I woke up with terrible headache pulsating in my temples. The pain was so intense, that for the first minute or two I couldn’t feel any other part of my body – only sides of my head existed together with agony flowing across it as if lava was injected directly into my bloodstream.

I tried opening my eyes, yet another dose of pain caused by another source of stimulation quickly proved it to be a bad idea. With a groan, I just decided to roll on the other side and wait through the misery of mana fever. But, I noticed that I couldn’t just “roll to the side” – something blocked my body.

That was the moment that forced me to undertake another painful activity – to think.

What could obstruct my movements? Think Zari, what’s the situation you are currently in?

I fought with Kim, tried to save him… Yes, I overdid it that time. I thought, that if I would humiliate him by showing the difference in our strength I would be able to shake the confidence of the Voices that hijacked his body – that he would be able to regain his body and individuality…

… but I failed. In the end, I couldn’t save him. All I did was abusing the avatar that I am not compatible with (it weakens the body and powers up the mind – and what happens when you put too strong content into a too weak vessel? – the vessel breaks). I also ended up casting spell that I never practiced before and was, frankly speaking, too powerful for that version of me.

The last things I remember are: me eating Kim (not only because I hoped to get something good, but my main reason to do that was also leaving no samples of me that could be weaponized) and a wild mob that wanted to “purge” the mountain from beast-men. I remember how it ended – fairly well.

But, what was next? Beastfolk must have found me fainted, what did they decide to do with me? As I recall, they were rather hostile toward me. I killed one of them very recently, pretty much tortured that panther girl and her companion, I killed the person that they believed was their savior…

… and now I can’t move. Greeeat. What did they use to restrict my movements? Rope? Chain? If chains – from which material? The worst case scenario would be white onyx which would stop me from using my magic… But where would slaves have white onyx from to begin with?!

So, which one is it? Rope? Chains?

I managed to slightly open my eyes, looking via a narrow slits to let in as little light as it was possible. After minute or two my eyes somehow managed to adjust to this bizarre task which is “seeing” stuff. And the first thing that I inspected was of course my body.

I was lying naked under thick fur, some of my wounds that didn’t heal up (because of mana disturbance caused by the angel form) were treated with some balm and covered with “makeshift bandage” (read: pieces of clothes cut in a hurry).

Then, I noticed what was halting my movements.

Two women. As naked as I was, were lying hugging each of my sides.

So no rope, no chains, but bitches. Damn, I prefer being chained with white onyx. Why? I had no idea how long they were lying on me, and if it was long enough our smells could mix a little – which was more than enough for Giselle to make her silly assumptions and go on some crazy rampage.

I tried getting up again, but my head once again protested forcing me to let out another groan, this time much louder one – loud enough to wake up my “snuggle companions”.

“O-oh, are you awake? Head chief! HEAD CHIEF! He is awake!” Her voice resonated with the echo across the tunnels. And because I was having a magical hangover I quietly cried out a little while looking at the yeller with sad puppy eyes. “Nastasia! Are you crazy? Did you forget what head shaman said? He abused his powers and is in great pain! Lower your voice!” woman called Nastasia – of a dog tribe, lowered her ears hearing rebuke from her companion of some exotic cat-tribe sub race. “I-is that so? Sowwy!”

I tried getting up to sitting position, but I was quickly pushed back by the two ladies. I just noticed it - they were quite strong.

In past thirty seconds I had a cascade of thoughts floating my mind (causing noticeable amount of pain in the process) at first I thought they were some kind of “bribe” – a way to influence me into believing they (the beast men) were my friends (that would add to already at least well and getting my wounds treated), but now, seeing how firm they were in their actions… they actually could be guards left to watch over my moves.

“A-a-a! No walkies!...” Dog girl waved her finger in front of my nose as if lecturing kid “… Shaman said you pushed your limits to save us, and then even abused your already bad condition to do that again. You will be resting now, at least until you would be able to get up without problems!” “Nastasia!...” another hiss “… watch your manners! He isn’t one of your mates that you can just casually scold!... Forgive us for my friend’s impudence, oh the elder one, but we were given order to watch over your condition, in this, I have to agree with Nastasia.” “Not to mention that… it would be much nicer to just play with us, don’t you think?” “NASTASIA!” “I can’t just control myself, sorry, you know that I am into weak people! Something about his current vulnerability makes me burn from inside and I just want to take reeeally good care of him. And just lookt at him! So helpless in the bed... ahh! I am getting hot just thinking about it!” “Nast…” cat girl wanted to once again rebuke her comrade. “Weak… you say…” I managed to spit these words. My voice was rough as if my throat demanded water with the mere sound of my speech “… that’s what you think?” “E-elder one, I am sure that Nasta had nothing bad on her mind…”

But it was too late. Beast-men were half animals, and where it comes to dealing with animals, you have to be sure to point out who has a higher rank in a pack.

