Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Gella and I entered the familiar damp environment and it wasn't as lively as before. Everything was just as maintained; but, there was an air of sadness that permeated everything as well. We walked through the main growing areas towards the office. I noticed several sectioned off areas that had foot tall grass growing in them and nothing else.

So, the cultivation worked. I thought and knocked on the office door.

“Go away, Pavinca! I told you that I never want to eat with the bastards that killed David's family!” Victoria's voice said loudly.

I nodded at Gella and she stepped away and cast a hiding spell on herself. I opened the office door and Victoria sat at her desk with her head in her hands. Her hair was dishevelled and her face was without make-up, which was almost a sin according to most nobles. She still wore a thin blouse that didn't hide the black bra she wore underneath and I suspected that she was also wearing tight pants.

Victoria heard me enter and sighed. “Pavinca, I thought I told you...” She said as she raised her head and then she gasped loudly. “D-D-David!”

“Mostly, Mage King.” I said and waved at her with my hand to show off the missing fingers.

Victoria took in a deep breath and then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and it made a loud thunk sound as it dropped to the desk.

“That's going to hurt when she wakes up.” Gella whispered as she walked by me and picked Victoria's head up, cast Minor Healing on her, and put the woman's head back down on her cheek and not the forehead. “Do you want me to wait outside?”

I thought about it and shrugged. Victoria wasn't going to see her right away anyway, so she didn't have to leave. Gella sat down at the side of the office and I sat down on the chair in front of the desk. We waited about ten minutes before Victoria took in a sharp breath and blinked her eyes. She didn't lift her head as she looked at me.

“You're really here.” Victoria whispered.

“Changed, obviously.” I said and she didn't respond. “If you can't tell by the skin color...”

“...you were a slave and only just came back.” Victoria said. “Cynthia, I mean Lady Ming was here and tried to tell me something important a couple of days ago. Something about the guild being wiped out...”

“That was me.” I said. “I also took over the building and their account at the bank.”

Victoria sat up and her eyes were wide. “You... took over... the guild building.”

“We've got the bottom three floors converted for living spaces for myself, my pirate crew, and nearly 200 slaves that I liberated and brought with me.”

Victoria's mouth opened and closed several times without any sound coming out of it.

“I also killed the Grand Mage, his wife, and his daughter, along with the mages council.”

“Your... your son...” Victoria whispered.

“Drained of magic and his life.” I said and tears came to her eyes. “It's all right. He's gone to a better place.”

Victoria nodded and slowly stood. “D-David, I...” She walked around the desk and sat on the edge of it in front of me. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” She said and wiped at her face. “After everything that's happened, I... I know what I'm going to say won't mean much.”

I sat there and didn't say anything.

“I apologize for what I did to you that night. I broke your trust and I can't ever make that up to you.” Victoria said. “Whatever gratification I had from it wasn't worth losing your friendship. It was a horrible thing for me to do to you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I ruined everything.”

I nodded and I put my hands on her thighs. I slid them up and down a little and she closed her eyes. “You always wear tight pants, don't you?”

“Yes. It makes the men that can't have me, desire me even more, because they can see what they can't have.” Victoria said.

“Why isn't your top wet?” I asked and slid my hands up her sides.

“I changed it after I fed the plants.” Victoria said and caught her breath when my hands slid up across the sides of her bra. “D-David, what...”

“I had intended to come back to the academy and demand that you wear appropriate teacher attire.” I said and brought my hands up to cup the sides of her face.

“N-no...” Victoria whispered. “Please... don't...”

“I changed my mind.” I said and sat back down. “I want you to keep flirting shamelessly.”

“David, I...”

“Show me what you can really do, like when we consulted on the trip.” I said. “Remember back in our cabin on that first ship and we went over the maps?”

Victoria remembered what she did and nodded. She stood up and opened up a couple of buttons on her blouse and went back around her desk. She picked up a few papers and then slipped off her top before she bent over to show off her cleavage.

“These are the growth potential estimates for the new magic grass.” Victoria said and shuffled the papers to make her breasts jiggle. “It's adapted so well that it's even more virulent than the original grass.”

“I'm going to need a lot of it.” I said.

“You must have seen the relevant sections coming in here.” Victoria asked and I nodded. She walked back around the desk with the papers and put them down in front of me. “I'll help you harvest it and you can take as much as you want.”

