IGIWS: FIRST DRAFT: Chapter 251 🦴

A few days passed, and things seemed calm on the outside of the capital, but on the inside, multiple players were angling to find out what each one was planning. 

Princess Hilda got acquainted with the palace. She didn't venture out that must because she feared running into the Dark Elf alone, but she needed to be around Quinus to break what she thought was a charm spell he had on her. She needed Duchess Leandra's help but didn't know how to contact her. So she waited until the Duchess contacted her.

Lord Brice and Lord Gawain talked with the High Priestess, Lady Astra, about possible tampering with the ritual of Balance and Favor.

Lady Astra wasn't pleased about the possibility of such heresy. She made sure to put her most trusted priests and priestesses at the temple to make sure nothing happened to the Idol, but one of her most trusted clerics was dented to the Duke and Viscount. He was given a large ether crystal to use on the Idol during the day of the ritual. It was only a matter of time before he would betray his goddess.

King Cyndre and Queen Rianna were having the time of their lives in the City of Lomar. Ever since Rya healed Rianna's body, which was poisoned by a strange toxin that attacked her womb, she was feeling randier than usual, and she and the king couldn't keep their hands off each other. Even though they were having fun, they both knew they needed to help their son gain the support to marry Rya. Rianna is required to confront her sister-in-law, Duchess Leandra, her poisoning attempt, and her possible collusion with the Duke. They planned to return to the capital for the ritual in two days.

Marquess Duval, Earl Nathaniel, and Baron Eamon were still in the capital, and they were busy talking with their allies. Duval and his allies were working on getting a measure ready to expel Rya from the Kingdom if the ritual went as planned, but he was weary of the Duke trying to use this situation to gain more influence over the court. Sadly, he had little choice and could only hope to keep most nobles and ministers on his side. He was also tasked with accommodating Prince Zane of the Divine Three. The foreign Prince stayed behind with Sir Darius and a few White Knights just in case they could slay the Dark Elf and her ilk. They also wanted to get control of Hilda, but she refused to listen to her step-brother's weak attempts to begin her to the Marquess' Manor. She was done trying to stop the Dark Elf by their methods. She wanted her own plan.

Quinus and Johan had fun with their loved ones, but they both needed to do their duties to the kingdom until their fathers came to the capital. The main thing they needed to iron out was the trade deal to export Nathaniel's surplus crops to the Kartoll Kingdom.

So Quinus, Johan, Eamon, Thaddeus, and Nathaniel had meetings for the next two days to get the deal signed and finalized. Thaddeus and Eamon were pleased with the agreement, but they needed to contact Queen Nefer Aquarius IV and see if she would agree to this deal to use her ports. The Queen was the only person who could sign the treaty for Kartoll. Once, she received a message from a carrier pigeon. She was intrigued, but she wished to speak with someone from the Major Lords before committing her kingdom to anything. So once they received a message back from her by the end of the third day, Baron Thaddeus decided to travel south to speak with her.

Baron Thaddeus and his group left the city in the morning and would reach the border of the two kingdoms in three weeks if he pushed his driver. But he wouldn't need to make his men too hard and hoped they would arrive in four weeks.

With the trade deal mostly squared away, the Crown Prince and Lord Johan worked on their next project, which was trying to get the Kingdom's engineers to the town of Edermines City. Quinus promised the Mayor that he would build an aqueduct for the town, but the Crown Prince needed to research the surrounding area for the best clear water source. That is where Johan came in since he is more familiar with the land layout as they looked at a map of the Eder Hills Domain. It didn't take too long to find an adequate spot for the aqueduct. Now, they needed to fund the project and send the kingdom engineers to build the aqueduct. Which Quinus planned to do after the ritual.

