NTRPG - Fallen Heroines Ch. 02

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

***

"Mou," Mary lamented as she examined the latest tear in her cloak. It was the third one in as many hours, and she was in no mood to break out her needle and thread again. With a disgruntled sigh she decided to leave the torn sleeve as it was.

She could always fix it later.

'Preferably when I'm in a better mood.' She thought morosely as she continued her trek through the seemingly endless forest.

If she was perfectly honest with herself, a common occurrence as she was of the opinion that honesty was always the best policy, she would admit that she really didn't want to be here.

Unlike her two headstrong younger siblings she had been perfectly happy studying to be a cleric in the Capital. She had no desire for personal glory - quite the opposite - and would have been much happier using her talents aiding the poor and destitute.

Yes, it was work devoid of glory or excitement, but she had always found a certain sense of satisfaction in helping the less fortunate.

'Something I know Erich and, to an admittedly lesser extent, Agnes share,' She lamented, 'If only I could convince them that there were better ways of doing it than questing and killing monsters.'

Of course, she knew such an argument was doomed to failure.

Both her young siblings had grown up on tales of their parent's exploits, and now they burned with the desire to prove themselves in a similar manner.

She considered herself partially responsible for that, having been the one to tell them those stories, but she also considered their mother's insane standards equally culpable. The busty cleric loved the woman, but her parent's behaviour could drive her to frustration at times.

She had long since accepted that her mother would never be a fountain of warmth and hugs. That had always been her father's role, and in turn, she had strived to fill it in his place for her younger siblings when he died.

Which might have been part of the reason that their mother never felt the need to stop being the disciplinarian.

'The sad thing is that she cares,' Mary thought glumly, 'She just seems to have no idea how to show it beyond the constant henpecking.'

So lost in her thoughts, the young woman missed another tear forming in her cloak as it snagged on a thorny bush, exposing her long feminine legs to the world at large.

'Of course, it's all a moot point now,' Mary thought with a certain melancholy as she recalled the earlier scene.

Her siblings were both all grown up now, and eager it seemed, to be independent.

They didn't need their older sister watching over them all the time now. Hadn't really for a number of years if she were honest with herself.

'So, where does that leave me?'

She was still a young woman herself, she reasoned. Just because this chapter of her life was coming to a close didn't mean it was over. Rather, it should be the start of a new chapter.

A new journey.

...A new relationship.

'Maybe it's finally time I find someone special for myself?' She thought, 'Not someone in need of nurturing and guidance, but a genuine partner?'

As immodest as it was, she knew she had no shortage of suitors. Perhaps after this quest she would finally go on a date with one of them.

Perhaps one of the older ones?

'It might be nice not to be the 'responsible' one in a relationship for once.'

A sudden change in the texture beneath the cleric's feet nearly made her stumble. Resisting the uncommon urge to curse, she looked down to find a flagstone underfoot. It was old, weathered and almost completely covered in moss, but it was clearly manmade. Surprised, Mary looked around and found more of them leading off further into the forest.

'Is this a path to the dungeon's entrance?' She wondered as she examined the rough stones. It was easily the most promising lead on the entrance to the old ruin she had found thus far.

She really didn't know how to feel about that.

She had come along on the quest primarily to watch out for her younger siblings. To be honest, she would have preferred for all of them to stay safely in the capital.

Of course, if she had voiced that preference it would have all but assured that her younger siblings would have snuck off without her.

For all that Erich was an obedient and dutiful little brother, he could be surprisingly wilful and stubborn when he set his mind on something. Agnes on the other hand did things just because she was asked not to. The pair of them would have ended up going on this quest regardless of what she had done.

At least with her along she could look out for them both.

'Which I'm not doing a great job of am I?' She lamented as she stared at the empty woods around her.

She really should have insisted they all stuck together.

'So, what do I do now?' She pondered. 'Do I keep on walking and pretend I saw nothing? Or do I follow it myself?'

