James struggled to explain his reasoning for a few minutes before giving up.
"Okay we're not friends then. Is that better?"
The girls looked at him happily and James's mood turned even worse.
'I've never seen someone so excited to not be my friend.. that kinda of hurts man..'
"Well whatever.. now that's outta the way, Emily would you like to share with the class?"
He got a confused look from them again.
'How does this saying not exist here…'
*sigh* "Your story I mean. What has the great Emily Dell been up to all her life."
"Ooohh.. well here goes nothing I guess. Let's see.. where should I start..
I'll take take it back to my childhood like Nica did. I had a messy childhood growing up I suppose.. but it wasn't as bad as Nica's. My mother was a Marchioness who supported Duchess…? I don't remember who she swore fealty to, now that I think about it.
Let me say first that I didn't lie when I said I grew up in Creekrock before, but my earliest memories are from the time I spent with my real family. Well, until I was deemed useless that is.
I've never told anyone before, besides Nica and Justine, but my family was a group of assassins that did hits on political figures for profit. So growing up, my family was very strict as you can imagine.
From the time I could walk, I was training in the art of killing. My older sisters were pretty mean to me and punished me worse than mother ever did when I failed at something.
I don't really remember too much of it anymore, other than flashes of chains and cages. That was my sisters favorite punishment for me if I remember correctly.
They would bind me in chains and toss me into a cage for a few days. Eventually, they would let me out and have a water mage on standby to clean off my.. urine and stuff. I remember trying to hold it in, but I would always end up having to relieve myself.
Anyway.. that was my life until I was about eight years old. I didn't seem to be making as much progress as mother wanted and I was actually dropped off in Creekrock by a few of my family's guards.
Just like that I was thrown away.
I guess it was pretty bad at first.. but I had a home that was payed for and a pouch of coins to keep me alive until I could go out on missions to earn some more.
What Nica didn't mention is that when she got to Creekrock, another person helped her out. I had been in town by myself for two years at that point and was a little lonely.
So when I saw another girl my age with nothing like me, it was an easy decision to ask her to live with me.
Veronica had gotten it in her head that she wanted to be apart of something greater and kept trying to join the militia. She kind of sucked me into it with her enthusiasm and I followed her.
Things are pretty similar to Veronica's story after that and the rest you already know.
Oh! Silly me, I almost forgot. I like besting a monster stronger than me in combat and I love every kind of spicy food."
'What the fuck are these absurd backstories.. and I thought I had it bad..'
"That's awful Emily.. I'm glad you were able to turn out as wonderful as you are despite what's happened to you."
Emily grew happy from his praise and smiled brightly.
Then the realization that Emily and Veronica basically grew up together struck him.
"How did I not notice? You two act like you don't even know each other half the time. Are you girls mad at each other or something? This is so weird... I feel like I understand why Justine assigned you to watch over me with Veronica now."
He got confirmation a moment later as the blue haired woman nodded.
Veronica's face looked like a kid caught in a lie.
"James we didn't mean to deceive you.. it just kinda of happened. We've been trying to stay professional in front of you so that we can better serve your needs."
Then Emily spoke with a laugh.
"Professional.. *Aaahahaha* you should've seen Veronica's face when you oathbound me before her."
Emily wiped a tear from her eye.
"Holy goddess she was so mad! I thought that she was gonna put an arrow in my back when I wasn't looking."
Veronica's fists pounded her knees.
"Was not! I had my helm on so you couldn't even see my face.."
"You were totally mad as hell!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh! And when you got oathbound, you looked like a little girl reading a romance book!"
"Em'! Stop being a bitch in front of James!"
"I know you didn't just call me a bitch with your overgrown—"
Emily was cut off by James laughing.
*Hahaha* "I wasn't convinced before, but know I can totally see you girls as close friends. This is so unexpected." *Hahaha*
The two girls were embarrassed by their outburst in front of him after trying so hard to seem professional.
James finished laughing as he spoke.
"You girls should stop worrying about being professional, unfortunately I don't think I ever thought you were."
Their mouths opened in shock at his revelation.
"I'd like it if you girls were just yourselves, not playing some character. When we're alone like this, feel free to argue, gossip or whatever. It would make me happy."
A tension broke that James didn't even know existed and the mood in the room became much more jovial, despite the heartbreaking stories being told.
He was still sitting in Emily's lap and he turned his head up. He stared into her eyes and puckered his lips slightly.
She took the hint and leaned down to kiss him. Her face was flushed as she broke away.
He heard Veronica's voice.
"You should know this for later James… Emily's biggest fantasy is to kiss a man as he cums inside—"
"Veronica!"
Veronica put her hand up to her mouth.
"What? I was just trying to help you out.. you should be thanking me!"
"I'm gonna break-"
Emily cut off as an evil look passed over her.
