Leila skipped merrily through the inn room, a dainty smile on her face. She went towards a large wooden trunk, right by the footboard of their bed; grabbed a dress from inside of it, then made her way to a full length mirror that stood a few meters back. She kept repeating those same actions for multiple times, trying out many different combinations of clothes while at it.

Steinar was sitting on a chair by the window, eyes closed and a wet towel around his neck. Annie stood in front of him, bent over and with a razor in hand, skillfully shaving off the coarse stubble that had grown on his face during the last couple of days. His beard surely grows fast, or so Leila thought. Well, he did look good with a beard, but he also looked positively dashing when cleanly shaved. It was kind of hard for her to pick between the two, though it certainly felt better kissing him without a beard on the way.

Stealing side glances at him, Leila couldn’t help but muse at his looks. Ruggedly handsome would describe him well, even the scars on his face looked good. That oppressive feeling of wildness and danger that you get when you look at him… As if he oozed testosterone through every pore of his body. It awakened the memories of her fingers tracing over his rock-hard muscles, and of his rough touch against her skin as he laid claim to her body. That thought brought a certain warmth into her womb, and she could swear by the gods that she felt it throb in response.

That’s not good, if she keeps at it she’ll get horny and they will end up embracing each other again. Right now is not the time for that, she should be choosing a new outfit and getting ready to welcome Camille and the twins that would be arriving at the port in just a few more hours.

“Hmm...” Steinar muttered, eyes still closed as Annie shaved him. “I love this smell.”

‘Dammit...’ Leila cussed in her mind. So he could tell— or smell, after all. At least, given Annie’s blushing face, she could say that she was not the only one having naughty thoughts. But how in the seven hells can he tell just from their smell alone that they are getting horny? Are the enhanced senses from his aura that good, or is he just a special case?

No matter, there’s no need to go any further into this. He’s just trying to bully them, like always. There’s nothing wrong about feeling horny once in a while, even if it does happen pretty much all the time lately. Come to think of it… She didn’t use to be like that before, is it perhaps a side effect from their training? She can’t stay even five minutes alone with Steinar before she starts wanting to just tear off his clothes and jump on top of him. Well, at least it’s nothing bad… Right?

Her thoughts got interrupted by a little eyeball flying in through the open window.

“Brother, we shall be arriving soon.” Bruna’s voice spoke through the familiar. “We can already see land in the distance.”

“That’s good news, miss Bruna.” Annie answered, bowing politely to the little eyeball. “We’re eager to meet up with everyone.”

“Yes, I do not think Iris would be able to endure much longer.” Bruna remarked. “She has been feeling seasick since the moment we left Trentin.”

Leila and Annie gave the little familiar a puzzled look. Wasn’t seasickness supposed to go away once your body acclimates to the ship’s motion or something along those lines?

“In any case… Brother, I would like to ask you to—” Bruna got cut off by the sudden, thunderous noise of a bell tolling. It was incredibly loud and grave, sending slow waves of ominous sound across the skies. It tolled once… Twice… Thrice… It’s clanging was threatening, not melodic. It seemed to be coming not from within the city, but from high up above.

“Ugh...” Leila whimpered, covering her ears with the palms of her hands. Annie did the same, but also crouching down to the floor. Steinar hurriedly jumped up from his chair and ran to the window, poking his head outside. His eyebrows were frowning something fierce.

The bell tolled again. Once… Twice… Thrice… A terrifying chill accompanied the echoes of it’s toll.

“This is bad...” Bruna muttered through the little eyeball familiar, as it flew near Steinar.

“You’re hearing it from there too, right?” Steinar asked, in a cold and serious tone. His head no longer poking outside the window, but staring straight towards Bruna’s familiar.

“Yes.” She acknowledged, in a half trembling voice. “I can hear it even from all the way back here… There’s no doubt this is the Holy See’s Bell of Convocation.”

The bell tolled yet again. Once… Twice… Thrice… Forbidding in it’s dismal sonority.

“Three times three…” Bruna’s words trailed off. “This is a—“

“A death knell.” Steinar concluded.

##

“Land… We’re finally on land...” Iris fell to her knees as soon as she stepped out of the gangplank. “I’m back on land… No more swaying…” She had a sickly pale visage, but was otherwise smiling.

Alice followed right behind her sister, though she looked perfectly fine. Her gaze wandered across the port looking for Annie and Leila, who should be waiting for their group’s arrival.

“Ah…!” She found them, or at least she thinks she did. There were two women that somewhat resembled them together with a very tall and muscular man. She waved to them, thinking that she might have been mistaken. But since they waved back, it must mean those were indeed Leila and Annie.

