The Protagonist System

58 A Side Trip Or Two

It was surprisingly easy for me to have an appointment with a girl that was raised in a monastery for her entire life. You would think that they would have some kind of restrictions for a nun meeting a man she didn't know, like supervision of an older nun or having it in a public place like the rectory or the confessional.

They did none of that and led me to a private meeting room and Josette was brought to me soon after. It was almost funny how much she looked like Tabitha, aka Princess Charlotte, and I had to fight my strong urge to run across the room to hug and cuddle the cutie. She seemed to notice my struggle and blushed slightly.

I waited for the priest to leave before I spoke. “My name is Saito Bell Issei Hyudou Cranel Hiraga and I only have two questions for you.”

Josette gave me that tilted head look. “Do I know who I am and do I want to leave here.”

“You're just as smart as your sister... and you're right about the first question. ” I said and couldn't fight my instincts anymore. I walked across the room and wrapped my arms around her. “The second question is do you want me to help you.”

Josette blushed fully as I cuddled her and she looked up into my eyes. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Checking your answers.” I said and made her a temporary party member and saw the conditions she had. Compulsions and magical vow bindings practically glowed around her when I cast the comprehensive diagnostic spell that I used on Hephaestus to diagnose her curse.

I spent 500 Karma points to clear her conditions and changed her Void affinity to Water with Ice specialty, just like Tabitha. Josette gasped as my magic changed her and her body glowed. It took several seconds for it to work and I watched her eyes behind her glasses as she realized what had been happening to her for years.

The brainwashing was as clear as day to her now and her cute face showed anger as her magic flowed through her at a strength that surprised her.

“Let me go, Saito. I need my hands free for this.” Josette ordered me.

“As you command, princess.” I said and let her go as I stepped back.

Josette pulled a miniature staff out of her pocket and it grew to full size. She gathered a lot of power to herself, almost too much, then she did something amazing. She tapped the floor with the end of it and wave of magic flowed out of her as everything was encased in ice and frozen solid. I followed it using a detection spell and after 200 feet, I couldn't tell you what was happening.

“Saito, if you would be so kind.” Josette said and motioned to the frozen wall.

I gave her a smile and drew my sword. “I would be honored, princess.”

Josette watched as I charged my mythril sword with Holy Lightning and her eyes widened.

“You might want to close your eyes for this part.” I said and took a fighting pose, then I dashed to the wall and slammed my sword into the wall.

*BBBBZZZOOOOOWWWW!* *WHI-CRASH!*

The entire ice-frozen monastery was engulfed with Holy Lightning and then shattered like glass. Josette uncovered her eyes and she looked around at the piles and piles of ice shards no bigger than a finger. She looked at me, at my sword, and at all of the open space around us where a monastery used to be that was filled with corrupted holy people.

“Thank you for letting me do that, your highness.” I said and sheathed my sword. Removing and entire corrupted order of priests and fake holy people gave me a huge Karma point bonus. I held a hand out to the princess and she took it with a happy smile. I waved at the shocked dragon waiting in the field across the road to let Sylphid know that we were okay. “Your chariot awaits.”

Josette nodded and let me escort her across the icy landscape and then across the road to the dragon. It sniffed at her and nodded, then knelt to allow her to climb on. I patted the dragon's side and walked back across the distance to a spot I had detected with my magic. I used Fire to melt away the ice shards and then opened up the stairwell.

Josette and Sylphid watched as I descended underground. I cast a silence spell on the entrance and then I drew my sword again. I had a few more holy people to remove from this world and some more treasure to plunder. It wasn't like the church was going to need it after today.

*

Tabitha was having a wonderful time reconnecting with her mother and telling her all of the things she had accomplished for the kingdom over the years, the latest being enrolled in the magic academy and settling the water spirit that was flooding the countryside.

The door to the room opened and both she and her mother gasped at the sight. The nurse fainted.

“Mother. Sister.” Josette said and strode into the room as if she owned it.

“My baby.” Their mother said and opened her arms.

The three female family members embraced and more tears were shed. The sharing of life stories continued with the new addition and the three of them didn't notice that a certain armored young man had already left and bribed the dragon for another ride.

*

Two and a half hours later, Sylphid landed near the village of Tarbes and I slid off of her back. It was easy to find the hidden garage where Siesta's family had stored their family's mechanical dragon. Sylphid watched with curiosity as I opened the large hangar doors and revealed the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane. Sylphid made a scoff sound at it, probably because it didn't look like a dragon.

