ELI POV

It was a few minutes after seeing to the injured men that we got back to the tower. It was an intense morning filled with blood and screaming men, but Salamede was a bit tougher from our adventures. Once we got back home, Salamede stopped to appreciatively rub the piece of rope over the door frame before walking in. I had buffed out a good stone floor to make it a bit sturdier foundation for the coming additions.

“Are you ok?” I asked Salamede with a concerned rub on her shoulders.

“Yes.” Her rough voice said confidently. “I’ll make us some oatmeal before heading out.”

I nodded and headed downstairs to go over the coming plans with Cell, who had left his place on the main floor to give us some privacy last night. The heavy fog provided a good cover to get the tower up without having to resort to large cloth covers or magic mists. Firing up the forge, I got to work moving all of our stuff onto the lawn before taking down everything but the floor of my home. Of course, taking special care to keep the rope above my doorway spotless as I did so. As I was moving the last piece of furniture out, Salamede came with a steaming bowl of oatmeal. A quick breakfast and Salamede got on her suit as she headed out to help with the towns defense.

The hatch wasn’t nearly big enough to get the steel beams and rebar through, forcing me to open a hole in the lawn to bring the steel components through once they had cooled. Once I had several steel beams cooling on stone racks with metal crafts making sure they didn’t deform, I went about making the stone towers outer shell. Three stories of grey stone blocks with cut corners and 10 feet tall with a wide stone floor extending outward over to the lawn.

It took a while, but we eventually got two of the floors made with the big block of wood boards on struts in between the shells floors. From there we moved the now cooled steel beams out and arduously lifted them over the two blocks and fitted them in the corner’s holes. With that done we worked on the inner portion of the walls. This required some custom work, so I used an earth spell to mold stone around the steel beams to hold them in place while Cell used his body to inform me when the beams tilted. Once that was done, we used another set of enchantments on the wooden cube to create the inner shell.

This used an inner square with multiple layers of stone. The first was a single solid piece and the rest used an earth enchantment that summoned stone around the X shaped pieces of steel mesh that ran around the ring of the tower section while leaving some open space between the wall sections to allow Cell to travel quickly between floors and access the traps I would be placing in the future.

Once we finished that, I felt it was sturdy enough for my purposes and finished out the third and final ring. The ceiling, floors, and stairs were the last items needed but the last two would be finished when I had another shipment of steel in for the inner floors. Stone was a good load bearing material but putting out a foot-thick floor of the stuff wasn’t stable enough for my tastes, so I used the last of my steel shipment for the roof.

Layering a large plate of steel over the top, I molded a large amount of the smooth grey stone over it. This plain flat surface was going to be a crude landing pad for my future air ship, a subject I pondered over as I repaired the hole I made in the lawn to get the steel out. Not a plane, too many things that could go wrong with the calculations and a runway was too space intensive, a simple dirigible design was the safest and quickest design to use. I mused over the dimensions and materials involved as I summoned the stone.

It felt like mid-day when Salamede came back as I was putting the last of the furniture back. Cell was off playing with Ryan’s familiar in the now barren flatlands since the two other familiars were made of flesh and would take the risk of being a tasty snack for the undead. I was in the middle of the cavernous expanse on the ground floor putting in the last few mana lamps on the bottom floor as the rest shined along the upper walls when she came scurrying through the door.

“Eli! The- oh!” She said with a look upward. While her stunned reaction was gratifying, I noticed the occasional dent on her breast and arm plates.

“What’s up?” I said as I put down the final mana crystal I was going to use as a lamp.

“It was something about the undead, but is the tower really going to be a wide-open space?” She said idly as she walked closer to the wall to look straight up the line of mana lamps.

“No, I just need to wait until the next steel shipment comes in and we’ll have three floors.”

I heard a nearly suppressed sigh of relief from her before she turned to me with a hug.

“All right, but I want to go out to a local marble merchant since the dwarves have reduced their presence in the main market to a smithy, few food stalls, and a tailor. If the local suppliers can’t meet our demand, do you think you could convince the dwarves to provide the needed goods?” She asked before planting a tired kiss on my cheek.

“I don’t see why not. What was this about the undead?” I asked idly as I rested my hands on her steel hips.

“They’re fierce beasts. It’s mostly dead forest animals now with only a few humans moving amongst the packs. Leather armor is basically dead weight now and even my stuff isn’t getting out unscathed.” She said in a tired tone with a meaningful look to the dents along her armor.

“But it will be fine?” I asked, my worry coming clear through.

She visibly perked up behind the hawk nose obstructing her snout.

“Yes. The rising healing mana isn’t enough to treat serious injuries for a lot of people in a confined area and in the past, they had to get by on elixirs, herbs, and rest. The blacksmiths will be working night and day to try and keep up with all the repairs but it’s nothing they haven’t had to do before.”

“Good.” I said. “Get a shower while I buff out the suit. Then we’ll have a nice little trip to get some marble and decorative pieces for the tower.”

Salamede promptly worked herself out of the steel and wood suit. When she placed the last piece on the floor, I made sure to catch a peek at her bum as she went to the hatch to get a shower. Sitting down on the central boulder chair, I used metal magic to slowly undo the dents in the steel outer portion and was done in time for Salamede to get back into her favorite green dress.

I nodded to her, prompting her to follow me to the towers exit as I picked up the mask from the floor. When we got there, she stood near the door and looked at me in my white shirt and brown pants with her arms crossed as I held it open for her.

“What?” I asked.

“Eli. You’re the most important person in this town. You need some clothes that don’t look like I just picked you up from a labor camp.”

I just huffed.

“I’m perfectly content with my current clothing.”

“Well I’m not.” She said before leaning forward and planting a deep kiss on my lips. She kept at it for a long moment before pulling away, leaving behind the taste of sweetness and my racing heart.

“Fine.” I said as I got the smiling mask on, “But first I need some lunch.”

She nodded and took my arm.

The fog was still heavy as the wisps of gold mana fluttered about the ground. Even so, the noise and racket of the main town came through the fog as houses came into view. We walked through the streets and stopped at one of the dwarf’s food stalls and ate some beef stew together on the typical long wood bar while we sat on stools.

“Any plans for what you want the tower to look like?” I asked Salamede before chugging some beer.

“I like deeper blacks and some light sand colors. What do you want?”

“I’m a form over function kind of guy outside of some indulgences.”

She turned away from her soup to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Really? You have no preferences?”

