by Charles Dean
“Nnn . . . One of us.” With the help of her Naga tail, Kate shot over to the pool’s side and grabbed the still fully-clothed Hanna before returning to the pool. “Baptism by bath time!” She cried, dunking the tiny Alfar maid.
Lucas couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Hanna’s perfect emotionless facade crack and her agitation come to the surface. Then she also started laughing. “Mistress Liu, Lady Katie, how could you two?” Hanna said between giggles as she started pulling off her wet outfit. “Do you know how long it takes to wash this thing?”
“Hey, don’t throw this on me. I’m not the one who picked you up.” Liu shrugged as she leaned in against Lucas’s arm. “I’m just the empress, and your fate is”--she held up her hand like a Roman ruler judging a gladiator match with her thumb extended and her hand held horizontally for a few moments before finally giving a thumbs-down--“TO BE DUNKED!”
“Nnn . . . in the name of the empress!” Katie said with a bit of mockery before dunking Hanna again.
“Sometimes, it’s days like these that I can’t really tell when it started or ended,” Liu commented. “It feels like everything happened so fast, but it also feels like it took forever.”
“You mean the fights? The change?” Lucas asked, looking over at her.
“Little of A, little of B. Little of me having to go an entire day without us splitting a few bottles of wine between killing adventurers,” Liu laughed.
“Yeah, this must be your longest period without an in-game glass,” Bonnie said. “I haven’t even seen you bust out a single wheel of cheese in twelve hours. Is he . . .? Is Lucas giving you some sort of denial play? Is this a new type of torture for you?”
“I just haven’t lost enough health to justify eating four wheels of cheese in two seconds while sword fighting,” Liu said. “Don’t worry: That day will come again.”
“Right,” Bonnie replied.
“Bacon and beer,” Katie said as she moved up and sat next to the others, dragging Hanna along with her. “We haven’t had a bacon and beer break. In my family, we have one every four hours. My dad says you even have to shout and let the world know when your beer is good.”
“Drunken shouts,” Lucas sighed quietly to himself. She really was a member of the Church of Lee.
“But look on the bright side,” Bonnie advised cheerfully. “We’ve gotten more words out of Katie today than in a week.”
“Oh, that’s true,” Liu noted. “We have. Ever since she had to craft! So, now I have to know: You have to tell me all about your hobbies before you started playing the game and what your favorite stuff to make is! Come on! Dish!” Liu demanded.
Lucas just leaned back, enjoyed some of the smoked salmon, and took a glass of merlot from one of the new maids as he watched everything going on.
-----
The night carried on, and Liu got tired and left first, and Bonnie retired shortly after. Katie mumbled something about wanting to wake up early for tomorrow’s religious sermons since she apparently wanted to brush up on certain crafting skills, and then it was just Lucas, sitting with his back against the walls with Viola next to him.
The pool was still filled to the brim with Ladies of Lucas, but on a few of the girls ever rarely took the initiative to come talk to him, leaving him to sit there like a wallflower next to a quiet Viola as he thought about the loot he had just gotten and what he would do with the dungeon.
The headmistress had left behind quite a nice stash of gold, a journal, and detailed maps of the town from what appeared to be only thirty years ago. Lucas wasn’t going to bring them out at the moment for fear water might ruin them, but he was mulling over the mechanics of dungeon building, specifically how he planned to handle the city, as he soaked and let his eyes roam the gaggle of gals while his brain continued to work on schemes and ideas.
“You need to get out of your head,” Viola said as she scooted in, her shoulder pressing against his and knocking him out of his planning mode. “I don’t know what you’ve been thinking about, but you can’t keep doing it. You need to focus.”
“I thought I was focusing,” Lucas said, looking over at her. “We may have beaten one power in this town, but there is still a long way to go before the city is fully ours.”
