Thorjen Verse 5.5 Choosing a company (Final)

Other POV

Lana could count on one finger the number of times her mother had smiled towards her. One of those instances was when she was still quite very young. She had learned wordless magic for the first time and remembered seeing that cold woman, the one who hardly spoke to her, her usual stare was one filled with a dark empty look. And yet, she was smiling down towards her that day. A look of warmth and pride glazed against those bright hazel eyes. Lana never forgot that day, that memory in fact had been one she cherished close to her heart.

The towering doors slowly parted. Being so heavy in size the doors took a few moments to slowly move across the marble ground. Lana sat on a short comfortable seat facing the throne. She captured the sounds of numerous footsteps entering inside. Amongst the heavy-footed iron wearers, she distinctively isolated the one amongst them with finer sounding footsteps. With each forward step taken towards her, Lana felt her heart skip a beat. Finally, she arrived by the foot of the first ascending step. Lana shivered, she raised her helm expectantly. And waited.

With measured steps the Queen of the Lucien kingdom made her way towards her throne seat. Lana’s gaze and her helm both remained lowered. She was still as a statue, waiting for the queen to take her seat.

“Raise your head...Princess Lana” she heard an empowering voice almost sing.

Lana calmed her heart down before straightening her posture as she lifted her helm to meet the piercing gaze of the woman who birthed her, but in truth was far from a mother as one could be.

“Thank you for seeing me...my Queen” she said cordially

“Tsk! Child, do you still find it so troubling to call me mother when we’re alone?” the queen said

Lana was a little taken back by that response, but then history swiftly replayed back to her, and she was dutifully reminded by past memories that she should never let her guard down. She gave a quick look towards the stationed guards by the foot of the stairs. Before she bowed once more and said.

“Forgive me my queen, but we...aren’t alone.”

“Heh-this brat” The queen sniggered; she then clapped her two hands together. Lana heard iron rustling around the guardsmen without a word being said as they begun to make their way out of the hall. A few minutes later and the towering doors finally slam shut

“Now then...speak! What is it you desire from me then?”

Lana exhaled a warm breath to centre her nerves. She raised her head slowly until she locked eyes with the woman considered one of the most powerful people across the entire citadel. Lana felt waves of conflicting emotions stirring through her body at this point, but she understood one simple truth which helped her relax soon enough. ‘She isn’t your mother...she is the Queen of Lucien Kingdom.’

“I...I want to...-”

“Fufufu oh my, when has the princess ever looked so nervous around her only mother. One might feel you’re either scared or trying to spare my feelings. And we both know its neither of those two things now don’t we.” she spoke playfully, although Lana could see the slight narrowness within her eyes. She was stalking her, like a wild animal tails its prey.

“Ahem! I want...no. I will be starting my own company. I have merely come here as a formality to let you know of my plans” She finally told her, she felt her heart beating wildly as she remained steadfast with her resolve. Her eyes refused to back down. This was her moment. Her chance to finally break free from it all. Would she allow her too? She had ****. Lana felt a sudden wave of coldness filling the entire hall. Whilst the Queen’s expressionless gaze beheld her gently on the outside . She knew inside was an entirely different face altogether. Lana refused to relent, squeezing the hem of her dress she refused to remove her gaze away for a single moment.

“I…I have found trustworthy people I hope to put my faith in. I will run the company as its silent head, I will conduct my business within the shadows. My ill...ahem my illness aside, there shouldn't be anything that will hinder me from doing this. I will step down from the head once the members see it fit to elect someone that may be more suitable to lead than I.”

The Queen scoffed.

“A member of the royal house doubting their own given birthright to rule? Ahaha oh child how naïve you still are.” The Queens words struck Lana sorely, she needed to bite her lower lip to prevent her emotions from spilling out.

“As I said before this is merely a formality. I plan on dedicating a lot of my time towards this, and making sure my company rises to the very top.”

“Ooh-ho, is that so- Good-good since it’s something you’ve already decided upon without my input. What more can I say than…good luck.” Deep down Lana was hoping for something more, perhaps for the first time in what felt like a lifetime ago. Shed be proud of her. ‘Im still naïve.’