“Well, I think converting the sides of the tower in a nude painting of you would be quite a project, but it might-“

My shoulder wobbled as Salamede landed a solid punch on it. Her white eyes showing mirth even as a half-hearted scowl covered her face. I laughed, which only made her knock me off the stool with a headbutt from her horns. It only made me laugh harder.

Once our meal was finished, we headed to the dwarf tailor. While it was always busy, they made an exception for us. Almost all of the customers were women and spent too much time ogling me or scowling at Salamede to object as the dwarf seamstress tailored a deep red sleeveless coat and fine black belt with golden buckles. Afterwards, we headed to the local marble merchant.

Typically a dealer with nobles or even esteemed with the academy’s business, the large shop was more like an open market under a single proprietor with wood floors, well maintained roofing, and a servant to escort prospective customers. The sound of the slow moving river was off the left as this shop was located in the wealthier harbor district between the academy and the rows of noble houses along the riverside.

“What about the darker ones? That could look nice with the grey of the walls.” Salamede said as she ran a hand over one slab of near black marble.

“Nah.” I said, “I’m thinking wood with lighter sand colored marble. Maybe shiny metal for the staircase railing.”

“Hmm” Salamede said with a thumb to her lips as she was lost in thought.

The conversation continued in a plain back and forth, like so many other husbands and wives going through the ordinary paces of everyday life. Eventually we decided on an overall aesthetic and headed back to our house. As we walked back to our house, the fog thinned enough that I could make out the rest of the Kelton street. Strung out over streets and on house porches were small paper squares of various colors and candles being readied with large tables being set out near the emptier riverside.

“What’s going on?” I asked Salamede.

She just looked at the gathering with a stoic expression before speaking in a spirit connection.

‘Necrosis festival. It was supposed to happen when the trees were halfway into the ground to commemorate a year well lived before Necrosis, but obviously that couldn’t happen this year so they’re doing it later today. There’s food, drinking, singing, music and a final dance.’

‘What do the humans do for the occasion?’ I asked interestedly.

‘Before we came? Nothing. But they took the meaning of the festival, approaching hardship, and plastered it over with an excuse to drink in public. Still, it’s a very important thing in the Kelton community.’

I looked at her with a stab of guilt. It was obvious it meant a lot for her and marrying me was a prize that she paid for by not getting to attend the festival. Well, I would just have to fix that.

We headed home and while Salamede went over some of the designs for our inner homes looks, I headed back to the Kelton street. We couldn’t participate in most of the festival, but I was confident we could pseudo participate in the final dance. It took until night fall when the time came and I went to fetch my wife.

“Salamede, get that fine dwarven dress on and come with me.” I called through the tower door to Salamede who was sitting on the central boulder looking at various pieces of wood and smaller pieces of marble samples we took from the store.

She turned in the soft glow of the mana lamps to me and didn’t say anything for a moment before she went downstairs. I waited outside in my white shirt, brown pants and fine deep red sleeveless coat and black belt. In a few minutes, she came out in the deep purple dress with red vines and gold inlay.

“I know you’re thinking of taking me to the festival, but I will not put my people in danger of getting censured.” She said firmly, even if the hint of uncertainty came through.

“Of course you wouldn’t, and neither would I. Come on.” I said mysteriously as I took her hand and led her to the town. The fog had almost totally dissipated now but it only made the darkness of the night weirder when the soft glow of gold mana was playing over the field, accentuating soft bumps and dips in the landscape of otherwise black vegetation.

As we walked, I saw the soft multicolored glow of the Necrosis festival and the song of flutes, drums, and guitars in an odd floaty melody that glided through the air. But it was when we turned the corner around a house and saw the party properly that Salamede gasped.

Off to the side of the Kelton street was a raised stone platform the height of a man. It had a staircase leading up to it as the multicolored lights played across the grey stone surface. It was close enough to be on the dance floor but being so high, I figured it would count as not participating for the dance, which pairs were quickly forming to start as the music came to a halt.

“Come on, Honey. They’re getting ready to begin.” I said as I moved her forward. Salamede bit her quivering lip as she held even tighter to my arm. As we walked through the crowd and up the stone stairs, a few stopped to look up at us but Salamede didn’t notice as she leaned against my shoulder. When we got to the top, I turned on the enchantments on two patches of leather I had glued to the floor. The biting wind and cold faded with a growing heat that would be typical to a warm home.

Once we got in position, the music started up again. I twirled Salamede in my arms, taking in the ecstatic smile plastered over her face and unshed tears of joy. She didn’t say anything as we pushed and pulled away from each other on the stone stage, but the way she possessively gripped me whenever we came together was enough to tell me how happy she was.

It was on a long, almost mournful, play of flutes that the dance finally came to an end. The final note was followed by loud clapping and whooping from the crowd as faint tendrils of gold mana whirled about the crowd’s lower feet. Salamede also clapped excitedly, but she quickly stopped to pull me into a deep kiss. After a moment of savoring her, I pulled back with a loud pop of our mouths. A moment longer of staring at each other and we moved back down the platform.

‘Was it a good Necrosis festival?’ I asked her as we got back onto the main street.

‘The best I’ve ever had!’ She squealed in delight as she clung to my side.

‘Good. I need to bring this down so it doesn’t block the street.’

I spent a few minutes using earth spells to move the stone back into the river from where I had molded it. The whole time, Salamede clung to my back practically purring in delight and I was worried she wasn’t going to stop there from how she was gripping my inner thigh in clear suggestion. After that was done, we took off. I noticed Salamede giving a teary wave over the crowd to her mother nodding to her from her houses staircase as we made our way through the crowd.

Stopping for a few quick skewers from a dwarven stand, we made our way back home.

“So, your people celebrate the coming of necrosis. Seems like you would want to celebrate after the hardship has passed.”

She huffed as her arm rubbed against my left shoulder.

“That would make sense if you were guaranteed to see the celebration. Out on the snow-laden wastes, the snails can provide a few tasteless meals if they don’t kill you first. As could the spiraling hard vegetables found along the deep inland shores. While starvation is not guaranteed, not being the top predator always is.

Out there in the magical wilds, we had no towering walls. The wildlife picks at any attempt to set up a mana dead zone if you could even stay in one place long enough to set them up. The few defensible spots are fiercely contested and most are handed down inside families. Once you’re born in the rocky lands or snowy drifts, you die in them.”

Hmm. A tough life.

As we rounded the corner and made our way towards the tower, another question occurred to me.

“Salamede, what history do your people have? I know you said you probably came from a failed demon conversion, but when or how did such a thing occur?”

That dampened her mood a bit as her ears drooped a bit.

“That question has been repeated more than any other. I’ve heard it said we came from the Lost Lands. But the words are often many times removed from their source and we left the icy plains a long time ago due to the destruction of our home.”

