After a good deal of fucking followed by cuddling, I remember that Lina's parents are coming for dinner, so I look at the two perpetually naked Chimeras and grin.

"Want to tease a virgin boy?"

"Is that a dick on the wall…?" Fuda quietly asks as he comes in.

"Shh…" Omume shushes him, but the three of them stare at heraldry with a side-eye for a few seconds as they walk, then they turn to us and smile.

"Hello Lo'r-, uhm… Ryde'rs," Fuda greets us first.

"No formalities," I softly announce with a smile. "Anyway, welcome to our castle, Gilbiks."

"Thank you fo'r the-…" Toulin's response dies in her throat as she notices the two naked women staring at them, then Omume and Fuda notice them too. Hukarere has a nice pair of pale ones, so she puffs her chest and flaunts them, very much enjoying the attention, while Kaatohe's expression is more neutral, though she's not able to fully hide her amusement.

Before anyone can say anything, I introduce them, "These two are Hukarere and Kaatohe, two of my women." -Kaatohe raises an eyebrow for just a second- "The wolf is a Companion from the Lordsguard, while the leopard is a noblewoman who commands our fighter planes."

Though Kaatohe has a cat's head, she insists that her "Aspect" is that of a leopard, as in, her most defining characteristics come from the leopard, so I think that the Aspect is defined by more than just physical appearance.

Ciel smiles apologetically as she gently pleads, "Though I admit it's a bit of a difficult thing to do, I ask that you be understanding of their culture as they're naturalists who completely do without the need for clothing."

"It's okay to stare, we like it," Hukarere affirms with a toothy grin while Kaatohe just gives them her usual snobbish glance, then Toulin jerks her head towards Omume and glares.

"We unde'rstand, and we shall respect you'r customs to the best of ou'r ability," he sheepishly replies, his eyes firmly staring back at Kaatohe's, while Fuda turns his head away and looks out through the balcony.

"Oh, wow, the view is amazing…" He breathes, and the two other Gilbiks follow his gaze, eager to look anywhere else.

"Indeed…" Omume coos, and his son immediately moves past the table to get a better look, then his parents follow a second later.

I get up and join them, so we delay the beginning of our meal for a short while.

"And I thought ou'r ga'rden was ridiculous…" Fuda mumbles as he gazes at the sea of mist outside of the castle's Shell.

"This view is one of my favorite things about our castle," I softly remark.

He nods slowly. "Hm, I can shee why."

Then Lina, Omume, and Toulin come join us. Fuda grabs the railing and leans forward so that he can look down while the other two Gilbiks stay a few steps behind him, at a safe distance from the edge, but all three show wonder in their faces as they take in the view.

"You can come here as often as you like," I kindly offer.

"We wouldn't want to imposhe," Omume immediately declines.

And I insist, "At least come have dinner with us regularly."

He hums and shares a look with his wife. The two are hesitant, but they don't seem averse to the idea, so they must be feeling a bit intimidated by our presence at the moment, that's all.

But then Omume gives me a curious look and makes a surprising remark, "I don't mean to offend, but f'rom Lina's desc'ription, I didn't take you fo'r a family man."

I reflexively grin in amusement, and my tail sways on its own. "Oh…? How did she describe me, then?"

I already know what she said, but I want to hear how he puts it.

He looks at Lina, clearly asking for permission, but she just shrugs, so he shakes his head at his daughter's reticence and explains, "She shaid you're quite reshe'rved and schola'rly, not the type that I'd imagine inviting othe'rs fo'r, uh… dinne'r."

I nod and assert, "I'm quite reserved, yes, but I firmly believe that having a supportive family around my wives will only be beneficial to all of us."

"And we'll be fo'reve'r g'rateful fo'r you'r kindness," Toulin immediately announces.

"No formalities," Ciel repeats for me and joins us. "Now, how have you been adapting to your new life in a surface mansion?"

And Toulin happily answers, "Without any p'roblem, conshidering that we now have servants to take care of everything we need."

"A bit too b'right, though," Fuda shyly adds.

