4-2 Sultry recollection

The patrol numbered around a dozen soldiers. Each of the soldiers was on a warhorse. They were dressed in their respective armours and garbs that suited their role. From afar, Lyra had discerned two spell casters and four archers in the patrol party.

“Even their horses are armoured,” Erin remarked. She couldn’t see as far as Lyra but she was able to pick up glint coming off from the horses. “Are they anticipating war?”

“They look strong,” Lyra muttered gravely. “I can even see their metals gleaming from all the polishing. They are well-fed and well-maintained.”

By now, everyone in the wagon was wide awake. They hadn’t had their fill of sleep but they couldn’t afford to be languid without Aedan or Olivia, especially now that potential troubles were closing in on them.

“They will definitely stop us and question us,” Siv said. “Soldiers of the big cities always do. They seem to always have a bone to pick with adventurers and merchants.”

“Not with us three Fae onboard,” Lilian pointed out. “They will stop us but they will not question us, unless, of course, they’re idiots.”

“They got assigned to patrol duty. They most likely are idiots,” Nivia grumbled.

Erin was staring off into the distance, in the direction the patrol was coming from, as she took each other of their remarks into consideration. She had no doubts that they would be stopped as they were a band of misfits on a single wagon. Even a simple peasant would raise all sorts of questions about their odd assortments of a party.

“Soldiers are definitely trouble,” Aera muttered. Her voice was soft but full of volume. Everyone heard her.

“Bad experience with soldiers?” Lilian asked, smiling forlornly.

Aera nodded, barely. “They seem to think they are above the law just because no one’s looking. They didn’t even help protect the villages like they were supposed to. If they had done their jobs… my village wouldn’t have to ask for protection from bandits and outlaws.”

No one retorted to Aera’s story. They all knew her background. All the words of comfort and consolation had already been spoken and crossed her mind but none seem to dispel the forlorn air wafting around her. They could only nod in sympathy.

“Let’s hope they will just let us pass without raising any fuss,” Erin said, though she highly anticipated the contrary.

“I hope so too, mistress.” Siv’s hands were already on her swords in spite of her words.

“You wield twin blades too?” Nivia asked as she took notice of Siv’s choice of weapon.

“My true skills lie in the arts of the spear but I am handy with the twin blades too.”

A small smile bloomed on Nivia’s lips. “If there’s ever a chance, would you like to spar with me?”

“If it doesn’t trouble my mistress, I would love to.”

Nivia frowned. “Why do you call her your mistress?”

“It’s just a vain and selfish reason of mine. I would appreciate it if you don’t ask.”

“Is it something venereal?” Lilian asked curtly.

“Lilian!” Nivia reproached the Dryad sharply.

“It is not, Lady Lilian.” Siv was calm in her response as if unfazed by the carnal undertones of the Dryad.

“Is that so?” The smirk on Lilian’s lips spelt her doubts. “But if you say so, then—”

“Quiet now,” Erin shouted softly from the front. “The soldiers are close.”

The moment the patrol caught sight of their wagon, the soldiers shifted their horses into a gallop and rushed over to them. The thundering of the hooves shook the ground and sent the little animals in the area scurrying away. The one curious aspect of the patrol party that caught Erin’s interest was that two of the vanguards were Beast-kin and one of the spell casters in the back was an Umbrum. This was the first time Erin saw races other than humans in the ranks of soldiers.

“Umbrum spell caster, curious,” Lilian mused, fascinated.

“Let me do the talking,” Erin sternly reminded her.

The soldiers promptly moved to surround the wagon on all sides when they reached them. The eyes of the soldiers were all fixated on the wagon as if it was something queer and unusual. The wagon itself wasn’t anything exquisite but neither was it something plain and shabby. There were no striking patterns or colours, just plain white and beige. The wagon was actually one of the many items stored in Aedan’s subspace. The wagons were in parts when he had taken them out. He assembled the wagon in less than an hour. As for the horses, they were lured in by Lilian using her charms as a Dryad. Each of the soldiers bore an expression that looked frail to a single touch as if they would lunge at them at the slightest jitter.

“They look restless,” Lyra said as she inspected each of the soldiers. “Something’s wrong.”

“Whatever is it, just let me take care of it, alright?” Erin whispered.

Lyra nodded.

“State your name and business, stranger,” bellowed the leader of the patrol as he trotted up near to the driver's bench on his horse. As he was looking up at the coach, he saw only Erin's ears but not her tails that she had tucked behind her. His belittling gaze told Erin he saw her as nothing more than a lowly Beast-kin who probably stole the wagon she was on.

Erin sighed and let go of the reins. She rose from her seat and allowed her tails to flourish in their full glory as she stood up. With the sun blaring on her, she almost seemed to be glowing. In an instant, all the horses reared and cried at the sight of Erin’s magnificence. Two of the soldiers were even thrown off their rearing horses. The leader of the patrol was staring at Erin with his jaws dropped and his eyes gaping. He began to pale when he saw Nivia sticking her head out from the back.

“By the Divines… a five tail Fox-kin and an Elf… They’re Faes…” one of the soldiers gasped in awe and terror.

“Fae,” Nivia corrected them in a low voice.

“H-how many of you are there?” the leader asked unconsciously.

“I beg your pardon?” Erin dared him to repeat.

Realising what he had just said, the leader straightened himself and met Erin’s narrowed. “I mean how many there are in your party, if I may be so bold to ask. I need to know. I hope you will take no offence to that question, Lady Fae. It’s just a formality.”

