"I didn't expect the Oracle to be like that," I remark while absentmindedly while playing with Ciel's fun bags. The endless yellow roofs flying past us as we ride the Hyperloop is quite the soothing sight.

She lays her head on my lap and presents herself to me so that I may indulge in my obsession with her body. Atawha and Aneta are accompanying us, and the two unashamedly stare at the damn pair with envy.

My angel reaches to my face and gently caresses it while she whispers, "What were you expecting…?"

I shrug. "I don't know… but I certainly didn't expect that."

She smiles wryly and breathes deeply because of my teasing. "I'd never heard anything about her personality before, so I also had no expectations going in."

"She screams of spoiled 'Lady' to me," Hana interjects in my mind space, and Yunia agrees.

Makes sense that she'd be the wife of someone important.

"But the way her mood took a sudden turn when I mentioned the 'sea' was suspicious…" I somberly hum, and the mood drops a few degrees in temperature, so I stop playing with Ciel.

Roxanne is the first to pass the "Intelligence" check, so she explains to the others, "She got mad because you said something that only she should know… so, aside from Gecynd, does someone else with the power of an Oracle exist?"

And I quietly add, "Someone who is on bad terms with the imperial Oracle…?"

"Heretics…" Ciel whispers grimly.

I pat her head with one of my hands and whisper back, "Can the Oracle see the future?"

She closes her eyes dispiritedly. "I'm not sure, but I know she's able to warn us of impending catastrophes."

Am I a catastrophe to the heretics? Is that why they're targeting me…?

It seems that our visit to the Oracle wasn't completely fruitless, after all. But now the question is: how do you fight against someone who can see the future?

Stress makes me h-rny, so I sneak a tentacle under Ciel's dress and give her the relief she's yearning for.

While we're on the Hyperloop, the diplomat for the High Forest sends a message to the girls, warning us that my duel with Alki-Alki was witnessed by a hidden recruiter for some nobles, and now, the "humiliation" that I made Little Alki go through has entered public knowledge.

It's a bit late, though, since Vanea seemingly already knew of that yesterday, but alright.

Then we reach the embassy without any issues and resume playing around with the orbs, but we quickly realize a problem with the idea of eating them: I can't because my body dissolves just from touching one.

"As long as it breaks inside you, it should be fine, right?" Hana wonders with a smirk.

"Theoretically…" Lina concernedly hums while staring at the orbs with her gloomy eyes.

"Can't you absorb it through your tentacles?" Alissa suggests while suggestively handling one of my pink toys.

"Good idea," I hum positively, then I put an orb on a pedestal and create a purple cocoon around it while making sure that it's as close as possible without actually touching the orb. I also fill the cocoon with pleasure structures because why the hell not?

There's no need for any fancy mechanism, so I just [Equip] my sword and stab the orb through the cocoon.

"HHNGH~…!" I groan and as the orb explodes into magical dust that's instantly absorbed by my extended soul.

As the summit clears, I realize that the orb had a bit of "spice" to it. I could almost taste the red, elemental pseudo-mana that was inside it, just like I can when I've put a shit ton of points into [Sense Mana].

Ciel and Roxanne excitedly swallow their orbs while the rest of the girls do the same after a short moment, then our room is filled with the blissful sounds of female whispers as the orbs break one by one.

I use my tentacles to pull up Ciel's dress, then Hana gives me some pointers in not-shibari to help me properly tie up the depraved angel in the most alluring way possible.

We'll string her up, and then everyone will get a turn using her as they wish while we feed her orbs.

The best part about using tentacles for her bindings is that I can constantly feel her every curve, and the Gods know how much I thank them for every single one that they gave to Ciel.

We have an party while abusing the orbs and my Eia extract, but then we start to feel groggy and anemic, so I release Ciel so that she can use [Diagnosis] on us.

"Just some mild poisoning from magical compounds caused by an imbalance in the internal mana circulation," she warmly explains while Lina cleans her bountiful chest of milk.

"Uh, what?" Roxanne grunts confusedly.

She gently pats the diligent little girl as she explains, "Our bodies produce and leak mana particles, which are generally attracted to our blood, so they flow along our veins and have a number of positive interactions with our bodies. If that 'blood mana' becomes tainted by, say, drinking too many MP potions or the magical compounds from this orb, then it can mildly disrupt our bodily functions and cause adverse side effects. [Purify Body] should be enough to cure us."

Lina looks up, and they both kiss, sharing the bounty between them as their tongues lovingly caress one another, then Ciel instant-casts [Holy Spirit], and the tap-dancing, masked, little flame goes around healing everyone.

I make Yunia gag while I ponder, "What makes these orbs so special? Can we make more?"

Roxanne burns the image of my abuse and humiliation of Yunia into her memory as she eagerly explains, "It's made of a magical, unstable material that doesn't leave any harmful physical elements behind after it breaks down. If I could get it in dust form, it'd be the perfect material for a potion, really."

