The Founding of Rumble.

Chapter 15: To the Kingdom Conference

Hi everyone.

Even though this is a busy time of year for me, as promised a new chapter. This like all my chapters has basic editing, don't be an ASSHAT.

Have fun.

PS. as promised this chapter is longer, 20 pages, size 10, times new roman.

Chapter 15: To the Kingdom Conference

Jayda hooked her leg around her saddle horn, turned her body, drew her bow, and let fly an arrow. Her arrow landed a moment before Mia's, Jayda's had hit middle of the hobgoblin archer's forehead, Mia's hit it in the chest. Jayda turned back until she was sitting properly and watched as Marline used her new sword to decapitate a hobgoblin lord. Astra threw her right axe and it slammed into a Hobgoblin mage's head and through it to lodge into the ground. Astra ran magic through the band on her wrist and her axe returned to her hand.

Frey leapt off Snow and shield bashed down the Hobgoblin General, she managed to land on top of the general, moving her shield she slammed her sword down through his head.

Jayda dismounted as a large swarm of goblins joined the fight, she put away her bow and drew her blades.

"Where the fuck did they come from." Tomas complained as he joined Jayda cutting a path through the goblins, his new sword, Red Daemon, was another creation of Jayda's and was similar in design to Blue Death only it was made using Sun Steel and True Steel, only the True Steel had Copper added to it giving it a red colour. It was Tomas's request and since she found it interesting she did it.

This was Tomas's first real fight with his new sword, and he was surprised as he felt no resistance as he sliced through the enemy before them. He made a mental note to ask Jayda to be careful of who she made weapons for.

Jayda also had new weapons, originally she had Daemon Steel blades, now however she had Dragon Scale blades made with Daemon Steel and Sun Steel. The blades were lighter and sharper than their predecessors meaning that Jayda's moves were faster yet still retained their strength and cutting force. The blades hummed as they cut the air and through the goblins.

They had left Morriston a week ago, they made suitable time as they were all travelling on Monsters, Marline and Tomas on domesticated Daemon Horses, while the others travelled on their distinctive mounts. They had come across a merchant group that was being attacked by hobgoblins and the adventurers hired to protect the group only just managing to keep the attackers back.

"JAYDA!" Frey called and gestured to the caravan; some goblins had gotten close to the tired adventurers.

Jayda turned, "Barrier," she cast, and a dome dropped down on top of them protecting them from the advancing horde, as more goblins started to pour out of the forest.

Mia made sure to take out archers and mages as the others started to take out the others. Astra, Jayda, Frey, Marline, and Tomas formed a line and started to slaughter anything to come into their kill zone.

Frey watched as some goblins completely ignored them and just crossed the road, fleeing. "Hey, they aren't acting right." She called to the others if goblins fled they usually went back the way they came.

"Kree," Jayda called, and the Eagle shot out of her shadow and into the air, Sol and Fern were next out of her shadow and jumped into the fray.

"Bruh," Frey called, and the large gorilla came out of her shadow. Watch our backs make sure the ones who ran don't come back. Frey said with two hoots and Bruh thumped his chest twice and moved into position to guard their back, Void joined him.

Soot shot out of Mia's shadow and joined Kree in the air, looking for what was causing the goblins to run.

"Reap," Jayda cast, and a wind blade shot out and mowed down the goblins cutting them in half giving them some breathing room. "Prepare for incoming... Forest Wolves," Jayda called.

"Is this a flood?" Marline asked as she knelt to scrub her hands, on the soil to dry them.

"Use this," Astra tossed her a bag, in it was the chalk that Astra used to dry her hands. Marline clapped her hands against the bag then hung it on her hip, Astra tossed a similar bag to Tomas, her team mates already had chalk bags and were using them to dry their hands. She picked up her sword and got ready for the next wave.

"Not a flood, they are running," Mia said as she dismounted.

"From what?" Tomas demanded to know as he readied a shield.

"Something big," Mia stated as the trees started to shake in the distance.

Jayda's eyes glazed over as she used share sense, Kree's eyes couldn't see the threat, but at least she could sense what was coming, four Daemon Viper Variants. "Four Daemon Viper Variants." She explained as her eyes cleared up so that she could fight the incoming forest wolves.

Just as the first wave of Forest Wolves broke the tree line Fern stood before them and howled. The wolves realised immediately they would face death running through, so they changed directions, skirting around the group and into the forest at their backs and kept running.

"Huh, okay," Tomas remarked glad he didn't have to fight the wolves considering what was coming. "Daemon Vipers, don't get big, four, five metres tops." He told Jayda as he took a swig of water from his canteen. He glanced for his daemon horse, but they were with the merchants, in the barrier. Only the four War Horses were free, and they had trampled any goblin to go near the barrier.

"These aren't normal Daemon Vipers." Jayda said, Kree hadn't managed a good look at them as the forest obscured them, she simply knew by the way magic radiated from them that they were daemon vipers.

Tomas glanced back to the merchants, "Do we get them to flee?"

Jayda shook her head; she was using share sense again trying to get a look at what was coming as more monsters fled around them but with Fern standing there letting off an intimidating aura which let them know to go around.

Jayda finally got a flash of bright rainbow colours through the trees. She returned her senses to her body and started to shift through the monster evolution trees her mother and Ghean had made her memorise.

"Jayda?" Frey asked as the shaking trees got closer.

"Tomas, Marline, get in the barrier, NOW!" Astra ordered. "What are we facing?" she asked Jayda and Mia.

"Soot says big serpent, that's all." Mia told her,

"Jayda?" Astra questioned.

"Shut up, let me think," Jayda told her as she followed the Daemon Viper monster tree through its various Variants, looking for a Variant with a rainbow pattern. "Shit." Jayda turned and lifted the barrier letting Marline and Tomas in before she dropped the barrier back down. "Barrier, Barrier, Barrier, Barrier. Great Wall." She cast quickly, the barriers over lapped and then a solid wall, a smaller variation of the wall magic she had used to make Fort Town, rose out of the ground.

"What are we facing?" Frey asked seriously for Jayda to cast such a strong protection she had probably figured out what they were facing.

"Rainbow Vipers, SS class monsters on their own, and we have a pack of four." Jayda explained.

"What do we need to know?" Mia asked as she hung her short sword on her back and her forearm shield went onto her left arm, while not as big as Frey's it had the same abilities and should protect her in the fight to come, it was also small enough that she could still fire her bow with the shield on. She then checked her quiver and the arrows there.

"Magic will get you through the hide, so coat your blades in it, try for magic edge, they spit an acidic venom, so don't give it a chance to aim and dodge often, don't let it coil around you it will squeeze until you are crushed. Also, attack from beneath it is weaker." Jayda rattled off and they all nodded.

"One each?" Frey asked as she checked her shield and pulled out her spears stabbing them into the ground ready for use.

Astra hung one of her axes on her back and pulled a buckler shield from her item box. "Do we try for the blind first?" Astra asked as she buckled it on, shields generally weren't her thing but she knew how to use one and this was one of Jayda's shields, it was as strong as the one Frey held and if she coated it with magic it would create a barrier and shield her from spitting monsters.

"Yes to both," Jayda answered then turned as one of the approaching magic sources was moving away, "one is heading to town."

"Go, we got these three." Astra told her and Jayda nodded and ran off, Onyx ran up beside her and she mounted him while he picked up speed. He used one of his skills, Fleet Foot and they were racing along the road to get in front of the serpent. Jayda felt the surge of magical power and quickly returned Onyx to her shadow. She continued to move forward and down just missing the lunge of the serpent. Jayda slid along the ground and onto her feet her weapons in her hands.

Since no one was close she released her intimidation and focused it on the Serpent which had coiled back on itself to launch a new attack. The Monster paused, realising it had attacked the wrong being, with a quick move she sliced clean through its neck, close to the head, once the monster had fallen in two pieces she stored it, turned off her intimidation and called Onyx back out of her shadow. He quivered a little as he stood before her, shocked by the sudden attack, she patted his neck to help calm him down. He gave her kisses, her quick thinking had kept him from being hurt, slowly his quivering settled down.

"Come on we have to get back to your brother." Jayda told him and he gave her one last kiss before turning back the way they came, ready to head back. Jayda mounted, Onyx started to run and when he was at the right speed he activated Fleet Foot again. They came back just in time to watch Frey, Astra and Mia fight their individual serpents. Onyx came to a stop with the other war horses and since the serpents were occupied Jayda dropped the earth wall so that the people inside could watch.

Tomas knocked on the barrier and gestured to the fighting, clearly asking why she wasn't helping. Jayda turned back to the battle but could tell it was almost over for all three of them, she dropped the barriers.

"So, it's safe?" Marline asked just as Astra killed her serpent.

"Yep," Jayda stated just as Frey took out her Viper.

A few minutes later Mia had killed hers, "STORE THEM QUICKLY!" Jayda yelled and the serpents were quickly put into item boxes.

"Jayda, what were those?" Marline asked.

"Rainbow Viper, SS ranked." Jayda explained.

"Jayda since when, have they, been able to solo SS monsters." Tomas asked.

"If you can solo an S-ranked dungeon, you should be able to solo a single SS rank monster." Jayda explained.

Tomas rubbed his face as Marline chuckled. "Common sense of the strong." He complained.

Astra sighed as she glanced around the mess. Jayda walked over to her and pulled out her staff, Astra flinched, she would never be comfortable seeing Jayda with a magic staff in her hand. Jayda chuckled at Astra's reaction.

"Lock, Hobgoblin." Jayda said as she tapped her staff against the ground and magic formations formed above the all the hobgoblins and their separated parts. "Store," she said, and the hobgoblins vanished.

"Nice," Marline chuckled.

"Lock, monster weapons." Jayda said before she tapped her staff again, again formations formed above weapons, "Store." She said and the weapons all vanished into her inventory. Jayda turned to Astra, there were over a hundred magic cores just sitting there in the chests of the goblins. "Do we want to dismantle the goblins or bury them?"

"Bury them, not too deep and make it obvious, the guild will send people to collect the stones and investigate." Astra told her and Jayda did just that. They walked over to the caravan, "Town is about four hours away, we'll escort you there."

"Is anyone hurt?" Jayda asked and several held up their hands, she cast cleanse on everyone first before she healed those who were hurt, only then did she put away her staff.

"Hey, is Rainbow Viper yummy?" Frey asked.

