The Scarlet Paladin

Claire awoke in a pile of limbs the next morning. She still had Toni in her arms as he peacefully slept. She tightened her grip around Toni and relaxed into the bedding. Around her, the rest of her lovers were stirring and getting ready for the day. She didn’t want to wake the sleeping man, so she stayed in bed.

This let her think more about their conversation last night. Toni was right in a way, spreading her gift to others won’t just power up her Goddess, it’d power up Claire herself. It was a tempting offer. But, like what was said last night, it brings too much risk at the moment.

There were still ways they could help.

They did say that Toni was with them, just that he couldn’t be seen in public. They could offer the captain some of his seed. Or maybe not, since it had the same properties as Claire’s. It’d be extremely tempting for them to ingest it.

“Hey,” Claire spoke up to the women around her. “Do you think we could offer them help with getting pregnant?”

“Wouldn’t that tempt them to join us?” Lily tilted her head. “Or expose our secret.”

“We did say we were traveling with Toni,” Claire continued. “And we aren’t exactly sure how any of your semen affects others, just mine and Toni’s.”

Toni roused after hearing his name. He slowly woke up as the conversation continued around him. He slowly stretched and shifted in Claire’s embrace.

“Oh!” Elsie perked up. “We were discussing that a bit ago. We could try it, see how our semen affects them.”

“Y-yeah,” Ana nodded. “Um, there’s a chance ours doesn’t affect people like yours. It could be used for pregnancy…”

“Do you think it’s worth the risk?” Jasmine asked Claire. She had her own reservations, but it was ultimately Claire’s decision.

“Wouldn’t the kid be born like us?” Lily pondered out loud. “We confirmed both Daphne’s and Lyn’s would.”

“Right,” Elsie muttered. She glanced at her sister, “We didn’t think about that.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine?” Hannah chimed in. “Takes nine months for the kid to be born, by then we could be more open.”

“But, they may not know that,” Jasmine responded. “They could think their child has a defect.”

“That’s…” Claire started, but couldn’t really finish the thought.

“So maybe we do have to wait,” Elsie continued the thought for Claire. She sighed, “But maybe we can promise them help so they don’t have to stress?”

“We’d have to explain some more parts of our nature and our Goddess,” Jasmine replied. She was weighing the options in her head. “But, probably better than nothing.”

“We did say we were aiming to liberate the men of this land,” Elsie nodded. “We can tell them to give us a year before attempting to buy sperm from the nobles.”

“B-before then,” Ana continued for Elsie. “We’d have our church more established at the very least…”

Toni rose from Claire’s chest and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked around at the group of women surrounding him, still sleepy. He stretched out, catching the attention of a few of them and creating a natural lull in the conversation. They were all focused on his bare chest for a moment.

“To do so,” Jasmine pursed her lips. “I’m guessing we’ll need Samira, right?”

“Makes the most sense,” Claire nodded as she dragged her attention away from Toni. “She was depicted within the church, so maybe she’s some form of priestess?”

“The snake lady?” Hannah asked, tilting her head. The brunette was doing her best to recall the people they mentioned in their previous tales. “Going to be hard for people not to freak out when they see her.”

“We’ll have to think of something,” Claire bit her lip.

“Maybe illusion magic?” Lily rubbed her chin. She felt a pang in her chest as she remembered the snake woman. “Or, her magic to alter perception? But, with us having to purify her magic, I doubt it’d work the same way.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Claire sighed. Yet another problem with no clear solution ahead of them.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. She, more than anyone, was getting tired of the vagueness of the Goddess. “Let’s just hope it’s your gift that purifies her, and not something She hasn’t told us about.”

“Or my dances,” Toni said after a yawn.

“Right,” Jasmine smiled at him. “Something simple, I hope.”

“We won’t really know until we find her,” Claire groaned as she stretched. The soreness of yesterday’s battle was setting in. She gently lifted Toni off her chest and set the nude man beside her. She stood up, letting the blanket fall off her body. She felt the stares of all her lovers on her and could feel her arousal begin to stir.

There was a moment of silence in the carriage. One that threatened to throw off the plans they had for today. Thankfully, it was disrupted by a knock on the door.

Toni’s eyes widened, and he went for his clothes. He quickly donned his dress and veil before getting behind Hannah. Claire was also hurrying to get her clothes on when Jasmine responded.

