My Servant System

"You... are a worrying young woman, Katherine. Really... really worrying."

I donned an innocent smile as I turned towards Adelina, meeting her golden gaze and saying "What's so worrying about me, Adelina~? I only retaliated. They attacked me first, after all~! What's wrong with that, hmm? Should I have not killed them for trying to kill me?"

"That's... That's not what I was saying, Katherine. I was saying- You know what... You're messing with me, aren't you? Hah..."

The Lioness let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head and turning towards the center of the city, where the sounds of fighting had only grown stronger despite quite a bit of time passing since the start of this siege of ours.

"Me? Messing with you? No... Never~! What would give you that idea Adelina~?"

Snorting, she shook her head again and wordlessly made her way towards the center, stepping past the second pile of corpses that we had left behind today and heading off towards another location that we would pain red with blood.

I couldn't help but smirk as I walked behind her, my Khopesh finding its way into my hands again as I decided that trying to nab a few of the Cultists to truly run experiments on was a lost cause, both because of the morals of Adelina but also because there seemed to be no end to them, which made me a tad bit cautious.

They had used one before, so there might just be a second gateway spell that they have hidden away, or even more since they had access to someone - or something - that knew how to not only wield but also enchant things with Moon Magic.

Something that Leone had been rather vocal about during our 'training sessions' together, her mumbling and grumbling about it not being fair sounding really adorable to me, though I felt something far larger and not so adorable the entire time we were together...

So who knew what these Cultists had up their sleeves considering everything we had seen so far.

What I did know was that - whilst it seemed to be a rather populated cult - the members of the Cult of Ambition were not that strong, and they lacked technique and familiarity with fighting, which was a peculiar little puzzle that I could try to solve as we walked through Arbo City's stone carapace.

Maybe they were drawing recruits from all walks of life, as well as from anywhere?

There was likely a wide pool of idiots who believed that ridding themselves of their Noble overseers would somehow bring about a Utopia where everyone was equally wealthy or something, even though power would merely shift hands - and with it, the wealth.

In fact, considering the way only a few of the Dwarves of Arbo City were amongst the Cultists, it would seem that the idea of being 'equal' with your fellow citizens was already being disproven by themselves, since if they were as widely accepting as they seemed this would be different.

Then again, this is all general assumption based on their purpose and composition, though I would say that's a damn good guess.

Past that, the Cultists seemed to be strong for civilians, but they weren't even the closest it came to being adept with their weapons, swinging wildly and hoping to hit by using their power, which made me curious.

Was that because they had some way to get short term strength, like some sort of potion or spell that increased their immediate prowess?

If it was a potion, I wonder if it could be altered to be safer and less damaging, since short term boosts in strength as large as what we were seeing would certainly cause a lot of internal damages.

There were so many fun puzzles to work at from this cluster of idiots, but for the moment I needed to shelves my ideas and instead join in on the massacre happening in the center of Arbo City, which I did so with a grin.

The Khopesh that Anput had forged for me was a wonderful weapon, suiting me perfectly even if the rapier was technically a better weapon for my style.

It combined the speed that I utilized to one up my opponents with the power of a sword, all while having the ability to tear through flesh violently and appease my urges whenever they arose, which... was often.

Quite often really, and I found the hooked teeth inside the crescent blade to be one of the most beautiful things ever as I chopped off the head of another Cultist, the torn flesh spurting blood as the veins were ripped open, while the spine was revealed and splintered from the force of my swing.

It was a violent, messy death, and it made me smile as I watched the blood sail through the air and paint the faces of the Cultists behind the one I had just killed.

Like we had seen at the previous Barony, a gateway was in fact opened in the center of the city, and this time Cultists streamed through periodically, with the primary thing being transported into the city wasn't mortals, but monsters.

Goblins and Hobgoblins marched out of the gateway and stomped towards us, clubs and rusty weapons in their hands, while a collar of black metal hung around their necks.

Embedded into the center of the collar was a murky white gemstone laden with mana, and it made me even more curious as I studied the small stone, wondering just how that worked and how it had been mass produced.

Something that could control monsters...

It wasn't unheard of, but it was still something that would be surprising to see if I wasn't one - versed in some of the oddities of the world - and two - expecting something weird from a cult dedicated to tearing down an Empire that was rather fair and generous to its people.

And to keep the surprises rolling in besides the Goblins, the ornate robe wearing Cultists gathered beside the gateway and began to chant, making Jahi - who was killing the mortals and monsters alike - growl in anger as she shouted "Anput, stop them!"

As I lopped the head off of another Cultist, before cleaving a Goblin in two, I watched as Anput shot forwards swiftly through the horde of mortals and monsters, her scimitar rising and falling as she cut her way towards the chanting Cultists, who had begun to raise their hands.

"Well... this is going to be interesting."

I nodded at Adelina's words, the two of us firing a bolt of mana into the air as we watched a second gateway form above the Cultist's heads, one that wasn't as shaky and bland looking as the current one.