An archer's promise Chapter 25: Vault (Patreon)

Beta read by Shigiya and Fluffy Slayer

Edit 1: Added more parts and corrected a ton of typos and grammatical errors.

Edit 2: Added the missing part and had more corrections done to it.

Edit 3: Beta read and even more dialogue and parts added!

Edit 4: More added to the Anna scene at the end.

Also, Snafu will be updated on Tuesday late evening.

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--Feoh-

Everything was at his fingertips.

He could feel it, sense it, taste it and see the light at the end of the tunnel after so many years of planning.

From the first day he joined the army of Thorne and served as a regular soldier as nothing but a young kid who could barely lift a sword, fighting an endless war that was waged by two beings who could not understand the wishes of the very people they each claimed to protect.

Yet what he found was nothing but death and destruction in every battle.

The friends he made in his squad were now corpses, crushed up and devoured by the disgusting monsters of the Dark Queen. Even then, he fought desperately to survive, using every trick in the book to kill his enemies without dying from their overwhelming strength or to escape when he was overwhelmed. Be it matching a werewolf’s speed or enduring an ogre’s strikes, as well as patiently dealing with those annoying imps.

His body was littered with cuts and scars, the blood coating his armor in crimson while he fought in a primal rage with the little strength he had left to butcher his enemies. Non-stop hours of fighting, the pain keeping him awake as he gritted through life and death, butchering and decapitating goblins. Severed body parts with exposed veins and muscles were a common sight on the battlefield.

Maybe it was out of delirium or the creeping insanity that came from a long battle, but dying at a young age before adulthood while also having already killed dozens of demons did not seem bad.

No, stubbornness continued to fuel his desire to survive.

In the end, he also counted pure luck as one of the reasons why he still remained alive till this day. His brush against death was so numerous that he began wondering if all of this wasn't just a dream his brain was having while rotting inside a dead corpse.

Yet that thought died as soon as he stood alone in the middle of the field, covered in blood and guts as he looked on emotionlessly at the half-eaten corpse of his friends and even the cum covered bodies of some of the Knights that had their insides crushed and were left to die a slow death after being mentally broken from the brutal rapes from the monsters.

A part of him died that day and in that void allowed a more sinister entity to take over.

Acceptance.

Seeing the world with a new pair of eyes, one that understood the unfairness and adapting towards survival and revenge.

The memories he had of them sharing drinks, laughing, and supporting each other now turned to dust with their demise. In his heart, he always tried to find an answer, a reason why they were fighting this pointless war in the first place.

He grew in rank, forged a blade by combining the broken swords he picked up from the battlefield, those which used to belong to the people he used to call brothers.

Climbing the ranks from a foot soldier to squad leader and then to even a general of his own company all while repeating the same cycle of slaughter and mayhem with the increasing onslaught of the demonic army, losing those he grew close to again and again. Every battle would just end up as a loss disguised as a victory, where the only prize he could see was the common folk’s faith towards their Goddess growing day by day.

What about them?

What about his men and the thousands of soldiers fighting on the front lines, dying just to protect these people and their fake knights!

They whined about the blood, sweat, and tears they shed whilst sitting on their golden thrones.

The desire to protect the place he once used to consider his home was gone. Was it truly his home when he was not even protecting anyone he could consider as a family? That strong desire to protect and serve soon evaporated with time and with each battle he fought—leaving only indifference behind.

He slowly stopped caring about the lives that served under him, seeing them as pawns who could disappear at any moment. After all, he along with everyone whose lives were on the line were all just numbers in the eyes of the ruling class. Mere human foot soldiers with the sole role of acting as meat shields. Even while in a position of power, changing the outcome proved pointless when he had lost most of his humanity.

In the end, not only the Shields, but the people themselves were revealed to be just as selfish and uncaring.

A fire burned inside him, a raging fury that wanted to destroy this disgusting country and create a world with the men being in charge where the women who once ruled the lands would be turned into nothing but playthings. Where both sides were to be reduced to nothing but whores to serve the common people with their bodies. He wanted to use them to shatter the image everyone had of these so-called 'Gods' and make way for a true ruler, taking the mantle of the alpha for a bunch of dogs—the Kuroinu.