But this was the reality. The queen was who she was and nothing was going to change that. Lana bowed her head before rising to her feet. There was nothing more to be said. Whilst she made her back towards the door.

“Child! Just out of curiosity. What will be the name of your…company?”

Lana was a little surprised she asked her that. She studied the Queens lethargic demeanor from afar. Then sighed softly beneath her breath and said.

“The Neo-Hero Party.”

Thorjen

The morning sun fell upon him wondrously. Despite it being only a mere day and a half, Thorjen felt as though he had been bed bound for longer. He snorted in the morning air, drinking it greedily as though it was the most tasty form of nourishment ever. Walking beside him was the tall and strikingly beautiful lady called Ness.

“Now that we’ve solved the issue about which company you’ll be joining, providing you can prove yourself to be somewhat capable of being a knight. We get to move onto the fun stuff. Training! Hehe.”

For the first time since he met Ness, Thorjen saw a mischievous excitement creased against the beast girl’s face. He too was looking forward to finally moving forward. His eyes scanned the outside noticing Threyja wasn’t present.

‘That’s odd, she said she’d come and see me early. Hm perhaps she’s still sleeping.’

“Hey N-ness, did you see Threyja on your way here by any chance?”

Threyja? Oh the Elven girl. Your girlfriend I presume?”

“N-no she’s not…but she said she was going to meet me this morning.”

“ last thing I remember, she mentioned having to sort some things out yesterday. Perhaps she never managed to solve those matters. Either way she’s likely just busy, You need to stop worrying about others. Your situation despite the opportunity isn't what id exactly call the best of circumstances.”

Thorjen looked up at her with a slight inquisitive look

“I’ve heard about your background. Your meridians are partially blocked? And for cultivators I heard you're basically as good as dead at that point right? Lucky for you there are different kinds of ways to get stronger in this world. For me it's simple. A knight must have guts and skill. You have those two things and everything else falls into place. Come on I’m going to take you to one of my favorite training spots, its super secretive so I trust you’ll keep this to yourself?”

“Of course, you have my word.” He said with a charming smile. Strangely for the second time he noticed Ness blushing which looked a little outside of her character, she swiftly turned her nose away in a faux proud manner in response.

“Hmph those pretty eyes of yours will get a girl in trouble one of these days.”

After their brief chat, the pair made their way towards the outskirts of the citadel.

“Hya” Gya!

*Whoosh*

*Smack*

*Swish*

A fierce high raised knee soared towards his head. Thorjen used the thick oak practice sword to shield himself from the impact. He felt a wave of pressure fall against him before he endured a devastating hit. Sending him skidding across the partial grassland. Where he rolled to the edge and slipped into shallow river behind him.

*Splash!*

“Not bad. Your movement is good but you still don’t know how to guard yourself from aura. I kind of figured that was the case after watching your duel in the arena.” Ness stood by the edge of the river. Shaking her fists a little as she seemed to be thinking about something.

“You’re adept to taking hits and countering. Good eyes, we just need to work on your timing. We’ll spend at least a few hours per day working on your swordsmanship and fighting prowess. Then every few days i’ll take you to the beast glades.”

“The beast glades?”

“ It’s a deep forest range south of here where you can find all types of beasts. You haven’t had experience in a life and **** situation. So you wont understand how your body truly feels in danger until you do.” Thorjen thought it made sense, although he wasn’t too keen hearing her mention the words life and ****. But it would be good to explore the region somewhat. Alongside a golden ranked Knight like Nesselda, he was excited to see just how strong she was up close.

“Oh-ho so this is where you’re hiding my Nesselda” a voice soundly interrupts.

Thorjen swiftly moved his gaze towards the approaching figure walking behind Nesselda. A short, proud looking young man dressed in silver armour plates and maroon leather. He donned messy fiery red hair and a bow and arrow strapped against his back.

Thorjen noticed Nesselda’s body slightly tense up. Her eyes swiftly narrowed as they flashed with anger soon enough.

“Rudd? Wh-what the hell are you doing here?” She snapped

“Aha you have to ask? I’m here to see my beloved Nesselda of course “ Rudd chuckled smoothing his fiery hair back.

