The kingdom has fallen. When the Kingdom of Black Iron invaded the Kingdom of Sapphiric Moon, none could predict that the war would be so one sided that even the capital would fall within three weeks. Even before reinforcements could be moved to the front lines, the kingdom's army was pushed so far that their very backs were against the outer walls of the capital city. Those who could run, scattered into the countryside. Those who had connections, ran into the capital. Those who had neither, was slaughtered or turned into slaves. With defeat so certain, the deserters became refugees. This is the story of one such refugee. CrossxHealer Chapter 1 Boys can use girls' weapons too. By Shiina Ai

On this morning, a horse-drawn cart moved along the dusty dirt road, followed by a score of sixteen women and children. Each looked tired and dirty, carrying only the clothes on their backs and a bundle of provisions at the end of a stick on their shoulders. Some of the children could be seen sleeping tired in the moving cart, their legs dangling behind the cart.

However, there was one young girl, barely ten years old who was still energetic enough to shout, "Waaa! Look, look, the wall is so tall, big brother!"

The little girl said as she bounced excitedly while pulling on a long-haired girl's sleeves. At a glance one could see the family resemblance. Both had reddish blonde hair, its shine and lustre diminished by the dust and dirt they accumulated through their journey. Regardless, under the dirty hair and dusty face, one could see that the older girl, presumably around sixteen years of age must be quite a beauty.

"Ina, I told you not to call me big brother, didn't I? Do you want to see me dead?" The girl said in a whisper.

"Sorry..."

"It's fine for now. But you definitely must not make the same mistake once there, okay? We can't be together if I'm dead," the girl said as she stroked the younger girl's head.

"I'll be careful. I promise. Please don't leave me... big sis."

"Good girl. I promise we'll get out of this one day. Maybe mom would even come find us and we can escape to the east together."

"Un!" Ina said while making two fists.

"Papers!" the guard at the gate demanded upon their arrival.

One by one, the women and children gave their papers to the guard for inspection. Many were pulled aside for further questioning as they pleaded their case. These two girls and the other women and children all had one thing in common. They were all refugees from the Kingdom of Sapphiric Moon, recently invaded by their northern neighbour the Kingdom of Black Iron. They were in front of the western gate of Narun City within the eastern Kingdom of Bargan. It was unfortunate for them, for the king of Bargan Kingdom had decreed that refugees were to be cast out on sight as the small kingdom had few resources to feed the starving refugees.

"Stop!" the guard reading the two girls' papers commanded.

"I'll take this, Kelle," a guardsman stepped out from under the tent behind him.

"Why am I not surprised, Yole?" the guardsman holding the two girls' papers gave a small chuckle as he handed their papers to other guardsman. "If they pass, don't forget to share, alright?"

The older girl started to sweat wondering what the guardsman's words meant. She had a feeling they were talking about something very vulgar. Something neither she nor her younger sister would like to be part of.

The other guardsman, Yole, scanned the papers in his hands while taking a glance at the older girl, particularly at her face and chest. The older girl's palms became wet from sweat, wondering if her disguise was successful. It was an unfamiliar magic, one she created herself on the battlefield for the purpose of escaping the encirclement but one she had never used for this particular purpose before. Moving the fat from the rest of her body to her chest and buttcheeks and encouraging fleshy growth where growth never started during puberty was a great undertaking which drained her of most of her mana. She was confident that her breasts looked real enough, but what would happen if the guardsman were to cope a feel? Would he do it? Would she allow it? Would she be able to resist massacring the entire garrison if he did?

"So, Lia and Ina, from Wittroden Village. Are you farmers? Craftsmen?" Guardsman Yole asked as his eyes rested on her chest.

The older girl Lia was hoping for this, for the guardsman to not scrutinize the identification papers. It had a critical flaw that one with enough knowledge of Sapphiric Moon's systems would notice. It was that Lia's paper was fake. The signature of the local count's registrar of birth was traced using magic despite the stamp being the real deal. Lia had to sneak into the old count's castle to get this identification paper made. She had no way to even force the registrar of birth to give him the signature as she saw him die with her own eyes at the final line of defense before the capital of Lunaria.

"We do work on the farm, but I am a healing mage, Sir Yole," Lia said with a slight bow of humility.

"Oh? A healing mage? What rank are you?" the guardsman asked with more interest as his gaze went up from her breasts to her face.

"Upper third class, sir," Lia answered.

