Well, I guess we'll have to say goodbye to the Chimeras tomorrow.

The excitement and motivation to continue training drains out of us. Even though our time with them has been short and awkward due to all the exposed bodies, we're all growing rather fond of these dead people. After we cross through the portal, I'm not sure if it's a good idea for us to come back to them, so once the distraction is successful, we'll be leaving for good.

Just when we start talking about going over to the Carrier, a Wasp launches and stops beside our ship. The cockpit opens, then we see a naked Kaatohe smirking at me, and surprisingly, she's wearing a wig. Her hair is full and wavy, and its color is a dark, lustrous bronze with a length that reaches her chin. It makes her look much more attractive and feminine than her rather neutral Bengal cat face normally portrays.

"Permission to land?" She asks with a smirk, and I simply nod as I mirror her expression.

Her Wasp uses up most of the deck, but that's not a problem since we aren't going to need the extra space anymore today.

"Would you like to join us in our tent for some tea?" I ask her with a slightly formal tone.

She nods slowly and replies, "It would be my pleasure."

I pull out a set of cushions for everyone, and we sit around the low table inside our tent. Alissa sits in a seiza position and starts serving some not-earl-grey tea. Kaatohe pulls out her personal blanket and covers her cushion with it before sitting down.

Kaatohe takes a sip and seems pleased with the taste. "Hm? What's this tea? I've never tasted anything like it before," she asks.

Alissa slides a platter of some buttery not-vanilla cookies towards her and answers, "It's Pahgamutto, a popular tea in all of Domum."

"It really goes well with these cookies."

I agree wholeheartedly.

Paraaone eats one and coos in wonder as he nods repeatedly.

Yunia seems very interested in Kaatohe's new hair and asks, "Why are you wearing a wig? Are there Chimeras that can't grow hair?"

Kaatohe grabs a lock of her hair and gives it a look. "Oh, this? Well, we aren't allowed to grow our hair out while serving in the Defense Force, so I keep a wig for when I want to look more feminine," she responds.

"Is it real hair?"

"No."

Yunia leans back with a satisfied smile. "Hah. I knew it."

Kaatohe shrugs. "Real hair is hard to maintain, while I can just pay an Alteration mage to grow the perfect wig for me, so the choice is obvious."

The two finish their small talk, giving me an opening to ask, "So, are you taking a day of rest from piloting?"

Kaatohe shakes her head gently, and her fluffy hair sways as she answers, "I still had two more days until I'd have a rest day, but I decided to take it in advance. Tomorrow morning you're beginning the distraction, and you'll continue on your journey after that, correct?"

I nod. "Yes. After the Maw is gone, we'll leave the fleet and continue with our exploration."

She stares at me calmly, then she starts playing with her dark pointy bit on her chest. "That's a shame. I'd love to duel you again."

"Just once?" I ask with a smirk.

She laughs softly and smiles, showing fangs similar to Alissa's. "Definitely more than once."

The dragon starts to awaken inside me, and I smirk sadistically. "Are you a masochist who enjoys being cut open by my sword, or did you just enjoy having me on top of you?"

She narrows her eyes and purses her lips. "So, you're finally showing your true self, Wolf?"

"He's been quite gentle with you. The savage way he treated Hana in Oritiki's estate is his usual self," Alissa casually remarks and sends me a warm look.

"I counter by punishing his hips every day," Hana adds.

Kaatohe scoffs and tries to contain her surprise, but she doesn't fully succeed. Her voice becomes slightly husky as she says, "Are you the type who must always be on top?"

I gently shake my head, "As much as I'd like being stepped on by a sensual and dignified woman, my pride wouldn't let me do so. I gladly accept being an equal, but I'd never be under a woman's foot, though, I do like to suck on them."

Now she seems legitimately surprised and amused. "Oh? You seem to be quite experienced with such matters."

I let a fearsome smirk grace my face as the dragon spreads its wings. "Don't let this cute and young face mislead you. I know a woman's body better than most."

She relaxes a little under my intense gaze and a purr escapes her mouth, but it's interrupted after a second as she says, "I knew you were the domineering type."

"And you're the type to bend over if I order you with enough intensity."

She raises her eyebrows and knits them, making a taunting expression. "Oh? You want to 'tame' me?"

My hammer knocks on the door, trying to escape my pants. "I don't need to 'tame' you because you already want to please me. You 'tamed' yourself."

