Metal Mage 10

by Eric Vall

  “Of course, I can,” she chuckled. “Wanna see me do a--”

  “No!” Kurna immediately barked, and I pointed to the table.

  “No flails in the house,” I decided. “Just … put it down.”

  “Why’d you make one if I can’t even play with it?” Aurora sighed, and she sent me a pouty look as she continued clutching the flail across her chest. The striker heads were still swinging freely within inches of her body, though, and I shook my head as I instinctively backed away.

  “Put it down!” I ordered once more. “I didn’t make it, and if I knew you’d be using words like ‘play,’ I never would have brought it in the house. Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing is?”

  “That’s half the fun,” Aurora muttered as she rolled her eyes, and she made a big show of dropping the flail on my work table as she put her hands up. “Happy?”

  Kurna and I slowly came out of hiding while the brawny mage let out a tense breath, but Aurora just smirked with amusement when he leveled her with a stern finger.

  “Where did you learn to do that?” Kurna growled. “The Order stopped training with flails years ago!”

  “Haragh taught me,” Aurora said with a shrug. “Wait a minute, is this his flail? I thought he had triple strikers on each end.”

  I rifled my hair as I imagined Aurora and Haragh “playing” with flails together, and my voice was a little shaky when I found my words again.

  “It’s a gift from Lord Allen,” I informed her. “Don’t touch it.”

  Aurora cocked a brow. “You realize if I’m the only one who knows what I’m doing with a flail, I should probably be the only one who does touch it.”

  “Not the point,” I replied, and I pulled the weapon well out of her reach as I sat back at my stool.

  “Hold on,” the half-elf laughed, “are you afraid of me with a flail?”

  “Yes,” I said without hesitation, and Kurna nodded in agreement. “Terrified, actually.”

  “Hmm … ” Aurora mused, and she sidled over to sit onto my lap.

  Then the half-elf curled her fingers around my neck, and she had a coy grin on her face as she leaned in to brush her lips against mine.

  “I promise I won’t bludgeon you,” Aurora murmured.

  I managed half a chuckle as I glanced between the flail and her fiery eyes, and my grip locked around her arms just in case she had any ideas.

  “Nope,” Kurna said, and he headed straight for the door. “If she’s near that flail, I’m leaving.”

  “Wait, I was gonna tell you--” I tried, but the door shut firmly behind the brawny mage, and Aurora chuckled mirthlessly.

  “I forgot how fun it was to scare men into the streets,” Aurora sighed. “Makes me feel like I’m back at the Oculus.”

  “Why would Haragh teach you, of all people, how to wield one of those?” I asked. “You’re deadly enough as it is.”

  Aurora shrugged. “Because it’s fun, and we were bored. Why would Lord Allen give you one if you’re so scared of them?”

  “I’m not scared, I’m cautious,” I firmly corrected. “And it’s here for the same reason as all of this.”

  I gestured broadly to the chests and statues strewn around the atrium, and it only took half a second for Aurora to leap off my lap as she finally noticed something other than the flail. She had a gaping grin on her face while she threw open one chest after another, and I’d never seen her eyes so wide as when she took in the heaping troves of gems, coins, and finery.

  “Gods, Cayla’s going to lose it when she sees all of this!” Aurora giggled, and she leapt over a chest of rubies to head for the bedroom. The next thing I heard was my half-elf shaking the others awake and proudly informing them we were even richer than yesterday, and I shook my head as I finished the last pulley system for the new snatchers.

  Both sets of malleable netting were almost finished by the time my women rolled out of bed and meandered into the atrium, and I openly ogled every inch of exposed flesh while they stared in sleepy confusion. None of their little silk robes managed to cover their asses, and the shock of our new riches distracted them from tying the fronts closed for several minutes. Which gave me some time to appreciate their ample curves and cleavage while they fawned and stooped to dig through a chest or two, and their enthusiasm saved me from a berating over the fact I’d clearly been up for hours now.

