The Deity Entertainment Network

Chapter 237 – Spilling Some Tea

"Wiz, are you... an undead?" John asked, closing the Card window. He had no idea what a Lich was, but he assumed it was something that was undead and potentially evil. He kept a close eye on her, ready to activate his invulnerability at a moment's notice if she tried something.

I am probably overreacting here, mainly because of what Card told me about her being a pacifist, but greater men have fallen for the batting eyes of a beautiful woman.  

She leapt from her chair and bowed her head towards him. "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY. Please, forgive me." She said, her soft voice sounding like she was on the verge of panic now.

He didn't know what to expect from his question, but her jumping up and bowing to him repeatedly was definitely not on that list.

"Ahh, why are you asking me for forgiveness?"

"Because I can sense the holy magic coming off of you. I don't want to die, I still have so much I want to do!" She sobbed, holding a deep bow towards him, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Wiz. Take a seat. I think you need to explain a few things to me before I consider forgiving you. For one, why is a powerful undead arch mage here in Axel of all places?" He asked, revealing a little more of his knowledge and playing up this forgiveness thing.

This little jaunt around town seemed to uncover something about this world's story that might be important. Not to mention that Aqua seemed to have an extreme distaste for the undead, so she probably would have immediately purified her or something. If he let her live, that might be something that would break the story's canon sooner.

Don't get ahead of yourself, dummy. This could be like the Takeyamas all over again. Besides, unless she did something evil, you are going to let her live no matter what. She is just too adorable to destroy... not to mention she is an Arch Wizard. Pacifist or not, she probably has ways of dealing with people who attack her.

"Of course." She replied, then sat down across from him. "First, I'm a lich, a Queen of the Undead, not some simple zombie or skeleton. I'm practically still human in many respects and still consider myself such. As to how I got here, well, that requires a little backstory. You see..."

Wiz spun a tale of battling the Devil King's generals with her adventuring party, in particular one named Vanir. They fought against him many times, the wily Duke of Hell always seeming to best them, taunting them in the process. Eventually, they had managed to trap him in a magical prison at one point, but to their dismay, they couldn't hurt him while he was locked in the cage. So while waiting for the magic of the cage to dispel, they left to go battle another general, a Dullahan called Beldia.

That was going well at first, until the Dullahan had cast a death curse on the party before he escaped, set to go off in one month. Unable to dispel it, the party broke up shortly afterward, with the other four members wanting to spend time with their families before they died. Wiz, undeterred, chose a different path. Acquiring many powerful artifacts, she challenged Vanir to a duel.  

Determined and armed with this new weaponry, she fought the Duke of Hell alone and brought him to a stalemate, nearly burning out her own life force in the process. She intended to sacrifice her soul to him in exchange for breaking the death curse on her former party members. Impressed with the woman, and not wanting her nearly burnt out soul, he offered her the forbidden magic to become a lich instead, which she accepted.

Now more powerful than before, she stormed the demon king's castle, defeated two other generals, then proceeded to beat Beldia within an inch of his life, forcing him to undo his curse. Once things calmed down, under the condition that the Devil King's army would not attack noncombatants, she agreed to become one of the Devil King's generals and help maintain the barrier around his castle as repayment for the damage she caused.

"From there, several... uncomfortable things happened to me, mainly Beldia being a creep and sneaking looks under my dress. So, I packed up and moved here to Axel to run my little shop. Other than maintaining the barrier once in a while, I really have nothing to do with the Devil King anymore. So, please, forgive me." She said, bowing her head towards him.

John stared at her in amazement. The woman in front of him sacrificed her soul to save her companions' lives and managed to prevent non-combatant casualties in this war as a side effect. There were a few confusing aspects to that second part, but overall... "You're an incredible woman, Wiz. As long as what you just told me is true, you have nothing to fear from me."

"So... Am I forgiven for giving up my soul?"

"Well, I can't speak for the goddesses of this world, but as a True Paladin, as a man, I forgive you for your sins." He intoned. He wanted to say that there was nothing to forgive, but he didn't think that was what she was looking for right then. She was seeking forgiveness for her perceived sins, so he gave her what she needed. He didn't know it, but blue and gold mana was flaring from his eye as he spoke, giving him a holy aura.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She said, grasping his hands as she cried again. They were soft and smooth, though a bit cool to the touch.  

"My pleasure, darlin. Now, if it's not too much trouble, I have some questions for you," he said, squeezing her hands. He didn't feel anything he would call evil coming off of her, just restrained power hidden below the surface of her skin. "What can you tell me about the Devil King, these generals, and the state of the war right now. It's okay if your information is a bit out of date; it's probably still more current than what I have already." 

"I... I don't mind. Would you like me to make you a little more tea?"

"I would love some."

John spent the next hour chatting with Wiz, learning more about the current state of the world. Apparently, the war had actually cooled off a bit, with the armies of both nations staying home. If he had to compare it to anything, it was like the Cold War or the North-South Korean border, with both sides having minor skirmishes and small groups sneaking into the other nation's territory to cause minor troubles.

Her shield was preventing direct attacks on the Devil King, and her agreement was preventing the devils from trying to sack any human towns or cities on a large scale. It wasn't perfect, but, short of an actual peace treaty, it was as close to peace as they would likely get. 

