Taking a bath on the grass is a bit counterproductive, so I pull out a large, walled, wooden floor to spare us from getting dirty in the mud, but I forgo a ceiling so that we can stare up at the psychedelic moon as we relax.
And since Hukarere and Romy are off-duty now, we invite them to join us for the bath.
I carefully run the sponge along the web of Aoi's fleshy wing. This must be the most sensitive part of her whole body, the two other obvious parts excluded since they're always protected by her hide and scales. So, aside from my spiky Weapon, she rarely feels any strong physical stimulation.
She really appreciates my gentle touch and gives me misty eyes as I wash her, then both of our tails lazily wave about along the wooden floor in sync. I feel her love seeping through [Bind], a constant stream of comfort and happiness, like a pot of hearty meat soup slowly coming to a boil.
"What a romantic analogy," Yunia wryly remarks through our connection.
"Hers, not mine," I respond with a shrug, then I take a look at the others while I bathe in Aoi's love.
The girls giggle softly as they fool around, and Klein and Hana whisper as the thirsty dragonkin finally gets her piece of monkey girl. It's moments like these that I live for.
Alissa washes Hukarere as the latter sits on a stool, the cheeky fox barely restraining herself from spicily touching the straight white wolf, but Alissa definitely knows how to tease her washing partner in subtle, exciting ways.
Yunia "inspects" Romy's body while little Lina washes the caramel-skinned Asian woman. The alluring sight makes me feel like giving Ciel a bit of NTR again and forcing her to watch Romy do her wife.
"No~…!" Ciel cutely moans in my soul space, but begging only makes my Weapon harder!
She disentangles from Roxanne and snatches Lina away, then turns around and immediately begins washing her in a "defensive" posture.
Romy and Yunia share a look as the latter licks her fingers, then I force Yunia to pick up the sponge and begin washing the Companion.
"I never thought you would ever wash me," Romy wryly remarks, then her dark bits harden in excitement.
"It's because I'm being forced to," Yunia replies through gritted teeth.
"Use her like a toy; abuse her as you see fit," I state to them and smirk suggestively.
Romy hums and gives a predatory look to the elven queen on her knees. "Oh, I like that…"
She grabs Yunia by her long, elastic ears, then slowly pushes her head down. Yunia feels quite angry at this role reversal and how her precious ears are being treated, but her heart beats faster as a wave of heat quickly rises between her legs.
"Lick me, you sl-t," Romy orders sternly, a sadistic smile gracing her thin lips.
And Yunia obeys.
Alissa finishes her job and leaves an excited wolf behind, then she begins washing an eager Roxanne. I'd like to make Hukarere wash Alissa, which in her current aroused state could possibly lead to some "accidental" spicy touching, but she doesn't seem to be excited enough to go the girl-love route, yet.
I drop the bucket of warm water on my little dragon, finishing her sacred washing ceremony, then I begin to fantasize about how to further my girl-love fetish as I watch Romy play with Yunia, but Aoi has other plans.
She shifts into her human form and hugs me from behind, then turns my head to the side and gently kisses my lips.
I like it when my women take what they want, but Aoi is submissive enough that she rarely takes the lead, so her taking the initiative feels so much more special.
As both dragons, we struggle to hold ourselves back, but that only makes the rising intensity that more sweeter. She even has me grip her throat and hold her wrists above her head as she loves to surrender herself to me.
But when my anger, my intensity, my savagery rises to its highest point, my vision is suddenly filled with a bright brown, almost orange color, then a pair of soft hands grip my horns.
I blink while I pound away, and then I recognize Alissa's face right before me.
"It's my turn now…" She whispers while breathing heavily, her hands trembling in barely-contained excitement.
I grin at the love of my life and pull out of Aoi, but I grow another Weapon so that she can continue getting Ravaged, then I plunge my wet, used, filthy Weapon into Alissa's still unpunished and dripping flower.
After healing my back from Alissa's nails, we all sink into the bathtub for a long soak as we let our muscles rest from the previous exertion. Right now, it's Yunia's turn for aftercare, and her haughty attitude is back, so she doesn't let Romy skimp on it.
When dinner time comes, I pull out a bunch of tables so that everyone (except for the few unlucky crew who are on duty) can have dinner together.
"There's no boring day with the Ryder family around, I see," Nohopu wryly remarks as he takes his seat. His smile is rather funny to look at due to his white, bucked teeth.
"Aren't you one to talk? You were certainly quite 'energetic' when fulfilling your duty back in the dungeon," Yunia immediately retorts and raises a thin, golden eyebrow at him.
"I object to the 'not boring,' part," Kurii dryly chimes in.
