Rupegia

Chapter 9: The Good Days – Part 2

We reunite with Alissa then go back home to have a proper meal for lunch, orc meatball pasta with an oniony, creamy, white sauce. Alissa bought fruit, too, so we have not-strawberry juice and some wine that Roxanne asked for.

After we eat, I hang on the wall a small clock I bought on the way home, and now everyone can look at the time, but I still want to give a pocket watch to everyone one day.

Then I go back to studying [Redirect Mana], Alissa installs an archery target in the backyard for practice, Hana does physical training… and Roxanne returns to her room once again. I'm starting to get worried that the alchemy nerd only leaves her room to eat and take a bath.

Anyway, I return to my bedroom and start moving my "mind's cursor." I feel like there's something more to it than just "move," and "push button," as if it was more like an internal limb than just a cursor.

I don't make any significant progress with new "gestures," so I focus back on trying to find the border of this "inner mind" space, but after an eternity pushing the cursor away from my "buttons" in search of the border, I start to get the feeling that there's something missing. When I was half-dead, I was starving for MP and trying to forcefully absorb a mana stream nearby, so maybe I have to recreate these conditions.

I waste all my MP by casting and dispelling [Wind Armor] on myself repeatedly, then I go back to meditating once most of my MP is gone, and I instantly feel a stark difference. My "mind's cursor" feels more like a mouth now, and it's thirsty for mana, so thirsty that the stray particles of mana released when I cast [Wind Armor] now feel… delicious.

This is it!

I focus on the thirst because I know this is the secret to [Redirect Mana], so I need to grasp this feeling as best as I can.

I want mana, I need mana, but I can't reach the particles.

Then my "mind's mouth" starts moving on its own, and after just a few seconds, it reaches the "barrier," the "edge" of my mind's space that prevents it from moving further.

I need it… I need it. I need it! I NEED IT!

The barrier starts to "stretch" as my "mind's mouth/cursor" pushes out of my body, giving me that familiar but still very odd sensation as my body "expands," ballooning out of control towards the streams of mana while at the same time I feel like I haven't moved at all.

As my soul expands, I envelop the streams of mana around me, allowing me to feel their "taste" so much more clearly than before. Then I feel a weird tasting stream coming out of the wall. I can't explain what exactly it tastes like yet, but I know it's "weird."

From the direction it's coming from, it's likely that its source is Roxanne's room, so I expand in that direction, but when I touch the wall, it blocks my advance.

I stop to inspect what's going on, and another weird sensation strikes me. I can feel the air, almost as if I can control it, like it's a part of me even though I have no actual control over it, but this doesn't happen when I touch the wall, it… "refuses" me.

Is it because the wall is solid?

Air is just atoms floating around and colliding with one another while solid matter is a group of atoms bonded together, so this means that it's probably the bonds that impede me from getting through. I don't get why, though. It's not like my "expansion" is actually physical…

"Master?" Alissa's sweet whispery voice tickles my ears.

I open my eyes in surprise and smile at her as I hum, "Oh? What is it?"

"The sun is setting, and Roxanne got the bath ready for us."

Wow, I've completely lost track of time again…

Then she becomes adorably shy as she boldly asks, "What is that thing you were doing? I felt your soul acting 'strange.'"

But I'm overtaken by my scholarly curiosity. "Does [Sense Presence] detect someone's soul?"

She nods diligently. "Body and soul, but since the soul is always hiding within the body, I rarely see someone's soul."

I rub my chin in wonder, glad that Alissa helped me confirm one of my doubts. "Hm~… Well, to answer your question, I was using [Redirect Mana], and the skill allows me to 'move' my soul, somehow."

But she only shows me a concerned frown. "Be careful, our souls are very vulnerable."

I guiltily look away. "I'll keep that in mind…"

This time, our bath has no groping of Alissa. I'm also saving myself for tonight because I want to use the special clothes Alissa got for Hana.

Dinner is an orc meat pie and roasted vegetables. Orc is a staple here as it's fairly tasty and common enough that the price is always low.

And then we do a bit of cuddling after dinner. I use Hana's breasts as pillows, and Alissa lays down on my lap while she reads, the sweet smell of their perfumes filling my nostrils with their intoxicating aromas. A heavenly moment.

But after that, it's finally time for some fun.

I lay down on the bed and cover my eyes while they change, but the wait is short.

"Open your eyes, Master," Alissa coyly requests.

A draconic succubus (but not an actual succubus-type demon) and a foxy angel (but not an actual angel-type demon), both of them staring at me with hunger. The sight arouses me so much that I freeze, overwhelmed with the desire to fuck.

But the two waste not a moment before crowding around me.

Black gloves caress my chest, white gloves pull down my pants, two mounds covered in thin silk bounce in front of me, a fearsome smile that makes me feel like prey, and a delicate pair of hands that grip my dick. These women are going to use me as they please, so I change my skills into what I call the "Sex Maniac" build.

Alissa takes my cock deep into her mouth, smiling with delight as the little fox shows her naughty side, then her head goes up and down with incredible smoothness, her cute ears bobbing along with her movements.

But my view is obscured as two, thick, tanned thighs clothed in a delicate black cloth that wrap around my head, then Hana's womanly lower lips press against my mouth, so I mentally say my thanks for the meal and immediately open my mouth to eat her out. The view of her tight, lewd, and sensuous body is amazing from this angle… any angle, really, but there's something special about a powerful and fiery woman caressing your head as she looks down at you with misty eyes while you eat her pussy.

I savor her moist lips by rubbing my tongue along their length with all of the strength that I can muster, earning a sensuous moan as a reward while Alissa chokes on my cock. I also give those long and neat lips a good bite here and there for a change, and Hana enjoys that very much as her moans of delight grow higher than the grunts of pain due to [Pain Conversion].

Her strong scent is so enticing that I start to lose myself in my pussy eating, and Alissa's blowjob skills are so stellar that I start to enter a state of bliss, but then she suddenly stops using her mouth, and I recognize the feeling of my cock piercing her pussy, pushing me closer to heaven. I instinctively move my hips to match her slow rocking, and I also use my hands to pinch and rub her sensitive nipples just the way I know she likes.

But even with [Enhanced Sexual Stamina], I still feel it coming quite quickly, so I manage to free myself from Hana's pussy to tell Alissa, who unmounts me and swallows my cock whole just in time to receive my load down her throat.

One done, another to go.

"Time to switch," I order with a grin.

Hana raises her red eyebrows high and matches my expression. "You still want more?" 

"No way I'm not fucking you tonight," I growl seductively. They're both so sexy that my cock gets hard again in an instant, so I better make use of it.

She subtly licks her lips as her breath gradually becomes faster with excitement, then she unmounts my face and (as gently as she can) pushes Alissa out of the way so that she can slam her hips down on my cock.

I grunt at her roughness, but I endure it because I won't let a little discomfort ruin my image as the Master. And now that Alissa has nothing to do, I motion for her to come to me. She doesn't immediately catch on to my meaning, but once she does, she gives me a shy but also quite excited smile.

The cute little fox dressed up in white, frilly lingerie gingerly crawls up on my body, then she rests her hips on my chest, giving me a close view of her very much moist cunt.

She gently grabs my head with her gloved hands and pushes me towards her pussy while moving her hips closer, so I eagerly begin my second meal while Hana destroys my hips.

I'm confident I have enough remaining tongue strength to make Alissa cum. She's not the kind that specifically likes being rough and energetic so I can take my time, gently playing with her sensitive bits as her moans gradually grow louder and louder.

But Hana makes my goal just a little bit harder with her astounding leg power. The bed creaks with each of her powerful hip slams, and even Alissa looks back in surprise. Hana's thick thighs move with bold determination, their glorious form caressed by a delicate black cloth, making her look like she's sculpted as the image of a goddess. Her body is just perfection.

Her mane-like hair waves as she vigorously fucks my cock and tries to kill me with sex, showcasing the awe-inspiring power of a dragon woman. Then she even squeezes her insides and tries to wring out my cum, but that's not enough to finish me, so she grabs my waist to gain even more power and speed with her slams.

"Y-you will hurt master," Alissa cautions her, looking amazed and worried at the same time.

"I can… handle it..." I assure her through gritted teeth.

It hurts a bit, but there's no way my pride will let me admit it. I've tamed this dragon lady, so a little bit of pain is on par with the duty to satisfy this monster. No, "monster" is too rude. She's a goddess, my goddess. And I'll pinch those divine dark nipples to assert dominance!

I do my best to not get sloppy on my eating of Alissa's pussy, and I feel her legs begin to quiver from my tongue work, but then I notice that she turns her head around to stare at Hana, and she slowly starts to tilt her hips back and forth to increase the speed that my tongue rubs against her lips. From the lewd, spellbound look that appears on her face, I believe that something is awakening within her.

The rocking increases in intensity until her body suddenly freezes, then she starts convulsing as an orgasm strikes her, and I feel her insides squeeze my tongue in sync with her spasm.

She suddenly lurches forward, her eyes open wide and her jaw slack, and she stares at me as I continue to eat her out. Once the orgasm passes, she simply collapses to the side, dismounting my face, and I feel sad that her angelic, white, athletic thighs aren't squishing my head anymore, but then she snuggles up to my side and continues fingering herself while staring at the fiery dragon… or rather, at my cock piercing her.

My hands tire out from playing with Hana's nipples, so I move them down and grip her muscular thighs. I put my nails into them for better grip and match Hana's rhythm, and smacking sounds grow even louder, but then I start to get angry.

You won't finish me, woman; you're mine. I will finish you.

I push her off of me, then I turn her around and do her from behind. I put into my thrusts all my strength, speed, and stamina just to destroy her pussy. I put her on a chokehold and force her to bend her back to make her ass stand out. I feel her insides squeeze me, but the fucking is so wild that I don't even know if she's cumming or not, but I don't care if she is, I just want to destroy her insides.

I. Will. Fucking. Destroy. You.

The white not-angel and the black not-succubus, my two divine beauties. I want to have a painting of me fucking both of them, but then I'll kill the painter so that their lewd states are known only to me. Those two are mine, and right now, I'm reinforcing the fiery succubus' place as under me.

