We spend the last hour before sunset just enjoying each others' presences, and everyone gets their turn getting a bit of attention from me.

Alissa's tails get brushed, Roxanne's horns are massaged, Hana's abs are licked, Ciel's toes get sucked, Lina's little body is hugged, Aoi's claws are sharpened, and Yunia returns the massage that Alissa and I gave her through special actions.

Then I give each of the golems warm kisses and hugs because they deserve it. Though they might not feel anything from this, they could one day learn to appreciate our love.

The not-LSD we took is still making us quite bubbly, so we get all warm and fuzzy as we giggle like fools.

I wonder what side effects other psychedelics would give us. It's fortunate that our first experience was with this mild drug because I know that the other races have stuff that's a lot stronger than what we used. Dwarves, gnomes, pixies, and dragonkin are infamous in that regard.

The time for our daily ritual eventually arrives, but it seems that there's still one last surprise for us today. It's already night in Escanso, but Osaria receives word that a caravan has arrived, bringing with them a group of fifty werefox hunters from the Misty Low Forest.

This is what we had negotiated for in exchange for our help in dealing with the heretical mercenary company, but there was also one more optional "request" that we're all eager to see if it has been fulfilled.

A dignified couple stands at the forefront of the group of temporary werefox Lordsguard members. One is a strong and solemn man with the hair and skin color of the Misty Foxes, and the other is a female ethereal beauty with amber eyes and jade-like skin and hair. She's a prime example of a White Stalker, just like Ofilia, Alissa's childhood maid.

But in between them is a petite woman with the same colors as her mother. She's so god damn cute that she could almost pass for a dwarf, and the criminally small red not-kimono she's wearing is open on the sides, revealing string underwear that could easily be undone by pulling on the flimsy-looking knot.

Alissa, Osaria, and I breathe deeply as we take in the sight of this obvious piece of meat being offered to us. Ciel also has a strong reaction, but she tries to hide it.

"I mean, she is cute…" She mumbles defensively.

Roxanne hugs her from behind and plays with her massive chest as she teases, "Watch out, Lina. Cute, small, and werefox, that's like, all of her weaknesses in one, single, tight package."

Ciel grumbles but doesn't stop Roxanne from playing with her body while Lina tries to think of a response but gets distracted by the jiggling.

The three werefoxes bow in sync as Osaria approaches, then the man politely speaks, "Greetings, Dame Osaria. I'm Marceau Fountun, this is my wife, Manon, and our daughter, Thea. We're former Sworn Hunters of Roubaix that have come to swear our loyalty to the Ryder Royal Family."

Oooh~, that's a bit more than what we expected.

They want to become our knights.

Osaria nods respectfully and replies in kind, "We welcome you into our home. May the alliance of our two houses prove fruitful and enlightening for all of us." Then she turns her predatory eyes to the young woman, and I can just imagine the spicy things going through her mind. "My lover Wolf, His Highness, would be delighted to receive your family, but they're currently at the capital, though this bird is his summon, so I'm sure he's watching us right now."

The couple seems pleasantly surprised, but Thea stiffens and simply stares at the little ball of feathers, unsure of what to do. Her long hair is tied in an elaborate and fashionable bun on top of her head that reminds me of Chinese styles, but her bangs almost cover her eyes, giving her a mysterious air, which instantly becomes adorable once her serious aura is replaced by embarrassment.

Manon takes over for her husband and gives a short bow to the bird, allowing me to look down her respectable cleavage for a brief moment. She's a more mature beauty in comparison to Ofilia, and she has a seductive air similar to Osaria's. "Your Highness, we're honored to have been given this opportunity to serve your illustrious family."

The bird chirps softly in approval, but I think that's Osaria's influence because I'm a lot more neutral to this kind of reverence.

"My, I'm sure he'll love your eagerness," my milfy diplomat cheerfully replies. "How about you come live in the castle as guests while you wait to swear loyalty?"

Manon's white, fluffy tail wags once as she grins, and the seductiveness of her pale lips is rather stunning. "We wouldn't want to impose."

"Nonsense. And don't worry about the bird, His Highness isn't one to eavesdrop uninvited."

The two share some pleasantries while Marceau seems content with staying silent, but Thea remains attentive, absorbing every word of their conversation.