Jayda shrugged, "Never eaten one before, will have to look at the meat once it's been dismantled, but I am assuming so."

The merchants were checking their horses and preparing to go off.

The adventurers were all a little in awe of the four women who were checking their gear and their beasts. Fern just relaxed next to Void, but Sol jumped back into Jayda's shadow. Jayda walked over to Onyx and checked his hooves and shoes. Kree, in her smaller form, landed next to Fern and just waited, Soot also landed and waited while Bruh returned to Frey's shadow.

"Did the shoes survive?" Astra asked, so far they had seen no reason to use the skills of their beasts.

"Yep, no cracks or stress," Jayda said as she released the last hoof and gave Onyx a comforting pat.

The leader of the merchants walked over, "We are ready to go when you are."

Frey hung her shield on her saddle and mounted up.

"Kree, Soot, can you scout for us?" Jayda asked and both monsters made sounds of agreement as they jumped into the air. "Void, Fern, can you stay either side of the line, keep an eye out for monsters please."

Both wolves stood with a stretch and got ready to move.

"Two front, two back, one each side?" Tomas asked as he had an idea as to how Jayda preferred to set up her columns.

Jayda nodded, "Tomas and Marline, one each side please, do you want to go up front or watch the rear?" she asked Astra and Mia.

"We'll take the rear." Astra told her as she mounted up, Mia did the same once they were both mounted they moved to the end of the column.

Jayda mounted up and she and Frey moved to the front. "Caravan HO!" Jayda ordered and as a group they started to move.

Jayda's prediction wasn't wrong, four hours later they were walking up to the town's walls, when they were close enough Soot and Kree jumped into their respective shadow. The guards were shocked to see the big War Horses.

Jayda pulled out her adventurer card to show it to the guard.

"Dominic let us through," the merchant called, there was urgency to his voice, so the guard let them in with little resistance. "Close and lock the gate, warn the garrison that monsters are moving." The merchant continued. "Go warn the guild." He added to Jayda and Jayda nodded, he would explain to the guards what had happened, the guild needed to know as well and that was her job.

Jayda rode up to the guild with Frey, she dismounted and raced into the guild with Frey close on her heels. Jayda cut in and put her card down on the bench before the receptionist, "need the Guild Master." She said, the receptionist took one look at her card, noticed she was S-ranked and bolted to get the guild master. She turned to the person she had cut off, "Sorry, it's an emergency?" she told the young person beside her.

"You're S-ranked!" the young man said gently in surprise.

Jayda nodded as she scooped her card up, "although manners mean you should not have looked without permission."

The young man winced. "Sorry," he told her, and she clapped him on the back.

"It's okay, at least you didn't yell out my rank." She told him as the receptionist ran back.

"This way please. Jacob I'll be right back," she told the young man who nodded.

Jayda and Frey followed the receptionist through to the Guild Master's room. They let Jayda and Frey in before returning to the front. The guild master of this branch was a red headed woman who looked deadly standing still, a patch covered her left eye and scars were visible to show she had probably lost her sight due to a monster.

She studied the two women for a moment, "Are Mia and Astra dealing with a problem?" she asked seriously, this was a satellite town, there was no lord here to consult so the town was governed by a civil official appointed by the lord, the guild masters, and the leader of the garrison.

"No, they are here but they are doing follow up." Jayda answered.

Her frown deepened, "I'm Hana, guild master here. Do I need to get the governing body here?"

"Probably for the best," Frey stated.

Hana nodded and touched a crystal which would call the others.

"While we're waiting," Jayda sat on the floor rolled her neck and closed her eyes, she didn't often use the map function like this, not since she had become a competent fighter, but she could use it to see what the monsters are doing, although she would only see them as points of light on the map. "What are your normal monster species around here?" she asked.

"Goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres and occasionally a cyclops as well as normal forest monsters." Hana answered assuming Jayda was using magic to look around.

"A nest?" Frey asked.

Hana shrugged, "the forest isn't overly dangerous if you don't go deep without preparation, so we have a rather good idea of what is in it, so no blank spots in the guild map. We are quite sure there is a dragon vein somewhere in the forest which is why we can never destroy an infestation."

"So, no Daemon Vipers?" Astra asked as she, Mia, Tomas, and Marline had been led in with the merchant from the caravan.

Hana frowned and went to the ledger to double check, "I don't think so, not really the right environment for them here, we get bitterly cold winters." She opened the ledger and quickly flicked through the pages.

The others sat and watched as Hana continued to flick through the ledger. The merchant went to Hana's stash and poured himself a small stiff drink.

Hana noticed the act and her frown deepened, "Are you okay Duncan?"

Duncan shook his head as he knocked back the liquor and swallowed it, his hands shook a little, it was easy to just focus on getting to town after the attack, now he was here, behind safe walls the shock of what had happened today set in.

"Jayda, shock tea," Mia said as she stood and went to Jayda and held out her hand. Jayda handed her a jar from her inventory. Mia moved to a tea station and started to make tea, for everyone else she just made a normal calming herbal tea but for Duncan, he got shock tea to help him deal with his shock from nearly dying.

A man walked in followed by an older woman, the door was shut and sealed with magic.

Mia handed the newcomers cups of tea, put a cup down for Jayda before she returned to her seat.

"Michael, Ester, let me introduce you to Astra, Mia, Frey and Jayda, members of the S-ranked party War Horses." She focused on Tomas and Marline and gave them a deadpan look, "Tomas and Marline, despite their looks they are actually the Margrave couple from Morriston, but they are acting as adventurers so no need to treat them as nobles."

Tomas grinned, he had met Hana a few times back when she was active as an adventurer, a deadly assassin type adventurer with a good reputation.

"Why are we here?" Ester asked as she sat.

"I am assuming something to do with Daemon Vipers." Hana remarked as why would Astra mention them.

"Not Daemon vipers," Duncan stated with a shiver although the tea was helping to calm him down.

Jayda opened her eyes, "Rainbow Vipers, SS ranked." She closed her eyes again and continued to watch her map, but the monsters weren't making any weird moves yet.

Hana's stomach dropped; they would have to evacuate the town.

"They're dead." Tomas told her quickly.

Relief flooded her system before she realised what he had said, "They are? More than one?"

"Four, they took care of it," Duncan explained as he gestured to the S ranks. "Didn't see Jayda's fight though, her kill was heading here, and she went after it."

"Problem is the Vipers were hunting, chasing their food, it caused the monsters to move." Marline added, she was assuming Jayda was checking to make sure the monsters weren't making any weird moves, that four Rainbow Vipers was the lot of them.

"Okay, tell us the whole story," Hana stated.

"Four hours from here we were attacked by hobgoblins," Duncan began.

"Not uncommon," Ester remarked.

"How many Jayda?" Astra asked.

"Seventy-three, eighteen are higher tiered variants." Jayda answered.

Ester went pale, that was essentially a whole settlement on the move.

"Just as we resigned ourselves to death they joined the fight, then goblins joined the fray." Duncan stated.

"While we were killing we noticed that some monsters were skirting the fighting and fleeing into the forest behind us." Astra stated. "Jayda used magic to wipe out the goblins choosing to fight, giving us time, that's when she noticed forest wolves approaching, fleeing."

"And trees shaking in the distance, so Jayda sent her eagle monster up, Kree couldn't get a good look, just knew it was a big daemon viper, eventually Kree saw the rainbow pattern and told Jayda." Frey added.

"I've never seen one before, I've fought similar variants, Silver Viper and Death Viper." Jayda stated, she had also fought a twin headed crowned viper, but they didn't need to know she had soloed a SSS monster.

"Silver Vipers, they shoot magic right and Death... they camouflage?" Hana asked shocked as both were S rank and Jayda nodded.

"She was a Forest Dweller before becoming an Adventurer." Astra explained, "She's fought a lot of monsters either alone or with her parents or teachers."

Jayda nodded, "But not a Rainbow Viper, however my mother and teachers had me memorise the known monster evolution trees, their known variants and how to fight them."

"Wow that's a lot of knowledge to accumulate," Marline remarked.

Jayda nodded, "My mother is a battle junky."

Astra, Frey and Mia snorted in amusement; having met Rhianna they knew that was true.

"So, we prepared to take them on, Jayda cast magic to protect people, then one broke off heading for here. Jayda went after it while we took care of one each." Mia finished.

"But SS rank..." Hana started to say.

"Apparently, if you can solo an S ranked dungeon like these freaks, you can handle a single SS ranked monster." Tomas drawled.

"And after watching them do it, they didn't seem to even struggle." Marline added.

"Yeah well, it was only one head," Frey stated with a shrug, after fighting Hydra, a single headed serpent was easy.

"Yep, Five Headed Hydra, although lower in rank, are harder to fight, got to keep your eyes on all five heads as you are looking for the main head to kill." Mia added. "Jayda insisted we solo them back when we were doing our investigation of a nest. For the practise."

"Delicious though," Tomas added, Marline, Astra, Frey, Mia, and Jayda nodded.

"What are the monsters doing?" Marline asked Jayda.

"Slowing making their way back to their previous territories." Jayda explained. "But they will be agitated and out of sorts for a while so, I would suggest that only people D or above to go near the forest for about a week, no, make it two."

Hana nodded, made sense. "How long are you staying?" ideally she would like them to investigate the source of the Rainbow serpents.

"Four days," Jayda stated, "Mia will hold her scout lesson while investigating the monster situation. I will track the Rainbow Vipers path figure out where they came from."

Mia nodded, "Two days," she surmised, and Jayda nodded.

"While you do that Astra and I can hold our standing classes and on the third day Jayda can do her magic classes, fourth day we prepare and then fifth day we are off." Frey stated and Astra nodded.

"Thanks," Hana said, she was glad they were sticking around, and that Jayda seemed to want to know the source of the Rainbow Vipers. "I will inform Matt; he will decide the reward."

Jayda checked where the sun was, there was a few hours until sundown. She got up and stretched. "I'm off." She walked over to Frey and gave her a quick kiss before she left the room. She would start her investigation immediately.

~*~*~*~

Jayda returned to the town midday two days after leaving, the gate was closed, and guards were on the wall. She paused before the closed gate and glanced up, a few moments later the gate opened. Jayda reached for her card to present it as she walked in. "You're Jayda, the guild master said to look out for you."

"Thanks," Jayda said as she watched them shut the gate. "Is Mia and her scout class back yet?"