FUUUUUCK!

I thrust like it's the last fuck of my life, but then I start to feel my strength leave my body, so I take out skills, and I suddenly feel it coming harder than I ever came before.

The speechless Alissa, the white, foxy angel, furiously fingering herself to our primal fucking. The tamed, draconic succubus, who's so abused she has stopped begging for more. What is more erotic than this sight?

"RAAAAH!" I roar as I pull out, then I cum all over her tanned, muscular back, and also the sheets, and even Alissa. Cum, cum everywhere.

My legs and balls convulse as I achieve true bliss, but then I suddenly feel like I've woken up, and the post-massive-nut clarity brings me into an ascended state of hyper-awareness, allowing for the Master persona to assume direct control.

"Clean this," I huskily order Alissa.

Still expressionless, she obeys me and slowly licks Hana's sweaty back, scooping up each of the many drops of cum on the lightly tanned skin, then diligently swallowing them. I get hard again at the sight, but I patiently wait until she's done, then I grab her face and use her mouth as a cock sleeve. She's such a good cocksucker that I end up quickly cumming one last time down her throat.

But when I lay back down on the bed, a sharp pain hits both my balls and dick with such force I fear I might've broken something, but it quickly passes away, leaving me quite confused.

I guess I overdid it.

I sigh and properly lay my head on the comfy pillows so that I can stare at my handiwork. "I'm surprised I still have my Blessing after doing things like this to both of you," I wryly remark.

Alissa [Clean]s her mouth and crawls up to me with a confused look. "What do you mean, Master? You might actually receive a blessing from the Goddess of Love if you keep ravaging us like this," she replies with such pure honesty it hurts. If the Goddess of Love is like that, then count me in as a pious follower.

This fucking world… or rather, this world is about fucking.

Hana stirs and turns around. "Master… can you heal me up? My back hurts," she casually requests.

I nod and give her a hand. "Sure." But Alissa's worried look reminds me that I didn't explain everything to her, "Ah, Alissa, Hana has a skill that allows her to turn pain into pleasure, so that's why I'm rougher with her."

"Rougher…?" Alissa repeats with a conflicted tone, then she stares at me intensely. "Master, I thought you gave me your all when I had worn these clothes for the first time."

I share a look with Hana, and she struggles to hold back a chuckle. "Well… uh… I kind of… go easier on you since I know you're more sensitive," I try to delicately tell the truth.

"Oh..." She moans as her ears go flat,  looking quite dejected.

With my heartstrings pulled, I rush to appease her, "P-please don't look at it like this. I don't want to do it roughly all the time, and you've pleased me greatly."

And Hana finds it in her to help me out, "Even I would die if he did it like this every day. My pussy will still be sore tomorrow." Then she gives Alissa's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"I-I see… I'm happy to hear this," my dear fox shyly hums with a smile, and her tail starts slowly wagging again.

Crisis averted.

I give Hana a brief thankful look, then I happily move the conversation on, "Now, the Clothes of the Berserker are a bit too stimulating, so let's leave them for special days. I think I'll also be sore by tomorrow, so let's take it easy."

"The wha-... never mind," Alissa stops herself then shakes her head while smiling wryly. "Master, didn't the priest tell you to rest from physical activity for a day-cycle?"

I awkwardly laugh while I look away. "Hahahah… I'll apologize or whatever, but no way I'm abstaining from sex. You two are far too delicious to leave unfucked." Then I give her a suggestive look and she becomes a bit coy.

Hana shrugs and chimes in, "Something tells me he'd go insane if he abstained for a cycle."

That's a bit much, I'm not addicted… I'm not.

"That sounds like a possibility," Alissa quietly agrees and avoids my inquiring gaze.

Ah, whatever. I wasn't such a pervert on Earth, so it's this world's fault that I'm like this because of how thoroughly it screwed with my life. But I'll be damned if I won't enjoy it to the fullest until I die.

I enter the acceptance stage as I casually reply, "Think it like this, I could die tomorrow, so I should just do what I want. This is one of the rules I live by."

Alissa skeptically knits her pretty eyebrows. "Isn't the first rule 'don't die'?"

But I just shrug. "Those rules concern decision-making, while living without regrets is a general life lesson. One is for future planning, the other is for present enjoyment."

And her eyebrows unknit as she reflects. "I… kind of understand."

Hana shrugs again and lays down beside me, then we cuddle for a bit to rest before we wash ourselves again.

After that, I have another perfect night's sleep among naked goddesses.

Today is the 12th.

We break fast with some thick meaty sandwiches. I put in mine dried orc meat, Rabid Rabbit meat, and pickled vegetables, while I have some nice tea to wash it all down.

Then I try to learn how to shave with a straight-edge razor, but Alissa and Hana have to help me out because I give myself enough cuts I need to use [Regeneration]. Luckily, my beard grows very slowly at this age.

"Mom and I helped Dad shave once in a while…" Hana quietly comments with a wistful tone, so I give her hand a comforting kiss, and she cheers up again.

I'm too tired to train, so I help clean the house, ignoring Alissa's protests. We also dismiss the maid now that Hana is going to help, and while [Clean] is useful, it isn't strong enough, so I quickly learn that heavy-duty cleaning is much harder here without all the chemicals we have on Earth.

We send the casual clothing and rougher textiles to the nearby washer, and I notice that we seem to be going through the sheets quite quickly, for some reason. The washers have magic tools and a good variety of strong chemicals that help washing, so it's worth paying them to do it for us, but the sensitive clothing, like some of the more expensive underwear and dresses we bought, have to be washed by hand because the cleaning ladies charge too much for custom clothing.

Hana is the one who volunteers to do most of the washing since her skin is tougher, so it won't be damaged as easily due to the chemicals, but I'll still cast [Regeneration] on her to not ruin the beauty of her feminine hands.

Manual washing, sweeping the floor, cutting and preparing food, carrying loads, and etc., she really is the best for hard labor. Alissa has much softer, but also very dexterous, hands, so she does everything else Hana isn't as apt. She's the manager of the house and deals with the delicate things that would be better if Hana doesn't touch.

I do my part and help, but it isn't much. My modern knowledge of cleaning isn't as useful in this world where things are either old school or solved by magic, though I do my best to learn how things are done.

For lunch, Alissa blanches Dragolite meat. It removes a lot of the natural rosemary-like flavor it has, so it tastes much closer to actual chicken. We shred the meat then fry it in not-chicken dumplings, and all that's left is some Catupiry for it to be just like a Brazilian Coxinha.

And once our bellies are filled, Alissa and Hana leave to retrieve my armor and scour the shops for a few more ingredients and tea. It warms my heart seeing them work together, and I have a very strong desire to see them kissing one day.

I have no idea how to categorize my feelings for both of them, but I know they activate many of my fetishes pretty hard.

I continue my [Redirect Mana] training while they're out. This time, my focus is on penetrating the wall, but while I quickly tire myself out, I make zero actual progress. It feels quite literally like banging my head against the wall, so I think I need a change of perspective.

I focus on the air and how my soul expands through it by trying to move as slowly as I can while forcing myself to pay attention to as many details as possible. It's all just pure mental imaging, tho, so it's a bit hard to understand what's going on, but my senses don't lie, I hope.

I feel… a breeze, the wind, the smells, even. It's… odd. I get the impression that all of the air that my soul is enveloping is inside my lungs, but I know it isn't.

Then I have a familiar sensation. It's like when I cast [Entangling Vines], I have a faint "awareness" of where the spell is, and I can make the vines loosen or tighten their grip on my target with my will. But this isn't the only spell that acts like this, basically every spell is like that, it's just that it's easier to notice this "awareness" when the spell lasts long enough.

Suddenly, an idea comes to me as I remember something, so I open my eyes and decide to try it out. I open up the window and cast [Entangling Vines] on the backyard, then I pay attention to the "awareness" that the vines give me. It's there, but what's more striking is that it reminds me of Roxanne's spells!

I shift a few points around into [Earth Magic], then I press the [Earth Wall] button inside my mind and hold it. I feel a faint "awareness" form where I'm aiming, and it's very similar to what I sense when Roxanne points her staff and starts casting [Explosion]. It's almost like a red dot from a gun announcing that someone is aiming a spell somewhere.

Once I release the button, a wall of dirt rises from nothing, then the "awareness" becomes clear as day. I own this wall, just like how I "own" the vines, and how Roxanne "owns" her spells, and it's this "ownership" that allows us to control them.

I dispel the [Earth Wall], and the "awareness" fades, then the wall crumbles and gradually disappears into nothing again. This sensation is also exactly the same as when I dispel a summon.

When I balloon my soul, I also get the sensation that I "own" the air inside it, so maybe the reason why I can't push into the wall is related to it.

I return to the bed and focus again on how my soul expands through the air by moving my soul as slowly as I can.

At first, I feel stupid for doing this, but then I start to notice that my "mental perception" of what's going on is becoming sharper, so I continue on this path for a long while, and I start to make out more details.

The edge of my soul expansion isn't a straight or curved wall, it's a jagged or spiky edge made of hundreds of little cones that push it forward, dragging the rest of the soul with them. It's like there are uncountable little "cursors" pushing against the soul, giving it its pointy shape.

But while this is interesting to look at, I see my goal in these cones. In one of them, specifically. I continue to focus on moving the slowest that I can, just now I also try to move a singular cone individually rather than all at the same time.

My view perception continues to "zoom" in, impressing me with the amount of progress I'm making. Even though all I "see" is a blurry mental image, it's still impressive that I'm able to make out this amount of detail, unless it's my brain lying to me, but we'll soon find out the truth when I test this for real.

The rest of the cones gradually disappear from my mind as I focus on an increasingly smaller number of them, then I notice something odd. It's like they're made of little pyramids of blocks, and they move by growing a new one at the tip, and then a cascade of blocks follow up, "growing" the pyramid further. It's a bit hypnotizing, and the usage of blocks gives me Minecraft déjà vus, but I don't waste too much time enjoying the view because I still have work to do.

I return my focus to my whole soul, then I push it against the wall and reduce my control again to just a few "pyramids." If I can't push through the wall with all of the pyramids at once, then I'll try to pierce it with the smallest number that I can. A single pointy thing instead of a clumsy bundle of sticks.

