Demon Core
Author: D.W. Jackson
Date: 2015-08-30 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Magic
Description: Ash's new life in the game like world of might and magic has changed him. He is no longer the loner that always pulled back from others. He has found that to survive in this new world he had to make friends but at the same time he has made enemies as well. Ash fights to strengthen himself so that he can protect those that he now calls his family.

Reborn: Demon Core

Written by D.W. Jackson

Copyright © D.W. Jackson

Smashwords Edition.

Names, characters, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual event, organizations, or persons, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author

6-1

With the time winding down before the arrival of his opponents from the seven swords guild, Ash spent more time fighting. Emelia didn’t complain as long as Ash spent three nights with her out of the week.

Ash was a little surprised that Emelia was so strong headed about their night time, but she was more than vigorous. Ash had been slightly worried about any child that he might have since it would carry what the rest of the world considered tainted blood, but Emelia calmed his fears. It seemed that one could have a baby blessed before its birth to ensure that it would be born a full human. This was most often done to women who had been attacked by a member of another race, but it was an expensive spell. Not because it was hard or needed an advance level priest, but because it required the person doing it to be discrete.

Having never had a relationship before, Ash felt a little lost when dealing with Emelia. Before when they were together she would only kiss him or even touch him when they were completely alone, but now whenever she saw him, she would give him a light kiss. Ash had thought that little would change once they were wed, but he had been sorely mistaken.

Other than Emelia and the upcoming battle with the Seven Swords Guild Ash also had to deal with Yuki and Allice. The two had become friends and often even Tina came over to talk with them. While they were friendly whenever Ash was around, they wouldn’t leave him alone. He was starting to feel like a worn out toy.

Thankfully Ash had his time in the labyrinth each day to relax. He found it slightly odd that the only time he had to relax was while fighting for his life but he tried not to think too deeply about it.

During the past weeks, Ash’s demon absorption had reached level 3, allowing him now to receive an ability after only absorbing thirty monsters. Not only that, he was now able to absorb all of the boss monsters that he fought. Due to this, each day Ash would warp to each boss room to fight, but he had yet to gain an ability from any of the bosses.

Though the bosses had yet to give him an ability, the light hounds on the twenty-second floor had given him the shimmer ability.

[Shimmer: cost 10SP- surrounds the body with light making it hard to discern movement.]

The ability was almost useless against most monsters, but Ash could see its appeal when he had to fighting against other humans.

Right now though they were fighting on the twenty-third floor against ogres. The inside of the labyrinth floor looked much like the side of a barren mountain. The ogres fought in groups of two or three most of the time, though it wasn’t that uncommon to find a lone one. They were eight to ten feet tall with dark green skin and large boar-like tusks and used crude clubs as weapons. After they were defeated, they dropped their tusks and Lillanis and the others were overjoyed by this. It seemed that ogre tusks were used in high quality strength potions and sold even better than many of the drops of higher level monsters, but that was only the case for the good quality ones. If they were average or below, the price dropped drastically.

“Another good quality tusk,” Halon said with a large smile. “I never heard of a dungeon that had ogres to fight before the thirtieth floor.”

“Yea, but even then, the drop rate for tusks is supposed to be really low compared to most the other monsters,” Jacob said shaking his head. “I think we should just call Ash the golden boy for now on. If we keep this up, we will be set for years.”

“I can finally get me a sword made out of Elemantis,” Halon said happily.

“You wish,” Jacob replied laughing. “Elemantis cost a platinum coin an ounce. It would cost at least forty platinum coins just to buy the metal and just as much to find a blacksmith that could forge it.”

“Don’t kill my dreams,” Halon said frowning.

Elemantis was the second hardest metal known and was sought after. The only thing harder was dragon steel, which was only given by the very rare steel dragons. A single sword of dragon steel would cost the same amount as a decent sized countries gross income for more than a few years.

“Stop playing around, I want to hunt a few more before we are forced to leave,” Lillanis said. Unlike the floors before when they had started fighting ogres, she had become rather ruthless.

“She always gets like this when we stumble on a good source of money,” Jacob whispered to Ash. “She keeps up with our money so honestly, neither I nor Halon know how much we have. We don’t even notice we are broken until Lillanis tells us we’re permanently camping.”

“Then I can understand,” Ash said with a half hidden smile. “With the way you two eat and drink, I am surprised she is able to keep any money put back.”

“That’s a little harsh…But you are probably right,” Jacob said with a chuckle.

“Let’s go,” Lillanis yelled and the two jumped and quickly moved to follow.

This time they found a group of three ogres, two of which were having a head butting contest. Sighing, Ash and Halon rushed forward. Even though he had a lower level, Ash took on two of the ogres alone while the other three worked to take down the one left.

The ogres were ridiculously strong, but also slow and incredibly stupid. Unlike the higher level monsters, the ogres didn’t fight Ash because they could sense his strength, but because they couldn’t tell how strong any of them were. The ogres just fought whoever or whatever appeared in front of them.

Jumping to the side to dodge one of the ogres’ strikes, flecks of rocks bounced and hit Ash doing 2 damage to his HP. Each time he saw the strength of the creature’s attacks, Ash was amazed. Even with his strength and endurance, one strike head on would most likely kill him, or at least horribly wounded. Thankfully the attacks were slow, so even dealing with two ogres was not that much of a problem. The real challenge was doing any real damage to the ogres. Even with his high strength, Ash had trouble breaking through their skin, and unlike Halon and Jacob, he didn’t have any skills that could easily penetrate the ogre’s natural skin. He had tried his shadow ship, but even that only worked against armor and not the ogre’s skin.

Halon used sword bash, a warrior skill that allowed him to negate 40% of the opponent’s defense while Jacob used stealth strike which allowed him to ignore 100%. Ash was used to being the powerhouse of the group, but against the ogres it was Jacob who shined the brightest.

After the first ogre was taken down, Ash pulled back while Halon drew the attention of one of the ogres while he kept the last one busy. Even fighting one on one, Ash was not able to take the Ogre down before Jacob and Halon took down theirs, though he had done a lot of damage to the creature. Thanks to the damage Ash had done, it only took one strike from Jacob to bring the last ogre down for good.

None of Jacob’s stats were higher than Ash’s. The only thing that made him stand out was his skills. Seeing how effective the skills were, Ash started to understand why there were so many guilds. Ash had taken his reading time with Emelia to read up about skills and guilds.

There was not many facts about how guilds started. What did survive was mostly myths and rumors, but Ash was able to dredge out what he believed to be facts. When the world was new, was the common wording and even after giving it a lot of study, all Ash could say was that at least fifteen thousand years before a war happened. Most the books say that it was between the humans and demons, but the few books that he found that dealt more in facts never said demons but instead said creatures born of nightmares. One might think that demons would be the same thing, but later on he even found a few stories about a demon hero who had fought in the war. Once again, most the books said humans, but the older ones said great races banded together to fight against the threat, but were found lacking. Preying to the gods, their voices were heard and the gods blessed the heroes with skills that suited them. The heroes trained those under them in the same skills. So that no one hero would get too strong, the gods limited the skills a single person could learn and thus jobs were created.

If it had been his previous life, Ash would have laughed at the idea of a god, but after how he was brought to this world he didn’t find it so farfetched. Though Ash didn’t find very much useful information about guilds, he did see how much the world had changed over their years. The older the book was, the more it talked about the great races, but the newer the book, the more they pushed human supremacy. It took a very large jump after the demon wars and while people of the beast tribe fought with the humans, they lost a great deal of their numbers and soon were pushed into the back of society.

Ash wanted to read more, but even though Emelia had a very large collection of books with a number of them so old that they had rebound a number of times, it was still only one noble’s personal library. Thankfully, books were not as expensive as Ash thought they would be. It seemed that paper was easily made thanks to alchemy and was often one of the first things they learned to make. Thanks to that, paper was cheap and easy to acquire. However, books that ran contrary to the government were often destroyed which mean the older books were rare outside of personal libraries. Ash quickly began to understand that the history had been changed over and over so that only the gods truly knew the truth anymore.

“Tring.”

The welcomed sound came after Ash absorbed the second ogre.

[You have reached the required absorption level for the Mountain Ogre. Abilities available; Iron Stomach (passive), Iron Strike (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been awarded Iron Stomach randomly.]

[Iron Stomach: for each ounce of iron you eat your strength will raise by 1 but at the same time your intelligence will be reduced by 1.]

“What the hell is that?” Ash asked when he saw the description of the ability.

“What?” Halon asked, seeing Ash’s reaction.

“I just got an ability that lets me raise my strength permanently, but at the cost of my intelligence,” Ash said, still flabbergasted.

“I don’t know if that is good or not,” Halon said scratching his head. “Well whatever, better to have it and never use it then need it and not have it.”

“I guess, hopefully the other one is better,” Ash replied.

“They have two abilities that you can steal,” Lillanis said smiling. “That is good, killing a few dozen more will be good practice.”

“You just want the gold that the guild will pay for their horns,” Halon whispered under his breath.

“What was that?” Lillanis asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Halon.

“Nothing, I was just commenting on Ash’s new skill,” Halon quickly replied, a small bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

“It is already late, don’t you think we should take a break for the day?” Jacob asked after he picked up the spoils.

“What are you talking about? We can still get a few more kills in today,” Lillanis said, ignoring Jacobs’s suggestion without a second thought.

“She works a poor guy to his bones,” Jacob said with a sigh as he followed behind Lillanis. “Nothing is as scary as a person when gold is in their sights.”

The next fight was against two more ogres and just like before, Ash kept one bust while Lillanis, Halon, and Jacob fought against the other. The ogres were boring to fight for Ash. If it was not for their insane strength and defense, he would find it hard to believe they belonged this deep in the labyrinth.

Jumping to the side to dodge one of the ogre’s overhand strikes, Ash jumped forward, striking the ogre on the knee. It barely scratched its skin and only did fifteen damage. Not only did his attacks do little damage, the wear on his sword was heavy if he attacked over and over. With most the day gone and Ash still have a large amount of his MP and SP remaining, he decided it was time to start training his abilities.

Just like skills, abilities had grades. G grade abilities didn’t have levels. Even if the boost was large, it was still considered a low level ability. F grade abilities had two to three levels. E grade abilities have four to six levels. D grade abilities had seven to ten levels. C grade had eleven to fifteen levels. B grade had sixteen to twenty levels, while A grade abilities had twenty-five levels. There was even a few stories that there were S, SS, and SSS abilities that could break beyond the normal rules assigned to them. Looking at his demon absorption ability, he would guess that it was at least an S or an SS level ability.

The lower levels of a skill were easy to train and just like a person, the higher they got, the more they had to be used in order to level. There were some abilities that Ash had ignored, but after learning about the levels, he decided to train them a little each day until he exhausted his MP and SP.

Since he couldn’t train his passive skills, Ash was forced to focus on his active abilities. He started with the ones he had gained early on. Even if they were weak, they still had a use in a fight.

Invoking Bash, Ash rushed forward and slammed into the ogre, only doing five damage to the ogre and eight to himself. The damage didn’t surprise Ash, as he had done it many times over the past few days as he tried to raise the level of the ability. The great thing was even though an ability got stronger, the cost stayed the same. Though Lillanis had said that some would get more expensive if they leveled up high enough.

As the ogre attacked, Ash invoked Bash again and rushed past its club as he slammed into its leg. As soon as he hit, Ash used Rabbit Punch. His attacks did little damage to the ogre and it didn’t really hurt him, though his hands did start to sting after the sixth hit.

As soon as he used Rabbit Punch, Ash heard the welcomed “tring,” as the ability leveled up.

Before Ash had the chance to use another ability, Jacob struck at the ogre’s exposed neck, dealing a critical hit. Not wanting to waste what little time he had, Ash invoked Poison Spit, hitting the ogre in the eyes as it lurched forward at Jacob’s attack. No matter how strong the skin of the ogre was, its eyes were still weak causing the ogre to bellow in pain. Using its pained state, Jacob struck again, nearly severing its neck from its body.

“Hurry and collect the spoils so we can find the next fight,” Lillanis said before the ogre’s body even hit the floor.

“I can’t Lillanis,” Jacob said slumping to the group. “My SP and MP are both exhausted.”

“We should have bought some potions before entering the labyrinth,” Lillanis said frowning.

“You are the one who made the rule that we don’t buy potions so that we don’t push ourselves. Even if it can recover the SP and MP, it doesn’t do anything for mental and physical fatigue,” Halon said as he sat down beside Jacob.

“Then I guess it is time to head back. Ash, you coming with us or are you staying back to fight a bit more?” Lillanis asked her tone changing back to its normal light heartedness.

“I might as well head back,” Ash replied. “Fighting these guys alone takes far too long,” Ash honestly replied.

“I want spiced rum with dinner tonight,” Jacob said quickly rising to his feet.

6-2

As soon as they left the labyrinth, Ash parted with the three as they headed back to his house and he headed to Emelia’s.

“Welcome home Lord Hawkwing,” the guard said as he walked up to the manor’s gate. Ever since the wedding, they had quit calling him Ash and it had been replaced by young lord or Lord Hawkwing. It had a nice ring to it, but at the same time it made him feel as if they were pushing him away. He had never spent much time with the guards, but even the maids had started doing it as well, including those that he used to talk with about Yuki.

Shortly after he entered the garden, Emelia appeared at the door of the manor with a large smile. “I’m home,” Ash said with an awkward smile as he lightly gave Emelia a kiss on the cheek.

“That’s all I get?” Emelia said, furrowing her brow and crossing her arms.

Defeated, Ash bent down planning to lightly kiss Emelia’s lips, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep and long kiss instead. “That’s better,” Emelia giggled after she let go of his lips.

“What has you in such a good mood?” Ash asked while he tried to stand up and found that her arms were still firmly locked around his neck.

“I just received a letter from the capital,” Emelia said happily while letting him go and dancing back from him. “The king sent his congratulations on the marriage and sent his apologies for missing the ceremony.”

“Missing the ceremony. I thought we had it so that he wouldn’t know about it?” Ash asked slightly confused.

“We did,” Emelia admitted. “But I did it in a way that looked as if I intended him to learn of it. I sent out letter months before the wedding. That is why so many nobles were here, but for some reason the letters sent to the nobles in and around the capital were delayed due to bandit attacks. Well that is the story they told anyway, but in truth they were just told to make sure that by the time they arrived it would already be too late for the King to attend or properly investigate your background.”

“Really,” Ash said as he thought about it. The king could have still cancelled the marriage but not without causing a small uproar amount the other nobles so he had essentially had his hands tied by the tactic Emelia used. “Wait! Doesn’t that mean that you had the wedding planned months before you asked me to marry you?”

“Ah!” Emelia said her face suddenly blushing. “Well…I just…You need a bath, you smell like ogres,” Emelia said quickly retreating inside.

“I was had,” Ash said as Emelia disappeared through the door.

As they did every time, Ash and Emelia bathed together. After they had gotten over their nervousness about their bodies, they had started talking during this time, but today they had returned to the uneasy silence. “Are you mad?” Emelia finally asked, her voice slightly shaking as she washed Ash’s back.

“I…Am not really mad,” Ash replied as he tried to sort out his feelings. “I just don’t know why you didn’t tell me sooner or ask earlier.”

“It was really hard to ask you at all,” Emelia said as she placed her forehead against Ash’s bare back.

“Why?” Ash asked, not understanding. It was true it was a pretty big favor, but he didn’t see why it would be so hard for her to ask.

“Because I…Was afraid you would say no,” Emelia admitted. “But now I have you and I am not letting you go,” Emelia added as she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her head next to his ear. The feel of her breath against his neck sent a tingle down his spine.

Listening to Emelia’s words, things started to move into place in Ash’s mind. Turning his head, his face was only inches from Emelia’s and her eyes looked into his while giving off an intense feeling. “Emelia…You,” before he could finish his sentence, his lips were sealed by Emelia’s.

Pulling back, Emelia blushed a light pink all the way to the tips of her ears. “I…I love you,” Emelia said, her voice weak and slightly trembling. “I have ever since I watched you sleeping on the carriage.”

Ash was stunned by the sudden declaration as Emelia pushed herself away and hid herself in the bath, sinking so low that only her eyes were visible. Looking at Emelia lurking in the water, Ash felt a twinge in his heart. He was the same age as Emelia and in a way they were a lot alike. She had been sheltered by her father and had little experience with others. At the same time, Ash had been pushed away by others and pushed others away. Emelia was the first person he had started to get close to. He still didn’t know if it was love, but he felt comfortable when he was with her.

Shaking off the thoughts that plagued his mind, Ash rinsed the soap from his body and entered the bath. Emelia watched him, but since he could only see her eyes it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Slowly he walked over to where Emelia was and sat down next to her and let himself sink deeper into the water while stretching out his arm and wrapping it around Emelia’s shoulders. He didn’t say anything, Ash just pulled Emelia close.

Emelia didn’t fight against his pull and brought her head out of the water and lightly placed it on his shoulder with a content smile on her face.

