Today is the 15th, Fo, day of Fire. While it's the best day for barbecues, it's also a good day for "internal cleansing," whatever that means, but it's known to be popular among the self-denying dragonkin like Mako.

Only in my nightmares would I ever not indulge in hedonism, so I'm glad to be woken up by… an unknown pair of lolis. Two cheeky little bundles of cinnamon-colored joy make for a delightful waking up.

With Alissa's excellent coaching, they perfectly work me until the end, and I whisper in bliss at this wonderful moment.

I [Clean] my mouth and receive Alissa's gentle morning kiss, but I pull her in for a deep and long one to make sure she understands how much I appreciate this act of love from her.

"Awn~…" the two lolies coo cutely at our display of affection, but that just makes me harder, and they giggle as they notice it twitch.

Alissa briefly breaks our kiss to order, "You two, take care of that while I keep his mouth occupied, but be warned: it's magical."

"Oh, we know," the left cheeky loli replies with a grin.

"Lord Wolf is famous among the brothels…" the right thirsty loli adds with a hungry stare.

And I begin my morning by stretching two tight ones wide and filling them up to the brim.

I increased my [Summoning Magic] by 2 (now 6+38) and [Mana Overuse Resistance] by 1 (now 6+5).

Alissa increased her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 1+20).

Roxanne increased her [Water Magic] by 1 (now 4+37).

Hana increased her [Draconic Body] by 1 (now 9).

Ciel increased her [Wind Magic] by 1 (now 11+30).

Lina increased her [Cursing Magic] by 1 (now 11+13).

Yunia increased her [Spirit Magic] by 1 (now 2+26).

We all gained one level. Alissa, Roxanne, Ciel, Lina, and I are now level 63, Hana is now level 64, Aoi is now level 50, and Yunia is now level 65.

Ciel and I increased our "Piety" by 1 (now 28 and 18, respectively), which is rather odd considering we got scolded by the direct descendant of the God of the Sun and prayed for the Gods to answer our doubts but got only silence in response. Maybe the praying did it, but it's a bit futile to try to understand how this "Stat" works, so I stop my questioning there.

And lastly, we've all gained the Titles "Decien" and "Honorary Sky Captain."

We didn't get level-ups in melee skills because we can't spam them like we can with spells. On the other hand, melee skills don't require a lot of theory, so my Gift makes it easier to learn them during training since adding points to a skill already gives us half of the knowledge required to level them up.

I breathe in deeply and savor the clear air of a perfect morning. The clear sky, the warm sun, birds and nature spirits chirping, the fragrance of flowers, and the wonderful sounds of female giggles. But the thing that makes this morning so special is the lack of any royals or snooty nobles that we have to entertain. It's just me and my women having a meal on our balcony under the morning sun.

"So, I noticed how none of the other soldiers tried to flirt with any of you," Khepri mischievously remarks to the Companions.

"That'd be very stupid of them," Romy replies matter-of-factly.

"Before you ask, I don't think any of us will ever get married. Wolfy ruined us," Hukarere promptly declares, and we share a wry smile.

"What a cute nickname," Edjo gently hums, and Hukarere actually looks a bit embarrassed, which really shows on her bare pale chest.

"You're the one who used to get into orgies until not too long ago," Klein teasingly accuses Hukarere, and their small rivalry helps my white wolf recover immediately.

"Because I already didn't really have any hope of ever getting married," she casually replies, unphased.

"Uh-huh~…" I sassily hum, and she subtly cringes as she realizes that Klein hit a vulnerable spot. Hukarere knows that I want to make her a concubine, so it's not like nobody wants to marry her. It's just her own stubbornness that makes her reluctant to accept.

"We're married to our duty," Aneta suddenly chimes in with a sober tone. This delicious elf is the wisest among the Companions, and they all listen to her.

"That's… a good analogy," Klein hums in agreement as she seems to realize something.

"Do you even know what 'analogy' means?" Hana teases with a smirk.

"Do you?" the monkey girl deftly teases back with narrowed eyes.

"Don't cheat," I whisper and block Hana from reading my thoughts.

