Clay

Dancing with Sfen was truly something else. The man had good upbringing so of course he knew how to dance and most importantly Sfen knew how to lead. No matter how being one of Teor’s most skilled Swordmasters felt, being led in a dance brought you back home. It was comfortable and warm being able to let go. The sight surprised anyone that had only heard of you. As the two of you spun around the dance floor, drawing gazes, your eyes wandered to the edge of the floor where Kara and Jeane were standing by attentively.

“I feel bad.”

“Why’s that?”

“I feel like I’m leading Kara and Jeane down the wrong path.”

“That’s a surprising admission. You basically turned them from vagrants into disciplined Knights. They’re the entire basis for your thesis on training methods.” He chuckled.

“I still have no clue how you took those girls and turned them into that. They’re so loyal.”

“It was… surprisingly easy.” You thought back.

“What!? I don’t want to!” Jeane complained.

“Keep me out of your weird obsession.”

“Hmm.” You looked up in thought.

“But you kind of owe me.” She stared at you with a definite glint of defiance over that claim. You smiled.

“Let’s be honest…” You motioned around the Marquess manor.

“If you both didn’t come here you would’ve been in a terrible position. If you didn’t have me or Sfen? Forget about finding your way in this Kingdom.”

It was a very large property on the northern peninsula, famously the original Garmean homeland. The northern March was built on the ruins of Garmea’s old civilization. The hills contained vast warrens and burroughs that had long been abandoned or collapsed. Nermark, the capital of the same-named Duchy, and Nernlohe Ducal house was converted from the old Capital city of Garm. Unlike with Teor, The family had historically battled Garmea and the Gnolls against their own destruction for over a thousand years in the rocky, mineral-rich hills. Thus, ironically the territory of Nermark that sat directly on the historical land purposefully carried less resemblance to old Garm than Teor.

The Lohe’s were a culture group that existed as far back as the Teor people. While humans were all split into distant territories and city-states, the Lohe migrated north and were the first humans to properly clash with gnolls successfully. Unable to work metal effectively themselves they formed an early, close relationship to the metropolitan Teor people in the south who had inherited metalworking techniques due to early exploration up and down the Teor river that emptied in the enclosed south sea.

Sfen’s family, Lohemark,, was distantly related to Nernlohe and were the most direct vassals of the family. Lohemark sat on the northeast point of the peninsula and bordered the channel. It was one of the few families that still skirmished with Garmea, and thus was well supported by both Teor and Nernmark. The territory was built up well, and the sheer cliffs of the peninsula were beautiful.

Jeane pointed accusingly. “I don’t care!”

Your eye twitched. “Are you shameless?”

“Yes!” Jeane responded harshly, demanding indignantly.

“Pamper me or send me home. You are in a position now where you can do that.”

“I’m shameless.” Kara admitted with a smile, though you could see that she was mostly just having fun.

“You really want to go home?” You asked.

“Yes!”

Kara shook her head. “Don’t even know where that is!”

You stared at the training ground. Those who wanted to be taught were easy, but a growing army had no shortage of those who were simply there to collect pay. They had no loyalty or drive. Training those individuals to forget their own interest was plausible in some cases, but there was no standardised method for it. The typical measure was to simply **** all of the cowards to the front line and drive them forward with their comrades spears at their back so that the only way was forward. There was no real method of making someone believe and think the way they should. You smirked.

“Figures.”

“What?” Jeane inquired.

“You had a hard time, Jeane. You have every right to want to quit and go home.” You shrugged.

“No. It is not about that. I-”

You looked her in the eye. “You came, you faced a bit of trouble and now you’ve found that you’re just… not as strong as you thought you were.”

“Over the line, Fiona. I was cheated. You know that.”

You smiled. “Of course I know that.” You lifted your chin subtly as you taunted the elf the best way you knew how. The words left you mouth very precisely and clearly.

“Any ‘normal’ elf would quit. I’ll tell Sfen to make the preparations.” You turned, acting like you were actually leaving to go do that.

