The princess and the adventurers (Part II)

-- POV Sarah --

I was finally off to avenge my brother.

Kirk Ashray was my younger brother and I, Sarah Ashray, was his older sister. We had grown up in a small village called Eelry near the capital with both our parents, until the day our peaceful life came to an end because of wild animals. At that time, I was 17 and Kirk was 14 and the day the attack took place was also the day we lost our parents.

The entire village was ravaged by a horde of monsters that passed through and many died that day as well. The place where I lived with my family was normally not surrounded by dangerous beasts, at least nothing that the fighters there couldn't handle. Something must have happened in the area but no one ever knew what and even today I didn't know.

Luckily, Kirk and I had gone fishing, not suspecting for a moment the despair that would overtake us a few hours later. There was a beautiful waterfall and we went there every day to swim, train and bring back food for the village. We had a simple life, away from everything and happy. I was very close to my little brother because he was the only one I had and we shared the same desires, tastes and dreams. Our taste for blood and our desire to become adventurers were for example the same and in the village where we had grown up, we were often called "the inseparable twins".

When we returned that day, there were survivors but our parents were already lying dead on the ground. According to witnesses, they had been trampled by wild wolves that had never been seen here before. Kirk and I had been planning for years to join the capital's adventurers' guild together and to form our own group once he reached the required age of 16. That's why we were also training every day, relentlessly, and yet we had not been able to save what was dear to us.

Since that day we have never been the same and when my little brother turned 16, we went to Zalhythe to join the guild. I was level 12, 19 years old and Kirk was level 8. That was 7 years ago to the day.

After that we went on mission after mission to forget our sadness and anger, leveling up and moving up the ranks. As our strength grew, our indifference to other races gradually turned to disgust and then to visceral hatred. Kirk began to worship the church and their ideas about the lesser races being evil. I was not as faithful as he was, but the half-humans and other races were indeed a burden to humanity and we had already seen the proof. Whether all these inferior races were intelligent or not, they were still dangerous, savage and untrustworthy.

*It's already been 7 years...*

A few weeks ago Kirk had told me about a mission given by the Church to capture half-humans. Having developed a particular interest in experiments on living subjects, Kirk boasted that he would do this quickly so he could get back to his research. He was looking for a way to turn a half-human into a human, especially by cutting off their attributes. So far, his experiments had been a failure because every slave he bought died from their injuries. Kirk was thrilled to be able to capture future slaves on this mission, but my little brother never returned.

After several weeks, without any news of his messenger bird, I realized that he had been killed. Kirk was a pretty good fire mage despite his small size and body so I couldn't believe for a second that he didn't respond for another reason. I didn't know the details of his mission but I did know that he had gone to a forest called the Dark Forest with Sam, his best friend and his companions. With my group I decided to go in search of him after gathering as many clues as possible.

Luckily, an ad to investigate their alleged disappearance had appeared in the guild at the same time. I had planned to go there anyway, but if I could earn some money on top of that, it was perfect. There was something strange going on in the East and I was going to find out and avenge Kirk.

___

Today I was on the road, accompanied by my group, a very interesting young lady and other adventurers. I had become the leader because of my rank, which suited me because it was easier for me to be the one giving the orders. To be honest, I didn't give a damn about this mission and the others, I just wanted to avenge my brother but I was going to make sure I got my money back after that. That's why I didn't report this young lady who had appeared from nowhere to join us and because of my strange attraction for her. She said her name was Luna and that she was the messenger of the mission's employer, but that was a lie. I had been an adventurer for years now so I knew who was traveling for the very first time and she was one of them. The young lady reminded me more of a noblewoman running away from something or someone.

The girl hid her face behind a mask covering the upper part of her face leaving only her mouth and eyes visible. The very first time I had met her, my heart had started to pound when her beautiful turquoise blue eyes fixed mine. I had never seen her face, but I wanted to possess her, I wanted to lock her up and keep her all to myself. These urges took me every day as I tried to gently engage her in conversation to learn more about her life even though she was not a great talker. Luckily, Luna was isolated and didn't mix with others at all which was a relief to me because when an adventurer got too close to her, an irresistible urge to slit his throat would arise deep in my mind.

By her side, I had discovered impulses buried in me that I didn't even know were there. On the first day, Luna had broken down in tears in front of me for some unknown reason and instead of feeling sad or touched, an unhealthy urge to see her cry more had appeared in me. At that moment, my lower body had reacted and an uncontrollable sexual arousal had taken hold of me. Killing, butchering, slicing up beasts, half-humans turned me on, but I had never felt this kind of sensation for a human before. I wanted to protect her, to touch her, to give her my love, to smile at her and at the same time I wanted to see her once again, turn her watery eyes towards me. Luna reminded me of a wounded little animal looking for someone's love and I wanted to give it to her.

*Once I settle things in this forest...you'll be mine*

____

-- POV Alayna --

It was already the morning of the 29th day of our journey and I had done everything I could to train with the dagger I had purchased. Despite my 0 level, every night, while everyone was sleeping, I tried to reproduce the gestures that Sarah had shown me during the day.