"What?!" The squirrel man squeaks like a startled little animal, then he clears his throat and recomposes himself. "I… well, I occasionally let myself become heated so that my high morale infects the soldiers, too."
She nods softly, making her floppy beagle ears sway adorably just like all the other wereanimals in this world. "Yes, it does help, but it still isn't enough to fully offset the boring days of nothing but chasing after prey."
Nohopu assumes a lofty expression and clacks his bucked teeth. "I'll admit that I have my failings, but I certainly earned this position through merit and competence, so that should count for something."
She hums as she shows a subtle, proud smile. "That, nobody can deny. We're glad to have you as our Captain," -she briefly gives him a subtly teasing glare- "as long as there's someone to keep you in check, but you provide a different type of 'fun' as Their Highnesses do."
Nohopu grins and nods back. "Yes, I agree with that. The Royal Family's youth is refreshing after a…" -He looks up at the moon while he thinks- "Divine's lifetime of bickering between the High Council of Whakamutu, I guess."
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"How does life in an ancient city differ from life over here?" Caterina curiously asks and leans forward.
Nohopu seems to be entranced by the moons, so Kurii answers in his stead, "Oh, everything is different. You land-dwellers have so much more freedom to do… anything. Our Rangatuhinga o mua Hauhuri nation may have had more wealth, especially when you're talking about magical resources, but the Broken Skies is just such an unforgiving land compared to here."
Kyora lifts her head and looks away from the mountain of food on her plate, suddenly interested in the talks about a land she has never been to before. As a Wandering Knight, it's quite obvious that such topics would catch her attention.
And that's how the Chimeras begin bridging the gap with the Templars. They spend the rest of the meal trading stories about expeditions and adventuring, then they comment on how each culture does the same things in their own way.
After filling our bellies, we retire to our portable house, but before we can begin our rest, a small caravan appears, drawn in by the lights and the hulking figure of the ship.
They hail from Goldport, and they're on the last stretch of their journey to Goldcross. We let them camp close to us for mutual protection, and I summon three fire-Hanas to keep watch on things.
Now that we have some downtime, I call for all six of the Companions that have come with us so that we can perform an "inspection." I know that there were a few "arguments" among our bodyguard girls about who would have the "privilege" to accompany us, so I want to give the lucky ones a good time.
Hana and I sit down on the sofa and stare at them solemnly. Six beauties, six soldiers, six… worshipers.
"Strip," I stoically order, and they obey without any hesitation.
Romy, with her exotic eyes, caramel skin, and muscular body. The closest of them to being capable of snu-snu-ing me, but I know she can't handle my draconic rage for long, so I'll leave her to Hana because Yunia wants "revenge."
Edolie, a werecat woman with long brown hair and pinkish skin. She has a slightly lanky figure, but her round, perky pillows and meaty flower petals are mouth-watering. Her predatory eyes tell me that she'll be the most fun for tonight.
Melanie, a human imperial woman with a stocky but juicy body. Imperials aren't known to be thicc, so she must have a bit of Sommerlande blood in her. The shortest, but the most stacked, and she even looks like a small animal frozen before a predator.
Atawha, a Chimera woman with a rare human head and a raccoon-like furry body. Non-animal heads are considered "out of fashion," but to me, she's just extra exotic. She even has the iconic "bandit mask" on her face, making her look really adorable.
Aneta, a seductive silver-elf woman with nice lips and sharp eyes. She's gone a bit heavy on the makeup, but her face is so perfect that it actually works for her by further enhancing what's already ridiculously beautiful. She'll be the most satisfying to break.
And lastly, Hukarere with her majestic wolf head and well-proportioned snow-white body. Even her draconic legs are attractive to me, for some reason. I've been inside her so many times that she feels like "home," and since she's already had to endure a bath without getting filled, I decide to begin with a homely meal.
I gently run the flat part of my claw across her lower parts and scoop up a small amount of her fluids, then I show it to the others. "Look at this, everyone. She's already like this just from the anticipation," I calmly announce.
She grins, though her face is furred, so it's hard to see it when she blushes, but the flush from her face goes down her neck and onto her exposed chest, becoming very noticeable.
I calmly add as I stare at the naked servings of lamb before me, "One day, you'll all become like her. Just the mere thought of me and my wives will be enough to make you ready for us."
I walk behind Hukarere and grab the back of her neck and her waist, then I force her to bend over. She opens her mouth and starts to pant, then I give her what she wants.
"Oh, yes, yes, YES!" She shouts repeatedly in delight and lets her tongue hang out from the side of her mouth.
"You already had some fun today," Hana affirms to Romy, who holds back a pout, then my fiery wife gives her a teasing kiss and steps to the side to face the excited-looking werecat woman instead.
