Chapter 83 – Operation Degoblination

“What now, Master?” Sirgia asks as we observe the two sentries from behind a corner.

“It would be best to gather as much information as we can. About their numbers, strongest warriors and possible captives. But, none of us has any useful scouting abilities.”

“I could just run inside while enhancing my speed and take a quick look around. It would alert them, but I could lead the pursuers into a trap we prepare beforehand or into a more favourable position for us to strike,” Astrea suggests.

“Wait. I have an idea. Let me just check one thing.”

I pull up my status and open one of the skills I rarely check, also making it visible to the girls so that they don’t just stare at me in complete confusion.

【Linguist Lv. MAX】

You have learned over 20 different languages and perfected 17 of them. Your talent is one of the best in this world. Learning new languages is incredibly easy for you and takes 1/10 of the time and effort a normal person would have to spend. You perfectly memorize all learned languages. Thanks to your experience, you can guess the superficial meaning of all humanoid type languages you don’t know, be it in spoken or written form.

Languages learned:

[Earth] - German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Polish, Swedish, English

[Naharren] - Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Orcish, Draconic, Sylvan, Infernal, Aquerian, Terrerian, Ignerian, Aurerian, Primordial

“While I do not know Goblin or whatever the language they use to communicate is called, there’s a chance that it is considered a humanoid type. We could try capturing one of the guards and test it out with my Charm Magic, asking for some information about their base,” I explain my idea.

Sirgia nods. “That could work.”

“We are lucky. Both of them seem to be females. Your magic should have a stronger effect on them,” Astrea adds after glancing behind the corner again.

“Alright. Let’s do it the same way as earlier. Just knock them out instead. Since both of them are females, it’s better to keep two alive instead of one, for more possible information.”

I prepare the Void Chains in my mind and watch as Astrea and Sirgia apply their respective version of Physical Strengthening while focusing it on their legs to boost their speed. With a simultaneous nod, all three of us jump out of hiding.

Placing my hand on the ground—which, as I have learned in the past, boosts my effective range with this ability—I send out wide purplish straps that emerge from the wall behind the two Goblins and wrap themselves around their mouths and bodies, also capturing their crude weapons to not let them fall to the ground.

The girls arrive at their sides in a blink while avoiding the middle where the entrance could reveal them. Astrea drives a non-hardened fist into the stomach of the left one while Sirgia bonks the right one with the flat side of her hammer in its dormant state, making it look like she is playing whack-a-goblin instead of going after an opponent.

The two clearly lose consciousness and my lovely partners pick them up with ease. Both of them are plenty strong, even without my bonuses. They carry the duo of Goblins back to our corner and we hide behind it again. 

It’s better for other Goblins to see that the guards disappeared somewhere than to stumble onto us interrogating their friends and start shouting before we can silence them in time. Just less risk. And Astrea should be able to notice anyone coming towards the entrance.

I move closer to one of the ugly green bastards. Gods. They seriously stink. I pity Astrea and her much more heightened senses than mine. Unless she can somehow tune the smell out. She doesn’t look that bothered by it but certainly can perceive it. Perhaps one of her racial perks again.

Before we wake it up, I cast Charm Monster and a pinkish wisp of smoke travels from my hands towards its head. I inherently know that the spell succeeded, feeling a faint connection to the entity in front of me. Even though it doesn’t feel nasty or anything, I somehow don’t like just the thought of it.

“Alright. Wake it up. If it starts shouting, silence it immediately. We do have a spare.”

Astrea nods and lands a juicy slap on the Goblin’s face. I raise my brow at her, but the method seems to have worked and the greenie in front of us starts scrunching its face as it reenters the world of consciousness.

I focus my mind on sending thoughts through the link with the Goblin, presenting our group as its allies. Perhaps it works as it doesn’t immediately scream in shock and fear, just looking at me normally. Well, I assume that’s normally since I have no idea how not normally looks. But, it’s not making any weird faces, so, yeah.

“Can you understand me?” I ask to confirm if we even can communicate. My skill says I can figure out the meaning of the words, but not that others can figure out my speech.

The charmed Goblin nods.

“Good. Be a good bo—girl and answer my questions in as much detail as you can. And keep your voice down. Got it?”

It nods again.

