The waiting is killing us. We try to sleep, but we all toss and turn, achieving only light naps before we start to get irritated with ourselves and each other. This might be the one time where individual beds would be beneficial. Waiting for Cleinias to appear in his mansion, waiting for the Crown Lords to finish their job, waiting for the assassins to attack the embassy. We're just too tense to sleep like we usually would.

I sigh internally and open my eyes, then I delicately free myself from Alissa's grasp and get out of the bed. It's still the middle of the night, but the psychedelic moons create a faint path of silvery light towards the balcony

Gify pops onto my head and makes a nest of my hair, purposely going against Alissa's order. My hair was already messy from sleep, so my foxy wife shouldn't get too mad at the cheeky little griffin for not using my shoulder instead.

"Gih," she smugly chirps internally to not wake up the others.

I pass by the ever-watching golem trio, then I join Roxanne on the balcony.

Her pale body looks ethereal in the moonlight. Her lithe figure, that tight bottom, the pair of perky, small mounds, her delicate curves, they all look divine, and even her prominent collarbones have a seductive charm to them. She's my own supermodel, the ultimate ideal of feminine sensuality. And I get an unsheathing thinking about putting my mark on her hole once again.

Her dagger-tail turns to me and sways mischievously as she reads my mind, then she gracefully sips from her not-wine glass and sends me a brief, coy smile, but her silky hair is covering most of her face, allowing me to see only her bespectacled eyes. Her gaze is the second most intense of all the girls', losing only to Hana's, and is followed by Yunia's.

I stop beside the spicy demon and immediately get a feel of one small cheek, then she wraps her thin black tail around mine, and I rest my head against her shoulder, taking care not to poke her face with my horns.

I breathe in deeply to savor her intoxicating smell. Because we were sleeping, she removed most of her alluring perfume to not annoy Alissa, so I can only sense a faint trace of it, but it has already been imprinted deeply upon my mind, and that's enough to evoke vivid memories of its intense aroma.

"I hope I never get tired of your love, Wolfy," she whispers wistfully, then she lands her free hand on my head and plays with one of my horns.

"I don't 'hope,' I know I'll never get tired of loving you," I reflexively reply.

She presses my head against her shoulder. "Awn… I love you too, Wolfy…"

Then we savor the moment in silence as our hearts shine with bliss.

There are a lot of openings between the canopies of the mini High Trees of the embassy, allowing plenty of moonlight to shine down upon us. But though the view above is quite pretty, the view ahead is even more beautiful as the perfectly leveled and flat landscape of rooftops -achieved by every building being the same height- makes for a rather adorable sight. I never thought I'd miss light pollution, but this place reminds me a lot of Earth, so it feels quite nostalgic for me.

With the Throne and the Hyperloop in the background, and the rainbow moons barely visible through the tree canopies above us, the complete panorama of Mac Gantus has the perfect mix of fantasy and modernity, making it feel quite unique to me.

But as the lovey-dovey moment passes, I start to notice the turmoil within her mind.

"What's wrong?" I probe.

"What?" She nervously hums, quite obviously faking ignorance.

I sigh and insist, "I can just read your mind and find out what's bothering you, but I think it's better if you try to put it into words yourself and explain things to me."

Her spiral horns immediately reveal her mood as they become flabby and hang loosely down the sides of her head, but it takes a long moment before she even manages to find where to begin, "I… don't want to study poisons anymore… maybe even healing potions, too. It's just… too complicated. I'm fine with testing things on myself, but-…"

I interrupt, "I know that ethics is a delicate topic, but you're not a bad person just because you make a mistake."

But she just deflects and starts to ramble, "I'm fine with working with Aisco, really. I'm almost sure he's a blunt edge, so he'd never spicily harass me, which is the one thing I hate the most because since I'm a succubus, people think that I just do anything that moves. And with Aisco, there's a lot of things we could research, like explosives, jet fuel, bombs, missiles, and so many other nice things from Earth that we could recreate here…"

I frown as I kindly point out, "Potions were your life's goal, Roxanne."

