Kazex has a hunch and Christien questions his father

Sighing contentedly, Kazex left the Golden Goose' side-room that led to the cellar. After having such a skillful human girl pleasure his cock with such dedication, he couldn't help but think about the numerous ways he could rail her at a later date. Her eagerness to fuck over her own boyfriend was just a tad worrying, but he was seriously considering adding her to his future harem of breeding stock and lovers. Her buxom figure helped a bit, sure, but her enthusiasm in sucking him off played a large part in his consideration.

'If she sucks a cock like that, imagine what it be to fuck her,' he thought to himself with a chuckle. Almost whistling a jaunty tune, Kazex approached Talanah and Galiana, who were waiting for him at the counter.

"So is it done? What did the girl want to ask?" the elf asked. Looking up, Kazex noticed a faint flush on Galiana's cheeks even as she stared off into the distance with a stony facade.

Shrugging, Kazex turned to Talanah. "Ilyria just wanted to know if goblins were really as sex-crazed as rumors make us out to be. And when I told her that generally, it was true for most goblins, she asked if I could bring one for Marian because, as she put it, 'the girl needs a rough shag'."

"Ugh, seriously? What's wrong with the girls in this town, they literally only have sex in their minds!" Talanah exclaimed in disbelief.

Galiana only snorted. "Sluts will be sluts, elf," she jeered. "You'd be surprised at all the raunchy stuff that goes on in these backwater towns." Talanah gave the tall woman an annoyed look at her words. "What, did you never fool around in elf-land?"

"I did, but I still had more important things to worry about," Talanah replied with a certain stiffness in her posture. Galiana gave the elf a smirk, looking like she was on the verge of of chuckling out loud.

Deciding to intervene before things took a turn for the worse, Kazex spoke up. "Anyway, we have some new information now. My idea is to go to Caelfall and look for this Christien that Ilyria just told us about."

"Why? The girl said there were a lot of Christiens 'round these parts. I don't want to walk half a day to a different town on just a hunch, goblin," Galiana sneered down at him. In what certainly wouldn't be the last time, Kazex cursed the goblin's race lack of height. Even if he was taller than every single he'd seen in his life, he was still a bit shorter than the average human.

"It is the only lead we have right now, however. If you have a different idea or suggestion, I'm all ears," he replied with an exasperated look. The adventurer turned shopkeeper was really getting on his nerves. "Given that neither Ilyria nor Marian recognized the man that Helga left with, there's a good chance that he isn't from Alerwick."

If the look of dawning comprehension on Talanah's face was anything to go by, the elf had just realized something. "Ah, I see - that's why you asked if the other girl lived here too."

"Exactly!" he said with a smile, pleased to see his friend understand his reasoning. "Which means that going to Caelfall might as well be our next stop. We can't know for sure if they went to that town, but at least we'll check off one of them if they didn't."

"Well... it's not like we have any other clues. I say let's go with Kazex's idea," Talanah said with a shrug, earning a grumble from Galiana. However, the large woman said nothing, relenting and accepting their plan despite the scowl on her face.

Next stop: Caelfall.

xxOOOxx

Several miles away from Alerwick and the investigation being conducted there, Christien paced in a small room. He was nervous, running a hand through his hair with startling regularity and hemming and hawing to himself as he sent anxious looks to the unassuming door that led to the cellar. He still couldn't believe what his father was doing, the man had to have gone mad!

How could he think **** Lady Helga would turn out okay?! It sickened him to see what he was doing to Lady Helga - what his father was forcing him to do to her. He should do something about it. He _could _do something about it! Christien sent another anxious look to the door to the cellar, clearly torn by indecision... and then he looked away.

But he was a coward. Really, he knew it to be a fact. His father was a terrifying man, there was nothing that he wouldn't find out eventually if he wanted. He always seemed to know when he'd done something wrong and then would look at him with those steely eyes of his that stripped you down to your core and left you shivering in fright.

His father could easily cow someone into submission and he'd seen it happen enough times to know it was impossible to resist against it. Oh, it had all been innocent things before, when it happened outside home, but he'd lived with his family all his life - he could see the truth for what it was. He'd always thought him to be a domineering man, stern and expecting his words to be followed as law itself, but he'd never thought... this was pure madness! And the worst of it, he was dragging them along with him!