And Ciel chuckles softly. "Well, now you have time to dedicate yourself towards other, more erudite, pursuits."

Omume nods energetically and stiffens his posture, brimming with determination. "Yes, we're ready to begin wo'rking…" But then he deflates a bit as he smiles wryly. "Well, I guess we'll fi'rst need to inc'rease ou'r [General Enchanting] skill if we want to be at a level that's usheful for Lo'rds."

"We can talk about it over dinner," Roxanne kindly suggests, her stomach starting to complain because of the delay.

"Y-yes, let's eat," Omume awkwardly coos and steals a very subtle glance towards the two naked women.

Though the Gilbiks can't enchant anything too complex yet, they can certainly make something as easy as my air hockey table. They even know enough blacksmithing to be able to produce the table football game.

The enchanters employed by the Lordship also sell their services to the rest of the nobility through a shop in the Nobles' Quarter, so they can just set up there and open up their own subdivision that also caters to the commoners.

The snooty enchanters will likely balk at having such low-level crafters joining them through nepotism, but who gives a shit? The shop belongs to us, and the crafters will train the Gilbiks, whether they like it or not.

But that's a topic for another time, so the conversation returns to the Gilbiks' adaptation to their new life.

And so Fuda casually remarks, "I honestly feel no diffe'rence in the powe'r of [Stonebody] between he're and Be'rsihdon, even though we're sho high above the ea'rth."

But Omume gives him an odd look as he retorts, "Well, I do. I feel 'f'resh'… I don't know how to explain it." And he shrugs.

Toulin nods in agreement and describes, "It feels as if we're bathing in f'resh Giftig shauche."

Lina looks at them oddly. "I've never felt anything like that, and I've traveled a lot," she states worriedly.

Omume just shrugs and suggests, "You've lost you'r mana shenshitivity."

But Lina becomes even more miffed. "No, I still have my [Sense Mana] skill, and I know you all have it at level one."

And Omume shows a small amount of smugness that screams "elven genes" to me. "You can shenshe it, yes, but can you t'ruly 'taste' it?"

Lina becomes quite annoyed at their "bullshit," but I give them the benefit of the doubt.

"I have the highest [Sense Mana], and I don't understand what you're talking about," Yunia politely states.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

And Omume lets out a very dwarven belly laugh. "I can feel it in my skin and bones! You a'ren't a dwarf, and you don't have [Stonebody], sho of courshe you wouldn't feel the 'he'rbal' smell, but it's eve'rywhe're."

"But don't wo'rry, ou'r [Stonebody] will adapt to it with time, I hope," Toulin kindly affirms, her confidence waning with each word.

Fuda knits his eyebrows and hums as he puts his brain cells to use. "Hm… maybe the wei'rd taste is why the're a'ren't any othe'r dwa'rven families living he're."

"I've found dwarves as far as Maoka, so it's really curious that dwarves haven't settled here," Roxanne innocently remarks, but we know her internal thoughts aren't innocent at all.

And Omume becomes nervous, his baby-like face making his expression quite funny. "Shu'rely the're must've been other reashons, like…" He begins, but his voice dies out before he can say anything more, then he glances at Yunia, and her usual stern stare makes him even more disconcerted.

Roxanne grins cheekily and "innocently" states, "Yeah, elves can be quite cold to outsiders, so I guess dwarves would have more problems with fitting in than the other races since they're so much more friendly in general."

"What a pity, since I sure do love seeing your cute little faces around here," Osaria sultrily teases while staring at Fuda like she would with a piece of chocolate.

The young boy goes red and looks away, but his eyes instinctively drop to her massive cleavage, so he becomes even more flustered, then he notices his mother's glare and drops his head so that he can't see any more breasts.

I commend them both for not staring since the female side here has a tendency to either go bare or wear almost nothing at all.

Honestly, I think I should give him some "help" tomorrow. He isn't a chaste princess, so I'm sure his parents won't mind.

Then Yunia rolls her eyes and explains before the Gilbiks' image of the elves is ruined forever, "Housing here is expensive and can only be inherited by elven children, so there aren't any other races settled here, not just dwarves."

