Rupegia

Chapter 40: Departure – Part 1

Today is the 5^th.

The traditional waking is left for later as we wake up in a small hurry. The paintings, the plants, the decorations, the furniture, the drapes, the cutlery, the ceramics, the clothes and finally our "picture" at the Tree of Mana, all of that is taken into my "Items".

The house looks empty, cold, and gloomy. The place we all met and lived for a few months, my first real "home" ever since I changed. The tea time at the balcony, the calming training sessions in the living room with the fireplace on, the physical training outside in the backyard, the meals we shared at the wide table, the sexy times in the bath, the comfort of the bed, it is time to abandon it all and hit the road.

In front of the fireplace we make another "picture" with the gnomic magic tool, a closer one of our face and with the fireplace in the background.

"Well..." I start to think of a speech but the words get stuck on my throat.

"We will have another home one day," Alissa says and drops her head on my shoulder.

We spend a few minutes in calm silence until the landlord comes for the inspection. The old man and his son look at us weirdly for a moment but quickly move on and inspect the house.

"All done, no damage. You are one of the best tenants we ever had," the old landlord says.

I give him he key and we take one last look to the house before moving on.

The air is full of mist and still dark, the people are just starting to stir from their homes.

We quickly pass by the Quizzical Emporium just as it opens. It's a place full of ridiculous objects that are being used as flying vehicles. Brooms, plates, chairs, beds, staves, carpets, cloaks, drapes, wagons, saddles, wooden carved horses, wooden carved humanoids, shoes, boots, high heels, golden shoes, shields, scabbards, a wooden dildo, even a sword itself, but the most popular are bathtubs, for some reason.

A thin and long man with hair styled and colored like a peacock comes out of the entrance carrying a rocking horse. He slid on the ground as if he were wearing roller skates, his golden high heels shines when the light hits the jewel embedded on them just at the right angle.

He stops near us and lets the rocking horse on an empty spot, then he turns to us and strikes a pose, one hand on the hips and another up in the air. "Welco~ome to the Quizzical Emporium! We have a wide variety of magical vehicles but don't fret, we also have all kinds of other enchanted items or useful magic tools!" He says in a slightly high pitched voice.

"Y-yes, uh, we want a reinforced shell for our flying dinghy," I say and pull it out.

"Hm, yes, just replacing the shell or do you want another [Fly] tool too?" He asks.

"Replacing only."

He nods and motions to us to come but I prefer to let Lina take charge, she knows more about the structure of a dinghy than I do.

Inside the store there's more enchanted items, I see all kinds of cooking equipment, power tools, house utilities, and cleaning tools. I feel like buying the auto-fryer and the pressure cooker but they are not necessary for now so I'll leave it for later. On an only slightly conspicuous corner are plenty of sex toys.

Ciel looks around warily but Hana and Alissa look with interest. Roxanne simply turns around and leaves, a little pale, she knows who will suffer if these toys are used.

Lina comes back and calls for us, she found a rather sleek looking boat with a metal frame and a windshield. The husk is actually cheap, only 20 gold coins to trade for the old husk. If we wanted the magic tool too it would cost much more than a single rose coin. Our dinghy's magic tool is not the best but it's serviceable, though not the most mana-efficient but we aren't going to start racing with our flying boat anyway.

"Thank you for your purcha~ase!" The vendor adds tremolo to his voice.

We wasted enough time, now with a much safer and wider boat we fly to the west gate.

The sun rises and the mist slowly disperses. Multiple caravans stir and start the preparations to leave town. Customs officers do final checks on wagons and quickly review space mages [Item Box]'s contents. You can make a pre-check the day before to make things faster.

Rather close to the exit Hana finds our caravan, a significantly smaller one in comparison to the others.

A small bundle of brown fur comes out of a wagon and immediately dashes towards us. She tackles Hana square in the gut but she takes it without a flinch. I can finally see who exactly she is. A long and furry tail that seems as long as her body, round cute furry ears peeking from under brown hair on a bob cut just like Alissa's, toned, long and very lean arms and legs, a toned midriff showing from below the short shirt, small patches of fur all over her body and cute round face. A weremonkey, brown monkey, I don't know the proper name for her type. All her skin and fur is a cute chocolate brown, even her wide eyes are brown.

