-huhhh...

Rimulu murmured,sleeping calmly on my back as we walked through the dark forest,night was already about to begin the atmosphere had changed significantly with the area turning deathly quiet sometimes birds would cry and then raise into the deep dark sky,but at the other times beasts would also roar their roars resounding through the whole forest that gave away their deathly cry.

My hands were gripped tight holding onto rimulus thighs as I carried her while traversing the road ahead of us,rimulu had turned sleepy while walking she didn't even get to hear the ending of the story and prematurely started sleeping on my shoulder,it was sort of cute really so I didn't bother waking her up and just simply let her sleep for now,she was a child after all her energy wasn't endless and she still needed to grow even as a dragon.

Beside me the girls were walking in the same formation covering all points around me they were quiet and vigilante looking around them with a sharp look in their eyes,weapons drawn with their beasts standing right next to them following closely and just like their new owners they were evenly as vigilante most of the these beasts probably experience the activities of the night circle so they were especially careful walking gently as to not make a single sound.

As you can imagine with this big group walking without sound wasn't possible,but surprisingly enough we managed well as of now we didn't meet any beasts on our way,but that didn't mean much since we had only started departing half an hour ago.

I gave the girls enough time to prepare no the beasts had to follow instructions and since I could talk to them they understood everything and followed without a second word,even the white rabbit stopped complaining and finally followed hobura closely...looking at these two I could only smile wryly,they were nothing alike the white rabbit was scarred out of its wits keeping close to hobura as if she was her protective guardian...

Aren't you supposed to protect your master instead ?!

I thought only shaking my head as I looked away from these two looking forward towards the path we weren't far away a bit more and we would get back home,the girls were already very home sick including me since we had been traveling for a bit too long they did seem to enjoy their stays in actual huts and houses,but at multiple times some of the girls would ask me when we could finally go home...these huts and houses were after all not ours we were only using them to rest the places we slept was foreign so without a doubt a lot of the girls felt uneasy to stay far away in a unknown land for too long.

My presence seemed to have been the only thing that was keeping them calm and rational if they ever get lost somewhere all alone I couldn't image what would happen to them it was frightening to think about since they all seemed to so dependent on me its another aspect I wanted them to learn at some point,but for now...it wasn't the time...well I wasn't ready I guess.

By the way no one was riding their beasts,even though we caught these beasts to specifically ride them and use them as mounts,we didn't do so because the girls and the beasts were still very unfamiliar with each other even hoboku who came back riding the horse seemed to be very uncomfortable riding her entrance was a show really she just wanted to show off in front of me,her actual riding skills were close to zero so were the other girls we would need a bit more time to properly use the beasts to ride them,the girls needed to start from scratch,I didn't want them to make an accident while riding the beasts especially not when we were in the middle of the night when we could get attacked at any moment it would be disastrous if anything would happen and the girls were down on their ground not able to retaliate properly or get ready to fight.

Fortunately all of us here including the beasts had night vision it seems to be a skill that generally most predators have automatically of course the part of the forest we lived in was a place were dozens of strong beasts lived and fought everyday...if you didn't have this particular skill then you would obviously be at a very big disadvantage against a beast who does have the skill and could use it to strike from the shadows,being strong doesn't only come with practice sometimes you are just born with it anyways,but in either way that strength doesn't come without a price either there are beasts that are good in one area,but are weaker in another it balances out,even the all mighty dragons don't have a solution to everything a prime example would be rimulus mother the chieftain of the dragon tribe in the mountains currently she was poisoned it wasn't lethal instantaneously,but if we waste too much time I don't think we would be able to save rimulus mother.

Rimulu had already explained to me that we had a maximum amount of a week to get the to her mother,the information was a bit too vague in my opinion,but the way rimulu said it with conviction told me that she had read up on everything there was about the poison meaning that I could trust the information relatively well.

But at the same time it didn't mean we could take it slow of course being careful was a must,but time was of essence every second rimulus mother would suffer from the poison and get weaker frostwing already suspected that someone from the tribe must have poisoned the chieftain,he didn't say it bluntly like that,but I myself had my own suspicious as well we had no info of where the poison came from only that one day rimulus mother collapsed and the doctors figured out that she was poisoned even if we deliver the flower to her mother and gain something out of it,I am not sure if it is worth in the long run on top of that the flower itself grew in the deepest part of the earth...the info rimulu gathered describing her ancestors finding the flower was a very long time ago,the chance that the flower was still there without anything happening to it was slim,it could have been just withered away with the flow of time or a random beast could have come along and ate it dying from the unstable powers the flower had within finally exploding into thousand pieces ruining the flower...

