Blessed Curse of Lust

“I thought we were going to take a low-risk job,” Eris grumbled.

The newly formed full party was on the road; each sat on their horse, except for Lily, who sat behind Yelena, as she didn’t have her own horse and didn't know how to ride one properly. Besides their owners, the horses carried a bunch of other things they needed for this job.

“I know, but we also couldn’t really say no to a special job being offered. I’m sure it will be fine.” Yelena replied, trying to calm Eris down a little, who wasn’t exactly happy with how things had turned out.

Still, even she couldn’t say no when the opportunity presented itself. Being on the top of the leaderboard, both as a team and as individuals, came with a bunch of perks. One such perk was that they were the first to be offered certain jobs considered special cases. Then they could decide whether to take it, and if they didn’t, it would be posted on the job boards like any other job.

This was one of the main reasons being at the top of the leaderboard was so sought after. Special missions offered even more points, better payment, and, of course, allowed the students to gain various experiences in combat. Sure, they were usually more difficult and dangerous than other jobs, but it was a risk worth taking.

“Yeah, you need to stop worrying too much. This is a great opportunity to show what we can do, and not like we are going in without even knowing anything about each other.” Valerie added.

After this new job was offered, the group had a couple of days to prepare. They spent this time training together and getting to know each other’s skills more in depth. They very quickly realized that Lily wasn’t exaggerating about Yuna’s abilities.

The girl was a beast when it came to support magic. She not only knew many combat spells, but she also had great timing, awareness, reaction time, and casting speed. All the things that were important for a support mage. Being able to quickly heal or cast a shield over a teammate at the right time was critical. These were all things Yuna excelled at.

They had no doubt that she was more than capable. During their training, she remained Yuna, and they hadn’t had a chance to meet the other yet, but it was fine. They had no reason to believe it would be a problem.

“That being said, you all should keep your focus when we are there. This is going to be a far more dangerous situation than we have been in before.” Thea cautioned the team.

Their job was very different than what most others would be. Usually, they would go out as a team, sort out the issue that needed addressing, and then return. This case, however, was not as simple. They were to join the army to mount a defense in one of the smaller villages in the west.

According to the report, they would be facing a horde of Shurya, a semi-intelligent, lizard-like race. These beings lived deep in the western swamps and were quite a headache. Every couple of years, they would launch an attack on the nearby villages, trying to destroy them completely.

Despite the army's best efforts, completely eradicating these monsters was almost impossible. The deep swamps were an extremely hostile environment. One which the Shurya could traverse easily. The losses the army suffered during these skirmishes were too big to ignore, so in the end the decision was made to just observe them and remain on the defensive.

This was one such year. The monsters were on the move, intent on razing the nearby villages to the ground. Yelena and the rest of the team were dispatched to one of these villages to help with the defense effort.

Now, not only did they need to work well together as a team, but they also needed to work alongside the army in a large-scale battle. They all knew this wouldn’t be an easy one, and they would really need to keep their act together if they wanted to leave the battlefield alive.

“No need to worry! I’m sure it will be all fine. For now, let’s just focus on getting there. It will be a long trip, so better not spend our time overthinking it. We will see how things are when we get there.” Yuna spoke up.

She was always very soft-spoken, kind, and reassuring. She seemed to view things positively in almost all scenarios. Yelena wondered how she could do that, especially given how badly she was treated by others. Maybe it was exactly because of that; she decided to focus more on the positive things rather than the bad ones.

“I agree. We have nothing to gain from worrying too much until we are actually there. Why don’t we talk about something instead?” Lily suggested.

The others were not against the idea, especially since they had a two-day journey ahead of them. It would be rather boring to just follow the dirt road in silence. This also gave a good opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this, but do you know a lot of people like you, Yuna? I mean plural ones?” Yelena asked the first question.

“Yes, we know many. People like us are not as uncommon as you might think. Most just mask their true selves because they fear being shunned by the rest of the world. Since we are open about it, others would often approach us and open up to us.” Yuna explained.

It was hard to believe what she said. Then it seemed there were many more plural people out there than they first thought. It wasn’t hard to imagine. Yelena and the rest could see how some were treating Yuna. At best, they would just avoid the girl; in some worse cases, they would talk badly about Yuna or even openly insult her. It was quite easy to see why others would be hiding this fact about themselves.

“What about you? Why did you decide to become open about it?” Thea asked.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly a decision we made. More like we didn’t know better at the time. You see, our system formed in our younger years. We aren’t even sure when, or who was the “original” person, if there even was one.” Yuna began telling her story.

“Since at the time, we didn’t know how badly it was viewed, we told others. Of course, our family wasn’t all that happy about this. We were dragged to countless healers, in hopes that they could “cure” us. Then eventually the rumors started to spread, and there was no way or reason to hide it anymore.” She continued to explain.

“Have you ever thought about…?” Lily started with her question, but soon realized it might be a bit too rude to ask that.

Yuna wore her usual soft smile as she looked at the redhead. She didn’t seem offended by it; probably not the first time she was asked this.

“To be “cured”? To be “normal”? Well, we did. Especially when we were younger. It was not easy to deal with these things. Originally it was just three of us. Emi, Valentina, and I. Juni joined us later on. During those times, Emi was crying a lot. She took things the worst. Valentina was the one who always tried to comfort her, despite not being the best with emotions.” They could see Yuna’s smile was fading as she recalled those days.

“Because of this, it fell on me to take the front. Wasn’t easy, and sometimes we all thought it would be better if we were just one. Over time, however, our view changed. Despite the hardships, we learned how to enjoy life, and I couldn’t even imagine being without the others. We have come to terms with who we are, and we are happy with it. So, now, we wouldn’t take any “cure” even if it was available.” She finished her answer.

