Chapter 115

When I arrived at Oeyne's room, I wasn't surprised to find her wearing her most formal clothing, walking around her forge panickedly. I would be panicked too if I was a blacksmith in a politically divisive situation, and a royal person came to my visit with a regiment that could be rightfully classified as a small, yet very competent, army.

It made failure a distinctly more dangerous situation, especially for someone like Oeyne with an already shaky political position. She was already enemies with the guilds, and while the school was willing to retain her services despite that, Oeyne was smart enough to realize that even her services weren't good enough to resist the combined pressure of the guilds, and a princess that conveniently brought along an army while the school was being sieged from multiple locations.

So, when she realized I had once again sneaked into her workshop without even bothering to knock, her first response wasn't anger or annoyance, but pure relief. "Caesar," she yelled as she dashed forward frantically. "I don't know what to do, they are here with an army and if I can't repair-" she started, only to be cut off by a kiss.

"Calm down," I murmured, keeping the kiss short, yet heated enough to steal her breath and distract her from her growing panic. "Flailing will not help you dealing with a royal or whomever they assigned to handle the communication with you."

"But whatever they are bringing is surely a difficult weapon to repair. What if I can't do it, even with your help? I can barely able to get a basement to myself using all the favors and connections during my career as an adventurer. There's no way they will weigh heavier than the order of a princess with her own army waiting at the back. They'll kick me out, then the guilds will be free to take their revenge-" she said, spiraling in panic. I could have slapped her, which was a recommended response to hysteria, but why would I do that, when I could use that as an excuse to steal another kiss.

"There's no point of discussing that before we even see the weapon they want us to repair," I said even as I caressed her cheek gently. "And I'm sure, between two of us, there's no weapon we can't repair."

[+1 Speech]

"You're right," Oeyne murmured as she snuggled against my chest, enjoying the safety of my arms, while I enjoyed the sight of my improving skill. It had been getting annoying that my skills hadn't improved in the presence of the headmistress no matter how challenging the situation —though, after her explanation about the nature of the System, it turned out to be obvious that she was intentionally preventing the connection between the target and the System, probably a side-effect of her attempts to protect the Divine Sparks in her possession from being absorbed by the system.

However, that was a thought for another time. I focused on the sexy blacksmith in front of me, using me as a source of comfort. "We need to focus on what we can affect. Such as, how are you going to present yourself to them," I said.

She pulled back with a frown and gestured her body. "What do you mean. I'm dressed in my best clothes, prepared the best refreshments I could afford, and cleaned my workshop to perfection, with my best works on display," she said, pointing at a wall that was previously empty, but now holding a range of impressively delicate magical weapons.

"It's your best, and that's the problem," I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "It's going to be a royal visit, of course, I'm going to do my best."

"Under more usual circumstances, that would have been true. You would only gain from displaying such an honest reaction. But things are different now. The crown princess already lost a lot of power, which meant that she would have no problem pushing your willingness to give to the limit, then more, uncaring of her own long-term reputation."

"Are you sure?" Oeyne countered. "I have seen her retinue with my own eyes. Maybe her situation is much better than we expect, bringing such a large army with her."

Oeyne's deduction wasn't bad, considering she was working from a faulty set of assumptions. She was a skilled adventurer, but she didn't have my unique advantages and a ridiculous Perception stat to accurately assess the strength of her team. For Oeyne, it was just a large regiment of bodyguards, showing off her strength, not every single elite under her control.

"No, it's literally everything she has left," I said as I gave a general explanation of the status of her party without going too much into detail, careful to frame it as something I had learned from someone else. I liked Oeyne, but we weren't at the point of sharing my secrets, yet.

"That changes things," Oeyne murmured, her fear intensifying further. It was one thing to support a royal in a disadvantageous position, but it was completely different to support one that had lost any chance of making a comeback. "Should I reject her?"

"No," I answered immediately. "She might have lost her power in terms of the wider empire, but that means very little considering the difficulties of different cities working together. For all intents of purposes, except the small area surrounding the Empire, we're a loose connection of the city-states, and the princess has collected her power base here. As long as she can maintain a good relationship with the headmistress, she would be in a very important position in Silver Spires. You can't anger her."

"I don't understand," she murmured. "If she's still important, I should still respect her, right."

"In a way, but in a much lesser degree. We're going to sell her the idea that you're working closely with the headmistress's agents, meaning she couldn't just force you to work for her carelessly, or threaten you without risking the headmistress."

"But I can't lie about that!" she said angrily.

