The Realm Between: A LitRPG Saga (Books 7 - 10), page 56
“We’ve definitely brought back something of interest,” Mumi replied, her eyes instantly settling on the elf.
“Oh my.” The guard broke her position and walked straight up to Jin, making the entire procession stop as she looked him up and down. “This is…This is…” She shook her finger at him.
“An elf,” he helped her out dryly.
The guard squinted at him and smiled. “No way.”
“That’s what he keeps claiming.” Mumi sighed before urging the procession on.
Once inside the village, Azure was surprised to find that it looked like a small kingdom. Beyond the walls, shops had been set up. Azure could smell the baking of bread, and he could hear the clink clank of someone working metal off in the distance. Women came and went from the various buildings, but most of them stopped upon seeing the prisoners, who seemed to be winding their way toward the village's nucleus.
Several women walked up to gawk at them, at one point so many that they were forced to stop again. Of course, Jin drew most of their focus, though the others got their fair share of attention.
A girl that could not have been older than sixteen ran up to them and brazenly began stroking the elf’s hair. When he tried to pull away from her, Mumi delivered a slap to the back of his head—the seemingly customary discipline for whenever any of them misbehaved.
“You look like an elf,” the girl exclaimed in a syrupy sweet voice.
Most of the women inside were not wearing armor, though all were carrying weapons. Azure wondered if the girl was actually dangerous as he gazed at the long dagger hanging from a belt around her waist.
“I am an elf,” he replied just as dryly as he’d said it before.
The girl looked to Mumi, who seemed to be the bigger authority of the two women who had apprehended them. “Can I touch his ears?”
“Go ahead.” She smiled at the girl.
Jin refused to bend for her touch, instead leaning out of the way, which earned him another slap.
“Let her touch you,” Mumi commanded.
“Fuck’s sake!” The elf knelt down on one knee.
Azure was amused to hear the word leave Jin’s mouth, considering that he rarely cursed.
Instead of immediately touching his ears, the girl took the elf’s face in both of her hands. Then she bent and kissed him on the lips. His head immediately jutted back, and his eyes grew wide. Azure was surprised he hadn’t fallen over.
Just watching it was awkward.
In fact, there was a lot about the village that made Azure uncomfortable. Children ran around the streets, all female, unfazed by their nudity. Though it was of no fault of his own that he was being seen in such a state, it still felt wrong that these women were allowing their children to witness this. And where were all the male children?
Somehow, the girl seemed to have subdued the elf. He did not try to pull away, though the look of shock never left his face as she caressed his cheek before touching his ears and then finally stroking his hair again.
“He’s absolutely perfect,” she told Mumi.
The blonde warrior ruffled the girl’s hair before ordering Jin to get up so that they could proceed.
Closer to the center of the village, multiple longhouses were erected. Beyond that appeared to be a residential district made up of several huts. Unlike the businesses, which were built of stone, the vast majority of the huts were made of mud and straw.
Azure and his friends were led to a town square of sorts. A raised wooden platform stood barren before several rows of benches. Behind it was a small stone building, and to the left, a much larger one.
The men were taken to the smaller of the two buildings, which was completely dark inside until Shuma lit a torch to expose the inner workings of a jail. At the back of the room were two cells with metal bars. On the far left wall, shackles were affixed to the stonework. In the middle of the room, a furnace with fresh coals sat waiting to be lit. Metal implements of torture hung from hooks on the wall near the door. One looked like a brand, the other just a long thin metal stick. The most threatening of the three was a large pair of shears. Azure doubted they were for sheep.
Jin and Rerdam were forced into one of the cells while Azure and Uden were herded into the other. They were left bound, with nothing to sit on but the cold stone floor. The only other thing of note in each cell was a bucket for them to do their business. Azure was not looking forward to the stench that would eventually permeate the room if they were kept prisoners long enough to merit using the buckets.
Shuma and Mumi said nothing before leaving. Though they were gone, the men could still hear voices outside—the village abuzz with news of the new prisoners.
“So, what’s the plan?” Azure asked after a few minutes had passed.
“If someone can confirm my identity and connect us to Princess Zadori, then I’m fairly certain they’ll let us go.” The elf seemed confident.
“You know, we could probably just escape, right?” Uden stood up and walked over to his cell door to examine the lock on it. “These aren’t exactly difficult to pick. And they weren’t very smart, leaving us all together like this. We could untie each other.”
“No.” Jin shook his head.
They didn’t have time to continue the conversation before they had company again. Escorted by Mumi was a red-skinned woman with a shaved head. She was tall and lithe, dressed in a mixture of cloth and leather. On her hips were two daggers, similar in size to the one the girl who had kissed Jin had equipped. Her face was set in a serious expression, her grey eyes fixed on Mumi until they had fully entered the room. As soon as they shifted to Jin, they widened a bit.
Her gaze raked his body up and down before she turned to Mumi again. “It is as he says. He is an elf.” A thick accent left her mouth, the words sounding choppy and stunted.
“And a king?” Mumi asked.
“I see no title before his name.”
