Summoned by Monster Girls

“So you went for a run, hoping to do some more practice, but were defeated by a music festival?” Kassandra said while giggling madly as we exited the Juneau Academy campus the next morning, heading out along the road towards Kintos.

“I had no idea they still did those kind of things, let alone at the dingy little park near my apartment.” I countered. Which apparently only served to amuse Kassandra more at that point, as she broke into helpless giggles again.

“It makes sense to me to avoid it then.” Rieka shrugged while walking on Kassandra’s other side. “You said magic wasn’t something your people used, so it was smart not to risk being exposed and endangering yourself.”

“It’s just the mental image of Liam…running along a road while a nearby band of musicians are playing intense music that has me laughing.” Kassandra squeezed out between giggles.

I had to smother a snort of amusement. It was a pretty funny image and would have fit rather well.

“Anyway, what’s on the list today?” I tried to drag the conversation back to something professional. “What do you two need me to do today?”

“Escort to some farms. The farmers are having issues with some magical pests that are destroying crops. They want them either dealt with, or a more detailed report to have the difficulty of the engagement increased. There’s also a collection quest for some special fruits that we can hopefully score if those trees we found a few weeks back in the edge of the forest are ripe. This was all that I could find on a close loop. Everything else had already been picked over yesterday.”

Rieka was dressed again in a loose blouse of a pale blue color and close fitting tan pants. She wore her belt with pouches on it and the small day-pack she carried her essentials in. The spell rod was slung in its holster on her left hip.

Turning my gaze the other way, I checked on Kassandra while Rieka continued to speak about the missions we had. My ‘Nugget’, she had grumbled playfully at me when I said it earlier that it was for private only, was dressed in her normal skirt, blouse, and underbust corset combination, in matching shades of red and brown to her scales. I did spend a moment marveling at how the underbust corset supported her body without constricting like a full corset would.

My musings were interrupted only a handful of seconds after Rieka finished her explanation. Light shimmered at the edges of my vision as the System issued me the mission for its rewards and I nodded. “Sounds good, let's get to work.”

Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their missions and escort them back to town.

Reward - 300 SP

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Following the road through town, we only stopped long enough to buy some pastries filled with a thick stew for breakfast before heading out the far side to take the road north and out onto the grasslands.

Exiting the town, I glanced around curiously for a moment before shrugging. I’d felt like someone was watching us as we came out through the gates, but even the guards up on the wall were looking in a different direction.

“What’s up, Liam?” Kassandra mumbled from around her food, which she was doing a passable imitation of a squirrel while nibbling on it.

“Oh, I was just half expecting to see that mouse-girl out here again.”

“Jane? No, I think she is staying in Juneau right now. I didn’t see any light from her window when we left. Why?” Rieka interjected and I shrugged.

“Nothing, just would be that kind of luck to run into her again is all. Hope she figured out the differences with her summon.”

“Not everyone can have such an awesome guardian!” Kassandra added, which got a roll of the eyes accompanied by a smile out of Rieka this time. I just sighed.

It made me feel a little self-conscious to hear compliments, even coming from Kassandra in such earnest tones. So I diverted the conversation instead and began filling them in on what Cariad had told me the previous day about elemental alignments and possible ‘supplements’ that could boost my strength.

That conversation took us for almost an hour as we followed the road to the outlying farms and made the turnoff. I continued to feel that sort of self-conscious creeping sensation the entire time, but I kept brushing it off.

Enough, Liam. You are around good people and they want you to talk about yourself. They think well of you. Trust that if there was an issue, they’d tell you about it. I kept reminding myself, for all the good it did me.

The rolling grasslands had given way to ordered fields of ripening vegetables and grains. They weren’t nearly as large as the massive, modern farms that I was used to seeing, given that everything still needed to be harvested by hand, but these were still impressive. Following the offshoot that led to the farm, the local buildings eventually came into sight while Kassandra was in the middle of a discussion with Rieka about what might potentially qualify as ‘elementally neutral’ herbs.

Seeing the buildings and the stillness of the farm setting in the mid-morning sent my hackles up and I immediately yanked my mace from its loop on my belt before pushing my Shape-Shifting to clad my left arm in heavy scales with the fighting claws I’d borrowed off of Lady Valda.

“Liam?” Rieka cut through Kassandra’s talking when she saw me drawing my weapon.

“Something isn’t right…I know farmers, had some uncles that used to run a local produce place. It is way too quiet right now.” I muttered. Rieka’s concern had brought Kassandra’s talk to a halt as well and both girls glanced around for a moment before nodding.