Johan wanted to practice casting his illusion magic with Rya, but with how tense everything was at the moment, he only asked for a few pointers from her in passing. He was happy she could help him out a little, and he would have to wait until later, when things were a bit calmer, before he could spend significant time with her. Plus, he didn't want anyone outside of his friend group to know that he was an Illusion Mage. He was getting better at casting Shadow Mimic to the point that he didn't have to think about it anymore. But Shadow Self was a whole different story as he struggled to replicate what happened in the forest when he needed to save his wife. The one positive was that he could at least cast incantation when he channeled his mana in all the correct places throughout his body. Unfortunately, his shadow clone only lasted about fifteen seconds before the mana destabilized and faded away. It annoyed him to no end, but it was a step up from not being able to even cast a spell. He needed this spell in his back pocket just in case he needed it again, and he didn't want to rely on luck to activate it. Even with all his failures to master the spell, he was happy that he could cast it. He felt more confident that he could protect his friends and loved ones. 

Tayna mostly stayed in the Dule family residence within the capital and showed up at the palace for lunch to visit Rya. She was trying to reach out to the other ladies in the court to find possible allies for her and Lady Rya. She knew that Rya needed to make appearances amongst the nobles and try to gain a few allies herself.

While the Crown Prince and Young Lord were working, Rya, Nieren, and Dalia spent time together in the palace. Yuliana would occasionally train her daughters in the way of the Green Word and then go to the training grounds. So Dalia and Nieren could release pent-up energy, or in Nieren's case, frustration. 

Nieren was dealing with a mix of emotions. Her first issue was getting trained for the Green Word, which was bringing up PTSD from when she was younger and failing to reach her mother's expectations. Nieren didn't think she could become a good Green Word Warrior or Priestess, and her mother would become sad for thinking she was a terrible mother. Nieren hated seeing her mother depressed and would feel worse than she already did. Her second issue was the growing feelings for Quinus. She thought it was an innocent curiosity and nothing more, but as time passed, she started having dreams about the handsome Prince.

Dreams like the two of them going on an adventure together or exploring a dungeon together, and then her dream would take a turn towards the naughtier side, and she would wake up all hot and bothered. She thought that if she didn't touch herself, the thoughts and dreams would disappear. But it was only getting worse, and she was beginning to worry if she had caught some weird curse. She could have asked her mother, but that would have been way too embarrassing, and she decided to deal with herself, especially when she was surprised by actually connecting with a plant by using a basic Green Word spell.

It was like a lightbulb went off in her head. If she could connect with a plant, maybe she could also find a spell in a Light Mage's grimoire to help her with her problem. Unfortunately, she couldn't just steal a grimoire and try to copy the spell. Plus, she was unfamiliar with casting spells. Nieren needed Rya to teach her how to use Light Magic, but her sister hadn't come across any tomes, books, or grimoires that contained Light Magic. Nieren had to be careful and patient. She had to wait until Rya got ahold of a Light Magic book.

So, Nieren sparred with Rya and Dalia to relieve stress and release her pent-up "sexual" frustration.

Rya, for her part, was trying to see if she could find out what the Duke's plan was, and she secretly sent out four golems out to spy on the Duke, the Prime Minister, and a couple of his allies. She couldn't have them running around partly naked like back in Ironside, so she had them dressed in clothes, and she made sure her golems didn't have their elven ears. And the golem's faces had more human-like features instead of looking like her clones so that no one could tell her golems were anything but a living being, even though they looked identical.

And once her golems were out and about, she focused on the blood contact the Meredydd family had in their vault. And Quinus didn't lie about them having a small crate of them. And the crate looked creepy when Quin brought Rya into the Royal vault. The crate was a two-foot by two-foot cube, but the exterior of this box looked Dominic, and it reminded her of the bio-mechanical look from H.R. Giger.

There were runes and etched pictures of dragons all over the black box. The top had a huge silver dragon eye or demon eye, and it reminded her of the Eye of Sauron, except the pupil wasn't burning fire, and it wasn't glowing. And when Quinus placed his hand on the lid, the eye turned bright green, and then four latches were unlocked.

Rya was surprised when she looked inside and saw around two hundred blood contracts.