"Who said it would be a lie?" I countered, and upon her shocked state, I brought my magical pressure to the fore, much stronger than she had ever assumed I was capable. After our last meeting, I was free to flaunt my identity as an agent of the headmistress, and there was no point in wasting such an easy political asset.

[+1 Subterfuge]

"You," she gasped.

"Me," I answered with a smug smile, enjoying her shock. "I'm an agent of the headmistress, one of the ones she keeps in the shadow," I said before pausing. "Well, kept until the latest crisis forced me to take a more direct role, forcing me to reveal my identity," I said, subtly lying about the extent of my tenure. After all, it wasn't like she was going to have a discussion with the headmistress about the length of my service.

Also, it was far more believable than the truth, that I was working in the school for years, but gained phenomenal power during last month.

The last reveal likely would have been enough for Oeyne in her desperation even before our previous relationship. She just nodded with a growing smile, more than happy that her mysterious assistant came with such an important background. "What should we do?" she asked.

"There's still sometime before the meeting, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "Good. First, let's get you out of that dress and put in on something more functional," I whispered even as I put my hand on her shoulder.

I was surprised when she pushed me away, but that surprise proved to be short-lived when, instead of taking a step back, she grabbed her shirt in a great hurry, aggressive enough to send more than one button flying.

The arousal quickly clouded her beautiful brown eyes as she took a step forward, her fancy corset struggling under the weight of her huge breasts. Apparently, saving her at the last minute, combined with the simultaneous reveal of magical and political power, triggered her arousal in a way I hadn't seen on her before —at least, not without an extended foreplay session.

I was more than happy to let her take the lead as she ripped my shirt with even more aggression, destroying it so thoroughly that even with magic, repairing it would have been challenging. She threw it negligently as she smashed her lips against mine, her hands caressing my naked chest, tracing the contours of my muscles even as she pushed me toward her forge.

I let her do so. Fucking her in her forge, the center of her identity, was more appealing than another escapade in her bed. It felt symbolic.

She had proved that while her strength was her primary stat, her agility was nothing to dismiss when she somehow managed to slip out of all of her clothes excluding her corset, presenting her body in a very sexy yet accessible manner.

I was more than happy to follow her lead and kicked my pants and underwear, leaving myself naked. I didn't bother to remove her corset, just squeezed her amazing breasts over it, the soft texture of her corset making it even more delicious as their amazing proportions filled my palms in excess.

A moan escaped her mouth, pushing through my lips' ability to silence her, loud enough to fill the forge completely. I was glad to see that a few days without some close attention left her panting with desire.

Too much desire, even, I realized when I felt her biting my shoulder enthusiastically. Not enough to actually draw blood, just hurt, but considering my HP and constitution, even that was excessive.

"So, you want to play rough," I whispered, which earned an enthusiastic moan. "As you wish, you dirty whore," I whispered said as I grabbed her hair before pulling hard, enough to remind her that while she was strong, she was not my match when it came to physical domination.

"Take a deep breath," I suggested in amusement even as I painfully pulled her hair, making her reveal her neck before I marked her with a bite mark, using a biomancy trick to make sure the hickey wouldn't disappear easily through her natural regeneration.

Simultaneously, I pushed her until her chest was pressing against the table she used to do finishing work, covered with soot even after her attempts to clean it, immediately ruining her fancy corset. Paradoxically, its dirtiness made her even sexier.

I didn't even bother asking her whether she was ready, as her wetness, thick enough to drip down her leg as she bent over gave me an answer much more accurately than her words. She moaned as I pulled her hair harder. I could have pushed inside her to enjoy that wetness, but I decided to take things slowly instead.

I walked to the other side of the table, aligning my shaft with her meaty lips. "Open wide," I ordered, and she followed that easily, making it trivial for my girth to disappear into her mouth, forcing my presence into her throat.

She started gasping and gagging, but it only enhanced the enthusiasm shining in her eyes. I pushed my full presence into her throat repeated with no hint of mercy, knowing that she was more than tough enough to handle that. And she didn't disappoint me by actually grabbing my hips to pull me even deeper into her throat...

There were certain perks of revealing the true extent of my power, it seemed, I thought even as I filled her throat with my seed, ready to do much more before the meeting with the princess' envoys...

[Level: 30 Experience: 447193 / 465000

Strength: 41 Charisma: 53

Precision: 35 Perception: 37

Agility: 35 Manipulation: 40

Speed: 34 Intelligence: 44

Endurance: 34 Wisdom: 46

HP: 5370 / 5370 Mana: 6600 / 6600 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [98/100]

Expert Speech [71/75]

Advanced Craft [50/50]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 21/25]

[Helga - Level 17/21]