Yes, Vault desired to become the true king with the use of his sex empire.

Was he evil?

To the eyes of most, yes, Vault could understand their hate for him if he were to create such an empire. But to some, to those who suffered under the authority of the Princess Knights and the influence of the corrupted Church of Lucross, to them—he was their savior.

He found it funny how the self proclaimed Goddess would declare herself as a mother to all those kids who lost their family. Claiming to use her powers to protect them whenever they would be in danger.

"How laughable."

So, after he left serving the kingdom, Vault established the Kuroinu mercenary group. With the sole reason of gathering supporters and soldiers not under the control of the Kingdoms. He met a lot of challenges along the way, acting like his previous self blindly serving the goddess was a hassle in itself. From all that hate he held inside for Celestine, an equal amount of lust existed. Just the possibility of ripping those flimsy garbs away from that divine body of hers and having his way with those divine globes on her chest boosted his motivation towards his plans day by day.

What Vault found ironic was how one of his subordinates turned to become a Princess Knight herself.

Truly, Maia was special in her own way.

He had initially planned to take her as one of his personal slaves along with Celestine, but after this event, he reconsidered and decided to let his men have a round with her as well. Knowing the girl, he would not even need to invade her Kingdom to reach her, as the redhead would most likely present herself on his doorsteps. He let out a small chuckle imagining the devastated look on her face, Vault would accept her love while letting her get violated by his men in front of him.

'That should be enough to break her.' he thought to himself.

Currently he was stationed in a large tent in the middle of the wilderness near Feoh, mapping out the ideal route to take in order to reach the Dark Queen's castle.

The Mortadella brothers ensured their safe passage while another official working with Olga went behind his queen's back to aid them on passing through the land and even promised to reduce the castle's defenses for a small time frame. But unfortunately, that official couldn't find a solution with the barrier set around the castle with Olga's magic.

But with Kin, they managed to uncover a way to disable the barrier after a few days of preparation. Although recently, their head mage apparently had come across a certain magical gem which could reduce a day's worth of work to a matter of seconds. From what he read, the item could absorb any sort of magic it came in contact with, thus reducing the stability of the spell and breaking it.

At least that was what he understood from all that complicated jargon that usually went over his head. As long as it worked correctly, Vault didn't care about the fucking schematics.

"Boss, letter from Ansur!" said one of the men guarding his tent, running up to him with the letter.

"Hm, give it to me." he extended his hand and got hold of the envelope.

He noticed the wax seal on the front and recognized the Levantine insignia—a lion's head.

"What does that geezer want?"

Vault knew that the sender would be none other than Grave Levantine, the current patriarch of the family and father-in-law to Claudia. That impotent wimp, Klaus, wouldn't waste his time on him, having all of his attention drawn to Blueborn and his affairs. Claudia on the other hand, never used the Levantine family's seal and would use the one belonging to the Knights.

Not to mention that she wasn't one to send a courier letter and would instead opt for a face-to-face interaction instead.

He broke the seal and unfolded the paper inside, taking a few seconds to read the content. He remembered having a meeting with that old man a few months ago, back when he was invited for his son's birthday celebration. They engaged in mild conversation, talking about the current state of affairs inside the seven kingdoms, and with the addition of alcohol, soon turned into a conversation involving his son.

It was then Grave let the fact slip about his son being unable to conceive an heir due to his pathetically nonexistent libido. He stated how this detail was able to reach his rivals and enemies, not hesitating to use it as a weapon to humiliate him and his family's lineage among important officials from foreign countries as well as the nobles.

Rumors about his son being an inbred bastard child as well as lacking an interest in women.

"They do not see a lion, they only see him as something a lion would eat. A mighty lion having a castrated dog for a son… and I can't even defend myself against such claims." Grave said whilst drunk from the wine.

