Beginnings of a Myth

And so, the angel asked the vagabond king, "So you want to be a king? You wish to wear the crown atop your head? Why...? For power or wealth or lust or fame? Power is nothing without the mind to control it. Wealth is nothing if never used on anyone but yourself. Lust is only good in the moment but after it has passed regret surely sets in. And fame means nothing if it leaves you so detached from the world that no one can know the real you."

The angel stood and proclaimed loudly, and his words shook the soul of the vagabond king, "Here me now! A true king is not crowned without first slaying his demons. So, when you fall down broken and ashamed, don't lose faith. Get stand back up. Be sharper than the sword, smarter than the scholars, and hit stronger than the tide. And may death never stop you. Only when your demons lay slain shall you be worthy. Only then will you be worthy enough to be king."

-Ysvanite Chapter 1; Verses 3-4

The sky is filled with clouds and puddles of water have formed all over this muddy village ground. The rain has passed and all that is left is the aftermath of a calm storm. A group of thugs from a nearby bandit group enter the tavern of the only inn and pub in this small village. They come to harass and intimidate and extort those at the tavern knowing the local guards are all old and fat and easy to kill if they try to stop them.

They enter to see only a few people in the tavern, but most are the family members that own and work there. Walking over with their weapons out and ready to strike they spot a young barmaid, that looked no more than 15 or 16 years of age. They look at each other and nod having found their first target and the one they hope to share sexually assaulting later.

The 5 thugs approach the barmaid, and the elderly bartender speaks up very nervous, “We don’t want any problems. You can take all the coin we got so long as you all don’t hurt anyone.”

The one who looks to be the more charismatic of the thugs speaks up, “Oh….? Well, that’s good. Guess you all learned your place after we killed those bodyguards you tried to hire. But…..” he swung his axe and chopped off 2 of the bartender's fingers, “We don’t give a shit what you got to say! We’ll take your money and do what we like to who we like!”

The group circles around the barmaid as the bartender falls to the ground holding his own hand trying to stop the bleeding. The thug who spoke up pointed his axe in the face of the barmaid. She backed up and unfortunately pinned herself against the bar as 2 of the thugs grabbed her arms and held her in place.

The talkative one spoke to the barmaid as he licked his lips, “We plan on having some fun tonight. You are going to be the one to entertain us.” The barmaid let out a scream as she is afraid of being raped by these ugly brutes, and even more so of it happening in front of her family and other townsfolk.

At that moment two people walked in dressed in thick fur hooded cloaks that were drenched from the rain. The hoods made visibility poor as they didn’t seem to notice the thugs and the scene unfolding as they enter. The thugs however noticed them and are curious about who these obvious newcomers are.

The hooded people moved over to the nearest rack to hang their cloaks as the barmaid still tried to struggle to get free but couldn’t. With their backs turned to the thugs as they took off their cloaks and hung them up on the racks; the taller of the 2 spoke in an accent similar to a southern American cowboy still unaware of what was going on, “Barkeep 2 glasses of black tea. If you don’t have it water will do just fine.”

The thugs and the rest of the tavern’s patrons saw a dark tan human man about 5’10ft with long curly white hair currently French braided and a short thick white beard hanging up his black fur cloak. The man wore golden plate armor engraved with motifs of the sun and stars and designs of an unknown culture to the people there. Under his armor, he wore red pants and a red shirt. A red waistcloth hung around his waistline only kept up by his odd-looking belt. The white cape he wore seemed a little damp from the rain but mostly dry. On one hip was his katana which was a strange sword to these folk, and on the other hip was his pistol. None of these people had ever seen a pistol or heard of one. Hell, they barely had working electricity and plumbing.

With him was a female Mopansho, also known as a Monkeyfolk. Her kind was rare to see in general let alone to see outside of her people’s island homeland. She was about 4ft tall but despite her short height, she was stout and thick. She was very beautiful which surprised the people as they had only heard stories of the monkey-faced ape people of the western island of Mopotan. Her face was more human looking than they had been made to believe about her people with only a small few details that made her look like she was even part monkey person. Her hair was long and curly and the color of dark red ginger almost the shade of crimson. The fur on her body was a much lighter ginger red color. She wore simple tight shorts that hugs her body in ways to show off her butt and a sports bra covered by a hard leather breastplate. 

The thugs took one look at them and knew they were strangers from out west, but they had to have money for the man to be wearing golden armor. Before they could collectively make up their minds on what they wanted to do; the monkeyfolk woman turned and saw them still holding down the barmaid while confused by her and the strange man’s arrival. She tugged on the man’s sleeve, and he turned to see what it was that she wanted him to look at.

Once he saw the barmaid being held down clearly about to be raped before they entered and made the mood shift, and he saw the bartender trying to stand even though he was in pain from clearly having his fingers cut off; the strange man sighed very annoyed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and was frustrated to have to deal with this.