I gathered mana ignoring the swollen magical veins which felt as if they were stretching beyond their limits, before straightening my hand toward the dog girl. She was vertically ejected from bed and flew three meters up till she hit the ceiling of the tunnel.

“E-Elder one! Please! Stop!” “I may be wounded, I may be exhausted or even on my dead-bed… but taking your life away will still be but a matter of snapping my fingers….” Few people that just entered this section of tunnels witnessed this bizarre scene with me pinning completely naked woman to the ceiling with magic, completely defying gravitation with sheer force of mana impact “… So, if I am weak or… how did you call it? – vulnerable? Then please tell me, what are you now?”

I moved the dog girl slightly to the side before releasing the stream of mana (I didn’t want her to fall directly on my head). She felt from three meters down, yet managed to twist her body and somewhat secure her landing.

“What is this commotion about? Elder one! You shouldn’t get up just yet! Your mana fever may worsen!” “It’s nothing…” I said with still a little pained tone while getting up. Catgirl tried supporting me, but I just growled at her forcing her to jump back. “Still, what was this fuss about, Kerila?” the shaman asked the cat girl. “Nastasia as always couldn’t keep her tongue behind her teeth and ended disrespecting the elder one. I apologize on her and my behalf.” “Is that true? In that case we beg your pardon, elder one, we wanted to thank you for helping us out in a time of need… yet ended up making things worse.” Shaman bowed his head. “I only thought that men like strong women that would take care of them…” dog girl only pouted “… I wanted to make him feel nice.” “Your intentions could be good, but you ended up acting like a gorilla… again.” Kerila, or whatever was her name, rebuked her comrade YET again. “I AM NOT A GORILLA!...” my head… my poor head “…I am a lady and…” “Nastasia. Silence.” That panther man from before needed only two words to completely subordinate loud girl. “Sorry, leader.” These were her last words “My sister joined us yesterday. She told us about her encounter with you… I am grateful that you left her alive, even treated her wounds before leaving. The potion you gave her fixed her arm in less than a day

His sister was that huntress Maya, right? Wait, wasn’t her arm completely broken? That prototype potion had bit too strong effects, will have to adjust it later – I don’t want to create some miraculous drug for it would only attract attention.

“How long was I sleeping?” “Almost two days.”

Shit.

“Where are my clothes?” “I… understand you may be in a hurry, but if you could please spare some time... even one hour would be enough…”

I knew what he wanted to talk about – his people protection. They were but a small group (because what is one hundred people? Barely enough to make a village) – without connection, in a hostile country where no one would care if tomorrow they would be attacked by bandits. Or nobles. Or slave hunters.

Still, in the meantime, the catgirl obediently brought back to me my robe and pants. It has been washed, dried, and now was nicely folded.

“… I won’t force you to stay for breakfast but…”

Before he finished his begging I was already dressed.

I found the wooden box filled with my potions, took three and gulped them down hoping they would help with my mana fever.

I was about to leave, but I stopped. Eventually, I turned around and face them.

“How good are your people with their hands?” “W-what do you mean?” “Let’s say, hypothetically, that I could find a place for you to live and work. Nothing great, work would be hard and most likely not very satisfying, but you would earn a decent coin… Or I was at least said that I overpay my workers so…” “Working… for you?” “Hypothetically!” “In that case, if such place and work would exist and would let us live a decent life… then we would gladly accept. Hypothetically that is.” He smiled with a corner of his lips “… I would have to talk with Arthur about it. Fuck, more politics. Great.” “Arthur? He is a human? Excuse me for skepticism, but can he be trusted?” “As long as he says that he would do something, he will have to do something, you know, kings have this thing, that they can’t allow them to go back on their words. They have to pay some attention to it, or they would lose their authority. In the end, what's the king that you can't trust?” “Arthur… the king? You are not speaking about Arthur the Grey called Wise?” “To me more like Arthur the fancy and definitely not grey robes called a spoiled bitch… but once he stops trying to entertain himself he indeed can be reliable.” “You… know him?” “Drank with him twice or thrice, he is quite sympathetic towards me… and well, I am somewhat sympathetic toward him too. One of very few people that openly speaks his mind… well, once you are a king you can say whatever you want, I guess?” “Then… if you would…” “I promise nothing. I will TRY to talk with him and kill two birds with one stone. You see, recently I was thinking about expanding my little enterprise, and Stottegard appears to have a really nice location. We could create a new production plant here, around it some small settlement for workers. I think you will not be welcomed in city after this little uproar, so making your own close would be the best idea…” “T..Thank you.”

