Chapter 19: Taking Her Back Home + Getting An Education

virgilknightley

The way back was easier with both Sprinkle and Ivy leading the journey home. The two of them knew the Watcher's Woods like the back of their hands, so we made incredible time in finding our way back to the sanctuary we called home.

As we exited the trees, and I saw the cabin billowing smoke from our chimney off in the distance, I instinctively looked to Rainbow Sprinkle for her initial reaction. She winced at first, but then her face twisted into a more cautious look, rather than one of revulsion. Ultimately, she smiled, reaching out for and squeezing my hand, as if to tell me that no matter how weird my home seemed to her, she would accept it as long as I was there.

I smiled at her, honestly still somewhat affected by the afterglow of our lovemaking. Honestly, with her 'afterglow' seemed a literal descriptor. She was beaming at me so brightly that her rainbow hair and horn seemed to emanate with an ethereal light.

"Are you ready?" I asked cautiously. "We can hang back for a bit if you need some time."

But Autumn shook her head and scowled at me. "There is no time," she said, her voice high and severe. "Another Apex Hero is headed in our direction, and I want my sis--I mean, I want the stupid catgirl that's in charge of him put in her place when she takes one fucking look at you, you majestic bastard."

I blinked several times as I gawked back at her. "What the hell! There's another hero on the way? I'm not ready for that!"

"No," she said, "but we have a couple days. It's nothing but, preparing, marking May Belle, and bonding with your harem until then. Let's go!"

She grabbed Rainbow Sprinkle and me by the wrist and pulled us toward the cabin. May Belle and Daisy were working in the fields. I smirked to see Gumi the pink slime there, too, apparently chasing Daisy around as the poor girl tried to do her work. When they noticed us, they didn't charge and tackle me like they usually did. They stared for a minute, Daisy looking rather skeptical, while May Belle just grinned ear to ear.

"By the gods, she's so cuuuute!" May Belle squealed with excitement as she jogged closer, titties bouncing pleasantly the whole way. Daisy hung back.

Rainbow shrinked behind my back, peeking out at the holstaurs anxiously, darting her fretful eyes back and forth between them before whispering in my ear. "Are they... hucows? Holstaurs? Is that what they're called?"

"Yeah," I said, laughing at her adorable attempt to hide herself. "Don't worry, they're harmless."

"Can I taste their milk?"

I pursed my lips tightly as my mind painted a delightful picture. "I, uh, personally don't have an issue with it."

"What did she say?" May Belle asked, cooing sweetly. "Hey there, honey! Don't be shy! I'm May Belle, and that over there is my sister, Daisy. What's your name?"

Still peering from behind me, the unicorn girl squirmed to be addressed directly. "I'm... Rainbow Sprinkle."

"That's such a cute name!" May Belle said, clapping. "Your hair so so gorgeous!"

"...Thank you."

"Can I touch it?" May Belle asked cautiously, taking a slow step forward. "It looks magical!"

"My body belongs to my Bucky only." She made a high sound like a whimper of fear as May Belle took another step.

May Belle giggled. "I can definitely understand that. No problem, sweety. But I hope you warm up to me."

But Sprinkle didn't mean to refuse. "My Bucky, my love, is it alright if the holstaur May Belle touches my hair?"

I frowned at her and kissed her on the side of the head. "Oh, babe, you don't need to ask me about that kind of thing. You have bodily autonomy. You can make your own decisions about which girls can touch you, and how."

"But remember, if other men touch her, they'll be sick," Autumn pointed out. "Since you marked her, I mean."

I nodded, remembering that being explained to me by Mercer and Autumn both. Honestly, maybe I was greedy to think it, but that sounded like a great deal for me. Already I felt my reservations about Sprinkle being replaced with affection. Was this a side effect of the marking? Even I was forcefully bonded to her?

Mercer. I should check on the old codger at some point.

"May Belle," Sprinkle said grinning, taking a bold step out from behind me. "I propose a trade."

May Belle giggled. "Sure, what do you want, sweety?"

"I would like to drink from the teat of a holstaur. In return, you can stroke my magical hair. Do we have a bargain?"