She could ignore it. With any luck none of the others would find the path or the dungeon's entrance in these massive woods. If that happened the chances were good Agnes would get bored in a few days and badger the others into returning home.

'That's pretty unlikely though, isn't it?' She thought as she inspected the path. 'Between Tia and Lina, they could probably concoct some kind of spell to find the ruin's entrance within a day or two.'

Which just left Mary with just one option really. She would have to find the entrance herself, so that she could make sure the others didn't do anything stupid.

Like try and go in alone.

'No one ever said being the responsible was easy,' She lamented as she started walking along the dilapidated trail.

On the bright side, it was certainly easier than trekking through the forest's wild undergrowth, and getting her cloak snagged on every branch, brush, or rock that crossed her path.

Of course, in some places the stones had been submerged moved or grown over, forcing her to search blindly until she re-found the path, but for the most part the going was fairly swift traveling.

A few times she pondered signalling the entire party to meet up before she reached her destination, but each time she decided against it. It wouldn't do to have them all rush over only for their to be nothing at the end. Erich wouldn't say anything, but Tia would complain, and Agnes would probably pout about having her own search interrupted. Mary couldn't even begin to guess at what Lina's reaction would be. She was a nice enough girl, if a little quiet, but sometimes it seemed the hedge-mage's thoughts were as much an enigma as her past.

If only the poor girl would open up.

'That's a problem for another day though.'

With that thought in mind Mary pressed on alone.

***

'Well I suppose this must be it,' The cleric mused as she looked over the large dilapidated building.

Old and overgrown, she would have been tempted to say it was a church of some kind were it not for the complete lack of divine power emanating from it.

Which meant that in all probability this was the entrance to their supposed undiscovered underground ruin.

'I guess I should call the others over so we can check it out together.' She thought as she prepared to recite the appropriate holy prayer to alert the other members of her party.

Only, as she felt the holy power building within her, she hesitated.

'Should I though?' She thought as she stilled the flow of power within her. 'I don't actually know if this is the entrance. It could just be some eccentric hermit's shack.'

Ok, that was unlikely given the size of the odd building, but that didn't change the fact that it might not be the entrance they were looking for.

She didn't want to gather everyone for a false alarm.

'I could just see Agnes or Tia ignoring a summons if there's been one or two false alarms.' Mary thought.

Both of them were entirely too wilful like that.

'Honestly, the pair of them would probably get along quite well if they stopped butting heads over every little thing.'

Either way, their was a danger in letting the others become complacent by gathering them without being sure that this was indeed their quarry.

It was an irritating contradiction for the safety conscious blonde, but that was the reality of adventuring with a pair of brash girls with something to prove.

'Right,' Mary sighed as she pulled her slightly tattered cloak about her, 'I guess I'll do exactly what I was worried about the others doing.' She thought wryly.

She wasn't too concerned. It was a little conceited of her, but she wasn't worried about her own safety. While the others were each leading talents in their own way, Mary wasn't being arrogant in acknowledging that she was in a league of her own.

Which was ironic when one considered that she was the only one who didn't care for it.

Unlike the others who would have leapt at the offer, if it had been made to them, she had on more than one occasion discreetly refused equally discreet offers to advance her studies prematurely.

'And not just because they were obviously angling to fold me into their petty little factional squabbles.' She thought with uncharacteristic venom.

The Pantheon of Light may have been an alliance against the Dark, but it was far from a completely unified one. And nowhere was that more apparent than the Capital. More than just the political centre of the country, it was also the place where the innumerable religions of the Empire vied for influence with the royal family and other members of the nobility.

Mary, like her mother before her, wanted nothing to do with it. When the time came for her to enact the ritual to permanently bind herself to her chosen deity, she would do so with one whom she felt her ideals aligned. Not the one who would give her the most political capital.

'Although it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that it will be Lady Mara.' The cleric sighed.

It was not that she had anything against the Goddess or her ideals. As the Goddess of Protection, Kindness and Healing, Mara in many ways mirrored Mary's own ideals.