 

He walked towards the men with his hand on his sword ready to draw but in a more relaxed step as he approached. He spoke to the thugs clearly and commandingly, “Leave.”

The thugs laugh at him as to them, he must be stupid thinking he could take on all 5 of them even if his travel companion and the other people in here were to try and help. As they laughed, he barely moved his sword just enough to push the sword guard up only to show maybe an inch of the red gold blade. They all stopped laughing and the one who has been talking for the group made fun of the stranger, “Look at you, acting all tough. But in case you didn’t notice tough guy; there’s 5 of us and 1 of you. You think some fancy armor and sword are going to be enough to intimidate us? What a loser. How about you leave before we break your legs or how about we just take that armor and that sword? Me I’d rather just kill ya.”

The stranger sheathed his sword back and the 4 thugs who had been mostly silent and looking tough all fell to the ground as their heads rolled off their shoulders. As their blood spilled on the tavern floor the remaining thug immediately lost all his bravo and was shaking with fear.

 

The man walked up into his personal space and grabbed him by the neck. He held the thug off the ground and told him, “Leave and tell whatever other friends you got that I said stay the hell out of this town. If I see you or any other of your type around town; I’ll kill each of you without mercy or hesitation. Do you understand?”

 

The thug started to piss himself with fear dropping his axe and nodding his head rapidly, “Yes sir! Whatever you say, sir! I swear to never come back! Just please don’t kill me!”

The stranger throws the thug in the direction of the door and the thug landed just a foot short of the doorway out of the tavern. As he got up the stranger unsheathed his blade just barely as he did a moment ago and watched the thug run out the door terrified for his life. The man looks at his furry female companion and points at the bartender.

The monkeyfolk woman walks over and grabs the bartender’s 2 severed fingers and places them back where they should be on his hand before casting a healing spell to reattach the man’s chopped-off fingers and heal his hand. After he was healed the bartender thanked them both greatly, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Those thugs what been coming here for the last month stealing from us and beating us up. They even killed some of my new workers. Thank you for taking care of them for us.”

The strange man sat down and corrected him, “Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it to help you all or save you from those thugs. I stepped in because they were in the way of me and my partner getting our drinks. Now that you got your hand taken care of clean your blood off yourself and fix us those drinks I requested. I had a long walk in the rain to get here and I want to relax and fill my stomach.”

 

The monkey lady looted the thugs and found 3 coin pouches and a couple of poison vials. The rest she deemed worthless, and she cast a spell to summon some spirit monkeys to get rid of the corpses and clean up the mess.

The barmaid asked the stranger politely, “May I at least know the name of the man who saved me from those brutes?”

The stranger relented seeing how the barmaid was determined to thank him somehow, “Fine…….. My name is Constantine and this lady with me is my partner, Runa.”



The barmaid introduced herself with a smile to counter Constantine’s grumpy look, “Well nice to meet you both. My name is Juulla. Is there anything I can get for you both to eat? I make amazing, fired boar ribs.”

Constantine gave a nod, “Sure… We will take 2 racks of ribs each.” As she smiles and goes to cook for them, Constantine has his attention taken by his special sense alerting him to the fact the thug from earlier has made it to a building in the woods. His sense allowed him to feel both the aura of magic and life energy all around him and passively inform him of his surroundings and potential people/threats. It was damn good for tracking the movements of others.

The bartender handed him his glass of black tea and asked him very curious, “So how did you cut the heads off those 4 thugs without anyone seeing you take your strange sword out of its scabbard? Is it like a kind of spell or something?”

Constantine felt okay with describing his technique knowing that no bartender in a small village was going to learn it without going through similar training and practice as him, “Well yes and no. You see about 2 years back I developed a new 6th sense in order to survive a place that was beyond extremely dangerous. This sense allows me to always have a mental image of my surroundings all around for a large distance. This sense allows me to gauge the life force of every living thing as well as the magical power of them as well. If I focus on that sense I can get a feel of their emotions, read surface thoughts and memories, and learn their weaknesses. I paired it with a spell that makes me too fast for most people’s eyes to be able to see. I mixed the spell and the sense together to be able to kill anything within my sense’s range in less than the blink of an eye. Now the moment I draw my blade even a little bit is the only signal I give that shows my technique is actively being used. I only do so as both a warning and a threat…. Speaking of which…..”

He focused his 6th sense on the thug he let leave and the several dozen others that he rode back to on horseback. He gauged that they were about 3 miles to the northwest in the heart of the nearby woodlands. Sensing their thoughts, he got that most of them thought about burning the village to the ground as payback for Constantine killing those 4 thugs about 15 minutes ago.

