Rupegia

Chapter 163: A New Quest – Part 1

The rest of my afternoon is spent pounding away, then the wives and concubines gather at the bath for our daily routine. Today's attraction is Osaria teaching Mimi how to eat pussy, and Hana is the target of the eating because I wouldn't have it any other way as my inc-st fetish flares into full bloom.

Aoi sucks me off, and I casually finger Alissa to give her a bit of relief, but then my foxy slut (the orange one, not the white one) starts to crave some stretching (though the white one also seems to be wanting some, too), so I give her a quick Ravaging.

Roxanne is also feeling a bit lonely now that both of her dommy mommies are busy, so Poosh and I gang up on her to give her a bit of pampering. We also follow Osaria's pussy eating advice, and the rest of the girls also join in, including Thea, starting a heavenly lesbian orgy that puts me into a blissful mood.

Which I really need because Urmeie is definitely unhappy that she wasn't invited for the Aberrant extermination.

"How could you leave me out like that?! I'm actually offended!" the bear-y woman angrily exclaims, but Sa'Haa raises a disapproving eyebrow at her.

I'm in a good mood, so I diplomatically try to soothe her, "It wasn't much of a fight, Princess Urmeie. We used our special weapons, the Field Guns, to blow holes into the Aberrant until my wife, Roxanne, could release her finisher spell."

My attempt fails completely as she raises her lips in rising anger, revealing a nice set of white teeth, and I actually feel her aura attempt to intimidate me. "You're just making it worse because that sounds like it'd be something incredible to watch!"

But it's her words that stun me.

"I, uh…" I mumble as I blink blankly.

She's actually taken me off-guard because that sounds surprisingly reasonable. My first impression of her was quite bad, as she seemed domineering, demanding, and a bit entitled, but after daddy Empy's little scolding, she seems to have become more… casual.

"I'm sorry for my lack of forethought, and I'll keep it in mind for the next Aberrant," I answer noncommittally as I recover from my shock. Then I even give her a cheeky smile because I know she prefers sass rather than politeness.

She isn't pleased with my answer, of course, but I'm too cute for her to stay mad at me, so she doesn't press this matter further. She just huffs and sits down, then promptly begins to eat.

"I believe this is their tactic to get us to like them," Yunia suddenly remarks in my soul space. "We're a casual family, so they're trying to appeal to us by being more affable."

I bet Sa'Haa wouldn't approve of this plan, which would explain why he's so stiff and awkward with us.

"The tales that have been circulating are worthy of raising eyebrows at," the monochromatic owl in question remarks and does as she says with her thin, black eyebrows.

"What do the tales say?" Roxanne questions, both eager and also dreading what the answer might be.

And Sa'Haa doubles her haughty, natural look by taking on a lofty expression for effect as she recites with a dreamy tone, "Of a 'split mountain,' a wondrous symbol of destruction created by a single spell, and the sea of blood that spewed from such a gaping wound left on the land."

New Title incoming.

But I'm also amused by the Princess' playful behavior, which feels like a first coming from her.

"So melodramatic," Yunia dryly replies and gives the succubus pyromaniac a haughty glance.

"That's why I said 'worthy of raising eyebrows,'" Sa'Haa calmly repeats.

Alissa feels like defending our pale wife because an outsider seems skeptical of our family's might. "Embellished, but not misleading. She did open a massive wound in a monster the size of a castle," she wisely points out.

"After we used the Field Guns on its forehead," Hana casually adds. She really likes the Guns and doesn't want their effectiveness diminished.

Urmeie hastily swallows her half-chewed food and grunts, "The big black boom dick?"

"Yeahh~," my dragonkin very much approves of the alliteration by her ursine sister of another mother.

"Big black sparkly boom dick," Roxanne corrects with a smirk.

Sa'Haa stops moving her cutlery and makes a face that screams that she doesn't want to ask, but she needs this clarification, "That is… the enchanted darksteel weapon?"

