My Servant System

Kat PoV (no idea why I switched to Jahi PoV last chapter lmao)

"Oh, look at this~! Ain't this a great find!"

Anput untangled herself from Jahi's arm and bounced over towards the long, weapon covered racks inside the rather fortified, stone brick cube that we located, its purpose quite clear; it was a forge and an armory, and considering the fires outside and the now empty tents set up around the area, this was one of the points that the Cultists turned into a campsite so that they could take stock of the loot.

"A good amount of weapons, surprisingly... and raw materials as well. It was out of the way too, so I guess we missed it last time since we were... preoccupied."

Jahi was frowning as she looked around at the various weapon racks, taking in the various spears and swords that glittered in the firelight, though Anput looked into one of the furnaces and said "No, these were freshly made. There's a good amount of ash inside these furnaces that's fresh... The materials might have been here, but I think these Cultists were here longer than we expected. Though..."

Lifting one of the swords from the rack, Anput inspected its surface for a brief moment, running her finger down the edge and frowning as she asked "Why make the weapons here, in Nogart, instead of transporting the materials back and making them at their home base in Amioux or wherever?"

Leone was the one to speculate, the Vampire looking around the forge as she said "Perhaps they were tasked with turning Nogart into a base of operations? Stock it up, repair it to an extent, and maintain it so that whenever they decide to garrison it, they have what they need? Honestly, after the creatures made their way through Tragon, I wouldn't argue with someone if they said that the population of this Kingdom was zero. That creature seemed to be whetting its appetite for violence inside this Kingdom... for one reason or another."

Feeling Jahi rub my back, I looked up at the Demoness and tilted my head, inspecting her features as she said "I guess that makes sense... Especially since that other Cult was here, albeit briefly. Though, I wouldn't call that Nua Arch Fiend's appearance the appearance of a Cult; it just raised the dead of that city and summoned up that old monster. Still..."

Taking a deep breath, Jahi pursed her lips and stepped forwards, inspecting the various weapons with Anput before looking at Leone as she added "It would be weird for the Cult of Ambition to want to nab Nogart for themselves. They have to know that the Empire was coming to take the Kingdoms; it wasn't hidden knowledge, and while these Cultists seem to believe this Amioux city is their main base, I don't buy it. I think they're more rooted into the Empire than they let on."

"I... That makes sense actually. For them to have Renacla County - specifically Vulpe City - as well as a large chunk of the population of the Witrani Barony beneath their control, they have to have a significant force in the Empire. And while the Confederation is a semi powerful area, it isn't the Empire; resources and information are less abundant there, and for a Cult... the risk is not outweighed by the reward of being inside the Empire. Least of all if they can blend in."

Leone gave me a glance and nodded, the Vampire letting out a sigh as she recalled the time in the Renacla County with mixed feelings - some good, some bad.

"Alright, well lets check the containers and stack everything nicely for when we come back... and place some defenses around this. I am NOT convinced that we killed all of the Cultists back there, not one bit..."

We all nodded at Jahi's words, and I reluctantly released her arm and made my way over towards a chest, smirking inwardly as I felt the three gazes of my lovers on me as I began to look around.

It was obvious what they were looking at, so I gave them the show they wanted whilst keeping it tame enough that we didn't get pulled into something risky in enemy territory... but it was hard to not flaunt myself when they were all really obvious with their wants~!

Opening the lid of the chest, I nodded to myself as I lifted out a bar of metal, its makeup eluding me for the moment as I inspected its silvery blue surface and showed it to Anput, who just nodded before making her way over towards another container, opening it up and rifling through it as well.

Lifting the bars, I made sure there were no other types of metal sorted into this chest, before stopping for a moment as I saw the edge of a piece of paper poking out from beneath one of the bars.

Freeing the paper, I lifted it out and turned around, leaning against the chest and reading the letter out loud.

"Belkan, make sure to keep an eye on Yulie whilst you're in Nogart; that knife eared whore has been sniffing around for evidence on our deals with the Deacon Fulbargn. If she makes any moves, you know what to do."

It was a small slip of paper, and I raised a brow as I handed it off to Jahi, who reread it and shook her head slightly, flabbergasted at the words inked onto the paper.

"Who the hells sends this to someone whilst they are deployed..? Anyone could have come across this, especially someone who liked this Yulie woman... Though, I guess this goes to show the Cult of Ambition has some fractures already... and their leading caste - or at least, the caste above the normal members - are called Deacons and have some form of authority or power to make some deals. Interesting."

"Ah, there's another one over here!"

Leone was rummaging through the bags left near the door, and she pulled out a letter and read "Mission Statement : Secure Nogart for future use. Bolster its defenses and prepare to receive reinforcements at midnight on the night of the full moon. All command will be relinquished to Deacons Fulbargn and Renama upon arrival.

Mission Reward : Fifty Marks per person, with an additional set of Marks being awarded for those that go above and beyond."

She handed it to Jahi as well, before taking a look outside and staring up at the moons, coming back in and saying "Well... good news is, its not the night of either full moon. Bad news is... that's likely tomorrow or the day after? For at least one of them. A week for the other..."

The Demoness snorted and shook her head, looking down at the two letters as she said "That's... quite lucky, I guess. We have time to go back and get reinforcements from Arx Impius to capture the Deacons and learn more about this Cult. Shouldn't take more than a day to get back to Arx Impius and then return to Nogart, so long as you travel fast. Gives us time to prepare as well."

We all looked at one another, before Leone and I rolled our eyes at the obvious excitement coming from both Jahi and Anput as they were promised a fight against something a bit more challenging than monsters... and were likely hoping that the Deacons would put up a semblance of a fight.