“Let’s start then. How long ago did you guys settle down in these sewers?”

“Ghrrak sver lgnui. Darrha dhrak vir-vir khrefthu.”

“Okay… Looks like it does work, but… I have no idea what forty-four rings mean… It could be months, weeks or days. Or whatever their system is. When was the last time you sensed them, Astrea?”

“Definitely over two months ago since I missed the latest community meeting, staying at your place.”

“Our place.” I give her a brief smile and catch Astrea’s tail moving a bit more enthusiastically as I return the gaze to the Goblin. “How many of you are there?”

“Rak-vir tata, lru-igu pupu. Vahrak khrek grhlgu.”

“I see. Combatants versus non-combatants?”

“Rak-igu nhrak ruhr lru-re shrak fthul.”

I turn to the girls. “Twenty-four females and eighteen males, out of which there are twenty-eight actual combatants. The rest pretty much runs the settlement, I think. It’s not like I get a direct translation.”

“That’s quite a few, but we shouldn’t have that much of an issue if we do it smartly, Master,” Sirgia comments.

“It depends on the presence of stronger foes,” Astrea adds. “Can you ask about that, Alastair?”

“Sure.” I move my gaze back to our hostage. “Are there any stronger warriors amongst you or just common Goblins?”

“Hrustu dudu Guyun arhag khretle furuhg. Daghrah tatemu. Vhreyl glyee khaiki.”

“If I got it right, their leader is a… Warlock? I think that’s it, considering the theme of the intentions I’ve received. It’s mostly normal Goblins. There was a single Hobgoblin but it didn’t return from the last expedition.”

“Then we should be fine as long as it doesn’t show up in the middle of the fight. But even then, it shouldn’t be too hard to deal with it for any of us,” Sirgia shares her thoughts.

“Hopefully it was killed by my brethren. Ask about Beastkin, please,” Astrea requests.

“Got it. How many prisoners do you have and what race are they?”

“Vir shlaesh. Tre pupu ore lru tata. Lru pupu ghraha Schlar. Dishgle tre shlaesh Tahil.”

“Oh. There are four, amongst which there are three males and one female. There’s one Human—a man—and three Beastkin. I guess some adventurer on a quest or a government worker tasked with checking on the sewers.”

Astrea’s fists clench slightly while her face doesn’t change in any way from its usual, neutral expression. I reach out to place a hand on her head and scratch behind her ear.

“I’m fine,” she speaks while letting me pet her. “It’s nothing unusual to get captured. I’m angry that the Community didn’t even try to rescue them. If these three are its members, the scouts had definitely been dispatched after them and then did nothing more than report the situation. If these three haven’t yet made contact with the Community, the patrols had definitely noticed their scent and also did nothing after reporting it.”

“We’ll get them out. And then teach some idiots the proper principles.”

“Thank you.” She leans closer to rub her cheek against mine for a few seconds and then moves back.

We ask some more questions about the general layout of the settlement and what weapons can be found in the hands of the Goblins before putting the first prisoner to sleep again. With an actual Sleep spell. It’s a good practice target to learn how to handle this magic as it could prove useful in our upcoming assault.

Waking up the second one, I repeat the same questions to see if we’ll learn anything else, but most of the things match up and just some tiny details are different, not creating any meaningful discrepancies in our intel.

Afterwards, I give them a swift death with my purplish blade while they are unconscious. Lesson for the future—cancel the magic before doing so. The somber feeling that accompanies the process of dying perceivable through the connection until it’s completely cut is anything but pleasant. It’s nothing that bad, but I’d rather not feel pity for vicious monsters while watching their life slowly fade out.

“Well then. We now know what we needed. It’s time to come up with a plan of action,” I say after recollecting myself.

“We could launch an attack on two fronts,” Astrea suggests. “I can create a diversion with my high mobility while the two of you strike from the back. Or go after the Warlock.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but let’s improve it a little. Let’s cause some confusion and chaos amongst their ranks first. I’ll spread my Carnal Mist over part of the settlement. When these freaks start going after each other, that surely will bring attention to them. After a bigger group assembles in that part, you will strike the stable ones and continue with your diversion.”

After explaining the plan to Astrea, I turn to Sirgia.

