Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 4

Chapter 4
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Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:06

"Don't take this as an insult, Tomm, but it's pretty boring out here," I tell the old guard confidentially, taking a sip from the jug, not the worst of wine, and convincingly imitating a slight drunkness. "I'm all right, as long as I've got booze and chicks, I'm all right. But our ladies had sworn that if they could not spend their rightful share of the spoils on a wardrobe upgrade soon, I would not live to see the spring."

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:10

"That's right." The man nods, taking a sip of his ale as well and carefully feigning sobriety. "My sweetheart's no adventuro... avenue... adventurer...and if she ain't got the market and her rags, she can be unbearable. So I understand you, Tin. And since I understand, I'll organize a place for you in the convoy. But I'm sorry, it's not free."

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:14

"I didn't offer it for free!" I answered joyfully and drunkenly, already anticipating the success of my endeavor.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:36

We talked about how our glorious Five (and Ygra, who was secretly walking in the distance) could be attached to a convoy of guards. A convoy to the much larger city of Tavimark, which even has a connection to the imperial teleport network. Normally guards are not changed in winter but in spring. This squad is carrying some important documents. That's why they won't take any ordinary guys off the street with them. We would have gone into the snow ourselves, but there's so much suspicion we would have raised if someone had bothered to send word to Arenam, we would have had more trouble.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:37

My willingness to follow a guard who is carrying valuable information, which is potentially a bomb in the hands of a saboteur, might seem suspicious if it were not for a few small things. The most important of those little things is the fact that there is nothing important in those papers. The convoy has only been dispatched because the First Assistant to the City Guard of Arenam urgently needs to see his younger brother, who's in some kind of trouble. That's why there are a lot of soldiers, so they can speak on behalf of the commander of a squad of brave soldiers rather than a lone provincial. A reassurance, especially since no one would let him really put up a fight, but the kind of reassurance that easily helps to resolve conflicts and survive trouble.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:41

The documents did not contain strategic information or even tax statements, which would certainly not have been released from the walls in winter and without a really serious reason, but the usual correspondence of big boys, noblemen, and other fraternities. Not that they could not be used if they fell into the wrong hands, but their value, in the eyes of the Empire, was next to nil. But if a letter could be sent at public expense for next to nothing, why not? They were accustomed to entrusting the most delicious correspondence to bindings, either with amulets (expensive) or to their own people. This is a pampering and frivolous project.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:44

And everyone either knew, heard, or guessed about it, so they didn't hesitate to put their man in the convoy if he needed to go on business. Tomm knew, too, and so he even suggested this way out of town when I started complaining convincingly enough about the women pressing in on me. Not a bad man by Alurei standards. The kind of man who wouldn't hesitate to pick up someone unattended but wouldn't brazenly steal and take the last. On Earth, they called him an asshole, but here he was hardly a saintly associate, even if with reservations.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:46

I hardly had to make any financial investment to get into the convoy, except for a dozen silver coins and a couple of jugs of booze, which didn't work on me anyway. Much more had to be done to organize the dispatch of this convoy, causing trouble for the brother of a respected guardian and prompting the guardian himself to intervene personally.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:47

I'd say I was ashamed of such a set-up, but that brother - also in the guard in a very bread-and-butter position - was responsible for his own problems. Or rather, he'd made sure he knew where, to whom, and how much to charge, but if he was involved in selling illicit goods to the Tavimark Mage Guild (the poor and vagabonds), he'd be prepared for anything.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:48

Like having your men cover their slavecatcher partners from prying eyes and noise as they drag two desperately roaring and very petite girls somewhere. The three boys from the tannery were even slapped on the sides so they knew who to open their mouths at. Ottis Tauram did not even pay attention to this situation when it was reported to him by his men (the same ones who first "did not see the violation" and then kicked those who saw it). Well, there was a screw-up, so he pay everyone a long time ago. And the girls? If he hadn't taken the money, someone else would have - there are a lot of officers in the Guard, but not much money. And who counts those poor men anyway?

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:52

That's what he thought, and he was quite right.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:53

If they were ordinary girls and not the two daughters of one of Tavimark's biggest businessmen, who had the toughest temperament among similarly wealthy men. Daughters who decided to sneak away from home, just like in the book they read, to find the treasure buried under the city gates. Because where would one look for them anyway, if not under the gates? By the way, the enchanted snakeskin pouch containing almost three dozen high-quality rubies would really need to be retrieved from under the gate one day.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:55

I swear on the holy Internet that I had nothing to do with the first part of the misadventures of the two idiots, who will only be brainwashed by a rod and time in equal proportions. On the contrary, I also saved their lives when they got into a legitimate mess. So when they had fallen into the hands not of the rank and file - the same vagabonds who were already on the payroll of the slavecatcher, but of the more intelligent bosses to whom the captured goods were flocked, it would have been a disaster. If they quickly realized that the girls were too well-groomed and that their "disguises" were limited to clothes stolen from the servants' children and faces smeared with earth, they would begin to be questioned.