“Attack by creatures of the wilds?” I asked.

Her bit lip and flared snout told me a lot about the subject before she had even spoken.

“Now that is a well-remembered bit of history. Our clan had the misfortune of gathering a rather large trove of magical resources. The patriarch at the time wanted to start making Kelton mages of greater caliber but we were in no position to hold off the squad of casters who burst through our home in a blaze of death and mayhem. They took everything of any value and slaughtered every man, woman, and child in reach, for sport or idle boredom. We would have survived, if not for our vulturous neighbors who swooped in to take whatever was left and expand their holds.”

Looking out over the empty yard with flowing gold mana, two unpleasant thoughts occurred to me.

“How quickly did the neighbors move in?”

There was painful silence as we walked over the barren landscape until Salamede found the words.

“We know. It was all quite obvious from the start.”

That bit of history now addressed, I moved onto the question more relevant to me.

“Your people aren’t going to try and relive lost glory through me or our children are they?”

Salamede immediately put a hand to my face and pulled down the mask to kiss me.

“If they’ve had those thoughts, they’ve kept such speculations out of earshot. Truth be told, mother said the first generation that braved the seas to get here had nothing but revenge in their hearts. However, no matter how rough you may think things are here, it's far better for us than what we had in the central continent.

Going out into the woods and being able to relax was quite a big deal. Good weather, plentiful food, and neighbors who were more interested in cheap labor and keeping us at arm's length did what hundreds of years of bitter cold could not, it cooled our violent nature. Wisdom prevailed and the first generation decided to toss aside almost all of our old customs and attire so that future generations would fully integrate into our new home.”

As we came close to the tower, Salamede suddenly gripped my shoulders and her white eyes narrowed.

“But it did not quench all of our fiery passions. Eli, prepare yourself. You have riled a Kelton woman and do not think you will escape the consequences of your charity to myself and my people”

It was a long night, but come morning my sore back, hips, and tongue had made enough of a recovery to get ready for class. After a breakfast of oatmeal and a particularly heated kiss, we went back to our usual routine as I headed out for class and Salamede went to go help hold off the undead at the gates.

I was walking down the road again as the wall around the back end of the town obstructed my view of everything beyond as I walked up to the regular waiting point by the gate. What was different this time was the line of carriages, big boxes of metal with four horses each. The typical crowd of white and blue robed students milled about but I noticed tinges of anger in a some of the gazes mixed in with the typical sulking of the men and naked lust of the women.

After a while, soldiers from the previous group came through the gates and there was no dents or blood on them or their armor.

“No attacks this trip. Thank the powers that be” One of the soldiers coming through the gate shouted. The local guards gave a light cheer and fist bump. From there, the students started filing into the metal carriages, with soldiers getting into every other one. As I walked up to a carriage near the back, several women who were ‘undecided’ about which carriage to take suddenly crowded into mine. I quickly moved towards the back so those coming in couldn’t get a free grope in when passing me.

With a mana lamp in the middle of the cieling, the soft glow showed some luxuries afforded here the carriages used to retrieve the refugees did not. Leather padded benches, soft red carpet, and the craftsmanship on the metal made it look more like a single solid piece rather than iron sheets quickly put together. The small open rectangles in the top were the only interruptions along the relatively smooth surface and provided the only means to let air in. I guessed that this was meant to act like a vault that would hold off any beating the monsters could dish out if the guards died.

The luxury and safety was totally ignored by the now full carriage of women who only had eyes for me.

After a few more seconds, the grinding of the gate opening was heard and the carriage jerked forward as the horses neighed. It was a long trip as the carriages moved slowly over the barren landscape, a journey filled with accidental touches and girls constantly making noises or having to move closer to me in a ploy to get my attention. Never letting me think on the inner designs for my home, I was content to just stare at the ceiling when one of the girls finally spoke.

“What’s going on in the tower?” A feminine voice called, vaguely familiar. Turning around, I saw it was Jessica from the hospital. The pigtailed red head got up off the bench in the front right of the carriage and moved towards me, her small button nose and sharp chin showing moving shadows from the mana lamp above. Her blue eyes with thick black eyelashes below thin red eyebrows displayed raw lust as she moved between the legs of the other students.

The others seemed stunned at her sudden breaking of the censure, but she just grinned happily. She leaned down to grab the bottom of her robe to reveal red and white striped long socks that ran up to her thighs and some blue wrist bands with white embroidery on the sides. And nothing else.

Petite with small pink nipples on breasts that wouldn’t fill my hand, her exposed body had freckles running down from her cheeks to the tuft of red pubes above the thick lips of her womanhood. Wasting no time after pulling her robes fully off, she immediately threw herself at me. I put out my hand and stopped her by pushing against her stomach, but she only got more excited from the contact as she sucked in her lower lip and hearts practically shot out of her eyes.

Before I could prepare an earth spell to hold her back, she slouched down and onto my leg. Grabbing her right thigh and lifting her off my leg, her breasts seemed to jiggle more with her heavy breathing than the movement of the carriage.

“Jessica!” A blond down the line of students squeaked, though it was mixed more with a tone of lighthearted encouragement than condemnation.

“Oh stop acting like sheep.” Jessica scolded the surrounding women with a look to her fellows before turning a roguish grin back to me. “There’s no way his children will be denied benefits. The censure doesn’t matter. Besides, if you could feel these hands… ”

Some of the surrounding women got thoughtful looks at that. Deciding to intervene before they made that realization, I pushed against Jessica. Sadly, the carriage came to a quick stop, causing her skinny frame to slip from my grasp. It was an opportunity she took for all it was worth as she pressed her body fully against me and grinded her groin against mine. It was only when the roars of beasts and the thumping of steel boots came through the holes overhead that everyone’s attention turned away from sex.

It continued for a few seconds, with Jessica clinging closer to me, now seemingly more out of fear than lust. The occasional scream from a beast or man sounded out as the wet squish of flesh being cut followed or preceded a cry

“It’s fine.” A buff brunette near the middle said. “This carriage could stand up to even a trolls blows so we’re-“ A particularly hard knock against the carriage, followed by the sound of a snap, stopped her for a moment before she got a smug smile.

“See? Nothing to-“

A light creaking sound stopped her dead as every face present turned to the source at the entrance of the carriage. The women all stared in abject terror as the door squeaked open with a slow, scraping swing letting in the sunlight and a cold breeze. I readied a quick metal spell to close it but alas the undead were not as hesitant as their living counter parts.