“Not on that. On the story” Viola sighed softly, and there was a small slash as she swung her leg over his lap to straddle him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned in so closely that her beautiful Alfar face filled his vision and he could see nothing but her large violet eyes. “You’ve been so worried about the how, the what, and the who-to-kill that you’ve forgotten about the story.”
Lucas raised his hands to move her off of him but he stopped when he felt her flesh underneath his palms, resting them on the tops of her thighs instead. “And what is the story I need to focus on?” he asked.
“It’s the story you’ve written, Lucas,” she said. “You’ve spent all day crafting it. Every speech, every action, every person you invited into our fold--it’s all been to craft a single story, to build a single character, and that character isn’t one you can lose sight of.”
“And what character would that be?” he asked, sliding his hands a little further up her legs. He felt like he should push her off, that it wasn’t right. When he thought about being with anyone in this way, when he thought about how close she was, his throat locked up and his brain panicked, even as his body reacted. It wasn’t that he was afraid he wouldn’t know what to do, or they would say no, or even that he’d be bad at it. No, he was confident in his abilities. He was afraid it would be one more chip away at a set of memories he wasn’t willing to forget. That if he did it, if he was with anyone else, he would be sinning in some way, tarnishing something precious he had only shared with one person.
“Don’t play coy, Lucas,” Viola said reproachfully. She rocked her hips forward, shifting more weight onto them. “You and I, we formed an unspoken pact. We were to be part of a team as we crafted a story. We’ve been in this together from the start, the group of us. I was your first declaration to the world that you were the villain who steals princesses for his own desires. Now, you keep making more and more promises and telling all the players you’re going to be this evil man, this take-control bad guy, this hedonistic pleasure fountain that will satisfy their wicked curiosities.”
“And this bad guy can’t think about work for a bit?” Lucas asked. He shifted just a little, but his situation only got worse since his body was listening to her more than him.
“No, you can’t. The strong and silent type?” She giggled quietly. “That’s not the story you’ve been telling. You have to commit to your role; you have to keep your character consistent. Real people can falter. Real people fluctuate in their opinions as they break and rebuild because they’re liars and hypocrites, but you’re not a real person anymore. Now, you’re the provocative villain of an epic story. You’re the cunning, immoral, wounded antihero, unleashing his twisted varieties of anger, retribution, greed, and lust upon the world. That’s the person you have to be every second, every minute, every hour and day of this play until the curtain closes.”
Lucas sighed. He knew she was right. He knew that was the character he had created and sold. From the moment he stole her to the time he tricked that poor ninja’s girlfriend away and then recruited a mass harem right outside his dungeon, he had consistently told the same story: he was a hedon. He was the angry, violent, hedon who drowned himself in blood and pleasure. But sex was different. It was something special, personal, and even if he wanted it, and every part of his body was constantly craving it, it wasn’t necessarily something he was sure he could do for a game--especially since every bit of his desire was tainted by the thought of losing something he had forged with Yu Hua.
“Lucas, stay with me,” she warned as if realizing he was slipping back into his thoughts. “This is a play; you’re a character. You need to use that. I’ve been where you are--from a different angle at least. I know what you’re fe
eling. Intimacy, especially physical, can be scary. Memories of the past can make it hard to want to go forward. They can be chains that our characters wear, holding us from progress, but they don’t have to be. You can take control of this moment, own it, make the experience yours, and get exactly what you want out of it.”
Lucas let the words resonate in his head for a moment as his gaze stayed fixated on her blazing purple eyes, which were filled with a determination he hadn’t seen before in her. Even if his mind faltered and desperately tried to cling to the past, every other part of him was just as determined as she was. His hands moving up and grasped her waist, pulling her tighter against him as he slowly started to take initiative.
