I felt it when Jack and the others left the city walls. I sighed in frustration. Yet another time where the covenant is inconvenient. Being able to sense life signs at the cash site would be simple at my level of cultivation, but we all agreed to keep our dominio inside our city’s walls.

  I sighed again. Was I anxious? The thought hit me like cold water. I was anxious. That was what I was feeling: anxiety. I needed Jack to come back alive. In so many ways, he was exactly what my city needed. The birth rate was getting worse. We weren’t that far off from it becoming a 6-to-1 ratio. The pure human bloodline Jack represented was a fresh drink of water to a woman dying of thirst—all the more reason to give him protection. I knew many of the nobles would jockey for his hand in marriage only to turn him into a breeding stud. I refused to let that happen. I would make sure he lets me vet them. Not to mention, I was due for another husband anyway.

  I opened the door to my study and sat down at the desk. A moment later, my majordomo, Filippa, entered and placed the forms for citizenship down in front of me. She stepped to the side and waited, looking at me. “Yes, Filippa?”

  “Your majesty, I thought you might like to know that rumors have already been circulating of your guest and where he came from. Two inquiries have been dropped off, one from Marchesa Beatrice della Soranzi and the other from Contessa Lucrezia della Rossa.”

  “Quelle sanguisughe del cazzo! He’s not here for more than 2 hours, and already the two of them want a piece. Beatrice, I understand! She is probably more concerned about the results of the scouting force and whether or not Jack poses a threat—as if a human could ever threaten my city.” I exhale and let my breath carry out the momentary anger. Filippa still stood unmoving, no doubt used to my outbursts. I extend my hand, “Well, let’s see them then.” She handed them to me, and I opened the one from Lucrezia first.

  “Well, this is exactly what I expected it to say. Lucrezia is trying to weasel her way into the pants of a fresh male. Surprise. She’d fuck a tree if it meant having a male she could exploit.”

  “Exploit the tree or the potential male child from the tree, majesty?”

  “Either. Both. Probably both.” I forced mana through the missive, incinerating it between my fingers. Draft a standard response that details will be forthcoming over the next few days. The situation is evolving, etc, etc.” I looked to the next missive, opened it, and began reading.

  “Well, this is slightly surprising. Beatrice is also asking about Jack’s fertility. At least she has the ovaries to come out and say she wants to use him as a breeding stud for some of the officers as a reward.” I sighed, disgusted with the two of them. “Filippa, make sure that no matter what happens, neither of those houses nor any houses connected to them make the short list of accepted nobles allowed to court Jack and his wife-to-be.

  “Of course, your majesty, and the reply to Marchesa della Sorenzi?”

  “The same as the reply to Lucrezia, except make it clear in no uncertain terms that this city will not sponsor a breeding stud, whether it’s Jack or some other male.” I trailed off, my mind on the fertility rituals. “It is possible, Filippa, that Jack may not be interested in ever assisting the Fertility Ritual. The cloud cities view monogamy as a hard rule. I do not believe his fiancée will be okay with sharing him for the ritual. I do not even believe he would be willing even if she were.”

  “Of course, your majesty. And the citizenship forms?”

  “Right.” I take a quick glance over the forms, make sure they are exactly as I remember them. “For his place of residence, list the guest house he was in earlier. For next of kin…” I sighed as I was reminded of how alone the poor man must feel down here. I’d do what I could, of course, but I was a stranger. I needed his fiancée to have survived. He needed a rock, and none of these new faces were capable of being it. “For next of kin, leave it blank.”

  “Will that be all, your majesty?”

  “Yes, Filipa, thank you. Send for another bottle of wine for me on your way out.”

  “Of course, your majesty.” Filippa bowed and left. I stood from the desk and turned around to stare out through the glass doors. Moonlight bathed my gardens, and a light breeze took the blooms for a dance. Palming my glass, I leaned against the door frame and rested my head on the glass.

  “Come back to me alive, caro,” I whispered.

  *****

  The hooves of the horses swallowed the road before us like a starving man before a feast. I hoped they wouldn’t die the same way. It had to have been those enchantments Ippolita mentioned.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “So, cucciolo, tell me about your fiancée. How did you meet?” asked Orsa.

  I glanced her way briefly before bringing my eyes back to the path before us. “We met on a subjugation mission from the Adventurer’s Guild.” All three of them perked up slightly at that.

  “What is a subjugation mission in this context, signore?” asked Chiara

  “They’re a special type of mission the Adventurer’s Guild occasionally puts out. They are in response to dungeon overflows. They’re not particularly common, as each city is diligent in pruning the monster populations of its dungeons. They tend to only happen when a merchant or noble doesn’t have one of their private dungeons attended to for too long.”

  “Private dungeons,” asked Chiara.

  “Yeah. A given city only has 2-3 dungeons. There’s not enough mana from the city’s mana collectors to support more than that. These are owned by the city, and then time slots for dungeon runs are leased out by the Adventurer’s Guild. It’s a very organized process.