He left her shop, promising to come back and visit soon, and slowly made his way back to the guild. He was still horny as hell from that powder. Little John was hard enough to make a large bulge in his leather pants, but it was becoming more manageable now. He was just thankful that she hadn't noticed it, the softly spoken lich radiating such innocence that he just wanted to protect her. He still had a hard time believing that she was a very powerful being who was probably capable of levelling this city if she wanted to. Next time he visited, he would ask if she could teach him some magic. 

He checked a few more shops as he walked back, still having time to kill before he met up with Luna, so he got a few more little things for their date. He happened to pass a toy shop and noticed they had some stuffed animals in the window. He grabbed a cute-looking grey wolf for Luna and, for Operation Stick-and-Carrot, a blue whale for Aqua. They were much simpler in design than what he could find on Earth, but they were covered in a nice fabric, and he thought they would be appreciated. 

Well, Aqua would probably rather cuddle with a bottle of booze, but he wasn't going to feed into her bad behaviour. 

Finally arriving, he stepped into the guild, which seemed much busier than normal. There was a lineup at the counter, Luna and another receptionist, both looking quite frazzled as they dealt with issues with their clients. The restaurant side was packed, with dozens of people filling every table. He even noticed for the first time there was a loft area above the bar and guild side, filled to the brim with people he assumed were adventurers.  

Not wanting to bother her, he just gave Luna a wave before moving over to the job board, curious as to what was available. It was covered with a bunch of requests, from killing some monsters a few days' travel away, finding a missing cat, being a bodyguard for a trip to the capital, or even being a swordsmanship instructor for a noble's child. There were very few things that were local to the city; the bounty request for the toad culling was still not up yet.

He looked closer at one of the kill quests. Apparently, in one of the outlying villages, a pack of great wolves had been attacking sheep and cows, and the local farmers had collectively put a bounty out on the beasts. They were offering 25 000 Eris per head, and believed the pack to be well over a dozen beasts. 

"Maybe I should take this instead of waiting for the toads." He muttered. He could get there fairly quickly on his bike, and while he wasn't a tracker, he had hunted enough in his past life that he could follow a deer easily enough. His armour would make him all but impervious to a wolf bite, and his sword would part the flesh of an animal fairly easily. Not to mention, he had magic he could use too, his mana sitting at 300 currently. He just wished he had his bow or one of his firearms with him.

A loud sigh beside him brought him out of his contemplation. A young woman stood beside him, looking over the section with party recruitment posters, a dissatisfied look on her face. She was of middling height, with long blonde hair that turned orange at the tips, alabaster skin, and crystal blue eyes. She had on a set of white-and-silver half-plate armour, black chainmail, and a yellow hauberk. She had only one pauldron on her left shoulder, while her right shoulder appeared to have a wing-like piece of white cloth that stretched out to the side a little bit. He thought she must be fairly muscular underneath all that gear, and if the moulded chest piece was anything to go by, a fairly large pair of breasts as well, probably DD's or even larger.

She reminds me of that Paladin Lumina from The Great Cleric. I need to stop playing around and get back there. I have things I need to do and a fiancée to meet up with again. God, what is Nanaella going to think when I show up next to her now that I'm built almost like Brod? I wonder how I stack up to those people now that I have grown so much.

While John contemplated leaving this world and moving on to the next, he didn't realize he was still staring at the young woman. She did take notice of his gaze, then glanced at him and shivered. 

A tall, powerfully built man with scars, staring at me lecherously, his manhood bulging, nearly coming out of his pants as he thinks about how he wants to defile me. Oh, what would he do to me? Would he tie me up? Strip me of my armour one piece at a time, mocking me for being helpless? Would he slap me around until I begged him for mercy? Slam me to the ground and take me from behind? Oh, the scandal that would cause. He is a bit taller than what I imagined, but that look. It's perfect. I wonder if he has a party I could join!

"Darkness! What are you doing right now?" A voice said beside her just as she was about to approach the man and ask. She turned around to see her friend Chris standing there, showing off her body shamelessly to the world. 

"I was just going to ask this... where did he go?" She said, looking around for the man. She didn't see him anywhere. "How did he disappear so fast?"

"The tall guy? That's John. He just walked out the front door with Luna. Why?"

"I... I think I found the man whose party I want to join. He isn't as small and wimpy as I normally like... but his gaze... was perfect."

"Girl, you really have odd tastes. I mean, he is handsome, in a rough and rugged way. I heard he has his other party member shovelling the stables for her supper while he is out talking with other women, going on dates with them, even though he sleeps with her at night."

"Ahhh! That is such a scummy thing to do. So humiliating! Do you think he would force me to do things, too?"

"I don't think I'll ever understand how you think, Darkness. Come, a table just freed up. Let's have dinner, and you can tell me all about why you think this guy is perfect."

"Sure." She replied. She looked out the window before following Chris, watching the tall man and the receptionist walk hand in hand towards the city gates.

A lecher and a two-timer? Maybe he would force me to be his concubine, too! Oh, it is making me feel tingly between my legs just thinking about it! 

"Darkness! Snap out of it and let's go!"

"Coming!"

"God, you're hopeless, aren't you?"

"At least I don't willingly show my body off to the world."

 "You would if someone stripped you and forced you to do it, and you would enjoy every second of it."

"No comment."

The two unlikely friends kept laughing and poking fun at each other, with thoughts of John out of their minds for the moment. If that changed the next day, only time would tell.