.

Though I did catch Yume's small smile as she caught me checking her out.

**

I had taken to scouting ahead once we left the road as I had the most experience with scouting the forest, at least of the three of us. From the way Yume was watching her surroundings and reacting to noises I was pretty sure that, if left to her own devices and not controlled by a scumbag, she might have been just as experienced as I was, maybe more.

Just a few hours off the beaten path I noticed something and held up a fist to signal the others to stop. Alisha and Selene both stopped, as did the Chosen One, deepening my belief that he might have been a soldier at some point, but Yume clearly had no clue what my sign meant and walked right into me, though I noticed that it took her a moment too long to back off once she'd realized her mistake.

“What is it?”, the Chosen One asked, barely above a whisper.

“Group of orcs”, I said. “They also have a manticore with them, which is not normal behavior for orcs. But if they were working for a beast master Dark Lord it would make sense.”

“I suppose”, he said. “So, you're the mercenary here. How should we handle it?”

I thought about it. Fifteen orcs and a manticore. Manticores were nasty things, body and mane of a lion except three times the size, face that looked like a wizened old man with fangs and a huge hook nose, scorpion stinger, and venomous claws. And fifteen orcs were about three times as many as I wanted to take on.

First things first, I turned to Alisha. “Can your Heal miracle cure poison?”

She bit her upper lip. “Only the variant that comes out of my allotment for the day.”

Shit.

Alisha had progressed to the point where she could cast five miracles a day but she'd also gained the ability to cast a minor healing miracle on her own authority, though it was vastly weaker than the one the goddess Brigid could cast through her. In fact, her own Heal miracle was more something for after the fight when time was no longer of the essence. Before I could mull things over Yume offered, to the surprise of everyone but especially that of her Chosen One: “I can cast Stupor on them.”

My eyes widened in appreciation.

“What's Stupor?”, Selene asked.

“It's a basic illusion spell”, Alisha and I began and I shut up to let her explain. “It shows the enemy something distracting that makes them unable to act, letting your party attack them while they are otherwise occupied.”

“Very useful”, Selene commented.

“How long can you hold it?”, I asked Yume, who waggled a hand.

“About ten seconds and on this many targets it will take all of my concentration. If you're fast you might be able to end these orcs, but that would still leave that manticore thing”, she explained.

“Sounds good to me”, I told her and nodded my appreciation, then asked: “Anyone got a better idea?”

“I got a question”, Selene said, then turned to Yume. “Can't you just cast that spell again once it runs out?”

Yume shook her head. “Once someone shakes it off they gain a resistance to it for a little while. I can try to distract the manticore with other spells but I'm not sure how strong its mental defenses are once it's had time to brace itself. I have never faced one of these things before.”

Selene nodded and by that time I had come up with a battle plan, so I said:

“Alright then people, this is the plan...”

**

Selene, the Chosen One, and I were hidden in the underbrush, as close to the orc party as we could get without them noticing us. Apparently there was some sort of leadership dispute among the orcs or, in other words, the two biggest and burliest of the group were having a good old-fashioned dick measuring contest, shoving and insulting each other and ramming their tusks into each other.

Orcs had the heads of boars and most of their bodies were covered in thick coarse bristles, giving them a rough and dangerous look. The average male was about six feet tall, same as the average human male, but orcs were much more muscular than the average human, though I suspected that this had a lot to do with the savage lifestyle they led. The species wasn't particularly evil or even mean-spirited, they just enjoyed a good brawl and knew that under a Dark Lord they were sure to get those. But then again, when working under a Dark Lord they did nasty shit like eat people so I didn't really feel much remorse for taking them down. Orcs in their normal tribes, though? Good people, if rough around the edges. Just, don't steal their kills when they're on the hunt, yeah?

The two orcs in question were big and burly even by the standards of their species and had we not had an illusionist with us I would have used their bickering as a distraction to start picking the others off one by one, but that hypothetical plan evaporated the moment the manticore spoke up. Its voice was a raspy hiss, but coming from such a huge beast it still dominated the area.

“Cease your bickering, foolish pigs. The master wants results.”

The two orcs glared at each other but nodded and let it rest.

Thankfully, we did have an illusionist with us, so a moment later I saw a faint light blue haze permeate the area and a moment later the orcs and the manticore all had their eyes glaze over.

The first of our ten seconds of distraction was wasted because the Chosen One missed his cue to cast his miracle, but Selene and I just darted forward and started decapitating orcs.

