We leave the castle on foot and begin walking across the rings of mansions, but Roxanne quickly regrets our choice of activity since her heels aren't the best for walking, so I cast [Swift Foot] on her and summon a light elemental-wife to make sure that her sexy feet won't start to hurt on our date.

We pass by Klein's home, but nobody's home. The Gilbiks are nearby, too, but they aren't outside, so we just pass them by. Fuda is likely resting, and his parents should be working, so maybe we shouldn't bother them.

Then we pass by the houses of the Clown Troupe, and we meet with Little Pomp in his garden as he practices with a longsword.

"Ah, Royal Ryders, out for a stroll?" He greets us as he skips closer. He's a very pretty elf, but he's just a little bit taller than me, which is below average for elves.

"We're enjoying the view as we go out," Roxanne politely replies in my stead.

A servant hands him a towel, which he uses to wipe his face, then he grins and begins his speech while gesticulating with his hands, "Indeed, it's quite beautiful." -He spins in place as he motions to everything around him- "I'm envious of Yunia for having grown up in such an idyllic place, but I'm honored to have been given such a luxurious home."

And I gracefully reply, "Yunia's friends will always be welcome here. Besides, the Gods might one day consider it a Sin to leave all these mansions empty."

He raises his eyebrows, both pleased and surprised at my choice of words. "Indeed. Her Highness Yulania is an elf who commands a lot of respect, so it's only a matter of time before the nobility warms up to her, but I also think that the Ryder family is diverse enough to compensate for their elven prejudice." He gracefully smiles as his eyes flutter between both of us.

"I'm glad to see that her friends are so understanding," I affirm, pleasantly surprised.

He nods matter-of-factly and puffs up his chest with pride. "It doesn't surprise me that she didn't marry another elf. I know the kind of fantasies she and Ereia have involving other races."

Then the three of us grin at each other while Yunia frowns internally.

"But I won't keep you any further. Enjoy your stroll," he gracefully takes his leave.

"Good luck with your training," Roxanne answers for me.

The rest of the Troupe live nearby, but we don't seek out any of them and just move on, reaching the uninhabited zone before long. We don't have a lot of people living in the inner and outer circles, and our guests are all clustered as close as possible around the castle, so there are plenty of empty mansions left.

Elven homes don't require much maintenance, and at most, they just need a Nature mage from our court to pass by to ensure that nothing grew without permission, so there's nobody here aside from the occasional Lordsguard patrol since we certainly won't force our maids to unnecessarily clear them.

We greet and smile at our men, making most of them blush under their helmets. Our "Charisma" and sex appeal are quite high for both of us, so it seems that we harden dicks and moisten pussies with ease.

The view is both eerie and soothing. There's something special about the elven sense of beauty that causes positive emotions within me, but the lack of people makes it all feel "incomplete."

I certainly enjoy this part of our stroll.

Then we finally exit the castle grounds into the Nobles' Quarter, and from here on out, we have an escort of Lordsguard and Templars, the latter of which we're already familiar with since they're Ciel's former comrades.

"Your Highnesses," Timas greets us. The pale, black-haired cat man is always polite and graceful, but I find his formal behavior a bit stifling.

Poppy does a curtsy, holding up an invisible skirt since she's completely armored, which is a shame since the Rupegian version of the gesture raises the skirt a lot higher, so I can only imagine how the legs of the raven-haired little dwarf girl look.

Alonso and Kyora simply nod. The ginger halfling and the blue-haired giant dragonkin have much more abrasive personalities, so we shouldn't expect them to be friendly with us, which seems to annoy our Lordsguard.

I reply in kind, but then I become curious, "Greetings, Ito family. I didn't expect you to stay here for so long, aren't you Wandering Knights?"

"We're thinking about settling down, and the High Forest seems to have become quite the attractive place for non-elves lately," Timas answers politely and glances at one of the Chimera Lordsguard.

