When the last monster of the wave falls, the girls and I feel like we've just broken out of a trance, and the men also seem to become momentarily disoriented.

I look down at my hands as I catch my breath and frown at the amount of blood dripping from my weapons. While butchering the waves, I felt like I was in a state of bliss, but now, my distaste for bloodshed is making me slightly nauseous at the carnage we've caused.

And we didn't even level up. Diminishing returns is a bitch to deal with.

Sure, with more people, the Experience gets split further, but without the men, we wouldn't have been able to kill so many so quickly. I'm sure they've gained a few levels, but among the wives and I, only Aoi gained one from this.

And they immediately prove me right by excitedly comparing level-ups. The average knight is at about level 40, with only the old vets like Azador and Enomosa and the combat maniacs like Palo being near our own levels.

Then I notice that Azador's white beard is almost fully covered in vibrant red flowers. If we were using our sets of Ramodia armor, we'd certainly be looking similar to him right now considering how much blood splattered on us.

I turn back to the corpses and watch as the river of blood coming from their bodies trickles down the barren and harsh terrain. There isn't much dirt here, so the blood pools wherever it can, and Yunia notices a red flower growing out of a small pool.

She approaches the little thing and delicately touches its petals as she curiously stares at it. "This isn't a Vamiro flower; it's a different species," she quietly remarks. It's quite obvious as Azador's flower is more like a rose while this one is like a lotus.

"Careful, everything in the Dawn of Mankind period was supposedly dangerous," Lina cautions her.

Yunia snorts snobbishly. "I'm an elf trained in [Weaverism]. I can make flowers spontaneously bloom from my blood. This isn-… shit!" She suddenly jumps back as the petal melts and merges with her finger, invading her body and mixing with her blood.

Ciel rushes to her side to cast [Purify Body], but Yunia raises her hand and stops the angelic healer.

"I'm fine… it just… surprised me," she begrudgingly admits and glances at Lina, who smiles smugly like an imp.

Yunia does something magical to herself, and a clump of dark red blood simply comes out of her finger without a visible wound, then it falls onto the floor with a fleshy sound and immediately starts spreading roots.

We watch curiously as the clump grows in the matter of only a minute into another little red lotus. Yunia then glances at me curiously as an idea comes to her.

"What is it?" I hum concernedly.

"It absorbed my blood as a means of reproduction, but since you're partially a magical being, I think this flower might actually be unable to invade your body."

I chuckle. "That'd be a first."

She nods, her long ears visibly bouncing now that her hair is tied-up and isn't there to cover them. "Most magical beings interact through magic, but this flower uses physical blood, so yours might be incompatible."

"Does that mean he's less vulnerable to physical poisons?" Ciel curiously asks.

That's exactly what Yunia thinks. "Possibly."

And Roxanne gives me a thoughtful stare as she reminisces about her time testing poisons.

"I'd rather not be your guinea pig," I immediately announce.

And the mad scientist snorts teasingly.

I simply ignore her and crouch so that I can touch the red lotus flower. Its petals feel tingly on my skin, whereas Yunia didn't feel anything when she touched it, but the petal doesn't melt no matter how long I touch them.

"Interesting…" Yunia hums. "It doesn't seem very dangerous, unless you fall into a field of them."

"I think we should store the bodies and clean up the blood, or it'll keep attracting more monsters," Alissa interrupts, wrinkling her nose at the strong scent of blood in the air.

I turn to the knights and start to gauge how much stamina they have left.

"If they can boast, they can still fight," Hana states confidently and reveals a subtly evil smile.

I signal for Alcander to approach. The pompous noble promptly walks towards us, raising his robe to keep it from being tainted with blood, and his appearance is far from haggard, so I agree with Hana.

Once he stops before me, I order, "Have the men start tying the corpses together. I'll store everything in my [Item Box]."

He raises a skeptical eyebrow but doesn't question it and immediately starts organizing the men.

We fight a few more monsters as the men work, but then Hana suddenly becomes oddly quiet and pensive. When we've finished off the remaining monsters nearby, she stops and stares into the distance as she ruminates on something.

