"And with this technique, our magic will grow faster?" Manon curiously asks, the other two Fountuns simply staring at me in confusion as they observe my mana circulation routine.

I smile warmly as I explain, "Yep. It's about twice as fast as the average magical training. You could grow even faster by ingesting these orbs, but they're difficult to acquire."

"It's ridiculously simple," Marceau remarks in disbelief.

"Yeah, everyone says that," Alissa wryly replies.

Manon gets a hold of her surprise first, so she bows and politely announces, "We'll be eternally grateful to you, Your Highness. Your family has shown us nothing but kindness ever since we arrived here."

"We merely want to make you feel welcomed," I smoothly reply with a smirk.

"Oh, we certainly do," Manon breathes suggestively and glances at Alissa.

Though the snow milf was hesitant at first, it seems she's taken a liking to my slutty orange fox. Thea seems a bit embarrassed, avoiding looking us in the eye, and Marceau acts casual, as if nothing happened yesterday.

Then we go silent as we begin our circulation training, and the Fountuns don't have a sub-process for it yet, so they're forced to put their full attention into this training.

 

I decide to leisurely create doll golems, and it seems that the "dumb" golems have become even dumber today, which is progress, I guess.

"You're correct, Master," Ted agrees, sounding cheerful.

"This golem has lower mental abilities than its predecessors," Suzy follows, her tone gentle and curious.

"It is veritable progress," Jarn encourages with a surprising amount of kindness.

And it seems that the golems are also slowly becoming better at applying emotions to their speech.

Anyway, I feel like my "intuition" for how to alter a golem's brain has become a bit stronger, so I'm willing to bet that I'll get a level up in [Golemancy] tomorrow.

Yunia, Lina, and Klein spend lunchtime with their respective families, and I have my meal with the rest of the wives and my concubines. Nono is present since she was working at the lab, and for once, our meeting doesn't immediately trigger a breeding session, though I'm sorely tempted to do it just to reassert my dominance upon her.

Thea returns to her family since she isn't a concubine (yet). We'll be sure to occasionally invite her just to give her an excuse to interact with the rest of the harem.

 

Intermission – Thea

 

"So, how did it go?" Mother sternly questions.

After the pleasure died down and Wolf freed me from his intoxicating embrace, I thought long and hard about how I'd report this, but King Wolf gave me a clear path to follow, and I'll obey him to the end.

"It was… a complete failure, Mother. He saw through me as if I was crystalline water," I solemnly confess and lower my head as my tail drops down, already expecting Mother's stern reprimand.

"What do you mean, 'a failure'? You gave him your body!" she exclaims in disbelief, and this part makes me a bit embarrassed.

I hug myself and look away, feeling just as vulnerable as I did when Wolf tore our plan to pieces. "That was the least I could do. He forbid me from talking about vengeance or offering myself in return for a favor."

"So you gave yourself away for nothing?!" she shouts angrily, making me flinch in fear.

It was just so good that I'd gladly give myself to him for free!

It was just so good that I want to do it again, repeatedly. I purse my lips and straighten my tail as I suddenly feel defiant and disobedient. Then I look Mom in the eye again and defend the hope that Wolf entrusted to me, "He gave me a chance to join the harem, and he told me to find my place while preserving the harmony of the family, but that's as much as we'll get out of him."

Mother frowns bitterly and shakes her head in disbelief as she replies dismissively, "He's preparing you for disappointment. He wants to replace your rancor with attachment to him and the harem."

But that makes me very confused. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"For you, but not for us," she whispers tiredly and lets out a long sigh. Then her eyes sharpen again. "I don't know how you'll achieve it since you gave away everything for nothing, but our vengeance is now solely within your hands, so don't you dare ever forget what we went through!"

Dad suddenly interjects, trying to appease us, "My love, my daughter, you're forgetting the significance of this morning."

"What?!" Mother shrieks at him. Then she winces and looks away, ashamed of letting her temper run wild once again.

But Dad just sighs softly, as he's always very understanding, then continues once Mother recomposes herself, "The mana circulation training is an imperial technique, and it's used for training mages with combat builds. What kind of deeper meaning is there when someone gives power to those who seek vengeance?"

