M. Tress Writes
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Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 107
🕑 Added 2025-01-21 09:00:04 +0000 UTCAssist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye, Kassandra Silverscale, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, by winning the competition and impressing Queen Gemma Coldeye.
Reward - 2000 SP
COMPLETED
I grimaced weakly in pain as another bone popped, and this time I felt the click as the ends sealed together.
“Sorry, Liam,” Kassandra murmured as she focused her healing magic on me again. “You took a lot harder hit than I thought.”
“Would have been… harder if I wasn’t ready,” I grunted.
Focusing inwards on what Kassandra was doing while Shayla worked to keep Kassandra calm, I found her magic working to heal the cracked bones and realign dislocated ones. The bruised flesh didn’t help either.
Remembering something that Cerebaton had told me a long time ago, about using Shape-Shifting to help keep myself in one piece until I could heal, I urged the bones to realign, using Shape-Shifting to urge pieces back where they should be.
A sharp click ran through my body as the bones moved to their proper places, followed first by a wash of sharp pain and then a moment later by a cool sensation as the magic surged in to finish the mending and fix the damaged tissue, regardless of whether it looked fine.
Another dull flash around the edges of my vision and I thought I was about to pass out in the wake of the mixed rush of pain and relief before more words scrolled across my view.
Power Shape-Shifting (Moderate) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.
New Powers available in the System interface.
Congratulations, Traveler.
“Well, shit,” I grunted, blinking furiously before I began to shiver as the chill bit back into my healing flesh. “That worked in an unexpected way.”
“What did, Liam?” Rieka was standing closer than the other girls, but I could tell from how her fluffy tail was stiff behind her rather than dancing in its normal gentle wag that she was anxious. Combine that with the fact her ears were laid back and the scowl that decorated my princess’ face, I knew she was upset.
“Just something with my Shape-Shifting, I can explain later,” I grimaced, glancing down at my bare chest and then at my bare crotch.
I’d forgotten that I’d lost the clothing during my shift earlier when I’d had to drop in size. My hands immediately shot to cover my junk, which got a snort of amusement from the frowning Rieka and a quiet titter from Jane.
Shouting from the stands above us drew my attention, and I glanced up to see the queen barking orders to her daughter, who had been on her feet since the queen rose.
Rieka’s elder sister shot away down the row where she had been sitting in a flash of movement, and the woman that the queen had been shouting at finally stopped ignoring the queen to turn a surprised look at the other woman. I couldn’t hear what was being said between the two of them, but Queen Gemma was clearly furious.
With good reason, I thought while shooting a look over at Rieka who was glaring across the arena at the retreating back of Josephine. If I hadn’t brought that thing down, it might have plowed right into the girls. Even if two of the four aren’t nobles, that is going to require something to save face for such a blatant violation of the rules. Why, though? What would drive Josephine do something like that? She didn’t order Gyrallia to keep attacking after the fight was called, but she also didn’t recall the creature. It happened so fast…
The weight of something soft settling over my body pulled me out of my introspection and I glanced down to find a sky-blue cloak settling over my lap while Rieka buttoned closed the dimensional pouch she kept on her hip.
“Cover up, Liam. If you can shift your lower half to something that doesn’t look like it needs pants, that might be good too. I don’t think we are going to be able to retreat to the dorms for you to dress. I won’t even ask if you want us to send you home,” my princess said with a grimace.
“Smart girl. I knew I loved you for a reason,” I shot back with a tired smile, making Rieka blush. “I’m not leaving until I know you four are okay and whatever that is,” I pointed towards the far side of the arena where Rieka’s sister had appeared from the exit tunnel to confront Josephine and her three hangers-on, “is taken care of.”
Rieka grimaced and nodded once before turning to study the altercation going on at the other end of the arena.
“Liam…” Kassandra’s worried tone drew my attention back to my dwarf lamia, and I smiled at her reassuringly and opened my arms to her.
I was still cold, but I could feel it burning off under the heat of the sun overhead and my body-heat. The sand was still chilly under me, but it was also warming quickly.
Kassandra dove at me with a worried cry, burying me under a mixture of her coils, flying curls, and kisses as she piled on top of me to make sure I was all right. I caught her as best I could, unable to bleed off the momentum of the tackle this time, but Kass was at least considerate enough to not crush me.
The dwarf lamia throwing herself on me was apparently all the signal that the others needed to close the distance.
