The Storm King

With a few graceful steps, Naiad stepped onto the dock, completely undisturbed at her lack of attire. Her aura was calm, but completely dwarfed everyone else’s, and even the vampires attacking Leon and the others came to a halt, stunned as they were at Naiad’s arrival.

As she approached Elise, Alix, Valeria, and Asiya, the four ladies quickly switched their attention away from the vampires and brandished their weapons at Naiad, but the river nymph Queen couldn’t have cared less, and walked right past them doing nothing but releasing her aura. With Naiad’s mountainous aura pressing down upon Elise and the others, none of them could so much as move, let alone stop Naiad from strolling past them like they weren’t even there.

When she finally came close to Leon, she whispered into his mind, [You seem to find a great many ways to get into trouble, boy…]

Leon fought the urge to flinch, but he had no response for her. He was now caught between three extraordinarily powerful vampires who had been pushing him, Emilie, and Jordan back with seeming ease, and a river nymph Queen whom he considered a potential enemy. His heart felt like it was beating a million times a minute from panic, his eyes were wildly shifting between Naiad and the vampire he’d been fighting, and worst of all, most of the people he cared even a little bit about were still in danger.

“… Who are you?” Emilie asked, asking the question everyone, including the vampires, wanted to ask. She would’ve been more demanding, but she couldn’t identify Naiad’s power, so she decided to err on the side of caution and temper her tone.

Naiad briefly smiled at Emilie but didn’t respond. Instead, her next question was directed at Leon, and since she was speaking directly into his mind, none of the others could hear what she was saying. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of confusion running through their minds.

[Are these creatures your enemies?] Naiad asked, tilting her head vaguely in the direction of the vampires.

Finally finding his tongue, Leon replied, “Of course they are, attempted murder is not usually the pastime of good acquaintances!”

[Don’t get uppity with me, I don’t know how your society works!] Naiad shot back with a mischievous glare. [In that respect, I’d say that it always pays to confirm with those you know about who any potential enemies might be…]

With that, Naiad snapped her fingers and the river resonated with the sound. Clearly, she was working some kind of magic, but no one knew what it was, especially since she hadn’t spoken any of her thoughts aloud. Everyone reasonably assumed due to Leon’s spoken part of their conversation that Naiad wasn’t planning anything good for the vampires, and said vampires quickly assumed more defensive postures and backed away a few steps from the river. No one took advantage of this, though, they were too busy watching Naiad with increasing worry as they waited for whatever she was doing to come to fruition.

They didn’t have to wait long. Second later, the river far away from the shore rose like there was something unspeakably massive swimming through it, and it was rapidly approaching Leon and Elise’s private dock. If anyone cared to look, they might have seen this raised water pushing past startled boats in the distance and a few nobles whose estates were also riverside and had come out to see what all was happening. But given their current circumstances, no one was so circumspect, and their attentions were focused almost completely on Naiad and whatever seemed to be approaching.

As the mass of water approached the dock, it quickly took shape, splitting into a huge maw with three rows of vicious fangs that could swallow a one-man fishing boat whole, a reptilian head that had a pair of curved horns that were each as long as Leon was tall, and a long snake-like body that had a row of curved sword-like spikes running down its spine.

“A… river dragon?” Valeria rhetorically asked in abject shock. She was the only one able to talk with this monster made entirely of water bearing down upon them. In fact, it was distracting enough that no one even processed what she said. Even Leon struggled to maintain control over himself and fight the urge to run. Elise, Alix, and Asiya all took hesitant steps backward, while Valeria, Emilie, and Jordan readied themselves for battle just in case.

Leon, however, turned to look at Naiad, and found that she had taken another couple of steps forward, and her face was now inches away from his own. She stared into his eyes and wore a smile of such abject pride and confidence that Leon managed to remain calm despite the incoming serpentine dragon.

The dragon rose out of the water, glittering in the silver light of the rising moon, and floated in the air above the river. It glared at the three vampires and began to rapidly fly in their direction, its nearly two hundred foot long body slithering through the air like a snake.