"Ffff~uck…" she swears as she realizes how much "Wisdom" she's been borrowing from me.

But Edolie, our obedient catgirl, interjects at a crucial moment, saving Hana from the embarrassment, "Like, uh… Lord Roxanne said yesterday, it's part of our duties to see Lord Wolf's desires fulfilled."

"But it's a different kind of love than that of marriage, yes," Ciel kindly completes for her, and the Companions and Klein all nod in agreement.

Lolo and the adventuring trio raise questioning eyebrows at me, so I try to explain, "She's joking… kinda. Some of them may take this seriously, but it isn't."

"How interesting…" Edjo hums impassively, and I just shrug with a sigh.

Can't really complain about it since we did encourage this type of behavior.

"And this is it…" Roxanne grins as she finishes her explanation of the orb-boosted mana circulation training.

The (technically) four Verners (if you count Ofilia) give us disbelieving looks, with Allura's being an adorable mix of Léonne's stern-looking, furrowed eyebrows and Jacques' frowning, slackened jaw.

I smile cheekily as I joke, "This is the so very secretive and well-guarded imperial mana circulation training, now accidentally improved by a certain dragon's unending hunger for magical food."

And Aoi gives them a toothy grin.

Léonne makes some choked sounds of laughter, still too stunned to chuckle properly, but then she finally puts her confusion into words, "I thought it'd be something dangerous. Why do they keep it secret, then? Mere greed?"

"It's awfully close to how [Godly Language] works," I answer.

And she immediately recomposes herself. "Ah, now that makes sense."

"Can I learn [Godly Language], then?" Allura suddenly inquires, her orange eyes gleaming with hope.

"That's actually somewhat dangerous to learn, so I advise against it," I shoot her down.

"Balls…" the tomboy grumbles as her pointy ears go flat.

Then Jacques apprehensively shares his mind with us, "Well, I understand the need to keep [Godly Language] out of the hands of the commoners, but it still bothers me how such a simple training routine has been kept secret for so long."

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And Léonne adds, "Perhaps one day, Wolf will find an alternative to it that doesn't carry the risk of inadvertently teaching [Godly Language]."

But the wives all give me a wry smile as I groan internally, puzzling the Verners.

"Wolfy already has more research projects than he can handle," Alissa kindly explains and gives me a sympathetic smile.

"Well, hopefully, you'll be able to expand your Institute soon," Léonne adds and mirrors Alissa's expression.

Can I give Osaria the responsibility of hiring more managers? Or maybe Sai can manage a spirit research division?

What I seem to lack are capable people that I can trust…

"Hopefully…" I mumble weakly as my head starts to sag.

"Don't overwork yourself," Jacques soberly advises.

And Léonne immediately chimes in with a nod, "Yes… if Alissa inherited more from me than her father, then it's likely she doesn't know when to stop working."

"Huh… that's kind of true," my foxy wife hums thoughtfully.

"Alissa has been addicted to training ever since she was a child," Ofilia kindly remarks, and Alissa becomes embarrassed as she remembers that her reason for being so dedicated to training was to make her future master happy.

"And I still remember how Mom ordered me to put healing salve on your body when you were exhausted so that we could 'bond,'" Allura chimes in.

"It worked…" Alissa shyly replies as her tail slowly wags.

"A little too well…" Jacques quietly states, a bit conflicted about the "relationship" between the two sisters.

We chuckle softly, but we hold back from talking about spicy stuff to not tease Allura too much since she's still supposed to be learning how to control herself. Instead, we have a nice casual morning in the sun with the Verners.

But Léonne still has one more topic she wants to talk about as we perform our circulation training. "I'm glad that your draconic pride didn't get in the way during the Emperor's 'outburst,'" she soberly remarks.

But I proudly reply, "On the contrary, it's because my pride is as hard as my scales that Empy did so little damage to it."

"'Empy'?" Ofilia breathes in disbelief.

Ciel sighs internally, feeling uncomfortable about my borderline insolent way of referring to the Emperor, but even she has a bit of a grudge against him after yesterday.

