Today is the 12th.
Gify wakes us all up and I start my day feeling oddly unfulfilled.
The elves serve us some strong not-chai tea with milk, it helps a lot with the morning laziness. Rande's family has already left so it's only us and Klein's. Anton seems quieter than normal while Klein seems more anxious. The trip to Ostoum will be short, but there's still some danger on the way, so it's quite normal for us to be tense.
Flor comes out to talk to Klein's family; they all give each other tight hugs.
"Are you making the trip back, too?" Flor asks Anton.
"Through Glorampina," he gives her a sad smile.
"Well, come back and spend some time here after things go back to normal," she says.
"How long do you think this is going to last?" Krista asks.
"Not much longer, I hope. The towns are starting to have problems even though we are almost completely self-sufficient."
"Yeah, the patrols looked very tired," Klein comments.
"As much as we are proud of not relying on the empire, I still hope that the emperor will solve this," Flor says with a sigh.
"Most elves we heard talking about it want to keep things internal," Anton says.
Flor frowns, "Of course they do, but while they maintain their elven pride, the common folk like us are the ones getting hurt the most."
"Huh... pride..." Anton comments awkwardly and scratches his cheek with the log of his finger.
Flor turns to us and gives us a shy goodbye. "You are an interesting fellowship, please come back one day."
"We would love to," Ciel says.
Anton and Laertes sigh lowly in unison.
We go to the gate and see the usual caravan forming up. With nobody else leaving besides us and the patrol, the gate looks oddly empty. I can see that most of the elven commoners are back, but either a few of them are missing or I'm just confusing them with other because they all look somewhat similar.
Then we take the long walk down the spiral ramp. Most commoners look rather happy and comfortable, the safety Helios provides allows them to relax more.
When we reach the road I cast a [Swift Foot] on the commoners. They let their pride wane a little and bow lightly to me.
"So, Roxanne, where are you from?" Osaria asks, she leans out the window and bunches up her bountiful breasts into a trap for the eyes.
"Mashoor, then I lived in Xane while I studied at the Holy Academy," Roxanne answers with a wry smile.
"Amazing, so that's where you learned of your talent for magic," Osaria smiles warmly.
"Well, you could say that I was talented before I joined," Roxanne smiles proudly. "In fact, I had created my specialty magic, [Explosion], before I joined and that's what guaranteed me a spot there."
I don't try to hold back my gaze and just drown in Osaria's breasts. She sends me a wink and a seductive smile when she notices my stare. I take a glance at Ciel and she quickly undoes her pout then looks ahead.
"Does Ciel really not want us to get involved with Osaria?" I ask Alissa through [Bind].
"How was the Academy? I studied at Escanso's Academy when I was young but my talent with magic was middling at best... for a noble," Osaria adds the last part with an uncharacteristic shy tone.
"Maybe she wants to be teased, maybe she's unsure if she wants to sleep with Osaria, or maybe she's feeling territorial," Alissa answers.
"Is Ciel an animal? Like, her position as the 'boob slut' is threatened by Osaria?" We both chuckle internally while looking at Ciel, who notices our odd looks and frowns.
"It... was quite informative. The Academy is certainly the reason I am this strong today," Roxanne says with a little anxiety.
"You don't seem to look at it fondly," Osaria says softly, her sensual voice jolts my member awake.
"Maybe we should get Lina to flirt with Osaria, that would push her into a decision quite quickly," Alissa says, her voice dripping with sadism.
"Hmmm..." I moan in delight, "That could be pushing it a bit too far, though."
"The Academy was so strict that I felt like I was being suffocated there," Roxanne says, her tone gets sadder.
"I understand..." Osaria says as kind as a mother. "I heard that succubi society is quite competitive."
"She's a big girl, she can deal with it and stop us if she doesn't like it."
The image of Lina being eaten by the two curvy chocolate goddesses invades my mind and I smile like a fool.
"It is. It's not the environment I wanted to be in for my entire life, so... I left."
"You seem quite happy now, so perhaps it was the better choice."
Roxanne smiles shyly. Hana guides her horse closer, then grabs Roxanne's hand and kisses it.
"It was. For me, at least," Hana says with a warm smile, making Roxanne squirm.
Roxanne looks like an innocent maiden while Hana looks like a dashing knight looking fondly at her lady.
Osaria looks at me and her questioning gaze awakens me from my unashamed lewd stare at the twin hills. "Wait, who's Hana married to?" She questions.
"Me, and, well, Roxanne, too. Also, kind of everyone, really," I say with a shrug.
Osaria lets out a dignified chuckle.
"Technically not married, we just exchanged vows," Ciel comments.
"How... how does that work?" Laertes chimes in from the top of the carriage. Morbid curiosity got the best of him.
"We just... love each other?" I answer and look at the girls.
"It's trust," Alissa says.
"Fighting alongside one another builds bonds like nothing else," Hana says.
And what about your bonds with the two boys back when you were free?
"The way we love each other is different for each couple," Ciel says.
Rande nods and joins the conversation, "The way Oura and Nito love each other is certainly different from the way I love them."
We hear a grunt and suddenly Oura's face appears from behind Osaria, she looks quite confused.
"Go back to sleep, love, I didn't call for you," Rande says with a mirthful smile on his face.
"Kay..." Oura answers faintly and disappears back inside the carriage.
"How did you three meet?" Hana asks Rande with a suggestive smile.
The mirth disappears from his face and his smile becomes dashing. "Nito is my cousin, his family never had that much power so I took him for myself. Oura was Mom's little pet, once. We got introduced to each other through her so that Oura could become my knight one day. It was love at first sight, so we decided to get together immediately."
A muffled voice protests from inside the carriage, "I-I'm not a lesbian! I was never your mother's pet!" Oura appears from behind Osaria again and glares at Rande.
"She was grooming you to become one, though," he states calmly.
"N-no!" She covers her face with her hands and retreats back into the carriage.
"If you say so," he shrugs.
Osaria continues to smile innocently, then she and Rande share a knowing smile.
Yeah, they are nobility alright.
The trip continues calmly, only a few Wood Goblins and another Giant Centipede come before lunchtime. Ostodos and Ostoum are sister towns and they help each other out due to their proximity, so this part of the trip might be the safest.
I give the corpse of the Giant Centipede to the commoners so they can make a hearty meal for themselves.
Krista opens a jar of pickled Dragon Eggs. Not literal eggs, they are just fruits that look more like pitayas than the eggs we found in the dragon nest Aoi lived in. They taste just like pickled cucumbers.
She spit-roasts a whole Acarei, a large lizard-like monster from Antano, and we eat it in a baguette sandwich. She serves a few salads, like not-tomato with not-oregano, to be added to the sandwiches.
Alissa approaches Krista and they start to talk about how to cook the Uspidor's tentacles.
"Wolfy, can you give us the tentacles?" Alissa asks.
"Sure, but I will want most of them for ourselves."
Krista nods and happily takes the thick octopus-like tentacles.
We move on through the forest and I notice that the number of glowing plants remains fairly constant along the road. The mana in the environment is quite thick, so I'm not surprised that the exotic plants have survived outside of direct elven influence.
Though, there's still something odd.
"There are way fewer monsters around here than I expected," I say.
