We start to get a bit tense due to the oncoming battle, so even Roxanne decides to skip work and join us on the sofas for the evening. Though she steals my chest pillow and cuddles with Hana, and that makes me notice how they seem very… friendly with each other.

Anyway, I play with Alissa's tail while we chit-chat, and she starts to get drowsy, so I also play with her ears to put her to sleep, then I successfully carry her to our bed. She happily wakes up mid-blow from Hana, and then I give both of them my all.

It might be hard to get my sword wet during the expedition, so I have to enjoy it while I can. My new skill also helps a lot with satisfying both of them, and I finish it up feeling reinvigorated rather than drained.

Today is the 16th.

We only have a quick breakfast, then we leave in the early morning to buy the rest of the supplies, and we spend most of our remaining time looking for the last few things we need.

We still have those sleeping bags that we bought and didn't use even once, but now that we have money and the harem got bigger, I need a bed that fits everyone. My sleeping quality is just too important to be cheap on, so I get one that fits us three. But our tent is too small for the new bed, so we also buy a bigger tent that's tall enough for us to stand on and even has enough space left for a small table.

We then buy a lot of different "Items"-ready meals, and a new flying vehicle for all of us, a polished wood dinghy with wheels and a windshield big enough to fit six people. It's thirty gold, but most of the price comes from the magic tool as it's quite big, almost the size of a basketball.

The tool is a faded-green-tinted polyhedron crystal ball with a bike handle glued to its top. The handle doesn't move, but it responds to pressure, allowing the driver to control the yaw and pitch. To apply propulsion, the driver has to insert mana into the crystal in the direction you want to go. For example: to move forward I have to insert mana on the back side of the crystal, to go backwards I have to insert it on its front, and to go up I have to insert on the underside, basically allowing me to fly in any direction, but that's not advised. The seller says that at most, I should only switch between applying force upwards to float or forward to speed up.

Roxanne and Hana have a little experience with this type of magic tool, so they'll fly if necessary until I learn how in the future. It's a bit different from flight sims since there's no roll and very little in the form of safety, so I have no hurry to learn since I definitely can't be reckless with flying.

I send Alissa to pay Ghulam, and after she returns, we walk to the west gate, where a row of wagons and a crowd of adventurers are waiting to leave. It's already 11 AM, so we have an early lunch at a nearby stall. Then we see Silas coming with five knights and two robed figures.

The knights wear a surcoat with the heraldry of the Lord on top of black scale armor. And in the middle of them, we recognize a familiar face. Black hair, square jaw, the hint of a stubble, and a piercing, stoic gaze. He's the Lord, or rather, a younger version of him.

Behind him, there's another familiar face, an elven girl. Silver straight hair that's so glossy it almost shines, an adorably short stature, skin as white as snow, an oval face, upturned blue eyes that look almost Asian, a small and pointy nose, small red lips, and the unmistakable long pointy ears of the elves protruding at a right angle from her head.

Silvane notices us and smiles at Alissa, who immediately returns it.

Then Silas walks to the crowd and announces out loud, "Gather here, hunters! We will begin a roll call! Bring your leaders for a strategy meeting!" And his voice has the characteristic distortion of someone speaking on a microphone.

Once my name is called, I'm told to enter a nearby building and sit around a large table. Burly men, scarred faces, crazy eyes, stoic gazes, and threatening auras. These are the leaders of the fellowships called for this subjugation force, and then there's me. Aside from Silas, I'm the smallest and also the youngest here.

I wanna run away! Help me, Alissa!

Thankfully, the strategy has already been defined, so there's no need for me to speak. The Lord's son, Haaran, is the leader of the expedition, and he has the Lord's knights at his command, so he explains the plan, and nobody has any significant concern about it.

Haaran's voice is softer than the Lord's but it's like he's a younger clone of him, and I just wonder what kind of genetics is at play here.

Anyway, there'll be one fellowship responsible for the vanguard, one for the rearguard, and four duos responsible for scouting, all to protect the main force as we travel across the Sea of Trees. After we reach the place chosen as our base of operations, all fellowships will contribute towards finding the exact location of the goblin base.

Once found, our strike will begin after the terrain around it is properly mapped. There are two fellowships of mages that will act as artillery and rain magic from distance as the first strike. My fellowship, the Lord's knights, and two other fellowships are the shock troops, so we'll enter the enemy base and engage in melee after the artillery raises chaos. The scouting troops will make sure as few goblins escape as possible, the vanguard fellowship will protect our backs during the attack, and the rearguard fellowship will guard our base of operations.

The plan is simple, swift, and decisive. We'll take half a day to get to the entrance to the Sea of Trees, camp there, half a day to move to our base, most likely take half a day to scout, half a day to fight, and another day to get back, which means we'll likely be back before Selina's wedding. Then the meeting ends, and we're ordered to board the wagons.

But before we embark, my eyes are attracted to a glowing smile as Silvane approaches us. "Greetings, Mr. Ryder. I hope you remember me," she gently greets. This is the first time that I hear her voice and it's pleasantly delicate and feminine.

I actually do remember your curves, or the lack of them, when I saw you wearing that one piece.

"Greetings, Miss Silvane. It'd be difficult to forget a face like yours," I smoothly reply and smile back.

Damn, I nailed that line.

She covers her mouth with the tips of her thin fingers in playful surprise as she giggles girlishly. "Oh, my." And her adorable demeanor is super effective on me.

Oh, my heart!

Then she turns to Alissa. "It's good to see you well, Miss Alissa."

"You too, Miss Silvane," Alissa warmly replies as the two nod at each other, making both elven ears and fox ears bob. "What happened to you? You're part of the Lord's soldiers now?"

And the silver elf girl brims with happiness. "Oh, yes. Grand Haaran bought me, and I'm to marry him at the end of the year."

Alissa beams back with innocent brightness. "That's amazing! This means he'll look to conquer a dungeon soon, right?"

"Yes! I'm also under apprenticeship with the court magicians, and I'll enter the university next month," the pretty girl warmly continues.

Oh?

"You might study with Master, then. He's also joining next month," the other pretty girl warmly replies.

And the two young beauties turn their heads to me, making me instinctively tense up as I almost got lost in their eyes.

Silvane's gaze becomes playfully curious. "Ah, so Grand Ryder is really the one with the Blessing, then? The skill you created, [Redirect Mana], caught the attention of many people." And her pretty eyes stare at me intensely.

Well… I really didn't want to bring attention to myself.

I just smile wryly as I think it's better to not say anything, so she just adds, "How's your research on that skill?"

Then I sense Roxanne's and Hana's teasing smiles on my back, so I smother my shyness and properly answer, "It's going very well, actually, but because of the subjugation, I had to stop before I reached a real breakthrough."

"That's unfortunate, but this is our duty," she solemnly replies as she nods, and Alissa follows along. "We can't let that goblin camp get any larger, for the sake of our people."

But then she's quickly back to smiling adorably.

"It seems you found your happiness," Alissa quietly remarks.

"And you did yours," Silvane slyly replies and glances at her, making the cute fox blush. But then pretty elf ends the conversation, "Let's go. We can speak more when we reach the campsite."

"Certainly!" Alissa happily exclaims.

We enter the wagons, and I ask my pretty fox how she knows the silver elf. They met in the Misty Low Forest when both of them were to be brought to Rabanara, so they spent a day-cycle together during the trip and became friends. Their dreams and goals were similar: to find someone strong for them to serve so they could honor their families, or restore the family's honor, in the case of Silvane, so they bonded over it.

Alissa doesn't say it explicitly, but the lack of mention of love or marriage is quite jarring to me. They're all about duty, and I don't know how to take it… Rupegian culture is still so alien to me.

Double horses pull the wagons down the road at a high speed, yet there's not much shaking, just noise. The road seems to be really well-built, less maintained than the one inside the town but it's still impressive engineering. It's made of large square blocks of stone set in a slightly curved way to push rainwater to the channels at the sides, and there's some sort of cement holding the blocks together, creating a very smooth surface. Fairly Roman-like.

We share our wagon with Akros, one of the shock troop fellowships. They have four members: a red-skinned demon race man who has a single horn coming out of his forehead in a truly Japanese oni fashion, and he uses a tower shield; a large, tanned, and bearded man that uses a greatsword as tall as he is; a lanky white man with an ugly black bowl cut who uses a longbow; and a scrawny and cute dwarf girl with boyish black short hair, who uses a small composite bow.

From my amateurish understanding of their tactics, the guy with the shield is the tank, the greatsword dude is the DPS, the longbow dude is for monsters with a thick hide, and the dwarf girl is for quick-firing at easy or numerous targets. Alissa follows the same doctrine as the dwarf girl while the rest of our fellowship doesn't really match with anyone else in Akros.

And honestly, they aren't very pleasant to talk to. They're too crude, and they keep talking about the ways they'll disembowel the goblins while the dwarf girl wants to compete with Alissa on how many eyes they'll pop. Roxanne and Hana deal with them just fine, but I don't enjoy talking to them.

Hana has to save me by interjecting in the conversation, and they eventually ignore me, so I just zone out and practice my meditation for [Redirect Mana]. It's quite hard to cut your senses with so much stimulation going on, but it serves to shorten the trip, and before I notice it, Alissa tells me it's time to leave the wagons.

I stretch and massage my muscles to help with the soreness. Half a day inside that wagon, and I spent all of it meditating. It's kind of an amazing feat, really. I wish I had this sort of skill back on Earth so that boring trips would be done in a second.

It's now 5 PM. We left earlier than planned, and we reached the border even earlier than predicted.

Haaran tells us to start marching, and the scouts run ahead first, then the vanguard enters the Sea, and we follow after them. Behind us are ten [Space Magic] mages, and they're basically humanoid pack mules as their only purpose is to carry things around in their deep [Item Box]es. The rearguard is tasked with protecting the mages, and I recognize Targua leading the rear.

He notices me and waves at us but keeps to his business.

What a nice fellow.

The atmosphere of the Sea of Trees is always a bit fantastical to me, charming even. It's a gloomy and dangerous place with an air of mystery to it, so a nerd like me definitely enjoys this kind of mood.

After studying the books in the dungeoneering guild, I now recognize quite a few plants and fruits, and we discreetly collect them as snacks for later. My "Items" is seemingly bottomless, so I'm the only one who can afford to increase my load.

While we walk, I reflect upon my skills and realize that [Summoning Magic] would be quite useful here. We're going to face a large number of goblins, and having summons to watch our backs would be a great help. I'll have to lie to Roxanne, though.

Our safety is more important than hurt feelings, so I decide to tell her that I've managed to acquire [Summoning Magic] while studying [Golemancy] at the university. This way, I can use my bird for scouting and my dog for guarding us.

I slow down so that I'm beside her as we walk, and she flashes me an innocent smile once she notices I want to talk. "So, Roxanne, my research of [Golemancy] is actually pretty close to [Summoning Magic]. So close, in fact, that I've learned a few spells already," I casually remark.

"Hm?" she hums absentmindedly and tilts her head while holding her wide-brimmed hat against her head. Then she realizes something. "Ah! Yes! There's a spell called [Summon Small Golem], right? Kind of obvious the two schools intersect somewhere."

Not the angle I was going for, but okay.

I just go along with it, "Y-yeah. Well, so far I've only managed to summon a small bird and a dog. Also, I want to tell Lord Haaran about my skills, but I'm not sure how to go about it since he's pretty intimidating."

"It's okay to not tell, Master," Alissa kindly interjects and comes up to my other side. "Not many hunters tell others their secrets. You can just use it whenever you wish and most people won't bother. Elementals are a bit conspicuous, though, so be careful with them."

Elementals sound interesting. It's been a while since I tested whether new spells unlocked, so perhaps I can use summons now, but I don't know what level I need for them.