After the bath, they dressed and sat down to eat. Emelia’s declaration was the last thing said and neither of the two could find anything to break the heavy silence that now hung over them. Though they were trapped in silence, they still sat close together and there was no feeling of dissatisfaction from either of them.

After eating, Ash and Emelia went to the study. With the news that a war might break out, Emelia was working on checking on her personal forces so that if the King called for troops, she could at least meet the minimum requirements demanded. Emelia’s father had neglected keeping a large group of soldiers and instead only kept a well-trained group of knights. The reason for this was because the adventurers in a region could easily be hired to preform most duties normal soldiers could do without the constant cost of upkeep. The downside was that in times when the King called for troops, it would take every knight to obey the call to arms, leaving the duchy weakened for years. Right now Emelia was making a general call by ordering all the knights within her lands to take on three squires for training.

The knights had the right of conscription so they could take anyone older than fifteen as a squire but they were limited to have no more than five at one given time. It would take two to three years before most squires would be trained enough to fight in a battle, but if push came to shove Emelia could still conscript adventurers into her personal army when the king called. They would be more expensive in the short run, but would still be cheaper than keeping a large standing army year around. Also, if any of the adventurers fled from duty, which was a good chance, it would give her a bad reputation with the royal army and King but it was the best solution she could come up without mass conscription for a war that may or may not happen.

While Emelia worked on the troop issues, Ash had been tasked with figuring out the cost to hire enough adventurers if the need arose along with the cost projections of the added new squires. The Hawkwing duchy had a number of lesser nobles but she couldn’t use them for troops for a war since the King would call on them from troops as well. Currently there was only two hundred and sixty-two knights under Emelia’s command. While squires didn’t receive pay, their families were given a sum upon the conscription and they would also need equipment and fed as well. The payment to the families was only ten gold, but when you took into account that they were planning to conscript over eight hundred squires it added up to eighty platinum coins. The cost for food and gear changed depending on the skills of the knights. While Ash said knights they had different knight guilds that could only be entered by those sword to a lord. Like common guilds, they had unique skills and most of them were seen as far stronger than those of the common guilds.

The people belonging to the Dark Knight Corps were the cheapest to outfit as they used short swords and leather armor. On the other hand, the Heavy Knights were extremely expensive as they needed horses, swords, lances, and heavy armor. Thankfully knights received no coin. If they needed anything, they simply had to show their knight identification card and Emelia would be sent the bill. If the knights wished for their own coin to buy something outside of what they were allowed, they had the option to work for the adventurer’s guild when they didn’t have an official task. They were also allowed to sell half of whatever they gained from the monsters they killed while the other half was reserved by the duchy. As long as the knights trained hard and there was not much trouble within the duchy, it was possible for the duchy to make a profit from their knights.

Along with the new squires came a second problem and that was their training. Knights trained their squires in a number of ways but the most common was in the labyrinth. That meant that soon the city would be filled with knights who needed a place to stay and so the inns would be filled to busting and still there wouldn’t be enough room. That meant that Ash had to find a place for them to stay while not spending a lot of coin.

“Why don’t we have them build their own knight training facility within the city?” Ash asked as he went over the numbers again.

“What do you mean?” Emelia asked tilting her head.

“Well from what I see, other than the capital the knights have no real place of their own,” Ash said as he flipped through the papers. “There is a guild hall here, but it is small and only has a place for one or two knights to stay and the training yard is barely big enough for a horse. If we build a place for them to stay for long periods of times, then when they aren’t on duty they could stay and train in the labyrinth.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but building a place that large would cost a large amount. Something that large would rival one of the outpost forts.”

“That is the point,” Ash said while shuffling through the papers again. “The duchy has been in three wars with other minor nobles over the past two hundred years. Each time they were only barely able to win. If you kept a well-trained and larger group of knights, that wouldn’t be as much of a problem. As for that, it could also be used if worst came to worst and you had to endure a siege. It would cost a lot up front, but keeping a large contingent of knights where they could fight in the labyrinth would turn a profit once it is finished,” Ash said as he handed over the paper that he had been working on over the past two weeks.

The cost for the fort and castle would cost over one hundred thousand platinum coins and thanks to magic could be finished within seven years. The walls and temporary barracks could be finished within six months.

Emelia read over the papers as her face was pinched in concentration. “I think it could work but there is one problem…Someone will have to take on this project. None of the nobles I can trust have the time to do it and the ones who do I can’t trust.”

“I could do it,” Ash suggested.

“It could work, but how would the King take it,” Emelia said with a slightly worried voice. “You aren’t a noble, but you could do it under my authority. The problem is getting the funds for the construction. We are one of the more prosperous lands within the kingdom, but even the king has trouble paying for a new fort to be built and manned.”

“The initial cost will be staggering but unlike the other forts, once it is finished it can make money with the knights constantly fighting in the labyrinth. You said so yourself, that the labyrinth is better than a gold mine since it is constantly filled with magical power.”

“That is true. Some people say that demons live at the bottom of a labyrinth, but since no one has ever made it to the bottom in the past thousand years that is just a rumor. Older books said they were created when fragments of the five evil gods fell to earth. It has never seemed to run out of power in fact, if left alone, the monsters in the labyrinth have been known to escape and wreak havoc. That is the reason cities are built around them in the first place. My family’s main task is to keep the labyrinth in check.”

“Then even if you built a fort, the King couldn’t complain since it is part of your duty,” Ash suggested.

“Ok look, if you think it will help, look through the budget and find out how much we can really use to fund the fort. If you need more, you will have to wait until next tax season to get it or find it yourself. Even if I do love you, I can’t let you spend the entire duchy’s funds.”

As soon as she said the words, the air filled with silence again. “I care about you as well,” Ash said fidgeting.

Emelia looked at him while frowning then a small smile spread across her face. “I’ll take it,” she said before jumping on him and pushing him down on the couch while kissing him.

6-3

The next morning Ash went through the budget again, but no matter how he looked at it the most he could come up with was three thousand platinum coins and even that was pushing it a little. In the end he had decided that to be safe, he would only take twenty-five hundred to start with. After showing what he came up with, Emelia wrote him a write of charge so that he could draw on the duchy’s funds from the royal bank. At the same time, she wrote out an order for all knights to gather in Tellian.

Now that Ash had a starting point for his work he headed back home. Shortly after he entered, he was greeted by Zelan and three other men who were unfamiliar to him. “Ash, perfect timing. I would like you to meet the people from the Seven Swords Guild that have been sent for the duel. The young man is Gai and the person who you will be fighting. The older young man is Rein, and the beautiful woman is Yu.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ash said slightly bowing.

“Enough Zelan, we need to hurry and get this over with,” the woman said tapping her foot. “I would like to get back to the guild hall before they start slaughtering each other.”

“Fine let’s get started,” Zelan said slightly annoyed at the woman’s attitude.

Ash and the young man who was a few years older than him moved about a fifty yards apart while Zelan handed them both wooden swords. “The rules are simple. You fight until one person can no longer fight or one of you concede the fight. Also, no intentional killing, that always puts a damper on things.”

As Zelan walked off the field, he passed by Ash and bent down close to his ear. “Don’t take it easy. Finish it quickly.”

When the woman signaled for the fight to start, Ash kicked off the ground and flashed in front of the other man, striking for his midsection. Though he had moved like a flash, the other man had been trained since birth and moved to intercept his attack, but no matter how skilled he was, his speed could not match and he took the blow full force and was thrown to the ground. Doubled over on the ground, the man emptied the contents of his stomach while Ash casually walked over and placed the blade of the wooden sword to his neck. “I Win.”

“What is this?” The woman bellowed storming up to Zelan. “Your letter said that he was clearly only level ten. At most, if he fought every day nonstop, he could at most be level fifteen now. Yet he is clearly at least level forty. You shame yourself and the guild,” Yu said angrily.

“If you wish to bring him to the guild to check his level you can, but he is only level fourteen. It is not his fault that your student is only at this level,” Zelan said shrugging his shoulders.

“What is that…Then let me test him myself,” Yu said as she pulled the wooden sword from her student’s hand.

“That will be up to Ash. My request was for him to fight someone within his own level. Just as the request made of me was to teach someone and have them fight against someone of their own level,” Zelan said as if he were bored.

“What about it young man?” Yu asked, eyeing him with anger flaring in her eyes. “Care to try your luck with me?”

“I don’t mind an honest competition, but only if the previous rules are still in place. I don’t want you to come at me with my life on the line over a simple duel with no befit for me,” Ash said calmly.

“I have no interest in killing you boy,” She said, taking off her mantle and placing it on the ground. “I just want to see what kind of pupil Zelan has raised.”

Since Yu was fighting him, Zelan took the place of the adjudicator and signaled the start of the match. Unlike before, this time Ash didn’t rush forward. Though he could not see any of her stats using analyze, Ash could feel power close to that of Zelan coming from her. “If you won’t attack, then I will boy,” She said before calmly approaching him.

Yu started with a series of simple attacks that Ash was easily able to block. Her speed was good, but not nearly as quick as Ash, nor as refined as Zelan’s. Once she saw that Ash had no trouble blocking her attacks, Yu started to attack more randomly then Ash saw a flash above her head. “First sword,” but Ash had no clue what the skill was so he had no way to prepare for it so instead he jumped back.

Just as he retreated, Yu’s sword flashed blue and surged forward at an amazing speed. Thankfully Ash had moved back just in time and the sword stopped inches from his chest. Ash had wanted to get the hang of her movements first, but it was clear that if he didn’t counterattack she wasn’t going to give him time to learn how she fought.

Ash thought about using gambler’s gambit but decided to wait. If he used it now and if he needed it later, it would be too late. First Ash invoked Stick Thread and a stream of fine thread shot from his palm. Yu reacted quickly, but thanks to their close distance she could only sidestep a portion of the thread while trying to block the rest with her sword. The thread wasn’t that strong and while it clung to Yu’s sword, she quickly removed it. By that time Ash had already started to circle around to her back.

As Yu turned to face Ash, he invoked Cone of Frost but this time Yu was expecting something and easily dodged the attack. Even though his attack failed, Ash didn’t let up and quickly followed up with Poison Vine Whip. Once again Yu dodged the attack cutting the vine off at its base.

Her eyes narrowing, Yu jumped at Ash as her blade turned red. Ash quickly invoked Shock Armor and brought his sword up to parry the incoming blow, but instead of one strike there were four and Ash was only able to block two of the strikes. One of the other attacks was blocked by his luck shield, but the last connected knocking the air out of his chest but at the same time his Shock Armor took effect and the woman was temporally stunned.

Knowing the shock would only last a few seconds, Ash invoked Pounce and jumped forward, hitting her hard in the chest and sending her flying back more than twenty feet. As she landed, Ash readied himself for her next attack but his sword had broken at the hilt. When Yu didn’t move from where she landed Ash began to worry.

“Ash wins,” Zelan said before running up to where the woman still lay on the ground.

Seeing Zelan’s worried look, Ash quickly joined him. Yu was laying on the ground with her eyes rolled up showing the whites of her eyes. Zelan removed her chest plate that now had a large dent in its center. Under the chest plate her chest was wrapped in a thin cloth but it did little to hide her large chest but it did clearly show the large purple bruise that had started to appear.

Zelan bent his head down and placed his ear against Yu’s chest. After a few moments he raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief. “She is still alive,” Zelan said standing back to his feet.

A few moments later Yu eyes fluttered open. “Aurgggg,” Yu gasped in pain as she sat up. Then noticing that her chest plate had been removed, she quickly covered her chest with her arms and with a fierce glare looked at Zelan who was resting against the side of the manor. “Why did you take off my chest plate?” Yu asked angrily.

Zelan tossed the dented chest plate to Yu who grunted in pain as she grabbed it out of the air. “Would be pretty hard for you to breath with that on don’t you think?”

Looking at the dent in her armor Yu turned to look at Ash who was sitting not far away talking with Shina who was currently holding Milly who happily smiled up at Ash while playing with the broken wooden sword. “You still insist that he is only level fourteen?” She said, turning back to Zelan.

“He is,” Zelan said, tossing her Ash’s adventurer’s card. “Look for yourself.”

“How can he be so strong and only be level fourteen?” Yu asked, looking back to where Ash sat.

“That is his secret, but it had a bit to do with his guild,” Zelan replied cryptically.

“A gambler,” Yu said looking back down at the metal plate. “I heard that gamblers can get insanely strong, but all the ones I have met have been mediocre at best.”

“Take it as you will, but even you have to admit that I passed the test the elders set for me,” Zelan said with a wry smile.

“I will report everything as it happened, don’t worry,” Yu said with an unhappy expression on her face. “Now if you will, I need to rest. You can have the rest of the day to say goodbye to your student,” Yu said as one of her students helped Yu to her feet.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a rest in my room?” Zelan asked with a cheesy smile.

“I think I would rather have my teeth pulled by a goblin,” Yu said with disdain. “Tomorrow morning be at the gate. Don’t make me wait.”

“She is a feisty one,” Zelan said laughing. “Well Ash, I would like to stay around for a long goodbye, but honestly I am not much for the whole show. So as one last gift for your master, think you could spare a few coins so I can enjoy my last night in Tellian.”

Ash reached into his pocket and pulled a platinum coin from his inventory. “Here,” Ash said tossing Zelan the single coin.

“Good show,” Zelan said smiling. “Keep yourself safe boy and don’t lose to that new wife of yours,” Zelan said before picking up his travel pack that was already sat beside him and walking out of the gate.

Watching Zelan leave, Ash felt slightly lonely but he knew that it wouldn’t last forever. “Master, do you want to get something to eat?” Shina asked as she came up beside him with Milly riding on her shoulders.

“Yea, that sounds like a good idea,” Ash replied smiling, knowing that Shina had only said that to distract him from Zelan leaving.

As Ash ate, he asked for Gilda to head to the Stonemason’s Guild and bring back someone who can work on the new fort. He knew that he didn’t have enough to finish the project, but he had land and enough to get a good start.

By the time Gilda returned, Ash was in the meeting room working on a sketch of the new fort. It would have to be large enough to hold at least two thousand people or more. It would also need room for horses and training with multiple vocations. After looking it over, it was more like a small compound than just a fort. In the end, Ash had decided to have it cover twenty acres just outside the west side of the city. Right now it was forested land so it would need to be cleared, but unless he wanted to take over farmland it was the only choice.

“Master, I have brought Sir Gillan of the Stonemason’s Guild,” Gilda said lightly knocking on the door.

“Please send him in Gilda,” Ash said putting the large paper aside.

“Sir, the lady said that you needed something built,” the man said keeping his head bowed.

“Please relax,” Ash said with a welcoming smile. “Have a seat so we can talk.”

“Thank you sir,” the man said as he took the seat opposite Ash.

“This is what I am planning,” Ash said, showing the man the drawing he had made.

“I see,” Gillan said scratching his beard. “When the lady spoke originally, I thought the young master might want a house of shop built but this is something else.”

“Can you do it?” Ash asked cutting straight to the point.

“I can, but I have to ask do you want it done to last or done cheaply?” Gillan replied.

“If possible I want the walls and fort to withstand a concentrated attack.”

“Then you will need intermediate to master earth mages to make the stones,” the man said. “Otherwise you will have to have them each enchanted individually and that will cost ten times more. The forest itself isn’t a problem. We can even save some money by using some of the wood in the construction. If the young master really wants this done, I can get together a number of people and get to start on it but it won’t be cheap.”

“How much?” Ash asked without a second of hesitation.

“At least five hundred platinum coins to start,” the man replied with a pensive look on his face. “That will let me gather a few mages that have worked with our guild before as well as start the cutting of the trees and prepping the ground. There are a number of other things as well, but I think five hundred will be a start, though it won’t last long.”

Ash pulled put a piece of parchment and quickly wrote on it then using a candle let the wax drip on the bottom right hand corner. Before the wax could cool, Ash pushed a small seal into it then handed the paper over to the older man. “I want to know where every single penny goes.”

“Of course sir,” the man replied giving a deep bow.

The man left carrying Ash’s sketches with him. Once he was gone, Ash sat back and started to think about the days to come. With Zelan gone, he felt a little lost. He no longer had to strive so hard to train, but just quitting felt a little like giving up on what he had already learned. Lillanis and the other two had went to the labyrinth without him today but thanks to the crystals he had given them, he was still receiving experience.

“Master, is everything ok?” Allice asked as she placed a glass of cold water on the table for him.

“Everything is fine,” Ash replied with an unconvincing smile.

“How is your brother doing?” Ash asked, trying to change the sour mood that was hanging in the room.

“He is doing well master,” Allice replied happily. “He is learning a lot from the slaves and Gilda has even suggested that he go to the church for better schooling. Gilda said that even without a voice, he could become great one day…I” Allice said her voice breaking slightly. “Thank…Master for helping my brother,” She said breaking down into tears.

“What’s wrong?” Ash asked slightly panicked.

“It’s just that master is so kind and yet…yet I,” Allice continued as tears streaked down her face. “I poisoned Yuki. I…don’t deserve…” the rest of Allice’s words were inaudible due to her wracking sobs.