"[What's up]?" Roxanne hums in English.

Hana raises an eyebrow at her use of the Earthling expression. "Wolfy's sword is up."

Our cheeky wife flashes a smile, but then she sobers up and warmly whispers, "What's on your mind?"

Hana looks to the horizon again and cryptically answers, "I was just pondering on… the everything." The rather apocalyptic-looking landscape is awe-inspiring, though not particularly beautiful, but Hana usually isn't one to take in the sights.

"The what?" Roxanne hums confusedly.

And the brutish woman tries to search for a way to explain herself, "How we all came to be. The Tale of Creation. I felt like I understood something when I pondered on that big orb before the weird nightmare with the evil set of us."

Her thoughts are no more concrete than her words, so Roxanne decides to push her to explain herself, "What did you understand?"

But Hana just shrugs. "Fuck if I know." Then they both let out a few soft chuckles. "But seriously, I know I understood something since I gained a level in [Godly Language] because of it. I just find it hard to put it into words."

Roxanne readjusts her glasses and starts to become more serious. "Okay, what does 'everything' have to do with [Godly Language] and that orb?"

Hana gesticulates randomly with her hands, showing how disorganized her own thoughts are. "Well, we're all made of mana, are we not? It's just that matter is like, 'solid,' and mana is like, 'fluid.'"

Our resident genius mage knits her eyebrows, but she still agrees, "Yeah… you're on the right track."

"So, the Gods used mana to fight each other, but didn't mana come from that 'Life'?"

Ciel suddenly becomes interested and approaches them. "Yes, that's how we tell the Tale."

Hana points to the corpses. "Isn't this exactly what we did to the golems? The 'Chuckys' that Wolfy created?"

Ciel's expression becomes solemn as she explains with a priestly tone, "Kind of, but at least we enjoy our lives, unlike the 'Chuckys.' Their existences are miserable, and that's not something we should create more of as that's exactly why we have the Sins."

The tall dragonkin looks down concernedly and grinds her sabatons against the rock and dust. "Are we walking on the corpses of people who once lived?"

"The Original Life isn't a living being, it's the 'concept' of being born, living, and dying. For the Gods, as eternal beings, Life is something that they can't have, but they can wield it and use it to fight as it's the only thing they can lose."

Hana looks at the corpses again, her eyes drawn to the little dolls that have been ripped apart. "Everything is just a tool for the Gods," she grimly remarks.

Ciel soberly corrects her, "Was. They aren't using us anymore, and that's why we have 'peace.'"

And Roxanne suddenly comes to a realization, "If being a God means not dying, then the undead are also Gods."

"Explains why the temple hates them so much," Hana grumbles wryly, and Ciel seems conflicted, but she can't argue against it.

Roxanne sighs and pulls the conversation back on track, "But still, what does this all have to do with the orb and [Godly Language]?"

Hana begins gesticulating again as she tries to explain, "Everything comes from the same source, and that makes me feel… small," -she snorts- "like I'm nothing but dust to the Gods. But at the same time, if everything comes from mana, then nothing is impossible, is it?" And a fearless smirk starts to grow on her lips.

Ciel sighs and nods. "That's why Wolfy is sometimes scary. Look at how many lines he's crossed already."

Well, it isn't my intention to frighten anyone, but I get what she means.

And a bit of understanding finally comes to Hana as she thinks out loud, her tone full of wonder, "[Godly Language] is just something beyond us. It's everything… or maybe it's just control over everything."

Then she goes silent again as she ponders over the mysteries of divinity.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

A few more small waves of monsters appear, but now that we aren't using the [Monster Repellent] enchantment, they're sparse enough that they pose no threat to us. Not that there should be any significant number of monsters in the area after what we did.

While we're having a moment of rest, Anton enters our tent, and his permanent frown looks a bit deeper than usual.

"Join us, Sir Anton," Ciel kindly invites him.

"As you wish, Your Highnesses," he cheekily replies.

"No titles in private," I casually request.