It was a common rank. Neither good nor bad, but better than the average. She was actually ranked higher under Lunaria's system, but bragging about that would only bring attention to herself. After all, only one bloodline in Sapphiric Moon carried that rank. As far as Lia knew, only two people were left of that bloodline. One of them was wanted in two countries, three if news had reached this kingdom, four or more if the fleeing Sapphiric Moon's royal family had reached the western kingdoms. Lia absolutely could not afford to let her identity known.

"That's impressive for someone of your age," the guardsman said as he cut his left palm with a dagger, leaving a long bloody gash, "If you're telling the truth, then this should be easy for you, right?" He offered his hand, with blood still pouring out towards Lia.

"Yes, of course, sir. Please allow me to demonstrate," Lia said as she covered the guardsman's bloody left hand with her own before saying "Healing Light!"

Light shone from her palm, barely seen in the bright sunlight of noon but a moment later, she withdrew her hands. It revealed the guardsman's palm, free from both blood and wound, as if the blood that came out had retreated into his wound. The guardsman could barely contain his admiration. The same could be said about the other guardsmen watching.

After all, healing mages were very valuable. In wars, they were brought along to reduce casualty among the soldiers. In peace, they healed common cuts and wounds from everyday hazards. During times of plagues, they helped reduce death count and provided cures. It could often be said that healing mages were more valuable than sorcerors of equal rank.

"What about the little one?" Guardsman Yole asked.

"My younger sister is only an Upper Eighth Class, sir. She can heal small cuts, but she won't be able heal the injury just now even if she exhaust all her mana. But she is a hard worker and good student, sir, she can identify most common medicinal herbs to supplement her lack of mastery over healing magic."

Lia desperately tried to appeal with Ina's existing skills without exposing their bloodline. Ina was actually a little more capable, but it was true she was only an Upper Eighth Class despite her mastery actually reaching Sixth Class. The testing was only done once every three years and this year, Ina should've been tested again. However, the war happened and all mages were sent straight to the front lines or withdrawn to the capital. Eighth Class mages were considered only a small step above useless and was thus never conscripted.

"Alright, you pass. Let them through!" the guardsman returned their identification papers alongwith a piece of harder paper that was not part of their belongings. "Don't lose it. I won't charge you anything," the guardsman said with a grin as he turned back to deal with the other refugees.

Lia could guess what it was but decided to put it off as she bade farewell to the other members of her former village who travelled with them all this way. She was truly conflicted, as she had known them since she was young and all of them were her neighbours and friends at some point. However, unless she were to reveal who she really was, she could only hope to bring her little sister along. Thankfully the others knew this and understood her predicament. Either that or the provisions she gave them from her family's stockpile left them a little grateful and helped their decision to keep their mouths shut. Either way, by tomorrow the rest of them would be either allowed through or chased away, so she only needed to remain wary until the dawn came tomorrow.

"What was that paper the man gave you. big sis?" Ina asked after they crossed the threshold.

"Read it yourself," Lia said as she handed the paper to Ina with her left hand, her right being occupied by her somewhat sizable luggage.

"Sergeant Yole, Room 4, 2nd Floor, Karon House, First Market Street? Is this an address?"

"He's offering to let us stay with him, Ina."

"Are we going to?"

"No. This is one of those 'good deeds with hidden agendas' thing. Basically, even when he says we don't have to pay anything, someone has to pay something."

And that someone would be me and that something would be my body, she thought.

------

"This is your room. You may stay here but keep it tidy and if anything gets broken, it will be taken out of your pay, understood?"

"I understand, Madam Tilda. We appreciate your kindness in taking a chance on us," Lia said as she made a bow of respect.

Beside her, Ina also bowed respectfully.

Madam Tilda sighed, the air she exhaled blew against her long dark hair, causing it to flutter slightly in the windless room. "Ai... girls like you really shouldn't be here. If you had stayed home, attending balls and drinking tea, you'd be bound to catch some rich noble's eyes sooner or later."

Lia made a wry smile as she said, "Commoners have little choice in war, madam. We do what we do to just to survive."

"True, that. Let's just hope you catch some rich merchant's eyes before you're broken too far. One more thing before I go. Remember this, I can protect you while you're in my home, but be careful when you go outside. Many of our girls have been assaulted by misers and those with revenge on their minds."

"Thank you, madam. We will take your advice to heart."