“Yea, it is really quiet. Where are all the animals?” Kassandra drew her spell rod from the holster on her belt and Rieka was only half a moment behind her friend.

We stood there for several moments, simply looking around for any signs of the farm help, but it was to no avail.

“We should check it out carefully. Something isn’t right.” Rieka said after another minute or two of silently observing.

“You mentioned we were coming out here to deal with some animals damaging the crops…?” I started to ask the question but Rieka shook her head quickly.

“They expected a sounder of boar or some other smaller foraging animals in large numbers. Nothing that could attack the farmers and…not destroy buildings at least. Just keep on your toes.”

“It’s awful near town too.” Kassandra murmured while following close behind me. She had her spell rod in her right hand while her left lingered near the blade she had claimed from the crag hunter’s nest, though it remained sheathed for now. Rieka took up the back with her spell rod in hand as well.

“Yea, but who knows? They might just be in the fields or something.” Rieka’s voice was weak and it was clear that she was getting more nervous.

Approaching the buildings at the end of the offshoot, I kept a close eye on our surroundings. There were three simple but sturdy looking houses and a pair of large barns tucked off to one side. Each of the houses were built of wood on stone with thatched roofs and all of the same style, just in differing levels of age. That told me it was likely a family settlement. The barns each had their own style, with one being lower to the ground with a sod roof while the other was obviously newer with still bright paint to preserve the wood and designed more like a traditional barn that I was familiar with.

The whole compound crowded around an open area of packed earth that was clearly heavily traveled from the amount of boot prints I was seeing in the small patches of moist earth.

A creeping sensation rolled up my spine as I spotted corrals and paddocks near the newer barn with the earth clearly torn up by hooves of animals, but no signs or sounds of the animals other than torn earth. I’d been to Uncle Nick’s farm enough times before to know that the animals were constantly making a ruckus, especially if they were kept locked up for too long.

“Liam. I smell blood.” Rieka muttered when we got within a hundred feet of the houses.

“Same.” Added Kassandra a moment later. I debated shifting my nose into something to match but before I could I spotted something just as concerning. The nearest house’s door had been smashed in and hung limply on a single hinge.

A scream split the air and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“That came from the barns!” Rieka growled and started forward at a trot with Kassandra close behind. I had no choice but to pick up my speed and hurry forward as well.

The noise had originated from the newer barn and the stink of blood stung my nose suddenly as we got closer to the building. I could hear rough voices arguing and what sounded like sobbing now as we got closer. I ended up having to grab Rieka by the arm to keep her from racing off to confront whoever was in the building. She rounded on me with a soundless snarl but stopped when her eyes met mine.

“Carefully and slowly, Rieka. If there are enemies in there, we need to be smart about this.” I hissed at her. “There are only three of us and if we are outnumbered…”

“We need the element of surprise, Rieka. He’s right.” Kassandra interjected, glancing around warily as the voices rose in argument and another shout, this time a male voice, rang out.

“Get your hands off her!”

“Yea, no.” Snarled Rieka and she yanked free of me. Growling, I broke into a jog towards the partially open barn door with Kassandra hot on my heels. As we got closer, I could hear the voices coming from inside more clearly.

“Do we have time to play with them?”

“She’s a cute one, for a farm-wife.”

“Just a taste…”

“I said take your hands off my wife!”

“Enough!” A thicker voice cut through the others harshly. “Get into positions, you can play with the locals after we deal with the princess and her cohort. You idiots spent enough time slaughtering the animals already. If you hadn’t wasted that time, you might have gotten a ride in but you wanted to wet your blades rather than your pricks.”

That statement brought Rieka up short and I nearly plowed into her back only a dozen feet shy of the open barn door.

“Me? What are they…? Why…?” Rieka swallowed hard and I had the chance to wrap my free arm around her waist and drag her around the corner of the barn, hissing at Kassandra to follow us. We made it out of sight just in time as a half-dozen rough looking men in patchy armor hurried out of the barn and towards the houses. Two peeled off to jog down the lane that led back to the road.

“Easy, Rieka. Need you to focus right now. There are innocent people that need saving.” I murmured into one of her pointed ears and the wolf kin princess stiffened slightly before nodding, her lost expression melting into one of anger again.

“Right, deal with the threat in front of us first.”

“Guys, another set of doors.” Kassandra urged from the far corner of the barn, beckoning for us to follow.

