Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

After my little study session, we all changed for bed. I wasn't surprised that Hanna, Gella, and Farra all joined me in my bed while Jill slept in the spare bed by herself. I didn't bother protesting or asking them to continue with their previous rotation schedule and taking turns, because I knew that as they recovered from their slave conditioning that their personalities and their physical reactions were changing.

I was sure they would also say that they needed my magic as an excuse to do so, anyway. Fighting that reasoning would only lead to madness, so I allowed them to cuddle in and let my magic flow over them.

The thing was, I knew without a doubt that I was still hindered, both physically and mentally. I had the notion in my head that I wasn't complete, even though I felt magically powerful. The ease at which I picked up new spells was ridiculous in my own opinion. I was especially glad that I didn't have to do that odd spell calculating thing that the academy tried to beat into my head.

The academy's approach to spell casting was fundamentally different than my own; and yet, the results were fundamentally the same. As an example, we both cast fireball spells. They gather power by chanting and making calculations in their heads, then release the magic and let the math guide it to the right size and to the target destination.

I merely use the magic within me, change it to what I want, and let it go. No incantation, no calculations, and no encumbering time between the thought of the spell and casting it. Needless to say, my version of the spell was much more powerful and devastating, since I wasn't inflicting an inherent flaw into the output like a normal mage would.

I let my thoughts wander and tried to let sleep take me. I usually only needed a short time for rest and had forgone that while my new entourage recovers. That they enjoyed feeling my magic flowing over them was just a bonus, or so Hanna claimed. It was the closeness and intimacy that she enjoyed the most.

What surprised me was that I wasn't fighting against it. It wasn't like I had been with a lot of women, three to be exact, or planned to be with more. I was soured completely on having a noble type of relationship after everything that had happened, which everyone understood.

What I needed was more experience with the commoner way of doing things. The only one I had done anything with was Diane, and that had pretty much just been transactions of goods for sex. The both of us had been much too busy for anything else at the time, so I had almost no idea what an actual relationship entailed. Descriptions were not going to be enough for practicality, despite the use of comparison with what I had already experienced.

My last thought before drifting off to sleep was that I couldn't have that kind of relationship with any of the women currently sleeping in my bed. Each had their own obligations to me, tied by both magic and oaths, and none of them would be able to have a normal relationship outside of those tasks.

The next morning had me bathed enthusiastically by Jill, her happy humming was continuous as she scrubbed me, then I stood for the ritual. Her humming didn't cease as she happily did her duty, which elicited a very quick response from me. Her face almost glowed as she swallowed and then cleaned me up, then she thanked me for rewarding her so soon.

Gella and I dressed for classes, prepped my smaller backpack, and left for the main class building. We arrived at the secondary classroom for Basic Biology, the Study of Creatures, and saw an older man with greying hair.

“You actually showed up.” The older man said, surprised.

“Mage Sacristos.” I said and walked over to shake the stunned man's hand. “I apologize again for the interrogation, even if it was sanctioned and necessary.”

The older man blinked his eyes and let my hand go. “Do you really expect me to treat you civilly after you killed most of my colleagues?”

“Honestly, I don't care.” I said and that stunned him even more. “If you insult me, Gella will remove your hand, or possibly your head. It depends on if she's in a good mood today.”

Mage Sacristos looked at Gella's face and shivered when he saw a slight scowl. He didn't say anything else, so I sat down on one of the front seats with Gella beside me. Gella handed me Victoria's notes for the course as the rest of the girls in the class arrived. Most of them ignored me as if I didn't exist, including Vanessa. Only three of the other girls glanced my way.

Two of them were the same ones that had expressed an interest in me the first day I had arrived at the academy and the third one was Lorna. I couldn't figure out the emotions she showed on her face, though.

“I hope you're all ready for an in-depth review.” Mage Sacristos said and then started talking.

Both Gella and I followed along and marked the relevant points in Vanessa's notes. Thankfully, there wasn't much about the course that I didn't know, except for some of what they called 'outrageous' animals. That meant I would have no trouble with the exam, even if I didn't actually study.

Of course, I had a lot of personal experience with most of the animals mentioned, including their behavior that wasn't covered, so I had even more to contribute to the exams than the normal course work entailed. Like the other students, the teacher ignored me completely and I was fine with that.

We dropped off our things at the dorm room and went to lunch. I wasn't surprised when the head cook joined us again, with another bottle of wine, and we shared polite conversation about our plans for the summer break as we ate.

Robin planned to test new dishes for the coming year and to travel a little to smaller towns to find recipes to use. I immediately thought about the sweet cookie bread from Ester's Village that Gloria's mother made, then decided it wasn't something that her family would share or sell. It was much too popular for them to give up and it made too much money.

“What do you plan to do?” Robin asked as she took a sip of wine between bites of delicious steak.