"Yes," I hum back with a wry smile.

And she narrows her eyes in irritation. "It's dark brown, not black."

"Have you seen black cocks?" Roxanne asks with a delighted smile.

"No…" Sa'Haa quietly answers as the corner of her right eye twitches.

"Well, Sommerlande cocks look more brown than black, but we still call them 'black' most of the time."

"I see…" the crotchety owl dryly hums, then sighs.

Now that we've teased and annoyed the Princess enough, Alissa calmly continues, "Most of the damage was caused by her spell; the Field Guns just opened up a hole to make it easier for her."

And Sa'Haa is quite glad that we're moving on from the lewdness, so she promptly states with a respectful tone, "Then it's also quite impressive that a singular mage is comparable to multiple enchanted darksteel weapons."

Roxanne has a whole thing with self-deprecation, which also makes her quite weak to praise, so she blushes like a little girl. We're also reminded to praise her more, so we smother her in telepathic praises, and she has to spend a few minutes in silence before she's ready to rejoin the conversation.

For the evening, the girls' interest in games gets reignited by my ideas for pinball, so we quickly build our own table and enchant it. It's a bit wonky and silly since we came up with the design on the spot, but it works, and we have some fun.

We also show Thea our pebolim, air hockey, and billiards tables, but she's more interested in the pinball one since it has illusion enchantments for eye candy. I don't blame her since it's the one area she's talented at, so being able to use her skills in something related to entertainment rather than just combat is completely new to her.

The night is less lewd than usual since we spend most of our energy playing games, but eventually, it's time for our deserved rest.

Intermission – Reinhold

Where even am I…?

The metal carriage… I mean, cage, subtly shakes continuously, and a constant low hum slowly drives me insane… I mean, more insane than I already am for joining these fucking weird heretic bastards.

"Is the ghost even useful dead as he is?" Alkibiades suddenly taunts me, looking mighty bored and half as sane as I am.

But now he's given me a target to pour out my frustrations at, so I immediately lash out, "Are you useful? You failure of a noble. Krass even had to blow their disguise just to rescue you."

"Stop it," Krass coldly commands, and their tone gives me chills. I have no fucking idea if they're a man or a woman, as their voice is weird and muffled from the weird mask covering their jaw and nose, and they're always hunched forward while their body is covered by a robe, concealing any signs of breasts or a dick bulge.

If they were born with ugly imperfections, then why haven't they changed them with [Alteration Magic]? It's almost like they're a monster wearing a disguise to hide their ugly body. I mean, who says Krass isn't a monster? They never drop their [Hide Presence] for some reason…

"The journey is making them anxious," Shisten (or whatever, I don't know how to pronounce it) adds with a hoarse voice. And this one looks like a pale humanoid with messy, white hair, but he's also wearing a face mask like Krass's. However, at least I can see that his body is normal since he's wearing a weird gray leather jumpsuit, though who knows what's under that?

"There's not much to do, so that makes soldiers restless, as they have nowhere to spend their energy," I begrudgingly explain as I contain my anger.

"We're almost there," Krass states with their usual dry tone.

And both Alki and I breathe a little lighter now that we know that we're close. I don't really need to breathe, but this fake body gets "damaged" if I don't, I think; I don't really understand how it works.

Shisten grunts in understanding as he opens the backpack beside him, then pulls out two gray jumpsuits and masks and hands them to us. "You'll want to put these on, then. Reinhold doesn't need it, but it'll be unpleasant if you don't wear it," he advises with a surprising amount of kindness.

Alkibiades and I share a look of worry, but we both obey and put on the tight and uncomfortable gear. The mask seems to make the air "fresher," or something, because I do breathe easier with it. But it's still badly adapted to my face, so I hope I won't have to wear it for longer than a day.