“The two of us will wait for a bit to see if the Warlock will come out of its hut to personally check on things. If yes, we’ll get rid of him and then split up. You will head to where the prisoners are kept and I will start ploughing through the common grunts to help Astrea. If no, I’ll sneak into its hut and assassinate it while you cause commotion in front of the tent. Then, we proceed the same as in the other scenario. If things go south, I should be able to cast Area Sleep. It drains much more mana so I’d rather not do it to save as much strength for later as possible. Sounds good?”

My two adorable partners nod in response to my suggestion. We ready ourselves up and prepare for the operation Degoblination. Before we move out of hiding, Sirgia and Astrea gently peck my lips one after another. 

Something I thought long ago echoes in my head—I can’t imagine being in a party and just before a fight, I kiss all the girls in turns so that they can be a little stronger. Right. How the times change. Well, they are already fully strengthened from our previous night, but the point still stands. I guess I’ve fully accepted it. Can’t say I don’t enjoy it.

Nevertheless, we finally begin moving to the guard-less entrance. Fortunately, no one checked on them or came to change the shifts. We take a better peek inside and try to match the information we’ve extracted through the interrogation. 

Everything seems to be correct. There are no real fortifications in this huge hall. The four main currents of water create a rectangular island in the middle of the chamber, surrounded by an artificial moat. A single, makeshift bridge is all that allows the greenies to cross one of the rivers.

A dozen of very crude tents can be spotted all around that island, with one particularly standing out—the Warlock’s hut. We also quickly recognize the place where they keep their prisoners. 

Due to the scarcity of wood, which most likely needs to be brought from the outside of the city, the captives are on the stone floor with just some sticks and ropes restricting their wrists and ankles, as Astrea informs us with her enhanced sight.

All the tunnels we’ve travelled through previously, had light blue glowy gems etched into the walls at pretty regular intervals, allowing me and Sirgia to traverse them without a need for an additional source of light. But this huge hall is big enough for the crystals to not illuminate the entirety of its middle perfectly.

Astrea’s Nightvision comes in handy here, allowing her to peer into the details much more easily. The Goblins seem to have picked some of the gems off the walls somewhere as they hang around the Warlock’s hut, most likely as a decoration since they don’t really need them to see properly. For us, it’s an advantage.

We all nod at each other and I close my eyes to focus on my ability. I might not see it, but I feel as the purple mist slowly travels close to the ground. Astrea observes it carefully and guides me towards a far end of the settlement. The magical smoke crosses above the stream of water and reaches the first tent.

From there, I split the single thread into multiple paths and send them out in many different directions, reaching a few more tents and areas where the Goblins are gathered. After Astrea informs me that it should be enough, I push more mana into the skill and she reports a sudden explosion of purple smoke that quickly dissipates into thin air.

I open my eyes and the three of us start watching as the Goblins affected by the Carnal Mist start coughing and throw themselves at each other, with obvious intentions. And they don’t really care about genders in this scenario.

The unaffected ones quickly start gathering around the incident and staring at their brethren in confusion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the shouts and screams lure the Warlock out. We nod at each other and move onto the next step.

Astrea dashes to the left while Sirgia and I run to the right, towards the makeshift bridge. There is a sentry on our side but we swiftly deal with it as it’s turned its back to us to see what the hell is going on in its home. The body I cut in half with my shortsword falls into the water and we cross the river.

There, a few more Goblins notice our arrival, heading towards the weird noises and screaming. They start shouting about enemies in their gnarly language and rush at us with simple clubs and makeshift stone axes mostly. Two have actual shortswords. Pretty rusted ones.

Sirgia extends her weapon and brings carnage to them while letting me run past her to reach the Warlock’s hut. I take a quick glance over my shoulder but she handles herself with care and doesn’t let any of the Goblins get close to her by swinging the fully elongated hammer around. She already took care of the two that carried the swords.

I focus on my task and shape up a longsword for better reach. Arriving in front of the correct tent, I dive inside by pushing the cloth hanging over the entrance aside. Immediately, a horrendous stench hits my nostrils and makes me scrunch my nose.

“Ugh… Should have expected that…” I whisper to myself.

Fortunately, the Warlock keeps some crystals inside too. There’s not much else around besides some clay vials, cups, bowls and similar containers. Some weird items and materials are resting on pieces of dirty cloth. Plenty of them come from the rats, including various parts of their bodies.