Her teeth clenched. “You know I’m better than that! Anyone like me would go home after what I’ve experienced.”

“Hm?” Looking over your shoulder you smirked and gave a short nod before agreeing.

“Yes. Anyone like you would, Jeane.”

“Graaah!” The elf threw her hands up.

“I just have to show you I can hold a damned sword!? Is that it?” She stomped forward and picked one up, swinging it wildly.

“Look! Look! How hard is this? Anyone can hold a sword you numbsk-” Her eyes widened as you turned and humbled her with a few well-placed parries. Her hand rang and she dropped it to her knees, cringing.

“Heh.” You looked down on her.

“Honestly, it’s not that much. You’re worse than normal. I might’ve made a mistake in my appraisal of you, Jeane.”

“You bitch!” She unlenched her fist, opening her palm.

“I am a mage! I will show you why I am better than-” She stopped as you reached down and locked fingers with her. Her dark eyes widened as her Aura fizzled in her hands and the potency and strength of it seemed to fade away.

“S-stop!” She felt weak, weaker than she ever had and you could see it. Her frustration excited you. Every person was different and for Jeane she was drive by frustrations over inferiority, class and skill. You brought your face close to your.

“You’re constantly stating how much better you are than everyone. You’re only telling them without ever demonstrating. Why?”

“Stop…” She looked away, but you released her hand and took her chin instead to **** her to look at you unsteadily.

“Because the cruel reality is all ‘in theory’ isn’t it?”

“No!” She gulped. You rose subtly while pulling her chin up so that her gaze followed you as you both metaphorically and literally rose above her. She looked so pathetic on the ground and you knew that she was almost ready.

“A spoiled little girl leaves home. She’s incredibly skilled. She passed all the tests. Extremely intelligent. But…” You grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction in your bullying.

“The moment you leave home you’re tricked in sucha fundamental way. You did not avoid or protect against a single thing that happened to you. As you arrived in a foreign land, weak and scared, you relied not on your own power and wisdom, but a stranger. You put all your trust in me, Jeane.” You chuckled lightly, motioning to yourself with you palm.

“But the reality was… you got so lucky. Do you realise how close you were to picking the wrong one to latch onto? Consider how fortunate it is that you found someone that protected you and took care of you with no return requested at all. Think about how I participated in your delusions of grandeur all the way up until now.” You made a calculated expression of pity.

“Don’t look at me like that…” She whined. It hit as hard as you hoped.

“Please stop… I want my hat back and I just wanna go home.”

You sighed and extended your hand. She was about to reach for it, but while she was so **** you explained.

“You can go home if you take my hand, Jeane. I’ll do everything I can to get you out of here…” She stopped, as expected. A smile crossed your lips again.

“But you don’t want that, do you? No no… Jeane, you want- no, you need to be correct. You need to stay and show me I’m wrong.”

She pulled her hand back and clenched it tight while her teeth gritted. “What do you want from me?”

You thought for a moment. “What do you mean?”

Jeane stared up with strong defiance and anger. It made you feel like you might’ve failed, but then she clarified.

“I am not a freeloader. I am not reliant. Tell me what you want from me so I can prove to you that I am RIGHT!” She screamed. She went from anger to shock as you slipped down to her lever and embraced her warmly.

“Oh… sweetie. You’re so smart and driven.”

“W-what?” her heart thumped in her chest as you rubbed her slender back while your chin rested on her narrow shoulders. You could hear in her shaky tone that she was shocked.

“Hey, Fiona? What are you-”

“I believe in you, Jeane… of course I do. I never doubted that you’d understand. You are so right. I can tell you exactly what you need to do. If you listen to me, I can help you ‘earn’ everything you deserve~”

“Really?” The elf’s mouth hung open. Her cheeks were fully flushed.

“I think that everything you think about yourself is correct. You just needed the wisdom to know that you needed help getting there.”

“Well-” She answered uncertainly.

“So smart, Jeane.” You interjected with a sweet, motherly tone.

“Hah… I- I see.”

