Charmed Castle
by Curse Master W
Chapter 6
The next morning Celeste and the Lady were already awake. Though the Lady was still in bed, I could see her eyes open, but she seemed tired. I guess her usual routine of waking up early was working against her.
“Morning Rosemary,” she whispered.
“You look sleepy, my Lady, are you okay?” I asked getting straight to the point.
“I never manage enough sleep on my night,” she said as she closed her eyes.
“I can help, maybe. Mind if I do?” I asked.
She gave me a thumbs up.
I channeled mana into my lungs. This was a simple cantrip, it honestly was pretty weak and wouldn’t do much against anyone. It was used more by mothers to help children sleep. Basically it was a light drowsiness spell but if she was tired already, it would be enough to help her sleep.
I placed my hand out and blew the mana infused particles that rained on her causing the drowsiness to kick in and she seemed to fall asleep. I smiled and made my way to the dinning area. I wrote a note for the little moving belt for Celeste to make my breakfast order. We were gonna be traveling today, so I went for something a bit hardier, some porridge, ham and eggs sounded perfect, with a glass of milk.
It took a bit longer than the Lady but what I found shocking was the presentation. The Lady was more of a professional chef. The food came out quick, clean and delicious. This by contrast, had a flare about it. The glass of milk perfectly placed off to the side, the bowl centered, the fork and knife straight. A perfect circle slice of ham with eggs placed like eyes. A piece of ham cut from the middle to represent a mouth and that same slice of ham sticking out of the porridge like a stick.
It reminded me of well. My own mother. Taking a bit took me back to my childhood too. Not in that the taste was even all that similar. To be honest I couldn’t what my mother’s cooking tasted like. It was more in the sense that, well. This is what could only be called “like mom used to make.” It warmed my heart as well as my belly.
Natalia and Brenda ed me next placing their own orders. I figured this was a good time to ask Natalia about the travel.
“Oh, well,” she said. “We usually leave after breakfast. Though I think Sofia still needs the finishing touches on your lady of the light clothes. We usually split between two carts. Master and the Lady of the Light leading one, and the Lady of the Night leading the other. The town we are going to is about a four hour ride. Vivi will need help loading the carts but that is more of a me task. So you can relax until we leave.”
I placed my cheek in my hand tapping it with a finger. Ugh, more warrior specific stuff. “I guess I will go relax in the library then,” I said leaving in a bit of a huff. Not even bothering to curtsy.
I looked around the bookshelves, nope, read that one. This one too. Ahh, Victoria really focused on the classics. I read all these too. Oh, this one was just published a few years ago. I opened it up. It was a cheesy romance about pirates. But it was different at least. Though it only took me an hour to read the whole thing. Hmm.
I looked around and found a stack of empty paper. I’m pretty sure Victoria wouldn’t mind me using it. I made my way to the circles in chalk I had made earlier this week and placed the pirate book on one side and the papers on the other before channeling mana into the circle.
I know what I want! Now come on and bring me that book! A flash and the blank pages now had text on them. The first one saying “Memoirs of Gerald.” He was Valeria’s father, and the previous head warrior. He wasn’t as good as her, but she didn’t leave many records. She did leave about ten shadows though. But the nine of them I had met left a lacking impression.
Wait. Nine? Didn’t I know the tenth. Hmm. I hearing she was in a country to the east, but I couldn’t even her name. Well, I guess I knew she was a girl. Whatever. Unless Master wanted us to collect more warriors or go to the east, it was hardly notable.
What Gerald lacked in a legacy he made up for in good note taking. Any warrior would kill for these. Though I assumed Brenda probably had a copy or knew most of the contents. Sadly it would be a pain to read them as is, and I knew I couldn’t begin the advice in them now. But I looked forward to beginning my warrior training. If I wanted to block any threat to Master, I should compensate for my weaknesses, I thought.
And the first steps to that was reading, I thought as I began flipping through the paper.
I was about half way through when Celeste came to get me. Oh my. She was wearing a beautiful dress. Blue in color which I knew was a theme here. But I wasn’t ready to see her like this. I was truly stunned. She kind of looked like a noble woman playing dress up as a maid. It caught me off guard.
“Rosemary,” she said with a curtsy. “Now that I am in these clothes, it will no longer be proper to call me by name or head maid or sister. I am the Lady of the Light now. Call me Mistress.”
“Yes Mistress,” I said kneeling.