But not even an hour later, we suddenly stop. Then I hear the hisses that tell that our vehicle is unlocking. A door promptly opens to our side, and we finally see something that isn't the interior of this metal carriage, but it's actually just an underground parking area with more of the same enchanted vehicles as ours.

"Don't look back," Shisten advises as we disembark, but it's a second too late, as my eyes focus on the path we came from.

And what I see doesn't make sense. In fact, it makes so little sense that I get nauseous. And then I'm suddenly looking at the ceiling while the weird, muted pain at the back of my head tells me that I've hit the ground.

"Advice came too late," Krass states, their dry tone just a tad less dry, making me believe they found this amusing.

But Alkibiades makes his amusement obvious as he laughs out loud. "What in the fuck even happened to you, ghost?" he questions while smirking, then pokes my shoulder with his foot.

I groan as I turn and punch his shin, making him grunt in pain. Then I quickly stand up.

"He saw something his brain couldn't comprehend," Shisten answers hoarsely, then coughs.

It's nothing but the truth; I can't even describe what I saw. I immediately take another look, but the gate has finished closing, so there's only dark rock behind us.

"Follow," Krass orders, and we all fall silent as we immediately obey.

We pass by more weirdly dressed people, most of them wearing these leather breathing masks and brown jumpsuits, but those who don't have their faces covered certainly should because they're fucking ugly. Deformed, sickly, and scrawny, these heretics don't seem too strong, which is a bit understandable since they hide from the sun, but even dwarves can live well underground, so why are they all like this…?

They also seem quite interested in Alkibiades and me, but they keep away from Krass and Shisten with the same subservience as a soldier that jumps out of the way of a General. It makes our journey faster, though, as we enter drab, narrow, dark-brown corridors, but nobody dares block our path.

We pass by many signs written in a language that I don't understand, but I see bunkbeds inside the rooms we walk past, which means that we're in a barracks. Then the corridors suddenly become white and wider, but the doors are all closed, so I don't know what this new place is for.

A bit ahead, I see a guard standing by a particularly large door, but what stands out is that this man looks like an actually strong soldier. He's wearing a good-looking gray gambeson and wielding a short spear and an oval metal shield without any heraldry. I look at the shortsword hanging at his waist, but the "connection" that I had with swords is gone, so all I feel is pain and anger at the empty void inside me, a wound formed when the Gift was stolen from within my heart.

I'm too tired to get angry and also tired of being angry, so I focus on his shield, and I find the lack of heraldry quite curious. But I have no time to reflect as Krass stops before him, then the soldier wordlessly gets out of the way, and we promptly enter the room.

"The Cleaner has finally returned," a female voice wryly remarks, echoing in the large, mostly empty room. It seems like a meeting hall with a round table and many chairs, with everything following the eye-straining white and gray color scheme.

The only exception is the pretty and petite imperial woman at the end of the table, whose face seems awfully familiar to me, for some reason.

"And he brought-…" the woman abruptly stops when her eyes meet with mine. Then her face starts to warp in a sudden burst of extreme anger, and everyone stops walking in surprise. I also feel a small amount of fear because why wouldn't I? They're heretics, and there's one glaring at me as if I personally killed her mother.

"What's wrong?" Krass asks, and the fact that even the "Cleaner" sounds cautious just worsens my fear.

But I forget all about that as I suddenly feel an immense amount of relief wash over me, as if I just received the strongest [Heal] I've ever felt. Then I gain "awareness" of the soldier's shortsword outside.

MY GIFT IS BACK!

"HE'S STILL A CURSED PUPPET!" the woman screams. Then I gain awareness over another sword, though this one is against my neck, and Shisten is wielding it.

"What…?" I blurt out in confusion as I freeze on the spot. I'm not exactly worried about being killed again; it's what comes after that makes me sweat cold.

And the woman continues, her anger now at a lower level as she starts to control herself, "They used him to locate us! The Gods now know where we are!"

I glance at Shisten and Krass, but they surprise me with their reactions. Instead of being angry, their eyes show… pity? Even the damn unemotional Krass seems to frown sadly at me.