“I want it. I want to be the character,” he said, thinking about how easy it would be. If he was the villain, he was making himself out to be, he wouldn’t be chained by guilt. If he could just be that demonic, lecherous bastard, then all the feelings of iniquity, the feelings of failing Yu Hua, would melt away. He could just enjoy himself. If it wasn’t just spitting out lines but really role-playing, if he could really convince himself that he was the person she said he was making, if he was that character he had promised, then everything would be so much easier. “I want to tell that story, and I want you. I want to just have fun and lose myself in that feeling for a bit, but I won’t take it if you’re just here for the story.” He needed to know that she wasn’t just doing this out of some moral obligation to a role she thought she had to play.
“It’s not. This is what I want. This is my play too. My fantasy, for my needs.” Her eyes focused on his as she lowered her weight again, and her mouth opened slightly as she let out a small breath.
Lucas said as he watched her with fascination. The way her chest moved as her breath shortened, the way her hair danced across her face, the way her eyes stayed perfectly fixated on his even as the rest of her head kept moving. It was all beautiful, but it was her strength that made those words escape his lips as soft moans left hers. He could only imagine what type of strength it took to be so in control of her actions, her character, and her life.
When she finished taking what she wanted, collapsing onto his shoulder while her hair fell across his back, Lucas saw that their little activity had drawn an audience. The women who had previously just been chatting, relaxing, and taking snacks when Viola and Lucas started were now all staring in fascination at the two.
Lucas was momentarily confused until Viola slid off of him, softly whispering in his ear, “I’ve set the stage. Now, go be the villain.”
Lucas couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard that, and a wry smile pulled the corners of his lips upward. It’s time I take what I want. “Now,” he said, looking at his beautiful audience, “which one of you has what it takes to conquer the boss of this dungeon?”
Warning: The quest The Unconquerable Lord has been created. Specific qualifying players have been assigned the quest to best you in a carnal competition. Losing before defeating at least two will provide you with a permanent Charisma debuff. Bringing at least five to failure will provide you with a permanent Charisma stat improvement.
Stay tuned for The Heroic Villain 3 after the release of War Aeternus 5!
About the Author
Charles Dean has an English Degree and an MBA. He's worked in multiple service and sales level jobs.
He spent most of his childhood playing every story-based RPG and reading every fantasy book he could get his hands on. When he finally ran out, as the price of books and games was rather costly, he tried writing his own. The first LitRPG he produced was a simple Diablo 2 fanfic, involving the president becoming a Paladin in an epic quest to save the world from a treacherous demon's nefarious plot. Unfortunately, this book was part of a creative writing assignment for a school project and the teacher deemed it 'too violent.' It would be over a decade later until he finally had free time to begin his next attempt at a LitRPG with his original series The Bathrobe Knight.
You can follow him for upcoming releases, beta-reading opportunities, and general shenanigans at the Dean Novels Facebook page.
Special Thanks
A special thanks to the amazing efforts of those who sampled the earlier, less-than-edited version of this book. We thrive on the feedback of our readers, and these proud souls stepped forward and deserve special recognition. The fearless, the brave, the beta readers:
Ramon Mejia
Florian Cadwe
Augustus Blackmer
Kegan
Chris
Adam
Kyle
Jesse
Michael Poulsen
Other Books by Charles Dean
The Bathrobe Knight:
Darwin, a video game addict, was sitting in his bathrobe and slippers playing his favorite MMO on a Christmas night when an uninvited guest breaks into his house to steal his belongings. After the scuffle is over, he finds himself transported into one of the sword-and-magic RPG-style MMOs that he has always loved to play, albeit one he has never heard of, where he has to overcome trials and tribulations at every turn as he fights for his life alongside new companions.
Available on Amazon
The Bathrobe Knight Volume II:
Having gone from a simple video game addict to the leader of a band of refugees, Darwin continues to cut his way across the world of Tiqpa searching for a home. Be it his home in real life, or one for his people in the game, the sleepless warrior presses forward. Unfortunately for him, each step he makes changes the fate of Tiqpa, a fact that is not welcomed by those who inhabit the lands.
