Better Than Nothing

Rosalind finished off another set. She was alternating between upper body, core, and leg exercises to get back in shape. Recently, she had taken care of her body less and less due to, uh, “weak mentality”, but now was her chance to restart her routine. With a disciplined- well mostly disciplined mind in charge, her body was sweating from hard work for the first time in a while.

She had originally planned on trying to mimic Earnest’s normal workout, but she quickly realized that differences in physique and combat styles would make that useless. Earnest’s workout focussed on upper body strength, strengthening the arms, chest, and core. Rosalind found such exercises straining, but found much more comfort and success focussing on lower body muscles. She adjusted her sets with these changes in mind.

Rosalind took a quick breather, wiping away some of the sweat that had accumulated on her skin, then taking a drink from her water canteen. She could feel some fatigue starting to build up in her muscles, which wasn’t necessarily unpleasant. It was a proof of effort, and also a learning experience for Earnest’s mind. Pushing Rosalind’s body allowed the mind piloting it to familiarize itself more.

Rosalind decided that some post-workout stretches would be a good idea to prevent her current fatigue from becoming soreness. She assumed various poses to stretch out the areas that she had worked on, quickly noticing that she was much more flexible compared to Earnest. She found small enjoyment in being able to move in ways that her original body could not.

Her workout burned off a good amount of energy, and her body felt comfortably spent compared to how pent up she felt before. The urges within her were still there, but much more manageable with the combination of productive physical exertion and Alesia’s potion. Rosalind didn’t really know how much the potion helped, but it didn’t seem to have any negative effects. She decided to take another dose of the bitter mixture just in case. The taste was as unpleasant as before, but Rosalind was ready for it this time, quickly swallowing it and rinsing her mouth with more canteen water.

There was still light in the day and some energy left in Rosalind, so she thought of something to do before calling it a day. A patrol around the village might take too long, and now that she thought about it, she wasn’t too familiar with all the paths and places that needed to be checked. She could just walk around and chat with any villagers she met along the way, maybe restore her reputation a bit by being normal and amicable. The villagers still trusted her, but they were concerned about Rosalind’s recent behavior, and news of the misfit boys’ arrest must have gone around the village by now. Oh yeah, she never cleaned up the base that they left behind. There were probably still some supplies and other miscellaneous items still there. When Ricard was the one in Rosalind, they were preparing to leave after all.

Rosalind set off towards the not-so-secret base, greeting and exchanging smalltalk with the few villagers she met along the way. They were indeed curious about what the misfit boys had done to get in this much trouble, so Rosalind gave them a shallow and vague answer. The misfit boys were messing around with something that they shouldn’t have and made a mess with some forbidden magic. Nothing to worry about now, the town knight took care of it with the help of some companions, but the church and some knights would come soon to help clean up and punish the misfit boys. The villagers were satisfied with the answer, blissfully unaware of what had truly conspired.

Rosalind arrived at the hidden forest path once more, and casually entered as there was no one to be cautious of anymore. She quickly arrived at the base and saw that it was the same as she left it yesterday. There were some small crates and bags left outside, where Rosalind found smoked meat, dried fruits, nuts, and other travel provisions. She decided to look in the base for anything interesting. The inside of the building was also a bit of a mess, but then again the misfit boys didn’t seem to keep it that tidy in the first place.

Rosalind looked around the interior. Ricard’s sword was still mounted to the wall. A few of Barnabas’ books were still on top of the desk. The journal was missing from the set of books, as Coltia was currently holding on to it. She had also taken the burnt wicked branch too. Rosalind took a closer look at the stack of books, opening the covers to look at their opening pages. Most of them had to do with basic magic, but one turned out to be Rosalind’s personal diary. She decided to take it with her, then moved on from the books and continued her search. As Rosalind looked in the crate by the bed, she found the last magical item in the base, the pink magic crystal.

Rosalind stared at it as she picked it up, letting it rest in the palm of her hand. She remembered Ricard’s stories about how he made Rosalind use it to pleasure herself. She had gone out in public with the discrete vibrating crystal inside her. She had pushed it as deep inside her as it would go, sending vibrations through her womb in an experiment to develop it as another erogenous zone. Rosalind felt excitement and horniness build within her as she stared at the sinful toy on top of her palm. If her fingers were able to bring her so much pleasure earlier, what about this?

Rosalind snapped herself out of it and put the pink crystal down on the table, retrieving the potion that Alesia made and downing the rest of it in one shot. The bitterness helped bring her back to her senses and control herself. She felt her heart beating hard and fast, and took some deep breaths to calm herself down. Gods above Rosalind’s body was wild. It was like trying to ride an unbroken horse, bucking and running off the first chance that it had. Earnest’s mind was barely able to keep her reigned in.

After Rosalind managed to calm herself down, feeling the potion help her out a little. She took a few moments to refocus herself, before resuming her search in hopes that she would find something that would take her mind off of things. She avoided looking at the pink crystal as she searched through the rest of the misfit boys’ belongings. She didn’t find much else of interest, just some more of the yellow berries that she had watched the boys use as an anesthetic. She pocketed one, thinking of bringing it back to Alesia in case it might interest her. Before she left, she looked at the pink crystal again. In a moment of perhaps questionable judgment, Rosalind quickly pocketed the pink crystal too.

