Remnant 3 -CH2-

Taking a seat at the table Steve looked around.

Geneva was still recovering from giving birth. That meant that this meeting needed to be held in the mother’s cottage.

Quite a few creature comforts had been brought into this living space. Blankets, pillows, chairs, sofas, artwork, tables and chairs, everything that would make a house a home.

We’ve been importing quite a bit more of the luxuries. Going to bet that outside of Nikki’s farm there’s not much in the way of food production going on still.

And that’s because we’re still making sure all the can water travels back down toward her.

That’s at it’s limit though. We can’t stretch this any further in any way shape or form. Especially if the last report we got is still accurate. The lake almost has no runoff downstream at all now.

A pair of arms appeared and wrapped themselves around his shoulders. Then a soft and yielding warmth pressed itself into his back.

“Hello, Steve,” whispered a voice that always pulled on his libido. “Robert is sleeping. I just fed him.”

Easing his head to the side as Gwendolin moved her head up beside his own, he found the beautiful Siren staring at him with a wide smile.

She was beautiful to the point that it made Steve’s thoughts wander. To spin in circles without end.

At the moment her long black hair was gathered behind her head in a tight pony-tail.

The small blue ribbons she often wore were still present, but they were placed differently. As always she matched her clothes to fit her ribbons, pale skin, eyes, and hair in an artful way.

Gazing into his eyes were large, shimmering green eyes.

The worn and weathered yet determined mother he’d met was long since gone.

A woman brimming with optimism and stubborn resolve had replaced her.

Gwendolin’s smile somehow grew wider and then she leaned in and kissed him briefly.

“I love the way you look at me,” purred the Siren. “Like a woman you want to toss in a bed and have your way with, even after I’ve already had two children.”

Snorting at that Steve reached up and pulled Gwendolin around his side. Forcing her bodily into his lap.

“Steve!” squeaked Gwendolin, not fighting him in the least.

Once he’d wrangled her around, got his arms around her, he kissed her.

Deeply and soundly.

From the moment he’d seen her, he’d wanted her for himself and to take her daughter and make her his own.

Moaning the Siren shifted around in his lap for a moment before practically melting into him.

Pulling away briefly Steve didn’t release her.

“Course I do. Midwife said you’re off limits for a few months though,” Steve said and leaned his head down to nuzzle Gwendolin’s neck. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to though, my lovely and beautiful Shelf-Ren.”

Gwendolin, Lucia, Jaina, Geneva had come with him to the farm. They’d thrown their lot in with him. After investing in him so heavily, how could he do anything else other than invest back in them.

Not to mention how deeply his feelings for them had grown.

Grunting at that Gwendolin looked mildly annoyed.

“Shelf-Ren indeed. I don’t fit anything right now. They got bigger. Bigger than they did when I was breast feeding Nia,” Gwendolin complained.

Steve had definitely noticed the increase to Gwendolin’s curves. In fact his hands were currently exploring her figure.

“Before you try to have your way with her despite Miss Eiren saying to leave her alone,” Lucia said as she flowed past him with a child in each arm. “I’ll remind you that you have your Mistress, a beautiful Kobold, every single one of the Witch-knights, and an entire farm full of willing women. Please don’t harm Gwen.”

“He’s just being handsy,” Gwendolin said coming to his defense. “And I don’t mind. He’s just direct as always. But I should probably get up-”

Steve tightened his grip on Gwendolin. He didn’t want to let go of her.

“Or I guess I could just stay here,” Gwendolin murmured, realizing she wasn’t going to be released. “I’ll just keep him occupied.”

“That’s fine, and thank you for doing that Gwen,” Lucia said, taking a seat in a padded rocker.

Without disturbing either James or Thomas, Lucia managed to get the top of her dress down and then put each child to one of her breasts.

“Ah, there we are,” Lucia said looking rather pleased with herself, her eyes moving from child to child. “Genie is sleeping. Thomas kept her up quite a bit last night. Didn’t you, my little mischief maker.”

Lucia was smiling at the newborn that was now firmly latched to her breast.

“Anyways,” said Lucia with a slight shake of her head. “I’ve already prepared everything we need for the trip. This also works out rather well for us as we do need to go visit the Fae court and present it’s newest prince.

