NT Rangers - Lad 33 - Rizz Elves

Lad calmly reached the upper deck and stared at the vessel. Lad had not concept of the different kinds of ships, but if the ship he was on was obviously an Orran vessel, the ship he was looking at was definitely of Poren. There seemed to be two decks. Long and low to the water. It had a sleeker profile. It was not a good design for ship-to-ship battle or open water.
“Ready to board or sink. Whatever you choose, Slayer.”

“I choose to Board.” Lad offered coldly, staring out at the ship floating within the Orran formation like a sitting duck. Even a large ship such as the one he was on could outrun and outmaneuver a smaller ship. It was a guarded secret that lay in the design. Wood from Cheshire, the best on the continent, men from Orr, the best on the continent, and a secret factor. Even he did not know about it. Lad smiled at the Captain as he rubbed his hands together. He added.
“Alone.”

“Alone? But-”

Lad stared him down. It was necessary. If he had anyone with him he had no freedom to break the act for the sake of negotiating and asking questions.
“I can't?”

Surprisingly the Captain stared back at Lad a bit nervously, but with a stronger will than usual. “Slayers get free reign, but our job is to protect and support the Slayer. If you gotta do something like that, I say we just sink em and move on. Otherwise who knows what those wiley elves'll pull off.”

“What're you going to do to help me?”

“You gotta have some crew with you.” The Captain insisted.

“I'll go!” Lad looked over and saw Aiden raising his hand.
“Shouldn't be a problem since I'm an Aurar that can even teleport us out if something were to happen.”

Lad still did not like it, but he judged by the Captain's reaction that he did not like it either. From that, he immediately got the impression that the man wanted to keep an eye on him.
“Heh. Fine.” Lad shrugged.
“Since my loyal captain is worried about my safety there's no better partner, right?”

The man sighed. “Yeah.” He could not say anything against that.

“Let's finally lower a boat and stop stalling, yeah?”

“Yes, Master Slayer.” The Captain ordered a boat lowered to the water. Lad hopped down into it and Aiden soon after.

Lad glanced back. “Start rowing, assistant.”

Aiden blinked. “Me? Don't be ridiculous.”

“We gotta move somehow. I'm not touching a paddle.”

“It should be fine if neither of us has to, then?” The wind began to pick up and carry them towards the Elven ship. Waves pushed them steadily ahead, faster than rowing would have.
“I'm guessing with this there's no issue?”

Lad through his head back and groaned internally, closing his eyes. `With this idiot coming, I can't drop the act. So annoying. Better him than the Captains man. Fine, if I have to keep up the act...” Lad pushed his spear into Aiden's hands.
“Your job is to hold this.”

“Eh?” Aiden looked down at it in confusion.
“But-”

“Problem? I don't actually need you with me, this is a formality. Hold my spear while I talk with them.”

“I thought we were going there to fight.”

“They're Elves. I want to see how much I can push them around first before any of that is necessary.”

Aiden laughed. “In the end, I guess you're an Orran through and through. Maybe my doubts weren't warranted.” As soon as he said that, Lad turned sharply and put two fingers to Aiden's neck. The Prince seemed to treat it as the threat it was, as if the two fingers were as good as a blade.
“A-all I'm saying is, I've never met a Slayer, so I'm curious. I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle this.”

“Psh...” Lad turned around, folding his hands behind his back as he calmly jumped aboard. Aiden followed. The Elves were in defensive positions around them. Lad panned an unperturbed gaze over each archer that had an arrow notched. He gave a slight nod and held up three fingers wordlessly. After a second he went down to two, then one. As he was about to reach zero a female voice called out.

“Dammit... Lower your weapons. Return your arrows to your quivers. She paused and waited. As Lad waited as well he noted a single male Elf refusing.
“That means you, too, Luire.”

The boy known as Luire gritted his teeth and removed the arrow from the string, returning it to his quiver. He walked up to stand beside the woman. Lad inspected her. She was a tall, blonde elf with an impressive chest, wide hips. A milf if he ever saw one. She could have been a hundred, or in her mid twenties and he would not know. Her armor was tight across her whole body with a skirt at the waist and stilettos build into the boots that lifted her heel to an unreasonably high degree,
“My queen. It is my duty to protect you.”

“You protect me by not being rash, Pulkownik. Remember that not all battles are won with steel and magic.”

Luire bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Highness?” Lad lifted a brow.

“Princess Marina Jadwa of Poren.” Lad glanced back in the direction of Aiden. The Prince had hidden his face behind a mask. It told him that Aiden may have been recognized, and did not wish to be. Lad smirked and returned his gaze to the Princess. Luire was growing more annoyed by the second.