"Same for you," he hums back in reply.

And I flash a smile. "Point taken."

The massive man grunts, then takes a seat. I always find it baffling that my little Klein is his daughter. Her chest seems bigger than her mother's, so maybe that's what she inherited from her father.

"Are you fine? Did you get hurt in the battle?" Ciel politely inquires.

Anton replies in kind, "I'm fine. All I did was cleave through the wounded monsters. We didn't have to fight very hard after you weakened them for us, so the battle wasn't very hard. It just lasted quite a while."

"Glad to hear," she happily hums, and with the politeness done, she lets the silence settle in to encourage him to speak his mind, but he seems to be having some trouble with it, so she encourages him, "Anything on your mind?"

He turns to me as he anxiously rubs his sausage fingers against the back of his furry hand, but then he breathes in and stiffly confesses it all, "The day of the assassins. The one that appeared behind my daughter, the one you… stopped with your voice. It was an assassin targeting her, right?"

"It was," I answer bluntly.

"That's why you gave us a… shadow monster when we left to find Kahura."

"And that's why she'll always have one when going out from now on," I firmly state.

He holds the stare for a couple of seconds, then looks down at his cup, and his bald head shines in the faint light. "Can't say I'm happy about that," he grunts and sips.

I sincerely admit, "I'm sorry for putting her at risk."

But he shakes his head. "I messed up by encouraging her to become your knight."

"I take offense at that," Yunia sternly interjects and narrows her eyes dangerously.

Anton opens his eyes wide in surprise, then immediately becomes apologetic. "I-… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

I give her a glance to soothe her. I'd rather she not beat down Anton and instead just let him speak his mind.

I politely, but firmly, state, "Knighthood is a big responsibility, and neither of you were prepared to assume it right away." And that seems to calm both of them down.

Then his frown deepens a bit further as he grumbles, "Yeah, the other knights made that clear."

Hana interjects, "But Klein is serious about it. Even if we hadn't knighted her, she'd eventually choose this path."

Anton turns to her, and they stare intensely at each other, but her confidence seems to reassure him a bit. They've known each other since she was a teen, and he seems to respect her word more than mine.

He clenches his jaw in frustration. "You know how protective I am of her."

"Klein is mine, and I'll take care of her, but I also can't go against her wishes," I calmly state.

"We'll keep her together with my brother. They'll protect each other," Hana reassures him again.

Anton raises an eyebrow as he starts to understand the implication, but then he closes his eyes and slowly nods as he begins to accept his daughter's choice. He glances at Ciel, who smiles brightly like an angel, then drinks his tea all in one go and stands up. "Thanks for the tea. I'll go back to work."

I want to reassure him more, but that's something he has to talk about with Klein, first.

The men finish tying all the bodies together, then I grab one of them and store it in my "Items," taking everything else with it at the same time. Alcander is stunned by the overwhelming size of my [Item Box], but nobody else knows enough about [Space Magic] to understand how ridiculously big it is. We also recover the corpses of the Chuckys and burn them all down so that nobody can recreate them.

Then we [Clean] away all the blood so that it won't attract a dangerous number of monsters towards this area, which could have endangered fellowships that don't have good scouting capabilities.

Once we're done, I give the order, "Let's return for today. Tomorrow, I want to do this again, but on another level of the dungeon and with new monsters." Then I glance at our guides, and they both nod soberly, their cheekiness a bit dampened after seeing us fight all-out.

We return to the embassy, where we get word that Caterina would like to meet with us.

Our favorite Punisher sits down before us, then eyes the little pieces of chocolate and the steaming cup on the table, but she's a bit too serious to let herself indulge in delights while she's working.

After exchanging polite greetings, with her sending a subtle glare at Hana, she goes straight to business, "We've finished interrogating the butler, Sebastian."

And I promptly ask, "What were they doing with the monsters?"

She gives me a curious look. "You don't want to know if he's Wicked?"

"No, actually, and neither do I want to know if Cleinias was, but it's obvious that Alki isn't considering he got through the Seekers."