“I’m sure my mother will be quite angry at me. I’m looking forward to seeing the look on her face.”

“She’s… going to be angry?” Steve asked.

“Oh incredibly!” Lucia said with a laugh. “Her precious daughter ran off from the courts. Before she could sell her off in an arranged marriage for a political union.

“Only to end up married to a Human, and giving birth to a son. She might actually just disown me. That’d be significantly easier if she did.”

“Would she be angry because James isn’t… a Fae?” Steve asked.

As far as he could tell, James hadn’t been born with wings and looked to be quite human. Though his status panel had definitely listed him as a Fae.

“The wings grow in later, during puberty. So that isn’t the problem,” Lucia murmured, looking down to said child. “The problem is that it is indeed a boy. Mother will be livid, but she’ll have no choice but to deal with me because of the fact that it’s a Fae prince.”

“Fae princes are very rare,” Gwendolin whispered to Steve as she got up out of his lap, taking his distraction for her own advantage.

Moving away from him she gave him a flirty smile and sat down next to Lucia. She didn’t dislike it, but she also would rather be sitting in a chair, it seemed.

Lucia glanced to Gwendolin, two the two children at her breasts, and then clearly decided she would rather feed both of them.

“Yes, well, I feel this is the best use of our time. If we can turn this trip regarding the new military governor into a visit to the Fae courts as well, it’d serve many purposes,” Lucia said.

“Alright,” Steve said with a shrug of his shoulders. He personally didn’t care. Realistically he didn’t want to be away from his farm any longer than he had to, but he also loved Lucia deeply. If she wanted to do this, it meant it was actually important to her.

“Oh, good. I’m so glad you’re amenable to this,” Lucia said, turning her head to Gwendolin. “You’ll need to take charge, Gwen. Geneva is… I think Thomas is going to drain her and she doesn’t seem to be bouncing back after giving birth the way you and I did.”

That got Steve’s attention, causing him to sit upright in his chair.

“She’s fine,” Gwendolin said having noticed the change in Steve. “She’s just recovering slower than us, that’s all. She’s fine.”

Nodding his head, Steve wasn’t so sure of that but he’d trust Gwendolin.

“Mm, alright. We’ll take Jaina, Nancy, and the Witch-Knights. No one else,” said Lucia her gaze slowly drifting back to the two nursing babies. “We’ll be fine with that.”

***

Getting off the boat and stepping onto the receiving dock Steve was greeted by a number of soldiers.

They were all dressed in the house colors of Geneva Gosti.

Quite a few of the citadel soldiers who’d been left behind by Linne had been ousted. Forced to leave and head back to the capital.

Geneva had taken up a massive hiring campaign and brought in people from all over Lamals to garrison the citadel. All in the name of Steven Bril, the citadel commander.

As the military governor of the area, she’d had far more power than anyone expected her to have.

Being the wife of the citadel commander and the military governor, but also one of the very few working farms in the area.

“Oh thank you,” Lucia said as one of the soldiers assisted her out of the boat. “Anything new?”

“The new military governor has apparently realized that Filch, and Citadel Bril are two places she will not be able to put her headquarters,” said the acting captain of the wall.

The woman had taken it as her duty to be on scene to greet them.

She looked pretty much to the standard Steve expected for officers in the military.

Beautiful, over-developed, stunning, with black hair and blue eyes.

“Good, I hope she makes her base nice and far away. Away from our farms and cities,” hissed Lucia.

“I believe she also tried Faraday, Hillast, and Rennis. The city governors wanted nothing to do with her and turned her away quite quickly,” said the captain. “The Witch-Knights in each garrison… reinforced… the governors.”

“Nice, nice,” Jaina said leaping off the boat and moving partway up the docking pier. “Nancy, you should be sure to reward them. Loyalty to Steve above all else. Yes, yes.”

Turning, Jaina faced Steve and then stood up straight, giving him a smile that showed off her very non-human teeth.

The small Kobold woman was always interesting to Steve. Her bust was on par with the most well endowed Steve had met, but she was considerably smaller in stature. It made her look oddly top heavy.

More so when she sprinted around on all fours.

Short brown nearly invisible fur covered her from head to toe. There were black accents that were randomly spread out across her fur.