'Jesus H. Crist!... Quin wasn't joking,' Rya thought as she pulled one page out of the crate and held it up to the light.

Quinus stood next to her and was waiting to see if she noticed anything strange about the contract.

And Rya's eyes slowly scanned the page, and she also used her Seer Stone to see if there was something to explain the origins of how these things and how they were created. Ever since she transformed into a Dark Elf, she's been able to see things that are invisible to the human eye, and it's like she can see ethereal, spirit, or cosmic energies. On top of that, she can read dead languages, and if she examines an artifact, she can see how mana is connected throughout the item. Sometimes, she can improve them to work better, especially magical items. But with the blood contracts, Rya was having trouble figuring out how they were made, and she didn't know how potent they were. It worried her, and she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Any luck finding something out?" Quinus asked as he waited for Rya's verdict.

Rya shook her head. "No. I can't determine how these things are made or where they originated... It's a little worrisome that I can see how everything else works in this world, but blood contracts, and I can't get an idea of their power either. I can't see a link or a pathway of the internal workings like when I look at artifacts or enchantments."

"Hmm...," Quinus rubbed his chin before an idea popped into his head. "I'm not sure if this is a possibility, but what if the blood contracts are based on a whole different concept?"

Rya stopped channeling her mana through the Seer Stone, and she looked over to Quinus with a puzzled look.

"What do you mean?"

Quinus hesitated to speak because it was only a theory, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"Well, maybe you can only see how things work with mana," Quinus said as he scratched his head and tried to find the right words.

"But I can see ether as well. So, why can I see that but not with these contracts?" Rya asked with a raised brow.

"That's because ether goes hand in hand with mana, right?... We use liquid ether to forge some of the best magical weapons and armor. Plus, monsters consume ether to become stronger and makes their mana vein denser and more powerful," Quinus explained.

Rya's eyes opened wide when she realized what Quinus was saying.

'And labyrinths turn mana into ether!.... Wait a minute,' Rya thought as an idea came to mind.

"You're right!... But... What would have made them that way?" Rya asked, and Quinus shrugged.

"I don't know... But there are other forces in this world like negative energy... Or there's something I remember hearing about when I was a kid hanging around other children. They mentioned a rumor about blood magic being forbidden... I thought it was nothing but a legend or a scary story, but maybe there's something to it. What do you think?" Quinus asked Rya.

"Blood magic?... Wait?... Is there necromancy in this world?" Rya asked, and Quinus shook his head.

"I haven't heard of anything like that... Just rumors that say that blood magic is a cursed magic that its origins are unknown... Maybe it originated from witches or demons, I'm not sure," Quinus said.

Rya thought it over, and the more she thought about it, the more she believed it might have something to do with blood contracts.

"Hmm, this is becoming more complicated than I first hoped. We'll have to keep an eye out for blood magic and witches. But if Yuliana doesn't know much about it, then I think it's safe to say it's a rare occurrence. Or maybe we need to speak with an older elf or find an ancient book with the answers," Rya suggested.

Quinus agreed with Rya. He knew of a few mages and scholars in the kingdom who specialized in magical history. So, he thought it wouldn't be too difficult to ask a few if they knew about blood magic. Plus, there was a small section within the Royal Library that had books on dead languages. Maybe Rya would have some luck there.

"I have a few friends that might know something. So, I'll ask around and let you know what I find out," Quinus said.

"Alright... That's a good start... And we should find out if necromancy is a thing. I mean, the blood eclipse of the twin moons makes the dead become the undead. It was so freaky to see zombies and skeletons of the Black Rose Mercenaries... Anyway, if we have everything in this fantasy world, including dragons and labyrinths, then there must be necromancy... But I'm sure it's a practice that is frowned upon," Rya said, and Quinus nodded.

"Yes, but Dark Elves are frowned upon... And they are rare species, right?... Are they as evil as the stories say?" Quinus asked, and Rya paused.

