by Marcus Sloss
We fixed our clothing before we exited the enclosure to find Linzy and Virtue talking over past stories. Both were old with loads of experience. I chuckled thinking about the word load. I was probably dripping down Yvette's legs right now. I was tempted to go for a second round. My stomach rumbled and informed me that I was a horny idiot that needed to eat. So I instructed Linzy to take us to a dining hall. Yvette linked arms with me and beamed with happiness.
She reminded me of Velia that way. I figured the two would get along really well if they were ever given the opportunity. I knew Yvette wanted to wait to have babies, but she was one of my seven core wives. She was to be bred, in fact, she was specifically mentioned the last time I talked to Lily. Her battle prowess could easily be replaced while her ability to be a queen of Vin was not. Yvette knew I filled her with my seed to see how she reacted. I think she wanted to test me on this but feared my wrath. I swatted her ass as we left the barn randomly and she smirked at me.
After we left the agriculture area Linzy led us into a restaurant and we were seated among the people of Fernlan. This would be my first time eating while sitting down at a proper table with a waitress. I was even given a menu. It was not extensive, there were fish, eggs, Horde, and runtlet on the menu. Our fruit selection was still minimal so I ordered eggs with smelon. There was a nice tea wafting in the air with the scent of honey. This launched the elvath into tales of keeping bees. Which… news flash. Was not riveting information. The two girls found the conversation thrilling while I saw Virtue’s eyes glaze over as he went to someplace else. I did too.
I thought of how I was going to sack the harbor. It was going to be a battle no matter which way we decided to tackle the situation. Unless I found an excess of vole… Then it hit me. I needed to find someone good with wolves to replace Riza in hunting the voles. I had a company of mountain dvaren clearing lava golems and they were probably close to the vole nesting area already. I snapped my finger at a mage in black passing by. A young man with blue trim came over and I ordered him to fetch me, Earl Conway. I said the Emperor needed him urgently.
The young man did not hesitate and ran for the northern livestock fields where I told him to start looking. I guess I could have screamed for the Earl through air magic, but it was still early and the griffins complained nonstop when I did such things. They hated having their ears ringing and I did not blame them. Our meal arrived and I ordered a second plate. When that was in front of me I devoured it quickly. I sat back in my chair, patted my belly, and poorly disguised a belch.
Earl Conway could be seen approaching as the water mage waved and left to continue his day. I excused myself from the table and went outside to greet him.
“Good morning my Emperor. You sure have Phen and I busy. What can I help you with?” Earl Conway asked.
“I would love to chat for longer… I have bad news and I hate to rush this. Duke Riza died in the fighting last night.” I told the earl whom I knew was close to Riza. He deflated a bit then smiled. He probably rationalized the same thing Bella and Trish did. He went out as a warrior… Exactly how he wanted to. “That leaves me needing someone skilled in the art of wolves. The Duke was able to kill voles for me outside of Malvia. I need someone to go over there and aid my company of dvaren I have harvesting the lava golems. Do you have anyone you could recommend?”
“You may not like my answer… Lady Rain or Lady Una have trained with the wolves. It was a bonding activity for them to do with Riza. They…” Conway tried to continue. I halted him though as Yvette, Linzy, and Virtue exited the restaurant.
“I will send one of them over. Let them decide who wants to go. I will probably send Bella south to break the news and appoint Lady Ona as Duchess Ona.” I said.
“Most wise of you my Emperor. She ran Lakeland even when Duke Riza was at home. I shall return to shorting the animals for breeding and harvesting purposes. You may think dumping all these animals in fields is enough… I ensure it is not. I need more help…”
“And I promise you shall have it. Task more of Nautica’s dvarettes and in just over a week forty million humans will walk into Fernlan. I hope your son wanted fifteen wives. Looks like us men are going to be outnumbered severely.” I said and dismissed him. He ran off to the north. “Linzy if you would be so kind as to take us to the seamstress please.”