There was something strange in the way he said that. It was… as if he used all the air he had in his lungs to say that, leaving him empty.

I see. He was struggling so hard for gods only know how long to keep his people safe. He wasn’t the one that indoctrinated Kim, one night he was just informed, that they are about to leave the city. After months, if not years, of trying his best to ease the burden of his people, he managed to escape just to be left inside of the hostile country branded as bandits and outlaws.

And now I just gave him hope for a normal life.

“I promise nothing. If the time would be bad I might be even denied an audience. And I have no idea when I would be back at the capital, for now, I am heading in a different direction, so till then you would have to protect yourself and…”

But he was not listening. He just stood there, gazing into emptiness.

“… apparently someone needs rest much more than I do. Nastasia, was that your name?” “Y-yes?” dog girl panicked “Take care of your leader, preferably in such way that wouldn’t question his dignity.” “I… understand. I would never offend the leader.” “But you can offend someone considered to be the next plague of this world? That’s some weird priorities you have there...”

I said right before living.

Not quite. It only showed how much he was respected by his people. How much he had to do and sacrifice to keep them safe.

I started returning toward the city with wobbly step, still dizzy of mana fever. Ignoring the pain I kept on moving. My journey which lasted over a day (without breaks, because, who need them when you have almost endless stamina) was mostly peaceful, nothing attacked me. In the end, because of the vicinity of the city, the routes were regularly patrolled by guards and no bandits could be spotted around. Only a pack of wolves approached me, barking, trying to provoke a fight confident with their numbers.

Why only “tried provoking?”. Because of fear. It’s something that forces predators to attack. When they sense fear or stress of any kind, they would pounce at you trying to rip you into pieces.

… but…

Back then, when I got surrounded, I just stopped, looked the alpha of the pack deep into eyes before opening my bag and taking a piece of dried meat, later I ate it, still without breaking an eye contact.

Openly mocked and humiliated, the alpha turned around and left, his whole pack followed him.

This stray doggo had some good instincts. For a moment or two I was thinking about domesticating it. Still, that would be too many troubles – kept on requiring attention in order to teach him how to behave, also, in real battle he wouldn’t be really useful. By now, we are fighting with monsters that could kill them with a single bite, and once again, I didn’t want to waste time to make him stronger by dealing with weaker enemies. Go on, danger doggo, go on and be free.

By the following evening, I got back to the adventurers guild branch. I found no girls inside, so I moved toward the room we were renting, picked up a huge crystal and pour some more mana into it.

After a few seconds, the face of Arthur the Grey, called Wise, appeared in it.

“Zari! How is my third favorite vagabond doing? I am quite busy though, you see, we are having a meeting with a fellow corrupted aristocrats so…” “Make them leave.” “How bold, Zari, I think that you don’t understand…” “The crystal will lose its power in few minutes, then we will not be able to talk for a month. My stuff is urgent and you will be able to continue your gathering after those few minutes.”

Arthur wanted to say something but hesitated before turning toward members of grand houses.

“I beg your forgiveness friends, but I doubt Zariel calls me to invite me for a tea party so…” “Ten minutes break everybody.” Old Blackwood yelled not wanting to make us wait any longer.

Aristocrats left the chamber in a hurry. Quite nice of them. Something must have happened – something that strengthened Arthur’s position and everyone wanted to lick his ass for some benefits… speaking about the nobles, I didn’t see Red Feather family member… well, it doesn’t matter.

