I wake up in the middle of the night, Holly is making warning sounds in my head, 5 Grassland Goblins are sneaking closer. These are smaller and more silent than the average one, they like to hide in the tall grass and prowl about.

I silently push Aoi to the side and untangle myself from the mess of naked bodies, this time we didn't have the energy to sleep in armor. As I walk to the entrance of the tent suddenly Alissa straightens, her eyes open wide in shock. She quickly and silently comes to me, then she hugs my arm tight.

"Why are you up?" She asks softly.

"Goblins, I'll just tell the elementals where they are."

"Oh… well you scared me, leaving me alone on the bed like that."

"Sorry," I smile wryly and kiss her nose.

Holly can see the goblins so I call her back and tell her to show their location to the elementals. Two get stomped, two get strangled, and the last one tries to run but dies burned alive while screaming. Unfortunately he woke up the rest of the camp, so I spent a few more annoying minutes assuring everyone that the goblins were dead.

"Wolfy~?" Roxanne asks groggily as I lay down on the bed.

"Yes?"

"What was that?"

"Goblins, they are dead now."

"Thank yoo~…"

Today is the 6th.

 

I feel my whole body tingle, a slight caress that playfully stimulate my senses. My lips part and mouth is filled, I feel something snake inside and carefully taste every inch of my mouth, my palate, my teeth, my gums. I wish to suck on it, to have it fill me more, to caress me harder and faster, to swallow it all inside of me.

My nipples tingle, my body is played with, my penis is massaged by something slick and warm, so very warm.

I open my eyes slowly and see the twirl of color from Aoi's red and blue eyes, they stare at me like a mischievous child stealing from the cookie jar. I feel her scales on as she lays on top of me, they wave slowly, tickling my entire body but focus on my nipples.

With one hand I grab her head and push her deeper, she chuckles girlishly and increases the intensity of her massage. I caress the small bumps of her spine with the other hand, this always delights her and makes her close her eyes in happiness.

The depravity of being inside her fills me with energy and I pump my waist. A moan escapes and I feel something is wrong, I see a mane of wavy red hair. I regain focus in my eyes and see from behind Aoi that Hana is mounting me.

I'm not fucking Aoi and that nearly made me go limp. I close my eyes and focus on the feeling I had. To fuck a dragon would be the most badass thing someone could ever do, I'll be the manliest man that ever manlied. Making a force of nature like a real dragon get addicted to my cock would be my magcum opus.

I imagine the feeling of Aoi's pointy teeth rubbing on my shaft, her slick tongue then wraps around my shaft, her dangerous head just a few centimeters from biting off my dick. Then I release it all inside her long mouth and she swallows all she can with happiness.

After the first meal is done, I use my whole body to pin her down, I feel her dripping cunt ready for mating. My barbed dick penetrates her forcefully, she struggles, trying to bite me while I mate with her.

My claws sink on her flesh, my wings wrap us together, my dick inflates and knots inside her, letting my semen impregnate her. I bite on her shoulder and leave my mark, showing to all others who she belongs to. I savor the taste of her blood on my long tongue, the metallic taste mixed with the rich mana that has her mark.

I plunge my cock inside Hana's womb and flood it. Aoi's tongue slows down and slowly withdraws, leaving me wanting for more.

"You got pretty excited there, Dragon Fucker," Roxanne says with a smirk.

No, that's wrong, there's a better one, a proper one, a right one.

"'Father of Dragons', that's the one I want," I say.

"Hm?" Aoi tilts her head at me.

"I'll give you many children, Aoi, we will make a new race of dragons."

Fucking hell, now I want to be a dragon. That feeling I got from her wasn't normal, but it felt damn good.

"Kweeh!" She cries happily.

Hana slides off of me with a satisfied smile and Alissa digs her morning meal out of Hana's pussy.

There's some truth about Alissa's and Hana's words on the animal side. It was exhilarating; whatever connection I formed with Aoi, I felt like I could fly forever or rip and tear through hordes of monsters. But it was also consuming, like it was hard to control and I would lose myself to the feral side.

Was that you, Gify?

Gih.

Well, don't do it without my consent, that was just a glimpse and it felt overwhelming.

Gih.

 

We prepare ourselves and eat a simple morning breakfast. I drink a lot of not-earl-grey with not-vanilla biscuits so I have more energy. Waking up in the middle of the night disrupted my sleep.

"Feeling better, Ciel?" I ask and give her hand a light squeeze.

"Wha-… Oh, so yesterday was you trying to console me?" She narrows her eyes and pouts.

"It helped, right? At least you came repeatedly from that," I give her a cheeky smile.

She sighs and looks at Lina, who gets flustered and keeps her eyes down, "That was the most depraved thing I have ever done, I'm not proud of it but it did feel good…" Her voice fades the more she speaks and her face cramps.