“Come, Sofia has a dress for you a well,” our Lady said.
I walked quickly behind her and found Brenda putting on her own clothes. She seemed to be grumbling about the lack of coverage around the breasts.
“Come Sofia, help Rosemary,” Mistress said. I slowly slide into my robes, I could feel the magic within them. They were certainly decent robes. Maybe on the same level as my original robes. But much sexier.
“Mistress,” Brenda said. “I must challenge this. Rosemary is planned to visit the guild to give say she plans to avoid doing quests for a while. Her being in this blue slutty outfit will draw attention to her. I am to be sent to the guild to my family right? I would… well this isn’t how I would normally dress. Even if this is what I am expected to do in future, I do not find this safe currently.”
Mistress placed a hand on her cheek. “I will consult him to relay the message.”
“You just don’t wanna be seen in public like that, isn’t that right Brenda?” I teased.
“It is ridiculous. How am I supposed to fight properly like this?” she said looking at her clothes. “I look like a slut with a sword. Are you telling me you actually want to dress like this?”
I looked at my own dress. Honestly it felt a bit stifling. For what felt like a month I had wore nothing more than basic foot protection and underwear. Actually if anything I felt relieved that Master considered my breasts good enough to show off.
“I don’t mind,” I said smiling.
“Ah! What! But… I have seen your wardrobe from when you were at the royal capital! You never wore anything like this before!”
I giggled. “Things change dear sister.”
“No,” my Lady said. “Unless you plan to pretend you are blood siblings. You cannot use our titles or sister while we are outside.”
“Iris should be Rosemary’s sister then,” Brenda chimed in. “I came here because her brother was looking for her. She looks different than her pictures, but it would be good to have something to distance her from him. Plus she can’t be my sister, I am more famous than Rosemary.”
The Lady looked at Iris and me. “So you two will be sisters?”
“I don’t have any issue with that,” I said.
“Me neither,” Iris added. “I can’t believe my brother is causing trouble. I sending him a note about my choice. So sister, we should go with your surname then?”
I nodded. “Ashwood.”
“Julia then,” the Lady said. “You shall be Julia Ashwood for this trip. I will inform the Mistress and Master.”
“Ah! Lucky! That name is totally cute,” Elise said as she groped Julia. “My Lady. Can I be Natalia’s sister this trip?”
Natalia smiled, and the Lady responded with a nod.
Victoria pouted a bit. “I was hoping to be Rosemary’s sister. Oh well. Next time perhaps.”
Seemed I was popular. Julia grabbed my arm. “Do keep me safe sister!”
I patted her head. Of course.
The wagons were already fully stocked before we made our way unto our seats. Our Lady was in the front with Elise on the reigns. Inside our carriage was Natalia, Sofia, Iris, Lillian and myself. Master’s carriage had a second seating section for two, which the Master and Mistress sat together in, while Freya had the reigns and everyone else in the back.
“Ah,” I said as we hit a bump and the wooden bench bounced against my ass. Not fun. Everyone else seemed like this wasn’t much of an issue for them, so I said nothing.
Honestly in the past when I rode on wagons, it tended to be over paved roads. Or they would be more private wagons with the wagons carrying stuff being separate. So I wasn’t really used to this low quality of ride. Hmmm, I bet I could enhance this ride with magic. No, this could wait til next month. First ensure everyone is safe.
“Hey Sofia,” I said. “Thanks for the outfit. It is really high Quality. I was happy to have it.”
She smiled and yawned. “I am happy you consider it worthy.”
Using enough divinity for two outfits. Yeah. She would probably be exhausted all day. I repeated the cantrip from this morning to help her sleep. She leaned against Natalia as she drifted off.
I felt something odd. Like a shimmer. “Do you guys feel that?” I asked. No one said anything.
I looked outside and saw Master’s wagon stopped suddenly. Brenda already jumped out. Uh oh. One thing about being a divination specialist. Sometimes it sucks being right.
I ran to the front and saw Brenda draw her sword. Looking around I saw a bunch of bandits. I jumped down as I reached my bag.
“We don’t want any trouble lady,” they said to Brenda.
“We are… oh it’s you! Rosemary,” he said. “We came like you told us to.”
Everyone looked at me. Fucking gaaaaah. Divination is powerful magic, to see the future. She saw this?
“Yes, that is right, but well,” I paused. I could just ask. It won’t be that easy will it? “So everything is going according to plan?”