As the area that I control decreases in size, I feel the "resistance" of the wall change as it becomes more "rubbery." Then, suddenly, I push through.

FUCKING FINALLY!

I expand my soul into the other room through the small hole, and my "awareness" tells me that it's one of the empty rooms, but then I detect the stream of weird-tasting mana coming from the wall, and I push into the next room, then one more time, each attempt becoming easier than the one before, and I suddenly find myself "inside" Roxanne's room.

This is the first time I "see" what's in her room. I sense her clothes spread on the floor, the multitude of glass flasks spread around the shelf, their unknown and very weird tasting contents, the smell of multiple unknown ingredients, the smoke that fills the air. The large amount of information is a bit dizzying, really.

Then I finally sense her, working at a desk, holding a spoon in one hand and an ornate monocle against her eye with the other while staring at a beaker. She's working, and she's wearing only her panties.

I'm not "seeing" her, I'm "sensing" her, feeling her, tasting her. I taste her cute, well-manicured feet; her soft thighs; her lacy, sexy panties; her shaved pussy; her flat belly; her tender, small breasts; her ghost nipples; her sensuous lips; her delicious tongue; her cute nose; her alluring eyes; her charming glasses; her silky black hair; her fine spiral horns; her thin and mischievous tail. It's so much information so fast that I feel dazed, and my cock hardens instantly.

Then I regain my sanity and pull out.

I slowly open my eyes and groan as I sit up, then I reflect on what I've done, but I barely have time to begin before I hear a knock on the door.

"Hey, Wolf, did you do something? I felt some weird mana enter the room," Roxanne's casual and muffled voice comes out from the other side.

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. Now, what do I say?!

I don't have a lie prepared, so I decide to tell the truth… only partially, "Ye-ye-yeah, I… am testing [Redirect Mana]. I saw… a lot of mana coming from your room… so I tried to redirect it, but I didn't think you'd be able to feel it."

She coos amusedly, "Oh? It's that skill you used to get mana to heal me, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Hah. You have to tell me how it works some time. I felt a really nice tickle all over my body."

No, no, no, no, and no. I'll take this secret to the grave.

I immediately try to move on, "A-a-anyway, I don't know how it works fully yet, so I won't use it again on you."

And her tone becomes a bit… intense. "Oh no, please do, it felt really good."

I scream internally as my mind becomes overwhelmed with stimulation and greed, then I decide to take a risk and ask, "Is… that so? D-don't you think it's weird for me to make you feel like that?"

She hums for a couple of seconds as she thinks, then she answers in her usual chipper tone, "Hmm~… if it's you, I don't care. Anyway, I'm going back to work."

"Okay, work hard…" I flatly answer, feeling very overwhelmed, then I stare at my boner and frown.

I don't really understand Roxanne, and I'm a bit scared of trying to find out, so I'll ignore this for now until my mind is in a better place.

I could use this skill on Hana or Alissa, though… But I'm kind of playing with fire here. What will they say if they learn how I found out about this property of [Redirect Mana]?

And the answer to that question scares me even more, so I just go back to meditation and focus on playing around with the mana streams. No more exploring for me today.

I feel something warm wrap around half of my body, so I open my eyes and notice that Alissa has snuggled up on my side. I immediately give her head a pat, and I see her fluffy tail lazily wags.

"How did it go?" I gently whisper.

She closes her eyes and replies in kind, "We found a good charcuterie shop. Lots of good meat, so we filled half the ice box."

I massage her ears, and she shivers from the stimulation.

As I let my mind calm down from all the intense training, I remember that I have something important to talk to Alissa, so I calmly ask, "Tomorrow afternoon I'll go to the university, so, can you come and pick me up for dinner?"

"Hm… can I stay with you there?" She bashfully responds.

Oof, I knew it…

I want her there, but she'll be bored, most likely. She also has other things she should do, like trying to be more selfish.

I smile at her adorableness and soothe her, "No. I'd like it, but no. You and I need to learn how to be far apart from each other once in a while."

She opens up her orange jewels and gives me puppy eyes that grip my heart. "I don't want to learn that."

Okay, you are being more selfish, but that's not the way I wanted!

I kiss her forehead and cry internally while I insist, "Neither do I… but we have to. Maybe if we had a way to communicate from long distances…"

She promptly replies, "There are the Emergency Rings and Bound Lithographs."

And I blink blankly. "What are these?"

"Emergency Rings are a pair of rings with a small magic tool in them that you can use to send a signal to the other ring in case of an emergency, but their range isn't that great. Bound Lithographs allow you to make a small drawing that appears on the other lithograph and vice-versa, but they're very expensive."

They sound so useful that I actually want one, so I immediately request, "Can you buy a pair of Emergency Rings for me? If we can have at least two different signals then it'd be perfect. Lithographs can be left for later since you said that they're expensive."

"Okay…" She responds dispiritedly.

What's up with you today?

"Did something happen?" I soothingly ask and inch my face closer to her.

She assumes a more impassive tone and replies, "Nothing happened, Master."

But I knit my eyebrows in worry. "You're more… in low-spirits right now."

She stays quiet for a moment and looks away, allowing me to notice a hint of tiredness and anxiety in her expression.

"Say it," I command. I won't let her bottle up her problems.

She presses her lips together in unease and hesitantly complies, "I just had a… thought. I… uh, I felt like I didn't want to fight again."

I kindly reassure her, "That's normal. I think the same every day."

She turns her eyes to me, and I see that they're full of conviction. "I trained my entire life to fight, I'm not supposed to think like this."

I just sigh and slowly explain, "Even if you try as hard as you can to act like a tool, you'll never be perfect. You're still just a huma-… I mean, just a person, so it's okay to have some doubts."

She looks away and stays silent for a long moment, but I don't know if she's reflecting or if she just doesn't want to talk about this anymore.

I smile encouragingly and meme, "Don't believe in yourself. Believe in the me who believes in you."

"What?" She hums and gives me a confused look.

I laugh awkwardly and avoid her stare. "Hahahah… it's just another reference to my homeland."

"I… think I get it." But her tone isn't very convincing.

I grab her hand and rebuild my confident smile. "How about this, you don't have to reason everything, just accept it."

She chuckles softly and gives me a sweet smile, then she buries her head on my chest, and I notice that her fluffy tail is starting to wag.

This fucking world… You're still just a teenager, and you're already being forced to think about serious things like this. Our relationship isn't helping her state, it's totally unhealthy, but I don't think I want to correct it. You cling onto me, and I cling onto you.

We stay like this for about an hour, then bath time arrives.

Today, Alissa washes Hana, and the cheerful way they interact shows that our fox girl is back to her usual mood. Alissa touches Hana's body all over, making my heart tingle, but there's no real sexual tension as it seems that Alissa simply doesn't swing that way.

During dinner, Roxanne pulls out another bottle of wine, and I notice that her drinking is increasing with each day while her appearance takes an opposing dive.

"Roxanne, is everything okay? You look tired today, again," Alissa kindly asks, thinking the same thing as me, and even Hana gives the workaholic succubus a worried look.

She looks a bit haggard, but since her normal skin color is already unnaturally pale white, I can't gauge how bad it is aside from the vacant look in her eyes.

"I'm so close… I can feel it, and I can even smell it, but I just can't touch it," she mumbles absentmindedly.

"What?" I hum confusedly.

"The elixir from Moonlight Moss… I'm almost finished. It's so close."

The weakness of her voice concerns me. "Don't you think you need a bit of rest?"

"No!" She exclaims and jerks her head towards me, then her bloodshot eyes stare intensely into mine. "Not now. I'm so close that I don't want to drown at the shore. If I stop now, I'll lose my train of thought."

I frown at her intensity and caution her, "Erm… I think you might be a bit too eager. Just be careful, Roxanne, you don't need to isolate yourself too much. It's okay to come to us and enjoy yourself a little."

She sends me a suspicious glance, then she sighs.

What was that?

"Perhaps… I'll keep that in mind. Thank you all for your concern," the workaholic relents a little, and Hana pats her back reassuringly.

After dinner, we have our normal cuddling session. Alissa as my smaller spoon, and I as Hana's smaller spoon. I try to practice some [Mana Control], but Hana has improved her hair stroking technique, quickly putting me to sleep.

I wake up in her strong arms in a princess carry as she takes me to the bedroom, making me feel all giddy.

She lays me on the bed and slowly undresses me, then she raises my legs and puts me in the amazon position. I just eagerly watch as she lowers herself onto me, and for the first time, we do it slowly to not break my back, but it still feels actually quite passionate.

Once she finishes using me, I notice that Alissa is on the other side of the bed, masturbating to us.

She totally awakened something.

Since I'm fully awake now, I do her while Hana strokes her hair, but the second finish is enough to exhaust me as I'm still feeling drained from yesterday.

Today is the 13th.

I want these days to continue forever. This is heaven, no more, no less.

We have sandwiches for breakfast with plenty of ingredients to choose from, but Alissa has a surprise for me, and I give her a deep kiss as I love it.

"Cheese!" I happily exclaim as I pounce onto the white goodness. "I love cheese. What is this one from?" I eagerly eat a slice, and it tastes buttery and nutty.

"Well, sheep," Alissa hums with a smile.

And I absentmindedly comment as I take another, "I used to eat a lot of cow cheese in my homeland. Now that I think about it, why are there no cows here?"

As the one who has lived the longest here, we all turn to Roxanne, who promptly explains, "The farmers lost their cows in the last wyvern attack a year ago, or so I've heard, but the cow ranchers didn't feel like coming back until they were assured that all nests were found and destroyed."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, I heard that wyverns attack often."

"Yeah, they migrate from deep within the Sea of Trees and create nests further north year after year. They eventually reach the town and attack regularly until all nests are destroyed, but then it's just a matter of time before they come back."

For some reason, I feel a sudden urge to kill wyverns grow within my heart.

After breakfast, Alissa approaches me.

"Master, you should buy at least two more sets of good quality clothes for you to go to the university with pride," she advises with a serious tone.

"Hm..." I awkwardly hum and look away, making Alissa frown subtly. I'm actually too lazy to go buy more clothes for myself.