"And the elves aren't as bad as they've been said to be," Poppy adds with a wry smile, and the elves in our Lordsguard twitch awkwardly, then they pretend that they aren't listening to our conversation.

I look back and smirk at them as I remark, "I think it's only in Escanso that they're like that because of how the Intervention has likely humbled them a bit."

"But I'm sure your influence will spread, at least in your territory," Timas affirms with a nod.

I nod back and state out loud, "It will. We'll make sure that the Western High Forest flourishes again, whether the elves like it or not."

"If you achieve what Ciel told us about your plans, only the Wicked would have something to complain about," Poppy energetically announces.

But I smile bitterly as I'm much more cynical than her. "The plans are only a 'best case scenario.' In practice, things definitely won't go so well."

Timas leans forward with a shit-eating grin and whispers, "Don't tell 'Nai' Teresina that I told you this, but she fully supports you and your family, so the temple will aid you in pursuing your vision."

Oh, yeah, that definitely does boost my confidence quite a lot, and not just because I have a thing for Teresina. "That's great to hear. We'll always look forward to increasing our number of allies," I huskily reply.

And Poppy pats Kyora's thick arm as she affirms with a cheeky grin, "These two might be a bit grumpy, but they'll come to help Ciel if she asks, so you can also rely on us."

"Fuck you," Kyora mutters under her breath.

Tsundere.

We chuckle softly, then Roxanne questions them curiously, "But since you're settling down, will you continue to be Wandering Knights?"

"We don't need to actually 'wander' to belong to the Knights, but we'll probably just join the Townsguard or the Expeditionary Division," Kyora answers with an aloof tone.

But Roxanne continues without wavering, "How about conquering a dungeon? Chimera nobility is much more accepting than the elves."

"An interesting idea…" Timas hums and looks back at Kyora.

But she just grunts, "Sounds bothersome."

"Can we actually become nobles and still remain Templars? I think they're mutually exclusive," Alonso wonders confusedly.

"Well, if they are, then think of it as an improvement in lifestyle," I smoothly suggest.

"Definitely better than just being an escort to others," he grumbles and frowns at Timas.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

But Poppy annoyedly frowns back and chastises him, "Thinking like that will make you drop your guard. We're here to sniff out heretics, which have attacked the Ryder family twice, already."

"Alright, alright," he immediately backs down.

"And we're thankful for the temple's help in this matter," I gently add.

Timas nods energetically and gracefully ends the conversation, "Now, we've stolen enough of your time, so, please, enjoy your afternoon together without minding us."

Then Roxanne leaves an alluring suggestion in the air, "Perhaps another time, you could tell me about your adventures with Ciel. Specifically, any embarrassing stories that I can use to tease her."

Now that gets even Kyora and Alonso interested.

We take a leisurely stroll through the Nobles' Quarter, passing by the residential area first. The mansions here are smaller than the ones on the castle grounds, but they have a lot more personality and variety since most of them are personal homes instead of standard-built mansions owned by the Lordship.

The elven nobles live around here, so their reception to us is perfectly polite, but cold. We don't let that bother us, greeting them cordially, and it's actually pretty funny seeing them shift gears and suddenly become a lot more agreeable to not offend us. We'll kill them with kindness!

It makes me realize that they might just have a bad image of us in their minds, so maybe, we just need to continue with this approach to improve our reputation with them.

"I didn't expect you to enjoy this sort of thing," I remark as we happily wave goodbye to the noble couple walking away.

"Making others embarrassed is totally my thing," she replies with a smirk.

"Touché."

Then we enter the Chimera zone, and the mood changes almost instantly. We're both quite popular among the Chimera, so we not only get plenty of pretty women being flirty with us, but there's even a few bold men asking me to take my clothes off. It seems that they still remember when I walked the streets naked with a half-boner back in Whakamutu.

And then we're both left speechless as we see a Labrador-headed man turn into a woman in real-time just so that they can flirt with us.

