When evening arrived, they could see they were approaching a village in the forest, a wooden palisade surrounding a mish-mash of houses. As they got up to it, though, they could see the palisade had several places where it was knocked over or smashed to pieces. Once they were through the gate, Kris could see people curiously watching the carriage. Kris was also curiously watching the people back, as all of them shared a characteristic – they had one eye. Not because they had lost the other, they just had one large eye in their face instead.

Luckily, he didn't have to guess as to who they were, as Mibu answered, “Ohhh, it's a cyclops village.”

“I've never seen one before,” Kris responded.

“Yeah, they normally don't live in towns, they tend to be secretive,” Mibu explained.

“Why's that?”

Mibu shook her head and shrugged, “I never met one to ask before”.

I guess that makes sense.

The carriage stopped in the middle of the village square. As they exited, the crowd that had gathered stood back a bit, and an elderly cyclops man came up to them.

“Can I ask what you are doing here?” he asked, his tone a bit stern.

Kris raised an eyebrow but responded, pulling up his status screen, “The guild sent us here to take care of an Elder Bear.”

The man's expression softened, a bit of a smile coming to his face. The crowd started murmuring when they heard. “My apologies. Please, follow me then.”

The man led them to a large hut off the square. Going inside (Paddy having to bend down to get in) he brought them to a dining area. “Sit down, please,” he invited.

An older lady poured them some tea, while the man brought out a map.

“This is the village,” he said, pointing to the middle. “These houses have been attacked,” he pointed, showing several with red 'X's on them. “Most of the village has moved to family living further in the center. As you saw, we tried building a fence, but that hasn't kept it out.”

Kris sipped his tea. “What's it after?”

The man winced, “Our food stores. Why it's attacking us instead of it's normal prey, I don't know, but at the rate we're going we won't have enough food by the time winter comes around.”

“Is there...” Kris paused, thinking twice, but then decided to ask anyway, “...is there a reason you needed to ask the guild for help? Do you not have any fighters?”

The old man shook his head. “We do not. We know some magic, but...nothing that useful against an Elder bear. We normally subsist on what we gather from the forest.”

Kris nodded. Hard to blame them for just being a peaceful village. “When does it normally attack?”

“At night.”

Better get to work then... “Okay, we'll patrol the village tonight, and hopefully...do something about it,” Kris explained.

The old man grabbed his hand, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

After finishing their tea, they went back outside. It was getting dark, the only light being a bit of moonlight and a few light crystal lampposts every couple meters along the village path. The villagers that had been watchign them earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Mibu gave a fist pump. “What's the plan?”

“I'm hoping you can sniff it out, and when it gets close, Paddy can try and talk to it before it attacks,” Kris explained.

Paddy seemed a bit nervous. “What...what if I can't?”

Kris shrugged, “We'll have to do it the normal way, then,” he said, grabbing the hilt of his sword.

They started to walk around the village together, keeping quiet, while Mibu sniffed every so often.

After over a couple hours of patrolling, they hadn't come across anything, and Kris noticed Paddy was lagging behind a bit. Waiting for her to catch up, he asked, “Are you okay?”

Paddy nodded. “So-sorry, I'm a bit tired...”

I'm dumb, of course she'd get tired running around in her armor all night. “Sorry, take a break in the square and we'll come get you if anything comes up.”

Paddy nodded, turning around and walking off.

Mibu and Kris kept patrolling, another hour going by with nothing popping up.

“Maybe it's not attacking tonight?” Kris asked.

Mibu started sniffing rapidly.

Did I jinx it!?

Mibu grabbed his arm, sneaking down and point in a direction farther down the palisade.

As they got closer, they heard the sound of wood snapping. A little closer, and Kris could make it out. A huge, hulking mass that was tearing through one of the houses.

That's huge! I remember seeing bears in my world, and that's like three times the size.

“Should we get Paddy?” Mibu whispered.

Kris nodded, “Yeah, I think-”

He was cut off as an ear-splitting roar came from the Elder bear. In the darkness, they could see it turning around, before starting to barrel towards them.

Mibu dodged to the side, while Kris readied himself. Casting Scorch as it neared him, he could see its black fur and a white 'X' across it's chest in the light from his spell. The Scorch hit it squarely in the face, but it was barely phased by it.

Kris assumed this would be the case, or that it at least wouldn't get taken out by one spell, and immediately cast another Scorch, before dodging out of the way.

From the side, Mibu started casting Ice Spike, managing to lodge a couple in it's side.

The Elder bear roared in pain, before turning to face Mibu.

Dammit! Kris took out his sword, running up and stabbing the bear in the leg to distract it from Mibu.