“I am simply 'Slayer' or 'Master, to you all.'” Lad stated.

“You-” Luire was about to step forward, but Marina stopped him.

“Very well, Slayer. What is the purpose for this stoppage? Even you do not have the right to stop a Royal vessel, given our countries treaties.”

Aiden piped up. “In the event that there is a suspected fugitive on board, or contraband, it's actually permitted.”

Marine narrowed her eyes. “Do I know you, masked man?”

“Not at all.” He lowered his head.

Lad sighed. “The Heroes Fin Vara and Fiona Vara and Marrien Vara are to be brought back to Orr for questioning.” He made sure to make it sound as questionable as possible as to whether they would be brought back, as part of his act.

Marina sneered, as did Luire. “Then we share a common goal.”

“What do you mean?”

“We were lured in by a promise of some kind of split. We aided them in a plan to overthrow a small foreign nation, succeeded... Only to have them take over and cut us out completely. The Marchioness drew up a deal after the fact that left us with scraps. The woman is a devil with words and writing, and the children are worse... We are returning to file an official complaint in the Tripartite.”

Lad caught a whisper from Luire to the Princess. “Your Highness, you should have let me attempt to deal with them. I believe I could have-”

“Shush!” The Princess snapped back.

Lad stepped forward, chuckling. “Did I hear correctly? Can you fight them?” He directed his question at the young Elf. Luire was as tall as Lad with a medium to Lithe build. He was quite toned and showed training in the shape of his muscles, but he did not actually look all that strong. Moreover, he had a pretty face and cute pink hair.

Luire nodded. “I am a Master in our lands.”

“A Master... Oh my.” Lad smiled coyly, trying to show a hunger to fight without actually calling for one.

Aiden chimed in at the worst moment. “How about a friendly contest between the Elves Champion and the Slayer.”

Lad closed his eyes. `This motherfucker.` He could not show that he was not willing, but he was not sure he wished to fight an Elf Master.

“I... Do not wish for the ship to be destroyed.” The Princess and Lad seemed to be of the same mind. He cocked his head at her.

“A shame.”

Aiden smiled behind his mask. “How about we create an arena outside the ship? I'll freeze the water into a large circle and everyone can watch the action safely.” Both the Princess and Lad gritted their teeth at the same time. Neither of them had a reason to refuse without losing face.

“Hah. Very well.”

“I'm eager to test my skills.” Luire claimed.

As promised, Aiden created a circular arena of solid ice, then grated the surface to make it not slippery. He then added walls to the side and insisted that it would not break no matter what they did. It had become a stage where everyone on all the ships could watch the fight. Lad jumped down immediately, in order to avoid seeming reluctant. He took his spear before the jump. Luire followed soon after, just as eager. Aiden stood up on the side of the ship. The Princess walked up to stand beside him.
“You can remove that ridiculous mask, Prince.” She shook her head.

Aiden laughed, making it disappear. “I guess there's no fooling the senses of an Elder. Why were you holding that guy back? I'm guessing you don't want him to kick the bucket since he's got loads of potential?”

“Not at all.” Marina chewed her nail nervously.
“If my Luire kills the slayer this will be as big of a scandal as the Patriarch losing his son.”

“To begin with, isn't you losing your stake your own fault?” Aiden asked.
“You had a part in that death, but you denied it to avoid a diplomatic issue.”

“I assumed it would not be an issue, but that beast of a woman smelled blood immediately and used it as a pretense to edge us out. We were not willing to take open responsibility, so we were not able to claim any control.”

“They deny responsibility as well.”

“Through clenched teeth. They all but advertise the fact to support their claims in both the new land, and the old. The woman played a hand. Gambled. I suppose we have yet to see if she will win.”

“Well, let's see through this fight if the Slayer can actually fight on even terms with the twins.”

“If he can not hold his own against Luire, he does not stand a chance against either of them, let alone both.”

“We shall see.” He offered in a singsong tone.

-

Let's just begin. No fanfare.” Lad ordered.

Luire nodded. “My thoughts exactly. You'll pay for insulting us.” He notched an arrow.

“I thought we agreed no fanfare?” Lad clicked his tongue. He smiled, because even if he had not flexed his abilities against a strong opponent, an Archer was too weak of an opponent to even consider.

“I see you are thinking, an archer is too weak of an opponent.” Luire said, mouthing something under his breath while pulling the string back to its limit.

“Well-”

“I'm not an archer.”