"But isn't it a rare magic? I don't want to bring attention to me," I question worriedly.

"You're already the town hero," Hana points out and grins.

I turn to the other two, but they just both shrug, then Alissa adds, "The news of you gaining a Blessing from the Goddess of Knowledge should be spreading, too. You can't stop your fame from growing, Master." Then shows a wry smile at my dismay.

This is bad, but also good. It means I can more easily say "screw it" and do what I want without caring about what people might say, but the problem is the ID checks. I need consistency, and if I keep adding or removing skills, it might cause problems if someone tries to record my skill progress and notices how bizarre it is.

I hum thoughtfully then share my idea, "Alright, I'm thinking about summoning one or two dogs and using them as guards. This way, maybe we won't need to participate in the watch."

"Oh, oh! That's a great idea, Wolf! Please do!" Roxanne exclaims, then she excitedly grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. "Mages need a good night's sleep to achieve peak performance, so standing guard will only make me weaker." Then she releases my hand and continues happily strolling forward, leaving me stunned at the sudden physical contact.

This woman is such a tease…

Hana raises an eyebrow at me, and absentmindedly remarks, "Hm, yes, we'll all be able to sleep together this way."

Alissa says nothing, not paying attention to Roxanne's eccentricities, but I see her fluffy tail wagging gently as she's likely imagining how a night together would be. Nobody likes to stand guard in the cold and alone.

After half an hour of walking, a small gray fox appears to our left and quickly approaches the leader of the vanguard, then it glows and becomes a gray-skinned-and-haired man. His appearance is quite striking, too, as he has claws, fox ears, and a small black snout in place of a nose, but no tail.

I feel like bragging that Alissa can become a much bigger fox, but I don't want to be an ass to a stranger, so I keep quiet.

"His color is unusual," I very quietly remark to Alissa since I know that werefoxes have good hearing.

"He could be a mixed descendant of a White Stalker with something else, or just a clanless fox mixed with another race with gray skin," she casually replies.

Interesting… there does seem to be some racial dynamics.

I give her a curious look. "What about you?"

And she seems happy to answer, "I'm pure Misty Fox, though my parents allowed my fur and hair to be a lighter brown instead of the usual bright orange."

She said "allowed," as in, they didn't pray to the Goddess of Fertility to give her a certain color and allowed genetics to do its thing.

I stop the conversation there as I don't want her asking where I'm from, and with her very submissive personality, she doesn't even entertain asking me about it.

Anyway, the gray fox man talks to the leader of the vanguard, a short and wide man who uses a poleaxe, then they rush ahead. They come back a couple of minutes later, the leader now looking a bit winded and with his poleaxe dripping with blood.

But blood attracts monsters, so one of the members of the vanguard discreetly chastises the leader, who then finally cleans his weapon. This area is still crawling with monsters, so the vanguard actually has to pull their weight and clear the area ahead of us.

Then the sun sets to the sound of dying goblins, and Haaran tells us to set camp at the next clearing. Not the most tiring day, but I'm glad that it's finally time to rest.

I sweat a little when I notice that everyone pulls out tools and begins actually building their tents. There's no avoiding this, so I just puff my chest full of fake courage and pull out my large, square tent, which was stored already completely built, then we hurry inside to hide from curious looks.

The tent is roughly 5x10m, but our bed fits perfectly, and we have enough room to comfortably sit at the small table with four chairs. I'd rather not let anyone see the inside, though, as this is a bit luxurious for adventurers.

"This is actually nice. I should have bought one as big as yours," Roxanne remarks in wonder.

"But you wouldn't be able to carry it yourself, right?" I reply with a grin.

She pouts and sassily puts her hands on her hips. "With your stupidly big [Item Box] it'd be pretty easy. But after seeing, this I don't just want a bigger tent, I want to sleep on your bed too. The bag is pretty bad."

My grin becomes cheeky. "Sorry, my bed is only for my lovers."

I won't sacrifice my privacy even if you're a companion.

Hana smirks at Roxanne, who simply pouts harder, and Alissa puts on her poker face, but I saw that tail twitch, I saw it!

"It should be okay to leave now, Master. Let's take a bath," Alissa obediently suggests.

We leave the tent, then I discreetly pull out a foldable partition and put a simple wooden bathtub at the center. In just a minute, Roxanne fills it up with [Water Wall], then heats it up with a measured [Fireball], and now the bath is ready.

As the one who made this possible, Roxanne goes first. Since the water was recently created with magic, she can "de-conjure" it after she's done and prepare another bath for us.

With that, I get to wash the girls and enjoy myself. I also have a proper gag now, and it muffles their sounds almost entirely. It gets a bit cramped with all of us inside it, but since I have two ravenous women to screw, we don't have much time to spend soaking in the water.

We're careful not to show or say that we have a bathtub. The partition isn't excessive, it's something any fellowship with two different sexes should have, but nobody except nobles brings a whole damn bathtub to an expedition.

Once we're done cleaning up, everyone has finished pitching up their tents, the bonfire is already crackling, a Space mage cooks some stew in a large pot above it, and the adventurers are now eating at a long wooden table with benches.

Silvane sees us approach and waves for us to come to sit beside her. She's not wearing her usual mage robe, but a thick woolen red dress that shows her adorable pink legs. It's not something that's meant to be very fashionable, but she still looks cute in it.

We sit down, and I bring out our "Items"-ready meals: toasted bread, bean paste, fried veggies, and beef stew. Silvane also seems to be eating something prepared beforehand and not the soup from the Space mages. Her food is a large selection of unknown veggies, something that looks like greenish baked potatoes, and a nice slab of roasted meat.

I don't recognize most of her food, but I can't pay too much attention to it as it'd be impolite, and then she promptly starts a conversation.

"Say, Mr. Ryder. Were you the one who gave the guild the info that the Giant Tarantulas were covering their bodies with flammable web?" she curiously asks, her eyes brimming with excitement.

I blink blankly a few times.

"How did you know that?" I blurt out confusedly.

And she gives me a rather foxy smile, proud of her correct guess. "Your fellowship and Hauberk were the only ones hunting there for the last half-cycle, and since I heard you have a Blessing from Knowledge, you're the most obvious candidate."

I shrug and snort, "Hah, I guess that makes sense. So, was it useful?"

She nods excitedly, making her long ears sway.

I damn love non-human ears.

Then she quickly tells her story, "Yes. We explored the Ant Hill after your encounter with the Symbol of Hate to investigate the battle site, and then we hunted down the White Arachne. Along the way, we tested your info and burned to death about half the spiders, which is quite the peculiar number, but the tip was very helpful, though the smell is terrible." And she flashes a grimace.

I smile warmly and hum back, "Amazing. I'm glad that helped."

And her eyes become sharp as she moves on to what she really wanted to talk about. "But what made me curious was the second part of your info. You said that it might be only one gender of the Tarantulas that were doing this, so we did a few autopsies and discovered that's precisely what's going on. We didn't know how to even differentiate one sex of spider from another, but we noticed that the ones who have rounder, uh… facial fingers, are the ones who catch fire easily, and after some experimentation, we've discovered that they're the males who use the web to stick to the female and inject semen onto her with its… fingers."

All the while she describes the mating habits of Tarantulas she has an innocent and eager scholarly air to her, but once she mentions the "fingers," which are actually the equivalent of spider dicks and I believe are actually named "pedipalps," something changes on her face, but I can't describe what, exactly. She seems "tense," but no less eager to talk about spider dick, so maybe she's just being awkward?

Regardless, I'm still impressed by her knowledge.

"You seem to enjoy this sort of thing quite a lot. Do you plan on becoming a scholar?" I ask, genuinely not wanting to make fun of her for mentioning spider dicks.

And she assumes a dreamy look. "Perhaps one day. I like to think about the details, and there are so many things that we just seem to overlook. This one detail you found, for example, helped us kill these spiders twice as fast, so what else can we discover that will make our lives easier?"

So I give her something to think about, "But why didn't anybody discover this first?"

And she was ready for that one. "Perhaps it's mating season. Lord Anara is going to send a squad to investigate every half-cycle to see if it's true."

"That's good news," Alissa chimes in.

Indeed, both the Lord getting more involved in the culling and the confirmation of another tool against monsters are good news.

"You telling them about the spiders, Silf?" A gentle voice comes from behind us and we turn our heads to see the young Haaran approaching us.

"Silf"? Is that kindness I hear in his voice? It's rather hard to imagine a stoic man with such a piercing gaze being so gentle and casual like this.

"Yes. It was Mr. Ryder who gave us the info on the spiders," she happily gushes at him as he sits beside her.

He turns his chilling gaze to me and states with a respectful nod, "Hm. You have my gratitude, Mr. Ryder. It was quite an odd piece of info, but it turned out to be true and quite useful."

Silvane suddenly giggles girlishly then her pale skin becomes pinkish as she remembers a rather salacious detail, "Oh, the info on how to break mind poison was also useful. We… confirmed it works." Then she turns her eyes away while Haaran freezes momentarily with a suggestive smile on his handsome face, and Alissa and I smirk back in return.

I had also told the guild that the Arachnes' mind poison can be broken by "passionately kissing a loved one".

After the pink moment passes, Silvane clears her throat and changes the topic. She asks about my adventures with Alissa and then tells tales of her own with Haaran while the young future Lord and I just listen to them in silence while we eat.

Hana starts a conversation with another fellowship nearby, and she quickly gets herself a beer tankard even though we aren't supposed to be drinking heavily. I also notice that Roxanne stays by the fire, discreetly drinking from a bottle of wine she carries in her [Item Box] while she listens to the more boisterous adventurers loudly tell their stories.

I'm okay with not making conversation with strangers, but I still enjoy talking with my two girls while eating, so I feel just a little bit lonely right now. Eventually, I start to get more comfortable, so I gather some courage and talk to Haaran.

"Ah… Lord Haaran, about the watch. I can summon dogs to stand guard, and I think that two dogs and a bird are the maximum that I can keep without straining my MP. So, may I use them to replace my fellowship during our turn to keep watch during the night?"

He gives me a measuring look as he hums thoughtfully, and his piercing eyes make me feel almost naked in front of him, but then his gaze softens and he accepts, "One of my own knights uses a dog as a substitute for the watch, so I can't deny you. Just make sure it's a breed with a good hearing and sense of smell."

His unnatural gaze is hard to deal with, but he's not ill-intended. I just give a short bow and excuse myself.

I summon two Dobermans and a small bird, which wipes away almost every single point of mana that I have. It's a bit risky to do this, but the camp is safe, so I have time to recover my MP. I'll share my senses with one of the dogs, which will guard the entrance to our tent, and Roxanne's tent is right beside ours, so it'll protect her tent too. The other dog will patrol the camp while the bird hides in the trees, and they'll make noise if they detect any monster or suspicious person approaching.

After my summons are ready, I see Haaran grab Silvane's hand, then they both say their goodbyes to Alissa and retire to their tent, so my foxy girl joins me on our bed. We immediately begin kissing gently, our tongues slowly caressing each other, and I savor her body with my hands, slowly increasing the intensity of my touch, which she responds with her tongue.

Then Hana comes back. When this fiery dragonkin drinks she doesn't get drunk, she gets excited. She suddenly pulls down my pants and demands that Alissa continue her oral lessons.

After they [Clean] their mouths, we fool around a bit more, then we go to sleep. We have to wear our armor in case of attack, so no bare touching or chest pillow for me, but since we're on an amazing bed, I still get a wonderful night of sleep.

Today is the 17th.

As soon as the sun comes out, Haaran's knights wake up everyone and then hurry us to break camp so we can start marching.

Since storing our tent is just a matter of a simple button press, we take our time with getting out of bed, and Hana decides to start her morning by sucking my soul through my sword.

"Sorry, master. But this is my first battle in seven months, so I'm really excited," Hana explains while caressing me then continues.