Had Christien not been so scared of his father, perhaps he might have acted at that point. Had he not been so cowardly when it came to his father, maybe he would have finally decided to defy his father at that point. But Christien was scared of his father. He was a coward when it came to the opportunity to stand up against him. Whatever he felt and thought of the whole situation paled in the face of the fear he had of him.

Christien kept pacing. Eventually, when he was beginning to think his heart would burst from nervousness alone and he'd almost created a hole in the floor from all his pacing, the door that led to the entrance staircase opened, letting his father in. Feeling a tight knot form in his throat, Christien gulped.

"Son! Good to see you here just as I said. Did you have fun with the bitch?" He looked cheerful, a smirk firmly planted on his face and carrying a bag with a hand.

'Just give him what he wants to hear.'

"I - yeah. She tried to convince me to help her, but I- well, I just told her to shut up and used her mouth to- to relieve myself," he said, trying not to wince at the lie. Fortunately, it seemed like his father was just in too much of a good mood to notice his awful attempt at lying, as he laughed animatedly. For once, it looked like luck was on his side.

"Not surprising at all, but I knew you'd be able to shut her down. I've taught you well, son - a whore witch wouldn't be able to tempt you."

Christien grunted and looked away, feeling a strong flush of shame creep up his cheeks and neck. Lady Helga's attempts of convincing him had left him rock hard from arousal once he'd started thinking about it again and he'd eventually released all the pent-up build-up by himself with his hand while thinking of the smoothness of Lady Helga's skin, of the large breasts that she'd offered to him with a lustful smile, the wetness of her pussy as he fingered it... the kiss they shared while she was bound to a chair.

His orgasm had been one of the strongest when he'd thought of fucking her, imagining her belly growing bigger and bigger with his child inside. And yet, he could only feel guilt and disgust in himself after the act. She had confessed her love for him and he'd basically rejected it! All because of his father! How could he look at her now?

"Well, have you given her the potion?"

"Yes, some time ago."

"Excellent, well done! I will go down in a moment to continue her training, then."

In any other situation, Christien would've been over the moon to have made his father proud. Stern as he was, his approval was hard to gain but it was worth it, because his father's mood would improve significantly for a time and that was as good as it could get. But now, Christien only felt sickened. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Father, wait. Why- why are we keeping Lad- I mean, the witch here? Why are you doing this?"

His father stopped and turned to glance at him, a calculating look on his beady eyes. It was similar to the piercing look he gave people when he was staring them down, but Christien **** himself to stay composed, using all his willpower even if he was screaming in his head. After a few seconds that seemed to stretch into infinity, his father smiled.

"Hm, it's true that I haven't said anything about it, right? Well, I believe you've earned the right to know. You're my son, after all. Come, sit down," he said, gesturing to the only chairs of the room, placed next to a table, the only other piece of furniture in the room.

Feeling an acute sense of trepidation, Christien obeyed his father and took a seat, watching as his father slid down to the other one and moved it so they'd be facing each other. "So, what's this all about, father?"

"You know how the whore settled down here a few years ago, right?"

"I- yes, it was about a year or so before I got my leg wound, right?" Christien asked, brow furrowed in thought.

"Around then, yes. Well, I didn't like the idea of her staying to live in the area to begin with. What was the deal with a woman like her deciding to live here, I thought. Surely she'd have preferred to stay in the capital and live a live of luxury and decadence while trying to curry favor with the Queen."

"But father, you can't just assume things to be true based on rumors," Christian said with a nervous look. His words, which would have been a clear protest with anyone else, were simply given as a weak statement in front of his father, who merely waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

"I know that, boy. Rumors can be spread by anyone, be them right or wrong. Still, some of them may have a grain of truth in there sometimes. And we've heard plenty about the decadence and depravity going on in those schools for the gifted," Marius explained with scorn, spitting in disgust to the floor when he uttered the word 'gifted'.

Christien still thought it wrong to label all those who had the gift of magic as disgusting whores or men obsessed with court politics. It was no fault of Lady Helga herself to be as beautiful as she was, despite the fact it validated the viewpoint in his father's mind. However, Christien said nothing, keeping his true thoughts to himself.

