The Infinite Bk. 03 Ch. 03

"Yes ma'am!" Shaken, she turned her attention to Noah. "What happened here?"

"Magic experiment gone wrong."

"Ah, Sister Pauline warned us that we'd be seeing these soon."

"There are bits of crystal stuck in the wounds. Can you remove them?"

"Y-yes," she said in an awkward tuft. She pulled out a pair of tweezers from the table beside the bed. "Um, please lie down."

Noah laid back, and Sophia leaned over, giving him the perfect view of her reddening face as she examined the wounds. She began trying to pull out fragments, but it was a struggle, not just from her inexperience but her refusal to lean on or even touch Noah. He had a feeling why.

"He's not here. You don't have to follow his rules." She paused, and her face momentarily went blank as she asked herself if she heard him right. "He's not looking over your shoulder. Just focus on the job you're doing and put him out of your mind."

He was gentle with his words, and he sensed her body relax. It struck her, she remembered healing him before, on the first day, but she also felt like she had seen him elsewhere. "Yes, you're right. Forgive me."

She leaned in, resting her hand on his forehead while she removed the crystal fragments and healed his wounds. He closed his eyes and let her work while feeling her breath on his cheek. Sophia gazed at Noah, hoping he would speak once more. Those words, murmured by a stranger who saw her despair and knew what to say filled her with relief, and she wanted desperately for him to continue. Just that tiny taste of kindness, the softest touch of support, it made the afternoon sun feel so much warmer.

Lying still on the bed, Noah arranged and discarded a hundred different lines, lines to make her swoon, to make her cry, to make her curse or thank him, searching for that final note in the melody of the moment. Each time, he returned to the same conclusion: he had already said all he needed to. The moment had passed, and now he let the peaceful silence carry it away like a receding tide.

Finally, Sophia leaned back. "There, all done."

Noah sat up. "Thank you very much." He bowed his head to her and got up to leave. When she saw his back, she realized where she recognized him from. Galvin kept Sophia separated from Alexis during meals, but they could always see each other across the mess hall. So too could Sophia see the young man sitting with her, just the back of his head and never his face, but Alexis always looked relieved to have him there.

"Thank you as well!" she yelped. He turned around to see her now bowing to him. "Not just for your kind words, but for... uh... just... thank you!" He wasn't sure what she meant, but he smiled and nodded before departing.

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Rather than the academy library, Noah spent the next day in the Uther streets. During the rest days, cadets had free reign and didn't need permission to leave the grounds. As long as they didn't cause trouble and were present for morning and evening roll calls, the academy looked the other way. It was one of the many contradicting rules set up to appease the nobles, not that Noah was complaining, for it allowed him to operate without fear of consequences, though he still used his invisibility to enter and leave the academy. Today, his goal was to visit the second-largest source of information he knew of: The Knight's Sheath.

It was quiet in the mornings, as most customers were drinking tea and nursing hangovers. Now that Knight's Day had passed, all of the holiday tourists and merchants had left the city, and only the regular customers now came around, with one exception. One table was occupied by a group of soldiers, armed and armored, without a single mug among them. Noah turned to the counter, run by someone he did not expect, nor did he expect her to leap over the counter and tackle him.

"Darling!" Bella happily exclaimed.

She was known as a female beastman, rabbit-based, having two long ears growing out of the top of her head and a puffball tail. She was his favorite among the working girls due to her nymphomaniac enthusiasm in bed and the special discount she gave him. Her prices were too high for a commoner to have her so frequently, but every time he made her orgasm, she'd drop the price for the session. Thanks to Noah's skill, he could have her for a whole night with just pocket change. It was that skill that made this seasoned courtesan, a beauty in her late twenties, turn into a crazed schoolgirl clinging onto him with obsessive strength.

"Hey, nice to see you as well. How have things been here?"

"Things have been crazy! Daniel's music has left us packed to the rafters every night! Everyone is talking about the stone bard."

"You mean the 'Bard of Rock'?"

"What's the difference?"

"Never mind. Anyway, I need to see Daniel and Cyrilo."

Bella gave a bitter sigh of dejection. "They're busy, talking to a knight. Lucius is with them."

"What rank?"

"Yeah, I don't know what... Oh, wait, here they come now."

