Today is the 12th.

Gify wakes us all up and I start my day feeling oddly unfulfilled.

The elves serve us some strong not-chai tea with milk, it helps a lot with the morning laziness. Rande's family has already left so it's only us and Klein's. Anton seems quieter than normal while Klein seems more anxious. The trip to Ostoum will be short, but there's still some danger on the way, so it's quite normal for us to be tense.

Flor comes out to talk to Klein's family; they all give each other tight hugs.

"Are you making the trip back, too?" Flor asks Anton.

"Through Glorampina," he gives her a sad smile.

"Well, come back and spend some time here after things go back to normal," she says.

"How long do you think this is going to last?" Krista asks.

"Not much longer, I hope. The towns are starting to have problems even though we are almost completely self-sufficient."

"Yeah, the patrols looked very tired," Klein comments.

"As much as we are proud of not relying on the empire, I still hope that the emperor will solve this," Flor says with a sigh.

"Most elves we heard talking about it want to keep things internal," Anton says.

Flor frowns, "Of course they do, but while they maintain their elven pride, the common folk like us are the ones getting hurt the most."

"Huh… pride…" Anton comments awkwardly and scratches his cheek with the log of his finger.

Flor turns to us and gives us a shy goodbye. "You are an interesting fellowship, please come back one day."

"We would love to," Ciel says.

Anton and Laertes sigh lowly in unison.

We go to the gate and see the usual caravan forming up. With nobody else leaving besides us and the patrol, the gate looks oddly empty. I can see that most of the elven commoners are back, but either a few of them are missing or I'm just confusing them with other because they all look somewhat similar.

Then we take the long walk down the spiral ramp. Most commoners look rather happy and comfortable, the safety Helios provides allows them to relax more.

When we reach the road I cast a [Swift Foot] on the commoners. They let their pride wane a little and bow lightly to me.

"So, Roxanne, where are you from?" Osaria asks, she leans out the window and bunches up her bountiful breasts into a trap for the eyes.

"Mashoor, then I lived in Xane while I studied at the Holy Academy," Roxanne answers with a wry smile.

"Amazing, so that's where you learned of your talent for magic," Osaria smiles warmly.

"Well, you could say that I was talented before I joined," Roxanne smiles proudly. "In fact, I had created my specialty magic, [Explosion], before I joined and that's what guaranteed me a spot there."

I don't try to hold back my gaze and just drown in Osaria's breasts. She sends me a wink and a seductive smile when she notices my stare. I take a glance at Ciel and she quickly undoes her pout then looks ahead.

"Does Ciel really not want us to get involved with Osaria?" I ask Alissa through [Bind].

"How was the Academy? I studied at Escanso's Academy when I was young but my talent with magic was middling at best… for a noble," Osaria adds the last part with an uncharacteristic shy tone.

"Maybe she wants to be teased, maybe she's unsure if she wants to sleep with Osaria, or maybe she's feeling territorial," Alissa answers.

"Is Ciel an animal? Like, her position as the 'boob slut' is threatened by Osaria?" We both chuckle internally while looking at Ciel, who notices our odd looks and frowns.

"It… was quite informative. The Academy is certainly the reason I am this strong today," Roxanne says with a little anxiety.

"You don't seem to look at it fondly," Osaria says softly, her sensual voice jolts my member awake.

"Maybe we should get Lina to flirt with Osaria, that would push her into a decision quite quickly," Alissa says, her voice dripping with sadism.

"Hmmm…" I moan in delight, "That could be pushing it a bit too far, though."

"The Academy was so strict that I felt like I was being suffocated there," Roxanne says, her tone gets sadder.

"I understand…" Osaria says as kind as a mother. "I heard that succubi society is quite competitive."

"She's a big girl, she can deal with it and stop us if she doesn't like it."

The image of Lina being eaten by the two curvy chocolate goddesses invades my mind and I smile like a fool.

"It is. It's not the environment I wanted to be in for my entire life, so… I left."

"You seem quite happy now, so perhaps it was the better choice."

Roxanne smiles shyly. Hana guides her horse closer, then grabs Roxanne's hand and kisses it.

"It was. For me, at least," Hana says with a warm smile, making Roxanne squirm.

Roxanne looks like an innocent maiden while Hana looks like a dashing knight looking fondly at her lady.

Osaria looks at me and her questioning gaze awakens me from my unashamed lewd stare at the twin hills. "Wait, who's Hana married to?" She questions.

