A Hero's Rebirth Ch. 05

"Sevrina, I believe you should be my next choice. Would you do me the honor?" I asked.

"Yes, Master." Sevrina accepted, extending her hand. "The honor would be all mine."

She pranced over to the rest of my new matrons-to-be. Now there were five of seven selected. Just two left to be selected now.

I tried again to put Zanantha and Ulamir's absence from my mind and just get on with the task at hand, but it was hard.

I began walking among the maidens again. I was struggling again to find that little thread of... whatever it was. And I wondered, how was I supposed to pick if it wasn't telling me?

Elves didn't exactly seem to care about love, or at least marrying and having children out of love. While I believe my matrons all were quite happy with the way things were turning out for them, if I hadn't been here and another master had asked, I had no reason to believe they wouldn't have just as happily born another master's children. The instinctual desire for motherhood just seemed to be incredibly strong in the elven females, maidens, or matrons.

That left me to figure out what I really wanted. I didn't exactly have a great history with relationships. I wasn't sure what 'love' really felt like, or was since every fucking description was so vague and nonsensical I gave up. The closest I got was being told that the emotional attachment I got to my team members and the civilians we worked closely with, helping and working with them... that was love. I'd felt something from my matrons before, a sense of attachment, desire, adoration, and pride, I guess I've been calling that love. Was that really what it was?

Then there were people who said that there were a bunch of different kinds or types of love. Like people who were really into coffee. Tell a coffee lover that all coffee is the same and they'll either be so affronted that they can hardly speak, or they will proceed to give you a twelve-hour lecture about how beans from the highest mountains in Indonesia are distilled from the teats of angels and worth more than their weight in gold... or some such bullshit. To me, caffeine was caffeine, and I had just enough ADD (ADHD...? I don't know, science keeps changing its mind about ADHD) that caffeine relaxed me more than woke me and gave me energy, so I didn't even care for caffeine in general...

Sorry, I was talking about love.

I figured I loved my matrons... or at least I loved how it felt to be with them and make love to them. I guess anyone I was willing to die for was some kind of love and I was happily putting my life at risk fighting Kathra and her shadow elf army. I guess that had been enough for me up until this point, but...

If there was any reason to choose a new matron without one of the strange threads of fate, or whatever they were, it should be for love, right? I mean, all of my other matrons, while I loved them, they all seemed to have a purpose. Tavorwen was my captain, my squad leader, leading seemed to come easily to her, and the other battle matrons, and maidens, respected her. Creadean seemed to be skilled in many useful specialties, including stealth, tracking and finding food, and living off the land. Narusil was a battle mage, skilled in destructive magics and her interjection magic had already saved my life once. Diamiutar was our main chef and managed my house. Lumarith was an enchanter, strengthening the magical protections on my home, and I'd heard rumblings about her making new clothes and such for me with better enchantments than the standardly allotted kit. From what I'd gathered, Heilantu was a skilled healer, which I'd likely have to call on eventually. The odds of me winning this war against Kathra without so much as a scratch were slim. Then there were my new Matrons, Risivis was a scout, Anbethir and Flendreir were teaching me blade work, and Nauveir was a highly skilled archer. If Sevrina was a mage like I suspected, then she could step in and fill Narusil's spot while she was being restricted to the house due to carrying my son.

I almost stopped when I noticed another one of those guiding threads. My musing could wait... though it wouldn't take long, once I found one of these, it had never taken me long to find the maiden it led to.

And there she was. She was definitely a cutie. The agelessness of the elves gave them a mostly youthful appearance, and while for some of them that became a source of sultry sexiness, this elf had the cute charm of youth instead. She was on the short side of things, probably four foot seven or eight inches. Yeah, four foot eight. Her hair was light blond with hints of red, and her eyes were a tender honey brown. Her dress was an intriguing black, with silver lace and red ribbons, kind of reminding me of the goth girl that used to hang out at the malls minus the dyed hair or the goth lolitas I had seen in Japan during one of my deployments. The black skirts were composed of a waterfall of layers of thin strips of black transparent fabric, thin enough lower to show off her delicate and graceful legs, only thick enough to block sight probably halfway up her thighs. The top of her dress wrapped around her body, up across her stomach, covering one breast, then behind her shoulder, wrapping around the front of her neck like a collar, then mirroring around her other shoulder, over her other breast, and down to the waist where it blended into the skirts.

