A Different Sort of Killing Perfection 03 (Patreon)

As it turned out, the Emmots were, indeed, the closest thing that Carne had to a head-family, and their house suited that position. From what Enri had told me during our walk here, when I’d ever-so-subtly prodded, the settlement had actually been more-or-less started by her grandmother, herself a veteran adventurer of the gold rank, when she’d retired to the essentially-insignificant back-woods ‘community’ of three families that she’d grown up in. Traits and decisions that had been repeated by each subsequent generation of Emmot until the current one, and even Enri was a capable enough fighter and was an Iron Rank adventurer herself, though from what I gathered she preferred to stay close to home rather than roam the width and breadth of the world.

I didn’t know why, and I think it had something to do with her little sister, but I certainly wasn’t going to go prying just yet.

There was something that I did know, though, and that was the fact that Enri Emmot had been growing increasingly turned on since the moment she’d first seen me. I could smell it on her, my senses now being what they were, and the scent of her interest had only become more potent since we’d arrived in her home. It wouldn’t take much effort on my part for her to offer up her pretty throat for a lovely collar, and I was growing increasingly interested in putting her into one. The only reason I hadn’t started to deliberately make an effort to seduce her yet was because I didn’t want to NTR Nfirea, but I was quickly being persuaded by the voice in the back of my head that had been insistingly pointing out the fact that the kid hadn’t made a move yet. It wasn’t NTR if they weren’t actually a couple, everyone knew that, and frankly my demonic/vampiric instincts that hungered for more women found that to be a perfectly sufficient amount of distinction.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have a chance to pursue it one way or the other for the time being. Her mother would be home sooner rather than later, for one thing> Not to mention that as…cinematic, I supposed, as it would be for us to be in the middle of having sex, or sleeping together in a sweaty tangle when the enemy attacked, it probably wasn’t the wisest of decisions. Besides, I knew I had to have changed this world’s history, and while I wasn’t planning on spending much time here and there wasn’t much that could threaten me, only an idiot went in blind. Therefore, making some inquiries and getting my hands on the details of what changes might have taken place was -quite regrettably- going to have to be my priority.

Of course, as it turned out, that sort of prying wasn’t the most subtle thing in the world, or quite frankly the most successful. Perhaps it should have been more obvious, and in hindsight I’d be shaking my head at myself for it, but relying on what amounted to peasants for being able to tell me anything useful about the broader world had been an exercise in fucking futility.

Well, that wasn’t quite fair. Enri wasn’t a complete idiot, thanks to her middling travelling as an adventurer and what her mother had taught her -plus a few tidbits picked up from travellers and merchants, as one might expect- but she wasn’t exactly a font of detailed information either.

Most of it was just…stuff that wouldn’t matter.

I wasn’t here to remake the world like Ainz had, just…set up some pins so that other people could knock them down, or something. And a few of those pins had already been knocked down. For one thing, Enri hadn’t said anything about the Eight Greed Kings, and that was one hell of a change. Maybe not as big as the absence of the Slane Theocracy’s Six Gods -which was a damn good thing, for reasons that had left me concerned before the world transfer had taken place-, since without the Six Gods humanity wouldn’t have access to Tiered Magic.

But the absence of the Eight Greed Kings?

That meant that the Dragon Lords hadn’t been wiped out, which would have implications, as did the fact that they hadn’t killed Surshana, which meant that the Slane Theocracy was even more powerful than it had been in canon. Why they hadn’t absorbed the other, smaller human nations as a result, I didn’t know, but ultimately I supposed it didn’t really matter.

At any rate, having extracted what information that I could, I turned my attention to other thoughts. To thoughts of just what Enri would look like with her eyes rolled back in her head and her tongue hanging out, her face and pussy stained with cum, covered in bruises and bite marks…mmh. A very nice sight. I loved my warrior women, but a -relatively- soft farmgirl had its own distinct appeals.

“Tell me, Miss Enri, what is a fine woman such as yourself doing living alone with her mother? Surely the men of Carne are not so blind as to miss your charms, nor so deaf as to miss your wit and intelligence?” I changed subjects without much in the way of warning, deciding quite abruptly that I wasn’t inclined to leave Enri for Nfirea’s potential attentions, enjoying the way her cheeks abruptly pinkened and her eyes went down as a result.

“I’m afraid the men of Carne are either too intimidated by the family’s reputation to pursue me, My Lord. The few exceptions are those that have ambitions of taking over the town via marriage, rather than of being suitable husbands.”