"What a curious choice," Alissa softly remarks, and I continue kissing her slender neck while we wait for everyone's attention to focus on her, then she continues, "The most common reason for someone to switch loyalties is because of marriage, and out of respect to the Goddess of Love, nobody is allowed to interfere in matters of love. The only problem comes from when a non-native of the clan marries another non-native because their children need to inherit the primary characteristics of their host clan, which are the race, and the color of the skin and hair…"

Lina's Trivia: it's possible to choose which side of the family a child inherits their appearance and race from by praying to the Goddess of Fertility.

And Yunia raises her eyebrows as she immediately understands her implication.

Alissa smirks back at her, then explains it for the slower among us, "This means that either Marceau changed loyalty to the White Stalkers and then came back to the Misty Foxes, which is very odd, or they chose to have their child inherit Manon's characteristics, which would be a slight to the Misty Foxes."

"Then, did your mother send them here to get rid of them?" Yunia wisely suggests.

But Alissa frowns. "No, that'd be offensive to us, and mother wouldn't want to strain our relationship like that. I think the former is more likely, which is why I think they're quite the curious couple."

Yunia immediately catches the scent of plotting and starts deliberating, "The way they're presenting their daughter to us at what's supposed to be our first meeting seems a little strong, and not only have they immediately declared the desire to become knights, they don't need to put any effort into grabbing Wolfy's interest, so I feel like there's some hidden motive for their actions. Any insight on why they'd want to present their daughter to us like that?"

Alissa shrugs. "They want Thea to become close to us as fast as possible, that's for sure, but there are too many reasons for why."

"How about the usual reasons: fame, power, wealth, safety?"

Alissa's tail wags once, and her pointy ears flick cutely when she hears Yunia's last guess. "White Stalkers are known to be the most rebellious and vengeful of all the clans."

Yunia snorts, confident that they've solved the mystery. "If Marceau was forced to return to the Misty Foxes after leaving… then your mother sent them here to protect them."

"Hm," she hums in agreement.

We send a letter to Sandoro and Osaria explaining our theory and telling them to keep an eye on the Fountuns.

Klein comes back slightly drunk, so Ciel uses [Purify Body] on her, and Hana washes her up. Yunia already had a bath before, so she only gets some light cleaning, and since we've already had enough group fun today, we don't spend as long as we usually do on fooling around.

Osaria then begins her dinner with the Fountuns before ours. Mimi, the twins, Almaria, Sai, Sandoro, and Enomosa are also invited so that everyone can get to know the new prospective knights. The difference in Thea's attire now that she isn't trying to seduce me is quite noticeable, too.

Like the devilish woman she is, Osaria tries to get the twins and Thea to talk to each other due to their similar ages, but I think Thea is older. The keen brothers quickly pick up that she's "mine" and try to dodge the conversation, but Osaria insists, and they eventually settle on a cordial talk, avoiding any topic that might be about me.

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"So, have you also trained to become a warrior?" Antares politely questions, calm as ever.

"Yes. I was born with Water and Illusion skills, but I also seem to have a talent for [Spear Use] and [Riding]," she answers in kind. Her voice is quite high-pitched and cutesy, the kind that would irritate some people, but I love anything that's feminine, so I find it pleasant to listen to her. Then her mouth twitches as she holds back a wry smile. "I could've become a mounted warrior, but since none of the female werefoxes that came with me are appropriate to become my partner, I guess I could learn how to ride one of your Gatuns."

"Why do they have to be female, though?" Arturus innocently asks, and both Antares and Thea give him a subtle, disbelieving look.

She uses her fork to anxiously play with her food as she explains, "The 'connection' between mount and rider goes beyond just mere comradeship, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to have such a relationship with a man."

"Oh~…" Arturus groans painfully, and Thea raises her white eyebrows while an awkward silence settles over them.

While that was fun to watch, I'm too excited about our own dinner to listen in any further.

The elven chef stares at the golems warily while they silently surround the pot of rice and wait as it slowly cooks.

Things seem to be ready, so we sit down, and the golems start levitating all of the trays with [Telekinesis]. Then they bring them to us while the maids follow, confused about what to do now that their job is being done for them.

My tail starts slapping against the floor in anticipation, and once the golems arrive, I immediately recognize the mild smell of rice above all the others, increasing my excitement.

Jarn lifts the lid off the pot, revealing the steamy white gold to me, and I wait not a single second longer before I put a spoonful of it onto my plate and wolf it down.