"Hello again, Klein," Hana says in a warm tone.

"Hanaa! We are finally back together!" Klein hugs Hana's waist and rubs her head on her belly.

"Yes, yes. Now, introductions, show your courtesy to my master."

"Oh, right!" Klein releases Hana and stands straight, giving me a military salute. She's just slightly smaller than me. "Klein, wereape archer, reporting for duty!"

"Uh, Wolf Ryder, leader of Helios," I say and extend a hand for her to shake.

She stares at my hand, still in salute, and tilts her head. Then she smiles, stops the salute and shakes my hand repeatedly. "Heard a lot about you, both from Hana and the hunters guild files." Then she releases my hand and looks at Alissa. "And you too, Miss Alissa of the Blinding Arrows, I think it will be hard to compete with you." She bites her tongue in a mischievous smile.

Alissa answers with a smile of her own, "I've been trained ever since I was a child, plenty of people would easily be able to compete with me if they had the same training."

"Modest, hm-hm?"

We continue the introductions, though the other three girls look at her a bit suspiciously.

"Oh! Your choker is so cute, I love it!" Klein exclaims as she greets Lina.

"T-thank you," Lina says, flustered.

After this Ciel and Lina softened a bit.

"C-can I pet you!?" Klein asks Gify with eyes open wide like a maniac.

"Gih."

I grab GIfy and she smothers him on her modest chest. He rubs his head on her and I see a flicker of a smug smile get sent towards me.

I have 6 women for me, I'm not jealous, you cheeky little shit.

As Klein fawns over Gify I see movement from the caravan, a duo comes towards us. A tall, muscular, and slightly tanned silver elf man and very curvy brown-skinned silver elf woman.

The man has a rather soft and youthful face, on par for the elves, his lips and nose are thin, and his face has long dimples formed by his wide smile, his glacial blue eyes stare not at me. He walks forward with confidence and arms that don't fully touch his sides due to his wide muscles. He wears tight pants and a sleeveless shirt that exposes his arms and sticks to his pecs.

Soul Info
Name:	Rande Parado	Race:	Silver Elf	Level:	30
MP	132	Magic Power	20

Stats of a spell warrior.

The woman looks to be on the beginning of her forties, not much older than the man, but since she's an elf and level 44, I think she's much older. Her lips and nose are also thin but her mouth is much smaller and pouty, the pupil of her eyes are red, their shape is slightly droopy like Lina's, her face is very angular, she walks with a sway on her wide hips and a visible jiggle on her large breasts. She wears traditional elven clothing, basically a bikini with multiple pieces of cloth dangling, her midriff, thighs, calves, arms, and cleavage are uncovered by the thin clothing.

If I could search "dark elf milf" on google I bet I would find her.

Soul Info
Name:	Osaria Parado	Race:	Silver Elf	Level:	44
MP	810	Magic Power	190

Stats of a mage, though her level is quite high, must be from when she was a noble.

The man suddenly shifts his eyes to me and his smile hardens. "Mr. Ryder, I suppose?" He asks, his voice is youthful but low pitched.

"Correct," I answer with a small nod.

A sultry voice softly whispers in my ears, "Pleasure to meet you, I am Osaria," says the dark elven woman.

Ugh, another one with high "Charisma".

She extends her hand towards me, her long fingers have beautiful ornate nails, the first I have seen in this world. I grab her hand and give it a slow and soft kiss, the elven standard.

"This is my son Rande, Este company's owner," she adds.

They didn't mention their last name, they must have really became fallen nobles then.

We continue the greetings and Hana also grabs her hand to kiss. Rande grabs Hana's for a kiss and he lingers more than me. Osaria grabs Roxanne's hand for a kiss and makes her fluster. The others merely touch the forehead with the hand.

Lina's Trivia: Elves still hold on some older traditions, kissing someone's hand has some connotations on admiration or romantic interest, depending on the context. Mine and Hana's was merely respect, Rande's was romantic, Roxanne's was ambiguous.