Then the mysterious robed person slowly declares, a hint of sympathy in their tone, "See, Reinhold? This was the purpose of your whole life: to be used as a sacrifice so that the Gods would find where we are."

And I… I just don't know how to react to all of this.

"A cursed puppet!" the woman repeats, still seething with anger.

A sacrifice…

Intermission

I suddenly realize that I'm dreaming, but unlike in a lucid dream, I have no control over what's going on, and that's just a little bit frightening.

Especially because what I see is a massive wall of chaos. A dark wall of stormy smoke, lightning, huge waves, and fiery, falling rocks. It's like an eternal natural calamity that acts like an impassable barrier, yet it never changes or moves… it's an… everlasting storm…?

Then I feel a desire to cross it, to get past this impenetrable chaos.

But the storm starts to become enshrouded in a misty blue haze, and I realize that I'm being pulled away from it. I'm being taken far, far away from this storm, and also high, very high up into the sky.

I shoot through walls, barriers, innumerable obstacles, and enemies until I finally find my target: a pair of eyes that seem as if they were drawn with continuously trembling lines of white lightning. It's like an electric elemental, but its form seems a lot more "tranquil" than the endless cackling of static that the summon releases, though I also get the impression that this pair of eyes looks… "weak."

Weak, sad, but still defiant.

Suddenly, I'm back at the castle again, standing above my own sleeping body, and clarity is imparted upon my mind.

This is my quest: go to the Broken Skies, and find the Lord of Storms.

Then I wake up.

I breathe in deeply as my eyes open wide, then my gaze meets with those of the golems in their unfinished flesh bodies, which look a bit creepy as they still lack most of their facial features.

Ted "pokes" Alissa's mind, waking her up. Then I feel her confusion leak through our connection as she raises her head and turns to me.

"Why are you awake?" she softly asks to not disturb the others. It's already morning and time to rise, but it seems that I woke up about half an hour before my usual time.

"Did any of you golems notice anything wrong with me?" I ask them through [Bind].

"No," they answer in unison.

"I think the Gods gave me a dream telling me to go to the Broken Skies," I finally answer Alissa's question.

We wake everyone up and call for an emergency meeting. Poosh serves us coffee and Tonique tea, and I go for the former, then I slowly sip on it and get my thoughts in order as everyone arrives.

The Concubines, Klein, and Hukarere are allowed in, while Thea isn't, as we still don't trust her enough yet. Family and friends will be notified of our upcoming trip, so if they want to talk, they have until the end of this morning because there's no reason for us to delay our departure any longer than that.

Sainalai is the last High Officer to arrive, still with a bit of bed hair, which makes the ginger halfling look mighty adorable and fuckable, but flirting with her will have to wait a while longer.

"We'll take the Imperial Network to Mac Gantus, then fly up on my personal winged airship," I promptly state my plan.

And Sandoro starts to advise, "Take a number of Companions with you to see to your needs and safety. Since this 'search' might lead you somewhere dangerous, about thirty might be enough, unless you need more for… 'activities.'"

"We'll link up with the Celestial Horns in the Sky Lands, so they and the Carrier could still provide protection," Yunia retorts.

"The Carrier is slow, and I believe you might wish to independently scout with your personal airship since it's faster," the old elf wryly expands upon his reasoning.

"Fair point," she concedes and flashes a smile.

"Does the 'Lord of Storms' even exist? I thought it was merely a tale," Osaria cautiously questions.

"Same, but if the Gods wish for Wolfy to find it, then it exists, in some way," Alissa assuredly replies.

But Poosh seems restless and fidgety, and now that there's a lull in the conversation, she hesitantly chimes in, "What about… the Title of Messenger?"

And I softly reply with a thoughtful tone, "I don't have it. I wasn't given a clear message, just… knowledge of what they want me to do next."

"Then we shall," Ciel states piously.