Chapter 11: Vows- Part 2
Chapter 11: Vows- Part 2
We stay until 8PM and then we fly back home. Hana became the soul of the party and Selina got a new friend.
Now we can all take a bath together. I eagerly wait for Roxanne to undress, most of her underwear is lacy and cute, she's the one who uses the most delicate clothing, I will ask her to buy the casual clothes for the other two. She looks a little nervous but at this point I completely switched my attitude, the meal is ready.
Roxanne is thin, she could be a model on Earth with that body, she shows no muscles and a bit of bone even but that's her charm, her neat patch between her legs is just as well kept as Alissa's. Even Roxanne's collarbones look sexy, with her small breasts, smaller than Alissa's, and her pale skin she looks so frail. Her tail is something mostly ignored, it doesn't sway like Alissa's and Roxanne makes the crime of keeping it below her robes most of the time. The tail tip stands still in the air while she walks, giving it a rather mesmerizing feel to it. The only imperfection is the circular scar on her belly...No! That was a sin, the scar is not an imperfection, she's perfect as she is.
"Why do you hide your tail so much?" I ask.
"It's bothersome, it serves no purpose, and only calls more attention to me."
"And your horns don't?"
She shrugs.
"It reduces the attention."
"But I find it very sexy."
She looks down and fails to hide her smile.
"Please put it out more, also let me touch it."
"F-fine… b-be gentle, it's sensitive."
It's thinner than her little finger, its texture is of rubber and the consistency is that of jelly, the tip is a sharp dagger the length of her hand and could be used for cutting. It's a mana solidification, it will grow back if cut.
I run my fingers through it. I cover my hand with a bit of soap, grab the tail and run my hand through the entire length.
"AAHN~!" Roxanne lets out a loud moan.
"What…?"
Alissa and Hana were washing each other but they stop.
"It's… sensitive..." Roxanne mutters.
"Roxanne… this is an erogenous zone, right?"
She does not answer, her expression is frozen.
"Are your horns like that?"
She squirms and looks to the side.
"Hana… you work on her tail."
"Yes."
"N-no, w-wait!"
"Why wait? This is the perfect situation," I smirk at her.
Roxanne seems scared but she doesn't move. I move in front of her and grab her horns and push her face towards mine, I caress her horns just as I did her tail. She kisses while moaning, I wonder if I can make her orgasm just like this. Hana works her tail but Alissa comes and teaches Hana how to use her hands better.
Roxanne hugs me and kisses me harder. Suddenly she grabs my dick and pulls it forward. I break the kiss and bring her to the edge of the bathtub and fuck her. I hold her horns as support while thrusting on her. Her face is amazing, the cool and sexy is back and her moans are the perfect pitch and loudness, it's like she's made for sex. I guess it's somewhat expected of a succubus.
She grabs my hips and pushes it harder. She twitches and I can see the white of her eyes. Is this okay? Is she okay?
"R-Roxanne, are you okay?"
"Don't stop!"
I guess she's okay.
I let out her horns and Hana takes it over. Alissa got excited and rubs Roxanne's tail with vigor. I pinch and lick her nipples, they are barely visible since they have the same color as her skin.
Her back arches and she convulses, her insides tighten so hard I flinch. I can barely hold it in and cum just as she gets out of her orgasm.
"W-wow, what was that tightness?" I say.
"Hohohoh…"
Roxanne waits a few moments for her breath to normalize.
"That's the succubus secret," she says, she gives a wicked and sexy smile.
"I'm a bit spent now. Hana, she's all yours."
Hana turns Roxanne around and eats out her cum-filled pussy. Alissa and I just relax at the bath, she was masturbating so I use my fingers on her until she cums, then I have her ride me slowly while she watches the two. The other two girls put out a show, they kiss, they finger, they eat each other, two goddesses having sex. The spirit is willing but the meat is in near coma. This is so much depravity I'm speechless, I just want to put my dick in something until I pass out.
After finishing Alissa and getting hard again I go for Hana and fuck her from behind while she eats out Roxanne. I quickly release another shot and fall back on the water. Alissa keeps my mouth occupied with hers, eventually I get hard again. Hana looks at my new erection and decides to mount me. She contorts and kisses Roxanne while slapping my waist and making the water spill all over the floor.
When I'm about to cum Hana sucks it out of me with her mouth and she shares another cum-filled kiss with Roxanne. They don't stop, these two are drunk with depravity. Just by watching them I get up again and have Alissa suck me, she's too tired and doesn't want anymore fingering.
I grab Roxanne's tail and rub it while they fuck each other. Then Roxanne pushes Alissa and mounts me again. My dick hurts, my balls are shriveled but this woman is gonna suck the soul out of me. I have to put [Enhanced Stamina] and [Enhanced Strength] to keep up with her, Hana helps me move my hips while Alissa kisses me. I just close my eyes and cum for a 4th time, I feel like my soul is shrinking.