"You look well in good clothes, Wolf," Roxanne compliments, and even though she looks quite sleepy, there's no way that receiving a compliment from a beauty like her won't give me stomach butterflies.

Oof.

"Agreed, you look very handsome in good clothes, Master," Alissa adds with a diligent nod.

Double oof, but still, laziness.

"Thinking about dressing you up makes me very excited," Hana seductively states with her man-eating gaze.

Oooooof.

"Alright..." I concede.

We go out to buy some clothes and a pair of Emergency Rings, but the Rings are popular enough that we can find them in any enchanted items shop, so we just go to the nearest one and take a look.

The cheapest pair in this shop is a simple metal ring with a white stone on top. If I rotate the stone clockwise, the stone on the other ring glows green, and if I rotate it counterclockwise the other stone becomes red. Green will be the signal for Alissa to come to me, and red will be for emergencies or danger. A pair for one gold piece.

I gently grab Alissa's hand and put the ring on her left ring finger, but she shows no reaction, making me slightly disappointed. I have to ask Ciel about how marriages work in this world.

Then we buy clothes. The girls choose for me a black velvet vest and pants combo, and I actually find it quite nice, especially the purple rose embroidered on the chest. It seems that velvet is the current fashion, and both of them liked the style of Roxanne's clothes, so now we have matching outfits, which I don't know what to think about.

They also chose a black cloak with small gray dots, but while the color is nice, the design is weird. It has a very wide hem, but it doesn't touch the ground, and one of the corners of the hem has a bracelet that goes on my wrist.

The second set of clothes is a white, frilly, light wool shirt paired with black, straight, silk pants. It makes me look kind of pompous, but the girls like it, so whatever.

At least now I have two sets of black shoes that I like.

We spend the rest of the morning looking around, and we end up passing by magic tool shops. The items we find in them make me think that some modern inventor must be stuck in this world like me, but I eventually lose hope because all these tools are actually incredibly inconvenient to use, and none of them have the modern simplicity I'm so used to.

For example, a simple bedside lamp could be enchanted to have the ability to change the color of the light, or play a little song while it's turned on, or random animations, or even allow the user to write reminders in the light. The problem is how the process to use these features is incredibly complicated, obnoxious, and abstract.

To change the color of the light you have to dislodge the magical tool and spin it as hard as you can with your whole arm, then put it back on to confirm if the color is what you wanted; to play the song you have to play it very loudly for hours until it's somehow "printed" onto the tool; to change the animation you have to literally pray while holding the stone, and there's a considerable chance that the new animation won't be what you wanted; and to write in the light you have to feed the tool mana at different angles almost like using a 3D etch-a-sketch.

It's just quacks trying to scam commoners by selling them junk they don't need.

Then we go back home at 11 AM and prepare lunch. Roasted orc meat with fungi sauce, and a creamy soup of sweet vegetables to eat with soft bread.

After the meal, Alissa takes me to the university, and then she leaves to deal with housework. Hana goes to spar in the training grounds, making me feel a bit jealous again. I know it's completely irrational, and I need to stop being so possessive, but still.

I talk to an attendant in the university's reception, and she calls the chubby Mathias for me, then he takes me past a few buildings and deeper into the university.

The designers of the university seem to love pools of water with squirting jets since they're everywhere. I also hear musical notes playing with each squirt, kind of like a wind chime, but some have a bit of melody to them, and I find these pools quite nice even though there are so many of them.

There's also plenty of trees giving lots of fruit, but then I see a not-apple fall, and once it stops rolling, it starts shrinking until it disappears.

Is that safe to eat…?

The archivist building is nearby, so I don't get the chance to observe the view for long before we reach the large box of bricks that is the Archives. The windows are all very small, and they're covered up with thick black curtains, enhancing the boxy air of the building. The interior is very much a warehouse, and the strong smell of old books sets me at ease with how nostalgic it is. I've read my fair share of old books.

We're greeted by the archivist himself, a man who's so old and thin you'd think he's using magic to stay alive. He has one assistant, a young man who's probably going to be succeeding him soon.

And the walking skeleton talks in such a slow and soft tone that his voice almost makes me fall asleep. "There's only one surviving record about [Golemancy], it's from the diary of a mage who was also a philosopher. He was a famous researcher of [Summoning Magic] and he established many of the more widely accepted ideas of the inner workings of the soul. It's believed he succeeded in the creation of a single golem, but he died soon after of old age, and the golem he created seemed to have expired before his body was found.

"Many summoners have tried to mimic his experiments, but none have succeeded, bringing doubt whether the claims in his diary are true or not. The investigators that inspected the expired golem noted that the corpse was indeed infused with a spell that had a signature very similar to [Summoning Magic], so he succeeded at something, it's just unknown in what, exactly."

The old man finishes his long, long, speech, then raises his eyes and stares amusedly at me behind his small round glasses. "I hope you have more success than your predecessors."

I blink blankly, waking up from my zoning out, and start processing his words, but his assistant saves me before an awkward silence settles in by pushing a roll of a rough scroll towards me.

"Here is the transcript of his notes. If you need the original text, you'll need special permission from a head of department or higher," the assistant explains.

"That's fine by me, thank you," I politely reply and take the scroll.

Then Mathias takes me to my new office. It's pretty small, with only enough space for a desk that two people could have dinner at, a potted plant in the corner, and a tall document drawer by the wall, but the university provides all the paper or scrolls that I could need, and a better magical tool pen than the one that I have. He also hangs on the door a cute little wooden plaque engraved with my name, and under it, I see I have the title of "Junior Researcher."

Honestly, this is so nice I almost feel like clapping the tip of my hands in excitement just like Roxanne. Back on Earth, I didn't have the time to publish anything under my name, so I couldn't really call myself a "researcher," but now I finally have the opportunity to fulfill my dream here.

After I'm done daydreaming, Mathias gives me a piece of advice, "Mr. Ryder, one thing you should know is that these offices are protected from burglary by [Space Magic]. If you want to practice [Space Magic] inside, please warn the building manager first so your office's protection isn't impacted."

I nod. "Understood."

"That is all that I have for you. By the way, Mr. Ryder, is there any progress in [Redirect Mana]?"

I eagerly reply, "Quite a lot, actually. I have a better understanding of the skill now, but the thing I'm most certain of is that it requires a tremendous amount of 'Willpower' to use it."

He rubs his chubby chin in thought. "It's a bit unfortunate that it requires so much 'Willpower' as it greatly limits its uses, but there are a few people interested in seeing the results of your skill, Mr. Ryder, and I believe they'll still be happy to know that you're progressing with it. Well then, I'll be off, until next time." Then he nods respectfully and leaves.

What? I barely entered the university and I'm already attracting attention…

I sit at my desk with a sigh and start to read the query results.

I flip through the more obscure theorizing until I find snippets of generalized thoughts, which help me understand the context of his experiments. Potro Phaustus, the mage who wrote this journal, was a summoning specialist who was studying the mysteries of the magic school, which mostly revolve around the inner workings of the soul.

"Where does this conscience come from? The summoned beings clearly have a soul since they can be detected by [Sense Presence]. If that's not true, then a few hundred years of our knowledge on the soul is simply wrong, so I'd rather assume that summoning magic truly creates an actual soul, a very peculiar soul, actually.

"I've been training my [Sense Presence] for years just to understand more about this summoned soul, so I have a little pride in saying no one else in this Realm has this skill as high as I have, and I've looked quite far for someone better. So believe me when I say that what I see inside the soul is something that does and doesn't make sense.

"The skill [Sense Presence] can sense an entity's size, direction, distance, and the possible identification of the soul type. We unconsciously ignore the details of the identification information and instead immediately associate that information with known types of living beings, but with a skill level as high as mine, and with enough patience for extremely careful analysis, I can say that the identification information is actually a ‘shape.'

"This ‘shape' is often incomprehensible, and it actually gives strong headaches just from trying to look deeper into it, so perhaps this is why we instinctively ignore the details of the identification information. I can say that the 'Willpower' required to be able to fully grasp the whole shape all at once is ridiculously high, and you can look into my status crystal, I actually do have a pretty high 'Willpower.' The fortunate thing is that not all souls are incomprehensible messes, and most of them have parts that are clearly defined 'shapes,' leading me to identify patterns.

"I've looked into the souls of hundreds of different kinds of humanoids, and I managed to identify nearly a hundred patterns throughout my whole life. The most common pattern is 'cubes,' and curiously, every single summoned creature always has a cube in a specific location, their mind. Considering how the main characteristic that every single summon shares is that they're always unquestionably loyal and obedient, I believe this 'cube' shape is related to that. If we're to believe that the soul is a representation of the body, then these 'shapes' are mere organs, and the 'cube' controls a summon's loyalty.

"From among the humanoids, I noticed how the same 'cube' patterns appear on their souls the higher their skill level with [Summoning Magic] was, but always in a different location from that of the summon. The two 'cubes' are obviously related, but I couldn't infer much from that. Other high-level and high-skill people also had prominent patterns within their souls, but I only focused on summoners due to practicality, so this could be a vector of research for anyone interested.

"As every mage should know, all of the elemental magic schools have a spirit that you can summon, except for [Space Magic]. These spirits are commonly used as assistants to the mages, who also had this 'cube' shape in their souls the more they used the spirits, though it was nowhere near the same size as the summoners'.

"But not only that, I also found that there are innumerable other shapes that the summon and summoner share, most of them found where I believe the 'mind' part of the soul is. We know that summons possess the memories and knowledge of their summoners, but why would it be limited to only that? What if they're copies of a summoner's soul?

"It'd certainly be easier to copy the whole mind instead of just a part of it, and while studies of the brain have shown that it's possible to literally remove parts of it and remain living, it's extraordinarily easy to cause so much damage to one's HP that they die instantly, showing that we don't know enough about the mind to just slice it up on a whim. This, I believe, proves that the creator of [Summoning Magic] simply copied their own mind into an artificial body, then added the 'cube shape' that controls a summon's loyalty and obedience. [Illusion Magic] already has mind control effects, so one only needs to adapt them into the brain itself to make them permanent.

