NTRPG - Fallen Heroines

Warning: This story contains elements of Cuckoldry (NTR) and Non-Consent. If those aren't your jam, this is your chance to leave.

***

A brisk morning breeze whistled through the bare branches of the forest that surrounded the small village of Eversdale. The hardy inhabitants of the frontier village, normally up and working as soon as the sun's rays touched the horizon, slumbered soundly on. The previous day's festival to welcome the coming of spring and entreat the spirits of the forest for a bountiful harvest had left the entire village in sore need of a late morning start.

The only exceptions were the village guards, two sleepy youths who through either misdeed, or poor luck, had been saddled with the much-bemoaned task of patrolling the village's meagre palisade. The pair were there to ensure that none of the more nefarious monsters of the forest took advantage of the brief lull in the small hamlet's defences.

In truth though, neither of the youths took their role with any great seriousness. The last 'real' monster attack had come years before either were born. Nowadays the only 'monsters' left for miles around were a few bands of wild goblins; whose innate cowardliness could be relied upon to keep them far away from any human settlement.

So, it was with that thought in mind that the two leaned listlessly on their spears and dozed in the early morning sun, still awake only in the most technical of interpretations; an argument the two intended to ply to their fullest should they be discovered by the village's Headman.

Which they inevitably were.

It was to this scene that Erich inevitably emerged from the village's meagre inn to discover. The two youths nervously shuffling their feet as the village's Headman sternly chastised the pair for their shiftlessness. The paladin found himself wincing in sympathy as he watched the irate man grab the more sullen of the pair by the ear to better convey his displeasure.

The rookie adventurer was more than familiar with that maneuver, having suffered it in his youth more than he cared to admit. Almost subconsciously, the young man reached into his belt pouch to unfold the well-worn letter resting there; his sandy blonde hair falling to shadow his tired blue eyes as he traced the familiar wording of the letter:

To Her Son Erich Karling, At His Residence in The Church's Institute of Holy Light, Sarah Karling, Retired First Paladin and Gold Ranked Adventurer, Greets Her Son:

The Thought for The Day is "In Flagrante Delicto"

It has come to my attention from a passing comment by an old comrade that my only son has been living in a manner that is both shiftless and slothful. That I was not informed of this by your academic or combat instructors has led me to believe that standards have slipped in the Institute of Holy Light since my own attendance.

In this passing conversation I was informed that your study and practice time equates to a mere ten hours of each day. Your grades equate to a mere second (nearing third) place in the paladin program's rankings. It is known to me that at least two other students surpass you in Demonic Banishing rituals, and that your ability to discern Illusion Spells flounders when faced with the workings of a mere Masterwork Class Mage.

While I might expect this sort of behaviour from your incorrigible younger sister, I had thought better of you my son. You would do well to imitate your older sibling, who routinely ranks top amongst her contemporaries in the cleric program, and I am informed is being flaunted by her instructors as some manner of prodigy.

(I also note that your younger sister receives similar praise from the Rogue's Guild, but that is no praise at all considering her chosen vocation.)

Naturally I am duly concerned and horrified by your carelessness and seek to inform you to mend your dissolute and shameless ways so that I may once more look upon you with pride, safe in the knowledge that you possess both the knowledge, power and tenacity to survive in the Adventuring vocation that you have chosen for yourself.

Sent with Love and Concern, Your Mother

Erich sighed as he carefully folded the letter, and once more stashed it into his belt pouch. Even after months of reading and re-reading it, it still felt as overbearing as ever.

'The sad thing is that for all her criticism, I know she's only looking out for me.' He thought.

Unfortunately, he had also learned long ago that his mother was much more comfortable with the 'stick' as opposed to the 'carrot'. Some might have attributed it to her own time as an adventurer, but his aunts informed him that she was exactly the same as a little girl.

'And now that propensity for the 'stick' is probably going to result in her murdering me when she finds out about this.' He thought with a sigh as he considered his choices in the last few months.

