I put on my "Sex Maniac" build.
-
"Now that is cheating," Roxanne says and cackles a laugh. She grabs Ciel's hand and kisses it, then she pulls Ciel closer -.
"Is Osaria getting to you?" Ciel asks playfully while closing her eyes-.
"Is Osaria getting to you?" Roxanne shoots back.
"I know Wolfy is dying to - have her." Ciel gives Roxanne a sharp stare.
"Hmph, let him, then," Roxanne turns her head and lifts her chin.
"Seriously?" I stop dominating Klein for a moment and she gasps desperately for breath. "You know she wants you more than me, right?"
Roxanne's expression stiffens. "Well, maybe she isn't that bad. She did back off after her flirting didn't work and she seems legitimately concerned for us. I just had a bad feeling about her."
"Great. She'll also be a temporary member of the harem then!" Alissa happily cheers as her tail repeatedly slaps against the water.
-
I rub my hand against Alissa's cheek. She grabs my hand and squeezes it.
"I love you," I say.
"I love you too," Alissa answers.
"I love you too," Roxanne says.
"I love you too," Ciel says.
Hana and Lina suddenly surface.
"I love you too," Hana says.
"I-I love you too," Lina says.
Aoi surfaces.
"I love you, too!" Aoi says.
"Gih," Gify says with a shrug.
I point to every girl and say, "I love you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you I kind of only like." I end on Gify and smile mischievously.
Gify clacks his beak and then chuckles.
"And I really like you," I say to Klein, who, again, can only respond with garbled nonsense.
When we leave the bath, Klein requires Alissa's help to even walk.
"This is why I don't like when you use [Heal] on me. I wanted to be - beaten silly like her," Hana says.
"And who would carry you?" Ciel asks.
Hana shrugs. "Maybe heal me enough so that I can just barely walk. That would still show everyone that I'm your bitch."
"Tomorrow is your turn, so okay," I say.
"Tomorrow we should reach Escanso at night, so not everyone will see it."
"Well…" -I shrug- "I can always do it whenever it's your turn."
She gives me a fearsome smile. "Then you'll kill me. But I guess I can handle being broken for a few days straight."
When we reach the table, Rande gives me a thumbs up and Osaria starts chuckling. Klein has a silly smile on her face, so Krista shows her some concern, but then shrugs. Anton and Laertes ignore the scene.
Roxanne sends nervous glances to Osaria, who notices it and sends charming looks back. In a rare sight, Roxanne blushes and goes silent during our meal.
We retire to our tent and rest. Aoi immediately pulls out her stack of coins and starts to play with them. As she bites the metal, I feel a faint amount of mana leave her body.
Interesting.
The girls do some light training while I appease the clingy Klein. She immediately adapted to the "no clothes on the bed" rule but only grudgingly accepted the "sleep in your armor" rule.
Lina sits on the fluffy carpet and continues her enchanting. She can't do it on the bed since we shake it too much.
The golems practice [Telekinesis] and show a lot of dexterity in handling a sword.
Once Klein is again left convulsing, I talk with the golems. "Do you know how to handle a crossbow?" I ask them.
They stop for a few moments as they go through my memories. "Simple mecha-nism," Ted says.
"Also, do you need to look at something to see?"
"It helps, but it's not, necessary," Suzy says.
"When the next battle comes, sit down on the ground and pretend to be dead. Only someone with [Sense Presence] will know you are dangerous."
"We will fight?" Ted asks.
"Yes. I think you will be useful."
"We are glad," Suzy says.
"Murderous brown bear and blonde cloth dolls sound like something out of a horror story," Roxanne says.
"You have no idea," I say.
"They are still… adorable," Klein struggles to speak -.
"Watch for the murderous cute little one," Lina says casually.
"What?" I ask and raise my eyebrow at her.
"Uh, dwarven idiom. Imperials underestimated the cute-looking dwarves when they conquered us and they paid for it."
Ciel ignores our conversation as she tries to apply [Judgment] to the blade of her glaive. Once she manages that, she will become a proper Wicked-hunter.