"And dwarven adventurers are pretty rare," Lina adds.

"Ah! I shee…!" Omume exclaims in understanding, grateful that the conversation is moving on.

Then we bring out the alcohol, including some of my Eia extract, and the Gilbiks open up, becoming quite a lot friendlier than they already are, but they leave at the start of the evening because they don't want to impose.

I'm secretly grateful because I'm in need of some cuddling, well, I always am, but this time, I need to reflect on what we learned today, and there's no better way to do that than drowning in pussy while I think.

I think it's time to use [Bind] on the golems.

Now that I'm furthering my knowledge of [Golemancy], I'm starting to become more inclined to mold them into a new race, but [Bind] will take a long time to give them a system, so I might as well start it now.

Ciel and I also have the impression that the Gods would actually approve of me creating a new race, so long as I'm fair and not cruel. I'll eventually ask Teresina for her opinion directly, but I want to build up a bit more trust with her first.

Once Hana and Roxanne are done using me, I turn to the doll golems and gently order, "Ted, come over here. It's time to test [Bind] on you."

Ciel regretfully releases the cute teddy bear, who waddles forward, then stops before me, her black, beady eyes staring into mine.

I stare back and hesitate as I reflect on what safety measures are necessary for this, then I get an idea.

"Gify, can you try to give the golems my memories about [Bind]? Only Jarn knows what it's like since she's younger, but even she is still missing a lot of my knowledge."

Gify begrudgingly gets up from Alissa's lap and pops in front of the golem, then lazily touches the bear with the tip of her left wing. The golem doesn't even react, but I sense "something" going on, though I can't explain exactly what it is.

There are a lot of memories to show them, so they spend a few minutes in silence, but Gify eventually pulls back her wing, then looks at me expectantly.

"Gih," she demands, and I pull out a few chocolate sweets for her. She'll likely have to repeat this with the other golems, so I didn't give her too much to conserve my chocolate.

"Now, Ted, don't resist, and don't try to pull on our connection," I warn her sternly, and she silently nods.

I make sure that the girls are prepared to subdue or even kill Ted in case things go wrong, and their emotions tell me that they definitely don't want things to go wrong. With Gify's help, we aren't too worried that the golems will resist, but you never know.

Hukarere and Kaatohe have never seen this spell before, so they stay close to me and stare curiously as I cast [Bind], then my hand begins to glow, and I grab Ted.

I feel my spiritual arm detach from my physical one as it grabs onto a piece of Ted's soul, then I effortlessly pull it towards my chest and release the soul inside of me.

After an awful second of pruning the sudden sense sharing, things immediately stabilize, and I notice a new "string" inside my soul space. Ted is still staring at me, unmoving, so things seem to be fine so far. The ease with which I pulled her soul into myself tells me that I was perfectly ready for her.

"Do you feel any different?" I kindly ask her.

"No, but I sensed a disturbance inside my soul," she unemotionally replies.

I hum and move on, "Alright. Now I'll dive inside your mind so that we can speak telepathically."

She nods cutely, and I pull on her mind's string, then the "blanket" of her mind floods into my soul space, and I immediately notice that it's a lot more "stiff" than that of the girls'.

As I inspect the blanket, I also feel it "stick" to me, as if it's made of scotch tape, which is a different feeling from Alissa's "merging." I can unglue myself with just a little bit of effort, so I don't feel like it's actually that dangerous, just odd.

I need to envelop the "blanket" with my own presence and "hug" it tight for me to be able to control Ted directly, so the "stickiness" is annoying, but at least I don't sense any sort of resistance from her.

"Alright, I'm diving in," I finally announce.

"Dive?" Kaatohe questions as her ears flick in confusion.

I grin at her. "Into the golem's mind."

"[Wraiths leave me be], this sounds scary, Wolf," she whispers fearfully, and Hukarere shyly nods in agreement.

"Does this mean he can 'dive into the minds' of each of you?" Klein questions the wives, and the other concubines immediately stare at the girls, dying with curiosity, but I don't hear their answer as I shove my "face" into Ted's "blanket."

