With a groan I cracked open my eyes with a stretch, then immediately regretted it as fresh pain flared throughout my stiff body. 

Looking around I saw that I was in a tent, wrapped under some blankets.  Lying next to me was Sarduna, sprawled out and sleeping restfully.  Beyond her, Naira wrapped up in bandages and resting as well.  Looks like the three of us were plopped here after being moved from where we fought the crazy elf-bitch.

Checking myself, I saw that my various injuries had been bandaged up, aside from those wrappings I was completely naked.  That and the immense amount of dull throbbing pain I was in tells me that my memories of fighting that elf psychopath weren’t a dream, unfortunately.  Turning towards Sarduna, slowly so as to avoid a flare up of pain, I intended to wake her up, but I paused for a moment to watch her peacefully sleeping face.

Sarduna’s beautiful and innocent looking face brought me a sense of calm serenity, but the thought brought back the memories of how she fought so fiercely.  I’m actually a bit shocked that my Sarduna could be so fierce and ruthless in a fight, she must have been trained by her clan.  That probably means she should be my guardian, but I have this gut feeling of wanting to be her protector and I don’t particularly want that feeling to change. 

Continuing to watch Sarduna sleep, I reviewed the things that I had done to survive, namely the fighting and killing of elves.  Honestly, I didn’t feel any particular regrets or guilt after killing them, it was a pity that I couldn’t capture any and make them into my sex slaves, but it was self-defense, I’ll look to capturing elves some other time.  Though, I wonder if this means there is something wrong with me, maybe the Dragon-Goddess did something to me when she remade me.  But I’m stuck in an unknown world, with many potential enemies all around me, I can’t afford to be merciful, nor do I really want to, I’ll do what I need to do to survive.

As lovely as it is to continue to silently gaze into Sarduna’s face as I contemplated my own ethical values, I eventually mustered the conviction to awaken Sarduna.  She came to with a big yawn after I shook her a bit, her sensually exaggerated stretching was rather…stimulating.

“Mmhh, morning Yuri.”  She murmured softly.

I smiled at her cute actions.  “Morning, I think?”  Honestly, I don’t know how long I’ve been out for.  While watching Sarduna move her body about, a question I had been meaning to ask since learning of Aura’s past loomed in my mind.

“There’s been something I wanted to ask.  How’s Sardura?”  I asked seriously.

“Sister?  I told you already, she became the new chieftain.”  Sarduna stated slightly puzzled.

“No, no.  I mean how is she dealing with me having run away?”  I tried to clarify my meaning.

“Oh, well she knows that it’s the elders fault for harassing you.  We both came to the understanding that I’ll go look for you, while she stays behind to lead our clan to greatness.  No matter how long it takes she knows that you’ll come back one day, I’ll make sure of that.”  Sarduna stated resolutely and confidently.

“Hmm, I see.”  I responded a little forlornly, my eyes drifting downward in thought.  I really should go back and talk to her at some point.  While thinking about her, I found my meagre belongings next to me where I pulled out the copper knife that she gave me.  Just looking at the thing was a gut punch, it was completely deformed and bent out of shape.  The knife that Sardura gave me had saved my life several times now, but now it is unusable and leaving me without a weapon.

“You don’t need to worry about the knife, Yuri.  Copper tools are easy to reforge back into shape.” 

“Really?”  I made a small smile in relief.  “That’s good to hear, I would hate to lose your sister’s gift.” 

While the two of us continued to lounge around, the tent’s flap pulled aside revealing Aura as she began to walk inside.  She immediately paused once she realized I was awake, then rushing back out of the tent.  A few moments later Aura returned with Istara in tow.

“It’s nice to see that you’ve finally awoken, Yuri.”  Istara spoke respectfully as she smiled at me.

“How long have I been asleep?”  I asked curiously.

“Two days.  We’ve moved to a nearby settlement, hopefully we’ll be ready to leave soon now that you’ve awaken up.”  She stated politely.

“That long huh, how’s the rest of the caravan?”

She winced slightly at my question.  “Not well, the deserters have left us under staffed and everything is in a mess.  I’ve been reorganizing the caravan while you’ve been unconscious, and also negotiating with the women of this village for new supplies.”

So even though I’ve stopped the crazed elf who was responsible for the murders, the damage was already done.  “I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now, but what are Istara and Aura going to do now.”

“Don’t worry about the caravan, I’ll continue my journey back to Aruk and you’ll be paid for your services once this is completed.  And Yuri, thank you.”  With that Istara turned to leave the tent. 

I panicked slightly as she made to leave, as there were still some questions I needed answered.  “Hey wait, that elf, she had an artifact, a crown that was what allowed her to turn invisible.  What happened to it?”

“What crown?  There was nothing like that on her when we found you.”  Istara stated with a questioning look before she resumed leaving the tent.

Well, that’s strange.  Then what happened to that tiara?  How could it just disappear after I killed it’s wearer?  Did it have some self-destruct mechanism set in place?  Was it stolen?  This sucks, that tiara was mine by right of conquest and now it’s gone.

“I see you’re recovering nicely.”  Aura whispered smoothly as she slid next to me.

“I guess.”  I said languidly still mourning my missing artifact.

“Guess?  Try splendidly, you’ve only been healing for two days and you can already sit up.  On top of that you managed to take out our phantom murderer, ending a threat hanging over all of us.  You’ve done great.”  She assured me.

“So what do we do now?”  I asked curiously, now distracting myself by checking my body’s condition.