Roxanne digs out my cum from inside her and shares one last cum-filled kiss with Hana. Then she drops back into the water and relaxes on Hana's arms.
"Ro-Roxanne… that wasn't normal… right?" I ask.
"The tail… you rubbed the tail too much. It's… my weak point, it makes me unleash the succubus nature," she says bashfully.
"If I ever want to die from sex I will just ask Alissa to rub your tail again then."
Hana laughs and even Alissa is smiling.
I feel something change in me. I gained another point in [Enhanced Semen Recharge]. Succubus indeed.
We crawl to bed. I kind of feel sad but we have to rotate the women on the bed, tonight is Hana and Roxanne. Maybe if we get an even bigger bed we can all fit together, the room will be a little cramped but the benefits make up for that.
I close my eyes and sleep as a man who's completely satisfied with life, at least for today.
I see an ugly goblin woman, she's wearing a simple and dirty woolen dress. She's laying down while holding her throat, it's bleeding profusely, she's gurgling and choking on her own blood. She stares at me with fear in her eyes. A child cries, it's an ugly goblin child, it's holding the woman's dress.
"MAMA…! MAMA…!"
The goblin repeats, cries and sobs.
A sword decapitates the child.
I wake up sweating and out of breath.
"Wolf? Wha-what's wrong?" Roxanne asks.
"Master?" Hana grabs my arm.
"A nightmare…"
"Didn't those stop?" Says Roxanne.
"They had."
She shares a look with Hana.
"Could it be…"
"That's ridiculous," I say, "Why would it be like this?"
But it makes sense, this is the first time I'm spending an entire night without Alissa. What kind of trauma is this that I need her, specifically, so I don't have a nightmare?
"We will have to test it for at least another night," I say, "I'm just gonna go back to sleep."
And I slept, badly.
Today is the 21st.
I wake up stiff, my shoulders hurt, my muscles are sore, my head hurts, and it's not just because of the yesterday's orgy.
I crawl to the tabel to have our breakfast.
"Master, are you okay?" Alissa says. She's already awake preparing breakfast.
"I had a nightmare…"
She keeps quiet and looks at me with eyes filled with worry.
"After this, can you lay with me for a while? I didn't sleep well…"
"Okay, master..." She answers me in a soft voice.
We eat and then I take a nap, a warm and comfortable nap. This isn't good.
Is this trauma? Is this a curse for not taking her feelings seriously until now? How ridiculous it is that I can't sleep without Alissa. What are we gonna do if Alissa has to stay away from me for a few days? This is too much…
I wake up at 9AM, Alissa was stroking my hair. She smiles when I wake up.
"I slept well this time…"
"I will always be by your side."
I cringe a little.
"But I wish you didn't have to. Also, it's not confirmed, let's sleep apart again tomorrow."
"Okay..." She says on a sad tone.
"Master, a message came to you," Hana comes inside and says.
We go downstairs and sit on the table.
"I, Alaraste Anara, True Noble, Enemy of Wyverns, Lord of Rabanara, ruler of the Shore of Leaves, invite you, Wolf ‘Good Luck' Ryder, leader of Helios, and your companions to a rewards ceremony where your deeds of bravery and skill will be recognized and rewarded."
"Enemy of Wyverns" must be because the wyverns attack regularly but he must really have butchered them to get a title like this. Shore of Leaves is the name of this piece of land that borders the Sea of Trees. And finally, since the lord himself used my nickname it's probably going to spread.
"Now it's time for some recognition, Wolfy," says Roxanne while hugging me from behind.
"Indeed, about time, master," says Hana.
"Agreed," says Alissa.
"Wait, what's up with 'Wolfy'?" I ask.
"Well, 'husband' is too boring, 'love' is a bit embarrassing, and to keep calling you as usual wasn't right, so I think 'Wolfy' is much cuter," Roxanne chuckles, she rubs her cheek on the top of my head.
I shrug. I actually like it.
"Actually, I think you 2 don't need to call me 'master' anymore. It doesn't feel right, just call me 'Wolf'... or 'Wolfy'," I say.
"N-no, that's n-not right, we are your slaves," Alissa stutters.
"We are kind of a bit more than that now," Hana says.
"Just marry everyone already!" Roxanne says and throws her hands in the air.
You know what? Fuck it, I don't care anymore, I want these women and they want me, I feel it, I know it, that's all the motivation that I need. Let's do it.
"Well..." I get up and cough, "Alissa, Hana... would you like to marry me?"
Noo, that sounded lame, I screwed up! REDO.
"No! Not yet!"
"W-what…"
Everyone looks at Alissa dumbfounded.
"I… still have to complete my duty," Alissa says, she looks down and her voice tells me she's about to cry.
I steel my nerves, I have to get to the bottom of this.
"What is that duty?" I ask.
"To be used as a tool, to serve my master for life, to fight until I'm dead, to bring honor to my clan, to help my master achieve great deeds," she forces herself to not cry.
"Does that means you are not allowed to marry?"
Her face remains unmoving.