Brenda shot me a careful eye. I counted the bandits. Six in total. Hmm.
“You said you had a to give us, just to make sure,” he said as he nimbly reached for something in his pocket.
Course I fucking did! I swirled magic from my back. “Stone bullet!” I said as a rock shot up and hit him in the chin knocking him down.
Brenda took off in an instant, three guys hit the ground. In the same moment Natalia hopped down and summoned her tonfa. Someone threw a jar at her and shattered it with the tonfa. Fuck. A mist hit her and she began coughing.
I flowed mana into my hands. “Ailment Identification!” Nothing. She wasn’t charmed anymore.
“What was that,” she shouted.
I turned to Brenda who had knocked out the others and was careful still. Natalia had been charmed for years, it is quite possible she may not change that much with it lifted.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
Master and Mistress came down as well to look at things.
“Is she?” Mistress asked, giving me sharp eyes.
I nodded. “Yes, I am sorry.”
“What? Am I going to be okay?” Natalia asked as she looked at herself.
“Yes, but how do you feel?” I asked.
“Answer her,” Master added.
“Right, I uhm. I feel okay, I guess? I am kind of hungry,” she said looking off in the distance. “Also my boobs feel tight in… uhm, this is kind of an embarrassing outfit isn’t it?”
Sofia hopped down. “Sorry Natalia, I didn’t get to fix it yet.”
The Lady seemed concerned with Sofia ing us but Master waved her off.
“Natalia, get some rest, Sofia, help see she gets it,” Master said.
“Right, sure thing boss,” she said as she walked with Master.
“Boss?” Mistress asked. “This is concerning.”
“Want me to knock her out?” Brenda asked. “Not sure the protocol for this, but I assume you want me watching her?”
Master looked at me. “So this was your past selves scheme?”
I knelt before him. “It would seem so, I am sorry Master. My deepest apologies.”
“Why didn’t you foresee this?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I can’t. I am under a geas, I can’t remove it without Jaka flowers. Which we are currently looking for.”
Mistress seemed upset. “Master, should we return to the castle?”
I looked around. Ah. Got it.
“So why didn’t they get charmed?” Brenda asked looking at the guys.
“The item he is using to charm us. He has it sealed, right Master? So you have it on you to maintain our charm but you disabled it’s ability to charm more?”
He nodded. “It is quite inconvenient to be around hundreds of new charmed people at once,” he said.
“Rosemary, should we prioritize returning Natalia under the charm?” he asked.
Mistress looked at me with sharp eyes. I felt the pressure of both of them and everything here I wanted to keep. But if I was speaking honestly, I could only say one thing.
“We should continue,” I said. “I don’t know what other inconveniences I set for myself, the sooner we get to the jaka flowers.”
“I agree,” Master said. “For now, we continue, but everyone be on guard.”
We all nodded and climbed back into our wagons and continued the journey. Fortunately we made it to the town without further incident. I would need better alchemical items to properly process jaka flowers and we would need to proceed with selling things before that. In addition the flowers were best processed within a few hours of their collection. So, all in all it left their collection to be for tomorrow at best.
After parked our wagons at the inn, Master addressed the Lady of the Night. He then went off alone with Mistress. My heart soared a bit at the sight of them together like this. I hope they had a nice trip together.
The Lady clapped her hand twice, which caught me off guard, only Mistress had done that before. “The guild shouldn’t be closed yet. So, Brenda, you can use their mail system for your family. Also protect Rosemary and Julia, you accompany as an extra pair of eyes. Okay?”
“Yes, my Lady,” we all said in unison.
We had to hurry to have enough time to get the stuff done. The guild hall was a lot less busy at this time. It technically never closed because it also served as an inn but official business would be ending soon enough. Julia looked at the bounty board to the time as me and Brenda went to the counter.
“How may I help you?” the man at the desk asked. I flashed him my ID card. The one thing Master let me have back for today.
“Oh, Lady Rosemary, we have been waiting for you,” he said as he flagged down another member.
Fuck. I didn’t like the sound of that. “How come?”
“We have a client that has been eagerly awaiting your return, he has been staying at the inn.”
“Oh, well, the thing is, I don’t plan to take any more quests currently,” I said.
“He already has an active quest with you though,” the man said.
“Oh, him,” I said pretending to . “Could you ask him to prepare tea and I’ll meet him shortly.”
