“Are we allowed to say that?” Laura asked aloud. “I think chaos is our ally.”
Kadria rolled her eyes. “Stop being paranoid. If anything was going to happen to us, it would have already happened. But my point is that you need to prevent major disruptions to the world for as long as possible. Build up your strength, forge alliances, and prepare for war. Because the next move will be one intended to destroy the world.”
“Just like when the demons poured out from Gharrick Pass in my world,” Nathan said.
“Exactly. We don’t know when or what the move will be. Only that it will be big.” Kadria smiled. “Fortunately, I’m making a move of my own to help you.”
“Huh? But even we can’t appear? How can you possibly do anything?” the Twins asked.
“That is a secret.” Kadria’s red eyes twinkled, but her attention fixed on Nathan. She pressed her foot into Nathan’s crotch. “But it’s one that I’m sure you’ll love when the day comes for me to reveal it, Nathan. Oh, it will be a truly fun and exciting day.”
He took a step back and the Twins smirked.
Changing the subject, he asked them something that had been bothering him.
“You’ve all met your… boss? Does that mean you were Bastions once, in your original world?” Nathan asked.
All three succubi blinked.
Then the Twins laughed.
“Holy shit, you think we could be Bastions?” Maura asked, desperately trying to talk between peals of laughter.
“Wow. And Kadria thinks we’re dumb.” Laura grinned. “You’re, like, the literal opposite of us, cutie.”
“So you were villains even in your world?” He was confused.
“Nope.”
He blinked, not sure what they meant.
Maura flicked her hair over one shoulder. “You’re a larger-than-life hero type, so maybe you don’t get it. But we were nobodies. Bastions, Champions, Messengers—they’re the type of people that change the course of worlds. The opposite of a hero is a nobody. A random person going about their life, coming home to find their deadbeat dad fucking a prostitute in their bed, and nobody gives a flying fuck.”
“That’s why we’re Messengers,” Laura said. “We got offered a deal to become someone that mattered. The boss even threw in the chance to blow our dad’s head off and have some real fun before we left. Most Messengers are like us. Stuck in a dead-end world, with the best part of our life behind us, and no control over the future. Bet you don’t know how that feels, huh?”
Nathan felt frozen in place.
“But, hey, we get to have some fun together this time.” Laura winked at him. “It’s pretty nice to be with a Bastion like this. I’ve forgotten what good male company is like.”
He tuned the Twins out as they began to bicker over something minor. Slowly, he turned to stare at Kadria.
She smiled back at him, but her eyes were razor sharp.
“Is something wrong, Nathan?” she crooned.
He shook his head.
At some point, Maura had given him another hamburger. He didn’t notice when.
Looking around himself, he took in the absurdity of the situation.
He was standing in some sort of strange fantasy world. Three succubi talked about random things around him, and were sexually interested in him. He had forsaken his goddess and traveled to a new world to save it.
Laura’s description of her old life struck a chord with him.
Couldn’t he describe his life like hers? Isn’t that why Kadria’s offer had been so appealing? He had already failed by the time she attacked. As much as he had loved those around him, the world itself had been ruined. He had more regrets than he had cherished memories.
He took a bite of his burger and stared at Kadria. A part of him felt very stupid as he finally realized what Kadria had been doing all this time.
She was recruiting him.
Chapter 6
“Remind me again why you brought me here?” Narime asked Nathan as she peered out the window at the densely packed buildings around them.
“Because I’m not going anywhere near a political discussion without you and your centuries of experience,” he replied, leaning against the back of the carriage.
“While I’m touched, have you forgotten that I’m a mystic fox? My kind aren’t well liked this far west.”
She shook her six voluminous tails for effect, and their silvery fluffiness captured his attention. Narime was a mystic fox, and had silver fox ears and tails to prove it. Her slim, buxom frame accentuated her exotic appearance, particularly as she wore a figure-hugging black dress.