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

These thoughts haunted me really every minute if I didn't stop thinking about something else,I needed to coordinate properly think of the best way this could work...in the end I had to ask myself...

For who was I doing this ?

For myself ?

For the girls ?

For the dragons ?

I looked at rimulu...she was still sleeping her hands were tightly hung onto my waist she murmured a pleasant charming sound as she slept,her lips were curled upwards smiling gently as she seemed to have made herself comfortable behind my back.

Watching her had my thoughts momentarily disturbed,It wasn't that I fell in love with her or anything hell...she was a little girl I wasn't into that sort of thing my preferences were grown woman it would be impossible for a girl like rimulu to charm me at most she could make me feel warm from her silliness or cute behavior as a child,but that was it...there was a completely other reason why I was doing this.

-I can't leave you alone...

I muttered sighing as I felt some amount of pain surge into my heart...if I don't help rimulu she will most certainly go on her own and start searching for that flower herself with her incredibly stubborn nature she wasn't going to give up even in this feeble form of hers that could be killed with a simply slap she needed time to recover and I didn't hold her back right now she would die without ever getting the flower nor telling her mother how deeply she cared about her,the mother herself would also grief at least thats what I thought she would do there was no parent in this whole world who didn't have feelings or care for their child,they could act cruel or cold,but deep down blood was thicker then water...

-Hahah...what am I even thinking ?

I laughed almost ridiculing myself.Well at least I would like to believe thats true...maybe I am just trying to convince myself of that ? I don't have parents I am an orphan I wouldn't know anything about parental feelings the closest I ever got was the care the nanny would give me or the nurses in the hospital that would keep check on me both of which would tell me stories when I couldn't fall asleep or felt pained to do so,the feelings that I would get was always very warm and fuzzy what I would not give to one day meet my parents and ask them why ?

But in the end I didn't...

And I knew it would haunt me forever,but I never did try to find them because I was scared,this small wound inside my heart was something that I would hold forever as if it was a grudge...maybe this is why I hold books and stories so much dear to me...because they remind me of things that I could never had heard from the mouth of another,tales that I would need to make myself to fully imagine and teachings that could only be learned by pain and not by gentle advise.

I didn't want to see it,I just didn't want to see rimulu going sad if she would never be able to see her parent again,it was the same as calar children in general had a very soft spot in my heart they were pure without any mischief or taint covering their hearts adorable at that too so why not help them ?

Frostwing also never stopped me,he thought that what I did was good and in a way it was very beneficial for both parties.I was going to visit the dungeon and test it out,it was dangerous,but what wasn't dangerous in this giant forest ? If you don't take those risks you would never grow and I wasn't going to stay like this forever either,I may be incredibly weak,but that didn't stop me from boldly stepping into a fight for death wasn't what I was scared about...it was the people who I cared about would disappear from my eyes that scared me.

-Lord sorron...? Are you okay ?

Someone spoke finally popping the bubble inside my head as I quickly turned to my right looking at the beautiful hoboku,she seemed even more so beautiful with the horse next to her complimenting her appearance her skin was naturally dark combined with the current dark forest,it made her almost invisible as if hidden under a veil completely,but not my eyes,in my eyes she was fully visible and now looking closer I realized that I had made her very worried the way her eyes reflected when looking at me was almost always the same it was loving and caring no,matter what I did knew she would still follow me including the other girls.

I smiled,tightening the grip around rimulu as I brought her up a bit further looking at hoboku with a thankful smile on my face.

-Its alright,don't worry its nothing serious because of you I am already smiling a lot !

I said,my voice was confident really,but looking at hoboku she didn't seem to be all too convinced about what I said in the end she didn't say anything and just waited for a bit looking around her suspiciously observing the girls specifically before she leaned closer to me kissing me on my cheek.

It was quick and no,one seemed to have noticed as everyone still kept their guard up,Hobokus kiss on the cheek may have been a bit too plain considering the other way too daring things she did to me,but this feeling in itself was very deep usually hoboku would be very passionate her kisses signified such desire,but this kiss showed something completely else.

Hoboku didn't voice her intention,but I understood it clearly as she tried to tell me that I could always depend on her it was sort of an assurance she wanted to let me know that she would be always close if I needed anything...

In a way this was way more embarrassing then her usual bold and shameless actions it made me look incredibly unmanly not that I considered myself manly enough its just that most of the times these girls always seem to take things in their own hands even though their woman they are also barbarians...

It was laughable really,but I got already used to it and even though they were barbarians they were also woman,my barbarian woman.

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