The other four are forced to stand and watch as we slowly bring the chosen two towards bliss, but there's no need to hurry. We have all the time we need to play with all six of them until they break.
Today is Genn, day of Light, and the 1st day of the month of Love, the eighth month of the year. This is a special day, called the Day of Companions, which is basically Valentine's Day, but only for the unmarried because, for couples, every day should be Valentine's.
The God of Festivity dictates that today is a holiday and that all towns should hold parties for the unwed to either find their partners or join harems. It'd be quite an interesting day for us, but unfortunately, we'll miss it this year, though the six Companions will likely be quite happy that they get to spend it with us, even if they're on duty.
After a quick breakfast, we take off again and continue our journey.
Though it might not be the safest idea, I give the golems a few baby friends for them to test, then we all jump back onto the Suite's bed and continue our mana circulation training.
The grassland below us quickly ends and turns into brown rock as we begin to fly through Rakontagne, a thick and rugged mountain range full of brown and gray rock. It gradually becomes snowy as we fly further in, and we start to wonder if we can spot our hidden mansion built part-way into it, but it seems that the illusion enchantments are pretty good because not even Alissa can spot it.
Then we're forced to climb to a higher altitude because the mountain's peak is above the clouds, but a huge, fluffy pillow stands in our way, so Nohopu deploys the winged soldiers and slows down to make sure that we won't crash into the mountainside.
The temperature quickly drops a few degrees as we breach into a misty world of white, then the winged soldiers report Dragolites and Cloud Snakes harassing them.
I stop my training and summon a bunch of wind elemental-wives to aid them. The soldiers manage to kill a few monsters, and we eventually get past them without any issues after about half an hour.
A few Dragolites follow us, but now that their vision is clear, the soldiers team up and quickly dispatch the annoying monsters.
And without the clouds to block our view, we're greeted by the endless grassland of the Mainland. It seems that we passed by Fort Katakti without spotting it, so it was likely shrouded by the cloud we just passed through.
This side of Rakontagne is much more vibrant due to the higher humidity, and that's because mountains block the moisture from passing, so one side is always dryer than the other. There are few mountains to block the winds that come from the southern seas and spread nutrients all over, so all of the regions surrounding the Bay of Three Kings are quite lush and fertile.
There are a few rivulets going down the mountains, channeling the water coming from their slowly melting snowcaps, but they all eventually merge and form a proper river. Right beside it, there's a path leading to Fort Katakti, but it disappears into the cloud, confirming our previous assumption.
The river quickly makes a turn south as it continues to gradually grow wider and wider, and we can even see a boat going along down its stormy waters, likely taking supplies to the Misty Low Forest.
Teleporting goods directly from Goldcross to Katakti, then taking a boat down towards Roubaix is the main route that elven goods take to reach the Misty Forest in the summer. In winter, there's too little ice melt to make the river wide enough for merchant ships to make their way down, so the transportation of goods slows down.
Then we start to leave the Rakontagne behind, and our view becomes dichromatic as the only two colors are now the vibrant greens from the grass under us and the light blue from the sunny sky above.
A forest appears on the edge of our vision far to the south, and though it's a bit hard to notice it due to the angle, I'm pretty sure that the ground has a steep, downwards slope towards the south, which becomes gradually more evident until a small mountain range begins to grow to our west. This is the edge of the Misty Low Forest.
"The Wrinkle," as this new mountain range is called, continues towards the southwest and grows in height until it reaches its apex at the Fledgling Falls.
A bit north of its beginning is Mistcross, a sprawling city just at the turn of a wide river that discharges into Specula Lake, the biggest lake in the whole empire.
We spot our first imperial airship flying above the city, just beginning its patrol, and it seems to be coming right towards us.
Imperial airships are basically sailless traditional water ships covered in a layer of metal armor. There's a metal dome covering most of the wooden deck, and there are no wings, sails, or other protrusions, so it looks like a horizontal egg where the top side is smaller than the bottom.
Alissa, Yunia, and I go to the bridge so that we can deal with it, but then we notice that the airship is being left behind. It truly is like a flying bathtub, or a tank if you consider its heavy armor.
Soon after, it starts flashing lights towards us, using Rupegia's version of morse code to order us to come back.
"Don't turn, merely stop and wait," Yunia orders Nohopu, and he relays the order while grinning.
We aren't beholden to imperial airships, even while in their airspace, so if we act just a bit haughty, someone high in the ranks of the imperial army will eventually receive a report about how they had to order the Royal Ryder Family's personal airship to stop because they just couldn't catch up.
"Bad" publicity is still publicity.