A mass of waxy grey skin rushed through the opening. It was the rough form of a wolf, but with muscles bulging along its skin and no fur to speak of. The lifeless eyes moved around, taking in the occupants before its head shot forward to take a bite out of the nearest woman. I was already up and had tossed Jessica onto the woman opposite of me when the metal spell dissipated from contact with the undead.

The monster had its jaw around the bleeding leg of a skinny brunette by the time I got to the front while the rest of the women shirked back from the wail of terror from the struggling and crying woman. I swiftly kicked the waxy, muscular head of the beast but that didn’t dislodge it as it held onto the screaming student’s leg. I used another metal spell to pull out a long, crude and sharp edge in the door frame before giving the beast another good kick. Its neck was cut nearly halfway through and as it released the woman to try and bite me, I pulled on the door handle as hard as I could.

The undead wolfs head came clean off with no blood visible.

Quickly shutting the door, I fused a small strip of along the frame together. Taking a deep breath as I stood over the head as it soundlessly snapped its jaw and wagged its tongue, I noticed the smell of blood. Turning around, the brunette from earlier was bleeding from the leg and it looked like it got an artery when it bit her. The severed head did a slight jump with its jaw as it tried to awkwardly move forward. A quick and strong stomp on its head with my leather boot kept it in place as I leaned over to use a healing spell on the still screaming girl before she bled out over the carriage floor.

“All right.” I called to the other students as I finished healing her and burned away the blood on the floor. Looking back up, I could see they were looking at me with the fear still plain in their faces. “I’m going to assume that wasn’t supposed to happen. Any ideas on how it did?”

They looked curiously towards each other for a bit before someone squeaked, “The man!”

I turned towards the source and saw a smaller black-haired girl with pudgy cheeks and green eyes.

“What?” I asked as the head gave another shove, nearly unbalancing me.

“There was another guy in the carriage, but he left when it got too cramped.” She said with a bit lip.

“And I’m guessing the male students aren’t given courses on how to fully latch the door.” I said dryly.

“Fully?” Jessica asked, standing totally naked in the middle of the carriage.

“There was a simple latch with a thin piece of metal that kept the door closed for this trip. But I’m guessing he didn’t close the thicker upper and lower latches that provide most of the security for the door.” I said tiredly as I looked at the door and, sure enough, the two inner bolts that allowed those on the inside to unlock the doors upper and lower locks were still in the unlocked position further along the door and I had been too far in the back to see it. I stood there trying to keep the head from ambling away for a few more seconds before a knock and a call was heard on the door. I undid my fused strip and sharp edges around the door frame and let the soldier in.

Jessica was back in my seat with her robes over her, but the soldier was too busy looking at the squirming head under my foot to notice even if she was still nude. When I told him what we thought happened, he went pale.

“I’m sure your quite distressed about this but if you could remove this head, I would be oh so appreciative.” I said with a strained smile behind my mask.

He looked down with a harried look for a moment before taking out his sword and stabbing the struggling head in the back before dragging it out of the carriage. I moved to leave with him but about five pairs of hands suddenly had a death grip on me.

“Don’t leave!”

“What if they come back?”

“Stay!”

I sighed before turning around and was going to try out my harshest scowl. But Jessica just jumped into my arms again, now actually wearing her robes. She was properly shaking now. The added weight with the hands all trying to pull me down brought me to the floor as I had two other women soften my impact with their own bodies before going to lean against my back as the hard clank announced the guard locking the two bolts.

There was a moment where I was worried this was a prelude to a forced orgy, but the looks in their eyes told me otherwise. Whatever they were doing or thinking about doing before, that undead wolf getting in the carriage knocked the sex maniac right out of them all.

“Damn you, Jessica!” The buff brunette from earlier said to my left with a snarl to the still shaking red head against my chest. “We could have died because you tried to sheath his dick in front of everyone.”

The glow of the mana lamp illuminated the scowls of the other women present, causing Jessica to look around in fear as her former compatriots turned on her.

“I-I didn’t mean… it wasn’t” Tears were coming down her face now. Swallowing my hesitation, I took her head and patted the back of it with an understanding nod. Her blue eyes looked up to me with a shimmer before she leaned her head into my shoulder.

“It’s alright. Just calm down.” I said in a firm, parental tone. That seemed to pacify them as they all scrunched up around me, trying to lean against whatever part of me was available as the carriage jolted forward again.

In my mind’s eye, I got the image of me drowning in a sea of needy cats.

“Ladies, if you want me to be unimpeded then-“

“Hush.” A petite blond with green eyes and a mole on her left lip said before she rested my head against her shoulder. This was less heated frenzy and more them needing someone strong to lean on for now. It was at this moment I saw the kids who just zipped through puberty mostly unconscious in their faces.

“Fine, this one time.” I said with a defeated sigh as I closed my eyes.

The rest of the trip passed in silence before the carriage did a turn to the left and came to a stop. A call saying we arrived stirred the girls into motion.

“All right girls, we’ve got schoolwork to do.” I said sweetly.

A few huffs and unsatisfied grumbles was the first answer, but they eventually got off me in time for the door to open. They all shuffled out, with even Jessica getting up and leaving. I followed shortly behind them and I could tell they were all trying to act as casual as they could. I looked out over the grass and saw a wide wall of grey stone and another gate blocking the road behind us while I turned to see the twin towers of the classrooms.

There was a small crowd of staff members scurrying about the entrance, looking over the students for injuries. It was Veronica’s mother, Agatha, who broke through the crowd and approached our group waiting to get in.

“What happened?” She said with a look towards the guards like she wanted to strangle them.

The blond from earlier spoke up and explained our entire trip and how we thought the door came to be improperly locked. Agatha went pale when she got to part about the door opening but recovered by the time the tale got to the soldier taking the severed head out.

“And you lot kept him in the carriage afterwards?” She said with a bit lip.

“Yeah” Jessica said to my left.

“And afterwards did any of you give your savior a good thank you?” Agatha asked in eager anticipation.

There was an exchange of guilty looks amongst the women before Jessica looked to the ground and kicked a rock as she crushed Agatha’s expectations.

“No.”

Agatha got a disappointed look before shooting a scolding look at me. Her tone, however, was of relief.

“At least you all made it safe and sound. We will consider saving these girls lives balancing out those lost yesterday.”

I raised an eyebrow above the smiling metal mask as the breeze whipped my hair around.

“What happened yesterday?”

Agatha and several other girls looked askance at me before Agatha spoke up.

“I got reports that you were present during the rescue operation yesterday when there was the big attack on the road.”

