A large metal airship that was almost shaped like a coffin was soaring across the sky above a seemingly endless sea of sand. The gravity-defying marvel was under the command of Princess Erina who was part of the ruling dynasty of the elven empire that dominated most of the continent with magical and technological firepower.
The imperial province Erina had come to on a mission was mostly just desert with only one real city that was built around a sizable oasis. The backwater sandstone metropolis might have never even warranted the empire's attention if it had not served as a perfectly located fuel depot for airship traffic over the barren land.
Despite the constantly shining tranquil sun, there was unrest in the province. And none of the crew of the Heavy Cruiser Tiberius were unaware of what they might be ordered to do if things escalated. Especially the Royal Marines were trying to relax as much as possible before they arrived at their destination.
"Two silver for this one," a grinning orc exclaimed. He and a group of other marines who all wore black and gold uniforms had gathered in their communal room. They surrounded a bolted metal table that had a small collection of drawings and a few black and white photos spread across it. They all featured Princess Erina in various poses and situations.
"I bid four," a half-orc grunted. Both of the men were focusing on the same drawn picture. On it was an elegant elven woman wearing a white gown. She was showing her ankles and the mound of her breasts was pushed up but what made the piece of art truly special was the vividly detailed coloring.
The drawing captured almost perfectly Erina's silky silver hair and her seductive demeanor. Not to mention the golden mask of her noble caste was slightly distorted to almost give her a smile.
"You sure went brave with that one," came an almost muttered comment towards the human artist who was in the process of auctioning his latest piece. It was definitely not his first time and each day, he had gone a bit further to raise the bids he got.
"There is no length I would not be willing to go to worship our angelic princess," the artist mused from behind his steel mask. Its simplistic design was identical to everyone else in the room. As were all the masks of the warrior caste in the empire.
"We have been serving under her for a few weeks, was it? At this rate, you will be guessing what her face looks like before the end of the month, or worse," another human spoke. He adjusted his mask a bit while many of the marines took heavy swallows.
"I would never defile her like that, I simply wish to admire her eternal grace," the artist replied.
"As long as you understand, there are limits... even we can't get away with," the critical human stated. At that moment the few pictures in his pocket almost burned against his flesh. All the while he tried to resist a bulge growing into his uniform pants.
Princess Erina had to swallow again even as her body was not even in the same room with the marines. For a moment she thought about a picture she had spotted the artist drawing for himself. In it, she had been holding hands with an orc. And their masks had almost touched. Steel against gold.
Erina lost her meditative focus and her senses were drawn back into her body. And a moment later she shook her head to get it straight. While her senses had ventured around the ship, her body had been kneeling on the floor of her cabin.
"If he shows that to anybody... I'm really going to punish him," Erina voiced and she made sure her golden mask had stayed locked on her face. During the trip over the desert, she had limited places to explore during her meditation to self-train astral magic. And despite how much she had tried to avoid certain places on the ship, she had found herself drifting to them without even trying.
"They really need to stick to... respectful worship... of my body," Erina stated with pauses. She stood up to look at her nubile figure from a mirror. Her hands trailed up the sides of her white gown and she almost pushed her breasts up to see them be empathized just like in the drawn picture she had seen. But she stopped herself with a shrug.
With another shake of her head, Erina walked to her desk and sat down. Only to find herself gazing at the mirror. For a moment she pondered that if someone saw her face, would it truly be enough for others to see the inside of her soul, a feat not even astral magic was able to do. And would it really let the ancient gods of legend enter her and steal her soul.
A ritualistic knock came to the heavy metal door of Erina's cabin to break her thoughts. The one-way mirrors that covered her purple eyes locked on the door. A small hatch slid open and she saw the lips of a silver mask on the other side.
"My Princess, we are about to arrive," a serene voice asked. "Should we prepare for your visit to meet the governor?"
"Do it as we planned," Erina replied and the hatch closed. Then she moved to change into her black and gold military uniform in a ceremonial fashion.