“I'm going to finish my work on restoring the slaves I liberated, create new weapons for war, then destroy all the mage holdouts that continue to defy me on my own land.” I said and smiled as Robin almost choked on her wine. I reached over and lightly touched her hand. “Minor Heal.”

Robin gasped as her airway cleared instantly and she glowed slightly. “By the Son's Light.”

Everyone in the cafeteria stopped talking and looked over at us.

“What... how...” Robin reached for her neck and rubbed the spot where she had felt the wine go down the wrong way.

“I know a lot of spells now.” I said and she gave me an odd look. “No, I can't really demonstrate beyond what you've already seen.”

“Why?” Robin asked.

I smiled. “Most of them are too destructive.”

Robin opened her mouth briefly and then closed it, shrugged, and continued to eat. My words had travelled around the room in the silence and conversations soon picked up again with a new topic. Me.

We finished our meal and Gella and I went to the Civil Construction classroom without notes. I had thought about skipping it, then chose to attend and let the teacher know I would be there for the exams. The man was just as shocked as Mage Sacristos was when I entered the classroom. Unlike him, this teacher stuttered and stumbled through his exam preparation review. I really should have skipped it, since it didn't help me at all, so I sat there conversing with Gella in whispers for the entire class.

We left when class ended to go back to the dorm. We gathered the others just in time as the carriage arrived to pick us up. I handed them into the carriage to sit down and entered myself. I tossed the guard a gold coin as we passed the gate leaving the academy and Gella couldn't stop her laugh.

“Welcome home!” The guards at the main gate of Sanctuary exclaimed and waved us through. The ride had been a relatively short one with everyone talking to each other about their day.

“It's so nice to be back here.” Hanna said as I handed her down from the carriage.

“You're just happy there's someone else to cook.” Farra teased and Hanna smiled at her.

We all went inside and split up as we went about various tasks. I had a lot of work to catch up on and headed right for the potions rooms and my workbench there. My notes on the rejuvenation creme were safely hidden inside my desk, secured with number ten potion, and I took them out to review them. It was definitely going to be a lot of work, more trial and error with testing, and a lot of tweaking the ingredients.

The best part was that the blades of magical grass I had set out for drying naturally were ready. It was going to significantly increase the potency of everything I made, especially the creme when used as a binding agent. With those thoughts in mind, I got to work.

_______________

Montage Mode engaged. Skipping miscellaneous details. Speeding up time. Done.

_______________

“My lord, it's time for bed.” Hanna said in a soft voice from the doorway.

“What time is it?” I asked and quickly cleaned up what I had been doing and put everything on the stasis enchanted shelf above the workbench.

“It's nearing on mid night.” Hanna said and yawned, quite unladylike, then she blushed deeply.

I walked over to her and smiled as I gave her a hug. “You could have gone to bed without me.”

“We tried.” Hanna said and we walked with an arm around each other down the stairs. “We can't sleep without you near.”

“When did you discover this?” I asked, curious.

“A while...” *yawn* “...ago.” Hanna said and blushed again.

“Then you should have come for me sooner. I doubt you'll get a full night's rest now.”

Hanna leaned into me and sighed.

We went to the second floor and down to our rooms. We were met with the smell of food and a tray of it for me.

“You missed supper, my lord.” Jill said and pointed to the bed.

I chuckled a little and stripped off, then climbed into bed between Gella and Ferra. Jill put the tray on my lap and Hanna looked lost.

“On the left until he eats, silly girl.” Jill said and had Hanna climb onto the bed behind Gella.

Hanna blushed again and did as she was told. She watched me eat, as if each bite I took was very important. When I was done, Jill whisked the tray away and Hanna took its place, almost before I could blink. That made the others laugh and we all settled down in the bed to go to sleep. None of them closed their eyes until my magic flowed over them.

The early morning came before we knew it and the three young women were groggy as Jill served us breakfast.

“I want you back in bed.” I said when breakfast was done.

“But... you have work to do.” Hanna said, almost with a pout.

“I didn't say I would be joining you.” I responded and she frowned. “Yes, I remember what you told me last night. I have a plan.”

“I suppose it doesn't hurt to try it, whatever it is.” Farra said and yawned. Unlike Hanna, she didn't blush from doing it. She didn't grow up with a Lady around, so her sensibilities were much more practical. The three of them went back to the bed and laid down with Hanna in the middle.

“Promise that you won't go anywhere without me.” Gella said.

“I'm not leaving the compound until Monday.” I promised and she nodded. “Close your eyes.”

They did so and I held my hands out above them. I let my magic flow out and into them, making them sigh, then I touched each of them on the forehead. They drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

“That was sneaky, my lord.” Jill said with a smile on her face. “How long will the Sleep spell last?”

“Another four hours. Plenty of time for a normal day when they wake up.” I said. “How about a bath?”

Jill's smile became a grin as she led me into the large bathroom.

*

“This place is fantastic!” Mage Victoria Julia King, the botany teacher, said as she looked around the updated grounds and all of the security features that had been installed.

