CH 54: The Spark

Despite her own fatigue, Jasmine exited the carriage with a stuffed belly and stained lips. It was late afternoon when she left the carriage and she was still incredibly cranky. She found a mirror and inspected her appearance, she looked too disheveled and dried cum stained her face. She grumbled to herself as she washed away any evidence of their activities.

After a quick inspection again, she set out to find people to help with the trolls’ corpses. The villagers themselves were shocked to hear that they had defeated two trolls instead of just one. They were even more shocked to discover that the trolls were in their prime age, not the younger age that was reported.

Jasmine started growing a headache quickly into their hike towards the cave as the villagers buzzed around her. They brought along a carriage for the carcasses and were talking amongst themselves. They were singing praises of the Scarlet Seraphs for defeating such a tremendous threat. She should be happy that the villagers would spread their name, but she was still pissed for the shitty information.

She was very close to just blowing up at them as they hounded her for details of the fight. She managed to keep herself together though, focusing on Elsie’s taste to calm her down. It was the only thing keeping her calm. How she had Elsie under her control for almost two hours. She made sure to suck every bit of lust and love out of Elsie so she could have some peace.

She had a sly smile as she thought about that. She hoped when she returned, Elsie would be far less excitable, at least for today. The caravan of villagers stopped as they saw the wild woman’s carnage. They gasped as they saw the state of the smaller troll.

“What in the name of Bennos…” The farm owner said. Jasmine looked to see the villagers gawking at the troll’s corpse. The aftermath of that northerner’s rampage. Jasmine took a moment, debating about telling the truth before inspiration struck her. This was perfect. If she said Claire did it, then she could spread their name and their goddess.

“Oh… yeah. My Paladin did that.” She said, casually as she could. Every woman there turned in shock to Jasmine. She covered her smile as she put together a lie. “The redhead that was driving, she was chosen by a goddess… Gave her strength to kill that thing after she was hurt.”

“Wait really?” The farm owner looked the most shocked. She seemed so nice and caring that she couldn’t imagine Claire doing it. Jasmine just casually nodded.

“Yeah… You should see what she did to the other one. Nearly took its head off.” The villagers sat stunned as Jasmine congratulated herself. Her quick thinking would allow them to spread their name quicker. Jasmine held back a laugh as she continued. “Her name is Claire. Wish I could tell you her goddess’s name, but so far, she’s nameless.”

Adding a bit of the truth goes a long way when lying. Jasmine looked at the shocked faces surrounding her as they processed what she said. A new goddess was unheard of as the villagers mumbled. Jasmine pressed the advantage of her plan. “Her goddess sent us out on a holy mission. One that seeks to free our men from the control of nobles.”

She could see how some of the older women reacted. She suspected they had sons that were taken like Ryley. Disgruntled people who were wronged by the system or pushed down. It was the perfect environment to spread rumors. She’d have to thank her old party for teaching her this. They were adept at spreading gossip and lies like wildfire.

She forced back the bad thoughts of them as she continued further. “We all would have died had the Goddess not helped… I’ll show you when we get to the other one.” She headed towards the other troll as they followed. She planned to use Claire’s injury in her stretching of the truth. They made their way to the other troll as they collectively gagged. Its neck barely hung on to its head as it reminded Jasmine of her past.

She hesitated for a brief moment as she thought about it, before collecting herself. “See… she was slammed into that tree over there and knocked unconscious. Woke up with the rage of her goddess and did this. She left her blade here to pursue the other one.”

She could hear the murmurs and whispers come from the group as they took in the sight. They hesitated for a moment before exploring the scene. Wrecked trees, blood everywhere, scorch marks all added to Jasmine’s tale. They checked the state of the troll’s hacked neck, and a few nearly threw up. She left the main group to figure it out for themselves as she explored the cave.

She covered her nose to block out the smell. She wanted to explore and look for anything of note the trolls collected. Some were known to hoard shiny objects or weaponry. She made her way past where she first encountered the two and to their little alcoves. She dug through looking for anything of note. She found several gemstones, gold coins and such, but nothing of true note.

She dug through rusted armor and weapons, looking for anything usable for her party. She wanted something to bring back that might lift her spirits. Claire seemed so out of it before she left that it scared her. She usually never just goes once, she needs more to satisfy herself. Jasmine lost herself in thoughts as she sifted through a pile of junk.