The madam waved turned around and left the room, waving her hand once she's out without looking back. Lia closed the door, giving the room that she would be sharing with Ina a good look-over. It was small, barely 7 foot by 16 foot in size. There was a single bed made of wood and straw covered by a layers of hemp cloth on one corner of the room, pressed against the wooden wall that faced outside. On that wall was a single window that opened into the back alley and it carried the smell of filth into the room. On the opposite corner was a small table and two wooden stools, one stacked on top of the other.

"It's even smaller than the inn," Ina commented after taking in her surrounding.

"I'm sorry, Ina," Lia said as she pulled Ina into a tight embrace, "I promise, once we have enough money, we'll find a better place."

It had been a week since they've been in Narun. They had previously stayed at a cheap hotel with questionable security. It was a bad call on Lia's part. While they were out looking for work, their room was broken into and their money and valuables stolen. The only things they managed to keep were some old clothes and what they had on their bodies when the robbery happened. Unfortunately, the inn owner couldn't care less about what happened and Lia had no idea how to track them.

Worse, they couldn't find any job, even the most unappealing ones. Narun being the westernmost territory bordering Sapphiric Moon was swamped with refugees. This, despite their king's decree that refugees were to be turned away on sight. As a result, all available jobs were filled by refugees and they were too late to arrive to find any.

Lia could appeal to them with her looks, but doing so would mean someone else would be fired and she didn't want to be that kind of person. Despite that, there were times when she thought of doing just that as natural instinct of self-preservation slowly took over her thoughts. It was when she and Ina were sitting hopeless in a side alley that Madam Tilda chanced upon them. If not for Madam Tilda offering them a place to stay and a job to feed them, regardless of how distasteful of a job it was, she would probably fall prey to her darker thoughts.

"It's fine, big sis. I wasn't complaining, but if we're going to stay in a place like this anyway, why can't we just stay with Sergeant Yole? He likes you, right?"

"You're still a child, Ina. You don't understand how men are. If we stay with him, we'll be completely at his mercy. He can do whatever he wants with us and we can't refuse. At least here, we are our own person."

"But it's a brothel, big sis. Mom said it's a bad place where only bad girls and bad men go."

Indeed, it was a brothel. Madam Tilda didn't offer them a place to stay for free or out of charity. Certainly, she saw something in them and believed that they would bring her money. She certainly didn't become the owner of the most respected establishment offering the pleasures of the flesh for being charitable. She expected them to work and from their work, she'd take a cut, as much as half of their earnings. Regardless, Lia was grateful to Madam Tilda. She didn't show any duplicity or deception. She only cared about money and she made it clear that she didn't care what they do as long as she had her cut. As long as they keep making her money and not cheat her of her cut, they could stay, that was the only agreement.

"Ina, don't be so quick to judge. There is dignity even in prostitution. We'll be fine. Just let me do everything. I won't let even a single finger touch you."

There was a knock on her closed wooden door as the madam's voice could be heard from the other side. "Lia, are you ready to accept customers?"

"Just a minute, madam," Lia said as she released Ina. Then addressing Ina, she said, "Why don't you find us some flowers until dinnertime? This room stinks. Here, take this money in case I can't be there on time."

Lia put 4 copper into Ina's hand. It was the last of their money, barely enough for the cheapest meal for two. If Lia could not make any more money by the end of the day, they would have nothing to eat the next day.

Getting on her knees and pressing her forehead against Ina's, she said, "Go wait at The Lion's Boar, okay? I'll go there at dinnertime."

Ina hugged Lia tightly before opening the door and leaving without a word.

"Mr. Fawru, this here is our newest addition, Lia. She's still young and inexperienced, but I'm sure you will be pleased with her. As previously agreed, her first time is worth 18 copper. Please pay before service, alright?" Madam Tilda said as she introduced Lia to the bear of a man passing through the doorway.

"Aw, Tilda. You still don't trust me. That only happened once!" the bear man guffawed as he placed a big hand on Lia's narrow shoulder. He pressed a number of copper coins into Lia's hands before saying, "Enough?"

Lia nodded timidly at the amount in her hands. She had already prepared her heart for her first job here. But having this bear of a man as her first customer was kind of shocking. She actually expected Madam Tilda to show her pity and give her a less intimidating customer.

"Lia, come here," Madam Tilda called her as the bear of a man sat on the bed before taking off his boots. "You are a virgin, right?" Madam Tilda asked the moment they were out of earshot.

Lia merely nodded.

Madam Tilda breathed a sigh of relief. "I went overboard with your virginity auction just now. I thought even if you're not a virgin, you can try faking it somehow. Don't worry about not having experience, he knows what he's getting into. Just let him do what he wants and you'll be fine."