While Kassandra lay on top of me, Jane crouched near my head and I saw that the mouse kin woman had her spell rod in her hand, standing guard over us. Shayla crowded by my feet, kneeling with her wings spread to block the view from most of the arena while Rieka stood on my other side, just as wary as Jane.
“I’m okay, Kass. You saw to that,” I reminded the dwarf lamia, hugging her to my chest even as she tried to burrow into my neck with her face.
“You are cold, Liam. I don’t like that. I like it when my Liam is warm,” Kassandra grumbled as she clung to me.
“Give it a bit. I’ll warm up,” I teased her.
Though I didn’t mention it to Kassandra, I was still feeling chilled, but having her snuggled up to me was helping my temperature normalize. While she was cold-blooded and thus unable to warm me normally, Kassandra’s much larger body was still warmer than I had been, so it was helping me even out.
Remembering Rieka’s suggestion, I glanced around for a moment, looking for my pants.
I spotted the bundle of shredded cloth a moment later, out towards the center of the arena. Apparently, Gyrallia had run right over top of them and shredded the cloth, so that removed my only other idea.
Shrugging under Kassandra, I pushed at my Shape-Shifting and shifted my lower body to that of a goat, complete with digitigrade legs, thick fur, and animalistic feet. But rather than the normal goat-hooves that would end the legs, I instead shifted my feet into a camel’s wide pads to better handle the sand.
“Okay, that’ll do to keep me decent enough,” I mumbled, squeezing Kassandra to my chest to reassure the still clearly distraught dwarf lamia.
“Princess Rieka?” The calm voice of instructor Rainfist came from just above us and I glanced up to find the cat man standing on the edge of the arena just behind us. “You and your group are the winners of the competition, but we will have to forgo the normal ceremony. Rest assured that there will be a punishment forthcoming for the breach of etiquette in this fight. The grades will be assigned later once the instructors can confer.”
I wanted to complain, to argue that Gyrallia had tried to kill me and that it had been far more than just etiquette that was broken here, but bit it back. I could see the scowl on Rainfist’s face, and it was obvious he wasn’t any happier than I was.
“Understood, Instructor. Are we being dismissed to leave, or does the Juneau staff need statements regarding this… event?” Rieka replied to the older man in a cool tone, her left hand resting on the pommel of her spell rod like it was a sword sheathed at her side.
“Yes, please remain. I’m sure that the queen will want to ascertain you are okay as well, as she is heading this way.” Rainfist’s reply got me to glance in the queen’s direction, and I could see her making a beeline for us with a scowl on her face.
“Up, Kass,” I murmured into my serpentine lover’s hair. “The queen is coming and you need to put up your best.”
“Don’t wanna,” Kassandra grumbled into my neck, but my snuggle-noodle complied and slithered off of me and to one side to allow me upright.
“Liam? Are you decent?” Shayla asked, only blushing slightly as she glanced down at my bare chest and the cloak Rieka had thrown over me.
“Is he ever decent?” Quipped Jane, before the mouse kin blushed furiously when all three of the other girls turned incredulous looks on her. “What?”
“I’m not going to expose myself to the queen when I move the cloak, no,” I laughed.
Pulling back the cloak to reveal the dense brown fur that covered my lower half got a gasp of surprise from Shayla and Jane. While both of them blushed, Shayla was clearly more in surprise while Jane looked a little disappointed that she didn’t get to ogle me more.
“Up you get then, Liam,” Rieka said briskly and gave the back of my shoulder a push. The slender wolf kin woman wasn’t able to do more than make me shift slightly, and I chuckled but obeyed her, rolling over and hopping to my feet, quickly brushing the last of the sand from my fur.
Being upright and moving helped get my blood circulating, and not being pressed to the still chilly sand was improving my body-heat, too. So when Kassandra crowded close to me as soon as I was upright, I just pulled her into my side and she gave a relieved sigh, leaning into me.
“Are you really okay, Liam?” Jane asked, letting her own concern leak through as the mouse kin woman peeked up at me through her lashes from her much smaller height.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Kass patched me right up, though Gyrallia did hit me like a truck,” I grumbled.
“Truck?” Rieka quirked an eyebrow at me questioningly, and I snorted before rolling my eyes.
“Runaway carriage? Trucks are large vehicles that carry freight back home,” I explained, and Rieka nodded in understanding.
“That’s right. You’ve mentioned yours before,” Rieka said.
The wolf-eared princess sidled up to stand next to me on the other side from Kassandra, and I wrapped an arm around her hips to pull her into my side reassuringly. I wanted to do far more to my princess, but with her mother bearing down from above, I figured it was best to keep things subtle. From the blush on Rieka’s cheeks, I could tell she appreciated it.
