Alaine

“Don’t you think you are pushing too hard with this narrative of the strong woman,” Caroline asked, while brushing a strand of her aside.

“Of course, not. He is a Knight from the Monastery. A profame Holy Son who will grow up into a figure on the level of the Pope if not grander. Even his teachers are beating down his personality to keep him humble and just. I must also establish my needs and desires or I might not even know when he will override them.” Alaine flipped through a copper-wire, bound book.

“But, there is guidance then there is being a stubborn bull and you are riding the bull. Now, he might not see it as much of a problem. But–” Caroline waved her hand and a water sphere appeared before her. “We both know that your mother doesn’t value you or your brother. She is searching for means of immortality and I doubt with her current strength that she won’t subvert expectations. When the Church realizes that you aren’t as valuable as you made yourself out to be. They will redirect his efforts.”

“They won’t take him away if you guys produce kids. You know how much they value those little runts. Anyway, enough about this.” Alaine closed the bound book and looked into the orb. A dark red sky presented itself with thunderous clouds that spit out lightning. Below rested red sand being trampled upon by sun-scorched skeletons.

“The realm is as expected but the undead isn’t something we can clear alone. Probably why it stayed empty.”

Allison rubbed her knee. “Of course, we knew that it had to have something that was hard for ordinary people to clear. And no one from the Church would care for the demands.”

“Yes, but the difference from hard to unlikely is something that I would frown upon.” Caroline dismissed the orb.

“But with the Holy Son, we can clear it out,” Allison said.

“But at what costs? He isn’t some dumb brute in love,” Caroline replied.

Alaine held up her hand. “What about the other plane we came across?”

“Plant life is very averse to other lifeforms. We lost all but two scouts,” Claire said.

Alaine sighed. “Fine, I’ll talk with Darin about it. The warlock will just have to face the threat of death.”

Claire pushed aside her blonde hair and leaned across the couch, showing off her long legs. “What if we all work him over?”

The other girls looked at her with confusion.

“Oh, not the warlock but Darin? How many men can deny the charms of women trained by the Palace? He might not be originally lustful but if we utilize that technique, then he will become so.” Claire pushed down her dress and pulled her legs behind her while leaning into the arm of the couch.

Allison shook her head. “That won’t work. He practices the top scriptures of the Holy Church and their Goddess’ blessing is upon him.”

“We need to focus on establishing ourselves first,” Alaine said, leaning forward to snatch up a grape from a fruit bowl on the table between the girls. “The Duke isn’t going to give up power right now. His leverage is stronger than ours. I don’t have any ideas on how to shake the noble's faith in him.”

Allison ran a hand through her brown hair. “Then focus on the church. They own a rather large part of the City-state just as big as the Duke’s forces. They already place thirty holy knights, sixty squires, ten priests, and twenty Deacons under the Holy Son.”

“But they don’t want to see me being myself. They rather chain me down and I don’t appreciate that effort.” Alaine grabbed another grape.

“Having kids isn’t that big of deal with all the resources we have at our disposal. The time fermenting has been greatly reduced but I think we might have something more interesting.” Caroline held up a large curtain of water showing the face of Teresa. “Her soul isn’t natural and I have been testing her and her sister. I’m positive she is some otherworldly soul. I would suggest finding a reason to capture her and then allowing me to read her mind. She might have knowledge that we can make use of.”

Alaine twisted a snake ring on her finger. “Interesting. I knew something was wrong with that commoner.” She turned to Claire. “Stay with Darin for the next week while we prepare for the partnership.”

Claire's eyes closed and she bowed her head. “Do you think she will be so bold as to make a move?”

Caroline snorted. “If she doesn’t understand the rules, of course, she will make a mistake. It is undeniable that our world is different and the hussy stares at Darin with unshielded desire. The only problem is that Darin is too–”

Waving her hand, Alaine stood up. “Don’t worry about it. He can resist temptation for duty but she won’t be able to resist him. There is a reason why I traded so much for the chance to marry him besides his good looks.” A smile graced her lips but the look in her blue eyes looked as icy as a glacier. “Let’s go take care of the minor problems.”