Camrad_RIP 12.04.23 в 17:58

And if they found out whose daughters they were, they would be buried out just for safety. And they would quickly leave the city. Some of them might even have survived, for the girls' father, despite his temperament, was not the Emperor of the Ages, but simply a rich and skillful merchant. I had a little perception of the slave catchers who had arrived for the season, not allowing them to see the obvious. They got distracted and foolish, and that happen without the help of isekai. They'd been in town for a while, just when they'd had enough vagrants and poor folk kicked out of their homes, and it wouldn't be long before they were caught up in the cold, frozen somewhere. They have two seasons when it comes to cities: early spring and mid-winter are the favorite times for "legal" slavers or those who pretend to be slavers.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:04

In winter, according to unspoken agreements, no one stops them from catching vagrants and homeless people because they are going to die anyway. And in slavery, at least, they have a chance. As if most of them weren't going for meat for mages or beast breeders. And as if such creeps don't rake in quite a few of those who don't think of freezing or even having a home, just out of the house at the wrong time. There are, you know, such monsters, which you can put under the saddle of a rich knight, but if you don't want to wait ten years until it grows up, you're welcome to feed it with the meat of reasonable species. Well, in spring, those same merchants buy up the city's poor for their surplus children. They have more chance because they're seldom used for meat, for they have useless levels and stats, are useless in rituals, and do not have much meat on their bones. Servants, laborers, or gladiator schools for the toughest. Sometimes they are bought out to the army or something else.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:09

They did not examine the girls, nor did they listen to their screams - all of them screaming. They were probably the ones who were not going to be sacrificed for rituals and other blackness. They were not willing to get involved with outright blackness, fearing if not law enforcement, then elimination from their customers.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:10

Nor did they hold back their words, hiding their names and nicknames and locations - not my influence either - because all the necessary papers had been bought by them. If the two snot-nosed girls had been the daughters of wealthy parents, they would have gotten away with nothing more than giving the girls away as a reward from their parents. At worst, a fine.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:11

My influence began when I stirred up the memory of a shop tanner about how his older sister, whom he never saw again, had once been kidnapped in exactly the same way. She went out to empty the slop and disappeared, and the guards "didn't see a thing". I rekindled the memory and took away any brakes that might have silenced him for fear of his life. I didn't have to influence it too much either, just a little.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:13

The girls only had time to tell them that they lived in the Iron Quarter, so named because of the high iron and steel fences, or, more often, just stone fences with iron prongs on them. The guards didn't let many people in, and if they tried to get in, they might give a beating to an artisan who'd lost his edge.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:15

He passed the guards on pure luck. Yes, luck, as if it were an obsession that everyone was looking the other way instead of laughing at his efforts to sneak around unnoticed. And then he made an even bigger fool of himself, telling himself second by second that he was an idiot. But the image of his sister, faded but still filled with warmth and tenderness, kept him from acting logically and forgetting about the two, surely already safely hidden, fools. Especially since they might not have been living on the block, just bragging or trying to bluff their way to their captors. And no one gave a shit about the servants and their children (the tanners themselves, being a little tipsy, had also bought into the "disguise" of being the children of ordinary workers) to search for them.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:17

But he just couldn't bring himself not to at least try to report, at least to tell. At the first house, when asked if the two girls were missing, they simply said him to fuck off without listening. In the second, after listening to his explanation, they added the same medicine that the guards had already prescribed, and only by some miracle - yes, yes, miracle - there were no guards around to hand him over to throw the bastard out. In the third, fourth, and fifth, they did not even open the door for him, thinking him a beggar.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:19

And in the sixth, as soon as he asked a question about the girls, almost desperate not to succeed but to get away with it, he was nearly killed in the heat of the moment. Twenty minutes later, when the angry mutant hog-like merchant still bothered to listen to the poor man without being interrupted by threats (very poetic!) of what would be done to him and his masters for such maneuvers, my plan was over.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:20

Daddy, the same mutant hog, was a clever man, so he knew very well what the slavers would do first when they realized exactly who they had accidentally snatched. With his hair graying on his ass, he began to act strictly as was expected by the invisibly watching me. Twenty minutes later, fifty of his personal pocket army (because a rich tradesman is always trying to steal and rob!) were already moving in the direction of the place where they "didn't notice" the slavers.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:21

