Bolt Action Serenade

“Oh nice! That’s gotta be useful for your career, right?” I gave her a smile until she stopped and stared at me like I’d grown a second-… third head.

“Esme, sometimes I forget how big the gaps in your mind are.” she sighed and started walking again. “Healing magic is rare. Extremely so. This isn’t ‘nice’ it’s incredible! Why do you think everyone at the hospital was using mundane or arcanicraft healing? Why do you think it was so hard to get treatment for my sister? Healing magic is a gift given to few!”

“Wait, so why do you sound upset?” I asked, rubbing her arm softly to comfort her.

“Because its weird! I’ve been wavering between being happy I got it and regretting picking it since I did so.” She groaned “I mean, okay not quite that bad, I’m seriously happy to have healing magic. I’m just concerned about the rest of it.”

I let silence hang for a few long moments before I spoke again. “Heartseeker.”

“What?”

“My Secondary class, what I took at level eleven.”

She squeezed my arm “You don’t have to-”

“I want to. It gives me bonuses to Coordination, accuracy, avoiding damage, and dealing more to a target’s vital locations. The skills are also worded vaguely and I’m almost certain they work in some social situations as well. It might be how I bond with people so quickly when I’m trying. I hit emotional vitals, or something like that. I know I can use it to sometimes see people’s hidden emotions when we’re talking at least.”

She smiled at me, the depth of feelings in her eyes was enough that it made me feel small. I could feel that urge to turn away from how she made me feel again but I fought it off. “Yeah, I think talking about this might help. So the class I got seems to be about healing people, not just physically but emotionally? Like, I think I got that same spell you used, is yours called Soothe?”

“Yeah it is actually.” I smirked and she just nodded

“That’s weird. To get the exact same spell as you.” She took a breath “So I also have a few other spells. They cover things from healing wounds, to treating infections, to purging poisons, which are fairly basic for healing magic classes as I understand it. But also less directly healing focused? Like, I have Embrace the Dream, which puts a willing target to sleep. I’ve treated so many patients with insomnia that would have helped. Also Uncontrolled Breakthrough, which causes a target’s suppressed emotions to come to the surface. They all have lower mana costs than I would have expected too, though I’ll still need to raise my Focus.” She let out a small laugh.

I chewed on a thought for a moment, by the squirming I could feel from Carmilla I think she had the same one. “Embrace the Dream? That’s an interesting name.” I felt the hand of someone behind this, a hand covered in the night sky.

“Yeah well, you told me yours so…” She shrugged “My level eleven pick was Caretaker, really common class for people who went to nurses school like I did. The Advancement I picked for it just now is called Dreaming Caretaker. Weird name, right? Doesn’t seem to… Are you okay? You look pale. Paler than normal I mean.”

I lowered myself to the ground so I could think. Jaina seemed to get more upset by this but I was a bit stuck in my head. I mean, why was I so upset? This seemed to indicate that my goddess was helping her out too, she got rare healing magic, that’s amazing! What she could do for people in need was drastically better and that was what she dedicated her life to, so this was a win. Not to mention that this meant she was more tied to me and my fate now… Ah. That was it. I was drawing a ton of very dangerous attention. Now she would be too. Fuck.

“ESME!” Jaina screamed into my face as she shook my shoulders and I was drawn back to the moment. “What’s happening!? What’s wrong!?”

I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and thought about what to say.

[Tell her. Everything. If she’s drawn into this that deeply she deserves to know. Also, if she’s going to be part of our relationship then she should be brought in on the secrets anyway.]

“Wait, what? What’s Carmilla talking about? What am I being drawn into?” she demanded, trying to sound angry but mostly seeming scared.

“Help me up, we should discuss it while on the move.” I grunted as she pulled me up. “First off even Helanna doesn’t know this so keep it under wraps for now okay?” When she nodded I took a breath and told her everything. Including my dreams about the girl I loved.

“That explains a lot actually.” She muttered after it was all out.

“Yeah, trying to serve a goddess who’s name I don’t know and who’s goals are a mystery. Well aside from the whole having kids thing. Which, I am working on.” I smirked and kissed Jaina’s cheek.