Is this… a sign from King Wolf? Yes! He… he's being kind to us! He's willing to give some aid, even though he can't say it!

"This… are you sure the Ryders are shrewd enough to think that deeply?" Mother skeptically questions.

And immediately defend him, "I felt like a child before King Wolf, Mother. He's wise and poised, and he took me with such kindness, I felt like he was my father."

Dad gives me a surprised look, but I won't take back my words. Mother remains quiet and narrows her eyes as she reflects, but I believe she's just being stubborn.

"There's still hope," is what she wants to say, but a smart person never allows themself to be stabbed in the same place twice, so I don't blame her for being skeptical.

Then I look down at my own hands and frown.

I think we White Stalkers just have a different idea from a normal humanoid about what "loyalty" is because white is the color of liars, after all.

 

Intermission end.

 

Since Lina isn't here, Alissa and I spend our post-lunch rest time all over Ciel. While we allow the lewd monsters inside of us to molest the angel's curvilicious body, my mind is elsewhere as I ponder what to do next.

My skills of [Redirect Mana] and [Sense Soul] have been neglected for a long time, but I haven't been able to justify spending time on them when I still have things on my to-do list like the [Unravel]-resistance training for all of us, [Disruption Field]-resistance training for me since I have [Mana Body], leveling up, increasing my combat skills, my dragon transformation, my humanoidization, our Gestalt, and whatever else there is to do…

I pull my hand out from under Ciel's skirt, then raise my eyebrows at the amount of sticky juices that covers my fingers. "Well, aren't you a lewd woman, Ciel?" I teasingly question her.

She's unable to answer as Alissa is keeping her mouth busy, but the way she pinches her own dark nipples is all the answer I need.

And I get an idea. "Well, since you're already wet…"

"A-ah~…!" she lets out a quivering moan, her insides mirroring her vocal cords as they strongly grip my shaft.

"Move your hips, slut!" I harshly order her, and she obeys with a pout.

Then my angel starts to advise me, "A-anyway, you should do… what you want, at least for… ahn~… today." But her trembling voice undermines all authority in her tone, though she doesn't really need it since her words are always wise.

"How about I do you all day long?" I suggestively suggest as I repeatedly raise my eyebrows suggestively.

And her pout deepens so much that even Alissa chuckles.

"No sex," my angel declares with finality.

"Okay," I immediately agree and stop.

And her frustrated face is so delicious, it almost makes me cum.

"Say it," I order huskily.

And she knows that it's better for her to be a good girl and obey, so she sighs in defeat and gives in to my domineering desires. "Please, fuck me, Wolfy. Make me cum."

"As you wish, my Queen." And my words make her pussy squeeze my cock in happiness.

 

Now, what do I do…?

When I last worked on [Sense Soul], I was trying to map the soul and find out where skills are stored so that I could decipher them, but that seems like busywork. On the other hand, [Redirect Mana] didn't have much direction, so I was just trying to increase its power through repetition training.

I remember that I was trying to find a way to interrupt spells with the skill, but the problem is that using it to steal the mana of a spell creates a conflict of wills and results in a Warped Reality, and I haven't found a way to bypass that, so that path is a bust. There's also the idea of using [Redirect Mana] to overcharge spells, but it's extremely mana-inefficient.

Or is it…?

All we've done so far was throw mana particles at the spell without any finesse or strategy, so of course, the result would be an unstable spell. [Disruption Field] is basically the extreme version of that, and it results in all magic simply not working, like some sort of continuous EMP.

What if I could use the overcharge/boost to increase the spell's stability, making it harder for others to interrupt it? For people like us, who are still low on MPower, this could equalize our power with that of older mages.

Imagine an overcharged [Explosion]…

But of course, I have no idea how to even begin, as I don't have a degree in experimental magic. Sure, I can "see" a bit of the spell structure, just as most mages can, but that's about it.

"I think this is kind of close to [Wand Crafting]," little Lina gives me some advice through our connection.