"Me, and, well, Roxanne, too. Also, kind of everyone, really," I say with a shrug.

Osaria lets out a dignified chuckle.

"Technically not married, we just exchanged vows," Ciel comments.

"How… how does that work?" Laertes chimes in from the top of the carriage. Morbid curiosity got the best of him.

"We just… love each other?" I answer and look at the girls.

"It's trust," Alissa says.

"Fighting alongside one another builds bonds like nothing else," Hana says.

And what about your bonds with the two boys back when you were free?

"The way we love each other is different for each couple," Ciel says.

Rande nods and joins the conversation, "The way Oura and Nito love each other is certainly different from the way I love them."

We hear a grunt and suddenly Oura's face appears from behind Osaria, she looks quite confused.

"Go back to sleep, love, I didn't call for you," Rande says with a mirthful smile on his face.

"Kay…" Oura answers faintly and disappears back inside the carriage.

"How did you three meet?" Hana asks Rande with a suggestive smile.

The mirth disappears from his face and his smile becomes dashing. "Nito is my cousin, his family never had that much power so I took him for myself. Oura was Mom's little pet, once. We got introduced to each other through her so that Oura could become my knight one day. It was love at first sight, so we decided to get together immediately."

A muffled voice protests from inside the carriage, "I-I'm not a lesbian! I was never your mother's pet!" Oura appears from behind Osaria again and glares at Rande.

"She was grooming you to become one, though," he states calmly.

"N-no!" She covers her face with her hands and retreats back into the carriage.

"If you say so," he shrugs.

Osaria continues to smile innocently, then she and Rande share a knowing smile.

Yeah, they are nobility alright.

The trip continues calmly, only a few Wood Goblins and another Giant Centipede come before lunchtime. Ostodos and Ostoum are sister towns and they help each other out due to their proximity, so this part of the trip might be the safest.

I give the corpse of the Giant Centipede to the commoners so they can make a hearty meal for themselves.

Krista opens a jar of pickled Dragon Eggs. Not literal eggs, they are just fruits that look more like pitayas than the eggs we found in the dragon nest Aoi lived in. They taste just like pickled cucumbers.

She spit-roasts a whole Acarei, a large lizard-like monster from Antano, and we eat it in a baguette sandwich. She serves a few salads, like not-tomato with not-oregano, to be added to the sandwiches.

Alissa approaches Krista and they start to talk about how to cook the Uspidor's tentacles.

"Wolfy, can you give us the tentacles?" Alissa asks.

"Sure, but I will want most of them for ourselves."

Krista nods and happily takes the thick octopus-like tentacles.

We move on through the forest and I notice that the number of glowing plants remains fairly constant along the road. The mana in the environment is quite thick, so I'm not surprised that the exotic plants have survived outside of direct elven influence.

Though, there's still something odd.

"There are way fewer monsters around here than I expected," I say.

"Well, this stretch of the road is easy to patrol in comparison to the rest of the High Way," Rande comments.

"No, I mean, the number of monsters is decreasing the more we progress."

Hana and Rande immediately look at each other. "There's probably a large group camping nearby," Hana says.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Yes, someone who can hunt monsters," Rande agrees.

"Adventurers?" I question.

Rande starts to reason, "To affect the number of nearby monsters this much… only if it's a mercenary company training their members, or…"

"Bandits," Hana completes.

"Alissa," I turn to her and she nods.

"I will search for tracks," she hits the rump of her horse and gallops forward.

Rande alerts the soldiers and they become alert. The commoners go silent and huddle up, holding their children tightly in their arms.

I have four Hollys out scouting in a circular pattern; I dismiss the Shads and summon three more Hollys to fill in any gaps.

A few minutes later, I see someone curled up inside a hole in the trunk of one of the gigantic trees beside the road. Holly has orders to observe for a minute and then move on, so I use this minute to absorb all the information I can about this person.

A thin, dirty, golden elf wearing a ghillie suit. He has a bow, a quiver, and some food out. He sips on a large cup of steaming tea, not-chai.

"Stop, I found a scout beside the road," I tell Alissa.

"Where?"

"A few hundred meters ahead of you. The tree he's in is right beside the road."

"I will circle around and try to find tracks to see where he came from."

"Understood."

"Rande, one of my birds found a hiding golden elf wearing camouflage," I say.