  “A private dungeon, though, is on a smaller island that is primarily used for its real estate or its resources. Most of these are magically chained to the main island of the city, but there are some that are further out that are not. Even rarer are the wandering islands, which are islands that actually move around in a set pattern, mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “Well, the island this particular mission was on had a chaotic pattern. It’s one we hadn’t seen before, and from all appearances, it hadn’t passed by a city in a long time.”

  “Do your cities not also move?”

  “No, they stay in place. I read in an old book that they are geosynchronous in order for the cities to experience a natural day and night cycle.”

  “Gio… synchronous?”

  “I don’t know what it means, but I think it just means they are fixed in place the same way your cities on the surface are.”

  “So the island was covered in monsters, cacciolo? Did your fiancée save your life? Is that how you met?” asked Orsa.

  “It’s both more and less complicated than that.”

  *****

  “Hi, I’m Jack Wright. I’m a newish adventurer. I look forward to working with you,” I said to the taller man. He was grizzled in a way that didn’t come from age, but poverty. From what I could hear and feel of his mana, he had only recently broken through to orange. Admittedly, that was still beyond me, but I knew I was close.

  “Hey, Jack, I’m Bill. Just Bill. I believe we’re waiting on the final two assigned to our group. Oh, I think that’s them over there.” Not long after he finished, two women walked up to us.

  “Hello, I’m Stephanie Klutz. I’m a healer. It’s nice to meet everyone,” said a woman in a mage’s robe with chainmail underneath.

  “Hi, I’m Claudia,” said the final woman in a singsong voice.

  I barely registered Claudia’s introduction, and ended up fumbling my own after Bill gave his.

  Stop staring.

  But how could I? She was gorgeous. Not in some fertility-goddess-come-to-life way, but in a quiet way. A way that demanded my attention be on her and nothing else. A way that made my mana sing, and it took all of the control I had to keep my mana from doing more than just thrumming. She looked over at me, and when I smile flashed very briefly across her lips; I knew she noticed. I turned my head as heat rushed to my cheeks.

  Focus. This is a subjugation mission. She’s the healer. Rule number one in adventuring: Do not fuck with the healer. Rule number two: do not fuck the healer.

  I closed my eyes and exhaled. “Everyone got everything they need? We should probably try to get a spot on the ship pretty soon so we can all stick together.”

  “Good idea,” said Bill.

  We managed to find a spot without much issue. It was mostly empty, but I knew that was temporary. By the time the ship set off, over a hundred adventurers would be piled in here. Thankfully, it was a pretty short flight to the wandering island. The ride back could end up being longer depending on how quickly all of the teams cleared their areas.

  “Is this everyone’s first subjugation mission?” Claudia asked. She looked around and caught all of our nods.

  “It’s my second. Sort of. I did a very small one for the Lucas and Sons merchant house. They own one of the islands tethered to the city. The main resource gathered there is herbs, I think.”

  “Ah,” Bill chimed in, “So rather than keep men at arms on the payroll, they hire out adventurers once a year for the harvest.”

  “Bingo! At least that’s my guess.”

  “You’re orange, right?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yep! I’m more of a blaster than a fighter, but I have a physical enhancement spell I keep up for defenses. Mainly, I’ll be staying near you, though, while the boys beat stuff with their sticks.” That got an eye roll coupled with a smile out of me.

  “Alright, everyone! Listen up!” A voice boomed from the center of the hold that all of us adventurers were in. A barrel-chested man with short-cropped blonde hair in an Adventurer’s Guild uniform hovered a few feet in the air so we could all see him. “We’ll be setting off any—” the ship vibrated with the surge of mana into the engines. “Correction, we’ve set off for our destination. For many of you, this is not your first subjugation, but it’s always someone’s first. So let’s get a few things sorted first.

  “Before we dock, the greens will be jumping from the ship to the island. They’ll clear a landing zone for the rest of us. Once we land, yellows are out next to help establish a perimeter, while the greens clear a path to the dungeon. They’ll be entering as soon as they get there. Standard procedure is that the greens will skip as many of the monsters inside the dungeon as they can, focusing only on the bosses. After they clear the final boss, they’ll start back-clearing all of the floors. Once the perimeter is established and taken over by the ship’s own marine complement, the yellows will then enter the dungeon and clear all of the floors behind the greens and meet somewhere in the middle.

  “Yellows, you know the drill. If it gets too dicey, just wait on the last floor you cleared for the greens to meet up with you. Oranges and reds, you’re on surface duty. For the most part, you’ve been mixed together. Is there any team that does not have an orange-level cultivator on their team? No? Good. Surface teams, before you disembark, speak to me for your zone assignment. I’ll be sending you evenly in the cardinal directions to cover the area as swiftly as possible. Any questions?” He paused for a moment before nodding and letting himself float down to the floor.

  The excitement was finally building in me. A subjugation mission. With this, I might be able to find some insight to push myself to the next threshold. I’d been on the cusp of orange for a couple of months now. I could taste my advancement. I just needed something to help me hear the color.