Herald of Shalia 4 Read online

  Contents

  Let's Have Some Fun!

  Other Series

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Free Book Offer

  Acknowledgements

  You may also like

  Copyright

  Let's Have Some Fun!

  That's our goal here. On it's surface it sounds good, right? Everybody likes fun! Well, it's important to clarify that when we say fun we're not talking about family board game night. We're talking over the top explicit content. Now, once again you're probably thinking that sounds good, right? Well, we really want to emphasize over the top really means over the top. This book is meant for adults. You've been warned.

  Other Series

  Herald of Shalia Series

  Herald of Shalia Book 1

  Herald of Shalia Book 2

  Herald of Shalia Book 3

  Herald of Shalia Book 4

  Herald of Shalia Book 5 (Coming Soon!)

  Forbidden Arcana Series

  Jinx (Book 1)

  Ariel (Book 2)

  Mirage (Book 3)

  Theia (Book 4)

  Sable (Book 5)

  Luna (Book 6)

  Talia (Book 7)

  Morgana (Book 8)

  Valaria (Book 9)

  Arcana Slice of Life Series

  Animal Magnetism (After Sable)

  Rank Zero (After Morgana)

  CHAPTER 1

  Frost and Fayeth leaned against the bars of the wheeled cage as the slavers transported them and six elves along the river.

  The frightened elves backed themselves up against the steel bars on the opposite side of the cage from them. Frost tried not to laugh as they continually scanned him trying to make sense of what they were seeing. The blue-dye he used in his hair and the fake ears were enough to fool humans but they probably looked ridiculous to elves with their sharp vision.

  “I still think we should have just followed them,” Fayeth said as she stared at the elves. “It would have been faster and I wouldn’t be locked in a cage.”

  “If you didn’t want to be in the cage then you should have let Ena,” Frost said.

  “And give you more alone time with her?” Fayeth smirked. “I don’t think so. Besides, it’s fun to make her jealous.”

  The blonde elf wrapped her arms around his, pulling his bicep into her large chest. Even the tattered sundress she was wearing as a disguise looked amazing on the curvaceous elf. The green-eyed elf smiled impishly as she tugged his arm harder, ensuring it was trapped between her breasts.

  “Sir,” an emerald-haired elf leaned forward and whispered, finally breaking the long silence since the slavers picked up Frost and Fayeth. “Why are you dressed like that?”

  “Why indeed,” Frost smiled as the woman nervously glanced at their captors. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine.”

  “You could just tell them,” Fayeth sighed.

  “People tend to act differently when they know who I am,” Frost said. “Just let me have my fun.”

  “Fine,” Fayeth said. “But only if you help me tease Ena later.”

  “Is that even a question?” Frost laughed. “Obviously we’re going to tease Ena later.”

  “Okay,” Fayeth said, squeezing him playfully. “Then I won’t stop you from having fun.”

  “So,” Frost gestured at the three elf children hiding behind the other two adult elves. “Your children?”

  “Yes,” the woman said while gesturing at all five of them. “We were captured while…” tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks. “We should have never left our assigned village. Now…”

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” Frost said reassuringly. “Chin up.”

  “But…” the quiet elf glanced at the slavers. “Do you realize what’s happening?”

  The wheeled cage turned onto a narrow path that led to the southern forest. While they were still technically in Blackwater according to the maps, they were effectively nowhere. Blackwater territory was largely made up of unfettered wilderness and plains with most of the population living in the city.

  Based on the direction they were heading, Frost wagered the captured elves were being delivered to Seera. Due to the recent skirmishes with Zira the smaller country was in desperate need of labor and didn’t care much how they got it. It wasn’t too surprising that slavers would seek to profit off of the conflict.

  Also, the rivers in the southern part of Blackwater emptied in a bay that bordered Seera. It wouldn’t be difficult to load them onto a riverboat and transport them along the coast to the neighboring country.

  “I imagine they intend to sell us to Seera,” Frost smiled. “But don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright. Trust us.”

  “Trust you?” the woman wiped the tears from her golden eyes. She glanced at Fayeth and back at him. “You’re a level nine fighter. And she’s only a level twelve archer.”

  “Trust us anyway,” Frost said as he waved at the women and children huddled up in the far corner. All of them had the same green-hair and yellow eyes as their mother. Their clothing was even more worn than Fayeth’s, although that wasn’t surprising. Despite the damage they inflicted on it, her dress was still pretty high quality. The elves wore thick dirty brown robes that looked like they hadn’t been washed in a week. “So, do you girls follow Shalia?”

  “She’s a cursed goddess,” one of the children whispered.

  “We follow Ziralia,” one of the adult daughters added. “It was required in our assigned village.”

  “I don’t hate her,” the other adult daughter mumbled. “I’ve heard stories…”

  “She’s cursed,” the first adult daughter said irritably. “And your stories got us into this mess.”

