The cultist stronghold has been conquered… thanks to the immense contribution by the RazenHeir champion...
Ria flips open another report.
Hikari's kill tally, collated by the scout master
Cultists ~1000
Shaman ~50
Assassins ~50
Golems ~30
Flesh hound : 1
Swamp crocodile : 1
Dire Ents : 5
Swamp trolls : 6
"She slayed a whole army all on her own…"
She leaves the report open, giving herself a moment to take it in.
The numbers seemed unreal; no knight in the history of her house, nor any of the Moradale houses, had achieved such a feat.
But that's not even the best part.
"A flesh titan- tons of reports were flooding it. It wiped out the coalition army storming the city. Even the sky fortress fell to its cannons. It could have spelled the end of our estate if it came this way."
Her hands trembled as she held the report.
A post-mortem of the flesh titan
The report was long and dull.
Ria read through every word of a document that no one reads on normal occasions.
…Powder explosions… Burns on the titan's belly and cannon emplacements…
"Burns. That settles it, doesn't it? Hikari slayed the titan. The sky fortress doesn't carry incinerdaries. Zeppelin battleships generally don't."
Ria stretched her arms. The quill had been in her hand all day.
The endless paperwork, the logistics of running a war.
"At last, Hikari will be back tomorrow."
She jumped onto her soft bed and rolled around.
"What is this feeling? I just can't wait for her to return."
She opened her bedside drawer and took out a poster.
It was a recruitment poster centered on Hikari in shiny full plate armor carrying a banner of the RazenHeir house.
A flaming sword in her hand.
Horse-mounted knights rode behind her.
Ria kept staring at the poster. She couldn't get enough of the image.
"She's so perfect. Strength and beauty. She has both and more. Wealth? She doesn't need any. If she does, it would be trivial to make with her abilities. My noble birth means nothing before her. She's just so superior to me. The way she makes me crawl at her feet, it's not humiliating at all. It's just so… natural."
The painting hung on her wall.
She turns and admires it.
The artist, at her strict instruction, had captured every detail about her knight.
The silver hair, the ruby red eyes, her fair skin, her muscular form.
The shiny armor was poetic license.
Her knight much preferred the cover of darkness with her wyvern-skin armor.
She checked the time: four hours until midnight.
"Oh! Time to do that."
She put on a black blouse and covered her red hair with a hood.
She peeked out of the room.
The coast was clear.
She sneaked down the stairs.
The estate grounds were dim.
Ria slid down the hillside where her mansion stood.
Then she squatted in the bushes until a patrol passed.
The coast was clear.
She got out of the bush and made her way through the curtain doorway into Hikari's chambers.
It was pitch black inside.
Ria ignited her lantern.
The pale RazenHeir flame inside was only bright enough to light just over a meter around her.
Hikari's rugged wyvern-skin boots stood at the doorway.
Towering over her. It didn't take Ria long to find them even in the dark.
She wore these out on missions, crushing countless foes beneath them.
They symbolized her power and dominance on the battlefield.
Ria unslung her backpack and set her lantern on the ground before the boot.
Ba dum! Ba dum!
Her heart pounded as she knelt before the boot, wider than her torso.
"Ohh… Hikari's boots. This is the closest I'll ever get to her."
Ria thought aloud.
She has all the privacy here.
She crawled up to the boot, brought her lantern, and examined the top of the toe section.
"The maids did a decent job of chiseling away the mud."
She took out a cloth and wiped away the layer of dust.
"Her boots will be all muddy and rugged after that long campaign. She'll need this pair to look presentable. I could get the maids to do it, but it feels much more… more… "
She wiped it with a second, cleaner cloth.
She pulled out a can of boot polish and a paintbrush meant for a wall.
She hung her lantern on a stand so it could light the top of the boot.
"Before I start… "
Ria pressed her lips onto the boot tip.
A wave of ecstasy came over her as her soft lips touched the wyvern skin.
"You are so great, Hikari… I will never be a knight as great as you…
The tip of the boot was finally done.
She placed the paintbrush in its pan and wiped her sweat.
She massaged her arm, sore from holding the paintbrush.
Time to move on and let the polish dry.
"Phew, that was hard work!" She took out her handkerchief and wiped her sweat off.
"Oh. I was supposed to use that on her boot."
She took out her handkerchief and gave the boot some light dusting.
"Oh, Hikari, your pathetic Lady carelessly got some of her sweat onto your boot. It's nothing short of disgraceful. "
Ria stuck out her tongue and licked the wyvern skin.
"Let this pathetic lady make it up to you by cleaning it off of your boot using her unworthy tongue."
She winced as her tongue touched the wyvern skin on the side of the boot.
Her tiny tongue could cover only a tiny area of the massive boot.
It would take her days or even weeks to clean the boot with her tongue.
She swallows the dirt. It hasn't made her feel sick so far.
The taste was repulsive, but thinking of the dirt from her goddess's boot in her mouth turned her on.
"Hikari will reach the estate tomorrow. She'll walk through the gate wearing a pair of wyvern-skin boots. Well, not this pair; I got her a new pair for the campaign. I'll be standing at the gate to welcome her. "
"Ohh…! How unworthy of me. I should be here, at her doorstep. When those boots of hers appear through the curtain, I want to be here to welcome her back with a kiss on her boots if she allows."
Ria squeaked with a high-pitched giggle.
"I know it won't happen, but if I appeared here on my knees at the door, perhaps she would like it? Maybe she will make me polish them with my tongue. Maybe she'll wipe the bottoms of her boots on my back?"
Ria kissed the side of the boot.
She wiped it and kissed it again.
"She wouldn't even notice the polish I put on her boot."
A high-pitched giggle.
She made vertical strokes with her paintbrush up and down the side of the boot.
"That's just how she is. She doesn't really care about such trivial things. Ohh…! That's what I love about her."
She pulled her lantern closer, letting it patch up some uneven spots.
"But when I stand beside those boots and people look at the shine. I would know in my heart that it was her lady who shined these boots."
She let out a loud moan.
"No! I must focus on the task. I have my dignity as her lady."
Ria slaps her cheeks with both hands.
"Now, let's continue."
She still has the rest of the right boot and the whole of the left to go through.