Her face paled when she realized I was stopped directly in front of her.

"Master... I am not..." She started.

"What is your name, maiden?" I asked.

I liked the term 'maiden'. It sounded sweet and innocent while bringing to mind knights in shining armor... though the closest I got was the sheen of my leather.

"Mavrin..." She started with some hesitancy before finishing her name. "... Mavrin Spiritbreaker."

Spiritbreaker? That seemed like a strange name.

"Master... I am not a good choice." She insisted. "I should not have come."

"And why are you not a good choice?" I demanded.

"Master... my greatest talent... is dark magic. It is dangerous magic and can... corrupt its users." She admitted. "But the only other magics I am talented in are illusions and... domination magic. All I can claim are the three 'cursed' branches of magic."

Her gaze was fixed on her sandal feet as she tried to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible.

I blinked in confusion, then the realization hit me. Illusion magic was... entertainment magic, distraction magic at best, so probably viewed as mostly useless. Domination magic was the magic of mind control, and was likely frowned upon as 'tyrannical'. Dark magic was obviously, well, dark or evil. Driveal had said it was the power of death and undeath. I could see how that would be frowned upon.

In a flash, I realized the truth of her dress. Where most of these maidens were dressed to appeal for sex, she was dressed as a warning. The collar-like wrap around her neck, the smoke-like skirts, and how it looked like her dress was binding her, or strangling her. She was a walking red flag.

So why was I led to her?

In a moment, the answer came to me. Who did you call when there was a problem with a bomb? You called an explosives expert. You called a specialist to deal with chemical compounds or poisons. What better counter for the dark magic I had no doubt that Kathra would employ than a mage who understood dark magic?

"And that is precisely why I need you," I told her. "I need someone who understands the tools Kathra will use. If you'll accept, I'd be honored to have you."

I offered her the second to last bracelet, and her eyes locked onto it and her mouth fell slightly open. A murmur went through the assembly.

"Are you certain...?" She breathed, unable to tear her eyes from the band I offered.

"Absolutely," I assured her.

She tentatively extended her right hand, as though waiting for me to pull it away, but when I settled the band on her wrist, she cradled it protectively to her chest, tears in her eyes.

"I shall strive to be worthy." She breathed, then quickly gave a kiss on my cheek and almost ran to the other chosen maidens.

Tavorwen gave me a curious look but welcomed the young she-elf.

I resumed my hunt, one final matron to find.

Hopes were high and I could tell tension among the gathered maidens. I circled and wandered the maidens three times, waiting for a final thread.

After my third circuit, Tavorwen motioned me over.

"Is something wrong? Do the maidens not appeal?" She pressed.

"No... They are all gorgeous." I replied quietly. "It's just... Well, I've been... led... to everyone else. Like the gods, or someone, wants me to choose them. I've been trying to figure out who they want for this last bracelet, but... I'm getting nothing."

"Then you are free to choose the maiden that pleases your eye the most," Tavorwen suggested with a shrug.

"But they are all fucking gorgeous! How am I supposed to choose?!" I whispered.

Tavorwen smiled in amusement. "Was that supposed to be too quiet to hear? You underestimate elven hearing."

A quick glance over my shoulder revealed many of the maidens blushing.

"Shit." I groaned under my breath. "Is there a reason they are all just standing still? Not a word from any of them."

Gledril chuckled. "Maidens have been known to be... dramatic... when seeking the attention of a master. For this purpose, any maidens who arrive after the appointed time are not allowed entrance to the Congress. Strict rules regulate things like the minimum amount that must be covered by their dresses, and to avoid... inappropriate declarations and offers to the master, they are not to speak unless spoken to, and must maintain a relaxed pose. If they were to go against these rules, it would result in their expulsion from the Congress."

Well, that certainly confirmed they could hear anything I said, and answered why the maidens weren't doing more posing or saying anything.