The only different-colored spot was her belly, which was a large white oval.

Her nose and ears were quite beastlike. In fact she was the furthest removed from humanity that Steve was married to.

He’d never confuse her for anything other than being a living and intelligent being.

One look at her very blue eyes would tell anyone that. They held the spark of life and intelligence that matched anyone else.

“Of course, Miss Jaina,” said the captain, not quite meeting the Kobold’s eyes.

Jaina’s tongue lolled out to the side at that before she snapped her mouth shut and laughed softly.

“Nancy. Let’s go speak with the local Witch-Knights,” Jaina said. “Hiren, watch Steve so Nancy can come with me? Please, please?”

Hiren nodded her head even as the rest of her Witch-Knights were moving their gear off the boat.

Nancy had just gotten off the boat as well and stepped up next to Steve.

Smiling at the invitation Nancy glanced to Steve, then to Jaina.

“Certainly. It would be good to speak with them,” Nancy murmured.

While Nancy was in charge of the Witch-Knights, Jaina was so incredibly powerful that people had a tendency to defer to her.

Jaina of course didn’t care for any of that and simply turned it all back around to Nancy.

The two had grown quite close due to these interactions.

“Does that mean the military governor is… camping out in the middle of nowhere?” Lucia asked.

“Yes, princess,” said the captain, her eyes darting back to Lucia and the child in her arms. “They’ve set up camp in the ruins of Bexis and will likely make that their home base.”

“Fine, they can have that graveyard. We stripped it of anything of worth. Even the stones,” Lucia said with a casual wave of her left hand. “Did you prepare everything I asked?”

“Yes, ma’am. Everything is ready for you and the commander,” the captain said, glancing to Steve and then hurriedly away. “Wagons, teamsters, and supplies. Everything is set for you to head out to Bexis, and then the southern border by way of the farm’s river.

“I did post a runner to the farm to let Mistress Nikki know of your intent to visit.”

The mention of Nikki’s name brought a strange feeling up in Steve.

While his feelings had cooled over what she’d done, he still couldn’t shake the feeling of having been betrayed.

Having called for the Queen’s justice before he’d even been given the chance to decide what to do.

Not being given the opportunity to make a choice one way or the other.

And Linne got away.

Steve let out a slow breath, his hands clenching up at his sides.

I’ll catch her. Catch her, skull-fuck her, and dump her corpse into the Queen’s lap. Then skull-fuck the queen to death.

Yes.

Because that’s what we’ve been building up for. To end the stupidity of Lamals.

And that all stems from the queen herself.

“Ah… I haven’t received a… a response from… M-M-Mistress Nikki but I’m sure it’ll come today,” the captain murmured.

Realizing he was disturbing the captain Steve looked away and tried to cool his flare of anger. To change his thoughts to something else.

“He’s not mad at you,” Lucia whispered stepping in closer to the captain. If Steve was normal he likely wouldn’t have heard it. “It just reminds him that Linne got away, that’s all. I promise. Okay? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yes. Yes I understand,” the captain said, nodding her head quickly. Then she cleared her throat. “Commander Bril… I do have news of… of Linne Linne.”

Snapping his head to stare directly at the Captain, Steve now put gave her his full attention. He’d been watching Aubrey and Kimor moving crates off the boat and wondering if he should go help them.

“She yet remains at the capital. She’s become the personal companion of the queen,” the Captain said. “They are rarely apart. Its said they’ve become best friends. Though Linne Linne continues to refuse to marry anyone and declines all suitors.”

Steve snorted at that.

He knew why Linne was declining everyone, too.

Though the Queen had cleared everything Steve had labeled her as, there were a few things she hadn’t been able to remove.

Like the fact that Linne was his personal possession and pet.

All it had taken was Steve to repress his claims on Linne for those to reappear.

For all intents and purposes, Linne wouldn’t be able to marry anyone, let alone date anyone or sleep with anyone, without bringing down a multitude of titles and law-breaker accolades.

“Of course. She’s my pet. I’m her master,” explained Steve with a smile. “Anyone who checks her status will find that she’s my pet. In fact, I should change her nickname. I haven’t done that this week.”

I formally name my pet Linne Linne as… Steven Bril’s personal Cumdumpster.

