The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 202: Interlude - Ferro

Chapter 202: Interlude - Ferro

In the months since his encounter with the mysterious Oracle, Ferro had read the book she’d given him from cover to cover a dozen times.

And every time, he felt as if something small were clicking into place. Some little thing that was getting him closer and closer to being able to consider himself a mage.

"Water is in the air. It is carried by, not transubstantiated from, the gases that we breathe. In order to generate true water that doesn’t just disappear with mana, it’s important to be able to assess local conditions - available water sources, wind speed, sunlight - the equation for which is..."

"You sure do love that book," a jackalkin harem boy named Hifta noted with his vaporous voice. In truth, both he and Ferro were fully grown men, but it wasn’t like Ferro got to decide what the members of a harem were called. Hifta sidled next to Ferro, running a hand along Ferro’s arm as he gently pressed down.

Ferro had been about to reread the part about people’s bodies being mostly water; in the hopes that he might come up with something to keep Lanoch, his master, hard for him. Lanoch was a jealous man, and his price for leaving was visibly scarring anyone who was forced to leave the harem... and failure to arouse him was a very real danger.

It wasn’t that Ferro wanted it with Lanoch, just that he needed it to stay where he was. The Palace Tower, for all its dangers and intrigue, was still the best place for Ferro to learn magic on the continent... Provided he didn’t get caught ’reaching beyond his station.’

"It’s interesting. And the author has a sense of humor," Ferro closed the book, holding it against his chest as he leaned back against Hifta. Ferro had long since discarded most of the notions Auren had expounded on in favor of the mysterious note-taker, who had insistently demonstrated time and again that, unlike some of Auren’s suppositions, his maths and magics could be consistently verified.

"More interesting than this?" Hifta leaned down, kissing Ferro deeply on the lips. Hifta was tall where Ferro was short, especially if one counted his ears. He had rich, shining black fur and a lanky frame, but with curves in just the right places - for which he stretched and squatted daily. After a long moment of making out, the two of them parted, a small string of drool between them before it broke.

"Is something going on?" Ferro asked. He liked Hifta, but the man was Lanoch’s current favorite. That meant that, even if he wanted to, Ferro could not trust Hifta with any secrets.

"I just wanted to make sure you remembered the selection today... I’d hate to be lonely down there in the deep dungeon," Hifta began to stroke Ferro’s exposed belly, his hand wandering dangerously low.

As enjoyable as shared encounters were with the jackalkin, being alone together could lead to the sort of rumors that got Ferro punished. Harem-life was a game of favorites and outcasts, and while they were allowed to be affectionate, sex was discouraged because they were supposed to be available for their master...

And Lanoch was a jealous man.

Ferro shifted away from Hifta’s touch, forestalling offense by gently taking the man’s hand. "I’ll be there. Gods know how you’d handle Lanoch all by yourself," Ferro chuckled and raised Hifta’s hand to his lips. He gently licked between his fingers, his scratchy little tongue stimulating the jackal into a quiet shiver.

"That’s good, because I’d hate to leave him alone with those three witches," Hifta tilted his head across the room, where beyond curtains of see-through cloth reclined a trio of girls chatting vapidly. "I still haven’t forgotten how you saved me with that magic touch of yours..."

In truth, Ferro had saved himself. After Lanoch had returned, grumpy from testing a champion who had held his own enough to give him a new scar, he’d demanded both Hifta and Ferro to sate his appetites.

Ferro had been waning in the harem, mostly from having read through a few nights where he should have made himself seen, and it was with a bit of desperation that he’d tried a working of magic that gathered ice around his fingers - condensing and cooling the water in the air of the hot spring where Lanoch decided to take the both of them.

Massaging Lanoch with it had led to questions, but Ferro put on a performance about just wanting to please Lanoch, laced with the truth that he feared being kicked out of the harem. Once a guard confirmed - with a rather cursory inspection of Ferro’s book - that there was nothing in there but beginner spells, Ferro had been rendered free to read in the open. And some nights he was summoned just for his massages and to read for Lanoch, without ever being bedded at all.

Across the room, Ferro stared. Lanoch had stolen three women from another champion’s harem, apparently in a bet but it seemed there was some controversy over what the terms of the bet actually were. Regardless, the other champion was presently unwilling to challenge Lanoch further, and so the girls - Sipas, Tawre, and Namg - were effectively Lanoch’s.

They’d quickly risen through the ranks of the harem, displacing or arranging the banishment of several men and women who had been in their way.

