Walking behind Kolia, I felt Leone sneak her hand into mine, my Vampire lover giving me a tight squeeze.
Squeezing back, I looked down and gave her a small smile, watching on lovingly as she leaned her head against my arm, walking slowly beside me.
All the mages inside the camp looked our way, curiosity, respect, or indifference present in their eyes.
They all followed us with their gazes, wondering what we were doing inside their section of the encampment, only to nod in understanding as they saw Kolia in front of us.
Stopping in the center of the sea of tents, Kolia took a deep breath before shouting "Liga! Aurae! Come here!"
Raising a brow, I smirked slightly at the surprisingly loud shout of my former mentor, who turned back to look towards us.
Seeing my smirk, she frowned, only to glare at me as I asked "By the way teach, did you ever find someone to replace that book of yours~?"
Scoffing, she turned away instantly, her ears slightly red as she snapped "No, and it's none of your business! I don't need anyone!"
Chuckling, I grinned at her as I replied "That book would say differently~! Surely you've been looking around, teach~?"
Glaring at me once more, the woman's flushed cheeks made my grin widen, only for me to sigh as Leone pinched my waist.
Coughing into her fist, the snake tattooed woman nodded in thanks to Leone, who nodded back, before we all turned towards the sound of someone laughing.
Approaching us was a thin, hawkish faced woman, her skin a pale green splotched with white that matched her pure white eyes.
Long green hair was pulled into a braid that snaked down her right shoulder, which was covered by her opened grey cloak.
"Lady Kolia~! What did you need love?"
She wore a wide, charming smile, giving her a handsome look; a look that made Kolia gulp before she gestured towards us.
Holding back the urge to smirk at her, I looked over the Wind Djinn that approached, the woman also giving me a look over as well.
"Yes ma'am! Aurae of Zephyri, at your service~!"
Giving me an exaggerated bow, the Djinn's eyes hardened slightly as she noticed the House Asmodia symbol hanging on my belt.
"Kolia told me you had a problem with Nobility, to which I can understand; not all of us are exactly... worthy of the titles given to us at birth, but you needn't worry about me."
Smiling at her, I summoned a small sphere of light on my palm, dazzling the area around us in a warm gold hue that attracted the attention of the mages once more.
Her eyes softened at the sight, nodding as she muttered "Well, so far, so good..."
Chuckling, I glanced towards Kolia again, who was frowning as she looked around the tents.
"Liga! Where the blazing hells are you!?"
Shouting once more, she narrowed her eyes as she searched for the missing Tigerkin, making some of the surrounding mages chuckle in amusement.
One of the tents flaps billowed outwards as a bulky, fur covered humanoid walked outside, shaking its head a few times before turning towards us.
Seeing a Tiger walking on two legs towards us, I nodded slightly to myself as I realized that this Liga woman was amongst the rare few Beastkin who were either 'blessed' or 'cursed' to look more like their namesakes.
Depending on the person you asked, resembling a Tiger as a Tigerkin could be a blessing or a curse; you had more benefits from that animal now, granting you more prowess from that animal.
However, in exchange, you look like said animal, which, for most people, is... unnerving.
Approaching us, the woman named Liga reached up to stroke her whiskers, all while her warm amber eyes raked over us.
"Miss Kolia, what is it that you need? I was in the midst of conducting... an experiment."
Smoothing out the wrinkles on her deep green robe, the woman frowned as she glanced towards Leone and I, before returning her gaze to Kolia.
"Alright you two; the Commander and Marquess have told Jahi here to create a squad of her own, and she wants a mage to join her for the duration of the Crusade. You two were the ones that I recommended for her, so..."
Turning towards me, Kolia smiled at me as she said "Take it away~", stepping back and looking over the two women who focused on me.
"Like Kolia said, I need to create my own squad for the duration of this Crusade, and I wanted someone with some powerful arcane might to join me alongside a healer. Came over here first, so..."
Looking over the two women, I saw Aurae frown slightly while Liga glanced away, slightly bored.
"Anyways, whoever joins me can get sponsored by the Asmodia Family for a year; whatever research it is that you want to conduct will be funded by us, so long as it isn't... idiotic or unprofitable."
That made the two women perk up, the obvious greed in their eyes as they heard the promise of funding forcing me to hold back a snicker.
Magicians all held the same unquenchable thirst to know more about the arcane arts; it was engraved into their very soul to want to understand everything there was in the world.
Anput and I weren't considered 'magicians' even though we utilized our magics; that term was reserved for those like Leone and...
Either way, Liga and Aurae were now whole heartedly focused on me, the both of them thinking of ways to convince me to take them.
With narrowed eyes they looked at each other, understanding now that they were each others competition.
With a small smile on my lips, I gestured towards the open field nearby, saying "How about a quick little spar between you both? Since I'm looking for power, whoever wins joins me for the rest of the Crusade~!"
Question: Do you guys prefer these two shorter chapters or the single, longer chapters? Just curious, cause for the moment I prefer these two shorter chapters; more gets out but they're easier to write since I don't need to force myself to 1500 words in one sitting...
Just curious, might go back to the longer ones if people would rather them.