"They aren't due back until this evening." The guard answered and Jayda nodded. She turned and went to the guild. The receptionist noticed her and gestured for her to go straight out the back.

Jayda nodded and just went in the direction of the guild master's office, it was empty, but she was sure it wouldn't be for long. She had cheated to get back, using shadow step to return to a closer point but she had found the source of the Rainbow Vipers and what she had found was a broken box full of crushed eggshells in the storage room of a hobgoblin settlement. Quickly she collected it all and returned to investigate it in a brightly lit room. Sitting before the coffee table she pulled out the broken box to put it back together, there were traces of magic on the wood. "Cleanse." She chanted and all the blood and grime on the box vanished. Slowly she made piles of eggshells, matching the different magic signatures, by the time she finished there were thirty-seven piles, forty-one if you included the four larger and different coloured eggs.

Hana had come in while Jayda worked and just watched, leant against her desk as Jayda carefully organised the eggshells. Once the box was empty Jayda carefully started to put it back together using fixture magic to hold it together but not to repair the box. Marline, Tomas, Astra, and Frey came in shortly after Jayda started to work on the box. No one talked, not willing to break Jayda's iron focus, she obviously found this during her investigation and considered it important.

"Hey, aren't those ancient runes?" Marline asked when Jayda finally finished.

"They are," Jayda remarked as she studied the box and the formations.

"Do you know what they mean?" Astra asked.

"Ancient runes, only Sage or Sage Apprentices can read and understand them." Hana remarked.

"Lucky we got one of them then," Astra replied as she pointed to Jayda.

"What did you learn?" Frey asked.

"Followed the trail they left, found this, at, the, source." Jayda tapered off, she made the box vanish and was on her feet in an instant. "I need to dismantle one." She turned and left going straight to the large dismantling room.

"Hey, this is my," a cranky old man started to say but stopped when Jayda pulled out her Rainbow serpent.

"Sorry David," Hana apologised as the people watching Jayda had followed her.

Jayda expertly started to dismantle the serpent, skin, flesh, organs all removed and then stored before she stripped the bones and stored them as well. The venom sack was put in a bowl to be looked at later which she did once all the other parts were stored away in her inventory. Carefully Jayda weighed the venom sac in her hand, it was a lot smaller than it should be for a creature of that size. She then turned her attention to the magic stone on the table and knelt to be at eye level so that she could study the stone.

"What has you in a tizzy?" Frey asked.

"Give me your vipers, all of them." Jayda demanded.

Frey dumped hers out, again Jayda dismantled the monster and repeated putting the venom sack in a bowl and the magic stone went next to it.

"She's good," David remarked as Astra dumped her viper on the floor and again Jayda got to work, as quickly as she was working she never made a mistake, David had never seen someone dismantle a monster so quickly or efficiently. There were no wasted motions, no slipped cuts, the large, long knife in her hand moved perfectly doing whatever task Jayda needed it to.

Mia walked into the dismantling room. "We're back, the monsters are reasserting their territories, Jayda's right, in a week or two the forest will be back to normal." Mia glanced to Jayda, "How long as she been like that?" she asked.

"Few hours, she will want your serpent when she is done with mine." Astra added.

Mia nodded and the moment Jayda was done with Astra's she dumped hers and Jayda was instantly back to work. When all four venom sacks and magic stones were on the table and all the materials were safely stored away, she spent a few moments to compare the size of the venom sacks, before she knelt to focus on the stones.

Everyone walked over and just watched as Jayda studied the stones.

"Figured it out yet?" Hana asked.

"They're wrong." Jayda said her focus not leaving the stones.

Hana huffed but before she could step in to get a better answer Frey stopped her.

"Jayda, in terms we can understand," Frey asked, Jayda had a wealth of knowledge gained from both experience and education, she knew things that they simply weren't allowed to know.

Jayda blinked, "Right," she said as she stood. "Don't you think the venom sacks are a little small?"

The watchers turned their attention to the venom sacks, "They are a little on the small side." Mia stated, having seen venom sacks from Hydras she knew that the ones in the bowls weren't the right size.

"And they never used their venom," Frey added, they had all prepared for acid venom and hadn't gotten sprayed once.

"Venom takes a lot to produce, both magic and food," Jayda explained. "Now, look at the stones, what's wrong with them?"

Everyone stepped closer to get a closer look at the stones.

"They're magic stones," Hana said after close study, Jayda glanced to the others, but they were just as clueless.

"Right, it isn't immediately obvious." Jayda pulled out magic stones, "A, S, S, SS." She said as she pointed to each stone. "Can you see it now?"

Again, everyone started to closely look at the stones, comparing them, the fact Jayda could just pull out a SS stone confirmed her strength. Hana shook her head and stood back she couldn't tell the difference, Marline and Tomas also couldn't tell the difference.

"The magic, it's wrong." Astra said, it was very faint but the cores from the vipers, felt wrong.

"It's not... strong, it's leaking," Frey added.

"It's not concentrated and look the colour, it isn't right." Mia finished and Jayda nodded.

Jayda picked up a Viper stone, "It's artificial growth, if the monster had grown naturally the venom sack would be three times bigger than it was, it would have used it's venom liberally," she put the stone down and pulled the box back out, she pointed to a magical formular carved into the box. "This condenses the magic in the air and directs it into the box to be absorbed by the cores in the eggs."

"So, there should have been more?" Hana asked after all there were a lot of eggs in that box.

Jayda shook her head, "What do you know of how monsters breed?"

"Monsters in dungeons and high magic areas spawn, others reproduce naturally." Hana remarked.

Jayda nodded, "Snakes, they form a ball, multiple snakes, multiple males and females." She explained. "Multiple males can impregnate female snakes. With Monster snakes the strongest genes survive, they attack those who don't share the same father and eat their weaker siblings." Jayda made a dozen small magic stones appear, these were tiny, not much bigger than a child's tooth, from rat monsters.

"I'll show you what happened. These are cores from muskrats," Jayda formed a formation over the top of the cores, they rose into the air, and they watched as the cores started to pulse, they were being loaded with magical power. They started to pulse faster, getting to the point where they were almost beyond that of their capacity. "So, the spell carved into the box overloaded the magic stones inside the snakes while they were in the egg like this. They then ate each other fusing the stones together." She focused, the formation became more complicated, and the cores started to fuse together, creating a larger stone. "The only problem with that is the four variant eggs mixed in with the normal eggs." Jayda explained, "Stones from the same monsters fuse easier and are more stable, like these ones, stones from different monsters even from the same tree don't fuse as well, that is the problem with those stones." She put the new magic core down, it was about the size of a horned rabbit's core and had the same amount of magic power contained within.

"How long ago did they hatch?" Tomas asked.

"The day before we encountered them," Jayda answered.

"So, someone has figured out how to artificially strengthen monsters." Hana remarked.

Jayda shook her head, "They wouldn't have lived more than a few days, those unstable magic cores in the monsters will kill them." Jayda reached over to the box, "the theory and magical formulars they used for this box, is flawed, dangerously even."

"How so?" Tomas asked, Jayda's fused stone seemed completely normal even though she had super charged the smaller stones she had used to make it.

"They are missing sections in the formular to create a complete magic core. Those cores can't absorb magic like normal monsters, the only way it can replenish its magic is to eat cores of other monsters, but the true core of the monster isn't complete it can't fuse the cores or power contained within them properly. The more cores it eats the more unstable its core becomes." Jayda explained.

"So, your core?" Hana asked.

"Is done correctly, completely formed and good to be used, while those viper cores," Jayda shook her head, "Can't be used, they are too dangerous to use because the core itself is unstable, even now, it is leaking mana."

"What's missing?" Hana asked.

"I can't tell you," Jayda answered, "artificially strengthening monsters is a taboo, I know about it because it is a part of my lessons, but it falls into the category of Sage's forbidden knowledge, I can know it, use it within reason, however I cannot go further unless they too are Sage ranked."

"So, if it is forbidden, how did the maker get that formular?" Astra asked.

Jayda picked the box back up and studied it again. "It looks like they got this part from a magical condenser, probably from a short-range transfer device. This from a ruin, this from a magical item and this section doesn't make sense. I see, four, no five different writing styles, disjointed syntax. Looks like they took sections from other magics and jammed them together to make a formation which kind of works."

"So, if you were to try to do what they did?" Tomas asked.

"Firstly, I wouldn't," Jayda said firmly.

"Hypothetically?" Marline asked.

"I wouldn't've created an incomplete monster, the monster I would've created, would be extremely dangerous. Something only dragons could fight." Jayda told them. "Not that I would be stupid enough to do that because the theory is you can create calamity class monsters using this method. Hence why it is forbidden."

"But you just made an artificial core," Tomas remarked.

"Creating a new core using cores already removed from their source is not the same as creating a living monster," Jayda explained. "Sage's knowledge is really dangerous, hence why there are so few of them." She paused, "That and the prerequisites to get Sage or Sage's Apprentice are ridiculous."

"So, where did the box come from?" Frey asked, it was an obvious question.

Jayda pulled out the last thing she had found, string had wrapped the box and on it the still intact tax seals. Hana frowned as she looked at the seals, the colours of the wax indicated incoming and exporting tariffs. This box had come from the Empire and had been imported to Ashford via Doraton. Judging by the extra stampings it had only entered Ashford two months ago.

"Imported from the Empire via Doraton two months ago." Hana stated alarmed, "Could there be more?"

Jayda shook her head, "Just transporting one is dangerous, there is no delay function so that box could have burst open at any time." She explained. "From what I could tell, it was carried to the settlement by monsters, there were bodies around it and other looted supplies."

Hana nodded, "A caravan was attacked a little over a month ago, no survivors. It is why we've encouraged more guards to guard caravans."

"So, it didn't get to where it was meant to." Jayda remarked and the others realised what she had; this box was not meant to be here.

"And it was chance that we decided to come this way," Astra added, after all the only reason they had come this way was because they hadn't been this way before so on a spontaneous decision she had taken the other fork.

Hana considered them for the moment then realised they were probably on their way to the capital for the kingdom conference and their town was not on the shortest route to the capital from Morriston.

"We are lucky to be alive," Hana stated, daunted by the fact that this had happened.

"Jayda, scoop it all up, it is evidence that we need to show the king." Tomas told her and Jayda made the box, string, venom sacks and malformed magic stones vanish into her inventory along with the other magic stones.