  Or it did at first, anyways.

  “Wait, why are you awake?” Cayla demanded as she narrowed her eyes skeptically. “And why are you already building more automatons? Mason, you should be resting, not--”

  “Yeah, but I’m feeling fine, honestly,” I insisted. “Fully recuperated, don’t even worry about it. Plus, someone needed to answer the door, so I figured I’d work on addressing the issues from last night. Namely, we need more snatchers in the field if we want to prevent any more of these attacks from slipping under the radar, and I decided if we had two more, that’d be a decent start.”

  “You’re certain you’re restored?” Shoshanne asked as she anxiously bit her lip and pulled her tiny robe closed.

  “Absolutely,” I assured her. “And look! We have a flail now.”

  “A flail no one’s allowed to play with,” Aurora grumbled.

  “You keep saying ‘play’ like it’s a toy,” I pointed out. “That is the biggest reason why I’m concerned about it.”

  “You should be more concerned about where we’re going to put all of these statues,” Deya giggled as she trailed her fingers over a giant bronze horse some countess had sent me. “How are you going to build anything with them all standing around in here?”

  “Oh!” Cayla gasped, and she turned from the chest of rubies she was digging through. “You said you’re fully recuperated, so does that mean we get our mansion?”

  All of the women lit up at the thought, but despite their scant clothing and eager eyes, I couldn’t help glancing over at my automaton as I turned a bundle of netting over in my hands.

  “You want it right now?” I clarified. “Because there’s kind of a lot to take care of that’s a little more important than having a mansion, don’t you think?”

  “But how are we going to have celebratory rich baron sex if we don’t have a mansion?” Cayla asked.

  The netting tumbled to the ground as I shot to my feet, and I had my Terra powers sparked at full throttle while my women giggled with delight.

  “I already designed the bathing room,” I informed them. “How big of a mansion do you want?”

  Chapter 13

  “Bigger!” Aurora hollered, and her voice echoed throughout the chamber as she cupped her hands around her lips.

  “What could we possibly need this big of a room for?” I yelled back, and the women’s laughter carried all the way across the giant hall while they chose not to respond.

  I’d already expanded the walls of our house until I was forced to just join it with the infirmary, and the upper level had seven vaulted rooms that I couldn’t imagine ever using. Apparently, having two enormous staircases at either end of the house was necessary, but I held my ground when they started making plans for my workshop. Now, the atrium remained, as it was, at the very center of our twelve-room mansion, and since we added the second story, I had infinitely more room to stack my weapon racks upward as my collection grew.

  Still, I didn’t have any intentions of entertaining enough people to fill the great hall Cayla insisted on, and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes as I shoved the back wall over five more feet.

  “I’m not making it any bigger than that!” I hollered to the women. “This is getting outrageous!”

  “Okay, but don’t forget the chandeliers!” Shoshanne yelled back, and another fit of giggles drifted over to me as I shook my head and sparked my metal magic.

  Every single room in the house already had draping iron chandeliers hanging from the ceilings to match their wrought iron doors, so why not add another four or five?

  I snorted to myself as I ma
de this chandelier even bigger than last time because I knew they’d ask for it anyways, and I secured three concentric circles together with chains before forming dozens of little platforms around each one for Aurora’s flames. Then I raised the chandelier all the way to the thirty-foot-high ceiling, and Cayla let out a satisfied sigh as the half-elf sparked her magic to send individual amber flames flickering from every platform.

  “Don’t forget the rubies!” the princess called, and I summoned another cluster of gems from the chest in the hall. Then I began mounting them around the iron circles so they caught the light of the flames, and I couldn’t help feeling a little dwarven now that my house was literally studded with jewels.

  On the bright side, I was finally working my way through my stock of metal, and since there was stacks more at the mine, I was kind of excited to start putting it all to good use. Our staircases were both lined with elaborate, spiraling iron bannisters, and after a little trial and error, I managed to reform some of our diamonds into large enough gems for Cayla’s taste. Then I used them to cap off the bannisters at the base of both stairwells, and my women spent a solid ten minutes petting the skull sized diamonds and twirling around the iron spindles like a group of scantily clad fairies.