An old dwarf came down the stairs and entered the parlor, prompting the soldiers to get to their feet. He was armored with just a chest plate, but it bore the gold insignia of the knighthood. This man, he was on par with Valia Zodiac. Noah stepped to the side as they passed, glad he had chosen not to wear his academy uniform. The dwarf and his men wasted no time in leaving, and the air immediately seemed less tense when the door closed behind them.

Lucius soon arrived, and upon seeing Noah, gave a sigh of relief. "Ah, there you are."

"Was I expected?"

"In a sense. You should have seen Bella yesterday. She was staring out the window for hours, waiting for you to show up. It was the most pathetic thing I had ever seen."

"Don't say it like that!" Bella exclaimed.

"Anyway, if you want to speak to Madam Cyrilo, head upstairs. She'll probably want to have a word with you."

"Bella, I'll stop by your room when I've settled my business, so do me a favor and get yourself warmed up for me."

"Happily!"

She pranced up the stairs with Noah behind her, their paths splitting as he continued up to Cyrilo's room. He knocked on her door upon arriving. "Madam Cyrilo, it's Noah."

"Ah, Noah, come in."

He opened the door to find her and Daniel seated around a low table with three empty teacups. Daniel was a fellow traveler like Noah, coming to this world from modern Earth. As a recovering drug addict, he didn't exactly look like the picture of health, but he was definitely improving with each passing day. Now all he needed was a shave and a haircut.

"Hey, Noah!" he said happily. "How's magic school going?"

"Well, it's more combat than magic, but it's going fine. Madam Cyrilo," he said, then turning to her and bowing.

She was an old woman in a frilled dress, but when evening came, she'd change into something more alluring. She suffered from a curse that caused her to experience an entire human lifecycle every 24 hours, but in reverse. Despite her current elderly appearance, she'd grow younger through the day, becoming a baby in the early hours of the next morning, and then reverting once more to an old woman when the curse reset. There was no telling how old she really was, but she had been running the Knight's Sheath for a long time.

"Welcome back. It feels like it's been a year since you left."

"Things have been busy." He sat down in one of the available chairs. "For you as well, I imagine. Daniel has been raking in tons of money for this place but also drew the kingdom's attention."

"You saw him, did you? Marcus Berholm, gold-rank of the knight order, as well as the Royal Adjudicator. He enacts the will of the king and investigates anything that could threaten the entirety of the city. The king wants Daniel under lock and key."

"They called me a "strategic weapon," which I will admit, is pretty badass."

"That's something you don't normally see on a résumé."

"I can understand where they're coming from," said Cyrilo. "One man with the power to neutralize every magic user in the city is a frightening prospect."

"What horror, people having to kill each other with nothing but regular steel and a can-do attitude. How long do you think you can fend off the palace?"

Cyrilo chuckled. "I believe you once said I had "shaken many hands"? I've amassed plenty of influence in my years here, with many friends in high places. All I have to do is make sure the status quo benefits the kingdom. That night of chaos showed them that he can at least assist in putting down Red Revelries. Besides, I have no intention of handing over my adorable little research subject."

"I really wish you'd stop calling me that, at least when I'm in the room."

"Don't worry, you make too much money for me to dissect you or anything of the sort."

"That research is why I'm here today. I've found I can't use crafted magic, and I was wondering if Daniel had the same problem."

"Crafted magic?"

"Remember those spells I tried to have you activate? The ones written on paper?" Cyrilo chimed.

"Oh yeah, I remember. No dice, dude, sorry. You and I are in the same boat."

Noah reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth, the one that Sir Elyot had lent him. "Here, hold this."

"Why is it glowing?"

"Just hold it."

The cloth was passed to Daniel and the light faded. It wasn't detecting any active magic, meaning that Daniel's transference to this world was a one-shot occurrence, unlike Noah's continuous reincarnation.

"What does this mean?" he asked.

"In the long run, I'm not quite sure." Noah tucked the cloth into his pocket. "By the way, madam. Are you acquainted with Sir Elyot?"

"I am. He teaches up at the academy. We've exchanged notes over the years."

"Has he ever attempted to undo your curse or help with it?"

"He tried a few times. The results speak for themselves. Unfortunately, we had a falling out when his lover left him and started working here. The whole thing became a big ugly mess, and he never forgave me. Why?"