Ash knelt down next to Allice and lightly placed his hand on her head. “Allice, we all make mistakes. Sometimes they are unavoidable. You did it to help your brother and neither I nor Yuki hold that against you.”

“Master,” Allice said as tears and snot ran down her face.

6-4

After Ash got Allice to calm down, he had Gilda take her to her room to rest. It seemed that she had held her feelings pent up for a long time and they had worn her down until she broke. Ash knew all too well what that was like and could only look on with sympathy as she was carried out of the room.

As soon as Allice was carted off, Shina slipped into the room. Ash saw her as soon as she entered, but didn’t say anything though he noticed that Milly was not with her. “Did you need something Shina?” Ash asked as he looked up from the papers that covered his table.

“Master you got married,” Shina said as she walked around the side of the table. When she walked in front of Ash, he stared to notice that her dress was cut far too low and the chest was so tight that Ash was surprised that it didn’t rip. “Then master should know what I want.”

“Shina, I am married,” Ash said sliding back in his chair.

“We already settled that point,” Shina said, placing her hands on Ash’s shoulders and leaning in so close he could smell the light fragrance of her hair. “Before I didn’t push because you were still young, but now…”

Shina leaned in and kissed Ash lightly on the lips. “Master should take care of his slaves and the slaves should take care of their master,” Shina said as she pressed herself closer to Ash.

Ash couldn’t deny that his heart was beating fast or that the taste of Shina’s kiss still lingered on his lips. Mustering up his willpower and strength, Ash pushed Shina away and stood from his chair placing the piece of furniture between them. “Shina…That is enough,” Ash said though a bit weakly.

Shina looked at Ash then let out a deep sigh. “It is no fun to force it,” Shina said, giving him a warm smile. “I won’t give up though. One day master will welcome me into his arms.”

After she said her peace, Shina left the room and Ash couldn’t help but watch the sway of her hips as she walked away. He may not know his true feelings about Emelia, but he knew that he held no romantic feelings toward Shina. He thought of her as a friend and no matter how hard he tried, nothing else came to mind but after their encounter, it still took a while for him to get his heart to calm.

Shortly after Shina left, Ash took his leave of the manor and headed outside of town. It took a good half an hour for Ash to reach the forest. Most of the forest surrounding the city had been left mostly alone over the years. The north side of the city was farmland and the east side had been cleared for farming as well, but the west was still heavily forested.

The trees at the edge of the forest were not that large, but the deeper you went in the more robust they became. Pulling out an axe that he had bought on the way out, Ash swung with all his might and cleanly cut through the trunk of a smaller tree.

Ash didn’t think of much while he worked, he just let his body move. After cutting down eight trees, Ash cut off their limbs and then sectioned the trees into eight foot sections. Using a long hemp rope, Ash pulled the felled logs into the clearing and started to stack them. Thanks to his strength, Ash had no trouble moving the heavy logs.

Ash continued to work until the sun started to drop below the horizon. His stomach was growling with hunger when he headed back to the city. Since he had to pass right past Emelia’s, Ash decided to stop for a bit.

Since it was not one of his days to visit, Ash was able to get all the way to the foyer before Emelia came to greet him. “Ash, I wasn’t expecting you today,” Emelia said with a worried look on her face. “Did something happen?”

“No I was just outside the west gate and thought I would spend a little time with my wife,” Ash replied.

“Why were you outside the gate?” Emelia asked frowning.

“I was looking at the site for the new fort that is going to be built,” Ash said as he pulled Emelia into his arms.

Emelia didn’t resist Ash’s pull, instead she happily entered his arms while giving him a light kiss on the cheek. “What has gotten into you?” She asked with a fiendish grin.

When Emelia asked her question, Ash was slightly shocked. Normally he would indicate the contact with Emelia unless he was joking around. He didn’t know why, but he just felt the urge to have her close. Seeing Ash’s baffled look, Emelia let off a light giggle and gave him another kiss, this one firmly planted on his lips.

“Why don’t we take a bath, eat, and then you can tell me what you have planned?” Emelia offered.

“Deal,” Ash said, lifting Emelia up in his arms and carrying her up the stairs to the second floor like a princess.

“I am enjoying the new you,” Emelia said with a light giggle.

After their long bath and quick dinner, Ash and Emelia sat in the study. Ash had pulled out a long piece of paper and started to draw what he envisioned for the new fort. When he was finished he stood back while Emelia looked it over.

“Why did you put it on the west side of the city? You could have taken up some of the farmland and saved time and coin.”

“I don’t think it would be right to kick farmers off their land just to build the fort while there are other options,” Ash replied with his honest feelings.

“I think it’s a little foolish myself, but I have left you in charge of it so I won’t argue with you about it. It looked very big, but I am sure that the knights will find a use for the land. Do you have a plan to get the rest of the coin needed or are you planning to do a little each year?”

“I don’t know yet. I do have a small idea, but I will need your help with it,” Ash replied. “I was thinking of hunting in the labyrinth for monster cores. The first I plan to have you use for the tax break and use the extra coin for the fort and the rest I need to be sold without the King being able to find out who sold them. Zelan said that if too many surface, it would draw the wrong kind of attention.”

“Humm…It isn’t much of a tax break, but it will still amount to a little over a hundred platinum coins. Selling cores will earn you a lot of gold, but not much platinum unless they are extremely high grade. I don’t think it will do any more than making a drop of water in an ocean.”

“True, but can you do it?” ash asked. “It might only be a drop, but every drop I can make is one day faster the fort can be completed.”

“I can do it through my contacts in the Adventurer’s Guild. The only thing is that they will take 10% of the money from the cores, but they can keep it from pointing back at any one person.”

“Then I will start there,” Ash said.

“Anything I can help with?” Emelia asked moving closer to Ash.

“Unless you know a monster with strong earth magic abilities,” Ash said still looking down at the papers without noticing the fact that Emelia had loosened the strings on her blouse.

“If you are looking for monsters with strong earth magic that would be a gnome,” Emelia said as let her blouse slid to the floor.

“Where can I find them?” Ash asked still clueless while looking at the papers.

“They live mostly in fairy gardens but those are hard to find,” Emelia said as she undid the clasp on her skirt. “You can also find them on the twenty-eighth floor of the labyrinth.”

“Really?” Ash asked while turning his head toward Emelia. AS soon as Ash’s eyes focused on Emelia his mouth slightly hung open. There Emelia was, sitting right next to him wearing only her petticoat.

Ash woke early the next morning his back hurting from sleeping on the couch in the study. Emelia was still snugly resting in his arms and the pressure from her head had caused him to lose all feeling in his right arm.

Hearing that he could find monsters that might help him work on the fort and save some coin, Ash wanted to hurry and fight in the labyrinth, but he couldn’t bring himself to wake Emelia. Most the time when Ash woke, Emelia was already awake so it was rare to see her sleeping face. Every time he saw her sleeping face he was amazed. When she was mad she always tended to pinch her lips and furrow her brows slightly. When she was happy she didn’t give a full smile, but her lips would part slightly showing just the barest hint of her teeth. Ash had seen many of her expressions, but most the time they were subdued thanks to years of practice. It was only when she was sleeping that she had a purely innocent and natural look on her face.

Using his left hand, Ash lifted Emelia’s head while sliding out from under her. As he placed her head down on the armrest of the couch her eyes fluttered open. “Ning,” Emelia said with a contented smile on her face. “Trying to sneak away?”

“Yep, already got what I wanted so I wanted to sneak away like a thief,” Ash said in a playful tone.

“Woe is me,” Emelia said, rising up to rest on her elbows. “My virtue has been taken and now the thief is trying to steal away my heart.”

Laughing, Ash bent down and lightly kissed Emelia on the lips. “Sorry, but I do really have to go,” Ash said as he quickly pulled on his clothes. “I will already be scolded for disappearing without warning.”

“Ok,” Emelia replied. “Just try not to forget about your wife.”

“I won’t,” Ash said laughing as he started to slip out of the door. “Promise.”

After leaning the manor, Ash rushed back to his own house. Ash entered the garden at the same time Yuki was leaving for school. “Master,” Yuki said, jumping up and clinging to Ash.

“Morning Yuki,” Ash said.

Yuki crinkled her nose cutely. “Master needs a bath he smells,” Yuki said pulling her head back.

Ash took a sniff of his own skin but didn’t smell anything. “I will when I get home tonight,” Ash said shrugging his shoulders.

“We fighting today, or do you have work?” Lillanis asked as she appeared from the door.

“Fighting,” Ash replied. “I want to get to the twenty-eighth floor as soon as I can.”

“Sounds like a plan, but we aren’t going to push ourselves. No matter how good the gold, it isn’t worth your life,” Lillanis said.

“Then are we finally going to quit hunting ogres?” Jacob asked with a slightly happy look.

“After we get enough for my last skill,” Ash said, not wanting to give up on anything that might be of use. “We will just have to fight harder. I think we should buy some potions.”

“You know we don’t like using potions to fight,” Halon said. “Why are you in such a rush?”

Ash explained the plan to construct a fort and the cost involved and his plan to help reduce the costs and earn some coin to help build the fort.

“I know she is your wife and all, but do you have to build something so expensive just to get her attention,” Lillanis said sighing. “I think she would be happy with just a small piece of jewelry.”

“It is part of my job,” Ash said.

“You know most public officials just do the bare minimal so that they don’t get fired. Even more of them use their office to scam money from people. As far as I know, none of them work and give their own time and coin,” Jacob said laughing. “If they did then they wouldn’t be nobles and officials.”

“You two stop that,” Lillian’s said sighing. “We always complain about the nobles we have been forced to deal with so don’t go try corrupting the only good one we have met.”

“Not to worry, he is not a noble,” Halon said.

“Ok enough…lets go the ogres are waiting,” Lillanis said as she led the way to the labyrinth.

Before heading to the labyrinth, they stopped by the alchemy shop. There was a number of potions and their prices changed according to how well they worked. There was potions that could do almost anything from refilling your HP to giving you a boost to your HP. The potions that gave you an hour boost of 400 points to your HP cost two gold coins. Ash bought a hundred potions that refilled MP by a 100 points. Each one cost twenty-five silvers but Ash considered it coin well spent. He also bought a hundred Potions that refilled 20SP that cost the same amount.

Ash thought about buying some HP potions as well but when he did the math it was cheaper to have Lillanis refill her MP and cast heal then to use HP potions. The only time HP potions would be useful was if he needed healed immediately and she was on her cool down period for her spell. Not seeing that happening Ash decided to forgo the HP potions.

6-5

As soon as they entered the labyrinth they went straight to work. Halon and Jacob lightly protested the use of potions, but since there was coin to be made, Lillanis supported him though not very loudly.

With the MP and SP potions there was no lag between their fighting. Having never used potions before, Ash never realized how much help they could be, though if he was concerned about coin then they would seriously eat into the profits. Thankfully with his high luck attribute, they received a drop item 99% of the time now and at least 75% of the time it was of good quality.

Ash also didn’t hold back in the fighting and instead of waiting for Jacob to come for the kill, he took out quite a few of the ogres alone using a combination of poison vine whip and death wail. Ash had learned that the ogres were extremely susceptible to these two techniques and if he used the vine whip first, most the time the ogres would die when he used death wail. The only downside was that he couldn’t use it if any of his group were within fifty feet of him otherwise they would get caught within its effective range.

Though it was hard, by the end of the day the group was able to kill enough ogres for Ash to obtain its last ability, Iron Strike.

[Iron Strike: Cost 15SP- triples the weight of a single blow.]

The ability sounded simple enough, but Ash could see its use. To test out the skill he found a lone ogre and tried it. Before when he hit an ogre with all his strength at most it would leave a deep cut, but nothing more. This time when he used iron strike, it neatly severed the ogre’s head from its body in one clean strike.

“So unfair,” Halon said looking down at his own sword.

“Don’t sit there and whine about something you have no control over,” Lillanis said while crossing her arms over her chest.

“Each and every person in the world is blessed with at least one unique ability. You are lucky enough to have two and yet you are still unsatisfied,” Lillanis added.

“That is true, but Ash has an ability that lets him gather abilities…Even you must admit that it seems slightly unfair,” Halon replied with a light whimper.

“Yes it is unfair but what can you do about it. His luck is abnormal,” Lillanis said casually.

“It is not as if I asked for this ability,” Ash retorted as the two talked as if he was not present. “I cannot do anything about what the gods have granted me.”

“Don’t let them bother you,” Jacob said with a small snicker. “They like to play out this little banter every now and then. I often say the two should just get hitched, but whenever I mention it I end up having my food budget cut to the bone.”

“What are you talking about Jacob, who would want to marry a man who can only think with his sword?” Lillanis said her face turning slightly red.

“And who would want to be with a woman who has the charm of a bull frog,” Halon retorted.

“We should leave before they degrade into throwing things,” Jacob whispered to Ash.

“Let us go so that the two lovers get their affections out,” Jacob said loudly.

Taking his small friends advice, Ash started to move toward the boss room so that he could warp out of the labyrinth when Halon and Lillanis called to them. Looking at the two, Jacob gave a hearty smile then yelled “run,” as he dashed in the direction of the plaque.

“Get back here you beardless dwarf,” Halon shouted chasing after Jacob.

From the smile on Jacob’s face, Ash could tell the smaller man was enjoying the chase and easily made it to the plaque before Halon. Ash warped out just after Jacob and watched as the little man darted into the city interior just before Halon arrive.

“Where did that little bastard go?” Halon asked looking around.

“Into the city,” Ash calmly answered.

Halon didn’t waste another second and darted into the city after Jacob. Just as Halon faded into the distance Lillanis appeared breathing hard. “You could have held back,” Lillanis said giving him a harsh glare. “What would have happened if an ogre appeared while the other two idiots were playing around?”

“Sorry,” Ash said bowing his head. Lillanis was right. If anything had happened, it would not only be Jacob and Halon’s fault but his as well. “I just got caught up in the moment.”

Lillanis let out a deep sigh then looked in the direction that Halon had ran in. After being surrounded by young women over the past months, Ash couldn’t mistake that sigh for anything other than it was. “You love him huh?”

“Is it that obvious?” Lillanis asked without a hint of embarrassment. “I met Halon when we were both young. At the time we lived in a large city and were both living on the streets. When some older boy were harassing me, Halon showed up even though he was a year younger and stood up against them. Ever since that day, he has watched over me. We met Jacob a few years later.”

“Have you ever told him?” Ash asked as he saw the warm smile on her face.

“Once…Years ago,” Lillanis said her face becoming somewhat pained. “He…Told me that he loved me as well, but only as a sister. For months after that it was awkward between us. Not wanting the same thing to happen again, I never mentioned it again.”

“I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have asked,” Ash said consolingly as large tears started to form in Lillanis’s eyes.

“It is not your fault,” Lillanis said. “But if you really want to take pity on this older sister, then a good glass of elven wine would hit the spot.”

“What about those two?” Ash asked, waving his hand lazily in the direction of the city.

Lillanis let out a short laugh. “Jacob will move from bar to bar using what little coin he has hidden away while Halon will search every bar. If they don’t cross paths then in the morning they will both come back complaining about their headaches. If they do meet up, then they will fight, then drink and return bruised and complaining about their headaches.”

“Well then I don’t have to worry about them needing fed,” Ash said as he led the way back to the manor.

As soon as they arrived, Ash was greeted by Allice who was slightly blushing. “Welcome home master.”

“I’m home,” Ash said smiling. “Allice ask Gilda to find the best elven wine we have and to bring it up to the sitting room. Tonight Lillanis and I are celebrating idiocy.”

“Yes master,” Allice said though she looked at Lillanis with a questioning glare.

“So we are dirking to idiots then?” Lillanis asked as they entered the small sitting room often used for meeting special visitors. The room wasn’t very big, but it was the only room in the manor that had cushioned chairs and a long sofa.

“Just the idiot who is too blind to see the prefect woman for him,” Ash said with a smile.

Gilda quickly arrived carrying a plate of cold meats and cheeses. Milly followed behind her holding a large glass bottle in her hands with her small face pinched in concentration. Smiling Milly lifted the bottle up and Lillanis quickly took it with a warm smile to the young panther girl.

Lillanis poured her and Ash a glass then sat the large bottle aside. “What shall we toast to?” She asked as she lifted up her glass.

“Why don’t we toast to happiness?” Ash said after a few moments thought. “It is too rare in this world to find and too easy to lose once it is found.”

“I can agree to that,” Lillanis said lightly hitting the edge of her glass against Ash’s.

Ash had never drank in his last life and only sparingly since he had been reborn in this world. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the taste of wine or ale, but that he feared that it would mess with his training. Tonight though he forgot about training and continued to drink as Lillanis poured him glass after glass.

Within the space of a few hours Ash and Lillanis drained three bottles of wine. “One time when were we in the city of Gifar Halon was hitting on this woman at the local inn we were staying in. Every night he would sweet talk her for hours. One night after weeks of trying, she finally took him to her room…he came running back to the common room half naked a few moments later. It seemed that she was more man than lady.” Lillanis said, slurring slightly as she told the story.

