Rupegia

Chapter 47: Paranoia – Part 1

Soon after we cross the area where the fog was covering the road, we meet a scout from an incoming caravan.

"Greetings!" The elven horsewoman talks to us from a safe distance. She shows her sword hand to us in a signal of non-aggression.

"Fellow caravan coming through!" I yell back and the woman looks taken aback. "I'm a summoner, I saw you from far away."

"Oh, understood! Foguera company's caravan is coming through!"

"Este company's caravan is coming through!" Rande announces.

An exchange of courtesy in dangerous territory.

The scout comes closer so we can talk normally. "Did you clear the Watchful Tons?" She asks.

"We did, along with an Aberrant that was hunting them," I say.

"In the name of Foguera, we appreciate your work," the woman says with a slight bow.

"The pleasure of the fellowship Helios, hired by Este company," I say and return the bow.

After a nod, the scout returns to relay the information to her caravan.

We see the light coming from the other caravan long before we see it properly. It's much bigger than ours, with at least 20 horsemen, 40 spearmen and an unknown number of mages and archers inside the wagons. A few [Holy Spirits] and dozens of powerful enchantment-created [Spirit Lights] hang on the roof of the wagons as protection. A small number of commoners follow the caravan, protected by the spearmen.

A fat golden elf man leans through the window of the most ornate wagon, the last one to pass. "Ah, Rande! Surprised to see you making this trip," he says.

"Luck of the Gatun. I found a fellowship competent enough to keep us safe from even an Aberrant!" Rande says with a dashing smile.

"Escanso is in need of metal. What did you bring?" His gaze turns sharp.

"Enough to get robbed by seventy men." Rande turns smug.

"Hah! Then you cleared the way for us." His face turns soft again.

"All the way to Goldcross."

"I'll pay you with a bottle of Sunflower Wine." He laughs out loud.

They nod respectfully to each other as the caravans finish passing.

The soldiers quickly exchange news about the road and the mood lightens. Both caravans have been clearing the way of monsters as they pass, so at least for tomorrow, no more monsters will attack us.

With the Hollys, I confirm that the number of monsters actually does drop drastically, so we relax and start chatting casually.

Alissa pulls out a tray of hot tea and cookies and serves us while we stay on our horses.

"How was the fight with the Aberrant?" Klein asks with both worry and curiosity.

Ciel starts talking before anyone of us says something they shouldn't. She manages to describe the fight without mentioning any of our special powers. Then Hana butts in and starts "embellishing" it.

"I flew through the sky and suddenly saw the sun! When I came to, they were already getting chased by the Aberrant, so with a broken arm, I dropped down with all my speed and broke the mask of the Aberrant in half!

"I came back for another strike and caved in the skull of the monster, but he didn't die. It didn't even groan in pain! But it retaliated, it fried the elementals and got me in the back with its electric attack. I crashed into the ground but we had already deployed the escape smoke, so the monster quickly lost our trail."

"Wow, the horses saved you guys," Klein says.

"Hm, seems so," Osaria comments.

Nito perks his head out from the back and smiles as adorably as a little girl.

"We could have used the earth elementals to create a tunnel, so there were still other ways that we could have escaped," Roxanne says with a shrug.

"So versatile. There should be more teachers of [Summoning Magic]," Osaria says.

"It's actually quite complex. If you're not a 'natural' like Wolfy, then I would say that it's not worth it."

"And you're not going to share your secrets?" Klein questions me.

"Nope." I give her a cheeky smile.

Klein puckers her lips and then shows me her tongue.

Hana continues her story, "Then, for the second fight, we were more prepared. Six elementals: three earth, three fire. A trap from all directions! We lured it in with a single, small bird, and then we started such a powerful barrage of spells and attacks that we stunned it completely.

"Lina and I weaved in our attacks with the recharge of the barrage to keep it overwhelmed. It turned to each of us and tried to crush us with its incredibly powerful [Earth Bullet], but we were prepared and built our own super-tough barricades.

"Roxanne adapted and blew apart the stone scales of the aberrant, opening it up for us to hit its insides. Then we all synced our attacks together, and with one thundering strike, we toppled it over. This gave us enough time for Roxanne to blow off its head."

"Is the brain even inside its skull? You said you caved it in but nothing happened," Osaria questions.

"Oh, it's there, it's just protected underneath a lot of meat, bones, and fat," I say.

"Are you going to give the brain to Aoi?" Klein asks.

"I want, the heart!" Aoi says.

"She wants the heart," I say with a nod.