"You are what I expected but it's still very hard to believe your file," Rande says and his thin silver eyebrows knit. His youthful face distorts into worry and a hint of anger.

"You want me to prove it? What would you prefer? Magic? Summoning Duel? Sword sparring?" I ask with a wide grin. I'm getting tired of people acting like this even though they have seen my file in the hunters guild.

He looks back at the line of caravans, there's still people in the way, the animals are getting fed and the warriors are putting on their armor. We have some time.

"Sure, what about a spar with me," he turns back and grins maliciously.

Intimidation failed.

"I am a magic swordsman, remember that I don't spar without magic."

"Fine, I will use my enchanted sword then, let's make it a duel."

I look back and see Ciel roll her eyes, the others have more encouraging expressions with a variety of intensity, Lina and Alissa show a hint of anger too. Klein looks calm and interested in the duel, Gify shows no interest.

"Squash, him," Aoi says and I rub below her chin.

I glance at Osaria and she seems amused, her lips curved in a faint smile.

We move to an alley where nobody is moving through. With a *poof* his mother pulls out a gambeson and some chainmail that he quickly puts on.

He draws his longsword, there's a gem in the pommel and silver engravings along the blade. I draw my fang sword.

"Not going to use armor?" Rande asks.

"Don't need," I say flatly.

"Suit yourself," he shrugs.

"Rules!" Ciel yells and stand by the side. "I'll say when it ends and you will obey me or I will smack you until you are unconscious, this goes for both of you, understand!?"

"Yes, Miss," Rande says with a confident smile.

"Yes, my love," I smirk and his expression twitches.

Ciel sighs deeply. "Ready? Fight!"

His sword catches fire and I fake chant a shortened [Gravity Crush]. He swings the sword and a blade of flaming oil oozes out of the silver engravings, it flies in a crescent towards me. It's much smaller than the Lord's own flaming oil sword, Rande's is not an artifact.

I sidestep the first blade and the oil splashes on the ground near me, the oil burns for long seconds. Well I guess that parrying him is useless.

He launches two more horizontal ones in different angles. I contort myself and [Dodge], maybe I should add [Acrobatics] to my style too.

He huffs and dashes forward, throwing more blades of flaming oil. I step back and finish my spell, he immediately stops in the spot and nearly tumbles. His movements slow as I increase the pressure, veins start to appear in his face and he grunts in effort.

CrushcrushCRUSH! CRUSH!

I dash forward.

I dodge another blade with some difficulty and reach him. He grunts harder in effort as he finds the strength to slash with his sword towards my chest. I flicker a [Rush] and twist my body to dodge, pain flares in my head as I dual-cast.

I feel the heat of the oil pass near my face painfully close. He tries to raise his sword but fails, I flash mine towards his neck.

"STOP!" Ciel yells and rushes forward. My sword is a centimeter inside his neck, blood drips profusely.

I end my spell and he falls on his knees, coughing blood.

Ciel fakes a [Heal] chant and touches his neck, then she casts two more on his chest and his mother gives him an HP potion.

He chuckles and rises, "Damn boy, what's your 'Magic Power'?"

"High," I say and store back my sword in my "Items".

"Suffered enough?" Osaria asks her son with a slight amusement in her sultry voice.

"Yes, mother," Rande pushes away both and removes his armor. He looks at his bloody shirt and gambeson and sighs.

"Give it to Oura, she's slacked enough," Osaria says and they start walking back to the caravan. She turns to us, "Mr. Ryder, come with us, we will deliver you your horses. I know you have a town pass so you can wait outside."

"Actually we are waiting on some acquaintances so we will leave town right behind you," Ciel says.

"Suit yourself."

We return to wait near the caravan and Klein seems very happy, her tail is high up and the point keeps twitching.

"Wow, Mr. Ryder, that was amazing, you crushed him in an instant!"

"Most magic and spell warrior duels are like that," Hana says.

Lina's Trivia: magic swordsman/warrior is someone who fights with magic, like me; spell swordsman/warrior is someone who fights with offensive enchantments, like Rande.

