I dropped my bow and arrow on the ground and discarded my cloak, revealing Aurelia and Severance Pay. Sigh... what bad fucking luck that these Witches just had to show up on the verge of my biggest score. I had no clue why the hell they were back in the Wild, but either way, they had to die. Emma was visibly disturbed. She knew I wouldn’t show off my secret weapons unless it was urgent (or if I was trying to kill them). “What’s going on, Rummy?” she asked with a slight quiver in her angelic voice. I also noticed that she was subtly reaching for her mana crystals. I stoically replied, “Witches.” as I adjusted the sighting on Severance Pay to 200 meters and released the safety. A look of panic flashed on my clients. I presumed that whatever shady stuff they’re planning, Witches weren’t part of the plan. While they looked at each other nervously, I used > again. It appeared that the Witches were resting in the same area Aurelia died all those years ago. For some reason, all
The ladies looked tense at my declaration. Emma in particular looked distressed. Between this and her assistance at the last fight, it was clear that she felt something for me. I wasn’t some dense MC dumbed down by plot considerations. For my part, I certainly was attracted to Emma and her striking personality. I really saw her as waifu material. So for my harem’s sake, I really hoped this negotiation didn’t end in bloodshed. “Lady Natalia, what is your goal? Why are you here in the Wilds? And please don’t insult my intelligence by saying you’re prospecting for crystals.” Natalia showed a pensive expression. She was considering how forthcoming she had to be for this negotiation to work. “I want to create a sanctuary where women wouldn’t have to silently cry at night. Fortunately, I’ve had some success thanks to the Galahad Trading Company. But that will not last. I will get matched eventually, and my matched husband would almost certainly take everything from me and toss out my depen
We arrived at the Narrows a little later than scheduled. The sun was now setting, and the goblins were out in force, cackling and screeching into the night. In order to protect us from those nocturnal little fuckers, I had Sapphire use > to shape the terrain. Now we’ve got a 3 meter tall earthen wall completely surrounding the camp with a single narrow ramp connecting the top of the wall to the camp.Since we were trying to avoid attracting attention, no fire was lit. We quietly ate our rations while watching the sunset from on top of the walls. Watching the sunset over the Acheron River was quite an experience. At first, the sky looked like it was on fire. Then the blazing red sky gave way to the encroaching darkness slowly but surely. Eventually, the sun disappeared under the river, as if the mighty river swallowed it whole. This river, about 1-2 klicks wide at the Narrows, was the western boundary of human civilization on this entire continent. It flowed fiercely and proudly
A/N: Finally, the POV of the leading lady of the series. Enjoy!***Today was the 3rd day I woke up as a matched woman. Wow….I was surprised at how excited I still was about this. After all, the man I would be spending the rest of my life with was a complete stranger to me mere days ago. Instead of feeling nervous about this whole affair, I felt free- as if a world of possibilities suddenly opened up to me. It was love at first shot- my heart skipped a few beats when I saw him executing that shitty rapist in cold blood. No courtesy, no apology, no mercy- that was how a real man should deal with such filth. The fact that he looted his corpse like he was some mana-beast in the Wilds was a very nice touch. I would’ve loved it had he torched the corpse for good measure, but nobody’s perfect.When I first learned magecraft, the first thing I wanted to do with > was to burn all the disgusting criminals hiding behind their noble titles, dicks first. Let the fires of justice
Before I could blink, spring had arrived. The 3 months since my trip to the Narrows have been busy, to say the least. And the ever-growing to-do list showed no sign of slowing down. Between upgrading my gear, designing armored carts, managing my forge-smithy, training new apprentices, raising a wolf mana-beast puppy on the down low, hunting for mana crystals, and inventing a knockoff of the MG-42, I hardly have any time left to sleep. Natalia had 239 employees of the Galahad Trading Company. However, only a few dozen of them were able-bodied men. At this point, it was more accurate to call the Company a battered women’s shelter slash temporary orphanage than an actual company. After the company meeting, only 184 of the employees had expressed interest in “moving out of the city” with Natalia. The rest of them (mostly men) wanted to strike out elsewhere in Carnwennan, perhaps thinking that this city was the best they could ever realistically hope for. I suspected that once she told the
Just like that, another month and a half sailed by. So many things were happening and developing in a flurry. For starters, my hastily-trained apprentices began work on the armored carts. They were still a little raw, but for the little training they’d received, they had acquitted themselves quite well. Heck, the vast majority of the casings and bullets they’d produced thus far were good enough to shoot with. However, things were less sunny when it came to the cart- it was a far more complicated build, so their collective struggle was to be expected. However, with enough supervision and feedback, they were starting to get it. Loki recently reached the size of a typical wolf mana-beast (over 1 meter in length). But his growth spurt seemed to have stalled (though the voracious scamp still ate everything in sight, including Beginner-level ice mana crystals). I suppose I should be glad that he had no appetite for the other elements, otherwise my cartridge production might really be in tr
I was abruptly awakened by the sound of my bedroom door bursting open. Loki instantly jumped out of my bed and growled like a good boy that he is, but then relaxed a bit when he saw that it was Emma who suddenly entered.“Rummy! Wake up! Something terrible has happened!” Emma urgently shouted. I had no fucking idea what was happening, but my Ranger training instantly took over. “Alright, tell me what happened while I get ready.” I calmly replied as I began to gear up for battle. Within a minute, I was fully dressed for battle. Unfortunately, one minute was all Emma needed to tell me how badly I fucked up. The supply run convoy that I told Nairi and Prompto to take part of got attacked by those Yellow Shirt morons. “Why?!? Do these idiots know what they’ve done?” I loudly complained. What could they possibly gain from this!? Is this some 4D chess move I didn’t understand? Thanks to this dumb stunt, their allies in the negotiating room would either have to give up outrageous concessi
A/N: Finally, Skera gets her day in the sun!***All men are pigs. Prideful, hypocritical pigs at that. That was the truth that was seared into my soul ever since I took the path of Chivalry. Whenever a man would hear of my dream, he’d follow a dreadfully familiar script. First, the mask of politeness dropped and was replaced with snide derision. Second, he’d lose a duel he initiated. Third, he’d launch some underhanded reprisal in a pathetic attempt to sate his wounded pride. Rinse and repeat. That was how I lost my childhood friend, my father, and every man in my family. At some point, I looked up to all of them as Knights who upheld the virtues of Chivalry. There was a time that I was proud to be part of a family that served as protectors of the realm and defenders of justice. I was disappointed to find out the ugliness that lay beneath all that honor and glory. All of them followed that damned script. All of them broke my heart.I learned the hard way that the virtues of Chival