“Really,” Ash said his head spinning as he leaned against the large arm of the chair to hold himself up.

“Really,” Lillanis said laughing ash she leaned her head against Ash’s shoulder. “Jacob still teases him about it from time to time. Always pisses Halon off.”

“It sounds like you three have had a lot of good times,” Ash said, the envy evident in his voice.

“We had good times and bad.” Completely drunk, Lillanis turned her head to look at Ash but her hand moved as well sloshing some of the wine on his shirt.

“Sorr-rry,” Lillanis slurred as she tried to wipe the wine off with her handkerchief. When that didn’t work, she leaned down and started to lick the stain.

“What are you doing?” Ash asked laughing.

“Why waste good wine?” Lillanis replied laughing.

Suddenly Lillanis stopped laughing and rested her head on Ash’s chest. “Is there something wrong with me?” She asked sadly.

“Nothing that I can see,” Ash replied, absentmindedly rubbing Lillanis’s head with his head the same he would do Yuki or Allice.

“Then why won’t Halon love me?” She asked, raising her head up as tears ran from her eyes.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Ash said, using his thumb to wipe the tears away from her left eye.

“Don’t I have charm?” Lillanis asked as she got unsteadily to her feet and twirling around.

“Your beautiful,” Ash answered honestly.

Lillanis laughed then jumped into Ash’s lap like a spoiled child. Grabbing Ash’s hand, she placed it on her arm. “Isn’t my skin soft?” Lillanis asked leaning back into Ash.

“Feels like silk,” Ash said as his finders traced the skin on her arm. It was soft and felt good to his fingers.

Suddenly Lillanis turned her head and pulled him into a kiss. Ash tried to pull back at first, but after a few seconds his mind went blank. When Lillanis released his breath had become haggard and his heart was threatening to tear its way through his chest. “Aren’t my lips soft?”

“Yes,” Ash said his mind in a haze.

“Then why won’t Halon touch me, or kiss me. Any other woman he is fine with, but he never even looks twice at me no matter how hard I try.”

“I don’t know,” Ash replied as his hand continued to run along Lillanis’s smooth skin. His mind completely absorbed in its silky feeling.

“You are nice,” Lillanis said pulling Ash’s arms around her waist.

Normally Lillanis wore a simple white dress with leather armor, but shortly after they had begun drinking she had removed her armor and placed it in the corner of the room. Right now Ash could feel Lillanis’s toned stomach under his hands. Lillanis pushed back into Ash and shifted in his lap.

Turning her head, Lillanis gave Ash another quick kiss. When she pulled back she looked warmly into Ash’s eyes then ran her finger tips over his cheek then kissed him again.

Ash pulled back as his mind cleared for a moment. “I can’t…Emelia,” but before he could say more his lips were covered again.

Letting go of his lips, Lillanis nipped Ash’s ear lightly. “Don’t talk, just hold me…Please,” Lillanis said with a sad glint to her eyes.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Ash felt bad and took another drink from the bottle on the table. As he sat down the bottle, he lightly stroked Lillanis’s back.

As the last drink of wine hit him, Ash’s mind started to get hazy. His eyes started to fade and the rest of the night was lost in a haze.

The next morning Ash was woken when his head started to pound as if a small creature had taken up residence within his skull and was using his temple as an anvil. Sitting up, Ash found himself in his bed. After grabbing his head, Ash placed his hand down to steady himself but his hand hit something soft.

“Uggg…” a pained groaned from beside ash.

In his half-awake and hungover state Ash thought that Yuki had snuck into his room so he pulled back the covers. Lying beside him was not Yuki but a completely naked Lillanis.

“My head,” Lillanis said covering her eyes with her arm.

“What are you doing here?” Ash nearly yelled even though his head protested the noise.

“Please don’t yell,” Lillanis said in a pained voice.

“What are you doing in my bed?” Ash asked, his voice barely a whisper now.

“Huh, you don’t remember?” Lillanis asked trying to give a smile. “Last night we simply enjoyed each other’s company.”

“Emelia will kill me,” Ash said as the meaning of her words sunk in.

“She won’t kill you just for a little fun,” Lillanis said indifferently. “If you are that worried about it, she doesn’t have to know. In fact it would be better if this didn’t spread very far.”

“Worried about what Halon might think?” Ash asked tactlessly.

“Not really,” Lillanis said slightly annoyed. “I just think it would cause undue trouble.”

“Sorry,” Ash said, not wanting to ague first thing in the morning while his head was thrumming. “I know this isn’t your fault. I…I.”

“I understand,” Lillanis said lightly kissing Ash on the cheek. “You are a good man…Just a little too emotionally immature…It’s attractive.”

Ash didn’t have the energy to pull away so he could only watch As Lillanis slowly dressed and left the room. After she was gone, Ash laid back in the bed and covered his eyes and moaned. “What in the world did I do?” Ash asked himself but there was no answer.

Once the pounding in his head calmed enough, Ash stumbled from the bed and dressed. He wasn’t in the mood to go to the labyrinth but he knew he had to do something to clear his mind and he wasn’t going to do that while staying inside the manor.

6-6

When Ash descended the stairs more than an hour later, he found Lillanis as well as the other two sitting at the table. All three of them, like him, seemed to be suffering from a bad hangover. Gilda, always thinking ahead, brought out a light meal that was easy to digest along with juice that was full of nutrients and good for hydration.

After the meal, Ash was feeling much better, but each time he looked at Lillanis he felt a twinge of remorse in his heart. He hadn’t even been married that long and yet he had already been untrue. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.

“We going to the labyrinth today?” Halon asked in a mildly pained voice.

“No,” Ash replied shaking his head. “I have some business with Emelia today that I need to take care of.”

“Thank the gods,” Halon said with a groan and Jacob seconded it with a groan of his own.

After finishing his meal, Ash excused himself from the table. As he started to leave the manor, Allice appeared, ready to go with him. Ash excused her and asked her to stay back for the day. She didn’t complain but her eyes looked slightly sad as she left him standing in the doorway.

“Wait,” Lillanis said, grabbing his arm as he started to leave through the garden gate. “Are you going to tell Emelia what happened?”

“Yes,” Ash replied weakly, nodding his head. “If I hide it from her, I don’t think I could forgive myself.”

“Then let me go with you,” Lillanis said with a determined face. “I don’t think she will get mad, but if she does then it is just as much my fault as yours.”

“That is your choice,” Ash said his face slightly tightening. “I don’t know why you don’t think she will get mad. I just hope that she doesn’t have either of us killed.”

Lillanis looked at Ash with doubting glance before following him out of the garden. On the way to the manor, not a word passed between Ash and Lillanis. Lillanis didn’t have a worried look, but anyone seeing Ash could tell that he was concerned.

Seeing the look on Ash’s face, the gate guard of the estate didn’t welcome him but instead quickly opened the gate for him. Word of Ash’s arrival spread fast as before he could take more than three steps into the manner, Emelia ran out to greet him. “Ash back again already?” Emelia said laughing, until she saw the sour look on Ash’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“Can we talk for a bit?” Ash asked, his face pinched tight. “In private.”

“Sure…We can talk in the study,” Emelia said, her voice laced with concern.

Ash didn’t take a seat next to Emelia on the couch like he normally would and instead sat in the chair across from her. Seeing this, Emelia’s face took on a concerned air and even more so when she noticed that Lillanis took up a position behind Ash’s right side. Ash didn’t know it, but Lillanis’s choice of position held a great deal of significance. It was the same reason that Emelia had put Ash on her right whenever people visited. It signified a lover.

“What is this about?” Emelia asked her eyes slightly watering.

“I don’t know how to say this,” Ash said and Emelia gripped the hem of her dress tightly. “Last night after drinking I laid with Lillanis. It was not my intention to betray your trust or feelings. I only hope that you can forgive us.”

“Are you leaving me?” Emelia asked then bit the edge of her lip.

“N-no…that is, if you can forgive me,” Ash said slightly surprised.

Emelia slumped down in her seat and let out a deep sigh. “Ash, I am guessing you still haven’t learned much about nobles,” Emelia said, her voice holding a tinge of anger. “I am sure I told you it was common for male nobles to have two or three wives as well as a number of lovers. Even among commoner families, it is not uncommon. I can’t say that I am happy about the fact, but I understood when we got married that I would have to share you. Just remember what I told you…I will always be first.”

Ash was astounded. He had expected Emelia to start cursing his name and throwing things at him but instead she had taken it calmly. Seeing the look on his face, Emelia let out another sigh though this one was much lighter then she crossed the room and sat on Ash’s lap and wrapped around his neck. “I didn’t think it would be that much of a surprise for you,” Emelia said with a light chuckle. “The thought of keeping you all to myself does sound fun, though I don’t think it would be fair. Do you know the reason that most men have more than one wife?”

“Because men only think with their bodies,” Ash replied, only half joking.

At his jest both Lillanis and Emelia let out a slight laugh. “There is that, but that is not the only reason. For some reason, six females are born for every male. For the nobles that means that there are a lot of unwed noble ladies and also the more wives they have the better chance they have of conceiving a son. For the normal populace, it means that there are a lot more women seeking husbands than there are single men. It wasn’t always like this, but when the population started to decline rapidly the laws were changed and over time so did the feelings about it.”

Emelia shifted her seat and grabbed Lillanis’s hand and pulled her forward. “Lillanis since the idiot is woefully ignorant, I hope that you will help watch out for him when he is not within my sight,” Emelia said, holding tightly to Lillanis’s hands.

“Milady, it was only one night,” Lillanis said shaking her head. “We have talked about this. I have another that I have given my heart.”

“If that is true, then how did you find your way into his bed?” Emelia asked pointedly. “I don’t think Ash would force you against your will.”

“That is not it,” Lillanis replied quickly. “I just needed a little comfort and Ash has a calming presence.”

“Then let him continue to comfort you,” Emelia said with a warm smile, seeming to understand the situation. “It is better for me if there are no deep feelings involved.”

“What about what I think?” Ash said slightly taken aback.

“You already spent one night with her,” Emelia countered, pushing his concerns aside. “Be a man and take responsibility for it. Now if there is nothing else, I have a court today,” Emelia added pushing the two out of the room.

Leaving the manor, Ash walked aimlessly toward the market district. “Told you she wouldn’t be angry,” Lillanis said lightly. While she spoke, Lillanis took Ash’s arm and pulled it tightly to her chest.

“I thought that you didn’t want to continue?” Ash asked surprised.

“I don’t know,” Lillanis said after a long moment of silence. “But I don’t think there is anything wrong with a little tenderness. A woman wants to feel wanted every now and then.”

“Even if you say so, I don’t really feel comfortable,” Ash said, though he didn’t try to remove his arm from her grasp.

“It’s not like we have to jump right into bed,” Lillanis said, laying her head on his shoulder. “Just a little warmth is all I need. Your wife even agreed to it, so there is no reason to hold back. If it really bothers you just think of it as doing a favor for a friend.”

“A favor…How is this a favor?” Ash asked, completely confused at her meaning.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to see Halon flirting with that young slave of yours day after day. For years I have watched him court girl after girl and never look my way and not even caring how bad it hurts to watch. Even if it’s a lie, I want to feel loved from time to time.”

Seeing the sad look on Lillanis’s face, Ash felt a pain in his chest. Seeing the look on his face, Lillanis gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. “That soft side of you is really charming.”

Ash didn’t say anything else and kept his pace as he walked in the direction of the guild halls, looking for the Stonemason’s Guild. Though it was called the Stonemason’s Guild, it dealt with everything that had to do with building.

The guild building was well made, but not as elaborate as Ash had imagined. As he entered the building he was warmly greeted and asked to wait while the guild master was notified. Sir Gillan, along with a slightly older gentleman appeared after a few moments.

“Master Ash, this is guild master Walt.” Gillan said bowing. “Since the project is so big, he wanted to speak with you, though I will still be in charge on site.”

“This way please,” Walt said.

Ash and Lillanis were lead to a fairly large room in the back of the guild. In the center of the room was a long table which was covered by small trees. At first Ash thought that the trees were made out of wood, but upon closer inspection he noticed that the image wavered slightly. “This is magic,” Ash said looking closer.

“Yes, it is one of the skills that stonemasons have. It allows us to show everything happening at a project site. Most the time it isn’t used, but since this is a project suggested by the duchess we have to make sure everything is done correctly. We have already hired two hundred laborers to clear the land. They will cost ten silvers a day each. Once enough of the land is cleared we will bring in the earth mages to remove stumps and prepare the foundation so that it can hold the weight of construction. For the prep work, we can use novice earth mages but for the stones themselves we will need intermediate or higher and that will be where most the expense will go. Right now we have five mages hired who are currently making stones using iron thick soil. This way they will be ready when the ground is prepared. They are costing fifty gold a piece a day. We also have to employ one person for every ten workers, but for the common laborers we are using novice stonemasons at twenty silver a day. To oversee each ten novices we have one intermediate stonemason costing five gold a day. And right now there is only Gillan working as the overseer but since it would be wrong to pay him less than the highest paid worker, he is receiving a platinum coin a day. Once the ground is prepared and work starts, we will need two more master stonemasons, and I myself will start as overseer. We understand that most projects of this size often take years to complete, so we would like you to deposit funds available with us so that we can ration out the work over time.”

Ash listened to the guild master without saying a word. When he was finished, Ash pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote out a note for them to draw two thousand platinum coins from the royal back. “Right now this is all that we have prepared for the work,” Ash said handing over the paper.

“Is this amount just for this year’s budget?” Walt asked.

“Is it not enough?” Ash asked hesitantly.

“It is a little more than I figured. Normally a project this size would be rationed out over forty to fifty years. Even the king would spread it out over ten years. I was expecting more along the lines of fifteen hundred platinum coins.”

“How much will the project cost all together?” Ash asked. He had tried to figure it up himself and thought a hundred thousand platinum coins would be cheap.

Between sixty and seventy five thousand platinum coins. The most expensive part is the earth mages and transporting the stones once they are made. The best quarry for high level stones is more than eight days away so it is quite the hassle, but we won’t have to worry about that for a while.”

“Then use this as this year’s budget and increase the speed if you can even if only by a little,” Ash said looking down at the table.

“Then we can hire another earth mage and three hundred more workers. That will speed up progress greatly,” Gillan said scratching his beard.

“I will try to come up with some more to add to the funds. I don’t know how much I will be able to gather, but every bit will help,” Ash said nodding his head.

“If you bring more funds, we will start transporting the stones closer so that they can be used more easily once the time arrives,” the guild master said nodding his head.

With his business finished, Ash left the guild with Lillanis following close behind him. He thought of going to the labyrinth, but since he had already given the other two the day off, he decided instead to head back to the manor to enjoy a relaxing day himself.

When Ash arrived at the manor Lillanis took hold of his arm again pressing it tightly between the small mounds on her chest just as Halon came into view. Halon was currently chatting with the young slave that had caught his attention while she hung laundry but upon seeing Lillanis and Ash his smiling face darkened.

“Ash, can I have a moment?” Halon asked, seeming to forget the young lady he had been courting.

“Sure,” Ash said as he sighed internally.

Ash tried to pull his arm free of Lillanis’s grasp but she held tight. Looking back he noticed that she had a face full of determination. His shoulders slumping slightly, Ash followed Halon with Lillanis still holding tightly to his arm.

“Lillanis, could you leave us alone for a moment?” Halon asked, seeing that she was still standing beside Ash when he turned around.

“Why?” Lillanis asked, furrowing her brow.

“I just want to talk with Ash a bit,” Halon said, his lips twitching slightly.

Lillanis lightly kissed Ash’s cheek and she pulled back her grasp. “Please,” Lillanis lightly whispered before walking back toward the front door of the manor. It was only one word, but it held a lot of meaning and not even Ash could miss the meaning behind it.

“Ash, what are you intentions toward Lillanis?” Halon asked as soon as she was out of sight.

“Intentions…I don’t have any intentions toward her,” Ash replied.

“Then you are just using her?” Halon asked, his hand reaching toward the sword on his hip.

“Nothing of the sort,” Ash quickly replied. “If anything, she is using me,” Ash said within the confines of his own mind. “We are just enjoying each other’s company right now, nothing more.”

“She has had bad luck with men,” Halon warned in a dark voice. “If I find out that you hurt her…”

“I won’t,” Ash said, holding up his hands.

“I didn’t think that you were the sort, but she is like a sister to me,” Halon said. “And I will do anything I can to keep her safe,” Halon added, his voice darkening again making his threat clear for what it was.

With his peace said, Halon walked back to the young slave that was waiting on him. “Does he have any room to talk while he is playing around with one of my slaves?” Ash asked, shaking his head. “What kind of trouble did I get myself into now?”

Leaving Halon behind, Ash entered the house and was quickly greeted by Allice who was holding a small glass of water for him. “Gilda said that master should drink plenty of water today,” She said with a worried look on her face.