"And was I not right when she settled on that tower she created out of nothing? Up there in the mountain of the forest, watching down on us from her seat up in there. She couldn't very well live among hardy folk like us, normal people, no - she had to stay true to her vanity and build a home suiting her queer tastes from the capital!" Marius spat with a glare. "Of course, the mindless sheep-fuckers that are the people of these towns just lapped it all up. They were all so happy when the witch that had decided to live this far back in the woods started helping people. 'Blessed we ar' in soth, that Lady Helga decided to live here!' 'Aye, 'tis a good omen, it doth bode well of us.' Bah, damn lickspittles, the lot of them! It's as if they forgot all their fear and doubts at what the whore would do from dusk to dawn."

At this point, the man stood up, an incensed look upon his face. Infuriated as he was, he simply didn't even notice the grimace that passed by Christien's face as he spoke. "They were all so ready to accept into their homes, let them near their children and for what? You and I, boy, we have seen the true _Lady _Helga: a simple whore, like all witches. Why else would she go around without undergarments under those pretentious dresses of hers? Her body is yet more proof of this true: sinful and created to corrupt and tempt!"

"You still haven't told me what's the whole point of this, father," Christien reminded him then, hands slightly shaking on the table. He didn't even want to raise the point that it had been Lady Helga herself that had saved Christien's leg when it became infected from a bad wound a year after she arrived. Angry as he was, his father would probably snap at what must have been one of the worst moments of his life, having to endure and play nice to someone he apparently despised so much.

Regardless, Christien's remark brought Marius up short. "Ah yes, my plan. It is in fact quite simple. I will use the whore's popularity to my advantage. Everyone in these parts trusts her, sees her as a source of wisdom and valuable counsel. With that in mind, I will use her to take control of these towns and rule them the right way, the way they should be directed."

This time, Christien didn't even have to worry about keeping his shock in check, because his father's plan was so outrageous that him gaping at the idea wasn't strange at all. "Father, are you crazy?! How are you even planning on doing that? Lad- The witch will never agree to help!"

"Fool boy, did you think I would be doing this if I wasn't sure of my success?" the man thundered, rounding up on him. "What did you think I visited the whore's house to read her books so many times for? Where did you think the recipe for Mirbhiris' Bane came from, you dolt? No, the whore will end up helping me. Whether she does it willingly or not remains to be seen yet."

"And how are you even going to convince her to help? I thought you'd prefer to be done with it and **** her hand."

"Oh, no! I absolutely want to see her face when she ends up agreeing to help out willingly. Whores like her are like wild foals, they need to be properly broken in before they can be rebuilt to serve their purpose. She has been far too accustomed to people lavishing her with love and adoration, it's finally time someone reminds her of what she actually is: a whore. A slut."

"What... what are you saying, father?" Christien asked, with a worried look on his face.

"Isn't it obvious, boy? I will humiliate her and use her body in every way possible until she's **** to face the truth. She's been lying to herself for so long, acting as if she's some sort of noble lady, that when she realizes being used is actually her true purpose as a whore, she will break. And then, I will rebuild her; she might be still a whore, but at least, she will be a useful one. And with her magic and her influence on all the nearby towns, I will finally be able to make things right. We will make things right," the man amended, looking at his son.

Christien, who somehow managed to put on a blank expression at his explanation, could only nod, knowing that was what his father wanted to see. Inwardly however, he felt like throwing up. Had his father always been so raving mad? He couldn't say, but it was horrifying how callously he spoke of their own neighbors, how coldly he explained what he had planned for Lady Helga. And for what? A deranged and misguided attempt of 'setting things right'. What was there to make right again?

'Mad. He's gone completely mad,' he thought with dread. Had he not feared him so much, maybe things would have ended right there when Christien confronted him. Maybe. But he did fear him.

Christian kept silent.

Notes: Marius is a lunatic, but of the dangerous kind, since he's still rational even in his derangement. And poor Christien just fell completely for Helga's ruse - he's just kind of a coward when it comes to standing up to his father. We'll see if that changes... Anyway, I think this "arc" has about 5~10 chapters to go till it ends. Then, we'll go for something different.

Also and on a different note, anyone else excited for Spiderman? Can't wait to play it! Too bad I'll start being super busy after next week starts. And I still have to finish Bloodborne, and I want to get GOW at some point... Damnmit, I need more hours in my days!

I tried to catch all the typos and such, but I'm sure some gave me the slip.