The guards who tried to stop them (not the same ones) were beaten and all their limbs broken, without killing them, just in case the girls were rescued. And if they were not rescued, it would be better for them to be killed themselves (that's why they broke their limbs so they wouldn't be killed) before Borei Tzahorski came back for them. That this was a provocation, he was not too worried, having checked the Tanner's words with his class skills of detecting lies

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:23

An hour later, healed and gifted with a purse full of silver and a ring from Boreas' finger, the tanner was escorted to his room in his home quarter, and his attendants, on Boreas' behalf, cleared him of absenteeism and absence from work. It was day, after all, and the three of them had received a beating from the guards and the slavers the previous evening.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:24

The girls cried and fell into a deep sleep, and his father, who had sworn in the name of Takij the Coin Jingle, to whose temples his whole family had brought gifts for five generations, that he would never give a hand to a slaver (he was very fond of the tanner's sister story, especially given his experiences), began to look for someone to blame. It was in Tavimark that Boreas had his winter residence, but otherwise, he was a man of the capital and work with so much money that even very influential people were happy to do him favors and uncomfortable to cross him.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 16:26

Her uncle, who traded mainly in furs, fabrics, quality booze - but not wine - and sweets, was also thinking of buying up these extra children. His people bought the same skins for furs, which then went to his personal craftsmen, in remote villages and small towns, where there were plenty of such children. And competition with existing merchants he was, of course, wary, but moderately wary. Now, I would bet my teeth that he would not get involved even at the point of a crossbow.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 19:01

And all because he was guided to the right path by such a sweet, kind, forgiving, and magnificent man as Konstantin Yuryevich, in all my splendor. You can put a holy halo on my head, but it would burn me, the pest!

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:08

We left Arenam two and a half weeks after the battle with the bloodsuckers - the same problem of having normal caravans. Ygra had managed in that time to gobble up all the game around the town, which was already not very plentiful, and in the spring, the hunters would wonder why anything bigger than a chipmunk had disappeared.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:10

The bloodsucker was up to the task, not without its rough edges, but with considerable enthusiasm, multiplied by cold-bloodedness, experience, and sheer ruthlessness. I could not order the creature to have human feelings, for that would require at least being a God with suitable Aspects, but not poor me. The order was obeyed by her in letter and spirit, but, Holy Randomius, she did not change a bit. On the outside, of course, she looks like she'd make a dead man booner, even if he had to grow a new one, to begin with, but underneath... I can consider myself a really good sensor and therefore, unfortunately, saw what she was.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:12

I had kept my word for a fortnight without seeing her face to face. I was just afraid that I was going to kill her. The difference between monsters and behemoths was, pardon the pun, monstrous, but the difference between behemoths and creatures was unimaginable. The thing that pissed me off the most wasn't that the creature was hiding behind the pretty face of a human woman who had only pale skin and perfectly camouflaged fangs (if she wasn't smiling, of course). No, what pissed me off was her attachment to my persona. Just imagine being genuinely and wholeheartedly in love with you, with a very special kind of love, a serial maniac, a cannibalistic killer, and a necrozoopedophile.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:17

I am, of course, the most tolerant of all, but it was too much for me to tolerate around her. No, if it hadn't been for my sensory powers and clairvoyance, she would have been good enough to pretend to be a normal woman, just a fangirl. But I would always know she was pretending! Hestia contacted her instead, giving her a few dozen special potions in case of a critical battle and covering her, now only her, nest with her mist.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:20

The latter, incidentally, was suggested by Hestia herself, deeming it necessary to strengthen the creature even further, to test her abilities on something stronger than ordinary orcs. And as clairvoyance revealed, despite her attempts to hide it, to gain additional power over the bloodsucker. Not that she doubted her loyalty to me, but she genuinely felt the need to have additional sources of influence on the mosquito.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 17:22

I had to contact the creature through the mirror - which reflected her perfectly - in her bathroom (even non-living creatures need to wash away dirt and stains). My new order for an extra supply of potions, at a cost greater than her entire nest had seen during her time in Arenam, she took exceptionally well, even if one excluded the influence of the ring. The offer of a new enhancement, albeit slower and more unreliable, was also welcome news to her.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 13:54

The fact that I wouldn't be the one to subdue and change her didn't make her very happy - the very thought that someone could plant thoughts and desires in her head that would threaten me caused near-bloody hysteria (their equivalent of berserk rage). I had to salvage the situation by informing her that Hestia, like her, had also received the same treatment. This immediately reconciled her to the situation. True, clairvoyance told her that she was completely and utterly a thousand percent sure that Hestia would turn her into a submissive puppet. Simply because she, in the same situation, would do exactly the same thing without the slightest doubt. A worldview of creatures, what do you want?