Right, wands and staves use materials that have been "irradiated" with "flavored" mana to boost power and increase the mana efficiency of spells with a similar "flavor" as that of the magical item, with some even producing mana particles of their own. And it seems that spell overcharging/boosting through [Redirect Mana] uses the same principle as mage wands.

Well, I wanted to play around today, so I might as well.

"Anyway, Fuda asked if you could take him to a brothel again," Lina suddenly continues, and I'm… well, surprised by what she just said.

"No sex," Ciel's stern voice echoes in my soul space.

And I ask out loud to the passengers inside my mind, "How about this evening? We could have an orgy if you girls want to join."

Hana immediately comments with something spicy, "The Lordsguard are saying that there are new races of prostitutes migrating to Escanso since things are opening up."

"We'll pass," Ciel answers for her and Lina, though it's mostly Lina who doesn't feel like it while Ciel is curious about any lolis that might've arrived. "Am not!"

Alissa, Roxanne, Hana, and Yunia accept, so I guess we'll be having a bit of an orgy for dessert tonight.

 

Shortly before it's time for an afternoon coffee, we get an important visitor: a member of the Elder Council. Farole, their fortress, isn't anywhere near Escanso, so I don't think they're angry with us.

"I can take this one," Ciel offers, as she's feeling quite fresh due to the quickie we had after lunch. And this time, she doesn't even try to deny our teasing.

Anyway, she receives the Councilmember in our main hall, and she arrives first to not keep them waiting. A couple of minutes later, an old elven woman walks in, and we recognize her as Elder Cinanta, one of the Elders who remained neutral during our meeting.

She's a gorgeous, mature, golden elf with voluminous but fading hair. Not as glorious as Yunia's drills, but still quite fashionable. She's wearing a shiny, silver dousnadeia that shows a spicy amount of skin and cleavage, and she's also walking like a model, even though she doesn't seem to be that much younger than Teresina, showing a level of vanity that surpasses even Sa'Haa's.

Poosh has organized quite the banquet of snacks for Cinanta, and my reliable sheep has even grown patches of flowers around the sofa to make the hall more fragrant. The Elder Council is allowed to dislike us, but it won't be because we're bad hosts.

"Greetings, Elder Cinanta," Ciel greets with all the grace of an angel.

"Greetings, Lord Ciel," Cinanta politely replies, then elegantly takes her seat and crosses her long legs. She immediately goes for an elven cold tea made from flower petals, ignoring all the other choices of beverages, but then she chooses chocolate to accompany it. Not even a haughty elf would dare commit the Sin of dissing the holy dark sweet.

"Hm… interesting…" she whispers as she eats a little piece with the delicacy of a Lady. "Unfortunately, it's too sweet and has ruined my tea."

And Ciel kindly advises, "Chocolate is to be eaten with other strong beverages, like coffee. The bitterness of coffee enhances the sweetness of chocolate."

"This is too harsh on my tongue," Cinanta replies dismissively, then eats a spoonful of Tonsel pudding, as its lemon flavor cleanses the palate.

To not let her eat by herself, Ciel chooses coffee with chocolate cake, the sweetest chocolate choice, because she has an even bigger sweet tooth than me.

"Much better now…" the elegant elven gilf casually whispers as she finishes her pudding. Then she raises her eyes towards Ciel again, and her subtle smile disappears into an impassive mask. "Firstly, why isn't Lord Yulania receiving me?"

Now, that instantly irks Ciel, who rather dryly retorts, "I'm just as much of a royal as she is."

But the Elder clicks her tongue condescendingly, "Tsk, tsk. That attitude won't engender any sympathy from the rest of the Council."

This angel here is getting ready for war, and she's about to show that her Title of "Honorary Templar" might not be as "honorary" as it seems. "We don't want sympathy from prejudiced scum," she calmly replies, then mimics Yunia's haughty posture.

And Cinanta chuckles with delight but tries to keep it under control to not ruin her composure. "You Ryders are unbelievable," she whispers dryly, then takes a small sip of her tea. "You've also driven a wedge into the Council. Two wedges, actually."