Two seconds in and he had finally gotten his shit together and used the miracle. By this point both Selene and I had killed one each.

Three seconds and the miracle took effect, making us faster and stronger, though not as much as Alisha's enhancement miracle. Selene and I both added another orc each to the tally. Four dead, eleven still alive.

Four seconds in, a barrage of air lances caught an orc in the chest, tearing through him and Selene and I had both moved to another orc and started swinging our weapons.

Five seconds in and the Chosen One had finally gotten off his ass. He thrust forward with his sword, creating a lance of fire that burned clean through the chest of another orc as both Selene and I chopped through another orc each. Eight down, half of the Stupor spell still remaining.

Six seconds in, the Chosen One paused and I felt a burst of irritation but chopped through another orc's neck, as did Selene, and Alisha killed yet another with air bursts.

Seven seconds in and the Chosen One boomed “Back” and I glanced his way to see a red rune on his gauntlet glowing.

“Fuck”, I swore and dove at Selene to toss her out of the line of fire as the Chosen One's fire storm miracle blasted forward. It manifested as a gout of flame twenty feet long, burning through two orcs in as many seconds and seriously singeing the manticore's fur.

Nine seconds and the fire had died down, extinguished supernaturally fast, and I saw a burst of air lances take out another orc.

At the ten second mark Selene reached the final orc and stabbed into his heart with her great sword while I started hacking at one of the manticore's legs, trying to hobble it before the Stupor spell ran out, but only managing to bite deep into its flesh before the spell wore off and I had to scramble to get out of the way of a razor-sharp claw. Even then I almost wouldn't have made it, but Alisha used her air magic to pull me back a few inches with a gust of wind.

While the manticore was still off balance from swiping at me Selene had run up behind it and, correctly identifying the biggest threat, started hacking at the scorpion tail. Her blade, too, bit deep into it but didn't quite manage to sever it before a mule kick from the manticore tossed her off.

“I'll kill you”, the wounded manticore told us, its voice a growl like that of an angry lion. “I'll kill you all. I'll poison you all until you writhe in agony and then I'll eat---” and then a lance of fire from the Chosen One's blade took it right in the eye, taking out the eye and cauterizing the wound in the same instant. The manticore let out a shrill keening sound of pain that was almost staggering in its intensity and then the oddest thing happened.

The lance of fire had been short-lived and had extinguished itself as quickly as it'd come but still the manticore threw itself to the ground and writhed as if on fire. It took me a few moments and a glimpse of light blue haze to realize that Yume was messing with its mind.

I dashed in and pulled my trusty battleaxe from my bag of holding, swinging it at the manticore's tail in the same place Selene had already wounded and managed to chop clean through it, then jumped back as Alisha sent a barrage of two dozen air lances at its upward turned belly, spilling its guts on the ground and Selene rammed her great sword into its remaining eye, sinking the blade down as deep as it would go.

We'd won.

But instead of celebrating I spun on the Chosen One. “What the fuck was that? You could have burned us alive!”

He shrugged. “I shouted a warning. Not my problem if you can't heed it. And you're fine, so whatever.”

I took a step towards him when I heard Alisha speak up. “Save it for later. My Sense Evil skill just flared up. Something's coming.”

The Chosen One cocked his head to the side. “Sense Evil? Explain”, he commanded.

Alisha bristled but replied: “It's a skill that tells you when evil creatures are drawing close. You're a Chosen One, you should have it, too.”

“Can't say I have, no”, he replied, which sounded fishy to me but I didn't push. “So you're saying something evil is out there, yes?”

She nodded.

Just then my own intuition, honed by almost a decade of training, flared up and I tackled Yume moments before a small arrow whistled through the place she'd just been standing. If I hadn't saved her it would have gone right into her chest, possibly through her heart.

“Shields!”, I yelled, pulling one from my bag of holding and placing it between the two of us and where the arrow had come from.

We stood up and Yume stomped her foot, a wave of hazy light blue magic saturating the area. “There, that should do it”, she said.

“What did you do?”, I asked quietly.

“It's called phantom step”, she explained. “It messes with your silhouette, makes attackers think you're slightly off to the side from where you actually are.”

“That's convenient.”

“I try”, she said and for the first time since I met her I caught a quick grin from her. Her canines were longer and sharper than a human's, not that it should have surprised me given her other fox-like features.

A few more arrows hit around us but they flew past everyone to hit the ground instead of us. Seconds later Alisha's aura exploded out of her, the butterfly wings that accompanied her magic usage as solid as I'd ever seen, and they beat once, creating a barrier of swirling air that turned arrows off course.