But the blonde cleric just couldn't shake this niggling dissatisfaction.

It was a stupid thing, and utterly beneath her, but some part of her resented the role that had been thrust upon her. As a woman who was on her way to becoming one of the most powerful Clerics of this generation it was inevitable she would end up in a leading role in Mara's faction.

'...and Mara is one of the most influential in the entire Pantheon,' She groused. 'Which means that the rest of my days will no doubt be filled with politicking and tough decisions.'

The curvy young woman sighed as she walked up to the entrance of the dilapidated building.

'Perhaps I could just leave? Find some small deity in some tiny village? Just help people without having to constantly think about the big picture...'

Immediately she shook her head in familiar self-chastisement at the unworthy thought.

It lingered though, drifting in the back of her mind like an itch that she could never scratch. An old fantasy that never seemed to die.

'Right,' She thought, dismissing her doubts as she clambered up the building's warped steps, 'Let's find out if this is actually our entrance.'

Cautiously, she stepped though the building's dilapidated entrance, her holy aura charged and ready to cast a prayer of protection or smiting at the slightest provocation. For all that she was confident of her abilities, she wasn't foolish enough to enter a potentially dangerous environment carelessly.

'Especially without anyone else with me,' She thought, second guessing her earlier decision to enter alone.

Fortunately, there was no monster lying in wait just beyond the threshold.

Just a lot of dust.

Inside the entrance was a simple hallway with an aged old desk set against the far wall. Beyond that lay the doorway to the building proper, beyond which sat a grand hall filled with rows of broken pews and a small unassuming altar at its head.

Here and there sat open windows from which shafts of light illuminated the dusty and dank interior, giving the whole thing a quiet sombre feel to it.

In spite of herself Mary felt herself relax slightly at the familiar scenery.

'Well it was definitely supposed to be a church of some kind,' Mary thought as she stepped forward to examine the altar, noting more scribblings of an indescribable script carved into it. 'Although whoever built it obviously didn't get the chance to dedicate it to any member of the pantheon.'

The complete lack of a holy presence to the building was proof enough of that. Even the lowliest deity would have had the power to infuse their place of worship with a holy aura.

It gave each of their temples a distinct 'taste' to it. One that was completely absent here.

'Such a shame,' She thought as she looked around at the work that had gone into this place. The design was odd, but it had a certain flair to it, that while initially discomforting, Mary found she was fast growing an appreciation for.

It was different, yet familiar.

'Still, it's pretty clear that this isn't the entrance to the dungeon, just an old abandoned and unfinished church,' She decided with mixed relief and disappointment, 'I guess this means I have to get back out th-'

Her thoughts cut off mid-sentence as she heard a shuffle to her left.

Quick as a flash, her mind to turned to combat, and she whirled around blazing away a holy prayer for smiting as the air filled with the crackling sound of condensed holy energy.

"Ah!?" Shouted a massive shadowy figure in fright from the entrance just as she let loose with her beam of potent holy power.

Her aim was off though.

As she fired the figure slipped and fell, allowing the beam of holy power to pass harmlessly over his head.

In the silence that followed, Mary found that she was staring not at some horrific creature, but a man. An innocent and unarmed man. One who had just narrowly avoided death.

'A death that would have been your fault.' Her conscience added numbly.

The curvaceous blonde stood in frozen horror, until a low groan of pain echoed forth from the collapsed figure in the doorway. Jolted from her self recrimination, she ran forward to try and help the man up.

"Are you ok!?" She cried as she grasped one of the man's flailing arms, and with great effort helped up the surprisingly hefty, and no doubt dazed, soul.

"I'm so sorry." She cried as she looked the man over for injury.

He was a Southerner she noted absently as she heaved on his trunk-like limb, in an attempt to heave him upright.

He looked be approaching his forties and was obviously a merchant based on the quality of his loose-fitting clothes.

Like most southerners he was dark-skinned, hairy and large. The cut of his clothes was proof enough of his wealth, and this notion was only reinforced by the way the man's massive gut spilled out from his open shirt and over his loose pants.

