The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 36 - You Call This A Bathing Scene?

A tall girl dressed in a male-style suit, with black hair and pigeon blue eyes stood in front of a half circle of five family elders who looked similar enough. Except all of the men’s eyes tended towards a steely gray, including her biological father. Qat assumed that her presence at the Coiled Serpent had finally returned as news to them and that they would have questions and further instructions.

It was a few days after returning from the work mission she had been assigned. The Ironclad Order was assisting in protection details throughout the near regions for the parties that were examining, stocking, or otherwise preparing the forts for the coming war. The main effort was driven by the Continental Army, and they usually requested participants that had served and were familiar with the rules of that organization.

"We understand you’ve had some trips to the southern plains recently."

The statement went against her expectations for the meeting. They generally didn’t beat around the bush when it came to admonishing her.

"Yes."

As a young member who was otherwise considered a little ’extraneous’ to most of the regular Guild affairs, she had been traveling a lot. Being one of the people mostly making up ’staffing’ numbers, she was then learning sort of hands-on about the methods of the Void Defense Society.

While the Continental Army had its own rules and methods during usual times, the aforementioned Guild were the specialists that took command control in matters related to the Voidling Descent. In the nearly eighteen peaceful years in between, they were mostly seen as librarians and archivists for records related to past invasions, but when the cycle of war with the creatures turned, they did too. A number of old, famous, and hidden cultivators numbered in their ranks.

"There is rumor that the multi-regional competition venue this time will be down that way. Did you note anything that supports this?"

As a way for new talent to be showcased, the Void Defense Society hosted a number of tournaments just before the Descent. The participants needed to be those who have aged into ’adulthood’ for that particular invasion. Those who had already lived through one after the age of 13 were not permitted to take part.

After a moment to think about their question, Qatrand nodded.

"Explain."

"There were more sigilists gathering at the fort than usual. If they were there to prepare a nearby location for something else, it would make sense."

The men looked at each other for a moment.

"That’s thin, but not nothing to go on considering the other details we’ve heard."

"We can prepare everything else with that in mind."

"As you know, you and your cousin will be in the same bracket with all first participants. Do your best and don’t lose disgracefully against anyone else."

Anper er Yecine finished off addressing the girl as the elders began to start their next planning session. The implication that she should lose gracefully to her family member if they were to be paired... went over her head! Thinking about the tournament had made her begin to daydream instead.

’I wonder if she’s going to join. I would like to see how she handles herself against others. I’ve never seen El use a weapon but with the way she walked the other day... I’m not sure she needs one.’

Watching his ’heir’ dazed and staring into the distance made him frown and wave his hand contemptuously. He hadn’t wanted to deal with her at all in the years after she joined a Guild, as he valued training the two young male children more. One was already Mid Initial in their physical cultivation despite not being fed the disgusting amount of time and resources the lynchpin of their plan had been.

One that now seemed compromised emotionally - or possibly due to whatever form of ’mind control’ they had never uncovered the truth behind.

"You’re dismissed, Qatrand."

The swordswoman blinked and nodded, before saluting and leaving the elders to their talk. There was a time when she might have hoped to stick around and be asked to do something else, but that had long passed. She wanted nothing more than to go clean up and start listening again to the lectures by the illusion of her wife-to-be.

The day before, she had finally found some time to do it. After listening to more technical advice about physical cultivation, she decided to ask the cute moving miniature what she thought was the best thing for her to work on.

/ Spiritual of course! Ah, well that’s not true. I’m just biased. Honestly, Qat - you should be listening to my thoughts on essence and your Element. /

The figure looked excited, then quickly shy, before returning to her usual teaching seriousness.

/ If you can make use of what I am able to explain and develop some of the techniques I suggest, it will really change your display of sword prowess. Gravity is really a strong Aspect for enhancing a lot of ’physical’ things with, trust me. /

So much thought and detail had been put into the tool that the Yecine could hardly believe that she wasn’t being *directly* spoken to by her fiance. It was as if the Goltbred had imagined all the kinds of things that she might ask and made up unique responses for most of them. She could even ask it to repeat herself when the swordswoman became distracted and some of the time it added more details!

She already listened to some of the first notes on essence with Elua’s details for her specific situation and was excited. So much that her eyes ticked toward where she hid it when entering her private area and paused before shaking her head.

’No, I need to bathe.’