“Huh?” Lad squinted.

Luire smirked. “I'm an Enchanter.” He loosed the arrow. Lad simply had to block it. He had done so many times, so he calmly stood his ground and prepared to deflect it. Right before it hit, however, the Arrow grew into a full-on ballista bolt. It still had the spin and shape of the original arrow, but the momentum was faster and it was stronger and heavier. Lad was thrown off balance as he had to move out of the way. The arrow blew right through the wall behind him. It slowly began regenerating, but Luire did not let up. He fired another arrow in quick succession. Each arrow struck true, as if Lad's chest was a bullseye that cold be hit every time.

`Is it going to grow?` Lad wondered, planning to avoid it narrowly, then advance to close the distance. Instead of growing, as the arrow passed him it blew up, sending lad forward from the shock wave. As he was still in the air another was already traveling. Lad had no choice but to block. Though the size did not increase, the weight of the arrow felt like it could have weighed a tone as it hit, against all appearances. Lad's hands shook from having to block such and thing and he was knocked back into the wall, cracking it. He coughed.
“Dammit!” Lad was straining his brain.
`What the hell is an Enchanter?`

“Call that you surrender at any point, Slayer.” Luire taunted.

Lad looked up and saw Luire loose an arrow, only instead of traveling it remained suspended in place. He moved and did another one, and another. There were already so many. As soon as Lad stood up one loosed from its suspended animation and barreled towards him. Lad dove away from it, another explosion. He moved, another arrow unfroze. Luire shot at the same time as that Arrow. The two created an arc of blue lightning between them. Lad ducked under it and rushed forward. He looked and noticed that each time he stepped in front of an arrow that was suspended it was as if a wire was tripped, and it loosed right at him, and when Luire was not firing more himself he was readying more trap arrows in suspended animation. Before Lad could even react the entire arena was trapped and Luire had free range of movement around the edge. He did not smile, he looked seriously at Lad.

He stepped forward into a spot he felt was clear only to have to step back as an arrow fell from the sky. He looked up.
“There, too?”

“I shot arrows up into the air as well and timed them to freeze as they were on the way down. There's nowhere you can move and I can still move and shoot even after having all of these set up. Enchanting is the ultimate magic utilized by Elves specifically. Of Enchanters, I am the best.” He announced proudly.

“Then this is pretty disappointing for me and more than a little embarrassing for you.” Lad uttered. He was actually a little frustrated, so the act became slightly real in that moment.

“It wont do you any good to be cocky.” Luire warned.

“Speak for yourself.” He closed his eyes, trying to remember every detail. The words mouthed under Luire's breath with each arrow fired so far. The effects of the suspended arrows. He had found it the logic behind it all and no longer felt like it was possible to lose. Lad rushed forwards, deflecting the trap arrows. Luire loosed his own barrage while using the cover of the traps, but Lad read his left. He ducked under a ballista shot, darted to the side as an explosive arrow was loosed past his head and disrupted the next lightning arrow he fired in combination with a trap arrow by deflecting the trap Arrow and leaving the original. Lad swiftly moved forward and much to Luire's surprise, closed the distance.  Lad was close, too close. As the tip of his spear came within range Luire ceased his acting and touched it.
“Wait, what-” Lad's eyes widened as the tip of his spear suddenly felt like it weighed a ton. It began to dip and Luire offered a loose salute as he darted away. Against the expectations of the archer, however, Lad simply adjusted to the weight and lifted his spear. He caught up to the surprised elf and was about to bring his one-ton spear down over the boy.

“Surrender!” Luire closed his eyes and fell onto his back.

Lad breathed, throwing the spear away to the center of the arena. It created a crater. He through his head back and laughed over the Elf. When he was done he looked down. Luire was staring back up at him cautiously. Lad offered a hand.
“You did well.” Lad read the nature of the Enchanter's abilities and potential.
“You did well turning a support talent as a combatant, that is. Doesn't change the fact that it's a supporting magic.” Lad advised coldly.

Luire took Lad's hand reluctantly. “I never lost to anyone before.” He explained.

Lad nodded, pulling the boy up. As Luire was close Lad leaned down to whisper in his pointed ear. “You realize you belong to me now, right?”

Luire offered a look of horror as he stood next to Lad. The Elf shuddered. The hand had not yet been released. Luire lowered his head.
“B-but-”

“Can anyone on that whole ship face me as well as you could?” Reluctantly, Luire shook his head.
“That means-”

“You can't!” The Princess jumped down and forced herself between the two of you. Aiden hopped down as well, having no intention to mediate, as Lad would expect.
“Please...” The Princess begged.