Abandoning his classes partway through the year, signing up for his adventuring license, before finally galivanting across the Empire ranked amongst the least of his sins. If his mother caught him with just those misdeeds to his name he had the excuse that he was doing nothing she hadn't at his age.

No, what would really bring down a ton of matriarchal wrath upon his head was the fact that he had brought along both his sisters on this mad quest.

'Although 'brought along' might be the wrong word...' He thought ruefully.

If he were totally honest, the phrase he would have best used to describe his two sisters accompanying him would have been 'had been unable to stop'.

Such headstrong behaviour he had expected and been prepared for from his impetuous younger sister, but his older sibling had shown an entirely uncharacteristic streak of stubbornness in refusing to be left behind.

'Honestly it was rather terrifying to see Mary so... ferocious.' He thought with a grimace.

It had not been pretty, and by the end of it both him and his 'fearless' younger sibling had been rendered into little more than shivering tofu by the chastisement of their older sibling.

It had been just that ugly.

Wiping the memory from his mind, Erich set about the task of getting the party's mounts ready for the long day of riding ahead of them.

The five horses had been steadfast in their journey thus far, but he couldn't help but notice that the further the party travelled into the untamed southern reaches of the Empire the more nervous the animals had become. In the hopes of bolstering the animal's spirit, if only a little, he made sure to give each of the beasts an apple before leading them out of the stables.

It wasn't much, but it was all he had available, and would have to do.

"Are you guys ready yet?" he called out as he led the animals around the front of the inn.

Normally he would be content to his let the more lethargic members of his party lie in for a bit, but today was different. After all, it would do none of them any good to arrive at the dungeon just as evening was setting in. Even a comparatively 'rookie' adventurer like himself knew that it was best to work during the daylight hours when most monsters were at their most lethargic and sluggish.

Sheltered underground or not, all monsters were weakened by the power of the sun's rays upon the earth. At least that was the theory.

"We're ready... Or at least most of us are," was the enthusiastic response from inside the inn as a moment later a young woman leapt from the rundown establishment. "Little Miss Top Heavy is taking her sweet time though."

Eric had to stifle a sigh at the sheer immaturity of Agnes's insult. Yes, Tia was... gifted, but Top Heavy?

'Really Sis?' He thought, 'is that the best you could do?'

By this point in their journey he had been forced to accept that Agnes and Tia would probably never get along. No matter how much he tried to get them to. So instead of chastising her, he instead saved himself the trouble by just letting it go uncommented on, before looking his boisterous younger sister over to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything.

A not uncommon occurrence that all of them had learned to accommodate for.

This time though it seemed his younger sibling had managed to remember all of her gear. Which was admittedly quite a lot.

Still on the short side, despite the growth spurt she had insisted for years was coming, Agnes was still as much the tomboyish bundle of energy in her twenties as she was when they were children.

Her hair was closer to golden blonde than his own sandy blonde and fell in a short-dishevelled mess that none the less managed to look appealing with her admittedly modest, yet still undeniably, feminine curves.

That was his objective opinion of course. He wasn't the kind of odd ball who ogled his own sister. It was more the clinical observation that any protective older sibling with a cute younger one learned to make.

Agnes's vibrant green eyes flashed mirthfully in the light of the morning sun as she clambered onto her own horse with the practiced agility of a rogue. Framed with the woods behind her, Eric might have compared her to a forest nymph were it not for the flexible and form fitting leather armour buckled around her form.

Or the many small and deadly looking blades she was festooned with.

For all that his younger sister perpetually acted like an energetic child, he knew from experience that when it came to fighting she was a deadly whirlwind of destruction, and every bit her mother's daughter in ability. If not temperament.

Ignorant of his thoughts, the giggling blonde playfully called out, "I guess the only thing we can now do is leave her behind!"

'Alright that's enough.'