“Yes,” I said as I crossed my arms, the feeling I wasn’t going to like what came next gripping me. “But we left after the injured were seen to.”

At that several of the girls walked away and Agatha got a pitying look. Physically and mentally bracing myself, I decided to get it over with.

“What happened?”

Agatha closed her eyes before opening them and sticking her arm out and threading it through mine.

“Come.” She said as she led me through the crowd and into the main building proper. We walked a bit more over the red carpet and the grey stone brickwork as we moved through various bookshelves and up the main staircase in the center of the tower. We walked in silence past students and teachers who looked on openly or gossiped as we made our way to the practice towers and to the Front office. She opened the oak door to a small room with a single desk and a chair in front and behind it.

I walked across the grey stone of the floor as a mana lamp on the ceiling illuminated the desk and chairs in the barely more than arm length wide room.

“Well, Eli” Agatha started as she went to sit behind the desk and motioned for me to take the seat in front. “There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll make it quick. After investigating and getting reports from the survivors, we pieced together what happened. Crafter Johnson’s family tried to replicate the incident where you rescued the duchess along with a few other girls’ families.

Sadly, the men were not clad in proper steel and, more importantly, they waited until healing magic flooded the earth.”

I got an image in my head of a pack of muscular, wax skinned wolves attacking a bunch of men in leather armor and it was obvious how that match up would play out.

“How many died?” I asked with a calming exhale of breath.

“A lot. We’re still getting the final numbers, but we know that John and his family did not survive the attempt.”

It was odd, all the years I’ve lived and that never seems to get old. An old musician friend playing on a street corner one day and shot in a mugging the next, talking with a king of a small solar system discussing compensation for a moon base and killed in a rebellion the next day, now having John’s mother plea for my children and then, dead. There was something about having plans or discussions with someone only for that to unexpectedly be the last time you talk with them that was so hard to get used to.

“That…” I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment before continuing. “That wasn’t my fault.”

Agatha gave a deep sigh and leaned back into her chair with her arms crossed and her blue eyes looking upward with a blank face. After a long moment she turned her head back to me, a faint smile brushing up against her sharp cheek bones.

“Yes, Eli. This incident was not your fault. But contributing to it is still a bad thing in my eyes.” She said slowly, with a tone that couldn’t quite keep the anger out of her voice.

I was thankful to the mask for keeping my grimace hidden.

“If you have something to say, Agatha, then say it. I prefer to hear the five or six words that mean something rather than the deluge of noise trying to make them more palpable.”

She stood straight at that and bit her lip for a moment before looking me in the eyes and finally getting to the point of us being here.

“Eli, when you were at the academy yesterday, you did not take a single woman into the side rooms for sex. You didn’t even present yourself to the Front or the school when you became a caster, a fact Tansen had to drag out of you. After that, you still didn’t come to us to set up the breeding stipends or matches or present yourself to the dorms for the women to receive your seed into their wombs. John’s family no doubt heard this and got nervous. Nervous and desperate people make stupid decisions and you being so stingy with your seed is making a lot of people nervous and desperate.” She said in a calm, counselor trying to help you through your problems, tone.

“Since I’m censured that problem will-“

Agatha slapped her right hand on the table, but she seemed momentarily surprised at her own anger, looking at her palm splayed out on the desk with puckered lips and raised blond eyebrows before withdrawing the hand with a light cough.

“Eli, you’re a smart man. An intelligence Jessica also shares, apparently, so let’s not waste each other’s time playing ignorant. Those inexperienced young girls know what a huge problem being censured is for most mages. Most.

But you’re not most mages, Eli. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Any clerk who tried to deny your children their rightful place would be removed from their chair and dragged out of the building by the hair that very day. No. That very hour. There is no one with any amount of understanding in these matters who thinks the censure is responsible for you not doing your duty.”

She seemed genuinely upset and while I was angry at her seeming entitlement to my loins, this was a facet of this world’s society that had been driven into her through thousands of years of magical breeding preferences. Despite that, she still managed to try and keep civil, so I extended her that same courtesy.

“It is my seed to dispense with whom I see fit and when I see fit. My time is very precious, and I am far too busy to spend it rutting in the dorms all day.” I said in a calm voice.

Agatha huffed and leaned back into her chair with an unbelieving pucker of her lips.

“Tell me, how precious is your time that you cannot spend an hour a day in the dorms but can spend several shopping for marble and dancing with your…” Speech actually failed her at this point. She bit her lip as the obvious word died on her tongue.

“Wife? Is that what you were going to say? My wife,” I asked with my arms crossed.

She put on a tight smile even as her blue eyes got heat to them. Agatha even had to lean back and mesh her fingers together to presumably prevent another unintended slap on the table.

“Yes. Your wife.” She said, like the very words were a thorn freshly stuck in her finger.

“What I do with my wife and how often is our business, no one else’s.” I said in a firm tone.

Agatha got some redness in her sharp cheeks at that as she leaned forward with her arms squeezed together.

“No one else’s business? Mages breeding is everyone’s business, Eli. Mages are what propel society forward and helps stabilize this region. Mages are the ones who hunt down magically enhanced monsters to make this world safe for peasants and crafters. That –“

“Crafters are mages.” I interrupted.

That put a crack in her anger as the heat in her cheeks lessened and the smile became more genuine.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Eli. But we are not considered mages in most circles. The only real practical use we have is saving time for casters and scions crafts or providing better breeding stock than purely magicless peasants.” She said with a calm tone having no undercurrent of resentment.

I put my hands in my lap and let out a long breath.

“Oh, I don’t need to be told that. I lived that experience. There were few if any people who gave the slightest thought to me when I was a crafter. My whole time here the only thing anyone thought about was magical levels and gaining more power for themselves. The crafts I made and all the things I could have brought the magical world were tossed in the trash heap because the magic level on my file had the word crafter in the box.”

Agatha put up a hand to stop me.

“Eli, that was-“

“But you know who did see my potential? You know who stuck with me through all of that shit? Salamede. My wife is who stuck by my side, not the mages who spend every waking moment trying to accumulate ever more power for themselves, whose only thought in their skulls is the exchange of benefits and have no emotional room for any person of lower station than themselves.

And I’m fine with that.

The magical world is free to value and de-value whoever it pleases and disassociate with whomever it pleases. I am genuinely ok with that and I have adjusted my life accordingly. Seeing how low I was on the social hierarchy, I resolved that I would spend my days plugging my wife with all the seed her body can take,”

Agatha got a peeved look at that, but I pushed forward.

“And work with the local merchants and Kelton’s to grow my power and connections for my personal ends.