“So, how is your little journey going? Already homesick? Wanted to give a call to old m…” “Soon you will give me a land close to the Stottegard city and…” “Prrr! Prrr! Slow down! Walk down, do not gallop, oh my fierce steed! Why would I do something as problematic as giving non-noble a land? Do you know how much headache it would cause!?” “Apparently you didn’t hear the news just yet.” “What news?” “I thought that Senate would inform you about it… in the end, they were here. You are aware that Stottegard is quite an important place for the slave trade market?” “I… am aware of that. Tried to do something but… they are too far, and the city is pretty much ruled by merchants, also each time I visit these parts they manage to clean up all their dirt, so…” “I don’t have time for all the details, so I will narrow it to the most vital points. Slaves raised a small uprising. Killed FEW people, burned FEW houses and left the city.” “How many?” "Just told you" “Few. Your could mean lots of things! For example - Few hundred people killed, few hundreds of houses were burned or few hundreds of slaves left the city.” “Yes.” “What ye.. aha. Fuck. FUCK.” “I took care of it, no more casualties should appear. But, we are still left with over a hundred of ex-slaves roaming pointlessly across your country. It is just a matter of time till they would be targeted by slavers or turn into bandits.” “That doesn’t sound as a matter that was taken care of.” “This is why you will grant me some land. I will build another factory. A factory, that would require workers. Around, let’s say, a hundred of them? We will build some makeshift houses around it where they could sleep and such, you will send some guards at the beginning to make sure it would not get sabotaged. This way you will both admit and atone for the crimes of citizens of your country, lower the power of merchants and calm down possible commotions…” “And you will get a new factory almost for free…” Arthur squinted his eyes slightly. “You are in state of war. At war, army will need potions. Usually, the prices tend to get higher during such a period, aren’t they? What if I would guarantee you that my prices won’t get higher? Or would even give some discount to my old friend?”

“I will need that on paper, and you know it Zari…” “Can’t do it right now but…” I looked at the crystal turning red, the time we had for our conversation was getting dangerously short “… Arthur, I will get this done. I would never lie about such a matter. Believe in me. I have to go, crystals is out of power…” “Wait! I still need more information about what happened in Stottegard!” “Ask Chairman Polymus. He was there. Oh, he will lie about the reason of his presence there. I will send you report later on, but it will take more than few days….” I looked at the crystal again. Just a few seconds remained. I just couldn’t stop myself from a little prank “.. Arthur, by any means do not trust the…”

The crystal died.

Ah. It was beautiful, I wonder what kind of face he is making right now.

“DO NOT TRUST WHO GOD DAMN IT!” king smashed the table with his hand making lots of documents – previously lying nicely and in order on the desk – fly into the air createing a total mess.

The door to chamber were once again open.

“My king, is everything fine…”

It was Blackwood and other lord vocalizing their concerns.

“NOTHING IS FUCKING FINE!... I am sorry for yelling. But the situation is quite dire. I will need two things. One, prepare the documents to grand some land for assisting a crown in a time of needs or whatever…” “Will be done, who is that patriot that deserved such a reward?”

King only pointed with his head toward the crystal

“Zariel?! But, my lord, he has no connections with the country, quite the opposite, as the adventurer he may just…” “Thank you for your concern, Blackwood. It’s good that you remind me of the most FUCKING OBVIOUS facts that I totally had no idea about... Sorry for yelling” “My Lord, mind telling us what happened? You are acting like a sore old man today.” “Because I am sore, and I am an old man!... As for Zariel, if what he said is true, then he is not doing that for himself, even more, he is saving my ass right now… as for the second matter… Call to me Polymus.” “You want to make a gathering at Senate? That can be done…” “No. Bring. Him. Here.” “I… I see.”

Position of the king became almost none existing in recent years, just now he managed to keep on re-strengthening his position. Still, the Senate had much better standing than nobles so it could be proved quite tricky to just call someone in.

“My King…” the door were opened and a servant pop his head in “… His magnificence Chairman of Senate Archamage Polymus is asking for a visit.” “Coincidence? I think not… Well, ask him in right away.”

In every other scenario, asking someone in right away without making him wait would be considered as a sign of weakness. Even now it was a custom, that he made Senators wait for five to ten minutes, just to keep on the charade.

“R-right, as you wish, my lord.”

Archamge indeed was quick to enter

“Arthur, my friend…” they were never friends. Polymus is a nice way showed that Arthur wasn’t even worthy being addressed as king or lord “… I come to you with dire news…” “Finally. Took you long enough. I was wondering when you would consider coming to EXPLAIN YOURSELF of your actions at Stottegard. And damn, for a moment I thought you really didn’t want to share your story. And I was so desperate to hear your version of it! In the end what I heard about you… I just couldn’t believe! There must be some logical way to explain it – that's what I was telling myself; at least I would let him protect his good name before I would sentence him from treason or something…”

King perfectly mixed bluff and exaggeration.

Indeed, the call from Zariel was a blessing, he could negotiate something good for himself even without knowing what actually happened.

Fuck. Zariel, just for this alone you deserve the land, the mansion, and elfish maid for life.

These thoughts set King in a really good mood, because of that he started arch mage interrogation in a really high spirit.