  “That’s enough,” the mother said, snapping at the two adult women behind her. “It was my choice. If you want to blame somebody, blame me.”

  “Ah,” Frost nodded. “So, only one of you is a follower of Shalia. If only one of you is a follower of Shalia, then why were you all heading to Pluma?”

  “What makes you think we were heading there?” one of the adult daughter’s asked suspiciously.

  “Don’t worry. We were on our way there ourselves,” Fayeth said reassuringly. “We’re not judging you.”

  “We heard the Herald of Shalia doesn’t care if you follow his goddess,” the mother said somberly. “My oldest daughter survived a disease that took all of the other children in our village decades ago. Ever since then she’s been called cursed and even in our assigned village nobody would get near her. I just wanted a better life for her.”

  “She’s the cursed one,” the other daughter said bitterly. “I could have just stayed in the village.”

  “You can’t blame your sister for other people’s stupidity,” Frost said while sorting through the personal status sheet in his head. He was still getting used to the new appearance of it after Cassia taught him the abilities necessary to unlock Falsify Scan.

  Unlike the Block Scan abi
lity that Brynn used to prevent people from finding her level, Falsify Scan allowed Frost to alter any information as he saw fit. The more levels in the ability, the more information he was able to alter. At level one the ability allowed him to alter his class, at level two his selection of classes was broadened, and at level three he was able to alter his level, up to a certain point depending on his level.

  He was tempted to level it using Free Ability Points but he was still saving them for abilities that were more time consuming to master. Instead, he actively engaged in scanning absolutely everything he came across whether it was a person, monster, or just equipment. It wasn’t long before he earned enough Restricted Ability Points to reach level seven in Falsify Scan, allowing him to misrepresent himself by up to seventy levels either direction.

  It’d become a surprisingly popular ability in the village as well since it made traveling on the road safer. Bandits weren’t likely to attack a small group of travelers that were all ten levels higher than them.

  But it did take some getting used to. His entire personal status sheet was accompanied by a second one where he could input just about anything that he wanted others to see. It made his headaches a little worse while scanning things, but it was worth it.

  “What does a level seven know?” the adult daughter said snidely.

  “I know that the followers of Shalia aren’t cursed,” Frost said at the elf. He turned and smiled at the cursed daughter. “Isn’t that right Nara?”

  “What?” the other adult daughter gave him a confused look. The golden-eyed elf tilted her head as she scanned him. “How do you know my name? I’m sure we’ve never met.”

  “He really does like his games,” Fayeth sighed to herself as she turned her attention to the scenery outside of the cage. “Looks like we’re almost there.”

  “Already?” Frost grinned as they approached a clearing.

  He activated Aura of the Divine, Breath of the Goddess, and Fate’s Guidance. It took him a while to learn the extremely versatile abilities but they were worth the effort.

  Aura of the Divine allowed him to sense living creatures but the maximum range was relatively low and it was a massive drain on his mental strength. Fortunately, Breath of the Goddess reduced the mental cost of Divine Magic by upwards of ninety percent allowing him to maintain it comfortably. Finally, Fate’s Guidance allowed him to gauge the strength of those around him as well as monitor their health and energy without actively scanning. All of the information flowed through him like a sixth sense when he activated the powerful trio.

  He could sense thirty-four slavers and sixty-two slaves being held captive. Not a single one of them had the strength necessary to be considered a threat.

  “Quiet down back there,” a slaver slammed his cudgel against the side of the cage causing the elves to jump and rush to the center. “Dumb fucking animals.”

  “Mommy,” one of the younger children wrapped her arms around the elf mother as the older sisters embraced the other two. All six of the elves looked terrified although the three adults were attempting to put on brave faces.

  The wheeled cage slowly emerged into the clearing and Frost finally got a good look at what he was sensing. All of the elves were either housed in cages or chained to posts like animals. There were even two elf males among the large group but they were being held in a cage separate from the rest.

  Frost wagered that the elf males sold for significantly more than the females for breeding purposes. If you had ninety elf females as slaves, a single male might allow you to double that number. Their lodgings and conditions basically confirmed his suspicion.

  The males appeared to have blankets in their small prison and bowls were strewn about, suggesting they were getting fed somewhat regularly while the women were barely clothed and half-starved. Based on their heavily bloodstained rags the female elves were beaten frequently while the bruising on the males suggested they were handled more delicately.

  Frost scanned a bonfire they passed and while he was relieved to see no elf remains, it looked like the slavers were regularly burning all of the elves’ supplies as well as their shoes, likely to prevent the elves from running off.

  “Aren’t you a lucky one,” one of the men struck the cage bars behind him. “You get to go to the nice cage with the breeding stock.”