"Well, this stretch of the road is easy to patrol in comparison to the rest of the High Way," Rande comments.
"No, I mean, the number of monsters is decreasing the more we progress."
Hana and Rande immediately look at each other. "There's probably a large group camping nearby," Hana says.
"Yes, someone who can hunt monsters," Rande agrees.
"Adventurers?" I question.
Rande starts to reason, "To affect the number of nearby monsters this much... only if it's a mercenary company training their members, or..."
"Bandits," Hana completes.
"Alissa," I turn to her and she nods.
"I will search for tracks," she hits the rump of her horse and gallops forward.
Rande alerts the soldiers and they become alert. The commoners go silent and huddle up, holding their children tightly in their arms.
I have four Hollys out scouting in a circular pattern; I dismiss the Shads and summon three more Hollys to fill in any gaps.
A few minutes later, I see someone curled up inside a hole in the trunk of one of the gigantic trees beside the road. Holly has orders to observe for a minute and then move on, so I use this minute to absorb all the information I can about this person.
A thin, dirty, golden elf wearing a ghillie suit. He has a bow, a quiver, and some food out. He sips on a large cup of steaming tea, not-chai.
"Stop, I found a scout beside the road," I tell Alissa.
"Where?"
"A few hundred meters ahead of you. The tree he's in is right beside the road."
"I will circle around and try to find tracks to see where he came from."
"Understood."
"Rande, one of my birds found a hiding golden elf wearing camouflage," I say.
His eyebrows shoot up, he's very impressed. "You found a hiding golden elf through the eyesight of a mere bird?" He questions.
"My 'Perception' is quite high," I say.
"I can see that... Anyway, we have to take him out silently before he can call his companions."
"You sure he's a bandit?"
"He's watching the road, right?"
"Yes."
"We need to capture him. If we make a mistake, then it's his fault for doing something so suspicious."
I look at the girls and Ciel and Hana both nod with confidence.
"Caravans are very important for the stability of the towns. Lords stomp down on bandits like these with prejudice," Ciel says.
"Don't fail me now, Wolf," Rande says warily.
"My job is to keep the caravan safe and that is what I will do," I state categorically.
He nods and turns to Laertes. "Scout the area and find us a good spot to defend ourselves," he says.
Laertes nods sternly and turns into a large husky. He jumps off of the carriage and darts away. Soon, his small [Spirit Light] is the only sign we can see of him.
"Can you actually capture him silently?" Rande asks me.
I have so many tools to use... but to do it perfectly and without allowing the scout to react will be difficult. Especially because I can't use the Shads.
"Possibly, though if he has an Emergency Ring then I'm not sure how I can stop him from activating it."
"Do what you can."
I harden my expression as I firmly state, "I'll summon a dark elemental, it has more of a chance to disable him than a spirit one."
Rande grimaces and repeats, "Do what you can."
I look at Ciel and she sighs, then she guides her horse closer to me and whispers, "If you feel uncomfortable, stop immediately. The Gods send signs, but Torture is a Sin that's easy to commit."
"Understood. I'll go alone."
The girls, even Aoi, look at me with immense anxiety.
"It's better this way, you won't be affected by the elemental."
Ciel cringes and nods. "We will be here when you return," she says, softly.
I gallop midway between the caravan and the scout, then stop.
I remember the anger that the Red Smirk ignited in me; the fear from the ambush that Darean's kidnapper created for me; the unpleasant surprise of the invisible assassins that tried to kill us; the disgust during the fight to capture the Illusion mage; the massacre of the kidnappers that wanted Lyle. These memories help me gather my courage and steel my nerves for what's to come.
I cannot let these people interfere with my life, but they still interfere with my feelings, regardless. The dark elemental is just another part of it.
I breathe in calmly and summon a dark elemental.
My face twitches in discomfort; a slow and heavy shiver runs along my back and tires out my muscles; my lungs feel heavy when I exhale; and my breath trembles.
A dark outline of a person, eerily similar to myself, rises from the ground and stands beside me.
"Find the scout," I order.
I nod and turn around, then I dash through the road in search of my prey.
Even though I move along the road with all my speed, I feel like I'm not moving at all. Like a nightmare, I struggle to move forward no matter how hard I try. Desperation sinks in as the dark outline behind me gets closer and closer. My back tingles so much that when the dark outline touches it, I immediately feel immense pain in my tense muscles as I try to distance myself from the darkness with all of my willpower.
I wake up from my nightmare and feel like an eternity has passed while in truth it didn't last long. I stop my distressed horse and look up at the tree. Somewhere in there, the elemental is holding the elven scout, who is screaming in pain, but no sound escapes from him.
I unsummon another Holly and summon a nature elemental.
"Bind it," I order.
The dark elemental releases the elven man as the nature elemental restrains him with her vines, then she brings him down from the tree.
I can't use [Godly Language] right now since I'll have to bring him back alive after I'm done.
The elven man looks rather weak and malnourished. His thin beard is unkempt and makes him look more like a beggar than a dignified elf.
Slowly, he regains his awareness and observes the situation he's in. He looks at me with a mix of fear and proud defiance.
"What were you doing hiding up there?" I question him once I deem him sane enough.
"Release me! I am merely a hunter waiting for prey! You can see that I had my bow up there!" He spews at me and nudges to the tree with his shoulder.
"You were watching over the road, do you understand how suspicious you looked?" I shoot back flatly.
"Fuck you, imperial!" He spits on the ground. "How did you know I wasn't waiting for prey, huh?!"
"How, indeed..." I cast [Summon Small Bird] the normal way and his eyes open wide with realization. "Don't lie or I will use the dark elemental again."
"You don't have the courage, boy," he spits again.
I look at the elemental and say, "Do it."
The scout opens his mouth in fear but before he can speak his voice fades. He stares at the dark elemental with horror on his face as a disgusting mutation takes place.
The dark outline grows a cocoon and turns into a writhing mass of white flesh. It falls on the ground and squirms towards the scout. Arms grow out of the twitching flesh, then a head, then a barbed penis.
The head gains its shape and a face forms: a balding man with sickly, pale skin; no lips; and bloody, pointy, and thin teeth. A sickening smile and a piercing stare with bulging, bloodshot eyes is shot at the scout.
His arms grow long and thin and he slowly crawls forward with twisted delight, savoring the terror in the eyes of the elven man. The fingers form, and long, dirty fingernails extend out from their tips.
The dark elemental hugs the man firmly and licks his ear. Then he turns the scout over onto his back and lowers his pants. The scout mumbles a few things, trying to convince himself this isn't real, because it's the truth.
The elemental spreads the ass cheeks of the scout and inserts a dirty fingernail inside. The scout groans in pain and starts to struggle.
I turn my head away and see a finger creeping inside the scout's asshole. I turn to the other side and see another finger entering him. I cannot escape from the nightmare.
The sharp fingernails break the skin and the man bleeds. The fingers start to enter deeper and spread his asshole open. He cries in pain and struggles against his binds, but the nature elemental only increases her grip and bruises his skin in response.
He squirms and manages to see the bellybutton of the elemental open as disgusting worms slime their way out. They fall onto his cheeks and worm their way down towards his asshole.
