Chapter 84 - Who's first

According to Mána, the power boost she'd funnelled into shard of lust back on Alfheim, had permanently increased affinity between him and the rune, something that usually only came with time.  

Thus, the rune had become stronger, and now radiated an aura of lust whenever he conjured it. With a little training, he should eventually be able to control this aura at will, rather than have it simply spill out whenever he used it. But for now, there was nothing he could do.  

Fortunately, the effects of this aura were minimal for now, but the women were definitely feeling the effects. In fact, Kane couldn't help but notice that one of the women seemed particularly affected: Anna.  

But he wasn't surprised. Harelings have a notoriously high sex drive, so this aura of lust was sure to have a stronger effect on her. Her eyes widened a little as she instinctively took a step closer to him, but then suddenly recovered, and recoiled instead.   

Instantly, some of the respect and awe in her gaze were replaced with fear, even as she panted slightly from lust. Kane realized she was probably not a hareling who embraced her lustful nature; perhaps even trying to hide from it.  

Regardless, Kane decided to dispel the rune again, lest he lose one of his two largest supporters before they'd agreed to the mark. But of course, the event had already caused them to raise their guard against him and demand answers.  

"What the hell was that?!" Aelia exclaimed, sounding agitated and defensive, as she took position between Kane and Anna. Suddenly, she realized Kane might not even have to physically force them into having sex, he might just be able to force them to want it instead.  

And that scared her. As well it should.  

Kane shrugged calmly despite her agitation, "Nothing you need to be concerned with. It happens when I call upon the powers I'll use to mark you and the others with. If you fear I'll use this instead of physical force, then don't. I've already said I wouldn't use coercion."  

Then, his lips curled into a slight smirk, and he reached next to him to squeeze Luna's delightful ass, "Besides, I have no need for such things if I want sex. There's plenty of willing partners out there."  

It was obvious that the shard of lust was already affecting his personality a little. While he was always as lustful as any other young man, he never used to act so brazenly back in Riftshade.  

Luna reacted by grinning excitedly, and throwing her body against Kane's, while cupping his nether region with a soft hand. "Only losers and cowards coerce or force," she purred proudly. "But my Master just needs to convince you once, and then you'll willingly come begging for more."  

Suddenly, these bandits were forced to witness a display of indecency, as Kane and Luna couldn't keep their hands off each other.  

The bandits had various reactions.   

The unnamed human blushed and averted her eyes, while the unnamed ramling looked at him with curiosity and interest. Meanwhile, Anna lost some of her fear and groaned a little, mumbling something about why The Mother had to bless a man like this. Aelia, however, also blushed, but her gaze told a tale of anger rather than embarrassment.  

"E— Enough of that!" the de-facto leader of these bandits exclaimed with a short stammer, proving there was some embarrassment in there after all. "J— Just tell us what these marks are about!"  

Kane didn't answer her immediately. Instead, he decided to play with Luna for a little longer, before finishing with a deep kiss which the catling greedily leaned into.  

When they finally separated, Luna's cheeks were flushed with lust, and her lips were curled into a wide, taunting grin as she turned back to the bandits.   

Naturally, Aelia understood that he was asserting his dominance with this display and reminding them that there was nothing they could do to him. This caused her to become a little grumpier, but also settled some of her anger. Aelia was a prideful woman, but pointless anger was embarrassing.  

She knew when she was outmatched.  

Turning to Aelia, Kane started explaining with a casual smile, "I can implant a willing target with a Mark of Loyalty. It won't do anything too terrifying, but it will prevent you from betraying me."  

Instantly, caution rose among these four bandit women. Planting seals and marks on others wasn't a strange concept to them, as there were plenty techniques that could do similar things. But that didn't easy their concerns.   

In the end, Kane saying this particular mark didn't do anything too terrifying didn't really put their minds at rest. There were plenty of terrifying ones out there.  

Aelia was the one to speak up, suspicion clear in her voice, "If you need our cooperation for this mark, how can we trust you're not lying to us? What if you're just tricking us into accepting total slavery?"  

Kane shrugged nonchalantly, yet also weirdly threateningly, "You don't. But are you really willing to accept death, on the off chance that I'm lying?"  

The three women behind Aelia flinched a little. It was easy to forget they were still under threat of death, when they were in the process of having a relatively civil discussion with their would-be killer.  

Aelia, too, grumbled a little when she was reminded of the sword hanging over their heads. Still, her eyes darted around as she weighed the pros, cons, and possible escape plans, against the chances of Kane telling the truth.   

She preferred death over living as an actual slave, but that didn't mean she would accept death so easily.  

Finally, she narrowed her eyes, "Tell me a little more about this mark of yours first. Saying it will prevent us from betraying you is still a little too vague for me."  

Kane pursed his lips and nodded in casual understanding, "That's fair. First of all, it won't force you to obey any of my orders."  

Unsurprisingly, the bandits looked relieved at that, even if they had expected it.  

Kane continued, "What it basically means, is that you can't undertake any action, that, consciously or subconsciously, you yourself believe I would consider a betrayal."  

Unfortunately, that meant there were still some loopholes and potential problems, but such was the nature of a mark or seal that didn't simply remove free will from the equation.  

Seeing the rebels were still a little unsure, he decided to give some examples, "For instance, if I reveal a secret, like my beast form, the mark will stop you from betraying me by sharing it. Furthermore, while the mark doesn't inherently compel obedience, accepting an order willingly means you can't later refuse to carry it out unless I release you from it or you truly believe completing the task would be the real betrayal.".  

Then, he shrugged, "Other than that, it's pretty basic stuff, like you can't harm me or people I care about," at that point he thumbed towards Luna, "and you can't do anything that would obviously undermine any of my plans."  

With that, he believed he'd given enough of an explanation, so he extended his hand, and conjured the rune. Once again, lust filled the room.   

"So, who's first?" he asked, smirking slightly at their reactions.