"And now I can finally ask the question that has been burning in my mind for my whole life. If summoning creates a temporary body from mana and copies the summoner's soul onto it, can we simply create a soul and infuse it into a new, permanent, body? Considering how I'll be testing this on clay figures, I'll name this magic [Golemancy], in honor of the [Summon Small Golem] spell."

The notes detail a bunch of experiments and other conjectures about summoning magic, but I'm not sure if they'll be helpful in training [Summoning Magic] due to how full of jargon they are.

Well, at least I've solved the mystery of my acid trip when I used [Infuse]. I was "molding" a soul.

But now the next mystery to solve is: how do I know what the changes are going to do to the soul I'm molding? Perhaps I could start by copying the soul of a summoned creature, but first I have to memorize the soul through using a high [Sense Presence], though maybe I can use [Redirect Mana] to help since it gives me some sort of "awareness" of what's inside my soul, so this seems doable, just time consuming.

I summon a bird and begin meditating in my comfy chair. After a minute, I manage to move my soul towards the bird on the desk then envelop it completely, then I gradually start to receive information about the bird as my soul pushes against its feathers. I can feel them, taste them, and it's a particularly disgusting sensation. It only felt nice to "lick" Roxanne because she is a beautiful woman and I'm a pervert.

Just because I'm curious, I decide to share my feelings with the bird, and oh boy, it feels really good, so good I start to get a boner. It's just… bliss, and for some reason it makes my heart beat faster, though it isn't necessarily a sexual sensation, so I only get a half chub.

Ok, bad thoughts, I have to concentrate.

I cut the sense sharing with the bird, and the pleasure instantly disappears, making me sigh in mild frustration.

Anyway, I can certainly feel the bird, but I can't penetrate it, just like the wall back home, so I pull back my soul a bit and shrink the area that I control as I push it against the bird's chest.

I share my senses with the bird again, and I start feeling a tickling sensation that gradually gets stronger the more I shrink my soul. It starts to get annoying, but not enough to distract me, so I endure it.

Then I suddenly penetrate the bird. It tastes even more disgusting than its feathers, and I actually manage to discern the taste of raw meat, but the bird itself isn't feeling much besides a tickle inside its chest.

Now that I'm in, I envelop the outside while spreading through the inside until I cover every single inch of the bird with my soul. I start to receive so much information from it that I can basically tell where every organ and major artery is, making me think this could be a good diagnostic tool.

This is a bit frightening, really, but I can't stop myself. Now… where's the soul?

I can sense everything about its physical body, but I get no sort of information that reminds me of [Sense Presence] or the geometrical shapes of [Infuse], though I do have a feeling that there's still more information that I can get from the soul touch. Potro did say that our minds instinctively ignore details about the soul.

I need to concentrate harder. I'm starting to feel tired already, but I can still push myself one more time. The itching is also starting to annoy me, so I cut my senses and clear my mind, then I start to feel like something is… odd with this bird.

I latch onto this feeling and continue to meditate, then I begin feeling like I'm gradually diving deeper, like there's something that's hidden from me, but I'm getting closer. I just need to force a bit more. A bit… more…

Then I feel something starting to assemble in the darkness of my mind, like the pieces are rising to the surface. I instinctively press them together, but they resist and try to slip away, like magnets of the same pole, then they start to warm up.

I'm so close that I ignore the heat and press the pieces together harder and harder. I know that they fit, I can see how they fit, but it's like a puzzle, I need them together to see the whole picture.

The heat starts to grow too uncomfortable levels, but I'm close, I'm too close to stop now! I press them harder… and then they "click."

Yes! I can see it! It's… well, shit, it's just a fucking cube.

I let the pieces go, and a strong headache flares, making me groan in tiredness and pain.

What I just did was super tiring even though I didn't move a muscle. My body is fine, but my mind is just done, like a day-long session of programming. I don't even want to think anymore, so I send the green signal to Alissa.

Alissa, come save me.

"Master, are you okay?" She kindly asks and grabs my hand.

"Hm…?" I sleepily mumble as I raise my head from my plate and turn to her.

"You're very absent-minded," she concernedly states then gives my hand a comforting squeeze.

I just smile warmly at her, a bit happy that she cares so much about me. "Oh… I'm very tired. Working on [Redirect Mana] is very draining mentally."

Roxanne chuckles and gives me a thumbs up. I guess I look just like her right now.

Alissa sighs then releases my hand, and even Hana sends me a worried glance. Seeing both of them like this warms me up inside, and that awakes something that was sleeping.

Oh, shit. I barely paid attention to them during the bath. That was shameful of me.

Tonight, I need comfort. I don't let Alissa read in peace and keep her occupied with kisses while Hana massages both our heads, but once the dragon girl has enough, she takes me upstairs and abuses my body, taking from me what she couldn't during bath time.

Of course, I take it like a champ and satisfy her completely, then it's Alissa's turn. The awakened peeping pervert is all wet and ready for me just from watching us fuck. I'm actually super drained today, but I endure and make her bend for me. Even if my balls and dick hurt, I will please my women. I didn't receive such glorious gifts from the gods to let them stay unsatisfied.

Today is the 14th.

I wake up in heaven, feeling very refreshed even though I was completely drained yesterday, and I immediately start to reflect on the soul experiment while I lay on the bed. The bird's soul was just a cube, but there's still more info below that, there are more intricacies that I can look for.

Once the girls leave to make breakfast, I summon the bird again and repeat the experiment, then I grip the cube and keep it in place while I try to observe it further.

The first thing I notice are intricate carvings on its surface, so I focus on them and feel my view zoom in like using a microscope. The first thing I notice is a simple circle, then I see a web inside it, then a grainy pattern appears, and the previous carvings become too large for me to see them.

I continue to zoom in, and I gradually notice a new pattern appear, a circle, just like the first, and then the sequence of patterns repeat. This makes me feel weird, so I stop and ponder on what's going on. "Zooming" doesn't feel like it's actually getting me closer, so I need to change my focus.

But I have no idea what to focus on right now, so I just observe the cube, and I notice that my mind seems to be slowly adapting to what I see, allowing me to sense more details from the cube. Then it suddenly strikes me that I don't even know what color this cube is actually like. It's not "black" or "transparent," it's like my mind simply doesn't register it.

What a mindfuck…

It seems like I'm making some progress, so I continue on this train of thought and continue observing the cube, but then my "eyes" start to hurt the more I look, as if I was staring at something too bright. But I have a feeling that there's actually something under the geometric patterns… something like a language…?

I have to look harder!

I force myself to look, the heat from the cube and the pain from "staring" rising to very uncomfortable levels, but I can't stop now. I need to solve this mystery!

Progress is slow while the pain outpaces it, hurting so much I feel like I'm diving into a fire, but I can see it! There's something there! I just… need… to get… closer…!

"Master?!" Alissa's desperate shout pulls me back to reality, and I find myself disoriented as she shakes me strongly.

"What?! What?!" I cry back, completely confused.

And she stops shaking me now that I'm responding. "You-… you were moaning and writhing about."

"What?" I whine, even more confused.

She releases me, then I notice that my whole body feels heavy like it's made of stone, and I let out a groan of pain as I try to move, but of course, she notices this, making her even more worried.

"What were you doing?" She asks softly as she sits back, her pointy ears starting to go flat.

I slowly sit up and try not to show my tiredness as I explain, "I'm trying to… unveil some knowledge about the soul, but it's hard to get to it."

"You're hurting yourself," she replies, sounding anguished, which makes me feel a bit guilty."

"I… yeah, I was forcing myself a bit in this experiment, but I don't know why my body did that. It just moved on its own."

She frowns disappointedly. "Master… please be careful. This looks dangerous."

Yeah, it does. My heart is burning, my body is heavy, and my head is spinning… but this is so exciting. I'm doing something nobody has ever done, or at least pushing past what Potro had seen.

"I know, I'll stop pushing myself so much," I reassure her. I'll find a way to continue exploring without killing myself.

Then I notice that Hana is at the doorway, and the worried face both of them are making breaks my heart. I have a feeling that even the Goddess of Knowledge won't approve of me hurting myself.

After calming them down, I go downstairs and reflect on what I saw while we eat.

That was feedback. My way of "seeing" inside the soul requires some sort of contact, and that was like checking how the bread was rising with my hand while it was still in the oven. I need a way to "see" the soul from a distance, or at least wear "gloves" that would protect my "naked" soul from feedback. But there's still the fact that our minds weren't made to see the inner workings of the soul, so I have to be careful not to push myself on that part, too.

The mage managed to see a bit of the soul just with [Sense Presence], so maybe I can use it and even [Sense Mana] to aid my "sight." These two skills don't seem to be passive sensors, but at least they seem much safer than what I did.

[Sense Mana], for example, is quite a curious skill. I can "sense" that there's mana in a direction, but I need to actually feel the particles go through me to find out what their "flavor" is. It's almost like a sense of smell, but I'm sensing the mana particles before I actually encounter them, so it isn't the exact same thing. Same goes for spells, I can sense when someone casts them even though they're far away from me, but the Spriggans couldn't due to being horrible at magic.

I have no fucking idea how [Sense Presence] actually works, so I should ask Alissa about it sometime. It certainly feels like having a radar inside my mind, but I can only see other living beings, so, do I emit magical radio waves that only reflect on things with a soul?

So many abstract concepts, and I want to somehow merge them all together into something like a [Sense Soul] skill. I have no idea how I'll do it, but I bet it'll be by accident seeing how things went with [Redirect Mana].

And it kind of scares me how much progress I've achieved in just a few days.  Why am I so good at this? Why has nobody managed to replicate Potro's research? There's also [Spirit Magic] that people could use to explore this area, so they could've just put a little bit of "Willpower" into it and done something similar to what I did, right? Is my analytical mind so rare here…?

No… it was my instant-casting that allowed me to discover the "cursor" within my mind, and then I created [Redirect Mana] because of it, allowing me to breach a new boundary in magical research.

"Your grin is a little creepy," Roxanne remarks with a frown.

I hum and raise my eyes from my plate, "Oh? Sorry, I'm just happy that I made a breakthrough in my research, and now I'm digesting things…" -I frown back at her- "but your face is even creepier. You look like a ghost."