It roared in pain again, this time turning to swipe at Kris.

Kris tried to dodge, but his sword was lodged in the Elder bear's leg. Due to the momentary surprise, he got caught by the bear's swipe, the hit causing him to fly back into the palisade.

“Kris!” Mibu yelled, sending more Ice Spike's at the Elder Bear.

However, the bear ignored Mibu's attacks, and was now focused solely on Kris.

All the air had been knocked out of him and he could barely move, his body caught on the palisade. Ugh, this isn't good. He put up his hand to try and cast Scorch again, though his vision was swimming in and out. As he tried to focus, he saw a glint in the corner of his eye.

It was Paddy, giving her cute, non-intimidating roar and smashing into the Elder bear with her shield, knocking it aside.

Mibu took the chance to run around to Kris, starting to Heal him.

“Sorry Mibu,” he said, trying to get up.

Mibu shook her head, pushing him back down “Just stay still.”

Kris's vision started to improve, and he could see Paddy keeping the Elder bear busy. It took a couple swipes at her, but she blocked it with his shield. Then, it reared up on it's hind legs, towering over even Paddy. As it came down, it caught the top of her shield, pulling it out of her hands and causing her to fall over.

“Paddy!” Kris tried to shout and get up, but barely got his voice up.

Mibu pushed him back down again. “Paddy will be okay, you need to wait until you're healed,” she explained. Sweat was building on her brow as she continued Healing.

Paddy got up to her feet.

As she did, the Elder bear roared again, getting on it's hind legs again before coming down at Paddy.

This time, Paddy caught the bear's paws in her gauntlets. Kris could see an intense look on her face, unlike any he had seen her make before.

Then, Paddy let out a deep, booming roar, way louder and fiercer than her normal one.

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Besides him, it also seemed to catch the Elder bear off guard, as Paddy was able to push it onto it's back and side.

Kris, now feeling better, ran up, grabbing his sword out of the bear's leg, and stabbing it through the chest while it was lying there.

The Elder bear struggled a bit, but it's movements were sluggish as blood poured from the stab wound. Mibu peppered it with another couple arrows while Paddy unhooked her never-used ax from her back, dropping it onto the Elder bear's head with a 'thunk'.

After a few more moments, the Elder bear fell onto it's belly, un-moving.

They all stood there a few moments, watching it. Then, Mibu walked up, kicking it. “It's dead,” she confirmed.

Kris grabbed his knees as his muscles relaxed, the adrenaline leaving his body. Paddy fell to her butt, Kris able to hear her heavy breathing from the other side of the bear.

Walking over, he tried to help her up, holding out a hand.

Paddy looked at his hand, then pulled him down to her in a hug.

“Wahhhh...” she cried, sobbing into him.

“Paddy...it's...okay,” Kris tried to reassure her, unable to escape her strong embrace pushing her against her armored chest.

He looked over to Mibu for help, but she only gave him a wink and a thumps up, before turning to the bear again.

Dammit Mibu... he patted Paddy on the back. “Paddy, it's okay. You did great.”

Paddy sniveled a bit. “Really?”

Kris nodded, freeing himself from her grasp and sitting on the ground next to her. “Frankly, you saved the day there distracting it. And when you caught it trying to attack you and roared back, that was amazing.”

Even in the low-light, Kris could tell Paddy was blushing heavily.

“Is it...dead?” they heard a voice come from behind the half-destroyed house.

They all turned to look. A hooded figure was peaking their head around, looking down at the bear.

Mibu gave them a thumps up. “Yup! I kicked it a few times to make sure.”

The figure's eye went wide as it stared, before turning to run away. “Mother! Father! It's dead!”

After a few minutes, a ruckus started to be heard in the village as more and more people gathered around them. Eventually, the old man came up to them, crying and bowing. “Thank you so much. You've saved our village...”

Kris smiled and nodded, appreciative of the thanks, but mostly wanting to lie down. He opened up his status screen, and showed it to the old man.

As he pressed to complete it, he shouted, “We need to celebrate!”

“Um...” Kris held up his hand. I'm actually pretty tired... He looked at Paddy, who was obviously barely awake, and Mibu, who while putting up a good front, he had been around her enough to know she was tired as well. “Could we save it for the morning? We're pretty tired after fighting...”

The old man paused for a moment, before assuring him, “Of course, of course, that can wait for tomorrow. We have rooms at our inn set aside for you...”

After a while, they were taken to the inn, each given a separate bedroom. Kris changed into his tracksuit, and looked at his green dragonscale armor. It hadn't cracked, but it did have superficial scratches where the bear had swiped him. Yeah, this was a good purchase.