His cries become even louder and he starts to scream. "PLEASE, STOP! PLEASE, I BEG YOU! MERCY, PLEASE!"
I feel some discomfort and disgust. My heart is burning in pain.
"Will you obey me and tell me everything?"
"Y-YES, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"
I dismiss the dark elemental and nearly puke, but the scout doesn't have the same resistance as me. The pain and discomfort quickly fade.
The scout coughs and rolls away from the disgusting puddle he created. He checks his pants and sees that they are still on. His hands, currently tied behind his back, reach over to pat his ass and check if there's any damage. He sighs in relief once he's satisfied.
"What were you doing in that tree," I ask, emotionless.
He cringes but speaks, "Waiting for a good target."
"A caravan?"
"Yes," his breath quickens in anxiety.
"Did you warn your comrades about us?"
"No..." He says through gritted teeth.
"Search his body for anything," I order the elemental.
The nature elemental's vines snake all over his body, making him itchy all over. Then, in a hidden pocket, it finds an Emergency Ring turned green.
"So...?" I ask the scout.
The scout keeps silent and stares at the ring with desperation.
"If they are coming, I will make the dark elemental torture you again for disobeying."
He grimaces as he speaks, "I already missed my last safety report, they'll know I got captured by now."
Fuck.
"Alissa, did you find the tracks?"
"Yes, he came from the north-east. There's another younger track, it seems like someone came out of there after he reached the observation spot."
"So, they are organized."
"Quite."
"Come back now. He said that he missed the last safety report, so they'll know that he got captured."
"You interrogated him?"
"With a dark elemental since I can't use [Godly Language] on him."
She grows silent and I feel worry and anxiety leaking from her side. "I'll give you lots of love later," she says, forcing a chipper tone.
"I'll be waiting..." I finish. I can't help but smile at her concern.
I unsummon all of the Hollys and summon an earth elemental to help carry the scout and bring him back with me to the caravan.
"How many men?" Rande asks.
"One hundred," the scout answers.
"Bullshit," he gives the scout a slap.
I really want to use [Godly Language] right now.
"Fuck you," the scout struggles against his binds.
Hana's brain massage helps me zone out of the "interrogation."
"What kind of men do you have?"
"Gatun riders, mages, and dozens of archers."
Rande slaps him again and the scout spits blood.
"I can confirm any of this information with my [Summoning Magic] once they get close enough," I interrupt.
"If he lied, then we kill him, simple as that," Rande says and gives the scout a wicked smile.
This gives the scout some pause. "We have mages, we will kill your little birds before you can see anything."
"I doubt that. I saw you with one of my special little birds and you never noticed."
"Even if they do that, once they get here we will have our answer, then, you die," Rande growls at the scout.
"Fuck, okay! We've got seventy men, just hungry farmers that lost our homes!" He yells and the entire camp goes silent.
"Where?" Rande asks, his voice much softer.
"Odulto, a small farming village north of Escanso. We abandoned it before we could get overwhelmed, but not everyone had enough money to restart somewhere else."
"You are quite far from home."
"We got a tip that a juicy caravan was going to pass through here. Escanso has more patrols, so it's too dangerous if we are too close."
A tip, eh?
"Did you leave your families behind?"
"Yes..." He looks down and his tone turns sad. "Can't bring them close to the fight, can we?" Shame appears on his voice and his defiance fades away.
Rande leaves him and motions for us to come over.
"I would rather not kill them all," he says.
"Are you going soft, now?" Hana says and narrows her eyes dangerously.
"Dammit! They are my brethren!" He hisses. "How can I just slaughter them all without a second thought?"
"Our safety and yours comes first. But if they surrender, then it ends," I say.
"Then make them surrender," he affirms with determination.
I look at Roxanne and she frowns. "We have to be brutal and quick, then they'll be so shocked that their morale will drop and it won't recover," I say and her frown grows deeper.
"Some of them will have to die horribly," Roxanne says.
"Yes."
Rande grimaces and speaks, "I understand. It's the most efficient method."
Brutal efficiency...
We use the cover of a spiral tree to hide the caravan. Some of the space mages use [Nature Magic] to turn the tree into a proper wall. We stand out in the open to show ourselves off as a target for them, two sacrificial wagons are left behind us to make for a juicier target. I leave six earth elementals below the ground with a surprise for them.
Thirty versus seventy, but the advantage is ours.
Two Hollys scan the area, and one Shad is left with Roxanne while she prepares the spell. I'm left with very little mana, but it's a sacrifice we have to make.
A good half-hour later, I see scouts tracking us through Holly. They find our tracks leaving the road and alert the main group. A few minutes later, a mob of elven men with crude bows or wooden shields and spears appear. They look similar to the scout: scruffy, thin, and slightly dirty.
As they approach, I see something odd. Three birds are following the mob, not just coincidentally flying nearby, but literally following them.
"Alissa, I think someone is using [Summon Small Bird] to follow the bandits," I say through [Bind].
"I will look for them."
I find the girls and whisper them the information. No chantless casting if we can avoid it because the less they know about our powers, the better.
It's either Darean or Katasko that wants to scout us.
I approach Rande and speak, "The scout didn't lie. Well, the last information he gave us is correct. They look like poor and untrained soldiers. Most are men and a few are women."
He clicks his tongue and relays the information to the others. Plenty of the soldiers are also elves, so they get both angry and frustrated at this situation.
Soon, their [Spirit Lights] become visible and they stop in front of us.
"WE ARE HERE FOR YOUR CARGO. LEAVE THE WAGONS BEHIND AND NOBODY GETS HURT!" A well-built golden elf man bellows.
"NO. WE ARE PREPARED FOR YOU. GO BACK NOW OR FACE A PAINFUL DEATH!" Rande yells back.
"YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED AND SURROUNDED, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE THIS!"
"YOU DID NOT BRING ENOUGH MEN TO ASSAULT A FORTIFIED POSITION!" Rande shoots back and laughs out loud.
"I SEE NO FORTIFICATIONS!"
"THEN YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST!"
Through Holly, I see the man growl. He motions with his hand and the bandits form a crude shield wall. They start to slowly advance with the yells of an "officer" in the middle of them.
To their credit, their formation is advancing very orderly, they've practiced this.
The elven archers start to spread out and we raise our shields. Our mages and archers are behind heavy barricades, so there's not much danger to them if they keep their heads down.
Slowly, they approach, but nobody has the courage to fire a spell or arrow. Both sides look conflicted to fight one another. Elven pride is actually somehow beneficial to this situation.
Soon, they get close enough to feel Roxanne's mana leaking out. "Someone's casting a big spell!" A bandit yells and soon the others repeat.
"I don't know what it is!" Another frightened bandit yells.
"CHARGE! STOP THE MAGE!" The "officer" yells.
"RISE!" I and Rande bellow.
The elementals rise out of the ground and bring caltrops with them. The bandits are wearing thin shoes, which easily get pierced by the caltrops. They fall to the ground and yell in pain, the line quickly crumbling as they fall on top of each other.
"ROXANNE!" I yell.
Hana rises from behind her barricade and activates [Wind Shield]. The bandit archers fire their arrows, they lose their power and harmlessly fall on the ground due to the enchantment.
A huge bubble of steamy water appears above Roxanne as she rises from behind Hana.