Anton listens to the story. He looks interested, but also annoyed. I know his opinion of me has lowered by a lot, but there's no helping it.

The light of the luminous plants turns purple as night comes. The wagons are parked near the road and we prepare our bath. Klein joins us awkwardly and Hana takes it upon herself to wash the newest member.

When we start to soak in, Klein tries to waddle closer to me, but she's stopped by Hana again. "Today is Roxanne's turn, you will have to wait," Hana says and puts the pouting Klein on her lap.

"We. All. Share," Roxanne reminds her with a wicked smile and straddles me.

I run my hand along her perfect, unnaturally pale skin and savor her lips.

"You did well," I say softly.

"I did well, veery well," She giggles.

I lower her onto my erection and she gasps.

"You need a reward." I smile suggestively and let myself get intoxicated with her.

I grab one of her black horns and apply [Massage] to it.

"Hm, harder," she asks.

Hana applies [Massage] on Klein's tail and she lets out a long shiver.

"Gods, you two have magical hands!" Klein says.

Alissa goes over to Klein and applies [Hand Technique] on her pussy.

"You three!"

Meanwhile, Ciel inspects every inch of Lina's body in search of any mark on her milky skin.

"Even there?" Lina asks.

Ciel licks her lips and tries to hide her smile. "Even there."

While Roxanne moves her hips, I apply the hair conditioner and make the black silk on her head shine.

"Where did you buy so many elven products?" Klein asks when she can speak again.

I pass the bottle to Hana, who, along with Alissa, makes Klein squirm again. "Fought for a Lord once, and part of the reward was this. It's all smuggled goods."

"Instead of… asking for a fortune… ah, in coin you asked for el-… hm! Elven products?" Klein struggles to ask.

"We already have quite a lot of coin," Hana says with a shrug.

Klein turns to Hana and chuckles. "You used… to be greedy."

"Used to. But I always used my money, I never saved it, so I guess nothing has really changed."

Once Klein is exhausted and Roxanne is repeatedly filled, we actually relax. Aoi swims underwater and plays tag with Gify.

Klein lets out a long sigh and uses Hana's breast as a pillow.

"What is it?" Ciel asks.

"Nothing… just feeling very happy," Klein answers shyly.

"That's everyday," Lina says.

I reach over and pat her head.

"How's the arm?" I ask Hana.

"Just a little sensitive. Tomorrow it'll be okay."

Before we start eating dinner, Rande makes an announcement.

"As everyone should know, Helios discovered the bandit ambush long before they were even coming. They also prepared the trap with the caltrops, something that wouldn't be as effective if it weren't for their buried elementals. Not only did we not suffer any casualties because of them, but we also received healing from two of their members and potions from a third. With this, I announce that I'm giving 40% of the bounty to them, as a reward. The rest will be split evenly among the other participants."

The bounty isn't much, it ends up being a few gold coins and some silver, but it's symbolic, it shows that Rande divides rewards based on merit, not birth, nor race, nor favoritism.

Dinner is a hearty, sweet, pink mushroom soup from Klein's homeland. Lina seems interested at first, but the sweet taste puts her off.

"It's not a real mushroom because mushrooms shouldn't be so sweet!" She complains under her breath.

Too tired to train, we retire to our tent and play around. Klein plays cards with Lina after she finishes repairing Hana's shield. Aoi cheers for Lina while Roxanne cheers for Klein.

"Yes! Crush her!" Roxanne cheers.

"Y-you're not helping," Klein says nervously.

"Breathe in, breathe out," Aoi tries to calm Lina.

Lina is silent, but she glares repeatedly at her opponent: Roxanne, not Klein.

Ciel pulls out of her [Item Box] a small surprise that she got from Ostoum: a box containing small flasks of nail polish.

"I wanted to surprise us all with this, but Klein interrupted before I could," Ciel says with a wry smile.

"Wow, what's gotten into you to spend money on feminine things?" Roxanne asks with a playful look.

"We have money to spare, now…?" Ciel awkwardly plays with her hair.

I immediately nudge Alissa through [Bind] and we attack Ciel. She trims all of Ciel's nails while I sand them smooth. Then I pick out a soft pink flask and use the little brush to delicately paint her nails.

Ciel, who's naked, obviously, giggles at the delicate care and then looks at her perfect, beautifully done nails.

I never did this for Lily and I don't really feel regret for not doing it. It's something new, something just between me and the girls.

We look at Hana and she turns a little awkward.

"Is this really necessary…?" She scratches the scales on her cheek.