“What would happen if it ever got out?” I asked and motioned to the papers.

Victoria gave me a sad smile and stepped right in front of me, then she bent over to show me the results as she put her ass right in my face.

Unlike the last time, I didn't keep my hands to myself. I ran them up her thighs and pushed my nose right between her cheeks as I gripped her hips.

“D-David, please... don't...”

“I'm only doing what you did.” I said and slid a hand between her legs and started rubbing her.

“No, I... I don't want...”

I unhooked her pants and pulled them off of her hips, then slid them down over her ass. Her tiny little panties were hooked by the cloth and slid right off of her, leaving her completely exposed.

“David... I... that's enough.” Victoria whispered and I could hear her silently crying. “Please... you've never... never crossed...”

“I know.” I said and slipped my tongue into her.

Victoria moaned and sobbed at the same time. She braced her arms on the desk and cried as I kissed and licked her with all of the skills that I had learned from the women I've met, even Lady Ming. She must have recognized it when I suckled on her nub and then lightly bit it, because she let out a particularly loud sob and dropped her head onto her arms and cried hard.

Victoria now knew that I had seen her have sex with the captain of the clipper ship and hadn't said anything about it to her or anyone else. I wouldn't have learned about that particular action otherwise.

I kept working until she had an orgasm. She had cried herself out as well when I was done. Apparently, it took a long time for a woman to get off if she wasn't into having sex at the time. I wiped her off and sat back to look at her.

Victoria turned slightly to look at my face to see that I hadn't enjoyed it, either. She took a shaky breath and stood up, then took a minute to get her panties pulled up, as if she didn't want to touch herself after what I just did. She sighed sadly as she pulled her pants up, then she cringed as the cloth tried to tuck in between her lower lips.

“It doesn't feel good afterwards when someone uses you, does it?” I asked and she shook her head. “Now you know how I felt when you were done with me.”

“David, I... I really am sorry. I was weak and... and horny... and... you were so handsome and let me do what I wanted to tease you. You never complained, even when I took things a lot further than I ever had before. You accepted it for what it was and I... I fell in love with you because of it.” Victoria said. “When we were there in the most romantic spot I've ever been and we were on a journey that was going to make me a very happy woman... that you were going to make me a very happy woman...”

“You couldn't resist trying out something that you've only dreamed about.” I said and she nodded. “I've had some experience with that recently.”

“You have?” Victoria asked and wiped at her face.

“Not my own.” I said and glanced at Gella, who pretended to walk into the room just then. “Hanna.”

“I've had her do that to me, too. I didn't stop her.” Gella said and stood beside me.

“I didn't, either. She eventually gave up when she didn't get any milk.” I said and Gella laughed softly.

“Milk? What do you...” Victoria started to ask and I pointed at her breasts, then tapped my own chest. “Oh.” She said and then her eyes widened. “Oh!”

Gella laughed a bit more. “I doubt my lord felt it was as pleasurable as I did.”

I shrugged. “It wasn't arousing or bothered me, so I let it happen. Hanna didn't even notice.”

“You didn't say anything to her?” Gella asked.

“No, it wouldn't have made any difference.” I said and looked at Victoria. “She was half asleep when it happened and I accepted that she didn't have much of a conscious choice.”

Victoria took a deep breath and let it out. “David, I hope you can forgive me eventually...”

“I just did.” I said and nodded at her womanhood. “I wouldn't have done that to you if I didn't.”

Victoria looked surprised. “I... I thought... you were punishing me!”

“I was.” I said and stood up. “I couldn't let you suffer with being compared to a maid without trying it myself.”

Victoria just stared at me with her mouth open and didn't say anything.

“My lord, did you just create a bath ritual for a woman?” Gella asked, surprised.

“Yes, and no one but us can ever know about it.” I said.

“My lord...” Gella whispered.

“Only them.” I said and she nodded. I looked at Victoria. “I trust you won't say anything, Victoria.”

“No, I won't mention you reducing yourself to a man-servant or that... David!” Victoria gasped. “You just used my first name!”

I nodded.

Victoria leaned forward and hugged me tightly as her tears started again. “David, I... Oh, David!”

I hugged her back and let her cry herself out again. I nodded to Gella and she retrieved Victoria's blouse.

“Thank you.” Victoria said and put it on, making sure to shake her breasts at me before she buttoned the blouse up and tucked it into her pants. “Let's get to work.”