‘Hmm? Is he…Nesselda’s boyfriend?’ Thorjen wondered, he wasn’t sure why but he felt slightly annoyed once he considered that.

“Are you insane I told you if you continue to say weird things ill end up burying my sword into your chest. An-and I’m busy right now- so get lost before I get angry.”

Once she finished saying that, Thorjen felt a heavy pressure descending within the air. So much so that he noticed ripples against the surface of the once peaceful stream around him.

Rudd held up his hands in protest quick enough. “Ah Nesselda why so violent, aha you forget you can’t kill me, you’ll only be bringing calamity upon yourself.”

“W-well then, I challenge you to a duel in the arena. If you’re so brave meet me in the center of the ring.”

“Pfft, me a mere Silver Rank taking on a Golden Ranked knight? I must regrettably refuse that suicide mission my dearest Nesselda.”

Thorjen eventually stood upright, climbed out of the shallow waters and took a few steps forward until he was standing beside the clearly enraged Ness. He sort of gauged that there was a clear friction between the two. And he didn’t like the sort of faces Ness was making because of this fellow. It subtly reminded him of how Marco used to always bother Threyja back on the blue mountain.

“Ness! Is everything ok?”

“Huh? Wh-who the hell is he?” Rudd pointed directly at him, Thorjens eyes flashed open suddenly and he swiftly dove to one side. Ness also moved, and slammed her hand against the air where Thorjen was standing moments ago.

*PENG!*

A silver nail slowly fell against the ground. Thorjen felt his neck covered in beads of sweat. His eyes barely managed to keep up with that sly attack.

“Hm not bad-I was assured that would’ve kil-”

“Have you gone completely mad! H-how dare you touch him””

*WHOOOOOOOOSH!*

A gust of wind blew across the ground, Ness vanished before reappearing right in front of the red haired young man. Her fists were coated in a golden light as she swung a rising uppercut which clocked Rudd squared against his chin. Sending his stocky frame flying back before his body slammed into one of the tall nearby trees.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

‘S-so quick...a-and devastating.’ Thorjen thought, staring at the voluptuous beast girl heaving in and out.

“Gyuk...Ouch!” Ness remarked, Thorjen swiftly rose up from his knelt position and approached her.

“Wh-whats wrong, did you hurt yourself?”

“N-no I... wait what is this?” She yelped

Thorjen followed Ness’s line of sight. Against her closed fists was a set of crimson runes forming quickly, they covered her entire hand within a blink of an eye before creeping down her wrists and along her arms. Ness released her grip and grimaced in anguish. Thorjen grabbed hold of her arm to support her, but she swiftly regained her composure and steadied her footing.

“I’m alright...he must’ve done something to me.” She said scowling at the dust cloud in the near distance.

“Cough-cough-gyeuk (vomit) *atu Spits*”

“ahahaha wow Nesselda, that was great...what was that 40% of your power. Hmmm I miss that rage of yours ya know, you always know how to get a man going hehehe.”

Thorjen felt his chest waver slightly, watching the bloody smirk creased along Rudd’s face as he staggered towards them. His mouth was covered in blood and his body wouldn’t stop swaying from side to side. But despite the depressed state his body was in, that jovial grin remained. Almost as though he was enjoying the pain.

“What did you do to me?” Ness demanded

“Hm? Oh, didn’t you know? We made a pact remember, and an oath of blood is an unbreakable thing you know Nesselda. Fufufu until you fulfil your promise to me, any damage you inflict upon me is sent back to you ten times. All thanks to this nifty gear I received from my master ahaha fabulous isn't it?” He cradled in his hand a small crimson egg. Thorjen narrowed his gaze when he saw it, he could sense something truly sinister coming from it.

‘I’ve felt this once before...b-but where?’

Ness looked clearly shaken, she could only stand there wordlessly whilst her body trembled from the rage she was holding back from exploding.

“GRAAAAAA-FUCK!” she roared before slamming her fists into the ground.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The ground beneath Thorjen quaked as though a titan had stomped its feet.