Ah, yes… the mild, boring flavor of rice cooked with just a bit of garlic and onions. Its consistency is soft and perfectly balanced, not dry or grainy, but also not mushy or wet. The perfect combo for beans.

I grab a full ladle of brown bean sauce and pour it on top of the rice, then I grab some cooked veggies, a good amount of fresh salad, and complete my plate with fried beef and onions. The quintessential Brazilian meal.

"Why did you put the beans on top of the rice?" Ciel questions me accusingly.

I freeze and stare at her, disbelieving of mine own ears. "Are you suggesting that I put the beans under the rice? You psychopath, do you also pour in the milk before the cereal?!" I exclaim in exasperation.

She lets her jaw hang open for a second as her brain processes the heresy I've just uttered. "Cereal, wha-… that's not the point! You keep dry grains separate from the wet beans unless the sauce is too watery, then you put the grains on top of the beans to absorb the sauce."

I facepalm. "That's just creating a mess!"

She grumbles and angrily gesticulates as she explains, "Only if the sauce is too watery, then you'll always create a mess, but unlike my way, you have to put more dry grain on the beans to counter the watery sauce, and since there's already grains under the beans, you've just made a bean sandwich!"

"What?!" I groan and start to pull on my hair. "I've never heard something so stupid in my entire life!"

"I'm the one who's internally screaming 'what'!"

My tail tenses up as I hold back my anger. "You're just complicating things! If you don't already know that the beans are too watery before you put them on your plate, then you need glasses like Roxanne's!"

"Hey…! I don't want to be part of this argument," Roxanne mumbles annoyedly and continues eating.

Ciel and I glare at each other, each offended by the other's barbaric culinary transgression. But we're not the only angry ones.

Yunia suddenly wrinkles her nose and haughtily criticizes, "I'm sorely disappointed that this so fabled rice is such a boring, flavorless accompaniment that it might as well be the equivalent of a culinary 'bra padding.'"

Ciel and I both clutch our pearls and slowly turn our heads towards her.

"Ah~, yes, that was lovely," Roxanne moans in delight from relishing the impact of Yunia's words.

We stare at the haughty elf for a couple of seconds, then we break character and chuckle softly, letting our little play come to an end, though an underlying mote of truth was always present in our words. I'm a "beans on top of rice" type of person while she's a "beans under or beside rice" type, and nothing will change either of our minds.

Then Alissa clears her throat and restarts things, "Now, talking more seriously and less deliberately offensive, rice really isn't that special."

I nod solemnly and explain, "It isn't, but since it's the most common ingredient of any Brazilian meal by far, replacing it with something that had a similar, but not quite the same, flavor just wouldn't do."

Especially for us, who are getting used to elven meals, where every dish is special, rice just doesn't stand out. Though the girls might not care about it, they're happy that I've found something else from Earth that brings me comfort.

For the evening, we spread out in our room and do our own things, so I start to ponder on who will be my cuddling focus for tonight, but we're interrupted by a message from Escanso.

Vanea has sent an invitation through our private channel to meet with her tomorrow night in private.

I damn knew it!

We have the public channel, which involves sending Osaria out to meet with people and making a scene so that everyone knows that negotiations are happening, but we also have the secret channel for when we need to plot in the middle of the night while cackling like villains.

Though it makes me happy to have predicted this, I'm not actually that excited to find out why she made this invitation. Though given that last time, I saw her getting finger-blasted until the summit while I did my favorite catgirl in front of her, she's the kind of crazy you're not supposed to put your thing in.

But by the Gods is it tempting.

Anyway, I choose to give my love to Lina tonight, and I stretch her tight little behind. She decides to read that gay book about the elven twins while I mount her just to mess with me, but that makes her excited, so she ends up enduring more girth than usual.

Today is the 4th, An, day of Wind. The weather is quite unstable today, but it's a good day to air out the laundry, so there are a lot of housewives and househusbands that try their luck.

And we begin another exciting day with coffee and chocolate!

The discovery of rice has given me hope that I might one day be able to have all the things that I used to love back on Earth. I'm hoping that we'll find guaraná and yerba mate next.

After our minds wake up, our bellies get filled, and our bodies warm up for work, I call all of our knights and Officers to the garden in front of our mini High Tree.

"Good morning, everyone," I stoically begin the speech.

