Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 198: Spoils

{Scarlett}

As soon as they arrived at what had to be the heart of the vaults, Scarlett felt every muscle in her body cry out with relief.

At least, this had to be the place. Pillars everywhere, old paintings on the walls, the whole "ancient civilization" aesthetic that screamed "you’ve reached the end of the dungeon, congratulations." But more importantly...

[The weapons!]

Sitting on a raised platform in the center of the room, arranged in neat little rows like someone had set up a shop just for them, were dozens of swords, spears, and axes. And they were all glowing. Faintly, sure, but glowing meant enchanted, and enchanted meant these things would absolutely fuck someone’s day up on demand.

"Jackpot," she breathed.

"Don’t celebrate yet." Kanna’s voice was tight in that way it got when she was about to ruin Scarlett’s good mood with something "practical" and "smart" and boring. "Something’s very likely to jump out at us," she added, her hand resting on her sword’s hilt.

Which, fair. They were in ancient vaults full of treasure. Something was definitely going to jump out at them. That was just how these things worked.

"Shh," Kanna shushed her randomly.

"What’s wrong?"

"Listen."

Scarlett listened.

At first, nothing. Just water dripping somewhere and the kind of settling sounds old stone made when it had been sitting for a few hundred years. Then she felt it, a rumble, low and deep, vibrating up through the floor and into her chest.

Coming from below.

"Oh, that’s not—"

The floor exploded.

Scarlett dove sideways on pure instinct, rolled, and came up with her sword in hand. Chunks of stone were still raining down around her when she got her first look at the thing that had just burst through the ground.

It was, without exaggeration, the ugliest creature she had ever seen in her entire life.

Someone had taken a bear, stretched it out until it was twice the normal size, covered the whole thing in rocky plates like natural armor, and then decided "you know what this needs? More teeth." Its eyes glowed a sickly yellow and its claws were digging into the stone floor like the stone was made of wet clay.

"What the fuck is that!?"

"Stonehide guardian." Kanna had already moved to circle left, forcing the thing to track two targets. Her black blade was out and ready. "They nest in places like this. Protect treasure hoards."

The guardian roared, and the sound made Scarlett want to cover her ears and curl up into a little ball. And then the thing charged.

Scarlett met it head-on.

Was that brave or stupid? Maybe a bit of both, but she’d do anything not to hear that sound again. Her sword came down hard on the creature’s shoulder and bounced off those rocky plates with a clang that rattled her teeth and sent pain shooting up both of her arms.

[Shit. Armored. Right. The STONEHIDE guardian. Should’ve guessed it wouldn’t be too easy to crack this thing.]

She ducked under a swipe that would’ve taken her head clean off, rolled between its legs, and came up slashing at the back of its knee. Her blade found a gap in the plating and sank in deep.

The guardian howled.

"Joints!" she yelled. "Go for the joints!"

"I noticed."

Kanna was already on it. She lunged at the creature’s other leg, dropped low to avoid a retaliatory swipe, and carved a deep gash into the joint before the guardian could adjust. It tried to spin toward her but she was already gone, circling behind it and landing two more cuts on its hindquarters before it even finished turning.

[God, she’s so fucking hot when she fights.]

The guardian thrashed and spun, trying to catch them both at once. Its tail swept across the chamber and Scarlett barely jumped over it in time, landing hard enough to make her knees ache.

She looked up.

A massive paw was coming straight for her face.

And then Kanna was there.

Her blade intercepted the blow, and the impact drove her back several feet, her boots scraping against stone. But she held. She planted her feet and locked her arms and didn’t give another inch even as the guardian pressed down with its full weight. Her grey hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat and the muscles in her arms were shaking from the strain.

[Holy shit.]

And then Scarlett stopped gawking and drove her sword into the creature’s exposed armpit, burying it up to the hilt.

It screamed.

They fell into a rhythm after that. Scarlett drew the guardian’s attention with big swings and loud taunts while Kanna circled behind it and opened new wounds. Blood splattered across the floor, thick and dark, and the guardian’s movements got slower and clumsier with every passing minute.

"Now!" Kanna shouted.

Scarlett charged.

She drove her blade straight into the guardian’s throat at the same moment Kanna’s black sword punched through its skull from behind.

Finally, the creature swayed, then toppled, and then hit the ground with a crash that shook the whole chamber.

Scarlett stood over the corpse, her chest heaving, covered head to toe in blood and dust and monster guts. Her arms felt like they were made of lead and her legs weren’t much better. Everything hurt.

She laughed anyway, breathless and giddy.

"Holy shit. We actually did it."

She turned to congratulate Kanna.

And stopped.

Kanna stood a few feet away, breathing hard, actually breathing hard for once, with her sword hanging loose at her side. Her grey hair was plastered to her forehead and her brown eyes hadn’t softened yet from the intensity of the fight.

And her chest armor was gone.

Scarlett’s brain stopped working.

At some point during the battle, probably when she’d blocked that massive swipe, the guardian’s claws had torn through the straps holding Kanna’s breastplate in place. The metal had fallen away completely, and it had taken most of her undershirt with it.

Which meant Kanna’s tits were just out. Right there. In the open.

They were nice tits.

Really nice tits.

Sun-kissed nipples that were hard from the cold air, perfect shape, exactly the right size to fit in Scarlett’s hands...

[DON’T STARE DON’T STARE DON’T STARE DON’T STARE—]

She was staring. She was absolutely staring, and it was so obvious it was embarrassing. She could feel heat rushing to her face and also to other places that were deeply inconvenient right now, her cock twitching in her pants.