We went back out to the main growing area and to one of the sectioned off spots, then carefully trimmed the one foot long blades of grass off near the base. We also cleaned them of seeds before putting them into a clean storage bag. We gathered a hundred of them and sealed the bag before I could remove it from the section. It was too dangerous to let out.

“I hope you can visit the Sanctuary on the weekend and reclaim a lot of those plants and things that the guild threw out.” I said.

Victoria let out a sound of happiness and hugged me again. “I will! I WILL!”

“We also have lots of room for expansion on the next floor, now that the building is empty.” I said and she grabbed my face and kissed me for several seconds. The funny thing was, neither her magic nor mine reacted. She didn't realize that was a possibility, though.

“I'll bring some of my better plants from here that need a lot more room, including that flower we rescued.” Victoria said. “Your idea about saturating the area with magic to let it bloom and pollinate, worked beautifully!”

I hadn't told her about the magic saturated area in the marsh where the fungus blooms and mushrooms used to grow or that they only grew there and nowhere else. Ambient magic was a key component for a lot of the rarer plants and ingredients.

“I've got a dozen more of them growing now.” Victoria said, proudly. “It's going to be a few months before the new growths are ready for pollination and expansion, though.”

“Keep at it. When we have enough to start harvesting without impacting the original plants and their growth, I can adapt them into the healing and health potion recipes.” I said and she nodded.

“My lord, we should go to the administration building to get your replacement things.” Gella said.

“You're right. School is almost over.” I said and handed her the bag of magic grass. “I'll see you in two days for class, Victoria.”

Victoria took in a sharp breath. “You're coming back to class?!?”

“How else would I take the exams?” I asked.

Victoria let out another sound of happiness and hugged me tightly. “I look forward to you destroying every other test result my students have ever made!”

Gella laughed softly and peeled the older woman off of me, then we left the botany building. “She seems to have forgotten what you did to her.”

“No, she hasn't.” I said and Gella gave me a questioning look. “She's nervous about giving me any opportunity now. She didn't rub up against me with her breasts when we hugged or tried to let my hands and arms caress her ass as we worked. Her blouse is buttoned up to the collar, too.”

Gella looked thoughtful and nodded. “I did notice a lack of closeness, even when she kissed you.”

“She'll get past what just happened eventually and will start flirting again.” I said. “She's used to being free with her affection and won't fight the urges for long.”

“I noticed she didn't once mention contracts or that she wanted one with you.” Gella said as we walked over to the administration building.

“She hated the one she had with her ex-husband and their family. She won't trap herself in another one any more than I would.”

“She also didn't say anything about getting together despite that.” Gella pointed out.

“That's because she is as ingrained with the noble mentality as everyone else is in the nobility.” I said. “She believes she is degrading herself by pretending to be a personal maid, without realizing that they enjoy their work, are very well paid, and are cared for by their chosen families.”

Gella nodded. “That was why you mentioned it.”

I nodded back. “It won't change her viewpoint much; but, knowing I would do the same is going to make her think about it. A lot.”

Gella laughed and opened the door to the building. “I wonder why nobles never thought about doing those kinds of things with each other?”

“It's a commoner thing, apparently.” I said and we entered the building. “Having a relationship with someone without a contract to back it up is almost completely against their beliefs.”

I was quickly sorted out and given new books, my royal cafeteria card, and my class schedule that included the exams, their classroom locations, and the practical areas for spell casting and potion making. When I went to the dorm manager for the academy, he gave me a blank face and no assignment.

I stood there for exactly sixty seconds before I nodded at Gella. Her sword was out of the sheath and across the man's cheek and back in the sheath before he could blink.

“AHH!” The man screamed and shot to his feet. “Your SLAVE just assaulted me!”

“No, she was teaching you a lesson about disrespecting a Lord of the Kingdom and a friend of the royal family.” I said. “Now do your job or go find someone that will.”

The man glared at me, clearly a slave myself, and then he looked at Gella and started to whisper.

I whipped my own sword out and made it glow as I shoved it through the man's nose vertically. It bisected his mouth, his tongue, and his nose up to between his eyes. I pulled it up and it slid out through the top of his head with a bit of a blood splatter in his hair, then the body dropped to the floor.

“I'll get the director.” The man that had handed me my food card said and ran for the hallway.