What I do not appreciate, what I do not accept, is the reversal of the already established relationship now that it is convenient for the powers of government and society to do so. The mage associations and every other self-centered blowhard who thinks their ability to shoot fire or rocks out of their hands makes them god’s gift to the universe do not get to just start guilt tripping and talking about obligations after I have already been tossed out of the proverbial club.”

Agatha sat there, thinking hard for a moment before stiffening her back and taking a deep breath as she took a hard tone.

“Eli, if that is how you genuinely feel, then know this; The associations will never accept you if you are not providing for the next generation. It is a mages duty to bring in a new crop of magic capable children so that we can survive, so that humanity can survive. A duty born by women at this academy through lonely nights and long stretches as single parents.

If you truly are intent on keeping your seed with your goat wife, know that the associations will never let you into their inner circles.”

I laughed.

The impulse just burst through me without any impediment as the unexpected emotion came straight up before I could ponder its propriety. Agatha sat there with a bewildered expression, but I paid her no mind as I closed my eyes and threw my head back as I clutched at my gut with my laughter reverberating around the room. A few moments later, I properly sat back up with a swipe at my teary eyes and a faint chuckle coming from under my mask.

“The ocean of sadness brought on by the loss of such prospects is immeasurable, but I will do my best to endure its burden for the rest of my days.”

Agatha got a slightly hurt look but quickly schooled herself to a blank mask before dismissing me.

“You are being incredibly selfish, Eli. Holding out on such an incredible gift for everyone is an insult to everything millions of people here and throughout history have struggled for. Your refusal is condemning tens of thousands to the grind of poverty and hardship where you could have uplifted them to a life where even a peasant of this region could live almost as well as a noble from the influx of wealth and magical association interest, to say nothing of what a poor and struggling family could gain with the mother or daughter directly having a child from you. But since I cannot force the issue, we are done here.” She said in an icy tone.

I nodded and got up from my chair. Leaving the room, I made sure not to let the jab of guilt from her words show. Pushing down the doubts, I worked my way through the stairs and over the connecting bridge to the main tower. As I walked down the huge central main staircase, I pondered over her words.

Sure, the wealth she was talking about would be a great boon, but it had to come from somewhere. While the poor people who I’ve seen struggle and fight for their lives everyday would be greatly uplifted from the influx of breeding stipend money, it was an issue where the money would have to come from someone else and that meant other, unseen, peasants would be going hungry from their tax money being diverted to this region.

Well that wasn’t entirely true. My children would have magical talents that would vastly increase the economy here, and by Christ I would make sure they worked. The influx of earth, metal, and healing capable mages alone would probably…

I stopped dead as I was on the outer lane overlooking the various floors of bookshelves and fluttering blue and white striped robes below and above.

Dear god, I was going native for a moment there.

Working past the crowd, I made my way back to the main floor and headed outside to attend the advanced alchemy course. The wall of grey stone now ran the entire perimeter of the two towers campus, even as the various square garden beds had to be moved under the bridge between the two solid masses of seamless white stone.

This course was similar to the base one, but now it came with a table filled with vials and a set of instructions on how to make healing potions, a set up for special cases in growing mana soaked plants or bugs and healing mages. With the teacher being a man and the class having several separate garden areas for each student, I got through relatively unmolested, suffering only a few shoulder rubs and crude strokes at my privates from passing female students.

The interesting part, where we grew slugs to make various chemical compounds, was in the class tomorrow. We spent a good amount of time going over the needed tools and dimensions for a good garden bed, but the class, as was so often the case, spent its first day going over future class days. My time at school finished, I headed back home around mid-day. And this time the girls didn’t endanger all our lives trying to get into my carriage.

Getting back into the safe…safer zone of the academy town, I went back to the tower and got to work on one new project and ponder over which of two other new projects I wanted to work on. Down in the cavernous testing area, I was working on a crude hull design for a dirigible. The use of a regular airplane was too dangerous without proper testing equipment, even with my experience, and the fuel needed was a far too involved process for me to go through the effort when I had a new technology that made it possible to have a design that was essentially fuel free.

Using a simple cloth or plant fiber balloon and a heater to provide lift would be enough for my needs but the dimensions were something that needed to be sorted out, along with the testing of the balloon itself. The only downside to the heater approach was that after enough testing, the air had to be filtered out as it brought the surrounding air closer to the balloon’s inner temperature.

I was working a few planks of wood into a general hull shape as I went over the other two projects. The connector for my AI chips would have to be replaced with a crude platinum and quantum computer before I could use the functions of the AI chips to regain my memories and get access to the augmented reality features that would enable me to start making the nanite construction swarms needed to really get some proper features on this planet’s surface going. Woodland trees were great, but there was something about a skyscraper piercing the clouds above that I missed.

Of course, making, testing, and writing all the hardware and software for the connectors was a very long-term project and maybe focusing on diamond plating or carbon fiber would be wiser for the short term.

As the form of the ship, about 35 feet length wise with a 20 foot width and about two times as tall as a man, came into focus as I laid the crude pieces down, I pondered over the various rooms and bracings needed as well as engine placement. Plant magic meant I could reform and mold the interior with relatively little fuss as the outer shell and needed structural beams were done into a seamless piece of wood with the fusing of the logs and boards. Cell was out playing with his friends in the river somewhere and that left me alone with my thoughts until Salamede came back after a few hours.

Opening the door, my wife in the steel feather armor suit came through. Taking only a moment to look at the bare skeleton of the inner beams, she quickly came up to me as she maneuvered around the various logs and crude boards.

‘Hey Eli. How was your day?’ She asked in a spirit connection as she came up to me with a kiss on the neck. Still wearing my regular school under robe, I gave her a tight hug and a kiss on the lips.

‘A rough day at first but then it smoothed out to passable.’ I said as I turned back to the wood skeleton.

‘Oh? Do tell.’

As I finished out the beams and started working on the outer shell, I told her all about the trip to the academy. While I was working, I made sure to get a good look at Salamede when I got the part when Jessica stripped naked in the carriage. The only reaction she had was a smirk underneath the hawk head shaped helmet with a distinct air of amusement.

‘Well, I suppose one of them had to start using her brains eventually.’

I choked on my own saliva for a moment as I leaned against the board I was holding against two beams.

‘Does everyone support what she did? Jumping me butt naked in the middle of dangerous territory and surrounded by the undead, is that really such a great idea?’ I asked in exasperation.

‘For the chance to have you? I can personally attest to how worthwhile that risk is. Who else supported her?’