I grin as I caress her head, her yellow eyes locked with mine. "You really don't need to be sorry for this. The maximum you can do is give me another level in [Enhanced Semen Recharge]."

She smirks with my sword still inside her mouth, and I spend a few more minutes kissing Alissa, who seems to be in a good mood considering how energetic her tongue is.

Is she eager for battle, too?

But Alissa soon breaks the kiss as she detects my pleasure nearing the tipping point.

I stare at Hana's eyes as she does it, and I decide to share a small piece of wisdom, "I heard that men-… men and women should sleep with their loved ones before battle. Thoughts of regret or unspent desires have no place on the battlefield."

Then I grunt as I release down Hana's throat. The red woman promptly gathers it on her tongue to show it to me for a moment before she swallows with a grin.

"I agree with that. Unfortunately, I never had someone to use my desires on," she remarks with a seductive tone.

"You're free to make up for lost time," I reply with a smirk.

"Master, be careful. One day Hana might break you," Alissa jokingly advises, and if she's saying s-x jokes, then the world is one step closer towards world peace.

After a quick laugh, we get up and eat our breakfast, then we finally come out and we're immediately faced with a bored Roxanne, sitting on a little stool as she watches the others dismantle the camp.

Once the bubbly succubus sees us, she immediately stands and brightens up. We share cheerful morning greetings, and Hana strikes up a conversation with her, but I just take a look around and see Silvane helping out by storing a few things, then I notice that her skin seems to be glowing as she brims with happiness.

Her mood seems awfully similar to my two girls, so I guess that Haaran is a fellow vigorous man in private.

As we march on, the screams of dying goblins gradually become more frequent, and we even cross paths with two ogres. We don't have to do anything but march, though, so we actually get so bored that the moment a group of four dumb Mossy Fangpines comes into view they're zapped, burned, crushed, and shot by every single hunter of the expedition.

Haaran has us keep a fast pace, but I cast [Swift Foot] on my party and put [Stamina Enhancement] on the two girls, so we have a pretty sweet time. I just wish I could help Roxanne a bit more, but if she gets too tired, I'll have Hana carry her.

The landscape begins to change, becoming more inclined and uneven, which makes travel more difficult. Haaran's map is quite accurate, so we stick to the little valleys between the small hills that dot the landscape as it's the fastest route through the Sea of Trees.

As we pass by a little hill, the view briefly opens up, allowing me to spot a small mountain to our left, and it makes me curious enough that I summon a small bird, which I tell to keep close to the canopies of the trees to avoid Dragolites.

The bird takes flight and gives me a breathtaking view of the green sea, perhaps the very same one that earned its name, and I wish I could share my senses with the girls as this view is one of a kind. Endless green from the leaves with colored patches here and there along with a constant flickering of gold as the sunlight reflects on the leaves, and the bird even has to fly up and down as if it were swimming across frozen waves.

The bird spots a crack in the treetops, revealing a river nearby, which we avoid due to the likely presence of monsters and dangerous animals who drink from it. Then the bird also spots a small hill far to the south with such a huge tree I can't grasp what its actual size may be. Its leaves are a shade darker than the rest, making it stand out, and it seems to be covered in vines, which must be huge and thick since they're visible from this distance.

My adventuring spirit wakes up from this view. A landmark like this is begging to be explored, and who knows what might be further south from there? The depth that the Sea of Trees has been explored is only puddle deep, so this expedition is already nearing the edge of known territory, but the fact that I've never heard of a tree as huge as this one in the books that I've read about the region is very suspicious.

But we don't have the luxury to make a detour, and even coming this far requires experienced fellowships to deal with the monsters, so the mystery of that tree will remain unexplored.

To the west, in the direction we're marching, we can already see a hint of a snowy mountain range on the horizon, the Rakontagne Mountain Range, and past it is actually Alissa's homeland. It's incredible how close the Misty Low Forest is to Rabanara, but to get there requires a large detour as the Rakontagne is simply impassable except in a single location far to the north.

After a couple of minutes of wonder, I return from my trance and focus on my surroundings again, and I notice that Alissa is smiling at me while walking by my side.

Was I showing a stupid face?

I ignore any embarrassment and happily share my experience with her, "I saw a huge tree through my bird summon. I've never heard of such a tree before, so I'm really curious about it."

She raises her eyebrows in surprise then delicately cautions me, "It might not be the best idea to explore it. Such a conspicuous place could be the home of the forest's guardian."

"Guardian?" I curiously ask.

She smiles softly as she enjoys educating me. "Places with a lot of magic can give birth to intelligent magical beings, and they protect and preserve their home, so it's difficult to believe that a place as big as the Sea of Trees wouldn't have a guardian. In forests, dryads are the most common being who become guardians, and they can be hostile to those who don't know of their customs."

Interesting… though now I'm a little more scared about this expedition.

But my curiosity is still higher than my fear, so I continue, "Could I learn those 'customs' at the university?"

She shrugs softly. "Perhaps. Since the Sea of Trees is right next to Rabanara, it makes sense that they'd teach Nature mages how to safely interact with dryads."

Nice. Maybe one day we'll actually come here again.

We maintain our pace, and we eventually get near the river I spotted earlier. Haaran has us divert a little to the north since the scout reports the presence of Giant Dragonflies over there, and there's no need to fight them, to Hana's disappointment.

Then Haaran has us climb a steep hill, and with the tight pace, some hunters start complaining about tiredness, which is understandable since we have a considerable number of mages who are known to have low physical stamina. It actually surprises me that Roxanne isn't part of the complainers, but she does have my [Swift Foot]. Anyway, once we make it to the summit, we're finally allowed to rest as this is a very defensible location.

We make camp and have an early lunch. It's still 9 AM, but an adventurer doesn't always have the luxury of eating when they want, and it's never a good idea to skip a meal. Then the trackers are called for a meeting.

Haaran shows us a map of the surroundings and points out the locations where intelligent goblins were sighted. Taking into consideration the terrain, there are three possible locations for their camp, so the trackers are tasked with investigating them.

Alissa is the fastest of them all due to the size of her fox form, so she'll investigate the second location, which is the furthest, and she'll have to go alone since she has [Hide Presence] while I don't (officially) have it. The idea of not being able to protect her as she goes across the Sea of Trees makes me very nervous, but one of the reasons our fellowship was called here was because of her skills.

"I've traveled across the Misty Low Forest on my own, Master. I'll be fine," she kindly reassures me.

I simply sigh then silently nod in acceptance. She is trained, specifically, in hunting monsters, so I have to at least trust her on this matter.

We tie her bow, quiver, and sword with a belt, which she'll carry in her mouth since she can control her saliva, so it won't get dirty.

Alissa gained 1 level from the Symbol (now 25), and she increased her [Bow Use] by 2 (now 22), her [Hide Presence] by 1(now 4), and her [Quiet Steps] by 1 (now 4) so she still has 4 points left. I put 2 in [Quiet Steps] and 2 in [Hide Presence], making her quite the budding assassin.

Alissa Skill Report

Physical

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sword Use 0+9 Bow Use 0+22 Parry 0+4 Dodge 0+2 Sense Presence 0+5 Hide Presence 2+4 Enhanced Olfact 0+5 Enhanced Hearing 0+3 Pain Resistance 0+2 Hawk Eyes 0+1 Muscle Explosion 0+1 Quiet Steps 2+4 Quiet Action 0+2 Tracking 0+2

Magical

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 0+1 Mana Control 0+1 Fire Magic 0+1 Light Magic 0+1 Space Magic 0+1 Conjuring Magic 0+1

Miscellaneous

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Housework 0+3 Cooking 0+2 Cleaning 0+2 Washing 0+5 Riding 0+2 Oral Technique 0+4 Hand Technique 0+2 Fox Transformation (innate) 0+4

It's all on the trackers, now, so the rest of us can only rest, and I decide to train my dogs by sparring with Hana. While I don't have them bite her enough to hurt, they can still hinder her movements. It does take a bit of effort to fight this way since I can only communicate with voice commands but it's doable, especially if I bring two dogs versus a single opponent. The spell is limited to dogs, though, so no wolves, but a huge Kangal is almost the same thing.

Due to the unusual sight and our unorthodox fighting style, we attract some attention from the other hunters, and their gazes start to feel a little uncomfortable. Adventurers are quite competitive, and while they don't straight-up taunt us, I see in their eyes that they're judging our every move.

But I manage to keep the others out of my mind as I reminisce upon the memories of the dogs that I had back on earth. I had two, one was like a taller corgi who was lazy and liked to be scratched at the base of its tail, while the other was more energetic and looked like an orange beagle who loved belly rubs. They loved playing with each other, and it was the cutest thing ever.

Unfortunately, these summoned dogs don't have personalities, so they're like robots. Maybe I can order them to act cute, but now's not the time for it, not to mention what the other adventurers would say if they saw me playing with the summons.

We don't spar for too long though, as, at 3 PM, Alissa returns. Her beautiful and fluffy fox form breaks me out of my reminiscing as she quickly approaches me, then she turns back into her humanoid form, but the fearful expression she has makes me very concerned.

"Master, this is bad. The camp is a full-blown village."

Few monsters naturally work together, and goblins are a kind that do work together sometimes, but most of them simply act like animals who predate upon one another and become frenzied when they meet a human. Once in a while, though, a special kind of monster is born.

The most common type of "special" monsters are the leader-types. They have a natural ability to organize and command a large group of monsters, even those of other species, and the Orc Lord is a prime example of such a monster type. But all monsters can also become breeder-types, which are the nightmare of hunters and the most hated of all kinds because they capture both men and women, break their minds, then use them to breed more, stronger monsters.

Men are used for their sperm and women for their wombs. The bodies and souls of humanoids are naturally stronger than that of monsters, so the monsters born from a humanoid are stronger, bigger, more powerful, and much, much smarter. Humanoid men can be used to impregnate many female monsters, and while the humanoid womb is slower, it can give birth to an even stronger variant.

Monsters grow and mature many times faster than humanoids, so if a breeder-type captures humanoids, in a year or two, depending on the monster race, they might give birth to a whole army, one that could even topple a town. The presence of breeder-types creates a grave emergency that must be dealt with as fast as possible, and no cost is too big when faced with the prospect of annihilation.

A goblin camp doesn't mean that there are breeder-types around, just a leader-type, but breeder monsters attempt to copy humanoid society, so they don't just stop at mud huts. The monsters grow small farms, care for livestock, build houses, weave cloth, smith tools, hug children, and make love at night. They train their guards and soldiers to stand watch and protect their fellows from attack. They sing and dance when they're at peace and curse and fight when attacked. But they still can't change that they're monsters, and they'll continue to grow until one day their leader orders an attack on humanoid civilization. There's no negotiation and no diplomacy because the reason for their existence is to kill humanoids while ours is to survive, so we have no option but to fight back. Such is life here.

But back to the expedition, a "camp" is just a collection of shitty huts where the monsters sleep, a "village" is a small settlement defended by simple walls and fortifications that are constantly manned and on the watch for attackers. Therefore, the difficulty of this request just increased by a few levels.

That's just my luck. Isekai protagonist rotten luck strikes again.

Alissa then reports to Haaran, who immediately gathers the leaders for a strategy meeting. The village is small enough that the monsters can pick their things and disappear in the Sea of Trees if they find out that we know where they live, and we'll only find them again when they have an army ready to march onto the town.

This is a risky situation no matter what we do because if we leave, we risk losing their location, and if we attack, we risk dying since the difficulty is much higher now. Though it's impossible for us to completely fail, at what cost will we succeed? The hunters follow the guild, but they're not sworn to the Lord and the land like the knights are, so we can still retreat and retain our honor.

But Haaran doesn't want to retreat, and neither does Silvane.