"Still, he couldn't even move due to the pressure you put on him! And was that a double-cast!?"

"Say, Klein, did you see Rande duel with others often?" Ciel asks, distracting the monkey-girl.

"Oh, hardly, he likes to show off but only if someone interesting comes he challenges them. Oura is very grumpy and tired of healing people due to his duels so he has been trying to contain himself but I guess Mr. Ryder's fame got him interested. He's got a bit of fame at Goldcross so people just surrender once they see his flaming sword, it's quite nasty and painful to duel him."

The girls spend a good 10 minutes talking to Klein. Roxanne is the "I don't care" type of airhead, Klein is the ditzy type of airhead. Lina shuffles to my side and I sling a hand over her shoulder, she's not that comfortable with extroverts and neither am I.

I nearly jump out of my skin when suddenly Silvane and Nononya appear out of a corner.

"Ryder, Alissa, Lina, I came to see you one last time," Silavne says with a beautiful bright smile.

"H-hello, Silvane," I say and bow respectfully.

"Please, no need to bow."

"Hello, Wolf," Nonoia says with a shy smile.

"Hello, Nono, glad you came," I say and we shake hands, hers is so delicate it's just like Lina's.

We say our greetings and Silvane gives Alissa a tight hug.

"It's a shame that Rabanara would lose your fellowship but I hope for your success in the future," Silvane says with soft voice.

"Thank you Silvane, I appreciate your concern and I consider you a friend. We will definitely miss you," Alissa says, her voice is calm but her tail sways rapidly.

Silvane turns to me and Lina, "I wish to see the name of both of you in the cover of a book in the future, don't disappoint me." And she giggles twice.

"Y-yes, we won't!" Lina exclaims and lowers her head, blushing.

I pull out a stack of notes out of my "Items".

"Here's all my notes related to Summoning." I offer them to Nononya.

She opens her eyes wide and take them slowly.

"W-w-wolf! T-thank you!" She wraps her hands on my neck and gives me a tight hug. Her hair touches the side of my head, she's just as fluffy as I thought and her perfume is very sweet. I feel the squash of her perky breasts and bad premonition coming from behind me.

Nono releases me after a few seconds and I try not to look behind. She gushes with happiness and starts to flip through them quickly. She stops in a page and starts reading intently. "[Monster Summoning]…?" She raises her eyes to me in complete disbelief.

I hold a finger over my mouth, asking for silence and Nono nods repeatedly. She starts to flicker through the pages again until she finds another even more interesting, [Bind]. Though I didn't develop chants for those two the notes will still be useful in helping her increase her [Summoning Magic] level.

A minute after Bitar, Arantos, a plump woman, and a few other priestess appear.

"Bitar!" Ciel exclaims with happiness. She walks over to him and stops awkwardly, Bitar's face is rather somber.

He looks up at her and smiles painfully, "I… I couldn't let you leave like this. I'm sorry for what I said," he says in a weak voice.

She matches his smile and grabs his shoulder, "I understand, I know what you feel and what you think, but I have made my choice, I have someone I love and I have my path to take. Live or die, I am sure now that I have made the choice that I wanted, not necessarily the one who will let me live the longest but the one who will let me live the happiest."

Damn, those words pull on my heart strings. I won't disappoint you, Ciel, we will live long!

He throws his arm over her and pulls her on a tight hug. This time he doesn't seem to be trying to push her breasts to him, only her head.

She takes the hug for a few seconds but pushes him away, still not comfortable getting close to him.

The other priestesses and the plump woman give Ciel a short hug and a few words. Arantos gives her a quick hug and a kiss in the forehead.

As Bitar approaches me I see Lyle and Nour appear at the same time.

Bitar stops in front of me, his eyes tired and his expressive eyebrows lifeless. "Well, Ryder, I only have one thing to ask, keep her safe."

I extend my hand to him, "I will."

He takes it and after a limp shake he gains some confidence and gives me a proper one. He nods and we release, then he turns and sighs deeply, seemingly in relief.

Arantos comes next along with his wife. She has short blonde hair, the pixie cut, her face seems to be stuck on a smile, which fills her round face with little curves and dimples.