Constantine showed his blade was still partially unsheathed to the bartender and those who were listening to him talk about his technique. He closed it back fully and sat it on the bar counter. He stood up to grab some milk and honey to mix into his tea to make it sweet.

He told everyone in the tavern who was at this point all ears for whatever he might say, “3 miles to the northwest in the heart of the nearby woods close to your village is the Fallen World’s old outpost. The bandits harassing you were using it as a base. I just killed them all. I brought back all your stolen shit and collected all the money they had. You will find your stole things right outside this tavern and if you check your pockets each of you will find about 50 gold’s worth of coin on you that wasn’t there a moment ago. That goes for your whole town. Now I wish for me and my partner to eat and drink in peace as payment for my charity of dealing with your bandit problem.”

One of the nearby patrons laughed at him thinking it was a joke. Until they heard most of the town gathering outside the tavern. The one nearest to the door opened it showing as most of the town’s people were staring at a very neat pile of their stolen things asking how it all just appeared out of nowhere.

Seeing all their things were retrieved those in the tavern looked to Constantine in awe before mostly all, even the bartender, ran out to reclaim their stolen belongings. Juulla walked over with some ice for the drinks if Constantine or Runa wanted it. She walked around to go collect her things and, on the way, she stopped to kiss Constantine on the cheek. She whispered into his ear, “Thank you.” As she walked outside, a small smile formed on his face, and only Runa could see it.

Runa asked him, “You were secretly happy to help these people, weren’t you?” He kissed her on her forehead and replied, “You know me very well. Don’t tell any of them. Let them think I am heartless. It will keep them from trying to get attached while we are in town.”

Runa cuddled up next to him a bit more and she told him, “It’s not that bad here. Better than the last 3 villages for sure. They even have a blacksmith’s shop and general goods market.”

“Yeah, but I’d rather gather what we need and head on over to Cleocaar,” replied Constantine.

Runa gave a nod as people started to reenter the tavern. Much more than before. After a half hour, Juulla came over with the food they ordered and decided to take a break. She asked the pair, “You both staying the night?” Constantine replied with a nod.

She asked them, “How many nights do you all plan to stay?”

Runa answered in her cute energetic Japanese sounding accent, “About 2 weeks before heading to the capital.”

Juulla wrote that down and responded, “If that is the case, we can let you folks stay here for 2 weeks for free seeing how you helped us all like that. It is the least we can offer as thanks. So, 1 bedroom or 2?”

Constantine answered, “1 is enough. We prefer to stay close to each other.”

Juulla asked them very curious about what type of partnership they had, “So are you both a couple?”

Constantine answered with a firm, “No.” But at the same time, Runa replied full of love and energy, “Yes.”

Confused Juulla asked, “Are you both married?”

Again, the two answered the same. The barmaid was starting to get confused by their answers, “So what type of partners are you?”

Constantine answered this time and covered Runa’s mouth with his hand, “It is complicated, and explaining it requires a very long story I am not in the mood to retell. Just know that she is my partner and if anyone tried to harm her, I would not hesitate to give the same treatment I did those thugs earlier.”

Juulla starting to get the idea of what their dynamic is leaned in and asked him, "So are you saying that she's your fiancé or more of a friend with benefits type of situation? The two of you strike me as lovers of some kind. And I don't want to say anything that might cause any problems with your unique relationship."

Scratching his head, a bit he thought about how to answer it eventually thinking of a way to describe it in simple terms without having to explain the nuance, "For simplicity's sake you could say that she is my girlfriend, but our relationship is more open to allowing others to be involved. A while back she and I made a deal that I would marry her if she helped me achieve a specific goal since her goal is to get married so she can be able to go back home to her people. That's the easiest way I can explain it, but yes I do care about her."

Runa gave his cheek a kiss snuggling a bit closer to him. Juulla now having a better understanding of their relationship thought about how to get to know the two of them after all the help they've been.

Juulla sat with them and tried to strike up a conversation, "Good to know. I wanted to call you handsome, and I just didn't want to offend your partner in case the two of you were more mutually exclusive. I haven't seen someone who looks like you in these parts. Usually, those with white hair and red eyes tend to be extremely pale and sometimes sickly. But given your dark tan caramel-colored skin looks it struck me as a little odd to have white hair and red eyes. Not that it's a problem I think it looks nice on you and was the reason I was going to call you handsome."

Runa gently rubbed her hand over his golden chest plate and agreed with Juulla, "I think so too. My hubby is the best ever. He's so strong and smart and cute."

Constantine gave her a look of annoyance, but she looked back at him with a smile, and he relented in accepting her compliments. He turned his attention to the barmaid that was now clearly trying to interact with the two of them even though he had asked for people to just let them be. And truthfully, he didn't mind he just didn't want to answer a bunch of questions from several dozen people when he had initially told everyone to leave them be.