I swallowed.

Since the gods, or whatever it was that normally guided me, had decided to fuck off, I was to pick my last matron based on... looks? Style? I mean, with slight variations, all these elven babes were slim, gorgeous, and sexy. It was like being brought into a room of supermodels and being told all of them wanted you to fuck them, but you could only choose one... no, it wasn't like that, it WAS that. It wasn't like I didn't already have the spectrum of elven beauty in my harem of matrons, with hair ranging from red to black to brown to blond and even white, if you counted Amura, and eye color was the same. Elven builds were all pretty similar, with maidens and new matrons, like mine, being thin, graceful, and delicate looking and matrons who had borne at least one child having much more endowed hips and breasts for a more curvy figure.

"Go on," Tavorwen urged, then getting very close to my ear she barely breathed, "Pick the one that makes your manhood leap the hardest."

The maidens I'd already picked to be matrons all blushed a deep red, and I could tell they were trying, and failing, to not notice the bulge in my pants, though the leather pants hid it respectably well. At least the still hopeful maidens didn't seem to hear that. Fuck, the elven hearing was good, though, with ears like they had, it made sense.

I took a deep breath and then turned to my enrapt audience of dressed-to-appeal sex candidates. I'd managed to avoid getting too aroused by mostly paying attention to the threads that lead me to most of my new matrons, but now, since my only objective was 'find the sexiest one out there' I very quickly became almost painfully erect and... fuck... these elves were everything I could want, and they knew it. The doubt and concern that had plagued some of them was replaced by... what was that? A desire to prove that they were the hottest thing in the room? Shit, a confident woman is sexy. A confident woman in lingerie is mind-blowing, and that was basically what these maidens had going for them.

"Okay, once more..." I breathed nearly silently to myself, "Give everyone a good look, then come back."

I would have felt like a total perv, openly just ogling the curves on each and every one of these sex icons, if they weren't doing everything they could to make me look. Hips rolled to emphasize their fit, firm asses. Shoulders rolled either forward to try to press their pert breasts together and form a hot little cleavage, or rolled back to press their breasts forward, making nipples stand out against thin fabric. I was sure now that someone had told these maidens, and for all, I knew the whole city, that I like boobs, because when I'd gotten my battle maidens, there had been no sign they even thought about their breasts sexually as they had changed in front of me, but now these maidens were throwing them around like bait for a starved dog and damn was I loving it.

By the time I reached my starting point, the best I could do was narrow it down to three amazing specimens of sexual appeal: a redhead, even more vividly red than Diamiutar, in an emerald green dress with blue and gold accents, a raven black haired maiden in a royal purple dress, with black lace embellishments, and finally, a platinum blond maiden wearing a cream yellow dress with golden accents. While all elves have strong, sharp angular cheekbones and chins, there were some variations, and all three had the same perfect 'fuck-me' face, especially when doing what little they were allowed to flaunt their bodies and add their body's request of 'fuck-me'. And while each maiden's tailored dresses did their best to accentuate every delectable curve, those three dresses did it the absolute best.

It must have been pretty obvious that I'd narrowed it down because Gledril approached me.

"You are amusing, Master Thomas." She chuckled, "I've never seen a master struggle so hard in selecting a matron. While I'm sure all these maidens are flattered they made it so hard for you to choose, you must make a decision. Is there anything I may do to assist you?"

"Um... could I have a few step forward so I can see them next to each other?" I begged.

"Yes, of course. Which maidens would you like to step forward?" She laughed.

I pointed out my top contenders.

"...Kenrith!..."

The blond happily began moving forward.

"...Benavur!..."

The redhead began to move.

"... Ganaiva!... They are all? Good choices." Gledril assured me.

The raven-haired elf stepped forward.

"They all seemed like good choices." I countered.

"True," Gledril admitted, "Eaphamir sent a Congress to be proud of."

The three sex icons stepped forward, my eyes struggling to choose which magnetic body to stare at.