She raises one thin golden eyebrow. "'Alki'?"

Hana happily explains, "Our dear friend, Little Alki-Alki, Alkibiades Alkimeonids."

"I'm envious of your sense of humor," she dryly replies.

And I wryly share a Brazilian saying, "You laugh to not cry."

Hana chuckles in agreement while Ciel and Alissa give me a concerned look.

Caterina glances at both Hana and me, then tiredly whispers, "Dragons…" But Aoi is a bit annoyed that she wasn't included in her remark. "Anyway, we believe they were researching ways to breed monsters that gave more Experience."

"Oh? To live longer?" Yunia immediately guesses, and we start to become concerned.

"Precisely. Dense souls that always give a large amount of Experience."

I frown as I ask, "And what was the slime for?"

Even she becomes uncomfortable as she explains, "Breeding when there wasn't a… male breeder available, but the slime didn't produce children as powerful as with humanoids."

My frown deepens, and my thick tail starts to become restless. "Was the torture part of the experiment?"

"Yes, but it didn't have to be done so sadistically. Mere wounds would be enough to stimulate the body in the required way."

"I knew it," Roxanne whispers with a sigh.

"I can't believe Alki didn't know about it…" I tiredly add.

"The fact that Cleinias hid it from his son says everything about the quality of his character," Yunia asserts, her small nose wrinkled in disgust.

"But why hide it from his own son?" Lina confusedly asks.

And I guess, "For us, it might be inconceivable to hide things from one another, but perhaps he didn't trust that his son had the right mindset to accept it."

"He's quite the hothead. He doesn't fit the role of a scheming noble like his father," Hana agrees wholeheartedly.

"You'd know," Roxanne adds with a smirk.

And the brutish woman genuinely admits, "Exactly. I know one of my kind."

"This clearly shows that they had fallen out of grace," Caterina cryptically remarks, and we give her a curious look.

But Ciel is here to impart us with more priestly knowledge, "I truly meant it when I said that having the favor of the Gods is important to our clan. The Gods can influence the Fate of everyone around you, including your children, and even change what kind of person they'll grow up to be. So what happens when you have no competent descendants to succeed you?"

Okay, so the Gods can help the world self-correct, but that just makes me angrier.

"Then why can't they just make it so that no asshole is ever born again?!" I flippantly exclaim.

"Might as well live our lives for us, then," Caterina replies in kind.

"They don't exist to coddle us, Wolfy," Ciel firmly adds, and her disapproving tone makes me think twice.

I sigh and admit, "Apologies. I got a bit frustrated."

"I channel my frustration towards the heretics," Caterina casually remarks.

"This is why I like her," Hana hums through [Bind].

"And you said you're envious of our sense of humor," I wryly reply.

Alissa clears her throat and continues the conversation, "So… Alki's family has basically been 'cursed'?"

Caterina gracefully nods like a pompous elf. "You could put it like that. Find a way to kill him for us, please? His 'Piety' is too low for him to be left alive."

"We're planning to," I stiffly respond.

She flashes a cheeky smile. "That's great to hear." Then she immediately becomes stern again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll return to the temple."

"Please stay," I promptly request and point to the tea and chocolate as it's now my turn to smile cheekily. "Why not enjoy our hospitality a bit more? We could tell you about our little adventure today."

She gives me a measuring look, evaluating whether it's worth the risk of being kissed by Hana again.

"We triggered a horde with an array of [Monster Repellent]s," Hana tries to entice her with a whispery tone, and my fiery dragonkin grins excitedly as Caterina gives her a curious look.

The Punisher Captain stays for a couple of hours, listening as Hana indulges in her penchant for playing the bard, but then the sun sets, and Caterina retires to her own quarters.

As we start washing ourselves, we begin to miss the gentle touch of our maids and how their dexterous fingers could make us finish in a matter of minutes. I love all of my women, and I'm fond of and care for them deeply, so I miss more than just their touch. They're kind and hardworking souls who just want to please us, and bath time simply isn't the same without them.