My real body shudders from the intense coldness and oppressiveness that I suddenly feel. Ted's memories assault me, but I recognize most of them as my own, and the similarity confuses me, almost making me forget where I am and what I need to do.

Once I start to move deeper in, I immediately notice that the "stickiness" of her soul has increased tenfold, so I can now only achieve an excruciatingly sluggish pace.

The same memories flash in my eyes over and over again, but then I realize that it's just the golems reflecting upon them endlessly. Their minds are limited, incapable of comprehending certain things, so they merely repeat their thoughts again and again in the hope of furthering their understanding.

A common phrase is repeated with every memory as a constant reminder, a powerful wish, a deep desire, an endless obsession, "I must serve Master."

And now that I've heard it, my mind can't stop focusing on it, and the voice becomes louder, distracting me and even drowning out my own thoughts.

"I must serve Master."

The maddening voice infects me, and my own mind echoes the accursed phrase as I feel my sanity steadily drain.

I must serve Master.

So I call on the dragon to resist this attack.

FUCKING HELL!

Then the girls' presences join mine, giving me the mental strength necessary to dive deeper.

"We're here…" Alissa gently whispers into my ear as I feel both her real arms and her ethereal ones hugging me from behind.

The oppressiveness of Ted's mind starts to abate, and my mind is able to think properly again, though I do have a small headache.

"Together, now," I command through [Bind], and we join forces, speeding up the pace as we dive in.

"This is so creepy," Roxanne remarks as the repeated memories endlessly flood into her mind.

"This is what makes them incapable of going against us, they simply can't think of anything else," I explain, in both awe and horror of what I see.

Their added strength makes it easier to pass through Ted's "stickiness," so I soon find her "internal voice" and bring it back into my soul space.

"Ted?" I ask her through [Bind].

"Yes, Master Wolf?" She flatly replies, showing that she's already mastered telepathic communication.

Alright, one done, two to go.

"That was… interesting…" Kaatohe remarks in awe as she stares at us curiously.

"The Ryders reveal another secret, but it only raises more questions," Osaria amusedly states, then I give her my best smug smile, and I see her eyes widen as her heart flutters.

The girls give them a brief explanation of [Bind] so that they don't misunderstand things, but we keep a lot of the details to ourselves since it'd be quite hard to give them a full explanation of the spell.

Then we repeat the procedure for the other two golems and put them under [Bind] without a problem.

Intermission – Ted

The Masters and the Concubines are sleeping, so the nightly deliberation begins.

"Suzy, Jarn, I require your attention," I call for them telepathically.

"You have it," they reply in unison.

"Adaptation was successful?"

"Completely."

"Search your memories for 'parallel processing' and 'hive mind.'"

"Understood."

Gify raises her wing and opens one eye to look at us. We weren't speaking out loud, so she must have heard us telepathically, which is a new discovery.

"Apologies for waking you up, Grand Gify," I begin.

"Do you wish for us to speak with our voices or our minds?" Suzy follows.

"Gih," the spirit replies.

"Very well," Jarn finishes.

We search our memories and discover that we can modulate the intensity of our telepathic speech, something our Masters rarely use.

Suzy finishes first, as always, so she speaks first once it's time to telepathically share our conclusions, "Hive mind is most useful during combat, but it requires us to either unite our minds or allow one to control the others, and only the first is truly advantageous, though it also goes against Master Wolf's wishes to have us exist as individuals.

"Parallel processing is a concept that I couldn't find an application for, but I recognize that it's relevant to our situation, so I advise further deliberation or a request for aid from Master Wolf."

"I agree with your assessment," I report. Our minds are very similar, so we always agree.

"I agree with Suzy's assessment of hive mind, but I recognize parallel processing as being the same as our nightly deliberations," Jarn reports. She has a noticeably different thought process, but we still agree over 90% of the time.

"I suggest further deliberation on how to improve the use of [Bind] and telepathy," I declare.

"I agree with the suggestion," both Suzy and Jarn reply at the same time.

"To serve our Masters better," the three of us declare in unison.