"You ain't paying us enough to die," one of the hunters grunts.

The handsome Young Lord stares back at the gruff man, who becomes eerily still, possibly tensing up at the nobleman's piercing eyes. "So it's all about money? I'm the son of the Lord, and Rabanara is rich, so I can easily double your pay. But it's not about money, and you know that. You're just afraid," Haaran taunts with a slow and deliberate tone.

The hunter scowls and grumbles, "Shit, of course, I'm afraid."

"Then say it from the beginning," Haaran barks back.

And the man cringes but doesn't reply.

Then Haaran sweeps the entire table with his stern gaze as he continues, making us shudder, "We're all afraid, all of the time. Just like how the population is afraid, too."

Silvane continues, her gentle tone helping us be at ease after Haaran's intimidation, "If we don't fight here and simply go back, how can we look the townsfolk in the eye and tell them we did our best to protect them after an army of monsters sieges our home?" And the pretty silver elf girl seems to be quite effective at shaming the rough men.

"We're not going to die here, this isn't a suicide attack," Haaran states reassuringly, easing off the intimidation in tandem with Silvane's gentler approach.

And she states the truth out loud, "For the first time since the start of this expedition we're in actual danger, yes, but it's also the same for the town. Everyone is in danger."

Then Haaran's tone becomes stern but inspiring as he speaks with such clarity, such charisma that I even get chills, "These monsters are far too dangerous to be left alive; they must be exterminated. Think of your friends back in Rabanara, your loved ones, and your family. Think of your home…! You may not have sworn to die, but you've sworn to fight! The town and the guild have given you everything you have, and now it's time to give back!"

The hunters uncomfortably shift in their seats as they show a variety of reactions, and it quickly becomes clear that not everyone was so easily convinced, but then we also realize that we've actually come to an impasse. A good number don't want to budge, but they can't find the words to explain themselves, they're simply stubborn and afraid, and their arguments fall flat on their faces.

It's incredible how Haaran's straight truths and Silvane's warmth backed us all into the corner. Either choice we make is justified and also has grave consequences, it's just a matter of what we value more: our lives, or that of an entire town.

I can feel that the scales will tip towards the latter soon, they need just a little push.

As for me, I've already agreed with Haaran. This world won't be kind to me, so I can't be kind to it in return. I have to fight, I have to grow, and I can't back down when things get serious. All things point to me being brought to this world for a stereotypical isekai reason, and my encounter with the Symbol of Hate cemented my belief that trouble will always come my way, so I have to deal with it as it comes.

I also can't simply see these people as NPCs, and I can't see Alissa and Hana as just toys, even if I do occasionally treat them like that. They're a part of this world… and now… so am I.

Then I see in the eyes of the girls that they also want to fight, and even Roxanne seems to want to blow shit up. We're hunters, and we all agree that it is the duty of the hunters, of the strong, to protect the weak.

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But I'm the leader, and I'm here to make the rational, sensible decision for the best of all of us. The problem is that there's no simple answer here, and even my pragmatic realism isn't strong enough to go against this "duty."

This is a world where the strong are tasked with protecting the weak. And we are strong. Helios is strong.

I look at Targua, the leader of the aptly named Honest Shield, and the stocky man looks back. I nod, and he stares for a moment, but then he also nods.

We turn to the other hunters and stare until they notice us, then we nod, and they nod back. A silent agreement begins to form, then it slowly spreads around.

One hunter suddenly attempts to encourage the others, "We should fight. Even if we are scared, even if we feel like we're being forced, this is one of the times that we must fight."

His words strike true, causing sighs to be released and heads to be dropped in resignation.

Then I gather the courage to join in, "We should fight."

And the others echo one after another, "We should fight."

Alissa got close enough to see the village, so she describes the surrounding area the best that she can. It's actually at a rather defensible location, so it's going to be difficult to enter it, but at least the goblins don't have an easy way to escape.

The village is on a raised plateau with a single entrance where you have to cross a shallow river with wide banks to get to, so the monsters have a clear view of anyone who tries to approach the entrance, which means that the ground troops like us are screwed. The only saving grace is that the hill on our side of the river is higher than the plateau, allowing for the artillery group to safely rain hell on the village from far away.

The plateau is surrounded by mountains, so the goblins can't escape if we siege the entrance as the only escape is through the edge of the plateau that leads to the river bank, and that's a eight meters vertical drop that goblins might not survive.

But we still have one trump card: magic.

"Silvane, you can use [Earth Wall], right?" I suddenly ask, and all eyes turn to me, momentarily making me freeze.

"Yes, I'm very proficient in [Earth Magic]," she answers earnestly.

And I grin as her words give me a boost of confidence in my plan. "I can also use [Earth Wall], so what if we make a ramp?"

I get a few confused looks since this spell isn't really common among adventurers, but Silvane and Haaran know of its usefulness, and they open their eyes wide in realization.

"You can use it too? Then it's a valid plan. With both of us casting it together we might reach the top of the cliff…" She excitedly replies, but then she frowns in concern. "But we might need to use all of our mana…"

And Haaran becomes skeptical, "Then this might not be that good of an idea. Silf is a healer, and isn't Mr. Ryder also a healer?"

"A bad one," I quietly reply and also frown.

But it's true. If I use my mana, I can't heal anybody, and even if my [Heal] is inefficient, it can still save lives. Silvane can definitely save a lot of people since she's more experienced, but the alternative is storming that death corridor…

Maybe if I use [Redirect Mana]…

I didn't want to reveal this because of how useful it is, but I have to. "I'm developing a skill called [Redirect Mana], and I used it once to quickly recover mana. I never tried it again since it's very straining, but I'm certain it'd work. If I have someone to guard me, then I can meditate and forcibly recover the mana on the spot."

"'Forcibly'?" Haaran repeats, one handsome eyebrow raised questioningly.

I shrug. "That's how it is. I forcefully absorb the mana dispersed in the environment. It takes a lot of 'Willpower,' but it's doable."

"It's one of those abnormal skills," Silvane remarks, and they both become pensive while the hunters nod in understanding.

After a moment of thought, Haaran decides to question me, "Then, will you have your companions wait for you?"

I didn't think of that. They'll be fighting without me, and it makes me very anxious.

Hana lands a strong hand on my shoulder and reassures me, "It can't be helped, then. I'll keep everybody alive until you come back, so don't worry about it, Master."

I don't want to accept it, but I have to.

Damn hell…

I hesitate for a second, but then I nod in agreement and look Haaran in the eye again (which is a bad idea due to his piercing gaze). "I only need one person, and it doesn't matter who. I cut my senses when I meditate, but I just need the guard to shake me to pull me back in case we're attacked."

"We will have one of the scouts stay with you, then," Haaran promptly states.

"Understood."

Then he turns to the other hunters and begins outlining a plan, "We'll have to divide the squads. The vanguard and one shock squad will hold the real entrance so no one escapes while the scouts clear the area of guards or returning patrols.

"We also need a clear line of communication as this will be a long and bloody battle. We have to kill all of them, no one must be left alive, " -his damn stupid piercing gaze makes shivers run down our spines- "so the scouts need to be able to reinforce if necessary, and even the artillery group needs to rest and recharge so that they can rejoin the battle after the initial barrage."

Haaran keeps going on about the plan, but we're not required to pay attention to everything. It seems he really is trained in warfare because he knows exactly what he's doing and he does it with confidence. He has a different atmosphere from the hunters, and especially from me, the quiet, small, and a bit cowardly man.

We just rest for the day, but the atmosphere becomes tense during the evening, and the lack of alcohol doesn't help things. At least the hunters are mingling, so it isn't that bad. They're just getting to know each other, and they talk about how they fight, what they like, and what their past is. They want to know who their comrades are so if someone dies by their side, they'll at least feel something.

I sit by the fire next to Roxanne, but I stay quiet as I just want to chill and she seems to be leisurely practicing [Mana Control]. Hana is talking with some hunters and laughing loudly, Alissa is having some girl time with Silvane, and Haaran is further away with his knights.

Then Targua suddenly sits beside me. "You are pretty reclusive. It's quite hard to get close to you," he quietly remarks.

"I'm not very talkative," I answer in kind.

"So it seems. But still, you can't stop bringing attention to yourself, eh? Seems to be quite a predicament," he wryly remarks as he flashes me a smirk, and I can't do anything else but groan softly. Then he becomes serious again. "But I want to know, why do you fight?"

A philosophical question?

I look away, towards the fire, and mumble as I fall into deep thought, "That I can't say…"

I fight because I have to, but I don't really have to be here, do I? I'm endangering myself and my women because… they'd think less of me if I just left. But did I even try to leave? I simply accepted Haaran's words and decided to fight.

Even when it's time to make an important decision, I can't take the cold, rational choice that puts my safety above others. I guess Alissa would be happy to hear this, but I just feel conflicted.

Seeing my silence, Targua gives me a measuring look and then confesses first, "Well, I fight for myself because I enjoy it and because it's my talent."

"You enjoy it?" I curiously hum and glance at him.

He nods and cryptically replies, "Some are meant to burn like a candle, some are meant to burn like a [Firestorm]." Then he flashes a smirk.

Through the murmurs, I hear that the other hunters are having the same conversation as mine with Targua. Knowing why a warrior fights is knowing the heart of that person, so these various fellowships are asking these questions to understand the person they're going to fight alongside… or maybe even die with.

But for me, even though I have conflicting thoughts, there's one singular reason that has been present in all my decisions. "I fight for my women... because I love them, and they can't live without fighting," I wryly confess.

Saying "love" makes me cringe because I believe that true love only blossoms with time, but there's no real reason to be picky with words.

The stubby man glances at Roxanne and smirks suggestively. "Oh, I see…" he hums and takes a sip of his tankard.

Wait, he's misunderstanding something…

Roxanne shifts in her seat, then I sense her judging eyes stabbing at me, and I feel like correcting him would just make things worse. But she quickly returns to her [Mana Control], and I feel that it's safe to relax.

"I just want to help keep the town safe so we can go back to our quiet days…" I quietly add.

I also can't run forever because I've likely been called here to protect this world, so I guess it's fine to grow a bit fond of it, right?

Tonight, I take my women with all of my heart, and they take me with all of theirs. We go hard at each other, but not because of lust. We're risking our lives tomorrow, so we have to live like it's the last, and we open our hearts to each other.

Alissa is the first, and she's eager. She wants me, she needs me, she depends on me… and I depend on her.

Then Hana comforts me. She keeps me safe and happy, so the least I can do is give my all to keep her happy, too.

Today is the 18th.

We wake up before dawn. The chilly air, the faint mist, and the darkness create a gloomy atmosphere. Everyone is quiet and serious, and there's no time to waste, so we move out as the first sun ray hits our faces, but Targua and his fellowship stay to guard the camp and the Space mages, and he waves to us as we march out.

We can't chit-chat as to not alert the monsters that we're coming, so the silence gives me time to reflect on things, and I suddenly feel like playing a bit.

Hey, God of War, I guess this is the first time I talked to you, but I really need your help. I don't like fighting, and I don't want any glory or spoils, but I have some women that I deeply care about.

I know that I have a duty to protect these people because of the power I've been gifted even if I didn't ask for it, and even if I might hate whoever brought me here, but I'll accept this power and ask for more. I want to protect, I want to fight, I want to kill, and I want to live a long life after it's all over.

I know you're listening, so that's why I know you can help me. I know what I want, and if you know what you want, you know you should give power to me. You should give me what I need to protect others. Because I will… I will succeed.

And I soon as I'm done, I feel something change within me. I immediately look at my stats and see that my "Piety" has risen by 4 and it's now 10. This is exactly what I needed for [Heal] to become more efficient.

Thank you. I'll keep everyone alive with this.