“You heard Istara.  Once you’ve recovered a bit more we complete the journey to Aruk and get paid.” 

“And how long will that take?”  I winced as I tapped my shoulder.

“Ha, ironically not that long.  With all of the desertions, Istara doesn’t have enough girls to handle the onagers anymore.  So that means she’s trading them along with most of the cargo; we’ll be able to practically race the rest of the way there. 

“Cool.”  I said indifferently while gliding my fingers across my ribs, inspecting their condition.

“What does being cool have to do with us getting to Aruk quickly.”  She questioned inquisitively.

My face cramped up as I broke out into a cold sweat.  “Uh, it, it’s an… expression.  It’s not suppose to be literal but a way of saying good.”  I stammered out panickily.

Aura cocked her head to one side.  “Hmm, if you say so.”  She shrugged then leaned back nonchalantly.

“Uh!”  An audible grunt resounded from behind me; it came from Naira, who was being awoken by Sarduna.  Eager for a quick distraction I turned around to focus my attention on her as she got up.  Clearly she was just as beat up as I am with a thick set of bandages around her arm, but once she was fully up right I couldn’t help laugh as I saw a rather ridiculous sight.  Naira’s hair was an utter mess, a huge section was cleaved off leaving an irregular, lopsided gap in the back. 

Naira confused at my snickering checked herself finding the hole in her hair. 

“Uh.”  She whimpered tearfully in embarrassment once she realized why I was laughing; made me feel a little bad that I was laughing at her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t expecting such an odd sight when you got up.  It’s all that crazy elf’s fault, she’s the one who’s responsible for leaving us like this.”  I pleaded.

She glowered at me for a while but ultimately didn’t say anything.  I can see that she hasn’t warmed up to me yet, not that I’ve been eager to buddy up to her so far.  But, ignoring the ridiculous haircut, she was fairly cute, with the slightly puffed out cheeks as her eyes drilled into me, eyes that were a healthy color of green.  There was a certain amount of anger in those eyes, but they only made her more cute to me.

“Come Naira, let me fix this up for you.”  Sarduna intervened in our brief staring contest by getting behind Naira and began trimming her hair.  I could see a slight blush on Naira as she stiffened while Sarduna did her work.  She seemed to be enjoying the attention from Sarduna. 

Aha, so that’s it, this girl has a crush on my Sarduna.  Well, this means I’ll need to keep an eye on her, she’s easy on the eyes so I don’t mind that so much, but she best not even think of touching Sarduna.  Hmm, I am attracted to her so maybe I’ll just dominate her in the future then no problem they’ll both be in my harem then.

Having been left on my own I returned to inspecting my injuries.  The wound on my thigh was continuously throbbing in pain and the rest of my body still felt stiff.  Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage to my body, but it would definitely be some time before I’m fully healed. 

“Eahh!”  A pair of hands came out from behind of me, grabbing my breasts and causing me to cry out in surprise.  There was no need to wonder who’s hands are these, it’s obviously Aura who’s fondling me from behind.  She rubbed them eagerly, making rhythmic up and down motions with her palms.  Unfortunately for me, her rough movements had set off my wounds, causing pain to fire across my nerves. 

“What was that for?”  The pain only lasted briefly but it did leave me a bit sour of her antics.

“Awww, I was starting to feel lonely.”  Aura replied softly while sticking out her tongue.  She was deliberately acting cute to get me to relent, which was working.  This girl wants me to play around with her so maybe I should retaliate a little.

“Oh, are you so lonely that you want me to eat you out again?”  I whispered teasingly, though in reality I wasn’t in the mood…at this moment.

“That sounds nice but…” She pauses to sniff my neck dramatically.  “Perhaps a you would prefer a sponge bath first?”  She finished with a smug little grin on her face.

“What.  Are you saying I stink.”  I asked indignantly.

“I am saying that you’ve been asleep for several days.  And that you’re covered in your own blood.”  She stated bluntly.  “Of course it would be my pleasure to help you cleanse your body.  Besides, I can let you play with my womanhood all you want once I’ve wash and tucked you back into bed.”  Her ongoing groping of my chest had changed into a more circular pattern in order to keep me on edge.

“Meh.  Seems like you’re going to bath me whether I want or not.”  I said, giving up with a pant.

“Done!”  Sarduna called out loudly, showing off the work she had done to Naira’s hair.

Turning my attention back to the both of them I immediately caught sight of Naira.  The entire back had been shaved off to even out the strands, while her front bangs have been mostly left alone, making them longer than the back.  Honestly, she was cute, well she was cute before but now she was… unique.  It made her stand out a little better.

“Cute.”

“What!?”  Naira fumed.

“You heard me, you look cute.”  I clarified.

She held herself in place, only down at her knees while blushing and shaking ever so slightly.  Whether from rage or embarrassment, I’m not exactly sure. 

“Why would I want you calling me cute?”  Naira eventually squeaked out.

“Huh.”

“Why should I be happy to be praised by you?  You’re off flirting with that slutty women after having abandoned Sarduna!”  She yelled angrily, at a higher volume with a certain amount righteous indignation in her tone.

An uncomfortable silence hung around us, her words lingered oppressively over all of us.  I felt shock at the accusation; abandoned, she dares to say I abandoned Sarduna, I had been forced out by others and I thought that Sarduna didn’t want anything to do with me. 

“Hmm, I'm a 'slut' eh, I can see that I have a volunteer for a bath now.”  Aura practically hissed out as she motioned towards Naira, with an evil smirk on her face.