“Ambitious, but too foolish to court you properly, it seems.” I mused, watching the way her fingers twisted together in her lap. “A pity. Their loss, though I confess I struggle to feel much sympathy for men so short-sighted.”

The blush deepened, spreading down her neck now, and I could smell the fresh surge of interest that came with it. Sweet and warm, like the wheat fields I’d glimpsed on the way in. She wasn’t looking at me, but her body was practically leaning toward mine, some instinct in her drawn to the predator that I was despite whatever caution her mother had drilled into her over the years.

“Tiresome.” Akali added evenly from where she was leaning against a nearby wall, idly spinning a kunai on her finger, looking as if she wasn’t paying much attention to anything that was going on. Which wasn’t true, of course, I had no doubt that she’d remember everything Enri had said and every ounce of body language displayed better than I would.

“I’d dealt with the same sorts, often enough, before Lord Sesshomaru took me for himself. Social climbing little rats, hoping the way to riches and titles was by getting in my bed. I didn’t want to be a stepping stone for trash like that, and I’m guessing you don’t either?” Lara added, and Enri’s eyes flashed.

“No, My Lady, I most certainly do not.” she confirmed, quiet but firm, and the set of her jaw and shoulders told me she’d given the matter more than a little thought, probably often and at length if I cared to guess. Shaking her head, she huffed. “I cannot marry a man, nor even become one’s lover, if he is afraid of me or sees me as a tool.”

“I don’t know, you can have quite a lot of fun with a man using you as a tool. Or a toy, perhaps I should say.” Lara returned, causing a chorus of groans, squeaks, and blushes to race around the room. That would be the ‘Sam influenced’ part of her speaking, I imagined, which was a delight in and of itself.

“And what a delightful lesson that is to teach a sweet and innocent farmgirl.” I couldn’t help but chuckle, watching the way Enri’s eyes darted between us all, torn between being scandalized, interested, and curious. Adorable, truly. “Though I fear Lara’s enthusiasm might paint the wrong picture of us. You needn’t worry about being treated as a toy, Miss Enri. Not unless you wanted it, that is.”

The way her breath hitched at that told me what my nose and eyes already had: she wanted it. She was probably picturing herself in a bed with silken sheets, dealing with fine bathing and finer eating, which was exactly what she would get. But she wasn’t a stupid girl, I knew that, and she was reluctant to throw herself into the bed of some random noble. Hell, she probably knew people who’d done exactly that, and then ended up dead or dumped -probably with a newborn or a swollen stomach- on the curb soon enough.

No, unless I encouraged the issue using the Catalogue, she wasn’t going to be spreading her legs for me anytime soon. And while I could do exactly that, and make this process happen a whole lot faster, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be necessary in the least once I saved the village from certain marauding Theocrats in disguise.

Mmh, come to think of it, they’d probably attack around dawn, or just before. When the village was still quite literally sleepy. A pretty standard, even cliche, tactic to take. But if it worked, it worked, and it certainly worked. Which meant my girls and I would be waiting for a bit, given it wasn’t quite dusk yet, but I could live with that. Patience was easy when you were immortal and semi-godlike by the standards of the world that you lived in.

Besides, between chatting with Enri’s mother and making the girl herself blush as often as humanly possible -I wondered just how red I could make her go, and how wet she could get, before she threw in the towel and went to compose herself?- I, and my girls, would have plenty to do for the next few hours. And once the squishy, sleep-needing humans ended up having to go to bed, I could…

The rolling notes of an alarm bell jolted me from my thoughts, and I stiffened in surprise as Ashe shot to her feet, her eyes startled and perhaps even a bit worried as they met mine. She didn’t need to say anything, didn’t need to tell me what was happening. I could already guess. Carne was under attack, earlier than expected, and somehow those attacking had managed to at least partially evade her spirit-hawks.

We burst outside a moment later, likely damaging the Emmot household’s door in the effort, to find Enri’s mother trying to rally a defense with what few means she had on hand, and it was few. Everyone was either too old or too young, the most able-bodied young-adults having left to be adventurers. Not exactly a rare story, in smaller medieval settlements.

“Lord.” the elder Emmot grunted when she saw me arrive, though she frowned at her daughter. Small wonder, she knew exactly what would happen to her beautiful child if this fight was won by the attackers. Likewise, she was smart enough to know that ordering her inside wasn’t going to do a damn bit of good, since they’d find her either way. Instead, she simply kept talking to me. “Seems you were right about those Imperial troops you mentioned. There’s fifty or sixty of the bastards, and near as I can tell they’ve surrounded us completely. We can’t run, so we’ve got to bleed them and hope they decide we’re more trouble than it’s worth. Can we count on your help?”