He replied, "If you wish to call me handsome, I have no problem with it. Your opinion of me is whatever you wish to say it is. But just know that flattery won't get you on my good side alone. I'm a person who cares more about actions than pretty words...... But if I had to offer a compliment in return, I would say that you are very beautiful. I mean that genuinely. You seem nice so I'm glad to some degree that I was able to help you earlier against those thugs. I wouldn't want such brutes to harm such a lovely soul."

Though there was no charismatic flair to what he said yet it still made her blush as in his straightforward and almost emotionless response she could tell that he meant what he said, and there was no bullshit behind it like with most people. She smiled at him, and he seemed to relax a bit.

Juulla asked them, "So it's clear that the two of you are not from anywhere close to these parts. Where are the two of you from?"

Runa answered first happy to talk about her home, "I am from an island to the west called Mopotan. It's a jungle city where most of our houses are built into the trees. Most of it is made out of wood and clay with a bit of stone and iron to help reinforce some structures. My people like living up in the trees and more than that we enjoy more nature-like environments. My people love to help each other and express themselves in creative ways. My mother was a painter, and my father was a sculptor. My form of creative expression ended up becoming music. I love to sing and play my guitar. That's why I wish to go to the capitol to learn more about music from Bardic Academy."

Juulla was somewhat surprised at her response. Her having already guessed that the island was where she came from as that's where most of her people are from anyway and most of them don't travel, but her love of music took her by surprise. She replied, "That sounds like a lovely goal. I bet you have an amazing singing voice given how lovely your normal voice is. What about you Mr. Constantine?"

Constantine told her not trying to give too much information about where he's from knowing that the people here have never heard of it and don't even know that it exists, "I'm from a place out west a little past the islands but most people don't even know about. My homeland is so beautiful that most people who come there tend to never want to leave. It's a paradise where I'm from where many of the struggles that you all go through, we don't deal with. It's a place where people like me become inspired to create new things. For instance, every weapon and piece of armor that I'm wearing is made by myself. I used to be an inventor where I came from, and I invented anything that came to mind. I decided a while back to travel the world and I guess by fate I ended up temporarily stranded on Runa's island. That was about 2 years ago....."

Juulla asks him curiously, "Do your people not have to deal with demons where you're from? I'm certain that since you've been here you've learned that the demons to the southeast are a constant threat to us here in the Empire."

Constantine not sure how to answer the question thought about things for a moment. The truth of how things work in his homeland would be such a shock to people here that they might think he's crazy or that he's lying. Given the constant warring over the last thousand years between the people of the Empire of Panillos and the demons of the Union of Ginyang he knew that if he spoke the full truth about his home they might try and chase him out of town. However, the girl seemed open-minded and willing to learn more about a world she's probably very curious to see but afraid she might never get the chance to. It was all over her face as she asked the question.

He decided to take a chance and he told her the truth but enough to where it could start her off down the path of having a new perspective. He nodded and told her the truth, "We do. In fact, where I come from is actually where the demons originally came from. However there, many things are different. Unlike the demons here our demons are kind and helpful. This is because they have similar to you all spent a long time at war with the angels and the dragons where I'm from. Eventually, they made peace, and together the three races along with the rest of those that have ended up staying after coming to where I'm from and they have coexisted together helping one another. I know here your demons seek to conquer you all as retribution and you all seek to eradicate them due to your religion. Where I am from your religion has no control and our people have a different way of viewing the other races."

Juulla looked at him like that was a very hard-to-believe story but as she stared at him more she could not tell if he was lying. Thinking about his home as she stared at him he started to remember his friends that he left behind when he left for his journey. Memories of their exploits together filled him with happiness that started to show on his face.

She could tell that his home must be a very unique place for demons to be peaceful, and she found herself believing him seeing as he hasn't lied about anything yet. She laughed a little, "Hahaha.... That is a little hard to believe but I can tell that you aren't making it up. If it is as lovely as you say I would love to go there someday, but I don't think that would ever happen."

Constantine asked her curiously, "Why do you think that?"

Juulla answered honestly pouting just a bit, "I want to travel but I'm a barmaid in a small village. I don't make enough money to be able to afford leaving town. I've always wanted to go to the capital and go to the Holy Hero University. You see I can cast magic, but without a proper school to teach me or at least a master to study under I can barely use small weak spells. I would like to learn how to use more powerful magic so I can help my home. I wanted to fight those bandits, but with how weak my magic is I couldn't do anything. Not even defend myself when they wanted to use my body. Thankfully you showed up and stopped them before they could."

Constantine looked at her. He reached out and removed her hair from over her ears and he could see that she was in actuality an elf. She was likely a hybrid born and the other half was clearly human. Seeing as those working here at the tavern were a mix of elf and human and obviously her family members it made sense.