She blushed and gave me a soft glare. “No, I mean yes that too, but no. I meant the stuff about that girl. It makes sense why you were uncomfortable admitting your feelings to me. That had to have left a mark on you. According to the dream memory you spent years denying your feelings for her because she was meant to be more and you didn’t want to hold her back, then you finally tell her and you have one day with her before you lost her, maybe forever. That is the kind of thing that will scar someone’s soul.” She took my hand in hers and squeezed it firmly.

“Oh. Okay that tracks. I kinda was avoiding thinking about all that though.”

“If I have to use my emotion spells on you I will. Maybe not right now of course, but once we’re safe in a town somewhere.” she threatened, poking my side. “But also, yeah. You are knee deep in holy shit, aren’t you?”

“Not just me.” I reminded her and she groaned.

“If an angel kills me I’m haunting you forever.”

“Deal.” she snorted and punched my shoulder.

After a couple of hours we grew tired and decided to find somewhere to rest. We found a copse around a small pond that turned out to be an exposed section of an underground river and laid down under the cover of the wide branches of one of the trees. Carmilla promised to keep watch, apparently not needing much sleep, or not sleep as mortals understand it anyway.

I awoke to the feeling of Carmilla shaking me “Up now, demons nearby!” the words ripping me back to full consciousness immediately. It was still dark, or night at least. The stars and moons provided quite a lot more light than one might expect so I could see decently.

Jaina stirred beside me “Hu, wha-” I put my hand over her mouth and brought my finger to my lips. It took her a moment to figure out what was happening, but nodded and slowly sat up.

I grabbed the rifle and looked around, Sixth Sense starting to tingle and draw my gaze north. There, three carrion feeders making their way towards us. They weren’t rushing or trying to hide so they hadn’t noticed us yet but that wouldn’t last. I braced against a tree and took aim, taking a breath and steadying myself. I whispered to Jaina “Get your gun, only fire if they get close. Your aim is terrible.”

She nodded and hid behind a different tree and gripped her pistol. I focused on one of them, and the world dimmed slowly. Everything but that demon all but disappeared and it felt like it was less than half the actual distance away. I sighted it, slid my finger to the trigger, exhaled, and pulled. The demon’s chest burst with dark blood and it staggered, but didn’t fall. The others turned towards it for a moment then towards us, screaming and rushing mindlessly.

I suddenly realized I’d entered Hyperfocus and used my new skill, or tried to but it failed. I cursed and pulled the trigger again and again and tore three new holes into the beast and I felt the notification of its death hit me. The next demon fell in five shots, my rifle making a loud ding as the last round left the chamber and it hit empty. I fumbled with my pockets to grab a new clip, but the last creature was too fast.

I heard Jaina fire and looked up suddenly to see the thing seconds away from jumping on me. I immediately missed my old rifle and it’s bayonet again, but only thought about that for a moment as I was about to die. The demon leapt at me and I reflexively dodged to the side, Untouchable Heart saving my ass in the last moment. As it started to turn around and attack me again I turned the rifle around and swung it like a club, bashing the thing’s head hard enough to make it stagger back and fall into the pond.

Good, a few extra moments to reload and- I suddenly remembered it was a river as the demon was violently swept under the water by a very strong current. “Well… that worked too I guess.” I shrugged.

[That was all of them, I’m not feeling anything else. What is Sixth Sense saying?]

“Same, calm and safe. That was what, an hour or two of sleep? Gods I’m tired.”

[Get more rest. I’ll keep watch.]

Jaina let out a stressed sigh and crawled over to where I was laying back down and settled against me “Never thought I’d miss that shitty apartment.” was all she managed before she was out again. I didn’t last much longer.

When I woke up Jaina was already awake and resting against a tree, waiting for me to join the world on my own. The sun was well into the morning and I felt well rested so we’d gotten plenty of sleep. I yawned and pulled myself to my feet “Morning beautiful.” I muttered.

She gave a weak smile “No food, no idea what out here is edible. We might have a problem.”

“We’ll find something, just gotta keep going.” I pulled her into a hug and kissed her softly.

There wasn’t much to do besides get going and any time we spent delaying unnecessarily was time closer to starving so without any fanfare we set off again.

A few more hours passed and Jaina was not doing too well. The wobble of her steps and winces on her face reminded me that while I could march for days if needed, my Nurse did not have the Skills required. We rested by yet another copse around an exposed part of what might have been the same river and she rested on a wide flat rock.