But then I almost freeze in the spot as I feel that there's more, so I check my "Magic" tab and notice that I can now instant-cast level 20 and 25 spells, and there's one spell that puts a smile on my face: [Summon Elemental].

There are nine choices of elementals, one for each of the base elements except Space, and I have a good hunch on how they might be useful, especially the earth one, so I catch up to Haaran to speak to him.

"Excuse me, Lord Haaran," I politely greet, my excitement overriding my meekness.

"Yes?" he stoically hums back, and his piercing gaze almost kills my mood.

But I still boldly ask, "For this battle, I want to call earth elementals, if my mana allows. Is that alright?"

A subtle smile appears on his face for a split second, but then he turns stoic again. "It'll be a great help. Use them well."

I give a quick bow, then I go back to the girls and tell them that the plan has been lightly altered. I also test out the mana cost of an elemental, and it's about 150 MP plus my mana pool is reduced by 20 points while the summon is alive. With mana reduction skills, I can possibly reduce the cost a bit more, but these skills have complex rules, making it difficult to calculate by hand, so I'll only know the true cost when the battle comes.

Along the way, I cast [Wind Armor] and [Swift Foot] on all of us, and [Sharp Blades] on Hana and me. My mana isn't sufficient for casting everything all at once, but my recovery is quite good, so I manage to do it before we reach our objective.

It takes us an hour of forced march, but Haaran wants to use the morning laziness to our advantage. If the goblins have personalities like ours, they'll also be weaker just after waking up.

The scouts take out multiple sentries, and we reach our target without being discovered. But now, we are inside their territory, so it's only a matter of time before the enemy gets alerted.

A good half hour later, we start climbing up a small hill, then we begin to hear the sounds of running water, and once we reach the summit, we get a good view of the monster village.

Ahead of us, there's a small cliff, then the shallow river followed by a wide sandbank and another cliff. We can see past the cliff, but a small palisade covers most of our view of the village, and we confirm that the only entrance is protected by the flimsy wall, which was built to transform the entrance ramp into a death trap.

If we can get past the cliff, which is about eight meters tall, then we can freely enter the village and start the carnage, but making a ramp to bypass it won't be an easy task. Past the village, there's only a very steep cliff, and this one is impassable even for us, but it also means that there's only one way in or out.

The village itself is a collection of ugly, filthy, hastily-made wood huts. They lack any sort of fashion or architecture, but they're all neatly organized in a grid. The important thing is that there doesn't seem to be any significant movement in there, only a few sentries by the palisade.

"Artillery, stay here. Wait for the signal," Haaran quietly orders.

The Space mages pull out suits of full plate armor from their [Item Box]es, then the knights and Haaran help each other put it on, and they all look fearsome with the heavy, shining plate. The adventurers are all armored with mismatched sets, but Hana's figure looks majestic, frightening even, with her red brigandine, though unfortunately, it hides her perfectly round large pair.

Once they're ready, the Space mages return to camp, and we go around the cliff then sneak past the shallow river, away from the sight of the sentries. Now we move up closer to the village while sticking close to the cliffside to avoid getting within sight of the monsters.

I have 71 skill points, so I put 21 in [Earth Magic], 20 in [Mana Control], 20 in [Mana Efficiency], and 10 in [Blessing Magic] so my blessings keep active. This is all just to reduce the mana cost of what I'm about to do.

Engage maximum power.

Silvane and I walk away from the cliff, a good twenty meters until our boots are immersed in the shallow river, and I wait until she finishes gathering her mana, then I cast [Earth Wall] at the same time as her. A rectangular cube of sand in front of us immediately solidifies and begins to rise out of the river, then I feel that I gain "awareness" over the block, and with just a thought, I tell it to tilt forward, and it obeys.

The tilted sand wall slowly grows into a ramp, and SIlvane and I touch our spells, causing an odd sensation as our "awareness" interfere with each other, but we perfectly align the spells, creating a good five meters wide ramp. Little by little, centimeter by centimeter, we aim it toward the cliff's edge.

But my mana is going down fast. I don't have a large mana pool because I didn't practice magic since I was a child like most mages in this world have done, so I have a clear disadvantage here. Even with this magic-focused build, creating a large and sturdy ramp isn't easy or mana-efficient.

Silvane also seems to suffer a bit with mana drain but soldiers on. She's young and inexperienced, and even her talent isn't enough to reduce the difficulty of this task. Normal [Earth Wall]s are about two meters tall, but we're aiming at eight meters high while the cliff edge is a good twenty meters away, so you do the math. Unfortunately, we're the only ones who have [Earth Magic], so it's us or nothing.

Suddenly, we hear a commotion coming from the monster village. The clinking of metal, hurried footsteps, and weird, throaty screaming. Their sentries have noticed us, likely because of the mana Silvane and I are releasing.

A knight ignites a wick, which is attached to a small pouch at the tip of an arrow, then he fires the arrow directly up, and it explodes in the sky with a thundering noise. That's the signal for our artillery group, and I immediately begin to feel a large amount of mana gather far behind us.

A few seconds later, the wall finishes, and the group of heavily armed and armored men of the elite squad immediately run past me and up the ramp. Hana turns her head and sends me a kiss as she runs past me, then I'm left behind.

And now it's their turn.

My heart hurts, but I hide behind a tree and sit down on the ground, then a bowman also hides nearby to keep watch for me. Silvane has gone back to the Artillery position to meditate, and she'll take a long time to recharge because it's quite likely she doesn't have the same skills as me that increase mana efficiency, so she has a lot more mana to recover.

Then I close my eyes just as a huge firestorm begins razing the village.

Now I fully focus my will on meditation. The girls need me, so I must recover as much mana as possible to keep them safe.

I start the same process as that one time in the Ant Hill. I push my soul out and towards the sky, in the direction of a cloud of mana that gathers above the village. I don't even want to know how my soul can extend that far, but it does, and once I touch the stream of mana coming from the firestorm, I sense a "heat" coming from it. It's this sensation that tells mages what kind of spell is being cast, and it still lingers in the mana long after the spell is finished.

But to me, mana is just fuel, and any will do.

Come to me. I need you to kill and to heal.

And the stream instantly responds to my call.

Come to me! I'll use you to win this battle then continue on to living a happy life with the women I care about.

And the stream starts moving towards my soul.

COME TO ME! OBEY MY WILL FOR I NEED YOU TO FULFILL MY WISHES!

And the mana floods into my soul, quickly filling up my MP to the brim!

Then I open my eyes. It's time to move.

At level 15, I have 60 Skill Points to use plus 11 I got for free, so I put on this build:

Wolf Ryder Skill Report

Physical

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sword Use 11+4 Dodge 2+5 Parry 2+5 Block 0+7 Shield Bash 0+1

Magical

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 0+5 Mana Control 0+4 Mana Recovery 0+0 Mana Efficiency 4+4 Reduced Mana Cost 8+0 Mana Overuse Resistance 0+1 Light Magic 9+1 Blessing Magic 5+0 Summoning Magic 20+0

Miscellaneous

Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Andraste Language 10+0 Dismantling 0+1 Enhanced Semen Recharge 0+1

Info

Name Wolf Ryder Age 16 Race Human HP 100 MP 455 Magic Power 210 Level 15

Stats

Strength 8 Endurance 10 Dexterity 9 Speed 10 Intelligence 20 Wisdom 15 Willpower 15 Charisma 10 Piety 10 Perception 15 Sanity 9

Other

Status Effects 'NONE' Titles 'Blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge' Affiliations 'Helios (Fellowship), Alissa (Blood Slave)', Hanafuria (Blood Slave) Companions 'Alissa, Roxanne Succubus, Hanafuria' Crimes 'NONE'

My greatest strength is my versatility, so I make a balanced build to take advantage of that.

I suddenly stand, surprising my bodyguard, then I rush past the river and go up the ramp, but the moment that I get past it I feel like I've entered hell. The air is hot and stuffy, the smell of smoke overpowers everything else, glowing-hot cinders fall like snowflakes, a massive fire rages all over the village almost like one huge bonfire, and there's blood all over the green grass along with dozens of corpses of goblins strewn about. The scene is so shocking that my courage vanishes for a second, but only a second, and then I rush into the fray.

I follow the fellowship bond, which takes me around the fire and deeper into the small plateau the village is on, then I find the girls, and I stop dead in my tracks in surprise. I see Haaran engaged in combat with a huge, three-meters tall, bronze-skinned orc wearing dirty plate armor, and the four knights and Hana are fighting ten other smaller green orcs wearing gambesons and leather.

The big guy is an Orc Chief, a leader-type, it seems.

What the hell are orcs doing in this village?!

I turn to Hana and see that one of her legs is slightly lowered, obviously hurting, and her sword swings are slower than usual, so her arm must be bruised. Though she doesn't have any cuts thanks to the armor, she's clearly being pushed back by her two opponents.

Alissa is in close combat with a goblin, and there are more goblins nearby rushing toward her. Her armor has a nasty cut on her right flank, and I even see a small amount of blood trickle out.

Damn hell.

At least Roxanne is still safe behind everyone as Alissa keeps the goblin busy, so she's allowed to freely chant and charge her mana.

We're outnumbered 2-to-1, and while we can fight the orcs to a standstill, the constant stream of goblins tilts the battle against our favor. We need something to deal with the little shits. Something… big, bulky, and durable… so I summon an earth elemental.

A storm of sand kicks up, and the grains quickly glue together into multiple pieces of rock, then the rocks arrange themselves in a roughly humanoid shape. The elemental grows and towers above me, reaching over two meters in height, and with huge, round, rocks bigger than my head for hands.

"Protect Alissa," I order, and the elemental's floating rock head silently nods, then it immediately rushes after her.

Now I charge towards the orcs. The ugly, muscular pigs on legs seem to wear cheap gambeson and leather armor, which is now full of cuts, but you won't even slow down an orc unless you inflict a deep wound, so all Hana can do is get slowly pushed by the 2-on-1 while she waits for the opportunity to strike back.

One of the orcs has a sword and shield while the other has a two-handed sword, so I go for the shield user since his reach is similar to mine. He notices my approach and deflects my slash with his shield, then both orcs take a step back to analyze me.

"Hah! Things got a bit interesting, Master," Hana cheerfully remarks as I stop beside her.

"Orcs? What the hell?!" I exclaim in shock.

"I know, right?!" she shouts back, and I can just hear the grin in her voice.

The orcs resume their attack, but we counter and score small slashes that get absorbed by their armor. These monsters are very aggressive and quick to anger, but all they have is their stupid strength while they're slow and generally unskilled with weapons, so their counter is… to counter them.

On a 1-on-1, we have the advantage due to higher skill, and I manage to score a deep cut on the sword arm of my opponent. The edge of his round wooden shield surges toward my face as he attempts to bash me, but I [Block] it with my shield at the same time that I [Dodge] backward.

He tries to lunge forward to increase his reach and give more power to his bash, but that leaves one leg extended and vulnerable, so I slash at his shin, and the [Sharp Blades] spell allows me to cut so deeply that I feel my sword scratch his bone. The problem with wounding orcs is that the pain makes them angry, which makes them even more aggressive, and so my opponent roars in rage.

He savagely chops downward, so I use my shield to [Block] and deflect the dull attack as I [Dodge] and jump sideways to the left, then I slash again at his exposed arm, scoring another deep wound. He tries to swing again upward but his angle is awkward, and his blade simply slides across my shield.

"Eat shit, you disgusting scum!" Hana taunts her opponent.

Her opponent makes a rookie mistake, so she lunges forward, getting inside his reach, and uses her shield to keep his long weapon away so he can't wind up a powerful attack, but her shorter weapon allows her to easily drive her blade into his shoulder with a savage chop.

He answers with a kick to her shield, pushing her back and dislodging her sword as she lacks the leg power to withstand the hit, but she doesn't lose her balance and maintains her grip on her sword. This orc is barely a threat to her anymore even though she's wounded as he lacks the skill to make proper use of his longer reach.