Vault remembered how much he had to restrain himself from bursting out laughing. But at that moment, he didn't see a downtrodden man who wanted nothing more than to kill the bastard he called a son—he saw a potential ally.

An open crack in the man's previously impenetrable shield.

A predator showing weakness in front of another predator.

"You know, for someone your age, you must certainly be quite full of energy. I could make things work for the right price," he said, not making any mention of Claudia but his intentions were clear enough for the drunk man to understand the underlying meaning.

Up until now, Vault never got a word from him and the latter didn't seem like he remembered their past conversation. But from the letter he just now received, it seemed that Claudia's latest attempt at suggesting to adopt a child made the man crack and resort to other desperate means.

"So he's finally going for Claudia, guess I will leave having his daughter-in-law to myself it seems. Hm, and Hicks wants Alicia and those pigs want Prim. Even that creepy priest wants Kaguya for his god or whatever disgusting insect that crawled out of his ass. Kin does not want anyone in particular, he'll most likely become busy with that nonsensical library he keeps talking about that is hidden in Thorne. I get to have fun with the other girls till they break and become useless to me, they'll surely fetch for a high price even then." Vault smirked, feeling assured that victory was just on the horizon.

What could stop him at this point?

Alicia and Claudia basically supported him on all ends without question. Luu-Luu provided his group with enough weaponry to take over the entirety of Eostia whilst Prim continued to win over the nobles' favor for him. Kaguya still remained ever so quiet and detached with the whole issue, but she would still aid him when necessary. Even Celestine did not doubt his loyalty in the slightest, she would most likely worry about those useless kids in that orphanage of hers.

Speaking of orphanages, Vault already had a buyer very interested in purchasing the younger ones over the older girls. He didn't care about their taste as long as it brought enough coins to his coffers, Vault gladly accepted without hesitation.

"No one can stop me at this point!" he boasted while throwing the letter into the fire and watching the flame consume it completely.

"Now I just need to wait for Kin and Hicks to get their asses here as soon as possible."


{Break}

-Heilung Dorf-

"This is our local fish market, fishermen who ride along the river for their daily work regularly stop by and sell us some of their catches. Since our position acts like a crossroad to the main river that branches off into different areas, we do end up with a lot of fish and other sea creatures in the end. This is why everything here is very cheap as most of the sellers try to get rid of their stock before the day ends to both the locals and travelers passing by."

After they experienced a warm welcome from the village's inhabitants, Maia and her group were given a tour of the place by Anna.

Kin and Hicks were nowhere to be found, the latter having most likely gone to the local inn or bar to get drunk after what happened today.

Archer suddenly decided to follow as well when Anna proposed to show them the local market. Only knowing him for such a short amount of time, the Queen of Mercenaries liked to think that she knew his preference very well at this point.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked the white-haired man, who was eyeing some of the products that were being offered before him.

"I was curious."

Humph, even now he wouldn't admit it that he was enjoying himself. She could see his gleaming eyes roaming around the place like a curious child. And if Archer could read her thoughts, he wouldn't exactly deny them either.

It wasn't every day he could wander around a foreign world that was completely different from his Earth. Even in such a far plane of existence, the ingredients and animals ended up being the same to a certain degree. He spotted a horse mackerel to his right, a large tuna to his left, and plenty of other fishes identical to those found on Earth.

He didn't pay this thought that much attention while in Grünes Bergdorf, having a lot on his mind back then, his talk with Alaya and his current human state being one of the many aspects he kept mulling over them and how he was going to complete the mission. Not to mention he was focused more on other areas like where the heck he ended up in the world.

Being on an alien planet, Archer expected something more unique.

He had creeping thoughts about whether he hadn't just been sent to another version of Earth and Alaya was just messing with him. But then again, the collective unconsciousness of making wasn't an entity that joked around in the first place.

"Do you perhaps have any questions, Archer-san?" Anna said with her monotone voice as she noticed the man zoning out a fair bit, having walked beside him since the beginning of the tour.

Unfortunately, the mayor couldn't stay around for much longer as his advanced age prevented him from doing so.