The man relaxed and added the instruction to the lady that he called over and she rushed off. Great. Okay well, let’s see. Oh. Yeah, that would work.
“Could I get a copy of the request, I want to review it for our meeting,” I asked.
He nodded and reached under the desk. “We have had it ready, we anticipated this request.”
That put me on guard more. There were plenty of reasons the guild might be like this, depending on if the client was pushy and they wanted to get rid of him, to me having asked them to keep in on hand before I was charmed. I would need to be cautious. I sat down to look at the paper.
Quest: Missing Person.
Name: Iris Hutson
Last known location: Ilex Forest Southern Area
Reward: 400 gold pieces
Notes: Suspected to be the victim of a kidnapping. Suspected the captors have some sort of leverage over her, the target may resist. Use of force to bring her home is permitted by the permission of Count Gerlach
Requester: Henry Hutson
Oh well… fuck.
I called Brenda over to take a glance too. I wanted her opinion on the matter.
“Cheap bastard, only offered me 200 gold pieces. Should we both talk to him?” she asked.
“I’ll explain to him!” Julia said.
I shook my head. “Julia, you literally can’t. Plus if he saw you, it would only complicate things,” I said.
“You want me to wait?” she asked.
“I see the dilemma,” Brenda said. “I can’t watch both of you unless you stick together which, she can’t. Well, what should we do?”
Chapter 46
“I say you take Julia back to the girls, you can come back for me afterwards. I should be fine though,” I said.
Brenda nodded. “I agree.”
“Girls! I am not a baby,” Julia said.
I nodded. “I know. But it is important for well, our lord that you are safe.” I paused at the awkward feeling to call him our lord but we were in public and couldn’t afford to attract unwanted attention.
“You are our lords new favorite, you should value yourself more,” Julia said with a pout.
“Sister, it is mt job to protect you, but if you are worried, the sooner you get back, the sooner Brenda can back me up,” I said.
She jumped up. “I’ll show you the speed that got me the best in sprinting at the ranger’s guild. You ready?”
I smiled as I watched both of them dash off. The receptionist came to get me, he said Henry was ready to meet me. Well, here we go, I thought.
I sat down in the rather large room. I hadn’t heard anything about Julia’s family being nobles. Perhaps they neglected to mention it? Though a ranger was a strange profession for a noble daughter. Hmm… gonna guess wealthy merchant instead. I took a sip of the tea.
“I bet your wondering how I found you, or perhaps you anticipated this?” he asked.
Oh perfect. “Humor me, how?” I asked.
“Spent a pretty coin but found out you hired a group of low ranking adventurers to camp in the Ilex forest. I figured you were planning something. I know you told me to stay out of it, but I am not a very hands off sort of person. So, what have you discovered.”
This was so frustrating, there was like fifteen different ways I could see this working out. And I can’t use divination magic. Like, did my past self warn him because he could ruin her plans and he was my ally, or did she want me to waste time on him to help her. I had no real way of knowing. With the variable of him finding Julia, I couldn’t risk it.
“Well, unfortunately your good intentions are not exactly helpful. I shall ask you to return home and wait for my letter, it should only be another month. Okay?” I asked.
“No, not okay! You know something. I am the client. Give me the information!” he demanded.
“I am under no obligation. And if you are going to be like that, I am giving up on the quest. I shall inform the guild,” I said as I stood up.
“I will bring down the force of the count and my entire business if you walk away. My sister is precious to me, I will not let you abandon the quest like this,” he said.
I grabbed some dust from my pouch. “Stun,” I said as lightly touched his chest. He fell down as he was shaking. I leaned over him. “I am one of the strongest mages in the country, this is why you hired me. So don’t threaten me. You are now going to wait here as I go fill out a complaint. Read it before you leave this room. You will regret not understanding it. Unless your business can outgun the guild?”
What a hassle, my limited spell components too. Well, I can buy more before heading back I suppose. I returned to the counter. “The man attacked me. He was upset that I informed him that his sister had been located but she was happily married. This is a case of a brother abusing the guild against the sister’s wishes. I suggest closing the guest. I would also like to guard against retaliation from him. Oh and I stunned him. So he is upstairs on the ground. He should be fine though.”
“Oh my,” the guy said. “Honestly he has been giving us all the creeps. You can go home, I will fill out the paperwork.”
“Thanks. Oh can I withdraw my funds before you close for the day?”