I feel a surge of mana coming from behind us, so both Hana and I jump backward to give Roxanne a clear view of the orcs, then a [Fireball] flies toward my opponent. He raises his shield towards his face, blocking the spell completely and only singing the wood, but now his view is completely blocked, so I lunge forward and deliver a long slash at his flank, shredding his armor further.

Hana assumes a defensive posture, hiding her sword behind her shield, and waits for the orc to strike. The pig monster, predictably, charges forward, combo-ing a slash with a shoulder check, but this time, Hana has the footing to take his charge head-on, and she counters with a stab on his shoulder from above her shield, making the orc retreat.

I [Parry] a slash and [Block] a bash, but my opponent is starting to go berserk, tiring out my arms as I lack the "Strength" and "Endurance" to go toe-to-toe with him. I need to use my "Speed" and [Dodge] more to fight against such a beast.

"MASTER!" Alissa's warning cry reaches my ears, and I reflexively jump sideways, then an arrow sinks deeply into the upper left arm of my opponent, which should be enough to weaken his shield bashes and slow his blocks. Her attack also gives me a breather, so I keep my distance for a couple of seconds

"Prepared to be screwed!" Hana taunts.

Why anger an orc? Is she trying to incite him so that he makes more mistakes?

Then she summons her beautiful, emerald, fleshy wings. The bones are covered in emerald scales that shine in the sun and the flames, creating a stunningly beautiful green glow.

She flaps her wings and gains instantaneous speed that propels her towards the orc, and the monster isn't strong enough to take her charge. He's blown away a few meters and rolls in the grass, then she loops in the air and charges at him again.

The monster immediately starts to stand up with impressive nimbleness, but he doesn't see her attack coming, and her blade sinks under his right armpit as she slices upwards. His armor is so tattered that it gives away, and her sword cleanly slices his arm off, then she follows up with a shield bash to the face.

My opponent then charges at her to aid his comrade, turning his back to me, but this gives Alissa a clear sight, and she lands an arrow on his back, then even Roxanne helps out with a [Fire Arrow] to his shoulder, the sudden pain making him trip and fall face-first onto the wet grass, and I'm right behind him.

Hana's opponent falls on his back again, and his helmet falls off, revealing his ugly green face and pig snout. She immediately steps on him, right on his left shoulder so he's unable to protect his face with his shield, then she slashes his throat and steps back.

My opponent immediately rolls on the grass and faces me, expecting my attack, but I'm much faster, so I lunge forward, getting past his defense, and jab my sword under his chin. I meet a little bit of resistance, but I put all my strength into my weapon, and even though the orc tries to grip the blade, I feel the tip pierce through the bone. My sword sinks further in, going through something fleshy and the orc begins to have a seizure, but it ends after a couple of seconds as the pig monster goes limp, finally dead.

Now that both our threats have been neutralized, I look behind me and see that the earth elemental is by Alissa, crushing small goblins with its hulking size and body of solid rock. But the important thing is that Alissa's wound has stopped bleeding as she likely drank a potion and also that Roxanne is also completely untouched, already charging another spell.

Haaran and his knights are holding back the other orcs for now, and the other shock troop squad is further away, dealing with a swarm of goblins, but they seem to be doing worse than the knights. The elemental has to remain beside Alissa and Roxanne because the stream of random goblins isn't letting down, so it's on Hana and me to tilt this battle in our favor again.

I rush to her side and cast two small [Heals], one on the sword arm and one on the lame leg.

"Better?" I ask as I land a hand on her shoulder.

She hits the arm and the leg with a closed fist then nods, and I can just hear the grin in her voice as she answers, "Better."

I summon another earth elemental, leaving me with only a small amount of mana left, then I order, "Crush those goblins!"

The elemental makes the ground tremble with its heavy footsteps, and a small number of goblins even run away in fear of it, but the rest are too frenzied to stop, so they're turned into soup.

Then I turn to the orcs and shout, "CHARGE!"

A [Fire Arrow] and a normal one fly past us as Hana and I rush forward.

Alissa's arrow sinks shallowly into an orc's thigh while another orc blocks Roxanne's [Fire Arrow] with his shield, but they both lose their momentum, and the knights immediately switch gears and go on the attack.

Now the situation has changed. Before, it was four knights versus eight orcs as Haaran and the Orc Chief duel, but now the battle turns in our favor as my fellowship comes to their aid. Unfortunately, the Chief is smart enough to understand this, and he immediately becomes enraged.

"KIIILL…!" the massive monster roars, and his orcs repeat as they become more aggressive.

Wait, what? He can speak Andraste?!

"URAAA!" Haaran roars back, and his knights repeat his warcry as they suddenly gain a second wind, almost as if his voice was magical.

"Hana! This one!" I order as I point to the nearest orc. The knights can hold on, so it's better if we take out the enemies one by one.

She takes the monster head-on while I attack from the side and slash his flank, scoring a long cut in his armor, then he tries to step back, but Roxanne surprises us with a [Fire Whip] that wraps itself around his calf.

The flame rope immediately begins to burn through the leather and gambeson, and it'll take a few seconds until the orc start to feel the heat, but the monster is scared of the fire and desperately steps back. Roxanne isn't strong enough to hold onto the whip while the orc pulls on it, but he's too clumsy and falls down on his ass as she releases the spell, which is enough of a distraction.

"Meet your death!" Hana taunts and launches a flurry of attacks, keeping the orc occupied and on the floor.

This gives me enough time to go around him and slash at his neck. In a desperate attempt to survive, he uses his sword arm to block my attack as he can't physically bring his weapon back for a parry in time, and I feel my blade scrape against his bones as it almost severs his forearm.

But with his muscles and tendons cut, his hand loses grip on his sword. Another orc comes to help, and he pushes Hana back before she can finish off the wounded one, but the newcomer receives an arrow to the shoulder in response, weakening his shield arm.

A knight comes to our aid and keeps the second orc locked in battle as the warrior has an easier time against the wounded monster, so Hana and I focus on the first orc as it stands up again, who now wields a sword with his shield arm. If an orc was unskilled with weapons before, now that he's using his non-dominant hand he's almost a non-threat.

He even receives an arrow to the chest, making him grunt in pain, but he still attacks us as it's in his nature to be unyielding. It feels like fighting a brutish amateur, so I just easily deflect his attack and counter with a slice to the belly.

Hana attacks him repeatedly to keep him busy and he actually manages to parry her, but he simply can't deal with a 2-on-1 as he forgets to keep an eye on me. So I lunge forward and sink my sword into his chest so deeply that I feel his disgusting breath fall on the top of my head, but I missed his heart.

"Grruh…" he grunts, staggered for a second by the pain, but this is a dangerous situation for my sword could easily get stuck in his body. Fortunately, Hana is smart enough to help me out, and she bashes his face while I kick his belly, and thanks to the [Sharp Blades] Blessing, my blade simply slides out as I yank it back, and then the orc stumbles backward.

Hana and I lunge forward at the same time, and we sink a sword into each of his eyes. He barely has time to struggle before his brain is sliced up, and then he goes limp. Seven more to go.

One of the orcs isn't fighting as he keeps an eye on Roxanne, his shield already singed and even glowing with a few embers. Meanwhile, Alissa launches multiple arrows at the Orc Chief's helmet, and though they only cause dents, the monster goes on the defensive, wary of receiving one in the eye, which gives Haaran a moment to breathe.

A tired knight is suddenly pushed down by an orc and he loses his shield. He desperately puts up a fight against his two opponents, and Alissa even helps with an arrow to the shoulder of one of the orcs, but he's still pulled by his legs, and the second one performs a mordhau, the murder-stroke, by hitting the knight's helmet with the guard of his sword.

The power in the strike is comparable to a mace's, and his helmet caves in. Another arrow hits the already wounded orc's arm and a knight rushes in to save his fallen companion, but the knight on the ground doesn't get up, passed out though not dead yet.

Three knights left.

Now that Alissa has changed targets, the Orc Chief resumes his attack. Haaran's white helmet is dirtied and tainted with blood (that's unlikely to be his), but he still stands strong and parries every blow.

We charge towards the next orc, and now it's a 3-on-1 as the knight easily keeps the wounded orc busy, but Hana charges the monster head-on, taking over the battle and allowing the knight to breathe for a moment. Alissa and Roxanne are supporting the knights that are outnumbered, so even with one casualty, we can still win.

"I fought goblins with a bigger sword than you!" Hana taunts.

The orc immediately goes berserk on her, and she takes him on without much problem, leaving me free to slash at him. His shield arm is already weak as he has an arrow in his shoulder, so I focus on his legs, cutting through the armor and then inflicting a deep wound on his left thigh.

He tries to step back and gain distance, but another orc is right behind him so he doesn't have anywhere to go. The resting knight joins in and the three of us gang up on the orc, then Hana continues my work and nearly severs his wounded leg off, making him fall down.

The orc behind him switches target and engages the three of us while the wounded orc crawls away, but the newcomer is no better fighter than the other orcs, and this time nobody comes to his aid. For his attempt to protect his ally, he gets a sword to the neck, and now there are only six orcs left.

The crawling orc turns around and gives us a defiant glare as he scowls, saliva dripping down his tusked mouth with every heavy breath. But all the bravery in the world isn't enough to stop us. Five orcs left.

"UROOOOO...!" the Orc Chief suddenly roars, his voice so powerful and loud that I feel my bones shake. Then the monster leader ignores Haaran's stab at his waist through an opening in his metal armor, and the huge beast leaps forward with a frightening amount of speed, surprising even Haaran.

The Chief lands in front of the nearest knight and strikes down with a flurry of savage chops, forcing the knight to fall on a knee. The orc he was fighting stabs him in the armpit, right at an opening in his armor, and the knight's arm goes limp, then the Orc Chief strikes down again, and his sword simply crushes the man's helmet.

Shit, shit, shit, shit! He's dead!

Two knights left.

I can see a dent in the Chief's longsword, but that doesn't matter since this damn monster can just use his weapon like a club with his inhuman strength!

Haaran desperately stabs the Chief in his kidney from the back, but the monster is so enraged he doesn't even feel pain anymore. He simply forces his way back to his orcs, causing a short lull in the battle as both sides reorder their lines.

The passed-out knight is recovered and splashed with an HP potion, so maybe he can still wake up. Now it's just two knights, Haaran, and us versus Five orcs and the Chief. We still have the advantage, especially if the third knight recovers.

"Alissa! Suppress the Orc Chief!" I order.

It's too hard for her to hit the little gaps between the plates of his armor, harder than hitting an eye, but the Chief is wary of her arrows and will fight more defensively if he has to keep an eye on her, so this should stop him from rushing recklessly like he just did.

Then I point to the nearest orc and shout, "Hana! This one!" And she throws herself at him.

This one is unwounded and is a bit better at defending himself, so we don't score any significant hits as he steps back continuously. Then the Chief suddenly gets in our way and we both back off. A single one of his strikes could send me flying, so even Hana is cautious.

He swings his longsword once and it clashes loudly against the emerald scales of her kite shield, and she's so surprised by the strength of his blow that she almost loses her posture. She won't receive his strikes like this again.

In a surprising maneuver, the orc we were fighting is now engaged with Haaran, but this isn't an optimal engagement. We have to gang up on the smaller orcs first.

I cautiously circle around Hana, then I start to circle around Haaran to flank the orc he's fighting. The Chief continues to push Hana back further, gaining some distance from Haaran's opponent, so now the big beast is vulnerable again to flanking attacks.

But then, suddenly, the Orc Chief leaps sideways, and a huge shadow falls over me.

Oh, no.

