[LitF] 5. The Talk (Patreon)

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[A/N: Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading and supporting me; that's the best gift I could get! God Bless!]

After the episode, Arthur's nights were filled with nightmares.

Sometimes he was the one having his head cut or getting blown up. Other times, he saw his maids or mother suffer a similar fate. And a few dreadful times, he was blown up, then his mind was trapped in a bloody mist that kept consuming other minds to grow; ultimately, he started losing his sense of self.

He woke up screaming every other night.

Eventually, the nightmares went away, replaced with blessedly dreamless nights.

= - = - =

Months later, he was reading a book when his intelligence increased again.

| Natural Growth: Intelligence +1 → 8

「 Achievement: Natural Enthusiast

Tier: B

Reward: +48 free stat points

You naturally grew all your stats by at least six points!

You've learned your every action matters and can make you stronger, while inaction will only cause stagnation. Seemingly inconsequential activities turn into powerful tools in your hands, which you use to forge a grander fate. 」

"And that's your last natural growth achievement until you reach peak stats," the lieutenant said, once more guessing he had increased a stat and received an achievement.

Charlotte had only missed the F-tier Mana Capable achievement he had received the first time he used mana. Back then, Stinson had slapped Arthur and broken his leg, which had kind of distracted everyone.

She continued, "There's an S-tier Absolute Naturalist achievement for growing every stat by nine points, but you ate healthy food from a young age. While I don't know how high your stats were when you awakened, I'm sure your vitality was at least two. Since awakeners can't go past ten points naturally, that achievement is beyond you."

"I have two questions, ma'am."

"Ask away."

"First, how do you know when my stats grow or when I get achievements, ma'am? Aren't those things supposed to be secret?"

His muscles contracted and grew a little when he improved a body stat, and she might be able to feel the mana in his body for the mana stats, but his mind stats should be beyond her.

The lieutenant chuckled. "You always immediately read everything Fate tells you. I can see your eyes moving and guess the content based on what you're doing."

"Oh," Arthur replied.

That made sense; he should've guessed it. Now that he knew, he vowed to learn how to read from the corner of his eyes so as not to give anything away.

"Next question?" she asked.

"Why didn't I awaken earlier if I'll miss an S-tier achievement, ma'am?"

Stinson answered in her stead. "Learning any skill or using any stat point will prevent you from getting natural growth achievements. Immature six-year-olds can't stop themselves from picking an element. Do you think an even more immature younger kid would resist using a stat point?"

Embarrassed, Arthur blushed a little.

Since the commander was speaking, he felt a bit braver to ask another thing, "Sir, if I'm your personal student, why is Lieutenant Graham instructing me in your stead?"

That was a question about his training, so he was allowed to ask about it. He had never had the courage before, though. Improving his mind stats really steeled his resolve, as Charlotte had said.

"Because I'm also training her," he replied. "She's also my personal student. I'm overwatching her actions and correcting her mistakes while you sleep, except for a few glaring ones that force me to intervene at once. Being my personal student doesn't make you my only student."

"Yes, sir," Arthur said. As with everything else, that also made sense. Sincerely, he should have also thought of that.

Sometimes he felt his seven points of wisdom were just for show.

= - = - =

"Wake up," Stinson ordered.

Arthur woke up and noticed something was poking out below his waist. His martial robe's fabric wasn't thin, but it was highly flexible to ensure it didn't constrain any movements. Therefore, it did nothing to hide his circumstance.

The prince didn't care. That happened sometimes, mostly when he went to sleep, but it was always gone when he woke up. The only two times it had happened elsewhere, during his baths, Annie also hadn't cared—though she also didn't touch him there when he was like that—and it also returned to normal on its own. So he assumed it was a side effect of his training or his stats growth.

It would go away throughout the day, so there was no need to worry.

Arthur looked to the side but found Stinson missing. It was the first time the man opened the door slightly and called him from the outside. It was a bit weird, but the prince thought nothing of it.

He left the room to find a new small wooden table with two chairs in the torture chamber. Charlotte was sitting on one of them. A thin but overly large book rested on the table.

"Good morning, Your Boyness," she said with a smile. She briefly glanced at his waist, chuckled, and shook her head before looking at his face again. "Come, sit."

Arthur innocently obeyed.

He was enormously surprised when he saw the book cover. Two naked people were drawn side by side, a man and a woman.

The prince recalled finding it unfair how his maids kept their clothes while he took his baths. Why did he have to be the only one naked in the room?

Now, he instantly got an idea why.

He vaguely noticed the book had a title but never even glanced at it. The female body was... mesmerizing. He couldn't stop looking at it. His skin crawled pleasurably. He felt warm and...