"Hahahah…" She chuckles heartily, and her sickly appearance lightens up a bit. "I also made a breakthrough, but this means that I now have more work to do as I need to brew a lot of potions, so I'm feeling quite tired right now."

I give advice that I'll soon follow, "You really should rest, I'm worried about you."

She smiles sweetly and exaggeratedly bats her eyelashes at me. "Awn. Thank you, but I have gone through worse. I'm fine."

"Yeah, but that still shaves off years of your life," I bluntly reply.

"Ugh..." She grunts and flinches as my words strike a weak spot for her. "I… will take a break…"

"Yes, do it, please," Alissa backs me up.

After we eat, Roxanne lays down on a sofa to chill, so I tell Alissa to bring her some good tea and cookies, then I tell Hana to keep her company, and the dragonkin is quite happy to oblige.

But as the girls start talking, I swear internally because I start to itch to touch another soul "bare-souled" again. I guess I'll laze around with them while I reflect upon what I saw.

Their conversation quickly turns into bragging, and Hana mentions how she can make Alissa and I sleep with just her hands. Roxanne asks for a sample, and then promptly collapses on Hana's lap, fast asleep.

Feeling indirectly challenged, I massage Alissa's ears, and she also quickly falls asleep, though there was no way it'd be as fast as Roxanne seeing that the former is well-rested, so I feel like it's a draw.

And now that each of us has a beautiful woman resting on our laps, we're forbidden from getting up, so we just lay back on the sofa and spend the rest of the morning petting our respective "cats."

For lunch, we have sweet bread to go with sweet vegetable soup, and more orc meat with fungi sauce.

We gorge ourselves on Alissa's wonderful cooking, so we have to once again rest in the living room to allow our stomachs to properly digest the food in peace, but then a messenger appears, interrupting our lazy moment. Silas has invited us to participate in a subjugation force for a large goblin camp found a day from the town.

"This could be the one we reported some time ago. Don't you think so, Master?" Alissa happily asks.

"Yeah, it's possible. Wait… so this is a request we can't turn down?" I worriedly ask and look at the girls.

Hana immediately becomes alarmed and pleads, "Please, Master. We have to go."

"It's just a question," I calm her down.

She flinches back and awkwardly adjusts her mane-like hair behind her ear. "Oh, sorry. Well, yes, we can't turn it down."

And Roxanne cheekily chimes in, "Technically, we can, but we can be kicked out of the guild if we do that."

"I see," I hum as I rub my chin in thought, then I sigh in resignation. "Well, what does 'shock squad' mean?"

"It means we'll be the ones doing the slaughter," Alissa replies with mild enthusiasm.

"We'll come in like a [Lightning Bolt] and then finish them off while they reel back from the shock, hence 'shock squad,'" Roxanne happily analogizes, and I'm surprised she didn't go for something even more gruesome.

"Blessed with good luck," Hana remarks with a grin, her voice low like a purr.

But my only response is to frown, so Alissa grabs my hand and squeezes it reassuringly, which brings me a bit of comfort.

"We'll actually be in a good position since everyone will be watching us," Hana also tries to comfort me, but that makes things even worse.

"I'm actually pretty shy among strangers, so I don't feel blessed," I whine.

"That's no problem, Master. Stay near me, and I'll brush away anyone who tries to bother you," the reliable dragonkin tries to reassure me, then she displays her best dashing smile… which is a bit comforting. Having a hot beauty like hers protecting me like a bodyguard and keeping everyone else away sounds really nice.

"Master, your strength is your kindness and wisdom. If you don't want to deal with problematic people, just leave them to us, we'll keep you safe," Alissa joins in, and I admit, it's starting to work.

Then Roxanne smirks evilly and teases, "Even I understand that Wolf is a precious and fragile gem that needs protecting."

Oh, please, that had the opposite effect.

"Miss Roxanne! That wasn't something nice to say," Alissa scolds her, then hugs me protectively.

Roxanne giggles like a child as she escapes to her room, and her antics make Hana laugh out loud.

To be honest, I actually do feel blessed. Blessed to have these girls.

The departure will be on the 16th at 1 PM, so we have plenty of time to collect our money from the auction and then get our reserved equipment.

Since a big fight is coming up, everyone, except Roxanne, who we lock out of her room to force her to rest, goes to the training grounds to brush up on our skills.

Alissa draws a crowd with her archery, and a line of students form to challenge Hana. I even hear some people betting on the girls, but they're too good, so there aren't too many fools who'd bet against them.

I just go to my corner, where nobody will pay attention to me, and practice my fireballs, silently.

After a couple of hours, I suddenly feel some big changes happening within me, so I open my "Stats" and notice that I gained 4 points in [Mana Efficiency], 2 in [Sense Mana], my MP increased by 100 (now 455), and my "Magic Power" increased by 10 (now 210).

Wow, that's sudden.

I guess this happened because my knowledge of magic gained quite a boost, but I hadn't actually practiced in a while, so all the level-ups must've accumulated until now. Or maybe this is the Goddess of Growth helping me prepare. Regardless, I guess I should thank her.

Thank you, Goddess of Growth.

We take a bath together, and Hana attempts to brush Alissa's tail, but it ends badly, and I have to do it to make up for it. Hana gets sad she failed at brushy-brushy the fluffy-fluffy tail, but I guess her talent lies in brain massages.

Dinner is a sandwich with a fried orc meat patty, arranged in a sort of proto-hamburger. I use lots of leaves and squishy vegetables to make it as close to an Earth's burger as I can, and the girls love my selection. "Refreshing," they say. They were going to put some heavy sauce in it, which would make the bread too soggy and impossible to eat with just our hands, so they appreciate my reimagination of this common dish.

Our evening is rather quiet as we all just chill while Hana and Roxanne drink lightly. I cuddle with Hana this time and brush her voluminous red hair, which makes her fall asleep, so I try to carry her back to our bed, but I fail, to my utter shame.

I gently put her onto the floor before my arms fall off, waking her up, and she quickly realizes what I was attempting to do.

She stands up and soothes me, "Awn, that's cute, but don't feel bad. I'll play with you lots today, okay?" Then she pulls my face into her massive breasts and runs her fingers through my hair.

Maybe it isn't so bad.

And she shows her appreciation by asking Alissa to teach her how to suck dick. She knows how to make a man happy.

Alissa is the better dick sucker by far, but Hana makes up for it with enthusiasm, and she also doesn't have fangs, so there's no risk of her inexperienced blowjob from causing a traumatizing accident. Thinking about it, I'm glad the Chieftess taught Alissa how to suck dick.

And with just a little bit of coaching, Hana starts sucking me off like a storm, her head bobbing up and down hard while her tongue plays with the head, and Alissa holds her hair so that we can stare at each other. Those yellow, vertical-slitted eyes stare intensely at me, eager to see me cum, and the stimulation is so great that I quickly release it all inside her mouth.

She stops moving her head and simply rubs her tongue against the sensitive frenulum while my cock and balls pulsate, ejaculating rope after rope. Once she feels the orgasm has passed, she licks the tip, then pulls her head back and immediately swallows, all without missing a drop.

"This actually tastes good," she casually remarks, and both Alissa and I don't know how to respond to that.

"It kind of does…" Alissa shyly agrees and blushes.

My cock twitches, already coming back to life, because how could it not when these two beauties can't stop being so lewd and sexy?

And the moment it's hard enough, I have Alissa ride me while Hana uses my face, and I feel my balls start to shrivel.

Today is the 15th.

The first thing I notice when I wake up is that my cock is back inside Hana's mouth, and the moment she sees that I'm awake, she begins the storm, trying to suck my soul through my dick. I still haven't recovered, so I endure the pain in my cock and balls until she makes me cum again, then I feel something change within me.

I gained the skill [Enhanced Semen Recharge].

What the fuck.

Hana laughs her way out of the room while Alissa assumes a poker face and freezes, staring off into the distance. Then I hear a loud, wheezing laugh as Hana tells Roxanne, too.

You know what, fuck this. I'll wear it with pride. What kind of man has his balls drained every day for so long that he develops a fucking skill? Not a fucking weak man, that's what. I know that I'm a pervert, but I can become a sex god whenever I please, so why shouldn't I lean into it? This is my talent, and also my biggest source of dopamine, so I won't be shamed for the thing that makes me happy. Bow to me, unworthy men who can't even please your own women.

I crawl up to Alissa, feeling my balls starting to recharge, already, and I pat her head as I sensuously state, "Rejoice, Alissa. This means you have to hold back less if you wish to do me."

She turns her head to me, then to the wall, then to me again and opens her mouth as if to say something, but then she closes it and blushes.

How can you still blush like this after everything we've done?

After everyone calms down, we eat toast with pâté or butter accompanied by tea. Roxanne sends me a few teasing glances, Hana cheerfully eats her food, while Alissa keeps her poker face. I'm actually feeling quite fulfilled right now, so it'll take a lot more to ruin my bliss.

The auction will start accepting bids at 3 PM, and we aren't required to be there at the start, but I'd like to. The whole thing shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, and then we'll immediately take our money after it ends.

I start to get anxious, so I try to waste time by sparring with Hana. We also lock Roxanne out of her room again, and she decides to watch us from the window of the living room.

I [Clean] my forehead from sweat, then I suddenly remember something, so I turn to Roxanne and ask, "Roxanne, did you ever get your share of the bounty from the Symbol?"

She blinks once, then facepalms and readjusts her glasses. "Oh, shit, I forgot! Can we pass by the guild before we go to the auction?" She asks with a guilty smile, and I just shrug.

"Sure."

Then the airheaded succubus starts laughing at herself as she leans on the windowsill again.

"How did you forget about so much money?" Alissa worriedly questions as she oils her bow.

"I was… busy," Roxanne answers with a grin, but at least she has the decency to blush, which becomes very noticeable on her unnaturally pale skin.

Hana frowns and earnestly advises her, "You work too much Roxanne. You have to clear your mind once in a while, or your thoughts will just hang, and you'll stop growing."