Once the aftershock had passed, he noticed Nesselda had her eyes closed. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Thorjen tried to keep his eyes above her neck, as he could clearly see her large breasts moving up and down in the process as she took deep breaths.

Nesselda finally opened her eyes again, they looked more serene now and less agitated. She moved her gaze towards Thorjen, and surprisingly creased the most brilliant smile he had ever seen her make.

She walked towards him with careful and measured steps. Wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her face closer to his own. Thorjen was stuck between dodging and asking her what the hell she was about to do. Ness lowered her mouth close to his ears, Thorjen felt her warm breath bathe the side of his face. She smelt incredibly sweet.

“Tr-trust me...ok” She whispered, and before Thorjen held a chance to respond Ness placed her two hands against his face and **** her tongue into his mouth.

“Mhhpf...slurp...mchu...mh...ah...slurp...nnngh...mmpf.” By instinct Thorjens tongue started to engage in the tantalizing dance with Nesselda’s warm and wet tongue. Safe to say Thorjen wasn’t expecting his first days of training to go like this.

Their loudly lewd kiss continued for a lengthy time before.

“Mwah!” She pulled away purposely leaving a string of saliva between their mouths. Thorjen was in a daze, he couldn't've keep his eyes off her beautiful full lips.

“W-wait for me” she mouthed before turning around to face Rudd who looked as though he had seen a ghost. His eyes were bulging wide, and his mouth was stammering inaudible things. Ness casually walked towards him. “Lets get this over with. The sooner I break this so-called oath, the sooner I can rip that head off your shoulders.” Rudd just about regained his senses once he saw the tall legged beauty walking in his clear sights. but he snarled like an animal and pointed his finger towards Thorjen. “T-th-this isn't over! Now you’ve become my rival Elf...I’ll deal with you the next time we meet hmph!”

Thorjen wasn’t sure how in the world he had gotten wrapped into their trouble. But the more he thought on it, the less he truly cared. He didn’t like that Rudd fellow, and less so now that he understood Nesselda clearly wasn’t a fan as well.

‘But then why is she going along with him? And what’s this so-called oath about.’ Whilst he watched the pair walking towards the cobbled streets leading towards the main citadel, Thorjen felt something coarse caressed into his palms. He curiously took a look, discovering a glowing blue crystal tucked into his palm.

‘What the? How did this get...’ He suddenly remembered Nesselda’s wild kiss. She must’ve used the chance to give me this.

Thorjen handled the gem stone which was no bigger than a baby's fist. He held it before his eyes and observed it in silence. It took him a while before he realized what the glittering stone was.

“Auh! It’s a...b-beast core?”

The sun moved across the skies or was it the clouds which appeared and smothered the golden rays away from the world below. Thorjen was seated in the lotus position, he had achieved a state of oneness and was currently absorbing the beast core at a tremendous rate. What was both surprising and disheartening was the idea, he was sure his body was greedily accepting what he felt was a high graded beast's core, the red bead was shaking excitedly again once he started stirring the beast cores Qi. Only he didn’t feel any deep changes to his body which meant he wasn’t advancing in cultivation.

‘Maybe it needs a larger amount of Qi. But just how much cores do I need to feed it before it grows?’ He sighed beneath his breath, slowly opening his two eyes again.

‘W-wait...my eyes. I can see...further than usual. And that’s not all but...’ Thorjen moved his peculiar gaze around the gentle scenery. He could not only see beyond a greater distance, but he could see different colours flowing throughout the living things. These colours were somewhat like particles tiny in size but gathered in the many. He stared into the water and saw a whole sea of them, same thing faintly in the air, along with the trees and the birds and tiny creatures he could now see as clear as day, walking against thin blades of grass

‘What kind of power was this...was this my own power? Or did I inherit it from the Guardian of Choas?’ His mind wondered and his thoughts travelled towards a near distant memory. When he was dueling that brutish knight. Most of what happened after he lost consciousness was a haze, but subtly he was starting to remember the name of something.

“D-demon eyes? Is this...a new technique.”

Thorjens thoughts were troubled soon enough, he moved his gaze towards the east. Where he noticed a voluptuous curvy figure approaching. She was still quite some distance away but Thorjen could see every small detail about her.