[Battlefield Perception] triggers and I raise my shield, but the force that hits me is so great that I'm thrown to the ground. The impact forcefully takes out the air in my lungs, but I roll with the fall to gain some distance, and I get a mouthful of moist grass and dirt.

"Don't ignore me, you worthless c-m stain!" Hana taunts, but it has no effect for the shadow falls upon me again.

I raise my shield, holding it with both hands, then the sword hits, and my left wrist locks in place, but the weight is so heavy that my hand bends in a way that it shouldn't as my wrist breaks, and all I feel is a blinding pain.

"AAAAAH…!" I hear a scream, but a second later I realize that I'm the one screaming.

I roll to the side and start to crawl away, but then I remember the Chief and look back. He's still standing over me, but now there's an arrow in his armpit while both Hana and Haaran stab him in the kidney.

Multiple arrows hit his helmet in quick succession, leaving only dents as Alissa's arrows don't have the proper tip and her bow the draw to pierce plate, but he still looks away from me, scared of receiving one through the eye. Then he suddenly turns as he swings his longsword, and both Hana and Haaran have to jump back to not get hit. The orc behind them almost skewers Haaran, but his [Battlefield Perception] is high enough to save him from being stabbed in the back.

I cast a strong [Heal] on my wrist, and my hand straightens up again with a sickening crack, but now most of my mana is gone unless I unsummon an elemental. I also feel that my wrist is sensitive and weakened, so I can't use [Block] to its fullest.

Suddenly, a huge volley of [Fireball]s fly towards the orcs, forcing them all to defend, and that brings the battlefield to a standstill for a few seconds. I look back and see that the artillery team is back, though they aren't fully rested, so they don't have a lot of mana left.

Then Silvane starts to gather an impressive amount of mana as she quietly chants, her voice too low for me to hear. The Orc Chief is so wary of spells that he immediately jumps backward, far away from his line of orc soldiers.

I stand up and prepare to rejoin the fight, but a mere couple of seconds later and the ground under the orcs turns dark-brown, then hands emerge from the earth and grab the monsters, holding them in place. That's an [Earth Magic] spell called [Soul Sand].

Hana doesn't hesitate and uses her wings to slam herself against the nearest orc stuck to the ground. He doesn't have the posture to receive her, so the impact makes him bend backward on his knees as the spell's hands keep his feet firmly in place. Then she makes a loop and lands on top of him, giving her the perfect position to stab his face repeatedly until he dies.

Four orcs to go.

The artillery squad has two melee hunters with them, and the mages are enough to keep the goblins at bay, freeing up an earth elemental, so the battle with the orcs is almost over. The other shock troop squad is holding on against the goblin swarm as they rally around the second earth elemental, and they'll be fine until we mop up over here.

Silvane runs to the unconscious knight and starts to heal him as he still hasn't woken up yet, and Haaran briefly gathers his breath then makes his way toward the Orc Chief while the rest of us deal with the trapped orcs. This is almost over.

But you should never underestimate the devious intelligence of a leader-type monster.

The Chie's ugly little eyes scan the battleground, and he gets a horrible idea. The purpose of monsters is to kill humanoids, whatever way it may be, so the Chief decides that he will kill someone, and his eyes fall on Silvane.

The pig monster suddenly charges forward, but instead of stopping to meet his charge, Haaran starts to sprint at full speed toward him, and I get a bad feeling about this situation. The young man throws himself at the Chief, and Haaran is shoved down onto the ground as the huge orc has a lot more mass, but his desperate attempt almost makes the Chief lose his balance, slowing his mad charge.

Hana also slams herself against the Chief, but her wings are losing power, and she's unable to do more than slow him down for a second. And now there's nothing between the monster and Silvane.

We lack the physical power to stop him, so I bet on magic. I unsummon Alissa's earth elemental and replace it with an electric elemental, and that triggers mana overuse, causing my head to explode with pain as I lose my hearing, but that's a fair price to pay.

"STOP HIM!" I shout, though I can't hear myself, and point at the Chief as an orb of plasma and spark appears before me. It immediately darts forward, so I follow after it.

The Chief swings its arm to bat the elemental away, but it's simply absorbed by the metal gauntlet, then it travels up its arm and starts to shock its head. The Chief's whole body goes stiff and falls down, then skids along the wet grass.

I feel my vision start to go dark, so I have to finish this up before I go blind. I lock my eyes onto the Chief's helmet as I drop my sword and shield and dive forward, then everything goes dark, but my hands touch something hard, so I grab it and pull.

There's a bit of resistance, but it quickly gives away and comes free, so I run away as I palpate it, and yep, that's the Chief's helmet.

I stop where I think Silvane should be and drop to the ground, exhausted. I can't see, I can't hear, and I'm out of mana, so I'll trust that Alissa will turn the Orc Chief's head into a pincushion.

A moment of absolute silence and darkness later, I feel a warm hand gently grab my head and push it up, but the fingers are too long to be Alissa's, so maybe they're Roxanne's? They certainly don't feel like they're Hana's, either. Then something cold touches my lips and a warm liquid slowly pours into my mouth. It's an MP potion, so I happily swallow the tasty magical water.

Once I'm done, Roxanne squeezes my hand reassuringly, and I feel something moist touch my cheek, then she releases me, and I'm allowed to rest as I wonder what did she just do to me.

Time passes awfully slowly in this silent darkness, but after an eternity, I feel my hearing start to come back first. First, I hear a buzzing, then murmuring, then a few words here and there, and then finally a proper phrase.

"How's his condition?" a male voice asks impassively.

"Still unconscious. His skull was cracked, but he'll survive," Silvane answers, sounding slightly hoarse.

"That's good. How much mana do you have?"

"Enough for a single deep wound."

He grunts in understanding, "Understood. You can start meditating, and we'll have some hunters guard you."

"Thank you," she whispers with a sigh, then I hear heavy footsteps as the supposed knight leaves.

They're quite calm, so I think that things are fine, and I'll just focus on meditating. I also can't exactly give orders to the electric elemental right now, so I dismiss it.

"You're now level sixteen."

I put all my new points into [Mana Recovery]. Even blind or with my eyes closed I can still see the system menu, somehow.

Eventually, the sounds of clashing start to die down, so I open my eyes. Things are still blurry, but I can see movement and outlines. There's a group of people around me, all sitting down, except for two that seem to be standing guard.

I meditate for a few more minutes, and now I can see things properly. The artillery squads and Silvane are beside me, meditating, while the unconscious knight is on a medical litter in front of her, and we have two melee hunters guarding us. The Orc Chief is a few meters away, dead from multiple arrows to the head, including one in each eye, and the dead knight is also nearby, a gray blanket covering his body.

My body feels fine and the headache is gone, so I stand up and ask, "What's the situation?"

"Wow..." one of the guards grunts in surprise and nearly jumps on the spot, but he quickly recomposes himself and solemnly answers, "There are still goblins around, so the shock troops are dealing with them, but the orcs are all dead, and now it's just a slaughter."

My earth elemental is still alive and killing, so I have it share its vision with me, but all I see is sickening blood and gore, and I immediately cut the sense sharing. Then I tap the fellowship bond and sense that the girls are further ahead, near the cliff wall at the back of the village.

The vision made me a little unsteady on my feet, so I sit down again.

Another ten minutes pass, and the sounds of dying goblins dwindles further, then Silvane suddenly opens her eyes and gives me a surprised look.

"You can see again?" she quietly asks, her voice less hoarse.

"Yeah, I have some resistance to overuse," I proudly answer.

She nods in understanding then gives me a tired, but still beautiful smile. "Let me just say it now, thank you. You saved me from the Orc Chief." And she lowers her head respectfully.

This is the third time I save someone… and I still don't know how to respond to it.

"You're welcome," I whisper with a gentle smile as I try to look cool, but it still comes out awkward to me. It isn't even my job to save people, so I can't use the doctor/fireman response of "I'm just doing my job."

What would a superhero say…?

No, that'd be too corny, even for me, so I just stay quiet. At least this way a simple "You're welcome" allows me to look a little bit cool.

And then I notice that I have most of my MP back, so I summon another earth elemental, but then my head starts to hurt.

Oops, I overdid it again.

"Go help my fellowship," I order as I wince in pain, and the hulking mass of rock "nods," then immediately runs towards them, its footsteps causing small tremors.

"You really should rest; the battle is already won," Silvane concernedly advises.

"I can't just stand still while my women are fighting," I answer reflexively. At least this time I do sound a bit cool, though it's rather embarrassing to call them "my women."

The pretty silver girl gives me a warm, rather teasing smile, then shrugs and uses her staff to stand up. "Very well, then I'll join Lord Haaran, too," she calmly declares then takes the same path as the elemental.

Now that there's nothing to do, I take a quick look around. The wood huts that goblins use as homes are extremely basic and also extremely weak. The flames are still raging and the wood crackles from the heat, but one wouldn't even be able to guess that a village once existed here as all the huts have already collapsed into piles of embers.

And now that my life isn't in danger anymore, the heat and smell of smoke is starting to get annoying. At least the view has a grim allure to it as the wind kicks up clouds of sparks that then fall down like snowflakes.

But even staring at the flames isn't enough to calm down my anxious heart, so I decide to take a quick look at one of the elementals' vision again. It's side-by-side with Hana and a knight, crushing a group of dozens of frightened goblins cornered against a cliffside.

Alissa and Roxanne must be behind them for I see arrows sink into the heads of the ugly green monsters with frightening accuracy. But then I notice that there are women and children among the goblins… ugly, green, monstrous women, children, and even the elderly.

Some weakly clutch spears as they desperately attempt to defend themselves, but none of them even gets close to scoring a hit, and those without weapons can't do anything but wait for death as they cry in grief.

I feel sick, and now even worse than the last time I took a peek, so I cut the sense sharing. But my mind becomes so agitated I have to meditate to calm myself down again.

My head slowly stops hurting as the sounds of battle finally come to an end. Then there's only silence, occasionally broken by the crackling of wood as the fire still consumes the remains of the village.

A few minutes later, I hear footsteps, so I open my eyes and see a group of ridiculously bloodied warriors slowly approaching us. Then my eyes meet with Alissa's, and she immediately starts running towards me, looking quite relieved to see me awake, but also exhausted from the battle.

She takes off her leather cap then falls on her knees before me and pulls me into a hug. "You overdid it again," she poutily complains.

"Yeah… couldn't be helped…" I guiltily reply as I hold back the urge to bury my head in her furry fox ears.

"I know…" she mumbles with a sigh. "But it's over now."

She smells of blood, ashes, and sweat, but I don't care. We're safe now; it's over.

Then I notice that one of the hunters is carrying in his arms a body covered in cloth, and I believed that the diseased is the red-skinned oni from Akros. Their fellowship was the shock squad responsible for holding back the goblin swarm at that death trap of an entrance. Because we were held back by the orcs, we took too long to relieve them, and they paid for it with a fatal casualty.

There's also a wounded hunter being carried in a medical litter. He's missing his right arm, but a reddish skin seems to cover the wound, and he carries his severed arm on his lap. With either [Heal] or [Regeneration] it can still be reattached.

We slowly break the hug, then we stand up again and I scan everyone's faces. I see a mix of happy and solemn expressions, but everyone is relieved that this is finally over.

Then Haaran arrives, also dripping with blood. He removes his helmet, revealing a bruise on his left cheekbone, then he also removes his gauntlet and takes Silvane's hand, giving me a craving for Alissa's touch.

"We're done here; let's move," he declares, and we're all eager to obey.

"I'll use my elementals to carry the bodies," I solemnly offer.

He flashes me a grateful but painful smile. "I'd appreciate it…"

So I give the order to my summons. They both look a bit beaten and cracked, but they'll hold on, and a single [Clean] on each is enough to remove all of the blood since stone doesn't absorb liquids like cloth does.