"David... this is a national secret," Hana told him, guild executives were bound by contract to protect secrets. A dismantler was not.

"I swear to never talk about what I heard here today unless I am with those in this room or am given permission by the guild master." He pulled out a flask and drank down a gulp sealing his oath, he glowed for a moment sealing his contract.

"We will report it to the king," Jayda told Hana who nodded, she would send word forward but without seeing the evidence it meant little. Jayda had tried to speak in terms she could understand and for the most part she did understand it, however she doubted she would be able to correctly explain it to another. "We'll speed up our timeline, I'll teach, you guys' shop, we'll leave day after tomorrow." Jayda stated and the others nodded in agreement. The sooner they left the better.

~*~*~*~

Jayda's hood was up, and a muffler was wrapped around her face to hide it, she was riding a normal horse much to Onyx's disgust, but they were trying to slip quietly into the city and that meant blending in. Astra and Frey were riding in the back of a merchant wagon, Mia was on the wagon as well. Tomas had organised this and they were slipping in with the Merchants, they had camped last night and left early to arrive mid-morning.

They went through the procedures and eventually left the Merchant in front of the Merchant guild with his horses, a member of Tomas's staff took his and Marline's horses, they then walked off to check in at the guild.

Mia went up to the counter to check in leaving the others standing together, once Mia was done checking them in she returned to them and they left, she handed a letter to Jayda, and they moved towards Tomas's house. As they walked Jayda read the letter.

"Dinner at our house," Jayda told Tomas who nodded, they broke off, Tomas and Marline going to their estate, the War Horses heading to their own.

They walked up to the front gate, rearing War Horses sat above the gate like their property in Morriston. "Move..." the gate's guard started to say however he noticed two Barbarians. "Sorry," he said as he opened the gate.

Jayda pulled the muffler down so that he could see her face. "Have you had problems?"

The guard nodded, "A lot of people coming to see if they can get a look at the S-ranks." He ushered them in then shut and locked the gate.

They walked forward and up to the house. The front door opened, and a prim middle-aged woman greeted them. "Please come in," she greeted. "I am Katie the butler."

"Tomas said we were getting someone interesting," Astra stated with a smile as they all stepped into the entrance hall.

Katie shut the door, "Please follow me and we will settle your beasts first." She offered and got more smiles.

"Yes please, they have been cooped up for a week they want out." Frey explained as Katie led them on the most direct path out the back. There was a walled garden however pass that there was a field which had been prepared for the monsters to roam in.

The ostler, a young man barely out of his teens was finishing laying out food and bedding. "Hi, I'm Fin, your ostler."

"Nice to meet you, our beasts might ignore you for a little while but as long as you feed them and don't startle them, they won't hurt you." Jayda told him as she pulled down her hood and took off her muffler all together.

Katie stood tall and could guess that the other staff had all made their way to vantage spots to see the monsters their bosses had tamed.

"Horses last they need a good grooming." Astra suggested and got nods.

"Soot," Mia called, and the griffon hopped out of her shadow and opened her wings to give them a flap then walked off to investigate the area.

"Bruh," Frey called, and the Silver Gorilla rose out of her shadow, he huffed and ran off as he saw a large hammock set up between broad trees, perfect for him to lounge in, there was also food near-by and bedding.

"Void," Astra called, and the Dire Wolf stepped out of her shadow and with a wag of his tail he greeted Astra. "Go on have fun," she told him after giving him a pat and he walked off sniffing the ground.

"Fern," Jayda called, and the Fenrir raced out her shadow and pounced on Void, they play fought for a few moments before they started to play chase. "Sol," she said, and the cat rose up out of her shadow, he stretched and yawned showing off his teeth before he walked off and not long after was making himself comfortable on the roof of the shed where they could sleep if they wanted to. "Kree," Jayda called, and the eagle jumped out of her shadow and swooped to land on the perch made for her to rest on, there was also a nest for her to curl up in if she wanted to, she started to preen her feathers.

"So many," Fin remarked in shock however he was also ecstatic to be able to tend to them.

"Now for our parties name's sake," Mia said, "Honey," she rose out of Mia's shadow and remained just behind her waiting.

"Snow," Frey said, and Snow popped up out of her shadow and butted her nose against Frey's back, Frey made a carrot appear and offered it to her.

"Cobalt," Astra called, and he appeared and used his head to hug her, Astra scratched his neck.

"Onyx," Jayda called and a moment later she rushed into the air as Onyx rose up beneath her, Jayda shifted in the saddle to prevent getting hurt.

Astra chuckled, "He really didn't like you riding a different horse."

Jayda leant forward and hugged his neck. "Once this is over with, I will never have to obscure myself again so I will never ride another horse. Promise." She told him before she dismounted.

Fin stared with a smile on his face. "So many magnificent monsters." He said and he wasn't even saying it just for flattery.

They started to remove their mounts saddles and bridles; Fin was there to gather the tack on a waiting cart. "Do you want me to give all this a clean?" he asked, glad for a moment that the tack had name plates on them, even the saddle blankets so there wouldn't be mistakes.

"Yeah, they haven't had a clean since we left Morriston." Frey said as she put the bridle down on top of Snow's saddle.

Fin nodded, "I'll bring meat out once I store the saddles." He explained when Mia finally added the last of her tack.

"Thanks, but I have meat for them, treats for good work." Jayda explained and he nodded and walked off with the cart to the tack shed.

"Shower," Jayda chanted as she directed her hand, water gently sprayed from her hand to Onyx stood still as Jayda wet him down, the others were using similar spells to wet their beasts. Half an hour later Onyx was clean and off to explore a feed bin.

Jayda walked over to Fern, "Cleanse," she cast, if she washed him a moment later, he would be rolling in mud, this way he wouldn't. she brought out a special brush and gave him a good brush. Once he was clean and groomed, she gave him an Orc knight to feast on, she would cast cleanse on him again later. Sol hopped down from the roof, like Fern she didn't try to bathe Sol, she just cast cleanse on him and then started to brush him. Once she was done, he got a Bloody Deer for his treat, he butted his head against her before he sat down to eat. Kree hopped over; she didn't bother to clean her simply because Kree bathed every chance she got. Jayda gave her an Orc Mage which still had all its organs, since there was a pond, she knew she would get clean once she was done.

The others had also settled their beasts in and just before they left, they cast cleanse on themselves. "Thank you for waiting." Mia told her.

"No need, they are as much your partners as you are to each other, they work when you need them to so of course they should get consideration." Katie told them.

"Fern, Void, and Sol will have to be introduced to the staff later, they like to roam the entire grounds." Jayda added.

Katie nodded, "I will organise the staff for an introduction for mid-afternoon, give them a chance to relax and digest their food." Katie turned and started to guide the four women around the property. She started with the outside, normally nobles wouldn't care about the outside, except for the formal gardens but her bosses weren't nobles, she didn't know how they would use the property however she had guesses as they had been given lists of things to organise.

"Here is the outdoor training ground," Katie explained, some of the guards were using it to practise. Jayda focused on them, so Katie stopped.

"His shield is the wrong size," Frey remarked, and Jayda nodded.

"And the other one is making unnecessary movements," Astra stated and again Jayda nodded.

"We'll fix that," Jayda stated, and the other two women nodded. Jayda turned to Katie to indicate they were good to move on.

Katie moved them on showed them the kitchen gardens and the special outdoor kitchen, which was like the one Jayda had made, it would allow them to do some of the Barbarian style dishes that they liked to eat.

"Nice, we are having guests tonight, so... has the cook decided on dinner?" Jayda asked.

"I haven't," a firm female voice said, they turned to see the woman, although not as big as Astra or Frey the woman clearly had barbarian blood in her and even wore her clan mark around her neck.

"Jess?" Astra asked as the woman looked familiar, but the woman shook her head.

"Nah, Jess is my mother, my pa is a Dwarf, I'm Tofa from Clan Riki." She walked forward and greeted Astra and Frey and was a little surprised when Jayda greeted her the same way.

"I'm an Ice Wolf." Jayda explained.

Tofa turned to Mia who shook her head, "I'm not clan."

"Yet," Astra told her firmly.

"How many?" Tofa asked.

"Fifteen maybe." Jayda stated since she expected Tomas, Marline, Matt, and Leeanne to come as well as the king and queen and probably a few others.

Tofa nodded, she might have to get more produce from the gardens, but she had sufficient.

"Hey... how many of those summer reindeer do you have?" Frey asked.

"Give," Tofa told Jayda firmly, her mouth already watering. Katie went to protest but Jayda slightly shook her head, telling her not to.

Jayda pulled out a processed Great Horn Reindeer and popped it on the table in the outdoor kitchen. Tofa walked over and checked the flesh, it had a lot of fat, but the best method would take an entire day to cook.

"Frost Boar piglet?" Jayda asked.

"Put this away, although fatty it will take too long to cook properly, show me that boar piglet." Tofa told Jayda and Jayda made the reindeer vanish and the piglet appear. It was the size of an adult domestic pig, however considering a small adult frost boar was ten times bigger it was still small. "You didn't skin it," Tofa stated pleased.

"I also have great horn goat and charger sheep," Jayda offered.

"Maybe later, you prepared this for roasting," Tofa said as she noticed the bristles had been removed, the skin was still present meaning crunchy eatable skin. She looked at the belly flap and saw a good amount of fat.

"Yeah, I didn't splay it as it could be spitted." Jayda answered.

"Yes... although I am going to splay it, my father's people, have a way of baking whole animals that is delicious." Tofa explained, "OI! Bring a shield cloth and get the fire pit going!" she called into her kitchen, a few moments later two people ran out, one was young woman, the other a young man, probably both apprentices. The woman flicked a cloth over the piglet while the man started to build a fire. "We are making Barbarian food tonight."

Her two apprentices nodded.

Tofa turned to the five women, "Get out of my kitchen," she ordered and since no one took offence Katie didn't tell her off. They left the outdoor kitchen.

"Barbarians have an iron rule," Jayda told Katie, "Don't piss off the cook."

Katie nodded in understanding and walked them to the workshop. Jayda had a good look around checking the forge and smelting forge as well as the coal bins, but everything was ready to be used immediately.

"Nice," Jayda said and followed Katie out, Katie then spent the next half an hour guiding them around the house.

"We were given precise instructions about how to design the rooms from Anthony. Do they meet your standards?" Katie asked and everyone nodded.

