Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 9

After the feast, I woke up with my head nestled between Cyra’s boobs. I wasn’t sure what happened the night prior, but it must have been one hell of a party because half the Samhain estate was trashed. Cyra and I were in a room in Kyrina’s cabin, but the roof was missing.

My head was pounding, and I felt like I had a sword in my pants. How many of Grandma Luthrin’s potions had I drunk? Checking my Intelligence stat, I’d had at least two more, along with a few others.

I crawled out of bed, begging the pounding in my head to let up. That didn’t help, but maybe climbing to my feet and getting moving would. I did so and hoped for the best. In my wandering among the debris that had previously been the Samhain family compound, I found Kyrina.

“Don’t worry about the house. We have our usual repair crew coming to fix everything up later,” Kyrina said as I stumbled along next to her.

“Morning,” I yawned. “I think it’s about time Cyra and I check back in on Mucaria. It’s only been a little over a week for us, but a month for those on the inside. We need to check in on our army and see how they’re doing.”

“And Cyra will help make sure the Samhain warriors we’re loaning you integrate well. It took some paperwork to get them through, but the Samhain Clan has a lot of strings we can pull,” Kyrina said.

Cyra and I helped with the post-party cleanup for a bit before dressing and waving goodbye to her family. By the time we were ready to leave, my headache had subsided.

The trip back to Mucaria was uneventful. I didn’t even realize any time had passed until we walked by Doomblade’s Armory. The store was just as crowded as before. The shelves were full too, but I could only find Gobgob’s handiwork for sale. Everything I’d made had sold long ago.

Cyra and I split up there since she had a few of her own preparations to make, some of which included buying a few of the battlefield accessories we sold at Doomblade’s Armory. I offered to help her get a discount again, but she insisted on paying like a regular customer, and after touring our inventory, we parted ways.

Most shelves carried only a single display item. After talking to the people there, almost everything in the shop was on a waitlist, with inventory sold out months in advance. Hopefully, Cyra would at least be able to jump the line.

On the way here, I thought it’d be best to wind down business in Mucaria. I had wanted to bring Gobgob on campaign with us. A skilled enchanter to help me repair armor would add a lot of security to our forces.

But then I saw Gobgob behind the counter, face bright and smile wide as she spoke with a variety of humanoid customers.

“Yes, this is good armor—very good—and cheap, too! There are only three months to wait,” she said.

“Three months?” the customer asked incredulously. He has the look of an adventurer about him.

“Cheap, fast, or good? We do cheap and good, but you’ll have to wait. You want something fast, check the other armor shops,” Gobgob replied with apparent confidence and pride.

The customer sighed and then wrote his name down on the list. Gobgob shook his hand after he paid his deposit, then she put her own little stamp along the signed paper and handed it off to a subordinate.

Gobgob seemed bright, cheery, and most of all, proud of her creations. This store was good for her. She’d leave it behind if I asked her to, but I wasn’t about to do that to her. She could have her time here. It just meant I’d have to train up a dozen mediocre enchanters to do the job she could do on her own. I was sure at least a few of the students from the Raya Academy of Mucaria had to have picked up the job somewhere in their education.

So, instead, I went straight to Sakura’s office. I knocked on her door, hoping to find her there, but she was out at the moment.

I helped myself to her desk and snatched a spare scrap of parchment. I originally hoped to take a brief trip home and ensure things were running well. But just in case they weren’t, I wanted to send a message back through Sakura’s supply channels.

If I was lucky, it would get all the way back to Reluna in Crownhill. She’d been alone at the house for a while, and if she was willing, there were certain preparations she could make that would leave dealing with the golems and cleaning up the shard far easier.

I wrote down what I wanted to say, then left it on the paperwork Sakura was sending back home. I left again, once more in search of my ladies. I thought they’d be in Bridget’s apartment, but they were all quite busy, and it looked like nobody had been home for quite some time.

Eventually, I just went to the bakery Bridget was working at honing her chef job. There, at last, I found her cheery-faced and a little tired as she hauled an enormous pile of pastries labeled with the name Patriarch Darkbinding.

“I see your favorite customer is back.” I nodded toward the enormous pile of goodies.

“Yep! He went on some sort of special diet for a while, but he’s back now.” Bridget smiled brightly. “I expect you’re looking for Sakura and Myrina? They’re at the arena helping to train the new recruits. Team Seraphim is there too. A bunch of Amazonian warriors arrived saying they were hired by you. Some mercenary wizards too.”

“They were indeed hired by me, thank you, Bridget. And while I’m here, please let your boss know I’d like to know I’d like to place a substantial order of battlefield rations. Those healing biscuits you make would be great. In fact, if possible, I’d like to hire a few chefs for my forces.”

Bridget’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll mention it to him. This store specializes in pastries and other treats, but quite a few of us have dabbled in more hearty meals. I’ll ask the boss if he can spare some people. If not, maybe it’s time I started my own shop. I think I’ve learned about all I can here, and a military contract might be just what I need. Maybe a few of my coworkers too.”

Bridget gave me a kiss, and I departed for the arena.

There, I found Myrina leading the army through drills. Inwardly, I’d prepared myself for a disaster when I left Myrina in charge, but things turned out quite the opposite.

“Stretch! The least flexible among you is going through my remedial training program. And believe me, you don’t want to go through my remedial program!” Myrina shouted as over two thousand wizards struggled to keep up with her.