Normal humans can't use magic without enchanted tattoos but being the child of an elf was a blessing in her case. When humans breed with most races they don't create half human half non-human offspring. Instead, most races overwhelm the human DNA and make the child almost 99% of their non-human parent's race with the 1% or 2% being mostly facial features and hair color that they get from their human side of the family.

Seeing how old the bartender was and how similar they look he estimated that the bartender was most likely her father or someone closely related to her father and that one of the female older elves in here was most likely her mother. It was easy to guess which one it might be as there were only 3 and there was only one that seemed to be close enough in resemblance to her to possibly be her mother.

He stood up and offered Juulla his hand. She accepted it and he helped her to her feet. She was slightly worried about where this might be leading. She was fond of him and thought he was handsome, but she was too shy if he offered to sleep with her as she was still a virgin. 

As she was ready to kick him in the nuts if need be if he asks to sleep with her instead he placed his hand on her head and pet her gently. He told her, "It is settled. I will teach you magic. While I and Runa are staying here you will be my student in the arcane arts."

Shocked and confused by his sudden offer to teach her magic she was speechless. She thought he was secretly nice but not this nice. Seeing him smile at her happy to have her as his new apprentice she realized he was being serious.

Without thinking she immediately hugged him. She was fighting back tears as it was the first step in her dream that he was willing to help make possible. To Constantine's own surprise at the sudden hug, it took him a moment, but he returned her expression of happiness with a hug of his own.

As they pulled away he realize that he was now nice and full and relaxed and ready to go get out of his armor. He looked to Runa and motioned for her to get up and come with him. He asked Juulla, "Could you show us to our room? I'm ready to lie down for a bit and relax with my partner. Besides this armor is starting to tire me out from wearing, and I would appreciate being able to take it off without anybody trying to take it when they think I'm not looking."

Juulla gave a nod and motioned for the two of them to follow her. She led them to the room that they had been given and it was the best room in the tavern that a customer could purchase. It was about the size of a master bedroom and had the best furniture. It even came with its own private bathroom. It was nice for a motel room in a small village.

After entering he motioned for the barmaid to come in with them so he could give her some. As she closed the door behind the three of them Runa started to change out of her clothing and strip naked while Constantine went through their travel bag. Juulla blushed seeing Runa nude. It wasn't her first time seeing a customer completely unclothed, but it was the first time she saw one that she thought was actually attractive naked.

Despite her looks, she was technically an adult, she paid attention to Constantine watching to see if he also got naked. However, instead he pulled out of the travel bag a large crystal ball made of pure diamond.

He walked over to her and instructed her, "Place your hands on the orb and try pouring a little of your magic into it so I can see what your affinities are."

Juulla complied as Runa enter the bathroom to start running bath water. As the magic was poured into the orb it changed color. The primary two colors that it showed were white and black. Constantine pulled the orb away and placed it back in his bag. This time he started reaching for something else.

After about 2 minutes of reaching in, he pulled out a magical staff that looks too big to fit in the bag. She realized the bag must be enchanted. Constantine walked over and handed her the beautiful magical staff that was made of ivory and cherry blossom wood accented with silver depicting a winged lion at the top of the staff made of pure silver.

He explained to her, "This is a magic staff crafted to amplify specifically Vivomancy and Necromancy type spells to be 3 times more effective. I'm giving it to you because your affinities are for both Vivomancy and Necromancy. It is rare that a person has an affinity for both the magic of heaven and of hell but where I'm from such a combination is more frequent given certain hybrids. I do not want you to use the staff while I teach you instead I want you to use it whenever you feel necessary to give your spells an extra boost. The staff will teleport to your hand whenever you will it to after you have had it in your possession for about an hour. The staff is a gift and a promise that I will train you. Take it."

Hearing that and seeing the gift that she was being given she couldn't help but think this had to have been a dream. Yet she did not hesitate to take the staff and hold it close as a treasure. She hugged him again thankful for the gift and everything that he had done today. Still, a little caught off by the hug Constantine hesitated again, but this time for not as long before he hugged back.

He pulled away and told her, "After breakfast tomorrow I will have to go and run some errands and you will accompany me because after those errands are completed I will begin your training. For now, you can go back to whatever it was you had planned for the rest of your day as I think my bath is ready and my partner is waiting for me to join her."

Juulla gave a nod and bowed her head respectfully. As she began to turn and leave the room she saw Runa waiting at the doorway of the bathroom having just turned off the water as the tub was mostly filled. Runa waved to her goodbye before blowing her a kiss knowing that she'll be seeing a lot more of the cute barmaid. Juulla blushed again seeing the beautiful monkey lady standing there naked obviously teasing her. Once she was out of the room, she went to go show off her staff to her mom and dad.

After undressing and joining Runa in the tub Constantine allowed his body to soak as he tried to relax. Runa cuddled up to him in the bath pressing her back against his chest.