The workaholic tilts her head to the side in confusion. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"Mental training, skill training, and muscle training are all similar. You normally only level up skills after a day's rest, and the same goes for martial training and muscular growth. If you overdo it, you can hurt yourself, and that can even make you lose progress."

Roxanne becomes pensive. "Hmmm… I guess there's some truth to that."

"Hmph," the fiery woman grunts while she casually parries my attack, then she counters me without wasting a beat.

"We all care about you, so don't overdo it, ok?" Alissa kindly states.

And that finally gets the cheeky girl as she lowers her head in guilt.

"Thank you. I… I don't know how to work as a team properly, so I guess I'm a bit hard-headed sometimes. Thank you for caring about me…" She timidly admits, her spiral horns looking weirdly bouncy and rubbery, for some reason.

"Awn..." Hana stops the spar then runs towards Roxanne and gives her a sweaty hug through the window.

"Eck!"

The workaholic eventually joins us and practices her Water and Fire spells a bit. She shows she didn't go rusty by displaying her impressive control over her magic. She makes a few very small spells, which is actually hard to do without enough [Mana Control], and then also a few very big ones, though she doesn't fire the latter as they'd destroy the house. They take a while to make, though, so it seems like it's easier to just use the "default" spell settings instead of molding them at will, but her default is a lot bigger than all of ours.

I also notice that her [Explosion] feels (to my faint magical senses) similar to her small [Fireball] and something else combined, so I ask Alissa about it.

She hums thoughtfully, then glances at the lively succubus as she tries to wow Hana with flashy [Fireball]s. "Hmm…? Oh, that's likely why her [Explosion] is an actually viable spell in combat. Casting something directly in the body of another living being is extremely inefficient, so she might've gotten around it by decreasing the size of her spell, reducing the cost in mana, though it still seems to be expensive."

"What do you think is her second spell?"

"I felt some mana related to [Water Magic] leak from it, so I'm almost certain it's from that magic school."

Roxanne's staff does glow both red and blue, and she's pretty good with [Water Magic], so it makes sense.

For lunch, Alissa makes a meaty pasta sauce that reminds me of Madeira sauce.

Then we all get ready to go, and holy shit, the women look hot. Alissa melts my heart with her cute, white, frilly dress and small, white shoes; Hana looks majestic with a risque, red, straight, silk dress open in the back; and Roxanne makes me uncomfortable with a black, slightly gothic dress with a huge cleavage, and black knee socks. Sometimes I forget she's actually a sexy woman due to her demeanor, only to be suddenly reminded that she's a literal succubus.

Roxanne and Hana go by magic carpet while I ride Alissa, and because Roxanne asked, we pass by the monster hunters' guild.

When we get to the entrance, I start sweating cold as I realize that three juicy pieces of steak are about to walk right into the middle of a pack of hungry wolves. Alissa also seems to tense up in distaste, but Hana and Roxanne unhesitantly walk in, and almost everyone in the hall stops to stare at the delicious trio.

Thankfully, Roxanne doesn't waste time and immediately goes to the attendants, who quickly deliver her rewards as it was all ready for her, then we're finally off to the theater.

We go to the far north side of the town, the high class area since it's far from the south wall, where the monsters come from. The houses grow to a few stories tall, but none are as high as the theater itself, so we see it far before we reach it, and once we do, I'm awed at its beauty.

It's a simple half-circle, where the entrance is on the circular side, but the architecture has a strong Gothic air, and the blood red color of its bricks makes it even seem ominous. The walls are full of deep relief, like arches, flying buttresses, ornate columns, and statues of all kinds of humanoids in different postures. With a sword in hand, reading a book, shaking a flask, holding an orc head, putting on a crown, tilling the land, and many others.

There are plaques under all of them, and they tell me that these statues are supposed to represent historically famous works. Alissa's gaze is attracted to a statue of a human offering a spear, and I give her a curious look.

"Just a story I once read when I was a child," she whispers with a nostalgic smile, then moves on.

But "The Tragedy of Vron" doesn't sound like something a child should read.

We enter the theater, and the bricks turn yellow, giving a majestic feeling to the architecture. The statues by the walls become paintings on huge canvases, which depict the plays that are performed here, like old school, hand-painted movie billboards.

It might be interesting to come here one of these days, but the luxury is putting me off a bit.

We walk up one of the very wide sets of stairs that lead to the stands, but ours is to the top, so we put those legs to work. I do feel a bit bad for Roxanne since she's wearing heels, so we wait a bit after our climb to let her rest her thin thighs.

We ask a guard for directions, and he takes us to the specific stand where Silas is. Since we're expected, we're allowed in, and I immediately recognize that we're in the exact center of the upper viewing stands, giving us a view of everything.

Then I recognize Silas, who's sitting in the front row and talking to a majestic man in a huge, red, fur cloak. The black clothes he's wearing under it are also very lavish with the gold stripes and the jewels sewn into the fabric.

"That is the Lord of Rabanara, Alaraste Anara," Alissa whispers into my ear.

Oh fuck, oh fuck. It's the Lord!

Silas notices us entering and points to chairs beside him. Alissa entwines her arm with mine then pushes me forward, and I feel my gait become robotic in tension.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Ryder. It's good to see you here," the wrinkly old guildmaster greets me with a sly grin.

"G-good afternoon, guildmaster. I was curious to see how it would go," I try to answer in kind as I sit down to his left.

"It's just a small event, nothing special," he wryly understates.

Alissa sits on my other side, and Hana and Roxanne sit down in the row behind us.

Then he looks at each of the girls and greets them with a nod, "Good afternoon, Miss Alissa, Miss Roxanne, and Miss Hanafuria."

The girls quietly greet him back, and I find a bit of comfort in also hearing a bit of tension in their tones.

Silas then motions to the lavish man at his side. "This is the Lord of Rabanara, Alaraste Anara. My Lord, this is one of the fellowships who fought the Symbol, but Miss Hanafuria, the dragonkin, wasn't present at the battle. They're called Helios."

Alaraste finally shows a reaction and slowly turns to look at each of us. He's a dark-haired man with a square jaw and a well-kept stubble. He has a deep, stoic demeanor, and the moment our gazes cross, I feel like his dark eyes pierce through my heart, and not in a pleasant way. Once he looks at the girls, I almost breathe in relief, but the way Alissa tenses up when he looks at her annoys me.

The man is a prime specimen of a noble. He's so majestic it's like he has an aura of authority. But the effect is so noticeable I wonder if it's a skill or a spell.

"Greetings to you all," he finally speaks, his voice as powerful and cold as his gaze. I mimic Alissa and give a small bow, and he continues with a faintly lofty tone as he stares at me, "I see it now, the man, the mage, the archer, and now a strong shield. You'll do well tomorrow. Look for my elite squad; you should work together with them."

"Elite squad?" Alissa whispers, then nudges me.

"Elite squad?" I repeat reflexively, and I notice that I'm sweating.

Alaraste does a small nod. "Yes. They'll be the main power in the subjugation tomorrow. Your mage and your archer are very powerful killing forces, so have them work with my elite squad."

"Say 'as you wish, my Lord,'" Alissa nudges me again.

"Y-yes, as you wish, my Lord," I obey, then she gives my back a subtle push, and I do a quick bow.

It's so fast I almost think I imagine it, but I swear I see the Lord smile for a split second.

Then Silas promptly continues, "It's likely that a large number of goblins are amassing in that camp, but we couldn't find its exact location, so we're calling every reliable fellowship that has a tracker. We'll also require quite a lot of firepower to take it out, so we've called for the Lord's help, and he'll lend us a number of knights along with a genius magician. The elite squad, your fellowship, and two others will be the main killers of this operation. But let's leave the details for tomorrow."

I simply hum and nod, so the short old man flashes me a grin, then turns forward again and starts whispering to the Lord.

Alissa gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, and I sigh as quietly as I can, the tension finally leaving my body. I glance behind me, and the two little shits return a teasing smile.

Silas politely makes some small talk with me when he isn't whispering with the Lord, but the latter doesn't, and I'm grateful for that as the Lord's presence is so strong it's draining.

And after a good half hour, the theater fills up completely, then the lights in the audience dim a bit, and the auction starts.

A mature man walks onto the stage, and I notice that his clothes seem like a neat proto-suit, but it's still far from the minimalist style of Earth as the people of Rupegia have a love for overly designing clothes and covering the textiles with a wide variety of decorations.

"Gentlemen and gentlewomen…" The auctioneer begins and makes a dramatic pause, his voice echoing perfectly all over the theater, not too loud, and not too quiet. "Good afternoon to all of you, and also to our Lord Anara, who's watching over us today." Then he motions to the balcony.

Alaraste gets up and waves once, then he promptly sits down. The lower floor can't see me when I'm sitting, but the other balconies can, and I can feel the gazes burning a hole through my face.

The audience murmurs in response for a brief moment, but they respectfully stop, allowing the auctioneer to continue, "Tonight we're all here gathered for an auction of curious knicks, knacks, oddities, sundries, and other valuables, but pay attention for this session has a truly exceptional treasure, the body of a legendary creature, the Symbol of Hate!"

The audience has an excited reaction, and the auctioneer milks it up perfectly, suddenly continuing the moment the whispering starts to die down.

"This creature is an Aberrant monster that has lived for two hundred and three years! We know that its soul is so deformed that it wouldn't obey even the Monster King, and it preyed on every kind of monster, the average, the leader, the breeder, other Aberrants, and even the undead. Many of you surely have heard of this infamous threat that haunted the deeper parts of the Ant Hill, so I bet you're all curious to see the damage that was done to bring it down, but fret not for the jewel of this session will eventually have its turn. Until then, feast your eyes upon the treasures that were uncovered all over the Sea of Trees and Shore of Leaves!"

The auctioneer claps his hand with a graceful motion, and the first item is brought up to him, a crystallized gargoyle head. Apparently, it's the only intact part from the corpse of a Crystal Grotesque, a fitting name for it's a fugly thing, yet it sells quite quickly, and Roxanne mutters something about "exotic ingredients."

Once the bidding starts, it progresses with lightning-fast exchanges as the auctioneer switches from pomp to machine gun as he rapid-fires the bids in a way that'd make the Earth cattle auctioneers and even Eminem proud.