  “Disgusting,” Fayeth mumbled while looking at the bloody elves. Frost could feel her trembling as she clawed into his arm. She wasn’t frightened, she was furious, as was he.

  “Lucky indeed,” Frost said bitterly as the emerald-haired sextet stared at the spikes hammered into the ground, and the short chains and collars attached to them. Frost turned to the man beside his cage as they neared the center of the encampment. “So, out of curiosity. Are there going to be more people coming today or is this everybody?”

  “Shut up you fucking animal,” the man answered.

  “Come on,” Frost said, hoping for a quick and honest answer. “What’s the harm in telling me if this is everybody? Don’t tell me you’re scared of me…”

  “Looks like we have a mouthy one here,” the man yelled as he banged his cudgel against the bars, attempting to intimidate him. “Maybe we should have a little entertainment this evening?”

  “Why wait until the evening?” Frost said as another slaver opened the door and started dragging the women out. Frost stood up to follow the women as the slaver menacingly struck the bars with his cudgel, terrifying the women into obeying him as he gestured at some chains. “Are you waiting for somebody else to arrive?”

  “The elf seems to want to fight now,” the man announced as the other slavers laughed. “Anybody care to wait?”

  “Show him what happens to mouthy demis,” a man shouted.

  “Doesn’t need teeth to breed,” another laughed.

  “Doesn’t need much of anything other than a cock,” a slaver suggested while grabbing one of the green-haired elves by the neck and shoving her toward the chains. “Feel free to really fuck him up. It’ll really set an example for the other males as well.”

  “Please,” the mother said, as a different slaver attempted to drag her away from her youngest daughters. “Let me stay with my girls!”

  “Shut up you fucking elf cunt,” a slaver reached back to strike the woman in the head with his cudgel but found himself frozen before he could finish the swing.

  “That’s enough of that,” Frost said, stepping out of the cage.

  Frost looked around to see everybody paralyzed, elf and human alike. He hoped to get more information on whether everybody was there but he figured he would just have to be happy with what he had.

  He opened up his stat sheets and deactivated False Scan, revealing his real numbers, although none of the elves or slavers were high enough level to see them.

  He was up to level sixty-four and as far as classes went, he could be just about whatever he wanted. Frost had the prerequisite abilities necessary to swap between over a dozen classes including archer, assassin, thief, elementalist, priest, cleric, holy knight, and even spellblade.

  At the moment he found himself favoring the duelist. It was a specialty class that he unlocked after learning a wide array of abilities and it suited his fighting style.

  As a duelist, Frost felt very comfortable casting offensive and defensive spells, evading attacks, and using different schools of magic. Alternatively, when he was an elementalist, casting divine magic felt like writing his name with his non-dominant hand. He could do it, but it was unpleasant and much messier.

  While classes weren’t required to perform any specific abilities, they did provide muscle memory, making certain actions flow more smoothly than they would otherwise.

  “I really wish you wouldn’t paralyze me with everybody else,” Fayeth said as he undid his paralysis on the busty blonde elf. She reached under her skirt and pulled out a small enchanted bag that she’d tied to her leg and pulled out a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a leather belt with a shortsword attached to it.r />
  “Sorry, it’s just easier,” Frost shrugged. “And I didn’t want to miss anybody.”

  Frost walked around the camp releasing the paralysis on the elf prisoners. He found it significantly easier to cast paralyze on everybody in an area initially and release those he didn’t want paralyzed than paralyze specific targets in a group. He could do it either way, but with the latter method there was a chance he could miss targets which could lead to accidental deaths.

  “I know,” Fayeth said as she glared at one of the paralyzed slavers. “Better safe than sorry.”

  “Right,” Frost chuckled. He eventually reached the cage with the two male elves in it and released the paralysis on them. “And that’s the last of them.”

  “What’s going on?” a blue-haired elf asked, staring at a frozen slaver.

  “What’s wrong with them?” another asked.

  “Who are you?”

  “Are they sick?”

  “What are we supposed to do? All of our supplies…”

  “What’s going on?”

  The elves all grew increasingly nervous while looking around at each other, unsure of what to make of Frost and Fayeth as the two checked to make sure they got everybody. The green-haired elves from the wagon ride seemed particularly frightened as they glanced at the nearby horses.

  “Don’t make me paralyze you again,” Frost warned, shaking his head at the green-haired elves. “We’re going to need those horses. Besides, I’m a friend of Nara’s.”

  “What?” the golden-eyed elf shook her head. “But I’ve never met you before.”

  “I know,” Frost said. “But you are a follower of Shalia and since that lazy goddess isn’t going to do anything herself, here I am.”

  “It can’t be,” Nara said, stepping forward while staring at him as if she finally realized what was going on. The golden-eyed elf smacked away her sisters’ hand as she tried to hold her back. “Herald Frost?”

  “Herald Frost?”

  “I thought he was bigger,” an elf said.