“I see, is there a way to reverse the curse?”
Esyae shook her head. “Unfortunately, no, now that it has run its course. We can, of course, get stronger again the normal way, but that will take time.”
I nodded. That made a lot of sense, actually. “In that case, why don’t you join my party for the trip to Wyrmwood? We’ll be fighting monsters and bandits, so it will help you regain your strength.”
Aravae smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”
Esyae leaned forward, and said, “Now, enough of that. We want to hear how your day went. So far, you’ve been stirring up a decent-sized whirlwind of activity, you know. They’re still talking about your ‘test’ at the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Hah! Well, nothing so extravagant, really. Got the details on my quests, did some shopping, and then took the girls to the training hall to practice our weapons. We’re going out into the wild, so having skills is important. Though we were waylaid on our way back by a group of thieves.”
“Oh, and what happened to them?”
“Seems the leader was a Traveler who had gotten it into her head to try and wipe out slavery in the city by killing the masters and freeing the slaves, or some craziness like that. She was a fire sorceress, too. Anyways, we killed her henchmen, and I enslaved her, stripped her of her gear and coin, and sold her to one of the local brothels.”
“Damn, well done! But wasn’t she a Traveler like you? Won’t she leave back to your world like you sometimes do?”
“I used the slave magic to keep her here, for a while, at least. Could be a few days, at least. And even if she leaves, if she returns, she’ll still be a slave to the brothel. The brothel knows all this, of course, so they’ve got her on an ‘intensive use’ schedule to make sure they get their money’s worth.”
“Will she cause trouble for you in your world?”
“Not likely. We Travelers choose a new name and appearance when we go to different worlds. This is not a name or guise I’ve used before, and it looks little like what I do on my world. So tracking me would be difficult.”
We made small talk for a little while longer, and then headed up to our rooms. I’d log out in a little bit, but first, a bit of fun would be in order, as a reward for the girls doing such a good job. Severa, in particular, looks like she needs a bit of encouragement.
(Severa POV)
Ugh. Master’s looking at me again. I can only be thankful he isn’t like some of those sick bastards who like to make use of their slaves in public, just to prove how powerful they are, but we’re going up to the room. He’s going to rape my poor ass again, isn’t he? Wait, I haven’t done anything bad! Maybe I won’t get punished tonight!
As the door closes, I can feel him moving up behind me. Wrapping his arms around my waist, I look down at his arms. They don’t look to be overly muscled, but I know from experience the strength that is in them. And then his breath blows hot in my ear, as he whispers, “Severa, you and the girls have been very good today. So you’re going to get a reward.”
A reward! Yay! “What kind of reward, Master?” I’ve been trying to keep a respectful tone in my voice, if only because my poor ass was torn apart the last time I mouthed off to him.
He didn’t respond with words. Instead, he slipped one hand down into my pants. It wasn’t like before, when he was rough and punishing me. This time, he was being tender.
I could get used to rewards like this…
(Later)
(Mike POV)
After spending some time with the girls, I logged out, but didn’t immediately disengage the time compression. Checking my stream rates, I was pleased to see that my videos were becoming pretty popular. I was also getting a LOT of flak from someone who appeared to be Zahara’s friend IRL. The guy apparently saw my video of me enslaving the stupid sorceress, and was not pleased that his ‘girlfriend’ would be touring a brothel until the chip force logged her out if her body was in trouble.
Sucks to be them. The stupid bitch shouldn’t have tried to kill me. As I was thinking about what I should do next, I saw a window pop up.
‘Theresa Martinez’ wishes to enter your virtual room.
Message as follows: I’m Yukiko.
Allow entrance?
Yes/No
Hoh, so she came calling out of the game, hmm? Well sure, might as well see what she wanted. “Yes.”
The form that materialized in my room was definitely NOT the slim, Asian-looking Yukiko. So this is what the woman behind the avatar looked like. I nodded to her. “Yukiko. Or do you prefer Theresa?”
“Either one is fine Master.” She blushed as the word escaped her lips, almost as though it wasn’t what she intended to say.
I chuckled, and motioned for her to sit next to me on the virtual couch. “You know, I do like it when you call me that. Anyways, what brings you by?”
“Um, well, I just wanted to spend some more time with you.”
This wasn’t going to turn into one of those clingy things, was it? That would really suck. I sighed, and looked at her. “Theresa, what are you looking for? I’m the guy behind Torgan, and Zayn, but that’s in game. Out of game, I’m Mike. You’re a good fighter, and a great blacksmith. And your avatar is a great fuck. But I’m not looking for a girlfriend or anything.” I paused, and then said, “Now, you want to be a friend, I’m down with that. Even a friend with benefits. But I don’t want a girlfriend right now.”
All right. Probably not the most tactful way to talk about it, but hey, that’s me, your basic asshole. At least I’m being honest, instead of leading her on, or doing any of those other dick moves. Seen stuff like that rip parties (sometimes even guilds) apart before.
