Ch8. First Town

The man's knees went weak and he fell on his ass, right into the puddle of his piss.

Irene, scrunching her nose in disgust, asked him again.

"So? What will it be?"

"I will cooperate." The man answered frightfully, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Just please, don't kill me."

Irene was about to start questioning him when Bella stepped forward giddily.

"Let me!" She childishly exclaimed and Irene sighed in exasperation.

"Bella, I just offered him painless death. Taking you into the equation would break my word no matter what you do. You are UNABLE to do 'painless'." She chided but her lips thinned when she saw the betrayed look Bella threw her way.

With a groan, Irene gave up.

"Okay. Fine. Go on, then."

"Wheee!" Bella almost jumped in joy as he skipped her way towards the man, giving him a ridiculing grin, her nose sniffing in disgust at the stench. "Hi, you disgusting piglet!" She enthusiastically greeted him and jabbed her wand in between his eyes.

Before the man could even widen them in fright, he heard Bella's joyful voice.

"Legilimens."

His eyes glazed over and his body went slack. It didn't take even ten seconds before Bella's grin turned to frown and her brows furrowed. Without hesitation she slashed her wand at the bandit's neck in a wordless Difindo, completely severing his head.

"See, Irry? I can do painless... just... fine!" She proudly stated at Irene's raised eyebrow with uh-oh tone.

"So, what did your magic discover?" 'Irry' asked, irked at her nickname but knowing well it is pointless to argue her point for it won't get across to the batty woman.

"They wanted to play with Ickle Bella!" Bella mocked playfully.

"Bellatrix." Thomas admonished her in a gentle voice.

The second she heard his voice, her entire demeanor shifted. No longer was the insane, trigger-happy Ickle Bella in front of them, instead, she was much more composed and serious.

"Apparently some Lord Bolton from Dreadfort, a castle a few miles that way," She pointed to the right. "employed these filthy muggles to attack merchants. They can keep valuables and have their way with women but can't injure them permanently. These women are then given as a gift to the lord as a sex slaves and men are sent to supposedly be an outlet for his anger issues. He loves flaying them alive." Bellatrix shrugged uncaringly. "Which is in my professional opinion very uncreative and crude. The poor idiot won't have much mental capacity. He could get much better results if..."

"Okay, Bell." Irene rolled her eyes. "So? What are we going to do?"

Thomas groaned.

"I know which world we are in." He stated with a difficult expression, not knowing if he should be happy at getting a relatively easy starting point or incensed at being in a completely underdeveloped medieval world that has seen no improvement for ten thousands of years.

"And?" Irene and Bella unintentionally chorused together curiously.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Thomas rubbed his head.

"The good news is, even Bella is considered insanely strong in this world. Irene, however, uh, you would be a world-ending threat by yourself here."

"And how is that good news!?" Bellatrix huffed. "There will be no funny fights!"

"Well, that just means I will have to entertain you in another way, then, doesn't it?" Thomas winked at her, sending her into a giggling, blushing fit of poor imitation of nodding Dobby.

"Well, it also means I will get to entertain you in another way, Bell." Irene smugly joined the conversation, utterly dashing any joy Bella felt at the moment. "I refuse to have such a weak magic-user around without hounding her to better herself. I will make you into a powerhouse yet."

Bellatrix scowled at her but nodded in grudging acceptance, quite happy that someone as powerful as Irry will help her get stronger.

"And the bad news?" Bellatrix blandly asked.

"Ah... we will have to do everything ourselves. A lot of work awaiting us, girls."

"Oh, that's not so bad." Irene nodded. "So? To Dreadfort?"

"Yes, let's go and visit the first town in this world." Thomas offered his hands to the girls who took them in a jiffy.

...

The Dreadfort was dreadfully underwhelming. It was so medieval, Thomas wanted to roll his eyes.

As the trio walked in, people stared at them with respect but a bucket full of wariness due to their luxuriously-looking clothes and proud gait the girls naturally possessed.

They walked through the market, joking among each other as Bella made fun of the people around, quietly calling them uncivilized monkeys under her nose with all of the hate a proper Black is raised to muster at magic-stealing muggle-borns and life-undeserving muggles.

Irene pitied them, instead. The people were obviously poor and used to it. The lord of this place was not a good person. That was clear from the dejected weary expression the peasants held. Even in her time as a Queen, she strived to provide to her people the best she could. She even sacrificed her personal happiness and married a general of a neighboring kingdom, going as far as bearing him a child in order to bring happiness to her subjects. She did her duty to them, proudly and with a smile.