Alissa applies [Ignorance] on herself and sighs. "It still costs too much mana. I need to learn [Mana Efficiency]."
Klein looks at her questioningly. "Are you becoming a hybrid, now?"
Alissa smiles proudly. "I already am, I just need more mana or Efficiency."
"Oh, right. You all know Wolfy's secrets, huh?" She pouts at me.
I noticed that Klein doesn't show up in my "Followers." Sex is the seal, but it seems it needs more than just that.
Alissa giggles girlishly and turns into a medium fox. She leaps onto my lap and shows me her belly. When I start to pet her, she spreads her limbs and raises her eyebrows repeatedly suggestively. It doesn't have the desired effect as it causes me to laugh instead of becoming aroused.
Alissa growls softly and licks my chest, which makes me shiver.
"Alright, alright," I say and pick her up. I lay her on the bed -.
-
Once - everything done, Alissa turns back to normal and cuddles with Aoi. Klein crawls closer and hugs Alissa from behind.
"I'm so happy for you," Klein whispers and Alissa glows with a smile as bright as a [Spirit Light].
The night ends as we all cuddle around Alissa and Aoi.
Today is the 16th.
-
I learned [Spirit Magic] with 1 point; Alissa increased her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 6); and Ciel increased her [Light Magic] by 1 (now 26).
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During breakfast, Klein talks more excitedly than normal. "Oh, Escanso is such a comfy town! There's a mist that appears every morning and also after sunset, so it gets a snoozy atmosphere! The nighttime diners serve such delicious food and they have some very good minstrels, we just have to eat at one at least once!"
Snoozy? The system translated that one oddly.
"Alissa, define 'snoozy,' please."
"Calm and slow on the outside, bright and energetic on the inside."
So, almost like a slang version of 'snoozy'? Odd.
"We should have a family dinner, with all of us," Anton says with a fake smile. Krista rolls her eyes discreetly.
"Uh, wu-wo-wha…" Klein suddenly stammers on her words and blinks blankly at her father.
"Since you seem to be very close with Mr. Ryder, him and his harem are almost like family, right?" Anton says while staring at me with wild eyes.
"I-I guess…"
I summon all my courage to keep my voice as steady as possible. "If we reach Escanso by tonight, then we should have dinner together tomorrow. Is that alright?" I ask.
This is not the first annoying parent I've had to deal with. Lily's father was a sunavabitch.
"Perfect for me," Anton says and immediately turns away.
It takes a while, but Klein regains her brightness. There's nothing more for her to do since I took charge of the invitation, so she just facepalms and enjoys her post-repeated-mindblowing-orgasm clarity while it lasts.
The caravan moves on again. After getting over the Weeper-induced depression, the commoners become much brighter since our destination is now very close.
We only meet a few Miasmatic Gambos following the trail of yesterday's caravan. The rest of the monsters still haven't come back and the patrols from Escanso go further than the ones from the smaller towns, so we are basically safe right now.
For lunch, Krista fries the raw ground meat, giving it a completely new taste with minimal effort.
Roxanne teaches the golems [Fire Magic] while I hold her tail and observe it. It feels like rubber, but when I spread my soul over it to try to peer deeper, I see nothing. It only has weight, mass, color, and form, but nothing else, it's not a "material." She only feels pleasure from it because her soul is spread over it, and due to it not fully being "matter," her soul is more exposed in her tail and horns than it is in the rest of her body. She has no nerve endings in her tail or horns, yet she still feels every touch.
"Wolfy~…" Roxanne complains - because of the sensation of my soul on her tail.
"Endure -."
She growls at me -.
"Endure -."
-
With a roll of my eye, I spur my horse forward so we can have some privacy.
-
Continuing with my research… the part of her soul that extends into her tail is the area that has a special shape.
I can "alter" my soul with [Redirect Mana] to make it easier for the mana to come to me, so this is the path I should take in my research.
"Cast something," I tell her.
She sends a few [Fireball]s towards the sky. They should dissipate before they reach the leaves of the trees.