“Whaaa…” Her mouth hung open in surprise. What in heaven’s name happened to them? They looked younger and taller, their breasts suppler and considerably larger. Their bodies… What she could even say? They looked nothing like what they were last time she had seen them. Toned to perfection, as if chiseled by a master sculptor. Somehow their pale thighs had grown way thicker, exposing themselves through the slits their scanty dresses. Speaking of which, what’s up with those clothes? Showing so much skin… How daring of them. Yet she couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel if she too wore those kinds of revealing clothes.

“Eh… Are those…?” This time it was Iris that noticed them, as she stood up from the ground. But before she could say anything else, Bruna started running towards that tall man.

“Brother…!” The little girl jumped on his arms, burying her face on his overly muscular chest. To that scene, both Iris and Alice raised an eyebrow in surprise. How unlike Bruna, to act like this. Or at least, that was the impression they had from the months they spent together. She was supposed to be a very serious and composed young girl.

“I am scared.” Bruna said, whilst being raised in an arm by her brother. Well, she has been rather fidgety ever since those weird bell sounds. Thought Iris.

“You must be sir Steinar, right?” Alice approached him and bowed elegantly. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you.” It was a little weird that she went to talk to him first, since Leila and Annie were right by his side. But in fact, Alice has been interested in him for a while now and couldn’t care less about the other two— even though she did like them.

Bruna talked a lot about him, saying how she should avoid him and how dangerous he was. True to her words, the man looked like a barbarian— one of those from the many romance novels she usually reads. A mountain of muscles with an angry, mean look. His stare alone was enough to send shivers down her spine. No doubts he was just like described in her novels, a filthy animal driven by his desires. The kind that kidnaps unsuspecting women and forces them to become his ‘broodmares’. ‘How marvelous...’ She thought. The faintest hint of a dark, twisted desire crept up on her face, but was soon suppressed by her usual shy-yet-warm smile.

“Leila…? Annie…?” Camille finally joined them, showing an utterly flabbergasted expression upon seeing the two former-servants of house Taylor. “What the hell happened to you girls?”

They showed a confident smile as they went to give Camille a hug. “Nothing much.” Leila brushed her off. “We’re fine, Camille.” Annie added, hugging the knight initiate from one side while Leila took the other. Camille just reacted in confusion, being mashed between two pairs of breasts much larger than she remembers those two ever having.

“I was wondering what happened too…” Iris joined in the mix, giving them an intrigued look while poking Annie’s rock-hard abs with one finger. “This doesn’t look like ‘nothing much’ too me.”

“Steinar trained us and taught us how to use aura.” Annie gave in, answering the girls’ inquiry. “I guess this is the result of the training?”

“No way!” Camille exclaimed loudly. “Aura doesn’t work like that. It could certainly help you gain more muscles and rejuvenate a bid, but it certainly wouldn’t make adults grow taller— nor breasts grow larger!”

The two gave Camille a puzzled look, not exactly knowing how to answer her statements.

“This change was caused by the use of alchemy.” It was Bruna that answered for them, though she was still being held in her brother’s arms— her face still buried on his chest. “He gave you some weird elixirs to drink, right? I made those myself, they were specially concocted to help improve the constitution of weak females.”

“Woah...” Camille’s eyes widened in amazement. “Can you fix me up with some of those as well?”

“No.” Bruna’s denial was swift and sharp, in a stern tone unbecoming of a little girl that was being carried on her big brother’s arms. “Those are meant for garbage tier weaklings, if you drink one your organs will melt and you will die a gruesome death.”

A shiver ran down Camille’s spines, all the way down to her legs. Melting organs surely sounded unpleasant, to say the least. Meanwhile, Annie and Leila were pouting cutely for being called ‘garbage tier weaklings’. Though still not releasing Camille from their embrace.

“I see...” Iris muttered, briefly turning towards Steinar and Bruna. “But why would you carry this kind of thing around?” Her sharp, inquisitive gaze was then drawn towards the black leather chokers that hung around Leila’s and Annie’s necks. They looked… Awfully familiar to dog collars.

“To train my pets.” Steinar declared nonchalantly, his free hand caressing Bruna’s silky black hair.

“You—!” Iris felt anger raise from deep withing her, as she was prepared to go off on him. She assumed that he had coerced her two former-servants into some sort of cruel and abusive relationship. Judging from from the way they were scantily dressed, as well as those chokers and him calling them ‘pets’… She couldn’t help but imagine that they had been forced to become his sex slaves or something like that. “How dare you do this kind of thing to my—“ She started going towards Steinar, mana gathering in the palm of her right hand.