"Please don't rile her up Agnes." He wearily chastised for what felt like the hundredth time. "Besides, we can't go anywhere without her because-"

"Because Tia has the map," finished a soft voice from the inn's doorway, "and zero desire to let anyone else see it."

Erich felt a smile forming even as he as he turned to the conservatively robed young woman.

Closer to his own height than Agnes's diminutive stature, Lina's pale skin seemed to have an almost ethereal glow to it as the brown-haired hedge-witch gently took the reins of her own horse from him.

Normally a totally stoic soul, Erich found his habitual smile growing even larger as he observed a light speckling of crimson form on the beautiful mage's cheeks as he helped onto her steed. A needless act considering the young woman's proficiency in the saddle, but Erich took any chance he could to be closer to the stoic brunette.

While Erich had grown up surrounded by beautiful women, he was of the opinion that Lina was in a league of her own. Although he would gladly admit to being biased.

Mysterious. Exotic. Smart. Witty. The pair had only known each other for a few short months, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was falling for her, and if he wasn't mistaken, her for him.

'A fairy-tale romance in the making.'

Even his sisters, normally so hostile to anyone who they perceived to be 'not good enough' for their only brother - which tended to be everyone - had warmed up to the quiet young woman who had joined their party.

'Now if only she would open up to us,' he thought with a sudden pang of glumness; the stray thought souring the moment.

Lina noticed instantly of course, perceptive young woman that she was, and her own hesitant smile disappeared as she returned to her own habitual expressionlessness. As she trotted away Erich could only curse his own total lack of guile for ruining the moment.

'Idiot.' He thought glumly, running a hand through his hair in quiet frustration.

Eric had no desire to pry into Lina's life, but it was abundantly clear that there was something in the young woman's past that was keeping her from reciprocating his interest. And as far as he was aware, that was the only thing stopping their budding mutual interest from blossoming into something more...

Someone else might have let it go at that. Accepted the situation for what it was. Not Erich though. He was the son of two of the Empire's greatest heroes, and he would be damned if he was going let an opportunity for happiness slip from his fingers.

'After all, isn't that what heroes do?' He thought, 'Create happy outcomes from bad situations?'

As if in response to his re-energized thinking, he felt a delicate hand lightly pat his cheek. Turning around, he found the encouraging smile of his eldest sister beaming down at him.

With her golden blonde tresses framing her delicate caring features, Mary's compassionate blue eyes spoke to him just as much, or more, than her words.

"Don't worry Eric. She'll come around," his older sibling whispered conspiratorially before turning to mount her own horse.

Smiling once more, Erich watched her go.

In many ways his older sister was a younger version of their mother. But, where his mother's features were perpetually held in a stern grimace, his sister's were perpetually full of compassion and caring for all that she beheld.

Unfortunately, much to his irritation, for all her natural kindness and patience, his older sister's saint-like nature was not the first thing many would notice about her.

Or even the second really.

As much as it pained him to admit it, for all that his sister was a holy woman who would one day qualify for sainthood, he knew that most discussions by her contemporaries about his beloved older sister tended revolve around her outer appearance, as opposed to her wonderful personality.

'...And the sad thing is I can't really blame them.' He reluctantly conceded.

Her lips were full and plush, her eyes a breathtakingly bright blue. All framed by her long and vibrant blonde hair. Even with the thick brown cloak she wore almost permanently over her religious battle garments, strangers still stopped to stare gormlessly whenever they passed through anywhere.

She was just that breathtaking.

"Goddess knows, we'd be fending them off with a stick if they saw her in just her battle gear," Eric muttered under his breath as he turned to wait for the final member of their party to appear.

Behind him he could hear the excitable boasting of Agnes, and more often than not, the distinctive single word answers of Lina. But he tuned them both out with long practice as he strained his ears to listen for the tell-tale signs of their group's final member.

Sure enough though, he didn't have to wait long.

Within minutes of Mary's arrival, a shrill shriek issued forth from the inn, followed closely by the sound of someone stomping on the building's creaky floorboards. From there, it didn't take long for the shrieking to stop, but the stomping only got louder.