She narrows her eyes, then leans forward, her large cat eyes staring at me in defiance. "How conceited of you, you peasant." The way she says "peasant" activates my submissive almonds.

I let the dragon flap its wings and breathe heavily as I ask, "Then why are you here if not to get a taste of me?"

Her posture freezes. "I'm here… to talk to Yulania."

The tension we've been building up instantly fades away, and I grin. "You hesitated."

She subtly raises her upper lip in anger, letting her fangs peek out from behind her lips. "No, I-… Yes, I did. That's because… I forgot her name."

Yunia scoffs and laughs. "Liar," she responds in Reo, slowly enunciating the word with perfection.

Kaatohe hisses at her, then starts chuckling and shakes her head.

"I can see that you're excited," I comment, and Kaatohe sends me an intense side glance.

Alissa sniffs the air and says, "You're ready to receive him."

Kaatohe shifts on her seat, and I see a wet spot on her blanket. Thankfully (or perhaps unfortunately), her blanket is thick enough that it won't stain the cushion.

I start to unfasten my armor, then Alissa and Lina help me with it. Ciel sighs, then she shares a shrug with Paraaone.

Kaatohe admires my body as I'm slowly undressed. "This is rather entertaining," she comments.

"You Chimeras don't know the joys of stripping. Hiding your body and slowly revealing it is more enticing than just being naked all the time," Roxanne adds.

"I understand exactly what you mean," Kaatohe responds, still staring intensely at my abs, and purrs sensually.

My naked body is revealed to her in all of its glory, and she stares at it hungrily.

"Come to me," I order.

"Don't think I'll submit so easily," she responds with a defiant smirk.

"But you will obey. Now, come to me," I whisper while adding a bit of [Godly Language] to my voice.

I give her the Wolf Ryder full course and show her my virility, then I make a mess of the area around us.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Holy shit," Paraaone mutters, and Hana snickers.

I dismount her, filled with satisfaction, while she's filled with something else, then Alissa cleans her while Hana cleans me.

I spread my arms out to my sides and Lina wipes the sweat off my body with a towel, then Ciel casts [Clean] on me.

I sit down beside Paraaone, my weapon still drawn and pointing up, then I pour myself a cup of the cold tea that Alissa left out for me and gulp it down.

"Don't you ever get tired?" Paraaone asks.

I finish my cup, then I tilt my head in mild confusion and answer, "Of plowing? Nope."

He chuckles softly. "Well, we'll miss your presence, Ryders. Your family certainly made things 'interesting' for a while."

"You're all good people. We hope we can meet you again, one day," Ciel responds.

He nods at her and continues, "There's still a lot for us to teach you about [Glaive Use]." -He turns to Hana and gives her a cheeky smirk- "And I could even teach you how to fly better."

Hana's scales wave along with the anger sweeping through her as she responds, "Oi, listen here, you little shit…" She stops for a moment to think of an insult. "Your chicken wings don't work like mine. You don't even flap them, you fake!"

Paraaone laughs out loud, but he doesn't reply. He already got the reaction he wanted.

Kaatohe stops Alissa's cleaning and kisses her, getting a taste of me, then she immediately breaks the kiss and looks at Alissa in surprise. "It's actually tasty…" She whispers, then I take direct control of Alissa and continue the kiss.

"Is there an actual difference between your wings?" I ask.

"Of course!" Hana exclaims, a little more emphatically than she wanted to, then quickly recomposes herself to not fall for more of Paraaone's trolling. "His wings are like attuned crystals, they just amplify their [Fly] spell, which is why they don't even need to flap them unless they want to."

"Then... what do yours do?"

She snorts and crosses her arms. "Mine and Aoi's actually bend the air to our will, and we need to force it to hit them so that we can take flight."

Paraaone shrugs and adds with a dismissive tone, "In the end, it's the same thing. I can still bend the air to my will with [Fly], and I can even enhance my [Wind Magic] spells with my wings because of their attunement."

Hana's pride was wounded by Paraaone's sneak attack, but she won't fall for the same trick twice. She gives him a fearsome glare and replies, "Your wings will always be a second-hand imitation of the real thing."

Paraaone laughs again but doesn't bite back. Aoi heard it all, but she doesn't care. If Paraaone started getting haughty, then she'd put him back where he belongs.

Alissa finishes giving Kaatohe my hallowed seed, and the cat/leopard woman finally calms down.