“My daughter, come up here. Bring your companions with you,” the queen demanded. Gemma’s voice was calm but firm in her orders. I could hear the shuffle and clank of armored footsteps, so I knew that the queen wasn’t alone.
“Coming, Mother,” Rieka said, turning to look over her shoulder up at the queen for a moment. “Let’s go up to the stands. I know I’ll be glad to be out of the sands. It’s not just cold down here, but it makes me…”
Rieka let the sentence trail off, and I nodded. She didn’t have to explain that she was nervous down here, separated from others with only us at hand. I knew she trusted me to protect her, but there was no reason to take greater risks.
If one squinted just right, Gyrallia’s actions earlier could have been construed as an assassination attempt, though I doubted that Josephine would portray it that way.
Thinking of the noblewoman, I glanced across the sands to see that she and her coterie were gone from sight, as was Rieka’s older sister. I noted that down, wondering if they were being held, questioned, or were just chased off for political reasons.
While I thought over the implications, I gestured for my girls to precede me out of the arena. I quickly folded up the cloak for Rieka and offered it back to her. It was sized for her smaller frame and would look ridiculous on me, so I decided to just go bare-chested for now. If the queen wanted to talk to us without giving me time to dress, that was her choice.
Heading into the narrow stone corridor beyond the gate, Jane led the way up the sturdy stairs to the first row of seats. Rieka was right behind Jane, while Kassandra clung to my right side and Shayla took up her normal position on my left, one hand resting on the back of my shoulder. I knew that if I’d had a shirt on, the moth woman would have her fingers balled in the cloth, but this was the next best thing.
Shayla really does like to cling onto me. She doesn’t do it with the other girls at all, only me. Heck, she’s done it since we first met, really. I wonder why? Is it like Rieka enjoying headpats and scratches? A racial thing? I wondered, moving slowly to allow both women to maneuver up the stairs on either side of me without a problem.
We emerged onto the upper tiers to find that many of the students who had been observing the matches from this section were already gone. Whether the group of soldiers that surrounded the queen had cleared them out, I wasn’t sure, but they’d apparently departed before we’d even left the sands, since I hadn’t seen any sign of them on the stairs.
Queen Gemma stood in the middle of a group of six armored guards, her spell rod, which also looked like a scepter, loose in her right hand. Dressed in the same gray silk that I remembered from before, Gemma gave the air of having a storm cloud draped about her.
“Daughter, how are you and your companions doing?” the queen asked as we approached with Rieka stepping around a suddenly shy Jane to take over leading. The three of my girls not related to the queen dipped curtseys to her
“I am fine, same with the others. Liam is…” Rieka let it trail off as she twisted her head to glance towards me.
“Just fine. Kassandra got me patched up after that… altercation at the end,” I answered simply, meeting the queen’s icy eyes with a neutral gaze and inclining my head to her slightly.
The guards around the woman tensed at my apparent lack of respect, but the queen just smirked, her aristocratic neutral expression thawing for a moment before she nodded.
“I’m glad that Lady Silverscale was able to put you to rights, Traveler. You showed today why you are more than capable of handling the protection of my daughter. Why did you hesitate so long to bring the fight to its end?”
The penetrating question as well as the queen’s unblinking stare would have given me a case of the nerves months ago. The sheer presence of the woman was enough that I would have caved before my girls bolstered my self-confidence.
So, rather than immediately answering her question, I glanced at her guards meaningfully before looking back to the regal woman.
“This was just a school competition,” I answered simply. “It’s the same reason that I took my time during the previous matches yesterday. It doesn’t serve my purposes or those of my contracted wards to brutalize my opponents. I only struck down Gyrallia because the creature broke the rules of the contest and I was concerned it might hurt my charges.”
“No worries about your own survival?” Queen Gemma asked pointedly, her eyes not breaking away from mine despite the increased stirring of her guards.
“Nope,” I said bluntly. “I was both confident that my summoners would dismiss me if they thought I was truly at risk, or intervene themselves. Also, I did not show anywhere near all of my tricks in the arena.”
Just most of them, I thought, without letting it show on my face. I need to check that skill award and see what unlocked after finally hitting the mastery for Shape-Shifting (Moderate), I just wish that I knew if it was using the half-form, reducing my mass, or using it to help Kass with the healing that triggered the final bit to hit mastery.
