My Servant System

Chapter 1140: Chapter 1139: Regroup



It'll be a bit shorter in terms of actual story word count, and you'll see why at the bottom; sorry in advance, and if you see this before you spend the coins, use a fast pass instead to save them.

By the time that we reached the camp, the shaking of the city had subsided almost entirely, and now a thick haze of smoke hung over the sandstone expanse as parts of it burnt still, the embers left behind emitting an eery glow that seemed almost hellish.

Almost certainly the citizens of the city felt that way, and I had a small moment of mercy enter my heart as I prayed there were no innocents laying around inside of those parts of the city, but there was nothing I could do now.

All that was left for me was to wait for Anput, Leone and Jahi to return to the camp as well, and it would seem that we were all on the same wavelength once more as they both returned minutes after I had.

For the warrior squad, they did so in a more somber, serious mood that made the results of their excursion unclear, but the mage squad was chipper as they rode back with unbothered and light expressions, at least when compared to their peers.

Leone was a tad troubled, but the murmur she shared with the woman beside her alleviated her burden a little as she likely got the answer that yes, those parts of the city were relatively clear of anyone innocent, though as soon as she saw the expressions of Anput and Jahi her worry returned.

I was grateful to be away from Mariam, though I gave her a parting hiss that I didn't really care if she took seriously, one that was both a warning and a promise; "If you even so much as mention what happened in that room, that Demoness will tear your tongue out and strangle you with it, and that would have been considered a mercy..."

She just gave me a nod that wasn't as fearful as I would have hoped, but there was little for me to do besides give her that threatening promise before I made my way towards my mate and my Demonic lover, washing them off and soothing their physical pains as I waited for them to open up first.

Both were unharmed and had relatively unscathed gear, but the expressions they wore were telling, and it didn't take long for me to understand why as the Demoness spoke first, her amethyst eyes focusing on me as she leaned against my palm.

"There was a Tza Fiend there, one that was pretty... strong. Not overflowing with mana like the others, or as boisterously deadly either, but instead they were calm, clever and damn near perfect with their techniques. And they were contracted to a member of the Fingers..."

That made me purse my lips as I glanced back at Mariam, guiding their eyes towards her as well so that I could say "I figured that out too; she's a researcher that Cali managed to convince to get over here, all because she is contracted to a Sla Fiend that Cali is acquainted with. Before you arrived I was going to hand over her research to the Sultana, but now that you're here... we can do so together."

Jahi nodded at that, though Anput's nose wrinkled a little as she stepped closer to me, the Jackalkin sniffing me and staring at my neck before narrowing her eyes, making it clear she smelt... something that was off about me.

I didn't want to spill all of it right away, not here anyways, so I took a deep breath and quietly said "The easiest way to get information was to get close, Anput, but there was nothing that happened..."

She could tell it wasn't entirely the truth, but before she could probe further Jahi raised her hand and gave me a brisk nod, the Demoness making use of her superior bond to me to browse my emotions and the surface of my thoughts to understand a fragment of what had happened.

What she saw didn't make her happy, but she understood what it was and why it had happened, at least a little, and it was enough that for now, we needed to do what was important; head over to the Sultana and report to her about this operation of ours.

The weight of all of my lover's gazes was heavy, and despite usually being rather composed and capable of handling such pressure, I could feel some cracks beginning to form within me because of how close I had come once again, and the feeling of uselessness and inferiority that had sprouted because of those actions were only heightened.

I had been too weak and too arrogant yet again, and once more I was saved by a fluke that pushed me back onto a path that was far less damaging to either my body or my mind, which was a revelation I needed to finally take seriously.

Perhaps my arrogance was even greater than my lust; perhaps the sins I thought I bore were in different orders in terms of magnitude, and perhaps this was finally the time to have a damn wake-up call to what I was meant to be doing.

I was weak, and I had a whole suite of things to help me at my mental fingertips, waiting to be purchased with a currency that only I could earn, waiting to be gifted to me for doing something so damn easy!

It made me bite my cheek hard enough to draw blood, and for once the crimson liquid didn't spark any sort of pleasure or amusement in me as that metallic tang stung my tongue and made me gag.

Now wasn't the time though, just like I had said to Anput, so I just swallowed down the guilt laden liquid and marched over to the Sultana's tent, calling for Cali in my mind and accepting the pile of books and papers that she dumped unceremoniously into my arms, leading my lovers into the meeting with the leader of the Sultanate.

Sometime soon, I am going to be turning this from a 1.5k chapter/day to a 1k chapter/day, and that is for a few reasons:

I don't have burnout, but I don't have passion anymore for this novel in particular; I want to keep writing it, and I CAN keep writing it as shown with these chapters in the last... year, honestly, but more often than not I feel... little for them.

I want to keep writing this to the best of my ability, but more often than not I feel that the 1,500 word minimum I need to hit for the premium stuff isn't actually valid for this book; it just ends up being padded word count after 1-1.2k, and that's not fair to you all.

I lost direction for this book - the last four months have been Sultanate with rather bland pacing and action, at least to me, and I just... can't rekindle that passion I need for writing at this moment in time.

So going forwards sometime soon, it's going to be a ik chapter/day release schedule, which means I lose a little bit of money that I've been making from the bonus coins spent on unlocking chapters early, but honestly... those coins make me feel guilty for the dozen plus people who consistently give them.

It'll be a shorter chapter because of this - and some might feel 'robbed' for the coin cost of this chapter - but I just felt that this needed to be seen by any who are reading, be they paid

premium or not.

Servant System is here to stay, but I won't be forcing myself as much as I have been in the last year or so, and I want to give it the conclusion it deserves without rushing towards it, but to do so... I need passion, which I've... stifled.

I want to write everything, and seeing Reincarnated's success, the numbers that Laid Back could pull in, and the support I get from everything else just makes me realize this is... old, and I don't want to put it down prematurely.

So chapters are going to be shorter, I want to get my shit together and be able to write what I want and feel excited to write again, so... this is what I'll be doing, and it's also because I just need something fresh that I can feel passionate for.

Reincarnated scratches that itch, but it was Twin Moons and Laid Back that made me realize what I need, and I've been planning out another book, one that I want to write so badly; I've planned out plot points, characters, scenes and ideas, put effort in that I just haven't been

able to muster for this novel.

Sometime soon, I'll debut those efforts and hopefully enamor you all with a new story, one that will have a more focused plot line than this and Reincarnated; maybe a 500 chapter limit

or something, I don't know just yet.

But... I needed to say this, needed to inform you all that I need this break, this weight off of me, and... like always, to say thanks for even making it possible for me to get this far in my writing; thank you all so very much, seriously.

I always say I write for myself, but honestly... if I wasn't getting any feedback at all from anyone, I don't know if I would have been able to continue 1.1k chapters here and 700+ in Reincarnated, and even though I feel like I could write them both better from the start now, I wouldn't change a damn thing.

Thank you all, and I hope you look forwards to reading more of this, and of anything to come!Nôv(el)B\\jnn