I find a glossy, red flask and dangle in front of her face. She becomes intrigued at the color and relents.

"Wow, I look fabulous!" Hana stands, also naked, obviously, in front of our mirror and looks at her nails.

The other four girls stop playing cards and look at their own nails, then they start oozing envy.

Roxanne got a glossy purple; Lina got a milky white; Klein got pool blue; Alissa got yellow; Aoi got sky blue and we had to paint hers while she was in her larger form, otherwise the paint just turns to dust and falls off when she gets bigger.

They then try to paint mine black but I continue to deny them until they stop.

"No fun," Klein shows me her tongue.

"Painted nails are a very feminine thing where I'm from," I say.

For as open-minded as I try to be, painting my nails still feels weird.

"Hmmm…" Roxanne looks at me sadistically. She pulls off her underwear and grabs a bright pink flask. "Little sissy Wolfy."

Alissa shivers with a flash of rage that spills over the [Bind].

Roxanne's tail trails over the bed and approaches my genitals, though I know its real aim is the back door.

"Do it."

Alissa pounces on the tail and squeezes it, eliciting a painful and delightful squeak from Roxanne. She grabs Roxanne by the throat with one hand and shoves her own tail up her pussy.

"Harder," Roxanne begs and Alissa obeys.

"Is the paint toxic?" Ciel innocently asks.

I grab her little toe and suck on it. "It doesn't really matter if it is, we can always use [Purify Body]," I say, suggestively.

I put some more baby batter in Ciel's oven and suck her cute little toes until I can taste the nail polish, which tastes horrible by the way, but it's a worthy sacrifice.

"When's my turn?" Klein asks, enviously gazing at the hot cream Lina is eating directly from Ciel's oven. Aoi is also eyeing my cum with curiosity.

"Tomorrow," Alissa says.

The golems see that the night's playfulness is ending and walk away from the corner of the bed, heading towards the center.

"Sex is, pleasurable, correct?" Ted asks.

"Yes, it is," I say, almost cringing as I know where this is going.

"We wish, to serve. We have, no genitals, but we can, still do some-thing," Suzy says.

With emotions mixed between confusion, disbelief, and mirth, the girls all turn to me.

"Not necessary," I say and force a smile.

"We lack, 'sex-appeal,' correct?" Ted asks.

"Yes."

"Then make, us sexier," Suzy says with a respectful bow.

"Not necessary," I repeat.

Both of them turn silent for a few moments.

"I do not, understand," Ted says.

"Yes, same," Suzy says.

"You lay with, a monster."

"But you will, not make us, more appea-ling?"

"I'm already very satisfied with the current number of women I can have sex with," I say.

"And dragons!" Aoi adds.

"I kind of already considered you as one of the women." I smile at her.

"Awn…" Hana moans and Aoi lets her mouth hang open.

"Anyway, making the two golems sexually appealing would increase the number of considerations that I need to have. It would make things more complicated when they don't need to be. And you girls are trying to humanize them, so I can't just consider them as sex toys."

"Hm…" Ciel thinks seriously.

"Hmm…" Alissa thinks perversely.

"Think seriously," I say flatly to Alissa.

She grins mischievously but lifts her hands in defeat. "Well, you know my fetish, but I understand your position. It becomes harder to think of the wishes of everyone the more people there are."

"But our wish, is to be treated, as a sex toy," Ted says.

"Literally," Suzy adds.

"To serve you better," Ted says.

"That's… quite the conundrum," I say with a laugh. "Let's see… for now, just consider that becoming a sex toy would cause more work than it would bring pleasure."

"Understood," Suzy says with a nod.

"For now," Ciel says and gives me a knowing look.

"Wow, 'Golem Fucker,'" Klein says.

"'Everything fucker'!" Hana exclaims.

"You girls are the ones pushing me to do it," I say and send a look towards Alissa.

"At this point, I find this more entertaining than depraved," Lina says.

I choke on my spit and look at her in disbelief. She smiles like an imp and then starts blushing in embarrassment. Klein and Roxanne cackle with laughter while the others chuckle.

Klein reaches over and hugs Lina's head, pressing her into her chest. "Awn… you are so adorable!"

Everyone is still naked, so…

"I-I'm not a child!" Lina protests but doesn't even try to escape Klein's hug.

"But you are more adorable than one," Ciel says.

Lina is conflicted in how to take Ciel's words.

To try to make her even more embarrassed, Klein starts kissing Lina's head repeatedly, but it only escalates to the point that they start making out.