His eyebrows shoot up, he's very impressed. "You found a hiding golden elf through the eyesight of a mere bird?" He questions.

"My 'Perception' is quite high," I say.

"I can see that… Anyway, we have to take him out silently before he can call his companions."

"You sure he's a bandit?"

"He's watching the road, right?"

"Yes."

"We need to capture him. If we make a mistake, then it's his fault for doing something so suspicious."

I look at the girls and Ciel and Hana both nod with confidence.

"Caravans are very important for the stability of the towns. Lords stomp down on bandits like these with prejudice," Ciel says.

"Don't fail me now, Wolf," Rande says warily.

"My job is to keep the caravan safe and that is what I will do," I state categorically.

He nods and turns to Laertes. "Scout the area and find us a good spot to defend ourselves," he says.

Laertes nods sternly and turns into a large husky. He jumps off of the carriage and darts away. Soon, his small [Spirit Light] is the only sign we can see of him.

"Can you actually capture him silently?" Rande asks me.

I have so many tools to use… but to do it perfectly and without allowing the scout to react will be difficult. Especially because I can't use the Shads.

"Possibly, though if he has an Emergency Ring then I'm not sure how I can stop him from activating it."

"Do what you can."

I harden my expression as I firmly state, "I'll summon a dark elemental, it has more of a chance to disable him than a spirit one."

Rande grimaces and repeats, "Do what you can."

I look at Ciel and she sighs, then she guides her horse closer to me and whispers, "If you feel uncomfortable, stop immediately. The Gods send signs, but Torture is a Sin that's easy to commit."

"Understood. I'll go alone."

The girls, even Aoi, look at me with immense anxiety.

"It's better this way, you won't be affected by the elemental."

Ciel cringes and nods. "We will be here when you return," she says, softly.

I gallop midway between the caravan and the scout, then stop.

I remember the anger that the Red Smirk ignited in me; the fear from the ambush that Darean's kidnapper created for me; the unpleasant surprise of the invisible assassins that tried to kill us; the disgust during the fight to capture the Illusion mage; the massacre of the kidnappers that wanted Lyle. These memories help me gather my courage and steel my nerves for what's to come.

I cannot let these people interfere with my life, but they still interfere with my feelings, regardless. The dark elemental is just another part of it.

I breathe in calmly and summon a dark elemental.

My face twitches in discomfort; a slow and heavy shiver runs along my back and tires out my muscles; my lungs feel heavy when I exhale; and my breath trembles.

A dark outline of a person, eerily similar to myself, rises from the ground and stands beside me.

"Find the scout," I order.

I nod and turn around, then I dash through the road in search of my prey.

Even though I move along the road with all my speed, I feel like I'm not moving at all. Like a nightmare, I struggle to move forward no matter how hard I try. Desperation sinks in as the dark outline behind me gets closer and closer. My back tingles so much that when the dark outline touches it, I immediately feel immense pain in my tense muscles as I try to distance myself from the darkness with all of my willpower.

I wake up from my nightmare and feel like an eternity has passed while in truth it didn't last long. I stop my distressed horse and look up at the tree. Somewhere in there, the elemental is holding the elven scout, who is screaming in pain, but no sound escapes from him.

I unsummon another Holly and summon a nature elemental.

"Bind it," I order.

The dark elemental releases the elven man as the nature elemental restrains him with her vines, then she brings him down from the tree.

I can't use [Godly Language] right now since I'll have to bring him back alive after I'm done.

The elven man looks rather weak and malnourished. His thin beard is unkempt and makes him look more like a beggar than a dignified elf.

Slowly, he regains his awareness and observes the situation he's in. He looks at me with a mix of fear and proud defiance.

"What were you doing hiding up there?" I question him once I deem him sane enough.

"Release me! I am merely a hunter waiting for prey! You can see that I had my bow up there!" He spews at me and nudges to the tree with his shoulder.

"You were watching over the road, do you understand how suspicious you looked?" I shoot back flatly.

"Fuck you, imperial!" He spits on the ground. "How did you know I wasn't waiting for prey, huh?!"

"How, indeed…" I cast [Summon Small Bird] the normal way and his eyes open wide with realization. "Don't lie or I will use the dark elemental again."

"You don't have the courage, boy," he spits again.

I look at the elemental and say, "Do it."

The scout opens his mouth in fear but before he can speak his voice fades. He stares at the dark elemental with horror on his face as a disgusting mutation takes place.