Lina suddenly breaks the kiss, making Ciel pout, to add, "It's really hard to 'see' the code of the enchantment, but it seems to only convert mana into something that's both barely physical and almost mana, making it possible to create a physical cage to trap the pseudo-mana, which is easier to create than a fully-magical cage to trap raw mana. In the end, it's similar to the Chimera storage crystals, just less efficient."

I hum thoughtfully and summarize, "Right, mana doesn't interact with matter, but the pseudo-mana has been given physical attributes, so it does interact with matter."

Yunia's throat is currently occupied by my ugly thing, so she uses [Bind] to share, "Perhaps we should try to find a way to produce that pseudo-mana without the orbs. It's most likely the secret to Aoi's unusual amount of growth yesterday."

"Stimulating magical growth through the forceful absorption of mana…" Roxanne quietly theorizes, then orders Alissa to eat her out.

"Isn't that… just a normal… MP potion?" Klein remarks as she recovers from Hana's strong fingers.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The pale succubus closes her eyes in delight. "Potions have a lot more added to them… ahn~… so that they replenish your MP."

We party a bit more until our lust subsides, then we continue our mana training for the rest of the morning.

"Wolfy~… you have a message from the Gartanias," Osaria sultrily whispers to her little bird, and both it and I shiver in bliss from the sound of her voice.

That's Ankara's family, the thickheaded and grumpy young noble that Lyle wants me to help.

They want to set up a meeting in Goldcross about a "business" proposal, but that'll actually just be them begging for us to help because they don't really have anything that interests us.

"Actually… what about their mine?" Lina interjects, and I raise an eyebrow at her, prompting her to elaborate. "My parents are used to working with metal equipment, but there's hardly any in Escanso since there are no mines nearby, so how about we get the Gartanias to sell their metal to us at a discount?"

Well, that's an interesting idea.

The important thing is that we want a discount, not free goods because we don't want to bankrupt them. And so, we dictate a letter that the golems write for us, telling Osaria what to negotiate for in our stead.

The chef listens to our request for variety and serves us a surprisingly unhealthy imperial staple, butter bread lightly fried on butter. It's a bit odd to see this dish at lunchtime because back on Earth, I'd only ever seen it served for breakfast.

I pass on eating rice today so that I don't overdo my carbs. Even though I'm super physically active, I can still get fat if I don't pay attention to my nutrition.

We don't plan on returning to the dungeon today, but I still unleash a collection of elementals over there so that they can collect more orbs for us.

I also create a few more baby golems for the OG golems to study.

For the afternoon, we decide to go for magical training since we're all feeling rather inspired. It's possible that the orbs we ate have something to do with it, but we might as well take advantage of this opportunity.

I feel like I'm nearing the end of my humanoidization training, so I choose to continue my work on that for today. Horns are easy to hide, and the hands and feet are almost there, so now I need to focus on the tail as it seems to be the hardest to change.

Alissa begins learning [Dream Veil], but she can only produce small puffs of a weird, faintly iridescent mist. Hana plays with the diamond orb Artifact, and it seems to inspire her a bit to try out [Godly Language]. Since I'm busy, Roxanne recruits Ted to help her finish learning [Warp Space], which should give her [Explosion] a boost. Ciel plays with the spare, ship-worthy [Fly] gem we have because she's a bit interested in how we could better weaponize [Redirect Mana]. We've already successfully used it that way twice, and it could've been useful during the Intervention when the God of the Sun filled her with power…

I suddenly feel a pang of jealousy when I think about a male God "filling" my wife.

Something playfully slaps me on the back of my head, and I turn around to retaliate, but none of the girls are giving any obvious signs that they're guilty, making me very suspicious.

Are you messing with me, Knowledge?

But she doesn't answer me.

Anyway, Lina felt very underpowered against the Symbols of Mankind, so she does some agility training, aiming for either a better "Speed" or [Enhanced Speed], and she also tries to speed up her self-anchoring for better mobility. Aoi trains her fire breath, and her quick magical growth has helped her increase her fire's temperature enough that it's now pretty close to melting steel. Yunia is feeling a bit offended that Hana's magical growth is near hers, so she focuses on her still unlearned magical skills.

Once I remove my horns, Gify pops onto my head and makes a nest in my thick, black hair.

"Gih," she dismissively remarks, offending the dragon within me.

"The purpose of my horns is to flaunt my masculinity," I snootily retort.

Then she splays out her little limbs, and her white wings drape down on my temples like flaps. Normally, my horns reduce her play area, so she's glad that I'm starting to hide them.

Alissa frowns once she sees the griffin spirit ruffling my hair, but since we're in private, she doesn't complain.

But then the maids announce that we have visitors, and Gify chirps out loud in annoyance since she's now forced to give up her nest once again.

Alissa and I go down to the meeting room, and we find a familiar-looking weredog woman waiting for us. There's also a boring-looking imperial man, but his presence is as powerful as a wet fart, so I don't think he's here to talk to us.

The woman has shoulder-length black hair; the characteristic pointy ears of a Doberman; a thick, upright, black tail; a rather yellowy tone for her skin; a flat, black nose that looks like a snout; and an elegant, square face to finish off her striking look. She's wearing a brown cloak that hides her black scale armor and the shortsword at her waist, clear evidence that she came here incognito.