"Does that means you are not allowed to be happy!?"
Her mouth twitches and her eyes narrow in a sad expression.
I'm angry at Alissa, her submissive behavior, her denial of her wishes, I don't want it. I know what you want, even if you don't want to admit it. Even if I'm scared of this future, scared of commitment, I won't let you run away from your happiness, not you. You have been brainwashed into being a tool, I won't let you keep like this!
"Alissa, tell me what you want."
"To serve as a tool-..."
"Tell me what you really want, don't make me order you," I interrupt.
Her face turns into stone again.
"Alissa, please… you know I love you…"
"I… want to… marry you..." She starts to tear up and sob.
I get up and hug her.
"I am yours and you are mine," I say.
She sniffles and her expression breaks into tears.
"Repeat after me, I am yours and you are mine."
"I am… Y-yours and yo-you a-are mine…"
"There, those are our vows, there's nothing else needed."
Alissa lets out all her remaining tears.
I will take care of you, Alissa.
Hana and Roxanne hug us both. We stay like this for a while until Alissa's tears dry. I play with her ears and she almost falls asleep.
"We will be together, forever," I say.
"And ever..." Hana finishes.
"You don't have to worry, you will fulfill your duty. Just because you marry, doesn't mean you are abandoning it," Roxanne says, she grabs Alissa's head and kisses her forehead.
"Thank you, everyone. Thank you..." She finally says.
We break the group hug. I sit down next to Alissa and hold her hand.
"Wolf..." Hana says.
"Yes?"
Hana is standing besides me with a serious face. She grabs my hand.
"I swear to you my body and soul, my sword and shield. I swear to protect you and keep you happy forever."
Quick and direct.
"I swear to you my body and soul, my sword and magic. I swear to protect you and keep you happy forever."
She kisses me lightly. There's no need for a deep and passionate kiss, we already confirmed our passion to each other.
After this, there's no mood to work. We just cuddle in bed, the sofa is not big enough.
Three proposals in two days. And there's the possibility of more coming. This is crazy, what the fuck is going on.
"We should all have one ceremony together," Roxanne says.
"Yes. Perhaps we can wait until Alissa is satisfied with her duty, then we can all break the contract together," Hana says.
"Hana! We shouldn't ask these things, we are slaves," Alissa rebukes.
"There's no need for my wives to be also slaves, it is mutually exclusive," I say.
"Is that so..." Alissa resigns.
"Would becoming a noble be enough for you, Alissa?" Roxanne asks.
"Eh?" I'm confused.
"Destroying a dungeon gives you the title of 'True Noble', it allows you become a lord.
"That… would be acceptable but it's not required, if mast-… Wolf, doesn't want it then we could do something else," Alissa says.
"Hmm… I was thinking of regularly going into a dungeon to gain power anyway. If we reach the end then perhaps we could… but I have no intention of becoming a lord."
"The dungeons that are allowed to be destroyed aren't many, they don't last too long too since the current lord would deal with it," Roxanne says.
"I heard there was trouble at the High Forest. Seems the nobles are slacking over there, there should be plenty of dungeons to explore there," Alissa says.
"That would be a bit far for us," I say.
The High Forest is a land of the elves north of here, it's a few days away. I want to go to the dungeon in my spare time from the university.
"Actually… if I learn [Gate]… I can't see [Gate] in the [Space Magic] school yet but it should be soon. I don't know what allows me to see more advanced magic but it should increase with my power, I believe. If I use skill points to learn [Gate] then I can hide it when necessary."
"Hmm… I could make some strong MP potions and with your power you could change your skills to pure mana enhancements," Roxanne says, "Then you should be able to transport us by [Gate], we can even put all our equipment on your 'Items' just for a moment"
"I haven't tested that [Gate] does not considerate my 'Items' as extra weight, I just assumed it would because 'Items' is not influenced by any skill on this world."
[Gate] costs more mana the more weight you have, that includes the items inside [Item Box] spell.
"Well, it sounds we have our next goal then," Roxanne says with a smile, "Ah, the Moonlight Moss has some MP recovery properties, if I finish working on it we could use the potions I make from it. But they would also sell for a good price…"
"We aren't really in need of much money right now. We are going to get bounties from the dungeons and we could always look for a subjugation since Alissa is good at tracking," I say.
"Hm, sounds like a plan!" Roxanne hugs me harder.
"Agreed."
"Yep."
I feel like I have my small piece of heaven when I'm with these women.
We cuddle until lunch and I take another nap since I need it. We have plenty of perishable food now but with my "Items" we just put there anything close to going bad.
Alissa found a good amount of Dragolite eggs, they are twice the size of a chicken's egg but they taste the same. With that and flour we make some good Dragolite Milanese that goes well with simple pasta and a sweet veggie salad. Most of the time I don't let Alissa make lunch or dinner without at least a salad, it's not healthy.
After lunch we clean the house.
"Ma-... Wolf, we should visit Ciel as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting," Alissa says.