You broke the hug, eyes lighting up as you regard the same elf, at least outwardly. Internally you saw Jeane for what you had broken her down into. A ball of clay. There was a definite process to making something from a soft material. Shaping, detailing and then of course there was the firing. Manipulation was not difficult at that point. You took Jeane and started shaping.

A day later she was already starting to relapse. “What is it?” You asked her curiously.

“I- I was only thinking, Master. You said I was clever and I trust you, but my specialty is magic… So perhaps my sword could be in service to-” She stopped and swallowed hard as a wide-eyed look dawned across your face in response to the suggestion.

“A sword in… ‘service’ to magic? Pardon, Jeane?”

“I apologise!” The elf began to sweat. Your words and the brainwashing you had already ingrained in her to turn her into a lump of clay was not kind on her psyche. All it took was for you to look away from her with disappointment as you sat and drank tea in the courtyard. You punctuated the silence with a sip.

“You believe me that I am sorry, right?” She asked.

“I’m just not sure… do you even know why I’m disappointed in you, Jeane? Why what you said was so wrong?” You looked pained as you turned to stare into her eyes.

“I thought you were clever… Now I’m not so-” The corners of your lips curled up slightly as she desperately interjected while dropping to one knee and hugging her sheathed sword to her chest.

“The sword is in service to nothing! M-master, please believe me when I say-” She her lips quivered as you continued to look unimpressed. She prostrated herself in an attempt to impress you, her sword lifted off the ground by her upturned palms as the proud and bougie elf’s delicate forehead and fine clothing was dirtied by the ground. It was a statement which added to her clarification. It told you, as you looked on gleefully, that she was very serious. Jeane believed what she was saying.

“Nothing is in service to the sword, Master! I merely spoke incorrectly and I was wrong for that. Wha-what I wished to say was that… I am a- I was a mage and I believe my magic can be in service to the sword.”

You rubbed your chin. “Hm…” It was something that you had planned to broach, eventually. The purpose of Jeane as a n experiment was to see how someone with noble upbringing and a bad attitude could be altered into something completely opposed, but your blood pumped to your heart and excited you as you considered the practical side of teaching a mage to become a Knight.

“Jeane.” You reached down and stroked her hair affectionately. She cautiously looked up, a dusty mark on her forehead. You chuckled and took a hankie from the table to wipe it off with a bit of spit.

“That is a good idea. What I would like you to do is contemplate hard how your magic can be fully transformed to something that’s in service to your sword. Bring a proof of concept for me to approve and show around for repeat trials.” You expected her to look the same as before. Like someone that was just tugging along. Instead, the elf seemed like an excited puppy and even nuzzled into your affectionate hand. Your brow lifted curiously.

“Hm?’

“Th-thank you, Master, for this chance!”

You sat back, an odd sensation washing over you. Your eyes shut and you thought about letting it pass, but her voice was just so… meek and obedient. Your eyes opened and you immediately stared down at her from where you were seated.

“Such a good girl, Jeane. You may kiss my foot and leave if you’re done.” You said it so quickly and casually, as if it were so normal. You expected her to make an indignant, pouty face and it would’ve been fun to see. You didn’t plan to enforce it. Just a minor jab. To your surprise, though, you felt soft lips on the top of your foot. You were wearing heeled sandals. There was even a bit of tongue as Jeane separated her lips from your foot and stared up with lewd obsession.

“Thank you for this chance, Master. Sincerely, Your student is grateful to add to your research!” She stood up, bowed and left in a hurry.

“Hmm. Was that odd to you?” You asked, idly patting Kara’s head. She was curled up on a chair next to you. You had taken to treating her like a pet, but you had always planned to try training her, as well. It was just that you expected Jeane to be a handful, so you were holding off on what you expected to be the significantly easier of the two. Kara yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“Wha?”

“Nevermind.”

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this story and want to read more of it, more Chapters are currently available to read at https://www.patreon.com/TVWintergreen I upload new chapters every week day with extra content also being released constantly to my discord for Extra Tier Members."