He didn’t get any confirmation of the change, but he was positive it’d updated.

And Linne would get the notification of the change. 

“And what is she today?” Lucia asked, tilting her head to one side with a devilish smile.

“Steven Bril’s personal Cumdumpster,” Steve replied with a smile. “Now, is there anything else I need to be aware of before we get rolling?”

“Ah… no, Commander. Citadel Bril is of course, always at your disposal. I deeply appreciate the trust and faith you have in me,” said the Captain. Then she turned back to Lucia. “And we-”

Waving his hand casually at the captain Steve left everyone standing there and started heading up the stairs. He likely didn’t need to know anything more and he didn’t want to be involved.

He had other matters on his mind and they certainly didn’t involve the trip they were going on. Most of this trip was for everyone else that wasn’t him.

Chances are I’ll just kill the military governor.

Marching past a number of soldiers Steve kept going upward. From stairwell to stairwell, ever upward.

His goal was to get to the wall and look in both directions. Both deeper into Lamals and into the creeplands.

“Commander,” said a soldier guarding a doorway off to his side.

Glancing over he met her eyes and then looked back to his goal. Then did a double take and stopped in place.

Staring at the woman through her helmet Steve was almost certain he recognized her.

“Good… good to see you, Commander,” said the woman.

Squinting at her Steve was nearly positive he’d run across her previously.

Then it struck him.

It was the woman who’d helped him capture Linne. She’d been as good as her word. She hadn’t alerted the commander to his presence, she’d assisted him, and had even been useful.

“You, come with me,” Steve said, moving forward again.

“I’m guar-of course, Commander, I’m yours to command,” said the woman, moving away quickly from the door she was standing next to.

Snorting at that Steve started walking up another flight of stairs.

“I told you once you weren’t interesting to me. Why would that be any different now?” Steve asked as he cleared the stairwell and finally emerged at the central part of the wall. This was just above the gate and one could see out into the creeplands from here.

“Because I’m offering myself, you’re not forcing it,” said the soldier.

“That doesn’t make you any more interesting than previously,” argued Steve, staring out into the lands dominated by the creep.

From this distance it looked unchanged. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Hordes of monsters were pushing up against the wall. Crawling over one another and all clawing at the main-gate.

These were all monsters that didn’t vanish in the daylight. Things that had at one point been living beings.

There never seems to be an end to the calamity that is the creep.

“I’m sure I can be more interesting. I come from good stock, I’m untouched by man or woman, I’m very bright, and I’m a good soldier,” countered the soldier.

“Uh-huh. I’ve got more women then I know what to do with, sorry,” Steve said as he confirmed his thoughts on the creep.

Even if his enemies took the citadel, they’d have no idea what was going on out in the creeplands.

Just need to make sure that we have everything set up to absolutely wreck the river. Shame I never made the time to clear out the waterway enough for us to get a boat down to Nikki.

Something for later I suppose.

“I’m-I’m positive I could provide for you something that they never could,” said the soldier, apparently still determined to talk her way into Steve’s bed.

“And what’s that?” Steve asked, walking away from the wall. He wanted to see into Lamals from here. The last he’d been here the grass looked like it might start to regrow, but that it was having problems as well.

“I don’t know, Commander, but I’m sure I could do something no one else will or would,” continued the Soldier. “I would only ask you care for my sisters in exchange for me.”

“Yeah, no. Not taking you to bed,” Steve said once again as he walked toward the other wall.

The soldier fell silent to that, but she didn’t leave his side. She was doing exactly as he’d instructed her to.

Reaching the other wall he looked out into the lands of Lamals.

The grass was splotchy. Trees looked sickly. Bushes didn’t have all their cover.

“Things aren’t looking so good,” Steve muttered.

“Oh… much better than it had been,” contested the soldier. “This is all looking much better.”

“Is it? Huh. Alright. Alright then. That’s… that’s good,” Steve said nodding his head.

“If I can’t get you to take me to your bed as a mistress, can I join the Witch-Knights?” asked the soldier.

“Fine, talk to Nancy or Jaina,” Steve said, not really hearing her.

Lamals was healing.

And that meant he could commit to tearing the Queen out of her throne with a lot less troubles for the common person.