Inviting Ciel with second intentions makes me a little uneasy, but… I'm getting greedy.
Me and Alissa go to the temple together. We enter the priests quarters and find an old man.
"Ah, it's you," says a priest with gentle voice that tickles my ears. His face is familiar, his eyes look at me warmly.
"Ah, sorry, I don't remember your name," I say.
"We weren't introduced. I'm the head priest, Arantos," The priest says with a bow.
He's old and chubby with folds on his neck. He has barely any hair, black or graying, on his balding head. He has a ball for a face and a round nose. His face, his half-circle glasses, his small eyes and his voice overflows with kindness, I feel like he's releasing an aura.
"P-pleasure to meet you, I'm Wolf Ryder and this is my fiancee Alissa," I bow back and Alissa twitches but also bows.
"Hoh?" He looks at Alissa and coughs, "I only saw you in passing but Sister Ciel told me you are an interesting fellow and you two have been having enlightening conversations. Ah, wait, you are the fellow who killed the Symbol, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's me."
"Now that's even more interesting," he lets out a chuckle, "You are looking for Sister Ciel?"
"Yes, if it's not a bother I would like to talk to her again."
"Today is her free day, she could be on her room, otherwise I don't know where she would be. Let me look for her."
He takes us to the same guest room I was on the last time.
After a minute or so Ciel appears wearing a blue flowery dress that reaches her knees. This is the first time I saw her without the priest robes, she has quite a voluptuous body, I see no large muscles but also no hanging fat. Wide hips, thick legs, a protruding ass and large breasts that get accentuated by the belt tying the dress to her ribs. Her face was always pleasant, round and cute with fleshy lips, quite baby-faced. Also, it's the first time I see hair loose, it's straight and well kept. I'm much more conscious about her right now, she looks beautiful and cute on these clothes.
"H-hello, Mr. Ryder, Miss Alissa," Ciel says with some embarrassment on her voice.
Shit, I stared too much.
"H-hello, Miss Ciel."
"Good day, Miss Ciel."
With a *poof* Alissa pulls tea and cookies."
"Thank you Miss Alissa."
"Ah, so," I cough, "I have a proposal for you, Miss Ciel."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Would you like to join our fellowship."
Ciel finishes her sip, she looks at me, then at Alissa, and then her gaze wanders. After almost a minute frozen she says.
"Why… me?"
"First, you are quite the skilled healer, second you have good support skills with the glaive and [Wind Magic], third you are a person with quite the knowledge about gods and m-… Wolf is looking to get closer to the gods, and finally, we know you miss adventuring," Alissa says with confidence, she practiced those lines.
"W-wow. This is…"
And she falls silent again.
"You don't have to answer now, we will be staying here a long time since I'm entering the university," I say.
"I see… I understand."
"In any case you should know that… me, Hana and Roxanne are… going to marry Wolf," Alissa says while blushing. Refreshing cuteness.
Ciel looks at me with wide eyes, I can almost hear her saying a sassy "really?". Then she twitches and averts her gaze. Is she blushing? I can't tell due to skin color. Perhaps she understood there could be second intentions on the invite.
"But really, t-three women, Mr. Ryder, you are quite the man to manage to snatch those three so quickly," Ciel looks at me with a mix of reproachful and amused eyes.
"Roxanne says he was a slow..." Mutters Alissa.
I just shrug and let a wry smile.
"Can't control the heart, if it's love then I will accept it," I say.
"Still, three women, and now… anyway, I guess it's actually an interesting proposal but I won't be able to answer you now, it's another big change in my life."
"I understand, if you have any questions about our fellowship and our objectives I will answer you."
"Hm..." Her gaze wanders again, "What do you plan to do to make money?"
"Dungeon exploration, we are also going to look for extermination requests since Alissa is a good tracker. But we do have quite some funds already stored, Roxanne is also a potion maker who can make money by herself."
"Do you have plans to leave town?"
"Yes, I have a plan to become a noble one day so I will search for a dungeon to conquer. After that I also want to explore the world a bit so I will look for interesting places to enjoy and to also grow stronger."
"What role do you want me to take?"
"Support for Hana, you have a good reach with [Wind Magic] and the glaive. We will both support Hana and protect Alissa or Roxanne."
"Where will we live?"
"We have a luxurious rental near the nobles quarters," I try not look embarrassed since our house is a little excessive, "Alissa and Hana clean and cook and I help with cooking. Roxanne helps with steady income with her potions."
That is, once Roxanne finishes the Moonlight Moss she will have enough time to make standard potions to sell.
"Division of spoils?"
"All equal, no questions asked."
"What if we find a useful item?"
"We will likely not sell then, we are not strapped for money. You should know by now that I'm also a very reasonable person too, if we discuss things we will reach a proper solution."
The biggest danger to dissolve a fellowship is deciding who gets what item and what gets sold. Since we are unlikely to sell useful items we will just discuss who gets it.
"I have very little money saved, I don't have equipment to compete with your emerald fang sword."