“There are six in my party, including me. All women.”

“A-all women…” one of the soldiers muttered faintly. The envy in his voice was apparent to Erin’s ears.

Erin shot that soldier a brief glance. The soldier shrieked quietly as his shoulders jumped.

“A-and your name, milady? And your business too, if you don’t mind.”

“My name is Erynthea and I’m an adventurer, so are my companions here. We are just on a journey like any other adventurers.” Erin took her time and glanced at every soldier in the group. “I must say, this is quite a greeting here. What seems to be the problem?”

The leader looked hesitant in answering her but upon noticing the twitch in her brows, he gave in. “The local bandit clans around the borders are all up in arms. Someone had issued a bounty to all those bandit clans. The lesser bandits are using this opportunity to sneak their way into the city. We are trying our best to suppress this conundrum before the good people of the valley take note of it. We are given orders to not be lenient with any suspicious travellers.”

“Suspicious, huh. Well then, I’m sure my party and I are exempted from that criteria, no?”

“Milady… we are just doing our—”

“Good soldiers of Sephrodia Valley,” Erin interjected. “I will not take any offence if you all would kindly let me and my companions through. This will not be mentioned to any of my fellow kin. You have my word.”

“O-of course.” The leader bowed. “Everything seems to be in order, Lady Erynthea. You may pass.” He signalled for his men to allow the wagon passage through.

After they all had bowed towards Erin, they galloped until the forest swallowed them in the distance.

Erin sighed. “I feel like I have just done something awful,” she remarked.

“Nonsense, Erin,” Lilian said. “You just did what is expected of you. I can see you’re not quite used to flaunting your status. You should do it more because, in that big city, you’re nothing without status if you don’t have the level as a supplement.”

Erin took the reins and whipped the horses into moving. The wagon began to move once again. “They’re just doing their job.”

“Or that’s what they want you to think,” Aera muttered begrudgingly in the back.

“She speaks true, mistress,” Siv said. “If you had been any other race, they'd come up with whatever reason they could think of and compel you to give them money.”

“They get away with that?” Lyra asked.

“Sort of,” Siv answered. “If they get found out, they would just share the gold they plundered.”

“None of them had the conscience to refuse the bribe?”

“If they’re the only ones who refused when everyone else didn’t, what do you think is going to happen to them?”

“Ah, I see. So much for feeling safe in the presence of these so-called patrols.”

“With these soldiers, you’ll lose only your gold. With bandits or monsters, you’ll lose your life too. It’s just the lesser of two evils. Mistress is strong and so are we. We don’t need to worry about these bullies.”

“It’s not the soldiers I’m worried about,” Erin said. “Aedan said the Covenant would not be brazen and that means they will be sending assassins.”

“Let them come,” Aera remarked ominously as she clenched her fists tightly. “Save us the trouble in searching for them.”

“Your vengeance will come, Aera but I have no intention of letting you perish along with your vengeance.”

Aera made no remark to that. She just returned to her usual silent brooding mood.

“Is it a good idea to just flaunt your status at every issue in the city?” Lyra asked. “What if someone has a better status?”

“Better status than Erin and I here? Well… let’s just hope that someone is reasonable,” Lilian answered with a shrug.

“Like Aedan?”

Erin chuckled. “He’s anything but reasonable. I’m sure we all can attest to that after last night.”

Lyra cast her gaze down. “That’s true…”

“We sure can attest to that,” Lilian breathed with a simper. “So, my dear Erin, when are you going to share your experience with us? How is he?”

Nivia instantly bounced up from her seat. “She is not going to share anything about her experience with that man. Lilian, please, have some decency, will you?”

“Stop being a prude, Nivia.” Lyra was looking at Erin with the same kind of anticipating gaze as Lilian. “As much of an arse he is, I still would love to know about your experience with him, Erin.”

Feeling cornered, Erin looked to Siv for help.

“I would love to hear about it too if it would help in my performance of the bedroom arts.”

Erin scoffed in disbelief. “You too, Siv?”

“What harm can it do, mistress?”

“My sanity,” Erin wanted to retort but for some reason, that answer refused to leave her lips.

“Her dignity, for one,” Nivia answered in her stead.

“No one’s around. It’s just us. The walls have ears but trees don’t,” Lilian pointed out. “Anything you tell us will not be known by anyone else but us unless you see fit otherwise.”

Eventually, Erin relented to their insistence. “Fine,” she sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“How big is he?” was the first question asked and it could only be from no one else but Lilian.

Erin choked on her breath and went into a short coughing fit. “What kind of question is that?” Though she asked, she could see the brimming curiosity in each of her companions’ faces, including Nivia’s but she was doing her best to hide it.

“Quite big…” Erin answered in a faint whisper.

Despite not hearing her answer clearly, everyone knew what she said considering how soft she was with her voice.

“Size isn’t everything,” Siv said. “Lady Iris told me so.”

“That’s true,” Lilian nodded. “If they don’t know how to use it, it would just hurt. You’ll be surprised at how many men are not aware of this fact.”

Rueing her curiosity, Nivia retreated to the far back of the wagon with a flushed face and a nauseous expression.

And so, the rest of the journey to the city was filled with these types of questions. The “interrogation” only ended after Erin had spilt everything, right down to the details of her afterglow. After that, save for Aera and Nivia for obvious reasons, everyone held longing and envious gazes towards Erin.