Cursed Heroine

Chapter 32: Lily gets sold?!

I’ve long since finished with the material in nana’s library and am now borrowing books from her magic department through her every time I exchange new materials for the new magic system. I spend a lot of our free time tutoring Sofy and she’s managed to surpass her current classes in a short amount of time. My tutoring sessions have become a lot more meticulous do to the additional OCD effect. It’s somewhat annoying when I find myself perfectly arranging the items in her room and inspecting for dust with a white glove. Though, I’m happy with the extra opportunities it affords me to fondle her. Stroke her sides and legs while straightening her clothes. Caress her cheek when I adjust her hair. Smack her ass free of dusk when she stands up. Okay, that last one she quickly put a stop to. It has since then been reduced to brushing actions only.

If she continues to cultivate at her current speed, she should be able to skip a level of lessons during the next quarter. Getting to stage four is apparently much harder than I had thought. I didn’t notice the extra requirement when I had advanced due to already having achieved it, but it’s normally necessary to spend a lot of time reaching ninety percent control to successfully advance to stage four. Sofy has made it her goal to reach stage four before the end of the current season so she can attend the stage four lessons starting next academic season.

A good half of my time each day is taken up with our daily activities, but I’ve still managed to cultivate a bit each day for the last few weeks, not including the weekends. I’m obviously too occupied on weekends to cultivate. I especially make sure to cultivate my spirit to the limit of being efficient near the end of each day, which is no more than twenty percent of my max spirit energy. Any more and my efficiency starts to drop drastically. During Sofy’s lessons is where I find most of my cultivation time. I could get about six percent divine cultivation and fifty points of intelligence attributes each day for the first few days. Then I started cultivating one hundred fifty intelligence attributes and one hundred divine energy each day when my divine cultivation reached stage three. I got an ability from my priestess blessing when I crossed into stage three. It’s nested in a new ‘ability’ sub-menu under the blessing. ‘Soul divining gaze’ allows me to perceive a person’s soul aura. Along with being yet another perception sort of skill, it can give me a vague idea of someone’s personality. When used in an active state, it works like appraisal by consuming divine energy. Sofy said that the passive makes my eyes give off an eerie feeling when looked into and that she had felt exposed when I activated it on her. It works well with my second sight skill, allowing me to perceive auras inside my perfect vision area. My status after the last six weeks of cultivation is…

<Status> +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats]
Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female
+Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)}
Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 2(53%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0}
Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 22900/22900}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 2500/2700}
Attributes: Str: 10000(55%) | Vit: 10000(55%) | Agi: 10000(60%) | Int: 22900(50%)
Soul Potential: 241
<Skills>
{passive}
[Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Intent 2], [Sense Danger 2]
-[Soul Devourer 2]
{active}
[Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2], [Inventory 2]

Sofy’s current status is…

<Status>
Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female
Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)}
Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 3}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 1}{Law: 0}
Energy Reserves: {Qi: 900/1000}{Mana: 6500/10000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 100/100}
Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 10000
Soul Potential: 120
<Skills>
{passive}
[Sense Mana 5], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 2]
{active}
[Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 2], [Assess 5]

As you can see, Sofy is now a priestess. After discovering that faith collection increases with the amount of spirit energy the offering party possesses, she insisted on becoming a priestess. She only waited this long because I had to reach stage three to use the induction blessing.

It’s currently Lightday of the first week of the second month of winter. We’ve just passed the halfway point of the current academic season. Today, nana decided to show us where she works. The council mage department is right next to the main council building which is basically a palace with three spires behind it and a large building to each side. The spires in the rear rise up from the personal quarters where the three high council members reside. The building to the left is for the civilian council departments: commerce, city planning, revenue, etc. On the right is the building for the military and research council departments: war, defense, magic research, qi research, etc. All political council departments and a few others are in the main palace.

Upon entering the military building, we are all required to have our status revealed by status orbs. Apparently, it’s a measure put in place since the change with magic contracts to help insure that secrets aren’t leaked. Someone controlled by another would have zero spirit energy and the contracts held can be seen under the new curse. Nana is obviously allowed and Sofy easily gains entry being her granddaughter. I got an eyebrow raised when my status is shown, permitted to enter only after nana informed the guards just how binding and permanent my service is under the curse. After another couple minutes of walking, we’ve reached her office on the third floor. Her current project is apparently my new magic system. There are all sorts of different flow charts and spell pages spread out on the tables. Shelves of books line the walls and there are some of my books on one specific table with a half finished copy laying open next to them.