Runa spoke having enjoyed the hospitality of Juulla, "I like her. I'm glad you offered to help. I think you should consider offering to let her travel with us. She's an adult and she desperately needs to get away from home as I did."

Constantine unmoving told her, "Maybe. I want to see more about if she has the drive to surpass her current limitations first. If she can impress me, I might just offer to let her at least travel with us to the capital."

He started to wash Runa's body for her making sure to clean her fur thoroughly so it can have the same beautiful look that it always does. He took extra time to clean her breast for her simply because he loved to fondle them and she loved it when he did. She took pride in the fact her future husband loved her body. All she could think about was one day having many children that belong to the two of them. A dream that was hopefully not that far away.

Soon she started to clean him in return making sure to tease him just like she was teased. To her, this was the part of their relationship that she enjoyed the most the fact that they weren't afraid to show how much they desired each other.

Runa remembers the days that she feared that he thought she was ugly and just stringing her along. The memory of their first kiss together and the first time that the two of them were intimate crossed her mind and she remembered what he told her and how he really felt about her. Looking at him now she will never doubt him again. How could she after almost 2 years of being nearly inseparable he has made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't want to go anywhere without her.

She was his and he was hers and they both knew it. More than that they both meant it.

After drying off from the bath Constantine carried her over to the bed that they would be staying in kissing her cheeks and her lips and neck the entire way. He sat her down and though they wanted to do more they were just too tired from the walk to get to town.

Instead, they fell asleep in each other's arms holding each other closely completely naked but covered by the bed sheets. Constantine 6th Sense would alert him if anyone tried to enter the room while they slept but as of now, he let his mind drift off to sleep.

Early in the morning, Juulla wakes up to the sound of the chickens and roosters. Her nightgown almost sliding off of her milk chocolate brown skin speckled with purple freckles across part of her body. She rubbed her face and opened her beautiful amethyst-colored eyes as she slowly got out of bed. She walked over to her bedroom bathroom and started running her bath water.

Once it was ready she let her nightgown fall to the floor and bent down to remove her panties. Stepping into the hot bath water she let the heat wake her up as she slowly started by washing her beautiful long curly black hair that faded into purple towards the midway length. She took pride in her hair as its distinct look is what separated her from most of her family members and helped her stand out so she is a bit more unique and not just someone people could easily forget.

Many nights she worried about not being seen and about people forgetting she existed. However, after yesterday she felt more like she was noticed than ever before. She was saved by what she could only describe as a knight in shining armor. And had a lovely conversation with him and his beautiful lover who seemed to have taken an interest in her. Not to mention today she'll finally get to start learning how to properly use her magical gifts for more than just making a ball of light, or hiding in the shadows without being seen so people would leave her alone when she was scared.

As she lingered in the tub a little longer she started to remember how Runa blew a kiss to her last night while standing there completely naked. She started to visualize Constantine without his armor imagining him to be a well-built knight with bulging muscles under the armor. She started to imagine being between them and fantasizing about all the naughty things she would want them to do to her. She usually was able to sneak in masturbation early in the morning before she had to start work. At this point, it was becoming almost a daily routine to help her suppress her urge for the lustful touch of another. She took the time out to enjoy this fantasy a little bit longer than her usual ones as this one might come true one day; if she plays her cards right.

Once she had finished masturbating and taking her morning bath, she got dressed in her usual barmaid outfit. However, she also set aside a secondary outfit that was more meant for potential training not sure what she would be doing.

Walking downstairs she saw that there were only three or four people there early in the morning waiting for breakfast and her mother had already cooked something for them. It was clear that Constantine and Runa had not come out of their room yet so she decided to make them breakfast herself. She wanted it to be something nice and fancy, or at least as fancy as she could make it.

Using her excellent skills in the kitchen taught to her by her mother and grandfather she made a magnificent breakfast for the two of them and carried it off to their room on a moving tray. That way they could have breakfast in bed. After all, she was trying to make an impression so they could teach her as much as they know.

Opening the door however to bring in their breakfast was a mistake. The first thing she saw was the two of them naked and in the middle of early morning sex with each other, as Constantine was going slow but powerful with each thrust of his hips. As the two of them looked up to see who had entered the room; Juulla stood there blushing and flustered.

Constantine seemed completely unfazed by the situation, and Runa seem to be teasing her by using her hands and her tongue to indicate naughty things to the beautiful elf woman. Not stopping in between each thrust, Constantine looked at her seeing the breakfast, and told her, "Either place the food on the dresser over here or take it back out into the area with everyone else..... We're almost done with what we are doing.... Once we finished, we'll make sure to freshen up and be ready to go do those errands I told you about."