It was used by the Japanese Navy on aircraft carriers and they had an extremely long flight range of 1,600 miles and could fly for 8 to 12 hours if you were economical with the fuel. The plane was in pristine condition, despite the family not having any similar technology to work from.

Siesta's great-grandfather must have drilled its maintenance into his children's heads for them to take care of the plane so well. Luckily, it was mostly mechanical inside with no significant electronics, besides the radio, and that wouldn't work here without the requisite radio towers anyway.

“I need to build a special trunk for this thing to fit.” I said and Sylphid barked a laugh. “Yeah, you laugh now...” I trailed off and took off my backpack to get to work. It was going to be a really weird trunk with such a wide opening, just because I didn't want to possibly damage the thing by compressing it through a smaller opening.

Half an hour of enchanting work and stretching a single trunk to the width of the wingspan, I felt comfortable enough to set it behind the plane and opened it, then unlocked the brakes and removed the blocks by the wheels. I pushed the plane backwards and it slid into the expanded space easily.

I set the blocks back and locked the brakes once more, cast cushioning charms on everything, and closed the trunk. To Sylphid's shock, I put the really long trunk into my backpack and put it on.

“I'm ready to head back.” I said and the dragon stared at me like I had two heads. I did not make the joke that I did have two heads and sometimes thought with the other one. It was too easy.

Sylphid accepted another bribe and we were on our way.

When we returned to the palace in Gallia, no one noticed we had left. It made me laugh and I sat with some of the excited staff as they ate in the small dining room. I had changed out of my armor and wore my commoner clothes, so no one noticed that I wasn't supposed to be there. I finished eating and left the room, changed my clothes to become a noble again, and went to the wing of the castle where the duchess was.

I wasn't surprised to hear them arguing about who was going to ascend to the throne with their uncle dead. The duchess couldn't, because her husband would have to be alive for her to claim to be queen. That meant it went to the eldest daughter, Tabitha aka Princess Charlotte. She didn't want to become queen with her life finally getting back to normal and didn't want to give that up.

Josette said she would become queen on her behalf and pretend to be her, since she had no life anyway and giving up nothing wouldn't bother her. Their mother sighed and tried to convince them that there was no way that they could fool the entire kingdom that the younger daughter was the elder one, especially since Josette wasn't supposed to exist.

“Then change their names.” I suggested and all three women turned to stare at me. “If Princess Charlotte is set to become Queen of Gallia, then we switch Charlotte's and Josette's names and Josette can become Charlotte and Tabitha can keep using her fake name at school. No one will ever know the difference.”

“That... that's brilliant.” Tabitha said and gave me a pointed look. “Where were those brains before?”

I chuckled. “They're there, just well hidden.”

Josette and their mother smiled.

“How do you suggest we accomplish this feat?” Their mother asked. “Just signing documents won't work.”

I walked over and put a hand on Tabitha's shoulder and then Josette's. “I'll take care of it with my magic.” I said and did a quick name switch with them as temporary party members.

Both girls sucked in sharp breaths and then exchanged surprised looks. A moment later, they both leaned in and kissed my cheeks before they spoke at the same time. “Thank you, Saito.”

I couldn't stop my erection from showing and that made the two girls giggle softly.

“I cannot believe... how did you do that?” The duchess whispered.

“Magic.” Tabitha and her sister said at the same time.

“With that done, we really need to get back to the academy.” I said and motioned to the door.

Tabitha nodded and hugged her mother, hugged her sister, and took my hand. We left two very happy people behind as we exited the castle and met up with Sylphid again. We climbed onto her back and we began the long flight back to Tristain.

“Louise is going to be angry at you for being away from her for two days.” Tabitha said over the rush of wind around us.

I laughed and she glanced back at me. “I'm not stupid enough to do that. She's in an enchanted sleep and won't even realize that any time has passed or that I've been gone.”

Tabitha looked shocked for a moment, then she smiled a happy smile and nodded. We flew to the first rest stop and Sylphid relaxed and pretended to take a nap. I knew this because she had those half-lidded eyes staring at me.

When I turned towards Tabitha with a smile and opened my mouth to ask if Sylphid always pretended to sleep, I was tackled to the ground and kissed passionately. After several minutes, we were about half undressed and my reasoning came back with a rush.

I broke the kiss and caught her roaming hands before she opened my pants. “Tabitha, what are you doing?”