I observe them even as my lower member protests in tiredness. There's a certain beauty in two cute, young women passionately making out. A beauty that props me into action, into doing… something. Something that is not just sticking my dick in them.

Intoxicated by the sight, Aoi nuzzles on my lap and brings her head closer to kiss me. Alissa quickly turns into a small fox and we have an odd, overly wet, three-way kiss enhanced by our [Bind].

Once done, both of them rest their heads on my penis. I know through [Bind] how much they enjoy being so close to it.

We enjoy some more cuddling before finally turning off the [Spirit Light]s.

Today is the 15th.

The laziness of knowing no monsters are coming is already affecting me since I go straight back to sleep after Klein wakes me up. I only manage to actually get up after Hana goes "Ghostbusters" on my soul.

"Now you wake her up," Hana says, pointing to the pale Succubus that's completely entangled with me.

I lean closer to one floppy horn and take a bite. It has the consistency of rubber but quickly turns completely solid like metal.

"Nu-aahuah, nngh!" Roxanne spasms, then her face distorts like when she has an orgasm and finally, she goes limp and lets her tongue fall out of her mouth.

"I'm not even surprised," I say.

Ciel and Lina shrug and walk out of the tent while Hana thinks deeply. "She's actually as much of a masochist as I am," She says.

Roxanne regains lucidity and slaps my shoulder, very annoyed. "Don't do that, I didn't like it," she says while her pale face quickly turns red.

"Okay, masochist in denial," Hana adds.

"Why didn't you like it?" I ask.

"Would you like it if someone bit your dick?" Roxanne says.

"If it made me orgasm..." Hana shrugs.

"It's… not about the pleasure, just don't do it, please," Roxanne pleads with a sad frown.

Okay, so it's some Succubus race faux pas that she's too embarrassed to look closely at.

My [Summoning Magic] increased by 2 (now 16+24), my [Space Magic] increased by 1 (now 13+23). Alissa leveled up to 33, her [Bow Use] increased by 2 (now 28), her [Hawk Eyes] increased by 1 (now 4) and she learned [Enhanced Reflexes] with 1 point. Roxanne increased her [Mana Control] by 2 (now 27) and her [Fire Magic] by 1 (now 25). Hana's [Summon Wings] and [Tatesomu Style] increased by 1 (now 3 and 5). Ciel leveled up to 33, and her [Wind Magic] and [Light Magic] increased by 2 (now 17 and 25). Lina's [Earth Magic] increased by 2 (now 7).

Our group has less of a problem with Weepers, so our mood is better than the others', but Krista made a not-banana pie with caramel and cream that evened the mood of the table up to ours.

"Oh, nail polish, how adorable," Osaria comments as we sit, then she turns to me. "You should get some for yourself too, gold or silver goes well with men."

I cringe and say nothing while the other girls look at me smugly.

Krista starts to ooze envy and rapidly trades whispers with Klein.

Oura seems to be the least affected, she smiles at Lina and returns to her usual, quiet self. Nito, on the other hand, keeps stealing glances at Aoi's painted claws.

The cries of the Weepers grow stronger, so one of the elven commoners pulls out a lute. His song is very calm and faint, but it's enough to drown them out. The children love it and start to dance until they tire. They like to wave the pieces of cloth hanging from their bodies as they spin, which makes the dance look quite beautiful.

We move on again and relax on our horses. I cast [Swift Foot] on the commoners and recharge my mana. Klein and Laertes simply ignore each other. Krista still talks to us; she asks us and Oura to help her clean her prized metal meat grinder. Anton remains unchanged. Rande seems to be friendlier and reduced his flirting even more. Osaria is not very flirty with Roxanne today.

Oura is leaning through the window of the wagon, so I decide to start up a conversation with her.

"You said you loved mysteries, which one is your favorite?" I ask her.

She jumps slightly at being talked to, but smiles adorably. "Murder on the Orient Transport," she answers with confidence.

Through Alissa's [Bind], I see Lina turn her head toward us.

"Hm, I think I have an idea what it is about, but I'm not completely sure I remember the story."

"A murder happens on a ship going from Goldport to Aflabrandar. There are so many colorful characters that it's a delight to read, and then there's the mystery, which is quite the brain puzzle, and finally, there's a moral dilemma, too. All around, one of the best mysteries there is."

"Oh, I've read that one," Lina comments.

Oura smiles to Lina, making her blush slightly. "It's based on a real story. An elven Tribune was the investigator in the real one."

"I know his story. After that, he married one of the passengers and created a lineage among the Angel demon race."

"The book was embellished, but it didn't really need it. The life story of Ustissa is enough for a book itself."