From there, I went over the rest of the day, from the cuddle session to Agatha’s consultation and finally ending with the Advanced Alchemy class. Once I did, Salamede stepped forward and hugged me from the back.

‘Oh Eli, you wicked man. You use such bare language, but I can just see how masterful and smooth you must have been saving those girls in the carriage. Standing in front of the door with the undead conquered beneath your foot while working the door and healing the girl’s leg. So much raw power and ability on display and you didn’t even give those girls a single taste. What a cruel man you are.’ She chided.

I snorted and put my right hand behind me to swat her steel bum.

‘Enough about these pestering nuisances, how was your day my love?’ I said.

That actually got a hard sigh from her and her tone lost its undercurrent of teasing.

‘Now that the undead are getting healing magic, I don’t end fights covered in as much gunk and it doesn’t get between the plates as easily. That’s about the only good thing. It takes two men to safely take down an undead wolf or dog. They’re getting ballistae’s in place for bigger threats like troglodytes or trolls but it’s already a horrid job trying to keep the mass of grey muscle at bay. The healing beds are almost in constant use and that’s allowed the guard to keep more men in place, and since I’ve been able to deal with smaller packs and lone bears easily enough, that means there are fewer injuries than usual.

Things are apparently going very well from what the captain said, but if this is what a good run of it is like, I can’t imagine what it would be like after months on regular guard duty. Staying inside the walls, I was always a little peeved having to pay so much in tax for the very generous amounts the guards earn during this time but now I don’t know if they make enough.’

I turned around and took her head in my hands.

‘Is there anything I could do to lighten your burden?’

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

‘Unless you could raise the whole town onto a stone platform, not much. The best thing we could do was give them a few guns, but… we obviously can’t do that.’

Yeah, there were way too many reports on the pandego’s abilities out there and it would be a guarantee that someone would link any guns I made back to my misadventures down south.

‘Who knows, Eli. Maybe this boat you’re making will have some magical ability that will make patrolling the rivers safer.’

I smiled mischievously as I rubbed my nose against her snout.

‘We will see. I better get back to it while there’s still time in the day.’

Salamede smiled back with a light pinch on my butt before turning around.

‘I’ll get dinner ready. Afterwards I want to go over some ideas for the house.’ She said in a serious tone as she headed back towards the door.

The next few days went through the regular doldrums of married life. I got the steel shipments in to make the plates for the floors and finished out a staircase going between the three floors along the outer wall, starting on the right side on the first floor then one going up on the left side. This was so any intruders would have to go through the traps I made and armed. A small inconvenience in everyday life for a lot of extra security.

The task of the air ship took priority over the start of the computer project, a task delayed with my dwarven compatriots struggling to supply the needed platinum. Over the course of time, an overall design for the tower was agreed upon and built in the late afternoons when Salamede was off of work and I was finished with my classes.

A monument dwarfed only by the academy itself, the tower was now considerably taller than any of the buildings in the town proper. While it had only three floors, each floor had the height of ten feet and the thick wall, now molded over with fine black marble flecked with white, provided a stark contrast to the light grey stone now covering the entire lawn. The stone on the lawn was cut and sectioned off to give a sense of the edges flowing from the tower like a wave of sharp water.

Two inward curving walls of black marble by the entrance would help keep battering rams from being placed in the front while the smooth curves from my earth magic helped make it seem like a pair of wings flowing from the now hexagon shaped blocks of outer marble. Above the thick wooden doors reenforced with iron bands, hung the rope with the waxy papers of our promises from the marriage.

Through the main door was the lounge area for visitors as well as the hatch for my basement. The floor was now solid oak with shiny metal rails for the soft brown staircase on the right. To the left was a drawer and a mirror with hooks along the wall for when we went out and wanted a coat on hand. On the right was a simple kitchen with a stove and various herbs and smoked meats along a rack above the stove and a pair of cabinets.

In the right corner where the staircase to the upper floor ended was a simple wooden chest. It contained all of the items that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. A leftover cube of wood filled with gunpowder from my demolition of the mine base, now encased in another shell of wood holding it in a pool of water, and a packet-switch enchanted pair of wooden swords and shield whose fire and water spells wouldn’t fail from a spell. Items I either didn’t want to accidently get burned in a fire from the forge or wanted close at hand in case of an attack and Salamede needed something quick. The far-left side was a fireplace with fire enchantments along the wood bottom and a couch with a table in front. The couch was on the left side so I could keep an eye on the door and talk with any visitors.

On the second floor was my ‘workshop’. A simple wooden table in the center with a comfortable chair and some wood and metal pieces scattered about was all it took to make it seem like this was where I worked most of my crafting miracles. In the back along the right side wall was the mannequins holding up our two suits of armor and racks for our weapons. The only major difference on this floor was the copper floor aside from the bit of stone floor for the chest by the stairs, holding various smaller crafting pieces and the elven journal and crown beneath, for when I wanted to fry the people who didn’t belong here.

The final floor was the bedroom and a glass paned shower on the right corner with a special metal tube in the middle of the glass square. A fine bed sat in the middle overlooking a window to the outside world. The bed had thick red blankets and fine silk white sheets with soft pillows of the finest feathers, luxury items purchased from the dwarf’s cloth and tailor merchant. A dresser stood on the opposite end to the right of the staircase and to the right of the bed was a nightstand that held some Yook root for our nighttime activities. The yellow tinged celery’s contraceptive ability lasts several days, and we had certainly been getting our use out of it.

Our marital bed had been getting a lot of abuse since I made it, but I had made sure to craft a sturdy one. The teachers had now started getting their pets in along with the students and while I firmly rebuffed them, the timing with my marriage had made it a lot harder than it would have been in years past. While I was always aware of women’s beauty, Salamede had awakened my passions in full and having women follow you around, shooting heated glances and rubbing their chests against you all the while, only aggravated the roused desires.

If there was any discord in our home, it was the mage associations invitation letters. They came in all kinds of fancy packages and envelopes of considerable quality, all espousing the same drivel about boundless potential and the opportunities of membership into their ranks. For my part, the opportunity for free kindling for the fireplace was the extent of the possibilities they represented. But Salamede was quite upset when she saw me putting in their deserved place and extracted a promise from me that I would let her take them to Tansen for safekeeping and possible responses. As her husband, it was important I work to make her happy, so I allowed her this indulgence.

Fortunately, Salamede seemed quite eager to repay my understanding and she saw to my needs in bed, or elsewhere if the opportunity arose, with gusto. This game of power and sexual exchange was something we both enjoyed. The all-powerful mage, unbound by all constraints but the beauty of his beloved, and the powerless woman who had the world at her fingertips through her seductive prowess, were roles we both very much relished playing.