"Wolf Ryder, I relinquish my responsibility over Ciel, she's all yours," his soft voice rings in my ears and we shake hands.

"I will take it with pride."

"Anyway this is my wife, Alana," he points to the bubbly woman.

"Keep her happy and well fed," she says with a giggle. Arantos shrugs with a wry smile.

I merely nod and they go back to Ciel.

Nour and Lyle seem to recognize the target destination of each other and slow down. Toroo comes out from behind them and approaches first.

"Have a safe journey, Wolf, make sure to come back," she says and gives me a quick hug. "Gimbo sends his farewell to Lina, he's quite tired and couldn't make it."

"I understand," Lina says with a happy nod.

I notice the very small bump on Toroo's belly.

Lyle comes after. "I'm sure you will be fine," he smiles mischievously, "You got more card on your sleeves than there is on the deck."

I smile back and he moves on to give a tight handshake to Lina. She smiles adorably and this time I don't feel so much jealousy, progress.

"Hope you write a book one day, you have the right mindset for a historian," He says to Lina.

"Thank you, I hope people would enjoy reading something written by a slave," she answers meekly.

"I think you won't be a slave for that much longer, so you don't need to concern yourself with this," he smiles warmly at her and she nods shyly.

Garanae gives me an awkward goodbye.

"You are… a good person, Wolf," he says.

"And so are you, I'm sure you are taking good care of Hatara." He chuckles once and nods.

Then it gets even more awkward when he goes to Alissa. Hatara pinches his bum and he gets completely flustered, we have another sadist in the making here.

"Thanks for your help, Alissa, I will never forget it," Hatara says with cheeky grin.

"Don't mention it," Alissa answers and they share a hug.

Nour recognizes Silvane and takes some time before finally coming to greet us.

"Quite the crowd you have here, Wolf," he says mid-handshake.

"I guess I made a variety of friends, a rather mixed variety of friends," I say with a wry smile.

"Keep yourself safe, Mr. 'Good Luck', you have a thing for danger."

"Keep your wits about you, you also don't have the best of luck, eh?"

He chuckles and moves on.

Midori fawns one last time over Aoi, her confident demeanor crumbles when she thinks she won't be able to see Aoi so soon again.

Safiya and Lina share a few quiet words and a giggle, then she gives a respectful and confident handshake to Roxanne.

Iana is just as bubbly as ever and greets us all happily. Bellatrix is still acting as the androgynous butler and give a strong handshake to Alissa, Hana, and Lina.

Selina comes running, flanked by Thomas.

"Hah, good! We made it in time!" She laughs and catches her breath.

She gives me a hug, then Alissa, then Roxanne, then Hana, then Ciel, then Lina, and a pat in the head of Aoi and Gify.

"Make me that journal, Alissa," Selina demands. "I already know you will all be fine so I want to hear all about the goodies," then she turns to Hana and Roxanne, "specially you two. Bring me a piece of the biggest thing you kill, if anything remains, though. The way your spells are going you are just going to make things turn to dust one day."

"Ohohohoh!" Roxanne laughs evilly, "Now that's a good idea for a spell, one that even Wolfy won't feel sick when I use it. Poof, just make things disappear."

Thomas gives me a firm handshake.

"Take care, your fellowship is strong, you should live long," he says with a confident smile and I nod back.

Lyle and Nour turn to talk to one another, seems like they are making a connection through me.

I look at the caravan and they are crossing customs, finally.

Silvane and Arantos come to my side.

"You have some good friends, Wolf," Arantos says, "Your roots here will last for quite some time but Rabanara will always be a home for you. I will wait your return."

Silvane winks at me and says, "Indeed, Mr. Ryder, your connections are quite broad," she glances at Arantos and he gives her an odd neutral look. "There will always be someone willing to help."

"Thank you," I lower my head to them, "but now we must leave, the caravan is departing."

I call over the girls and some last goodbyes are said.

Feels bittersweet, now I don't want to leave anymore. I give a slap to my face and move on.

We show our ID's to the guards and cross the moat, one last look, one last wave, and we depart.

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