"Well, I literally read a book about his life." Lina smiles adorably and the gloominess is gone from her eyes.

"Oh, where did you find it?"

"Rabanara, the magic university has his biography, for some reason." Lina shrugs.

Lina guides her horse closer and the two start talking about mystery books.

Nothing happens in the morning, so I spend my time keeping my soul out of my body. Like with dual-casting [Telekinesis], it feels like there's something "happening" inside of me.

Gify, can you teach me how to customize [Materialization]?

Gih… gih!

Lunch is an imperial delicacy: raw ground meat seasoned with simple salt and not-garlic, it tastes just like back on Earth. For some, it's odd to eat meat raw, but with my, Ciel's, and Oura's seal of approval, everyone eats it without fear. It's such a simple meal that even the soldiers eat the same as us.

After some light alcohol, Osaria joins the dance and her pseudo-bikini struggles to keep all of her curves contained. Feeling like she's being challenged, another milf-like golden elf woman joins Osaria and dances with her.

The mesmerizing spinning dance suddenly turns sensual as they grab each other's waists and glue their bodies to one another as continue their dance. They seem to switch leads often and the skin contact between their bodies increases each time.

With their noses touching and their quickened breaths mixing, they finally stop and stare at each other with wild eyes. Osaria gives her a playful peck on the lips and the other woman quickly turns red in the face.

With applause and hollering, they disentangle from each other and rest.

After lunch, I guide my horse far from the others and pull out the Aberrant's corpse. I summon a Nalusa: a two meter tall, human-looking monster that looks like it's made of charred flesh with missing pieces of meat and exposed bones. It has some very sharp claws that I have it use to delicately open a hole in the corpse's chest, then surgically remove the heart.

The summon then discovers that the Aberant has three hearts.

It hands a heart to Aoi, who eats it raw and makes squeaking noises of happiness inside my head.

She licks her lips, applies [Clean] to her face and gives me a kiss, or rather, invades my mouth without a moment of hesitation.

"Hearts and brains hold so much mana; they are the most delicious things I have ever eaten, no matter the monster!" She says inside my head once she's had her fill of abusing my mouth.

"Glad you like it," I say and kiss the top of her scaly head.

Once we return, Gify starts teaching me about [Materialization].

The spirit is the outer layer of the soul that keeps it together and it also serves as the "bridge" between the real and the ethereal. Spirits can likewise connect with each other, and eventually, they fully mix and become something else.

The spirits of dead humanoids that do not wish to continue on into the cycle end up mixing with other spirits and most commonly they mix with spirits of animals. This is because the nature of animals is to try as hard as they can to stay alive and this remains with them even after death, so they mix with other spirits to strengthen themselves. This makes these two types of spirits very compatible, ending up creating the famed nature spirits, like Gify.

[Materialization] uses this "bridge" effect of the outer layer of the soul so that spirits can interact with matter again. It creates "matter" for the spirit to "bridge" to, and such matter has three main types: it can simply be "illusion" matter that has no real weight and never interacts with real matter, only emitting light; it can be "fake" matter, like Gify's, that can interact with the real world and his body follows "some" principles of matter, but he's still not real. And finally, it can also be [Conjuring]-type matter, actual, fully-functional, real matter.

Roxanne's tail and horns are "fake" matter, a simple mana solidification. Most spells also use fake matter to save on mana costs. This is the one that I want to copy for now, but later on I will use Alissa to create my own real, fluffy, adorable, cute fox tails and ears.

"Kweh! You need to become a dragon, too! I want a barbed penis inside me!" Aoi butts in.

"Roxanne wants to be fucked by a huge monster, or something; Ciel likely wants a thicker cock inside her asshole; Lina also wants a thicker cock, but inside her pussy; I want more penises so you can fuck multiple women while also filling every hole of mine; and Hana wants all of these and more, all at the same time," Alissa also intrudes.

I poke both of their souls and they squeak in real life.

Roxanne and I practice magic a little ways away from the caravan. The commoners and Rande know that we are doing some secret magic training and leave us alone. Roxanne practices [Warp Space] and I try to create [Soul Manipulation].

I cast [Materialize] repeatedly on my soul. It gains a blue-ish glow, but it has no shape or detail, it's just a glowing blue blanket that gives pleasure to whoever I touch.

Gih.

Yeah, now I have to "bend" my soul into being something so that [Materialize] can give me something useful.

The day goes by without a single monster appearing, so when the night finally comes, we relax in the bath with as much energy as we had on the first days of the trip.