I gather a clump of elven not-conditioner with my fingers and spread it on my palms, then I run my hands through Lina's black, silky hair, pushing it backward as it sticks like a gel.

After I'm done, I turn her around and observe her face. Her forehead is a bit big, but she looks really nice with sweptback hair. It brings out her gloomy eyes, making them look quite captivating, and coupled with the coolness factor from the hairstyle, she looks refreshingly cute… No, not just cute, she looks attractive, charming, even. It's very refreshing to see her like this since she only focuses on being sickeningly-sweet cute, which is enhanced by her adorable loli body, but this new look has a different air to it.

"My forehead isn't big," she quietly complains.

And I smile wryly. "I specifically used a lot of other compliments too, but you get hung up on the 'forehead' part, huh?"

She looks me in the eye, then grabs my Tool and starts working. "I'll jerk you because of the compliments, but I won't let you in because of the forehead comment," she coldly states.

I let my jaw drop in surprise, but then I give her my best hatchling eyes as I massage her scalp with my humanoidized hands. "That's so mean. What if I find big foreheads cute?"

She grips me tighter, which enhances my pleasure, but her real intention is to look threatening.

And I pout. "That's unfair. You girls dress me up, so let me play with you a bit."

She starts to go faster. "We don't dress you up like a girl."

"Would you like to see me like… that?" And I moan.

"Yes, very much so."

I raise my eyebrows at her as my breath quickens, and then she begins pouting cutely, and that's enough to bring me over the edge.

I lower my hands towards her cheeks, intending to try another angle… and also another hole, "I love everything about you, even the parts that you don't like about yourself."

She releases my Tool and cleans herself, then she hums thoughtfully.

"Let me enjoy your everything, please?" I tenderly ask, then I slip a finger in.

Her eyes widen, and she breathes in deeply, then slowly nods and stands up. "Okay…" She whispers softly, then lowers herself again.

With her quiet demeanor, it's very easy for her to play the role of a "cool loli," and I finish many times as I savor a new side of her.

Since we now have a massive amount of meat, we give enough of the monsters to the butchers to feed all of our men so that everyone will have their calories replenished and more than enough protein to stimulate muscle growth. The elves know they need it.

Aoi eats so much that even her magical stomach has trouble digesting it all, so she immediately collapses on the bed the moment we retire to our room for the evening, then quickly falls asleep. That annoys Gify a bit since she wanted to play with Aoi, and lately, they haven't had much time to spend together since we've been so busy, so the little griffin also feels disappointed.

I pull out the nail polish and take the opportunity to start fixing Aoi's and everyone else's nails. We all fought a bit too vigorously, so their nails received the brunt of the punishment. Even my claws need some filing and waxing.

Hana's obviously need the most care after Aoi's, and I practice my humanoidization while I work on my dragonkin.

"You look so different without your draconic parts. You're almost like a different person," Lolo remarks as she leans forward and closely inspects my face.

Alissa smirks and teases, "He was a different person. Can you believe he couldn't bear to look at my naked body the first time we met?"

And Hana promptly chimes in, "He took my first time and did me into submission just one hour after we met. He always had a bit of a dragon in him."

I turn to Alissa and gracefully riposte, "You used to be an adorably shy but loving girl, and now, you're a depraved sl-t."

"I'm sure you prefer me this way," she seductively replies, then crawls up to me and kisses my cheek.

I nod in agreement and state, "Lina took on your old role."

My foxy sl-t smiles cheekily and sultrily adds, slowly and deliberately pronouncing each word, making them utterly drip with seduction, "I encouraged her. My rightful place is on my knees, sucking you, or licking another woman clean of your seed."

"That's true love," Roxanne points out, and the girls all nod.

"The Goddess of Love doesn't judge," Ciel adds with a sigh.

Alissa stares at me on all fours, her almost orange eyes giving me an expectant look. The way her hips sway with the wagging of her tail, the jiggle of her nice pair asthey hang from her body, her cheeky smile as she knows I'm hardening without even looking at it. She's just too much of a tease.

We suddenly move in sync. I get off the bed, and she kneels before me.