“That is good to hear,” Gemma said after studying me for another moment before turning her attention back to Rieka. “Daughter, have you had issues in the past with Lady Josephine? Do you have any cause to believe that she might seek to cause problems?”
“No, mother. But those that spend a lot of time in her company have a habit of causing trouble for those around me,” Rieka replied, her head held high as she addressed the queen. “We have had verbal altercations with several of her lackeys and they have targeted my friends for harassment in the past.”
Kassandra stiffened at this, and I could tell that my dwarf lamia was surprised that Rieka knew about it. The redhead shot a questioning look over her shoulder at me and I shook my head. While I’d not outright told Rieka who had been the ones harassing Kassandra, it wasn’t exactly hard to parse out, and I knew my princess was observant and smart.
“Hmm… that sort of thing is hard to prove for sure. I’ll keep it in mind,” the queen muttered thoughtfully, finally looking away to stare out over the emptying arena.
While the students in this section of the arena had already vacated it, there were still a few lingering in the other sections as well as the groups of instructors and other nobles that were also hanging about, either pretending to converse about the match or something else. I noted that the other woman, the one who I assumed to be Josephine’s mother, was also gone.
“Regardless, I am glad that we were able to make it for the last match at least,” Rieka’s mother said again, shaking off her distraction and turning her sharp eyes to our group once more. “I wish that we would have been able to make it for the earlier matches, as I am sure that your Liam acquitted himself well.”
It amused me slightly to see Rieka straighten when her mother said ‘your Liam,’ and my princess’ tail began to wag a little faster. I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed, but since the fluffy appendage whacked me in the knees with each pass, it was hard for me not to be aware.
“I wish that you had been able to make it as well, but I appreciate you coming for this match. It didn’t interfere with anything, I hope?” Rieka replied, her voice studiously neutral.
“Nothing that couldn’t be put aside for a time, daughter,” Rieka’s mother smiled slightly at her daughter. “Your sister was also interested in seeing how your Liam performed.”
“And?” Rieka asked, her tail picking up speed just a bit.
“I believe she was impressed. Don’t be surprised if she asks to spar with him while we are here. If you are amenable to that, Liam?”
The queen addressed the last part of the statement to me, and it was surprising. All too often I’d gotten to experience the dubious joy of being talked over or about like I wasn’t there. The downsides of being a ‘pet human,’ I suppose. But Queen Gemma addressed me directly, and it increased my respect for the stern wolf kin.
“I’d be happy to. I learned quite a bit from sparring with the Lady Valda leading up to the competition, so any chance to expand my skills will be welcome.”
Gemma’s eyebrows rose and a few of her guards shuffled about, one shifting to let a hand rest on the pommel of her sword warily.
“You sparred with Valda Ironclaw? With or without weapons? How did that go?” the queen asked the questions rapid fire.
“He won,” Rieka interjected with a smirk, her tail now whipping behind her and bouncing off my legs rapidly. “And without weapons, as he wanted to learn how she used her claws.”
The queen’s eyebrows went up even further at that statement, while the guards exchanged another set of wary looks. I just did my best to not react and keep a neutral expression.
Apparently Valda is more of a big deal than the girls let on? I thought. A squeeze of my right hand drew my attention down to Kassandra, who was grinning up at me, pride shining in her eyes.
Rieka cleared her throat to break the awkward silence, and that drew Queen Gemma’s attention back to her daughter.
“Mother, there was something else I wanted to let you know about. Something that might be useful for you and Griselda at the very least,” Rieka said quietly. When Gemma tilted her head questioningly, Rieka smiled and gestured over her shoulder, vaguely toward the dorms. “It would be better to discuss it in private, if you are done here?”
Comments
M. Tress
Valda isn't the second-best, but she's a recognized sword-master from a clan that exports two things: Weapons and Warriors. Think of it this way, Liam went toe to toe with a Cimmerian warrior princess (Conan the Barbarian if you don't recognize the reference) and had fun with her while learning.
Aaron Henley
So he sparred with the second best warrior in the land without realizing it and just had fun learning? Yep. He’s now Goku. But definitely not as dense. Why do i also now think Gemma is going to start teasing Reika about grand-pups sooner than both of them expected?
M. Tress
Sadly unlikely. I'm still suffering from sick after I got home from my trip and I officially have orange cat brain. Just one cell bouncing around like tbe DVD screen saver
Nozzy
Hmm any chance for a bonus chapter tomorrow so we don’t have to wait so long as a few days to see how the convo goes with the queen? 😁
Freya
Tyftc