Though Hifta was confident in his skills, he clearly recognized that his staying power wasn’t just between him and Lanoch. Hence his cooperation with Ferro, since working together to please Lanoch was far more effective than competing in the lionkin man’s presence. And Lanoch’s tastes had recently become... somewhat of a bipolar divide between males and females.

At the moment, the only ones safe from Lanoch’s touch were the lionkin women he’d impregnated. And recalling why there was a selection today.

Lanoch was heading to the Duat. The dungeon at the heart of Aaru’s trade. But not just any dungeon. It was the Mother Dungeon, deep and unexplored. Growing more unexplored by the calculations of its delvers, who marked the appearances of new floors that seemed to appear with each generation.

Lanoch was making his bid for Prime Delver, along with several other champions. And where other Champions would bring only their favorite, if any, Lanoch planned to take five.

The rest would stay behind for the months it took Lanoch to return.

Time worked strangely in dungeons, especially in the Duat. But almost universally, more time would pass down there than up on the surface, especially the lower one went.

Ferro had already spent years beneath Lanoch... he did not want to spend decades. For that reason, he hoped not to be picked. But another part of him felt he needed the time because of what the Oracle had said... the doom that would await Ferro’s sister on the day they met. If he wanted to have the best chance to save her, maybe a few more years to master magic in secret would help... He hated feeling indecisive.

"Ayther to Ferro..." Hifta booped Ferro on the nose. "You there?"

"Oh, sorry..." Ferro quickly lowered his ears in false embarrassment.

"Good, I thought I’d lost you for a moment," Hifta pulled Ferro up into a reverse hug, squeezing the catkin’s back against his skinny body. "Want me to help you get ready? You looked so good with the golden claw sheathes and the flavored paint on your-"

"Sure, Hifta. I’d appreciate that," Ferro interrupted. Letting Hifta play dress-up with his body was a surefire way to get out of any deep conversation - not that Hifta cared much for that.

*

Hours later, Ferro stood dressed in flimsy greenish silks that complimented his rust-catkin coloration, rounded gold claw sheaths on his fingers and with a chain dangling between the golden piercings on his nipples. Ferro had worried about the last when Lanoch had gone through a phase where he had almost every harem member pierced, but thankfully they were not alloyed with iron or steel, and so his magic had proven undisrupted.

The selection wasn’t a difficult process. All Ferro had to do was stand in a semicircle with the twenty or so members of Lanoch’s harem.

The lionkin women bearing his children were dismissed, except for Sebra, who was bearing his firstborn heir.

In truth, Lanoch had impregnated other women, but since a beastkin’s traits tended to follow the mother, those women had been dismissed after Lanoch scarred each of their faces... And whispers amidst the harem said that Lanoch still kept their magical contracts, which meant that their lives were still in his hands.

As if to make that point, Lanoch had brought an attendant bearing a tray of contracts.

"This one," Lanoch pointed at Sebra, and the servant behind him sorted through the tray until he had the right contract, which he handed to Lanoch. Sebra’s face held a quiet fear, her lips quivering.

Was Lanoch truly going to try to raise his firstborn in a dungeon? The man had to be insanely cruel to subject a mother to that.

Lanoch made a show of pushing the contract into his newly-tattooed dimensional storage - a grand expense made in advance of his delving the Duat, amongst other grand expenses.

Next, Lanoch pointed at Hifta, who preened after being selected, eyeing the trio he despised so much with clear contempt.

Hifta’s gaze soured somewhat when all three girls were picked, but Ferro was torn between relief and tension, remembering the prophecy. Without thinking, his ears lowered as his mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. Maybe if Lanoch left his contract here, he could steal it and...

"Hmm... are you that sad to see me go, little slut?" Without realizing it, Ferro had drawn Lanoch’s attention. The lionkin man stood in front of Ferro, reached up, and rubbed his giant hand along Ferro’s cheek to the top of his head.

"I..."

"Don’t worry, I’ll bring you too... if you prove how much you love me..."

Ferro realized the importance of the moment.

If he went with Lanoch, he’d face abuse and death in the dungeon, but he would have time to train and improve his magic, and hopefully the secrecy to develop something truly combative. He would be better able to save his sister, despite spending years down there...

If he stayed, then the Oracle’s prophecy might as well be set in stone. Valera would die. He wouldn’t have a chance to save her...

Ferro didn’t have to bend to lift his hands and begin drawing down Lanoch’s silken pants.

He did what he had to, in front of everyone.