Theresa looked sad, but nodded her head. “I understand, Master. I… I’m not looking to be a girlfriend. But would Master consider taking me as a slave in this world, too? You know how I got those qualities, right?”
With a nod, I said, “That I can do. And since you want to be a slave, come suck me off while I reply to a few emails.”
(Later)
(Zayn POV)
The sun was hidden behind clouds as dawn broke, signaling the start of what promised to be a very wet day. Needless to say, our party was none too pleased to be setting out just as a thunderstorm started. But we had a few quests to do, so we ate our breakfast, and dressed for traveling. The Princesses had decided to go low key, and were looking like normal travelers for the moment. That should help keep from drawing too much attention to us.
After breakfast, I guided our wagon to the gate where we met the merchant, and the other party. The merchant had two wagons full of slaves, with his personal slaves helping to drive both wagons. The second party had their own wagon, so we were a convoy of four.
While we were sorting things out, I took a moment to Observe the second party, since we’d be working together. Best to have some idea of their party balance before we got into the wilds.
Burnoir Drakegrip
Dwarf Male
Level 12 Fighter
Lora Lohkik
Human Female
Level 8 Barbarian
Solana Presven
Elf Female
Level 10 Ice Sorceress
Oden Flagstaff
Human Male
Level 13 Paladin
Title: Holy One
Harahel Lightwing
Half-Celestial Female
Level 9 Priestess
Cricket
Elf Female
Level 5 Rogue
Title: Slave
Interesting party. If one just looked at levels, then they were all over the place. But maybe the slave’s skills were enough to make them worth keeping around? Or, more likely, she was a sex slave that was marginally useful in searching for traps if the party went to a dungeon. But who knows? I nodded politely to the Paladin, who looked to be the leader of the group. He gave that kind of imperious, holier than thou nod that meant I was supposed to be honored to even be in his presence.
St
ill, not wanting to be out in the rain more than necessary, we got in the wagons, and set off. If everything went well, it would be a four- day journey to Gepheart. With rain, and inevitable monster attacks, I figured it for five or six days. A lot can happen in six days.
(Later)
The hardest part of escort duty is the constant vigilance. You need to be keeping an eye out for hours at a time, and when a whole lot of nothing is happening, this gets very difficult. It wasn’t possible for someone to be watching everything, the whole day. Which led to a rotation amongst the guards, some checking for trouble while the others scouted or rested.
Of course, ‘nothing’ was a far cry from what we experienced. The forests seemed to be utterly CRAWLING with monsters. Or, and this was much more likely, my quality had drawn in more monsters than was normal for the area. We fought goblins, wolves, and even a group of giant rats. All were put down pretty easily, since we had numbers, and the attackers were relatively weak.
Fortunately, the arrogant paladin insisted that his wagon lead the way, and I was only too happy to be a rear guard. The two main points of attack when you’re on a convoy through the forest are going to be the front and the middle of a convoy. Why? Because that’s how you stop the majority of the wagons. You attack the rear, then the others can drive on, and leave the straggler behind if they wish. One wagon is rarely enough to be worth a major bandit raid. Especially if they have cargo they’re after.
Which meant that, when the ambush eventually came, it was the Paladin’s wagon that rolled over the explosive trap, killing their horses and the slave outright, and severely injuring the rest of them. They were more or less useless for this fight, it seemed.
And then the bandits attacked.
Chapter 21 – Fierce Battle
Zayn leapt into action, his bow in hand. “Severa, scout the woods! I want numbers and leaders! Della, Yukiko, protect the right side! Aravae, Esyae, with me! We’ll take the left!”
The bandits were coming from both sides. There had to be at least twenty of them! Well, at least I’ll get my quest out of the way early on. It was a well-organized ambush, to be sure. I smiled when I saw that the bandits stopped using bows as I moved in front of the cargo wagons. They didn’t know which wagon had their target, so they couldn’t risk shooting blindly into the cages.
I, on the other hand, had no qualms shooting back at them, dropping two before they got into melee range. As I slung my bow to draw my blades, I saw a message from Severa come over the party chat (the NPCs treated this as a special kind of ‘magic’).
Severa: Twenty-five bandits. Ten sword and shield, five archers, nine dual-daggers, and one mage.
Zayn: Kill the mage first, then work on the archers. Don’t take unnecessary risks.
Severa: Understood.
There seemed to be slightly more of the bastards coming from my side than from Della’s side. Ten enemies (five sword-and-board, and five dual daggers) had been closing in, but between Esyae and myself, five of those were out of the fight. Whether dead or just badly wounded I wasn’t able to tell. I stepped up, allowing Esyae and Aravae to fall in behind me. Esyae shot when she saw openings, I tanked, and Aravae kept our health up.