"We can give you, no strings attached. We want you alive to help us, after all."
"Wow, that's quite generous."
I shrug.
"That would be least we should do since it would take quite some time for you to earn enough money for good equipment."
She crosses her arms and chuckles.
"So I guess in the end it's a question of whether I feel like changing my life again or not."
"Seems so."
"Let me just add this," Alissa interjects and smiles at Ciel, "You know Wolf's life is bound to be interesting, he already has a blessing and I would wager he will get another one at some point."
I cringe a bit, I wouldn't consider this a plus. Ciel laughs.
"Interesting indeed."
The conversation dies down.
"Well, anyway that's all we have to say. We will leave you to your rest then."
"Thanks for visiting again, Mr. Ryder, Miss Alissa. Congratulations on your engagement."
Alissa blushes again. I think I don't want you to ever not blush at things like this.
"Thank you," I say.
We say our goodbyes and leave, that was quick which is good since it was rather nerve wracking for me. Then we go back home.
I drop on the sofa. What a day. Today is the 31st day I'm in this world and I already have 3 fiancees, a fortune and I'm considered a town hero. Please slow down, world.
My research on [Redirect Mana] got interrupted, I gotta catch up. This was supposed to be the day I presented my results to the university. I leveled it once so it should be easier to use again.
I close my eyes and focus on expanding my soul again, it's getting easier. I see a small mana stream passing by, it's not Roxanne's. I keep flying my soul around it, it's a rather pleasant feeling, this free-flowing mana.
I stop and repeatedly cast [Wind Armor] on myself to use some mana. I meditate again and go back to play around the mana stream. I notice it changed a little, like slowly stirring a soup it starts to follow my soul. This mana has some attraction to my soul but why is it so difficult to command it to enter me?
This mana has a different feeling to the Symbol's, Roxanne's stream, and also the stream above the goblin village. It's subtle but now I can feel it, the symbol's felt "spicy", Roxanne's felt "sweet", the goblin's felt like "dirt" and this one feels "tasteless". Is this some sort of identification? The mana from someone holds a bit of the previous owner's "essence" on it? It's plausible since this mana is the "spill" from bad [Mana Efficiency], perfect efficiency makes the spell invocation imperceptible.
This mana stream is actually not resisting me, I don't think it's the skill level. Perhaps it's mana generated by the environment so it doesn't have a previous "owner"? Then how do I "break" the owner barrier more efficiently?
I move my soul upstairs and find a stream of mana from Roxanne. I wanna "taste" her and the others with this. Ok, back to work. Her stream is resisting me now, I can feel her "sweetness", it's hers alright. I have an idea, I know that moving my soul is not everything I can do with it, my soul can change in various ways that I can't really explain, it's like trying to raise only one eyebrow, it's a muscle that's there and you know it exists but you don't have proper control of it.
I keep trying to change my soul and notice a small change in the stream. Ahah! So I can do it, I have to keep trying. Move it, this… way… just a little bit… Closer. It twitched again. I gotta… bend it, like this. Open up… like this? Oh, another twitch, it's bigger. Yes, like… this.
Oh! The stream is not resisting, I have to hold it like this. I feel pain, it's pulsing. It's like a cramp, my soul isn't supposed to be like this. But the mana keeps coming. I could only last a little while but it came, without forcing myself it came to me spontaneously. This could be a powerful skill if I can develop it, it's somewhat scary. Like holding a gun without the safety and without knowing how to fire.
I try to relax. I also need to create [Sense Soul] to properly copy a soul and create a golem. [Infuse] is basically infusing an object with a soul that I create during the acid trip, but I don't know what any of that does so it's very dangerous to go with trial and error. I'll keep [Sense Presence] and [Sense Mana] on all the time, maybe I can come up with an idea if I combine them both, they work in similar ways to what [Sense Soul] should be like.
I feel a kiss on my lips.
"Wolf, Roxanne wants to take a bath. Let's enter together," Alissa says.
I kiss her back.
Roxanne washed Hana and then both of them put on a show for us. Hana will be sleeping alone tonight so we gotta compensate her. I will buy a bigger bed after the award ceremony, hopefully we can all sleep together then. Nobody dared to touch Roxanne's tail.
At night we were all tired and uninspired, emotions flew too much these last days. I did Alissa slowly and lovingly in missionary, we spent all the time just kissing and caressing until I came. Then I did Roxanne the same way, she spices things up a bit with unexpected bites, kisses and pinches. She's not the raw power fucker that Hana is but she likes to use her charm. I got excited and asked for a double blowjob. Roxanne needs teaching, she never had a dick in her mouth before.
Today is the 22nd.
I slept like a baby. I wake up with Alissa nibbling and licking the tip of my dick. She wants to copy Hana's wake up blowjob. Nothing makes me happier than to wake up to those orange eyes looking up on me while her cute face bobs up and down. Roxanne was hugging me from behind but she's a heavy sleeper, only when I got up she woke. I make sure to give them all a deep kiss when waking up, it lifted Hana's mood from sleeping alone.
