Lilyth

  As Jirrin told us the story of the pocket of quiet, I have started developing a serious case of iamnotsureifthisisagoodideaism. Basically, some of the people who entered didn't leave. Usually, they disappeared without a trace, but on a few occasions, a body was found, and it wasn't a pretty sight - their torso was ripped apart and their insides dragged out. Nothing was actually devoured which implied that whatever was doing that did so out of malice rather than hunger. Travelling in groups wasn’t that helpful either as some of them met a gruesome end too. Even those who survived couldn't shake the feeling of being watched by some oppressive presence. Still… something didn't sit quite right with the story.

  I would be surprised if more than two hundred people live here. The casualties described by Jirrin would devastate the community, so I have a feeling that Aki would have mentioned the murdergrove instead of the bad water place when telling us about the pockets of quiet… unless…

  Apparently, Rennie had the same doubts as I did as she said with a smile:

  ‘That’s a truly harrowing tale, Jirrin. I think we would appreciate the truth though.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Caei agreed. ‘Stories like this tend to grow with every telling. Especially, if someone has a vested interest in making them grow.’

  Oh, right. Caei does have Leera’s memories. It wouldn't be a terrible shock for me to hear that the Yamaokas made use of some of those legends. Or started them for that matter.

  Jirrin sighed.

  ‘What I described is true, but… there wasn’t a body found there in over ten years. Some traveller from parts unknown. As for disappearances… No one from Dan-Hem disappeared there in decades. Sometimes people come looking for folks who went missing when heading here from Ror-Bhyk or Zel-Vyme. But that's one or two cases every few years… but there was a sharp increase in the past few weeks.

  ‘There was a goblin lair between here and Zel-Vyme,’ Caei explained.

  All blood drained from Jirrin's face.

  ‘By the gods,’ he whimpered.

  ‘They have been taken care of,’ I quickly said. ‘When we wandered upon, we discovered that someone had already raided their hold.’

  The innkeeper sighed in relief. I noticed then that all the conversations in the inn died down and everyone was intently listening to our conversation.

  Oh, joy…

  ‘So it is possible that some of the recent disappearances were, in fact, people killed by goblins,’ I finished, leaving out the parts about the captives getting slaughtered and eaten.

  'The presence is real though, I am told,' the innkeeper insisted.

  ‘Have you ever actually been there, though, or is this second or third-hand knowledge?’ I asked.

  ‘No,’ Jirrin shook his head. ‘I trust Dhelmir, though; he is not known to entertain fantasies and if he is spooked by that place… there must be something to it.’

  So if we want a guide… Dhelmir is the man.

  We arranged with Jirrin to help us meet with the man, which was fairly easy given how he was already in the inn. Dhelmir, a middle-aged man with a scraggly black beard and a shaved head, agreed to lead us to the murdergrove the following morning so that we could investigate the place. He wouldn't actually step in there but showing us the way would be enough. At that stage, I was more interested in investigating the place than following after the Red Masks. They were likely long gone anyway.

  The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. We ate a passable meal made by Jirrin's wife; some guy started hitting on Ren and was somewhat too insistent on the subject, but it was nothing a quick threat of gelding couldn't fix, and eventually, we were joined by Aki’s friend Milla who started pumping us for information about our adventures with our Dark Lady. She was especially interested in Aki’s metal arm.

  Explaining that one away was one of the biggest issues we identified before entering the village. We couldn't figure out a story that couldn't be poked full of holes with just a few questions. The original idea was for her to say she lost it at Mer-Cas - even then, we saw no point in denying our involvement there since the word would spread if it hadn’t already, but, as Ren said - people saw Aki with her prosthetic there. So if the stories spreading around mentioned a “blue-haired demoness with a metal arm” the story would unravel immediately, and there simply was not enough time between her exile from Dan-Hem and the battle to allow us to squeeze that bit there. Hell… this would need to predate our meeting with Ren too, as our merry band of lesbians was probably still the talk of Len-Cas. So… if Aki couldn't think of something on the spot she would need to mention us being… an interdimensional merry band of lesbians. At least to Bergia. As for the others…

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ‘This story is Aki’s to tell,’ Caei shrugged, repeating the line we’ve decided to use.