Kenrith's cream-colored gown just managed to be as light as possible without washing her out and flattering her hair. The thin silky fabric clung to her body, allowing her to do the forward shoulder roll, pressing her breasts closer together for an ache-inducing cleavage while the light fabric kept the bumps of her nipples visible. There was only a thread-thick strap on each shoulder, holding the veil of her top up and it was low enough to leave the flawless tops of her breasts exposed, with only an inch of fabric before her hardly concealed nipples. The low back clung to her curves, following the curvature of her back in until it flowed over the rounding of her ass, as though painted on, and shamelessly rode in the valley of her ass. Her hips were freely peeking through the slits that run up the sides to the base of her ribs, and the front rode the slope of her hips, allowing her legs to draw the eye as the entire front of her dress gathered to cover little more than the smallest section of her womanhood.

Fuck it was sexy, but the others were equally jaw-dropping.

Benavur's emerald green dress was working just as hard to advertise her assets. The thin fabric was looped around her neck, then crossed in front of her, molding to her breasts and showing the curvature and not even hiding the bump of her nipples, and I swear I could see where her areolas were by the texture it conveyed to the fabric over them. A keyhole cutout started just under her breasts and extended down to below her waistline, a few inches above where the folds of her sex began. Somehow the fabric managed to ride the curves of her hips, meaning that, while fully covered down to her calves, her legs were still displayed and the barest of cameltoes was visible, revealing the top of her womanhood. Her ass was just as flaunted as the fabric molded to her ass like a glove. The gold and blue accents drew the eye to the hardly concealed sexuality of the wearer, her breasts, especially the nipples, her perfect tight ass, and the tantalizing hint of her pussy. Benavur's eyes met mine as I drank in how she looked and she smiled, clearly pleased with what must be blatant lust on my face.

Ganaiva's purple, strapless gown had peaks of fabric that were either glued or held onto her breasts with magic, the firm flesh of her breasts almost completely displayed as the fabric covered her nipples and little else. The center "neckline" swooped down below her navel, while the outside swept behind her, leaving her back bare low enough that the top of her ass brazenly taunted me as it peaked from the fabric. Where Benavur's dress clung to her legs to display them, Ganaiva's skirts were ribbon-like strips, gathered at anklets, like Lamarith's had, except where Lamarith's dress had let them fly free, Ganaiva's strips were adhered to her legs and crotch just like her top was, almost making her skirt almost a mesh pant-like structure, leaving plenty of tantalizing patches of skin on display down her lower body.

If I could, I would take all three ravishing beauties, but I only had one slot left.

"Still struggling?" Gledril mused. "If you would help, you could touch their bodies to make sure they feel as good as they look."

"What do you...?" I began, but the three maidens' shift in stance made it clear they would happily let me touch ANYTHING if it increased their odds of being selected.

Fuck, that was hot.

Elven society confused me, normally, they were dressed for utility, and it seemed that they were almost prudish in how conservative they were publicly, but at the feast, my maidens had been openly grinding on me, and here these maidens offered themselves for groping to win me over, like most elves were closet sluts begging for a chance to act on it.

I couldn't do it, though it was offered to me. I knew if I did anything to these maidens, it would just drive their craving and need for sexual gratification even higher, and to dress as sultry and offer themselves so openly, their need must be pretty bad already. I just had to make a choice.

I pulled the bracelet from my wrist and walked to where the three maidens stood, offering their bodies to me.

"Benavur... would you do me the honor?" I asked, offering the redhead my final bracelet.

"Happily!" She declared, accepting the bracelet.

"Do not despair, maidens!" Gledril declared to the disappointed members of the congress. "Already, one of Master Thomas's matrons is with child, and his seed has given her a son."

That sent a ripple of excitement back through the assembly.

"If his seed is as strong as we believe, many others will soon be carrying his offspring, and require others to take their place. Especially with the matrons who will follow him into battle, we cannot afford to risk losing both matron and offspring, so it is likely that more matrons shall be required to fully utilize his strong vitality and virility." Gledril finished. "You all presented yourselves well, and made the decision for Master Thomas difficult, be proud and continue to prepare yourself for the coming day."

She then turned to the new members of my household. "Sisters, congratulations on your selection. Let us proceed to the Temple of the Host to finalize your bonding."