Sure, they might have wanted to get around me, but the first one who tried to get past me and to the elves behind me found Munsuraisa buried in his gut, and was now desperately trying to hold in his intestines. Gotta say, they went full on with the effects of battle damage. Another bandit was sporting an arrow in his shoulder from when he tried to attack me while I dealt with the slippery one, and his shield arm hung limp by his side.
In the forest to the right of the caravan, a scream went up as a mage suddenly discovered one of Severa’s blades in his kidney. The sound ended in a gurgled sputtering, as the mage’s throat was slashed.
Zayn: Well done, Severa. That’ll keep them looking behind them. Della, how are things on that side?
Some might wonder why I asked Della, instead of Yukiko, but the simple fact was that I didn’t want to interrupt Yukiko while she was in a melee. The distraction could be fatal if you weren’t used to it like I was. And even I had trouble with it sometimes.
Della: All right. Yukiko is holding them, for now. There are four swordsmen and five archers on this side, but the archers are looking for Severa. I can’t see the dagger-wielders.
Severa: Last I saw, they were on the left, in a group. Probably the leader. Couple of them had better gear.
Zayn: Name and level?
Severa: Brennan the Menace, Human Male, Level 15 Rogue and Jenny Grimm, Half-Elf Female, Level 20 Rogue.
Zayn: All right. Continue taking out the archers, and support Yukiko when you can. When that side is clear, come over to this side.
So, we had two named mobs in the group? One of them was probably the leader. I’d have to try and take them alive to be sure. Fortunately, I had exactly two remaining enslavement items, a copper necklace and a brass ring. When we got someplace civilized, it would be time to start making my own.
Esyae didn’t try for instant kill shots on the three remaining combatants in melee with me (limp arm had received an unfavorable introduction to Taiyo no Tsubasa in the area of his spine, causing him to fall to the ground, his legs paralyzed). Instead, she focused on picking off the archers on our side, using the melee as a shield to keep them from getting a clear shot in return. By the time I finished off the last of the fighters in the melee, the archers had all been wiped out.
Breathing heavily, I nodded to Severa as she and the others from the right side of the caravan joined us. Thanks to Aravae, I was at full hit points, but fighting in a melee consumes stamina, even if it isn’t a noted stat. The bandit subjugation quest was completed, since twenty bandits had been either killed or put out of action, but I wanted the leader. If we didn’t get them, then there’d be another trap, and the next one would likely get us.
Honestly, the only reason we had done as well as we had against such numbers is that our party of six had two healers, two DPS, and two people who could serve as tanks. Yes, I wasn’t really a tank, but my stats were obscene enough I could manage. The other side didn’t have any healers, and we took out their mage fast. Simply put, they couldn’t compare to a party organized by a gamer.
Striding forward into the forest, I held my blades ready, and called out, “Jenny Grimm! Brennan the Menace! You cowardly pieces of dog shit! Your little friends have all gone and died on you! Are you going to run away like frightened little rabbits? Or will you face me?”
I paused, and then laughed, “No, of course you won’t face me. You’re too chickenshit to do anything without twice the men to protect you! You probably can’t even have a roll in the hay without a wetnurse telling you what to do next! Jenny, you mewling quim, maybe you ought to give up this whole ‘bandit’ thing, since you’re clearly shit at it! So, Jenny Quim, what will you do?”
There is a fine art to trash talking. Too many people think that it is simply yelling random insults. There is some element to that, but in order to properly trash talk, you need to make sure that your target is completely aware of your contempt for them, and that everyone around them knows it, too. The goal, of course, is to get them pissed off enough that they do something stupid. Because then they’re going to make mistakes, which can be used against them. The problem, of course, is that sometimes you can bite off more than you can chew.
Evidently, one of the bandits had the Observe skill, because I heard laughter up ahead as the five remaining bandits walked out of the underbrush, each wielding nasty looking daggers. The woman at the head looked pissed as all hell, but confident. She must have seen my much lower level.
As they walked, I took a moment to observe them. The three scrubs were all Level 12 rogues. But the other two were named, like Severa said.
Brennan
Human Male
Level 15 Rogue
Title: The Menace
Bounty: 50 GP
Jenny Grimm
Human Female
Level 20 Rogue / Ranger
Title: Bandit Queen, Sadistic
Bounty: 200 GP
Hoh. So they had interesting titles. And there was a bounty on them, too! This was getting more and more interesting. And then Jenny spoke.
“I’m going to gut you slow, bastard, and let you see while my husband and the boys play with your pretties there. But if you beg real nice, and tell me which wagon has my son in it, then I’ll make sure not to damage them too much.”
Zayn: Girls, if you could please take out the three scrubs on my signal. I want Brennan and Jenny alive, if possible.
Stepping forward, my blades drawn, I said, simply, “Oh, that won’t do at all, I’m afraid. See, I’m rather partial to the whole living thing, and I won’t allow anyone to touch my girls without my permission. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to defeat you here. But if you’re a good girl, I’ll let your son watch while I rape you.”
Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume II - Beginning the Journey Page 6