Archer really finds the woman's lack of emotions to be a bit jarring and familiar at the same time. Reminding him of one of the Einzbern homunculus created to act as a bodyguard to Illya. And of course, he couldn't recall her name as they never really spoke outside some instances of randomly wandering memories from his time spent working as a Counter Guardian.

"No, I was just wondering about some of the fishes here. Which would be the best for grilling and pan frying." he half-lied, trying to not look out of place.

He was a bit curious though.

Anna cutely tilted her head, those blank eyes of hers focusing on him with a certain intensity.

He didn't feel comfortable with that gaze if hers. He couldn't really point it out, but his instincts were screaming at him that this woman was hiding a secret from them, but wasn’t sure what it was. Then again, they were just travelers who would mostly spend a day here, so the Counter Guardian didn't bother digging further into his suspicion.

"This one." she brought a fish which resembled a red snapper but with a more elongated body like that of an eel. The seller gave the young elf one of her freshest ingredients without being asked as well as a genuine smile.

"This is a Crimson Sapped Snake, a perfect choice for what you are seeking for if your aim is to grill them."

Oh, that could be the first unique difference he discovered in this world. It wasn't that out of place, but still a start nonetheless.

"Its body is long and hard, thick and tasty. It's very capable to satisfy your needs in the right situations."

"That’s…good?"

Archer found the way she said to be very odd to describe the fish, and the way that she was caressing the eel wasn’t helping either.

"It's a very delicious fish and the locals love it. Here, I’ll offer you one as a gift." Anna said as she handed it over and paid for him before he could say anything.

"Ah, thank you….”?"

"May I ask what your favorite vegetables are, Archer-san? We experienced a bountiful harvest this year, I can help you out if you want anything in particular. Anything."

"Ah, no, I'm fine with—" he stopped mid-speech when Anna invaded his personal space.

Being so close and being a head or two taller than her, he couldn’t stop himself from looking down on her. His eyes traveled down as he felt the pressing feeling of her bountiful cleavage, which were slightly touching on his own chest, letting him see and feel the malleable flesh.

Well wasn't this becoming very awkward.

"I insist," she said, her voice almost sounding husky to him, despite zero facial change from the woman.

Archer felt a sweat on his forehead at this woman’s forwardness.

"Uh-huh, well… I guess any vegetables are fine with me as long as they are fresh."

How was he even supposed to answer this question with the woman this close to him and giving him an intense look?

"I see, I prefer the use of large cucumbers and carrots, they are good for your body and can be used in any way if you are creative."

"..."

For the first time ever since he came here, Archer felt out of the loop on what he needed to do and even slightly weary of this elf in front of him, who has yet to move out of his personal space.

Meanwhile, Maia was standing by the side quietly while observing Anna with narrow eyes. For an engaged person, she sure was sending all kinds of signals at Archer and the latter didn't even seem to notice it! Her mannerism revealed very little of her personality but her words were very… forward and suggestive.

Or maybe she was overthinking it… not!

Maia's eye twitched, starting to firmly believe that the woman was definitely attracted to Archer.

“Can you believe this woman?”

“What do you mean, Maia-sama?” Brynn answered as she was closer to the Princess Knight.

She turned to the girl, who seemed confused by her words. Maia couldn’t help but give her a ‘Are you for real?’ look.

“Did you not notice how she is acting around Archer?”

“Oh yes, she seemed quite forward indeed. But I just think that Anna-san is very close to people in general.”

Damn was this girl naive! Anyways, whatever was going on here needed to end, and she had the perfect excuse for it!

"You know what? I’m tired from riding a horse all day and just want to get some sleep. Any chance you can get us a room to sleep?" Maia said, yawning and stretching her hands in the air, nearly causing her breasts to pop out of her shirt.

"Of course, please follow me." Anna gave a bow before walking towards the main inn, finally stepping away from the tensed Archer.

The building resembled very much the Emerald Inn in Archer's opinion. Only this place looked like it was in great condition and surprisingly, there were no stairs leading to the upper floor where the rooms were. But they had to take another entrance outside of the dining hall, an unexpected choice but not that weird in Archer's opinion. It would help for people who didn't want to deal with the crowd or drunks in the middle of the night.