She was about to give up, when she noticed a shimmer with her night vision. Something on the ground caught her eye. She knelt down beside it and brushed away the dirt, it looked metallic. She used her hands and a spare dagger to dig deep enough for her to get a grip. She clawed and stabbed at the side, making room for her hands to lift it.

She lifted the thing with all her might as light surrounded her. Her eyes burned as she turned her night vision off, hoping to not blind herself. With all her might, she pulled at the object before the dirt gave out. She nearly jumped from the force she exerted as it flew across the cave and hit a rock. A clang echoed through the cave as she focused on it.

The light slowly died down as Jasmine adjusted, her head pounding from her headache. She approached the object to find a shield radiating white light. It was a kite style shield that despite the dirt and mud, looked quite clean. No scratch marks, rust or any signs of wear. She picked it up, straining against its weight.

“Perfect… I gotta get back to Claire.” Jasmine smiled as she admired the shield. Despite their lustful activities earlier, the morale of their party’s fighters were quite low. Claire was still beating herself up about getting hit and recovering from the fatigue, and the twins were still shell shocked from Claire’s injury. Jasmine hoped this would help instead of the temporary fix of this morning. It weighed heavily in her arm as she checked for anything else. She packed the valuables she found and headed for the exit.

She exited the cave to find the villagers hoisting the corpse onto a wagon. They stopped to watch as she exited the cave, the shield still glowing vaguely. Their shocked faces followed her as she held back her smile. Her little rumor would spread so easily after all this. She was starting to feel so much better and her headache was slowly fading.

Her walk back allowed her to reflect on the fight from the previous night. She mentally went over her mistakes and what she could improve on. She went over her new skill and planned out strategies on how best to use it. She could use this new skill to help Claire out more on the frontline and have a perfect outlet for her anger. She nearly had a skip to her step on the trek back as she planned out how to improve Claire’s mood.

She didn’t like how her new skill encouraged her to let Claire get hit, but having the option to get revenge helped a lot. Add that with her stealth modifier, and any enemy who didn’t notice her would die instantly. As she added up the rough math, she nearly laughed as it would allow her to down people of her level. She said a silent thank you to the Goddess for such an amazing skill.

Claire was fast asleep with Elsie, both were far too tired to do anything. Claire was still recovering while Elsie was literally sucked dry by Jasmine. Her mind nearly melted earlier as she finally passed out because of all the stimulation. Claire was there to support her as her consciousness faded, holding the girl’s hand. She snuggled up to the poor girl as they fell asleep spooning.

Neither were awake to notice Claire’s entire body glow red. If Ana hadn’t been watching over Claire and Elsie, the whole party would be ignorant of it. She did a double take as she was stunned by the display and even checked her status sheet for any abnormalities. She expected their goddess to show up like last time, since Jasmine glowed like that after she got pregnant.

But no goddess showed up.

The light pulsed briefly before going out. Claire’s body lost its light as she shifted in her sleep, readjusting herself to lie on her back. Ana was left stunned with her mouth hanging open. She tried to wake her sister and Claire by shaking them, but they wouldn’t stir. She was panicking now as she needed to discuss it with someone immediately.

She burst out of the carriage and found Lily cooking over a fire. Lily saw the panicked twin and rushed to help her. “What’s wrong? Is Claire okay?”

Ana couldn’t speak as she just nodded her head. She was trying to communicate but her words were stuck in her throat. She gestured with her hands, pointing towards the carriage, as Lily tried to decipher her gestures. She hugged the girl, hoping to calm her down.

It took a moment for Ana’s breathing to regulate and her heart to slow down. She was anxious and shaking in the embrace, so Lily just held her tighter. She made sure the food didn’t burn as she tended to the panicked twin. Finally, she calmed down enough to drink water and eat.

Lily offered her food and a glass of water. Almost twenty minutes had passed since she burst out of the carriage. She scarfed down the food as she completely recovered. She finished her plate before taking a deep breath.

“Claire… she glowed red like before.” She said softly.

“When the Goddess showed up?” Lily asked, she wasn’t there before so it sparked her curiosity. Ana nodded. “And did she?”

“N-no, she never showed. Claire glowed for a moment, then it went away…” Ana said in almost a whisper.