"See? It's filthy, depraved but so, so, so, damn, good," Alissa says, her last words cause a shiver on her. "I advise to not overdo it, it's also draining."

"You never told me it was draining," I say to Alissa.

"I just had a lot of energy to drain," she smiles adorably.

"Or you are just a filthy slut," Roxanne says casually.

"That I am."

 

When we come out the sun finished rising out of the mountains. The commoners are finishing picking up their things so we just mount our horses and start clearing the area.

This time Roxanne is with me, she uses the most perfume so it's always a pleasure to hug her.

I see Osaria smiling suggestively at us and I quickly move to the front.

"You enjoyed being molested?" I ask Roxanne.

Roxanne groans lowly and hugs me tighter, "It's not as fun as you think, Wolfy, too many women think we succubus are sluts who fuck anybody. It doesn't help that some are, but not all."

"Oh right, you said that once, didn't you? Sorry about that," I cringe a little.

"You don't have to apologize. And it's not like I don't enjoy it, but I don't want to be seen as unfaithful, or like I'm disrespecting you. I don't have the same courage as Hana to play around with Rande."

"What about that thing about us fucking in front of Sonny?"

"That's…" I look back and see her biting her lips in embarrassment, "Just a wild, depraved fantasy."

"And you fucking Lina yesterday?"

"Well, Lina is Lina, she's different, she's family, someone I can trust. And I actually do love her, a little."

"Awn…"

Roxanne seems a little flustered, "Don't tell her that…"

"Sure…"

"Wolfy~!"

"What are you talking about?" Hana comes over with Klein.

Roxanne grips my chest and I feel her heart beat faster. "Nothing important," she says.

"She told me something embarrassing," I say and both the girls look at me evilly.

"Wolfy…" Roxanne's hand wraps around my neck and squeeze threateningly.

"Well, just pester her until she tells you about it," I say and shrug, her nail digs on my skin painfully for a moment and she releases me.

 

The tall grass becomes short, then it becomes moss that becomes rock. The path turns more vertical then starts to snake so we can climb more efficiently. Fort Erda slowly becomes visible, a huge blue-gray wall built in the crack of the mountain range. Down below there's a small town built around it.

To our right, a small brook runs close making soft calming sounds of running water. It snakes down and disappears among rocks, it reappears again near The Smirk only to disappear again inside the Shore of Leaves.

To our left we see raised earth, showing the different layers of sediment. The emperor at the time used [Fissure] to widen the opening of the mountain, allowing for the army to pass more easily, then he closed it again partially, leaving part of the ground cracked and raised.

"Was it emperor or empress that widened fort Erda?" I ask Lina.

"I think it was Emperor Sofos, his daughter Phystosa was the one who lead the creation of the Shore of Leaves. It was when Rabanara was founded that she became Empress," she answers. "The books says they had to rebuild the entire fort town since it was merely a small elven garrison to keep the foot monsters away."

I look at the mountain, I can see the continuous snow peaks get suddenly interrupted by a large crack. The fortress wall is still small in comparison to the mountain range but it's measured at 200 meters, so it's only "small". I notice the wall is curved towards us, it's made this way so it can survive Grim Giant sieges.

"Ooh, so you are a historian?" Klein asks, her dreamy eyes open wide.

"Not really… I just read a lot," Lina says.

"More than the average person so you could call yourself an amateur historian," I say.

"Do you like to read, Klein?" Ciel asks.

"No!" She says proudly and thumps her modest chest.

"She likes to play around," Hana says and chuckles. "You still visiting the orphanages?"

"Always, a few kids call me 'pretty miss' so I give them candy once in a while, the ones who call me 'squeaky monkey' only get dried goblin ears."

Like, Santa?

Alissa, Ciel, and Klein start to talk about orphans and the games they play. Meanwhile I summon two air elementals to keep the Dragolites from harassing us, they make nests near the mountains and so they fly over caravans like vultures waiting for an opportunity.

 

At 9AM we reach the Fort. It's dirtier, muddier, and colder than Rabanara, but the view from here is amazing and we didn't even go up the wall. Colored squares make a patchwork of farms, each color looks vibrant under the sun; further we see Rabanara and the castle, the flag on top a barely perceptible waving square; further than that there's the Sea of Trees, endless waves of green; I think I can see where the Tree of Mana is, but the blue mist of the long distance makes it hard to see.

"There's dwarven-like houses inside the mountain, you can see the light shining out of them at night," Lina says.

"Can we go there?" I ask.

Lina's eyes light up, "Yes, we might have enough time."

I pull out an Emergency Ring and give it to Rande.

"Once you get near the exit send us a signal and we will join you," I tell him and he gives me a slightly annoyed nod.

We dismount and move towards the gate, the 10 meters-high wall looks like a palisade in front of the real wall behind it.