Charlotte put her gauntleted hands over the cover, breaking the spell. "I never had kids, and the commander never took a close at the fine details of raising one, much less in such an isolated setting. Therefore, we overlooked two things: puberty and cultural customs."

"Puberty, ma'am?" Arthur asked. He had never heard that word before.

"You're six, but look almost thirteen. The reason is simple: you have the body stats of an unawakened sixteen-year-old athlete, which affects some aspects of your physical growth. Your young-adult-level mind stats don't affect your external growth, but it does influence your brain."

Her smile slowly faded away as she talked. Not long after, she showed no expression on her face.

"Puberty is the name of the so-very-wonderful years of hormonal novelty that all teenagers go through. So, rejoice, Your Boyness, for you'll have the opportunity to have The Talk much earlier than most people in the world."

After that opening speech, she opened the book. Unlike the cover, its first pages showed much less detailed and uninteresting drawings of children growing up. She called the subject "biology," though she often also explained societal expectations on some matters.

At first, hearing her talk about hair growing in some places that should be hidden from decent society made Arthur feel slightly awkward, but he still interacted with the lesson.

"So babies aren't randomly put inside mothers' wombs by Fate, ma'am?" he asked.

"No, Your Boyness, they are not," Charlotte replied with a chuckle.

It didn't take long for the subject to become much more uncomfortably personal.

"...so you see, Your Boyness, there's a reason your eyes were drawn to the beautiful elven waitress' barely hidden bust in the last inn we visited."

"Oh," the prince replied awkwardly.

From there on, Arthur just listened quietly.

An hour later, his face was as red as a tomato as Charlotte talked and pointed at some drawings in the book.

"...and the male's penis will penetrate the female's vagina," she said and flipped the page.

The next page contained a drawing of exactly what she was describing. The organs were cut in the middle, and arrows identified each external and internal part. Side notes explained what happened to each organ and individual part during intercourse.

"This is the ideal scenario," the lieutenant continued, pointing at a few things. "The penis is fully erect, and the vagina is adequately lubricated. Continued stimulation will likely lead to an orgasm. Sometimes other stimuli are needed, especially for women, but we can discuss that later. All I'll say for now is that you should always care about your partner's satisfaction." She flipped the page again, and Arthur saw a new drawing. "During orgasm, the penis will often release semen or seminal fluid. We call that ejaculation. The semen contains sperm that must travel..."

After that day, Stinson no longer entered his bedroom to wake Arthur up. Nor did anyone complain when the prince waited some minutes for things to calm down before leaving the room—which he did very flustered.

He really, really wished he could push a lot of points into his mind stats. Strong willpower would let him avoid those embarrassing moments by simply willing his body to behave differently. Alas, that wasn't to be.

Yet, that wasn't even the worst part.

What he truly dreaded was facing Annie in his next bath. For weeks he cringed when thinking of his two episodes. It made him mortified.

When the time finally came to see her, he didn't know if he felt glad or saddened by the news that she wasn't there and wouldn't come to help him bathe anymore.

He missed her singsonging.

= - = - =

The entry archway and corridor of the five-hundredth dungeon Arthur visited were made of giant, unpolished, pointy green crystals like the maws of a beast.

It was surrounded by an outpost, but the dungeon was four stars, so the grand knights were careful this time too. Lieutenant Graham entered it first and stopped a few feet ahead. Stinson waited for her to give the all-clear before stepping inside, pulling Arthur by the shoulder.

Arthur's boots weren't meant to protect his feet, but instead of the pointed end of a crystal, he stepped into an invisible magic platform summoned by Stinson.

「 Achievement: Dungeon Fest

Tier: A

Reward: +96 free stat points

You relentlessly visited five hundred different dungeons!

Races fight among themselves, and the world trembles under their wars, but no opponent is more terrible than the ultimate existential threat: dungeons. You know that and spare no expense in traveling the world to vanquish the enemy that would see civilization extinguished. No monster, wherever they may hide, shall keep you from your fate. 」

"Five hundred dungeons in almost nine months," Arthur said and sighed. "Another year to the next achievement, ma'am?" he guessed.

"Make it a year and a half," Stinson replied instead of Charlotte.

The prince frowned. That didn't sound right.

The achievements he was pursuing required him not to revisit any dungeon while keeping a daily streak of new visits. The cruiser carriage's path had to be carefully planned, and even then, he had been visiting fewer and fewer dungeons per day in the latest months.

Yet, one year and a half to visit five hundred dungeons meant one dungeon a day. Surely they could do better than that.

