玉蒲团之云雨山庄

The dark veil of the night covered the sky, but the wagon continue its way to the north without minding the danger of the night forest.

The reason is the three big shadows that form a triangle around the wagon. As the night blessed the forest with countless shadows, the goblin shadow servants could move even faster despite of their big body size. Most of the wild beats, magic beasts, and monsters avoid them because of their threatening presence, but there are still some reckless ones.

*Slash!!*

The goblin champion shadow servant skillfully kills a lone dire wolf that about to chase over the wagon, and once again dive into a shadow beneath a tree before appearing from the shadow of another tree to return to its original position.

Inside the carriage, Lyan let the small general that lies on top of him sleep soundly while stroking her smooth platinum blonde hair. Not long after, he finally spoke to the thin air.

"Griselda, you\'re there, aren\'t you?" (Lyan)

What he uses is not a gentle tone, but a firm and cold voice filled with seeping anger.

(...Yeah, I\'m here) (Griselda)

"At the time I saved Surena after she failed her attack, I felt an abnormal reaction from your mana. Since the source of the mana is you, it\'s not surprising for it to react because of your emotions," (Lyan)

At the time he saved Surena, the sparks from the lightning mana appeared without his command. As an incubus, Lyan holds an unbelievable amount of control over his emotions. Knowing that mana could go berserk following one\'s emotions, Lyan handled both his emotions and his mana delicately with a precise amount of control.

"And I doubt that you\'ll suddenly have a sudden surge of great emotion without any reason. You must be familiar with one of them, right? I promised that I won\'t meddle with your matters, nor will I pry into your secrets. But I need pieces of information about my enemies, you see," (Lyan)

Griselda seems to be hesitating at first, then she let out a sigh.

(Those three, I met them once before) (Griselda)

"Met them? At Astellia kingdom?" (Lyan)

(Well, not just meeting them, I\'ve trained them as well. The military ties between Astellia and Kasmira were pretty solid back then, and the fame of the four genius girls of the military academy had reached the Astellia kingdom as well) (Griselda)

(It happened when they were still enrolled in the academy, so it was several years ago. Before the great war of the central plains happened. I was instructed by the king to become a guest instructor of the kingdom at the Kasmira kingdom\'s military academy, that\'s why I know these girls) (Griselda)

Griselda\'s voice is filled with a hint of nostalgia as she uses a gentler tone than usual.

(They are strong, bright, cheerful, and just. The little Alicia tends to get cocky because of her intellect, but with the lead of their leader, Wilhelmina, the four of them made the best team out there) (Griselda)

(Well, I guess that\'s not the information you seeking, huh? For the two men that you faced before) (Griselda)

Loris\'s and the cloaked man\'s figure appeared inside Lyan\'s mind, and his eyes immediately turns cold.

(The one that called himself Loris has a real name, Loran Lavrayn. If I\'m not mistaken, he\'s the captain of one of the knight orders in the Kasmira kingdom. Since back then, he was always in a good terms with Duke Ravindor. To think that he betrayed his country to become the duke\'s lackey is unbelievable...) (Griselda)

(The next one, the one with the cloak. He\'s the leader of the [Crows]. Just like the person you fought must be the people) (Griselda)

"Like the one before? Does it mean they have more than one leader in their organization?" (Lyan)

(Yeah. But I don\'t know whether it\'s real or not. Even I have only a limited amount of information about their organization, after all...) (Griselda)

"Really? Weren\'t you quite a bigshot yourself in the Astellia Kingdom before?" (Lyan)

He heard about her being a knight commander or something before when Surena and the other Valkyries told the story about their lives. It\'s strange for someone in that level of authority to have a such limited amount of information about a military organization that is not directly under the royalties. Not to mention that the military prowess of the [Crows] are beyond those regular soldiers.

(The Duke was given a special privilege by the kingdom for the establishment of the [Crows] back in the earlier period of the king\'s royal reign. They were formed by the duke in order to help the kingdom to overturn a certain danger, and were given the permission to be cultivated without any supervision) (Griselda)

"But the growth of the organization grew even stronger and went even more stealthily under the kingdom\'s radar, and not just that, the duke also begin to openly show his desire for discord with the royal family, huh... Kingdom politics really are troublesome..." Lyan let out a sigh.