“Run!” the seventh-tier woman shouted in terror as the dragon quickly closed the distance.

All three vampires ran, and being powerful mages, they could run extraordinarily quickly. However, they didn’t even manage to get halfway back to the villa before the water dragon crashed down upon them, crushing them beneath its titanic weight. What was more, the water that made up the dragon’s body invaded every opening it could find, flooding the bodies of the vampires and utterly ravaging their bodies from within. The water was so intense that even after mortal wounds had been inflicted Amon was unable to destroy them with demonfire and take their power for himself before they died and their contract with him broke.

After the dragon hit the ground and its body returned to water, there was nothing left of the vampires except a few scattered entrails. All the rest was washed back into the river with the dragon’s water after their bodies burst under the strain of Naiad’s magic power.

Silence descended upon the observers in the aftermath of the battle. There weren’t any serious injuries that needed tending to, as even though Leon, Emilie, and Jordan were on the losing end of the fight, they had still been wearing armor that protected them quite well. Consequently, everyone stared at the naked Naiad in a mixture of fear, gratitude, and uncertainty. Everyone was waiting for her to make her move.

And yet, she just stared at Leon with an expectant look, and after a couple seconds he got very nervous and averted his gaze. He glanced around and noticed that it wasn’t just the other six who were staring, many other nobles and fisherman in the distance were intently watching his property. A quick glance backward confirmed that his neighbors were doing likewise.

“Let’s get inside,” he suddenly said.

Leon’s voice was enough for everyone to get moving, though all seven kept a close eye on Naiad and those who could kept releasing their magic senses to keep an eye on their surroundings in case there were any nasty surprises that they had yet to encounter. Leon also verified that Anzu was perfectly fine in his stable, though the poor griffin was still going a little crazy from anxiety and seemed to be trying to tear down the door and get outside.

The villa had been completely trashed. Most of the furniture in the living room had been obliterated in the fight, and the doors had been lost in a mass of splinters on the ground. There were small fires here and there, though thankfully none of it was demonfire, and much of the northern wing of the villa had been left blackened and severely damaged. Since there wasn’t much in the way of structural support enchantments, the damage to the walls and roof from the fires was enough that the roof was even starting to sag a bit, and the outside was littered with shattered red ceramic tiles that had been thrown off of it.

There were no corpses, though. Amon had taken his due with fire, and the vampires that had been killed in the villa were now naught but ash on the wind.

“Why the hells is it taking so long for the local Legion to arrive?” Alix bitterly complained when she noticed that, even after such a loud and flashy battle that had lasted for almost ten minutes, the villa had received no official government attention so far.

“It’s assumed that the nobles in this district have their own private security,” Emilie answered. “There are consequently few Legion patrols, so it’ll be a while before they show up…”

Leon nodded in understanding. From what he knew, it had taken the Legion more than half an hour to reach his father’s villa when it had been attacked eighteen years ago. He doubted that the Legion had improved its response time since then, especially with men like the current Consul of the Central Territories in charge.

“Do we need to get them?” Valeria hesitantly asked. She didn’t think it wise for anyone leaving on their own right now, given the strength of the vampires that had just attacked.

“No, they’ll be here eventually,” Emilie said. It was Elise and Leon’s house, but she started taking on the responsibility of being the strongest, oldest, and highest ranked person present, and turned to face Naiad, who continued to stare and smile at Leon. “And who are you, my Lady?”

Naiad ignored Emilie completely, to the Tower Lord’s extreme consternation. Leon, meanwhile, grabbed a tattered remnant of a black linen curtain and, after coming to the conclusion that it would sufficiently cover Naiad, tossed it at her.

“Cover yourself,” he gruffly said.

[Hmm? Why are you tossing woven plant fibers at me?] she asked when the curtain hit her and slid to the floor. She made no attempt to pick it up.

“Look around you,” Leon said. “One of us doesn’t seem to belong, do we?”

Naiad, perhaps for the first time, finally gave the others a proper look, but it took a few seconds for it to click that they were all wearing clothes or armor. Still, she didn’t try to take the curtain and cover herself.