It was as Lad hoped. The Elves would hear what he was saying and step in. As they made reasonable concessions he could call it subjugation without actually having to do anything that bad. It was a win-win for both sides.
“I'm sure we can-”

“Take me instead.” The Princess asked, her cheeks flushing deeply.
“Luire is important to me so please make ME your slave instead.” He panicked internally as he read arousal all over her beautiful, elegant features.

`Fuck fuck fuck.` Lad screamed inside. On the outside he held a neutral expression. “You think-” They would not let him speak, either of them. Luire pushed out in front. Lad was glad, because the prideful elf would balance out the Princesses lust to bring things back on track. Then he saw it in Luire's expression, too.
`Fuck...`

“Princess, no! I lost, I have to bear the consequences of this...” He paused, looking at Lad while biting his bottom lip.
“No matter what he plans to do to me.”

The Princess gripped Luire's shoulders and shook him. Lad felt like a passenger in the conversation. The Princess stared him down desperately.
“Luire, no. You do not understand. He is a Slayer, an Orran. You've always had a pretty face and a nice body. If he gets his hands on you he will feed you drugs to soften your muscles and grow your chest and hips... They are nearly as bad as Orcs. I-” she wiped a bit of saliva from her lips.
“I can't allow that to happen.”

Tears filled Luire's eyes. “Your Highness... So be it. I will accept my fate if it will keep you out of harms way. My abilities do not hinge on the shape of my body, anyway.”

“But Luire, what if he breaks your mind in the bedroom! What will you do than?” She lowered her head, hugging him tightly. He looked shocked.
“I-I know you are an illegitimate child but you are still my family. The child of my most favored Aunt who took care of me when I was suffering in the Palace alone. When that woman left, I blamed you for being born. I know I mistreated you, but truly, I always loved you as a reminder of her.”

Luire wept. “I-I never knew, Your Highness. I always thought you hated me. I worked hard to be useful . So that I could be acknowledged.”

“I acknowledge you, Luire. Since we may never see each other again, I acknowledge you as my Aunts son.” She smiled brightly, taking a deep breath while turning and wiping her eyes. The woman seemed to accept the fate that she had invented for herself.

“No, your Highness. I will protect you even now.” Luire said with absolute resolve.
“Take me, Slayer.”

“Luire, you do not understand my meaning. This Slayer will not take you. I am a Princess of Poren and you are an illegitimate child.” She closed her eyes and nodded a little with a gentle smile.
“It was never an option. I could already see that the Slayer was aiming for me from the start.”

`Was I?` Lad felt like he was watching a drama as a third party. Aiden stood beside him with arms crossed.

“Looks like she figured it all out, Slayer.” He said genuinely.

Lad stared ahead blankly. “...”

Luire took her hand. “I- I will protect you, even in capture.” He glared at Lad.
“You beast, if you plan to take her Highness you must take me, as well!”

“Kay.” Lad said in a flat tone.
“What if I... Took neither of you?” Lad wondered out loud.

“Please do not play with us!” Marina demanded.

Luire fell to one knee, Marina fell beside him, trying to support the boy. Luire glared at Lad. “You are too cruel to allow us false hope, Slayer.”

“It is kinda messed up...” Aiden admitted.

Lad rubbed his eyes with both hands. “Yeah. What was I thinking. I just can't help myself, I guess. Fine, yeah, I'm taking you two with me.” He walked to the little boat they came in on. Marina and Luire huddled together as the boarded near the back. Then Aiden boarded last and the boat began moving steadily back toward the Orran ship. Lad ignored the Captain and just lead the two down into the guts of the ship to where his luxurious room was. He opened the door and motioned the Elves inside. All of the girls, and the siblings were there. Kara was resting in on of the chairs and as the two entered she looked up briefly, then did a double take.

“Holy shit. Is that Luire?” Kara pointed.

“Yeah?” Lad shrugged, closing the door behind him.

“Do I know you? I seem to have bad feelings towards you for some reason.” Luire sneered a bit at Kara.

Marina turned him to face her and held his cheeks. “Luire, we can not disrespect the Slayer's companions. Who knows what he will do to us if we give him a reason to punish us...” She looked over, staring at Lad with a very sultry look.