“Thank you,” Ash said, taking the offered water and quickly drinking it.

“Ash, a moment,” Lillanis said, appearing from the hallway.

As Ash handed the glass back to Allice, he walked toward Lillanis waited. “Even though master has me,” Allice said in a slightly pouty voice.

As soon as they were shut in the meeting room from the night before, Lillanis turned on him placing her face only inches from his. “What did Halon want?”

“He just warned me that should I do anything to hurt you, I would be turned into monster grub,” Ash said sighing.

“So it was his, don’t hurt my sister speech,” Lillanis said with a weak laugh.

“He said something about you being hurt before and not wanting it repeated,” Ash said a slight hint of worry in his voice.

Lillanis let out a small “tisk,” sound as she pulled back. “Why did he have to bring up something like that?”

“What happened?” Ash asked as he took a seat on the sofa.

Lillanis flung herself on the sofa and leaned her head on his leg looking up into Ash’s eyes. Ash could remember numerous times when he had laid with his head on Emelia’s lap, but this was the first time the position was reversed. It felt oddly satisfying in its own way.

“About three years ago I met someone, I thought was a nice guy. He fought in the labyrinth with us just as you are doing now. He was always flirting with me, but I never took him serious. Since I am the only girl in the party, I always have my own room at the inn. One night after we had gotten back, while Halon and Jacob were fighting, the man came to my room. I didn’t think much of it and let him in, thinking he only wanted to talk.”

“Enough,” Ash said, turning his head away from looking in her eyes.

Seeing Ash turn red in anger, Lillanis lifted up her hand and placed it on his face pulling it back toward her. When Ash saw the pained look on her face, he found himself without words all he could think of was hunting down the man and killing him.

When Lillanis brought her head up and placed her lips against his, Ash didn’t pull back. “Thank you,” Lillanis said weakly as she laid her head back down and closed her eyes.

Ash just sat watching Lillanis sleep. She had such a peaceful face. Outside of the labyrinth, Ash hadn’t spent much time with Lillanis and the others. Every night they ate and had a few drinks together, but after that they went their separate ways. His impression of Lillanis had been that she was an easy going, strong type that held the other two in check. Seeing her now though, she seemed almost childlike and incomparably innocent. It was a lot like the difference between the awake and the sleeping Emelia.

Lillanis slept for a little under an hour and woke with a warm smile on her face. She didn’t say much as she sat up and left the room. As soon as she was gone, Allice appeared from one of the small doors that the servants used to get around the manor so that they wouldn’t disturb the guests.

“Master,” Allice said, the sadness in her eyes clearly visible.

Ash knew that while still young, Allice wasn’t a fool. Every night she would make sure everything was ready in his chambers so there was no way that she missed Lillanis being there the night before. He tried to think of something to say to comfort her, but his mind remained blank. Instead he placed his hand on top of her head and lightly patted it.

The rest of the day Ash went through his own personal finances. He didn’t know why the idea of the fort had hit him so strongly, but something told him that it should be built and the faster the better. Ash had lived his whole life going along with the flow and listening to what he felt was right, but even so he didn’t want to spend too much of his own coin on the production of the fort. If he did that, it wouldn’t just be him that suffers but his slaves as well.

Before he knew it, the sun had sat and everyone was once again gathered around the table to eat. Lillanis who normally ate next to Halon now sat beside Allice. Seeing that Lillanis didn’t try to force the younger girl out of her place made Ash smile.

Throughout dinner, Lillanis talked with Allice and Yuki. They didn’t talk about anything grand but just simple things. Yuki’s next grade test was in a little over a week, it was all she could talk about. Allice talked about her brother mainly, but Lillanis directed the conversation into what Allice herself liked. It was the first time Ash had heard Allice talk about herself.

From what Allice said before her mother died, she was learning how to sew and embroider from her and enjoyed it. After her death however, she had been forced to work long hours just to keep a small place to sleep and food so she didn’t seem to have any hobbies of her own.

When Lillanis heard this, she lightly hugged the young girl. Ash had expected Allice to pull back but instead she didn’t resist at all.

After eating, Ash had a quick bath then headed for bed, planning to head to the labyrinth early in the morning so he could try and push through some more floors. Shortly after he had laid down, Allice came to check on him but seeing the candle’s snuffed, she quietly left. When the door opened again a few moments later, Ash expected that it was Yuki coming to try to invade, but when he felt the warm body pressed against him he turned in shock. “Lillanis…What are you doing here?”

“Just sleeping,” She replied as she pressed her forehead against his back. Ash didn’t know what to do and the tension in his body quickly rose, but when the soft rhythmic breathing of the sleeping Lillanis reached his ears his body seemed to calm down.

6-7

The next morning, Ash woke as Lillanis exited the bed. The dim light streaming in from the widow illuminated her body showing that she had worn nothing the night before. She didn’t try to hide her body from Ash, in fact it was almost as if she was enjoying his stares.

Unlike the others, she didn’t wear thick armor. Instead she wore a light leather armor covered by her white robe. She also had a number of rings and necklaces that she wore. When she put them all on, she looked lovely and seemed to shine more than ever before.

After Lillanis dressed, she gave Ash a wink before leaving him alone in the room. As soon as she left, Ash quickly jumped from the bed and dressed. He thought it was slightly odd that he was the one embarrassed.

When he entered the dining room, the others were already waiting on him to eat. Jacob gave him a wink while Halon stares were still full of warning. Lillanis on the other hand, didn’t even pay attention to him as she sat next to Allice again while working with her on something. When Ash drew closer, Allice held up a white piece of cloth with small red needle work. “Master, what is your favorite color?” She asked happily.

“Green,” Ash said quickly as he took his seat. Allice frowned slightly, but her face brightened a few moments later after Lillanis whispered something in her ear.

When the food was brought out, Milly carried small glasses of water and placed them on the table before crawling into her positon on Lillanis’s lap. Watching Lillanis, Ash could only think that she would make a good mother. Shina had tried coaxing Milly to sit in her lap, but it seemed that she lost out to Lillanis.

“Master, now that you are no longer in training can I join in the fighting?” Shina asked after they had finished eating and started to get ready to leave for the labyrinth.

“It is fine with me, what about you three?” Ash said, turning to look at the other members of the party.

“Another fighter is always welcomed,” Halon replied quickly. The other two just nodded their head in agreement and soon their party of four was now a party of five.

As they walked toward the labyrinth, Lillanis walked on Ash’s right side holding his arm while Shina walked on his left. To the people watching it might seem like an enviable position, but for Ash it was pure torture. No matter how he looked at the two they seemed to act just like Yuki and Allice did at home. Before, the labyrinth was his only place to really relax, but it looked like that peace was slowly disappearing.

Since they had killed off enough ogres during their last time in the labyrinth, as soon as they entered, they went through the doors to the boss’s room. When the darkness cleared, a large ogre with silver skin and smaller tusks awaited them. It was a steel mountain ogre that was known for the toughness of their skin. The steel ogre looked at them with a completely dumbfounded look on its face. From the abilities he had received, he believed that the steel ogre was just one that had completely exhausted its intelligence to gain strength.

Even though Shina had been added to the group, not much had changed in the way they fought. Ash and Halon would still be the vanguards while Jacob and Shina attacked at the monsters blind spots and all the while Lillanis would make sure that none of them died.

Since it was a boss monster, Ash didn’t hold anything back and for the first time in months invoked gambler’s gambit.

“Tring.”

[Due to gambler’s gambit all stats have been raised by 94 points.]

Ash wanted to shout. Ninety-four points on each stat. There were no other words for it other than simply outrageous. Knowing that the boost wouldn’t last long, Ash quickly jumped forward striking at the ogre’s knee with his sword. When the ogre’s skin and the blade of the sword met sparks flew into the air, but Ash was still able to cut a deep wound into the ogre’s knee. While Ash was attacking the right knee, Halon was going after the left knee, but his attacks were doing far less damage.

As soon as Ash and Halon attacked, the ogre didn’t stay still. When Ash’s sword connected, the ogre howled and slammed his club down, but only hit dirt. Before the ogre could make a second strike, Shina threw one of her small daggers hitting it in the eyes while Jacob jumped behind it, though even with his boost damage skill his dagger barely broke through the ogre’s skin.

As soon as he landed the first strike, Ash jumped to the side to dodge the incoming attack. Not a second after his foot settled Ash struck again this time hitting the back of the knee, then he jumped back when another attacked came at his head. As soon as the ogre lifted the club back up, Ash invoked pounce and drove his sword deep into the ogre’s leg.

As the ogre toppled to the side, Ash tried to pull his sword free but it was trapped tightly in the ogre’s leg so he was forced to jump back otherwise he would have been buried under the monster’s weight. Ash had a number of copper swords back at the manor, but he had never thought of bring a spare with him. Cursing his own stupidity, Ash used shadow whip to try and keep the ogre’s attention but even with his boost it did little damage.

Without Ash drawing the ogre’s attention, it was shifted to Halon who was still attacking the left leg. Ash let out a warning just in time for Halon to dance backward as a strike from the ogre’s club narrowly missed him. Thankfully the ogre could no longer walk, though as if not understanding why, it was still trying to stand in-between its attacks.

Just as Ash was starting to go in to try for his sword again, his gambler’s gambit expired. Though it hadn’t been long, Ash felt weakened as the strength that had been flowing through his body left him but he didn’t slow. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Ash put both of his feet on the ogre’s leg and pulled with all his might but the blade only moved a half an inch.

Roaring out in pain, the ogre swung its right arm clipping Ash on the side and sending him tumbling to the other end of the room. As he came to a stop, Ash shook his head to clear it from spinning. Though it wasn’t accompanied by a weapon, the strike had still done a good deal of damage and sent him across the room. Looking down, Ash noticed that his arm was hanging loosely at his side. He tried to move it but he was only greeted with pain.

As he was sitting on the ground, Jacob hit the same spot in the neck he had been attacking and finally broke through the ogre’s defense severing the spinal cord. Ash stumbled over and absorbed the ogre then retrieved his sword.

“Master your arm,” Shina gasped as she noticed it hanging down at his side.

Lillanis pushed past Shina and pulled off Ash’s armor to inspect the wound. When she saw the large purplish bruise on his shoulder she let out a sigh of relief. “It has just been dislocated. Halon come here and give me a hand.”

For the first time in two days, Ash saw a smile spread across Halon’s face as he took hold of Ash’s wrist and upper arm. When Halon pulled on his arm while lifting up, a spasm of pain surged through Ask, nearly causing him to black out. After a few seconds, his vision cleared and he could once again move his arm though not without pain.

As soon as his arm was back in place, Lillanis started to heal his shoulder. The feel of her soft hands on his Skin brought a slight red tinge to Ash’s face but he endured it. When she was finished, Lillanis let her fingers linger on his skin as she traced the outline of his exposed collarbone.

“Does it feel better master?” Shina asked, steeping between Lillanis and Ash.

“As good as new,” Ash said trying not to smile.

“Then if you are feeling better, should we get moving?” Halon said, walking toward the door to the next floor. “I thought you wanted to fight some special monster on the lower floors.”

Just as Ash had figured, the next floor was bussing with plants and trees. The whole forest was brimming with magical energy, making it hard for him to see well with his Dragon Eyes. Due to the intense glare caused by the eyes, he was forced to inactivate the ability like he had done when training with Zelan.

Even without his Dragon Eyes, Ash focused on his Spider Sense but that seemed useless as well. The whole area felt as if it was an enemy, as if the forest itself was one large monster. Zelan had told him no matter how strong the ability, there would be times that it was useless or a hindrance so it was best to learn not to rely on them, but see them only as tools to be used when and only when they are useful.

Thanks to his training, Ash wasn’t bothered by the fact that he had lost the use of a few of his abilities. He was slightly more on guard and only hoped that it wasn’t another monster like the clematis that’s main body was hidden.

Ash got his first glimpse of their new foes shortly after entering the floor. A small green man seemed to rise out of the ground. It turned its small head and its body morphed until it looked like Halon, though with a green body. “Gross,” Shina said as she watched the green monster.

“It doesn’t look anything like magnificent me,” Halon said as he drew his sword.

“It looks just like you…That’s what makes it look so gross,” Shina said with a disgusted look on her face. “Why couldn’t it take master’s appearance, Then it would have been cute.”

Jacob laughed at Shina’s response, and when Halon protested, even Lillanis gives a light chuckle. Halon’s shoulders dropped slightly as he muttered to himself.

Before Halon could think of a retort, the green version of himself attacked. The hand of the creature formed into a sword just like the one Halon used. Just as Ash was starting to move to help Halon, he felt something behind him and dodged to the side and found himself facing a green version of himself. Looking at himself Ash, remembered fighting something similar in the past though not one nearly as strong. “Everyone watch out,” Ash yelled. “There are more than one.”

In all of their fights so far, they had worked as a team fighting against a known number of opponents. This time though, the enemies appeared out of the ground without warning. Ash and the others quickly gathered together with Lillanis at the center since she had the lowest HP and weakest defense.

Within moments, the group of five was surrounded by more than twenty plant creatures, each one wearing one of their faces. The monsters were strong and seemed to mimic not only the appearance, but the skills of their opponents. The only real difference that Ash could see was that the strength of the monsters was based on their level, not on who they mimicked.

Oddly enough, it was Ash’s clones that were the easiest to fight. Other than his luck shield, Ash didn’t have a lot of fighting skills and the cones could not mimic abilities it seemed so they were easy to deal with when compared to the others. Ash felt slightly sad that even Lillanis’s clone was harder to deal with than his. While neither had any combat related skills, the Lillanis’s clone could heal the others and itself.

With a tight formation, Ash and the others fought hard keeping the monsters away from Lillanis. With nearly every strike, Ash killed one of the clones, but more and more seemed to appear. If he was fighting alone it wouldn’t be much trouble, but the others were having a harder time dealing with the large numbers of enemies than he was.

Shina and Jacob who had speed, but less HP and defense were trapped and forced to fight while limiting their movements. Ash and Halon tried to move around when they could to help out, but there was little they could do without opening up their formation and putting Lillanis at risk.

When the last clone fell, Shina and the others collapsed on the ground breathing hard. Ash pulled out some water from his inventory and passed it around. While the others rested, Ash absorbed the clones and his MP quickly began to drain.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the max absorption rate for Spore Mimic. Abilities available: Copy (cannot be learned).]

“Tring.’

[No abilities from target can be learned. You will be granted a +1 stat point.]

“What did you get this time?” Lillanis asked looking up at Ash’s face.

“Nothing,” Ash replied. A +1 stat wasn’t even enough to get surprised about anymore. Since the others were resting, Ash picked up the monster drops. The item looked like a large seed about the size of Ash’s thumb.

[Spoor Seed (low quality).]

There was a total of 37 spoor seeds and one monster core. It had a total of nine points in stat increase meaning it was worth ninety gold. Ash showed the orb to the others and their eyes widened. It was not the first time they had found an orb, but each time they showed the same expression. “It is worth ninety gold. I will buy it and you can split the gold,” Ash said hopefully.

“You are going to use it for the country right?” Lillanis asked.

“Yes,” Ash replied honestly. “I will give it to Emelia so that she can use it to have a small reduction in taxes and use the saved coin on the fort.”

“Then how does ten gold each sound,” Halon suggested.

“It is worth a lot more than ten gold,” Ash said shaking his head.

“There are five of us fighting,” Halon said. “That means it would be…” Halon puts on a concentrated look as he thinks. “Eighteen gold a piece normally. If we count the fact that you are the only reason that an orb would drop, I don’t think the slight reduction in price really matters. I mean if you pay us what it is worth, then you will never get the coin you are trying to get. In fact, instead of paying us for the monster orbs, why don’t we just change the normal drop split.”

“That is a good idea,” Lillanis replied quickly.

“Right now we are spitting it 2 for us and one for Ash. We could increase it to four to one and let Ash have any orbs that drop.”

“Are you sure?” Ash asked, feeling as if he was taking advantage of his friends.

“I think it would work out fine,” Jacob interjected. “Orbs don’t drop that often, so as long as it is good with you, I think we will come out ahead.”

“Thank you,” Ash said bowing deeply to the three.

With the new terms of their partnership defined, Ash handed out the spore seeds that the monsters dropped. Out of the thirty-seven seeds Ash received seven. Out of the seven, he gave three to Shina. She tried to refuse, but Ash insisted that she had fought and deserved a portion of the rewards from the fight as well.

Even though Ash couldn’t gain anything more from the monsters on this level, they were still forced to fight three more times before they reached the boss room. The number of monsters they had to fight each time was outrageous and reminded Ash of the zombies on the earlier floor.

Even with the potions, everyone, including Ash was exhausted when they reached the boss room and didn’t feel like fighting. Even though there were four more floors until he reached the gnomes he wanted to fight, Ash was forced to head back.

Even though they had fought a lot of battles, it was still only slightly passed noon. With time to spare, Ash headed outside the gate. When he reached the area that was planned to be used for the fort, he found a number of people carrying axes and dragging downed trees to stack in large piles near the edge of the forest.