The MP we save on the elementals is used by Hana as she requires a couple of [Clean]s to not attract every monster in a kilometer as the blood has seeped deep into her brigandine. Then I also [Heal] her and the unconscious knight once, but it gives me a headache again and exhaustion creeps in.

Silvane reattaches the wounded hunter's arm, but just like my broken wrist, it's best if he doesn't use it for a while. I drink half an HP potion and splash the rest on my hand, but internal wounds like broken bones are slower to heal than cuts.

As we make our way back through the woods, everyone starts pulling out snacks like skewered meat to eat as we walk. It's only 10 AM, but even I'm feeling hungry after so much fighting, and a bit of water to go with the food is enough to give me a second wind.

The scouts killed all monsters that were anywhere near our path, so the way back is clear, and our journey is uneventful.

At around 11:30 AM, a scout suddenly appears and rushes towards Haaran.

"The camp is under attack! Orcs!" he yells desperately.

Time freezes for a second.

That's why the Orc Chief was in the village. He was visiting the goblins to negotiate, likely trying to establish an alliance, but this also means that the rest of his orcs must've been camping nearby, and now these leaderless monsters have stumbled upon our camp. Different monster types don't mix so easily unless they're of a higher species, so he could've even been a breeder-type, too! We were so tired from the battle that we forgot to think about this!

Haaran turns to us with an intense stare and starts to bark orders, "Ryder! Drop the bodies! Artillery, you'll take them along with the wounded! Everyone else, run!"

And we obey.

"I'll ride Alissa and go on ahead! Elementals, follow me!" I order as I look back, and Hana gives me a conflicted look.

But there's no time to argue. I grab Alissa's equipment, and she transforms, then I mount her, and she immediately dashes forward, the earth elementals running beside us with a surprising amount of speed as their massive weight leaves deep imprints upon the soft dirt.

We spend tense minutes in silence, but I can't find anything to say as I'm too tired to think of a strategy.

"We just need to keep them occupied," I blurt out.

"Yes, Master," she obediently answers.

And then we reach the camp soon after. We see a chaotic mess as the tents are burning, and there are benches, tables, cooking wares, clothes, and food strewn about everywhere. It's just part of the orc nature to start destroying things even before the battle is over.

Honest Shield, the fellowship responsible for defending the camp, is a group of five hunters, with three shield users, including Targua, one archer, and another archer-mage hybrid. They're fighting against nine orcs, and we see that they've already lost three, so they were originally twelve. The Space mages are also fighting, but they only have simple swords and leather armor, so they're on the defensive, and two mages are already dead.

"Elementals, protect the Space mages!" I order as I dismount, then I immediately hand Alissa's equipment as she transforms back.

We arrive behind the orcs, who are slow to react as they're too into their battle to understand the danger of an archer shooting from their blind spot. Alissa draws her bow and launches an arrow, which sinks into the back of the head of one of the monsters, killing him instantly. Eight orcs to go.

Only now that one of theirs is dead that they understand the danger and decide to attack us. But Honest Shield doesn't let the orcs disengage as the brave warriors go on the offensive, so only two orcs come our way while the rest of their line turns around to not get another arrow in the back.

Alissa scores a few more hits, but no more kills, and I stand in the path of the approaching orcs, ready to take them head-on, but my wrist is still fragile and my mind is drained. All I can do is stay on the defensive.

One block, two blocks, a parry with my sword, and a deflection with my shield. I bash the face of the orc on my left with the edge of my shield, but my wrist complains, so I won't do that again.

The orc on the right becomes more aggressive, and he tries to circle around me, but a quick arrow to his flank tells him not to try that again. We're in a standoff as they could try to rush Alissa, but that'd leave them vulnerable to being stabbed in the back, while trying to surround me will leave them open to Alissa, and the orcs lack the teamwork to commit to either.

One earth elemental suddenly crumbles as it was too weakened, but the other one is enough to protect the Space mages from the two orcs attacking them. Honest Shield is unable to help as they deal with four angry orcs, but then I notice that Targua is barely holding onto his position as his posture begins to crumble, likely tired since they did already kill three orcs.

My two opponents resume their attack, and I manage to hit the butt of the protruding arrow in one of the orcs with the flat side of my sword, forcing it further in. He squirms and roars in pain as he steps back, but he's starting to become enraged and soon won't care for the pain anymore.

The orc on the left doesn't let me rest as he lets out a flurry of savage chops, making my shield wrist explode in pain. It won't hold like this, and Alissa seems to notice my struggle for she unleashes three arrows in quick succession into his chest, which don't sink too deeply due to his gambeson, but at least he stops his attack and steps back.

I cast [Heal] on my wrist, and my head starts to hurt again, but then my vision becomes a bit blurry.

No! I have to hold it in! I can't lose my sight right now!

In anger, I slash at the orc on the left, making him retreat, then the orc on the right leaps forward as he strikes. I meet his sword with mine and nearly fall on a knee due to his strength pushing me off-balance, but I deflect his blade away and counter.

I connect an upwards slash at his armpit, slicing through his flimsy armor and cutting open his green flesh, then I [Dodge] backward and feel the tip of his sword slide down along my left cheek.

Too close. I almost lost an eye.

But I must've cut a tendon for the orc slows down and his attacks become weaker. Then I feel something wet run down my neck.

The orc on the left stops attacking completely for a moment, his breath heavy and erratic. I can see under his cotton cap that he's growling as he salivates, likely in pain from Alissa's arrows in his chest, and I bet one must've pierced a lung too.

An opportunity appears before me as I see his eyes lose focus for a second, so I lunge toward him. The orc on the right tries to stop me with a slash to my shoulder, but it lacks so much power that my [Wind Armor] Blessing is enough to push the blade away.

I bash the left orc's face, hiding my sword under my shield so that he doesn't see the thrust, and I feel the tip sink into his chest. The [Sharp Blade] Blessing makes itself useful again by letting me almost fully ignore his armor.

But I can't risk getting my weapon stuck in the orc, so I pull back after sinking a good length in, and I assume it was enough to pierce his lung again as the tip comes out quite bloody.

[Battlefield Perception] triggers, but I'm not fast enough, and I wince in pain as the orc on the right manages to land a proper stab at my flank. Only a couple of scales of my armor break, and his sword doesn't get through the padded gambeson under them, but the attack still hurts my ribs quite a lot.

He pays for it with an arrow to his gut, and he retreats as he doesn't want to give the chance for Alissa to put another in. He's already hurting, and he barely managed to wound me, but he shows a modicum of intelligence by becoming quite cautious, not giving me another opening.

We spend a long minute staring at each other, trading weak blows and feints as both sides wait for another opportunity. Then I notice that they're actually growling, trying to intimidate me. I've just been so focused on the battles that I didn't pay attention to their growls, but now that I do… I couldn't care less.

Then I see Targua fall to the ground.

Shit…

But a moment later comes the roar that brings me relief, "URAAAAAAAAH!"

Haaran and his men charge from behind the trees, the rest of the hunters following after them, and I notice that nobody is wearing plate armor anymore, only scale.

Hana suddenly lands in front of me, and I simply drop my shield, too tired to hold it anymore.

The battle is over for me, and everyone is safe, so I just retreat back to the nearest tree, then sit down and drink another HP potion as I watch.

"I'll butcher your shriveled thing for daring to hurt Master!" Hana taunts as she launches herself onto the wounded orcs. They step back in fear as they're fairly wounded, but they still fight back once Hana engages them.

Then a [Fire Whip] holds the right orc by his leg. He stumbles just like the orc she previously used this spell on, and this time Hana decapitates him in an instant with a glorious, perfect slash. His head goes flying, spilling blood everywhere, and even I am awed by this scene.

But she doesn't stop and thrusts her sword into the belly of the other orc. He tries to bash her with his shield, but she easily [Block]s his attack with hers, then she pulls out her sword and immediately stabs him again, this time under his armpit, and maims his sword arm.

"GRAAAAAH…!" the orc pushes her back with a roar, becoming fully berserk now that he's about to die. He even throws his shield at her and draws a dagger, but he's too wounded to pose a threat to her. If I was the one fighting, then I would've been in a bit of trouble.

He decides to literally throw himself at her to push her down and use his bigger size and mass to his advantage, but she crouches and receives him with her shield. He lands right on top of it, and so she just has to tilt backward as she stands to throw him away.

The heavy orc falls on his back with a heavy thud then even rolls twice. He tries to get up quickly, but now he's shieldless, and there are two deadly accurate enemies with a clear line of sight to him.

He raises his head, growling and scowling, and a [Fire Arrow] arrow pierces his forehead at the same time that a normal arrow pierces his eye, then he promptly drops dead.

The other knights and hunters make quick work of the remaining orcs as they are heavily outnumbered now, so I unsummon my last elemental and use the rest of my mana to cast a [Heal] on my wrist to make the pain stop.

I see Silvane rush toward Targua, then Alissa and Hana turn to me, and I believe that now it's all over, so I close my eyes and let myself lose consciousness for a while.

Next thing I know, I'm looking at the blue sky with the sun up high, which means it must be past midday now. I raise my head to look around, and I see Alissa and Hana taking a nap beside me, with a number of other hunters all over the clearing also laying down on sleeping bags.

Five of the hunters are covered in bandages as they're wounded and there isn't enough mana to heal everyone. My head still hurts and my muscles are so sore I can barely muster the energy to cast a [Heal], so I just close my eyes again and properly fall asleep.

I wake up feeling stiff but a bit more rested. Alissa is right beside my sleeping bag, staring into the forest as her hand plays with the scales of my armor. She doesn't notice me waking up, so I just look around and find Hana eating at a half-burnt table, then I see that Roxanne is inside her personal tent, also resting.

"Okay, now it should be over," I quietly remark, almost making Alissa jump in surprise. Then I lay down my head on her lap with a wry smile, and she immediately starts stroking my hair as she pouts.

But her expression quickly softens, then she looks ahead again into the nothingness as she tiredly remarks, "I hope so. There should be no more loose ends unless there are more orcs hidden somewhere for some dumb reason… or something."

Even her brain is starting to give up.

I notice that her fingers feel a bit rough and her caressing is rather weak, so I cast a small [Heal] on her hands, but then my heart starts palpitating.

Oh…! I think the overuse is stacking, so maybe I shouldn't cast any more magic for a while.

"You should've saved that mana for the wounded," she quietly complains with a frown.

But I smile guiltily. "Sorry, not sorry. I'm selfish. Also, it was just a small [Heal]."

She pouts again for a second but then sighs and caresses me harder. "Thank you, Master."

Then my stomach growls.

"Oh… well. I guess I should crawl to our tent," I hum embarrassedly.

Unfortunately, Alissa has to help me walk because I'm too unsteady on my feet. Fortunately, our tent was undamaged in the fire as it was the furthest away from the others.

And so I slowly eat my meal. Roasted veggies, mutton, and bread filled with bean paste. After I'm full, I take out my armor, drop down on the bed, and rest a little bit more.

Intermission 3 - Hana

I'm really glad I chose him. The story I heard about the Symbol was neither a lie, an exaggeration, nor a fluke. He's actually someone dependable.

He gave his all to protect someone he barely knows, someone he has no duty to help, yet he goes to battle until the end, then he put his trust in me to protect him when he's vulnerable. If I don't follow him into the depths of hell and bring him back safe and sound, then my life has no value. If I can't do at least this much, then I'm simply unworthy of serving him as he rightfully deserves someone better.

But there's also a side of him that's really cute. He's so shy that he needs me to save him from a conversation with a stranger, and I don't find this to be a bad trait. It's just too adorable that the hero who's brave enough to save strangers is such a small man with a weak impression on others.

But it's all a lie. He's a scholar, a warrior, a mage, a kind man, and a hero. He's someone I want to protect with all my power, and may the gods help me do as much.