Yunia scooches over beside Kaatohe, and the two of them start talking about the "refined" taste of my seed, but it quickly gets derailed into snobbish chatter once they start talking about "enhancing" jewelry with it.

I ask Paraaone about his wings, and he shows Ciel and me how they work. It's quite informative, actually. His wings work just like staves, needing the mana of the spells to pass through them to benefit from the attunement. Also, the mana efficiency of their wings is so high that it barely wastes any mana, though we aren't sure if that's related to them being spirits.

Kaatohe joins us for our bath and gets the Alissa special. Her washing isn't supposed to be arousing, but she adds a subtle touch to get Kaatohe in the mood again.

Hana stands before Kaatohe and gives her a fearsome smile as she asks, "You wanna do it?"

Kaatohe raises an eyebrow, but nods gently and extends her hand to Hana.

The barbarian takes it and holds Kaatohe by the waist, then lifts her up and flips her upside-down. This wouldn't work if they weren't both so athletic.

While Hana releases her pent-up desires on her, I give the rest of the girls my attention.

I play with Yunia while she talks with Roxanne, but the one chosen to receive the real hammer of love is Ciel.

After that, it's time to cook dinner.

"Have you ever held a knife?" Yunia asks with just a hint of smugness in her voice.

"Of course I have," Kaatohe responds in kind.

Roxanne approaches her with an innocent smile and hands her a utility knife. She assumes a kind and motherly tone as she says, "Would you mind helping us, then? Preparing a meal together is a great bonding activity. It can even be considered a sacred ritual for our family."

Ciel comes over to them with a bright smile. "It's like hunting for your own food. The effort you put into the meal makes it taste better," she piles on.

I pull out a few baskets with veggies and set them down on the table, then Paraaone approaches it and picks up a not-cauliflower. "So, how do you want this?" He asks, then glances at Kaatohe and gives me a smirk.

"Cut them really small so that there's more surface area to absorb the sauce," I respond.

The clawed hands of the cat/leopard woman twitch repeatedly, then she quietly grabs a not-tomato and asks, "Chopped, correct?"

I give her an amused nod, then she quickly washes it and makes hesitant cuts, chopping it into awkwardly large chunks.

Nobody comments on how she's doing, but we all know how hard she's trying to hide her inexperience.

I'm thankful for Hihiriwa not inviting us to dinner today because making the proud Kaatohe behave this awkwardly is just precious.

We invite Hukarere and Ririmu for dinner, which annoys Kaatohe because they didn't help prepare it.

We serve imperial mead, and Kaatohe and Ririmu love it while Paraaone and Hukarere feel that it's not spicy enough.

Hana agrees with an emphatic nod and says, "I know, right? Im-… Domum alcohol focuses on specific subtle tones in the taste, but it gets boring really quickly."

"Haven't you tasted halfling rum? It's quite popular all over Domum," Lina asks.

"It's just sugar," Hana responds with a shrug.

Kaatohe laughs and purrs loudly. The drunker she gets, the more cat-like her demeanor becomes.

Lina opens and closes her mouth, flabbergasted at Hana's audacity to diss rum. "I didn't think you'd be that dumb," She replies.

Hana sends her an amused look and adds, "Rum has a strong taste, but they don't know how to spice it properly, so it also gets boring too quickly."

"Ooh, she got you there," Roxanne comments with a smirk.

Lina grumbles and admits defeat.

Kaatohe takes her wig off, then I pat her head while applying a subtle soul touch, which makes her whole body shiver. She pushes against my head and closes her eyes, acting just like a cat would.

I really want a werecat and a weredog, now.

After our meal is done, I let Hukarere milk me a little while the girls play with Kaatohe. She's so deep into her cat persona that all her pride from before is gone.

"Nyaah!" She meows loudly and swats at a spike of not-wheat.

Ciel breathes heavily and adopts Kaatohe as a pet. Ririmu and Hukarere look horrified at this scene as their mental image of Kaatohe as a dignified noble crumbles before their eyes.

Eventually, Ciel begins to succumb to the alcohol herself and starts to play with Kaatohe's body. After Hana joins in and gets her fill again, I decide that it's time to end this.

I look them all in the eye with a stern expression and state, "I trust all of you to keep this secret. What happened here this night must not leave this ship, lest we all find our next drink to be poisoned by a noblewoman with a wounded pride."

We swear an oath, then Ciel casts [Purify Body] on everyone.