Before she could respond, though, Elise asked, “Can… Is she talking to you, Leon?”

Leon nodded in confirmation.

“Can you understand us?” Emilie asked in another attempt to get Naiad’s attention, and, fortunately for Leon’s sanity, Naiad actually glanced her way and gave her a minute nod.

“Can you speak?” Asiya asked. The fight was over and it didn’t seem to her like Naiad was hostile—the river nymph Queen had been calm and had released no killing intent since her arrival, even when killing the vampires, so Asiya felt this to be a safe bet—and though her body was still flushed with adrenaline, she was regaining her usual cheerful and curious demeanor.

Naiad didn’t respond, leaving Asiya feeling a little dejected. In fact, she just glared at Leon, and Leon glared back. But Leon was far more patient than she was, and she finally broke down and asked a question first.

[Why should I wear such a disgusting thing?] Naiad demanded to know.

“Because you’re in human society now, and we wear clothes,” Leon hissed back, missing the point.

[They wear such colorful and flattering things…] Naiad said, waving her hand at the other ladies in the room, [… and you give me dead plants?]

“It’s that or animal skin,” Leon retorted.

[Then the skin,] Naiad said with an almost triumphant smile.

Leon rolled his eyes, then asked the rest of the room, “Does anyone have anything of leather for this narcissistic Princess?”

Emilie, somewhat entertained with Leon’s obvious consternation, summoned some clothes for Naiad that the river nymph Queen found adequate, though they were a bit small in some places. Once Naiad was dressed in a simple black woolen sleeveless shirt and tight dark brown leather pants, Leon and Elise managed to scrounge together some chairs for everyone to use while they waited for the Legion to arrive. Leon worked slowly, though, knowing that he’d be facing a deluge of questions once he was finished. He even took a quick trip out to the stable to calm Anzu down, which, thankfully, wasn’t too difficult. Anzu only had to see him to immediately calm down and stop tearing apart his stable.

While he was out there, Elise came out to check on him.

“We can deal with our personal issues with her later,” she quickly said without preamble, as they didn’t have long to discuss this, “but how should we explain to the Legions who she is? All it will take is a single sixth-tier knight seeing her, which I think is quite likely, and it will be known that there is an astonishingly powerful woman here where an intense battle was just fought.”

“No idea,” Leon said. “I suppose I could talk to Trajan about it, but I don’t think we can keep this from spreading…”

Elise frowned, but she said, “Hopefully His Highness can help us out here… Although, it’s possible my mother might have something that can help. Should I ask her?”

“That might be for the best,” Leon answered, and the two went back inside.

As soon as everyone took their seats, Asiya, now fully recovered—at least, so it seemed—asked Leon, “So, how do you know this woman? And where did you meet her? How strong is she? What-“

“Please, that’s enough,” Emilie said in a reprimanding tone. “This woman saved our lives, the least we can do is to ask her directly, not go through Leon—even if he has to translate or speak for her.” The Tower Lord then turned to Naiad, who was now paying her a modicum of attention, and said, “Thank you for your assistance, we were in trouble there before you intervened. You didn’t have to, and we are all grateful for that. Is there anything I can do to assist you in return?”

Naiad glanced at Emilie and simply shook her head. It wasn’t her that the river nymph Queen had business with…

“Do you have a name?” Elise asked, her expression hard and vaguely hostile, though she spoke in a polite and welcoming tone. She sat right next to Leon, close enough that anyone with even passing knowledge of human culture would understand as being too close for them to be just friends. Elise had a good idea of who this woman was, and she wanted Naiad gone as soon as possible, despite what the nymph had just done.

This wasn’t lost on Naiad, and she gave Elise a genuine smile and said to her, [You need not fear me, girl. I only want what has been promised to me, I don’t intend to steal anything or anyone from you…]

Elise frowned at the voice entering her head, but she wasn’t entirely surprised, and it only made her glare even harder at Naiad.