The dark outline grows a cocoon and turns into a writhing mass of white flesh. It falls on the ground and squirms towards the scout. Arms grow out of the twitching flesh, then a head, then a barbed penis.

The head gains its shape and a face forms: a balding man with sickly, pale skin; no lips; and bloody, pointy, and thin teeth. A sickening smile and a piercing stare with bulging, bloodshot eyes is shot at the scout.

His arms grow long and thin and he slowly crawls forward with twisted delight, savoring the terror in the eyes of the elven man. The fingers form, and long, dirty fingernails extend out from their tips.

The dark elemental hugs the man firmly and licks his ear. Then he turns the scout over onto his back and lowers his pants. The scout mumbles a few things, trying to convince himself this isn't real, because it's the truth.

The elemental spreads the ass cheeks of the scout and inserts a dirty fingernail inside. The scout groans in pain and starts to struggle.

I turn my head away and see a finger creeping inside the scout's asshole. I turn to the other side and see another finger entering him. I cannot escape from the nightmare.

The sharp fingernails break the skin and the man bleeds. The fingers start to enter deeper and spread his asshole open. He cries in pain and struggles against his binds, but the nature elemental only increases her grip and bruises his skin in response.

He squirms and manages to see the bellybutton of the elemental open as disgusting worms slime their way out. They fall onto his cheeks and worm their way down towards his asshole.

His cries become even louder and he starts to scream. "PLEASE, STOP! PLEASE, I BEG YOU! MERCY, PLEASE!"

I feel some discomfort and disgust. My heart is burning in pain.

"Will you obey me and tell me everything?"

"Y-YES, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"

I dismiss the dark elemental and nearly puke, but the scout doesn't have the same resistance as me. The pain and discomfort quickly fade.

The scout coughs and rolls away from the disgusting puddle he created. He checks his pants and sees that they are still on. His hands, currently tied behind his back, reach over to pat his ass and check if there's any damage. He sighs in relief once he's satisfied.

"What were you doing in that tree," I ask, emotionless.

He cringes but speaks, "Waiting for a good target."

"A caravan?"

"Yes," his breath quickens in anxiety.

"Did you warn your comrades about us?"

"No…" He says through gritted teeth.

"Search his body for anything," I order the elemental.

The nature elemental's vines snake all over his body, making him itchy all over. Then, in a hidden pocket, it finds an Emergency Ring turned green.

"So…?" I ask the scout.

The scout keeps silent and stares at the ring with desperation.

"If they are coming, I will make the dark elemental torture you again for disobeying."

He grimaces as he speaks, "I already missed my last safety report, they'll know I got captured by now."

Fuck.

"Alissa, did you find the tracks?"

"Yes, he came from the north-east. There's another younger track, it seems like someone came out of there after he reached the observation spot."

"So, they are organized."

"Quite."

"Come back now. He said that he missed the last safety report, so they'll know that he got captured."

"You interrogated him?"

"With a dark elemental since I can't use [Godly Language] on him."

She grows silent and I feel worry and anxiety leaking from her side. "I'll give you lots of love later," she says, forcing a chipper tone.

"I'll be waiting…" I finish. I can't help but smile at her concern.

I unsummon all of the Hollys and summon an earth elemental to help carry the scout and bring him back with me to the caravan.

"How many men?" Rande asks.

"One hundred," the scout answers.

"Bullshit," he gives the scout a slap.

I really want to use [Godly Language] right now.

"Fuck you," the scout struggles against his binds.

Hana's brain massage helps me zone out of the "interrogation."

"What kind of men do you have?"

"Gatun riders, mages, and dozens of archers."

Rande slaps him again and the scout spits blood.

"I can confirm any of this information with my [Summoning Magic] once they get close enough," I interrupt.

"If he lied, then we kill him, simple as that," Rande says and gives the scout a wicked smile.

This gives the scout some pause. "We have mages, we will kill your little birds before you can see anything."

"I doubt that. I saw you with one of my special little birds and you never noticed."

"Even if they do that, once they get here we will have our answer, then, you die," Rande growls at the scout.

"Fuck, okay! We've got seventy men, just hungry farmers that lost our homes!" He yells and the entire camp goes silent.

"Where?" Rande asks, his voice much softer.

"Odulto, a small farming village north of Escanso. We abandoned it before we could get overwhelmed, but not everyone had enough money to restart somewhere else."

"You are quite far from home."