I laughed out loud, watching May Belle's charming, overconfident welcoming face go red with blush. "I--uh--well, I mean... If that's what you want, and if it's okay with Bucky--"

"Hey," I chuckled, throwing my hands up innocently, "Leave me out of this. This is a deal being struck by two consenting adults."

May Belle giggled, recovering her composure somewhat to receive my veiled blessing. "Alright, then, Rainbow Sprinkle, we have a deal."

I looked over at Daisy. She was only now making her way over to us. "So this is the unicorn girl?" she said huffily. "Looks different from what I imagined."

Sensing a bit of jealousy, I decided to nip it in the bud right away. "Daisy," I said, my tone low and commanding. "Be nice, alright? She's not one you're going to want to get on your bad side, anyway."

"Humph! Maybe she should stay out of my bad side."

"I'm warning you, Daisy, be good and welcoming like your sister. Good girls get rewarded. Bad girls get avoided."

Her eyes flashed wide open in horror. "Of course. I'm sorry!" Suddenly she took another step forward, her demeanor totally shifting. "Welcome to the new girl! Come here, let me see your pretty face!"

Autumn took on an authoritative tone, standing up straight to try to make herself look taller as she started barking orders. "May Belle, Daisy, show Sprinkle around and get to know her. Make her comfortable. Ivy and I need to speak with Bucky."

"We do?" Ivy said, batting her gorgeous lashes in confusion.

"Yes," Autumn grinned sharply. "It's time to continue Bucky's education."

We made our way to the fire pit where we sat around it in a triangular formation. "What's going on?" I said, a little nervous. "Furthering my education? What's this about?"

"Bucky, listen. So far, I have been giving you information about the world and the way your progression works in a rather slow drip style so as not to overwhelm you, but now that you have taken two feats, far faster than I ever dreamed, I think it's time for you learn more about your future development and a little more about the surrounding area."

Fucking finally. I'd been dropping hints that I was ready to learn more about the region for days. I had started to get confused why Autumn was holding back on me. From the look on her face I could tell she still wasn't relishing providing me with this exposition, but she seemed set on it, at least.

"Okay," I said. "The first feat I got was a sub-class feat. Are they all sub-class feats?"

Autumn giggled. "I was going to just tell you things and let you listen, but if you have pressing questions, that's fine. To answer you, no, you only get two sub-class feats. The first one is at level 10, and the second one is at level 25. Some say there may be another at level 50, but no one has gotten to that level in hundreds of years, so it's hard to guess."

Ivy looked to Autumn for permission as she started speaking, adding, "If being an Apex Hero is like being a Grove Maiden, then most of your other feats will hone in on specific abilities related to your sub-class. For instance, I took Druidic Sorceress as my sub-class feat, but at level 15, which is where I'm stuck at the moment, I took a feat to be able to enhance my control over plants, especially vines. I could do it before, but not to the degree you witnessed with the arachneform."

I figured that was the spider monster we fought off in the woods earlier, and I nodded. "I see," I said, scratching my beardy face. I didn't always have a beard, but I'd been here long enough that one just kinda--happened.

"However, the main thing I need to talk to you about is the boons of marked maidens. I mentioned before that there are benefits to marking a girl, but I wasn't all that transparent or clear about it. That's, frankly, because I didn't understand it myself," she blushed at the admission. "But I sent a message out in my sleep last night to the other catgirls to ask for greater elaboration on the topic, and sure enough, it's true. As you bond with your marked girls, you will unlock unique feats that only they can offer you, based on their love for you and their rarity. You will need to spend feat points in the usual way to take them. And a reminder, this isn't so bad, because you get a free feat point just from marking a girl."

"Right, so it doesn't actually set me back from selecting other feats," I mused, massaging a knot in my shoulder.

The fire in the pit was burning weakly. It needed to be tended. Daisy had clearly been feeding it throughout the day to keep it going, as she was in the habit of doing, because she hated starting a new fire when it was time to cook lunch. I stole a glance back over my shoulder to see her and the other girls and nearly fell over from what I beheld.

Off in the distance, both of the holstaur girls' tops were down and Sprinkle was bouncing from teat to teat with all the enthusiasm of a giggling schoolgirl. May Belle looked like she was trying desperately not to enjoy herself as she and Daisy stroked Sprinkle's soft rainbow hair and caressed her golden horn.

"Focus, Bucky!" Autumn snapped in my face. "We're not done here."

"Sorry," I groaned. "That looks like so much fun..."

"This is why you still know nothing," she sighed defeatedly. "You take an interest, but then your dick drives you off toward your damn holstaurs." The words were scathing, but she grinned as she said them. "At least it's good for XP, I guess."

"Be easy on him, Autumn," Ivy said, reaching out to squeeze my hand. "It's not enviable being in the position of a man in Lusteria. It's an incredible amount of responsibility."

"Right," I said, almost laughing at her words, but they weren't untrue. Men here did bear a remarkable burden. Even breeders were tasked with keeping monster girl populations going, and all the heroes and us Apex Heroes were charged with not only doing that, but also fighting back some evil threat which I still understood so little about. "So, tell me about this world."

"Goldenvale is home to one city, Golden Crest, and at least three dozen villages and towns as large as Tater Town or larger. It is a small corner of the world, but we are positioned between both the Demon Queen's fortress, Brimstone Keep, and the Goblin Queen's castle, Ichorblight. The nearest threat is one you already discovered for yourself, Bucky, the keep of General Keenfury, and that is the one we should prioritize as our first major quest."

"Is there a danger to that?" I asked. "Like, will word spread, and attention be directed to the Sanctuary?"

Ivy answered that. "It is very hard for enemies to make a solid foray deep into our territory. Wood elves and other protectors patrol the woods, hiding in caves and trees, ready to engage in guerrilla warfare. We know how to bottleneck throngs of goblins so that their numbers do not help them. Centaur maidens patrol the fields, and can fire longbows at thrice the range of the strongest orc. So, while it is possible an army could come to Tater Town in revenge, it would be highly risky."

"That's a relief," I said, nodding my understanding to them. 

"But sometimes generals will invade with strike forces, designed to do maximum damage with a small group of specialists," Autumn pointed out. "Consider General Darkmaw's murder of Silver Moon, for instance. More attacks like that are possible, striking our resources like sheep and even our farms, hoping to inspire terror and make it hard for us to survive the winter. But people in Tater Town, if prepared, can defend themselves against minor threats. They all have classes, and the lowest level adult in town is 5. I asked."

I leaned back a bit, looking up at the sky. Blue was soaring overhead, like he was calling to me, asking me to join him. "What's next, then?" I asked.

Autumn grinned and pointed behind me. "What's next is you mark that sweet little holstaur getting her tits sucked by your unicorn girl and then spend the next few days make-believe marking the rest of us again and again... until the other catgirl arrives with her hero."

"Do you really think I can impress them?" I asked somewhat sheepishly. "Also, great itinerary."

"By the time I'm done with your body," she beamed, "you'll out-level him by a factor of two."

I nodded solemnly, casting a wistful glance at the heavenly scene playing out behind me.

"Okay, that's enough, sweety," I heard May Belle say tapping Sprinkle frantically on the shoulder. "I'm getting really wet, and... only Bucky's allowed to make me do that."

With those words, I sprang to my feet, ready for action. "Did I hear someone call out for the aid of a hero?!" I shouted, hand cupping the side of my mouth.

May Belle shot up abruptly, her tit exiting Sprinkle's mouth with a delightfully wet smacking sound. She ran over to me, her tits bouncing wildly. "Bucky," she cried, leaping up in the air so that I could catch her. I did, holding her in my arms like the princess she was in my mind. "Finish me, would you?" she cooed, lifting up a wet tit so that I could relieve her. Off in the distance, Sprinkle shrugged and turned her attention fully to Daisy, who was swearing about something under her breath even as she lovingly petted the unicorn girl's hair.

"Oh, I'll finish you alright," I grinned.

Her eyes went wide and dewy. "What do you mean, Bucky-Baby?"

I kissed her deeply for a long minute, then lifted my lips off of hers to reveal my purpose. "I mean it's time to get marked, May Belle."

virgilknightley