The four of us walked past the governmental building with my castle on top and entered into the business wing of the eastern district. It was busier than I had ever seen before. To me, it seemed like people were flooding to immigrate here from the south to enjoy the warmer winter. There were older people everywhere and in greater numbers than ever before. You would think with an active war they would stay south. Then again I had no idea what was worse. The cold on aching bones or the Horde. In this case, the Horde was gone so I could fathom the transition. It all cost those travelers money that fueled Fernlan's economy so I merely shrugged at the slower pace of the foot traffic. I did regret not building larger roads. I bet someone who built the half mile wide roads on Kikra had been to cities with tens of millions of people who moved around primarily on foot.
There were carts and large wagons trying to get around the masses. We pushed through a few blocks straight east and the number of compressed humans died down. Lady Linzy stopped before a small warehouse with a sign hanging from it. (Divinity Clothing and Armor) The sign read. I chuckled at the irony.
A bell rang alerting the owners we were coming in. It was not needed in this case. There were a hundred elvath in here working who looked up at our entrance. My mind struggled to figure out exactly what I was seeing. There were a few teams working in tandem. The first made half a side of pants. These pants were assembled by one tiny scale at a time. Every black scale I saw was being woven into an armor of some sort. A different team was heating then rapidly cooling the oval scales that ended in a tip. These were placed by a different team that clamped the small objects and popped four holes in them as close to a diamond shape as possible. I glanced over to see a pile of nonblack and broken scales that were strewn across a back wall. I watched the elvath work in a precision I only knew on the battlefield. Their teamwork was a thing of beauty and it was unreal to see them achieving so much, so quickly. I was given a slight pull to be brought past the workers. On a stand, I saw what was meant for me.
A set of black armor dark as the void rested on a wooden figure. The problem was it was in pieces waiting for assembly. The seam lines that ran down the side to connect the two halves were not done and the limbs were not hemmed. As the pretty lady who looked no older than thirty waved me forward with impatience, I had to remember the elvath were impossible to gauge how old they were based on looks. I stepped forward promptly to please her.
“Do not stand there… My ladies are rushing to fill your orders. I have been told they are so important that the fate of the Empire hangs in the balance while they are readied. Give their tireless work some credit and get naked.” She demanded.
“That is a statement I can give credit to. I do appreciate it when lovely ladies work hard to get me naked. Should I run past them all at once? I am nude and great at giving out high fives for excellent work or would that be distracting?” I asked as I stripped to my birthday suit, which was easy in this armor. The main bossy elvath rolled her eyes at my declaration. Two elvath in the wings rushed forward and removed my old armor off the ground. They did not accept my high five attempts. I also noticed they were faster than a human.
A snap sounded and four elvath enclosed me from the front, four from the back and two from the sides. “Woah… My kind of business. Do all your clients get this treatment?” A few of the ladies chuckled. I looked down to see three separate pieces of armor were being pressed to my lower body. The front of my pants and the back. Then a side strip was covered over the two halves. This allowed a precise measurement. On each seam to elvath went high to low or low to high. I watched them swiftly weave needles with a thick thread. Then the coolest thing happened.
/> An elvath unrolled from a rope on the ceiling and rotated upside down. She worked a thick in depth yet thin in width belt through the top of my pants while with her crotch in my face… Candy. I lost focus at this point and I doubted many a man would not have succumbed to the beauty and uniqueness of the situation. The ladies were dressing me while I undressed them with my eyes. The only thing keeping me from pitching… Nevermind, my penis was fighting the power of the seams on the pants. A few chuckles escaped the elvath until the mother hen scolded them.
Within a few minutes, my pants were done. They fit perfectly and I waved bye to the rope climbing elvath as I twisted the pants to get a feel of them. The inside had a soft cotton feel, the best way to describe the interior was they were like a nice bedsheet pressed against my hairy legs. I jumped a few times as the ladies gave me room and there were zero noises. Every scale had been sewn and woven to the exact right amount to keep them tight and firm. They only weighed slightly more than thin summer noble pants. This was extremely impressive as they were light, airy, and sturdy.