“I'm glad you like the changes.” I commented and escorted her inside the main building.

Jensen assigned a work crew to bring up the large cart full of the things that Victoria wanted to transplant into the expanded Sanctuary growing fields. Pulleys had already been set up and an opening had been made in one of the walls for all of the transplanted dirt and soil to be brought inside. The workers had been tempted to make a ramp instead, then decided it was easier and quicker with ropes and pulleys.

“Are you serious?” Victoria asked as we entered the floor above the other two growing areas. “This is all mine?”

“All fresh and cleaned virgin dirt and soil.” I said and her eyes almost sparkled. “We left some of the wall dividers, so you can section things off a little easier if you want.”

“David, I... this is...” Victoria looked around at all of the open space. “I don't know what to say.”

Just then, a large portion of the wall opened up and Victoria gasped as her overloaded cart was slipped in through the opening and then the wall closed again.

“How in the world did you do that?!?” Victoria asked, shocked.

“Well, we had to get tons of dirt in here somehow.” I said and she looked at me like I was crazy. “I was not going to have them bring it up in buckets.”

“I... well... yes, I suppose that would be a daunting task to do again.” Victoria said, almost in a whisper.

I chuckled and she blushed a little. “It would also take a very long time.”

Victoria nodded and went over to her cart. “I brought a live sample of the magic grass inside a sealed botanical sample container. We should get that set up first and cut it off from the rest of the area.”

I nodded and we dug through a bunch of other things to get to the sample container. It took me fifteen minutes to segregate a nice sized section of the floor, several offices worth, and then planted the sod and all into the damp soil. Victoria wanted to help it along and did several scrapings to get seeds and then pushed them into the soil around the transplanted grass.

“Give it about a week before you try harvesting anything.” Victoria cautioned me.

“I'm only in the experimental phase of my brewing, so it might be several weeks if not more before I need any more.” I said. “I haven't had much spare time to experiment with using the grass with the normal potion recipes I make.”

“That's good.” Victoria said and laughed softly at my stern face. “I meant not needing it right away, David. It grows fast; but, it needs time to take root, too.”

I nodded and we went back out to the cart to start sorting her plants and things for where she wanted them to go for the best coverage and growth potential. We worked until noon and took a break for lunch.

“That was fun!” Victoria said after she had washed up and joined me at the dinner table with Gella, Farra, Hanna and Jill.

“I see you're wearing reasonable clothing, too.” Gella commented with a smirk on her face, making the others laugh.

“Hardy-har-har.” Victoria said in a haughty voice. “I'll have you know I used to wear this all the time.”

“There's no way you wore pants that baggy and fully buttoned shirts.” Farra said. “I have trouble wearing my apprentice outfit when working around potions and they were designed to be comfortable and airy around the open fire.”

Victoria opened her mouth to respond, then sighed.

Hanna reached over and took her hand. “It's okay if you're not comfortable. Things like that take time to get over. My lord was despondent for weeks after what you did.”

Victoria's face flushed red from embarrassment and she turned her head away as she tried to take her hand back. Hanna wouldn't let it go, though.

“Yes, he told us.” Gella said. “I also told them what he did in return.”

Victoria's face went redder and she ducked her head. “Wh-why?”

“So we would all know it's been resolved.” Jill said, even though she looked like she didn't want it resolved. It had hurt Helena a lot to have it happen and it had strained her relationship with me. “Or, at least as much as it could be, considering the circumstances.”

Victoria's flushed face slowly lost the reddish tint and she looked at everyone's faces before her eyes settled on mine. She looked both sorry and repentant, so I smiled and started eating without saying anything. As far as I was concerned, it was over and done with.

“What did it feel like?” Hanna asked, almost eager for the answer.

Victoria's face flushed red again and she shook her head.

“A lady never tells.” Gella said and took another spoonful of soup.

“Aww.” Hanna said and pouted as she let Victoria's hand go to continue eating.

Farra laughed softly kept eating as well. “Don't be so hasty for things you're not really ready for.”

“How do I know when I'm ready?” Hanna asked, her spoon stopped halfway to her mouth.

“Oh, you'll know.” Gella said with a knowing smile.

We all fell into a companionable silence as we ate our food. When we were done, Victoria practically begged me to put off working on the creme to help her go out to the discard area where the other plants and things were discarded by the mages guild previously. She wanted to get them back inside and cultivating again. They were her life's work, after all.

I thought about it as she looked at me with hope in her eyes. I didn't move until she seemed to come to a decision. Victoria reached up and very slowly unbuttoned the top three buttons of her billowing shirt and then took in a deep breath as she stared into my eyes. That showed off an impressive amount of cleavage, which meant she was pushing them up for all they were worth.

“All right, let's get to work.” I said in defeat.

“YES! I still got it!” Victoria shouted as she ran around the table, gave me a tight hug, then she grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the table with the laughter of the others filling the air as we left the dining room.