"Umm, is there anything I shouldn't do?"

"It's up to you, but I'm sure he's expecting sex at least. If there's anything you're not comfortable doing, please persuade him gently. He's a regular customer and I don't want him offended. One more thing, this is a one-time rate. Normally they'd only pay you 6 coppers. At most you can charge them 8 coppers because of your youth, but this is an exception because of your virginity. Well, let's not make the customer waiting, go make him happy."

Lia bowed once and went back into the room, closing the door behind her. The bear on the bed, Mr. Fawru had already taken off everything except for his drawers and she suddenly had second thoughts about this. When she accepted the madam's offer, she already saw in her minds eye what she was going to do. Looking at this beast of a man, she wondered if it would work out the way she imagined it would.

Seeing Lia seemingly frozen at the door looking at him, Mr. Fawru beckoned her closer. The first step seemingly hard for Lia, but it gradually became easier. After all, she only needed three steps to cross the distance. Mr. Fawru quickly grabbed her hand pulling her lightly in contrast to his rough appearance. She fell on his lap with a 'pon' as her long dress draped over his thigh and knees.

"Is this your first time?" Mr. Fawru said into her ear.

"Y-yes."

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

She seriously hoped he would.

He turned her around on his lap. With her breasts still in her dress brushing against his naked chest, he put his fingers under her chin pushing her face up. She gazed at his face as her face went red from shame. He looked into her eyes, red, like the colour of blood, yet he couldn't help but be reminded of the eyes of an innocent bunny unaware that she was about to be offered to the wolf.

He tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her closer towards him. He could feel her skinny hands pushing against his upper arm, a mild show of weak resistance. He looked deep into her eyes as his face became closer. She closed her eyes tightly, denying him the innocence in those clear pools of blood. He face red, her breath erratic as he presses his rough lips against her soft ones. Her quiet moan arousing him, her soft breasts pressing deliciously against his chest, her hands squeezing the muscles of his upper arm.

He winced at how painful her fingers felt on his arm. He remarked in his mind that despite her skinny fingers, she had very strong hands. Suddenly she pushed them apart as his hot sausage hardened against her covered secret garden.

"Umm, your muscles feel tensed, Mr. Fawru. How about a massage before we proceed?" Lia said as she averted her eyes.

Her face still red and her breath still hard from the kiss. Her breasts go up and down with every laboured breath. Fawru couldn't help but be enchanted by those rising and falling pair of larger-than-average pair of breasts. It wasn't common to see ones of such size among young girls.

"Mr. Fawru?" Lia called as he answered with a "Huh?", "Would you like a massage before we go any further?"

"Oh, that's new. You're a new girl, alright. Normally the other girls would tell me to hurry up and leave as soon as I could. Hahaha. Sure, if you don't mind having me here longer."

"Oh please don't say that, Mr. Fawru. I'm still new, but I'll do my best."

He chuckled at her humble words, "Well if you don't mind, can you massage between my shoulderblades? That place have been bothering me these days and my wife never cared to give me any massage."

"You have a wife?" Lia asked, slightly surprised that a married man would come to a brothel. Meanwhile, Lia poured an oil made of walnuts into a bowl. Using basic fire magic, she heated it up to acceptable temperature before bringing it over to the bed.

"Please lie on your front," Lia said prompting him to take off his drawers, releasing the big hard dangling sausage previously hidden from view. Lia again wondered if she could really do this.

"Like what you see?" Mr. Fawru grinned widely as he noticed Lia's eyes staring at the tower between his legs. Knowing that a young, virgin girl couldn't take her eyes off his hardening symbol of manhood made that part more engorged. One could even say that it looked like a veiny, beastial demon monster out to stake its claim on the trembling prey before it.

Or that would've been what any girl would imagine had they been looking. As it was, Lia wasn't looking. She blanked out at the first sight of the size of Fawru's hardening manhood. If one were to peek into her mind, they'd see pure whiteness, as any thought she had initially was replaced with the pure white feeling of defeat.

<-.-> <-.->

Will Lia get her 'virginity' broken? Will she succeed in her plans? What are her plans exactly? Stay tuned for the next chapter!

*This was actually written based on one of my dreams. This is also my first attempt to write smut after so long losing the ability to do so. I used to write a lot of smut back when I was a teen, but haters on literotica made me delete everything and I never managed to write smut since then. Hopefully this can be good practice for me.
**As always, your feedbacks are very appreciated. Praises help me write faster while constructive criticism helps me write better. Looking forward to either.