After removing his outer armor, Ash put it in his inventory as he pulled an axe out. Ash picked a place near where the others were working and started to cut down a tree. While he worked, Ash watched the other workers. They worked in teams of three. Two of the people would use ropes to guide how the tree fell while the third cut it down. Sometimes Ash would see the workers switch places but all around him they were all doing the same thing. Once the tree was down, the three would pull it over to the edge while a group of ten men used a set of pulleys to lift the logs up and stack them.

Thanks to his strength, it only took three strikes from his axe to nearly cut through the tree. When the tree started to sway Ash pushed in a clear area. After the tree settled on the ground, Ash heard a voice call out from behind him.

“Need a hand?” An older man looking to be in his mid-forties asked.

“Sure,” Ash replied as he sat the axe aside.

“I can help too master,” Shina said as she grabbed a small hand axe and started to cut off the limbs of the tree.

“Master eh,” the man said looking at Ash again.

“Yea…I ended up with her somehow or another,” Ash said laughing. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel like drawing too much attention.

“Ah lad, don’t worry too much about it,” the older man said with a knowing grin. “A lot of young men think of getting a slave, then end up having to work off the cost.”

After they carted the fallen tree away, they returned and continued clearing a small area. After they had cut down five trees in quick succession, the old man who was named Huck called for a break. “For such a young man with your strength, I am surprised that you are out here working instead of fighting in the labyrinth or working as an adventurer.”

“Is it that odd?” Ash asked as Shina handed him a small sandwich that she had brought with her.

“Well even if they are scrubs, the youngins always dream of being adventurers. Most don’t know that even people with grade sS abilities have a hard time making it as adventurers. They just look at the few who sit at the top and wish to be like them.”

“I don’t think I have heard of a scrub before,” Ash said as finished his food.

“Really…well they do have plenty of names for it. A scrub is someone who has a useless inborn ability. It is true that once you reach level ten you can get a job class, but even then you have levels. People with low level abilities have it hard finding a good master, though it does happen but it is rare.”

“But why are they called scrubs?” Ash asked.

“Oh, that. It is because of an old story. Would you like to hear it?” Huck asked with a withered smile.

“Is it a long story?” Ash asked as he sat down his canteen. “We should get back to work.”

“Lad, no need to push yourself so hard,” Huck said laughing. “We have already done as much in the past hour than most will get done in half a day. It is not like you get paid more for working harder. As long as you don’t seem to be slacking, the taskmasters won’t say a word,” Huck said in a lecturing tone. “Long ago there were two brothers. The older brother had three inborn abilities. One was a sword skill while the other two helped strengthen his body. The younger brother only had one inborn ability called scrub that allowed him to clean anything.”

As Huck told the story, Ash sat and listened patiently while Shina seemed to be completely absorbed in the story.

“Growing up, the parents of the children spent every dime they had to help the older brother train his abilities. On the other hand, the younger brother was sent out to work using his ability to earn money for his family. It wasn’t long before the older brother was noticed by the knights and brought into their order. With his new found fame, the older brother helped his family, but he had contempt in his heart for his brother who toiled every day. Thinking that his brother would bring shame to him, he brought his family to the capital while banishing his brother from the household. Without family or money, the young brother continued to work. He did not look for fame, instead he got a job at a large inn that quickly became known as the cleanest inn within the kingdom. One day the king who was passing through the town stopped at the famed inn and noticed the young man and hired him to work in the palace. Over the years the boy continued to work and one of the young princesses took to him and soon they were married. On the day of his wedding, his brother attended the ceremony, not knowing that it was for his younger brother. Upon seeing his younger brother sitting beside the princess, the older brother grew angry. ‘How dare his lowly brother try to rise above him?’ The older brother challenged his brother to a duel. The younger brother knew that he couldn’t win in a duel, but he had no way to retreat.”

As the story built up Shina’s eyes widened. Ash had heard plenty of stories like this before, but he kept quiet and continued to listen.

“As he faced off against his brother, the younger brother was filled with despair. When the older brother moved forward, he slipped on the floor that the younger brother had spent days polishing for his wedding. As the sword skittered across the ground the young brother picked it up, ending the duel while the guests laughed. The younger brother spared his brother’s life and instead sent him away to the far end of the country.”

“An interesting story,” Ash said once it was finished.

“Yes, we tell it to our children for two reasons. One so that those with talent don’t look down on those without it. We also tell it so those without talent don’t try to reach for something outside their reach and instead try to find happiness with what the gods gave them,” Huck explained. “Still, most kids these days want to be adventures. I guess there are worse ways to spend your youth though.”

After the story was done, Ash went back to cutting down trees. As he worked with the axe, Shina and Huck would pull the tree to land in a clear spot then the three would pull it over and start again. After every four trees they felled the group would take a small break. During these small breaks Shina would ask for Huck to tell a story and Huck never disappointed.

At the end of the day, Huck turned in the small widen plaques they had gotten each time they had brought over a fallen tree to the foreman so that he could receive their pay. “I was wrong,” Huck said with a large smile on his face. “We got three extra silver coins for getting so much done.”

As they parted, Ash promised that he would work with the man anytime he was free to come work. With the sun now setting, everyone started to head back and Ash made sure to take the long way back to his own residence.

As soon as arrived at home Yuki and Allice were waiting on him. Like they did every day, the two jumped to welcome him home then ushered him off to the bath.

After cleaning himself, Ash walked down to the dining room where everyone was gathered. “Master,” Allice said in a slightly nervous manner after Ash had taken his seat at the head of the table.

“Humm,” Ash said turning his head to look at the young blonde girl.

“I made this for master,” Allice said holding out a small bundle wrapped in brown paper.

Ash took the offered gift and pulled on the small string wrapped around it. As the brown paper opened it exposed a small dark green handkerchief with Ash’s name embroidered on it along with a slightly lopsided sword. “Thank you it is very nice,” Ash said, holding it up so that everyone could see it.

After carefully folding the handkerchief Ash put it away and gave Allice a warm smile. Yuki protested by grabbing his arm and pulling in close but Allice didn’t seem to mind as she had a confident look on her face.

After the meal, Ash retired to his room but found that it was quickly overrun. In the past only Yuki and Allice would come to his room at night. Allice would clean while Yuki worked on the gear but now with Lillanis accompanied them. With Lillanis in the room Shina quickly invaded crying that it wasn’t fair and quickly behind her came Milly.

Ash seemed to be mascot of the small manner. Whenever she saw Ash, she would hide behind one of the other maids so the only time Ash had seen her was when she was being held by either Lillanis or Shina.

Ash’s room had changed a lot over the past weeks. There was now a large desk in the corner for his work for Emelia and today a few new letters had arrived for him to overlook. As he worked, Lillanis sat on the ground at his side while helping Allice work on her sewing. Yuki sat on the bed, oiling Ash’s armor and Shina sat on the floor playing with Milly.

After he was finished with his work, Ash turned and looked around the room. “What is this?” Ash asked with a slightly confused look on his face.

Milly let out a small squeak when Ash spoke and quickly skittered around to hide behind Shina only peeking her head out to look at him. “We only want to spend time with our beloved master,” Shina said, pulling Milly into her lap. “During the day you are out of the house and the small amount of time you are home, you stay cooped up in your room. So how else are we going to spend time with master if we don’t come in here?”

Shina whispered something to Milly and the little girl shook her head vigorously but after a few seconds she got to her feet and approached Ash with a determined look on her face. Standing right in front of Ash she held up her hands. Without thinking Ash picked up the young girl and she quickly settled in his lap.

“Are you comfortable?” Ash asked sarcastically as he looked at the small girl curled in his lap. Milly didn’t say anything, she just looked up at him with her large black eyes. Ash wanted to say more, but every second she laid there the less he could think to say.

It didn’t take long for Milly to fall asleep. Once she did, Shina lifted Milly from Ash’s lap. With Shina and Milly gone, Yuki and Allice yawning quickly followed. All that was left in now seemingly overly large room was Ash and Lillanis. Ash fought with himself on what to say to Lillanis, but before he could say a word Lillanis started to take off her clothing.

Just like before, Lillanis just nuzzled up to Ash after he crawled into the bed. It still felt odd to Ash, but in some small way it felt good to have someone beside him. Ash didn’t know why, but ever since he had spent the first night beside Emelia he felt slightly lost when he slept alone in his own bed.

At first, Ash was a little nervous the first time he slept in the same bed with Lillanis. She was completely unabashed when she was alone around him. Ash had now seen Lillanis’s nude body a number of times and he found her beautiful on many levels. She had milky white skin that almost seemed to shine in the candlelight. Her chest was not merger nor was it lacking, but seemed to fit her frame perfectly. If Ash was forced to say who was more beautiful between Lillanis and Emelia there was no part where Lillanis was lacking.

Those thoughts in his mind made it harder rather than easier. A part of him felt like he was being untrue to his wife. Even if it was common in this world, it still felt odd and wrong for him.

6-8

The next morning, Ash woke to find Lillanis’s arms wrapped tightly around him. He tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but her arms tightened around him even more. After pulling his head out of Lillanis’s chest, Ash noticed a twitch of a smile on Lillanis’s face.

“You’re awake aren’t you?” Ash asked pointedly.

“No,” Lillanis replied keeping her eyes shut tightly.

Lillanis lightly chuckled as Ash pulled away from her. The whole time Ash dressed, she watched him with unmoving eyes. “Why did you cling to me?” Ash asked slightly flustered at her penetrating stare.

“You are just so innocent that it was cute,” Lillanis said as she stood from the bed and approached Ash. When he turned his back, Lillanis pounced and hugged him tightly from behind. “I already waited two nights for you to do something. You know it hurts a woman’s pride a little when the man next to her just falls asleep without even touching her.”

“I’m married,” Ash said, trying to pull away but Lillanis clung even tighter to him.

“That excuse won’t work,” Lillanis said wiggling around to place herself in front of Ash. “We already settled that with your wife and she didn’t seem to mind at all.”

Suddenly Ash’s lips were covered by Lillanis’s. For the first few seconds, Ash tried to pull back from Lillanis, but his head grew light and he found himself enjoying the kiss. When Lillanis pulled back and let go of Ash’s lips, he was left speechless.

After slipping on her dress, Lillanis left with Ash still standing motionlessly in the center of the room. No matter how he looked at it, things were moving too fast for him. A year before, he had been nothing but an unwanted orphan that was barely noticed by women. He had put all his efforts so that when he came of age, he could have a fresh start but instead he had been transported to a new world.

Ever since he had been brought here, Ash had met a number of people, but most of them had been women. Thinking about it though it made sense, seeing that women vastly outnumbered men here. Ash had never considered himself handsome, but for some reason the women around him didn’t seem to mind. In fact they easily became attached to him. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t make sense of it.

When Ash made his way to the dining room, he found everyone sitting waiting on him. Lillanis gave him a warm smile but other than that, it felt the same as any other morning yet still something inside him felt different. As soon as he took his seat, everyone began to fill their plates and eat. Before Ash was halfway done with his food, he felt something crawling up his leg and looked down to find the young Milly climbing up in his lap with a smile. Once she was seated, Milly looked up at him and opened her mouth wide. Laughing, Ash fed her a small amount of ham and was charmed as her small mouth chewed the food with a contented look on her face.

“Master,” Milly said in a soft chime like voice as she hugged Ash around the waist.

It was the first time had really heard Milly say something clearly to him. Looking down, Ash couldn’t help but smile as he softly patted Milly’s head.

After his meal was finished, Gilda took Milly from his lap. When she was lifted up Milly tried to hold on, but her small hands quickly lost out. Ash saw Milly’s slightly puffed out cheeks as she was carried away by Gilda. Ash hadn’t given the small panther child much, but something about a small child being a slave still bothered him.

Though Ash was still bothered by his thoughts about Milly, there were plenty of other things that he had to do. Pushing his worries aside for later, Ash headed out with the others to the labyrinth.

As they walked through the streets, Lillanis stuck closely to Ash’s right side while Shina took his left. Only the day before, Ash would feel awkward about this situation but now it didn’t seem to bother him as much. Even when Shina pulled his arm in tight to her chest it Ash didn’t resist like he normally would. Ash himself didn’t notice this slight change in his behavior but Shina did.

Sensing the slight change in behavior, Shina pushed her luck and rested her head on Ash’s shoulder as they walked but still he didn’t protest. When Shina lightly nibbled on Ash’s earlobe he looked at her with a slightly annoyed look, but didn’t rebuke her like he normally would. Pulling back, Shina gave a light sigh and looked slightly disappointed but it didn’t last long before a wicked smile spread across her face.

As soon as the five entered the labyrinth, they headed through the door to fight the boss. As the darkness cleared, Ash and the others found themselves facing what looked to be a large tree. Ash had read the plaque before and knew that the monster was called “old growth,” but it didn’t appear as he had envisioned it.

Before anyone could make a move, the tree shook and a puff of green mist filled the air. Ash and the others covered their mouths, but nothing happened until the ground below them began to shake as the green cloud began to disappear. Suddenly dozens and dozens of green creatures burst from the ground.

The monsters looked much like the ones outside, but instead of cloning their appearance, they took the appearance of the monsters the group had fought on previous floors. Ash spotted everything from the slimes on the first floor to the ice sprites on the nineteenth floor among the large number of assembled enemies.

Since there was a large number of enemies, the group changed tactics. Unlike before where they were forced to fight in a wide open area this time it was still in a large room, but they were surrounded by walls. Lillanis took up a position in the corner while Shina and Jacob stood in front of her. Ash and Halon stood at the top of the small diamond, distracting anything that came near the four. While the other four distracted the monsters, Ash who had the highest stats moved among them, killing them at will.

Ash darted among the creatures as he dodged their attacks. The monsters themselves seemed to be only slightly stronger as they were on the previous levels, but the large number of them mixed with their abilities made it a much harder fight then many would assume.

Dancing to the side to dodge a Shadow Whip, Ash struck out with a Cone of Frost to the front while slicing a green kobold in half. Rushing forward, Ash killed all the frozen monsters that got in his path. For those that were out of his reach, Ash used his shadow whip to stick them. For the monsters below the fifteenth level, it was an instant kill, those above were still dealt tremendous amounts of damage.

Right about the time it took to kill two thirds of the clones, the tree started to shake again. Ash felt his heart shake as the air was once again filled with green smoke. As the green smoke settled, Ash hoped that there would be less monsters than last time, but his prayers were not answered when dozens of monsters rose from the ground.

Ash pulled back to join the others. “Any ideas?” Ash asked as he struck down a monster that had come too close.

“We have to take out that tree before it releases another batch of spores,” Halon said. “The longer the fight drags on, the harder it will get with it relentlessly putting pressure on us.”

“Can you hold out here while I try to take down the tree?” Ash asked as he downed a stamina recovery potion to recovery the little he had already used.

“Don’t worry master, we can hold them off,” Shina said twirling the daggers in her hands.

“Be careful,” Lillanis added with a slightly worried look on her face.

Ash gave a tight smile then planted his feet firmly in the ground and used Cone of Frost on the incoming enemies. Even though they were not his main concern, Ash took down every monster that crossed his path on his way to the old growth that was located at the far end of the room. As he moved past the large group of monsters, Ash was tempted to look back to see how the others were doing but he resisted and pushed forward.

When Ash was less that fifty yards from the old growth, it started to shake again and Ash came to a stop and readied himself. Instead of a green cloud this time, a light red colored fog fell from its branches and sunk into the ground. Just as before the ground shook but instead of shaking the whole room, the ground beneath Ash’s feet only slightly shook as three large green humanoid monsters rose from the ground.

The monsters stood eight feet and had long thin arms and legs. As soon as they pulled themselves to stand fully erect, all three of the creatures turned in Ash’s direction and shambled toward him. Due to their large size, the monsters moved slowly, but it was easy to see the strength behind their attacks as the ground shook each time the monster’s fist struck the ground. Thankfully with their lumbering movements, it was not hard for Ash to dodge the attacks.

Sliding to the side, Ash chopped down hard on one of the monster’s legs, cutting clean through its mossy flesh. Ash quickly jumped back, expecting the brute to topple to the ground but as it leaned back, vines shot from its severed leg reattaching itself.

Jumping in, Ash attacked again, this time severing one of the creature’s arms. Unlike last time as he struck Ash watched closely and noticed that though he severed the arm, no numbers appeared to show that he had done any damage to the creature. When he noticed this, Ash took a step back and let his eyes shift to the large tree that was still about sixty yards away.

Without knowing a quick way to deal with the moss golems, Ash moved past them and decided instead to attack the old growth head on. Easily slipping past the moss golems, Ash struck the old growth hard, but his thin bladed sword seemed to do little damage.

Slipping his sword in its sheath, Ash pulled the axe he had been using the day before out of his inventory. Using the axe, Ash hit the tree again and this time small flecks of bark peppered his face. After two more strikes a small wedge of wood fell from the tree followed by a thick blood red sap. Even though his axe was doing much more damage than his sword, the moss golems were not going to wait around while he cut through the massive tree and Ash was forced to circle around its large truck as he dodged the monster’s attacks.