More items are brought in quick succession, and I struggle to understand what they even are. There are plenty of rare monster parts, ingredients, and ornate weapons, but a good deal of the items are said to be "mysterious Artifacts" from dungeons, but the auctioneer describes them only with obscure jargon. A discreet question to Alissa reveals that he's likening the Aritfact's mana to "elemental magic," which I assume are the [Fire Magic] and other magical schools. It seems that the Artifacts don't do much by themselves, but they might be helpful to mages, like how the gem on Roxanne's staff likely helps her with her magic.

I just nod and hum sensibly along with everyone else. The advantage of being introverted is that nobody expects you to freely comment on the spectacle, so my absolute ignorance of everything that's being shown is easily camouflaged by my personality, allowing me to focus on absorbing as much information as I can.

Even though the biddings progress extremely fast, there are so many items that it still takes a whole hour and a half before the time for the Symbol comes.

The auctioneer makes a dramatic pause after the last item, then he glances at each of the balconies with an amused smile, playing it up for effect. "And now, it's time for what you've all been waiting for, the Symbol of Hate!"

With a flourishing motion, he points to the back of the stage as a group of men pushes forward a huge cube covered in a red velvet sheet.

"This dreadful Aberrant reached an impressive height of five metri and twelve centimetri in a normal posture. It has twelve spider legs with a hair so sharp that it can draw blood from the naked hand. Its spider body is as tough as a plated knight while the human upper half has a skin as tough as an ogre's. Its mouth is composed of hundreds of small teeth that painfully tear and shred anything it eats, but don't try to smell them, you'll puke. Its hands sport such long, sharp, and tough nails that it used them in combat as a weapon similar to a dagger. They're so sharp that the hero who was stabbed by them barely survived his wounds."

Oh, that's me… but don't call me "hero," please. Roxanne is the one who did most of the damage to it.

"It is a being that literally fed on pain. It captured its prey, tortured it, wounded it, and then nurtured them back to full health like a caring mother, only to start the cycle of pain again. Only when someone's mind is truly broken is that mercy is given, and the prey is finally eaten alive. It was the embodiment of misery. It was so deviously cunning that it had eluded all who were sent to exterminate it… until it underestimated the destructive power and mettle of two humble fellowships…" -The men push the cube right to his side- "I present to you the corpse of the Symbol of Hate!"

He pulls off the velvet sheet, revealing a floating cube that seems to be made of solid glass, and inside it are the remains of the Symbol, just like how we'd delivered to them the guild, though less bloody.

What puzzles me is why did they need five men to push a cube that floats.

Anyway, the audience explodes in murmuring, and even Lord Alaraste leans forward in interest.

"Impressive carnage. What a fierce battle it must've been," he coolly remarks.

"It was… it was…" I bitterly reply. I'd rather not retell it.

Every single piece of the Symbol is there. The legs and the tips that we cut off, the bloodied and partially burned arms and head, the massive spider body, and the human half completely open like a gruesome, fleshy flower. The dagger-fingers on one of its arms are still stained with my blood while one of the tips seems to have Roxanne's blood, and neither of us seems particularly comfortable with that. The head has its mouth open to showcase the rows of teeth, but one of its eyes still has an arrow in it, the artwork of Alissa, and the intestines also hang from under the spider body, which is my artwork.

I hear some shifting behind me, so I glance back and see Roxanne looking down, her expression blank as she tries to get over the painful memories. Hana reaches over and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, just like how Alissa does to me, but Roxanne shows no reaction.

I think she just needs some time, so I turn forward again as the auctioneer continues, "You can all see the damage required to stop such monstrosity: nothing short but complete obliteration. Not even the incredible accuracy of the arrow that went through its eye was enough to stop it, or the fearsome swordsmanship to cut off the legs or their tips, or the bravery required to open up its entire thorax, no. They had to unleash hell! The hero needed incredible courage to throw himself into these frightening daggers on its fingers to give the genius mage the chance to blow the Symbol up with a single spell. Fortunately for us, most of its body actually survived such a gruesome fate."

Roxanne is being praised, but she still shows no reaction, keeping her eyes on the carpet. Now even Alissa turns around and gives her knee a comforting squeeze.

"Indeed it was most fortunate for all of us that the more valuable parts survived: the human head, and the spider body. Even with an arrow in its skull the brain wasn't damaged very much, the innards may look mangled but most of them are still inside the body, and also, a large amount of blood has been recovered. A treasure trove for those who are looking for two hundred and three years old monster parts that have been soaking in mana and pain longer than most of us have been alive."

And the "genius mage" who saved us all finally recovers, showing that she is, indeed, made of stronger stuff than her frail appearance indicates. She sighs, then readjusts her glasses on her small nose and slowly lifts up her head as she gains the courage to stare at the monster of nightmares once again.

The auctioneer makes one last dramatic pause to rile up the audience. "Let us start the bidding! The body will be sold in its entirety along with all the severed parts. And the initial bid is one rose coin!"

Then he enters "rap-God mode" as I almost choke in my spit.

"One and ten!"

"One and twenty!"

"One and fifty!"

"Two coins!"

Oof… it's starting well.

"Two and thirty!"

"Two and forty!"

"Three coins!"

Oh, boy.

"Three and fifty!"

"Four coins!"

It's getting spicy!

"Four and twenty!"

"Four and thirty!"

Keep it going!

I lean so far forward I get on the edge of my seat.

"Four and forty!"

I can even taste the money.

"Four and forty-five!"

It's slowing down. Oh, no.

"Four and fifty!"

The bidders pause, allowing the auctioneer to breathe.

"Five coins!"

The murmuring grows louder. Even the audience can't get a grasp on how much money that is.

And the silence stretches.

Oh…

The auctioneer looks at each individual balcony with a very satisfied smile. "Is that all?"

I shyly glance at the other balconies and see a few lavishly-dressed people looking quite annoyed they don't have enough money.

"It's a one."

"It's a two."

"It's a three!"

"SOLD!"

Then a bell rings across the entire theater.

177 gold coins for us. 107 after paying for Hana.

I'm rich, bitches!

I look back excitedly at the duo, but then I notice that "Hauberk" is a few rows to the side and behind us. I was so enthralled by the auction that I have no idea when they arrived.

Gunther has his eyes closed, his face completely expressionless. Lorthar has his hands clasped, praying to the Gods above. Minerva is doing an ugly cry with snot dripping from her nose. It's quite a heartwarming sight. Twenty-two gold coins for each of them is still a lot, and from what little I understand of Rupegian economics, it's enough they could even retire and buy a farm somewhere.

The Lord stands up and nods at us, his gaze making me briefly uncomfortable again, then he silently leaves.

"Congratulations, Helios," Silas gently states as he strokes his enviously long white beard, then he motions to the door as he slowly stands up. "Follow me and we'll promptly deliver your rewards."

Everyone follows the wrinkly old man into a nearby room, and we wait in luxurious sofas that grip our buttcheeks like heavenly hands.

Soon after, a posh old man comes in, followed by two men in proto-suits, and he sits by the table while the two not-butlers wait by the wall, then he pulls out a thick magnifying glass, and I notice inscriptions in gold all over the lens and handle. He must be the appraiser.

A couple of minutes later, a very old man walks into the room with a slow and wobbly gait, but a young man with a proto-suit holds his arm, keeping him upright. The old man wears a rather gaudy black and purple trailing robe and a ridiculously wide-brimmed pointy hat. He also carries a jeweled metal staff with a giant shining yellow jewel at the top, which is a lot bigger than Roxanne's, and Hana quietly teases her about it.

"Grand Rizek. A pleasure to have you here," Silas cheerfully greets.

"Hoh. It's a pleasure to be here, and I'm even more pleased that I lived long enough to see such a legend be killed," the old man replies in a raspy but very energetic voice. Though he looks physically frail, there's a strong vigor and savagery in his eyes and tone, and it's just so "magical," like the Lord's aura, that it also makes me wonder if he's using a spell or a skill to create this effect.

Silas simply smiles back while grandpa Rizek is slowly walked to a chair, then he turns to us, his powerful stare catching me by surprise.

"Hah. I wouldn't have imagined such squirts like you would bring that thing down. The tortured souls that were victims of that abomination thank you," Rizek politely states with a nod, then flashes us a grin.

We don't know what to say, so we all sheepishly nod back, slightly overwhelmed at his vigor.

And Rizek doesn't even wait for an answer before he prompts the young man, "Now, Sebastian."

Another butler, another Sebastian. He pulls out five rose coins out of his [Item Box] with a *poof* then puts them on the table, and the appraiser inspects the coins with his enchanted magnifying glass. Quick thing, just a couple of seconds for each, and then he nods to Silas.

"Then it's done," the guildmaster announces and snaps his fingers, then one of the not-butlers by the wall steps forward. "Please take Grand Rizek to the storage area."

Grandpa and the two butlers leave, though slowly, giving enough time for the old man to flash one last grin at us.

"Who was that man?" I quietly ask.

"A famous mage that belongs to the Lord's court. He's a genius of [Electric Magic]," Roxanne answers, her usual cheerfulness completely held back now that she's in the face of someone important.

Electric, eh…?

Silas stores the coins in his [Item Box], then pulls out a huge sack of gold coins, another with silver coins, and a third one with copper coins. The last not-butler counts the coins and separates the parts for each of us, with the guild taking 5%.

After everyone has their share, Silas stores back the rest and smiles politely. "Glad to do business with you. We'll see each other again tomorrow," 

Gunther comes up to me and offers his huge hand. "I'm glad I met you. Even if it was because of a… desperate situation, I'm glad I met you," he remarks as we shake.

"What are you going to do now?" I curiously ask.

He glances at his companions and smiles, then answers with a dreamy tone, "Move to a calmer area. We can take it easy now and possibly find a nice place to retire. And you?"

I snort. "Way too young to retire." And he snorts back.

But it's not because I don't want to, I just don't believe I'll be allowed to retire for a long while.

"Be well," I say my goodbye, and we finally leave.

Tomorrow, we'll pay Ghulam and retrieve the equipment we reserved for Hana, then we'll immediately begin our next adventure.

I'm actually a bit excited, but only a tiny little bit.