'He smells too,' She noted as she wrinkled her nose at the stranger's pungent aroma. It was a mixture of perfume and sweat.

'Definitely a lot more sweat than perfume though.'

Still, this was someone she had nearly injured with her carelessness, and smell or not, Mary was determined to help him.

Even with her help though, it took a while to get the heavy-set man back to his feet. Mostly because of the sheer difference in weight between the two of them and the fact that the man was obviously still a little dazed from his ordeal.

By the time he was vertical once more, the pair of them were panting from the exertion.

When she caught her breathe once more, Mary bowed again to the man she so nearly hurt, "I'm so sorry for that." She stammered staring intently at the floor as she waited for the man's obvious indignation.

Indignation she would gladly accept as penance for her carelessness.

Instead she nearly jumped in surprise as a massive hand cupped her chin, and gently lifted her face until she was staring into a pair of jovial eyes accompanied by a carefree toothy smile.

"Is fine. Is fine." The man called in a deep voice, "Accidents happen."

A bit flustered by the familiarity of the man touching her, the flustered blonde nonetheless tried to protest, "But I nearly-"

"Is fine. Is fine." The man repeated, "Is perhaps as much Yaasir's fault for coming up behind pretty woman alone in forest. Yes."

Mary had no idea what to say in the face of such open forgiveness. Instead she found her eyes drifting down to the hand that was still delicately resting on the underside of her chin. It was surprisingly warm.

As if only just noticing, the man, who was apparently named Yaasir, pulled his hand back with such haste you would think she was made of fire.

"Apologies." He murmured contritely, "Sometimes Yaasir forgets that North is not like South and touching is not... appropriate.

Now it was Mary's turn to accept an apology, "Oh no." She called out flushing slightly, "It's fine. You just caught me off guard." She stammered, "I'm Mary by the way."

The portly man broke into a wide smile once more, "Well then Mary, we have both done each other wrong, and we have both apologized and been forgiven. All is good now yes."

Mary nodded hesitantly, still not sure that a touch on the chin was the equivalent to nearly killing someone. She knew she certainly still felt incredibly guilty.

'Why, the man is still leaning against the wall for support. It almost looks like he-'

"Your leg!" The cleric called out in surprise. Her instincts as a healer demanding she dive in to inspect the limb the man was obviously favouring.

But her recent lesson in acting without thinking made her stay frozen in place.

Taking a calming breath, she slowly uttered, "Please could you let me look at that. I have some experience with healing."

'Some experience' was a massive understatement, but Mary was never one to gloat.

The man looked down, as if only just remembering the injury.

"Do not worry girl. You did not cause this. It was the work of one of those Paashir" He cursed, only to be forced to explain when he saw Mary's confusion at the foreign word, "Apologies, Yaasir means goblins. Yaasir's home has them, but they are smaller, yes? And not so aggressive? One caught poor old Yaasir off guard when he entered this blasted forest, and poor Yaasir only managed to escape by abandoning his poor mule to the wretched beast."

Mary was torn between relief that she not caused the injury, and sadness at the man's poor fortune.

Still, she could at least help him with his leg. "So long as it's not too bad, I could probably have you all healed up in a few hours using a holy prayer." She assured him.

The man gave her another beaming smile, "Then this old merchant would be in your debt. Yaasir would be delighted to receive the healing of a beautiful woman such as yourself."

"It's fine." Mary responded, barely even registering the compliment. She was so accustomed to hearing them that it was an automatic response for her to tune them out.

Instead her mind and body went to work on helping the man she had wronged.

Kneeling down she started delicately unwrapping the dirty rag tied around the man's wound with practiced ease.

"Do not worry about payment Miss." The man continued above her, surprising the young woman who hadn't even considered charging for her help. "despite his troubles, Yaasir is still a wealthy man. Not much in the way of gold admittedly, but he managed to save his most expensive wares from those thieving Paashir." The man explained gleefully as he reached into his backpack.