Reika and I hurried to meet her there. With the solid walls between us and the people still inside the barn, it was hard to make out what was being said, but it didn’t sound good.

“Why are you people even here?” That was the male voice that had protested earlier.

“None of your business. You just…hang tight there. If you are lucky, we’ll leave the wives here for you when we are done with celebrating the job.” Said the voice that had called the others to task.

“The guards will find and punish you for this.” A younger male voice said, though there was a thread of fear behind the bravado. A derisive laugh was the response to that statement.

The three of us made it to the corner of the barn and hurried around to find another set of doors that opened onto a grazing pasture. The door itself was knocked partially open and blocked by the body of a cow that had made it halfway into the pasture. The animal was dead, but it provided an opportunity with the partially open door. The barn had no ground floor windows, just the door on either end and some upper space that I remembered was normally feed storage from my few times visiting my uncle’s farm before he passed.

“Okay.” I kept my words as quiet as possible, pulling the girls in close while we huddled close. “I don’t know who they are, but someone apparently attacked this farm and has the owners in the barn. They killed livestock already and it sounds like they are preparing a trap for Rieka.” This got a growl from my wolf kin companion and I used the arm around her shoulders that had been holding her in the huddle to pull her closer, getting an ‘eep’ from her in surprise. “I need to know what the rules of engagement are here.”

“Rules of engagement?” Kassandra questioned but Rieka was quick to answer before I could explain.

“These are bandits and thieves. They killed livestock which is, at minimum, theft of resources. It sounds like they plan rape as well, and I’m sure not just of the wives here. I do not intend to injure, I plan to kill them. These men are bandits.” Rieka’s voice was thick with anger, the shock from earlier having fled her system as her focus settled in again.

Giving Rieka a quick look over, I noted her condition. She’s pale and a little shaky, in shock and concerned I bet. But she’s still focusing through it all. Have to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t collapse when this is done. Surprised she’s taking this so badly, considering the fact we’ve fought and nearly been killed a few times by monsters. But maybe it’s because these are people and not monsters?

“She’s right.” Kassandra spoke up, taking my silence for condemnation. “Even if we capture them, banditry is punishable by execution and this definitely counts as banditry. I guarantee that if we captured them, the Kintos guards would have them dancing a short-rope jig within a day or two.”

“You two going to be okay? Killing is…” I started to say.

“Necessary.” Rieka cut me off. “We’ve killed before, albiet monsters but still. I’m gonna need support later but I have to do this, Liam.” Kassandra nodded in agreement. I gave my normally-rambunctious companion a look but Kassandra seemed to be holding together better than Rieka was. A firm scowl was on her face and she thumbed the spell rod in her hand lightly.

“Okay, I won’t press. I’ll go in first and draw attention, you two follow after. We need to get down the length of the barn as quickly and quietly as possible to secure any captives there. The most important thing is protecting the innocents. From that point, we can try and use the entrance as a choke point. Just make sure that you keep an eye behind you in case someone tries to do the same to us.”

Both girls nodded and we hurried to engage as the sounds of sobbing grew louder inside the barn and a voice was raised in protest before a meaty thump silenced it.

Crawling over the dead cow was awkward and gross. Several wounds marked its sides and hindquarters and it was clear that the animal had been stabbed multiple times before bleeding out rapidly in its bid to escape. The body was still warm, which told me that whoever these bandits were, they had only been here a short time.

Being as careful and quiet as possible, I scrambled over the body and slid into the barn, keeping low and ducking to one side behind a wooden hand-cart to survey the abattoir that the interior had become.

The farmers must have had a good dozen cows before the bandits came. Most of them were dead in their stalls, though one or two still struggled weakly. Only the one had managed to burst free of its stall to try and escape. A handful of sheep were in the same condition on the other side of the large, central hallway that led down the center of the barn.

Towards the middle of the barn, I could see a small mass of people. Seven of which lay on the ground but I didn’t think they were dead as they appeared to be huddling together. Another still body was sprawled nearby and still while a large man had the form of a woman pinned up to the front of another stall by her throat as he ripped at the simple dress she wore with his free hand. I only saw the one bandit and his weapon remained on his belt.

“Liam!” Rieka’s voice hissed from directly behind me, telling me that the two of them had gotten inside. That also told me I could act.

I wanted to launch a stone spike into the man, but his coarse laughter combined with opening groping the woman in front of him meant I couldn’t focus. So I did the next best thing to take him out.