"Good morning, Your Highnesses," they all reply in almost perfect sync.

I assume a more calm and gentle demeanor as I continue, "There are two topics I wish to talk about today. The first is that I wish to make Klein's and Anton's positions clear among the knights." -Klein's eyes open wide, and she evens holds her breath in surprise, feeling very tense as she's suddenly been put in the spotlight, but Anton takes it a lot more smoothly- "Though she has already sworn to serve my family, it's clear that she doesn't have the same rich background as all of you, veteran knights, even with the help of her father, so I want each of you to see both of them as junior knights that might need guidance. I ask all of you to care for them since they're precious allies to my family, and we all want to see them grow." I finish with a more stern tone, making it clear that Klein isn't a plowing toy, well, is more than just a plowing toy.

They all remain silent and nod while a few send Klein a glance. Giving the ego of the knights a small tug to get them hard should make these proud assholes a bit more open to what I'll say next, so I hope this will be enough to stop any hostilities from growing aside from stressful situations. It's hard to gain the respect of elves, I know that from experience, so there's still a chance that they'll pick on her again, but we'll deal with it when it happens.

Klein doesn't seem to be pleased with my speech, but I don't care, so I move on, "Now, the second topic is that today, we wish for all of our men that are capable of it to explore the Great Labyrinth and acquire some Experience. There are many places that are optimal for leveling up warriors of specific levels, so I'll leave it to Palo to organize you into groups while Alcander will advise him on the best leveling spots."

The imperial High Officer nods diligently, happy to put his expertise to use, and Aisco even shows a reaction, his eyes focusing on me as he quickly warms up to the idea of killing monsters.

"You're all dismissed."

While everyone starts grouping up to discuss their assignment, Klein remains standing in place, her face visibly stiff from trying to hold back a scowl.

I decide to just get it over with and approach her.

"You have a complaint?" I gently ask her.

"That was unnecessary…" She stiffly replies, her long brown tail completely stiff.

I gently cup her cheek with my scaled hand. "It was, and you know it. No matter what you think about it, the fact is that they still think of you as only a concubine, an upstart."

She bites her lip angrily and silently stares at me.

But I decide to do a little encouraging, "Your objective is to serve as our knight, is it not?"

"Yes," she whispers back.

I smile gently. "So give it your all to achieve that, no matter the cost."

Then I simply turn around and leave. After a moment of reflection, she seems to steel her resolve, then she salutes my back and joins the other knights.

While this is supposed to be a training mission, there's no reason that we can't have a bit of fun while we're at it, so we call Kyora's harem to escort us, and we head out to the hunters' guild disguised as commoners.

Mac Gantus' guild is the first and biggest of them all. It's a historical building and a tourist attraction for adventurers across the world. There's just no way that we'd miss visiting it at least once, but to do it as nobles would actually be quite embarrassing, like when white gringos decide to visit the favelas.

Except for Roxanne, who uses her old robe, we all put on our older clothes, which are well-made, easy to move in, but not lavish. They're the perfect casual adventurer attire because you never know when you'll get into a fight.

"It's been a while since I used pants…" Ciel grumbles as she awkwardly stretches her shapely legs, and Yunia simply snorts.

Do elves even know what pants are?

Roxanne stares at the angelic piece of meat, then cups one of her round ass cheeks and hums, "Aren't they tighter than they used to be? Have you gotten fatter?"

Ciel gives the insolent demon a death glare, who instinctively hides behind Hana. "You gained a bit of muscle! Yes, muscle!" She immediately backs off on the teasing after stepping on the line.

Though Ciel's pants are kind of tight, they still aren't comparable to the not-yoga-pants made with elven Snow Weave, but unfortunately, no adventurer in the capital would have access to such cultured textile.

I use [Mana Body] to hide my horns and make my hands and feet almost normal, though I still require gloves to hide their weird shape and color. It's just my tail that I can't deal with yet, but at least I can make it look silver, which is a lot better than the eye-catching mirror-like sheen it usually has.

Aoi has to stay in her human form, and though her eyes are definitely not normal, nobody will look too deeply into it. Ted and Suzy will go with Ciel and Lina, respectively, and Jarn will put on a cloak and stay with Kyora's group, who'll stay nearby to avoid grabbing even more attention than the high number of beauties is already fated to draw to us.

Then we finally approach the guild.