Tabitha gave me a knowing smirk and reached into the side of her bag and pulled out a mistress contract. She had prepared it for Josette, because as the second princess, she wasn't allowed to ascend to the throne. Since she was now named Josette, she had signed it and it was legally binding. My mouth dropped open as my party updated and I gained a third mistress and a party member.

Tabitha tossed the paper aside and tackled me again. “Don't disappoint me, Saito.”

I didn't, as her screams of pleasure proved. It was always the quiet ones that made the most noise.

Syphid certainly had an eyeful as we went at it and she learned a lot more about human anatomy than she ever thought she would.

*

Louise woke up after the best sleep she had ever slept. She rolled over onto her side and snuggled into her favorite cuddle pillow that did the most wonderful things with his tongue and his fingers. In fact, she felt quite a bit better than she had when she went to sleep... and also a little horny.

Her hand went down to what was becoming her favorite plaything and she found it was soft. She sighed with disappointment and let it go. It wasn't as fun to steal moments like that if he wasn't already hard. Who would have thought it would keep shooting if you kept playing with it, even with him asleep? It was like a never-ending fountain!

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Saito whispered.

“Eh.” Louise said and sighed again. “Morning.”

Saito chuckled. “Someone's grumpy they can't play today.”

Louise sat up and looked down at him, her eyes roaming over his muscles and she couldn't stop herself from regretting that she couldn't sign a mistress contract to get by his marriage vows and her own chastity clause with her family. With her betrothal to Wendes ended, she was put up on the market once more and would have to start meeting potential suitors.

“We should keep to the agreement we made going to the capital.” Saito reminded her and she nodded with a sigh. “It's not so bad to stay friends, is it?”

“No.” Louise said and climbed out of bed. “Bath time?”

Saito agreed and they went to the bath and took one together. Just relaxing and letting the world pass them by was the best. They spent twenty minutes just sitting there in the water and not talking or doing anything.

When they were done, they dried off and helped each other dress, then left to go eat breakfast. The place was nearly empty with nearly everyone gone home for the break. Tabitha, her best friend Kirche, the blond boy Guiche, and his betrothed Montmorency, were the only ones at their year table.

“Good morning, fellow moochers.” Saito greeted them with a wave.

The tall redhead looked scandalized and Tabitha smiled. Guiche barked a laugh and Montmorency hit his arm.

“He means we're staying at the school and giving the remaining cooking staff something to do.” Louise corrected him.

“That's what I said.” Saito said and walked around the table to give Tabitha a kiss on the lips.

Kirche gasped and stared at them, as did Guiche and Montmorency. Louise was too shocked by the blatant act that she didn't know how to react.

“Mistress.” Tabitha said as an explanation and they nodded in understanding.

Louise felt sad about that, mostly because she couldn't accept it, even if she was the third sister in her own family. Her status was much too high for her to throw all of that prestige away.

“Oh, there are the other two. Excuse me for a minute.” Saito said and walked off towards the head table. The other teachers and remaining students were stunned when he gave deep kisses to both Professor Chevreuse and Professor Cybil.

The two women let out soft laughs and motioned for him to go back to Louise's table. He bowed slightly to them to make them blush and went back over to Louise, whom gave him a blank stare.

“I need to talk to Mister Colbert and probably Headmaster Osmand after breakfast about something.” Saito said and sat down beside Louise.

“About what?” Guiche asked as he smiled and his eyes sparkled.

“You're getting quick with that glamour spell. I didn't see your wand move.” Saito complimented.

“Thank you.” Guiche said, proudly.

“I found one of the legendary metal dragons and need a miner to acquire metal to try and replicate it.” Saito said and complete silence fell around him. “What is it?” He asked and paused his eating.

“You can't be serious!” Louise exclaimed. “There's a reason it's legendary!”

Saito chuckled. “I know. I saw it and I have to say it's a prime example of mechanical engineering. All the parts should be easily reproducible, thanks to transfiguration, and even people with no real knowledge of how it works can maintain it.”

The others just stared at him and didn't speak.

“I need to look at the bullets for the machine guns and see if they can be reproduced with the local gunpowder. If they can, the only thing needed is for people to learn how to fly it.”

“You don't fly a dragon. You tell it where to go and it flies.” Tabitha said.

Saito gave her a warm smile. “This dragon doesn't have a brain and is fully mechanical. Levers, switches, pedals, the whole works. Someone has to control everything.”

“How do they do that?” Kirche asked.

“With practice.” Saito said and started eating again.