When we enter, they both stand up and bow deeply, but only the woman speaks. "Royal R-Ryders! I'm Andrea, lieutenant of the Plifori defense company, and I've come to send word from the Faiumi Merchant Alliance!" She stiffly exclaims.

"Rise," I order, then I take a closer look at her, trying to remember where I've seen her face before, and Alissa notices her tail threatening to wag as I approach. For once, I've found a commoner who isn't scared of me. "You seem quite familiar, but I don't remember from where," I soothingly state.

She nods and wistfully explains, "You saved my life. More than a year ago, I was working for Miss Hilde in the Sea of Trees, but we got attacked by an ancient dragon, and Tadita and I stupidly charged at it. Miss Hilde was tragically killed by the beast, but you still managed to save our lives."

Lina suddenly gasps as she finally pays attention to Andrea. "Yes! It's her! Andrea and Tadita were our bodyguards!" She exclaims through [Bind].

Oh~…

"Oh~… I remember, now," I hum warmly while Alissa and I take our seats. "You said you were going back to Mac Gantus, but I'm surprised that we've actually managed to meet once again."

Her tail wags once, and she shyly chuckles. "Well, your name is very popular among the mercenary companies, so I pulled some favors to get this assignment," she coyly confesses.

Oh, ho, ho… is that another woman "interested" in my draconic charms that I see?

I do remember very well that Andrea was quite hesitant to part ways with us.

"Well, we're happy to see that you're doing well," Alissa smoothly swoops in to begin her work as the best wingwoman in existence.

"It's nothing compared to how you are doing," Andrea cheerfully replies.

And we chuckle softly, except for the imperial man, who just subtly rolls his eyes.

Andrea doesn't notice him, but she knows when it's time to get serious, so she deftly moves the conversation forward, "But let's leave the casual talk for after we finish our business."

I nod and assume a more serious tone, "Certainly. Now, what does the Alliance want with us?"

Her demeanor suddenly becomes alert and composed, just like a guard dog who's ready for work. "It has come to our attention that you're… 'opposed' to the mercenary company Katasko, so the Alliance wishes to establish a communication channel with your family. They feel that there's a good opportunity for them to work together with you and rid the empire of that filth."

I guess it wasn't such a bad idea to act so aggressively against Katasko and the Alkimeonids.

Yunia suddenly struts into the room, her glorious golden drills bouncing with every step, her half-naked body instantly charming the feeble imperial man, and her open heels making muffled clacks with every step her glorious feet take.

She takes a seat on my other side, and I put my claws in between her thighs, then she crosses her legs, squishing my hand against the thin fabric of her dousnadeia. It's time for negotiations, so we need to assert dominance, but grabbing a pillow would simply be too crude to do to an elf.

But not so for Alissa, who leans against me so that I can swing an arm around her and gently squeeze her softness which is perfectly sized for my hand. The thin, red, not-kimono she's wearing is quite loose, allowing my fingers to visibly sink into it.

Yunia gives the stunned Andrea a haughty stare as she calmly inquires, "We'd love to negotiate with this Alliance, but first, we need to know: why us? Why now? Why the secrecy?"

The attractive Doberman woman swallows heavily, then shares a look with her companion and collects her thoughts for a short moment. Though stunned by Yunia's grand entrance, she quickly recomposes herself and assuredly answers, "The Alliance works primarily for the imperial Princes, so its members try to avoid the petty scheming that the rest of the nobility enjoys indulging in, but the Purification is an opportunity that they really don't want to miss. There are a lot of people with greedy eyes who would love to challenge the Alliance and steal their Titles, among other things, so they waited until someone with sufficient reputation appeared. Though I know it won't be easy to get them to commit to this fight, you can thank Nour Asaf's parents for putting in a good word in your favor."

Then she hands us a letter.

Dear Wolf Ryder and the Ryder family of Lords,

The Asaf family apologizes for not meeting with you in person, but the current state of the capital prevents us from openly associating with anyone for now. To make up for that, we've convinced the Alliance to open this channel with your family. Don't think of this as a favor, but instead, just an investment for a better relationship between our families in the future.

Alissa then encourages Yunia and me through [Bind], "We have the Alliance on one side, and Vanea on the other, with our family as the only link between them. We can come out on top if we properly mediate this."

The cards are consistently revealing themselves in our favor, so the elven queen begins to begrudgingly accept that participating in the Purification might be worth the fallout from the Council's disapproval.

The kidnapping of Katasko's commanders will throw their ranks into disarray, so that'll be the perfect opportunity to pounce and tear them to shreds. Not only that, but we still have my [Gate] coordinate in Cleinias' home, and though using it will be extremely dangerous, a card given by divine will certainly won't have anything less than a massive impact.

I vibrate my pinky finger and give Yunia's nub a very subtle spirit touch to show how pleased I am with her.

She tightens her grip on my hand and presses it harder against her. As much as her logic dictates that she doesn't want to do this, coming out on top of all of this scheming is making her quite "excited."