“I wish I could carry you.” I muttered, pulling her shoes off and rubbing her feet as I used Soothe on her.

“Ooooh, that’s a million times better.” She sighed as the relief washed over her. “And don’t blame yourself for any of this okay? You’ve been doing incredibly for someone tossed into the deep end by gods and angels and major nation leadership.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a fair point I suppose.”

She suddenly shot straight up “What’s that!?” and pointed to the west, in vaguely the direction we’d come from. I looked and saw… a moving house? What the hell?

“I have no idea.” I muttered, bringing my rifle out and bracing against a tree, just in case. “Not feeling anything from Sixth Sense. Carmilla?” I waited for a reply and just felt my elemental love stir in excitement. “Uh… Carmilla? You okay love?”

[Person! Go to them! They’ll help!]

I blinked and shrugged then stood and started making my way towards the object still half obscured by a hill. Jaina ran after me “Are you serious? Just like that?”

“She’s been right about everything else.” I smirked and I could feel Carmilla rushing around like a cat at three am and THAT was a weird thought to have. Have I ever had a cat? Were they unusually active in the early mornings? Whatever, Carmilla was wound up and happy.

After a few minutes the object rose up enough to make out and I smiled “A vardo! An enormous one.” I chuckled as I saw the wagon better, four huge bison pulling the nearly twenty foot tall and twelve foot wide home on wheels. I raised my hands and waved as we grew closer and I could make out a person driving the mega carriage.

Jaina blinked and stared “Oh my gods, that’s a… house?”

“A vardo! A wagon house for nomadic peoples, and no I don’t remember how I know that.” I chuckled and turned to give a smile to the Nurse who was holding my arm and helping me walk without looking like she was. It sent a pulse of warmth through me.

Moments later the vardo came to a stop next to us and the driver, mostly obscured by an overhang and curtains hopped down and greeted us. “Hail there friends and-, ye gods what happened to you lass?”

My heart jumped in joy as the woman stepped closer and I could more easily make her out. She was about four and a half feet tall, easily twice as wide as a normal human, bright orange hair and deep green eyes. She could be described as stout and thick with a hardy but pretty face and an almost aggressively cheerful smile. Also, the biggest tits I have ever seen by a mile. They were twice the size of Helanna’s and only avoided looking comical because they actually fit her very broad frame. A dwarf woman, a very sexy dwarf woman. I had a brief flash of memory, an old dwarf man working in a forge and making knives from scrap ____ and I collected. We got a small cut from what he made on the sales.

I shook off the memory and muttered quietly to Carmilla “She feels safe then?”

“Oh no, not safe. FUN.” and I felt what I can only describe as manic glee from my internal beloved.

Jaina bowed slightly “Hail friend, I am Jaina and this is my friend Esme.”

“Name’s Briggavel and not to be rude, but once again, the hell happened to ya Miss Esme?”

I snorted and remembered the story “Lost in the woods for a week, some Fae-Lord decided this would be funny.” I told her with a shrug.

“Well at least yer hair’s nice.” she said with a nod and a chuckle.

“Oh I like her.” I said to Jaina “That’s what I keep saying! The hair is great! Gave me bigger knockers too, though that wasn’t hard considering the tiny bumps I had before.”

Jaina blanched at the statement but I could feel what Carmilla was suggesting and was running with it. Briggavel let out a laugh so loud Jaina and I startled “Oh that’s fekkin’ great! Lovely tits they are too! Nothing like my twins but I got bigger ones than anyone on the continent as far as I know!”

FUN, okay yeah. Her feelings were accurate as usual. I laughed and reached out to shake Briggavel’s hand when I suddenly got a notification. Jaina blinked and stiffened as well, apparently also getting one.

“Oh hold on one moment, we’re getting something from the System.” I said in apology.

[Lesser Carrion Feeder Demon lvl 19 defeated]

“What?” Jaina started laughing “It survived in the river all these hours?”

[Contracted Elemental Advancing]

“Huh? Carmilla?” I said as new notifications jumped into my view.

[C-c0ntr4ct c0rrupt1on det-t-t-tect3d.]

[Contract Broken.]