My target is present and currently mashing something in another bowl, creating some kind of a mixture, with its back turned to me. A perfect opportunity. Just keep yourself busy until I chop your head off.

But, as I slowly and as silently as possible cover the distance between the two of us, a dark red formation lights up under my feet and faint drowsiness takes over my body. It’s not enough to bring me down, but the Warlock immediately notices the activation of its safeguard and turns around, catching an ugly bone staff into its hand which was lying next to him.

My ankles suddenly get restrained by black tentacles that rise around them as I hear the Warlock laugh with its horrendously obnoxious voice. Without waiting, it aims the tip of its staff at me and prepares to launch another spell.

“Would be too easy, right? Oh well. Time to tango.”

I bring forth my full strength and lean to the front while affirming my grip on the draconic hilt. The stone pavement cracks a little under my feet and I lunge forward, tearing the black restraints. My captor clearly didn’t expect its trap to be broken this easily and screams in surprise as my blade heads for its body with a diagonal slash from the bottom.

Unfortunately, the Warlock manages to avoid the blow and I only shave off a bit of its shoulder as it rolls to the side. I still cause it enough pain to scream even louder, but it quickly recollects itself.

Before I can make another attack, a feeling of sluggishness washes over me in addition to the faint drowsiness. I notice the tip of its staff slightly glowing in orange. It surely loves its debuffs.

But, I don’t think it realizes that I’m not your typical Human. 

Fighting against the bothersome curses, I change the shape of my weapon into a katana and reach for the Moon-Slashing Arts that I still have from Shino.

The Warlock understands that I’m trying to pull some kind of a move on it and starts casting a spell on its own. Judging by the dark energy accumulating at the head of its staff, this one is clearly an offensive thing.

One advantage abilities usually hold over magic is casting time. It’s not a rule, but a common occurrence. Therefore, I finish much faster than him and take a drawing stance with my blade sheathed into a ring I created with my fingers by my side.

I feel a small surge of mana, the katana shines in white, and the thin material walls of the hut flutter strongly as countless glowing lines appear in front of me and disappear in a blink, accompanied by a loud shiing.

Taking a deep breath as the debuffs disappear, I raise myself up and watch the Warlock—or rather dozens of pieces of it cut at tens of angles—slide to the ground. The wall behind it suffered the same fate and there’s now a huge hole with sharp edges after the shredded material fell to the ground with the Goblin. I spot Astrea pulverizing her opponents through it.

“Fuuuh… I wish I had an actual sheath so I could do the clink like in the movies or anime just as the split-second cut is made. It’s just not it without that part. Alright. Time to clean up the trash.”

I take one more glance around the hut to check for anything important and jump through the opening I created with my blow. Instantly, I make a horizontal slash and send out a wave of dark energy from my blade that cuts three Goblins behind Sirgia’s back in half.

We make eye contact and she starts running towards the prisoners, but not before slamming her hammer into the ground, causing strong tremors which in turn throw her opponents off-balance. Most of them fall down and I jump in her place to take care of the leftovers.

It takes me around two minutes to finish off the group that gathered at this place and I immediately start heading towards Astrea’s fighting grounds. She has also reduced their numbers greatly. Only seven Goblins are left around her. We’ve dealt with the majority now.

Noticing me, she parries a crude spear with her hardened gloves and punches the owner straight into its ugly face, sending it flying back with half of its head caved in. That one is dead. Yep.

In the next moment, Astrea swiftly moves between the rest of her opponents and arrives at my side. I notice a few brushes and very shallow cuts on her skin and bandages, but nothing too serious. Nevertheless, I cast Rejuvenate immediately.

“Good job. Let’s wrap it up and check on the captives.” I pat her head.

“Thank you. I tried to keep their attention on myself. It wasn’t easy.”

“I know. Can you bundle them up for me?”

She nods and takes a deep breath. The band of Goblins has gotten very close while we were talking and is short of reaching us. Astrea’s figure suddenly blurs and disappears from my side with a slight tug on my hand that was still resting on her hair.

One by one, she kicks each Goblin into the same direction after appearing and disappearing at various locations. When she launches the last one into the air, the three previous ones are still making their flight onto the pile. She returns to my side and exhales heavily as the last one makes its landing.