Kanna looked down at herself, then back up at Scarlett. One eyebrow rose.

"See something interesting?"

Scarlett’s face went from warm to volcanic.

"I, no, I wasn’t, your armor got—" She fumbled with her pack, and her hands were shaking so bad it was like she’d never used them before in her life. "I have a spare shirt! Here! Let me just, fuck, where is it, HERE!"

She threw the shirt at Kanna and spun around so fast she nearly fell over.

Her heart was pounding harder than it had during the entire fight with the guardian. Her cock was definitely hard now. This was fine. Everything was fine.

Behind her, Kanna scoffed.

"Thank you."

"Don’t mention it." Scarlett stared very, very hard at the dead guardian and tried to think about literally anything other than Kanna’s tits.

It wasn’t working.

A few hours later, just as the sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, they were back at Starcaller Manor.

Workers swarmed around the wagon they’d brought, unloading crates of weapons into one of the warehouses. Scarlett supervised from a safe distance, her arms crossed, still sore from the fighting and still very much not thinking about Kanna’s tits.

She was not thinking about them so hard it had become a full-time occupation.

Every time her mind wandered, there they were. Sun-kissed skin. Pink nipples. The way they’d moved when Kanna breathed.

[STOP IT.]

"Productive trip?"

Aegis appeared beside her, her arms crossed, grinning like she knew something Scarlett didn’t. Which she probably did. Aegis always knew something.

"We got the weapons," Scarlett said, keeping her voice carefully neutral. "Killed a big monster. Standard stuff."

She watched another crate get carried past. Swords, by the weight of it. Good ones, too. She’d tested a few on the ride back, and they cut through practice targets like the targets were made of wet paper.

"Boss," she said slowly, because the question had been nagging at her since they’d found the place. "How’d you know those weapons would be there?"

Aegis shrugged.

"Lucky guess."

"That’s a really lucky guess. Like, suspiciously lucky. You had a map. You had those weird exploding vials. You knew exactly where to send us and what we’d find."

"I’m a really lucky person."

Scarlett wanted to push it. The whole setup had felt too convenient from the start, what with the detailed map and the specific compound to blow through the entrance and knowing exactly what they’d find and where. But Aegis just kept looking at the workers with that little smile still on her face, and Scarlett knew she wasn’t going to get anything else out of her.

Fine. Keep your secrets.

Movement caught her eye.

Kanna walked past carrying a bundle of spears like they weighed nothing. She’d gotten new armor from somewhere, a temporary set from the manor’s stores, and she didn’t even glance at Scarlett as she passed.

Their eyes met for a second.

Kanna’s lips twitched. Just barely.

Then she was gone.

Scarlett’s face went hot all over again. Her cock, which had finally calmed down during the wagon ride back, stirred in her pants.

"You two are adorable," Aegis said.

"I will stab you."

"Worth it."

Scarlett watched the last of the crates disappear into the warehouse. She watched Kanna point at something and one of the workers scramble to adjust a stack. She watched her turn and walk toward the manor, the new armor sitting snug against her body and hugging her figure in all the right places.

[Okay. I need to go somewhere private and jerk off before I lose my fucking mind.]

She made up some excuse about checking inventory and practically ran.

---

{Aegis}

The weapons were secured and the retainers were back safe. Amazing.

In a short amount of time, House Starcaller’s military capacity had just jumped up by a significant margin, and all it had cost her was a bit of legwork and some technically-legal thievery. Which, well, she felt this could describe most of her progress but at some point soon, it would all add up and it would all be worth it.

So, yeah, it was a good day.

Anyhow, Aegis was reviewing the inventory list in her study, some forty-seven enchanted blades, twelve spears, eight axes, all in excellent condition, when, suddenly, Evelyn appeared in the doorway with a letter in her hand.

"My lady."

"Good news?" Aegis asked without lifting her eyes up the list.

"Potentially." Now, Aegis looked up. "This arrived while you were supervising the unloading."

She presented Aegis with an envelope that was very fancy, as far as envelopes were concerned. Though, the seal was unfamiliar. A set of scales balanced on a merchant’s ship, stamped in blue wax. Aegis broke it open and scanned the contents.

Her eyebrows climbed higher and higher until they damn near touched the ceiling.

"Well, well." She read it again to make sure she hadn’t imagined it. "I’ve been invited to the Valdrian Trade Consortium’s bi-annual meeting."

"Really?"

"Apparently."

"Congratulations." Evelyn didn’t smile, but she didn’t frown either, which was basically the Evelyn equivalent of throwing a party. "Your shipping route proposal at the Moonspire Summit must have impressed someone."

"Apparently so."

Aegis read through the details one more time.

Two days from now, the day before Talia’s engagement, held at the Consortium’s headquarters in the Merchant Quarter, with representatives from every major trading house in Valdria. Every single one of them, all packed into one building, probably wearing fancy clothes and talking about money.

Oh, this just screamed "opportunity".

[Trade connections. Merchant contacts. Potential investors. All in one room, all at once.]

She couldn’t afford to waste this.

"I’m bringing Rosalie," she decided. "House Starcaller’s signature products are our potions. If I’m going to impress a room full of merchants, I need to show them what we can actually offer."

"Shall I arrange the preparations?"

"Please. Oh, and tell Rosalie to bring samples. The good ones." Aegis grinned. "We’re going to make an impression."

Evelyn nodded and left to do exactly that.

[Three days to go... Fuck, I’m actually feeling antsy here.]