Knight of Corruption (LitRPG)

38 - Benadora

After taking some time to relax and enjoy some actually edible food, we headed back to the house to find out if Benadora had successfully been released from custody. My knocking on the door was soon reciprocated by that same door being thrown open by a jubilant looking Adrian. "Ren, Cali, come in, come in! We were waiting for you."

We entered the living room slash library and we finally got our first up-close look at the woman who'd been causing us so many headaches over the past few days. Without the furry shawl covering her upper body, Benadora's dress was in plain view, and what a revealing dress it was; this was the traditional Ashmorn garb? Her large chest ballooned outwards, straining the fabric to its limits.

She tucked a wild strand of black hair behind her ear and stood to greet us with a smile. "So you're the two wandering saviours that my Adrian has been working with!" Before I could greet her in return, she pulled my head down into her bosom and smothered me half to death. "Thank you ever so much!"

She was an equal opportunity offender, if Cali was feeling left out she didn't need to. Benadora rounded on her and did the same. After forcing us both to motorboat her, she sat back down and crossed her shapely legs. I wasn't usually the type of person to take notice of 'seductive' behaviour but Benadora was out and proud with it. It made it hard for me to get a read on her.

"...Nice to meet you too," I concluded – unwilling to air any complaints.

"I'm so happy that you assisted Adrian in dismissing those frankly absurd charges against me."

Adrian bowed his head, "I'd like to thank you both again. The Duke's scouts reported that no more giants were crossing the border. Combined with Fernwell's testimony the matter was considered closed." Adrian took a small bag from the table and handed it to me. I loosened the drawstring and peered inside, seeing several valuable silver bars inside.

"That's your payment for the escort," Benadora explained, "But... if you're willing – I have a second bag here with a rather large down payment inside of it."

I had to be sceptical of that. "You're offering me money for something else? You haven't even told me what the job is."

Benadora laughed melodically, "I know. I know. I was looking for the perfect chance to bring it up with you." She turned to a roll of parchment on the table and unfurled it, revealing a map of the coast and the continent that lay to the West. It had a million different names depending on where you came from, but people from Sull and the Federation called it the 'Untamed Land.' The real name used by scholars and mapmakers was Versia.

'Untamed Land' was a pejorative that was used to enforce a colonial claim against it by members of Sull and the Federation. It remained untamed for a good reason. It was significantly more dangerous than Paneusia and contained powerful native collectives that fought off attempts at settlement. It had become something of a battleground between scholars and government leaders, who insisted it should remain untamed for a variety of reasons.

"Before I was so rudely arrested and held by those amendment fools, I had been commissioned by an old friend to visit Versia for a research expedition. I promised them that as soon as I concluded my urgent work here, I would depart with a small team and explore a certain ruin on the coast."

I wracked my brain for the name, "The Tall School?"

Benadora was delighted by my guess. "Ah. I see you're well read! Yes. He's a foremost erudite on the matter of ancient languages. Entering the School and retrieving new material for his research is expensive and time consuming, and it can only be done when the tides are favourable. It'll be long and difficult. I need people I can trust to show their resourcefulness and adapt to many differing circumstances."