Rider

Conflicts

Added 2022-10-05 11:00:07 +0000 UTC

Maya cleaned up the room using her water source in the morning, and they teleported outside. Tiana slept through the night and hadn’t woken up yet, so they just left her to rest.

Only Aleena was left on the ship’s deck, gazing over the lands below. Hollie was also missing, the system informing Seth she was cultivating in one of the rooms downstairs.

Maya looked at Aleena and asked: “Where did you pick this one up? If I’m not wrong, she was a student at the academy in the past.”

Seth nodded as they made their way forward and said: “She was and had failed to ascend. I found her in the library, wasting away in there, and decided to take her under my wing.”

“What wing? We both know where you want to take her.” Said Maya with a chuckle. Seth didn’t deny it, and they both reached behind Aleena.

“Are you going to spend the entire journey here?” asked Seth, laying his arms on the ship’s ledge. Maya also silently stood by his side, appreciating the view from high up in the air.

“No, but I like it here. Everything is so magical that I feel like I’m a character in one of the books I always used to read.”, replied Aleena, a whimsical look in her eyes.

“You should at least get something to eat. There is food in the hull of the ship.”, said Seth.

Aleena touched her belly and tilted her head to the left before nodding: “You’re not wrong. I guess I could grab a bite or two. I’m going.”

“Wait.”, said Seth once she jumped off the ledge, ready to rush inside. “Pick a room once you’re done and get some sleep. I’ll come to heal you later.”

Aleena nodded and started running down the stairs.

“Haha, she’s quite childish.”, exclaimed Maya once she was out of sight.

“Look who’s talking.”, muttered Seth before grabbing her soft hand: “Are you feeling better?”

Maya nodded and brought his hand to her face, giving it a small peck: “I am. Go. I know you have other stuff to take care of. I’ll stay here a while longer.”

Seth smiled and kissed her cheek before disappearing from the ship’s deck. Appearing in one of the rooms, his eyebrows rose in surprise when he spotted Caitlin puking into a small bowl while Henrietta was holding her hair up.

“Don’t tell me you are sick.”, exclaimed Seth as he walked closer to her. Out of all the people on the ship, the last one he expected to suffer from motion sickness was the life and death ascended.

Caitlin acted like her savior had arrived. She dragged her body in front of him and grabbed his pants, kneeling in front of him.

“Seth, please let me go down. I’m going back to the capital.”, said Caitlin, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

Seth chuckled and used his destruction energy to clean her up before saying: “An ascended beaten by motion sickness. That’s something else. Have you thought about not gorging yourself full of food?”

Caitlin looked offended by his words and pulled her hands back, but before she could say anything in her precious food’s defense, a new wave of nausea hit her. She turned around quickly and brought her head atop the bowl next to Henrietta.

Seth sighed and shook his head: “A full stomach would only aggravate motion sickness. That being said, as a life and death ascended, you should be able to use your energy to remove nausea.”

Caitlin felt enlightened, and light-green energy came out from every pore of her body, covering her from head to toe. She immediately stopped vomiting and looked at Seth with gleaming eyes: “Thank you. Now I can eat even more. I need to recuperate what I’ve lost.”

‘How come this idiot never thought about using her energy.’ Wondered Seth as he watched her rushing towards the door.

“Come find me on the deck once you’re done. I need your help with something.”

Caitlin waved her hand to show she understood but didn’t stop running out of the room. Turning towards Henrietta, Seth raised his eyebrow and said: “And how about you? She’s an idiot, but you should have figured out her energy would help.”

Henrietta chuckled and stood up. Bringing herself closer to Seth, she looked up into his eyes and said: “I could have, but I found waiting for you to come to save her a much better plan.”

“I came because I needed her help, not to help her stop throwing up.”, added Seth indifferently as he moved his hands around Henrietta’s waist, pulling her body closer to his.

“Even so, she would have come to find you and complain sooner or later. This would have given me an excuse to come to see you as well. My plan was foolproof.”

Seth sighed and said: “You don’t need an excuse to come see me. So, what do you need from me?”

Henrietta acted all hurt as she said: “It’s been so long, and you still haven’t fulfilled your promise.” She grabbed Seth’s hand from her waist and guided it inside her panties.

Once Seth’s hand came into contact with her warm and moist pussy, Henrietta moaned lightly and bit her lower lip.

Seth smiled and parted the lips of her labia, putting his finger just deep enough to touch the proof of her maidenhood.

“Mmm~~” Henrietta moaned again, the heat from her lower body increasing as she closed her eyes and pushed her breasts against Seth’s chest.