"How come, sir?" Arthur asked as they walked back to the carriage.

"How many dungeons does the Golden Kingdom have, boy?"

"Between three to six hundred at any given time, sir," the prince answered immediately, having memorized the information he had learned the past months. Then it dawned on him. "The kingdom is out of dungeons."

The number of dungeons fluctuated wildly because dungeons constantly appeared randomly worldwide and were continuously destroyed. The details were complex but came down to balancing power with safety. Nations needed their awakeners to grow powerful for protection—as shown by Charlotte's battle—which required leveling up and, thus, killing dungeon monsters. However, they also had to control how many dungeons were around to avoid outbreaks if they messed up.

"Yes, boy," Stinson replied. "Only a dedicated and expensive search at His Royal Majesty's behest let us even find as many dungeons as we did. There are a dozen other dungeons we haven't visited in the kingdom, but none within a day's ride. From now on, we'll need to visit the few allied countries we still have; that's why we're close to their borders. That said, allies or not, leaving the Golden Kingdom still puts us at greater risk. We'll move more safely, which means moving in an erratic traveling pattern and skipping many potentially perilous dungeons."

Arthur wasn't keen on spending another year and a half with the commander but knew complaining wouldn't get him anywhere. He silently entered the carriage and mentally prepared himself for the long months ahead.

"Actually, commander," Charlotte said as she stepped in. She didn't close the door this time, though she did take her helmet off. "We have orders to return to the palace." She took a sealed royal scroll from her spatial storage and offered it to the commander.

The man raised an eyebrow, took it, and read its contents. After finishing, he looked at her with a strange look. "I can't believe you hid this from me," he said, sounding profoundly hurt.

She sighed. "I almost told you when we discussed His Highness's mental health, but you changed my mind. You made it clear how important this is." She sounded so exhausted.

"Charlotte!" he yelled, then repeated quieter. "Charlotte, what I said back then should've made you tell me instead. My daughter has been on the brink of death for almost a year, and I ignored her while protecting someone else's son!"

Arthur was shocked. The lieutenant was dying?!

"What's going on?" he asked. They ignored him.

"Dad, you said all this is for everyone's best interests. Was that a lie?"

They silently stared at each other for a while, then he shook his head. "No. No, it wasn't. It will be better for everyone except me. I wish I knew. I wish we could've enjoyed our time together."

"We still have time; I'm not dead yet. His Royal Majesty said I could take you on my missions until I pass away."

"Missions?!" Stinson bellowed. "You can't be serious! You must go home to your family! I'll take a leave. I'll stay with you."

"The war—" she started.

"Will still be there when I return," he declared. "I know about plans to extend it. His Royal Majesty owes me this much after this... façade."

Charlotte shook her head. "I'm not some greenhouse flower, dad. You made sure I wouldn't be. I'm a grand knight, and I'll fulfill my duty. I'll die defending my kingdom and accept nothing else. I already made William agree with me. He'll be coming, too."

Stinson growled. "Instead of protecting you, he agrees to let you endanger yourself. One more reason for me to hate him."

"And yet another reason I love him. He loves, cares for, and respects me, dad. I love that you see me as your little girl and want to protect me, but he sees me for the companion I am and understands me. Understands me. We're all grand knights sworn to the same king. We all know how we want to die, and it's not as an empty husk on a bed as our vitality drains away."

The commander wasn't convinced. "He wants you gone so he can rob yet another rich heir from another High House. How can't you see it, Charlotte? He left to kill some nobodies when you needed him the most!"

Charlotte was silent for a moment, then chuckled, then laughed. She laughed hard and long, and at the end, she was crying.

"Oh, father of mine. How could you ever be so wrong about someone? Do you know what William did when I told him about the death curse? A soul vow. He vowed to buy high-vitality blood to rekindle my vampire heritage, then go live in a dungeon with me. He vowed to hunt monsters to feed me to prolong my life, turn into a dungeon creature with me, and stay by my side for the hundreds of years it would take the bloodlust to overwhelm me. And he vowed he would destroy the dungeon core when I was too gone, thus killing us both with it."

Arthur wouldn't have been able to follow that conversation without all the knowledge he had acquired these past months.

Curses were a kind spell. They were complex, costly, and slow but made up for it with finality. Removing a curse required someone considerably more powerful than the one who cast them.

Full-fledged vampires all eventually went crazy with bloodlust. They needed to consume the blood from stronger and stronger beings to keep the madness at bay, but after a point, there was just no one strong enough. Then bloodlust took over, and they became mindless monsters who sought blood and nothing else, no matter the cost or who it hurt.