The man was entirely focused on the sobbing woman in front of him, so when my mace caught him across the spine just above the stubby bear tail that protruded from his trousers, he collapsed with a yelp of pain and dropped the woman.

Not giving the man a chance, I kicked him in the back of the head and there was a dry ‘snap’ before he went still. Glancing over at the woman who was now on her butt on the ground, trying to pull the tattered remains of her dress up over her small, firm breasts I inclined my head to her while checking the others. Those huddling together were bound in rough rope, as was the man laid out on the ground but he looked like he’d been beaten pretty heavily.

“Help is here, get your family untied if you can but stay here so we can protect you.” I said to the woman with the tattered dress before stepping over the still body at my feet. Rieka stuck close to my back, nodding to the wide-eyed woman while Kassandra began quickly sawing at the ropes binding the farmers hands with her knife while murmuring words of reassurance. I spared a quick glance back and saw the woman had given up on her dress and was fumbling with the short sword on the dead man’s belt before going to join Kassandra in cutting the farmers free of the rope.

“That man died cleaner than I wanted.” Rieka grumbled as we made it to the barn door and peeked outside.

“I hadn’t meant to kill him, guess I’m still getting used to this increased strength.” I muttered, the familiar clenching sensation in my guts and the flavor of bile rising in my throat.

“He was going to die anyway. You just made it easier than I wanted. Rapists deserve no mercy.” Growled Rieka and her words were reassuring, they allowed me to force the horror of killing an intelligent creature away. Admittedly, it was easier than it had been before. I was coming to terms with the level of danger this world represented and I had resolved to look after the girls.

Nothing is going to harm them while I can do anything about it, they are counting on me. I vowed and that banished the last of the sickness in my guts.

I peeked out of the open door of the barn, using it as cover to check the rest of the farm. I could hear Kassandra talking with the farmers quickly behind us but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Rieka checked the entrance with me as well, crowding close to my side as she did so. Close enough I could feel her trembling even through my ragged armor.

Here’s hoping nothing else happens today to make my armor more ragged. Need to either get better gear or finish training Shape-Shifting to the point I don’t need it. I’d really like to avoid getting stabbed or hurt again… I thought while watching Rieka’s pointed ears flick and rotate before she stiffened, clearly having heard something.

“The two are coming back up the road.” She hissed and we pulled back out of sight. A few moments later I heard the sound of rough boots on the muddy ground approaching the barn.

“Boss, no sign of them on the…what the?!” one of the bandits called as he trotted through the doorway and saw the farmers all standing and gathering tools to defend themselves. His companion plowed into his back, not expecting the sudden stop and neither saw us behind the door, so I was able to act quickly.

The mace I was using now wasn’t an elegant weapon, but it did the job it needed to do. My swing connected with the back of the man's skull with a wet crunch. The other turned, his eyes bugging wide as he tried to yank the chipped hatchet out of his belt to fight back, but my clawed left hand was already moving and opening his throat with a slapping motion. I barely felt the drag of my claws cutting through skin before a fountain of blood washed out of his throat while he stumbled backwards, just missing me with the spray, and fell back out of the barn and into the sunlit space outside.

Shouts came from the houses and I could hear more boots coming while the man I had clubbed wheezed a few times, his body thrashing on the ground before going still.

“Rieka, fall back to look after the villagers. When they come through the door, you and Kass hit them and I’ll clean up any extras.” I urged, pointing back to the farmers who were all watching in horror at what had just happened. Rieka started to protest but stopped when I locked eyes with her.

“I’m the guard, Rieka. I need to be between the danger and you. I’m just making sure you have the space you need. I know you can handle yourself.” My reassurance seemed to work because she nodded and hurried back to where Kassandra stood ready with her spell rod held out.

The farmers were congregating behind her with a mixture of hoes, rakes, hay forks, and other tools turned weapons. The man who had been laid out was up and moving as well and he looked furious, so I guessed that Kassandra must have used a spell while we were dealing with these two.

The sounds of running feet slowed outside and I could tell the other bandits were hesitating. I held up my free hand in a stopping motion to the farmers to tell them to not actually do what I was saying before I tucked my mouth into my shoulder to muffle my voice slightly while I yelled.

“Quick! Get them untied! There are more coming and there’s only two of us!”

A shout of encouragement came up from outside the barn and the other four bandits came rushing through the doorway with weapons drawn, intent on overwhelming their enemies.

They hadn’t been expecting to be faced with magic the second they cleared the door.

“Ice Lance!”

“Bolt Chain!”