"I have decorations to put up though, oh and a security system, also... maybe a gate between our property and Tomas's." Jayda stated.

Katie nodded, Anthony had already warned her that her bosses were weird and to just nod eventually it will all make sense.

"Nothing outrageous," Astra told Jayda as she pointed, "I'm going to bathe and change." She stated and Mia followed her.

Jayda waited until they were gone then brought out a Silver Wyvern skull and put it in the void next to the stairs.

Frey snorted in amusement and watched as Jayda shifted the skull a little for a better view, Jayda had used lightening magic on it and somehow a pattern had been etched into the bone leaving a pretty pattern. This skull was quite large as a Silver Wyvern was only an evolution away from becoming a dragon. Once that was done, she crawled up Frey's body, sitting on her shoulders she pointed to a blank wall, Frey walked her over and took a step to the right. "Perfect," Jayda moved to stand on her shoulders. She attached a hanging bracket and then pulled out the head of a Variant Great Horn Elk, it was the skull with the red crystalline antlers attached the horns took up a lot of space and even went into the stairwell a little. Jayda attached it to the wall and then used fixture magic to prevent Astra removing it.

"Turn around," Jayda said, and Frey carefully turned around and walked to the next wall, Jayda mounted a Frost Cave Lion hide on the wall, again she used fixture magic to hold it in place.

Jayda then hopped down and cast fixture magic on the skull and turned to Katie, she noticed the slight twitch to Katie's left eye even as it was completely focused on a Wyvern skull.

"You okay?" Frey asked.

Jayda skipped into a sitting room, Katie turned and woodenly followed her although she nearly tripped when she spotted a giant Sapphire water bear pelt draped over a couch that wasn't there before, a Dungeon stalker skull went onto a mantle.

Frey rumbled, NO, no dragon scales. She told Jayda firmly, she had figured out that Jayda's idea of glitter was different to her father's, her father liked to collect shiny metals and stones, Jayda liked unique monster materials, she was a pack rat for rare and valuable materials. Had they not watched her dismantle a Panic deer she was sure a Jayda would have hung it on the walls here.

Jayda walked into the dining room and found a blank wall which she hung a Phantom deer head, antlers, and skin, it's golden hide glinted and it's silver antlers looked sharp. Katie sat in a chair and stared, Panic deer, were almost impossible to kill but Jayda had managed it, she had seen the trophy being hung in the palace. Phantom deer were legendary monsters which you only ever saw a glimpse of, if you were lucky, before it vanished and again, Jayda had managed to kill one.

"Hey, please tell me you don't have another Panic Deer?" Frey asked.

"Not yet, but I have..." Jayda walked over and pulled out an Elder Deer.

Frey's eyes went wide, Elder deer like Phantom Deer were considered legendary, mainly because they were only found near or around sacred places. "That one will be a step too far for Astra."

Jayda glanced around, "Besides, putting it in here will distract from the phantom deer." She walked off to another room to decorate. Frey followed her to watch as she put things around the house. She didn't go too over the top, nor did she crowd the decorations, she seemed to only put one or two pieces per room to not pull away attention from the pieces themselves. The only room she had put more in was the main hallway with three items.

Once Jayda was done with downstairs, she went up however she didn't do anything other than mount a single hide on longest wall. Frey grinned, it was a Mithril Lizard skin, which she had gotten recently during one of their investigations.

Frey wrapped her arms around Jayda, "come on, lets bathe." She scooped Jayda up and carried her to their room. She kicked the door shut and Jayda cast barrier on the door to keep Astra out. Ten minutes later when they were finally relaxing in the tub, "JAYDA!" Astra's voice thundered through the house.

~*~*~

Jayda grinned at Astra who was still fuming about the decorations, Mia had managed to stop her raging by pointing out that only the Silver Wyvern head was SS ranked, everything else was lower ranked and simply rare to kill or pretty to look at.

Astra had to admit that Jayda hadn't gone overboard, and she had checked every room, looking for a Dragon scale but Frey had obviously managed to stop that. They were dressed casually and sitting in their informal sitting room, Jayda was sitting on a leather mat and assembling recognition bracelets for the security system she was going to install tomorrow. The others were sitting around reading or doing maintenance on weapons.

This room's decoration was Long Horn Bull head which had been carved and took up much of the wall which wasn't covered with shelves.

Katie walked in followed by Matt and Leeanne. "The first of your guests are here, Guild Master Matt Freeman and Leeanne Mason." She declared and left them to it. The staff had all changed into formal uniforms which they were only required to wear when there were visitors.

Matt sat with a sigh Leeanne however was staring at the skull. "Seriously, a Long Horn?"

Jayda nodded, "Found it in a dungeon."

"Which one?" Matt asked.

"First field floor in Sagórr Sterkr." Astra answered, "She has the hide as well, that one had a long coat."

Matt grinned, "And the Wyvern skull in the hallway?"

"I killed it, my mum watched me hunt it alone as a way of proving I no longer needed supervision when I was out. I wasn't allowed to get hurt, if I did, I wouldn't be considered prepared enough to solo." Jayda explained.

"And the pattern on the skull?" Matt asked, it looked impressive.

"I killed it with lightening magic, after we processed it, mum was like, ruined; your magic was too strong, dad was like, but it looks pretty, I agreed with dad." Jayda explained.

"Your mother has strict standards," Leeanne stated when she finally sat and Jayda nodded, after all she had to solo a wyvern, not an easy beast to fight.

"As much of a battle junky mum is, she always respected her kill, always tried to find a way to use it and was never happy when she damaged good materials." Jayda explained and the others nodded. Jayda could tell Matt wanted to talk about what had happened however he knew it was best to tell the story once to all those who needed to hear it and it wasn't their fault, he had come super early. Mia handed the two tea to relax into.

Jayda tossed a bracelet to Leeanne and went back to keep making more.

Leeanne looked at it then to Matt. "It is a security bracelet; it will let you through the barrier Jayda will install." He explained as he pointed to the one around his wrist.

Leeanne tied it on, "Now pass your magic through it and it will lock to you." Matt added and Leeanne did as he told.

"When she installs it the first time you come it will register your magic to the barrier which will allow you in here and in Morriston." Astra added.

"Anyone not wearing a bracelet needs to be escorted or be in specific spaces to not set off the system." Frey finished.

"Wow, that's an intricate spell," Leeanne remarked.

"And sadly, she makes it look easy," Mia remarked dryly and got chuckles.

Katie walked in, there was some stiffness in her smile, "Merchant Guild Master Curtis Brown, Margraves Tomas and Marline Morris, Prime Minster Leon Dawn Star, Duke Craig Ashton and their royal highnesses, Arnold and Kathryn of Ashford."

"No need to stand," Arnold called forward as the others walked in, Curtis quickly sat next to Matt.

Katie walked over to Jayda and leant down, "we are not prepared for royalty."

Jayda smiled, "it's fine and expect them to drop by whenever."

Katie nodded, stood, and went to leave. "Katie," Arnold stopped her.

"Yes, your highness," Katie said.

"I will come here for secret reasons and to relax, nothing is official so no need for formality." Arnold told her and she nodded.

"Of course, your highness, I will warn the staff." Katie said before she left, they were nowhere near ready for dinner however she guessed they had business to discuss before eating and then drinking.

Jayda put away what she was doing and stood, the others did the same. "This way please." She told their guests, and she led them from the room and back into the hallway.

"Hey Jayda, that is a pretty skull," Arnold remarked as he pointed to the large wyvern head.

"Thank you, I killed it myself," Jayda said with a smile.

"How close was it to evolving?" Marline asked, a wyvern skull that big, it had to be close to evolving.

"One level," Jayda answered as she walked them down to a large study. A large sand table was setup on the far side of the room and to a table set against a wall, Jayda put the Rainbow Viper cores and venom sacks on the table.

Tomas started to tell the story about how they had come upon a merchant caravan being attacked by hobgoblins, then goblins and how the monsters were going around them, fleeing.

Astra took over and explained their role once Tomas and Marline were safely behind the barriers Jayda had made, how one had split for the nearby town which Jayda had gone after and how they had each taken one themselves and then once the monsters were taken care of, they had done a quick clean and made haste to return to town.

"While Astra and I taught our lessons, Jayda traced back the path of the Vipers, to find their source and Mia did a practical scout lesson while checking to make sure the monsters were returning to normal." Frey added.

"Okay, now for the bones of the matter," Arnold stated, and Jayda nodded.

"I traced the source to this," Jayda pulled the box out and sat it on the table as well as the piles of eggshells she had found around it.

Kathryn pushed her husband aside to get a closer look at the box, since she held the title Master Enchanter Jayda just let her study the box. "Ancient runes, may I?" she asked Jayda and Jayda nodded. She lifted the box and studied it closely for several moments. "Condenses magic, I think." She turned to Jayda as she was fully aware that she was a Sage.

"Ancient runes can only be understood by Sages and Sage apprentices," Curtis stated.

"I am one of those," Jayda told him. "Her highness is correct, the main purpose was to collect, condense and funnel magic into the magic cores of the monster eggs contained within."

"But it isn't complete," Kathryn stated and then understood the slight feeling of wrongness coming from the magic cores.

"There were four variant eggs amongst the others. They ate the other vipers magic cores to grow their own." Jayda explained.

"Not unusual," Leeanne remarked.

"True, however the cores of the monsters and of the variants were damaged by the formation on the box." Jayda explained and Kathryn jerked away from the cores.

"The cores can't absorb magic they won't explode." Jayda reassured her.

"Can't?" Kathryn asked and Jayda nodded.

"The Rainbow Vipers were incomplete monsters, they would have only lived a couple of days, a week at the most. They couldn't absorb magic from the air so they had to eat cores, the more cores they ate the more unstable their own core became, the core eventually would have shattered, and the monsters died." Jayda explained.

"But not before destroying the town." Curtis remarked then frowned as Jayda, Astra, Frey, Mia, Tomas, and Marline shook their heads.

"That wasn't the boxes intended destination." Astra stated.

"The caravan it was in was attacked and the box taken to a hobgoblin settlement." Mia added as Jayda brought out her last piece of evidence.

Curtis went pale, where was the box meant to get to. Arnold looked at the tax seals, it said nothing of where the box was meant to get to or what was inside, but the seals told them all where and when the box came into Ashford.