"We got a tip that a juicy caravan was going to pass through here. Escanso has more patrols, so it's too dangerous if we are too close."

A tip, eh?

"Did you leave your families behind?"

"Yes…" He looks down and his tone turns sad. "Can't bring them close to the fight, can we?" Shame appears on his voice and his defiance fades away.

Rande leaves him and motions for us to come over.

"I would rather not kill them all," he says.

"Are you going soft, now?" Hana says and narrows her eyes dangerously.

"Dammit! They are my brethren!" He hisses. "How can I just slaughter them all without a second thought?"

"Our safety and yours comes first. But if they surrender, then it ends," I say.

"Then make them surrender," he affirms with determination.

I look at Roxanne and she frowns. "We have to be brutal and quick, then they'll be so shocked that their morale will drop and it won't recover," I say and her frown grows deeper.

"Some of them will have to die horribly," Roxanne says.

"Yes."

Rande grimaces and speaks, "I understand. It's the most efficient method."

Brutal efficiency…

We use the cover of a spiral tree to hide the caravan. Some of the space mages use [Nature Magic] to turn the tree into a proper wall. We stand out in the open to show ourselves off as a target for them, two sacrificial wagons are left behind us to make for a juicier target. I leave six earth elementals below the ground with a surprise for them.

Thirty versus seventy, but the advantage is ours.

Two Hollys scan the area, and one Shad is left with Roxanne while she prepares the spell. I'm left with very little mana, but it's a sacrifice we have to make.

A good half-hour later, I see scouts tracking us through Holly. They find our tracks leaving the road and alert the main group. A few minutes later, a mob of elven men with crude bows or wooden shields and spears appear. They look similar to the scout: scruffy, thin, and slightly dirty.

As they approach, I see something odd. Three birds are following the mob, not just coincidentally flying nearby, but literally following them.

"Alissa, I think someone is using [Summon Small Bird] to follow the bandits," I say through [Bind].

"I will look for them."

I find the girls and whisper them the information. No chantless casting if we can avoid it because the less they know about our powers, the better.

It's either Darean or Katasko that wants to scout us.

I approach Rande and speak, "The scout didn't lie. Well, the last information he gave us is correct. They look like poor and untrained soldiers. Most are men and a few are women."

He clicks his tongue and relays the information to the others. Plenty of the soldiers are also elves, so they get both angry and frustrated at this situation.

Soon, their [Spirit Lights] become visible and they stop in front of us.

"WE ARE HERE FOR YOUR CARGO. LEAVE THE WAGONS BEHIND AND NOBODY GETS HURT!" A well-built golden elf man bellows.

"NO. WE ARE PREPARED FOR YOU. GO BACK NOW OR FACE A PAINFUL DEATH!" Rande yells back.

"YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED AND SURROUNDED, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE THIS!"

"YOU DID NOT BRING ENOUGH MEN TO ASSAULT A FORTIFIED POSITION!" Rande shoots back and laughs out loud.

"I SEE NO FORTIFICATIONS!"

"THEN YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST!"

Through Holly, I see the man growl. He motions with his hand and the bandits form a crude shield wall. They start to slowly advance with the yells of an "officer" in the middle of them.

To their credit, their formation is advancing very orderly, they've practiced this.

The elven archers start to spread out and we raise our shields. Our mages and archers are behind heavy barricades, so there's not much danger to them if they keep their heads down.

Slowly, they approach, but nobody has the courage to fire a spell or arrow. Both sides look conflicted to fight one another. Elven pride is actually somehow beneficial to this situation.

Soon, they get close enough to feel Roxanne's mana leaking out. "Someone's casting a big spell!" A bandit yells and soon the others repeat.

"I don't know what it is!" Another frightened bandit yells.

"CHARGE! STOP THE MAGE!" The "officer" yells.

"RISE!" I and Rande bellow.

The elementals rise out of the ground and bring caltrops with them. The bandits are wearing thin shoes, which easily get pierced by the caltrops. They fall to the ground and yell in pain, the line quickly crumbling as they fall on top of each other.

"ROXANNE!" I yell.

Hana rises from behind her barricade and activates [Wind Shield]. The bandit archers fire their arrows, they lose their power and harmlessly fall on the ground due to the enchantment.

A huge bubble of steamy water appears above Roxanne as she rises from behind Hana.

"[MELT SKIN]!"

"FIRE!" Rande orders and the archers and mages obey.