Kassandra’s frozen spear took the first one in the gut, the impact knocking him back onto his ass as the frozen pillar lodged there. Rieka’s crackling electric chain lashed out and latched onto the drawn sword another had, making him scream and thrash even as she flicked her spell rod to launch the second half of the chain to hit him in the head with a sharp zap noise. It sent him to the ground in a twitching heap.

With two down, I stepped up from the shadows and smashed the mace down towards the head of the closest one to me. He heard me coming and managed to twist enough that the blow landed on his shoulder rather than his head with a crunch of breaking bones and a scream of pain.

The other turned, swinging his rusty shortsword around in a clumsy chopping motion that I blocked on autopilot, forgetting I wasn’t wearing a shield at the time. The blow impacted my left arm and I winced, expecting to feel a great deal of pain as it chopped into the meat of my arm. Instead, I just felt a dull impact like a blow from Cerebaton’s training sword as my scales resisted the attack.

Not waiting, I brought the mace around in a downward swing towards his weapon arm and there came a crack of bone as the flanged head crushed his forearm. The blow and the injury made the man drop his weapon with another scream of pain. A scream that got even louder as the three tines of a hay-fork erupted from the man’s chest a moment later. I was greeted by the stony gaze of an older man with the rounded ears of a bear kin above a craggy, weatherbeaten face that still showed some of the bruises of a beating.

“Thank you.” He growled, his voice hoarse from shouting, while he yanked the tool from the back of the bandit before turning to lift it with the intent of jamming the improvised weapon into the laying man’s chest.

“Wait!” The bear man snarled in my direction at being stopped but stop he did. “I just want to question him first. Need to find out why they are here.”

“I know why they are here. They were setting an ambush!” Snapped the bear kin farmer, planting one big foot on the chest of the bandit who’s collarbone I’d broken only seconds earlier. “They said they were planning to ambush the princess here and take her for ransom. They were bragging that they got word from town that she was coming to help with our request and decided to take advantage. Scum!” The bear man leaned forward and the injured bandit squealed in pain at the additional pressure on his chest and the grinding of his broken shoulder.

“Look, if you want any chance of me not letting your gracious host get his pound of flesh in, you’ll tell me who sent you.” I hurried to address the injured man on the ground. The bandit wheezed once and shook his head.

“Don’t…know…boss…arranged…payment…was women…!” He managed to squeeze out before the bear kin slammed his hay fork down and pinned the bandit to the ground by his neck like someone would pin a bug to a card for study.

“Damn it.” I growled as the bandit thrashed and died. “Would have really liked to know what prompted this. It’s not the first mission we’ve taken out this way from town.”

“Filthy opportunists, nothing more.” Spat the bear man, kicking the dead bandit in the ribs before turning his gaze to me. I was glad to see his expression as a mite saner now. “Thank you for coming to our rescue like that, stranger.”

“You all needed help and Rieka wasn’t going to take no for an answer.” I said with a shrug, gesturing to the two girls as they approached with the rest of the family in tow. “You mind filling us in on what happened?”

“Not much to tell. They came up the road and attacked early, maybe an hour or two ago. Broke into the house and captured the women, ordered us to surrender or they’d hurt them. They tried to order us to help set a trap, but we refused. That’s when they killed my livestock.” The bear man grunted, turning to kick the first one he’d impaled again. “They were threatening to rape my wife and daughters too, but the leader ordered them into position first, then grabbed my eldest daughter. Apparently he ‘wanted a taste’ before the men came back.” He drove another kick into the second one this time and I heard the crunch of breaking ribs from the dead man.

I glanced towards the woman with the tattered dress. She stood in the arms of another bear kin man with her back to us. The man, her husband I assumed, held her close with one arm while his free hand held a wicked looking hand-scythe with a white knuckled grip.

“From there, you know the rest of it.” The big man sighed, a full body shudder running through his body. “It happened so fast…”

“That’s just how it goes sometimes.” Kassandra said reassuringly. “Come on, let's get your family back in their homes. We came to help deal with your pest problem and well…we did deal with one set of pests at least. We’ll help you do what you can to put your place back to rights…”

“Okay…I’ll send one of the boys to town to get the guard though. Life must go on as well…We need to report this and try to salvage what we can from the animals. Should be glad we didn’t lose anyone. I could use a hand as well to drag these bastards out of my barn.” Growled the big bear man, his voice growing deeper towards the end of his statement and I nodded in agreement.

“I’m happy to help. Let's get started.”