Noah hummed and stood up. "We'll talk more later. Right now, Bella is waiting for me."

He left Cyrilo's room and made his way to Bella's, where he could hear soft moaning. He opened the door to find her naked on the bed, her hand busy between her legs while she played with her nipples.

"What took you so long?" she whined.

"You're just impatient," Noah said as he removed his clothes and got on the bed.

He kneeled beside her, his cock disappearing into her mouth while he began massaging her breasts. He rubbed deep into her flesh, his to play with as he saw fit. She whimpered in bliss from his powerful caress, and even more so when his fingers found their home in her pussy. She was already soaked in anticipation, and she beckoned him ever deeper. She slurped on his member greedily, all the while moaning as he played her like a piano. Noah soon ejaculated into her open mouth and watched her stir it with her tongue.

"You've been saving this up all week, haven't you?" she asked. "It's a shame you can't come every day."

She swallowed it up and sucked Noah back to full erection. He moved between her spread legs and penetrated her, thrusting deep and hard while holding her legs like handlebars. His strokes were deep and fast, and Bella could only grip the sheets while her tumultuous breasts shook from the force of his body. She was euphoric, intoxicated by lust, and her voice matched the chaotic sensations within her.

Noah fucked her like a machine, maintaining that position for several minutes without ever slowing down. Much like in his fight with Valia, his great stamina made him a force to be reckoned with. He eventually came to a stop after her climax so that they could both catch their breath. He and Bella were glistening in the summer morning heat and the smell of their mixed fluids hung in the air like a sinful perfume.

It took Noah moments to regain his strength, and he promptly rolled Bella onto her stomach and took her from behind. His pace was the same as before, leaving Bella grabbing at the bed like a shipwrecked sailor in this storm of orgasms. The overlapping grunts and moans formed the thunder, and every time Noah made her cum, they would both be splashed by the sea of her arousal. Her fluffball bunny tail was bobbing like a buoy in the surf, and every thrust sent ripples through her flesh like crashing waves.

Shocking Bella, Noah suddenly took one of his hands off her hip and inserted his middle finger into her anus. He continued his thrusts, all the while sliding his finger back and forth inside her. Her moans were at a higher pitch now, not stopping until he did, when he ejaculated inside her.

She looked back at him with love-crazed eyes. "That's what you wanted? Why didn't you just say so?"

She turned around, getting up on her knees and wrapping her arms around his neck. Her lips met his, and she pulled him down onto his back, then straddled his lap. She reached into her bedside table and pulled out a corked gourd.

"This is special olive oil from the elven country. It's slick and delicious."

She oiled up her tits and then leaned down, sweeping them back and forth against his flaccid cock. She squeezed her breasts together, jacking Noah off with an ecstatic grin on her face. His member, regaining its rigidity, slid back and forth through the center of her womanly shelf, letting Noah feel the softness of her skin. Once it was slick as she needed, she sat up and moved onto his lap. His cock entered her backdoor, and a lascivious blush reddened her face. She began riding him, her glistening breasts heaving as Noah stirred around in her asshole. Her legs, spread wide, showed him his shaft disappearing and reappearing in her ass while his seed trickled out of her pussy.

"You like that, don't you, darling? You can do whatever you want to me."

Noah sat up and pulled her against him. His hands found her full cheeks, and he squeezed and massaged them to the sounds of her blissful whimpers. He began lifting and dropping her while he licked the oil off her tits. Bella wrapped her slender arms around him, moaning as he brought her to climax. When he finally let her go, she spun around on his cock, showing her back to him.

"Keep your eye on my tail," she said coyly.

It was the same routine she did on their first night. She began shaking her ass in all directions like a paint-mixer, with speed and dexterity that no other girl in the Knight's Sheath could match. Her tail, zooming from side to side, drew Noah's eye like a cat spotting a laser pointer. With all her shaking and bouncing, his cock was whisking around her asshole like he was hollowing it out to make a jack-o-lantern.

This pace couldn't be maintained for long, and when Bella began to tire, Noah took over. He pulled her back against his chest, his hands sliding under her knees and lifting her legs. He started driving straight up, punishing her anus with deep, rapid strokes. It was the loudest she had ever moaned, a fitting reaction as Noah fucked her like a jackhammer. The clapping of flesh was equally lurid, with the back of her thighs rippling against his lap while he stretched her ring.