“Course,” he said as he pulled up my current information. “Oh, afraid you don’t have any funds. You withdrew them all about seventeen days ago,” he said.
I forced a smile. That bitch. “Oh right. My bad. Okay, thanks. I’ll be going.”
No money! No spell components! Asssssss!
Brenda arrived as I was leaving, so she helped me back to the inn room that the other girls had got all settled in. The room was probably the largest they offered but it still felt rather cramped with all of us minus the Mistress and Master.
The first noticeable thing was how they had pushed the four beds together to make a bed more like the one back home. Our Lady was laying on the bed with Natalia, and Victoria, with Natalia being in the middle.
Sofia was cooking with the help of Vivi and Lillian and Freya, Elise and Julia were playing cards together. Julia hopped up and ran over to me hugging me. “Sister!”
I smiled. “I told you I would be fine.”
“Did,” she paused, “he cause you any trouble?”
I shook my head. “Not really. I got the guild involved though, so the request should be gone by tomorrow. He will probably be upset. But hopefully he will go home.”
“He can be quite persistent,” she added.
“Don’t worry, we got this,” I said.
We decided to the game of old maid while they food was still cooking. I managed to win three of the four games. I always had a good poker face. Hehe.
We all sat for dinner. The Lady served all of us before serving herself. I guess she couldn’t help but wanna contribute at least a little even when she was the Lady of the Night. The smell was strong but pleasant. I can’t recall anything quite like it.
I took a small bite and my mouth was exploding with the flavor. “Oh my, this is quite good.”
Sofia smiled. “Overall, I am a worse cook then our Lady. But I have a few recipes I can do better.”
“She was often called the best homemaker,” the Lady said.
“Oh?” I asked. “I hadn’t heard about that.”
“Care to share?” the Lady prompted.
Sofia blushed but nodded. “Well, I grew up in a small village. My father was a carpenter and my mother a seamstress. We were poor by any normal standard but decent by the small village. I really didn’t have ambitions. I was taught from a young age that all I would ever need to do is marry a nice man and be a good wife.”
That made sense. Most little girls were raised with that idea. Brenda and I were very much the exceptions due to our unique circumstances and not the rule.
“My father arranged my marriage when I turned eighteen and we were riding to meet my soon to be husband but a recent dragon attack had closed the main road. We ed by the Master’s castle and we thought to meet him to offer our services. I ended up staying here. I had never been happier. I don’t know who my would be husband would have been but I can’t imagine him being better than what I found.”
“How did that get you the nickname the best homemaker?” Brenda asked. She beat me too it.
“Well, I could make repairs on small things like the window hinges, I learned from my father. I could sew, and cook. I was good at cleaning too. Essentially everyone said I was a ‘good catch’ or something along that effect.”
“You have been with the Master the longest. Do you regret not having a baby with him yet?” Freya asked.
Sofia shook her head. “Originally that was my plan. Three or four children as a loving wife but with Master I found something deeply more meaningful for me.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“Art! Expression and beauty. Back home my skills had always been used practically, and now I discovered, that they could be used creatively, and I love that almost as much as I love the Master,” Sofia added.
Such a beautiful story.
We cleaned up and got ready for bed. We couldn’t bath in the inn and we weren’t that dirty, so we decided it was just time for bed. Or that is what I thought was going to happen.
The Lady clapped her hands twice. “Let us have some bonding time.”
“Hmm?” I asked.
Brenda also raised her brow at the statement.
Elise smiled. “We can’t bathe here like normal, and we don’t want to get frustrated. So we help relieve each other.”
The Lady turned to Natalia. “You up for some fun?”
“Of course boss lady,” Natalia replied.
Victoria winced at the reply. “Can I and Elise be paired with Natalia, my Lady?”
The Lady nodded. “Let’s also have Lillian with you three, and Julia, Freya and Vivi with Brenda. Sofia and Rosemary with me.”
I noticed Victoria grabbing a vial from one of the boxes we planned to sell, was she stealing? It was a relaxation potion. She then led Natalia to the other bed with Elise. Hmm. Should I-
Sofia grabbed my hand. “Let us begin.”
The Lady opened the interior door to the private room and led me and Sofia in. She then cupped my breasts, I moaned slightly. “Rosemary, I have been looking forward to this.”
I smiled. “I am glad I could be of use to you my Lady.”