We will probably spend the whole day in negotiations. All the hunters are healed and ready so we will discuss payment and who takes what spoils. I'm not that interested in it so I selfishly asked Alissa to keep me company, she actually volunteered first but it's still selfish to accept it.
I decide to summon a bird and keep it always at home. I will share sight and touch so if someone wants to say something to me it's very convenient, it also serves as training so I don't get dizzy when my view increases.If I'm to be a summoner then being capable of sharing the senses with multiple summons is very advantageous.
We get to the guild meeting room and there's already an argument. The artillery team is having trouble discerning who killed what since there's only carbonized bodies and some even got carried away by the [Wind Storm].
The guild attendees had to recount the number of dead bodies, estimate the number of houses, then estimate the number of total goblins, and finally deduct from the dead bodies the number of kills attributed to the artillery team. Then they compromised and split the rewards evenly.
The counting of the other kills was easier since the bodies are present and we already gave a detailed report. I didn't bother to argue the number of kills of the girls and neither of my elementals, the orcs were the most valuable ones and the Orc Chief kill was attributed to me while Hana was the one who decapitated it. From the shock troops Alissa was 4th in number of kills, Hana was 7th and Roxanne was very low on rank since she was mostly supporting us.
I spent the entire time discreetly stroking Alissa's tail until she fell asleep in my arms. I also kept playing around with her soft hands. I'm completely intoxicated by her, this level of attachment isn't healthy for both of us but I don't care.
We had to stop the meeting and have a fast lunch nearby because the meeting took us until 3PM. Then we finally went back home.
At some point both Roxanne and Hana were petting the bird so I managed to keep awake during the entire meeting and felt way better than I thought I would.
I have my afternoon tea and go back to working on [Sense Soul]. I will keep [Redirect Mana] like this for now, I explored much of the mysteries and I think it's enough to give a good outline of how this skill works.
Keeping both [Sense Mana] and [Sense Presence] on is tiring, [Sense Mana] works passively but using it actively gives it much more sensitivity. I truly think now that the combination of both these skills is the key to [Sense Soul]. I bring the bird to the living room and focus all my efforts on sensing it.
Little by little I gain more control over the abilities. They are like a focal lens where you keep changing the field of view and it gets you a better image. I'm starting to be able to see the details that I could only see by using my soul, but unfortunately the focal point is very, very small.
I can see how the soul "patterns" repeat, then they lose its form and it becomes an abstract mess. I try to look inside but it starts to shift as I look, is this the "brain"? The constant learning and changing and synapses being created and broken? It's useless to look deeper I have to focus on the outside patterns.
"Wolf? I'm sorry to interrupt but it's getting late, let's take a bath together," Alissa says.
"It's no problem, my wives take priority over work."
Alissa blushes.
She did interrupt but there's no hurry, I want to enjoy these days until we are dragged by the gods into the next conflict.
Today I did Alissa in the bath until she came. I didn't cum too because I will destroy Hana tonight, I used a combination of dick, tongue, fingers and g-spot to make Alissa scream.
The meals keep getting better, Alissa controls the menu and I just happily help, it's therapeutic. Tonight we have a large roasted Dragolite that Alissa wanted to copy after Selina's wedding.
"Is this… basil? Ohh…"
"What is it Wolfy?" Asks Roxanne.
"One of these herbs is basil, I need to know which, I love basil."
We can make pesto and if we find tomatoes we can make caprese and so much more. Italian cuisine revolution incoming!
Alissa smiles, she loves when we find something that reminds me of Earth.
Then we go to bed and I do Hana, then Roxanne, then Hana again. This woman is a complete freak, she might be even more degenerate than me. I won't suggest anal to her because I don't really like it but I think it might be just a matter of time with the way her masochism is progressing, she's having me choke her and spank her.
Hana doesn't want to let me finish inside her, she likes to take it in her mouth and share it with Roxanne. Roxanne is actually embarrassed with it when she's not on her "sex demon" mode but she obeys, Roxanne is Hana's plaything. I just don't wanna imagine what she would do to me if she were my master instead.
I have to put points into strength and stamina to keep up with Hana, I slap her face as she sucks the soul through my dick. It's just a matter of time for her to get the oral skill like this.
Exhausted, I go to sleep.
"YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" The goblin woman screams.
Her spear stabs my belly. She pulls it out and thrusts again, I try to hold it and my hand is cut. I don't have the power to stop and my belly is stabbed again.
"AAAAH!" The goblin kid screams and stabs my chest with a knife.
I try to grab the knife but the spear stabs me again and I lose power.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Stop, I don't wanna die.
Today is the 23nd
I wake up stiff again.
"I don't want another nightmare again," I say.
I feel sick and afraid. These nightmares are too real, this is not a trauma, this is a curse.
"It's okay, we will find a way to deal with this," Roxanne says and hugs me, she looks worried and Hana looks even worse.