The leader had often come to me to offer her help, but I wanted to have as little interaction with her as possible. To put it simply, I didn't like her. As the trip progressed, I found myself becoming more and more uncomfortable around her, as if my whole body instinctively refused her presence. Sarah was very tactile with me and I couldn't help but feel disgusted. Of course I had never shown my true thoughts and I continued to act as I always had. I didn't talk to the other adventurers at all, so Sarah was the only person who could help me with her experience. I put my personal feelings aside to use her knowledge and become stronger because this was not the time to be picky. Time was short and I had to learn to fight, even if only a little.

So far, the journey had been trouble-free and day by day I felt that I was improving in my movements, my positions and my little attacks. Every night I would fall asleep with pain all over my body and in the morning I would wake up sometimes almost unable to move. However, I was not weakening, I was animated by a desire to surpass myself. This strength that I had discovered in myself was new, this fire that burned in my heart was new, while the thought of being able to help, even if only a little, made me grow wings. Somehow, the guilt also forced me to continue. I had only thought about myself and I had not thought for a second about the consequences of my actions or the lives I had put at risk. I had to fix my mistakes and to do that I had to get stronger and make up for my shortcomings.

During my training sessions, I had felt an unknown flow through my body. I could feel it flowing through my whole being and when I concentrated, it became more and more noticeable. Maybe it was mana, but according to my family I had been without it since birth. I didn't really know what it was, but it was a nice feeling, growing as my level grew despite my lack of it.

The 29 days had passed in a flash, I was level 2 and we were already close to our destination.

*Tomorrow we will arrive in Yarlford, so that leaves me only 3 or 4 days to refine my plan*

Now that I was a little stronger, I felt less afraid to venture into the Dark Forest alone. Sarah had told me about the creatures that could be found there and if they were weak to her, these creatures were deadly to me. But there were also apparently a lot of very weak half-humans who managed to live there despite everything and it was them that the Church had targeted.

*If they can survive in this forest, then I can too...I must ! Everything I've learned in this month of hard work will not go to waste.*

I hadn't thought of a complicated plan, precisely because in any case I had to go into the forest to warn the small villages or gatherings of other races. They would probably know the area better than I or the adventurers, so hopefully they would find a way to hide before the others arrived.

Sarah always had an eye on me so once we got to the Dark Forest it wasn't going to be easy. However, once in town I would have more freedom of movement so buying what I needed would be simple.

The journey to the forest was to be made on the road to the southern end, where the path to the ruins began.

*For 4 days they would walk along the forest and its trees without entering it. On the morning of the second day, I would have to disappear inside without anyone stopping me*

Once I had managed to sneak through the trees, it was not alarming that the adventurers would discover my disappearance. They had a mission to accomplish first and foremost and had to get to the temple ruins first.

___

The sun was setting and the outline of a small town could be seen in the distance, sitting on a small hill. Behind Yarlford was also a large forest where I could see a huge mountain overlooking the place from its height.

"We have finally arrived !"

Ahead of us was the famous city where we were to rest for a few days before heading back. Time was flying by at an extraordinary speed and it was already time to move on to the "buying" phase of my plan.

One by one, the two carts went inside the walls while I looked around and started to find my bearings.

"Looking for something little Luna ?"

Sarah smiled at me as she placed her hand on my white thigh in the spot that wasn't covered by my skirt.

"N..no, I was just looking at the buildings, I...I've never seen ones like this"

The leader was still smiling as she nodded her head before parking our cart in the corner reserved for roaming adventurers. I had held my breath when she touched me and was just starting to breathe again as the dark-haired woman made an unexpected and disconcerting proposal.

"If you want we can share a room, if you don't have a lot of money, you can save money that way right ?"

Her tone was different and her words sounded almost like an order as I left without responding, terrified. My back was turned and I headed for the first inn in sight, not seeing the smile on Sarah's face and her tongue gently caressing her lips.

____

FULL STATUS

Name : Freya

Age : 0 years / Mentally : 25 years

Sex : Female

Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult

Race : Major Demon

Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.

Dragon tamer

Ruthless slayer

Level : 32/70

Exp needed for next level: 22 100 / 33 000

HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000

Strength : 390

Defense : 386

Agility : 400

Stamina : 403

Speed : 392

Intelligence : 390

Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)

Attribute points to allocate : 0

Married to: Gaya

Daughter : Shiro

Kingdom (menu)

Subordinates : 387

Humans killed : 148

Elements: Ice / Chaos

Skills (all):

Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)

- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)

- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)

- Fighting techniques (lvl max)

- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)

- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 5)

Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 5)

- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)

Pain Resistance (lvl 3)

Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)

Others - Humanoid form

- Ice creation (Lvl 4)

- Storage of chaos (Lvl 3)

- Devouring chaos (Lvl 4)

- Analysis

- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique

- Telepathy

Passives - Commander (lvl max)

- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]