Chapter 56: Is she your wife?

Separated, huh? Smells like bullshit to me...Or am I just paranoid?' Thadius thought as he looked over the trio of “lost” guards. They had split up with the Lieutenant's squad hours ago, so the fact that the three coincidentally found them just didn’t seem to add up. Not to mention the familiar feeling he was getting from the man further back.

Thadius nodded toward the two guards behind the man. “Let’s have you and your companions take of your helmets and introduce yourselves. I like to put names to faces.”

The man obliged, taking off his helmet and motioning for his fellow squadmates to join him.

“My name is Mavas.” he said, sweeping his shoulder-length black hair from his face. Everything about the man was sleek, slick. His narrow face ended in a pointed chin. A perfectly straight, long movie-star nose led up to an overhanging brow that cast a permanent shadow over his eyes. Overall, he looked harmless at a glance. But he had a devious aura, which didn’t sit well with Thadius at all.

Mavas grinned under Thadius’ scrutinizing gaze as he introduced the first of his comrades that walked up. “This strapping man here is Leon, and apparently, he already knows you.”

Thadius raised an eyebrow as he watched the man remove his helmet, then he smiled once he saw a familiar face. “The city guard is the last place I’d expect to find you, Paladin.” he said.

“Unfortunately, my superiors weren’t very pleased that I fought in the coliseum, especially when I returned in defeat.” Leon smiled wryly. He was the definition of a fairytale prince. He had the wide, strong-jaw with a cleft chin to match. His short brown hair was soaked through, but did little to diminish his charm. One could tell that he was a righteous man, and it was made even more apparent as he came to stand beside Mavas.

“Ah, brother Leona! Do you remember me? We entered the clergy together!” Marcus walked up and shook Leon’s hand enthusiastically.

“I remember you, brother Marcus. But it’s...just Leon now.” Leon cleared his throat as a small chuckle escaped from Mavas.

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Marcus cheeks flushed. “Oh...my apologies.” he said, slinking back behind Thadius to a chorus of soft laughter.

Mavas recovered almost instantly when he looked at his other companion, and immediately continued with the introductions. “Last but not least, this lovely gentleman is Desha. He’s very self-conscious about his looks so...try not to stare too hard.”

When the elf stepped forward, Thadius, Marcus, and Elroy immediately reflected on Mavas’ words. Standing before them was nothing less than a female elven archer. She had a lithe figure with curves that were clearly distinguished despite the armor. Her face was slathered with mud that dripped down to her modest bust, completely hiding her face. Yet, hard green eyes clearly scrutinized the confused onlookers.

Thadius was the first to speak up. “And you say that’s a man?” he asked. Desha hands balled into fists and her lips curled in response.

“I’m pretty sure. I was there when he registered.” Mavas glanced at his companion. “He practically had to put his manhood on the counter before they’d take him. You know how Todos feels about female soldiers.” he chuckled. But once again, his mirth was short lived as he looked over at Banon, who was glaring at Desha with open hostility. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“You must have fought in the Shade War.” he said, attempting to draw Banon’s attention to himself. Except at his words, Desha snapped his head to look at Mavas and followed his eyes to the towering warrior that was glaring at him.

A feral hiss escaped Desha’s lips as he reached for his bow while Banon reached for his axe readily. Mavas moved to stop his companion, but Thadius’ reaction was much faster. His tremendous pressure crashed down on the surrounding guards, bringing everyone but Marcus, who fell flat on his back, to their knees.

Everyone looked at Thadius with dumbfounded expressions, and he returned their looks with a calm expression. “My apologies, it’s still tough for me to specifically target more than one person. I only intended to stop Banon and Desha.” he said as he turned to the elf in question. “Even if you two have some history, I’m amazed that you’d take aim at a fellow guard so quickly. Is working with Banon going to be a problem?”

Desha curled his lip but didn’t respond. Mavas spoke up in his stead, still shaken from suddenly being brought to his knees. “He’s mute, sir. But rest assured, I’ll keep him out of trouble.”

Thadius eyed the kneeling Mavas, who gulped from his intimidating appearance, then looked at Banon. “Are you two going to have a problem?” he asked.

Banon stood up, never taking his eyes off Desha as he did. “Just keep that tree-demon away from me.” he said, then he turned and walked back to the battlefield to loot the bodies of the dead.

“Well, that’s Banon for you. Even if he doesn’t like you, he won’t trouble you if you give him his space. Can you manage that?” Thadius asked Desha, the elf nodded and stood. “Good. Now you’ve already met Marcus and I, and you should already know Marshal from earlier. So the only one left is Thomas-”

Thadius turned to find the guard still gawking at Desha with a complex expression.

’Did he not see Desha pull his bow on a man for looking at him the wrong way!?

Thadius thought as he tapped his fellow rookie on the shoulder.

“Thomas, you wanna introduce yourself?” he asked.

Thomas quickly stood up. “Uh, sure. I’m Thomas and I uh…” Thomas tried looking at Mavas and Leon but his eyes kept wandering to Desha. “I don’t mean no harm, but I just never seen a man look so much like a woman before. Are you really a man?” he asked. Desha snarled in response.