The soldiers are now a mix of imperial and local, the imperial ones wear red cloaks, the higher rank ones have yellow or white details on them. They use more metal than the ones on Rabanara, a few even walk with plate and metal kite shields.

The soldier that sees our town pass raises an eyebrow but let us pass without problem. Klein is held back for a few minutes and then joins us.

"Is it okay for you to be away from the caravan?" Hana asks.

"I'm just there to kill monsters, I don't think he trusts me to keep cargo safe," Klein answers and shows her tongue mischievously.

 

The inside of the town is made out of brick buildings. Though they aren't the same color as the imperial style, they still retain the same form. Some of the wealthier buildings are painted the right colors.

The ground lacks grass so there's mud, dust, and soot everywhere. This is one of the few quarries and mines in this part of the continent so it's quite busy. The miners look almost like adventurers walking around in armor with picks instead of swords, monsters like to appear inside mines so it's a dangerous job. Plenty of forges and refineries work non-stop, the quality of the metal is good but it's not the most expertly crafted armor around.

I notice a considerable amount of dwarves here, still in the minority, but much more than Rabanara.

We pass by many inns until we reach the real wall, then we enter a large dimly lit tunnel bustling with wagons carrying raw material, most of it going towards the north instead of Rabanara.

The other side is very different, not only is it much bigger but it's also much more organized and clean. There's elven buildings mixed with the imperial ones, houses made entirely out of the trunk of a tree. They inflate the tree trunk using [Grow] until it is at the appropriate size and then hollow it out. The small tree crowns on top of the thick trunk look adorable, like a little green hat on a large spherical brown head.

Lina looks around until she finds a very small building with the banner, "[Gate] services", there's two doors, one with "In" and another with "Out" written on top.

An old man with a crystal ball waits inside the "In" room.

"Commercial area inside the mountain, please," Lina asks shyly.

The old man grunts and points to a large scale that fits all of us plus some more. Then all of us put a finger on a crystal ball and a number is shown on the old man's tablet. Both were measuring our weight and the weight of our [Item Box]es, the total fee was nearly a silver for each of us.

We touch the black circle and we are taken to a completely different place. We leave the "Out" room and look around.

We are in a large cave, the ceiling is high and filled with colored small twinkling lights. The buildings are all blocky and full of carvings, sharp angles and geometrical patterns being the trend, some buildings have glowing mushrooms on top. The streets are wide and made of cement. The magic tool lights and the humidity give a rather gloomy atmosphere.

The air is much more chilly and there's a constant breeze coming out of single direction.I see a small light coming out of there, must be the exit to the top of the wall.

"Good thing we are wearing armor," Roxanne says.

We all deactivate our [Breeze] and look at Klein. Her small shorts, bare midriff, and exposed arms don't look very comfortable.

"Wolf, give her my fur cloak," Alissa says.

I flicker through my "Items" for a bit until I finally find it, a black cloak lined with dark brown fur, simple but elegant.

"T-thank you," Klein says with her teeth chattering, she accepts it without hesitation.

"Do you ever wear armor?" Hana asks.

"Only at the High Forest."

"What about you, Aoi, feeling cold?"

The little dragon huffs flame and smiles, showing fangs, then gives me a lick on the cheek and goes back to coiling herself around my neck.

 

We walk down the street, the buildings are mostly restaurants and tea shops. I see one that screams of "homemade food" and stop at the front.

"Let's have lunch, we are paying," I say and add the last part with a glance towards Klein.

She awkwardly scratches her monkey ears and nod, "Thanks, Mr. Ryder," she says shyly.

"Just call me Wolf."

"Sure thing!"

We enter the restaurant and a plump brown-haired young dwarven woman comes to greet us, Lina's gloomy eyes instantly light up. The woman looks young but I see the signs of dwarven age, slow movements, tired eyes, slightly spotty skin, awkward gait.

"Welcome to the Mycelial Spice, I am Bia, how can I help you?"

"Do you have a table by the window?" Alissa asks.

"Sure, there's a balcony over there, it's covered by windows so you do not need to worry about the wind."

"Do you have Dodlig soup?" Lina asks.

She smiles warmly at Lina, "Yes, we have that. We also have raw Giftig salad for dwarves, boiled Giftig for the other races," her eyes flicker to Hana, who smirks, "Fried Oatlig with beef, and Osmaltbar pudding."

Lina drools absentmindedly.

"We can have it all and share if it's too much," I say and the girls nod.

 

The view on the balcony is amazing, we are looking at the Goldcross side. Steps of paddies of something that's not rice fill the mountain all the way down until it reaches Goldcross very far in the distance, a sprawling city shining gold in the sunlight, seemingly larger than Rabanara.

To the west of Goldcross the terrain angles again until the road reaches Fort Katakti on the Rakontagne mountain range, which continues north much further than we can see. To the northwest of Goldcross there's only a small belt of farms that turn into grassland until the landscape turns blue and we can't see anything anymore, but we will be able to see the High Forest from Goldcross once we get there.