Then she becomes bitter and dismissive as her horns return to their usual shape. "I had already abandoned that as a goal before I met you. It was just a way to make money."

I grit my teeth in annoyance and keep silent. I know how much of a workaholic she can be, so she didn't brew potions just for money; it's clear that she enjoys it. Sure, she has the weakest ideals for ethics and workplace safety out of all of us, but it's not like it's impossible for her to learn them, and I bet Ciel would love to help her with that area of philosophy.

Then I realize something…

"You're too narrow-minded, Roxanne. Experiments don't have to always be performed with unwilling participants."

She gives me a concerned side-eye but doesn't reply as she really doesn't want to talk about this anymore.

But I grab her waist and pull her closer as I encouragingly explain, "You can pay people to participate in experiments. Imagine we find a goblin like Aoi, smart enough to be comparable to a humanoid adult, and with an 'incomplete' soul so that they don't have a desire to kill humanoids. We could pay them to become test subjects, and we could use [Heal] and [Purify Body] on them in case the experiment doesn't work, so there's little risk of them actually dying."

She knits her thin eyebrows in thought. "That'd be… difficult."

And I slyly grin. "But not impossible. Aoi won't be the last monster that we introduce to humanoid society."

She stares at me, her gorgeous face enhanced by her serious look and bringing out that rare "cool beauty" of hers that I love so much, not that her usual cheeky and cheerful demeanor isn't also adorable.

But while she tries to hold onto her stiff facade, her horns become shiny and mighty sharp, then they subtly quiver, and I sense a glimmer of hope dawning within her heart, which is the very thing that I wanted.

I get on my tip-claws and steal a kiss from her small, pretty lips. It's just a quick peck, but her air instantly changes.

Her long fingers run through my hair, and she pulls my face towards hers, then we kiss again, this time with tongue and fueled by the mad love we have for each other.

But as we kiss, I sense a small flame of jealousy slowly becoming warmer. I focus on that feeling and discover that Hana has woken up, and she's feeling a bit left out, so I promptly invite her to join us. It's too late for her to participate in the cheering up of our wife, but while she might have missed the talking part, she's just in time to deliver her passion, and we sandwich the frail succubus with our bodies as we show her our love.

I've already dominated and abused both Hana and Roxanne not that long ago, so plowing is outside of our intentions, though that doesn't mean we don't get excited.

I kiss Roxanne's chest while Hana forces her head to turn to the side so that they can kiss. My hands grope her small mounds, but I quickly move them down to savor the rest of her delicate body, and Hana's strong hands replace mine. We both just love to worship her alluring body.

I kiss her stomach and the scar on her belly, making her shiver, then I continue down until I reach her carpet, but I stop there. Roxanne's mood fluctuates as I know how to excite her just enough that she doesn't get ready while still making sure that her heart beats fast with excitement.

So much excitement that she breaks the kiss with Hana and pulls my face up to kiss me, instead. My friend touches her warm flower, and a massive pair of pillows squish against her, causing her to breathe faster in anticipation, but the latter has to part from her for now since it's Hana's turn to use her lips to send jolts of pleasure up and down her back.

Suddenly, Alissa wakes in fright and immediately sits up, then she pats the bed, feeling the empty space beside her as she probes our connection.

Gify instinctively jumps off my head and onto my shoulder, and my foxy shadow immediately realizes that I'm nearby, making her groan internally. Then she hops off and quickly approaches us, her cute, bare feet completely silent on the grass-carpet floor.

I unglue my body from Roxanne's to make enough space for Alissa to join our three-person fun, and she immediately buries her face on my chest, her furry ears tickling my face.

"I hate when you do that," she whispers with a pout.

"Sorry," I quietly apologize and kiss the top of her head, making her ears flick, which tickles my face again. Then she notices my friend and instinctively starts playing with it. Of course, that rouses the dragon, but I keep it contained as we resume our group party of caresses.

Roxanne starts to become drowsy from the not-wine, so Hana takes her to our bed again, and the fiery woman returns some of the love our pale wife regularly shows her by caressing her head until she falls asleep.

