Chapter CXXXIII Amy and Tammi’s Past Encounter

Misaki found the Drake siblings in her castle on the lowest floor. Reiko was in a neighboring room with her sister and her mother. They were having a conversation that was a bit loud. Misaki ignored it as she knew what was going on already. The three were having a heated discussion about a certain dragon. She did glance into the room. Mei was naked naturally, Eriko was still walking around in her casual clothes minus a bra, but she had ditched her panties, and Reiko was wearing her usual mini-dress. It didn’t seem Reiko had noticed Eriko getting rid of her panties.

Misaki found Eriko slowly losing clothes to be weird, and paid greater attention to the area. She sighed when she noticed the cause. It seemed Mei had an aura that boosted nature affinity mana in an area, while also encouraging people to wear less without realizing there was anything strange about it. The aura was also getting stronger, so it might have an additional effect. Misaki noticed it was slowly drawing power from her own ambient mana. So Misaki simply pulled the plug. No self-respecting demon would let an aura they didn’t know anything about go unchecked. This aura needed to be studied. Misaki decided not to immediately inform Eriko about it though. Instead, she headed over to talk to the Drake siblings. Both of which were still heavy with child. It would not be much longer before they were ready, which might be why they had started to forgo panties.

She did not comment on their change in attire. Instead, as she settled on a chair in the room, then she asked them if they knew anything about the Rosewood cults. She doubted they did, but perhaps they would surprise her. Amy frowned, “I’m not sure I can...” then she trailed off, her eyes widening. Misaki at that moment also felt Dewari’s presence but saw no sign of the familiar goddess. She did note Tammi’s wide eyes, and shocked expression. Slowly the two began to tell her a story, moments after they no longer seemed shocked.

Back then it was just a routine quest, we were never supposed to know who the quest was for, but a chance encounter led us to learn precisely that. Because of that we were forced into a contract to forget what we learned, but that contract no longer applies...

Several years earlier in the forests of Rosewood:

Thomas stretched as he stepped out of the tent, into the early morning air. It was a lovely morning, the air was warm and there were no clouds in sight. A gentle breeze blew through the woods. The light of the sun filtered through the thin canopy above. Not far from here was a lovely lake. He glanced at the sky and thought the girls were probably done with their bathing. A glance at the campfire indicated breakfast was still a ways off. He reached into his tent for his own bathing supplies and headed for the lakefront.

His mind drifted back to considering the quest. They had accepted it a little over three weeks ago. It was why they were out in these woods. The quest was to locate and retrieve a quantity of Dragonstone. The quest didn’t say what it was for, but that wasn’t unusual. He figured they had another week of travel before they reached the first location where Dragonstone might be found. Other than the time, this quest was proving rather easy so far. He was looking forward to the easy money this quest represented.

Stepping around a tree, his mind switched tracks as the lakefront came into view. As any adventurer would tell you, a chance to bathe was a welcome luxury. Sweat and grime could build under one’s armor making one rather uncomfortable. There were magic items to deal with it, but a bath was preferred when possible. He was very much looking forward to this as it had been a few days since he last had a chance to bathe.

All thoughts of a bath came to an abrupt halt when he noticed that the lake wasn’t as empty as he was expecting, there was someone there. A young woman was standing there completely nude. Even from behind he could recognize her, but his gaze wasn’t really on her but split between two items of interest. The first arguably of lesser import was the familiar symbol marked on her back. The mark of Royalty, it seemed one of his fellow adventurers was actually a princess. He knew he could act rashly at times, but that mark told him it would be wise to turn around. Besides, the other thing in the water scared him. He knew he was no hero, and that he was not yet a match for a dragon. Thomas figured she would be alright, since it didn’t seem hostile. So Thomas turned to leave.

“I always remembered that bit, but I forgot that I never did succeed in leaving.”

Amy giggled, “No, that dragon saw you, and did what they all seem good at.”

Thomas made maybe a dozen steps before suddenly he found himself turning around, and marching boldly down to the lakefront. Panicked, he tried to tell his body to turn around, to do anything but head for the shore. His body didn’t respond at all, and he just kept on marching towards the shore. Every fiber in his being told him this was stupid, but nothing he did could get his body to stop. Before long he found himself at the shore. The dragon’s gaze clearly locked upon him. He heard a noise, but his body would not let him look in that direction.