"I'm sorry, Wolf, I don't know how to deal with the matters of the soul," Hana says and looks down.
"You already protect me enough. It's like Roxanne said, we will find a way to deal with this, it's not that serious," I console her.
Feeling sad we go have breakfast, Alissa looks worried too. After that I ask Alissa to stay with me for a little while so I can get a nap in the morning. At 3PM is the ceremony in the castle, I don't want to look bad in there.
At lunch Alissa makes me a strong and cold black tea. If we find lemons and peaches then I can get ice tea, just need guarana and matte tea to complete the set.
Then the goddesses get ready and we go to the castle.
Alissa wears a cute silk orange straight dress with flowers at the top, Roxanne wears a dangerously short gothic lolita black dress and Hana wears a simple red velvet dress with a large cleavage. The sense of fashion in this world is all over the place, it seems it mixes quite a number of time periods. Not really complaining since they all look perfect to me.
Once we reach the castle gates we lower our flying dinghy and show our invitation to the guard. A proto-butler appears and leads us inside. I can still feel the gaze of the guard on Hana. She smirks, she likes the attention.
The castle is a large square tower. It wasn't made to defend against land sieges. It's a simple tower in the middle of the grassland built to defend against aerial attacks and intercept migrating flying monsters. Each floor of the castle has at least one line of anti-air siege engines, floating metal scorpios and balistae.
The castle has defended against innumerous wyvern attacks, a considerable number of harpies and other monsters and even against house sized dragons. The castle might be a bit more effective if it was rounded instead of a square but then the floor plan wouldn't have been so perfectly made. The Anara family governs this town for a few hundred years and their fame of pragmatism and simplicity shows at every step.
After passing through a second gate and a large garden we reach the entrance to the caste. A large double door decorated with the lord's heraldry. Crossing it we are inside a large hall full of columns. There's lavish chairs in the middle of the hall pointing towards the throne and benches on the walls.
We are oriented to sit on the chairs and we recognize the other hunters are also sitting with us. On the benches a large amount of well dressed people are coming and sitting, possibly nobles and other important people. The throne is above a small set of steps, it's a large black cushioned chair decorated with golden swords and roses.
After a dozen or so minutes it seems all hunters have gathered. I see Targua is completely fine and walking with pride, he has a nice set of velvet clothes with a short black cloak. He waves at me and I nod. The nobles also stop coming from the entrance.
Then Silvane, Haaran, and his knights appear from a side door, they are wearing their combat clothing but no one is wearing a helmet. They stand in front of the chairs and kneel. After that the lord Alaraste appears from behind the throne, he's wearing lavish black silk clothes and a black and gold cloak that drags on the ground. He goes up and sits on the throne. Everyone gets up, bows, and sits back down.
"People of Rabanara! Today we are gathered here to reward the deeds of bravery and skill accomplished by this group of hunters and knights," The voice of the Lord is being magically amplified.
"As you should know we discovered a large goblin camp to the west of our town, deep in the Sea of Trees. To exterminate them, we assembled an expedition composed of experienced and talented fellowships, lead by a group of hand picked knights and mages and whose leader was my own son, Haaran Anara.
"As the expedition found the location of the goblin camp, a shocking fact was discovered. It was not a camp but a full-blown village with nearly 200 goblins and a small fortified gate."
A few gasps could be heard. A normal monster leader doesn't create wood huts and fortifications, only breeders do.
"Even though some were afraid, even though some wanted to leave, even though some were skeptical of the safety, even though some wanted reinforcements. They didn't back down, they didn't retreat, and they all were convinced that risking their lives for the safety of the town was the best choice."
Not sugar-coating it, are we?
"They attacked the village with great ingenuity. Two mages created a bridge that passed by the natural wall that is the cliff the village was located on. After a massive magical attack that put the village in chaos, our brave warriors charged and started the slaughter. But alas, there was another surprise, a group of orcs lead by an Orc Chief was there, he was possibly another breeder."
More gasps and now murmurs.
"But they didn't retreat! They fought! And with great effort, paying with the lives of one of my knights and one of the hunters, the whole village was massacred and not a single goblin or orc survived!"
The crowd cheers but the lord raises his hand to stop.
"When they were exhausted and retreating they heard that there were orcs attacking the camp, there were orcs that didn't follow the breeder to the village and went berserk after their leader died."
The crowd gasps again.
"The rearguard defended the camp with fearsome resolution, even though they suffered great injuries they defended the camp. In the end, only 2 attending space mages were lost. Now finally, the huge threat of two breeders was destroyed," he raises his hand and the crowd cheers.
"Now it is time to reward their efforts."
He grabs a long scroll.
"Haaran, my son. As a leader of the expedition I thank you for your achievements. As a knight no reward is given to you."
Haaran gets up and bows then he goes back on his knee.
"Silvane, my son's betrothed. As the expedition's healer and support mage, I thank you for your achievements. As a knight no reward is given to you."