"[MELT SKIN]!"
"FIRE!" Rande orders and the archers and mages obey.
The desperate, dying screams of the bandits spread through the forest.
Gods, is this the world that you wanted? Full of death, pain, and suffering?
The bandits fire their arrows, but their barrage is weak and lacks leadership. We hide behind our shields and our own, less numerous archers and mages are enough to suppress the bandit archers.
Is this what "change" is all about? Do it, fail, die, and let others come after you?
"CHARGE!" Rande yells.
I, Lina, and Ciel break out of the formation and charge the archers on the left. Rande and Anton charge the archers on the right. Hana leaves Roxanne and flies towards us. She lands in front of me and her enchantment diverts all of the arrows. Alissa fires her own arrows, not at the bandits, but at the birds that she spotted, currently circling above us. Aoi wraps herself tighter around my neck and I feel arousal leaking through her [Bind].
Progress comes through change; little by little, we move further and further onwards.
Hana passes the first archer and ignores him. He tries to draw a hunting knife to defend himself but I cut his hand and stab him in the thigh. Lina crushes the leg of another archer and then breaks his clavicle. Ciel sinks her glaive into the belly of a man and casts a small [Wind Blade] on his arm. Then we move on and search for the next archers to disable.
But this gradual change doesn't build a strong foundation. It searches for the best chance at the moment and lacks foresight.
Rande swings his sword and paints archers left and right with thick flames. They scream in agony as their extremities burn. Anton chops off limbs with ease, until a bandit tries to fight back, only to get a swift axe to the head. Both of them use kite shields to protect themselves from arrows; Anton can easily swing his poleaxe one-handed while Rande fights at a distance, so they don't need to use two hands to wield their weapons.
To fix that, we need drastic changes to cut out the tumors that will always inevitably grow. And death is the most drastic change there is.
I slash the chest of a man and cast an [Earth Bullet], then I feel "death" coming from my flank. I find the source and see an archer aiming at me. Before I have time to react, an arrow pierces the archer's flank and he drops his bow.
"The bird spies are dead," Alissa says in my head, and through her eyes I see her aim at another sneaky archer.
Hana flies from archer to archer and gives them each a quick slash. Her shield makes her immune to their attacks, so she flits around with impunity.
This world has no mercy for the weak, no time for the slow, no tears for the losers.
We only have fifteen foot-soldiers, so we don't have enough men to brawl with the bandits and our soldiers have to instead blitz through their enemies. Thankfully, the buried earth elementals prevent the bandits from mounting a proper defensive line. If the bandits don't throw down their weapons, they get cut down; if they play defensively, the mages and archers will take them apart; if they beg for mercy, they will be spared.
To treat each life as a sacred gift will only bring stagnation, as the leeches will slowly drain society of all that makes life worth living.
The archers sling their bows and turn around. They begin to run away with impressive speed and spread out. We deal with the few remaining stragglers and our fight ends.
The ones on Rande's side run away screaming in fear. Rande's [Flaming Slash] horrified them after seeing their comrades be burned alive. Though not many actually died from it, the mental effect of the horrific display was more than enough to terrify them.
The last few bandit spearmen create a circle of spears and make a last stand.
"[Firestorm]!" Roxanne casts.
For a moment, their faces distort into fear, then they burn alive and die soon after.
The sounds of battle end and only the moans of the wounded and dying remain. Suddenly, shy cheers come from of the soldiers and quickly die down. This is not a victory to celebrate.
A world without conflict will stagnate just like Earth, or even worse if a leech manages to rise to the same power as the Avgi empire. We are fated to kill each other for eternity, as it's the only sure way of keeping the way clear for progress.
"DO NOT REACH FOR YOUR WEAPONS OR YOU WILL BE KILLED!" Rande bellows.
We start to drag the wounded together. The stronger commoners come out of the tree and help drag the bandits.
Osaria and Rande organize the wounded, allowing the ones at risk of dying to be healed first. Our foot soldiers get HP potions, while the bandits will have to survive with only a weak [Heal].
I unsummon everything and drink one of Roxanne's MP potions, then I get to work beside Ciel and we heal the dying. Oura helps with healing, too, but Ciel is still more experienced so we defer leadership to her.
Spilled guts, broken bones, chopped off limbs, bleeding arteries. The smell of blood becomes so strong that I have to send the other girls into our surroundings to kill the approaching monsters.
Glue the bones together, reconnect the veins, guide the muscle together, reconnect the skin, then clean the wound and move on to the next patient. A few of the foot soldiers have [First Aid] so they have some idea about how to knit wounds, which helps us conserve mana and allows us to spend less time with each patient. I end up healing the same men that I wounded, which makes things very awkward when they thank me in tears for saving them.
The ones with burned skin scream the most, but they get healing salves made by the commoners so we don't spend too much time on them. It's also much easier to heal them, except for those who were burned in horrifying places; for them, I almost have to close my eyes in revulsion.
The bandits get stripped down to their underwear and securely tied up. The few female bandits are watched closely by the female commoners so that no one gets any stupid ideas. The corpses are piled together far away from our camp and Roxanne burns them all.
I feel like my humanity is slipping away as the red color of all the blood paints over my memories. I also feel a small change in me that gives me a small boost in strength. My "Sanity" and "Piety" increased by 1 (now 11+4 and 15).
I walk away from the last patient and sigh in relief.
I feel something crawl up to me. Warm but hard crystalline feet make their way up my clothes and stop at my shoulder. A comforting warmth spreads and my body relaxes; the blood red and desolate grey fade away and the other colors come back to the world.
I rub the mask of Ciel's [Holy Spirit] and hear it giggle softly in a familiar feminine voice.
"I felt that," Ciel says.
I sit down on the soft, damp, mossy earth and Ciel sits down beside me. The [Holy Spirit] tap dances on my shoulder, and on the last tap, it vanishes into smoke.
I hear the quick trot of a quadruped and soon after a small fox-Alissa land on my lap. She turns around and shows me her belly, giving me mixed feelings at the sight, but still making me happier overall.
I rub Alissa's soft furry belly and she yips cutely.
"Haha, just admit you want to fuck a fox again, you degenerate," Alissa says, lowly. Ciel looks at me oddly and raises an eyebrow. "I can feel his emotions leak once in a while through our [Bind]."
"Fine, I do," I shrug. "But you are going to have to do all the work because I'm way too tired right now."
"Hm..." She puts a paw on her lip, making her look extra cute. "It's certainly awkward for the female to move, this body wasn't really made for that..."
"Anyway," -Ciel rolls her eyes- "how are you feeling, Wolfy?"
"Just tired... so tired. I don't want to see any more blood," I answer.
"Yeah, that's what I feel and I didn't even heal anyone," Alissa says.
The other girls come back and dismount from their horses.
"Are you used to this, Ciel?" I ask.
"A little. I participated in the medic squads during town defense, before. This one feels different because we don't usually heal the people we hurt," she smiles wryly and wearily.
"Yeah, this is a weird sight," Roxanne says as she looks at the wounded bandits being bandaged.
Gify pops back onto my shoulder and activates his "massage."
"Oh, yeah, that's the stuff..." I moan.
"What?" Alissa questions and tilts her head cutely.