'Well... I was a human before I transformed. So, technically, I'm not a genuine dark elf in the cultured sense. But I don't think Yoona or the rest of the Dark Elves are evil per se... Damn... I haven't thought about them in a long time... I wonder what happened after I got teleported?...' Rya had a slight sense of worry in her chest.

Rya was lost in her thoughts until she noticed Quinus staring at her.

"Huh?... What?" Rya asked, and Quinus blushed a bit.

"Uh... You look adorable right now... I mean... I was wondering what you were thinking about. You seemed distracted," Quinus said, and Rya sighed.

"Sorry, I was just remembering a past I've been trying to forget... I don't think the Dark Elves are evil like those stupid stories. But I can't really say much about it since I'm not a real dark elf," Rya said, and Quinus nodded his head.

"Well... Hopefully, they are reasonable beings," Quinus said, standing up and stretching, "Anyway, I have some work to finish... Are you going to hang here for a while?" He asked.

Rya glances at the page one last time before putting it back in the dark box.

"No... There's nothing else I can glean from this," Rya said, standing up.

"Alright then... Let's get a snack before I get back to my duties," Quinus said.

Rya smirked at Quinus, "Hey... How did you not notice how ominous these blood contracts were, especially when they were being stored in something like this box?" Rya asked, holding the box in her hand.

Quinus smirked at her before looking around the rest of the Royal Vault. Rya followed his eyes and noticed all the other items in the Royal Vault.

"Well... It's not the only strange object down here... Take the Bloodstone Orb over there, for example... Or the cultus armor that was made of human flesh and bone... Not to mention the other things that are more dangerous than a couple of contracts..." Quinus said as he pointed out a few of the creepiest items.

Rya was so focused on the blood contacts that she had tunnel vision when she came down here. She didn't even notice the other stuff.

'Damn... I didn't even notice how many items are stored in this room...' Rya thought as she saw the massive vault. Most items looked normal, like chests full of gold, silver, or jewels. And most of the swords and armor looked normal, but there was a whole bunch of weird stuff—especially the cultus armor.

"I guess you're more acclimated to this world than me... Haah... I guess I shouldn't be as weary of every new thing that comes my way," Rya said, and Quinus patted her shoulder.

"Hey, I get it... I had a similar thought when my father brought me down here for the first time... I'm just glad we had media with weird fantasy stories like this world. If not, I would probably be panicking or freaking out right now," Quinus said as he led her out of the room.

"So, you don't think it's weird that magic exists or that monsters and demons exist out there?"

"I would be lying if I said I was cool with all of it. But after two decades, you just kind of accept it... Plus, it will be weird once I've lived longer in this world than back on Earth... But I still have a decade living before that happens," Quinus said.

'Shit... Quin's right... At some point, I will live on this planet longer than back on Earth... I wonder if I will ever get the opportunity to return to Earth?... It's probably better not to think about it... Especially since there's no way back to Earth,' Rya thought as Quinus guided her up the stairs.

They closed the vault door behind them, and Quinus led Rya up to their bedroom. Quinus ordered some sandwiches and juice for them, and they had a little picnic in their room.

"So, are you ready for the ritual tomorrow?" Quinus asked, and Rya nodded her head.

"Yeah... I could only hear Duval mentioning something about using an ether crystal on the idol... Your uncle is as cunning as you said," Rya mentioned as she grabbed a sandwich.

Quinus nodded his head, "Yeah... He's been quieter than I'm used to... And that worries me... Hopefully, he hasn't done anything stupid while we've been away..." Quinus said, and Rya shrugged her shoulders.

"Well... I have R9 watching his manor, so hopefully, if anything goes down, we will be the first to know," Rya said, and Quinus shook his head.

"Haah, you are such a devious woman, Rya..."

"Oh, please... Like you have any right to talk... You are just as devious as—Augh..." Rya was interrupted when Quin's hand reached up the skirt of her dress.

"Oh, my... It seems like a certain naughty girl doesn't have her panties on," Quinus said as he rubbed his finger on her wet slit.