Qatrand hurried to take care of that need in the attached room. She rapidly approached the tub of water and placed the keystone on the ritual to heat the liquid. While she was not the only member of the family with a private bath, she was the only one who had never used the public areas for such use.

The secret of her true gender was hidden even from a great many of her relatives and the masking tool she was made to use at most redirected anyone’s spiritual sense from confirming her real gender. Her chest bore the hallmarks of rigorous training, with a set of defined and sinewy pectorals graced with no particularly discernible femininity... however, her undeniable lower region characteristics were not as easily faked.

After scrubbing herself off and wiping down with a wet towel, she approached the large double mirror she had been given. It was first used for her to keep an eye on any changes with the implanted masking tool, but she had also started using it to practice changing her hair back and forth between what was required and what was natural.

She twisted her body to the side and pressed her fingers into the skin along the bottom of her spine. The marking was still in the same place as last she had checked - while cleaning up on the train to see Elua. A series of black sigils in a pattern of an inverted ’chevron’ with an ’x’ stretching in the interior while the actual tool that produced them as a ’side effect’ was implanted subdermally near the same spot.

’No changes. It’s still a good idea to keep an eye on it, but if nothing has happened for ten years it’s probably fine.’

The merchant the Yecine family sourced the item from was the same one who ’introduced’ the boy who would temporarily be a young body double. Some of the plot members were suspicious about the particular combination of sales from the same person. Therefore, the elders had told Qatrand to start making sure nothing was going to go wrong with the masking tool. It had just become a habit by now, even though no one asked anymore how it was doing.

’Yeah... they always cared to ask about things that would reveal my secret, but not about what I was doing past that.’

The dark haired girl stepped calmly over to the tub of hot water and began to soak. As the experience sucked some of the tension out of her muscles, the swordswoman began to think about the events of the future. Not the very far future, but it was still a great amount of progress for the day-to-day minded girl.

’I will train when I don’t have work. Eventually El will come back. Our ceremony should be before the competition. Then, the war.’

She was honestly looking forward to everything except the last part. Training - especially the kind that the illusive lectures promoted - was fun. Being around her fiance was better than not being around her. Fulfilling her duty to her family as well as the desire of the Goltbred girl in being legally bound together would be a relief. The competition that her elders just reminded her of would be a great test of the practice she would be doing in the many months until then.

Fighting against Voidlings invading with the tactics they use, the damage they will cause, and the deaths that will potentially happen was not a thing to look forward to. In her mind, there was nothing positive that came out of the cyclical war with the creatures.

’When she gets back... maybe I should ask her if there is something more she could do to help everyone?’

Part of her felt compelled to do so, but another rebelled at the risk it might put the girl in - even though it was beginning to feel like there simply wasn’t a kind of trouble that the young miss couldn’t handle if needed. A portion of the reality of what El feared, when she had old memories of other cultivators trying to kill her, had sunk in even if there weren’t many details provided yet. She thought about how negatively the girl reacted to being misunderstood the other day... as well as how it seemed being understood was almost as bad.

’She really seems to feel... tormented over potentially being rejected. Maybe...’

Pigeon blue eyes watched as her cupped palms slowly let hot water trail out of them back into the tub. All the while, she thought about the ramifications of people learning who the mint-eyed girl was. What it meant that someone could live a second life, even if it was mostly unheard of even as a fantasy. Qatrand er Yecine’s eyes furrowed and lips pursed tighter.

"Maybe I’m the one who is strange for not changing my opinion after knowing the truth?"

At the time of the reveal, the teenager had thought of nothing more than that being trusted to hear these things was an honor of sorts. Maybe it was, instead, quite a burden! The Yecine ’heir’ knew quite well what it was like to be struck submissive to a deception. For so many years the ’son’ had been comforted knowing that the Goltbred girl was keeping quiet only so that the members of her family wouldn’t think she failed.

’She’s had her own really big secret this whole time with no one to bear it.’

It was absolutely heavier than her own, so that seemed unreasonable! She began to imagine it as one of the reasons she was asked to become strong - to help carry her secret in kind. After all, Qatrand had never told her about the personal oath she’d long ago made to not reveal things about her fiancee in the first place.

It was a very sweet way of understanding her motivations and Elua would say she loved her even more for knowing it. But really, the reincarnated ancient cultivator just didn’t want another romantic interest to die before her again.

Especially her tolerant ’fortress’.

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