Seth lowered his head and brought his lips close to her ear. “I’ll come to visit your room tonight. Both of you better be ready because if she runs away, you’ll have to wait until we stabilize the Blood Kingdom before doing it.”

Having said his peace, Seth pulled his hand back out of her panties and took a step back, away from Henrietta. Moving his hand to his lips, he gave the sticky liquid covering his hand a lick and winked at her before teleporting away.

Henrietta watched the spot where he teleported from with glazed eyes. Once her mind fell back in place, she stomped her foot on the floor and moved toward the bed.

Seth appeared in front of Lisa’s room next. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door softly.

“Who is it?” Lisa’s voice came from inside.

“It’s me.”, said Seth, “Can we speak?”

“What do we have to speak about? Go away.” Lisa’s angry voice sounded again.

Seth used the records to spy through the door and saw Lisa sitting on the bed only in her lingerie, holding her legs close to her chest and head supported on her knees. There were tear stains on her legs, leading from her knees to the sole of her feet.

“I’m coming inside.”, said Seth, not giving her time to respond as he teleported into the room.

Lisa’s eyes widened as she covered herself using a sheet on the bed and yelled: “GET OUT.”

Seth ignored her yell and created a chair for him to sit on, right in the middle of the room. Locking eyes with her, he said: “Can’t you understand I did what I did for you as well? How many times do I have to explain it?”

“It doesn’t matter why you did it. You still hurt my father. I can’t stand to even look at you anymore. Get out I said.”

Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

‘System, tell me what happened to her family in the previous world iteration.’

Seth nodded and opened his eyes before saying: “Late winter, year 683, Age of the ascended. The kingdoms of Wrath, Loss, Hope, Sorrow. Curse and Noth formed an alliance and paid two fifth shell destruction ascended from the Death Kingdom in the far north to assist their joined assault on the Oath Kingdom.”

“They slaughtered their way to the capital of Oath before marching inside the city. Even Iris, the strongest ascended in the kingdom, was no match for two fifth shell ascended.”

“Deciding that it was better to destroy everything than to let it fall into the alliance’s hands, she detonated both her sources in the middle of the city, wiping out everything in a radius of over a thousand miles.”

“You and your family were also caught in the attack, dying with the rest of the city.”

Lisa looked at Seth with a frown and asked: “What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy?”

“You already know my knowledge is beyond everything this continent has ever known. I’m telling you what will happen if everything proceeds as it has until now.”

“To save the kingdom, it needs a competent leader. It needs an ascended on its throne and not a useless mortal. Since I have promised Maya I won’t injure Iris, I couldn’t really wipe out the royals and take the throne how I initially planned to.”

“To save the Oath Kingdom and stop that tragedy I described, I must travel south and take over the Blood Kingdom first. Developing its strength and with an ascended army by my side, we’ll be a threat that no kingdom could ignore. This would also stop them from going all in against Oath.”

“I was greedy, yes, wanting you all by my side, and what I did to your father was quite cruel, but I hope you can forgive me and continue to stay by my side, Lisa.”

Lisa lowered her head to her knees and didn’t reply. She didn’t know how much Seth said was the truth, but at least it all sounded logical. Still, even with all that, she still had a hard time getting over what happened with her father.

Seeing Lisa’s emotions in constant flux, Seth stood up and said: “I’m going now. Come find me again when you make up your mind.”

“Even if you decide you don’t want anything to do with me anymore, I’ll keep my word and ensure you and your family would live a good life in the new Blood Kingdom.”

Feeling space starting to fluctuate in the room, Lisa looked up and said: “Stop.”

Seth canceled his teleportation and looked back at her in puzzlement.

“What is that you want from me? I can still help you if what you’re saying is the truth, at least as payment for everything you have taught me, but after that, I don’t want anything else to do with you.”

Seth shook his head and said: “If I wanted a mercenary, I could have bought a few for myself now that my creation source can even make gold.”

“Then what do you want? Tell me the truth.”, said Lisa, not understanding what he wanted from her.

Seth chuckled and finished his teleportation, disappearing from her room without answering her question. He couldn’t tell her the truth, or it would have only pushed her further away.

‘I know, but I must put things in order with everyone before reaching Blood. Solve the internal problems first before dealing with everything external.’

Sitting down in a small empty room in the hull of the ship, he drank a vial of energy and continued: ‘How is my progress? I’ve been so busy lately that I didn’t have time to cultivate.’

‘Give me an estimate on the time it would take to reach the fourth shell if I cultivate using energy vials.’

“Damn…” muttered Seth as he closed his eyes and started absorbing the energy inside the vial.

It was way past noon when a sudden notification made Seth open his eyes.

“Guess it’s time to heal Aleena.” Muttered Seth before disappearing from the room.