As I watched, she was taking a firm hand with them. These Dragon Lodge wizards would have earned most of their levels in the classroom. Maybe a few of them had hunted monsters, but most would have gained the bulk of their levels through experience pearls. I made a mental note to stock up on those. The Dragon Lodge issued me some, but I wanted a lot just in case a few people fell behind in level or I wanted them as generic quest rewards for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Though they had all the stats that could be expected of people in the D and C-Grades, they weren’t soldiers. Myrina had done a good job of changing that. There was no hint of the rowdy disobedience or the know-it-all attitude I’d seen when I’d first spoken with these warriors. Whatever Myrina had put them through in the month since I’d last seen them had changed their attitudes for the better.

I didn’t want to interrupt whatever Myrina was doing, so I cast my senses wide and found Sakura dealing with some military administration work for me from one of the private boots up in the stands. I went over to her to figure out what was going on.

“Sakura, I’m back! Cyra is too, but she’s looking for supplies. I trust you got the people I sent your way?” I asked.

Sakura looked up at me, blinking, but her smile grew as she took me in. It hadn’t been long since we last parted ways, but from the way she jumped out of her chair and wrapped her arms around me, most would have thought it’d been years since we last spoke.

After smothering me with far too many kisses and pulling up a seat next to her desk for me to sit in, she rested her head on my shoulder while she flipped through the papers she’d been working on.

“I’ve received your people. The experienced wizards are going to fill out the officer ranks. They said you had plans for the Amazonian warriors to form a special melee defensive unit?” Sakura asked.

I gave Sakura’s horn a gentle little stroke, which had her tremble against me. I liked feeling her quivering chest against my side. “In combat, that’s what they’ll be. I suspect most of this campaign is going to be marching, guarding stuff, and possibly looting abandoned cities. Hopefully Prince Herius doesn’t have us picking too many fights. Most times, we’ll be using them as manual labor for stuff we can't do with magic.”

I wrapped a hand around Sakura’s shoulder, and she wrapped it in her own hand and pulled it tighter. The two of us squeezed as close as we could while we spoke of the army’s structure and disposition.

“Information has finally come through about Prince Herius’ overall army. He has about eighteen legions, each with between four and six thousand men. He also has his personal legion, which is at double normal strength at ten thousand and consists of eight thousand elite C-Grades and two thousand specialist units riding great beasts of war. The other legions also have a variety of similar mounts, but none as impressive as the first legion.”

“I see. So he’s got some cavalry, or whatever Glacia uses as its equivalent. And I’ll have nineteen co-workers?” My free hand crept a little lower, fingers probing at the waist of Sakura’s pants. Maybe I was doing it, or maybe Sakura was guiding my hand. I couldn’t really be sure.

Sakura let out a little help as my hand caressed bare skin, then kept creeping lower to her wet womanhood.

“Ahh... uhm... yes. We’ll be the smallest unit in the army, but we’re not really a legion. We’re magical auxiliaries from the Dragon Lodge and technically outside of their normal command structures. Other than the Dragon Lodge’s commitment to Prince Herius, we need not honor any other authority. We can’t let the other legates push us around.”

I chuckled as my fingers found their target. I circled around her hard and wet little clit a few times, absentmindedly toying with it to help me focus on my work.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let them overshadow us. We may be a smaller unit, but I’m pretty sure we’ll have more muscle behind us than any but the prince’s own troops. We’ll certainly be better equipped. I saw how much of Doomblade’s Armory stock was going to outfit this unit. We’re really not pulling any punches with this one."

Sakura let out a few brief moans as she struggled to concentrate on the serious subject matter at hand.

“T-the Samhain Clan offered to pay for any equipment needed. They really want this campaign to succeed. Our forces and the princes’ are the two they put warriors into. The other seventeen legions are drawn from across Glacia, and they have limited input there.”

“And these other legions. How are they? I know the prince scooped some Amazonian veterans and no doubt some of his elites are veterans as well. But I doubt the other legions are so prestigious.” By now, my fingers were thrusting in and out of Sakura’s wet sex, and I planted a few small kisses on her neck.

I hadn’t really planned on getting this physical with her during working hours, but she’d greeted me with such loving eagerness that I couldn’t help myself.

“M-most are fresh recruits. Amateurs boosted to E-Grade through basic training. Some might not even have that. Expect farm boys and second sons eager to go to war in search of enough loot to buy their own plots of land and start a family.”

“So our Dragon Lodge recruits aren’t so unusual by that standard. Perhaps we should bring some extra equipment. I might be able to win over some of my fellow commanders with the offer of nice gear or experience pearls for their weakest recruits.”

“Mhmm...” Sakura replied as she bit her own lip to stifle her moans. The trainees were in the center of the arena beneath us while we were up in the stands. While we were partially shielded, the privacy barriers were down, and people would hear if she made too much noise.

“We’ll set aside some bribes. Let’s see... what else does an army need? Good boots, perhaps? I suddenly came into possession of an entire mystic realm, which means storage space won’t be an issue. Let’s switch things up from buying camping supplies to hiring contractors. I want a few barracks and a mess hall. Maybe even some prefabricated defenses that we can haul out as needed for instant fortifications. Spell casters can make more use of sturdy walls than most.”

“Mhmm... Mhmm!” Sakura moaned twice more. From the shaking and quivering in her legs, I was pretty sure she’d just orgasmed. She wasn’t normally this easy to please, but maybe a month of denial had her on edge.

Whatever the case was, I gave her another kiss on the cheek. Normally, logistics was a pretty boring subject. But maybe like this, I could find a little fun in getting this army organized.


<Note>
Gotta sneak in a few sexy scenes to keep my R rating. I'm not really seeing occasion for a full sex scene for the whole first half of the book, so I'm just going to go with the flow and drop in something short when I sense an opportunity.