Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 5] Ch. 10 Sovereign's Gathering

Flint

Breasts.

Yes, every woman has them to a degree. For me they are an important indicator of how crazy a woman is. However, they are not the only thing to be attracted to, nor are they the only physical asset in which you can gauge a woman's personality. I'm am off course referring to the Pirate's treasure.

YES! The Booty!

At school it is hard to see the shape because of the skirts... not that I'm complaining. Skirts have their own appeal that I'd never devalue. But since the invention of the "Swimming suit" I can only praise the Asmos Ti'en family! Glory to Tiera, my goddess and best friend in the entire world! She has opened the doors for as much shameless viewing of the feminine figure as I could possibly dream. I could never thank her directly for her blessing, so I show my appreciation in little ways. Like a discount for my services just to start.

Speaking of services; Pirates, mercenaries, and Warlocks sure do operate in different ways. For my sake, I always bargain and give my client what they paid for. But as a pirate I'd steal what they had and let them live if they were lucky. Warlocks will milk you dry and then kill you if they didn't like you. Hyde is no different and he has the look in his eye like he is silently keeping track of every little transaction he can charge for. And for all her bluster, Minerva is being smart.

Questions were the Warlock's trap. They'd answer and do near anything, but they'd charge you incredible prices for any question they didn't feel like answering. But since their job was also to give counsel it wasn't like anyone could afford to maintain a silent relationship with their warlock.

Ooooh. I just got a chill. "Their Warlock".

I've met a few in this world, there wasn't a single one that I'd treat lightly. And now that Minerva has contracted with Hyde, they were a force to be reckoned with. Ever since the Sovereign vs Ranker match, the Sovereigns and Crowned Jesters have been getting a lot of attention. It is important for us to stand as a united front. It's no secret that the Ranking system was just one more means of repressing lower classes among the nobles. And the fact that this year the no-name Lancelot held the Number one spot rubbed many of the nobles the wrong way. Throw on top of the fire how my compatriots completely capsized the top rankers, our little game was getting the attention of some powerful people.

Therefor we need to stand united and become a force they can't touch. I'd gathered Macsen, Gareth, and Liz from the Sorcery class. I found Rowan when he was flirting with some girls and now I'd been lucky enough to find Minerva and "MISTER" Hyde together. Everyone seems friendly enough with each other... everyone but Liz, she seems to have a chip on her shoulder for Minerva. She's far from being the only one, but since they haven't started chewing each other out I'd say a few teamwork exercises and we'll be breezy.

"I know!" I say as my arm is still wrapped around Hyde. "How about we do something together just to loosen up a bit."

"And what do you have in mind?" Rowan asked.

"Only something we sovereigns do best." When I proposed a short fighting tournament every single one of them wore the same smile. Damn battle nerds, this is going to be fun.

*

Just as I planned, it wasn't long before we became a spectacle. No magic, no tricks(alchemy), no getting caught. That's not to say that they weren't completely allowed but the fun was in winning without being obvious that they were cheating. If the audience caught you, then you were out. But you had to be showy enough to draw in a crowd. So it wasn't about winning the fight as much as it was about being the better cheater/showman without anyone catching on.

I'll be honest, none of us were a match for Minerva and Liz. Seriously, their bad blood was enough to stir the rumor mill but when talking about assets and absurd power there wasn't anything the rest of us could do... or wanted to do.

Going back to booty. In no uncertain terms, evidence has proven to me time and time again that booty is directly correlated to battle strength and a key amount of other factor like endurance and fighting style. They say there is a body type for everyone, right? Well for my sake calling a booty 'dangerous' is effective.

I expressed this to Tiera one time and for a solid week she tried to grope my ass. I'm a little ashamed to admit that instead of it being any kind of erotic experience between a man and a woman it just tickled. I... won't go into the mortifying experience and Tiera got whatever answer she was looking for, so it's thankfully never come up again.

The nuances are tricky, but the tightness of the booty region, the toned muscles connecting to the legs and the practiced and smooth sway of the hips; these all equally fighting prowess. However, if we were to go over the basics of the jiggle, the wideness of the hips, the thickness of the thighs, and the overall size... well I've seen more then one crew fight over their preferences. And whether or not shouting was involved, the conversations on the nuances could take hours. At the end of the day, those conversations were a man's romance and never to be held in public places of mixed company.

Ahhh, the intricacies of being a man and appreciating women. Even with the ground shaking beneath my feet as Minerva and Liz sparred, I could still take a second to enjoy the view. Besides they were nothing on the level of my mother and one of her punches could knock down a whole fortress wall... on accident.

However, she had the finesse to never leave a scratch on her own ship. That was why whenever she was drunk I had to carry her back to the ship... it was the only place anyone was safe. Blackbeard's booty was on some other level, as my mother I didn't have any special feelings for her as a woman. But from a calculating point of view my mom was the catalyst and culmination of my research. She was a Class-S hottie and charmer by all the 'booty' she conquered and through my research she was an 'Avoid at all costs'. She was also the one who started my physical analysis of women. Men too, but for obvious reasons the conversation always found a way back to women.

My mom was very fond of talking about women. She's like a perpetually pubescent teenage boy. I learned rhetoric, debate, philosophy, and arithmetic thanks to her... and her obsession with women.

Thanks to my mother I don't have a 'type' of girl I'm interested in. It's more like I have 'types to avoid' with indicators for which reasons to avoid them. I'd stick Minerva and Liz under the category of allies: Women I could trust to pull their weight in a fight.

Julie and Nerinin are also 'allies'. Tiera... she's under 'trusted people to never cross'.

Lancelot is definitely under 'avoid at all costs for every reason!'.

You could say that I'm also very interested in women bordering on obsession. I'm just very careful with everything beyond theory.

Speaking of careful. I see a handful of red dots heading our way and when I peek over the crowd of bystanders, I see a group of Magic Knights about five ship lengths away and heading straight for us. A fully armed suppression force. It looks like we're going to have to get out of here as fast as possible

"Rowan," I say without turning my head.

"I saw them. You want a smoke bomb?" Rowan responded.

"You're more reliable than you look." I grinned. "Hyde, you're with me. Sorcerers, grab yours." I directed.

They nodded.

I cup my hands around my mouth. "SCATTER!!!"

And with that we adjourned the first ever meeting of Sovereigns in the only way that felt appropriate:

We ran away from the port authority after Rowan set off a giant smoke bomb.

The whole crowd of people around us couldn't tell their heads from their toes and tripped over themselves. Hyde and I carried Minerva over our head as we made our escape while Macsen and Gareth carried Liz the other way.