`Your words claim you hate it, but your eyes seem to tell a different story... I got tied up with a pervert. I better clear this up now.` Lad sat down on the bed. Yeong and Kai moved to his side, staring at the Elves curiously.
“Sit.” He ordered. They both slid up and sat on their knees in front of him.
“So... This is a bit awkward to say to you two, but I'm not a bad guy. I was never planning to take either of you as slaves. I was literally just putting on an act and angling for both of you to get away with minor concessions so we could be on our way. But... Now you've literally forced me to save face by taking you.” As he explained the situation their eyes widened and their faces reddened.

“Oh my god.” Luire covered his face with his hands.
“Y-your Highness...”

Marina looked horrified and embarrassed. “You aren't going to- to do terrible things to us.”

Lad smiled sweetly. “Only if you want me to.” She gave him a very strange look as he said that.
“Not even if you told me to.” Lad corrected quickly. She slumped.

“Okay. We can't exactly go back from here. And if it's an act you can't save face if you release us. I feel like this is our fault, so we need to take responsibility.”

“Since our goals align, can we help you take care of the Heroes?” Luire asked.

“Sure, but only if you follow my orders as if you worked for me.”

“No problem.” Luire promised.

“I agree as well.” Marina nodded, hands flat on her lap. She bowed her head.

“Wait... It's an act?” The female sibling asked.

“Of course it's an act.” The male nudged her.
“Our Master just means that he isn't actually a bad person, stupid.”

“Oh, right.”

“I'm so glad that you aren't actually going to do terrible things to my body, or my Nephew's body.” Marina claimed unconvincingly. She was looking down and away with a lewd bend to her lips while she fanned herself.

Lad stood up and motioned for Kara to follow him. Once they were out. “You knew him? Luire?”

“He was part of the original party.”

“I can see why... He's incredibly strong. He'll be of great use.”

Kara lifted a brow. “I suppose that's his full potential if he never got Orked, then. He wasn't particularly strong back then.”

“Why's he got bad feelings towards you?”

She shook her head. “I already told you I was a bad person. Luire wasn't strong but he was sharp and very loyal to the Hero. I assume he probably just tolerated me.”

“He's an enchanter.”

“Interesting? He's a fighter but he uses an ability that enhances weaponry?”

“Seems like he does it on the fly.”

Kara shrugged. “I'd have to see it, but sounds like he would have to be at least a Master, like that. Enchanting on the fly should take a lot of brainpower.”

“He even used it offensively, or... Tried. Weighted my spear.”

She whistled. “Maybe he can help.” Kara paused.
“Hey... I felt a disturbance earlier, like a veil being lifted. He's close and he's more or less back to his old self, the way it feels.”

“He has his memories?” Lad asked.

“I'm not sure, but for the longest time I felt like the system assumed I was Coda. Something happened while you were gone and suddenly that feeling is gone and now I feel her elsewhere.”

“What's that got to do with the Hero?”

“The Hero is Coda. Coda isn't a person, anymore. When he absorbed her he became her, so Coda appearing is the same as him appearing. That's my guess, anyway. I don't think I'm wrong.”

“Is that good or bad for us if the Hero has all his memories and powers?”

Kara thought for a moment. “I don't know... It might be bad or good.”

“What do you mean? He helped Yeong to set the timeline straight and he is the Hero.”

“He's Coda. He's basically a God. Ancient and powerful and if he came to his senses and suddenly knew this place to be the only thing keeping him alive, maybe he would rather live here and cut a deal.”

“That's not necessarily bad. It's understandable to want to live.”

“If he lives, the power of the Turais belongs to this place. By all accounts that was their idea all along. If they grew in strength and had the Turais, they could potentially become the world. Our goal in coming here, what did you think it was?”

“To save the Hero?”

“No. We need the Hero to accept that he is dead. A new Turais is needed and for that, he needs to rejoin the planet as the cycle intended. We can't use that power against the Angels if he's in here.”

“Who's the Turais, if not him?” Lad scoffed.

Kara stared at him pointedly. “It usually falls upon a Hero. Someone with strong potential and a powerful trait. Preferably someone with a good soul.”

“So then who? We don't even know...”

“Don't we?” Lad was still confused so she scratched her head and sighed.
“It's you. It's probably you, right? We don't need to strain our brain to imagine that if a new Turais has to be chosen it's gonna be you.”

Lad shook his head. “I don't have a strong trait or good potential...”

“Even if that weren't true, a single factor that proves more powerful can still weigh things. If you had zero potential and a weak trait, the strength of your will would alone be enough.”

“I- I need to think about this.” Lad walked back into the room. The Princess and Luire were still waiting on their knees. The woman was a quivering mass as he entered. She seemed hopelessly aroused.

As she looked down, biting her thumb she spoke. “I hope you weren't discussing what things you were going to do to me.”