She (?) notices our astonishment and sultrily asks as she cups her modest breasts, "Do you still find a woman like me attractive, even though I spend most of my time as a man?"

I blink blankly and blurt out, "Uh, yes. Just… don't change back into a man mid-sex."

She laughs out loud while Roxanne blushes as a new fetish is born within her.

Oh, no…

She quickly gets her laughter under control and amusedly shares, "I've been hired to teach a few male elves [Sexual Metamorphosis], and I'm quite certain that they're learning it specifically to become maids in your castle, so I'll relay your words to them in case any of them have 'mischievous' intentions that'd get them in trouble."

"You have my thanks…" I stiffly reply. I really need to think about the implications of this.

"So, you don't need to be a Metamorphic Chimera to be able to use that skill?" Roxanne curiously asks.

The Lab woman nods. "Yes, that's correct, though the 'Metas' do have a big advantage for anything related to body alterations, especially since most of them are born with [Sexual Metamorphosis]."

Interesting… But now, I'm wondering how many of our maids have that skill…

"Please, Wolfy, I can only get so excited!" Roxanne teases through [Bind].

"Alright, fuck you," I grumble back through our connection.

"Hard and rough, please."

We move on and have a few brief conversations with the Chimeras, and the most common topic is the Institute as they're quite eager to know when I'll be opening the other divisions.

The Institute is a huge money sink until we can attract buyers, so we'll take it easy with it for now because the social projects have priority in our budget. We'd rather not implement the tax reforms until we have the support of the people, so we'll have to be careful with money and operate at a loss until we're confident that there won't be any revolts when we impose the reforms.

Then we turn around and make for the commercial zone of the Quarter. We have a tea shop there that we're going to refurbish into a chocolate (and hopefully coffee) shop soon, but it's still a nice place to visit.

A group of elves suddenly draws my attention as they turn towards us and enter onto an intercept course. We're at the edge of the Chimera zone, so I wonder why they're here, but then I recognize Madame Silvina, and it seems like she's leading them.

"Your Highnesses Wolf and Roxanne," she greets us first with a warm smile and bows, with the dozen elves following her example a second later. It's always a pleasure meeting with this tall, beautiful, and graceful woman.

"Madame Silvina, it's great to see you, but I must apologize, for we don't recognize your companions," I politely reply.

The elves straighten, and I notice that they're all young, and most of them are women who are having a lot of trouble looking at either of us in the eye.

Silvina nods slowly and kindly explains, "These are young nobles who came from other towns, drawn to your family's fame and philosophy."

"I see…" I gently whisper, then I notice one of the young women starting to blush and breathe heavily as she musters up the courage to look me in the eye.

Wait, is Silvina pimping us up?

I grin and repeat, "I see…"

"We're all excited about tonight's reveal," the aroused noblewoman sultrily remarks.

But I immediately try to allay her, "It's nothing too special, but I think most people will find it at least 'interesting.'"

"Especially the men. It's about a new 'toy' he came up with," Roxanne wryly adds.

But they softly gasp at the mention of a "toy," confusing us for a second, then one of the nobles blurts out, "Ah… you mean, like an enchanted sword?"

"Something like that," Roxanne replies with a smile.

The nobles laugh nervously at their misunderstanding, but Silvina's gentle smile doesn't even twitch, completely unfazed by their bubbling hormones.

I'm honestly falling in love with this woman. I know Lina wants her as a mommy, too, so Gods, please help me find a way into this noblewoman's heart.

After some subtle flirting with the young nobles, Silvina uses the perfect moment to end the conversation, which leaves them wanting for more, then we move on to our tea shop.

It's a cute little place with a flowery theme and perfumed air. The Este family heraldry was all about the five flowers used in their (now our) famous extract, so this shop uses those flowers as both decoration and a source of pleasant aromas.

I want to turn this into a coffee shop, so we'll be doing some remodeling. I'm certain that the first restaurant in the High Forest to serve chocolate and coffee will be a massive hit, so we're going to expand the shop. Half of the lot will be reserved for open-air seats with this flowery theme, and the rest of the seats will be private, dark, and cozy.