(Precisely. It\'s shameful for me to say this, but most part of it must be because of my death. The knight orders bastards depend greatly on me, so there must be a big backlash caused by my death before) (Griselda)

"So you\'re the one that had been holding the reign, huh... Griselda," (Lyan)

(Yeah?) (Griselda)

"Were they really the ones that destroyed these girls\' homeland?" (Lyan)

Griselda didn\'t reply immediately.

(...Yeah) (Griselda)

"I see... Duke Ravindor, huh... Seems like our paths will clash either sooner or later. And when that times come..." (Lyan)

The purple particles that had been filling the wagon started to move faster and turned into red. And at the same time, a dangerous grin appeared on Lyan\'s face.

"I guess I have to crush him," (Lyan)

****************************************************

"Mh... Huh...? Where am... I...?" Surena muttered as she slowly opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of the wagon.

(Ah... This is Lyan\'s wagon... When did I fall asleep inside here...?) (Surena)

As her blurry vision started to clear up, the memories from the event before started to resurface inside her mind.

"That guy... I met that scum, huh..." Surena let out a sigh as she remember the face of her sworn enemies that destroyed her homeland.

"I lost my composure and endangered anyone... How foolish of me..." Surena felt ashamed of herself for losing her calm even though she was the leader of their team. She remembered how she lost herself to her emotion and charged mindlessly to Loris.

But then, the scene that happened after she failed her attack also reappears inside her mind.

\'Sorry but, she\'s mine\'

The voice that appeared together with the back that protected her resurface inside her mind. Hints of redness started to dye her face as her chest felt tightened.

(She\'s mine, huh... We created lots of trouble for him, didn\'t we? Even though he\'s supposed to be our master. He ended up being the one who takes care of us...) (Surena)

As Surena let out a sigh, she can\'t remove the small grin on her face as excitement and joy filled her maiden heart as she remember how he saved her and how he carried them all the way back to the wagon.

But then, the things that happened next also got rewinded inside her mind.

"Takes care... Taken care of..." Surena muttered to herself as the crucial memories started to resurface.

Inside the wagon, he fed them, clean their body, open their clothes, and helped them wear them again.

*Poof!!*

(H-He saw everything!!!) (Surena)

Surena hugged her own body as she can\'t bear the embarrassment of getting washed and cleaned with a towel like a baby. He must have seen their naked bodies back then.

(I-I know it\'s for our own good... But...) (Surena)

As the two of them vomited when they almost arrive at the wagon, they got parts of their clothes stained, and it will smell and unhealthy for their body if they don\'t wash and clean them. That\'s why Lyan took the liberty to take care of all of those chores.

(It\'s embarrassing...) (Surena)

Surena slowly opened her eyes, then she saw the girl in front of her. Her best friend, Emilia.

"Emi...?" (Surena)

"Rena...?" Emilia replied with a small cute voice that is very much different from her usual self. Surena then realizes that her face is also flushed red from embarrassment.

"Fufu. We embarrassed ourselves in front of him, didn\'t we?" (Surena)

"Right... It makes me hard to look him in the eyes now..." (Emilia)

"Hm? Wait a minute, where is Alice?" Surena raised her eyes, and spotted Alice sleeping on the futon in the other corner that was supposed to be Lyan\'s.

"Ah there she is- Hm?" (Surena)

Surena and Emilia that noticed something strange approached her and observes her appearance with widened eyes.

"Mmh... Hm? Lyan...? Ah. It\'s Rena and Emi. Good morning- *Yawn~*" Alice slowly raise her body and stretched as she yawned.

But the two girls didn\'t respond to her \'Good Morning\'.

"Dishelved hair, face covered with dried saliva, sleeping at Lyan\'s futon, and the stains on the sheets... D-Don\'t tell me..." (Surena)

"The Alice that never took fancy of a man before... The Alice that doesn\'t have anything but her beautiful face and her smart brain... Finally did it!?" (Emilia)

It took a while for Alice to process their words, but after she realized what they meant, her face turns slightly red for a while before-

"Heh!" She let out a chuckle.

""W-w-w-what was that smug face meant!?!?!?!?""

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,798,710,950 Elnes / 3798 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army