"Expression...? Never heard of it?"
"Not used that way, it sounds odd."
"Gih."
"You're the one massaging me," I say and close my eyes.
"Let's set up the tent," Lina says. I open my eyes and see she's hesitant to sit on the humid earth.
We talk to Rande and he says that we will have to spend the night here. When I recover enough MP, I summon four earth elementals and two nature elementals to watch over the surviving bandits, and a light elemental for the Weepers. In the end, around 20 died, 30 were captured, and the rest escaped.
During our bath, Hana's hands massage my brain while Alissa's insides massage my member.
"You did well, Wolfy," Alissa says softly and moans.
The shrieking woman has disappeared from my mind.
"So did you; so did all of you." I grab her waist and help her move up and down on my shaft. Alissa moans softly and pushes her tongue inside my mouth.
I share my senses with her and feel the incredibly odd sensation of being stretched and penetrated. It's too weird for me right now so I cut it off.
"Why did you stop?" Alissa questions me. "It feels soo good to have a dick!"
The other girls look at us oddly and Aoi nods.
I smile wryly and say, "It feels too weird for me."
"What? You don't want to feel what it's like to be stretched by a thick cock?" Hana says, amused.
"No."
"Well, well, well. Someone's insecure about their sexuality," Roxanne says with a wicked smile.
"Anal feels very good," Hana whispers in my ear with a sultry tone.
Lina's eyes turn mean and she smiles like an imp.
"No," I say with extreme confidence and determination.
The girls deflate and return to normal, except for Roxanne. "Alright, then... but there's still plenty of time for you to change your mind," she chuckles like an evil witch.
Ciel avoids looking me in the eye and blushes.
Sowly, I return to making steamy love to Alissa while Hana massages my head. Meanwhile, Roxanne and Ciel both keep every hole of Lina occupied and stimulated.
I share my senses with Aoi and bring her to orgasm while I fill Alissa's womb.
As Alissa switches positions with Hana, I ask the other girls, "But what about all of you? Are you feeling okay?"
Hana answers by slamming my dick deep inside her with a grunt. The other girls nod shyly while Lina nods enthusiastically. We look at Lina oddly and she becomes awkward.
"W-was I supposed to feel bad for them?" She asks.
Ciel shrugs and pats Lina's head. "There's no right answer to that, the only wrong one is to feel pleasure from it."
"Oh... I didn't feel pleasure, I just felt angry that they were putting us in danger," Lina says.
"Exactly. The safety of this family is the most important thing, after all," Alissa says with a confident nod.
"Well, for me it was just another fight," Roxanne says with a shrug.
"Fighting is, fun!" Aoi says and I cringe a little. Aoi notices my discomfort, then she tilts her head and asks, "Not fun?"
"Fighting is fun, killing... is not," Hana says.
"Because bandits, are almost, friends?"
"Exactly," I say.
"But why? Bandits are ene-mies, bandits try to, hurt us," Aoi questions while trying to pout.
Ciel responds, "Lives have a purpose: to help civilization progress. Bandits didn't fulfill their purpose and even damaged our progress. In the end, their lives were wasted."
"Hmm..." Aoi taps her lips with a claw. "And what is my purpose?"
We all look at Ciel and she shrugs.
"Maybe you have to find one of your own," I say.
"Make babies!" Aoi happily exclaims.
Roxanne turns serious as she speaks, "There's a lot more to life than just that. What if taking care of your children is different than what you imagined and it leaves you sad and unfulfilled?"
"Making babies, won't make me sad!"
Roxanne rolls her eyes, "Just imagine that it did, what will you do then?"
Aoi puffs smoke but goes silent. I feel she's taking Roxanne's words seriously.
"Didn't expect that amount of 'Wisdom' from you," Ciel says with a cheeky smile.
Roxanne narrows her eyes dangerously and her tail plunges underwater. "My 'Wisdom' is pretty high," she says.
"But you don't show i-... Ahn!" Ciel nearly bites her tongue in surprise then moans.
"What were you saying?" Roxanne smiles mischievously.
"You don't s-... Hngh!"
"Yes...?"
"You d-d..." Ciel's mouth opens wide and she grabs the edges of the tub to steady herself. A disturbance below the water grows in force and we can see that the source of it must be near Ciel's crotch.
Lina gets a little sad that her pampering stopped, then she turns around and sucks on Ciel's large black nipples with hunger. Roxanne joins Lina and the two pale sisters play with the chocolate goddess.
I have no need to hold back anymore, so I fill Hana's womb until she's overflowing. I send my senses to Alissa and Aoi, and they get exhausted from the pleasure without having to move a muscle.
Feeling very refreshed, we sit down to have dinner with Krista.
"Hey there!" Klein comes to us and sits beside me, stealing Ciel's place. Klein smiles wide and continues, "I saw you fight. The way you use a blade is odd, what style is that?"
"My own style, it's named Ekrano."
She tilts her head cutely, her dreamy eyes feel so easy to get lost into, "What does that mean?"
"Secret," I say with a cheeky smile.
She pouts and turns forward. Her tail rests on my legs and I give her a glance. She acts like nothing is happening, so I grab it and apply some [Massage].
Anton sits in front of us and narrows his eyes at Klein. "You fought well," he says to me.
"So did you. Swinging a poleaxe with one hand is impressive," I respond.
"Even I wish I was as big as you. Though, I think I'm the perfect size for Wolfy," Hana says.
"Size is all I have, though," he says with a shrug.
"That's right," Krista says softly from behind him and gives Klein a mischievous stare. Anton facepalms and I feel Klein's tail fur stiffen.
Klein scootches closer to me and becomes a bit friendlier than normal, visibly annoying her father. Her tail worms its way inside my pants and wraps itself around my member, then she strokes it slowly. I apply some more [Massage] to her tail and see her face cramp for a few seconds, then relax in pleasure.
Laertes sends us a few reserved glances; after each time he does, he gets more and more depressed.
Dinner is more of the roasted Acarei sandwich. While we eat, the smell of tomorrow's lunch makes us hungrier. Krista is smoking some meat, and we could only smell it because she made a small mistake with the anti-scent enchantment she's using.
Klein's tail stimulates me through the entire meal, but thankfully she doesn't make me cum, I wouldn't want to dirty my underwear right now.
We relax outside our tent and watch as the lights of the luminous plants dim and turn purple. Soon after that, the commoners and soldiers alike huddle up in their tents. Nearly all of them will find a partner for tonight because sleeping alone when a Weeper could come is asking for a horrible nightmare.
The bandits are taken inside the tree the commoners had used for cover. The two nature elementals are used as bindings for their arms and legs. Rande and a few elven commoners lend them some blankets to pass the night, but the ground is so soft and the weather is so warm that they could sleep on the ground without much of a problem.
"Rande is being very kind to the bandits," Roxanne comments.
"Perhaps he was one of the good nobles," Ciel says.
"Lord Este is an isolationist," Lina says.
"Well, their political differences are what could have motivated the Crown Lord to remove Rande's family from the nobility," Alissa says.
Hana's face scrunches up in displeasure and scoffs.
"What is it, my love?" Roxanne asks.
"Just a difference of opinion is what led to a Lord removing his brother from nobility?" Hana questions with a hint of anger seeping in her tone.
