"I-Ikaris?" Ellie stammered flushed with shame as she hastily hid her breasts with one hand while pulling up the straps of her dress with the other. She was about to cry, wondering why this was only happening to her.
The boy blanked out, the erotic sight he had just witnessed still etched in his retina, but he quickly pulled himself together and looked away. His mouth dry, he cleared his throat with a hint of guilt.
"Cough, I didn't see anything..."
'Liar.' Magnus snickered telepathically.
Recognizing him, Malia came to her senses a little and muttered in a small, sleepy voice,
"What's going on?"
"I need my Stele." Ikaris replied plainly, pointing to the Stele nestled between her breasts.
Malia followed his gaze, and found that in panic she had dropped her "pillow", but it had remained snugly wedged in place. Feeling the boy's lingering gaze, she started to blush and instinctively raised her sword at him.
With time running out, Ikaris thrust his hand into the young woman's cleavage at lightning speed and promptly dashed backwards.
Clang!
The Tartarus Enforcer intercepted the blade of an outraged Malia, red with shame, and the teenager inwardly applauded the skill of his bodyguard.
"Sorry Malia, but I don't have time for this childish crap. You can stare at my pecs all you want." Ikaris teased her with a roguish smile.
After this tasteless joke, with no time to lose, he linked his mind to the Elsisn Stele and conveyed his intention. This time he didn't even have to use his Appraisal Spell, because it used a similar interface to answer him.
[Do you want to change the refugee summoning settings?]
'Yes.'" Ikaris confirmed with an urgent tone.
[Do you want to summon only humans who are both phenotypically and genetically close to the Lord, or do you want to expand the summoning to other races and species?]
The boy was stumped when he read the question, but after a short while he understood what it was all about. By default, the setting was based on his own species: A human Crawling-Thrall. If he had not answered this question, he might have faced a catastrophe.
He asked the Stele for several details while manipulating the interface in his mind and soon finished his selection.
[All human races and species morphologically similar, sentient and not hostile to the Lord and humanity as a whole are allowed for summoning with the exception of the Glenring race and its variants.]
[Do you want to define a summoning point?]
The question he had been waiting for finally arrived, and he agreed without hesitation. A stream of data was downloaded into his mind without him being able to resist and he instantly grasped how to define this point. With less than a minute left, he ran outside and set up a small circular area of about 10 meters radius roughly 50 meters from the Lord's cottage.
[Summoning point established.]
Just as he received confirmation, there was a fleeting flash of light in front of him, so brief that he almost thought he was hallucinating. Except that now the patch of tall grass was occupied by a dozen individuals.
There were 7 men and 5 women and Ikaris noticed at first glance that two of them were not human. Like him and Ellie when they first arrived in this world, they were stark naked and seemed a bit disoriented.
When they saw their new Lord, the summoned had an immediate fondness for the teenager, but when they saw the monstrous Tartarus Enforcer standing like a shadow behind him, they shuddered in fear.
Hesitantly, one of them stepped forwards, a middle-aged man who seemed to be the oldest of them. "Please, sir. I am Zedd Devom, may I ask where we are and what I am doing here? Why are we... naked?"
Ikaris failed to understand his gibberish. Realizing he no longer had Grallu with him to magically teach them the language of the Forsaken Lands, he motioned for them to wait and then ran to one of the supply crates. Anaphiel and Ramiro had already told them the day before how to solve this issue.
Moments later, he returned with a nail-size pale gray crystal bead. It was an artificial Bloodspark. The crystal served as a receptacle for the Knowledge Sorcerer, who would charge it by casting the desired spell.
To use this consumable Bloodspark, Ikaris just had to hold it in his hand and reach out to it as if he wanted to use his own Divine Spark. And so he did.
On the surface, nothing seemed to change, but he knew by the dumbstruck expressions of the villagers that it had worked.
A quick scan informed him that he could still use the Language Spell contained inside 38 times. After that, the crystal would become unusable and he would have to contact a Knowledge Sorcerer to recharge it or purchase a new one.
Aware that the man was confused, Ikaris introduced himself politely.
"I am Ikaris, the Lord of Last Saint Village. The creature in armor behind me is my bodyguard."
His introduction completed, he continued, "From now on, you are my subjects. If you wish to leave I will not stop you, but be warned that it will be for good. If you have a little patience and are willing to listen to me, you will learn very soon why you are here."
Without knowing why, the newcomers felt nothing but deep respect for this boy, even though he was much younger than they were, and they all listened carefully. With a concise speech, Ikaris explained what he knew about their summoning here, then introduced them to the world they were in, as well as the existence of magic and the Divine Sparks.
That was a lot of information for these refugees, and from their skeptical expressions the teen guessed that most of them didn't believe him.
'Whatever. They'll accept the harsh reality soon enough...' He thought inwardly.
Having answered their most burning questions, he then went on to introduce Last Saint Village and what he expected of them,
"I am very happy that you came. Last Saint Village is ready to get started and is in urgent need of talent. Naturally I do not wish you to leave. As long as you are willing to work hard, there will be clothing to wear, food to eat, room to live, and fields to be cultivated. And for those who wish, the opportunity to learn magic."
Well, he was bullshitting a bit, but it would soon be true... If they were eager to contribute.
That was the moment Malia and Ellie chose to walk out of the cottage cleanly dressed, and the airheaded Kitsune Vampire cried out in awe,
"Y-you've already captured them all?!"
Ikaris and the refugees stiffened and their new Lord chuckled awkwardly,
"And I present to you Malia Varalei, the second leader of Last Saint Village. In my absence, you may consider her orders as my own."
The young woman who was still reeling from having her breasts brushed a few minutes earlier forgot her resentment and a happy smile beamed on her pretty face. Ikaris had not forgotten his promise to make her the second highest ranking woman in his kingdom if she yielded the Stele to him.
Seeing her smile, the hearts of all the summoned men skipped a beat and even the women remained glued to her lips, unable to feel any jealousy. In contrast, Ellie gave the boy a hurt look and he hastened to introduce her to the group of immigrants.
"You wanted proof that magic is possible, right? Ikaris clapped his hands. "Here's one. Malia, show them one of your fireballs."
The young woman didn't like being ordered around, but understanding the boy's intention she materialized a ball of red flame in the palm of her hand, which separated into a dozen smaller balls of flame that swirled around her like planets around the sun.
Upon seeing this, the jaws of 10 of the Otherworlders dropped to the ground in shock. Malia was proud of her display, but Ikaris mostly noted the lack of surprise on the faces of the two non-human refugees.
His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to use his Appraisal Spell on them.
As soon as Ikaris used Appraisal on the newcomers, the Stele began to vibrate mysteriously in his hands. At first he thought it was a reminder not to move the artifact too far from the cottage, but he realized with astonishment that it was for something else entirely when he received the result of his first Appraisal spell.