“You can. Sixty imperial soldiers isn’t nearly enough to be a threat to me, or mine.” I said it simply, without bravado, because it wasn’t bravado, nor was it arrogance. It was just the truth, and something in the casual delivery of the words seemed to make quite the impression on her. Judging by the way the older woman’s eyes narrowed, studying me for a long moment, she probably trying to decide if I was insane, over-confident, or infinitely more dangerous than she had thought I was.

Which was fair, honestly.

“Sixty against six.” she said slowly, incredulously. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t take that on faith, my lord.”

“You needn’t take anything on faith, you just have to keep your people together and safe.” I turned to the others, finding them waiting and eager. “Lara, Ashe, up on the tower. Use your discretion when you pick targets, but make sure you pick off anyone coming from the south that you can.” They vanished in twin blurs of motion, getting gasps of surprise from the now-watching civilians. “Kel, Setsuna, the west and the east sides. I’ll take the north. Akali, I want you to focus on finding whomever looks like they’re in charge. I want them alive, if not unharmed.”

Akali was gone before I’d even finished speaking, melting into whatever shadows the dusk light provided like the magical ninja she was, and I felt a brief flicker of satisfaction at how well the group was working after so short a time. No hesitation, no wasted time or equivocating, just readiness and obedience. Good. That was what I’d chosen them for, wasn’t it?

Well, not quite, but the fighting capability was certainly a bonus, wasn’t it?

“You two.” I turned back to Enri’s mother, meeting her narrowed, wary, faintly-impressed eyes with my own. “Get everyone into the largest building you have. Somewhere with thick walls, few windows. Keep them calm, keep them quiet. This will be over pretty quickly, and you’ll probably be sitting pretty by selling off all the armor and weapons we’re about to free up for you.”

Her expression didn’t a whit at the euphemism, perhaps unsurprisingly, but Enri looked shocked. I wondered why -surely she didn’t think these people were just going to be allowed to stroll away unharmed, did she?- right up until she opened her mouth and protested quite energetically the idea of being left behind.

“I can fight!” she insisted, chin lifted despite the way her hands were trembling at her sides. “This is my home. I won’t just hide while—”

“Enri.” Her mother’s voice cracked like a whip, cutting through the argument before it could really get started, and I was grateful for it. “Do as the lord says.”

“Mother—”

“I need you protecting your sister and the other children, not standing in the field getting yourself ridden down and killed by soldiers twice your age and thrice your size.” The older woman’s tone brooked no argument, though there was something in her eyes —fear, maybe, or the particular kind of exhaustion that came from having had this fight before— that softened the words even as she said them. “Lord Sesshomaru and his companions are obviously well beyond anything we’re capable of. There’s no point in making ourselves a liability to them.”

Enri’s shoulders sagged at the last few words, the fight going out of her all at once as hurt replaced it, and she cast one last tremulous look at me before turning and herding a cluster of wide-eyed children toward the largest building in sight. Which, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out to be a barn, sturdy-looking enough with its thick timber walls. Her mother didn’t follow immediately, lingering a moment longer to study me with that same assessing look.

“You’d best not be wrong, my lord.” she said quietly, and there was something almost like a warning in it, the kind only a mother protecting her children could manage. Small wonder, she’d just had to deliver an unpleasant truth on her daughter for the sake of the current situation, and as much as we all knew it wasn’t my fault, I was the closest thing she had on hand at the moment.

“Don’t worry, I’m not. They’re going to be bog-standard soldiers, nothing more. Maybe a mage or two to help them hide from magical observation like my Ashe’s spirit-hawks, but if they’re a raiding party meant to attack small, far-flung farming villages, they won’t be any sort of elite force.” I reassured her, quite sure of my reasoning, even above and beyond what I remembered from the anime.

Of course, even if I was wrong, there wouldn’t be much trouble. The only real question was this: how many of the attackers would I even try to take prisoner, and what would I do with the people of Carne Village afterwards?

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Catagory 1:

Capture as many as possible.Capture only officers and kill the rest.Catagory 2:

Leave Carne Village where it is, but help build up defenses.

Relocate the Villagers to inside the castle.

Leave Carne Village where it is, to avoid Diplomatic issues.