The boss came up to me and had me kneel in the middle of the room. A clap and another team swarmed me. Big bouncy tits were everywhere at my eye level. I boated my lips in fun. I heard Yvette say we just had sex… More giggles. The three parts became one as the master tailors completed my upper armor. This set was infinitely lighter than my woodland set. Last came the helm. It was the same void black as it was slid over my head. There were a few clips that had to be done to ensure my neck was protected.
The top of the helm had a beak of scales over my forehead. My guess to signify a griffin beak. It was not big or overdone and looked intimidating. I was sure if I smashed my head into an opponent it would hurt them more than me. The face was open over my eyes and mouth. This allowed me full freedom to breathe. I figured this was it and the set was done. Then Yvette herself came forward with another attachment. It was a facial cover that clipped into the back of the helmet. I found it awkward to still get air into my lungs. I gave it a few moments and found it was mostly a mental thing. I was breathing fine and my available vision was great.
“My Emperor, may we test your armor?” The lady in charge asked.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
Wrong thing to say. A log flew in an arch downward from the ceiling while attached to ropes. I saw it in time to dodge and almost did ruined the test. I let it hit me on the side and braced for the impact. The slam hurt and I felt the weight try to send me flying – the scales did not budge as they survived the intense impact unscathed. Then arrows scraped, tinked, and deflected off my armor. Ah… The lightbulb went off. The log was to distract me so they could get arrows fired at me while I gave an easy target. I was not wearing gloves or boots.
Sure enough, blinding pain erupted in both my feet and my right hand. They did not let up the arrows for a few minutes until a whistle was let out. There were four plus arrows in each foot and my right hand had two. I had tucked my left hand under my armpit while covering my eyes.
“Good, you see your weak points. Ladies pull the arrows out, please. Impressive. Yvette mentioned you could heal and tolerate the pain. Even if our males could heal I bet they would have screamed,” she said.
“They have not face what I have probably,” I replied in a grimace as the arrows were yanked out. I dug into my inner core and found my green aura. I pushed into my open wounds and felt them close as the healing knitted my body back together. This caused me to stagger from the exertion. The bleeding had stopped and there were no visible marks or scars. “What do you recommend for the gloves and the boots?”
“We will have them ready by tomorrow made of the same scales. We have to use special leather and then weave fractured scales just the right size together. Maybe the day after tomorrow. For now, use no gloves and regular boots. Alright Queen Yvette, your turn.”
Lady Linzy pulled us back toward the front of the warehouse. “You need to see Empress Amber, accept your harem guard, say goodbye to your family, and then return to the front. Yvette will catch up to you later.”
I nodded and the four became three as we exited. Virtue did not ask or need to be told. He spun a portal and I stepped through to my eastern balcony. When I exited the portal my wife kneeled as did an assembled group of mages. I quickly told them to rise. Virtue never followed me up. He was probably going to wait on Yvette to finish.
“Hello, my Emperor,” Amber said as she walked up to me. She removed my face mask and helmet. She set them on my bench where I saw the new female portal shaman sat. Once that was done, she gave my cheek a peck.
“My Empress,” I said in return. “Introductions please.”
“Let us start with rules. Come here, ladies. Before I go over each lady I want you to understand a few things. If you dislike a lady after today, it is too late. They are binding to you as Duchesses. Which means they will be wives. These women were vetted by Lamont as potential candidates when they arrived. I have been having him track potential females to expand our family with that would strengthen our ties to the rest of Vin. None of these lovely ladies has a fault that you cannot overcome or adapt to. They were handpicked by me and our queens. As for rules, they get zero concubines. Your children they produce will be given estates and titles as the empire expands. The entire sixth floor will be dedicated to your harem guards. There are three mages per magical type for a reason. If one becomes pregnant the other two must wait until the first has recovered and returned duty before trying to conceive. At a minimum, you will always have ten of them present unless war dictates less from casualties.” She paused.