“I was actually present to see my then brother dragged out before the dragon. The princess had been acting weird at the end of our bath, so I stuck around to see what she was doing. I hid myself in a tree to watch. I actually saw her land, and watched her greet the princess like they were old friends.”

Amy watched as Thomas walked onto the shore of the beach. The way he was moving wasn’t like him. She knew he could be stupid, but Amy knew full well how scared he would be of a large dragon like that. Why he wasn’t running, she knew not. The sight made her gasp and rang alarm bells in her head. She needed to get help. Amy made to run, but then she felt something strange.

Moments later she was a helpless passenger in her own body, as she climbed out of the tree, and then calmly walked towards the shore. The entire way she could hear the constant ringing of mental alarm bells. Alarms telling her that something was wrong. Yet she could do nothing to stop herself. Nothing helped her to do what she wanted. Amy knew what this was. It was a mind spell, someone was using mind magic to control her body like a puppet. Given how easily it took her over, she knew that whoever did it must be of a very high level. Otherwise, her magic resistance would have allowed her to shrug the spell off. Despite knowing what was going on, she found herself unable to break the spell on her body. Amy found the spell, but it was so strong that her own mana was unable to even scratch the spell. Whoever cast this was clearly an opponent in a completely different league than her own.

That realization took the fight out of her, and she soon found herself standing beside her brother on the shore. The Royal Princess was now looking at them, but Amy wasn’t sure what to make of her expression. Her mind was more focused on the large dragon who was looking down upon the pair. The dragon she had a strong feeling was puppeteering her body.

Suddenly the dragon spoke, her voice powerful, and confident. “Well, what do we have here? A couple of interlopers?”

She felt a tremor down her spine. Amy didn’t know what to do. She was a low-rank adventurer. Dealing with dragons wasn’t something she expected to happen any time soon, or royalty for that matter. Yet here she was, standing before both. Her only companion, her brother. Little comfort that was, as she had little doubt that he was in the same situation she was.

Neither sibling spoke, even though Amy had the feeling that she was allowed to speak now. Mainly because she did not know what to say, and Amy felt that Thomas did not know what to say either. Silence pervaded the lakefront for a moment or two before the dragon spoke again, sending another tremor down her spine.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. I can’t let you leave now that you know that I am here.”

The princess said nothing, and Amy now feared they were about to be killed.

“Obviously you were not killed,” commented Misaki.

Amy sighed, “No we weren’t.”

Tammi interjected, “Aceri isn’t like that, but I would not call what really happened better. In a weird way, failing your halls was a good thing for us.”

“Oh don’t be like that. I’m not about to kill you. I have to admit neither one of you was supposed to know about this meeting between my High Priestess Apparent and myself. Although maybe this unfortunate turn of events can be turned to good fortune. I will let you leave with your lives, but in exchange I want you to forget all about this. Also, I would like you two to do something for me. I may ask more later, but it won’t be much.”

Amy didn’t like the sound of that, nor did she much like her current position. This was a bad spot to be negotiating a contract from. A very bad position indeed. She noticed the naked princess and her perky boobs bouncing on her approach. In each hand, she was carrying a plate of crystal that the dragon had given her.

Amy’s hands reached out without her will and took a plate when the princess came near. She glanced at it. It was a contract, alright. Amy looked around briefly and then began to read it. Under normal circumstances, it was something she would never have signed. It had some odd clauses to it, but was otherwise pretty much exactly what the dragon had just said. It was not something she wanted to sign, but if she did not, Amy had little doubt the dragon would kill her. In the corner of her eye, she saw Thomas sign it. She sighed, might as well sign it as well. He would need her to keep an eye on him.

Misaki leaned forward. “So you signed this contract?”

Amy nodded, “I wasn’t happy about it. I still regret sticking around to spy on the princess. If I hadn’t I might have run into Thomas, and what happened after signing that damn contract might have never happened.”

“What happened after?”

Amy looked away, and Tammi just looked confused, “ I would rather not talk about it.”

“Well in that case tell me when you are ready,” said Misaki. As it was she found it interesting that the pair had a shared encounter with Aceri. However, it seemed she wasn’t like Zemoria, since she left them with their modesty. Zemoria would not have let the two leave with that. In fact, Misaki suspected she would not have even let Thomas leave as a male. She did have more questions to ask these two now, but she wasn’t sure where to start.