Free Web NovelChapter 40: An Excalibur In Between His Legs
The moment Eluned stepped into the sprawling expanse of the women’s hot spring, the atmosphere changed.
The military discipline that Silas demanded of his Vanguard began to melt away, dissolved by the sheer, overwhelming luxury of the scalding water and the thick, floral steam.
"Someone go get Kaelia," Gunnhild called out, tossing her heavy mud-caked iron breastplate onto a nearby marble bench with a loud clatter. "The Chef deserves a soak just as much as the frontline... Tell her to leave the stew on a simmer and get down here..."
One of the rookies nodded eagerly, turning and sprinting back down the hallway toward the Culinary Haven with her boots echoing against the stone.
The rest of the women didn’t wait.
The process of shedding their armor was chaotic... a flurry of unbuckling straps, tearing off stiff leather, and peeling away sweat-soaked linen tunics.
They were soldiers.
They had small cuts, bruises, and purple contusions from the concussive impacts of the Iron-Boars, but as they stepped down into the bubbling mineral-rich water, the collective groan of relief was universal.
Eluned moved to the edge of the pool with her presence drawing the eyes of the mortal women.
She untied the sash of her silk dress, letting the fabric pool at her feet.
She then stepped down into the water with the steam curling around her.
The Goddess possessed a beauty that defied human logic.
Her skin was flawless, radiating a soft glow that held no scars, no callouses, and no imperfections. She was simply too beautiful...
"It’s almost insulting," Brida muttered, sinking into the water until it reached her chin.
She stared at Eluned’s back, shaking her head. "You live in a rotting place like the rest of us my Goddess, and you still look like you were carved from fresh snow. It’s not fair to the rest of us."
Eluned offered a soft arrogant smirk, sinking deeper into the warmth.
"Immortality has its privileges, Captain."
A few feet away, Aeliana was struggling with the intricate clasps of her heavy oversized robes.
The Royal Elf was famously guarded, keeping her body hidden behind layers of thick fabric and enchantments.
Finally, the heavy robes dropped to the floor.
Aeliana stepped into the light, her pale skin covered in a few faint silvery scars from past duels but it wasn’t the scars that caught the Vanguard’s attention.
Brida’s jaw literally dropped.
The heavy infantry commander blinked, wiping steam from her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
"By the Emperor’s hollow throne," Brida blurted out, her voice echoing over the water.
She pointed a scarred finger at the elf. "Aeliana... With those baggy robes you always wear, I would have never guessed you were hiding such massive, perfectly shaped tits..."
The entire spring went dead silent for a second before Fenna snorted, trying and failing to hold back a laugh.
Aeliana froze, her pointed ears twitching violently. Her face turned a brilliant shade of crimson.
She let out a panicked squeak, throwing her arms over her chest and practically dove into the hot spring.
Aeliana sank until only her eyes and the tips of her ears were visible above the bubbling water, glaring at Brida through the steam.
"You are vulgar, Captain Brida..." Aeliana hissed, blowing bubbles in the water.
Brida just laughed, it was a booming full-chested sound. "I’m observant, Elf! You should wear tighter armor. The Lord appreciates a good vantage point."
The comment broke the last remaining shards of tension.
The girls relaxed, spreading out across the massive pool. They leaned back against the smooth marble edges, letting the geothermal heat draw the lactic acid from their burning muscles.
Without Silas present to anchor the room with his authority, the conversation inevitably drifted back to him.
"Did you see the way he moved when the Matriarch charged?" Rowena murmured, tracing circles in the water with her finger. "He didn’t even hesitate. He jumped off a frozen pillar and cut a Boss like it was made of paper after everyone helped. The heat coming off his sword... I could feel it from forty feet away."
Gunnhild nodded, closing her eyes.
"He’s strong. Stronger than any general I ever served under in the capital but it’s not just the strength. My Lord is also very observant... and he makes sure we are okay, I think that’s enough reason to devote ourselves whole to him... I would have really loved to follow him instead of you Rowena"
Rowena, who was sitting near the edge of the partition wall, flushed a deep red at the mention of her name.
She absentmindedly rubbed her forearm with her mind still replaying the warm rough texture of his thumb against her skin.
"Well you didn’t... piss off." Rowena said while sticking out her tongue... that made Gunnhild pail water up with her hands and thrust it at Rowena’s face, splashing over her. "Eek!"
The competitiveness returned to the spring.
They were soldiers, yes, but they were also women bound to a single, unimaginably powerful man.
Tamsin leaned her head back against the marble wall with her eyes scanning the high vaulted ceiling.
Her sharp huntress vision caught something in the architecture.
"Hey," Tamsin said with her voice dropping to a low whisper.
She sat up, pointing a wet finger toward the top of the frosted glass partition that separated their spring from the men’s side. "Look up there. Near the apex of the arch."
The girls followed her gaze.
There, near the very top of the wall, was a narrow structural ventilation gap designed to let the steam circulate between the two chambers to equalize the pressure.
Curiosity seized the girls.
"The Lord has been in there for a long time," Brida muttered with her eyes narrowing as she looked at the gap. "Do you think he’s meditating? Cultivating his abilities?"
"There is only one way to find out," Tamsin replied with a wicked grin spreading across her face. "I want to know what a Sovereign does when he thinks no one is watching."
A silent agreement passed between the veteran women.
It was a terrible idea... It was insubordinate too but the urge to pull back the curtain on the man who held their lives in his hands was too strong to resist.
It quickly devolved into a highly ridiculous military operation.
Eluned refused to participate, crossing her arms and sitting on the marble steps.