The shop itself is the usual hollowed out, extra-wide tree, but we plan on lowering the base to the bottom level of Escanso, and then we'll grow the tree tall like a tower so that it reaches all three levels of the town, with bridges to connect the shop to them. This way, everyone will be able to see down to the bottom level, and the sunlight coming from the top will make it look like a lighthouse in the lower levels.

We enter the shop, and the group of armed Lordsguard and Templars makes everyone shit their pants in fear, but we just move on to the third floor, which is always reserved exclusively for us and our close friends. There's a nice balcony with a view down onto the street, so we have some cold tea there to refresh ourselves.

I take the chance and massage Roxanne's gorgeous, pale feet while we rest.

She leans back in her chair and moans softly as my padded claws press all the right spots. "Call me spoiled, but I'm really enjoying all the attention we're getting," she softly remarks as she gives me a warm smile.

I hum back with a nod, "Yes, you are spoiled, and also, yes, it is nice."

She chuckles briefly and takes a sip of her cold, flowery tea. "Spoil me rotten, husband, and I'll be happy to suck your dick harder than Alissa and Hana combined."

I kiss her toe and grin. "I love this sort of encouragement."

And she smirks cheekily. "It helps that you're such a simple man."

I shrug. "I'm hopelessly addicted to women, but my wives are the air that I breathe to live."

She moans and closes her eyes in delight. "Hngh… that's so hot."

"I love you," I whisper huskily.

She opens her eyes and grins. "I love you, too."

Then we move on and walk down the main road, taking a look at all the shops along the way, but once we reach a female clothing shop, the nightmare begins.

"Oh, please, Wolfy. It's not that bad," Roxanne tries to soothe my frightened mind, but then she grins mischievously. "It'll go faster if we just buy anything that fits me well enough."

I frown at her, but I think she's kind of right. Agonizing over which piece of clothing to buy does take quite some time, and we're also expected to not be stingy with money since we're filthy rich, so we might as well.

The attendant offers me a comfy armchair and a cup of Eia extract, then Roxanne strips and makes an erotic show of her wearing each new piece of clothing, so maybe it isn't that bad, after all.

Okay, anything we do together just makes me horny. It's getting a bit unbearable, really. Roxanne has too much sex appeal.

She breathes in deeply and closes her eyes as she smiles. She doesn't even have any comment to give about that, she's simply too happy to banter.

We end up buying a lot of clothes, some rolls of textiles to make clothes for the girls, accessories for everyone, magical sweets and snacks, and a few perfumes that make Alissa unusually excited.

With this, most of our afternoon is gone, but then we reach a tavern, and the music coming from within attracts us both.

"♪ Steady on, she doesn't need to burn. ♪

♪ She tries to flee and she tries to turn. ♪

♪ Grappling fire, we latch her hull. ♪

♪ She's starting to roll, but we've got her on a leash. ♪"

Then they repeat the chorus twice.

"♪ With a crew of drunken pilots. ♪

♪ We're the only airship pirates. ♪

♪ We're full of hot air, and we're starting to rise. ♪

♪ We're the terror of the skies, but a danger to ourselves. ♪"

"♪ A swish of air, and my boots hit the deck. ♪

♪ No cash, no gems; no, not a speck. ♪

♪ Our grape shots made this bird a wreck. ♪

♪ And a glance below deck shows a crew of priests and orphans. ♪"

We enter the tavern and see a human singer along with a full Chimera band playing. Their instruments are a dwarven hurdy-gurdy, an elven violin, a human lute, and a set of dragonkin drums, making for quite an interesting ensemble.

But what I find the most striking is that there's a considerable number of elves in the audience, and they seem to be very much enjoying this Chimera song, which has been translated into Andraste.

The next song is also about airships, but we don't care, for the tune is just the right tempo for a lively dance.