Chapter 12: In Which I Am Sorry I Used The Metaphor Too Soon, This Time Literal Cards Are Hitting The Literal Table

The Royal Garden of Eusthyne, the place where those looking for admittance to the Night Court waited for their invitation. It was surprisingly unkempt, with plants growing all over the place in a lot of places, yet barren in other parts, stagnant pools of water filled with algae. We were dressed in black robes, which was the apparent custom of the Night Court to conceal identities, but Valentine still stood out thanks to her relatively huge size.

I looked around with a raised eyebrow.

Valentine laughed softly. “Guess I’m acting as tour guide. A few centuries ago, this garden was commissioned by King Dalyn as a gift for one of his slaves, who apparently asked for it to be put in the slums so everyone could enjoy it. He’s a revenant, so no one’s risked his wrath by replacing it, although apparently someone risked his wrath by letting it fall into disrepair at some point. I hear it was crazy expensive to keep up. Mostly these days it’s famous for being incredibly unsafe, and also for the Night Court.”

As if to punctuate the point, a few crossbow bolts flew threw the air towards another group of two black-robed people, and Master was there in an instant, knocking them out of the air.

“Don’t make me come over there,” Master stated loudly, and there were the sounds of retreat.

One of the black-robed people fell to their knees, arms wrapped around themselves and trembling, and Master checked them over. “Are you okay?”

“I think he’s just in shock,” noted a cultured feminine voice-- the other robed figure. “I don’t know why he insisted on coming.” She pulled her hood back enough to show her face to Master and looked up at her, and I saw a wisp of glacier-white hair, that is, there was a hint of blue to it. “I have no idea who you are, but I owe you one. If you ever wish to claim a favor from me, let me know.” Her words were very soft, but my ears could pick it up.

Master scratched the back of her head and laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I just couldn’t watch people get shot if I could stop it, you know?” Her voice had gotten notably more feminine, for whatever reason… maybe she was trying to disguise herself, although really, I don’t think anyone else in the world could move that fast. She curtseyed with her robe, and backed off, coming to rejoin us, and more vigilantly scanning the area for danger, as was Valentine.

I joined them too, and seeing someone in a black robe emerging from a vine-covered wall, tugged on Valentine’s robe… only for the new arrival to bow to us with almost mechanical precision, and gesture to the hidden stairwell they had just come out of, vines now just enough away from it to show the entrance.

After a moment’s hesitation, as one we started following the one who had invited us… if they were planning an ambush, it would be their own tragedy, and perhaps this was our invitation to the Night Court.

Down through the stairwell, the vines closing behind us on the wall to conceal the passage, and through a twisting maze of tunnels that I had no idea how we’d ever escape without help… if anything, brute forcing through the ceiling would probably be a better idea than trying to figure this out via retracing our steps. Eventually we came to a room where stars shone overhead, and I blinked a little as I looked up at them… wasn’t this horribly unstealthy, for all the subterfuge we went through, when the sky was right above us? Anyone could stumble across it and look down upon us… not that it was my place to say anything.

In the center of the room, a woman sat in front of the table, shuffling a deck of cards, dressed in a series of fancy veils of various covers that didn’t quite cover up the fact that she was entirely naked underneath them, and on the other side, there were three chairs.

Master walked up and sat in one of the chairs, and I followed suit. Valentine moved to sit on Master’s other side… but rather than sit on the chair, she sat on the floor in that formal sex slave position she seemed so fond of taking, although her posture was somewhat obscured by the black robes.

“We’ll start with you, Valentine,” announced the woman, and flipped three cards onto the table. One showed a giant dragon taking a second bite out of a moon while the other moon floated next to their head, entirely uneaten, one showed a crown with what seemed to be nobility impaled on it’s spikes, and one showed an arena filled with blood, in which appeared to be children were playing in. The fortune-teller – as that was what I was guessing she was – looked down at them with great interest.

“I must say, while it reveals the trouble you’re currently in, this doesn’t entirely reveal to me why you came here. Why don’t you put it into your own words?”

“I came here to ask for Princess Asperia – may her highness one day reign – to forcibly take my ownership from my current master.” The fortune-teller laughed softly.

“Oh? And why should she do that?”

“I am utterly loyal to Princess Asperia, worshiping her like a goddess, I am well trained in obedience and the arts of love, and I would do whatever she asked, besides kill. Despite this restriction, I would be an excellent bodyguard, and would willingly sacrifice my life for her, or anyone she told me to protect, if need be.”

“Mmm, I see. Strip, slave.” Without hesitation, Valentine tore off both he robe and the dress that was beneath it, and threw aside the mask, leaving her utterly naked, and looked up at the fortune-teller devotedly, full of hope… was even the Princess’s emissary enough to get this kind of blind loyalty?

The fortune-teller laughed. “She’s going to like you, I can tell… and I think her harem will, too. I’ll assign you as her harem guard, she can change your assignment if she feels the need.”

“Thank you!” Valentine absolutely would have been wagging her tail if she was a dog-girl, she was so excited and obedient, her face shining.

The fortune-teller waved her hand dismissively, and Valentine fell silent, continuing to look up at her with that utter devotion.

“Okay, we’ll go with you next, Master.” ...why was she calling her Master? Oh, that’s right, her… my name, that is, and anyone addressing her, would be replaced by ‘Master’.

Master bowed her head and threw off her robe, revealing the dress she was wearing beneath as well.