"These are your rooms for your stay, the mayor made sure to give you the best accommodations for our honored guests," Anna said as she passed each of them their respective keys. But when she handed Archer’s key, she lingered a little longer than necessary, her hand cradling his own larger ones, her gaze fixed on his own, before finally letting go of the key before retiring for the day but stopped right before she left the hallway. Her azure blue eyes were completely focused on the white hair man, which put the man on edge.

"By the way, the walls are quite thick and sound resistant, so you won’t have to worry about any noise coming in or out of the rooms. And if you need assistance of any kind, be it a helping hand, don’t hesitate to call me."

With those final words, Anna left the group behind. It was obvious to everyone that that offer was only directed toward Archer, and said man wasn’t sure how to deal with this woman.

Why did she have to say it like that? She looked like a serious and no-nonsense kind of woman with a face of hers, but her words proved the opposite so far. Whether Anna was joking or not was not something he wanted to find out.

That elf really was weird.

Speaking of elves, wasn't there supposed to be a dark elf in this village? Maia told him everything he needed to know about the village and the existence of a dark elf living alongside a light elf was quite shocking to many of the locals. Archer would be lying if he said that he wasn't curious about seeing her, but alas, there was not a single trace of her all around the village.

"You know, we could share a room?" Maia asked, getting the guardian's attention.

He stopped on his tracks, giving Maia a surprised look as he never expected the Princess Knight to suddenly ask something so bold.

She didn't even sound like she was giving one of her usual teases and was genuinely asking, which shocked him even more!

“There’s only one bed.”

“I don’t mind sharing a bed if you don’t?”

"Is this an invitation?"

He didn't beat around the bush and immediately asked the girl of her intentions. He wasn't his past self who would get flustered and shy over such a topic, Archer realized that not communicating clearly from the get-go created more misunderstanding and awkward moments.

Maia blushed, suddenly finding that giving any kind of response proved to be a major hurdle for her.

But she gripped herself and exhaled slowly. They literally bathed together and even saw each other's intimate regions, having a bit of fun wouldn't be out of the question, right?

With a face as crimson as her, Maia whispered quietly, "Y-Yes…"

Her heart was beating like a drum as she awaited Archer's response, terrified and excited of what could happen in the next few moments. Weird, she never felt such a reaction in the past, so why did everything involving Archer have to be so complicated!?

They both stared into each other's eyes, he sighed. Thankfully, Archer already had an answer if such a scenario were to occur with him, which did happen in the past. The only way he found to stay out of trouble many times and one of the most powerful words…

"No."

Bam!

As soon as he said that, the bowman entered his room before closing the door behind him.

Click

And even locking his room soon after, almost as if he expected someone to barge in.

"..."

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Maia stood alone in the corridors with a full-blown jaw drop. He… he…

Embarrassment was soon replaced with anger and frustration.

"This ain't over!"

She kicked his door.

Not receiving any answer, Maia stormed off into her own room.

Why was she the one trying to convince a man to sleep with her?

And why was she so mad with his refusal!?

Unbeknownst to both Maia and Archer, just around the corner of the hallway where they just entered from, Anna had her back against the wall. Breathing heavily with a flushed face, her misty eyes staring into the empty face in front of her as she placed a hand on her fast beating heart while the other was quickly pulled away from between her legs.

Displaying more emotions on her face at this point compared to her previous self. One that showed desire and joy.

Her thighs were rubbing together as the elf continued to fight off the growing desire bubbling inside her. To meet a man with such distinctive handsome features that nearly made her swoon from his presence alone. Sharp silver eyes that made her feel all kinds of lustful thoughts and emotions that she had never felt before in her life, coupled with a Princess Knight whose beauty rivaled Grace—seem like an amazing stroke of fortune!


She looked at her wet fingers before taking a deep calming breath.

Just why did those two have to travel here at this point in time?

"I'll need Grace for tonight as well… and probably for the next few nights."