The water was almost painfully hot, just on the outer edge of comfortable. Kate sighed as she leaned back against me, causing small waves to form. Her soft skin rubbed against me, and I wasn't sure if I should do something about that. On the one hand, she was clearly interested. On the other, if we ended up falling asleep knowing no more than we did before then it might spell trouble down the line.
Lack of knowledge was deadlier than any weapon the enemy might have.
I shrugged, the water splashing. Kate turned her head as I reached for the washing cloth and dunked it. I smiled at her as I reached for her shoulder and started wiping days of dirt grime, and sweat from her skin.
"Why don't you tell me a story?" I asked softly. Kate turned her head back forward before leaning it to the side, leaving me more space to work with.
"About what?" she asked.
"About Dark Lords, and those who fight them," I said. It'd been what we were planning to talk about before the girl had interrupted us and regardless of how pleasant that interruption was, I still wanted to know. Kate made an assenting sound before she fell silent.
I spent the time running the cloth over her arm, drawing soft and pleased sounds from her lips until she eventually spoke up.
"Do you want the long and short of it, or a quick summary?" she asked, and I shrugged.
"What I need to know."
"We have many legends, and more myths. I think the best place to start is how we came to be. Legend, and the gods, tell us that we fled from many worlds. The twelve realms, they're called, and a disaster struck ours. The gods saved us, bringing us here where the races could live together in peace." Kate's voice rang through the room, and I held back my response as she took a deep breath.
Gods, she'd said. But earlier she'd said there was only one goddess of the Mikare. It was something I'd need to ask about.
"Evil followed us through the rift. A magic dark and corrupting, and from it the first Dark Lord arose. He saw our joy and peace, and attacked it with the hatred of one who has known neither. He killed one of the races in full, before we knew. We begged the gods to protect us." Her hand rose to her chest as she spoke, fingers resting on the golden mark that was glowing steadily.
"They chose a hero, one of the Iwiw, and he travelled to each of the seven races gathering companions and facing the darkness at every turn. Together, they scaled the Great Mountains and destroyed the source of the Dark Lord's power. He was defeated, and peace returned for a time." She sighed, but continued as though reciting from memory. I knew she was simplifying things, it was at least likely, but I just let her go on as I worked on cleaning her back.
"We were divided, forming our own nations, and peace was lost as greed overtook us. Valleys and plains and cities were filled with blood, and from it the darkness returned. A new Dark Lord rose, and a hero rose in turn to fight him. Seven times, this has happened. Each time the Dark Lord was from one of the races…" She hesitated.
"But now?" I asked, sensing she needed the push.
"I don't know the other races. Not really, not like us and the Iwiw and the Light-touched. It's why I didn't mention them before, I just know roughly what they're like." I snorted. That, by itself, would have been useful but not a question to be answered now.
"He's not like any of them?" I filled in where she was going, and she nodded in agreement.
"I saw him, the Goddess showed me, he's almost like…" she turned around suddenly, causing me to groan when her weight shifted across my groin. She grimaced at the sound, but slid back until she was sitting against the opposite end of the tub. Her eyes ran over me with an inquisitive interest.
I raised an eyebrow, two separate yet equally concerning thoughts rising up unbidden in my mind.
"Stand up?" Kate asked softly. I'd been about to voice my suspicions, but decided to do as she asked. She glanced down at my cock for an uncomfortably long moment before she regained control of herself and looked over my body in full. Then she twirled her finger, and I quirked my lips into a grin despite the tension.
Things were falling into place for me and I considered how to play the card as I turned. She didn’t say anything, and I didn’t quite have a proper answer by the time our eyes met again. So, instead, I just threw it out there.
“I’m human, and I’m guessing he is as well.” I spoke softly, keeping my tone calm despite the implications. Kate inclined her head, an almost imperceptible nod.
“Each of the seven races has features that are recognisable.” She gestured to her head. “Our ears, the Iwiw’s as well, the soft glow the Light-touched have, the wings of the Sky-seekers. You have none.”
“That checks out,” I said, prompting a confused look from the catgirl. “It makes sense,” I clarified as I sat back down. “Back on my first world there were only humans. On my second, there were many but they were outnumbered by what were called the slave races.” I gestured at her to make sure she got the point.
“It would make eight races, then, for eight Dark Lords,” I continued once I was sure she understood.
“So he would be… the last?” she murmured, uncertain. I shrugged.