  ‘If something this bad happened to you, would you like people to blab about what happened?’ I asked when Milla didn't seem entirely convinced by our dodge.

  That mollified her somewhat, but I was praying Aki would have thought something up by the time people other than Bergia got their hands on her. The biggest problem was our inability to bring up Zekuthran because if he somehow heard about this it would raise serious questions among people who we’d rather would not be aware of us.

  That room in Nyx’s realm is very tantalising right about now.

  All things considered, though, it wasn't all that bad to stay on Dwynveia. For one, in Nyx's realm I wouldn't be woken up the next by Caeileera scratching me behind the ear, nor would it be followed by a fairly pleasant morning “exercise” routine.

  ‘I love you so much,’ Caeileera purred as she caressed my naked stomach during our post-workout cuddle session.

  ‘I love you too,’ I purred back and kissed her, tasting myself on her lips.

  Yeah… Caei and Aki are all I need right now.

  It was very difficult for us to beat the bed’s gravitational force that morning, but Rennie knocking on our door to tell us we were invited to breakfast in Bergia's home forced us to put in the required effort. Incidentally, I will neither confirm nor deny the slanderous rumours that when our half-harpy friend cracked the door open so that we could hear her better my first response was me using [Lesser Manipulate] to throw shoes at her to the approval of Caei.

  ‘You know…’ she said dreamily as we were cleaning ourselves up and dressing a few minutes later. ‘I am really tempted to just abduct you and head down south and just settle somewhere quiet. Just you and me… living a happy life.’

  I wanted to joke it away but…

  ‘It’s SO tempting…’I sighed. ‘I mean if you are serious about the abduction…’

  She was, but realised it would hurt Aki and Ren too much and the latter would likely be resistant to dragging her along. There was also the question of dealing with L?we, and even though I didn't think there was a particular deadline on that one, letting that Nazi fuck run around longer than necessary would be difficult to stomach.

  ‘That being said “Longer than necessary” is a deliciously flexible term, so nothing is preventing us from taking our sweet time about it,’ I finished. ‘We don't even know where he is, so taking a few months off as the Viscount is doing his magic…’

  There were also other things on my agenda, the foremost of which was figuring out how much of a threat the Red Masks still were. Ren said the organisation started way down South, so Kojiro being the overall leader seemed unlikely. This was further reinforced by how the band of chucklefucks we were tracking down was operating - there was too much method to their madness between them mostly being interested in getting supplies and leading their retreat through an area the locals would be unwilling to enter.

  Still… it was a concern for a later date. Right then we had a breakfast to attend, which turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. I was worried it would be like one of those family events that make you consider whether sticking rusty nails into your eyes while you are being burned at the stake wouldn't be a much more fun alternative. Instead, while it was clear that Bergia missed her husband, that wound would never heal, reuniting with Aki lifted up her spirits and she seemed very happy to have learned that my Dark Lady had made friends. For now, we’ve decided not to mention the fact that we were more than that. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

  As an aside, it was nice to see the house my ladylove grew up in, even if it wasn't much - well-taken-care-of wooden floors and simple furniture, lime-covered walls and few of those small personal touches here like preserved butterflies on display and crocheted napkins and furniture coverings. Something of great interest to me was a small bookshelf that, as Bergia explained, contained village records. Apparently, Matis’s post was semi-hereditary and there was nothing strange in the title being passed from father to son if both were highly valued in the community. Bergia was even okay with me going through them when I explained I was interested in figuring out the murdergrove. This also gave us an opening to ask Aki why she never mentioned the place, to begin with. Red-faced, she admitted to sneaking over there when she was fifteen and finding nothing, not even the vaunted presence, so the water story felt like a better example.

  Bergia was initially horrified by the story but broke out laughing towards the end.

  ‘You always were the wilful one, weren't you, Aki?’

  She got lost in thought for a moment.

  ‘Wait… was this where you really went to that time you disappeared for a day after you got into Jirrin's ale supply and ended up dancing and singing naked in the middle of the village square?

  Aki’s utterly mortified expression served as enough of an answer. Here I should mention that the legal counsel Ren retained for us advised me to say that all of us kept our faces straight during all of that.

  Anyway, my wife’s torment was put to an end when we heard knocking on the house’s door. It was Dhelmir.

  It’s time to roll then.