***

darin

I dipped the ink pen back into the inkwell and flexed my wrists. I looked at the paper that held not a single mistake with a sense of achievement in my heart. I turned at the sound of another sheet being crumbled by the Commander.

“What,” he asked in a gruff tone. “This isn’t easy for a real man like myself. All those curly ass letters and crap. Who takes the time to perfect this?” He tossed the paper ball into a bin.

“Apparently court nobles,” I responded.

“I’m done. We have a week to prepare these.” He pushed his chair back and stretched his legs. “Let’s go down to the arena and watch fights. I haven’t gambled in a bit.”

I dropped my finished invitation on the pile of completed and turned to dip my ink-stained fingers into a hot bucket of water. “Sure, I can do something else.”

The Commander slapped my back. “That’s my little girl.”

I didn’t take the bait this time and went to grab my sword from the Squire hands. “You know, you throw punches like a little kid. That guy landed so many hits on you as if you were a wooden stake.”

The Commander's eyes narrowed and he touched his split lip. “How was I supposed to know he was a Peak Grandmaster?” He looked me over. “Why didn’t he hit your face?”

I just smirked. I totally wasn’t going to tell him I had a slow acting heel.

We went down to the front yard and boarded our stallions.

“You know what, we are totally going to get into a conflict.” I gestured at a carriage with wolves howling on the side.

“What makes you think they are after us?” The commander shifted his sword while rotating his neck.

“What Noble will care to come talk nice to me? When none knows me.” I glanced at the twenty holy knights flooding from side barracks, five Priests floated down from a second floor of a tower, and thirty squires took the archer towers around the area. I couldn’t help feeling impressed until I saw a snake carriage coming from the opposite direction.

“I think your woman is back,” he said, while relaxing his grip. “I think there goes our break.”

“She isn’t in the carriage. It’s the one with the black eyes.” I turned my golden eyes that faded to light brown away from the snake carriage. “You know, I know that these heretics are becoming popular and the Church must compromise but—”

“Ah, I think the top Echelon is trying to go with the flow instead of against it. Besides, having Knights like yourself mate with those witches. Isn’t it a bonus to have a witch daughter loyal to our Goddess? Then we don’t have to do as much fighting.”

“Sounds good. Anyway, let’s see what these guys want then go see what that arena is like.” I stretched and rubbed my chin. “I really missed the Monastery peace.”

“The peace and quiet to train, huh?” He laughed. “Real world isn’t like that.”

The wolf carriage stopped and three knights got down from their horses. Opening the door to the Carriages to let out a guy with black hair and hazel eyes. He looked just like a little wolf but didn’t have that impressive build of a fighter.

“Tsk, a witch,” The Commander said while moving his horse away.

“It’s better than the guy who gave you that shinier.” I smirked and moved towards the young man.

“I’ll give you a shiner,” the commander mumbled.

I glance back at him. The bloody bastard acquired the nerve to smile, nod his head, and whistle. Sigh, we were too friendly but I needed that level of closeness rather than a distant leadership vibe.

Being weak sucks.

“Your Holiness,” the young man bowed by dropping to a knee and slapping his chest. “I am Eugene Burgess the Third, Baroness Burgess son. I hope you will give me a few minutes to discuss a business plan with you.” He spoke from his knee.

“Rise,” I said and got down off my horse. I took a peek into his carriage to see the beautiful lady sitting there. She nodded her head and stood up but I waved my hand. “What kind of business?”

He stood up and looked around. Well–we were surrounded by large hedges, a single road leading out of this compound of manors and other than holy knights station on this lane. No one else would really peep at us.

“A plane of demons.”

Oh, so he went to the Bishop and the Bishop declined because the payment wasn’t enough. After all, Divinity was very effective against negative energy.

“I’m listening.” I stepped into his carriage and took a seat opposite of his lady.