She nipped my neck and Sofia began sliding my shoes off as well as my panties. The lady than began combing my hair with her fingers. “Strip.”
“Of course my Lady,” I said as I undid the lace holding my dress to my body and it fell to the floor. With my panties already gone, all that left was my bra. I quickly unbuttoned it to fulfill the command. She then pushed me onto the bed.
The Lady on my right, Sofia on my left, who gently touched my nipple with one finger and I suddenly shivered in pleasure. Oh god, that was divinity. She was charged my nipple with divinity. She learned how to handle her divinity this well alre- I bit my lip as I moaned a bit more.
“Thank you, Rosemary. I was eager to try out this gift on you,” Sofia said smiling.
“A little trick Rosemary,” the Lady said. “We ed Master at a similar time, and we came from similar backgrounds. Back in the old days before Master set all his rules, we used to play together a lot more. I’m glad Mistress re-established such rules. Me and Sofia used to be known by a nickname.”
“Oh?” I asked.
The Lady kissed me on the right of my cheek at the same time Sofia kissed my left. “The twins.”
“We practiced a lot to synchronize,” she paused as they both squeezed my breasts at the same time.
“Like this,” Sofia finished. “We have both been—”
“Wanting to show you,” The Lady finished as they both spread open my vagina before slipping in one finger each. Sofia even slipped a bit of divinity into it. I arched my back as I moaned. That isn’t fair!
I woke up before the others. The Lady, Sofia and I had slept together in the other room. It was in some ways much more intimate than sleeping with the other eight girls, but at the same time, it was a bit colder. Yet they both also were wrapped around me and I had no chance of moving out of this without waking them. So I just enjoyed the soft feel of them.
I chuckled at the realization that I had a threesome with just girls. Sexually, I knew I was straight. Even the recent experience with the Lady and Sofia hadn’t changed that. But in the wake up what Master wanted, my own sexuality hardly mattered and I knew he wanted me to bond with the girls.
Sofia opened her eyes first. “Morning sister. I can’t believe how well you did last night. Like, damn.”
“I was just going after your example,” I said. I meant that basically literally, all I really did was chain a few low level divination cantrips back to back. It was enough future knowledge for me to play the part of the twin to both the Lady and Sofia. But I guess they weren’t used to being on the receiving side to their little twin play.
She kissed my cheek. “Still impressive. No one has shaken up things with our family as much as you. I thought Lillian did a lot with her magic at first, but it is nothing compared to what you have done.”
I smiled. “I’m happy my knowledge is helpful.”
The Lady woke up and kissed me on the cheek too. “Sister, don’t belittle your knowledge by only calling it helpful.”
“Yes, my Lady,” I said.
We got out of bed and got dressed. In the main room, the other eight girls were sleeping on the beds they pushed together last night. Everything seemed in order. The Lady wanted to us in cooking, but Sofia reminded her that as the Lady she should rest, wait and be ready to command the girls that wake up. So it was me and Sofia in the kitchen.
Both were so professional in the kitchen, but if I would define a difference. I’d say the Lady felt more like a mom that was a professional chef. She brought in the weight and experience of a true expert and the mannerism you’d expert from the rank. While Sofia felt more like an older sister. While both could cook leagues above you, Sofia had that softer more gently attitude, one that came from someone that wanted to nurture your growth, not just teach.
I was guessing that Vivi and the others got the food stocks while I was at the guild. We ended up having tons of eggs, and some salted meats, as well as milk and veggies. So Sofia was showing me how to make her omelet. It was another of the few recipes that Sofia could do that was better that the Lady. And looking, it was easy to see why. Sofia’s hand dexterity was a lot smoother than the Lady. Even if the Lady was more skilled, that slight difference made hers way fluffier.
We made enough for everyone and when we brought out the food, the girls were already around the table chatting. The Lady clapped twice and we all got quiet. Even I felt the need to be quiet in response to that sound, and I wasn’t even making any noise to begin with.
“So, what is everyone’s plan today?” the Lady asked.
“Oh! Can I go to the forest?” Natalia asked. “I haven’t went alone for a hike in a long time.”
“I thought you wanted to keep me safe when I went to the book store?” Victoria asked.
“Oh, right. Good point boss,” Natalia replied, she rubbed the top of her head. “Guess I forgot.”