"Then I guess James should know that you want him to humiliate you and make fun of your small cock while he—"
"SS-S-STOP!"
Veronica had her hand on her short sword.
James started laughing again as the two revealed each others secrets.
They calmed down after a while and James got off Emily. He went over to an eager Justine who readily accepted him into her lap.
"So I guess it's your turn. I want to hear about you now if your willing to share."
Justine's tone was a little concerning as she replied.
"I'm willing to do anything for you James."
"O-okay.."
"I will tell you everything.
First when I was born it was a chilly night of a winter solstice and I was born at 14.6 pounds. The midwife said I cried for an hour straight before I went to sleep. When I woke I was fed by a nursing maid of mothers staff until I fell asleep again. When I woke again—"
She kept talking and talking and James mind was starting to hurt at the torrent of words assaulted him.
"Justine, that's too much! Too much information!"
Justine looked a little sad as he stopped her.
"I appreciate your willingness to share and I want hear your story, I really do. But I want to hear what made you.. you. Not a play by play of your entire life…"
Her expression eased as she understood that he still wanted to hear about her.
"Sorry master.. I got too excited.."
James leaned up and kissed her cheek.
"Don't apologize for being yourself, I'm just impatient and want to hear about the ups and downs."
Justine paused for a moment before nodding.
"I should have plenty of those.. let's start with an up then.
Not to brag but my childhood was drastically better than Veronica's or Emily's.
My mother is a Baroness who is a stalwart supporter of a Countess who rules a city in the Menesh Duchy. I grew up in Menesh which is on the border of our kingdoms land where it meets the Black Sea to the east.
The port city Crale also shares its border with Roranspoc and is quite isolated at the edge of the kingdom.
I spent alot of my youth traveling between Roranspoc city and Crale as my mother tried to gain some small influence with the minor nobility.
The worst part of my childhood was just constant travel and attending gatherings while mother tried to charm and win favor within the small circle of nobles.
I believe my first 'up' moment was when when my mother finally got what she wanted and started to leave me alone. I'm not saying she was neglecting me, but as a child I had grown bored of the constant balls and banquets.
Finally I had time to myself where I could indulge myself playing as I liked. Without any other children my age to play with I took a great interest in reading.
Romances and histories. Encyclopedias and battle tactics. The was my first up of discovering my love for reading..
The first down I suffered was when I entered the academy at fifteen. It was new and exciting when I first entered. Soon I quickly discovered that higher nobility didn't much like backcountry nobles like me.
I didn't suck up to the higher nobility like others did who were in the same position as me and I became a sort of outcast.
That was fine by me until the academy's hierarchy was established..
Every year without fail in an attempt to prove and establish themselves, the higher nobility creates a pecking order.
Unfortunately since I didn't play nice and try to get in anyone's good graces, I was an easy target without protection.
A group of minor nobility who were frustrated with their own situation took it out on me.
It was mostly harmless at first with a few mean words and veiled threats. My second year was a bit different when they started to physically attack me.
I wasn't bothered that much by it because I had experienced another up at the time. I had done fairly well on all the year end tests and practical exams.
There's a ranking system at the academy that gives more support to the students who preform well on those tests.
The bullying grew worse and worse for the rest of the year and it was getting a bit much to take quietly.
So before the school year ended I fought back, I still lost but I had injured a couple of them so it felt like a personal victory to me.
I had tremendous fun over the summer and was enthralled by the project I had chose. My last fight with the other students slipped my mind and I entered my third year.
They came at me with a vengeance every day and of course I fought back. Unfortunately this took a toll on my grades and my ranking slipped dramatically.
After a particularly nasty fight I hadn't seen the bullies in a few weeks and I finally thought it was over.
I soon found out that was wishful thinking.
One day I had gone to bed early for an upcoming practical assessment. I was woken up in the middle of the night by the bullies.
There we're usually only two or three but this night they were five in all.
They held me down and raped me from midnight to sunrise, I was found by a teacher a day later when my absence was noticed.
Those girls were not gentle and left me catatonic.
The teachers are afraid of noble politics and didn't do anything about my assault and for my last few months at the academy, I became the personal cum hole of my bullies.
I had thoughts of taking my own life but the girls started drugging me and I began willingly seeking them out so they could degrade and abuse me.
After the academy I got a notice that I was selected to be the next mayor of Creekrock thanks to my mother's efforts. That was my post until you arrived."
Justine had a small smile on her face that didn't show a hint of sorrow at what happened to her.
James's heart shattered into pieces when he looked at her when she continued speaking.
"I like reading a lot and I'm very fond of pastries."
She then looked away from his gaze.
"I understand if you don't want to fulfill your quota with a defiled slave like me, I'll always be grateful to you no matter what. Thank you for listening, Master."