As he moved to the back of the tree, Ash took a quick look in the corner where he had left his friends to find it empty. Instead what he saw was a large number of green creatures headed in his direction. A sense of worry hit him until he saw Shina jump into the air landing on one of the creature’s back skewering it with her twin daggers. After Shina came, Halon who was cutting down anything that got in his way. It looked like as soon as Ash struck the old growth that the monsters turned their attention away from the four and moved to attack Ash instead. Knowing that his time was limited, Ash continued to chop away as he moved around.

Soon Ash was not only dodging the attacks of the moss golems, but those of the clone monsters as well. The only saving grace was that their numbers had been greatly reduced and the old growth had yet to release another batch of green spores into the air.

Ash struck the trunk of the tree again as a green spear flashed past his side from a dragon kin clone. Before he could turn around and kill it, Jacob appeared cutting its head off. Unlike normal monsters, when the clones died they simply burst into green dust.

Ash kept his attention on the old growth, leaving the other monsters to his companions. His strikes didn’t do a lot of damage, but with his single-mindedness it only seemed like moments before he had cut far enough into the old growth that it started to pop and sway. With a large cracking sound, the top of the tree crashed to the ground.

As soon as the old growth died, the moss clones burst into dust. Coughing and gaging on the green dust, Ash absorbed the old growth and then picked up a small red vial of liquid that lay on the ground and handed it to Lillanis.

“That was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Halon said rubbing a small bruise on his upper arm.

“Don’t tell me you are ready to head back already,” Lillanis said with a furrowed brow. “We haven’t even been in here an hour yet.”

Ash handed out recovery potions for stamina and MP while drinking a few himself. “Halon might be right, it isn’t good to push ourselves too hard. We should test out the next floor and see if we can make it to the boss room then warp out sometime around noon. No reason to force ourselves yet.”

Hearing this, Halon and Jacob smiled while Lillanis narrowed her eyes at Ash. A shiver ran down Ash’s back at the coldness of her look, but he tried to brush it aside.

After a small rest the five continued through the door to the twenty-fifth floor. The floor looked like an old abandoned fort with crumbling and moss covered walls. The air in the halls were musty and carried the stench of death. Just as when Ash fought alone, the group stuck to the right most paths as they tried to make their way to the end of the level. After they had made their second turn, they came across a large man standing a little over six foot tall wearing ebony armor.

“Death Knight,” Halon said with a sneer.

“No…not a Death Knight,” Lillanis said, looking over the enemy in front of them. “It is only a Dark Knight…It doesn’t have the barbed armor of a Death Knight.”

The Dark Knight seemed intimidating to Ash, but he was slightly interested in the difference between it and a Death Knight. Sadly though before he could voice his questions the Dark Knight charged, swinging its massive two handed sword at Halon.

The strength of the Dark Knight’s strike forced Halon to his knees. Before Halon could regain his footing, the Dark Knight brought his sword back up and began to strike again. A flash of fear flashed through Halon’s eyes, but the second before the Death Knights sword struck him, Ash hit the tang of the larger blade with his sword diverting it just enough so that it struck Halon in the shoulder instead of the head.

As soon as the sword glanced off Halon’s shoulder and hit the ground, Ash followed through, hitting the Dark Knight with multiple hits but the knight’s heavy armor blocked each of his strikes. As Lillanis and Shina pulled Halon back, Ash jumped back and used Shadow Whip.

As the black whip hit the knight, it was thrown to the side and hit the far wall heavily. The only noise that was made as the knight was thrown was the sound of its armor as it struck the wall. As a large -155 appeared above the knight’s head it turned its large purple burning eyes to stare at Ash. As soon as Ash looked at its eyes, a flash of pain erupted through his head and his vision blurred.

As pain wracked his body, Ash dropped down to his knees. When the ringing in his ears subsided, Ash looked up to find that the Dark Knight’s heavy sword descending toward his head. As the sword descended, Ash could hear people screaming his name, but he didn’t even have time to blink. The blade stopped a millimeter from Ash’s nose as a blue light flashed absorbing the sword’s strike.

Surprised, Ash could do nothing but stare at the knight as it raised its sword for another strike. Ash had had plenty of close calls before, but this was the first time his death had seemed so clear to him. Ash couldn’t help but look down at the hand that held his sword and noticed that his hand was trembling slightly.

Ash was pulled from his own thoughts by another scream as Shina launched herself into the Death Knight. As Shina impacted with the creature, sparks flew as her daggers searched for any opening. As if tossing off a bug, the knight threw Shina off his and to the ground and quickly advanced on her. Seeing Shina in danger, Ash tightened his grip on his sword and activated Shadow Whip, once again throwing the creature into the far wall. Lining his sword up with his elbow, Ash charged, shoving the blade through the dark knight’s visor.

“That was bad,” Ash said holding out his hand to help Shina to her feet.

Shina didn’t even seem as if she noticed Ash’s offered hand instead she jumped to her feet, as tears freely flowed from her eyes and clung to Ash. “Master…Master…Master,” Shina said over and over as she clung to his waist.

After Shina had calmed down, the five sat recovering from the battle. While they rested they talked about the best way to fight against Dark Knights. Unlike most monsters Dark and Death Knights fell under both undead and specter categories much like a Lich. This meant that while they had a physical body, they could also use spiritual and mind attacks. While this made them dangerous, it also came with drawbacks. Because they fell under dual undead types, they were also very vulnerable to any form of white magic or blessed weapons. Everything had happened so fast that neither Ash nor Lillanis had time to prepare and thus they were forced to fight without the aid of either.

Lillanis only had two spells that would work; Scour Soul and Release. Release was the weaker of the two and was used to purify weaker undead. Against a Dark Knight it would only confuse it for a few seconds. Scour Soul on the other hand took a great deal of mana but could kill a single Dark Knight. The real problem beside the mana cost was that if either Ash or Jacob got hit by the spell, they would receive a great deal of damage as well. If not for the drawbacks it would be the prefect weapon against the Dark Knight but instead it was decided that it would be saved unless needed.

While they rested, Ash applied his blessing to everyone’s weapons so that they would cut more into the Dark Knight’s armor which was created by its soul force. Lillanis could bless weapons as well, but since Ash’s ability was god granted and hers was a skill that just wrapped weapons in white magical energy, his was more effective and lasted longer.

“Ready?” Ash asked as he tried to shake Shina from his arm. Ever since the end of the battle, Shina hadn’t moved more than half a foot away from Ash. Lillanis had moved close to his as well, but she wasn’t near as clingy as Shina.

With everyone rested, the five once again made their way through the hallways of the labyrinth. It wasn’t long until they ran into another Dark Knight, this time though they were ready. This time Ash focused on blocking the knight’s attacks while the others dealt damage to it. Ash found it slightly hard to keep from looking in the creatures eyes while he fought, but after the previous experience, he wasn’t keen on suffering through another mental attack.

Thanks to the blessed weapons and the new attack patterns, the knight fell within a few moments. As the knight died, Ash picked up a piece of dark cloth that was left behind.

[Dark Cloth: cloth made from the essence of death. Used most often to make robes for necromancers and dark mages.]

Ash handed the cloth to Lillanis since it was the first monster drop. After the first encounter with a Dark Knight the second one seemed almost disappointingly easy. Once Ash absorbed the knight, the group moved forward to continue their fighting.

6-9

It was slightly after midday by the time Ash and the others fought their way to the boss room and exited the labyrinth. Once they were outside, Ash and Shina headed toward the west exit while the others headed back toward the Adventure’s Guild to sell their goods.

Almost as soon as Ash and Shina arrived at the area being cleared for the fort, Huck found them. Without a word, the old man started helping as Ash and Shina began to cut down trees.

Ash wanted to hurry and fight gnomes so that he could hopefully get a skill that would be more useful in the construction of the fort, but he knew forcing it would only invite disaster. He also knew that the main work of the earth mages wouldn’t start until a large portion of the woods had been cleared, so he didn’t feel a need to rush either.

After two hours of work and eight trees, they took a small break. Huck wanted to take a break after the first hour, but Ash refused his request.

As they sat once again they ate food that Shina had prepared. Ash wanted to ask Shina how she knew that they would need them, but from the look in her eye he knew that the answer would be something surprisingly simply so he pushed the thought aside.

As they ate, Huck once again began telling a story in hopes of making the break slightly longer. Ash didn’t care much for another story, but when he looked at Shina he left it alone. No matter how he thought about it, Shina in no way acted her age.

“Have you ever heard about the king of rags?” Huck asked Shina as he slowly ate his food. When Shina shook her head, Huck let out a thin smile.

“Long ago in a kingdom now forgotten to time there was a young king. He had wealth, power, and women, but still he felt empty, so each day he would go out amongst the people searching. One day the king was approached by a young merchant who showed him a small multicolored egg. He told the king that it was the egg of a phoenix. The king quickly bought the egg at an extravagant price and took it home.”

“Days passed and the egg didn’t hatch. After months passed the king once again searched out the merchant and had him brought to him in chains. He asked why the egg had yet to hatch. The merchant told the king that for a phoenix to hatch it required that the egg be heated by molten rock only found deep within the earth.”

“The king was furious with the news, but he ordered his people to dig. For three years the people of the land toiled as they dug into the earth until finally they dug deep enough for the earth to turn into fire. The king had the egg placed in the molten earth and two days later the phoenix flew into the air.”

“The phoenix was unlike anything the king had seen before. It was just as he had heard in legend. It was bright red and its wings burned a bright blue as it soared through the skies. The phoenix lived in the small pit where it was born, but it quickly started to die. The king once again called upon the merchant and was told that phoenix had to eat a strange liquid that looked like liquid silver to live. The king searched far and wide and bought all the liquid silver he could find nearly emptying the kingdom’s coffers. While the country died, the phoenix lived until a neighboring kingdom attacked. The king called upon his army, but their weapons had been sold to pay for the phoenix’s food and they ran from the invading army. The king called upon his people but they refused to heed his call. With no other choice, the king preyed to the phoenix, but the creature cared little for the worries of man and flew off to find a new home.”

“The king who had everything had given everything away for the sake of a creature that in the end held no love for him leaving him with no people, gold, or country.”

“I don’t get it,” Ash said as Huck finished his story. “What was the meaning behind the story?”

“What do you mean? Not every story has to have a meaning, but if I had to give it one it would be not to neglect your duties for pleasure.”

Ash rolled his eyes and returned to work. After they had worked for a few more hours, Huck told another story but this time instead of listening, Ash continued to work while the other two rested.

When they were finished for the day and received their pay, Ash headed to Emelia’s while Shina returned home. She had wanted to stay with him, but Ash quickly refused her request. Tonight he wanted to spend time with Emelia alone.

Ash was greeted at the gate and quickly ushered not to the study, but the small meeting room. Ash was slightly surprised when he was forced to take a bath and then moved through the back halls and sat beside Emelia. “What is going on?” Ash asked as soon as his wife embraced him.

“The knight captain arrived today. He has been waiting all day for a meeting, but I wanted to wait until you arrived. I sent a letter to your residence, but I figured you would already be gone before it arrived.”

Shortly after Ash was seated, a large man in his late fifties and a young girl in her mid-twenties were brought into the room. The man was introduced as the knight captain Condrey and the young lady was scout Marilyn.

“Milady, it is a pleasure that you could see me at such short notice,” Condrey said bowing his head.

“I am glad that you received my summons, but why is it that less than ten knights arrived with you?”

“Milady, the rest of the knights are currently dispatched throughout the duchy to keep order and to search for squires. I thought it would be more prudent to come myself and see why you requested us to appear?”

“Then you decided to take it upon yourself to countermand my direct order?” Emelia asked her voice dropping an octave.

“I did what I thought was best for the duchy,” Condrey said without backing down. “Your father trusted me for years and I would expect you to follow him in that regard. If you think I have made an error though, I will gladly step aside and let one of the younger bucks take my place.”

“Condrey, can we drop all the playing around,” Emelia said with a warm smile letting go of her stone face. “Ash, go ahead and explain the reason why we have called the knights back.”

“Umm…Yes,” Ash said feeling nervous. Ash quickly explained his plan to the two knights. When he was finished Condrey rubbed his chin then nodded his head.

“It would be nice to have a place to call home instead of living out of inns. The main question is, if everyone is based in Tellian, what do we do about the rest of the Hawkwing lands?”

“How long would it take you to reach the farthest place within the duchy?” Ash asked.

“Twelve days if it was clear weather,” Condrey responded after giving it a little thought.

Ash had looked at a map but having not had much experience traveling, it was slightly more time than he expected. “If everything goes to plan and you are able to train and keep more knights then having the knights’ work on a rotation would be best.”

“I see. For now the knights with new squires will need to train. If they had a place better suited for it that didn’t constantly drain coin, then it would allow for more knights in the long run. I will bring in half the knights right now, but the others will still need to patrol the King’s road otherwise bandits will come out of the woodwork. Will that be enough?”

“If you think it is for the best,” Ash said without hesitation.

“Marilyn, you will work as the liaison between the knights and Lord and Lady Hawkwing. I will start bringing in our brothers and sisters. Lord Hawkwing, I think it would be best if you learned a bit more about the knights. Thus I wish you to keep scout Marilyn with you. Her group is in the city and I hope that in the coming months you will work with them.”

“Why?” Ash asked skeptically. He was already busy with the labyrinth exploration and the building of the fort and did not look to add more to his already full plate.

“I think it will help you understand who the knights are and what we need,” Condrey replied with a sly smile. “Also, I always find it interesting to see nobles crawl through the mud with the knights.”

“Sir Condrey, if I didn’t know you better I would think that you were doing this to spite me,” Emelia said as she looked over the young scout. She was short at only five foot two inches with long brown hair. The young woman was thin but she had curves where most men liked them. Looking at her, Emelia felt as she had been challenged. When Ash brought back Lillanis, Emelia felt a little worried as she was a rare beauty, but Emelia didn’t see her as threat for some reason.

“Milady Hawkwing, I would never think of doing anything against you,” Condrey said though the fact that he bowed his head to hide his smile didn’t help convince Ash that he had only good intentions.

“Then scout Marilyn can meet with my husband in the morning. One of the maids will give her directions to his estate. I think you will find that my husband is no lay about. I hope that your young scout can keep pace with him.”

“Then until duty requires us to meet again, I shall return to my duties,” Condrey said with another short bow.

After the two left, Emelia let out a long string of curses. Ash was sure that the knights could hear her words since it was unlikely that they had yet to leave the building. Seeing Emelia so worked up, Ash couldn’t help to laugh slightly. Ash had seen many sides of Emelia since he had met her. She was strong willed but also weak, but this was the first time he had seen her truly agitated and for some reason it struck a chord in him.

“That is far from the worst meeting I have seen you in,” Ash said teasingly. “Why did you get so worked up?”

“Condrey was a friend of my fathers,” Emelia said after letting out a deep breath. “Ever since I was a child, he has liked to tease me and no matter what I do or say, he always gets the better of me.”

“I thought that other women didn’t bother you?” Ash asked, still clueless to what had happened during the meeting to get her so mad.

“It would be one thing if it was just another woman, but he chose Marilyn for a reason,” Emelia spat. “She is his youngest daughter and also one that was brought over often to play with me. We were friends and not friends at the same time. It is complicated.”

Seeing the annoyed look on Emelia’s face, Ash didn’t press her for any more details. Instead he simply wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her in tight to his side. Emelia squeezed his shoulder, but remained silent as they took the back hallway to eat in the bedroom.

“How is everything going with the fort?” Emelia asked, breaking the warm yet silent atmosphere that had filled the room.

“It is going well, though a lot slower than I had expected,” Ash said as he sat his empty plate aside. “It will take months before enough of the forest is cleared for the real work to even be started.” Ash’s voice trailed off when he turned his head and noticed that Emelia had slipped out of her dress and lay bare upon the bed with a wicked smile on her face.

6-10

“Morning,” Emelia said looking down at Ash as she was propped up on her elbow.

“Morning,” Ash replied, sitting up and looking out the window. The sky was still dark so he felt no need to hurry.

After a casual breakfast with Emelia, Ash made his way back home to find Marilyn waiting on him in his own garden, along with another young lady. The other person wore the same badge as Marilyn, but was slightly taller and her hair was not as fine.

Neither woman noticed Ash as he entered. Marilyn was sitting under the small cherry tree. She was drawing something while eating a small pastry. The other woman was looking down at the paper Marilyn was scribbling on with a look of barely concealed anticipation on her face.

Ash didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to intrude on the two so he quietly edged closer to them. “Mar…Art hurry. I want to see it,” the other woman said with a thin smile.

“Marie give me a moment to finish it,” Marilyn said as she took a nibble off the pastry.

Ash continued to watch until Marilyn finished the drawing and handed it to the other woman. Marie looked at the drawing and a large smile spread across her face. “Mar, marry me?”