I drink a cup of Eia to calm my nerves, and Alissa keeps me company while we wait for the not-weed to take effect.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She kneels on the floor, then takes me in. We stare each other in the eye the whole time, speaking without words as we convey how much we love each other.

Then she takes the last drops and swallows. My desire has mostly subsided (though it's never fully gone), so she [Clean]s her mouth, stands up, and offers her ears, asking me to play with them, which I happily oblige.

We stay like this for a few minutes, and I start to get lost in my thoughts. I want to say something to her, to show some vulnerability so that she can pamper me like a child, but I can't really find the energy to speak. I want someone to say that everything will be alright, that I haven't made any mistakes, and that I did my best, but I'm not the kind of person that likes empty platitudes, and I also don't want to mix roleplaying with reality.

Screw all that, tho. I'm just feeling unsteady and have started to doubt myself now that things have escalated so much more than what we had planned…

But I guess there just aren't any damn brakes on Wolfy's Big Sword Train of Draconic Domination!

Choo, choo, mothercluckers!

I chuckle softly, but the cheerfulness quickly dies out, and I sigh tiredly.

"You're feeling better already," Alissa wryly remarks and turns her head a little to look at me with the corner of her eye.

I intensify my petting of her ears as I smile weakly. "I just needed some time."

"So did we all…"

Then we both turn our attention to the bed and notice that everyone else is finally starting to fall asleep together.

I hum in agreement, and we quietly join them.

Today is the 7th, Fis, day of Nature.

On a normal Fis, Gify would be out in the streets playing with the other nature spirits, and the little plush dolls would line up on the roofs of the houses, squeaking, chirping, and making adorable sounds as they kill us with cuteness.

But there'll be none of that today. There'll be no smelling of the flowers blossoming, no tasting of the new harvest of elven veggies, no redecorating of the castle. I'm not even allowed to wake up at my usual time.

Edolie, the werecat Companion, gently wakes me up to give me a message from the other Crown Lords. The kidnappings have been completed, the interrogations are mostly finished, and now they need my presence to use [Godly Language] on the prisoners.

There are still a few hours until sunrise, so I think I barely got four hours of sleep. I'm fit enough that I can endure it, but it's still stressful.

My [Spicy Charm] increased by 1 (now 0+2). It was just a matter of time.

Hana increased her [Godly Language] by 1 (now 2), stealing a free point from [Reduced Mana Cost] (now 9+0). Though, considering how she leveled up the skill by making another man cum with her voice, I'm feeling a bit conflicted. It's fun to emasculate other men, but by the Gods is it hard to keep this woman under control, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

"I'll behave!" She begs through [Bind], and the liveliness of her voice makes me smile for a few seconds before the pressure from what this day is about to bring takes over my mood again.

I alone walk through the [Eternal Gate] to Goldcross, where a small group of my Lordsguard led by Enomosa are waiting for me on the other side.

"Your Highness," the mature elven knightess greets me with a bow while the men kneel.

"Dame Enomosa, take me to them," I impassively reply.

We're allowed inside Crown Lord Lotus' mansion, but we're just taken straight to the dungeon, so I barely have any time to appreciate the "overgrown" aesthetic of her home.

Not much different from ours, the dungeon is just a set of corridors deep underground, lined with enchanted bricks to prevent escape, and this one is quite full of people, both guards and interrogators dealing with the prisoners. But these have all cooperated with the interrogators. The ones set aside for me are those who have more loyalty than brains.

We enter a wider corridor, and the cells here are thick metal boxes covered in enchantments designed specifically for "interrogation." Just the sight of them is enough to make Ciel seethe, preventing her from going back to sleep.

This place is the reason why the temple is always at odds with Lords. When you're the leader, caretaker, and guardian of hundreds of thousands of people, the Sin of Torture becomes "malleable" in certain situations.

Their [Item Box]es have been forcefully opened, their written orders taken and decrypted, and now we're confirming what is true and what isn't. If the prisoners cooperate, they're rewarded. Otherwise, they're punished. And if a prisoner knows something valuable, they can be sent to the Seekers of Truth to confirm whether or not they lied. But the thing is, the Seekers only ever meet with a small number of people each day, and whether a prisoner is actually sent to them or not is decided by luck.