“Hmm,” the Lady began. “Brenda, you go with them. Vivi too. We can’t do the rest of our shopping until we got our funds. Oh, I guess we need Rosemary to collect the Jaka flowers. Julia will go with her, and Vivi, collect the alchemical equipment Rosemary needs while they are out.”
“Yes Ma’am!” We all said in unison.
“So do we need anything special to collect them?” Julia asked.
I shook my head. “Jaka flowers are poisonous when wet, and they are delicate. For this reason they are considered worthless for collecting. They also have bright purple flower pedals. As long as you don’t step on them, that should be good.”
Julia nodded as she looked down. We were in the area my divination pointed too, but we were still essentially looking for a few tiny flowers in a forest. They’d be easy to miss.
“How many do we need?” she asked.
“Six at the very least, but personally, I would be happy if we collected more like fifteen but that number also assumes they are fully grown flowers.”
“Fifteen?” she asked. “How many groups do they tend to grow in?”
“Two to three.”
“We might be out here all day then.”
I nodded.
This was important, so it wasn’t like much else was important.
“I think I got a few,” Julia said.
Turning I saw the flowers she was looking at, and true to her ranger roots, she was looking at four Jaka flowers. I smiled.
By the time we found all fifteen, plus a few extra for good measure, it was well into the afternoon. We were both starving so we decided to call it a day.
As soon as we got back to the hotel, I was going to need to process the flowers, Julia was holding them in a bag for now.
We ate at a small cafe, curtsy of Julia who had some coins. I felt bad for not having any way of paying for my little sister. Oh well. Hopefully Jaka tea would be a fitting repayment.
Now all we had to do is process the flowers. Things were looking up.
“Iris? What happened to your hair?” Henry asked as he looked at us. “You found her! Why, why did you lie!”
“My name is Julia!” she shouted. “I don’t know you.”
I stepped in front of her. “Don’t do this.”
He snapped his fingers. Two men stepped up from behind him. Fuck. I tried to warn him.
“You understand you would be making an enemy of the guild by doing this?” I asked. “The woman before you is my sister, not yours. You dumb bastard.”
“You think I wouldn’t recognize my own sister because her hair color changed?” Henry shouted. “She’s a wizard, so be careful. Be don’t let my sister escape.”
“Sister,” Julia said. “What should I do?”
“Fire lance!” I said as I slammed it near point blank on the ground causing a burst of fire around. The two guys backed up for a moment.
“I got this sister, don’t worry,” I said as I knelt down. “Goddess of Beauty, hear my prayers, and—”
The men ran towards me. They didn’t plan to let me finish the prayer. Smart, or it would be but, I flipped up one of my wands. “Tremor stun,” I said as I launched the vane amplified earth spell towards both of them. The instantly crumbled to the ground.
“Yeah, fucking with an expert wizard wasn’t your smartest move guys,” I said. I saw town guards coming. I would need to wrap this up while I was still justified. I grabbed the wind spell wand I had ready and began the process of activating the vane. “Gale, listen and heed my commands. Send these three home.”
With a wave of the wand, all three men shot into the sky before blasting off in another direction. The guard that arrived drew a sword towards me.
“Did you just kill them?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. That spell just sends them safely home. I already submitted a complaint with the guild. So they will back up my position.”
“Let me see your guild card,” he asked.
I took it out as Julia hugged me. “Is he safe?”
I nodded. “He will be fine.”
“What about his business?” she asked.
“That too. I could ruin it if I complained but I don’t plan to.”
The guard handed the guild card back to me. “I’ll follow up with them. But stay in town for at least three days.”
I nodded. I turned to Julia. “How far is how home?”
“Vale,” she said.
I scrunched my face. That was going to be an unpleasant ride. Like a three week horseback ride. Though, a vane enhanced gale could probably do it in like, seven hours? He was probably gonna be feeling sick. I tried to warn him.
The simple fact of the matter was. For my little sister. For my family. I would be brutal if I had to be. I looked at the bag Julia was holding. Peeking inside, everything looked good.
“You ready to see my ultimate brew?” I asked her.
She nodded excitedly. Well, technically this was my second best brew. But any day I did the absolute best brew was a sad day. Even charmed, I wasn’t sure I could consider myself being willing to use that for Master. I’d do anything else for him but that was just… Enough of that. He won’t need me to brew that. If we have enough funds I can brew extra special fun things too.
“Definitely big sister!” she said.
I smiled. We worked hard. It was time to see the results of some of that hard work.