“Who knows? Nothing that says there can’t be a repeat from one of the other races. He’ll be different though. Depending on… where he comes from.” I had the feeling I knew the answer to that, but making assumptions would be stupid. There was more that I didn’t know than what I did, and ‘guessing’ that he was transported to this world rather than there being an island or another continent Kate didn’t know about was folly. Nevermind that even if he did get transported there was no telling from which world it’d be.
I’d already seen two where humans were plentiful, after all.
"Yeah… Nothing does." Kate's voice was soft and sad, and her eyes matched it. I didn't push, instead gesturing her back over to me. She looked surprised, but I shrugged.
"Your back's not clean yet." That mollified her, and after some shifting around she'd taken her place between my legs again. “Maybe you should start again, at the beginning?” I cleaned the cloth as well as I could before running it over her back, just waiting. I didn't have to wait long.
"It's always consistent. The challenges a hero faces, I mean. It starts… doable. Maybe there'll be some monsters pushing them to leave, or the Dark Lord will have some followers hunting them. Not armies. Not yet, those should come later…" she trailed off. I was tempted, in a way, to point out that life wasn’t fair. I didn’t, of course. That wasn’t remotely what she needed to hear, and it wouldn’t help us get any further.
“Always?” I asked instead. She nodded. That was interesting. You’d expect them to learn and not do the same thing seven times in a row. This one had, but after so many, that by itself was suspicious. Not that I didn’t understand, of course. If I knew some chosen hero would rise up from nothing to challenge me I’d have done much the same. Overwhelming force when they were still weak, break the cycle.
He hadn’t accounted for me, though. Something I’d make sure he regretted.
“Then that means we can’t rely on anything from before. Companions, visiting the nations, historical weaknesses,” I said. “No. We’ll head to that city and see if we can’t learn anything about my magic. From there, we can rally people to help us fight. Destroy his army, and lock him up in his mountains until we know more about what’s going on.” Obvious enough. The army was sizable, certainly worthy of being called one, but nothing I couldn’t handle with a thousand good men and my magic at full strength.
Kate sighed.
“Why do you always think you know what to do?” she asked, her voice flat. It pulled my mind to a stop.
"What?"
"You don't know this world, or anyone, and ever since you came in you just decide. There's two cities, so let's go to the first one. No explanation, no discussion." Kate kept going, but I let the words wash over me. Her point was clear, and she wasn't wrong.
But neither was I.
I waited until she fell silent. She didn't seem angry to me, just frustrated. That was good. Frustration is a lot easier to handle.
"Someone needs to make a choice," I began, "but that doesn't mean you can't say anything. If you have a question, ask. If you think I'm not considering something, say so.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Her response was swift, though less sharp. I shrugged as I considered it, before sighing.
“It’s because I always had to.” The truth, though simplified. She made a questioning noise, and though I didn’t want to discuss it, denying the subject would go straight against what I’d just told her. “When thousands of people don’t know what to do. Stuck in a situation none of them ever thought could be real… someone needs to stand up and say ‘we walk that way’. Even if that person doesn’t know if it’s the right thing, or best thing. It’s something, and it gives purpose.
“Faith. Faith is the most important thing to any people. And, somehow, it worked. We got things done, and I was right more often than not. Mistakes were small compared to the glory of victory.” I found myself thinking back to those early days. The eyes filled with hunger, the discussions and fights between those who followed me. The panic at the sound of a horse’s hooves.
“But you knew that world.” Kate’s voice was soft.
“I did.” I’d been reborn there, raised there. While it was different in so many ways to the world I’d known, there was more than enough that was similar. Knowledge I’d used to devastating effect. It seemed the same here. What I'd seen matched, for the most part. Except the hot water pitcher. While not impossible by any stretch back home, it wasn't something I'd begin to expect anyone resembling average to own.
"What am I not considering?" I asked Kate. She'd made her point, and I hoped that she'd understand that I got it. I'd much prefer not to spell it out.
Kate nodded before glancing over her shoulder. Her red eyes gleamed with a satisfaction that would have been amusing if it wasn't at my expense.
"My back is clean," she pointed out before stretching and leaning back until her skin was resting against mine. She slid down until she was looking up at me, her lips quirked into a slight grin. Her breasts were quite visible to me and I felt my cock twitch at the sight. Her grin twitched as well, as if in response.
"You should start with the front, hmm?" Her voice was a victorious purr. I snorted as I did what she asked, running the cloth over her shoulder and collarbone before dropping the pretence and lowering it to her breasts.
"Now, I wasn't considering something?" I asked. It made me feel old, in a way, that I l remembered the important things here even as I noted how enjoyable her tits were. Impossibly soft skin, tiny pink nipples that were already hardening, and a surprising weight for their relatively small size.