While that was a great defensive measure it wouldn't let us get close to our foes to attack. Even if Alisha could move the barrier, if enemies saw it coming towards them they'd just back off. It did give us time to get our bearings, though. I picked up one of the arrows and noticed some brown gunk smeared onto it that looked and smelled like shit. I only knew one species that fired shit-smeared arrows at people and pinged the Sense Evil skill.

“Goblins”, I said as if the word were a curse. It pretty much was. Not that the green little shits were all that dangerous but they were one of the nastiest species in existence. The entire race enjoyed the pain of others and would go out of their way to torture anything that couldn't fight back. Even worse, the species was all male and reproduced exclusively by violating the women of other mortal races, something a Dark Lord had tried to have done to Selene not too long ago, though thankfully we had managed to get her out before that had happened.

Unfortunately we didn't know how many there were. For all we knew there was an entire army of the little shits out there. So I told them my plan. “Alisha, drop the barrier on my signal. Yume, send out the largest Stupor you can manage the moment the barrier drops. The three of us will wade in there and take them out, starting with the ones that aren't dazed. Alisha can pick off the ones who can't act the fastest. Everybody clear?”

I was met with nods from the ladies and a shrug from the Chosen One, so I gave Alisha the signal to drop the barrier.

Right after that I dashed forward, the barrier just barely dropping before I reached it and then light blue haze exploded outward, catching a dozen goblins that Alisha began to methodically pick off one by one. I ran past them and reached the first archer, not even stopping in my tracks as I chopped its head off. Selene was taking a similar approach while the Chosen One kept relying on his fire lances while keeping a distance he considered safe, which cost him as the goblin farthest from us put an arrow in his shoulder. Not a dangerous place to be hit, usually, but with the shit smeared on the arrow the wound might go septic if not treated.

A minute more of dodging and blocking arrows and chopping up goblins and we'd won, two dozen goblins strewn about the field.

The Chosen One was lying on the ground, writhing in pain to the point where I was starting to question my assessment of him because no real soldier would have that terrible a pain tolerance.

Judging by his behavior the night before I wanted to leave him to die of sepsis but if the Dark Lord had that annoying “only the Chosen One may slay me” ability we'd be shit out of luck if the Chosen One were to die here.

“Yume, help me”, he said and after a flash of red Yume was at his side.

Then she got a smug smile on her face as she noticed a loophole in his command. Instead of being gentle with him she ripped the arrow out of his shoulder, making him shriek.

“That needs to get cleaned out before I can heal it”, Alisha said as she noticed the brown gunk in the wound.

“Then clean the wound, Yume”, he commanded.

Yume's eyes went wide. She looked around, desperately looking for something to clean his wounds with and not finding anything. Then she leaned forward, apparently compelled by the collar to lick the goblin shit out of his wound to obey his command even as she tried to fight it.

Before that could happen I pulled a cloth and a spare canteen out of my bag of holding and shoved them into her hands before she had to do something that disgusting. She nodded her thanks, her eyes welling up with relieved tears, as she got to work cleaning out his wound. I hadn't even realized I'd balled my fists until I felt both Selene and Alisha place their hands on mine.

“We already decided on what to do”, Alisha said very quietly. “No need to lose your cool right now.”

“Thank you”, I told them both as I relaxed. “You were amazing, by the way, both of you.”

Selene snorted. “You could at least pretend to be honest when you're complimenting us. I barely did anything.”

“What are you saying? You killed as many orcs and goblins as I did and you put the finishing blow on the manticore.” I did not add that she would have been able to do much more if she didn't refuse to use the miracles the goddess Freya had given her because that was still a touchy subject with her.

“And I was the only one of the three of us who got hurt in the fight”, she said.

I shrugged and Alisha told her: “And yet the injury was so minor that my own Heal miracle was enough to fix you up.”

“But I was also very impressed by Yume”, I said. “Did you see what she did to that manticore?”

“Yeah”, Alisha said, and as a mage herself she could appreciate Yume's abilities better than any of us. “I'm just glad she's on our side.”

“Only for now”, Selene muttered and Alisha got a smug look on her face as she said:

“Not if Felix has any say in it.”

ChrisLensman

Serious question: Do you guys think that stuff like what the Chosen One had Yume do for him deserves a trigger warning? Or was it mild enough not to need one?

Edit: Thank you all very much for your feedback!