Without further ado, I sink the blade of my katana into the ground and a bigger version of it emerges from under the heap of Goblins, piercing all of them and splitting a few in half. With that done, I retract my weapon and smile at Astrea who stares at me with her usual, calm gaze. I brush her cheek with my finger and she shows the tiniest smile as her ears twitch.

We break into a run and head to meet up with Sirgia. Along the way, we stumble on a few remaining survivors and finish them off. Astrea keeps checking for any more as we reach the spot with the prisoners.

Sirgia is kneeling by one of the Beastkin men with four dead Goblins behind her. Astrea quickly makes her way to the other people of her kin and I turn to the only Human after noticing that his injuries are the worst.

Unfortunately, as I quickly cast Rejuvenate on him, I can only watch how life slowly fades away from his eyes with the treatment coming too late. Not even the healing potions I got from Ailish will make it in time.

With a heavy sigh, I move my eyes to the man that Sirgia is kneeling by and judge that he is in a similar state but not yet on the brink of death. She must have realized that and focused her efforts on the person she could actually save. What a strong-willed girl.

I join her and pour my mana into the skill again. Slowly but surely, with the help of a healing potion too, we stabilize the patient well enough. He doesn’t seem to be suffering from extreme trauma but certainly isn’t alright.

The other two are also covered in scars, cuts and blemishes, but they are doing much better than this guy and Astrea does a decent job at applying healing salves and herbal bandaids. She focuses her efforts on tending to the pure-blood Foxkin girl. The other man is a pure-blood Tigerkin and the one under our care is a half-blood Deerkin. Or something like that.

With everyone at least partially healed up, I drop onto my butt between Sirgia and Astrea.

“Alright. Now what. The lady is so-so and could potentially walk with some support, but I guess we are going to carry the other two. Since I have a bigger reach and repertoire, you two should be the ones to do it. Any other suggestions?”

“Let’s leave carrying the captives to them,” Astrea says.

“Them?”

“Come out. Your masking doesn’t work on someone who is familiar with your scent.”

Her words confuse me even more but then I hear steps behind us and watch four Beastkin, completely geared up in leather armour and with weapons, walk out from behind one of the nearby tents. I hastily stand up and turn around. The girls follow.

Two half-bloods and two pure-bloods. Some kind of a Jaguarkin and Jackalkin from the former and a Bearkin with a Rabbitkin from the latter. All are men. The tall Bearkin with dark brown fur steps forward.

“As expected from one of the elites. If you weren’t so defiant, you’d have climbed up the ranks easily instead of staying just a toy of the alpha.” He shakes his head ironically and then throws two pairs of metal manacles onto the ground between us. “Dress up. Your punishment is due. We’ve been ordered to bring you back.”

“I will return myself. I was just on my way. Help us carry the injured.”

“That’s not our task. You are our target. Don’t prolong this and put them on. We might spare that trashy Human if you follow obediently.” He releases a low growl while glancing my way for a short moment.

Astrea’s fingers curl into fists. “I will consider wearing them if you carry the captives.”

“Listen here, Astrea. We are the ones that issue orders, not you. Start cooperating or we will bring you back by force.”

“You don’t want to do this.” She squints her eyes at the Bearkin.

“Oh, I very much do.”

“You’ve watched us clear the whole camp by ourselves since almost the very beginning.”

“Yes, we did. That’s why start moving your ass instead of paying attention to this waste that got itself captured or we won’t just knock you out. You think bluffing will work on me? You’ve always been great at hiding it but you are clearly exhausted after dealing with so many Goblins.”

Is this guy an idiot? She barely broke any sweat. And I cast Rejuvenate on her for quite a bit straight after the battle. Well, I guess he can’t really know that part, but still.

As he says, even though she doesn’t really show it, I can feel Astrea growing slightly agitated from his words. Most likely those related to the other, injured Beastkin. I place my hand on her head and gently ruffle through her hair. She glances up at me and calms down as I smile at her. The four dudes are shocked as hell for some reason.

Astrea takes a light breath and turns to them again, with my hand still present on her head.

“This is your last chance. Withdraw or I will consider you our enemies.”