So who's brave enough to lie and risk opening themselves up to be "punished"?

We encounter Lotus and Brás just as they're coming out of a cell, and we approach each other for a greeting.

Lotus is a young-looking golden-elf milf with a slender body and a stern demeanor, and her son is the spitting image of her, which means the sight of him gives me an annoying confused unsheathing since he's wearing a damn skirt and a loose shirt, making him look at most like a tomboy instead of an actual man. At least he isn't like Nito, Rande's young husband, who cross-dresses like a damn trap.

"Royal Crown Lord Wolf Ryder," Lotus greets, her tone subtly stiff and faintly hostile.

"Crown Lord Lotus Angila, Chosen Descendant Brás Angila," I politely reply.

"Royal Crown Lord Wolf Ryder," Brás repeats with as much flavor in his tone as sawdust. Well, he has a reason to dislike me, but that's not really true for Lotus.

"Let us begin," she tersely states and re-enters the cell she just came out of, with her son following close behind.

I share a concerned look with Enomosa, but we decide to talk about this later. The Lordsguard stay outside while Enomosa and I follow the Angila pair into the thick metal box.

Inside, there are two of Lotus' knights by the wall to my left, standing guard and watching as the man chained to a chair in the middle of the room is slowly driven insane. The enchantments force him alone to experience phantom sights, sounds, sensations and smells while everyone else is unaffected by them. A grim-looking elven priest watches the torture from the opposite side of the room, and he immediately glares at me the moment I enter.

His small nose wrinkles in extreme disgust while he snarls with that special type of disdain that only an elf can produce, "Is this really a reasonable response to a mercenary company stepping on your toes, oh Blessed Royal Crown Lord Wolf Ryder…?"

I have a pretty good feeling that the Gods don't care much about Katasko.

"Yes. We're just ensuring that Katasko is wiped out in the Purification, and you'll soon know how many of their members have been Marked," I grimly reply and continue walking towards the chair that's been reserved for me in front of the prisoner.

But his next words have a hint of glee to them that gives me pause. "You think Teresina would approve of this?"

And I immediately glare back at the insolent worm.

You piece of-… no, he's just taunting.

"I dare you to say that to her face, you coward," I dismissively reply and take my seat, but then he opens his mouth again, so I [Equip] my sword and point it at him. "Another word on this, and I'll shut you up."

Enomosa follows up on my threat and walks up to him with heavy steps, her full wooden plate armor making a muffled, heavy sound that's very threatening for anyone who knows what it means.

The stupid priest remains in place and glances at the other Lords, who don't even spare him a look, so he freezes, finally intimidated.

Then my reliable knightess stops right next to him, glaring while keeping a hand over her short sword as she kindly requests, "You may only speak to me, now. Will you bother my Lord again?"

He hesitates for a couple of seconds, and she unhesitatingly punches him in the stomach with her free hand. The bastard actually takes the hit pretty well, showing that he's no stranger to violence, but at least he's smart enough to stand down before it really becomes ugly.

"I won't bother your Lord again," he agrees through gritted teeth, and she takes a few steps back but still remains close to him so that he doesn't forget his place.

Goddamn, woman. If you had shown any interest in me, I'd do you so hard…

Even Ciel is disappointed in the priest for his pointless offense, so I have no regrets about how we handled this. But he made the temple's stance on this clear: they aren't pleased with this. Though, we know they want Katasko to go down, so we bet they're just posturing.

I un[Equip] my sword and turn to the prisoner, an imperial man with the build of a soldier and the loyalty of a dog. I hold no ill intent towards him, but this is necessary to wipe the filth of his employers from the empire.

"Tell us who gave you your orders," I calmly request, using the full power of my 30+5 points in [Godly Language].

The imperial visibly stiffens, resisting the compulsion to comply, but I have all the time I could need to grind him down.

"Tell us who gave you your orders," I repeat… again and again… until he breaks.