  I vetoed their silver dining table idea, though, just because I didn’t want them getting cold if and when we ended up fucking on it, and the same went for the golden kitchen counters they suggested.

  Since I didn’t exactly need the giant marble statue of one of the baron’s great grandfathers that arrived shortly after we began rebuilding, I decided to break it down and use it for our kitchen countertops instead. Then I sent a random page to hunt down a carpenter in Serin for me, and I gave the boy a slip of parchment with the dimensions we’d need to make a table big enough for our dining hall.

  All that was needed to bring my bathing room fantasy to life was a Flumen Mage, but this was only slightly more important than filling the moat my women were totally on board with. They wanted to line the base with steel spikes, though, and for the sake of my hypothetical children’s safety, I casually swayed them in a different direction.

  So now, the stone bridge leading across our moat was lined with genuinely intimidating steel spikes on both sides just to give a decent “don’t even fucking try it” vibe, and I agreed to build two sentries to guard the bridge for us once I had the time. Secretly, I was already mulling over an idea I had to utilize the lightning rune on a twenty-foot-high electrified gate instead, but I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself.

  “Is that enough chandeliers?” I chuckled as I finished securing the last of five above the giant hall, and after some deliberation, my women nodded.

  “Now, the targets!” Deya giggled, and I furrowed my brow.

  “What targets?”

  “Lining this wall, please!” Aurora sang. “Make some of them taller to mix it up!”

  “Make one shaped like Aeris!” Shoshanne called, and Deya gasped like she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of this first.

  “And some racks on the opposite side!” Cayla added.

  “Hold on,” I chuckled. “Is this a giant training hall?”

  “Of course,” Aurora laughed. “What else would we use it for?”

  I nodded as I considered how much space we now had to ourselves for combat and shooting practice, and part of me knew that fucking flail wasn’t going to be out of service for long. Not with a room this big to swing it around in.

  “Okay, but by the time I finish this, you better be wearing those diamonds I made you and very little else,” I informed the women, and Cayla looped her arm in Shoshanne’s as she sent me a wink.

  “Yes, my lord,” the princess purred, and I was still shaking my head when their giggles reached the second story.

  Then I turned my attention to lining an entire wall from floor to ceiling with mounted targets made of softened stone, and I couldn’t really remember what Aeris looked like, so I started on a vaguely robed and irritating figure. When I topped it off with elf ears, though, I remembered the time a few idiot mages offered to use Deya’s ears for target practice, and I decided to reform the whole thing into a giant life-like penis instead. Just for the sake of seeing how my women would react.

  The four racks I installed on the opposite wall were each customized to accommodate our various kinds of weaponry, and I was mulling over the additions I wanted to make to our collection while I stepped back to admire the full effect.

  I’d never imagined having my own indoor training hall, but the stately chandeliers hanging down were beyond comprehension. I could already envision plenty of late night and half-dressed target practices taking place within this hall, and there was plenty of room for Cayla to give us some demonstrations with that whip of hers, too.

  “Classic,” I sighed as I finally dragged myself away from the massive chamber, and I took my time admiring our new mansion while I strolled back to the atrium.

  After I tore off a spare piece of parchment, I quickly scrawled a note instructing any of the nobles’ pages to leave their deliveries outside for me, and I pinned the note to the wooden door with one of my favorite daggers, since it was my own door after all.

  Then I headed up my diamond studded stairs and along a broad hallway until I was exactly halfway across the second level.

  I could hear my women speaking quietly on the other side of the dense wrought iron door that led to our new bedroom, and when I pushed the door open, a warm amber glow overtook me as my brows shot up.