“So, he’s a lying elf.” A wicked smirk took over Mumi’s face. “Do you know what we do to liars?” She began to reach for the shears.
Jin took a few steps toward the cell door. “I am not a liar. I was able to knight him.” He nodded in Azure’s direction. “I would not have been able to do that if I was not a king.”
“It’s true,” Uden surprisingly vouched for the elf. “I saw it with my own two eyes.”
“Unlike humans, elves do not use titles in their Character Sheets to denote royalty,” Jin informed them.
The woman with the shaved head turned her attention to the half-imp. “And why should we believe you, half-monster?” She then quickly returned her focus to Mumi. “That one is to be executed. He is no good for breeding stock.”
“Breeding stock,” Azure mouthed the words.
“I’ll have you know that I’m damn good at breeding,” Uden objected.
“These are my men. You will do no such thing,” the elf said with authority.
“That’s not for you to decide,” the woman with the shaved head shot back with equal clout.
“And what of the other two?” Mumi asked.
The red-skinned woman barely even gave them a look over before saying, “Prepare them for breeding.”
Mumi nodded briefly, then the two of them left.
The half-imp fell away from the cell door, his gaze distant. “So that’s it, then. I’m to be executed just for how I was born.” The words came out softly.
“Oh, get over yourself,” Jin chastised him. “We’re all in danger. You think they don’t plan on killing them as well?” He tossed his head toward Rerdam. “As soon as this breeding business is over, it’s to the gallows with all of you.”
“But not you. Never you.” Uden gave him a scathing look.
The elf sighed. “We will find a way out of this. We always do.”
Moments later, Mumi returned with two different women dressed in loose-fitting cloth. Both were in their early twenties and seemed rather shy, refusing to look the men in the eye.
Mumi opened the door to Jin’s cell first, ordering Rerdam to step out. Azure was released into their care next. Having collected who they’d come for, the women prompted the two knights to follow them.
As they walked out of the room, Azure cast a glance over his shoulder, an image of the half-imp’s solemn expression burned into his mind. He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever see his friend again.
Rerdam and Azure were led between the huts to an open-air bath. The backdrop was painted in trees, giving the illusion of a small forest in the middle of the village. Lanterns hung from poles encircling the area. Azure imagined it was very beautiful at night.
The pool itself had been dug from the earth. Rocks were piled up around it and cemented into place, creating a ledge of sorts. Stone steps led into the water.
Mumi instructed the men to climb into the pool while the other two women undressed. Azure tried not to stare, taking his cues from Rerdam, who was looking everywhere he could but at the women.
The water was cool but not unpleasant. Submerging his body, Azure felt way more relaxed than he should have in such a tense situation. Other things were starting to happen that he felt shouldn’t be happening either, but the implication of breeding had his blood running hot.
Once they were naked, the two women joined them in the water with sponges and bars of soap in hand. Mumi warned Azure and Rerdam not to try anything funny or that they’d feel the bite of her blade.
Not knowing what to say or if he even should say anything, Azure kept his mouth shut. Apparently, being nervous made the old man more vocal.
“Well, this isn’t so bad,” he mused as one of the women began scrubbing him down.
“You know, I could do this myself.” Azure hesitantly offered.
The girl who was bathing him had bright blue eyes and shoulder-length pigtails. Her breasts seemed to float on the surface of the water like two bobbers. Just having her touch him made his heart race—and her hands were all over him.
“You will not get sufficiently clean if we let you do it yourself,” Mumi responded for the girl, staring straight forward as if the thought of watching the men no longer amused her.
Though there was nothing erotic about being bathed by the women, Azure couldn’t think of it in any other way. His mind was slowly drifting away from his concerns for his friends toward what ‘breeding’ would entail.
Doing his best to relax, Azure sank into the enjoyment of the special treatment he was getting, even though the girl scrubbed him a bit hard, leaving his skin red and patchy in the wake of her sponge. A quick glance at Rerdam’s weathered face told Azure that the old knight was in the same mindset. This was a little piece of heaven inside of hell.
Layer after layer of dirt got scoured from their bodies, and soon, they were both cleaner than either of them had been in a very long time.
When Azure was instructed to get out of the bath, there was a large linen towel outstretched and waiting for him to step into. The fact that there was a beautiful, naked woman standing behind it was a pretty big bonus. Azure lavished in the pampering as the woman made a round to dry every inch of him.
Once that was done, the women were given time to dress. Then they each pulled a vial out of their bags, uncorked them, and added a dab of the liquid onto their fingers before placing it at strategic points on the men’s skin. It didn’t take a deep inhale for Azure to realize that it was cologne of some sort, the scent somewhere between wood and musk and chocolate. The woman that had been attending to him placed a dab on his throat, one behind each ear, a few on his chest, and several between his thighs. As soon as her hands roamed close to his southern region, he immediately stiffened.
Azure grunted an apology, feeling guilty for his body’s reaction.
After the women had finished, Mumi reanimated to lead them to their next location, a small hut two down from the bath area. There were no windows, the inside lit by two lanterns hanging on stands. The floor was covered with various animal furs, which felt pleasant beneath Azure’s bare feet. At the back of the room was a four-poster bed. Shackles hung from every post. The feather mattress looked full and comfortable, complemented by two fat pillows. Green sheets decorated the bed.