Ciel is feeling like being spicy, so she replies with a bit of sass, "We're worshipers of Change. Don't tell me that there are agents of stagnation among the Councilmembers."

This actually angers Elder elf because she's basically calling the Council heretics for being conservatives, earning her a taste of Cinanta's humbling high-level aura, but it has little effect on an already humble person like Ciel, not to mention her resistance to intimidation gained through contact with my glorious draconic-self.

"I don't belong to their faction, but you disrespect the Council with your words," the Elder sternly warns and lowers her tea back onto the table.

But Ciel remains firm. "Is it disrespect if it's the truth?"

"They don't wish for stagnation. They simply believe that the changes that you champion won't be beneficial to elven society," Cinanta tries to weasel her way out.

"And heretics think that they're good people while the Gods are evil," Ciel harshly replies.

The haughty gilf narrows her eyes dangerously, very unamused. "You're still a priestess at heart, I see…"

And Ciel's composure only solidifies the more annoyed Cinanta becomes. "You don't need to be a priest to have high 'Piety.'"

"Too much 'Piety' clouds reason," the Elder elf immediately replies.

"So does the fear of change," the priestess daringly ripostes.

Cinanta's anger seems to fully pass, leaving only a tired, old, bitchy woman that whines, "And this is the second wedge. Even though we don't side with the faction that's against you, we still get lambasted by the pious."

Now Ciel's priestess training bids her to be diplomatic, so she appeases the Elder elf, "Please, don't look at the pious as enemies. It's our nature to preach, but we aren't allowed to oppress the innocent or the uninvolved."

"Doesn't make your kind any less annoying," Cinanta flatly replies as she picks up her tea cup again.

And Ciel doesn't have a counter to that, so she just smiles sweetly like a perfect little chocolate angel.

But thankfully, Cinanta quickly continues, "I also didn't come here to discuss piety, so let's broach the actual first topic."

"You're the one who started this, but okay," Ciel whines to herself, her face showing no sign of her internal thoughts.

And the Elder's expression becomes stern. "The Council has come to the decision to 'wait and see' what you do about Heretic's Rest, which means that your request to join us is also on hold until you provide us with results."

Ciel nods in understanding. "As expected. Now that we've gone through the Purification and dealt with most of our enemies, we have time to focus internally."

Cinanta raises one long eyebrow in curiosity but decides to make no comment. "Hm… and following up on the matter of the Purification, we remind you that Lords aren't allowed to hold imperial Titles."

Yunia immediately takes over, this topic too serious for a careless answer, and audaciously declares, "And what do we get for relinquishing it? We're 'Deciens' now, and this is no ordinary Title to just give up after going through so much effort to obtain it."

"You shouldn't have participated in the Purification, to begin with," Cinanta points out with an annoyed frown.

But Yunia just ignores that and reinforces our stance, "You're not stealing our Title, but we can trade it."

Cinanta blinks repeatedly, in disbelief at her audacity, then just blurts out, "Trade for what?"

And here comes the bomb, "More men. We basically want the same benefits as the Title already gives us, so it'd be simpler for you if you just let us have it."

The old elf sighs tiredly, aging a few more years just in this conversation. Then she decides that this isn't her problem. "I don't feel like arguing about this with you, so I'll just bring this up in the next meeting."

Yunia nods in understanding, then adds one last condition, "We won't be giving up the 'Honorary Sky Captain' Title. We require that airship for our plans."

Cinanta just shrugs. "I personally don't care about the policy on imperial Titles."

And Yunia releases control, so Ciel's posture and expression soften. Then she kindly advises, "You should change it, then. With Farole on your side, we'd need a few dozen 'Decien' Titles just to begin to threaten it, not to mention the nightmare that it'd be to even siege it."

"With airships, you could," Cinanta mumbles and gives her a pointed look.

But now, all that's left in Ciel's heart is affable diplomacy. "All the more reason to let us join the Council instead of trying to oppress us," she cheekily suggests.

The Councilwoman seems done with our audacity, so she just absentmindedly replies, "Make sure you succeed in Heretic's Rest, then."