Our food comes and our stomachs rumble, even though we are having an early lunch.

In the paddies a thick algae grows, it's quite watery and is eaten raw as salad or as seasoning, tasting similar to zucchini. We order both chips and salad of the algae. Fried Oatlig has a very earthy taste, something like a non-spicy chili mix with a hint of coffee. Osmaltbar has a faint bittersweet taste, remind me of carob when I ate it nearly raw once.

We get a bitter stout beer to go with, though except for Lina we only drink a cup. I don't really like alcohol but I can recognize when it goes well with the food and this one was on the spot.

Bia occasionally looks at us curiously as we eat, it's not every day you get a troupe of women, a young boy, a little obedient dragon, and a cute nature spirit as customers.

Gih!

 

"Did any of you come here when you passed through the Fort?" I ask the girls.

Alissa and Hana shake their heads. "Slave," Alissa says.

"We had very little money at the time so we just passed through here quickly," Lina says.

"We left Rabanara in the morning on horses and entered Goldcross at night, staying here long wasn't interesting," Ciel says.

"I came through Fort Reita and it wasn't much different from this one. I also didn't spend long and just passed right through," Roxanne says.

"You don't really talk about your days with the Templars," Alissa says to Ciel.

She smiles bitterly, "I'm just like Wolfy, easier to avoid ever talking about it."

Klein looks at us confused, her dreamy eyes blinking repeatedly, "You were a Templar?" She asks.

"Kind of, Honorary Templar was my title, I was just a… well, a potential lover for one," Ciel blushes slightly.

"Ooh! That's amazing! We were escorted by some Wandering Knights once and it was a breeze, they were so strong and skilled I thought my heart would melt! But when I talked to them they were kind of uptight, not my type," she shows her tongue and tilts her head in a pose.

"Most of them are, you don't get to be a Templar if your manners lacks polish," Ciel says and smiles wryly.

"What kind of Templar were you following?"

"A standard Platoon. We were focused on hunting monsters or the Wicked before we were ambushed by a swarm of Dream Eaters and we fell apart."

"Awn… I'm sorry to hear that."

"We fought Dream Eaters before, I would rather not do it again," Hana says solemnly.

"To meet a swarm in the wild is incredibly rare."

"We were going to investigate a Lord that was being incompetent in keeping the monsters at bay, ironically we were attacked by the same monsters the Lord was supposed to exterminate," Ciel says and looks out the window wistfully.

"What happened to that Lord?" Klein asks.

"After we got the word to the other Templars about what had happened, he was executed along with his wife and Chosen Descendant."

Klein cringes and looks away.

"How was the Templar that you loved?" I ask Ciel.

"Well, I already told you that," she answers and rubs her arm awkwardly.

I lean over the table and grab her hand, "But you haven't told us much detail." I give her a squeeze. "Please…?" I beg in the most adorable tone I can.

Ciel puckers her lips and thinks for a few seconds, then she leans on her chair and I release her hand.

"Well, the thing I remember most about him was his smile, it was just so wide and white. With a square face and large chin he looked like one of those naked statues the weird Lords like to stare at," she giggles softly as she reminisces.

"What statues?" I ask.

"Well, some nobles like to look at muscular, perfectly defined male bodies. They act like the body is a piece of art," Hana says, "Most that act like that are men with a taste in other men, the rest are the muscle brains who like to look at men similar to themselves."

Ciel starts to blush lightly, "Your view is a little narrow but yes, he was kind of a muscle brain too."

"How did you go from a muscle brain to, well, no offense Wolf, but him?" Klein says incredulous while pointing at me.

"None taken."

"She got better taste," Roxanne says in a sultry voice that awakens lower me.

Alissa and Lina nod in agreement.

"I was young and stupid… and horny," Ciel says and giggles louder.

"So he was kind of like Rande?" Alissa asks.

"Oh no, Rande is too proud of himself, Macht was much more down-to-the-ground, he was more of a charismatic joker."

"So you got seduced by a dashing and charismatic warrior with the body of a hero and dropped everything to follow him?" Roxanne teases while lifting her eyebrows repeatedly.

"I wasn't-…" Ciel starts but stops herself and goes quiet, her face goes redder and redder.

"She did say she was young, stupid, and horny," Hana says with a smirk.

Ciel drinks the rest of her beer in one go, "Let's change the topic, please!" She pleads.

 

We remain there waiting for a long time, the restaurant is only slowly getting full so we are not hogging a table that someone else could be using.

Then at 11AM we get a green signal from Rande and go back down with much regret. Laertes glares at me, it was so sudden that it nearly made me stop in my tracks, I guess my closeness to Klein is getting to him.

This could get awkward.