** * **
The Royal Marines escorted Erina to the governor's palace in a full parade formation. She rode a cart that was seemingly made of pure gold and they marched around it. Once they reaches the start of the ceremonial carpet, the marines performed elegant tricks with their rifles the moment she stepped out into the sunlight. And the governor's troops in blue and gold uniforms joined them to turn the welcome even bigger.
While Erina walked along the parade corridor to the gate of the sandstone palace, she felt genuine relief that her mask was hiding her troubled face. With her astral magic ability to recognize souls, she was able to point out several marines who owned pictures of her.
But regardless of mental distractions, outwardly Erina carried her golden mask perfectly the whole time. Her tied silver hair was barely moved by the wind and she was too focused on her performance to even think about all the stares aimed at the back of her tight black officer pants when she climbed up the final stairs to the open gate.
Duke Raster who served as the provincial governor came to welcome Erina in person. His servants knelt around him towards the Princess and he tried to stand as elegantly as possible. He wore white robes and a matching golden mask with Erina. Once they stood close enough, both of them saw each other from their mirror eyes.
Despite both of them being noble, the order of rank was clear as Erina was a royal so the Duke even bowed down for a moment before she waved him to rise. After that, he guided the Princess into his office as she was on urgent military business.
Once inside the office, Raster moved behind his desk and waited for Erina to sit down first on the guest couch. After both of them were seated, they were finally ready to talk about the actual reason why she was there. Or at least they should have but the Princess had spotted something highly unusual. Another soul was hiding behind the Duke's large desk. Or to be precise, right in the middle of it.
"I have prepared all the reports we have about the unusual weapon supply of the rebels," Raster voiced and a servant brought a small notebook for Erina. She immediately pretended to read it for a moment. During it, she entered into meditation for just a few seconds to project her senses to see within the Duke's desk.
Erina's physical body almost jolted when she saw how a woman had gotten under the Duke's white robe and was sucking his fleshy orbs. She wore the red mask of a whore so she had a hole around her lips. That sight alone was enough to completely ruin the Princess's focus and send her sense back into her own body, not that she really needed to see more to vividly remember everything.
"As you can see, despite the rare potency of the advanced weapons, we have been unable to gain nothing but rumors," Raster explained with a calm tone despite what was happening under his desk. He was committing an act so deranged that Erina was not even sure what she should do. When she tried to look at the Duke, her eyes trailed down so she forced them to read lines from the notebook to gain back her focus.
"Personally, I think the confessions we have gained are nothing but lies. I have sent many men to explore the tunnels but they have found no mysterious goblins with weapons," Raster talked like he loved his voice. "I find it far more likely that some foreign power is using the merchants to smuggle them here."
"I was under the impression, nobody has ever seen magic-tech weapons this advanced, so it is unlikely they are from elsewhere," Erina replied while she locked her eyes into the Duke. Even if most did not understand how the astral magic of the royalty worked, usually nobles at least knew enough about it to not do something as perverted as Raster's current act. For a moment the Princess wondered if she should just magically dissolve the desk into nothingness. But the mental image of properly seeing what it was hiding was alone enough to stop her.
"Yes yes, I'm aware we are not a border province, but I find it even harder to believe that some goblins are running a magical metal city. The stories about that place are centuries old while these weapons are brand new," Raster shrugged. He leaned back on his chair and Erina suddenly needed to swallow. The Duke's act truly was too deranged for her to handle alone and she needed to think about it, if not consult a Caste Priest.
"Well, I will read these reports... and come later to talk about a course of action," Erina voiced and she was forced to swallow again. Her cheeks had begun burning harder against the mask than when she had been outside and she really needed to go elsewhere to think.
Raster struggled to get up before Erina and she could have sworn she saw an extra hand adjust his robe. But still, with another swallow, she rushed out of the room as fast as she was able.
** * **
For the whole return trip back to her airship, Erina had been unable to shake the images of what she had seen under the desk out of her mind. Especially the red whore mask burned in her thoughts. Just seeing it was making her feel defiled even as it kept causing a slight smile to tilt her lips. And that kept her thinking about how others could see her smile if she wore that deranged mask.