The others nodded. They couldn’t even imagine how life must have been for Yuna and the others. Sharing the same body and mind. Yelena had a rough idea of what it was like, although her case was very different. With a goddess basically in her head all the time, talking to her randomly, could read her mind and all that. It was the closest thing she had to understanding what it could be for Yuna.

****

The sun started to set as they continued their journey. They were going at a good pace. Thea believed they might get there earlier than they originally planned if they could keep this up for the next day.

They decided to set up camp in an area with some trees around. They all had their own tents, which they started assembling. Interestingly enough, Lily, being the only one who wasn’t from a noble family, struggled the most with this task. The reality was, Lily had never had to do it before. She never even left her hometown before coming to the academy.

The others had already planned ahead, so they learned some life skills they would need to survive the academy. Being able to set up camp was one of the few critical skills. Especially in later years, they would likely get jobs that would take them much farther from the academy, leaving them on the road for days just to get there. It was essential to know how to deal with such a situation.

Yelena was the first to finish setting up and stepped over to Lily, who was fumbling with her tent. The girl smiled; she found Lily’s frustrated face adorable. Although she would not admit it to the girl.

“Let me help you with that!” She moved closer and started showing Lily how to assemble the tent properly.

“Why does it feel more complicated than learning magic?” Lily pouted, but was more than happy to accept Yelena’s help.

“Different things require different approaches. You have a good head to learn magic; that is for sure, but that doesn’t mean you will excel at everything. Still, I’m sure you can learn it. Not that hard when you start to understand how things fit together.” Yelena explained.

Slowly, the tent started to shape up. By the time they finished, the others were done too, and they even started a fire. Someone found some bigger logs that had fallen over and dragged them over to use them as seats. They had a nice little camp going here.

The team gathered around the fire and took out their dinner. It was mostly preserved food. Sure, not as good as the cafeteria food, but it was better than nothing.

“Ugh! More riding tomorrow. Wish we could at least take a carriage or something.” Valerie grumbled.

It was surprising that the princess took this long to complain about things. She held up much better than Yelena originally thought she would. Still, it was only a matter of time before she broke.

“Yeah, it would be a sight to behold to roll up with the royal carriage to a small village that is about to turn into a battlefield,” Yelena said mockingly.

“I know! Just saying. Would be nice to have some comfort.” Valerie rolled her eyes.

“Not exactly here for comfort. Besides, a carriage would be much slower, so we likely wouldn’t even reach the place before the battle starts. So, you need to deal with it, or do you want me to tell you more sternly?” Yelena leaned closer with a wicked smile on her face.

Valerie’s face turned bright red immediately as she turned away from the white-haired girl. Yelena chuckled a little. In the past days, she figured out how easy it was to get the princess flustered, and she enjoyed doing so very much.

Eris raised an eyebrow as she witnessed the exchange but didn’t say anything. Yuna either didn’t notice or simply just chose to not acknowledge the way those two interacted. Obviously, both Lily and Thea were in the know, so it was not at all surprising to them.

“Y… yea, I understand. Either way… it is getting late. Better get some rest.” Valerie stood up and hurried over to her tent before Yelena could continue.

Lily grinned as she watched the princess walk away; Yelena could tell she was plotting something, though it was hard to say exactly what.

“She is not wrong. It is better to get some sleep. I’ll take the first shift to be the lookout.” Yelena said and started poking the fire with a stick.

The others had no objection; then they agreed on how to split the shifts throughout the night. They were in a fairly safe area, but as always, it was better to be safe than sorry, so having at least one person to watch at all times was important.

****

The night went by slowly. Nothing was happening, and sitting there alone was quite boring. Even Lucia didn’t make an appearance despite Yelena hoping she could at least keep her company. Was not a surprise. The goddess usually appeared when she wanted or if there was something important to share. Most other times, she was silent, not even showing herself.

Yelena looked up at the starry night sky and wondered where things were going. Her true role as a champion was still a mystery. She had a feeling that Lucia was hiding a lot. For what reason, the girl couldn’t figure out, but she knew it wasn’t her place to question. The gods always watched, planned, and worked towards their goals. For them, mortals, it was impossible to even understand all the machinations in place.

Yelena turned at the sound of footsteps behind her. It was Thea who was the next in line to keep watch.

“Ah, it has been that long already? Time flies by when you are having fun, huh?” Yelena said sarcastically and threw the stick in her hand into the fire.

“I’m sure it was a riveting time. Now go, get some sleep!” Thea sat down.

Yelena nodded and got up. She made her way to her tent and entered. What she saw made her freeze for a second.

“Lily? What are you doing?” The white-haired girl asked in a hushed voice.

Lily was lying on Yelena’s bedroll, completely naked, a big smirk on her face. She had been waiting for the girl’s shift to end.

“What does it look like? Thought it would be nice to relieve some stress. It's been a while since we could.” She answered.

Yelena shook her head in disbelief. She knew Lily was bold, but she sure didn’t expect this. She thought this was not going to end well for sure.

“We can’t! I mean, the others are nearby; they will hear.” Yelena continued whispering.

“So what? Thea and Valerie already know, and honestly I don’t care much if the other two find out, but if you want to keep it a secret, all you need to do is keep quiet.” Lily reached out, grabbed Yelena’s hand, and pulled her over before kissing her.

“Now, stop worrying too much and act like the champion of the goddess of sex and lust.” Lily chuckled and started undressing Yelena.