Barely able to stay awake, he fell into the bed, closing his eyes.

No sooner had he closed them, then a knock came at the door. Going over and opening, there was Mibu in her undergarments, holding a pillow.

“Um...can I sleep with you. After that, I just want to...hold you a bit.”

Kris pulled her inside, giving her a quick kiss as an answer.

Mibu nodded, kissing him back and getting on the bed with him.

Wrapped in each other's arms, they fell asleep.

In the morning, they were woken up by singing outside. That, and the smell of something cooking.

Getting dressed, they headed outside. The cause of the noise and smell was immediately apparent. The villagers were singing and dancing (and drinking while doing both) in the village square. Large cuts of meat, presumably from the Elder bear, were roasting over a large fire.

As they walked towards them, they were immediately mobbed by the villagers, beckoning them to sit on a log near the fire, so they could shove drinks and skewers of bear meat into their hands.

Once they thanked them, the villagers went back to singing and dancing, and Kris noticed Paddy was on the log next to them.

“Paddy, you sleep okay?” Kris asked.

Paddy nodded. “Yes, though I got woken up by the cooking smells...”

Kris offered her one of the myriad of skewers he'd received, “You want one?”

Paddy shook her head, “I'm okay...”

Oh, shoot, does she not want to eat bear since she's a bearkin?

“...I already ate half a dozen, so I'm full.”

Guess not.

After they ate as much as they could, Kris sat back, rubbing his stomach in satisfaction.

Mibu had joined the dancing villagers, circling around the fire.

As he sat there watching, Paddy said, “Sorry about last night...”

Kris was confused. “What do you mean? I don't know what you'd even need to be sorry for.”

Paddy poked her fingers together, “Since I was tired, I wasn't there when the bear attacked...”

Kris shook his head, “That's not your fault, if anything it's mine, I should have thought through everything better beforehand.”

Paddy looked nervous, still poking her fingers together.

Mibu was talking with some villagers, but looked around them, making frantic waving motions towards Kris. Does she want me to sit next to Paddy?

Trying to comfort her, and follow Mibu's directions, Kris got up and moved to the log with Paddy, sliding next to her. “Paddy, it's really okay. I told you last night, but honestly we would have been in trouble without you.”

Paddy still seemed unsure. Mibu was in the distance, now doing a big wrap-around motion.

Kris wrapped his arm around Paddy, which caused her to leap a bit in surprise, before blushing more. After a moment, she turned and wrapped her arms around Kris, squishing him into her breasts, so he could barely breathe.

Forcing his face up and out of her cleavage, Kris could see a couple tears in her eyes as she looked down at him. “D-do you...want...” before trailing off.

Want what? “What's wrong?”

Paddy blushed a bit before letting go the embrace, causing Kris to almost fall back. “I want...to be...” she started before trailing off again.

She wants something? I mean, she's earned a reward, that's for sure.

Mibu was now making a 'shooing' motion.

She wants me to go away? Right now!? Ignoring this particular piece of advice, instead Kris slid right next to Paddy so their sides were touching, and wrapped his arm around her again, holding her tightly. “It's okay, if you want something just tell me.”

Paddy nodded. “I want to be mates with you, too.”

Kris blinked a few times, losing his grip on Paddy's side. “You...you want...”

Paddy just nodded again, her face somehow blushing even more crimson.

Looking up, he saw Mibu was still making a 'shooing' motion.

Oh...that's what she means...well, this is what I wanted, right? I didn't expect it to get brought up like this, but...

Blushing a bit, but trying to appear confident, Kris nodded. “I'd like that too. Once we're back, we-”

He didn't get to finish his explanation, as Paddy picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

Wait, she means now!? As he was jostled up and down, he could see Mibu giving him an excited thumps up.

Paddy half-sprinted back to the inn, bringing him inside her room. Sitting him down on the bed, she sat down next to him, the sag of the bed making him slide into her.

Then...she stopped.

“What's wrong?” Kris asked. “I thought you wanted to, you know...”

Paddy blushed again, “I...I've never mated before.”

Of course, I should be taking the lead! Kris told himself. He was a bit nervous about it though, since he had only had sex with Mibu, who was always jumping into things herself.

Standing up, he untied her shirt from the back, causing her breasts to flop out, barely contained by her rough brown bra.

“Sorry, I don't have any lingerie like Mibu...” Paddy said, looking away.

Kris shook his head, “We'll just have to get you some when we're back in town,” he asserted, pulling her face towards him and lightly kissing her.

After he pulled away, Paddy looked almost...disappointed. Assuming she wanted more, Kris went back in, pushing his tongue in this time.