'Here we go.' Erich thought with an strained smile as their final member finally arrived.

"Honestly!? Who ever heard of an inn without proper bathing facilities!" Roared Tia as she stormed out of the inn, the blonde woman's ample bosom jiggling in her revealing purple robes. "As an Elementalist of the Red Tower these low bred country hicks should be honoured to be allowed to even breathe in my presence, let alone run a few tiny errands for me."

Erich hardly considered creating a hot bath first thing in the morning for a single guest to be a tiny errand. Especially when said guest could heat the water themselves with ease, but as with most things involving Tia he found it smarter not to comment. The woman could be just as volatile as the element from which she drew her power.

'Such a shame though,' He thought as he looked her over, 'She looks so lovely when she smiles.'

The Northern elementalist was a tall woman with a figure every bit as curvaceous as Erich's older sister. But where his sister was hesitant to show much of herself at all, Tia dressed in a manner that bordered on shameless.

Eric could only marvel at the fact that the woman's scandalously low-cut robes had so far refused to submit to the laws of physics and expose the raging mage's tightly contained bosom to the world at large.

And he would be lying if he said he had not in moments of weakness hoped for it either. He was only human after all.

It could not be argued that, for all that Tia's personality sided more with abrasive than agreeable, her beauty was utterly undiminished by her fiery personality.

Erich was reasonably sure that the only reason the beautiful mage was still without a party prior to his group's arrival was her prickly personality. While he hadn't been traveling with her for as long as Lina, it was more than enough time for other adventuring parties to have attempted to poach the fiery elementalist away.

Fortunately for their group, it seemed that no matter how interested people were in her beauty or talents at first, very few people were willing to put up with her personality for very long after spending any amount of time with her.

Adventuring was a dangerous vocation after all; and having a discordant element within a party was just asking for trouble. Very few people were willing to take the risk of introducing someone as outspoken as Tia into their group if it meant the possibility of her upsetting the group's dynamic.

'Which is a shame,' Erich thought sadly, 'Underneath all that arrogance and entitlement, Tia can be quite sweet.'

Wincing at particularly inventive expletive aimed at their former host, Erich was willing to concede that said 'caring' and 'kindness' could be admittedly quite well hidden at times though.

'Well, their loss and our gain,' He thought with a smile as the mage finally finished cussing out the inn owner and turned back to their party.

Abrasive or not, Tia was an integral part of their party, and he wouldn't trade her for anyone else.

"Well come on then," the elementalist hissed as she shoved past him to clamber onto her own horse. "If we don't hurry we'll not make it to the dungeon before nightfall."

Wheeling around to Erich she pointed an accusing finger, "you aren't even on your horse yet!"

'Well, maybe she could stand to be a bit politer,' he thought as he refrained from pointing out that he was the first of the group out, or that he had been holding her horse for her.

It wasn't like it meant anything after all. In all likelihood Tia was just complaining to cover her embarrassment about being the last one out. By this point it was a well-trod routine, and even Agnes didn't engage in her usual needling of the easily teased young woman.

"Right, well let's get going then." Erich cheerily called out to the others as he clambered onto his own horse and followed after the already moving Elementalist. Behind him, Agnes and Lina gave each other a look of frustration, before Mary calmly ushered them both onward with a forgiving smile.

'Yes,' Erich thought happily now that all of his friends were underway, 'we may seem a little ungainly, but our party works because each of us compliments the others. So long as we're all together nothing can stop us.'

That was the case in all their previous quests, and this one would be no different.

He just knew it.

***

'Disgusting,' Erich thought with a grimace as he wiped a patch of vicious green goblin blood from his sword with a leaf.

Across from him Agnes was doing the same with her daggers, albeit with the far less effective method of gingerly wiping them on a nearby tree. It was a habit that no amount of browbeating from their mother had ever quite removed, and Erich found his lips quirking in amusement at the nostalgic scene.