"Curtis, can you track the box to the caravan that imported it?" Arnold asked and Curtis nodded, he pulled out a note pad and made quick notes of the size and style of box as well as the tax seals. "Could there be more?"

Jayda shook her head, "Transporting one box, would have been very dangerous, no delaying functions means the box could have broken open at any moment."

"And since the report there have been no other instances." Matt stated.

"Also, I doubt they know their monsters are flawed, when they tested the formation, they probably killed the monster grown before the unstable core killed it. I also think they wouldn't want lots of SS ranked monsters running amok in a country they plan to use to invade others." Jayda added and got nods.

"So, what's for dinner?" Matt asked trying to change the atmosphere.

"Frost Boar piglet," Astra answered.

"Barbarian style," Frey added with a grin.

Matt frowned, "Surprised we're not eating Rainbow Viper." He flinched when he noticed Jayda's disgusted look.

"Don't mind her, she's just pissed that all the materials from the Rainbow Vipers are compromised, they can't be used or eaten, and she hates the fact that perfectly good monsters were wasted," Mia explained.

"Really?" Matt asked.

"Goblins didn't even want to eat it." Mia stated and since goblins would eat anything that shocked everyone.

"So, you are destroying it all?" Arnold asked.

"It's all gone except for the skins, bones and what's on the table. The skins and bones aren't for sale and won't be, someone with a decent appraisal level will be able to tell they were artificially made." Jayda answered.

"We've also kept the incident quiet," Matt told Arnold who nodded.

"It is highly likely the box was meant to come here," Leon surmised, "probably to disrupt the kingdom conference."

Arnold grinned, "by the way, there was a formal letter of protest about the remodelling of Pass Fort from Elysium."

"They were probably going to sneak the army by the fort to cause problems by surprise attacking towns and causing chaos." Matt remarked and got nods.

"We sent a letter back, told them we have been planning on remodelling the fort for years and even have it in the minutes of a kingdom conference so, protest all you like, we have done nothing wrong." Arnold said pleased with what had happened so far.

"Good work on that, the official I sent to assess the rent levy for the low-income area was extremely impressed. Also, the rent was adjusted to one small gold a year although if their situation changes the rent will change in proportion." Leon told her.

"I am looking forward to seeing it." Arnold remarked.

Jayda grinned, "Come," she walked them over to the sand table and put her hands on it. she made a birds eye view of Pass Fort appear.

"Excellent," Arnold stated as he and Leon started to study what she had done.

Curtis frowned; thirty white gold plates was not enough for what Jayda had done here in a single season. "Jayda... this is worth almost twice, no, three times the price you agreed to." He told her firmly at the same time telling her off.

"And?" Jayda asked. "I am having enough issues spending the money we have; besides, I maxed my magic control skill in the process so, I'm happy."

Mia, Frey, and Astra chuckled in amusement.

"Also, she got a good dig at the empire at the same time." Arnold stated and Jayda nodded.

"At the same time, I figured out how to spend some of our wealth and raise the education level of the normal folk." Jayda added.

"Thus, strengthening the base and strengthening the whole." Matt stated.

"It should also help raise the next generation out of poverty, or at least give them a chance." Leon agreed, he had loved the plan Jayda had produced. They wouldn't have to pay for the initial lay out, after ten years the finances would then be taken over by the lord and the kingdom with fixed budgets to prevent embezzlement. Those who had means would have to pay a small amount, those who didn't, could still attend and the most important part was your rank meant little to the school, it would reward hard work and talent not money. The school would develop talent, train skills, and make the commoners smarter which would encourage business. From five to ten the school would teach magic, basic self-defence, maths, reading, writing, cooking and many more, then once they were ten or if they showed talent, they would get advanced classes or be offered scholarships to attend the magic academy or knights' school. It would also make sure that even the poorest children would get at least one satisfying meal a day and would encourage the parents to send their children to the school instead of begging or stealing.

There was a knock on the door, "Enter," Astra called.

Katie walked in, "Dinner is Served," she said doing her best to act normal.

"Excellent, what's Barbarian style?" Curtis asked and got chuckles from Tomas and Marline who were currently the only people in the room other than the four women to know what Barbarian style was.

Jayda went to the table and scooped everything on it back into her inventory.

"Don't be alarmed, it will be delicious." Marline promised and as a group they left the study and followed Katie to the formal dining room, the women who lived in the house walked in and to chairs the others however had paused, their eyes were focused on the Phantom Deer mounted on the wall.

Astra sighed and slapped a coin into Mia's hand who laughed in amusement. "Please sit, our cook is half Barbarian, she will not be nice if you ruin her timing."

Everyone moved to their seats, only just realising that the table was different, more circular than square or rectangular. Leeanne leant over to Matt who was beside her, "That's a phantom deer at our back, right."

"Yep." Matt settled his chair and waited.

Toja walked in wheeling a cart, most of the cart was covered with the piglet the rest was covered with sides.

Arnold unconsciously licked his lips, his mouth watering at the smell and sight. Maids were serving drinks and putting down boats of gravy, but everyone was focused on Toja who lifted a knife, flipped the blade, and cracked the back against the crispy skin to prove it was well cooked.

The three Barbarians in the room knocked a closed fist down on the tabletop three times in appreciation. Toja smiled and finally started to serve dinner. She was helped by one of her apprentices, the other was making cheese bread by heating a round of cheese then scraping the melted cheese onto the toasted bread.

Arnold as the highest ranked guest was served first, Arnold went to pour his gravy, but Tomas reached over and stopped him. Neither Arnold or his wife went with Tomas and Marline to the Barbarian homeland due to Arnold's uncontrollable and violent sea sickness, so neither had learnt how Barbarians ate their food. "Barbarians don't insult the food, you dip your food into the gravy, you do not drown it." He explained.

Arnold nodded, Barbarians didn't come to the conference although he was hoping that would change soon, he made a mental note to chat to Astra so as not to offend the Chieftain.

"There is skin on this plate," Kathryn remarked to her husband after her plate was put down. Everyone was waiting until everyone had a plate and the three Barbarians started to eat so that they could learn by observation. Toja didn't react, Southerners didn't know how to eat properly, Barbarians started to eat the moment they got their food.

"Call if you want seconds." Tofa told them as she prepared to leave.

"Megekr hafa...[can I have]" Astra started to say to Toja.

"þú fá hvat þú fömk,[you get what you got]" Toja told her as she wheeled the cart out to make plates for the staff.

Frey chuckled as she picked up piece of carrot with her fingers and dipped it into her gravy, she paused before she bit into it, she turned to the others, "Am I breaking a rule?" she asked Astra as she wasn't used to being around southern royals.

"No, please eat, also the skin when cooked is crispy and delicious and fingers are allowed." Astra explained and everyone finally started to eat. Jayda broke a piece of cheesy bread off, added a piece of meat and bit into it.

Marline picked up a piece of skin and bit into, it cracked and crushed beneath her teeth, but it was delicious like Astra said. Marline ate most of her meal with her fingers like the four War Horses, they dipped their fingers into water and used clothes to clean them before they picked up their cups to drink from. Others copied as the meal had been designed to be eaten this way.

Arnold groaned as he patted his stomach as he had finished his generous serve. "By the Gods that was delicious and such a fun way to eat."

"An interesting etiquette," Kathryn remarked, she noticed that they never missed washing their fingers whenever they went to touch something other than food. "The skin, it was so good." She added.

"Shale, we go to the formal sitting room?" Astra asked as she stood. "We have a good collection of Dungeon Liquors." She added and people started to move.

Tomas, Matt and Arnold followed Astra to a bar to look at what was on offer. Kathryn sat on the couch and was enveloped by the Sapphire water bear hide which was draped over it.

"Matt!" Leeanne called and once she had his attention, she pointed at the skull on the mantle, "Dungeon stalker skull."

Matt shrugged and turned back to the large bottles of Dungeon liquor, here was a collection that would make nobles envious, not only were the bottles large but they were mostly full and had lots of variety. They all had plates on them declaring what they were, which dungeon it came from, it's rank, country and which floor. He didn't know what he wanted to try first.

Arnold was reading the labels, "Gin from Dungeon of the Sunken Serpent Ashford, where is this?"

"It is the A ranked dungeon they explored, the one that spawns Hydras." Matt answered.

Arnold nodded, the four women had found an A, S and SS dungeon in the three nests he needed investigating the most. "Bourbon from Dungeon of lost Souls, Ashford." He spoke.

"Yeah, we only got to the third-floor master in that dungeon before we had to turn back." Astra stated, "that one is best poured over ice and sipped. There was no fountain in the SS dungeon, but Jayda said it was more to do with the fact the dungeon is transitioning from S to SS."

"Grappa?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I got a bunch of bottles from a dungeon in the Badlands. That one is best drunk as a shot." Mia stated.

"Honey Schnapps?"

"Again, I got it from a dungeon in the Badlands." Mia explained.

"All of these can be drink straight except the moonshine, it is too harsh to drink straight, there is cold tea to mix it." Astra stated even as she made herself a glass of bourbon and dropped some prepared ice into it.

Arnold copied her and went to join his wife; Jayda handed her a cup of moonshine laced tea. Once everyone had a drink they sat and relaxed to digest.

Jayda let them relax for a moment, "So, what do we need to know about our role in this conference?"

"It isn't much, you have to attend a ball or two and that is about it." Arnold told them.

"So, we are here mainly to be seen?" Astra asked and Arnold nodded.

"I know, not really what any of you would generally like to do." He stated to say.

"But needed to push back against the Empire." Jayda stated and he nodded.

"Yes, I am sorry for needing to use you like this." Arnold apologised.

"It's okay, besides, this will save lives and the sooner we can go about our normal lives." Astra stated and Arnold nodded.

"I will have a tailor," Kathryn started to say.

"We have good clothes," Frey stated, "Our staff in Morriston made us a bunch of good clothes to wear to formal gatherings."

"I can guarantee their outfits." Marline stated as she had seen them.

"Okay," Kathryn said, she wasn't overly bothered as she looked at the well-made casual clothes they wore, they weren't nobles nor were they overly vain people besides, dressing in clothes they were comfortable in would mean they wouldn't be agitated before even dealing with nobles.

"And my head butler Timothy will guarantee their etiquette, although not noble perfect it is sufficient to not get them in trouble." Tomas added after all he had made sure to have his butler teach Frey and Mia.