Rosalind left the building and picked up a few bags of provisions that were left around. She could return tomorrow for the rest, but for now she would take what she could comfortably carry. The task of carrying the bags managed to keep her mind off of her urges as she returned to the inn. The day was starting to come to an end as the sun dropped low in the sky, slowly changing the sky’s color orange to signal the start of the evening. Some other villagers were heading to the inn for drinks and a meal, and offered to help carry some of the bags on the way. Rosalind politely declined as she shouldered the burden herself.

She brought everything up the stairs and back to her room, not really sure what to do with the supplies she had acquired. Well, she could figure it out later. For now she just set the bags down wherever there was space. She left her room and knocked on the door to Earnest’s room. She heard the rustling of clothes again, but was surprised to be greeted by Earnest.

“Oh, uh, hi there Rosalind, how is the potion?”

“Uh, good. The potion is good, Alesia. Uh, yeah… Oh, but I need some more. I drank all of it.”

“Oh! Of course, come in.”

Earnest opened the door wider and stepped into the room. Rosalind followed and saw Alesia’s body on top of the bed. She was face down, with her backside stuck up in the air. Rosalind gave the comical sight a strange expression, as she returned her attention to Earnest, who had gone to the corner of the room where the brewing instruments were set up. Rosalind took out the empty bottle and returned it to Earnest, who then refilled it and handed it back to her.

“I’m glad to see that the potion hasn't had any negative effects so far. Just to be safe, don’t drink anymore today and only drink two at most tomorrow.”

Rosalind found it so strange to hear her original voice talking to her. She ignored the slight discomfort, and invited Earnest to eat. After some physical training and extra work afterwards, she found herself starting to get quite hungry. Earnest agreed, and the two of them left the room together, stopping at the next door to ask Coltia to join them.

Rosalind knocked on the door and Coltia answered quickly.

“Oh~ Why if it isn’t the knight couple themselves~ You two look so cute together~”

Earnest and Rosalind shared a glance with each other. From the outside, they looked like the couple of childhood friends that were inseparably close, chasing a heroic dream together. But that was only on the outside. On the inside, they were completely different people. Neither of them wanted to think about it too much. Rosalind faced Coltia.

“Uh, Coltia, we were going to eat dinner, would you like to join us?”

“Hmm~ Is our beloved chef treating us to a meal~?”

“Oh, I would but… Rosalind doesn’t cook, and the villagers might, you know.”

“Ah, what a disappointment. Well, I suppose I wouldn’t mind keeping you two company~”

Coltia joined the two in the hallway, and the group went downstairs to join the other patrons that had already started eating and drinking. One of the men who had already finished off more than a couple of drinks saw Earnest coming down with his two female companions and drunkenly shouted at them.

“Eyy lad, lucky young ‘un aren’ ya? Save some fer th’ rest of us!”

Earnest had looked at the source of the shouting, then looked away, somewhat embarrassed, after he realized what the drunk meant. The group seated themselves and placed an order after the busy waiter arrived. While they were waiting for their food, Coltia cast a simple spell so that they were not overheard by any curious eavesdroppers, then the group started to update each other with what they had been doing.

Rosalind told the group that she had showered, trained a bit, and retrieved some of the discarded supplies from the misfit boys’ base. Earnest shared that he ate a meal, did some exercise, then returned to his room to research any potions that might help with Rosalind’s recovery. Coltia said that she finished up her questions with the misfit boys and returned them to the inn, then helped Alesia with the magic pattern to allow her to possess Earnest’s body. After that was done, she returned to her room to further study the journal and the dark magics within.

The group’s food arrived and they started to eat. After a few mouthfuls, Coltia brought up a topic for discussion.

“Well now~ I know you both are dealing with your own problems at the moment, but it’s best not to be short sighted. Don’t forget that the knights and the church are headed here. Now, I know you trust the knights and the church, but don’t forget that you both are where you are now due to dark magic. You can try to explain it to them, share our plans and hope they understand, but that’s just hope. For all you know, they might just kill you on the spot.”

The mood got tense as the risks of their current plan hit them. Everyone in the kingdom knew stories of the church and knights burning down and slaughtering dark magic cults. They served as cautionary tales to the population, to strike fear into the hearts of any that dared to study the profane arts without permission from the kingdom. The group began to discuss what could be done in their current state, and managed to formulate two plans, each with their own risks.

The first plan was to return Earnest’s mind to his body and allow Rosalind’s mind to finally regain control of herself. However the black mind slime was not complete yet, so Rosalind’s actions would be unpredictable and uncontrollable. She would be waking up from a long and horrible dream, entering a reality where she would have to learn the truth. The church might take her in to help her recover, but it was very uncertain whether they would be able to restore her.

The second plan was to keep Earnest’s mind in Rosalind’s body and have him impersonate her. Earnest knew Rosalind for most of her life, and could probably act as her decently, but he didn’t know absolutely everything about her. In addition to this, Alesia would have to possess Earnest’s body and impersonate him. Earnest was the one to call for help after all. Alesia only knew Earnest for a short time and had a very different personality compared to him. The knights and priests that would arrive would likely be from closer cities, and not all the way from the capital which was farther away, so at least it was unlikely that any of them had met Rosalind or Earnest before.

Unfortunately, the help that Earnest had requested earlier was turning out to be a challenge now. The first plan would protect Earnest and Alesia from risk, but it would put all the strain on Rosalind. The second plan risked Earnest and Alesia, but was perhaps the best way to protect Rosalind. The group continued to come up with ideas like striking a deal with the misfit boys or escaping the village, but in the end the two plans seemed like the only viable choices.

The group decided to sleep on it, and concluded their discussion. Each returned to their respective rooms and pondered which plan they preferred.