Before they leave, I give Hukarere a bittersweet hug. I stand on the tips of my toes to reach her head and pull her down so that I can whisper in her ear, "In case we don't have time for this tomorrow, this is goodbye."

She stares silently into my eyes for a few seconds and nods weakly, then we share bitter smiles, and she licks my cheek. She, Ririmu, and Paraaone wave us goodbye, then cast [Fly] and return to the Carrier.

Kaatohe is curled up on Ciel's lap, still recovering from her drunkenness. Since she's in no condition to pilot safely, I carry her into her Wasp and fly it back myself to the Carrier.

When we land, she clutches her head and groans in pain. "Thank you, Wolf. I can get back to my room on my own, now," she says, then carefully gets down from the Wasp.

I quickly leave with [Telekinesis] before she has time to process her memories, then the girls and I quickly clean things up and go to sleep.

Today is the 22nd.

My [Ekrano Style] increased by 1 (now 3), and I learned [Spear Use] with 1 point.

Alissa learned [Wind Magic] and [Water Magic] with 1 point each.

Roxanne increased her [Alchemy] by 1 (now 5).

Ciel increased her [Imperial Hasterrum Style] and [Wind Magic] by 1 (now 3 and 10+20).

Lina increased her [Hammer Use], [Axe Use], and [Dwarven Pride Style] by 1 (now 17, 9, and 3).

Yesterday was a productive training day all around.

The Floater had returned in the middle of the night, and it's now recharging the Carrier while we eat breakfast, then it comes over to fill our ship, too. Once it's done, Paraaone and Oritiki appear to check on us before I head out to begin the distraction.

"Are you sure you can use your teleport to escape?" Oritiki asks, frowning in concern.

"There are ways to block it, but no monster has ever shown itself to be able to do that," I reply.

"The Maw is something that even we can't deal with, so, if you get caught by it, it'll be very difficult for us to help you."

"We still have some cards up our sleeves." I wink at her.

Both she and Paraaone look confused. "Sleeves…?" She questions.

We chuckle, and Ciel explains, "Right, Chimeras rarely wear clothes. He meant that we still have a few secrets hidden."

"Like that explosive spell?" Oritiki asks.

"Might be even more powerful than that," I reply with a smirk.

She scoffs and exhales loudly through her nose. "Alright, then. Keep your secrets."

Hukarere taps the bird on the bridge of the Carrier, then tells me that the Gull is ready.

They all wish me good luck, and I give each of the girls a kiss, then I fly over to the Carrier.

Miihini, one of the Chimera engineers who installed the [Wind Shield]s on our ship, is waiting for me beside the Gull. I notice that the usual green gem in its catapult has been replaced with a pure white one. It looks rather conical, so I'd guess that it's aerodynamic enough to fly pretty far. I don't sense any mana coming from it, but I know that it just needs a small amount to trigger a runaway mana reaction.

"Greetings, Wolf Ryder!" Miihini exclaims and grins as I approach.

"Greetings," I respond and nod respectfully.

"I assume that you already know how to pilot this?"

"Very much so."

He nods repeatedly, looking pleased, then he pats the metal frame of the Gull. "We made a small alteration to this girl yesterday. We added an emellanat encasing to the [Fly] gem. This way, there won't be any mana emissions until the emellanat overheats and melts, so there's no risk of setting off the gem while you fly, and it should help you sneak in closer to the Maw while remaining undetected."

"Ooh~…" I coo in wonder as my inner nerd creams itself.

So now the gull is a stealth ship!

"There's enough emellanat to hide your emissions for about six hours, so you should be able to get in, launch the gem, and get out without being detected," he adds, then grunts with pride.

"That sounds amazing, thank you," I graciously reply with a grin.

He shakes his fist at me like a grumpy old man. "Oh, you better be thankful! Because we want both you and this girl to come back with all your feathers!" Then he smirks and opens the cockpit for me. "Now get in, my Lord. Marshall Hihiriwa will yell at me if he sees us chatting."

I strap myself in, then I set Hukarere's bird down on the seat beside mine, which is her usual spot, aside from being on her knees in front of me.

I reenter the Looping Winds, and Hihiriwa orders the fleet to follow behind me. We exit Void's End and fly past the anchor, entering the territory of what was once Ozymandias.

After an hour of flying, the fleet stops, and I continue forward. There are Horns surrounding the Maw, but they're hidden very far away from it, leaving me effectively on my own.