Kathryn huffed, "I really just wanted an excuse so that I can talk magic with Jayda!" she complained.

"Oh, you can do that any time," Jayda told her. "I will be installing security, oh and a gate between us and them." she gestured to Tomas and Marline.

"It would save time," Tomas agreed.

"As well as hide our movements," Frey added and got nods as they realised, they could hide how close they were.

~*~*~*~

Frey tilted Jayda's head and carefully shaved away the last of the hair from the sides of her head and back, the hair on top will be braided and the left for the rest to hang lose, mixing Dark Elf and Barbarian hair styles. Mia was fixing her warrior braids and wrapping them with brightly coloured strings and beads as well as feathers, unlike Jayda's braids which were thin and had distinct patterns, Mia's were fatter, and didn't have patterns, the colours mattered not how they were arranged.

"I never noticed, the cartilage of your ears is pieced, isn't that a taboo for elves?" Mia asked as Astra helped her.

"Not for Dark Elves, each ring represents a milestone in my development as a person. Mum insisted I know my Dark Elf heritage even though I am not a Dark Elf." Jayda explained.

Frey rubbed a crème into the freshly shaved skin to keep it from breaking out in a rash after Jayda cast cleanse removing the cut hairs from her body. They were preparing for the first of the balls they had to attend as the Kingdom conference was about to start. "Do you need a hand to do your braids?" she asked.

"Sure," Jayda told her, and she got to work undoing the messy bun on top of Jayda's head and gave it a careful brush trying not to catch the narrow-wrapped braids Jayda wore.

"I haven't asked but are these warrior braids?" Frey asked as she carefully pulled braids out of the hair she had gathered; they would hang loose. She had watched as Jayda meticulously tended to them yesterday like the others, unlike Mia's warrior braids which were a couple of centimetres wide, Jayda's were barely half a centimetre wide once wrapped. Jayda had spent a considerable amount of time yesterday, undoing and redoing her own wrapped braids and had explained the patterns were just as important as the charms and beads which hung from them which is why she had declined help.

"No, they are like my piercings, because piercings can be covered by hair, if a dark elf looked at me, they would know basic things about me." Jayda explained.

Frey nodded as she started to do a fishtail braid down the centre of her head, being careful not to catch up the braids, once that was done, she did two more fishtails along the sides to connect with the one in the middle, using a wet leather band she tied all three braids together. Frey gave the remaining hair a brush after casting dry on the leather making it shrink.

Jayda checked herself in the mirror, usually she didn't go so short near her ears, but it looked at felt good, she moved a couple of her braids so that they would lay in a certain way. Frey sat on the floor and waited, she had Astra cut her hair yesterday, so she just had to get it styled, Jayda returned and brushed Frey's hair.

"How do you want it?" Jayda asked.

"One long braid." Frey answered and Jayda got to work braiding Frey's hair. Once she got to the end, she used wet leather to tie the end of her hair. Astra walked over and spent a few moments binding leather around the length of plait before casting dry.

Frey checked the mirror before she went to do Astra's hair. Jayda walked over to Mia, "Need a hand?" she asked just as Mia gathered some of her braids along with hair from her temples and tied them back.

"The braids take time, but the style is easy." Mia told her, most of her braids hung lose, if a person from the Badlands saw her, they would know she was an extremely dangerous person.

Katie walked in just as Frey was finishing braiding the hair from the sides of Astra's head and then connecting them and continuing to braid, leaving the rest of Astra's hair lose. "You have an hour to finish getting dressed." She told them.

"Thanks Katie." They said back and went to their rooms to dress. Their clothes were laid out and waiting, Frey stripped and made the mistake to glance over to Jayda who was also stripping.

"Frey," Jayda warned as she reached for her black pants and pulled it on.

"Sorry," Frey started to dress, her pants were made from brown coloured cloth not skin although the cloth was made from daemon spider thread, so its performance was better than armour. Her shirt looked like it was linen although again it was daemon spider thread. Frey sat on her bed and pulled on the boots Jayda had made, not quite barbarian in style but close enough to be comfortable, she tucked her pants into the boots before lacing them closed. Standing she tested her range of movement before she moved to her armbands. Her shirt stopped just above her elbow so her blessing would be partially on display but other than during harsh winters they didn't often completely cover their arms, in fact they didn't even cover their arms sometimes.

Frey turned to Jayda, her outfit was a weird mash of Elven and Barbarian. She wore a crisp white long sleeved shirt under a tunic vest that looked to be made of dyed black linen however like all their formal clothes they were made from daemon spider thread. Jayda was finishing lacing her boots shut.

"How do I look?" Jayda asked.

"I'm bias," Frey told her honestly.

Jayda grinned as she wrapped a belt around her hips and closed it then tied it to allow the excess to hang at her hip. Walking over to Frey she helped get her arm bands on and then Frey helped her with hers. Both then made sure their clan marks were hung over the top of their clothes. Since they were done, they went down to the entrance hall, Katie was waiting, she paced around the pair, giving them a critical look to make sure nothing was out of place. She corrected the lay of their clothes.

Katie frowned at Astra as she walked down with her distinctive Dire Wolf cloak on. "Can't you leave that off?" she asked.

Astra shook her head, "Sorry, I always feel, wrong, when it isn't on."

Katie took another look and realised the clothes underneath had been designed to be worn with the cloak although were the same as Frey's. Mia's clothes were simple but well made, pants, long sleeved shirt and a vest that was closed with pointed bone buttons, again Katie checked for flaws. None of what they wore looked extravagant, in fact to noble standards their clothes were plain, but she knew they were made with the best materials.

"Okay, go, Fin has the carriage," Katie told them, she didn't ask them to take cloaks as she knew they might not need them, and the nights weren't super cold here during this time.

They got into the carriage and Fin took them to the palace. "Rules?" Mia asked.

"Don't be alone and don't attack anyone," Astra said before she glanced to Jayda.

"Hey, I never start it, I will use sleep." Jayda promised.

"I will try to keep her out of trouble." Frey promised.

Astra chuckled at Frey's words, try, she didn't promise to completely keep her out of mischief only to try.

Mia frowned, "are we moving?" she asked, she could hear the horse moving but she felt nothing.

Astra sighed, "What did you do to the carriage?" she asked Jayda.

"Nothing, much," Jayda stated and got laughter in response. "All I did was put springs and a magic circuit to cut down on the rattle."

"Did we borrow the horse from Tomas?" Frey asked, they only had monsters and none of the War Horses would let someone other than their partner command them.

"Yes," Fin called back as the question was directed at him. He got them in line behind other carriages to enter the palace. He got to the gate and showed the official invite which had been sent ahead a few weeks ago. The guard glanced in to check who was in the box carriage, realised it was the four War Horses and waved them through.

Fin got in line leading to the front door. After a few minutes he was before the entrance and a footman was opening the door. They got out and as a group they walked off, Fin took the carriage to a waiting spot and would wait for them, he didn't mind as he had a basket full of food to eat while he waited.

As leader of the party Jayda walked a pace ahead while the others walked behind her as they made their way to the Ballroom. The herald tapped his staff, "S-ranked Party, War Horses, led by Jayda Drakenfall the Black Cat or Shadow, Astra Erling the Dire Wolf of the North, Frey Bjarnkin the Indomitable and Mia Cloud the Sure Strike." He called into the room; they gained some attention but not a lot since they were early. They walked further into the room and chose a spot near a pillar to stand and wait.

Nathan walked over, "Greetings War Horses." He told them with a smile.

"Nathan how are things?" Jayda greeted.

"Fine, looking forward to you guys coming to investigate a nest in my territory but I have to wait my turn." He told them with a smile, he leant a little closer to Jayda, "The Leaf Tree king has come." He warned her before he bowed and walked off to greet other people he knew.

Jayda rumbled; Can I kill the bastard?

Frey and Mia chuckled a little in amusement.

Astra growled, NO!

A server walked over with a tray, there were drinks on it, they all moved and took offered fruit juices, they had already agreed not to drink even though they were unlikely to get drunk.

Mia clicked her teeth; I don't want to be here. She said although nothing in her outward appearance would show that. Having grown up in the Badlands she had heard stories of slaughters that happened at similar parties, some figurative, the others literal. A woman walked over to them, after being introduced and away from the other woman with her, she was wearing something with high exposure and showed off blessings from the Goddess of love. Dark hair fell in luscious waves down her back and naturally light brown skin showed she probably came from one of the western countries.

Frey let out a light rumble, I want to see you in that outfit. She told Jayda.

Mia glanced to Astra and could see by the heated look Astra gave her, that Astra would also love to see her in a similar outfit.

"You're a Dark Elf," the woman almost purred.

"By birth," Jayda replied which wasn't a lie.

The woman laughed and glanced to the others, "Ah, you are the S-ranked Party War Horses." She touched a perfect fingernail to her lower lip as she studied the women.

"Forgive us, you seem to know of us, yet we know nothing of..." Jayda petered off as the Elven King arrogantly came to stand before them.

"The very fact I had to come here, to bring you home." He started to say.

"The very fact you are an idiot for trying to antagonise me," Jayda snapped back.

"Ah, not a good relationship I see," the woman remarked to Frey.

"Yeah, he believes he owns her simply because she was born a Dark Elf, even though she was not born in Leaf Tree, nor raised there." Frey answered loudly not really caring who heard and quite a few had heard and were now looking at the Elven king with a little distain, he was not liked by anyone here.

"This is none of your business Barbarian," He snapped at Frey.

"Then please allow me to say it in front of all these witnesses. I am not, nor have I ever been, a citizen of Leaf Tree, any claim you think you have on my person because of my race, is baseless and if you continue to pursue this, I will willing fore fill that prophecy." Jayda told him.

Astra reached over and lifted Jayda's clan mark which hung around her neck, originally, she hadn't thought that Ingrid would make her clan, she had been prepared to ask if only to keep Jayda from being rolled up in Noble games. Now however, she was glad she had made Jayda clan without her asking, Jayda was Barbarian by adoption, her culture was Barbarian, it gave her a lot of freedom. "Barbarians have more of a claim on her than you, so if she decides to follow through, know our clan will join her and trust me, you do not want Íss Vargr to be your enemy." She released it.

"Pretty sure I wouldn't even have to persuade my clan to join Íss Vargr, I would just say hey Íss Vargr are going to war, and they would say, we're in, where's the fighting at. Then you will have to deal with Íss Vargr and Ódr Bjarnar." Frey added, both clans were well known, to the point of being in history books, scars of their raids still existed in some areas, the sight of their sails had pirates and warriors alike generally just give up.