Available on Amazon
The Bathrobe Knight Volume III:
Our hero carries on down the path that has been laid out before him. He must wrestle with the task of leading a new race of Demons and grapple with a madness that threatens to completely consume him–all while working with a bounty on his head and thousands seeking to kill him.
Available on Amazon
The Merchant of Tiqpa
Tiqpa, the first VRMMO to hit the markets, has become a world in and of itself with its own burgeoning political structure and growing strife between kingdoms and players. This unknown terrain, ripe with opportunities, becomes a new frontier which Locke, a blacksmith, tries to use to pay off real-world debts. But when he is betrayed by one of his business partners, he finds himself caught between his growing lust for revenge and his very real need for capital.
Available on Amazon
The Merchant of Tiqpa 2
When a diplomatic mission goes off the rails, Locke quickly finds himself between a rock and a hard place as old urges and new desires clash to shape the life and death decisions that he is forced to make. He soon realized that a mysterious new organization is pulling everyone’s strings and calling the shots from the shadows, and it seems to have the uncanny ability to anticipate his every move. Ultimately, he must choose between saving a friend’s life or a kingdom from the brink of corruption
Available on Amazon
War Aeternus: The Beginning
Lee is a quiet and unassuming office worker who leads a life of solitude, comfort, and routine. Day in and day out, he shuts off his brain, keeps his head down, and goes about doing his job and minding his own business. That is, he does until a drunken god shows up randomly one day and whisks him off into another world, demanding that Lee serve as his pawn in a game between the gods. Now, trapped in a completely different world full of danger, magic, and creatures he's never imagined outside of fairy tales and video games, Lee has to figure out how to stay alive long enough to make it back home.
Available on Amazon
War Aeternus 2: Sacrifices
Desperate to save as many people as he can from a horrible fate in the cruel game of the gods, Lee and his small group of friends abandon the relative safety of Satterfield for the great city of Kirshtein. Tensions within the city have reached a breaking point after the arrival of an enemy Herald, and Lee is soon caught up in the struggle for power. Captured, impri
soned, and forced to fight for his life on the blood-soaked sands of the Kirshtein arena, Lee has to figure out how to survive long enough to mend the rifts in the broken city before it falls apart completely. Armed with new skills, joined by new allies, and up against his most dangerous enemy yet, Lee's bid for survival in the War of Eternity takes on even higher stakes as he learns the what true leadership requires. Now, with an ominous new threat looming in the distance and an army on the horizon, Lee has to answer one question: Can he pay the price of victory?
Available on Amazon
War Aeternus 3: The Culling
Struggling to recover from his losses in Kirshtein, Lee is swept back into the fray when a dangerous new Herald sets her sights on him. Hell-bent on reshaping the world in her own image and with her own ideals, she is willing to commit even the most immoral acts in her pursuit of righteousness. At risk of losing everything he has worked so hard to create, Lee has to find a way to defend the weak against a madwoman whose deranged sense of justice has twisted the limits of the game.
To make matters even more difficult, Lee is forced to face these problems while dealing with an increasingly erratic system he doesn't understand and the Goddess of Blood's own strong-willed Herald.
Available on Amazon
War Aeternus 4: Harbinger of Ash
Lee has managed to survive encounters with the Heralds of three different gods, but the price he that has paid has been tremendous. Every step he takes leads him closer to victory in the cruel game that he had been forced to play, but it also takes him further down a dark path and away from the man he used to be.
After receiving a request for aid from a beautiful and mysterious messenger, Lee and his inner circle travel to nearby Birnefeld, a large and prosperous city ruled by the Dragon King. Before he ever arrives, however, Lee encounters a group of marauders ransacking the countryside, meets a strange new Herald who has set up camp in the region, and receives the dire news that the hero Brigid of Kildare has gone missing. To make things worse, a powerful new enemy is stalking him from the shadows, toying with his dreams and striking at his closest relationships. With the seeds of doubt sown, Lee has to choose whom he can trust before his nightmares become reality and everything he has worked so hard for goes up in flames.