‘Nesselda’s back’ He smiled to himself, ‘B-but why does she look so...worn out?’

Her cheeks were beet red along with her slightly disheveled appearance, he also noticed her tights looked like they had been torn and she kept fidgeting with her clothes. It was strange to him, but recalling that obnoxious fellow from before.

‘She probably beat him up again and had some trouble along the way. But damn, she looks a little...l-lewd.’ Thorjen felt his member rising in his trousers He understood he couldn’t let her see him aroused once she returned back to him, so he slapped his two cheeks again and got back into the lotus position.

A few minutes later and Ness finally arrived. Thorjen slowly opened his eyes, pretending he hadn't been ogling over her appearance before she arrived.

“Tho-thorjen...I’m back” Her voice sounded less frightening and more sweeter this time around. She could barely keep her eyes locked onto his own for a while. Thorjen sensed something was bothering her.

“Is everything alright...did he-h-hurt you?”

A smile creased against her face again.

“Hurt me? He could never hurt me. B-but thank you for caring. I’ve taken care of the matter so don’t worry about him causing you any trouble. J-just focus on your...w-wait you absorbed the beast core already?” Ness’s attention was suddenly piqued, she knelt down beside him, bringing her face dangerously close again before pressing two fingers against his wrist.

“Strange. I don’t feel your body has changed. But the core has definitely been...” her words filtered into a whisper. Thorjen felt her slightly cold fingers unknowingly massaging her wrist tenderly. Her eyes were filled with the same look he had seen many times before when others tried to study his cultivation problems.

Thorjen looked away, scratching the side of his helm. ‘I cant tell her about the red bead and inheritance. N-not yet anyway. It’s too soon.’

Whilst his mind debated whether or not it made sense to reveal his true nature. He heard a deep sigh escaping Nesseldas pretty mouth.

“We all have our share of secrets. It kind of makes sense, Lana just doesn’t become infatuated with anyone you know. There’s something about you that’s captured her heart...It’s...strange. Hmph anyway its not just because your pretty why I kissed you by the way. It was also to help me send a message to that pervert. So don’t go thinking too deeply into it.” She turned her nose away, Thorjen found it cute noticing her face turning red again.

‘Perhaps I should start opening up to others more.’ He was reminded about the time he spent with Geary, and all the things she had spoke to him about getting along with people.

“I...I have a weird...sigh...I’m not too sure how to even explain it. But this body of mine changes almost everyday. There’s so much I don’t understand myself.”

“It’s ok. That’s why we’re here. You have people you can rely on now, and I'm the best Golden Ranked knight you could’ve hoped to have found. Lucky you ay fufufu” Ness laughed playfully, seemingly back to her old self.

Thinking about secrets Thorjen wanted to ask her about that fellow Rudd.

“That guy from before...What’s his problem?”

“Sigh. I was waiting for you to ask me that. It’s nothing much to say. A long long time ago, we...d-dated. But it was nothing serious, it started and ended as quickly as it had begun I swear. He’s insane and the moment I realized that I broke it off. Only he doesn’t take rejection too well and ended up bothering me for ages. He’s...”

“Troubled?”

Ness wore a smile, nodding her head in agreement. He wasn’t afraid Nesselda couldn’t handle herself. Only he couldn’t shake away the feeling of annoyance cradled in his heart about it.

“Haha look at you frowning your face? Do you think I’m like one of those helpless maidens in the tales who need a knight to come and save them? Puahaha. D-don’t worry handsome. Ness is the mightiest.” She said flexing her biceps.

Thorjen found the funny side in her actions and the pair started rolling in heartly laughter, whilst the lukewarm noons air gently stirred above their helms

“Gr-ah what the hell!” Thorjen felt a sudden sharp pain against the outside of his left hand. He turned his hand over and found a glaring purple sigil glowing in and out. Ness swiftly took hold of his arm, she gasped almost instantly once she laid eyes on the glowing pattern which had appeared out of nowhere.

“Thorjen! T-this is...the call of the mages?

“The mages? W-why are they calling me for?”

“I think...it’s your company summoning you?”