The woman who had come over felt sudden fear, an Ice Wolf, Astra was an Ice Wolf, her clan was infamous for being vicious and deadly, and Frey was a Mad Bear, they were just as infamous as Astra's clan. Surely the Elven idiot would now back down, to be at war with two infamous barbarian clans was not something she would want for her own country.

"I have Dark Elves in my army." He stated firmly, Dark Elves were as infamous as those two clans.

"You forget, blood, won't, fight, blood," Jayda told him, reminding him of one rule that Dark Elves themselves lived by without question, except for practise, they did not fight each other, ever. As much as the world thought Dark Elves were ruthless killers, it was the exact opposite to how they were. Deadly yes, however, if you left them alone they would leave you alone, they never started a fight, only finished them. Since Jayda was made clan, it meant she was a barbarian, which meant barbarians were blood to Dark Elves and they would not fight them regardless of the binding contract the Elven King had on them. "I am not yours, accept it, and you'll live." She finished in Elven.

He turned and stormed off. Jayda's eyes focused on his shadow where a Dark Elf was observing them, they had made sure to touch Jayda's shadow, if they got the chance they would talk, that is the feeling she got from the touch.
"Oh I am so glad I came this year," the woman remarked gleefully, to see that arrogant twat getting knocked down a peg or two warmed her heart.

"Can't take you anywhere," Astra remarked to Jayda as she shook her head.

"He started it," Jayda exclaimed in defence.

The woman laughed and even touched Jayda for a moment, a friendly action not a flirting one. "You guys are funny, when you get a chance, come to my country I have a few nests that need investigating." She laughed again and walked off.

Tomas finally joined them.

"Hey who was that?" Mia asked as she nodded her head in the direction of woman who just left.

"Her royal highness Queen Jazmine of the Golden Sands kingdom." Tomas explained.

"A hot kingdom?" Mia asked.

"Yes, they have a desert with golden sand it sits in the middle of her country, they are allies," Tomas answered. "I was not expecting to walk in and see you in conflict with the Elven King." He remarked.

"He started it!" Jayda defended again.

"And thank you for not kicking him in the balls like you wanted to." Tomas told her with a smile.

"So close, so very, very close," Jayda told him and finished her juice.

~*~*~*~

Astra and Frey were sparring in the training ground, some of their guards were watching, hoping to learn from watching, they had already been put through their paces and their skills modified to fit them better. They were using practise gear, not their normal gear so that they could watch. Katie walked over followed by Jazmine. Frey lifted her shield to block Astra's axe and used her sword to block the other axe, after holding it for a while she lifted her leg and kicked Astra in the stomach.

"You always fall for it," Frey told her as Astra was zapped out.

"That's because I am trying to figure out a way to counter it," Astra replied.

"You could just ask Jayda, I'm sure she knows the right counter already." Frey told her.

"I want to figure it out myself." Astra stated.

"Astra, Frey, her royal highness Jazmine is here." Katie called to keep them from starting a new spar, she knew they could get quite engrossed when they were sparing. Both women turned and bowed their heads even as the guards bowed deeply.

"Oh, please none of that," Jazmine stated firmly to the others.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Astra asked as she grabbed a towel and wiped her face and arms.

"The first conference ended with the Elven king storming off, again. So, I decided to come here." Jazmine explained with a grin, the conferences would go a lot smoother if they didn't invite the idiot, but it would be wrong if everyone wasn't invited.

"Ah, so we are going to appease your boredom," Frey remarked as she took off her practise gear.

"You guys are far more interesting than the others," Jasmine admitted honestly.

"We aren't here to amuse you," Astra stated.

"No, you are here to make the Empire stop being idiots." Jazmine stated, "So why are you here?" she asked as she gestured to their estate.

"Because we are not pawns in noble games, we are free," Frey stated, Jazmine studied Frey then Astra for a moment.

"So interesting," Jazmine remarked and as a group they went to walk into the house. "Where is Mia and Jayda?" she asked.

"Mia is off teaching a scouting lesson for the guild," Astra answered, "And Jayda is Jayda."

Jazmine frowned not understanding and forced them all to pause in the main hall.

"Which means she is in the workshop your highness." Katie answered.

"Probably playing with the new technique she figured out," Frey added.

"She's a smith?" Jazmine asked surprised.

"She's an Elf, and almost older than Frey, Mia and I combined." Astra answered and started to take the curious royal to the workshop.

"But..." Katie started to say, she knew Jayda often worked without a shirt on in the forge and had been deliberately keeping the royal from her.

"Oh, if its secrets, Arnold had me sign this before he let me know where you were," Jazmine showed a contract which bound her to keep anything she saw or learnt about the War Horses a secret.

Astra read the contract, "she is safe." She told Katie, then continued to lead Jazmine to the forge, she hoped if she appeased her a little, she would go away. Frey followed them.

"I've never understood why you hide your blessings, in my country we display the love of the Gods," Jazmine asked Astra as she was wearing a vest today and her arms were bare, however considering her adventurer blessing was impossible to hide she didn't care too much.

"Sometimes the Gods love too much, it makes others envious and can lead to an attack." Astra explained.

"Or discrimination," Frey remarked, "Imagine being in a country where the God of War blessing is normal and even celebrated. Then the Goddess of Adventurers blesses you, but you are strong, so no one really says anything, but imagine if you were weak."

Astra glared at her friend, her clan had said nothing about her blessing, they had been a little perplexed however they hadn't shunned her, she was their clan mate, and they didn't give a fuck about her blessing. Other clans would have cared and kicked her out, some had even questioned whether she was a real Barbarian. Those people learnt to shut up quickly because she beat the shit out of whoever mentioned it and then she became an extremely dangerous Skipper and Jarl and as such no one mentioned it again.

They walked into the workshop, Jayda was wearing a vest, only her arms were bare. She was standing at her anvil hammering away, Frey walked over and sat on a workbench, Astra did the same.

"Is she any good?" Jazmine asked as she leant against the bench.

"All our gear is made by her," Astra told her.

"Yeah, and it's good stuff." Frey added.

Jazmine hopped onto the bench to watch, "Does she know we are here?"

"Probably, will us being here distract her, nope." Astra stated. They watched Jayda for a little while then Jayda started to finish, she quenched the blade in oil before putting into a special subspace to cool properly. She then spent a while cleaning up before she finally turned her attention to the three watching women.

"Why are you disturbing me?" Jayda asked as she walked over to the women.

"Because you are interesting?" Jazmine stated like Frey and Astra Jayda's arms were covered with blessings and by the looks of it they came from different Gods.

Jayda rolled her eyes and pulled the newly forged blade from the subspace, it had cooled down, she walked over to a polishing station and did the first polish and rough grind to add an edge.

"That's a big knife?" Jazmine remarked.

"Yeah, I am making new kitchen knives for Toja, she wanted a heavy knife for bones so I came up with this, however I thought I would make a set." Jayda explained as she held up the heavy blade then gestured to the other knives lined up.

Jazmine lifted one of the smaller knives, "That is an interesting pattern."

"Marline found a sword in a dungeon I discovered, it has a similar pattern, I did my best to duplicate the method. Managed it too, but it doesn't always work, and it takes a lot of time and resources," Jayda explained.

Tomas walked into the workshop with Katie, "I have come to return you to the Palace your highness." He said to Jazmine.

"Lunch is ready," Katie said directly after him.

"After lunch, I will go without a fuss." Jazmine told him and turned to follow Katie.

Jayda cast clean on herself and turned to Tomas for an explanation.

"She's always been like this." Tomas told the three women as they moved to the house.

"You've known Her Highness for long?" Jayda asked.

"Yeah, met back when she was young, and my party were adventuring." Tomas said as they walked into the entrance hall, Jazmine was focused on the Wyvern skull as Katie had blocked it from her view both times before. "Back then she was known as the Tomboy Princess." He explained with a grin, he knew she would let him get away with a certain amount of teasing if it was out of sight of other royals.

Jazmine turned to Tomas, "Stop calling me that!"

Tomas grinned, "But it's true, you followed my party around, demanded we take you on adventures, snuck into an escort job forcing us to turn around. The royal guards came chasing you and had to physically drag you back."

Jazmine glared at Tomas, "Well, at least I didn't fall into a sand ant trap!"

"I only fell in because I had to stop you, from falling into the sand ant trap." Tomas retorted.

"Did not," Jazmine declared.

"Did to, Marline, Arnold and Kathryn will back be up on this." Tomas told her.

Katie didn't know what to do or where to look, Tomas was essentially being disrespectful to a foreign monarch.

"Tofa will get angry soon," Jayda stated and walked towards the informal dining room and sat in a chair. The others walked in and sat around the table.

Tofa walked in a few minutes later and started to serve a hearty soup, a pile of bread was put in the middle of the table and several soft cheeses were put next to the bread. Once everyone was served Tofa returned to her kitchen with the left-over soup.

Tomas started to eat the moment he was served, he paused, "Rock Bird?" he asked trying to identify the meat.

"Cockatrice," Astra corrected, she was getting better at identifying the different flavours of different meats.

Tomas took another mouthful of tender meat and chewed it; it was delicious and juicy. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, those that needed to be tender were tender, the ones that needed a little crunch had their crunch.

Jayda smeared soft cheese onto a piece of bread before she dipped it into the broth.

Jazmine ate quietly enjoying the soup, she had never had Cockatrice before, it was delicious, but she understood this would probably be the only time she ate it as the Monster was A ranked and not found in her country. The soup was flavourful, although some nobles would consider it peasant food, it was anything but. Even the bread and cheese were simple but flavourful alone, added to the soup it added a creamy undertone to the soup that made it better.

Tomas finished his soup first however he finished his lunch by smearing another piece of bread with cheese to eat.

Jazmine sighed when she finished, "That was delicious."

"Barbarian food, always tasty," Tomas told her as he stood, "Time to go."

"But I don't want to," Jazmine complained even as she stood.

Tomas walked around the table and stood before the door, "Tomboy Princess," he teased, she huffed and left the room. Tomas waved and quickly followed her.

~~~~~

Next Chapter update: Christmas eve, that's right, you lot get a Christmas present, also this wasn't planned.

🎅🎄🎁🤶