“Give us a minute,” Jasmine shouted to their guest. “We’ve got members dressing at the moment.”

Claire threw on her button-down shirt and quickly got her pants on. It was hard to hide her growing erection in the tighter pants, but she could manage. She fumbled with the buttons as she sat down on the side of the carriage. She continued on her shirt when Jasmine started towards the door.

“You hidden, Toni?” Jasmine asked.

“Um, yes,” Toni said from behind Hannah. His knight puffed out her chest and hid her master well.

“Okay,” Jasmine slowly opened the door. She glanced out to see Captain Rebecca and a few of her guards. “Hello, Captain.”

“Hello, Miss Jasmine,” Rebecca nodded to her. “Apologies for the early morning visit. We were able to contact our mayor. She sent back her gratitude and access to the reward money.”

“That’s good to hear.” Jasmine glanced back to make sure everyone was dressed and decent. She opened the door wider to show the rest of her party. “Unfortunately, Toni needs to stay hidden. Anka blessed him with a really annoying ability to attract women.”

“So I’ve heard,” Rebecca gave her a half smile. “Though I hear it only works on women attracted to men.”

“You heard correctly,” Toni replied from behind Hannah. He reached his hand out from behind Hannah’s body and waved. “Um, hi.”

“Greetings, Mister Anthony,” Rebecca smiled. “We think very highly of your grandmother.”

“Um, that’s not public knowledge,” Toni replied sheepishly.

“No, but the mayor knew,” Rebecca responded quickly. “She told us you were her grandson, and she was shocked to find you traveling.”

“Oh, um, do I know her?” Toni asked.

“I don’t think so. She was friends with Lady Efreit when she was still a knight.” Rebecca replied. “But, we actually came here for another reason.”

“What’s that?” Jasmine asked.

“Well, our mayor is interested in your cause. She’s old enough to have worked with the previous Lady,” Rebecca handed Jasmine a letter. “She told me to give you this. It’s her word that she’ll support your cause.”

Jasmine grabbed the letter and handed it off to Claire. “Thank you. What did you tell her about our cause?”

“Kept it short,” Rebecca examined Jasmine. She noticed how the assassin tensed up. “Told her your goal to liberate men and reform society. I’ll wait for the rest of the details in person, since the letter system could be intercepted.”

“Good,” Jasmine untensed.

“My word about your capabilities and one of Lady Efreit’s knights was enough to convince our Mayor to support you,” Rebecca continued. She glanced back at her guards, and they nodded towards her. “We’re willing to help you when you decide to fight.”

“You should be focusing on your city, not our cause,” Claire said from the side. She was examining the letter in her hand. “We very much appreciate the sentiment, though.”

“Fighting alongside you, we feel, will better Duvain,” Rebecca said confidently. Her guardswomen behind her agreed. “Plus, we can hire plenty more guards with the money we make from that Chimera’s carcass. Apparently, the gland that lets it breathe fire is worth a fortune.”

“We could easily triple our guardswomen and expand the city.” One woman spoke from behind Rebecca. She nodded in agreement with a proud smile on her face.

“That’s very good news,” Claire said. The seriousness of their conversation made her arousal go down, so she could stand up without being obvious. She got to her feet, and her body started to radiate divine light. “I would like to show our gratitude in return.”

Rebecca blinked. She’d seen people glow with magic, but this felt different. Unlike any magic she’d felt before. She unconsciously held out her hand towards the paladin. Claire took it, filling the Captain with divine energy.

“I promise you, on my Goddess, we will allow you and your wife to have kids,” Claire felt Her presence surrounding them as she made her vow. “Without the need to go through the nobles or pay a fortune. We will provide for you within a year’s time.”

Rebecca was completely caught off guard by the divine display, and so were her guards. She stared blankly at Claire, whose light slowly faded. “Wh-where did- what?”

“We overheard you talking about wanting kids,” Claire smiled at her. She did her best to stretch the truth and not reveal how they’d provide. “We plan on liberating men. With that, we can let women have kids again without needing to pay. This is a promise to you and your wife, so you don’t have to save money. You don’t have to break your bodies to afford children.”

Her explanation didn’t seem to help. Rebecca was blinking rapidly still. It took a minute for her to process what she had just witnessed. “Fuck. Even if I still had my doubts about you being a God’s Champion… that was undeniable proof.”