“Lady Iris, don’t—!” Annie grabbed Iris before she could take another step towards Steinar, while Leila went ahead and stood in front of her with open arms, as if she were trying to block something. A bit of an exaggerated reaction, or so Iris thought.

“Please, we have chosen this.” Annie explained, while still holding Iris tightly. “He hasn’t done us harm.”

“Ah...” Once Iris’ eyes met his, she finally understood the girls’ reactions. She had just shown him a little hostility, but the sheer amount of killing intent coming coming from him was already enough to suffocate her. Not only that, but his gaze betrayed his intentions of cleaving her small body in half.

“Ha~♥” Alice let out a low pitched saccharine moan, though no one paid attention to it given the ridiculous amount of killing intent being directed at them.

“Brother, do not act rashly.” Bruna intervened, giving but a glance towards the girls. “They are Katheryn’s daughters, they are pretty much part of our family.”

“I know.” He answered, in his usual cold and stoic tone. “I unintentionally reacted to her hostility.”

“Hum.” Bruna nodded. “But try to keep yourself in check, mother would get really angry if they were to be harmed.”

Camille nervously stepped forward, covering for Iris. Her face was pale and her legs trembling, it seems like she was the one most affected by Steinar’s killing intent. “R-Right...” She stuttered. “We should talk more later, let us find ourselves some lodgings.”

“Ah, about that...” Leila spoke, relaxing her stance after that big scare. “We already got you a room in the same Inn that we’re staying, it’s a very comfortable place.”

“Ghh…” Iris grimaced, her fists clenching as she was clearly unsatisfied by the turn the situation had taken. Even more so, for the fact that her thin legs were shaking uncontrollably. “Wait… First tell us what was the deal with those bells, and why Bruna was looking so afraid.” She inquired, in a vain attempt to maintain some dignity by changing the topic of the conversation.

“That was the Holy See’s Bell of Convocation.” Steinar answered, still giving her a threateningly cold stare. It wasn’t much of an explanation, but it didn’t seem like she would be getting anything else from him.

“Bell of Convocation… I read about it somewhere before.” Iris mused. “Isn’t it supposed to be an artifact the church uses for long range communication?”

“It is.” Bruna confirmed, burying her face into her brother’s chest again. “Its sound echoes throughout the entire northern continent, it is meant to call the scattered forces of the church back to the Holy See.”

“But for what reason?” Iris pressed her question further.

“The bell tolled three times three… It is a death kneel for the passing of a male.” Bruna pressed her face harder against Steinar’s chest, her small arms reaching around his neck for an embrace. “For them to use the Bell of Convocation for a death kneel… It means the Pope has died.”

The group stared at her in surprise, not quite knowing what to make of that statement. The faith of Irithel was all over the world, so of course they knew the Pope was an extremely important figure. But why would his death scare Bruna, was she that much of a religious person?

“The Pope had Irithel’s blessing.” Surprisingly, it was Steinar that continued with the explanation. “He would never die of disease nor old age. His death can only mean he was murdered.”

“Yes...” Bruna followed on her brother’s answer. “And the last time the Bell of Convocation Tolled was in preparation to launch an inquisition.”

“An… Inquisition?” Iris raised an eyebrow in astonishment.

“Are inquisitor’s scary, Bruna?” Allice asked innocently, while striding closer to Bruna and Steinar. Her hips swayed suggestively along the way, though her actions did not seem to catch Steinar’s gaze quite like she wanted them to.

“Witches are incredibly powerful, yet inquisitors hunted them down to near extinction multiple times.” Steinar answered, staring straight at Alice’s eyes as she moved.

“I see… They sound really scary, after all.” She pretended to be worried for Bruna, though her own eyes betrayed the innocence of her face. They were deeply focused on Steinar’s muscular chest, that looked like it could rip through his shirt at any given moment.

“Humn...” Bruna nodded, rotating in her brother’s arms so that she could look at Alice face to face. “To even become an inquisitor you have to be on the peak of master level. High inquisitors are all grandmaster level.” She whimpered, as if remembering something very unpleasant. “They also have apostles, that are even stronger than that.”

Annie and Leila were looking downcast, but not surprised. It seems like they had already gotten an explanation from Steinar previously. As for Iris and Camille, they were both shocked but not much else. Alice was listening but not paying attention, she had other more interesting thoughts on her mind.

The twins were not yet used to the fact that they were witches, and had no idea about the implications of what Bruna had just explained.

At that time they could not yet understand how an inquisition would affect them…

End of Chapter 9: Reunion.