“Oh? Another addition to the Princess’s harem?”

“That was not my intent, your highness– merely I wished to show that I could exceed the capabilities of the heroes of the past. Despite having come from another world, I have learned the arts of the transmutationist in the past few months.” The fortune-teller blinked at being called ‘your highness’, and then laughed loudly. Wait… was this Princess Asperia herself, wearing hardly nothing as she sat before us on the other side of the table. She pulled a card from the deck, and stared at it for a few moments.

“I see. Well, you are certainly more useful out in the field. What is it you wish to bargain for? As I have no reason you are innately loyal to Princess Asperia, from what I have heard of you– you seem to have little plan beyond helping whoever is in front of you.”

“I believe… that slavery is a system that is not just immoral, but holding the country back.”

“Even were the queen to rise to the throne, attempts to overturn it would cause a lot of chaos.”

“Undoubtedly. I have heard, on the whole, that your highness is very fond of chaos.”

“That is very true.” She turned her gaze to me for a moment, and flipped a card showing a woman wearing seven colored veils but naked beneath it onto the table.

I was somewhat unsure if it was my turn to speak. “...am I supposed to take off my robe, your highness? This is the first time I’ve been to the night court.”

She laughed even more loudly than before. “Oh, you are a delight, Sasha.” She looked back to Master for a long moment. “For someone who would rid the kingdom of slavery, I must hear what their slave thinks of them. That sounds reasonable, does it not?”

Master looked over to me and furrowed her brow. “...I… I guess that makes sense? You’ll take good care of her?” Her voice sounded nothing more than innocent concern at my safety.

The woman pressed her hand against her chest, pressing the thin veils she was wearing closer and revealing her erect nipples underneath.

“You have my word. My guide will show you back out, O Hero of Another World. Valentine, Sasha, come with me.”

The three of us rose, and Master walked over to give me a quick hug. “While you are in the court of the queen, you are not allowed to use your magic, Sasha… I can give her no reason to accuse you of treachery.”

“I wasn’t about to use it for anything bad.”

“I know.” She kissed me softly on the lips, full of longing, like a lover might, and reluctantly let go of me, stepping back, and I stared up at her, flushed and somewhat confused… this was another face, I supposed. Trying to act like I might towards Sasha.

Valentine cleared her throat, and I hurried over to her side. We followed the fortune-teller through another set of tunnels, until we emerged into a rather opulent room, filled with silk couches.

Naked and half-naked women with slave collars were everywhere, some cuddling with each other, some just lounging around, eating snacks and drinking wine, playing board games, some even clearly just disengaged from a lewd act, all looking at Princess Asperia and Valentine with interest… much less attention was given to me.

Princess Asperia pulled off her veils and threw them to the side, leaving her wearing literally nothing but, rather stereotypically, an oddly shaped silver tiara with diamonds which held her long black-that-reflected-green-in-the-light hair back.

“All right, girls, I’ve acquired a new harem guard for you, since we had one of the positions open up… Valentine, a former gladiator of the arena who begged to serve me. You’re free to play with her as long as it doesn’t get in the way of either your nor her duties.” The naked Princess reached over and pulled off my robe, and I instinctively covered myself up... although I was just wearing normal clothing. This got some laughter from the room.

“This adorable little slave is Sasha, and I’m going to be talking to her privately in my room. We’ll see if she joins you or not, in the end.” There was a misaligned chorus of greetings as she took my hand and started leading me to another room.

“Welcome back, Princess!”

“Welcome, Valentine!”

“Welcome, Sasha!” ...okay, most of the cacophony of welcomes were in the previous two categories, but some of them were clearly welcoming me, and it warmed my heart a little that I rated enough for a welcome next to their literal owner and princess, and Valentine, both of whom were far more striking than I. My cheeks, of course, were already quite warm.

She lead me down a hall into another room with an opulent bed in it and no other seating, and I hesitantly sat down on the bed.

Princess Asperia looked at me expectantly for a moment before speaking. “I really shouldn’t have to tell you this, Sasha, but the polite thing to do here is to strip. It’s rather rude that you’re letting the country’s Crown Princess go nude while you wear full clothing, isn’t it?”

“Ah! Sorry, your highness!” I stripped, my hands trembling slightly, as it left us alone and naked together, in a room which dominated by a huge and luxurious bed, and even I could see the context here. It’s not like I had any room to refuse her anything, right?

She sat down next to me, and stroked my cheek, smiling at me with an adoring but mildly predatory look that reminded me of Master somehow. “Now, Sasha… I’m going to give you a degree of freedom you’ve probably never seen before in your life, and will probably never see again.”

I blinked at her a few times. If only she knew….

“Now. Depending on your words, I’ll either give you back to your Master, or have them executed and you can become my loyal slave instead. Out of the two of you, I’ve always seen you as the one with value. The Hero can always easily be replaced, once dead.” She leaned in close, stroking my thigh as I sputtered. “Whereas someone with Mind Magic… well, it’s known as the forbidden art for a reason. Most practitioners can’t resist it’s temptations.”

“T-temptations!?”

She laughed at my response, although gently. “If you choose to become my slave, I promise to treat you very well, and I don’t mind if you have little dalliances with Valentine or whoever else in my harem catches your eye… as long as you put me first. You won’t have to risk your life fighting.“

“So, my little slave... what will your one choice in your life be?”

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