Rya blushed and was about to tell Quin's off when he slid his finger inside of her pussy.

"Mmm..." Rya moaned as she tried not to make a sound.

"Such a devious woman," Quinus whispered in her ear.

Rya blushed, "Y-You said you needed to go to work... Augh!... You had to complete your duties before our ritual tomorrow, no?" Rya reminded him, and Quinus grinned at her.

"Aren't I completing my duties?" Quinus whispered and kneed down, then moved his face in between her legs and kissed her pussy.

Rya leaned back in her chair and opened her legs wider.

'He says I'm naughty for not wearing panties but it was his fault!... He ripped them off on me after breakfast, and I was too lazy to put a new pair on. So, I've just gone without them for today,' Rya thought as she enjoyed his kisses.

Quinus' tongue lapped at her lips and slid into her folds.

"Mm," Rya moaned.

'God, I love being a woman...'

Rya was thinking that when Quinus' fingers rubbed against her clit.

"Hnn!"

Quinus chuckled, and his fingers moved faster.

"Oooh, God... Quin... That feels sooo good..." Rya moaned.

She started panting and sweating, her juices pouring out of her pussy.

"Oooh!" Rya moaned and orgasmed, her juices flowing onto the floor.

"Mmm, you taste so sweet, my naughty elf," Quinus whispered in her ear as his mouth came closer to hers.

He kissed her passionately, and she returned the kiss. Their tongues fought for dominance.

"Mm," She moaned, tasting herself on his lips.

She felt his cock pressing against her.

'He's not going to let me rest until he takes me,' Rya thought and grinned at the idea of him taking her again.

'H-He's been taking me every day since we came to the capital... It's like he wants to make sure I become pregnant... But I'm a elf now... I don't think it's possible anymore...'

Rya smiled at the thought and pushed his trousers down.

'I guess it wouldn't hurt to try again...'

Quinus smirked, and his hand grabbed her left breast.

"You want more?" Quinus asked.

Rya smiled and nodded her head, "Yes,"

Quinus nodded and slid his hard cock into her wet pussy.

"Ah!" Rya moaned, feeling him filling her.

Quinus pulled her leg up, making her turn a bit in her chair, and began thrusting.

"Ah! Ah!" Rya moaned, enjoying the feeling of him moving in and out of her.

'H-He's so fucking good... He knows how to hit the spot I love the most... And his cock feels so good inside me... H-He's making me lose my mind...'

She could feel her climax approaching.

"Oh, God... Oh, God... Oh, God..."

Quinus grinned at her as he knew how to pleasure his fiancee.

Rya's mind went blank, and she could only moan.

"AH!"

She came, her body shuddering, her juices squirting on his cock.

"Shit... I'm cumming, Babe... Fuck..." Quinus said as he slammed into her harder.

Rya felt his seed filling her.

'HHe came inside me again... Fuck!... I love this feeling...'

Quinus pulled his cock out and kissed her deeply.

"Mm," Rya moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck.

They made out for a few minutes, their bodies pressed against each other. Once they came down from their orgasms, they separated and started cleaning themselves up before Quinus had to leave for his duties.

"I have a meeting with the general soon... I'll see you later tonight, Babe," Quinus said.

Rya frowned, not liking her mate leaving her.

'I hate this!... But I can't become the clingy girlfriend type of girl...'

Rya smiled at him.

"Alright, have a good day, and I'll see you tonight, Babe," she said as she straightened up her dress.

Quinus smiled, then kissed her forehead.

"Be safe, Love," He said and walked out of the room.

Rya sat in her chair and sighed.

'I wonder what Nieren and Dalia are doing today... Maybe we can go to the library? Or perhaps do something else... Maybe I'll ask them later,' Rya thought about the two of them. She didn't want to leave the palace grounds until they got all the political crap out of the way.

'Well, might as well do some magic training and meditation. I haven't done any of that in a while... It could help pass the time.'

With that, she opened the doors and walked down the hall to her room so she could focus on her mana flow and her magic.