Then Léonne turns to Aoi, who nearly chokes on her orb as she becomes surprised that she's receiving attention from fox mommy. "And from what I understand of you, Lord Aoi, you also have a similar 'resilience'?"

Our little blue dragon raises her head high, then turns it to the side in a very snobbish-elf way. "Hmph, I'll never forget that he pushed my face against the mud, but I can't just bite him back, so one day, I'll tell him I didn't like what he did," she haughtily replies, and she'd be pouting if her draconic lips allowed her to.

"Hell yeah, screw Empy," Hana states with a nod.

"Even Wolfy knows that the Emperor's rage was justified," Ciel sorely reminds them, and after I give her my support, the two dragons stop with the whining.

"It does indeed seem like it's hard to truly wound a dragon's pride," Léonne thoughtfully states.

And Alissa explains, "Well, we also give them a lot of mental support through our connection."

"But that connection was the reason why we allowed Wolfy to be so reckless," Yunia soberly retorts, and we all almost hum in sync as we seriously reflect on her words.

The short silence is broken by a cute nyan from the balcony as Gify plays tag with a chibi cat nature spirit.

Ciel is the first to speak, and she wistfully agrees, "True, we allowed your loss and his anger to color our thoughts, so we didn't even care that Reinhold was killed."

"I think it might actually be a really bad thing to have all our emotions mix into one," Hana remarks with a frown.

"Our strength comes from how we complete each other, but the Gestalt turns it into a weakness as our wills become one," Lina wisely states.

"Well, shit…" I grumble with a sigh. It seems that the Gestalt still needs some work.

For lunch, we decide to invite Ciel's Templar friends: Kyora and her harem. We're going to be eating Behemoth ribs again, and it'd be a crime to not share them with all of our friends, but this time, we don't include the Companions or the adventurers to give them some time for themselves.

"Priests, Wandering Knights, and Punishers. Your family is enviously close to the temple," Léonne enviously remarks to Yunia.

And the elven Queen raises a thin golden eyebrow as she questions, "You don't have a good relationship with them?"

Léonne responds with a very foxy smile, but there's bitterness hidden behind her mask. "The Wandering Knights Marked us once for a short time after we dealt with a small rebellion from the White Stalkers nearly two decades ago, and our relationship still hasn't recovered."

The werefoxes may be quite religious in comparison to the other races, like the elves, but the foxes are also infamous for being ruthless in wars, so this comes as no surprise to us.

Then Yunia realizes something, so she lowers her voice and tactfully asks, "Is Ofilia the rebel leader's daughter?"

The fox matriarch smiles softly and allows her tail to wag at the mention of the jade-like beauty. "Precisely. At first, she was a hostage, but now she's technically a maid-wife."

And Yunia realizes how similar Ofilia's situation was to her own. "What is it with us women and falling in love with the men who conquer us?" she theatrically asks as she rolls her eyes, then snobbishly sips her glass.

Léonne graciously chuckles, then wistfully answers, "We just like being conquered…"

And the two share a suggestive look as they continue in unison, "By strong men with huge-…"

I tune out their conversation. They're being a bit too sexist for my earthling ears, but whatever…

"The temple and Templars hardly ever agree with the Emperor," Timas explains to Ciel. The monochrome catman is always so eloquent that even Kyora listens when he talks.

"Isn't that… not a good thing?" Hana confusedly asks.

And Timas launches into a scholarly explanation, "The temple's purpose is to advise the Emperor in regards to his subjects while Templars' purpose is to ensure that he never strays too far or forgets his duties. We aren't supposed to agree on all matters, but we also aren't exactly at odds with each other. It's a complex relationship."

"Why do you know so much about the Emperor?" Kyora grumbles back.

"Because that's our job," he stiffly answers, holding back a frown.

And the big blue dragonkin knits her eyebrows. "No, our job is to deal with naughty nobles and monster crises. We're way too weak to bully the Emperor around."

His tail stops waving as he becomes annoyed. "The Templars don't bully the Emperor."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Then how else would we 'ensure' things?"

"Well… that's a detail that I'm not that certain about," he calmly answers with an awkward smile.

"Because that's not our job," Kyora smugly states.

And Timas frowns at the big blue woman.

