I stared around, lost and confused. Two beds lay broken among the row of six in the ward Lira had allowed me to stay in.
I thought about what to do, but came up empty.
'Yeah, I'm fucked.'
I was in deep shit. Sure, I might have fucked her into nirvana, but I'd still gone ahead and demolished two beds in her clinic. This was going to be an infrastructure problem. A very expensive infrastructure problem that I absolutely could not afford.
And the cause of it?
She sat there, one leg crossed over the other, glaring at me with burning red eyes. Kassandra was the most beautiful woman I'd seen in two worlds — and I'd seen some lookers back on Earth. Her skin was blanched, every feature of her face carved to ridiculous perfection, like someone had spent way too much time on the character creation screen. Her lips were small and red, as if she'd glossed them with the blood of slaughter.
'That's weirdly specific, brain. Thanks for that.'
Her beauty was enchanting and, in the same breath, terrifying. It held power — a domineering air that made one shiver. Like that of an empress who'd committed continental genocide and felt pretty good about it afterward.
Then there was her graceful figure. Full, round breasts pulled tight against her strange metal armor. Curvy hips as she sat with one leg folded over the other. Kassandra had to have been sculpted by some divine pervert. She was a beauty that never should've existed.
"You're leering." Her voice was sharp with a low-level hoarseness beneath that sharpness.
'Woman, have you looked into a mirror?!'
I exhaled and fixed her with a stern glare — or at least what I hoped passed for stern. Probably looked more constipated than authoritative.
"You broke the bed."
She glanced at the bed behind me, then the one she was currently sitting on. That one was still in manageable condition, although it seemed to strain beneath her weight — which was weird, considering how she looked. Maybe the armor was heavier than it appeared.
She looked back at me, confusion written across her face, as if asking what the hell she was supposed to do about that.
"Well, you have to pay." My eyes widened as the implications hit me. "Wait, don't tell me you expect that I'll be paying for the bed?"
A foxy smile climbed her face.
"Aren't you my summoner? The one who calls the shots?"
A sharp sting pierced my soul in that moment. My palm met my face with a slap that echoed in the quiet ward. The realization of the suffering Kassandra would put me through translated into actual physical pain — a headache already forming behind my eyes.
It was evident just looking at her. That face of beauty, arrogance, destruction, wickedness. The full package. The worst bitch any unlucky bastard could subscribe to, and I'd somehow managed to sign up for a lifetime membership.
'And here I was thinking I'd struck the jackpot. The only things good about her are her body... and strength!'
"It seems I'll need to teach you some things."
A scoff left her mouth immediately. She raised her chin like she was about to lecture a particularly stupid child.
"You? Teach me?" Her eyes flashed. "I singlehandedly killed fifty thousand men in one night. What are you going to teach me, weakling?"
'Humility, apparently. And maybe some basic economics.'
I inhaled deeply, reciting patience over and over again to keep from losing my mind and taming her with a few rounds. Sex was a very useful instrument of domination, after all — though judging by the smug look on her face, she probably knew that too.
I folded my arms and exhaled, forcing my voice to stay level.
"That's right. Because of you, my entire life went to shit." I gestured around the broken ward. "What exactly are you, and what did you do that the old priestly man was calling you a disaster and deemed me a heretic on sight?"
Her gaze sharpened, studying me with actual seriousness for the first time since she'd materialized.
"What era are we currently in?"
Luckily, these were things Knight Flint had shared with me on the side — basic world history for the summoned idiot.
"8112 A.C., and for bonus points, this is the Kingdom of Aetheris."
A delicate frown creased her brows.
"8112? Kingdom of Aetheris?" She shook her head slowly. "What are those? How many years since the destruction of the Zharic Empire? How many years since the Century of Broken Thrones?"
I blinked.
'The what now?'
The only thing Knight Flint had told me was that A.C. stood for After Calamity, marking the major Calamity Wars that had spawned across all seven continents of Ealdrim and birthed a new era.
All this Zharic Empire and broken thrones business she was talking about? I had no idea who broke whose throne, or why anyone was keeping track.
Her eyes darkened, boring into me with growing frustration.
"Why are you looking at me like a fool? Answer the question, weakling summoner!"
"Hey, hey, hey—" I raised my hands defensively. "I'm also not from this world, okay? I was summoned here just like you, then branded weak the next minute. Worse, I summoned you and was immediately imprisoned for it!"
'Easy. I'm just going to blame her for all my bad luck. It's mostly accurate anyway.'
The room went silent for a beat. She looked down, seeming to sink into deep thought — or maybe just processing the fact that her summoner was as clueless as a newborn.
"The Church of Eternal Light — are they the ones responsible for the summoning?"
I narrowed my eyes as that name rang a bell. Then I remembered what Kai had told me earlier this morning, right before everything went sideways.
"Yes! Them."
Kassandra's gaze went black — actually black, like someone had snuffed out a light behind her eyes.
"It seems they managed to rise from the rubble yet again." She muttered to herself, her voice tightening with anger. "Like cockroaches."
She snapped her head up, energy suddenly crackling around her.
"Summoner, stand. Make haste. We must begin to rally our forces and lay siege to the Church of Eternal Light." She sprang to her feet, the bed beneath her groaning with relief, but paused — thinking deeply about something.
"But if it is the Church of Eternal Light that I'm familiar with, they'll never be content with the backing of a mere kingdom."
She locked eyes with me, intensity burning in that crimson gaze.
"Do you know of the empire that exists in this continent?"
'Oh no. I don't like where this is going.'
"I told you—I just got summoned here, literally yesterday! But yes, a friend told me the powerhouse of the Central Realm is the Solaris Empire."
Her eyes widened instantly, recognition flooding her features.
"That's it! That name alone says it all! That is the nation we must lay siege to this instant." She gestured dramatically, as if armies were already gathering. "We will need your army. We have to destroy those hypocritical beings!"
She stared at me expectantly.
"Where is your castle?"
I gulped and glanced around the white, sterile ward, then returned my gaze to her with what I hoped was a diplomatic smile. She followed my eyes, scanning the white and humorless interior of the clinic — the broken beds, the medical supplies, the complete lack of anything resembling fortifications or military infrastructure.
"This? This is your castle?"
I shook my head slightly, trying to break it to her gently.
"Well, not exactly. A friend let me crash at her clinic until I can scrape together money for my own place." I spread my hands. "You aren't listening to me—I practically got summoned here yesterday. Like, twenty-four hours ago. I own nothing."
Her face froze. The color drained from her cheeks — which was impressive, considering how pale she already was.
"So... you have no castle?"
A laugh escaped me, slightly hysterical.
'Here it comes.'
"Kassie, I don't even have a roof over my head."