  The entire floor was covered in glinting golden coins, and the shelves I’d lined the right-side wall with were now littered with every gem I had left in the house. Individual flames hovered above the jewels to send shimmering reflections all over the walls, and the fireplace to my left had enchanted embers burning bright red beneath the mantle.

  All four of my women were perched on our bed in sheer nightgowns with their diamond studded collars and cuffs, and their cheeks were dusted in pink to match the blood red chiffon that only barely veiled their naked forms. Behind them, the iron posts of the headboard had foot tall flames flickering on either side, and even though Deya had begged me to model our new bed after the one I’d first made love to her in at Aeris’ palace, I went with Aurora’s added suggestion of the magical torches. Now, deep black leaves spiraled across the posts that rose several feet above the bed, and I definitely didn’t mind the demonic tone the torches brought to the whole scene.

  I felt like a filthy rich Satan as I closed the heavy iron door behind me, and I waited for Cayla and Deya to come to me as I took in the whole view. I was beginning to understand why the women insisted on having no windows now that I was completely submerged in firelight with them, and I had a feeling things were only just beginning to heat up as I eyed the many, many flames surrounding us.

  “My lord,” Cayla murmured as she tucked herself under my arm, and she and Deya began slowly unbuttoning my shirt for me.

  “You’ve gotta stop calling me that,” I chuckled.

  “No, it turns me on,” the princess said with a smirk, and then she pulled my collar aside to kiss the nape of my neck while Deya giggled and slid my shirt from my shoulders.

  “That’s cool, too.”

  The sight of their perked nipples beneath the red fabric made my mind spin as they started on my belt next, but it could have been the fiery room or the way Shoshanne and Aurora were eyeing me from the bed.

  They had their legs tucked under them while they curled their fingers to beckon me over, and I let Cayla and Deya pull me along with them toward the bed while gold coins rustled under my boots.

  Then the two women passed me off to the others, and as Shoshanne pulled me snug against her breasts, Aurora began nibbling at my ear while I vaguely remembered to kick my boots off.

  Deya and Cayla finished undressing me as Shoshanne began trailing her fingers all over my chest and shoulders, and when my four women were tucked around me with flames shimmering in their eyes, I sudd
enly felt like a giant man treat waiting to be devoured by all of them.

  “So … who’s first?” I managed as Aurora’s lips began working their way down my neck, but Cayla shook her head.

  “Just lie there,” the princess purred.

  “Yeah, it’s our turn to take care of you,” Shoshanne murmured in my ear, and whatever I meant to say in response only came out as incoherent dribble when Deya’s hand closed around my already raging erection.

  Then Cayla was kissing me as silky thighs curled around my legs, and I could feel Shoshanne’s breasts rising and falling against my back with every breath. I was just sliding my palms along Cayla’s hips to pull her dress up when I was suddenly kissing Aurora instead, and just as quickly, Deya’s lips found mine next.

  I grinned as they passed me back and forth between them, and I gladly laid back and enjoyed their supple flesh rolling against me as they climbed around each other to get at me.

  Then Shoshanne’s husky giggle sent a shiver down my spine as her lips blazed a heated trail along my shoulder, and I jolted as Aurora’s fiery grip closed around my cock next. My body temperature skyrocketed, though, when the women who weren’t kissing my lips began biting at my neck and chest instead, and I was lost in an abyss of silken curves and soft sighs for longer than I could tell. Then I was being laid back on a pile of pillows instead, and I opened my eyes to see all four of my women up on their knees around me. They looked down on me as they slowly began peeling their sheer dresses off, and I swallowed hard as their sleek hips, narrow waists, and full breasts were revealed one by one.

  They were giggling by the time they were all naked, and they didn’t hesitate to start in on me again, except this time, I found my lips closing around their nipples here and there as they moaned for more. I couldn’t bear to release any of them, though, and I tried to lock them against me, but then they started tearing each other out of my hold for another turn, and I chuckled when Aurora finally just pinned my arms back and left a punishing bite on my neck.