“You. Lie down on your back,” Mumi instructed, nodding from Azure to the bed.
He glanced over at Rerdam before hesitantly approaching the bed.
The women were patient as he crawled onto it, lying down and staring up at the ceiling. There was no question about what was going to happen next.
Flanking his sides, the two women that had bathed them shackled Azure to the bed, starting with his wrists, then moving on to his feet. The shackles were cold and uncomfortable, but at least his limbs weren’t too stretched.
Once he was secured in place, one of the women walked over to a table next to the door to light a stick of incense in a stone holder. Smoke slowly began filling the room, the scent heady and sweet. It wasn’t until after everyone had left that Azure started to feel dizzy.
GOD OF LIFE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE REALM – DAY 780
“And then there were two,” Uden said with a hint of bitterness. “And soon, there will only be one.”
Jin did not care for the doom and gloom. Nothing would please him more than if the half-imp was executed, but he knew that he had no choice but to try to save him in this instance.
“Stop worrying. I am going to take care of this.” He attempted to calm Uden’s nerves.
“How?” The half-imp gave him a pointed look. “How are you going to take care of this? Clearly, you haven’t noticed that you have no power here. Who knows when they’re going to come back to take me or if you’ll even be able to talk to someone in time to stop it. Or them, for that matter.” Uden nodded toward the door, indicating Rerdam and Azure. “We don’t know what’s happening to them.”
“If their leader is smart, she will not try to execute any of you before speaking to me to find out what we’re about.” The elf continued to remain collected.
“Why? They only care about you.” The half-imp shook his head.
“It is not smart to slight a king.” Jin was quickly growing tired of the argument.
“Oh, you’re some king.” Uden snorted. “You going to come back and avenge our deaths? You and what army? It’s. Just. Us.” He strained his arms as if he meant to hold them out to his sides, but the rope binding his wrists kept him from moving much. “Now would be the time for you to untie me. I will get us all out of this, because I am capable, unlike you!”
The elf hummed. “I’m sure you are. You can magically Stealth us all out of this fortress without being seen, and then who cares what happens to Zadori.” He rolled his eyes.
“Her life isn’t on the line. Your life isn’t on the line. Mine is!” The half-imp shook with frustration. “The least you could do is untie me. You can stay here and die for all I care.”
Approaching footsteps drove them to silence. Moments later, a woman entered the room with an entourage of armed guards behind her. Wearing a mix of furs, leather, and silk, all in earthen tones, she was the most ornately dressed of anyone that Jin had seen in the village so far. There was no question in his mind that she was the leader of The Sapphire Eye Warriors.
Half of the woman’s hair was blonde, the other half black, and all of it woven into small braids that were swept back over her shoulders. Though not conventional, there was an exotic beauty to her. With sun-kissed skin, her face had broad features, and her lips were practically two thin lines. While she wasn’t dressed for combat, her body was certainly built for it. Muscles stood out on her bare arms, and there was a general thickness to her that wasn’t from overeating. One of the less feminine women he had seen in the village, there was something very androgynous about her.
“Elohrel, I presume.” The elf did not bother to look intimidated.
Before she had a chance to respond, the red-skinned woman with the accent made a reappearance, her pace nearly a jog as she apologized for being late, confirming in her apology that the woman was, in fact, the same Elohrel that Mumi and Shuma had spoken of.
The leader did not speak to Jin directly, but instead turned to the room's newest occupant. “It is as you say, Sesna, but what does this mean for us? Do you really believe he’s the last of his kind?”
Sesna shook her head. “I do not know. All the stories say that elves are extinct, and I’ve heard no word about it otherwise.”
Elohrel returned her attention to Jin, looking him up and down appraisingly. “No doubt, he would make beautiful babies.”
“Babies that would not live very long,” he warned her.
“He’s right. Half-elves have a shorter lifespan than humans,” Sesna confirmed.
“How short?” her leader asked.
“Thirty years or less,” Jin replied.
“No one is talking to you!” Elohrel barked at him finally.
“Apologies.” Jin bowed his head respectfully.
“Can you confirm?” she questioned Sesna.
“Yes.” The red-skinned woman nodded. “Everything he is saying is the truth.”
While mulling over indiscernible thoughts, the leader hummed. “What good is one elf if he cannot efficiently procreate?” she said finally, making it sound more like a curse than a statement.
Sesna’s body shifted toward her slightly. “Might I suggest that we part him out? Alchemists will pay great coin for pieces of him.”
“Part me out?” Jin’s mouth dropped open.
“Did I say you could speak?!” Elohrel snapped at him again before reaching for the shears on the wall. “Perhaps we’ll start right now.”
Jin reflexively shrank away from the cell door. His mind was reeling with how quickly things had gotten so bad.
“How much coin?” she asked Sesna as she dropped her hand back to her side, temporarily abandoning the idea of mutilating the elf.
“Enough to buy an entire kingdom, I would imagine.” The red-skinned woman grinned.