“I thought ten total but I understand the fifteen. Bella must be jumping for joy at this news.” I said.
“Queen Bella went to Lakeland via griffin. She received a message from Earl Conway stating you wanted to send wolves to Malvia. She is handling it and appointing her mother Lady Ona to Duchess Ona. Also to deliver the news of her father herself. But yes she approves of this. Let us start with someone you know.” Amer said and brought Fae forward. The same Fae that apprenticed under Patti. I never thought she was overly attractive or interested in me. “Fae will be your brown mage boss. She will instruct Maise, and Freya every moment you are in a secured position. These three ladies will be your earth magic team.
I could accept Fae no problem. She was a hard working powerful earth mage. I knew she would be able to keep up. Sure she had some excess weight and was not the prettiest on the eyes. Then again this was not a lust competition. This was securing the realm and my safety. Both Maise and Freya blushed as they were placed in front of me. I reached out and touched their foreheads. They flinched at first and quickly realized what I was doing. They had vibrant brown centers.
“Kneel,” I ordered the three ladies to get down on one knee each. “Arise, Duchess Fae of Fernlan. Arise, Duchess Maise of Fernlan. Arise Duchess Freya of Fernlan.”
I knew doing this a dozen more times would be tedious but I was tasking these women to put my life before theirs. Least I could do is acknowledge them one at a time and give their new titles meaning.
Fire came next. “This redhead is my cousin. I expect she will achieve great things. My uncle was a powerful fire mage and all reports say Ruby will exceed his might. She was on my concubine list. Those darn elvath got in the way of getting her officially nominated by making me pop out Lila months earlier than I expected. Ruby is the head of your fireteam. Next, are Doris and Eva.”
I tested their auras. Sure enough Ruby burned extremely brightly. She lusted at me with her eyes too. I chuckled as she puckered her lips at me. I kissed her and she went for more until Amber pried her off me. That girl was a firecracker. Amber rolled her eyes and Ruby winked. Doria and Eva were much dimmer on the aura and I could tell they would need work. My guess was they were still new to fire magic. Ruby was the right one to teach them.
“Kneel,” I ordered the three ladies to get down on one knee each. “Arise, Duchess Ruby of Fernlan. Arise, Duchess Doris of Fernlan. Arise Duchess
Eva of Fernlan.”
“Now green mages. Emily is the daughter of former King Omarr. This fulfills a wish of his at his retirement. She will be able to instruct her mages in the ways of healing. They are Colleen and Priscilla.”
I tested them and it was actually Priscilla who burned the brightest. I would need to figure out why she was so much stronger than the others. Maybe Emily was placed at the head of the team due to her being a princess. Technically I was demoting Emily in title, but elevating her in status.
“Kneel,” I ordered the three ladies to get down on one knee each. “Arise, Duchess Emily of Fernlan. Arise, Duchess Colleen of Fernlan. Arise Duchess Priscilla of Fernlan.”
“Janice recommended Cora as your water mage team leader. She was an instructor at the Deltan Academy. She is a gifted mage and found herself too focused on work to find a suitable husband. I think she is gorgeous.” Amber said while running a hand tenderly down Cora’s face. “You will have a talented mage as well as two talented students. She will be schooling Daphine and Tess.”
I felt the aura of all three and they shined brightly. My water team was stacked in power and breasts. All three ladies were rocking some major rockets under their black robes. I saw Cora squirming under my gaze. I picked up on the issue quickly. She was like Velia the first time I saw her naked. Self conscious. I lifted her chin and kissed her tenderly then told her she was beautiful. This did the trick and she smiled sincerely while blushing Daphine and Tess puckered up. I kissed them too.
“Kneel,” I ordered the three ladies to get down on one knee each. “Arise, Duchess Cora of Fernlan. Arise, Duchess Tess of Fernlan. Arise Duchess Daphine of Fernlan.”