"I don't think it's that simple," Alissa says with a wry smile.
"Most likely it was a long list of petty grievances that made them grow more and more estranged until they finally became enemies," Roxanne says wistfully.
"Talking from experience?" Ciel raises an eyebrow at Roxanne.
The pale succubus lets out a long moan from Hana's brain massage before she answers, "Not my experience." We wait for her to continue but Roxanne turns quiet.
There are many things she doesn't like to talk about, like her mother, for example. If I had to make a guess, I believe she's talking about her grandparents.
"How does, one become, an enemy?" Ted asks.
"When two people interfere with each other's lives so much that the most cost-effective choice is for them to destroy each other," I answer.
"'Destroy'?" Suzy asks.
"To remove the power or authority that someone has. The easiest way to do it is most likely to be by killing the other."
"Well, as far as we know, they didn't kill each other," Hana says with a shrug.
"As far as we know..." Roxanne repeats.
I spend some time brushing the hair of the girls while Alissa and Ciel wash the mountain of clothes and sheets we had piled up. Considering how we're not being cautious with what kind of things we "dirty" these sheets with, we all make a concerted effort to [Clean] them. Though, Hana is not allowed anywhere near the delicate and sexy underwear.
While we wash, we notice how the air is growing colder and the entire forest is quickly falling silent. The children lose interest in playing and quickly enter the tents, then a baby starts crying.
The light elemental becomes alert and looks to the darkness beyond the trees. She starts patrolling around our camp with confident steps.
"I don't really shake my ass like that," Ciel says and scoffs.
"You do, though...?" I say and give her a phony smile.
Ciel stares at Lina and the little girl becomes very shy. "Yes, you do," Lina says in a low tone.
*SLAP!* Ciel gasps and grabs her own ass in pain and Hana laughs out loud, then says, "Have you seen this jiggle?! Of course, you shake it like that, there's no other way for you to walk if not with a sway." Hana grabs the other cheek and squeezes it.
"Ow! Don't slap me like that!" Ciel protests.
"You can slap me back if you want," Hana smiles at her suggestively.
"And then you're just going to activate [Pain Conversion]."
"Maaybe," Hana says with a chuckle.
Ciel lifts her hands in exasperation and turns to me. "How do you even punish someone like her?" She asks.
"Fuck her until she begs you to stop?" I say with a shrug.
Ciel facepalms, then she turns around in a huff and enters the tent.
"Uh... s-sorry, I'll make it up to you," Hana says with a phony smile and goes after Ciel.
Soon after, we hear the sounds of wet sucking and see Hana on all fours, kissing, licking, and sucking on Ciel's feet.
Tonight we go to sleep early. It's obvious that the Weepers are out there, hounding us, but it's not yet the time for a fight, so we can only endure it for now.
Today is the 13th.
Hana wakes me up, lovelier than normal due to the attention that I gave to her yesterday.
Lina's "Sanity" also increased by 1 (now 12). It seems that she's also improving and adapting to her new lifestyle.
The morning is slow. An uncomfortably cold breeze passes through the camp and the people repeatedly glance at the darkness beyond. A faint noise can be heard; it's so faint that it's hard to discern what it is.
"E-excuse me," a male human commoner approaches Ciel as we leave for breakfast. "How much longer until you can kill those Weepers?"
"I'm sorry, they are too far for us to even see them," she softly says to the man. She puts a hand on his shoulder and motions to the light elemental nearby. "Why don't you spend some time near her? The elementals help a lot with the nightmares."
"Understood. T-thank you..." He bows lightly to her and scurries towards the patrolling elemental.
"Why did he go to you instead of me?" I ask.
"My 'Charisma' is higher than yours," Ciel says with a shy smile.
"Yeah, just 'Charisma'..." I pout exaggeratedly.
Ciel rolls her eyes and summons her [Holy Spirit], then she has it follow my light elemental.
Breakfast is simple and quick, the Weepers are already affecting our appetite.
"Say, Wolf," Rande calls to me, "You can't see the Weepers with your summons?"
"They are all being used to keep the bandits from escaping, so I don't have any of them scouting right now."
He clicks his tongue. "You think you could find them if you had your scouting summons?"
"Only if we are lucky, Weepers are very good at hiding."
He sighs and leans back in his chair. "I would take a horde of Corpse Stealers over uncomfortable days with the Weepers stalking us."
"Only because you have us to deal with that horde," Hana says, with a smug smile.
"Only because the Lords are overburdened with their duties," Rande shoots back with a scoff.
"You can't act like you don't rely on us after everything you told me."
He smiles at her and continues without even glancing at me, "That was just common elven courtesy, if you can't differentiate between casual flirting and heartfelt praise then I overestimated you."
She gives him a fearsome smile and starts a staring contest, "'Casual'? You think that was 'casual'? I know exactly how much money I drank that day; I know my alcohol like I know Wolf's dick, and let me tell you, I suck a lot of dick."
"Didn't you say that the flirting was decreasing?" Ciel whispers beside me.
"I did..."
Laertes frowns and looks at me. "What's the matter with you all? It's like everything you do revolves around sex," he says.
"Because it does," I say, with a grin.
"Well, he does have five wives. How do you propose he satisfy them all if not by having sex all the time?" Osaria chimes in.
"It's not like he's always the one who needs to do it," Roxanne comments.
"I would prefer if such things weren't discussed over breakfast," Anton says with a frown and sends a glance to Klein, who's very interested in this conversation.
Osaria leans to the side and softly puts a hand on Anton's shoulder. "Oh, don't be shy, Anton, we should all be very proud of our bodies and of the people we love," she says in a sultry tone that tickles my ears.
Krista puts her hand over Osaria's and gives it a light squeeze. "Yes, but we should always keep in mind that different people have different ideas of love."
Osaria withdraws her hand with a cheeky smile and sends me a wink. "Even among elves, very few people have different views from what the Goddess of Love teaches. Love is to be spread and taken without prejudice."
"Love is not the same thing as sex," Laertes says.
"But it can be," Hana interjects. "It is the most pleasure you can give to your partner, so it makes sense for them to be so closely tied together."
It figures that she's the one who thinks like that. Wait, that actually means she loves me quite a lot. Awn...
"Well, you don't have to be the one giving your partner pleasure, you can even leave that to others," Alissa says.
"W-what...?" Anton looks at her in disbelief, his eyebrows are finally far apart from each other.
"Giving pleasure to your partner is part of what love is, but it doesn't have to be you, specifically. You can just be the cause of your partner's pleasure while another does the deed."
Both Anton and Krista become speechless. Their eyes inevitably turn to me and I just give a wry smile.
"I agree. It's much easier on my body if I let Rande do as he pleases," Oura says and I see Nito, who's sitting at the corner of the table, turn away and blush heavily.
Alissa nods repeatedly. "And it's also a show of trust. Wolfy can have sex with whoever he wants, but he can only make love with us, his wives."
Oura gives a lovely smile to Alissa and says, "There's much more than just sex that Rande gives us. Now, if someone tried to take that away from us, then I would be very angry."
Ciel starts to look uncomfortable.
"I also feel that if it was only me then I wouldn't be enough to make him happy. Especially after he started to gain skills, then his appetite flew high like a bird."