I put all of my points in [Sense Mana]. It basically gives me a constant "mana nose" similar to covering mana with my soul or when I use [Redirect Mana]. The odd thing is that there is a difference between the information I receive from [Sense Mana] and from the other method, but I just don't yet know what that difference really is.
"Do it again."
I taste the "delicious" mana that leaves her body.
"Now move your tail while you cast."
There's a difference. Something small and odd. Perhaps an "interference" that her tail creates in her mana footprint.
As I research, the scenery changes into something even more magical. The patterns of the bark on the ginormous trees become even more intricate. Some look like statues, or even have pictures knitted into the tree trunks.
Elven homes start appearing inside these trees, too. Small, bunker-like homes where they can close every entrance with ultra-thick bark. At first, only soldier-like elves live inside, but then commoners and farmers start appearing.
The farmers grow their crops on the trunks, so the "tree art" becomes even more beautiful as it begins to glow and gains color.
The commoners talk excitedly and the cries of the Weepers become a distant memory.
I put down a [Gate] "coordinate" a fair way away from the road before we reach Escanso proper.
Soon after, we see a very bright lake, lit up by a few ultra-bright scintillating crystal lights that are so strong that they're like disco globes. Dozens of pillars rise up from the lake. Multiple levels of disk farms protrude out of these pillars and each level has a different color due to the crops growing there.
The brick road rises above the lake and slowly becomes wooden. Flowers and grass starts to appear, and soon, we are walking on a carpet of light green grass and surrounded by a rainbow of perfumed flowers.
The bark "shield wall" looks completely black with large, wavy golden carvings along it.
The night slowly comes and the light dims, but it doesn't become purple. Unfortunately, a faint mist reduces the visibility of the fantastical environment, but the periodic crystal lights posted along the suspended road give a very comfy atmosphere, just like Klein said.
"Most of the mist is an illusion instead of being humidity, so it's not that bad," Lina comments.
"Where does the mist come from, then?" Ciel asks.
With much more enthusiasm than normal, Lina answers, "The farms. There's a plant called Eia that creates a mist just like the Watchful Tons. They use it for elven [Weaverism]."
Lina's Trivia: [Weaverism] is an eclectic, but very odd kind of magic. The principle is that "everything is connected," so you can alter similar things with similar methods. The drawback is that there's no fully defined spells for it, like most non-system-magic schools, and you need to be high on Eia to effectively use it. This magic school is the source of Snow Weave cloth.
We pass another familiar killing-corridor full of murder-holes, though this one is much more ornate, with wavy carvings all over the walls.
Rande stops his horse in front of the commoners and announces, "For most of you, this journey ends here! My contract is fulfilled and I have taken you safely to Escanso. For the rest, we meet here on the coming day of Ros, at the same time as before."
We dismount and quickly pass through customs due to the nearly empty entrance. Once inside, the ramp continues on until we reach the top floor.
We immediately smell the clean air mixed with a slight fragrance of the flowers from the entrance. Faint music can be heard from the taverns and plenty of happy commoners are walking about.
The number of non-elves increases dramatically; there are plenty of humans, wereanimals, some dwarves, and surprisingly, a significant number of halflings.
The buildings are slightly crooked, giving them the similar cozy air that certain places in Rabanara have.
"Right, any recommendations for an inn, Klein?" Ciel asks.
"On the higher end, this time," I say with a grin.
Klein scratches her tail awkwardly, but then a shy smile appears on her face.
As we walk, I spread my Hollys around. They can see through the mist, so I notice the amount of stares we're getting is oddly high. Plenty of commoners seem to be able to see us through the mist.
"Can the elves see through the mist?" I ask.
"Some might, if they have the right skills," Lina says.
"Barely anyone does, though. If they do, they can make a good fortune working as a combat mage and scouting through the mist," Klein says.
Curious.
Gify doesn't seem to notice the stares, or maybe he doesn't care. He stands on my shoulder and looks around quite happily.
"Gih."
"Escanso is nice, but Goloria is better," Klein says.
Gify doesn't respond and starts to chirp a tune.
"Were the Weepers affecting you?" I ask.
"Gih," he chirps with a shrug.
