Cyrene's Lamia body was woefully unprepared for the vagaries of a Dwarven Ale hangover. She rarely drank before meeting Cain, since drunk and blind was a horrible combination when you just wanted to go home, and afterward, she was so busy with everything that a night off to drink never really crossed her mind.
"Master Cain, save me." Cyrene moaned the moment that the light from the hallway reached her sensitive eyes.
"Open wide, drink the juice and you will feel much better," Cain said softly since her head was right next to his own.
Once everyone passed out, he moved them both to the Guild Master's room in the Graska Guild house, with its Arabian Harem theme and walls covered in silks. Seeing Cyrene's condition though, Cain regretted not fully closing the door and making it fully dark in here.
"How about a quick soak in the hot tub? There's one here in the room and I can close the door on the way there."
Cyrene was in no condition to move, so Cain simply slung her around his neck a few times like an elaborate necklace and moved to the door, closing it firmly and letting the enchanted lights in the room give it the faintest of a glow. That was more than enough light for both of them since they both had night vision, so Cain unequipped his gear and settled deep into the tub, soaking Cyrene, but keeping her head above water.
"Oh, that's extra warm. Why don't we have this in every bedroom?" Cyrene asked, slithering off of Cain to rest her whole body in the hot water.
"For one, it's large, for two, the condensation would be a nightmare almost anywhere else, and for three, there's already a bathtub that most people use." Cain pointed out as Cyrene settled her head against his chest and relaxed in the water.
Cyrene was deep in thought, and only half awake, so Cain held her head above the water for the next few minutes, enjoying the force of the jets against tired muscles. Eventually, something seemed to register in Cyrene's brain though, and her body tensed as she got a rather suspicious smile on her face.
"Okay, we can start getting up now. If we stay any longer I'll never want to get out." She finally sighed, wrapping herself around Cain's waist in her usual position.
They were both still dripping water when Cain stood up beside the tub and equipped his favorite black suit, leaving Cyrene to pick a black dress with gold embroidery to match him. They were going to visit Assah today, and she wanted to look her best. Earl RhickJaymz might not visit as regularly as King James does, but both were well known in Long Fang Valley, and she didn't want to give him a bad impression of her the first time she visited his home with Cain.
The Guild House in Assah was the quietest of all the houses on a normal day. The only ones that really came here were the members that wanted something from the library or to hang out with the dragons.
Cain and Cyrene said hello to the staff at the Guild House and spent a few minutes talking with the Outreach Workers that were stationed in Assah. According to what they had heard, today, the Earl's dragons were both out of town, as well as a large part of the Dragon Rider force that came from the Northern Continent to help secure the city and keep it a free port.
RhickJaymz himself was in town though, and he had a meeting with the Wave Riders about an attempt to blockade trade between the Central Continent and the Northern. The number of attacks had been increasing, and the ocean-faring Dark Elves were planning a counterattack using the Port of Assah as a staging point to reload their weapons and provisions.
"Duke Cain, you should get in on this. It seems that your ship has become involved as well." The Earl called out when the secretary informed him that Cain and Cyrene had arrived at the Manor house where he did most of his business. Most cities would have a proper city hall, but Assah had the Manor and the Library. Between the two, they were enough for every bit of official business that needed to be done.
Cain knew the feeling very well. The Manor in Long Fang Valley was the main hub for business dealings, while the Administrator's office downtown was mostly there so that Svetlana could escape from the noise and chaos of the main house to actually get her work done.
"Someone was foolish enough to attack Queen Rose? I hope Nila left enough pieces of them to identify the culprit?" Cain asked and the Wave Riders smiled.
"She did. She even left one alive and brought him to us so that we could have a good long talk about the proprieties of attacking Pirates." The aged Elven Captain informed him.
"As long as Nila and Mythryll are fine, I'll let you take care of it. But if it's going to drag more of my Guild into a mess, I'll take care of it right away." Cain shrugged.
"I don't think they'll dare attack that particular ship again, but the blockade is still being a pain in everyone's necks, the way they are messing with the trade routes. From what we can tell, they're from the Western Continent and working with the Frost Giants. The survivor that Nila brought us was a half-ogre, half-human hybrid. Uncommon and not very bright, they're only found on the Western Continent. We got the name of the ogre's boss, but it wasn't anyone we recognized." The Captain sighed and then pointed at the spots on the map where attacks have taken place.
"From what we can tell, they are circling the main trade routes and trying to cut off the North from supplies, so we suspect that they will be sending attacks from the coast towards the Northern Continent soon. Something strange has been going on since the Gnomes caused all that chaos. We have spies on the continent, and they haven't seen anything too outrageous, but the movement of the Frost Giants suggests that they're getting ready to do something big."
Earl RhichJaymz cuts in at that point. "A full-on attack isn't good for anyone, not even the Frost Giants, but that's never stopped them in the past. What we're hoping to do now is to build up the supplies of the Northern Tribes so that they will be ready to repel the invaders, should they show up before summer comes. The Frost Giants always attack in the winter months, the cold gives them an advantage in battle."
That makes sense, Frost Giants and cold climates are natural allies. The summers on the Northern Continent aren't that warm though, so Cain wouldn't rule out them attacking at any time of the year. The real question is why now? The Western Continent must be getting an influx of monsters the same as the other Continents, so why would they be starting a war of expansion now?
Unless they're getting something so bad that they aren't expanding but fleeing.
"What if they're fleeing from something that has recently come to the Continent? There are a lot of Mythic Awakened monsters on the Southern Continent, and the Western Continent was supposed to be at or slightly above their power level the last I heard. Maybe they have had a few Spirit Beasts spawn near them that they couldn't kill?" Cain asked.
"That's a possibility. We don't have any proof, but we also don't have any proof that it didn't happen. If they're being chased off their home Continent though, things are really going to take a turn for the worst everywhere else. Spirit Beasts aren't going to stay put just because of a little water, so once they've hunted the area clear they will move somewhere that's better suited to their temperament and settle in for the long term." A human emissary that Cain doesn't recognize points out.
Cain gently pets Cyrene's head while he thinks and the Wave Riders have finally realized that she is a living demon. Their looks aren't negative though, if anything they're highly intrigued by the fashion statement.
"Say, are you wearing a living Lamia as a belt?" The oldest among the Wave Riders asks him.
"More of a cummerbund. My pants have a belt to hold them up, she keeps my shirt in place." Cain corrects him, making the elves break out in laughter.
"That war wasn't our fault and you know it. We were set up." He grumbled, annoyed that the long-lived elf had brought up the past again.
When the war between his kingdom and the Wave Riders ended he was just a little boy. It was his father and grandfather's generation that thought they could force the nomadic Pirates to work under their banner, allowing the human kingdom to keep all the spoils for themselves. It hadn't ended well for them.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel