Chapter 24: Connections and Introductions

Chapter 24: Connections and Introductions

Today is the 8th.

Lina wakes me up. She's getting nearly there, though it's still very tiring for her jaw. She watches Alissa finish me with an innocent smile. Ciel awakes and I see her get fidgety, I will have her participate soon enough.

Even though I trained with [Manasynthesis] my skill didn't level. I feel like I'm reaching a "wall" in my growth. Perhaps the bonus from Earth knowledge is running out and now I need to improve my knowledge through practice.

This morning I practice [Water Magic]. Hopefully Bombur won't be mad Lina skipped two of his lessons, we were so tense we forgot to warn him.

Roxanne seems to be straining. She grunts and squirms until finally she opens her eyes and jumps into a pose with her hands on her hips.

"I did it! I redirected mana to myself!"

We all clap as she smugly looks towards the sky.

"And that's all for me. I'm back to my potions for a while!" And she runs off towards her room.

Nothing needs to be said, we just sigh and shrug. I go back to my meditation to refill my mana.

I felt as if warm rushing water suddenly touched by leg. I immediately open my eyes in surprise only to see the spirit griffin has laid his head on my lap. His kind yellow eyes locked to mine.

Holy fucking shit, the spirit touched me. It's such a weird feeling, it feels like there's a storm passing through my leg, it's pleasant, but the lack of visible movement makes me uneasy. It's like feeling the world spin and yet your eyes tell you that you are standing still.

Trembling, I pass my hand through it's feathery head, the spirit closes its eye and chirps happily. Ah, my heart.

"I shall name thee Gify."

"Gi" from "gift" and "fy" from "finish".

Gify chirps happily again and closes his(?) eyes.

Ciel has her mouth hanging open. Hana runs off to get Roxanne. Alissa and Aoi stalk closer, as if they afraid of scaring him off. I feel bad for Lina, she missed this historic moment.

With a nearly trembling hand Alissa is the second one to touch it. Aoi watches every second like a hawk. Alissa runs her hand through Gify's white plumage and rolls her eyes in pleasure.

"Aren't you enjoying this a tad too much?" I ask, eyebrows knit in worry.

"The Misty Fox clan lives among the forest, we see these spirits day in day out. Having one accompany you is a symbol of status, of being in sync with nature. Being this close to one has always been my dream," Alissa says, she closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling.

I swear Gify looks smug.

Ciel comes forward and Roxanne appears just as Aoi gathers courage and lays down besides Gify with her head also on my lap. Aoi closes her eyes and I see the corner of her long mouth turn into a small smile.

Ciel starts shaking Alissa, wanting her turn. The shaking gradually gets stronger until Alissa groans and lets Ciel have her turn.

"This feels amazing..."

That's all Ciel manages to say for the whole 2 minutes she was allowed to pet Gify.

Roxanne gets her turn and Gify decides to show us his tummy. Ciel pukes rainbows and the other girls almost need a [Heal] to keep their hearts from stopping.

The spirit is slowly giving me profound calmness. I feel the leaves from the tree in the front yard falling. I hear the stove slowly cooking the minotaur meat, I can feel the steam slowly leaving the pot, twirling, and cooling in the air and then seeping out from the kitchen window.

Nature is all about "connections", one living being connected to another, they consume each other in a cycle that maintains nature stable. A nature's spirit is the personification of that, Gify slowly "connects" my mind and that of the girls to the environment and to each other.

I can feel happiness radiating from Alissa, all of that is aimed towards me, her mind is in perfect order except for her jealousy from not being in touch with the spirit. There's a single blurry spot inside the sun that is her love, a single curious spot. I can hear the people moving about their business on another calm morning.

I can feel Ciel restraining her heart from tackling Gify, she has an immense love for all things fluffy and cute. Apparently I'm included in those feelings. Her feelings for me are mixed with Gify's in a whirlwind. I can feel the warm sun slowly permeating my heart and taking away the humidity of the morning.

I can feel Roxanne's bliss, the crushing loneliness like a storm in the distance moving away. I can feel the breeze blowing far above us, taking the humidity that's fleeing the sun and sending it to the farms around Rabanara.

I can feel Hana's warm gaze, her desire to protect is unnecessary right now so her awereness relaxes and satisfaction clouds her blood thirst. The excitement and anxiety of battle is slowly fading away. I feel a tickle as the grass is gently caressed by the wind.

I can feel Aoi's sea of calmness and comfort, a sunny island in the middle of it showing her eagerness to fight. I feel like an ant in this world, just another small force trying it's best at living life.

In a way, Gify's power is just like my spirit extension, only that it's a lot more directed. My "soul sensing" is all about raw information, Gify filters all that information through the consciousness of the spirit and connects us all. I finally understand why nature spirits are so respected.

I'm pretty sure my feelings are being transmitted to the girls. They all look at each other with shy smiles then they look at me.

"Nature spirits are also called 'a lover's best friend'. Because they allow us to know what we feel about each other, but only if the feeling is strong enough," Ciel says.

She scooches over to my side and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

The overwhelming amount of feelings is making me emotional, I have to clean the corners of my eyes. I don't even know how to respond, I don't think I even need to respond, they are all looking right inside my heart.

I spent some time already in this position for my training, I have to stretch my legs. Hana's turn is about to end anyway.

"My legs are hurting a bit..."

I make a move to change from my cross-legged position but two iron grips make me stop. Hana and Ciel's murderous intent is made clear through their eyes and the spirit connection, we are not perturbing Gify right now. After I stop resisting they return to fawning over Gify.

We stay like this for a long time until Gify awakens and flies towards the kitchen. Alissa and Ciel hurry after him, both because they want to spend more time with him and also because they forgot to check the stove. Luckly nothing burned.

When I try to move my legs I feel they completely fell asleep. I manually straighten them and they crack loudly.

Lunch has 3 selections of peppers. One like bell pepper, one that reminds me of jalapeño with very mild heat, and another that reminds me of cayenne and it's used as seasoning in fried chicken meat. It's pepper season in Maoka so the peppers are flooding Rabanara as we are very close to that continent.

Ciel brings Lina back just as we are about to have lunch. When Lina notices Gify sitting on top of my usual chair she freezes.

"Touch it," I say, smiling widely.

She does not move, like always she's too shy to act. I roll my eyes and grab her by the hand and lead it to touch Gify.

"His name is Gify. All the other girls already touched him so you get extra time because you weren't there during the first time."

As our hand approaches Gify, Lina starts trembling.

"Are you scared?" I ask.

"No..." She lies.

"She's scared of showing you her feelings," Alissa says with a smug smile.

Lina blushes and her trembling increases, her hand tries to escape mine but I just grip her harder. I force her forward, you are going to show me your feelings and I'm going to show you mine!

When my hand touches Gify an explosion of feelings enters my mind. The girls quickly come around and Gify opens all our hearts again.

I drop down on my knees and hug Lina.

"I never told you this, but I love you, I really do. You shouldn't hold it back, you are precious to me," I say.

Lina hardly talks about her feelings. The turmoil of happiness, lust, anxiety, and self"doubt have been eating her from the inside. The fear of death has been mounting but it got beaten by her desire to destroy my enemies. Not her enemies, my enemies. She adores me, I don't deserve such dedication but I should at least make sure she's as happy as I can make her.

A teary-eyed Alissa hugs Lina from behind, she gives Lina a kiss on the cheek and together we crush Lina's ribs.

"I love you..." She whispers, "I love you... I love you. I love you!" Her faint voice gathers courage and turns into a yell.

She finally hugs me back and her noodle arms try to crush me, good thing she's not using [Stonebody]. She doesn't cry but I feel the wavering of her legs.

Gify stands in my head and chirps repeatedly at Lina. Oddly, I don't understand what it's talking about.

"You understand him?" I ask.

"I don't... I don't understand how but. I think he told me to stop hiding'."

"Hiding your feelings. You were always serious, except when talking about books," Ciel says with the sweetest tone, "Remember to not keep it bottled up, we are here for you so you should share more."

I think I just understood something.

"You shouldn't let your feelings take charge of your decisions but you must take your feelings in consideration when making a decision,"I say.

The fear of Vanea and fighting Darean must have been like a storm in her heart. Her other feelings were bottled up and safe inside a bunker but the damage of the storm keeps mounting. She wants to do the "right thing" so much it's hurting her.

"Okay... I will, I will try my best!" She says with a conviction unheard of her.

"It's not about trying your best, it's about working towards what makes you happy."

She keeps quiet for a while but I feel her nod. I break the hug and clean the corners of her eyes. Now understand why Lina is so quiet, she's shy but she is also really insecure, so insecure she hardly shows her feelings.

"Let's eat, the food will get cold," Ciel says.

Gify slowly stops sharing our feelings and we return to our normal, except I'm feeling reinvigorated. I see Lina's usual expressionless face slowly turn into a more relaxed and happy one. She's avoiding looking at my eyes, though. As we eat her expression then slowly changes into a frown.

"Is there something on your mind?" I ask.

"Well, there's always something on my mind. I'm always thinking, after all," she smirks.

"You cheeky little... I meant, is there something bothering you?"

She smiles shyly.

"Well... Mr. Bombur was mad, he kept repeating a few phrases about 'responsibility' and 'dedication'."

"I'm sorry Lina, you got chastised because of us," Alissa said.

"You don't have to apologize, it wasn't problem, I know it wasn't your fault and I don't regret missing those days."

"But yet you still frown. Remember what we said about 'hiding'?" I say.

Lina looks at me surprised. She never complained about anything, It is simply unnatural for her to be like this.

"I... Okay... I was angry, it was unfair, I never did anything wrong," she looks down.

"Go on..." Ciel urges.

"And you all owe me for this," she gives an impish smile and immediately blushes in embarrassment.

"We'll get you something sweet from the buffet at the university as an apology," Alissa says.

Lina blushes harder and tries to hide her face but I see the beginnings of a smile on the corner of her mouth.

Gify seems to like to ride my head. The feeling of moving water dies down and only reappears when I focus on it, the "connection" we share also only reappears if Gify feels like it. This is a good thing otherwise it would be too stimulating for all of us to keep our hearts open all the time. But his claws from his bird front legs and lion hind legs do not hurt, in fact he has no bones, his entire form is spongy yet the texture of his body feels real.

"Gify, you are tousling his hair," Lina says.

"Gih!" He chirps indignation, he believes my haircut looks better with him on my head.

"I have to agree with Lina, please, he has to keep a tidy outlook to maintain his reputation," Alissa says, her fox mouth unmoving.

"Gih..."

*Pop*, *pop*. Gify disappears and suddenly reappears in my shoulder.

"Thank you," Lina says and combs my hair.

I say nothing, there's no greater joy than being pampered.

As I enter the class I feel my entire body shiver. Flashbacks that I thought I had buried long, long ago resurfaces as the entire class looks at me and murmurs. Gify on my shoulder just increases my fame, luckily my reputation is that I'm rather unapproachable, this keeps the class from swarming me.

Unfortunately that does not apply to Lyle as him and his friends swarm my table. Fortunately Gify seems to have an impact on Garanae, making him mellow out a bit more.

"C-can I touch it?!" Asks Lyle.

"I don't know, Gify, can Lyle touch you?" I ask.

Gify looks up to him, his beady little eyes measuring him up and down.

"Gih."

"That's a yes, but only the head and be quick about it."

Lyle wastes no time and pets his head, he shudders at the stimulating feeling that the spirit provokes in him, I feel thankful Gify didn't open my heart to Lyle. Gify feels slightly sickened, though.

"Gih!" He says after a minute and moves his head away.

"Alright, that's enough."

"Awn... But still, it felt awesome," Lyle smiles brightly while staring at his hand.

Garanae twiddles his thumbs.

"Gih, geh, gih."

"You can go too, Garanae, but Hatara comes first."

Her green eyes look like a hunter who found its prey. Gify looks at her lecherously for a moment, disarming her.

"Was that..."

"Gih!"

"Don't waste more time, the professor is coming," I say.

She recomposes herself and pets Gify. I feel he wants to open my heart to Hatara, the little shit is already trying to cause trouble. He feels my annoyance and hums happily, its lion tail swaying about.Fịndd new updates at novelhall.com

Two minutes goes by and he moves his head away.

"Gih."

"That's you, Garanae."

The most fearful of the trio, his hand trembles as he pets Gify. He shows us an uncharacteristic face of unbridled happiness, Garanae really is a pet person.

When his time reaches exactly 1 minute the bell chimes. Garanae straightens up, he kisses Hatara on the lips and runs away, red faced. Instead of also blushing, Hatara smugly looks at a corner of the room where a few girls give her mean looks. Whodathunk.

In this class I don't concentrate much, I can easily cast [Discharge] so the professor leaves me alone. I can't concentrate because I keep reminiscing of the feelings of the girls.

At the break Lina eats her large piece of not-strawberry cake absentmindedly while the discussion revolves around a very smug looking Gify. Today she was supposed to train with Hana but we let her skip it.

"How did you get him to follow you?" Lyle asks.

"He appeared on my backyard when I learned [Nature Magic]. After that I kept giving him food until he decided to touch me," I respond.

"That's surprising," Hatara says wide eyed.

"Why?"

"A lot of them are quite whimsical, I read it being compared to a commoner trying to swoon a noblewoman."

"Maybe our personalities are compatible," I shrug.

"Maybe there's something special about you," Hatara says, she narrows her eyes and smiles slightly.

Alissa looks at me with a very smug "I told you so" expression. Garanae's jealousy explodes and he gives me a stink eye.

I don't want anymore attention so I return the conversation to stories about other nature spirits.

I'm still moved by the exchange this morning so tonight I show my women the meaning of my feelings.

Fortunately Gify is only mirroring my preferences in not wanting to be touched by men. If he really was a "male" then I would have to force him to go away when it was time for skinship, no man shall ever lay his eyes upon the heavenly naked bodies of my women. He cuddles with Aoi when we begin our session.

Today is the 9th.

Alissa wakes me up, she didn't let Hana because she wouldn't be delicate enough with my prized member. She knows how tired and sensitive it currently is. Thank you my love.

My [Enhanced Semen Recharge] increased by 1 (now 0+5), my hips are sore and I had to cast [Heal] on my dick due to the prolonged friction that made the skin extremely sensitive, I believe that if we continued it would have started to peel. I also gained [Water Magic] with 1 point in it.

Roxanne gained [Redirect Mana] with 1 point. I can increase it for her up until level 3, the same as mine.

This morning I spend my time training [Conjuring Magic]. [Torrent] could also be used to conjure water but it comes with such a force it causes blunt trauma, it's not the best choice to use it to clean your private parts.

Gify appears whenever he pleases, the house was filled with the sounds of him popping everywhere as he explored every room. It seems he created a "connection" to me somehow, I can wish for him and he appears on my head, to the dismay of Alissa, Ciel, and Lina.

Blessing class was the same as always, calming as everyone lowly chants their spells and the professor walks by us, correcting our singing whenever she finds a mistake. I noticed that Hatara has been singing with more motivation, her voice is quite lovely, too.

At the break she goes to wherever Garanae is so it's only me, Alissa, and Lina.

"Excited for our expedition?" Alissa asks Lina.

"A bit..." She shrinks her posture.

"Is that all?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well, okay, I'm very happy," she smiles shyly.

"The books at the dungeoneering guild tell of a lost language of the dragonoids. It's interesting that it does not exist on the skill system," I say.

Other races like goblins and orcs also have their own language but nobody is interested in learning it.

"Yes, it's because our knowledge of it is incomplete. There's no one alive anymore who can speak it so the skill disappeared from the system," Lina says.

"Couldn't it become a new skill then?" I ask.

"You would need a lot of people speaking it fluently for it to become a skill."

"Hm... But the skills that I created are different, I can give them to any of you ever since I created them and I'm the only one in the world who has [Sense Soul]."

"Perhaps language skills are different?" Alissa asks.

"Or perhaps no one wants to waste skill points on an incomplete or dead language," Lina says.

"Or is there not enough knowledge for it to turn into a skill?" I ask.

"Why not all of them?" Lina asks.

Our speculation gets stuck on this point.

Today is the 10th.

Lina succeeds in waking me up with her lower lips.

"You must be the heaviest sleeper I have ever seen, Wolfy," Ciel says.

"It's better this way," Alissa says and smiles.

"Don't you wanna try it too?" I ask Ciel.

The journey is uneventful, everyone is using a proper anti"scent so no monsters can detect us easily. The Smirk is also rather safe during the day, it's the night that the more dangerous types of monsters come out to hunt. Also there was a purge just yesterday, the worse roaming monsters are all dead.

Lina's enchantment shows its usefulness, [Breeze] consumes an insignificant amount of mana and completely prevents us from sweating. Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all while a small breeze tickles my entire body.

We reach the northern part of the valley deep inside The Smirk by 6PM. Blue"grey rock with yellowish cracks make up the wall in front of us. A large crack on the wall is our entrance.

"Wolfy, they look rather tired," Ciel whispers.

Ankara and Delwyn look sullen, they walk hunched over and slightly out of breath.

"Oops," I whisper back.

I almost fail to contain a smile. I look at Tankar, I can't tell his expression but he's not very happy. I would have cast [Swift Foot] on them but the awkward introductions made me feel petty. I'm actually surprised Lyle and Gwinevere are fine, they are looking excitedly at the entrance. No word on the space mages, they are professionals.

"Let's take a rest at the entrance. We will walk some more and camp inside," I say.

Tankar immediately pulls out a small cushioned stool for Ankara to fall on top of.

"Whaat... Damnit Lyle, you didn't tell us how far we would have to walk," Delwyn complains.

"Oh yes, I didn't expect you to have such girly feet they can't deal with a stroll on a little grove," he responds.

"You shut your gay mouth, you spent a whole day-cycle telling me how fun it would be and how much we could unearth. Did you ever think about why scholars don't come here? Because it's too far!" Delwyn gestures with his closed fist as he talks, "Scholars aren't made for traveling and you know I'm a scholar too!"

I have to contain my expression, professionalism tells me I shouldn't acknowledge such bickering between nobles.

"If I didn't rope you in like this you would never grab your pompous sorry little ass out of that library. Don't you have any excitement out of learning something new? This dungeon isn't even fully explored yet! We could be discovering new history just by reaching a new place. Don't any of you feel excitement over this?" He looks around, a wild smile on his face.

Even I admit adventuring is nice, I want to explore the world. Even though I don't like killing monsters or the gore I won't change my way of life, I'm not so naive to think that I can live in this world without killing. Besides, I have to keep increasing my level, whatever the God that threw me here has planned for me won't be fulfilled if I remain passive and weak.

"I... I think this is exciting," Lina says, shyly.

"You don't count, you are an adventurer!" Delwyn shakes his fist at her.

Lina drops her shoulders in dejection.

"Come now, my frail and younger little brother, adventure and discovery awaits," Gwinevere taps him on the back and pushes him forward.

"You are only older by a second!"

"Yet I am still older," she chuckles and moves after him.

Lyle watches them go inside and then turns to Ankara.

"How are you doing? Regretting coming?"

"I am fine..." He smiles bitterly, first real expression he shows, "I am the one who had the original idea, you do not have to worry about me."

"But I'm the organizer, you should come to me for any trouble," Lyle looks at him with concern.

Alissa is waiting for us inside. I go check on her to make sure the twins aren't causing trouble.

"Wait, where's the ruins?" Delwyn asks.

"You dunce, there's a long way inside this cave until we reach the entrance to the dungeon," Gwinevere responds.

Delwyn groans. Alissa is looking like a statue while the twins examine the cave wall besides her. As I approach her Ankara comes inside.

"Mr. Ryder, why don't we camp outside already?" He asks, a little annoyed.

"You like arthropods?" I ask.

"What...?"

"Spiders, centipedes, beetles."

"They are fine...?" He narrows his eyes.

"What about giant ones?"

He shows only a hint of disgust. Gwinevere on the other hand shows pure panic and grabs Ankara's arm.

"I don't care what you feel like Anky, we are not sleeping outside."

"F-fine..." He pushes her away.

We take a 10 minutes break, once I see Delwyn and Ankara's faces relax I tell them to move. Delwyn groans as he rises and Ankara frowns deeply.

This cave is a crack on the mountain, the ground is very broken and difficult to walk. I'm tempted on taking out our mountaineering equipment because our little charges are very bad at balancing themselves.

Lina's Trivia: This cave was created by an earthquake, such earthquakes are common occurrence when an underground mana storm happens. Mana storms are the most destructive natural event possible, the immense amount of mana circulating literally rips people apart.

"Maybe we should have Hana carry someone," Ciel whispers.

"The privilege of being carried by Hana is reserved for only us," I whisper back.

"You... What...?"

"You should try it sometime, I feel so safe and fragile at the same time when Hana carries me."

"You are irredeemable."

"But you like me this way."

She doesn't answer and moves forward. I hurry in front of her and catch a glimpse of her smile.

"Maybe you would like to carry me instead."

"Fine, I will do it in front of Lyle and the others," she turns to me and glares.

Are we playing chicken now?

"I would like that, go on, show them I'm your man, show them who rides on top of who."

You have chosen the wrong opponent.

Ciel stares at me and I stare back, smugly. Slowly her cheeks redden and she finally averts her eyes. She tries to leave but I grab her arm.

"Remember, you are mine," I whisper in her ear.

She shivers and I release her arm.

"Hey, those are my vows, not hers," Alissa joins, she heard everything with her enhanced hearing.

"Yes, but she can be mine too. "

Alissa purses her lips in thought. She comes closer and whisper in my ear.

"She can be yours but you are only mine."

Now I'm the one shivering, in happiness.

Alissa continues forward, her orange tail swaying widely.

A few Skritters are casually dispatched by the girls, Aoi on the other hand is taking it very seriously.

"You are doing a very good job," Hana says and pats Aoi, who is on her shoulder.

"Kweh! Rit... Boom...!"

Aoi's fireball is improving, she's copying Roxanne's own [Fireball]. Roxanne has enough control over [Fire Magic] that she can make her [Fireball] explode or burn. This is something that I don't have, I can't mold my spells to take different effects, at least not yet.

Lyle jumps over a small crack on the ground and stumbles forward.

"Your little dragon is impressive, Miss Hana," he says after regaining balance.

"That she is."

Aoi rubs her head on Hana's cheeks affectionately, the scales of both of them clink as they touch each other.

"My heart..." Gwinevere mutters.

"Keep moving, we are almost there," Ciel says, breaking the trance of our little slowpokes, even Ankara was staring.

A few minutes later the crack that we are moving through opens into a tall rectangular tunnel, the ground suddenly turns level, and imposing double doors blocks our path. The doors are made of amber, it feels like it waves as our [Spirit Lights] approach. I see multiple carvings of snakes and curiously there's two ouroboros on each side of the door, each ouroboros has 8 snakes, each snake is made of a different material.

"Moonstone, onyx, aquamarine, ruby, emerald, amethyst, gold and silver. Each represents a magic power of the dragonoids," Lyle says.

He walks up to the double doors and touches the ouroboros, he barely reaches it, it's too tall and Lyle is only slightly taller than me. He sighs and stops admiring it.

"Dragonoids are known to be tall," he smiles painfully.

Ankara moves besides him, as he's taller he can observe the ouroboros better.

"We can rest on the other side," I say.

Immediately both stop their observation and push the doors, they slide open with ease.

"I assume this dungeon is a mana solidification, right? Otherwise these gems would have been stolen a long time ago," Gwinevere asks.

"Yes, it's also why scholars aren't eager to come, there's nothing to salvage here, unlike real tombs. So it's quite possible this dungeon is only a sliver of the dying consciousness of the supposed dragonoid race," Lina answers.

As the doors open we are greeted with a huge hall, so big our light doesn't reach the end or the ceiling. There's not even a pillar in sight.

"Certainly resembles the main hall of Hombombein, if it were completely devoid of life, that is," Lina says.

"I heard the capital has a hall like this inside the castle. It's a marketplace where only certain stalls are allowed, like perfumes, spices, and gems," Hana says.

"Certainly fits that nobility would enjoy grandiose architecture," Alissa says.

We all enter the hall and slowly the double doors silently close.

"Let's just make camp here, no point in going any further," I say.

The space mages immediately pull out tents and a cooking set. In a minute there's a pot of water boiling and a slab of Great Boar being roasted in a flame-less magic tool fire pit.

Space mages can be hired from multiple mercenary guilds, they come in all flavors, fighters, mages, cooks, maids, butlers, prostitutes, bards, dancers, and many others. These are two simple looking men who have a very quiet demeanor, popular among nobility.

I dismiss the Shads, they won't be useful here. Nononya's notes talked about chanting so I fake a short summoning chant and invoke a fire and an earth elemental. To summon elementals the chant has to be adapted to the element it represents. [Fire Magic] chanting has a very aggressive tone with a few screams, put some metal song behind it and it won't be out of place. [Earth Magic] reminds me of opera, you have to hold the notes for a few seconds and add tremolo to the voice, making it a bit annoying to chant.

While the earth elemental draws raised eyebrows the fire elemental draws the stares of the men and boys. Hana was always wearing armor so none of our escortees knows what's below, the elemental is basically wearing nothing, showing the full glory of her sculpted body.

"I ordered the elemental to singe whoever stares for too long," I announce.

A chuckle and a slowly increasing flame floating in front of the elemental wards off the stares.

I pull out our tent and the bath partition, with the elementals and a hidden Holly nothing should approach us. Delwyn knows water and fire magic so he prepares the bath for the others, the knight and the space mages have to take a towel bath, though.

During bath I play with Alissa's little bean, I mix rubbing, licks, sucking, and nibbling that culminates in a high pitched moan that makes her gag almost fall off. I nearly rip the gag off and make her scream, as much as I want to make a power move my rationality still exists so I retain my composure.

After the bath I see Gwinevere, Delwyn, and Ankara are avoiding looking us in the eye, Lyle on the other hand has mastered the art of not giving a shit.

"Wolf, come eat with us, these space mages have enough food to last us quite some time," Lyle says.

"You sure? I brought my own."

"Yes, I am sure, now sit," he motions us to a wooden bench.

I have a cushioned one but I have to contain myself, can't show the furniture shop I have inside my "Items".

"I'm a better cook," Alissa whispers to the girls with pride, she's glaring at the oblivious space mage cook.

"I know it," I rub her ears with a smile on my face, her tail sways at a mere compliment.

Seriously, that mage is over seasoning the meat. Seasoning is an art form and you have to take extreme care to reach the point of perfection.

The diet of wild animals changes how the meat tastes, this change is said to be how "gamey" the meat taste. It's interesting how in this world the meat from hunted animals doesn't have a strong gamey taste, from what I have seen they use [Purify Body] on the corpse and it reduces the gamey taste a significant amount. Also, most of the more commonly hunted monsters don't live enough to acquire this strong taste so they taste much better than most wild animals.

The meat is accompanied by a hearty soup, something similar to arracacha gives it a distinct taste and a thick consistency. It's a nice soup but we can do better. It's an annoying situation that I can't really show how much food we brought, no adventurer brings such a large amount or variety of ingredients like we do, most simply use [Conjure Bland Meal] and eat whatever they hunt while on an expedition. Lyle bringing simple soups and meat is already a display of wealth.

Roxanne brings out Ted and Suzy, she starts humming a waltz and the golems start dancing. I don't understand the lyrics, it's on her native tongue.

"What are those things?" Delwyn asks.

"Golems, it's part of my research, I'm researching [Golemancy]," I answer.

"Impressive, they have such natural movements."

"They have actual souls, but they are closer to elementals than real people."

Ankara leaves his seat and hurriedly circles the table towards us. He stops near Roxanne and leans over, he studies Ted and Suzy with a perplexed look.

"How much gold do you want for either of them?" He says, still staring at the golems.

"Not for sale," Roxanne replies immediately.

"One rose coin."

"No."

"Two rose coins."

"Mr. Gartania, we are not selling these golems," I interject.

Ankara's eyes turns to me, his gaze seems to measure my resolve. He finally turns silently and goes into his tent, Tankar follows.

"Just what's with him, he's always so... cold," I say.

"I'm sorry, Wolf, Anky is not a bad person, he has some... Issues and he acts a bit odd once in a while," Lyle says, smiling apologetically.

A bit.

The twins shrug.

We just talk for a little longer and retire to our tents. We huddle up and I start to polish Hana's scales, we have a small, circular whetstone that I use to sharpen the edge of the scales. Hana absolutely loves it and slowly her warm eyes turn hungry.

"So, what do you gals think about our employers?" I ask.

"That girl ain't right," Roxanne says while shaking her head.

"I know, right. I feel she's dangerous," Hana says.

"I think Gartania is trouble," Ciel says.

"I agree with Ciel," Alissa says and frowns, "He's too... Different, you don't know what to expect out of him."

"I like the twins, I don't like Gartania," Lina says.

She huddles up near me and wraps both her arms around my waist.

"Lina should be in charge of keeping an eye on the twins then," Alissa says.

"Since I'm likely to stay back I'll try to keep an eye on the one with the crazy eyes," Roxanne says.

"I will keep an eye on Gartania," Ciel says.

"What is his problem? Does he have a Plom up his ass or something?" Hana says.

"His sudden interest on Ted and Suzy was incredibly weird," Ciel says, she hugs Ted and he disappears on her large bosom.

Suzy tries to pull Ted away from the death by breasts, they seem to think they require to breathe to live.

"It is an interesting magic school that was basically abandoned a long time ago but what would he want to do with them?" I question rhetorically.

Ciel suffocates Suzy too, misunderstanding her pleading for a need for affection.

"Seeing how he casually displays his wealth I thought he would try to buy Aoi instead," I say.

"Keh!" Aoi coughs in disgust.

She tackles me and tries to lick my mouth. She's 100 years too early for this, countless years avoiding french-kissing my lick-happy dogs gave me perfect evasion. All she accomplishes is to lick my chin because I allow it.

Hana waves her fingers towards Aoi, who switches targets and tackles Hana. Aoi is not that enthused about licking her, perhaps because I deny her she feels like I'm a challenge.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we find bandits waiting for us when we leave this place," Hana says.

I cringe at this thought.

"The Gartania family are Lords of Fort Erda, his face could be known, he was being careless in coming in a carriage," Alissa says.

"Or he's overconfident," Ciel says.

"I would bet on careless. He's fixated with something else, he's too distracted."

Lina's hand slowly caress my body from below my shirt. Ciel drops both golems, they pat their own bodies, checking for damage.

"Alissa, finish this for me please, I gotta help out a lonely little girl," I say, handing her the whetstone.

I turn around and pounce Lina. Her silky black hair sprawls over the bed, her gloomy eyes spell innocence, but as my hand explores her body her smile slowly turns impish. I kiss those small lips and she eagerly pushes her tongue, she seeks my tongue and sucks on it.

"I'll give you something to suck, alright."

Hana looks like a chained animal, she has to wait Alissa to finish before she can take me. I make sure she sees very well every thrust on Lina, I spread her legs wide while I play with her little bean.

"I love you my little thing."

"I... Love you... Masterr~..." Her voice trails off as she loses her capability to speak.

Then I put her on reverse cowgirl, sprawling Lina wide just for Hana. Lina's cute little ass are cupped by my hands as I help her move her hips up and down. Roxanne makes sure to stay away from Hana, she wants to tease Hana to the maximum.

I start playing with Lina's clit again, I'm slowly learning the favorite way that each of the girls likes to be stimulated. Lina is very sensitive to pinching, a few pinches at the right moment and she orgasms on top of me.

I pull it out of her and a hungry monster immediately pounces on my dick, Hana is incredibly wet. I have to hold on to the storm until Hana's lust passes, sometimes the wild dragon has to be let to rampage for a while.

"I love... Your dick..." She grunts amid attempts at self-impalement.

"Just... My dick...?"

"Everything... I love... Everything..."

I am finished by Lina's mouth who did not mind the amount of juices from Hana that covered my member.

Ciel stares, burning with jealousy, but tonight I will neglect her, I want her to take the initiative. Just to tease her further I sleep while hugging her, one of my hands cupping her breast the other hand on her thigh.

"Irredeemable..."