Her eyes were directed downward to the bulge below her stomach, rising and falling each time Noah drove deep inside her. The look on her face was as though an alien was about to burst out of her chest. Still, Noah had more cards to play. He braced her feet on his knees, freeing up one of his hands to begin playing with her pussy. Tickling her clitoris and probing her g-spot, they were more than she could endure.

"Oh God, I'm cumming!" she hollered over and over, her tone voicing the surprise that Noah wasn't stopping.

Even when she squirted like a fountain, spraying clear liquid near across the room, he continued his anal assault. It was when she felt him empty himself inside her that he finally slowed down and stopped. They were still, gasping for air with Bella lying atop Noah, the two of them slick with sweat and oil.

"You know," Bella panted, "you make it really hard to feel motivated when it comes to my other clients."

"Don't start talking like that now. We're not even close to done."

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When morning finally turned to afternoon, Noah toweled off, got dressed, and made his way downstairs for a drink. Bella was knocked out cold, and finally, the brothel could regain its peace. Now that it was the afternoon, more customers were starting to trickle in, including cadets. Unlike Noah, they were in uniform with their academy weapons, coming to blow off some steam.

"If you want to go out and drink, don't drag me along," said Gideon, passing through the door.

"Every time I do that, I promise myself I'll stop at three," said Foley, leading him to the counter. "The problem is that I'm a shameless liar. And I'll lie right to my own face, too. That's the tragic part. 'Self,' I say, 'I promise that I'm not going to "drink my age." I swear I am going to walk out of this bar, not be thrown out. And may the gods strike me dead if I wake up tomorrow in a barn with my pants around my ankles, yet again.'"

"All right, all right, I get it."

"Relax, I'm buying. I've heard great things about this place."

Noah found Daniel at one of the tables, rolling cigarettes with a large bowl of gonlief. He began to laugh as soon as he saw Noah.

"Finally, I can hear myself think. Dude, forget the knight academy; you should be working here. You could rake in so much money from lonely housewives."

"Well, it's easy to be the best in this world. Unsurprisingly, they have no word for "clitoris" in this country. Compared to all the other men, I feel like I'm playing with cheat codes."

Noah took a seat and began rolling cigarettes while a girl brought him a stein of mead.

"So, what's life like at the academy?"

"It's basically like joining the army. Half of each day is spent doing physical training. The food is decent, though."

"And the girls?"

"Plenty. Right now, I'm still getting a lay of the land. How about you? Still sleeping in the cot in the backroom?"

"Nah, I got my own room now, real bed. Now, if only I had a working toilet and a TV."

"And Wi-Fi."

"Fuck, I wish this place had Internet. I've been reading through Cyrilo's books, and it's worse than high school."

"You've been reading her books? Researching magic?"

"No, I'm making a list of every famous person, event, and place I can find, and I'm seeing which of them rhyme. I want to be able to sing "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "I've Been Everywhere," but I have to rewrite them. Otherwise, nobody will know what the hell I'm talking about."

"Great, now those songs are going to be stuck in my head all day. How's everything else going?"

"Fine, why?"

"Just checking."

"Don't worry about me. Things are good."

Noah looked over Daniel's shoulder as the door opened. "I'm not sure they are going to stay that way."

Princes Seraph and Galvin had just entered, along with the despondent Sophia and two male cadets that Noah didn't recognize. Before Noah could act, Seraph spotted him and made a B-line for his table. He towered over Noah and Daniel with a smug look.

"You must be Cadet Noah. I finally get to meet you face to face." There was no hospitality in his voice.

"Cadet? Sorry, you got the wrong guy. I was knocked out in that big brawl on enrollment day and given the boot."

"Don't give me that shit. You're not running away this time. I'm just dying to know how someone as weak-looking as you was able to scratch that elf bitch."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Look, I'm just trying to relax before I have to get back to work. I don't want any trouble."

Over at the counter, Foley did his best not to acknowledge the scene, like all the other patrons. Gideon was watching it play out, looking for any excuse to jump in and start hurling punches. Lucius appeared from the backroom, and upon seeing Seraph and Galvin, sported a sizeable angry vein in his forehead. He came out from behind the counter, something he didn't usually do until things turned violent. "You! You are not welcome here! Begone, now!"