The Bearkin sneers at her and reaches for his short axe. The Rabbitkin and Jackalkin lick their lips and also bring out their weapons; a short spear and a shortsword. Astrea glances at the Jaguarkin, who is the only one not to show any hostile reactions but still bringing forth his shortbow.

“I don’t want to do this to you, Taro. I’m coming back to bring down the alpha. If you step back now, I won’t hurt you. But if you don’t, I will have to ignore our friendship and treat you as one of his men who follows him willingly.”

“Hahahahah! Hear that, boys? Someone who earned herself the name of Alpha’s Personal Fucktoy after challenging him countless times, again and again, thinks she can bring him down after two months of rest! That’s a good one!” The Bearkin mocks Astrea.

She ignores the trio that starts chuckling and keeps staring at the Jaguarkin. He keeps gazing back into her eyes. After a moment, he sighs and puts his bow away. Astrea nods.

“Oi. The fuck you doing listening to—”

~Need help?~ I ask her through Whispers.

~No. I’ll end it quickly,~ Astrea answers telepathically without any lewd stylization. So that’s her Sound Transmission, huh.

She traces a half-circle with her right leg while drawing it to the back, retracting her right arm alongside it. I can feel the pressure around her increasing during that movement. When Astrea’s palm, which is turned downwards with her knuckles curled inside, reaches the farthest point, a small circular seal with yin and yang symbols flashes briefly.

“—that bitc—”

“HAAAAAP!”

Too busy scolding his underling, the Bearkin and the rest of his crew doesn’t notice quick enough as Astrea throws her arm forward while turning it one-eighty degrees. A ferocious air current is created and a visible drill wider and taller than her body surges forward at the men. It shreds them into pieces before they can even react, leaving just the wide-eyed Jaguarkin intact.

I whistle at the short path of crimson carnage. Just the feet and heads are left behind after the rest has been pulverized into small chunks of meat.

“That’s a new one. Tier-up?” I ask.

Astrea nods and moves her gaze to Taro. He quickly starts waving his hands.

“I’ll carry them! I’ll carry them!”

With Taro willing to cooperate, we prepare to head out. I leave the Human man in one of the tents, covered with a piece of cloth for someone to bring him back later. Astrea asks me to cut the tips of the ears of the mutilated trio to keep it as proof of their demise and we move out shortly afterwards.

Astrea helps the lady walk while I and Taro carry the men. Since he knows the way perfectly, he takes it onto himself to guide us back to the community. On the way, she explains to him about the plan to overthrow the alpha and that we will definitely get rid of that tyrant. Taro promises to help by spreading the news to the people who were against him.

At the entrance to the current community’s gathering place, two guards stop us, very confused about our entourage. After Astrea shows them the ears of their fallen comrades and I flare up my own aura, they hastily get out of our way and one of them rushes to let the alpha know about our arrival.

We step inside a similar hall with running water as the Goblin’s had chosen for their camp, but it’s clear here that there are a few more, of various sizes, connected to each other directly.

And, instead of it being just crude tents, the Beastkin give the impression of a decently well-equipped nomadic tribe. There’s plenty of fabric, furniture and items arranged around. It’s like a very small, mobile, underground town that can pack up and change locations in half a day. It’s clear that most—if not all—commodities are stolen from the surface.

Most residents seem to be doing okay, but you can spot a clear distinction between the weaker and stronger ones by how they hold themselves in the small crowd. All of them look very surprised to see someone of a different race than their own walk around, especially a person looking like a Human.

Taro runs off and brings a few other Beastkin to take the injured to someone who can treat them, assuring us that they won’t be treated badly as he will try to convince the others that there’s no reason to listen to the oppressive rules anymore.

Astrea thanks him and immediately begins heading in a certain direction with a hasty step. We follow after her and go into one of the side chambers. There are way fewer people here and they all look slightly worse than the others; without complete sets of clothing or their own place to sleep.

She stops by a group of five women—three pure-bloods and two half-bloods. The former consists of a Wolfkin, Leopardkin and a Foxkin, while the latter holds a Catkin and Pantherkin. The fox lady looks quite roughed up when compared to the other four and Astrea kneels by her side.

“Vii... What happened to her?” she asks after seeing the girl’s state.