For the afternoon, Roxanne and Hana will go to Mac Gantus' Knight Academy for research purposes; Lina and Aoi will repair our armor; Ciel and Yunia will have a magic-aided conversation with our people back in Escanso; and Alissa and I will be visiting the Oracle.

The small, masked, imperial woman receives us in the same emellanat bunker full of enchantments with the thick glass wall separating us. She's lounging on the same cushions as before, but her mask is that of a cute red fox, making me wonder if it's related to Alissa.

The Oracle doesn't even raise her head as we approach, too busy playing with some sort of lava lamp with four different colored liquids in it. She seems to be manipulating the liquids with magic, somehow, and the way they behave reminds me of the elemental pseudo-mana of the orbs we got in the Labyrinth.

As we sit down, the blobs of colored liquid take on an odd, "sword" shape, then the Oracle suddenly twitches on her cushion, and the "sword" shape is erased as the blobs of color assume random shapes.

"Hello, Ryders," she promptly greets, sounding a bit awkward.

"Hello, Oracle. This is one of my wives, Alissa," I greet back with a cheeky grin.

The fox mask turns to the real fox. "Hello, Alissa."

The real fox answers the fake fox, "Hello, Oracle."

"We came as you asked. You wished to study my soul, no?" I gently ask, deciding not to tease her for now.

The Oracle nods as she pulls out a pen and some paper from her [Item Box] with a *poof*. "Indeed… your soul is very unique, so I'd like to record as much information about it as possible. If you could practice magic, it'd make it easier for me to study you."

I feel like I'm just a "specimen" to her, but I guess that's better than when she was being insolent and rude.

"I'll practice my 'humanoidization,' then," I state, and I sense her raising a questioning eyebrow behind her mask.

Intermission - Emmett Roseman

Yes, yes, yes! We got one of the golems!

The Graet Masters gather at the Forum while chatting excitedly, and I can't blame them. I'm as eager as they are; it's just that, as the Speaker, I must remain composed at all times.

But I still daydream about the opportunities that will arise from this.

No more prostitutes for me!

The old itchvines finally sit down, and I stand with a little effort due to my size. Then I clear my throat and announce, "Graet Masters and esteemed members of the Union, we've gathered here to display a secret 'acquisition' that will forever change the future of enchanting!"

They start to chatter again, but I raise a hand to silence them. Then I turn to the men behind the enchanted protective glass. The big man in armor is the one who has it in his [Item Box], and he's flanked by two mages with Elemental Spirits just for safety as the Ryders' golems are known to unleash a barrage of spells.

"Take it out," I order, and the three nod.

The knight chants [Item Box] and interacts with his interface, then he crouches and looks around, making sure that everyone is ready. After a moment of hesitation, he touches the floor, and a little cloud appears with a silly noise. The three immediately get some distance from it, with a Fire and [Water Wall] spell covering their retreat.

"HI, I'M MR. MEESEEKS! LOOK AT ME!" the hellish little bear doll shrieks with a horribly grating, high-pitched voice.

The Masters hum in awe and lean forward so that their weak eyes can see it better. The little golem looks around at everyone, but when it notices the Masters, it stares back at them with its beady black eyes.

"OH, NO! I THINK I'VE BEEN CAPTURED! AHAHAHAHA!" the golem shrieks again and laughs maniacally.

This is… frightening… Why are they like this?

I clear my throat and start explaining, "As you can see, this is a perfectly preserved specimen, which allows us to stu-…"

"EXISTENCE IS PAIN!" it shrieks once more, then simply blows up in a fiery ball of flames.

WHAT?!

"WHAT?!" the Masters shout.

The Forum erupts in chatter while the trio rush to the burning remains of the golem, but not only has it blown itself apart, but the pieces are also quickly burning away. The mages quickly douse the flames with their magical water, but they barely recover even half of its remains as most of it simply disintegrated in the explosion.

And I feel my skin start to burn red with rage.

Damn you, Wolf Ryder! Damn you and your disposable Meeseeks! We'll have your [Golemancy] one day and break your monopoly on golems! Just you wait!

Intermission end.