The only Crown Lord missing from this meeting is Herbaco, which isn't surprising considering his lax and casual demeanor, but I don't even mind his tardiness as it gives me time to recover from the mental drain of using [Godly Language] repeatedly.

The golems work tirelessly in my place, and it's fun observing the occasional odd glance they get. The dirtiest part of this endeavor is now done, and the information has been cross-checked to weed out the fake pieces, so now we just need to pour over all of it to build a clear picture of Katasko's operations in the elven lands and the Eastern Mainland.

Enomosa un[Equip]s her gauntlets and stands behind me, making me briefly confused, but then her long and strong fingers sneak under my shirt and massage my shoulders.

I instantly get an unsheathing, of course, but then I realize that she's just helping me relax, so I sheathe the Holy Draconic Sword. I'm actually so damn tense that I almost whisper as she forces my muscles to loosen up.

Suddenly, a curious name comes up, Centum Faustus Fluminis. He seems to have wasted a former "asset" known as "Nero" and attracted the unwanted attention of the Imperial Enforcers, so there are a few memos cautioning the Commanders when dealing with him.

Oh, ho… another name to add to the shit list.

Yunia has woken up, so she'll pay a visit to the diplomat at the embassy and collect any information they have on him along with the records of his use of the Imperial [Eternal Gate] Network so that we can find out where he's probably hiding.

Then we find a mention of a Commander blackmailing Madame Helganst, a former rising merchant who was threatening the market of another noble. She's that cunt who calls herself the mother of Lina's former master, Hildegard.

We don't know what to do with this, and Lina really doesn't want to think about that old bitch right now, so we'll keep it filed away for later.

But wait, there's more. We find out that a small group of nobles are plotting the demise of the Ankara family of Lords that rules over the small Fort Erda. This will be useful considering that Osaria will be meeting with them in a few hours.

Then Herbaco arrives, and we can finally get this shit started. Unfortunately, that also means that Enomosa's massage ends, and I give her my sincere thanks for this small help.

"Your 'printing press' might be 'simple,' but we don't have the facilities to produce them," Lotus slowly points out, her hostility tainting her tone once again.

I can't hold back my smugness, and I do my best impression of elven pomp as I explain, "Well, the Ryder Institute is ready to sell printing presses, airplanes, and even enchanted gems, but the secrets regarding how to manufacture them are another thing entirely."

She just stares at me with dead eyes, which I find quite delightful, but then she deadpans, "Remind me to not underestimate your deviousness, Royal Crown Lord Wolf Ryder." And I'm actually taken by surprise by her statement.

What the hell has gotten into her that she thinks I'm "devious"?

And my surprise is doubled as Crown Lord Infa sides with her as he scoffs, "Come on, now, Lord Wolf. The shipments of crystals from Rabanara are being done very much in the open."

But I won't be put off balance so easily. "I've merely accepted the offer from the Anara family to sell me crystals," I sharply reply.

And the old, lanky elf accusingly continues, "After they so shrewdly 'deceived' our Subordinate Lords to drop their claim to the Lapis Waterway through that… witch Silvane."

Lotus promptly adds, "They knew there were gems there, but they kept that fact well hidden from everyone until they could steal it for themselves."

Holy shit…

But my surprise is quickly washed away by FUCKING INDIGNATION at their accusations. I feel my scales shiver in rising anger as I slowly respond with a very harsh and deliberate tone, "That isn't my problem. I certainly didn't have any capacity to help her with that plot until just a short while ago when… you know, I rose from an adventurer to a Crown Lord."

And a tense silence falls over us as we have a childish staring contest, but then Confiel groans loudly and facepalms in disbelief as he sternly chastises, "Keep your bickering to yourselves, and stop wasting our time! We're here to talk about Katasko, not the Waterway."

Everyone is so damn angry all the time today. Give. Me. A. Break!

The two Antano Crown Lords drop it, and we continue with the review of the information, but I decide that my presence here isn't strictly necessary, so I store the golems and leave because I'm dying to visit Escanso. I want to see my women again, and I also want to begin preparations for the visit to the Sky Lands.