Silvane repeats the movements of Haaran and one-by"-ne the other knights do too. Then they move to the side and stand by the columns near the benches.
The lord starts calling the name of the fellowships and giving their leader a small shining metal medal. It holds the heraldry of the town on one side and a small goblin and orc head on the other, on that side you can see written "exterminated" and the date, 23/06/68,599. Then he names the other members of the fellowship.
"Torgua, leader of Honest Shield, rearguard and protector of the camp. For your bravery in defending the camp and your sacrifice by receiving a grievous wound, I thank you.
"Wolf 'Good Luck' Ryder, leader of Helios, shock troop. For your great skill in creating the land bridge, for your timely help to my son and his knights, for your great effort in defeating the Orc Chief, for your great skill in summoning the elementals to support the other hunters, I thank you.
"Come see me after the ceremony," Alaraste whispers when he gives me the medal.
"Yes, my Lord," I respond reflexively.
In a blink I'm already sitting down, I don't remember getting up or coming down, I just remember the moment Alaraste gave me the medal.
"Alissa, member of Helios, shock troop and scout. For your great skill in killing innumerous goblins with your accurate archery, I thank you.
"Hanafuria, member of Helios, shock troop. For your bravery in defending your allies with your shield and your skill in cutting down your enemies with your sword, I thank you.
"Roxanne, member of Helios, shock troop. For your great skill in supporting with your magic not only your own fellowship but also my own son's knights and other fellowships, I thank you."
The naming continues.
"And now, to honor the fallen. Faaran, knight of the town, died in battle in the hands of the berserking Orc Chief. Your effort will be remembered, your family will be rewarded, and your honor in the afterlife is guaranteed.
"Tarsuan, attendant space mage, died in battle defending the camp from orcs. Your effort will be remembered, your family will be rewarded, and your honor in the afterlife is guaranteed.
"Cartaan, attendant space mage, died in battle defending the camp from orcs. Your effort will be remembered, your family will be rewarded, and your honor in the afterlife is guaranteed.
"Ornstein, member of Akros, shock troop, died in battle in front of the village's gates, hit by seven spears on his chest. Your effort will be remembered, your family will be rewarded, and your honor in the afterlife is guaranteed.
"And now, the reward for this extermination was supposed to be a single gold coin for each participating member. But seeing how much more dangerous the battle was and to reward the sacrifices of all participants, each member will receive 10 gold coins as reward!"
A few awestruck sounds.
"The names of all involved will be spread by the town criers for two days so your bravery is recognized by the populace. And thus we conclude the ceremony, enjoy your gathering and small party created for you, brave hunters."
The lord gets up and leaves the room, a large amount of proto-butlers and maids pull out long tables and plenty of simple dishes. They are all to be eaten by hand and standing, self-service buffet seems to be a thing here too.
My stomach, which felt it was made of steel, starts to loosen and relax. I hated this ceremony, I feel some pride but I still hated it, stage fright. The reward was given by the guild yesterday so this is the last we hear about this expedition. I still have to talk to the lord though.
I see a considerable number of the adventurers talking to the nobles. I guess this is the point of this ceremony, give a foot in the door for the adventurers to become knights. I try my best to keep to myself, I don't want to get involved with the high society yet.
After eating a bit I see in the corner of the room the lord appears, now wearing much more discreet black clothes and no cloak.
Alissa grabs my hand and takes me to the lord. Oh boy, I can already feel his gaze burning through me.
"Mr. Ryder. It's a pleasure to meet you again," he flickers a smile and goes back to his stoic expression.
"I-it's my pleasure too, my lord," I say what Alissa taught me in a hurry.
"As I heard the reports you not only saved my son's beloved but you also worked well with him and possibly saved his life. I don't think even him could take on the Orc Chief by himself."
"Y-you think so? I-I was ju-just doing my d-duty," I stutter.
"And duty needs to be rewarded. Tell me, do you wish for something? I would like to reward you."
I freeze. Oh boy, not even Alissa prepared me for this, what's a reasonable thing to ask from a lord. There's only one thing I want right now.
"T-then perhaps a-a town pass? I-it's very bothersome to keep passing through customs all the time."
The truth is hiding my lack of [Item Box] makes me very nervous whenever I enter or leave town.
"That can be arranged, you won't be able to avoid the regular check of your guild card, you understand?" His gaze pierces me even more.
"Y-yes, I j-just want to waste less time o-on customs," I manage to spit out.
"I see. I can arrange the pass to work on the entire empire, that would be a more fitting gift. Also, if you are found smuggling a single item, no matter what it is the pass is revoked immediately, you understand?"
"Yes! Perfectly!"
"Then it will be arranged," he flickers another smile and leaves.
I feel like collapsing from the released pressure. What an odd man, I never thought he would interact with me in such a straightforward manner
"That's a wonderful gift, Wolf," Alissa says, trying to cheer me up.
"Can you call me 'Wolfy'?
"A-ah… yes… W-Wolfy…
Oof, my heart, my mood is back.
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