Lastly, those who stayed for over twenty-seven years in a dungeon got bound to it almost like a monster. They still kept their self-consciousness but couldn't leave and died if the dungeon was destroyed. They became dungeon dwellers.

"What death curse?" the prince asked but was ignored again.

Stinson scoffed. "Oh, a soul vow, is it?" He opened his arms and looked around. "Does it look like a dungeon to you? It doesn't to me. And your poor excuse for a husband isn't here either, is he? He won't even follow you into a damn carriage, must less into a dungeon! He would never die for you, Charlotte. Why can't you see it?"

The lieutenant sounded broken as she said, "Do you think I would let the man of my life spend the rest of his days like that for me than die such a sad death? Do you think so little of me, father?" She shook her head. "You said he left when I needed him the most, but do you know what I truly needed? What my husband and I both needed?" She smiled a little. "We needed release. We made glorious love for five days straight. I've never felt so alive before, and I'm dying! I even bought a ceiling mirror!" She giggled. "When we were done, I deemed him collected enough not to get himself killed by acting irrationally, and we discussed a more sensible outlet for his ire. Revenge sounded healthier than suicide, so I gave him my blessing to bring forth his righteous fury unto the Whispering Witch." She chuckled. "Now that is what a true man is like."

"What is going on?!" Arthur demanded a little louder than he should, pointedly ignoring the part about making love for five days.

"Lieutenant Graham is dying, boy," Stinson finally replied with his usual stern voice. "I asked for her husband's help to protect you, but she was sent here instead of him because he went on a petty vendetta despite His Royal Majesty's orders to stay by his dying wife's side."

She smiled sadly. "See, dad? You don't understand me—the current me. You only see the little child I once was or a broken woman. I'm a knight, Commander. William gave me what I needed: the best sex of my life and the promise that the one who did this to me wouldn't live. Instead of pestering me as if I were invalid, he gave me respect for everything I am. Yes, dad, I have feelings. I cried in his arms. He supported me—" She stopped and shook her head. "No, I'm done with this argument. You don't want to see reason. You have your orders, Commander, and I have mine."

She put her helmet back on and struck her left chest with her closed right fist. The impact released a mighty shock wave that made everything tremble, including Arthur.

Then, she turned to the prince and nodded. "Your Highness, I'm deeply honored for the opportunity to train you. You grew into a fine man. You look fourteen and have the mind stats of a young adult but not the maturity that only comes with experience. Those things will cause confusion. Don't resent anyone for that. There are many reasons child awakening was banned, and that is one of them. Another reason is that your childhood was robbed of you. The unique innocence that only those with low mind stats can have is forever beyond your reach. I'm deeply sorry for that."

Then, without another word, she turned and left the carriage.

Stinson silently looked at her go with pursed lips and an angry face. Arthur was left eye-wide and surprised. Everything had been so sudden! Yet, he still had one question.

"I'm sorry for your loss, sir," he said first, despite his curiosity. Charlotte had taught him manners, too. Stinson only nodded in return. "Why must we return, sir?"

The man still didn't look at the prince to reply, "The kingdom's allies turned on us."

"What? When? Why weren't we informed, sir?"

"I wasn't informed because His Royal Majesty didn't see fit to notify me before you got your most recent achievement. The kingdom is in dire straits, and he feared I would disregard my orders and return to the capital to protect him. You weren't informed because you needed no distraction in your training." He sighed and shook his head. "Stay here."

The commander left and returned a moment later with another grand knight and an old lady wearing a mage's robe. It was black with golden details, marking her as a first-class wizardess.

Arthur had learned not all grand knight armor was created equal. Every grand knight was allowed to customize the golden drawing on their armor's left shoulder.

Most used their House insignia, like the elk on the commander's civic clothes—which could also be customized. The newcomer, however, had a flaming sword rather than any House insignia.

The prince inspected them and was glad to find out they had left their race and levels unlocked for any to see.

| Human — Level 62

| Human — Level 55

Surprisingly, the mage was higher-leveled than the knight.

Both nodded to the prince but otherwise ignored him. The new grand knight gave the carriage's interior a cursory glance, then stepped back outside to stand guard by the door, watching for external threats. Stinson stood inside, also close to the door, and put his hand on the prince's shoulder.

Arthur tried to see any House insignia or personal symbol on the wizardess robe but found none. Maybe theirs required magic to notice?

She took an open scroll from a spatial inventory and made it float before her. Arthur saw nothing written on it but guessed whatever was there was visible to the mage. Then she took many bags and containers of different sizes out of her spatial storage.