“Hey! Leon! Introductions!” Asiya practically shouted.

Leon sighed a bit, seeing no way out of this. Asiya was looking between him and Naiad with stars in her eyes, while Valeria was trying and failing to not look interested in hearing about this woman who seemed close with Leon. For their parts, both Emilie and Jordan were quite interested to hear about Naiad but were much more subdued and patient about it.

Alix was the calmest of the bunch and had little desire to talk right now. She just sat in her seat and watched all of this with a small smile on her face. It was a good distraction from what had just happened, and she was grateful for it.

“Everyone, this is Naiad,” Leon reluctantly began, and he introduced all of them to Naiad as well.

[Is she your mate?] Naiad asked as she glanced at Elise with a raised eyebrow. She said nothing to anyone else, and barely even seemed to hear any of their names.

Leon nodded in response.

[Your only mate?] Naiad asked, seeking confirmation.

Again, Leon nodded.

[Hmm. I figured a man with your blood would’ve been trying as hard as he could to pass it on. Inherited Bloodlines don’t reproduce easily, you know, and the more mates you have, the better your chances of passing on your blood…]

“What does that mean?” Leon asked with a bit more force than he intended. However, he was almost incapable of harming Naiad given their power difference, so she didn’t mind.

[How much do you know about the reproductive process? I mean, I know you’re young, but you can’t be completely ignorant about these things…] Naiad said as she glanced meaningfully between Leon and an increasingly irate Elise. It was clear to her, at least, that Leon and Elise had already had sex, but she wanted Leon to tell her.

“I know enough,” Leon said. Artorias had been sure to give him some sex education, and his lessons had been about on par with what other young noblemen got in their childhoods in the Bull Kingdom. In other words, Leon was fairly familiar with the ins and outs of the reproductive act, though he was by no means an expert.

[Hmm…] Naiad responded with a teasing smile.

The others could tell that the two were having a conversation, but they all simply waited patiently for Leon and Naiad to finish.

[River nymphs like myself have fertile periods about once a month when they’re young,] she explained. [As we grow older, however, this time is less and less frequent. As I am now, I only become fertile once or twice a year…]

Leon fought the urge to groan. She was fertile when she captured him, and that was only a few months ago.

As if just to add to his frustration, Naiad said, [I have no idea when I’ll be fertile again, it might be months…]

“Why now?” Leon asked, trying to keep his side of the conversation vague so the others wouldn’t pick too much up from it.

[As I said, people like you with Inherited Bloodlines have some fertility issues of your own,] Naiad responded. [The more I thought about this issue, the more I realized that we shouldn’t wait to have you fulfill your end of the bargain, as it could potentially take a long time. Taking too long could be disastrous for me, so I came here earlier than I thought I would to begin as soon as possible…]

Leon hadn’t the first clue what to say. It hadn’t been enough time for him to look into his contract with Naiad, and Elise’s own research hadn’t turned up anything useful…

‘I suppose we should just move on for now, it’s not like we’re going to start right now in front of everyone…’

[I want us to start tonight,] Naiad said, sending Leon’s heart plummeting through his feet and deep into the ground.

“We… can talk about that later… probably won’t be tonight, we’ll have some more guests in a few minutes…” Leon said as he did his best to hide his frustration and anxiety. He thought he’d have much more time, years if he were lucky, but now Naiad was here before him and saying that she would probably be here for a long time.

Needless to say, Leon was quite happy when Naiad simply smiled at him and said, [I don’t want to force this, but you did forge a contract with me… but I suppose another day or two won’t matter…]

Leon nodded in gratitude, and Elise took the silence everyone else was stuck in to say, “Mother, is there any way to hide our guest’s power?”

“Why?” Emilie asked. There shouldn’t have been much of a reason to do so, but Elise’s expression made it clear that she wasn’t joking around when asking.

“Just to avoid any complications, I think we’re all going to want to turn in early tonight…” Elise replied.

Emilie wasn’t quite convinced, but for the sake of appearances agreed, and she got to work scouring her soul realm for something suitable for Elise’s request.