“There are four research rooms currently devoted to your little project. Mine is focused on making the initial copies of your books and creating new ones to fill in the lacking areas. Another is planning how to implement these new concepts into the military. The last two belong to the academy. One is devoted to implementing this method of teaching magic within their learning plans and the other is obsessing about that little side note you made about the missing ‘manipulators’.”~nana

“See, I told you that it is a big deal.”~Sofy

“Y-yeah, I can see that. No wonder she’s been bringing me all those restricted books. I’ve been used!”~me

“You don’t seem at all upset with that big smile on your face. The overwhelming feelings of satisfaction wafting off of you are nauseating.”~Sofy

“Sofy tells me that you were looking for a way to earn some money. How about working here for a couple of days each week? You’d come here with me in the mornings and could join Sofy by lunch for the rest of the day. Working here would give you access to our library. Introducing you as the creator of this would be much easier if my colleagues could see you writing the new additions in person. How about it?”~nana

“I get the feeling that I’ve been baited. She must have shown me those books to draw me in at this time. She was trying to make it as difficult as possible to reject this offer. Bothersome! Mistress, could you somehow refuse and still get permission for me to read in the library here?”~me

“How about Waterday and Airday. This way you are in lessons with me on Earthday when I have dancing and on Fireday when the pests usually try to ask me out for the weekends. You will of course have vacation time during the academy’s breaks. I’ll make sure to negotiate a good price for myself for lending you out.”~Sofy

“Do I have to, can’t we discuss this?! Fine! Let her know that you’ll be loaning me on those mornings and that I would like to know if I could have access to the most current information about enchantment research?”~me

Sofy does as I asked and proceeded to negotiate my selling price before asking about the information on the enchantment research. It’s agreed that I’ll be working for average daily wages and get a bonus for each new contribution I make. Only my time worked will be paid and there is no such thing as a paid vacation. Payment will be received by Sofy however, as I will be officially listed as being leased from her to the office as nana’s secretary. Since I’m not an elf, I can’t be directly employed and I lack the reputation needed to take any role other than a secretary. I’m told that if I can manage to alert the other researchers to my capability, she will have the clout needed to elevate my position for increased wages and possibly access to that enchantment information.

“Try to get noticed. Don’t go immediately burying your nose in the books the whole time. Researchers’ basic wage is many times higher than a secretary and nana truly does wish for you to have you recognized for your work. The bonus she mentioned is significant. She’s already holding onto a sizeable sum that was paid by the department to whomever nana was getting those books from. A price for the knowledge was already determined when she brought in the first books.”~Sofy

“Really, did you have fun making it seem like you were just selling off excess livestock? How much are we talking about exactly? Why don’t you just have me store it in my inventory?”~me

“I had to find some way to deflate your ego a bit. And it was fun! You really do pamper me a bit too much. It wouldn’t be bad to have some time apart. The money you’ve already earned could be spent to buy numerous luxury items for the next few years and still not manage to make a dent. You really do underestimate its value. We’ll still go to the dungeon though because it’s good to practice. I’ll ask nana to deliver it to you when we get home.”~Sofy

“A-are you breaking up with me?! Some time apart is just how it starts! Next thing I know, you’ll suggest we see other people. Then comes...Owowow! Was it really necessary to jolt me?”~me

“Hmph, you were once again getting carried away with your teasing! And it’s time to leave. We’ll continue your punishment later.”~Sofy

On our way out, we stopped by the administration office and made my leasing official. When we arrived back home and finished lunch nana pulled my backlogged payment out of her inventory. Counting it would be troublesome to say the least. Chest after chest of coins, precious stones and rare materials were handed over to me. I can literally feel my dragon blood boiling at the sight of it all. Hoarding seems to be a thing for dragons in this world. Perhaps my dragon blood is part of the reason why I’m always throwing good things into my inventory. If that’s the case, then perhaps it also explains why I’m much more lascivious now than I ever was on earth. I wonder if it’s a problem that I don’t find that at all disturbing or feel any regret for my actions up until now. Nope, not going to question it. Too late to regret it now anyways. I will fully embrace my inner dragon and any girl who takes my fancy as well. *giggles*