"Just a few, harder," she said, and I blinked in confusion as I tried to parse what she meant. She chuckled. "Just a few things. Go harder." Ah. I dropped the cloth before palming her breast and squeezing.
Kate's breath hitched, before she let out a satisfied sigh. I simply kept doing it, shifting my hand and alternating pressure as I enjoyed the feeling.
"You need a-ah name," she said, moaning when I caught a nipple between my fingers. I let up, merely running my fingers against her skin. It took longer than I expected, but half a minute later she took a deep breath.
"We've been getting away with them using Han, probably because we got lucky and they're traditional here. Maybe also scared, though that's more the owner and less his daughter." She winked at me. "She'd probably use it whenever she could." I snorted.
"She did seem to enjoy it," I said. Kate laughed.
"If she isn't here at first light begging you to fill up her needy cunt I'll suck your dick myself."
"Deal." I didn't hesitate, of course. It was a win-win situation for me. "Does the name matter?" I then asked. She shrugged.
"You're not Mikare, or anything else anyone'd know."
I considered it. I didn't even remember my original name. I'd been in my early twenties when I'd left that world, younger than I was now by a good margin, and hadn't heard it for this entire life. It felt weird to acknowledge, but it was the simple truth. All I had to rely on was the names I did remember, many of which didn't quite feel right. Then, it clicked.
"William," I said. I wasn't sure I'd earned the name, but all things considered it fit well enough. Besides, I'd won more battles than 'William the Conqueror' ever dreamed of. A larger kingdom as well, even if I was… unfortunately disconnected from it.
"William," she repeated slowly, drawing out the syllables. "Are you sure you don't want a shorter name? Something stronger?"
I snorted.
"I'd say it's pretty strong," I said. Kate crinkled her nose, clearly disagreeing.
"It's long, though," she said, and I shrugged. That didn't matter to me, though I assumed it was a Mikare thing. The servant girl's name had been long, which hadn't helped me in remembering it.
"I like it, so if you have no clear reasons against it…" I trailed off. Kate bit her lip, but then shook her head.
I ran my hands over her body, the cloth floating in the water close by but I was quite done with holding up the pretence of cleaning.
She was plenty clean by now, and had been for a while.
"Was there anything else?" I asked as I tweaked a nipple. Her breath hitched, but she didn't hesitate.
"Your plan won't work," she said as though it was a fact.
"Oh?"
"I've seen his armies. Maybe we could defeat this one, but there's dozens more like it. We don't have enough men to win."
Kate fell silent, simply shifting against me as I enjoyed the feel of her skin and thought.
"Not alone, then." The conclusion was clear. She nodded.
"We'll need the other nations. At least some." She shrugged again. "Don't know how many, I'm just a merchant's daughter."
"Which means the champions I assume? The companions each hero gathers?" That annoyed me. More than it probably should, even. It'd mean relying on a lot of unknowns, and it was near impossible with the enemy on our heels.
Kate nodded and I sighed. We'd deal with it when it came. First, we'd need a modicum of safety to get ready and plan properly.
"We should still head to the city first. Get some answers there. We can re-evaluate and prepare," I said. I tried to share my reasons, to avoid pushing that button again, but Kate just nodded.
"We're already partway there. It'd be a waste if we didn't."
"Now then, I have a question," I said. Kate just hummed an agreement. "How does a merchant's daughter that faints at my appearance take control of a poor girl and have her on her knees in seconds?" I asked. It hadn't really been bothering me, but it was an unexpected contrast.
Kate laughed, a short and quick bark before she regained control of herself. She shifted, turning around carefully until she was sitting on her knees between my legs. She reached for the cloth and ran it over my chest as she hummed.
"My looks are… unusual," she eventually said. "It draws attention, gives opportunity. Many Hans were more than willing to try and impress me so I would consider joining their pride." She spoke softly as she worked the cloth around, and I took the chance to look at her properly.
I could understand, really. She was, pretty much, what I'd call an albino, though her skin wasn't nearly as pale as I'd heard those were. Uncommon at best where I was from, and it seemed to be much the same here.
"So you let them?" I asked, careful to keep my tone playful. There was no need for judgement, after all.
"Of course. It never really worked out, but it was fun and I learned a lot." Her eyes flashed with amusement, and more than a little interest.
"Perhaps you should show me that," I said. She grinned, her teeth almost gleaming in the candlelight. It gave her an almost predatory look, and I found myself looking forward to the challenge.
"Perhaps I should, hmm?" she said, before leaning forward.
Her lips touched mine, and I considered that despite it all, this world might not be the worst place I could've ended up.