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 13:55

Hestia would certainly be willing to put a few bookmark keys in the bloodsucker, but no more than that, because she didn't need it. I was in the middle of a conversation with the creature, and I was sure I'd be the one to tell her what I wanted her to do. It was a total submission, as ugly as its inner self.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 13:56

Hestia did not cover the entire nest for fear of the servants and the ергпы that served the bloodsucker, confining herself to the creature's room. The concentration of her power on such a wretched scrap was staggering, and when you consider that the bloodsucker didn't even fight back, almost helping to change itself, prompting and guiding, the process was accelerated many times over.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 14:01

Hestia would only return to the tavern floor we'd rented for dinner and a short chat, devoting the rest of the time to melting down her "ally". Taria tried to make a joke about bedmates but shut up when she caught the furious - in phlegmatic as rock Hestia! - the misty maiden's gaze. I thought she was going to hit Taria, not with her fist, but with a slap. They both calmed down pretty quickly, and Taria apologized sincerely, but the cat ran between them for a long time.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 14:04

"I stay out of her mind beyond the minimum that Mist does without my control." She explained, moving her hand thoughtfully, depriving it of a joint, then recreating it again. "More carnal desire, more pleasure, more desire. I won't hide it I've left anchors in her mind in case she goes off the rails... But manually ruling that mind is beyond me. I'm afraid, I'm sorry to say, but I'm really scared that this filth might pass on to me.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 18:54

Taria is silent, sulking resentfully at all of us, and at herself in particular, for not holding her tongue. Losius and Hans are generally sleeping off the brothels (all four of them, though they just looked at the cheapest one from afar and left without going in), leaving the three of us behind.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 18:55

"Perhaps only you, Tin, could have thought of such an idea." Issued the aristocrat-turned-behemoth with a completely uncharacteristically broad smile, which would be the equivalent of Homeric laughter for her. "To turn a creature, a real, old, experienced, churned up, into some kind of paladin... That's something. Perhaps this has not yet been written about in the annals, though my tutors had claimed that under our Sisters everything was repeated."

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 18:57

The dancer starts giggling, realizing the comicality of my decision. She has the hardest time perceiving the concept of creatures and how horrible they are, but she can appreciate the irony. She also tries to sweeten the deal with Hestia. Worst of all, it wasn't the hint of her lying with the creature that offended the ex-military expert, but the very carelessness and tactlessness of the townswoman, which made her frankly angry.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 18:58

"What did you put into it, and what will you put into it?" I asked, preventing another spark of irritation from erupting in Hestia's soul.

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 18:58

"I haven't touched the effects of your submission." Immediately she turns on the report mode to the senior officer. "It's too complicated and generally dangerous for me, so I worked almost entirely on her body alone. Enhanced and twisted the skills and aspects of her that she already had. Her ability to release light pheromones was enhanced and expanded. Not to the level of your ogre, but only slightly lower. The hypnotic look in her eyes has become more powerful and far easier to inspire lust. Fangs can inject not only decomposing enzymes but a range of compounds, not all of which are related to lust. Also... I've supplemented her diet a little, if I may say so."

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 19:00

Before the last sentence, I listened quietly, not paying much attention to what was being said, but after that, both Taria and I choked on the air, then looked at each other, and then the girl was very careful to clarify:

Camrad_RIP 16.04.23 в 19:00

"So she's not sucking blood now, but... exactly what I'm thinking?" If she laughs now, Hestia will definitely knock her down, but I won't judge Taria, for I can hardly contain myself.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 15:57

"Blood is still needed. It's just that the semen can give it just as much of a boost before the battle." Annoyed and somewhat embarrassed (?), Hestia replies to us. "That said, the effects of both types of food complement each other... I didn't expect my talent to be so fixated on that particular change! Although now I realize the thought is asking for it, not everyone is given to such twisted thinking, Taria! Tin, you too? Say something to her, Tin! Stop laughing!"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 14:14

We left the town quietly and without any pomp. We had already had our final party before, but we hadn't had time to make any real acquaintances yet, and we weren't going to. We did not plan to stay in Arenam, let alone make any plans for the town. The whole bloodsucker venture was, to be frank, my own fault, for which I myself had to answer and do a lot of unnecessary work, ensuring the survival and "status quo" of the new agent.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 14:04

It was only after working with the brains of the few who could give the Ring-trained beast trouble and waiting until Hestia had completed the rebuilding and strengthening of the bloodsucker, allowing it to drink more than just blood, that I could, with as clear a conscience as possible for me, begin to pull the plug. The brief affair with the slavecatcher had come at just the right time, allowing me to arrange and expedite our journey to the capital as quickly as possible.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 14:08