Nathan sat inside a carriage with her and Sen, another of his Champions. More carriages trundled in front and behind them. Each was driven by magic, and required no driver, but there were guards posted on each one.
Summer had arrived. With the amount of work that Nathan had, the weeks had passed in the blink of an eye.
Farmers began to harvest the first crop as the weather warmed. The first construction projects were in full swing. Trade caravans bustled across the roads of Gharrick Duchy, as Anna called her new territory. The turmoil simmered, at least in Nathan’s lands.
By far the best news was the ceasefire with Trafaumh. The Empire’s war against its northern neighbor was entering its third year now, with little ground gained on either side. The ceasefire only lasted for three months—long enough for both sides to argue over peace terms—but it allowed the soldiers to go home and rest.
That also meant that the summer session of the Diet would be busy. The Diet was where nobles gathered to argue about and vote on matters that affected the entire Empire.
Chief among those were military affairs and the nobility as a whole. Both matters that the nobles were deeply upset about, following the war with the Federation and its annexation.
Nathan was traveling to Aleich with Anna to help her with the Diet. He hated politics, but couldn’t ignore them this time.
The last time he had ignored politics, the princess he supported had been overthrown and he had been exiled to the Far Reaches.
“Given how badly the Nationalists hate me, I don’t think you can possibly make things worse,” Nathan said. “And I’ll need your advice. Things are getting complicated. I can handle military affairs, but I’m about as good at politics as I am at dancing.”
“Really?” Sen chirped from a corner of the carriage. She leaned backward to avoid Narime’s shifting tails.
Unlike Narime, Sen was both human and lacked any gems. She wasn’t a Champion in the truest sense, but Nathan considered her one. Her brown hair was streaked with dense patches of white. She looked around with bright red eyes, her lithe, toned figure hidden beneath her baggy red cloak.
“I heard there lots of balls held while the Diet was on. I figured to buy a dress with Anna. Does that mean we need to get you dance lessons?” Sen asked, eyes bright.
“Yes, Nathan, do we?” Narime grinned.
“I can waltz,” he said.
“How manly,” Narime said.
“Are there manly dances?” Nathan countered.
“Back in Kurai, there was a long history of—” Narime began to say.
He rolled his eyes, realizing his mistake as she began a familiar spiel. “Yes, you’ve told me before. Warrior dances. Courting dances. The plays with dances. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them, but dancing is definitely different here.”
Narime stared at Nathan, her brow furrowed in confusion. Her tails curled around herself.
Next to her, Sen’s eyes widened and she subtly waved her hands over her lap in a “stop” motion.
“I’m certain I’ve never told you about this part of Kurai,” Narime said. “The festivals, plays, and courting rituals are unique, and something I deeply miss, but our conversations have been more limited.”
Her eyes pierced him.
Shit. He’d mixed up the knowledge from his world with this world. Narime was nearly identical between the two. Sep
arating memories of her between the two worlds turned out to be difficult for Nathan. He often relied on contextual clues, but Narime had taught him so much that it was impossible not to slip up.
“Maybe Seraph did?” Nathan tried.
“Uh huh.” Narime’s expression returned to normal faster than he expected. “I should invite you to one of the harvest festivals that my kin are holding. There are fewer of us here than I’d like, but they have established villages in the chillier parts of the Federation.”
“Empire,” Sen corrected.
Narime rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes. I know. We need to come up with a proper name for the former Federation territories. Most people still call it the Federation.”
While Sen and Narime bantered, Nathan settled into an uncomfortable silence. He worried about the true cause of Narime’s backdown over his slipup.
Only a few of his Champions knew the truth about Nathan and the fact he had come from another world. Sen was one of them. He had overwritten the Sen from this world with the Sen from his original world. The same was true of another Champion, Sunstorm.
Fei also knew the gist of it. She had worked it out and confronted Nathan, and was now part of the trio of girls that held secret tea parties in Gharrick Pass.