Juulla almost frozen in awe of the situation took a moment just watching before the worlds registered to her brain. She decided to place the food on the dresser making sure to look away, but only for moments at a time as now, she was getting a full display of what she was fantasizing about earlier. She also took the time to take in what Constantine looked like outside of his armor.

She noticed that he was muscular but not as big and bulky as she thought he might be. His overall body type was average but his muscle definition was highly above average. The man look like he was chiseled out of fine marble and like his abs could crush diamonds. The fact that she could see him naked right now made her blush so bright that all of her purple freckles started to dimly glow purple.

It was a thing that was normal in her elven side of the family and is related to the fact that she and her elven family members are fey creatures. Constantine was too focused on having sex with Runa to notice, but Runa seeing past his shoulder and looking at the girl decided to tease her.

Runa started mouthing the words silently of the dirty things she wanted to do to the elf which only made her blush more intensely. She could tell the elf was interested but too shy to take that step and offer to join in with them right now. To Runa teasing the elf girl was funny simply because they've already made it clear they wouldn't mind having more company for situations like this.

Juulla was frozen again and Constantine realized the door to the room was still open. He pulled away from his lover and looked back at his new apprentice. As she looked at his cock and was worried about where this might be going again he told her, "Look. I get it you're shy. For you, this is probably pretty awkward and either uncomfortable or interesting. I would prefer it if instead of standing there and staring that you either join in if that's what you want or you go about your business until we're ready to go do those errands. Either way, I would rather that the door to the room be closed so not everybody that passes by starts getting a peep show."

Hearing him be so bold and straightforward about offering to let her join them was something that she fantasized about but now that it was happening she wasn't sure how to respond. Taking a moment to collect her thoughts she replied very nervously and blushing as intensely as her body could, "I would love to join you. However, I'm a virgin and I wouldn't really know what I'm doing if I were to just join you. Not to mention it would be pretty awkward for me if after we were finished, I returned to the rest of those in the tavern only for my family to give me odd looks after probably hearing me moaning through the walls. Maybe if it was somewhere other than my family's tavern I might be bold enough to join."

After she finished speaking she saw Runa licking her lips at the girl which made her look away shyly but smiling. Constantine immediately went back to what he was doing however he did respond to her as he started back sensually stroking into his lover, "Where I am from sex is normal and often everywhere you can see as people were I come from unknown for fucking in the streets. I understand why you're shy so I won't press you to step out of your comfort zone. At least not on this matter. Just keep in mind that if you ever want to join us no matter where we are or if you are in the mood and want to take advantage of your desires..... Feel free. I'd make sure that we would make it something you would never forget. Besides the only reason, I'm going slow right now and trying to keep noise to a minimum is because I don't want people to give me odd looks or talk to me about it either. At least not the people in this town...."

Juulla was happy to see that they respected her wishes and thanked him, "Thank you. I might take you up on that offer sometime before the two of you choose to leave town."

She grabbed the tray that she rolled the food in on and exited the room. Closing the door behind her on her way out she stopped in the hallway and focused herself. Mainly so that she would stop blushing. Once her freckles stopped glowing she felt fine enough to reenter the main area of the tavern.

She had already told her parents the night before that she would take the day to start training with her new magic teacher. Her parents were very encouraging of her in learning whatever she could from Constantine and Runa. They hoped that if even a portion of their knowledge and skills rubbed off on their daughter they might not have to deal with all the bandits the next time criminals decide to set up shop near the town.

After about a half hour Constantine and Runa rejoined everybody already dressed in their armor and ready to head out into town. On the way, he left some coins on the counter in front of the barkeep and gave the man a nod. Even though they're letting them stay there for free he refuses to not pay something.

As he motioned for Juulla to join them and she rushed over smiling ready and excited to start learning magic after whatever errands needed to be dealt with. Heading out of the tavern they had Juulla guide them around to where it was they were looking for.

The first location was actually the house of an old man who lives on the edge of the village that most people don't talk to. Most people think that he's probably a former criminal who is just hiding out in the village.

After knocking on the door and the old man opening it to see who was coming to see him of all people Constantine greeted him with a pleasant smile. He told the old man, "Mr. Henderwood, I'm glad I was able to reach you. On the way to town, I ran into your son and he wanted me to give some things to you."

He hands the man a stack of letters as well as a sack of coins and a black and white photograph. The old man was surprised his son would want him to have all of that considering that it was clear that he and his son separated on bad terms. However, the old man looked at the picture and saw that his son was an adult now and married with two children. He wasn't sure if his son was gloating or trying to reach out so he looked at the letters. Realizing that it would take him a couple of hours to get through all of the letters he gave Constantine a nod of thanks and walked back inside.