"I will not stoop to peeping through cracks like a common thief..." the Goddess declared haughtily. Though, she made sure to sit close enough to the wall that she could hear everything.
"Fine. Base goes first," Brida ordered, wading out of the deep water and standing near the partition wall.
She planted her feet wide on the slippery tiles, bending her knees and bracing her heavy shoulders against the glass.
Gunnhild was next... The tall woman climbed onto Brida’s shoulders, grunting as she found her balance.
"Keep steady, Captain..." Gunnhild hissed.
Tamsin scrambled up next, using Gunnhild’s belt as a foothold before climbing onto her shoulders.
Fenna followed, her lithe athletic frame making the ascent look easy as she balanced on the Huntress.
"We need one more," Tamsin whispered down the stack. "Rowena, get up here. You’re the lightest..."
"Did you just say I’m flat?!"
Rowena looked terrified, but the pressure was insurmountable.
She nervously climbed the wobbly slippery human pyramid with her bare feet finding purchase on Fenna’s shoulders.
Rowena was trembling with a mix of fear and overwhelming adrenaline.
"Can you see him?" Brida hissed from the very bottom with her massive leg muscles straining to hold the weight of four women. "Don’t just hang there, Mage... Give us a visual."
Rowena took a shallow breath with her hands gripping the cold wet stone of the ventilation gap. She pulled herself up just enough to peek her eyes over the ledge.
The heat radiating from the men’s side was intense. The steam was thick, but the ambient light crystals illuminated the smaller chamber perfectly.
Rowena’s eyes scanned the room.
Silas was there.
He was standing near the edge of his pool with the water reaching his waist.
His broad back was turned to the wall as the thick heavy musculature of his shoulders and spine glistened with water.
He looked very relaxed with the tension fading into the steam.
Rowena felt her heart hammer against her ribs. She watched as he slowly turned to the side, reaching for a linen towel resting on a nearby bench.
As he turned, her line of sight dropped through the clear pristine water.
Rowena froze...
Her brain completely short-circuited. All the arcane formulas, all the knowledge she had spent years mastering, vanished into red hot static.
She saw his "Excalibur."
It was floating lazily in the water but it was thick and undeniably massive.
It was a sight that defied the basic biology of the mortal men she had known in her past life.
It looked like a weapon in its own right!
Rowena stopped breathing. Her eyes glazed over, her mind melting as she stared, completely lost in the view.
Down below, the pyramid was failing.
"Rowena!" Tamsin hissed, her balance wavering. "What is he doing? Why aren’t you saying anything?!"
Inside the men’s chamber, Silas paused.
His senses, honed by the Gold Core, picked up the sound of breathing near the ceiling.
He didn’t cover himself... He simply tilted his head, his blue eyes cracking open to look directly up at the dark ventilation gap.
He saw the pale sliver of Rowena’s forehead and her wide unblinking eyes.
Silas let out a dry sigh that echoed through the stone vents as he shook his head, looking right at her.
"Pervert..." Silas muttered, cutting through the silence of the bathhouse.
The single word hit Rowena like a blow.
Her trance shattered.
Her face exploded into a violent burning shade of scarlet. She let out a panicked squeak with her wet hands slipping from the stone edge.
She tilted violently backward.
"Whoa!" Fenna yelled, trying to grab her.
The shift in weight was catastrophic. The entire human pyramid collapsed into several shrieks, flailing limbs, and tangled bodies.
BAM!
They hit the deep water of the hot spring with a massive crash, sending a huge wave of water cascading over the marble edge and splashing onto the floor.
The girls broke the surface a second later, coughing up water and pushing wet hair out of their eyes.
"What the fuck, Rowena?!" Gunnhild yelled, wiping water from her face and glaring at the Arcanist. "Why did you lean back?! You nearly broke my neck!"
Brida waded over, grabbing Rowena by the shoulders. "What did you see?! Why did he call you a pervert? Speak!"
Rowena was treading water with her hands covering her burning face. She was hyperventilating, her eyes darting frantically around the spring.
"I... I..." Rowena stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Spit it out, Arcanist!" Tamsin demanded, swimming closer.
Rowena squeezed her eyes shut, unable to hold the secret in.
Her voice cracked, echoing loudly off the vaulted ceiling for the entire Vanguard... and the listening Goddess to hear. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
"Th-the Lord has..." Rowena stuttered, her face burning hotter than the geothermal spring.
"...a huge Excalibur between his legs!"
The echoing acoustics of the Warlord’s Garrison bathhouse made the stuttered proclamation ring twice.
...Three times even.
The syllables bounced off the high, vaulted marble ceilings, descending upon the soaking room like a weight.
The water lapped gently against the pristine white stone of the pool edges as no one moved.
Rowena stood chest-deep in the geothermal spring, her face burning a shade of crimson that rivaled a fresh wound.
She clamped both hands over her mouth with her knuckles turning white.
Her glassy blue eyes darted wildly between her fellow soldiers with the horrifying realization crashing down upon her.
She had just screamed an explicit classified anatomical report of their Sovereign to the entire military formation...
Gunnhild was the first to break the paralyzing silence.
The towering veteran Shieldmaiden sank a few inches deeper into the hot water with a slow wicked grin spreading across her face.
She reached up, pushing a wet strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Well," Gunnhild rumbled, her deep voice carrying effortlessly over the bubbling geothermal vents. "I suppose it makes sense... The man commands soldiers and heavy artillery from the Watchtower to obliterate his enemies... It is only fitting he packs heavy artillery in his trousers for his downtime..."