They probably didn’t hold tea parties, Nathan figured. But he knew they talked about him in hushed whispers and liked to gang up on him in bed to an extent they had been hesitant to do before.
“I’m surprised you didn’t bring Fei,” Sen said, rousing Nathan from his thoughts. “She’s always by your side.”
“Somebody needs to protect the portals, and Fei is trusted and powerful,” he replied. “Plus, things are more political than military here. She’d do little more than look cute.”
“So why am I here?” Sen asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m a bandit girl with a magical spirit in her head. My talent is setting things on fire, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get in trouble if I do that to any dickhead nobles.”
Nathan briefly entertained himself at the thought of letting Sen cast one of her spells while the Diet was in session.
“Yes, don’t do that,” he said drily.
“So?” she pressed.
“You use magic, and being possessed by Ifrit gives you more cachet than you think,” Nathan said. “And, to be blunt, you’re human. I need some muscle.”
“So that’s me and Sunstorm.” Sen nodded with a smirk. “And it totally has nothing to do with having us a pair, huh?” Her expression turned lewd.
“It won’t,” Narime said flatly. “Nathan has been given a room in the palace, while the rest of us will be staying with Anna at a property that Archduke von Milgar has set aside.”
“Wait, so no fun times with Nathan at all?” Sen whined. “That’s dumb. Nathan, stay with us and Anna.”
“I’ll visit,” he said with a smirk. Then his expression turned serious. “But one of you will be staying with me in the palace anyway. There’s a reason I’m staying there. Things are—”
The carriage juddered to a sudden halt, and Nathan nearly bit his tongue. Sen flew forward, and he snapped an arm out to catch her. As if by instinct, she rolled onto his lap.
In the silence of the carriage, the commotion outside grew almost deafening. It sounded as if a huge crowd surrounded them. Shouting filtered into the carriage. For a moment, Nathan thought they were under attack, and his hand flew to his sword.
Then he calmed down. He heard chatter, including that of the guards outside the carriage. Nobody screamed. There certainly wasn’t any combat taking place.
“Looks like there’s some traffic,” Narime said. She sighed. “This is why I hate taking carriages. Any time a crash happens, or somebody argues at a toll, everything backs up. Walking is so much easier.”
“Can’t you teleport?” Sen said.
“She can,” Nathan said as he stood up. “She can also run faster than most carriages.”
“It’s not my fault that your carriages are so slow.”
He shook his head. Reaching for his magic, he checked his surroundings. Nobody was casting spells, and nothing seemed awry. He sensed Champions and Bastions nearby, but that was normal given the Diet was about to come into session.
“Nathan?” Narime and Sen asked together. They had sensed what he had done.
“We’re in the middle of Aleich, in carriages belonging to a duchess,” he explained. “I don’t like this.”
“Does being noble usually allow you to avoid traffic in the Empire?” Narime asked.
“Yes,” he said.
Then he opened the window and stuck his head out.
A line of carriages almost ten-deep sat unmoving in front of him. Nathan couldn’t see the cause. But he saw a gatehouse from one of Aleich’s inner walls and immediately grew suspicious.
Unlike many cities, Aleich lacked tolls or inspections. The city sprawled across the countryside. There technically was a small river system here, but Aleich had converted it into canals and sewage so long ago that not even history knew what waterways were natural and which were artificial.
That sprawl was broken up by those waterways and a number of inner walls. Aleich’s design was so chaotic that Nathan had heard of people going mad because they got lost down an alleyway.
“I don’t think we should be stopped here,” he said.
“You’re telling us,” a nearby guard said. He wore Anna’s uniform. A black strip of cloth was wrapped around his upper arm, covering the beastkin crest Nathan knew was on his armor. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on.”
Anna had brought a couple dozen guards and some beastkin knights with her, and they were all alert. They stood around the carriages, chewing on tobacco and chatting amiably with some of the passersby. But all of them had their hands on or close to their weapons.