"I can confirm that. He might be even hungrier than me, lately," Hana comments.
Oura nods in understanding. "I tried to learn the skills to help me with that, but Rande has way more skills than me. It would be a waste of skill points to learn them when he can use someone else for that." Rande smiles proudly at himself and keeps quiet while Oura sends him indirect praise.
"I have some, but they are nothing in comparison to his. What is it with men and sex skills? It's like they learn them so easily by comparison, it's not fair," Alissa says and sends me a playful glare.
"Maybe they have some dragonkin blood in them," Oura says with a shrug.
"I can say that Rande's 'appetite' runs in the family," Osaria says.
"He says he only became like this after he met us," Alissa says and Osaria sends me a hungry glance.
"Then it's love," Oura says with a chuckle.
"So much love he would have broken me if I didn't have help."
"Can we please talk about something else," Laertes pleads.
"Like what?" Osaria questions him.
"I don't know, the journey to Goldport?" He shrugs.
"We already talked about it until the leaves dried."
"The bandits we captured?"
"Too depressing, we are not proud of having to kill our brethren that turned to thievery to survive."
"Monsters?"
"Too boring, not even Anton likes to talk about them."
"It's just a job, I'm not proud of killing monsters," Anton comments with a shrug.
"Weather...?" Laertes asks tentatively.
Osaria rolls her eyes. "What weather? It hardly ever changes at the ground level, only the elves living among the tree crowns can even feel it."
"Then politics, I mean, we are feeling the effects of Lord Este's policy."
"Politics is a good way to start a brawl," Rande comments.
"Then the fights at the arena!" Laertes excitedly exclaims, his shy tail shoots straight up for once.
"You only watch the imperial ones," Rande says with a snort.
"Archery competitions are not exciting."
"Says you, and you're an archer yourself. Now you are the one who doesn't like to talk about it."
"If we don't have anything good to talk about, then maybe we should all just stay quiet," Anton says through gritted teeth.
Osaria pouts playfully and the conversation dies down.
Rande barks orders and the caravan stirs. With 30 potentially dangerous prisoners to take care of, nobody wants to be out in the open any longer than necessary, so things proceed quickly. I use my nature elementals, the light elemental, and Ciel's [Holy Spirit] to slowly heal the wounds of the bandits. I don't have mana to spare, and because the earth elementals have to stay out as security, I can't use [Heal] on the bandits.
I summon a single Holly and order her to circle around the caravan at high-speed, so my security perimeter has no holes.
The soldiers look a little tired. They had to keep a much larger night watch due to the bandits, and the lack of scouting from my summons made them a little warier. I unsummon two earth elementals and summon two more light elementals so the commoners and soldiers feel more comfortable.
The elven elder commoner comes towards us and calls for my attention. "Excuse me, Mr. Ryder, correct?"
"Yes, you can just call me Wolf. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."
"I am Rudito," the old man bows lightly and I return it from atop my horse.
"How may I help you, Rudito."
He smiles at my courtesy and strokes his short, straight beard like a stereotypical kung-fu teacher. "I would just like to thank you and your fellowship for your work. You are doing quite a lot for us and it's making this trip very pleasant for us all."
"You are welcome," I say softly.
He extends to me a small fresh-looking letter. "If your fellowship is in need of help, look for a Tribunal of the Commons. We may be small, but together we can offer aid for a variety of problems."
Lina's Trivia: The Tribunal is the elven alternative to the Avgi temple. Dating back to before the empire even existed, the Tribunal helps the commoners with their problems.
I receive the letter with a smile. "Thank you very much for this, I really appreciate it."
"We are always looking for allies, devoted followers of Avgi or not. The only thing that matters is their consideration for us, the commoners," he smiles back and leaves.
Once Rudito is out of earshot, Lina guides her horse closer to mine. "That's a good ally to have, but I don't think they have spies that can counter Katasko's," she says.
"Or Darean's," I say.
"Darean is a commoner, they could find a way to track him, depending on who he's associated with."
"Well, he's involved with bandits, so it's possible."
"What does the temple think of the Tribunal?" Alissa asks Ciel.
She shrugs and says, "It depends on the town, but they don't speak badly of them. It would make sense for them to be allies because the temple is not very influential in the High Forest, and so they would definitely try to at least maintain friendly relations with them."
We spend the morning hunting goblins and Miasmatic Gambos, small rat-like men who have a very keen sense of smell. The amount of blood spilled yesterday is slowly attracting these monsters; they pick up the scent of the caravan and follow us. The commoners keep their children close because these monsters will kidnap anything smaller than a dwarf, making them terrifying for halflings and gnomes.
"[Firestorm]!" Roxanne casts a small version of the spell on the monster.
"[Wind Storm]!" Ciel casts a harmless version of the spell and pushes the hot, smelly air away from us.
"Done?" Alissa asks me through the [Bind].
"Yep, you can come over now."
"I would rather not... the corpse still smells horrible."
"Gih."
"Gify?" I and Alissa ask in unison.
"Gi-ih?" He asks back playfully.
"Since when can you do that?"
"Gih."
Since now.
"Congrats, I guess?" I say.
"Gih!"
"You never showed your knowledge about magic before."
"Gih."
"Well, you could stop being such a lazy ass and help us more."
"Gih!" And he pops off of my shoulder to go... wherever spirits go.
"Is this what it's like to have him inside your mind all the time?" Alissa asks.
"Yes."
"Are you sure you're not a masochist, too?"
Considering how I loved Lily, maybe...?
"I will not answer that."
A little before midday, we pass by a patrol and the commoners rejoice. Fifteen soldiers, most of them mounted on Gatuns look at us like they are seeing aliens.
"You defeated seventy bandits... with around thirty men, and didn't suffer a single casualty?" The patrol leader asks.
"Defender's advantage," Rande proudly states, then his confidence deflates only a tiny bit. "And powerful elemental summons."
The leader looks at the caravan and sees the light elementals. "I see..."
Rande pulls out the large pile of bounty plates, both from the dead and the captured bandits. Most of them have only a theft or two registered while the rest haven't committed enough crimes for a bounty to be posted for them.
"Can you handle them?" Rande asks.
The leader notices the numerous bandages on the bandits. "They are wounded? And you healed them?"
"We have three good healers, so it wasn't that difficult."
"Good, the Tribunal hates when small bandits die to wounds. Very well, we can bring them back to town. Take the bounty plates and the town will give you your reward."
I unsummon the nature and earth elementals, and the patrols shackle the bandits with wooden manacles and ropes.
The scout that I tortured raises his head and looks at me. His eyes look sad, but I see no anger; instead, I see a hint of elven pride coming back.
A mage of the patrol heals the worst wounds of the bandits to help them walk faster. The patrolmen write down the names of those involved and asks everyone what happened, including the bandits. The questioning was quick, they were mostly checking Rande's story for discrepancies.
With the patrol leaving, I unsummon everything so I can cast [Swift Foot] on the commoners, then I summon a light elemental again. But even with that, the patrol is faster than us because they force the bandits to jog.
The time for lunch comes by and we sit down to eat.
Krista sets out on the table in front of us a large tray with an Uspidor tentacle. It's a roll of meat surrounded with a crunchy, fried pork rind, dripping with fat. This tentacle is only for me and the girls, and another tentacle is given to the others.