Paddy responded by pulling him towards her so he was kneeling on her lap while they kissed.

After a minute of making out, Kris's member was poking through his pants into her stomach.

“Sorry...” Paddy said, looking down at it, embarrassed.

Kris poked her cheek, “Stop apologizing, that's the whole point!” Pulling off her bra, he grabbed her voluptuous breasts, squeezing and massaging them as Paddy started to give off cute moans.

Assuming he was doing well, he also reached into her pants, sticking a finger tenderly on her nether region. “You're really beautiful, Paddy,” Kris said into her ear.

Paddy seemed to have no resistance to this onslaught of affection, and spasmed in his hands after just a few moments, panting heavily after.

Kris gently (though still needing to use force) pushed Paddy onto the bed, pulling off her pants and undergarments. “Are you ready?”

Paddy nodded, grabbing his arms and readying herself.

Kris slowly inserted himself, pushing in...rather easily. Even so, Paddy still seemed in some pain, so he leaned over, kissing her again.

After kissing a few moments, Paddy whispered, “Keep going...”

Kris acquiesced, pumping his hips into her over and over, bouncing off her thighs with enough force it was a full workout just to keep pushing back in.

Paddy was not keeping her voice down, moaning so loudly that Kris was thankful everyone seemed to be out celebrating.

After a couple minutes, Kris felt himself coming. Wrapping his arms around her, he thrusted as hard as he could, releasing deep inside her.

Paddy kept moaning, until finally stopping as Kris fell on top of her, worn out, head resting on her chest. Squeezing him close, she started crying, “That was so amazing.”

Kris smiled, “Please don't cry,” he said, but looking up, she was also smiling while in tears. Giving her a wet kiss, he brushed the hair out of her eyes.

Paddy asked, “Can we do it again?”

Kris chuckled, “Hold on, I need to rest for a bit...”

“I-I mean, just sometime in the future, I know Mibu is-”

Kris cut her off with a hand to the mouth, “Don't compare yourself to Mibu. Mibu is important to me, but so are you.”

Paddy didn't know how to react, so she just grabbed hold of him and made out again, getting Kris aroused once more.

Paddy blushed looking at it, but this time smiling. “You can...”

Kris held up a hand. “Gimme a minute..” he said, still trying to regain his breathing.

Paddy shook her head. Setting him aside on the bed, she laid next to him. Grabbing his shaft with her large hand, she started squeezing and stroking it rapidly while kissing him again.

The pleasure of her grip was insane, and Kris came quickly, shooting out into the air.

Paddy seemed quite pleased with her work, giggling as Kris came.

“I'm glad...you're smiling...a bunch,” Kris said, smiling back as he caught his breath.

Paddy nodded, “I was really nervous you might not want too, but Mibu encouraged me...” she hugged Kris again, burying her face in this chest.

Kris stroked her hair. Well, this turned out nicely.

After a few moments, Paddy...fell asleep.

Kris suppressed a chuckle, deciding to close his eyes to try and sleep as well.

Kris woke up, hearing knocking coming from the door. What's...he looked down to see Paddy holding him closely, still snoozing, the previous day's (or at least, whenever before he had fallen asleep) events replaying in his mind.

There was more knocking. “Um...” Kris said, held down and not awake enough to know what to do.

Then the door burst open. Mibu came running over, jumping on top of him and snuggling close. “Yay! Everything worked out!”

Kris just blinked while Mibu was nuzzling into him. “Y-yeah...”

Mibu started taking off her shirt, “Now it's my turn again.”

“Wait wait,” Kris tried to stop her. “At least close the door.”

Mibu, shirt already off, walked over and closed the door, before coming back over and taking off the rest of her clothes.

“What about Paddy?” Kris asked.

Mibu poked Paddy's cheek a couple times, before pulling her arms off Kris, but garnering no reaction. “See?”

Kris looked back and forth, before grabbing Mibu and pulling her in for a kiss. “Thanks for the encouragement,” he whispered.

Mibu nodded vigorously. “This is what you want, right?”

Kris chuckled, “I feel like you want it too...”

“Of course! Look how cute Paddy is. And so strong! She's an excellent addition to the pack,” she explained, sticking Kris's now-erect member inside.

After making out and thrusting into her for a couple minutes, Kris came, Mibu giggling in pleasure before kissing him again.

Breathing heavily, they laid on the bed grinning at each other.

“So who are we adding next? Corinne? Misty? Or we could get another-”

Kris put a finger to Mibu's lips. “One at a time,” he said, before giving her another kiss.

This seemed to placate Mibu, who leaned back in for another kiss, before embracing him until they both fell asleep.