Unfortunately, one morning her other duties came knocking on the door.

We were lounging on the couch eating a bowl of oatmeal together, with Cell at the end of the table enjoying some nuts being crushed in the liquid black mass beneath his body, when the thud of a fist slamming against our door sounded out. Getting up with my usual white shirt and brown pants, Salamede quickly slipped out of her see-through white robe and went upstairs to dress for the day as Cell zipped through the ceiling and into a small hole in the top left corner of the room. Opening the double doors, a sweating messenger boy in torn jeans and grey shirt.

“Message for your grace, lord wizard. Cap’n says you both are needed urgently at the front gate.” He squeaked.

“All right. Thanks for the message.” I said as I closed the door.

I moved upstairs and met Salamede in the ‘workshop’, already dressed in her steel suit.

“Any idea what it could be?” I asked her.

“None.” She said as she strapped the shiny steel helmet on, covering her snout with the hawk beak.

I nodded and donned my armor as well, with Cell putting himself in a special back shoulder plate with another black sphere on the opposite shoulder. Over the past few days, I also took the time to make the swinging balls of iron with cables above the hands for Salamede as well and our suits now had the same functions. Making our way downstairs and out the door, we had the wheels in our legs down and were zipping over the stone lawn as the morning sun shined over the land and river. The stench was actually better with the placement of the sewer line now that the sewage skipped the portions of the river in front of the town.

Working through the crowd, we got through the mass of people going through their everyday life. As we got closer to the midsection of the town, the smell of fire and the falling of faint ash was omnipresent and only got stronger as we came up to the bridge. Being expected by the captain, the toll worker let us through without a word. Sweaty men in brown pants went around without shirts as any residual cold from the settling of winter had been totally driven away by the three large pyres along the left side of the road leading up to the gate. With the constant stream of waxy bodies and ash being taken out of the fires, the whole yard looked like a nonstop bonfire. The bloodless bodies each had a spear stuck in their head and was hurriedly unstuck before being thrown in the fire to burn. The only other big change that I saw was the large ballistae’s along the wall.

In front of the gates and talking with soldiers, was the black bearded captain and Rand. Both men were suited up in their typical steel plate chests, brown pants and leather gloves, but the sweat and loud shouting said they weren’t in a typically good mood.

“-Then pull them to…Lord mage!” Rand’s green eyes lit up at our approach with hope as his brown mustache and strong cheekbones glistened.

He rushed forward with a handshake, which I took as I got to business.

“Morning. What’s the issue?”

Rand took a gulp of saliva before explaining.

“We sent a caravan to provide some special ballistae ammo to help deal with undead troll attacks in a town called Dunwhich. But a hawk came by with a message that said quite a few of the guards were injured on their way there and now they don’t have the numbers to leave. What’s worse, the platform around the inner ring of their wall doesn’t let them turn the cart around and the undead means that once they disembark, they have to immediately sprint off.

And in the middle of this mess, something has happened with the government payments so we can’t deploy some of the mercenary groups we typically send on such expeditions. The messenger hawk I sent better come back with a great excuse. If something isn’t done soon, any visitors are going to get their carriage horses killed. What’s worse is that the town doesn’t have supplies for an unexpected stay of their visitors, so we need them out of there now.”

Salamede nodded and initiated a spirit connection with me.

‘How’s it looking for you?’ She asked calmly.

‘We could get there easily enough, probably by mid-day at the latest and I don’t have to attend my advanced alchemy class today. But the carriage making it back before night fall is another issue. I’ll get a few mana lamps just in case.’

‘I was thinking the same thing.’ Salamede said.

I nodded and coughed before informing Rand of our decision, a decision he greeted with a sigh of relief.

“Thank you. I know how invaluable your time is.” He said with no small amount of trepidation.

“Indeed” I responded calmly as we turned back into the crowd.

Going back home, Salamede was shuffling around the kitchen preparing a few quick travel meals while I went around prying a few mana lamps form the walls of the first floor. I gave an irritated growl as I pried one from the wall by the entrance mirror.

“Eli? Do you have any inventions that could help us during this move?” Salamede asked sweetly as she pulled some fig bars from a lower cabinet.

“If I had made my ship big enough, we might have been able to move the carriage in it but that would also mean it would take longer to finish. I’m afraid anything safe enough to move overland would have taken too long to finish.”

“Are you sure the ships not almost ready? The rivers are a lot safer to travel.” She asked curiously as she stuffed food items into the space expanded sack we used on the trip south.

“That’s… a bit more complicated.”

“Why? The hull seems almost done. I know Cell’s been playing with his friends a lot these days, but it still seems close.”

I gave a light chuckle.

“That’s just the outside. The internals are another matter entirely. Besides, I’m using this as a means to show off science and the boat isn’t designed for travel over water.”

Salamede stopped for a moment as I worked the stone case off of the mana crystal lamp.

“Not over… Eli, is that an airship?”

I popped the mana lamp out far more forcefully than I meant to with a surprised hiccup.

“How… How in the name of God do you know about airships?” I asked.

She just gave a delighted squeal and ran over to give me a big hug as I felt Cell vibrate with joy in the back right shoulder plate.

“It is then? Oh Eli. The merchants from the central continent would share tales of all kinds when they visited us. One was how Royalty and esteemed Scions had long wooden tubes with wind magics that let them float over the land. I always wanted to try one but figured it was some unseen wonder in some land I’d never visit.

Tell me you’ll take me on a ride in it.” She said with a quick grab of my steel plates chest collar. Her white eyes were wide with a pleading bite of her lip to round out her desperate look. Cell was likewise sending me images of us floating in the air with the trees far below us.

I was still a little disoriented from the surprise but managed to whisper out an answer.

“Yeah, sure. Once I’ve tested it.” I said in a disappointed voice.

Salamede puckered her lips before tilting my helmet down for a deep kiss. Then she pulled away with a loud pop as her sweet taste left my lips.

“Eli, what’s the problem?” She asked.

“I just… I wanted it to be a surprise. You know, never before seen or thought of wonders.” I said with a pout as I curled my lips and looked to the ceiling.

“I’m so sorry.” She said in a small regretful voice as she pulled back a bit. “It’ll be a great surprise for everyone, having an airship this far out from the central continent.”

“Pff. Whatever. Let’s go get that carriage. You’ve already ruined the magic of the reveal anyway.” I said as I headed towards the door and picked up my sack on the kitchen counter.

“I’m so sorry, Eli” Salamede said playfully as she quickly followed me out the door.