But these people were not HER people. Even the people of her original world were not HER people anymore. Her time as a Queen ceased and now HER people were just Bell and Thomas. And she will be damned if she lets somebody threaten them. They will never show such a dejected, exhausted, and starved face, she will make sure of that.

Thomas was... indifferent. He felt like an observer in a zoo. Yes, he knew the people were suffering but so are the animals in the zoo.

The difference was, he could make a change. Would he though?

As he started pondering about it, it didn't take him even a split of a second to come to a resounding firm 'NO'.

He had no responsibility for them. He was in a world where the murder was an everyday leisure activity and where nobles spent years plotting against each other. Wars ran rampant and people suffered. That was the reality of this world and Thomas had no unexplainable need to change it.

Seeing Irene giving him a knowing look, he stepped closer to her and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Our only concern is ourselves. I will make sure you two are happy with all my strength." He whispered to her, making her face bloom into a smile.

"Yes, My Lord." She teased. "And I promise you, we will make sure you reach any goal you set for yourself." Irene stated sincerely as she looked directly into his gaze, ever so slowly closing the distance between them, their lips calling for each other.

"That's right, Tommy." Bella suddenly popped her head between them, ruining the atmosphere.

As the sky darkened, they decided to leave the town and again use Irene's Enchanting in tandem with Bella's Transfiguration to create a dwelling for themselves. It was infinitely more comfortable than even the best tavern room available.

They found an empty clearing some way away from the Dreadfort when Irene sighed aggravatingly.

"There are at least forty men tailing us since we left Dreadfort. I hoped they would wisen up and leave... alas, the massacre is it." She plainly told them. "They will be here in half an hour."

Bella didn't show even an inch of expectation and when Thomas asked her about it, she answered.

"You said there is nobody strong around. Fighting weaklings is boring."

The house was made and Thomas went inside. Laying on the huge fluffy conjured bed, he entered the mental library of the bond and picked a book about the magic he was interested in, completely trusting Irene and Bella to take care of their attackers.

It was twenty minutes later that Irene gracefully stalked inside as if she was just having a walk while Bella was painfully dragging an old man by his hair towards Thomas. She flung him forward, letting his body impact the ground with an audible 'thump' as his bloodied broken form rolled itself onto his back.

"This whelp said he is the Lord of this dreadful place. He wanted to 'acquire' us." Irene quipped and Bella delivered a sharp kick to the broken body in front of the bed.

"He stated some bullcrap laws around here and from what I gathered asked for something like 'Parley' among pirates." Irene summed up, taking a great unreserved joy at the pained look of the man on the ground. Her words delivered such a great blow to his pride, he even forgot about his physical agony for a moment. He, Lord Bolton, was compared to a filthy pirate!

"I am surprised he survived the meeting with your staff." Thomas deadpanned, clearly observing the man was alive only due to Irene's enchantment. He must have been incredibly cocky when even Irene showed such vindictiveness.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you know about it and ask what to do. You are our master, after all." She coyly smiled.

Resisting the urge to curl his lips up, Thomas looked at the idiot in front of him.

"Lord Bolton, lord Bolton... ah." He remembered who the man was. "Okay, Irene, heal him."

The man on the floor felt relief as his hopes of survival reached the sky. With his newfound courage, he croaked.

"You finally realize your own place, peasant? Don't think you will get away easily with this."

"Bella, make sure to beat him again after he is healed." Thomas added, and just like that Lord Bolton's hopes were dashed. "Chop his cock and obliviate him while making sure he is in a good enough condition to get home. He will be useful later on."

Lord Bolton blanched at the chopping part, never expecting someone to have the courage to do such a thing. And while he had no idea what 'Obliviate' means, he involuntarily shuddered at the sound of it.

Alas, there was nothing he could do and Bellatrix made sure to not chop off his bits with one slash, she instead started slowly from the tip, as if slicing a carrot into smaller parts, taking sadistic glee from his coarse screams. The agony he was in was indescribable and he would remember it for the rest of his life as Bella made sure she did not Obliviate that memory, only erased her face and any distinguishing details.

Irene and Thomas thanked the effectiveness of silencing charms as they didn't have to hear Lord Bolton's screams.

Instead, Thomas enjoyed as Irene's bare breasts jumped up and down on his chest alongside feeling her squishy body as she straddled his waist with her hands around his neck, their tongues locked in a heated kissing session while she was nimbly impaling herself on him.