The gathering crowd consisted of middle-class types. Merchants, laborers, and the aspirational classes. Nathan saw more than a few beastkin among them. To them, the traffic was a distraction from the monotony of the day. Vendors sent staff out to the carriages with baskets full of goods.
A pair of young catgirls walked down the line, selling woodcrafts and other baubles. An armor-polisher tried to talk some guards into paying for his services. At least one prostitute showed up, and Nathan saw a few people slip away into nearby alleyways.
He looked back and saw Anna’s carriage behind his. A head poked out from it and looked familiar.
Fyre’s expression was wary, and far sharper than Nathan was used to, as she surveyed the area. Then she saw Nathan and her face lit up with the warped fascination he expected from her. She waved to him, her red eyes practically glittering with excitement.
While he had wanted to compliment her awareness of the situation, he now felt it was a bad idea to say as much. Fyre’s head might explode if he actually said anything nice about her to her face.
“I’m going to take a look,” Nathan said.
“Not without us,” Narime growled.
The three of them slipped out of the carriage. The guards saluted perfunctorily, but they were used to him after days of traveling. The glamor of being so close to “Bastion Nathan” had worn off fast when he made it a point to chat with them every day.
A clicking on the smooth stone signaled Fyre’s arrival. She beamed at Nathan, her tail wagging behind her like a dog’s.
“Sunstorm is with Anna?” he confirmed. He doubted Fyre would leave her liege alone, but wanted to be certain.
“Of course, my lord,” Fyre said. “She is far more capable of defending against assassins than I am, so we felt it best that she remain with Anna.”
That was the reason Sunstorm was in Anna’s carriage to begin with.
Sunstorm only had a single onyx gem. Her olive skin was proof of her heritage from the Kurai Pensinula. Unlike Nathan’s other Champions, Sunstorm wasn’t trained as a warrior.
She was an assassin.
Poisoning, stealth, infiltration, espionage, counterespionage, and—Sunstorm�
�s favorite—killing were her tools of the trade.
For most Bastions, an assassin wasn’t that useful. They fought armies of demons. Sunstorm specialized in killing humans, even if her gems made her strong enough to defend portals as well. But Nathan valued Sunstorm’s abilities, especially right now.
“I don’t see how standing outside helps us, Nathan,” Narime said. “Or do you want to see what’s holding us up?”
He frowned. He could do that, but…
Staring at Anna’s carriage, which was now defended only by a monogem Champion and some guards, he realized how dangerous that was. Aleich should be safe, but it was crawling with Bastions and Champions from all over the Empire right now.
Not least of which were Tharban’s.
“I figure I’ll do what normal people do, and ask,” Nathan said.
Then he took a few steps away from the carriage and gave a gentle wave and a smile at a small crowd of merchants nearby. They looked local. None of them tried to hawk their goods, and instead huddled together while they chattered and watched.
“Afternoon,” Nathan said as he approached. “You used to seeing this sort of thing by now?”
A couple of the merchants eyed him warily, their gazes shooting to his uniform and especially the Bastion emblem. But the rest gave him a friendly enough greeting. The sort of greeting that made it clear that conversation was welcome, so long as he didn’t pry or try to throw his weight around.
“Normally, no,” a reedy looking man said. He clicked his tongue. “But there’s a mob of guards that have set up in the gatehouse recently. They’re stopping carriages. For security reasons.”
“It’s a mess, is what it is,” a matronly woman said, wearing finer clothes than the others. “We have to get deliveries early morning and night, and we get charged extra.” She eyed Nathan. “I assume you’re involved in this?”
“Given there aren’t supposed to be checkpoints in the city, no,” he said.
“Not like that,” she said. “This.” She waved a hand as if to gesture to the city as a whole. “Those guards aren’t working for His Majesty. It’s dumb politics.”
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