As they walked away the next stop was the village guardsman's house. Usually, whenever he dealt with police in the past depending on the situation it either went very poorly or very well. This time however as he walked into the guard house all he could feel was a disappointment. The village had four maybe five actual guards and most of all of them were old and fat. He immediately looked for the head guardsman and once he spotted who that was he approached. He reached over and grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him in close putting a letter against his face. Constantine told him, "Listen here you lazy lardass! I've come to deliver orders from your commanding officer. He says you haven't sent in a report in almost a year. Seeing as you had a bandit problem and they could have sent reinforcements long ago my only assumption is that you were either too lazy to do anything about it or you were in on it. Either way as of this moment I am the new head guardsman until I can train up a new batch of recruits to replace you and every other fat fucker in here that stood by and let this town go to shit! Now I want you and the other assholes in here to get the fuck out! And leave your guardsman gear on the front desk or else you'll end up like the bandits from yesterday."

Seeing Constantine's more dominant assertive side almost was a 180° turn from his passive emotionless attitude or his slightly happy yet stoic demeanor. Juulla was shocked by his almost natural way of intimidating people as the guardsmen took off their gear and got the fuck out of there.

As the 3 of them exited the building he locked it behind them now that he had the keys and she took them to the blacksmith shop next. It was one of only two shops in town and as he entered in he saw that the town only had one blacksmith.

Immediately Constantine walked up to the middle-aged man and told him, "I wish to pay you 500 gold to use your forge over the next couple of days to make some new weapons and armor. I already have the materials that I will need to craft with and I just would like to use this forge."

The blacksmith was surprised to hear about so much money being offered up as to him that was nearly 5,000 silver which is more than he makes in almost 4 months. He gave a nod and asked Constantine, "When would you be coming around each day to use it just so I can know when to be expecting you?"

Constantine replied with a firm answer, "Around this time every day for about 3 hours for the next 5 days."

The blacksmith offered out his hand accepting the deal and Constantine handed him the coin. The first thing he did was ask the blacksmith to step out of his own shop for a moment so he could get proper measurements from one of his female companions without someone gawking at them.

Once the blacksmith was out of the shop Constantine looked over to Juulla. He asked her, "What type of armor would you like? I'm going to be making new gear for the guards that will be replacing your old one. However since you are my new apprentice I will be making special gear specifically for you. So do you have anything in mind for what you think you would like to wear?"

She was a little surprised to hear that he was about to craft armor for her, but she was not going to deny his gesture. Knowing it would be rude to turn down his offer she took a moment to think about what kind of armor she would prefer. She knew she wanted something with metal plating. But if it was standard knight armor it would be not as flexible for her to move around in and would weigh too much for her to probably be able to use until her body had been trained for heavy armor.

Having an idea of what she wanted she asked him, "Could you make something that can allow me to be as flexible as possible but also have protective plating for my more vital areas?"

Constantine nodded taking out certain materials as well as some measurement equipment. He said, "I invented a type of armor that helps against most forms of combat except for magic unless it's enchanted. Lucky for you I can also enchant the armor so it can be protective all around. But it's not going to make you indestructible or invulnerable. I'm thinking of an underbody suit with extra hard leather over the top and a couple of bits of plate mail here and there for added protection. So you're looking at more along the lines of half plate."

She looked very excited to hear that. The idea of having enchanted armor to go with her new magic staff was amazing.

However, she immediately froze when Constantine told her, "Strip naked. I need to get your measurements, so the bodysuit is perfectly fit to your form."

She almost fell over surprised by his words not sure if he was being serious or if he was just trying to be flirtatious. Given the look in his eye, she could tell he was serious. Realizing that this is why he got rid of the blacksmith in case she would ask for something of this nature she was at least happy that it wouldn't be as awkward.

Slowly undressing nervously while trying her best to look sexy and seductive was something that failed horribly for her and made both of her 2 companions laugh at her playfully. Seeing her standing there naked they admired her form. She was about average human height for an elf which for them was kind of short seeing as most of them were around 6ft tall. However, unlike most elves, she had a much thicker body type but maybe barely half as thick as Runa was.

As Constantine got close, he started getting her measurements mostly trying to see without being pervy. He wanted to make everything fit for her after he was done making whatever armor he comes up with.

However, when he goes to measure her breast and she has to move her arms out of the way so he can get her proper measurements she starts to blush again. Despite what was going on in her head about all of the fantasies of what he might actually try and do to her he's just as serious as he said he was. It doesn't take him more than a couple of seconds to get her proper measurement before moving on. By the time he was done he got to see every inch of her and noted each of the measurements for the parts of her body that would be important for what he was about to create.

He motioned for her to get dressed and as she started putting back on her clothes he moved over to start crafting her armor. He started by working on the bodysuit. She saw him take out strange material and strange devices as he began working on the bodysuit by hand and constantly referencing her measurements as he did. As he was working on the bodysuit he looked up at her once she was fully clothed again and he told her, "Now we start your training."