Young Eugene followed me in and closed the carriage door. He sat down by his lady and placed a projection artifact on the table between us. “As you can see from this, the highest demon we recorded with our equipment is Stage three. The strongest I can afford to field is middle stage two wizard.”

“I see but I hope you understand that even if I want to field my men in a demon realm with the nation on the brink of war right now. I need a significant benefit to justify the possible losses.” I fiddled with the artifact, rewinded it over the three rings on the horn of the black scale demon.

“I understand and that is not an issue. I am prepared to pay you 70 percent of the resources we gather.” Eugene began tapping his thigh while watching my facial expression.

“If I am reading your report right.” I pointed at the readings of the size and energy density. “The size of the plane is that of a normal continent which means that the possibility of there being more than one Third Stage Demon Lord is high. The possibility of this world birthing something stronger is 64 percent which is already an overwhelming odds.”

Eugene sucked in a breath. “I understand but my scouts are currently in the process of gathering more detailed information but near the landing zone. This is all we have to worry about is one Third Stage Demon Lord.”

I shook my head. “Right now, if I were to gather the men to raid this demon plane, at minimum, I would need a stage four combatant.” I leaned forward. “To motivate such an existence, I will need to provide twenty percent of the gains. Third Stage combatants will need five percent. In short, my own profits from this aren't all that big now. Versus your own profits, I think you can see my issue.”

Eugene frowned, “I still have to pay my men and a percentage to the Crown.”

“My wife is the Crown and your men are stage one experts, right? One percent of the gains is already overwhelming odds for them. Stage two experts are a dime or dozen.” I waved my hands at the carriage window where we were surrounded by said experts. “Or maybe, you think the Church really doesn’t have anything better to do than raid planes for others?”

Eugene's lips turned red from how much he pressed them. He glanced at his lady who nodded her head. “I can only give up an additional ten percent or else I will be in a deficit and I would rather just sell the coordinates at that point.”

“Ten percent extra is enough for me.” I slapped the table and pushed open the carriage door. “Contact me when you are ready to raid.” I chuckled upon closing the door and seeing his chest rising like I just murder his brother before his eyes.

The wolf carriage rode past and I turned to see Claire waiting outside of her carriage. I sighed and turned to the Commander. “Do we have any Third and Fourth Ranks free to handle a demon plane?” I tossed him the artifact.

“Yeah, we have tons but am I not enough?” He caught it and then his eyes widened. With a soft toss, it landed in the arms of a Knight who turned on his horse and set off like a hundred men was just around the bend. “We will probably need two Fourth ranks and maybe ten third ranks. You will be kind of pointless with your first rank. Ah, better start training. I guess we can't go to the den, after all.”

“What do you mean, I’ll be useless?” I walked over to Claire with a carefree smile that started to fade.

“Come on, your holiness.” The Commander laughed. “Do you see Stage one among your Knights? No?” He looked around and then laughed harder. “Pretty boy should just be decoration like a good wall trophy.”

Claire covered her mouth and giggled. I stared into her black eyes that already show signs of wrinkling from how much joy she took at others' pain. “Her grace sent me to accompany you while she is busy during the day. I hope I am not too forward by presenting myself in such casual attire?” She waved her gloved hands down at her long dress that swept out like a blossoming flower.

Blonde hair and black eyes.

My mind turned over these features because this was the sign of her mother being a servant. The others were better that they maintained a noble coloring but it was obvious that someone's status wasn’t at all as valuable as it could have been. Alaine's mother's side would definitely not allow such a bastard child to accompany a valuable Princess. After all, the Second Princess, Princess Diya wore lady-in-waiting like dresses and none of them were below a threshold of attractions. It was even rumored that her proclivities were suspicious.

That being said, I looked past the obvious beauty of Claire and tried to see her personality. Not what she deemed for me to see. Yet, I saw nothing.

“You looked outstandingly elegant as have you since the moment I saw you.” I held up my hand to help her into the carriage. “Please?”

“Thank you, your holiness.” A little pink coloured her cheeks.

“Mm,” I replied and stepped in with her.