The sudden question shocked Ash so much that he coughed and the two women looked at him. “Sir Ash,” Marilyn said rising to her feet.

Marie looked at Ash with narrowed eyes. “So you are the guy who is trying to take my Mar away from me.”

“Marie,” Marilyn said in a pleading voice.

The woman named Marie walked past Ash, her eyes filled with scorn as she passed. Ash could hear her muttering as she walked by, but he couldn’t make out the words. It was clear that he was not to her liking.

“Sorry about that sir,” Marilyn said slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ash said, trying to hold back a smile. “Care to come in.”

Marilyn followed Ash into the building staying close behind him. As soon as he entered the building, Yuki and Allice rushed to greet him. Before either could finish their greeting, Marilyn let out a loud scream and rushed past Ash and grabbed Yuki and hugged her. “So cuteeeeeeeeeeeee,” Marilyn said as Yuki struggled uselessly to free herself.

“Masfterrr…Help,” Yuki said, struggling as Allice greeted Ash with a warm smile seemingly ignoring Yuki’s plight.

“Sorry,” Marilyn said, blushing a deep crimson as the realization of what she had done donned on her.

As soon as Marilyn let go of the little fox girl, Yuki ran behind Ash and used his body as a shield. Seeing Yuki run from her made Marilyn face drop, but only until she noticed the small Milly who had somehow appeared and was crawling up Ash’s leg as if it were a tree. Without thinking, Ash bent down and lifted the small panther girl. The way she clung to his arm reminded him of pictures of koalas clinging to a branch.

From the look on Marilyn’s face Ash could tell that she wanted to hold Milly, but after what had happened to Yuki Ash didn’t think it was a good idea so he ignored her pleading eyes. “Who is our guest master?” Shina asked, walking into the foyer and seeing the odd standoff.

“This is knight scout Marilyn. She will be working with us for the time being. Tell the guards I need the group crystal back so that she can use it,” Ash said offhandedly while internally thanking Shina for her prefect timing.

After everyone had eaten and Marilyn had been introduced to the others in there group, the six left for the labyrinth. While they walked, Shina’s place was taken since Marilyn who preferred to be called Mar talked to Ash about what was currently happening with the knights in the city.

It seemed that right now there was a problem with a band of thieves that were preying on the King’s road close to Tellamor. Right now the knights were searching for the bandit’s main camp but so far had come up empty handed. The young woman that Mar had been talking with earlier was another scout who was currently tasked with the search.

“Do you fight in the labyrinth every day?” Mar asked as they approached the worn plaque.

“Yes,” Ash said indifferently as he reached out his hand.

Ash was worried that Marilyn would say something about his status when she joined their group so he held onto the stone until after they arrived inside the dusty halls of the labyrinth. As Ash handed over the stone Shina and the others who knew the truth gripped their weapons tightly. Ash didn’t have to tell them, but they knew what would happen if the truth was carelessly exposed.

Name: Marilyn Roslin

Level: 26

Race: Human

Occupation: Novice knight scout

Title: none

HP: 135/135

MP 165/165

SP 32/32

Strength: 23

Vitality: 27

Agility: 51

Stamina: 32

Spirit: 11

Intelligence: 33

Endurance: 20

Luck: 12

Looking at her stats, Ash could tell that Marilyn had been well trained as her stats were above those of most people with the same level. At the same time, Ash was looking at her stats she was looking at his. The way he could tell was the way her eyes widened suddenly. Suddenly Mar looked around and noticed that both Shina and Ash had their weapons out.

“I didn’t know,” Marilyn said taking a slight step back from the other five.

“You are a knight correct?” Ash asked in a tone dead voice.

“Y-yes,” Marilyn said her voice wavering.

“You are sword to the Hawkwing house…Correct?” Ash continued his question.

“Yes. Just like my father, I serve the Hawkwing house,” Marilyn confirmed weakly.

“I am currently married to Lady Hawkwing,” Ash said slowly. “She knows what you see. If you do not trust that fact then you can ask her yourself, but you are not to relay this information to any others without her direct approval…That includes your father,” Ash ordered. “Will you obey this order?”

“Y-yes I swear on my honor,” Marilyn quickly said as large beads of sweat poured down her face.

With her acknowledgement, Ash relaxed his stance as did the others. As soon as the tension left the air, Marilyn slumped to her knees breathing hard. No one said any words to Marilyn they just silently waited for her to regain herself. Once she did, Ash blessed all their weapons so that they could harm the Dark Knights.

Since Marilyn was a scout, she had skills that allowed her to move without being detected. Ash had his own abilities that allowed him to find enemies, but with another set of eyes it took a little of the pressure off of him.

After Marilyn located the first knight she used one of her skills to throw out a knife made of energy to draw the monster’s attention. As the knight chased after Marilyn, Ash and Halon attacked.

Though it was only one extra person, it made the fight much easier. Marilyn was able to draw the knight’s attention allowing both Ash and Halon to attack it while it was unguarded. Within five strikes the Dark Knight was lying on the floor of the labyrinth dead.

“Tring.” The noise echoed in Ash’s mind after he absorbed the creature.

[You have reached the absorption level for the Dark Knight. Abilities available; Dark Eyes (active), Shadow Armor (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly received the ability Shadow Armor.]

[Shadow Armor: Cost 25MP 10SP; creates an armor made of shadows to protect the caster.]

“Get anything good this time?” Lillanis asked as she walked up beside Ash to pick up the dark cloth that had been dropped.

“I got the Dark Knight’s Shadow Armor,” Ash said invoking the new ability for everyone to see.

“We still fighting?” Halon asked stepping between him and Lillanis.

“Yes, I still need to acquire the Dark Eyes ability,” Ash said rolling his own eyes and sighing.

“What are you going to do with all these abilities?” Halon asked.

“I don’t know, but it is better to have them then not. The more options I have, the better chances I have at surviving anything that comes at me,” Ash replied as he turned toward Marilyn. “Find the next one.”

Marilyn didn’t say anything as she turned and left to find the next prey. Just like the day before, they fought until around midday then left the labyrinth. Ash was unable to gain another ability, but he did raise his level to fourteen. Just as before he put everything into luck. Ash was tempted to put some into other areas but the boosts he got from luck was just too overwhelming to ignore.

Just as the day before when they left the labyrinth, Shina and Ash parted from the others and moved toward the city exit. The only difference was that today Marilyn followed quietly behind Shina and Ash. Before they reached the city gate, Ash turned around to face the young scout. “We are just going to do some menial work. You can head back for the day,” Ash said in a slightly cold tone.

“My orders were to stay with Lord Ash and to work with him,” Marilyn said calmly.

“Fine, but make sure to stay back,” Ash said slightly annoyed. “I don’t want everyone watching me with you tagging around.”

“Understood,” Marilyn said in a tight military tone.

Marilyn followed Ash’s command and held back. She only watched him and Shina while they cut and hauled trees. Just as before Huck helped them and told Shina stories when they had their break.

While they worked, Ash kept finding his eyes floating toward where Marilyn sat cross legged on the ground munching on a small pastry she seemed to pull out of thin air. She had taken off her chest plate and sat her sword and bow aside. Unlike before, the tense air that surrounded her was gone and all Ash could see was a bright and beautiful young lady. Still he remembered Emelia’s warning from that morning. No matter how she seemed, Marilyn was her father’s daughter and she would look at duty first and everything else second. That made her both trustworthy and dangerous at the same time given Ash’s bloodline.

After finishing work, Ash and Shina make their way back home when Marilyn stopped in front of a small bakery with her mouth visibly watering. Seeing her face break from its normal stoic visage, Ash couldn’t help but to be intrigued. “Do you want to stop and get something?” Ash asked, startling Marilyn.

“N-no…Knights aren’t allowed to spend noble money on flippantly goods.”

When Marilyn said this, Ash remembered what Emelia had told him about the knights. For their oaths, all the needs of the knights were met and even after they retired, they never had to want for anything, but they didn’t receive pay. Anything they purchased was charged to the duchess directly and lavish goods were not allowed. Ash didn’t think that would mean sweets, but it seemed that was the case.

Ash walked in the bakery and handed two silver coins to the woman behind the counter. “Anything you suggest?” Ash asked as he looked at the goods displayed.

“Young lord, we have these baked goods. They use the finest flour and are often ordered by the duchess Hawkwing herself,” the lady said, showing Ash a plate of what appeared to be cookies.

Picking one up, Ash took a small bite and just as he thought, they were cookies with chocolate in them. “These are very good cookies,” Ash said.

“Cookies sir,” The woman said with a slightly bewildered look on her face.

“Yes that is what they are called in my home town,” Ash covered quickly.

“That is an odd name…but I like it,” the woman said with a smile. “Would you like some of them my lord?”

“Yes bag up as many as you have for the two silver coins,” Ash said smiling.

Marilyn eyes never left the small brown sack in Ash’s hand as they walked back toward his house. Seeing the pitiable look on her face, Ash pulled out one of the sweets and held it out to her. “Want a cookie?” Ash asked with a smile.

“Thank you,” Marilyn said taking the cookie and quickly taking a small bite.

“This is so good,” Marilyn shouted.

“It is called a cookie,” Ash said, holding in a laugh.

Seeing the look on Marilyn’s face, Ash quickly gave her another cookie. With the way she ate them, Ash could tell that she was what people would call someone with a sweet tooth.

When they arrived back at the house, they found Maria waiting on them. When she saw the happy look on Marilyn’s face, her eyes darkened.

“Mar we found the bandits,” Maria said pulling Marilyn away from Ash’s side. “Commander Althorn wants to strike in the morning.”

“Lord Ash, will you be accompanying us?” Maria asked turning toward Ash.

“I would be honored,” Ash replied refusing to back down.

With Ash back home, Maria led Marilyn away, though the young scout kept looking back longingly at the bag still held in Ash’s hands. With the knights gone, Ash entered his house to try and relax knowing that in the morning he would be tramping through the woods on a manhunt.

Notes

Name: Ash

Level: 14

Experience needed for next level: 26,220

Race: Human/Demon 70/30

Occupation: Novice gambler

Title: Novice Slayer

Blessings: Blessing of the Reaper

HP: 930/930

MP 730/730

SP 178/178

Strength: 72 (+10) (+2) (+1) (+10) (+94)

Vitality: 75 (+3) (+108)

Agility: 49 (+9) (+5) (+70)

Stamina 71 (+5) (+102)

Spirit 26 (+10) (+37)

Intelligence: 60 (+86)

Endurance: 38 (+10) (+1) (+2) (+54)

Luck: 120 (+600) (+1)

Abilities

Passive:

[Devil’s Luck: 500% bonus to luck.

Fleet Foot: +10 to agility. Max]

[Wolf Eyes: See in the dark. Level Max]

[Mining: Ability to use a pick to extract ore from hidden locations. Able to tell where mining locations are located. Level 2: 23%]

[Poison Resistance: level 2-53: 10% poison resistance.]

[Grave Domain: Damage resistance to whole body with the exception of the head increased by 10%.]

[Spider Senses: able to detect prey that is up to three levels higher within a 200 foot radius. Able to sense hostile intent within a 100 foot radius. Level max%.]

[Fire Resistance: 10% fire resistance. Level 2-42%.]

[Natural Armor (small). When fighting your skin acts as a natural armor blocking 10% of physical damage. Level: max.]

[Frost Resistance: 10% resistance to frost damage. Level 2-8%.]

[Yeti Strength: +10 to strength. Level Max%.]

[Electric Resistance. 5% resistance to energy attacks. Level 1-87%.]

[Water Glide. When moving in water it flows naturally around you decreasing water resistance by 25%. Level max.]

[Cloak of Shadows: When in a dark area cloak of shadows wraps you in shadows making it harder for you to be detected.]

[Dragon Sight: You can see the magical flow of items and creatures]

[Reaper’s Sight: people who have received the ire of the goddess will now appear with a small sickle above their head.]

[Reaper’s Soul: after killing a person who has been marked by the goddess you will absorb a portion of their soul and receive any abilities they possess.]

[Earth Affinity- cost of using earth related skills will be reduced by 10% and power of earth related skills will be boosted 5%. Level 1-32%.]

[Mental Resist- 5% bonus when attacked by a mental attack. Level 1-21%]

[Iron Stomach: for each ounce of iron you eat your strength will raise by 1 but at the same time your intelligence will be reduced by 1.]

Active:

[Demon Absorption: Cost 10MP: Absorb defeated enemies to obtain skills. Level 3- 14%]

[Bash: Cost 1SP - Slam into enemies with your body to do X10 damage. Level 2-91%]

[Rabbit Punch: Cost 1Sp- Using feet or hands quickly lash out with a lighting quick attack. Level 3-27%]

[Stab: Cost 1 SP- Thrust forward with weapon (sword, spear.) level 2-64%]

[Poison spit: Cost 5MP. Level 2-99%: Spit a corrosive poison that sticks to enemy doing 5 damage a second for ten seconds.]

[Analyze ability. Cost 5MP: Ability to see opponents name, level and skill as long as they are no more than 5 levels above you. Level max.]

[Poison: cost 10MP- ability to make a small amount of toxin that paralyzes. Can be placed on weapons.]

[Sticky thread: cost 15MP- shoot out a stream of sticky thread to trap opponents.]

[Stealth: Cost 20 MP. Erase your presence from enemies any movement cancels the ability.]

[Fire Ball: cost 10MP. Create a ball of fire and throw it at an enemy. Level 2-82%.]

[Cone of Frost: Cost 15MP: send out a cone of frost freezing everything in its path. Causes 10 frost damage every second for five seconds. Level 2-75%]

[Crushing Blow: cost 5SP: strike with a hard blow bypassing 55% of opponent’s defense. Level 2-18%]

[Shock Armor: cost 10MP. Covers a small area with electoral energy that will stun an opponent struck with it for two seconds. Level 1-89%.]

[Shock Strike: cost 25MP. Hit an opponent with an energy attack that paralyses the part struck for seven minutes. Level 2-26%.]

[Pounce: cost 5SP jump straight forward with great speed doing 2x normal damage.]

[Poison Vine whip: cost 40MP. Call a vine dripping with paralyzing poison to strike your opponent. Level 1-76%.]

[Reaper’s Blessing: cost 50MP- bless a weapon or item with the goddess’s power. Lasts for twenty-four hours.]

[Sharp Strike: cost 10SP- strike with a bladed weapon to deal 1.5 the normal damage. Increased chance for a critical strike. Level 1-61%]

[Fire Lance: cost 25MP- casts a long lance of fire. Level 1-52%]

[Ice Spear 15MP- coat a weapon in ice giving it an added ice attribute to its attack. Level 1-41%.]

[Ice Shield 20MP- created a shield of ice that can fend off attacks. Level 1-12%]

[Lullaby of Subduction: cost 20MP- chance to charm an enemy confusing them. A strike releases the confused state. Level 1-21%]

[Death Wail: Cost 40MP- a loud wail that strikes at the mind of them enemy deal direct damage. Damage based off of spirit. Level 1-10%]

[Shadow Whip: cost 20MP, 5SP- attack with a whip made out of pure shadow that will follow the enemy wherever they try to run. Level 1-72%.]

[Shimmer: cost 10SP- surrounds the body with light making it hard to discern movement.]

[Shadow Armor: Cost 25MP 10SP; creates an armor made of shadows to protect the caster.]

Skills

[You have gained the skill Gambler’s Boost (passive) .2% boost to all other stats for each 1 point in the luck attribute. Level 2.]

[You have gained the Gambler’s Gambit (active) skill. Cost 20MP: boost all stats for one minute. Boost is random. Level 1.]

[You have gained the Poker Face (active) skill. Cost 5MP: forces a calm face no matter the situation. Level 2.]

[You have gained the Bluff (active) skill. Cost 5MP: bluff opponents to make them think you are stronger. Level 1.]

[You have gained the Read (passive) skill. Chance to see what skill your opponent is using. Based on luck.]

[Gambler’s Game (active). Cost 100 MP. Call of The gambling god using your stats as chip to play against another gambler. Can only be used against those of the same rank or higher. Can only be used once every six months. Time until next use 0 days. Level-Max.]

[Luck Shield: passive/active. When attacked has a chance to block attack. Amount of MP used is depended on the attack.]

Equipment

Iron Gambler’s Emblem: emblem signifying that one is a novice of the gambler’s guild. Durability 10/10 luck +1.

Sword of the Hawk: Sword belonging to a great hero of the Hawkwing family. Durability 50/50 attack 20-32 strength +10 stamina +5.

Mithra Armor: Armor blessed by the god of light. Durability 40/40 defense + 20 Endurance +10 spirit +10 agility +5.

Dragon Skin Gauntlets: durability 25/25, defense +10, magical defense +5, strength +1, endurance +2

[Studded Liro Leather Pants: made from thee tough hide of a Liro Lizard. Durability 30/30, defense +7, endurance +2, agility +1.]

[Necklace of the Dragon: defense +15- when HP reaches 0 necklace will break fully restoring the persons HP.]

Table of Contents

- Reborn: Demon Core

- Midpoint