“Astrea. You are back. We thought someone got you,” the Pantherkin answers. “It’s the usual. She was picked by the alpha. It’s okay. She will recover. I was already promised by someone that he’ll treat her tomorrow after I mate with—”

“I’m sorry… Because I wasn’t here… I couldn’t take her place…” Astrea apologizes quietly, clenching her fists.

“No. It’s not your fault,” the Wolfkin joins in and strokes her arm. “You can’t always cover for us. We’ve told you countless times that we don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for us by letting the alpha abuse only you.”

Astrea stands up. “This ends today. I’m going to kill him. And then I’ll take you with me to a better place.”

The Leopardkin shakes her head. “You keep saying that to lift our spirits but we all know that the current alph—”

“This time is different. Even if I can’t do it, my mate can rip his head off with one hand.”

Oi. That’s most likely a huge exaggeration. But it doesn’t stop the five of them from finally moving their eyes onto me. Astrea turns around and stands on her tiptoes to nuzzle her cheek against mine while purring to prove our relationship. The other girls seem as shocked as the four dudes from before. I guess Astrea isn’t known for being too affectionate.

“Could you heal her, Alastair?” she asks quietly.

“Anything for you.”

She pecks my lips and moves aside. The other girls all glance at her and Astrea nods. Taking that as permission to approach them, I kneel by the Foxkin and softly brush through the bronze fur behind her fox-like head.

“You’ll feel something warm travel through your body. Just enjoy the pleasant feeling,” I say with a soft smile and call on Rejuvenate.

It takes me five minutes to make the fox lady recover. She wasn’t critically injured, just beaten up, so I’m able to get her almost to a perfect state, excluding the leftover scars, but most of them seem to be already old.

“Oh, wow… This is incredible…” She examines her whole body in disbelief.

I should mention that she is fully naked, but that’s just a detail. The other girls either have something to cover their waists or both that and their chests are protected from random onlookers. They are definitely near the bottom of the hierarchy. Not in the worst spot, but clearly not in a great position either.

“Here. I have some spare clothes in my ring. They are yours now. Is anyone else hurt?”

The Foxkin nods gratefully and starts dressing up in some plain underwear, shirt and hot pants while I check on the other four and revitalize them a little too. They also receive some better clothes and Astrea hands them something to drink and eat.

“Wait here. Or come to the alpha’s lair to watch him die. We will be back soon,” she informs her friends and glances up at me. I nod and we move out.

I’m not sure if it’s because of Taro or the guard that rushed to the alpha after we’ve shown him the ears, but the other patrolmen don’t seem to be too eager to approach us, even though a Human and a Dwarf are strolling through their den. 

Well, it just allows Astrea to bring us to the alpha’s lair without any obstructions. We enter a much fancier chamber that holds a big, comfy sofa on a pedestal in the middle. The walls are almost completely covered by various colourful linen and cloth decorations.

Around the edges of the room, a few groups of Beastkin sit around. At least one of the cliques is currently busy chasing their carnal desire, from what I can see. I’ve already seen a few of them go at it in the open as we were walking through the other chambers and Astrea did mention that Beastkin tend to satisfy their heat without much care if anyone is around. Part of the culture, I guess. I wonder if you can see pairs fucking in the open in actual Beastkin cities and villages too.

Anyway, that’s not important. The important part is the one guy who is lying on the sofa on his back with his head on the lap of a naked pure-blood female Lionkin, who is feeding him pieces of meat with cutlery. Classy.

The man is a Wolfkin—just as Astrea mentioned before—with plenty of scars over his crimson-furred body. And it's quite something in itself too. He packs some muscles, without looking too swole. Judging by the sofa, he’s over two meters tall. One of his ears is clearly bitten off around halfway by someone. I wonder if that someone is standing by my side.

He seems to have been expecting us as he lazily lifts himself up and roughly pushes the woman away, who barely avoids falling to the ground as she hastily scurries elsewhere. Thank gods he at least wears shorts. I couldn’t take this conversation seriously with his dick in the open. Well, since he’s a canine, I guess he would need to get hard for it to show, but I digress.

The alpha gives me a repulsed look as he growls menacingly, showing off rows of sharp teeth, and then moves his eyes onto Astrea, replacing that expression with an amused smirk.

Oh boy. Here we go.

Saileri

Someone getting clapped soon. And not in a pleasant way.

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