"He's always snuggling with me, so he shouldn't have been affected," Alissa says.
"So, this place is just special?" Roxanne asks.
"Gih!"
I look at Lina, but she just shrugs.
Cu~rious.
We reach a white building full of scintillating lights, like an old-school casino or something. It's made from a tree that grew horizontally, so the crown can be seen far at the deeper end, instead of above the building. The top floor is actually a lounging area where the guests can sunbathe.
"There's a pool up there," Klein says.
All eyes turn to Ciel and Hana.
"I don't think we have clothes appropriate for that," Ciel says.
"At least not ones that we can use in public," Hana says with a grin.
We enter the building and see a white interior with dark red carpeting and detail. The ceiling is high and the occasional pillar gives the place a more modern vibe. The sofas with random guests lounging on them or having a snack makes this place feel like a hotel.
Two smiling female golden elves receive us. From their names, only one of them is actually a woman.
"Welcome to the Everlasting Light," says the man.
"We are a premium establishment only for the most valued members of society," says the woman.
I pull out a dozen gold coins and the elves' smile widens.
"Do you have a set length for your stay?"
"Only until the morning of the next day of Ros," I say.
Both of them bow and point to the stairs. "Right this way, esteemed guests," they say in unison.
We walk to the top floor and enter our room, and it's the size of a damn house. There's dozens of beds arranged in a circle around a huge one the size of our "harem-sized" bed. The balcony has a view of the main road, which is not much of one right now due to the mist. There are literal gold inlays in most of the furniture, walls, and ceiling.
"This is our Harem Lord suite, does it fill your needs?" The male elf asks.
Ciel sends me a slightly concerned look. I grab her hand and we both lay on the bed.
The perfect bounciness to enhance the jiggling of a woman's assets.
"Perfectly," I say.
"Over here is the key to your room and the key for the safe," the female elf says.
"We have breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner for all guests. Come to the reception to check the schedule and menu," the male elf says.
"Any requests, needs, or questions, just send some mana into one of these enchantments on the wall," the female elf says and points to a ruby embedded in the wall. "Dinner is ready, you can freely ask and it will be delivered to your room."
With one last smile, the duo of elves close the double doors.
There's a bath inside of our suite, and it's just as big as the one in the Tree of Mana. We turn on an enchantment and the water starts bubbling a lot, giving a light massage to our skin.
A small ice box full of alcohol is right at the border of the bath, so we all pass around some drinks, though I only drink a small sip of mine. I'm still not comfortable with ever getting drunk, even when I have summons all around us.
-
When I feel like I'm halfway done with - them, I touch a ruby embedded near the bath and ask for dinner to come. It's an instant communication enchantment, just like an intercom.
We leave the bath giggling and laughing. Dinner is served on trays and a circular table is set in the corner of our room. Tomorrow, we will have our breakfast on the balcony.
There's a large roasted not-duck stuffed with seasoned cornmeal; dozens of unknown vegetables made in a variety of ways; and damn pasta with not-tomato sauce and meatballs. I'm still very annoyed at the elves for hiding tomatoes from the rest of the realm.
Klein, Hana, and Roxanne continue drinking after dinner. They play some slapping game with the towels during the bath that Hana and Klein used to play when they were younger.
Now that the bed is calmer, Lina sits on my lap -. I pat her head while she continues enchanting.
"We need to buy another shield, one that's sturdier than the spares we have. This [Wind Shield] gem is almost ready," Lina says.
I gush at her cuteness and give multiple kisses to the back of her neck. "Thank you for your hard work, Lina. We owe you our lives for the enchantments and the maintenance you do on our equipment."
She freezes while staring at me and her jaw drops.
I give her a kiss on the nose. "Love you," I say.
My attack "crits" and her eyes become watery.
"L-love you, too," she says with a weak voice.
I get an idea. I pull out one of the pink flasks of nail polish and grab Lina's hand.
"W-what?"
"One second."
I paint a little pink flower on one of her nails and her mouth turns into an "o."
The room turns silent as they gaze upon the piece of art that Lina's fingernail became.