"Ooh..." Anton coos, his eyebrows so high they could almost be considered part of his hair.
"I'll pass, too much fat for me," Osaria says.
"Not like she needs any more fat on her," Aoi says in my head.
"You think she looks delicious?"
"Yes! Wait, not in a sexual way!" She says with a chuckle.
"Do I look delicious, too?"
"Yes, in both ways, hehe!"
"Not sure if I should be glad."
"Muuh! You should! I don't feel like this for any other humanoid man!"
"Awn... thank you, I will."
"Hmph."
The Uspidor tastes a bit like pork but it has a much stronger flavor. The acid they produce gives the meat a slightly acidic taste, too.
The rest of the meal is a slab of expertly roasted cow ribs and sirloin with the fat still on it. As a Brazillian, I know how to properly barbecue and I must say, Krista knows it too. The scented logs she used to roast the meat added a faint taste of the wood to the roast, improving the flavor. We barely ate any salad; between the Uspidor tentacles and the cow roast, we even had enough to share with the soldiers, which improved their morale.
A few hours into the afternoon, we finally reach Ostoum. The first thing we see is a long ramp supported by thin (by the High Forest standards) trees that take us up to the town suspended above the lake. Hundreds of vine-like plants hang from the bark "shield wall"; they suck the water up from the lake and bring it to the farms.
The commoners cheer and Rande turns around; his face is stern. "We are leaving tomorrow morning, at the same time. Get as much rest as you can," he says and the soldiers and commoners alike moan in frustration. "We are behind schedule. I'm sorry, but I have a tight schedule to follow. A small effort won't hurt when you have all been having it easy with Helios' [Swift Foot]."
The complainers quiet down and I see Rudito chuckle softly.
We reach the gate after a familiar killing-corridor.
Once we dismount, Hana approaches Klein and asks, "Any Inn recommendations?"
Klein seems to be brought back to reality by Hana's words and stutters, "Y-yes! There's a good one that should be quite cheap right now. It's not the same level of comfort as Flor's, but it's still pretty good."
This time Klein can't escape and Krista comes along to arrange their accommodations.
The town has four levels. The first two are farms and we can see what they are cultivating: glowing plants of all kinds, creating a rainbow of colors that light up the entirety of the two levels. From what I know, these plants produce mana and are actually one of the main sources of potions for the High Forest.
I see a few small nature elementals walking about. The nature spirits seem to find the leaf-like hair of the elementals to be very comfortable beds; this makes the lolimentals look ab-so-lute-ly adorable.
Gih!
"What is it? You were always adorable, Gify," Alissa comments.
"Kweh? What are we talking about?" Aoi chimes in.
"I might have to keep all of you out of my thoughts or my mind will become a tavern," I say.
Guh.
The elves have a proto-elevator for us to use. It works by using the overflow of water brought up by the vines as power. It's limited to only people, though.
We exit the elevator at the top level, then we breathe in the fresh air and see the beautiful, clear night sky. Lina seems to be the most pleased to be here.
"Are you getting used to being so high up?" I ask her.
"Wolfy... don't remind me of that." She looks down and frowns. "I'm just happy we aren't in the damp forest anymore."
"Oh, you didn't like it there?"
"Kind of. The air down there is too stuffy and humid, it's not good for the skin."
"Really?" Roxanne turns to her and questions with a serious tone.
Lina nods twice, "Air has to be fresh and circulating. Otherwise, your skin will become too oily and then it gets blemished."
"The elves must need their plants to keep their skin from getting ugly, then," Alissa comments.
"Hmm, I guess this is why every elf has a garden," Krista adds.
The town has a gloomy atmosphere similar to Ostodos. Though, a thin mist seems to be forming and making the town even gloomier.
"Hmm..." Lina starts to look at the mist apprehensively.
"It only appears on the colder nights," Krista says with a wry smile.
The inn we arrive at is simpler than The Red Leaf: it's smaller, the walls are warped, and there's no carpet. It has a "Rabanara vibe" to it so I like it a lot. The innkeeper is an old golden elf man that receives us without much enthusiasm; though, at least he doesn't look displeased.
We go to our bath and I choose Ciel as today's body to drown myself in. I occupy her mouth with mine and squeeze her ass cheeks with my hands. Her large nipples rub on my skin and her softness squishes against my chest.
I don't hold back and clear my mind. As if I'm entering a zen state, I can make myself cum faster than normal; and with someone like Ciel to fuck, I easily cum inside her repeatedly. [Enhanced Sexual Stamina] is a waste of skill points, [Enhanced Semen Recharge] is what every man should invest in.
I drain myself inside Ciel and she looks at me in surprise.
"You, uh, filled me up, huh?" She says with a wry smile.
"I'm going to get you addicted to my cum," I say.
"As if we aren't already," Hana says as she continues breaking Alissa.
I keep myself inside Ciel while we rest and she continues slowly swaying her hips.
"Are you enjoying this trip?" I ask her.
She doesn't stop moving while she answers, "Why wouldn't I? Well, some elves can be annoying, but they are mostly neutral to us and a few are friendly. The towns have been quite endearing and I'm sure that if we make friends, like you did with Rudito and Tribunal, we would be easily accepted." Alissa's screams become loud enough that Ciel has to increase her voice.
"Scream louder," I order Alissa's soul.
"AAAAAAHNN!" She instantly orgasms, the feeling is so strong that it spills over the [Bind] and causes both me and Aoi to orgasm, too.
"Holy shit..." I mutter as I fill Ciel even more.
Aoi coughs water and complains, "Kweh...! That was, too sudden!"
Alissa collapses and becomes catatonic; such is the power of her orgasm.
"[Bind] seems to be a bit dangerous, we could get too addicted to the pleasure," Ciel comments.
"More than we already are?" Roxanne adds and pinches Lina's clit.
"Well..."
Dinner is a very tasty Arracacia with Dragolite soup. We have some crunchy fried not-potatoes and a not-tomato salad as side dishes.
Oura sends us a small wave as she enters the Inn with the others. Considering how she's a bookworm, maybe we can push for her and Lina to become more friendly.
After dinner, we retreat to our room to practice a little. Lina is making a lot of progress on the second [Wind Shield] enchantment by using the broken shield we got from Vanea; next, we should teach her how to use [Earth Magic] to glue herself to the ground so that she doesn't get punted by a heavy attack. Alissa plays around with her [Illusion Magic], seemingly trying to use it to create butterflies or something similar. I teach Roxanne [Warp Space] to see if she can use it to improve her explosion. The little golems diligently observe us and practice their magic alongside Roxanne.
Hana and Ciel are practicing wrestling techniques, then Hana gives a playful kiss on Ciel's lips. After that, it devolves into them making out on the ground and Hana trying to get Ciel naked.
Suddenly we hear a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Alissa asks.
"It's me. Can I come in?" Klein replies.
Hall of Fame of Patrons
The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:
Oracle Maximillian Hübner.
Lord Andrew Meyers.
Lord Hope.
Lord Samuel Lim.
Lord Cody Weigel.
Lord Bill.
Lord Novgarod.
Lord DJ.
Noble Salty Panda.