Soon, different kinds of ink and dust were used to draw a magic pattern on the floor, using manual tools like brushes and funnels. One couldn't use spells or enchanted items to set up a magic formation because it might interfere with the materials.

"What's she doing, sir?" Arthur asked.

"She's building a temporary portal to His Royal Majesty's private teleportation room," Stinson replied. "You'll go through it instead of riding back. It's safer that way."

"I, not we, sir?"

"Weren't you paying attention, boy? My daughter just left on a mission she might not return from."

They hadn't said that's what she had left to do; how was he supposed to know?!

"But doesn't knight protocol state that a trusted knight must secure the area before—"

"Squire," Stinson interrupted with an icy cold voice. "In case you also didn't notice, I don't care about you. I withstood you because those were my orders, and I found them wise. Don't mistake it for anything else. My soft daughter said you turned into a fine man? You developed the very base minimum manners and ability to pass as something slightly better than an utter waste of breathing air."

He paused, then said, "Actually, no. I'm done with this farce. I don't merely not care about you. I despise you and everything you represent, from how you were spoiled as a child to how I was forced to take you as my personal student. From how much His Royal Majesty is sacrificing for you to even the sound of your voice. I loathe you, boy. And if you are thinking of commanding me to secure the other side of the portal for you, think again. Temporary portals are one-way. You'd be ordering me to choose between staying by my daughter's side in her last moments and protecting a little shit who doesn't care about a father's suffering even after how much that father sacrificed for said little shit. Don't tempt me into making sure the Golden Kingdom never has a sovereign like you."

The words were shocking enough that the wizardess stopped what she was doing and turned to stare at the commander with a wide-open mouth.

Yet, Arthur himself wasn't as surprised by the revelation.

He had heard enough knight stories as a child to hope Stinson was just a tough-love kind of guy. It was a common trope. However, the way the commander refused to hear his daughter's words, blinded himself to whatever he didn't agree with, and went against his king when he saw fit were evidence of the contrary. The man was just obnoxious.

Regardless, the prince didn't believe for an instant that his life was at risk, despite the final threat. Stinson had hated Arthur from day one. He doubted the man would rather kill the crown prince now than just throw him through the portal and ignore any order to go through first.

In fact, Arthur was so confident of that that he didn't think twice before voicing all the spite he, himself, had accumulated during the past months.

"No, Commander Stinson. If I did ask it of you, I would only be inviting a knight to perform his duty. Fortunately, your daughter was thorough when explaining how some inferior knights only follow the knights' code of honor when convenient. How their pledges to their sovereign are worth less than a pig's fart. So I know better than to expect someone like you to behave like a true knight."

As Arthur expected, Stinson said or did nothing after the tirade.

The ensuing silence was awkward and uncomfortable. Moments later, the wizardess returned to her drawing while the second grand knight placed his gauntleted hand over the commander's hand on Arthur's shoulder.

"Commander Stinson, please step aside," the man said, using the skill that made a grand knight's voice sound sinister.

"Shut up and leave, Lars," Stinson barked. "I'll do my duty until I don't. I won't stop one second before or later than whenever I see fit."

"Commander, I must insist. Your words make you a danger to the crown prince," Lars said and clenched Stinson's hand—or tried to. The old man didn't even seem to notice.

"Lars, I'm warning you. His Highness was directly trusted to me by the Golden King himself. A mere lieutenant has no business meddling with this arrangement."

Arthur frowned.

Protocol dictated that a knight Arthur trusted went through the portal before him. Stinson didn't want to go, but if he trusted Lars, he could've ordered the man to do it in his stead.

Instead, he had preferred to threaten the prince.

Now, they were arguing. Verbal threat or not, Stinson was the superior here. He had also said he would protect Arthur, even if only up to a point. Lars, indeed, had no business interfering with that until then.

Arthur didn't know what was going on, but if he had to pick the lesser evil between the two, he would rather keep the one he knew. Also, as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, he did trust Stinson to a point.

"Leave him be, Lieutenant," Arthur commanded, suddenly very suspicious of the knight.

He had no authority over the kingdom's knights except in one case: when he felt his life was threatened. It didn't fully fit now, but he was at least suspicious.

The prince didn't see the knight turn his head to him but heard the helmet grind on the armor's plate, so he turned to look at the man.

"Your Highness—" he started but never finished the sentence.

A long silvery sword inlaid with golden details, a grand knight's weapon, pierced the man's nape. It went diagonally through his helmet as if it was made of butter.

Arthur tried to get away from the danger but suddenly found himself magically locked in place. He failed to look at Stinson for an explanation because even his eyeballs couldn't move.

The bloody sword was pulled back, and the grand knight's corpse fell to the ground.

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