Lily’s mind raced as she tried to figure out what happened. She had no idea what would cause her to glow. No skill or anything like that. Maybe she leveled up or something?

“W-what do you think caused it?” Ana asked, regulating her breathing. Her heart was slowing down after her little panic attack.

Lily shook her head, “I don’t know… she could have leveled up, gained a new skill or anything goddess related. It’s hard to really tell.”

Ana nodded as her own mind got to work. That red light meant their Goddess was present or represented her power. Could it have been something to do with that? Could she have gained some of the Goddess power? Or maybe she appeared in her dream. “She could h-have visited her in a dream.”

Lily pursed her lips and added, “True, we don’t know if she glowed last time… but I don’t know, the way you describe it was similar to Toni’s power. His body glowed when he connected with Anka.”

They both furrowed their brow as Ana tried to piece it together. Neither of them had enough information to put together a good theory. “C-could it be her influence?”

Lily tilted her head. “Go on…”

“Maybe the villagers saw the wreckage of our fight and assumed there was some form of divine intervention. Given the power imbalance.” Ana said as she was thinking about the trolls’ strength compared to their own. She could see how unlikely 3 newbie adventurers would be able to take those trolls out, even with Jasmine on their side. If they didn’t know about the northerner, then they’d assume it was just the four of them.

Lily rubbed her chin as she thought along the same lines as Ana. Silence fell over them as they thought through their theory. “Ahh… w-we’ll have to wait for more info. Too many v-variables.” Ana whimpered.

“True. We’ll have to wait for them to wake up. Claire should have gotten a notification or something.” Lily said, prepping the food for their party members. Ana nodded as she helped Lily bring in food for the sleeping lovers.

They watched over the two as they slept, letting the food get cold. Lily held Ana as she still shook slightly. Neither of the two stirred for the next hour as Lily and Ana watched over them. They sat in silence, still thinking of the possibilities of Claire’s glowing. Both sat in thought for quite some time.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of whistling. They peaked their heads out of a window, curious to see where it was coming from. To Lily’s surprise it was Jasmine, who had a big smile on her face. She was strutting back to the carriage with what looked like a dirty shield.

“Holy shit… The villagers were amazed. They could hardly believe we had defeated those trolls at first. Told them Claire did it with the help of her Goddess.” Jasmine said, practically bouncing as she entered. It scared Lily as she had never seen Jasmine act like this. She left early extremely cranky too.

“Wait, what’d you tell them? And what’s that shield?” Lily responded, she gripped Ana tightly to keep herself together.

“Oh I found this, and these.” Jasmine said, setting the shield down and retrieved some of the gemstones. “They might be valuable, and this shield looks to be enchanted. But the villagers… I said Claire slayed the trolls. Left out the other woman entirely. Gave them a whole story for them to spread. It’ll get the Scarlet Seraphs’ name circulating and Claire’s name especially.”

Lily tilted her head as she analyzed the shield. She took in what Jasmine said and nodded. Her eye found two enchantments of note. Enhanced Defense and Reflection. One enhanced the user’s stats by a flat +5, while the other reflected damage back on the attacker. She pushed her glasses in as she used her eye to look for any blemishes or weakness. She noted the red accents and the steel-like material.

“Jaz… that shield has reflection on it. That’s extremely rare. Its material too, the pattern doesn’t look like anything Daphne could recreate. And the trolls just had it?” She asked in bewilderment. Jasmine nodded enthusiastically. Her mood improved by the minute on the walk back.

“Yeah! Found it in the back of their cave. We gotta show Claire, it might help her mood.” Jasmine said. Lily realized why she was so happy. Claire was out of it earlier, zoned out and thinking. She nodded and looked at Ana. Her eyes were wide as she examined the shield.

“It’s pretty…” Ana whispered. “Glowing too… Like Claire.”

Her words brought Lily back to their previous problem. Why had Claire glowed like that. The timing caused Lily’s mind to connect some dots. She started doing some math after the posse set out from the farmer’s land. Given the hike and delay of such a big group hiking. It roughly lined up with when Ana burst out of the carriage. She’d have to wait for Claire to wake up to confirm, but she was fairly certain.

“Holy shit… Jaz. I think you just gained us followers…”