“And I think that’ll do for the introductions. Why don’t we all go and give Banon a hand.” Thadius interjected. As the others went to collect loot, he held Thomas back.

“Thomas,” he sighed, ”I know you’re curious, but try not to ask him that. In fact, I don’t think you should speak to him, for your safety.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just so confusin’...” he sighed heavily. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to sort it out in his head, then he looked to Thadius. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”

“Actually, I have…” Thadius started as he put an arm around Thomas and began walking toward the battleground.

The guards worked quickly to gather any loot from the dead and continued on their way with new additions to the squad. Thadius lead the way, checking the map every so often to keep track of their progress. Thankfully, the map was magical, revealing more of the map as they walked. It left Thadius with plenty of time to think and enjoy the experience, even if the trip wasn’t as fruitful as he first thought.

Thadius looked at Serenity on his hip and thought back to his failed attempt at a fire element sword skill. He’d been on the receiving end multiple times during the battle royale in the coliseum, and it seemed to be a common move for magical swordsmen. Yet whenever he tried to perform it, a message would interrupt him saying ‘Knowledge of fire limited’.

He was truly frustrated. With the croaka not giving him any experience to level up, he at least hoped that he would get some cool moves to work on instead. Unfortunately, Extended Slash was the only elemental move in his arsenal, and its range was still in its early stages, causing him to exhaust the majority of his aura to make it useful.

Despite all of it, Thadius was still optimistic. He still had a plethora of moves to level, with Throw being at the top of his list. Being able to throw again thrilled him, but he’d have to adjust to throwing knives instead of a ball if he wanted to master the skill quickly.

’Once I get my precision up with standard throwing, I’ll try some trick throws. Then the speed will come naturally. Or should I work on distance before speed? That ties in with precision though...’ While Thadius was lost in thought, Thomas sped up to walk beside him.

“Hey, Thadius. You never finished the story ‘bout when ya first met Tegaia. I was wonderin’ if you’d tellin’ us.” he said.

“I was also interested in that, if you wouldn’t mind telling us...” Marcus said.

Leon walked up to Thadius as well. “Tegaia? You’ve actually seen her?”

“Touched her too...” Thadius flashed his devilish grin.

“I’d call bullshit if I hadn’t heard her myself.” Banon said as he walked closer.

As the men gathered around Thadius, Mavas couldn’t help but take interest. “Who’s Tegaia? I take it she’s some woman.”

“She’s a Goddess! And she gave us a blessin’ earlier! Aw man, ya shoulda seen it!” Thomas was skipping steps in excitement from the memory alone. “Come on, Thadius. Tell us!”

“Alright, alright! But I need ya’ll to know that what I’m about to tell you must remain a conversation among men…” Thadius stopped in his tracks and looked everyone in the eye in turn. Then everyone looked at Desha.

The elf’s brow furrowed in confusion, but with a quick elbow tap from Mavas, he nodded in earnest.

“Alright. Now imagine the one woman you ever loved, shows up at your door wearing nothing but a robe. Then without so much as a word, she starts kissing you. What do you do?” Thadius asked as he looked around.

“Is she your wife?” Marcus asked.

“That’s not the point! The woman is clearly asking to be bedded, so that’s exactly what you do.” Mavas declared.

“Damn right.” Banon agreed.

Thadius shook his head. “That’s what I thought. She wraps herself around me and I lay her on the bed. By this time, I’m ready to let her know how I feel in more ways than one-”

“Whoa, whoa! Are you trying to tell me that the woman-” Mavas’ interruption was cut short by glares of men all round. “Please continue.”

“So I’m kissing her while working my hands up her robe at the same time. Now in the back of my mind, I’m wondering ‘Has she always been this soft? Has she always smelled this good?’. Mind you, I haven’t seen the woman in a while, so I’m just thinking it’s my mind playing tricks on me. That’s when it should have hit me, but I keep going. My hand makes it all the way to the divine fruit before I hear her call my name.”

“What’s the divine fruit?” It was Thomas who interrupted this time.

“Does he really have to spell it out?” Mavas asked incredulously.

Marcus shook his head. “Even I could guess that one...”

“I was just askin’!” Thomas cried.

“Anyway, I hear her call my name and I`m about ready to transition to the next part. Then she calls my name again, and the sound of her voice bounces of the walls. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about. Then I look at her face, and a pair of silver eyes are looking at me. I’m thinking ‘You wait until I get to the good part to stop me!? Seriously!?’. But we stop, and then she gives me a mission and tells me her plans for the future. You know, religious endeavors.” Thadius shrugs as he finishes his tale.

“I’m having a hard time believing a Goddess would do such a thing…” Leon murmured.

“Whether you believe it or not doesn’t change the fact that it happened.” Thadius responded.

“What do they feel like, the thighs of a Goddess?” Mavas asked with a sly smile.

Thadius looked up into the dense fog. “It’s hard to describe now. It’s been so long, it’s like trying to remember a good dream you had as a child. But if I had to put it into words, I’d say it felt like-”

Before he could answer, both Thadius and Desha’s heads snapped to the east. What Desha heard, Thadius could feel.

What the hell is that!? Thadius thought, then he watched Mavas pale with one look at Desha’s face.

“It followed us…” he whispered, eyes wide with fear.