Life continued for the next few days as we delved into normalcy and erected a schedule. The mornings were always reserved for training and sparring to master my new abilities. The vines added one aspect, but the slime opened a new ballpark of adaptability. However, it was almost woefully ironic to even practice because using slime or vines in public would out me as a chimera and mark me for death. But even as that may be, it was more for Sekh’s sake. Sure, it benefited me, but that wasn’t the primary reason.  

Still, it was easy to see how much Sekh had improved compared to when we first sparred together. Her movements were sharper—her quick decision-making while in the flow of combat eclipsed Kokan's bright mind. [Black Fire] had grown leaps and bounds. She could always wrap it around her weapons, but now Sekh could use it as an extension of her attacks. So, if she swung her mace, its effective range was longer. Flames weren’t physical, though, so her mace’s attacks via a [Black Fire] extension would not do any damage other than catching the opponent on fire.  

Such a limitation was certainly a drawback, but Sekh’s words hinted that it wouldn’t remain that way forever.  

Out of our dozens of matches, I never came close to winning one, and I wasn’t holding back, either. I went into each fight to emerge victorious. Even when I tried to overpower Sekh with a dozen vines coming from my back—all of which were attacking with [Water Blade]— she poured [Black Fire] into her shield. It subtly took the shape of a tower shield, and when she slammed the fiery point into the ground, the flames didn’t encircle an area. No, they whooshed up and formed a wall, evaporating my futile attacks before they even reached it.  

At that point, it was a battle of attrition, and I lost. Sekh’s mana efficiency was so far and above more than what I could do. And I had to deal with mana and biomass; the latter would kill me if I allowed it to get too low.   

During the nights, Sekh would milk me three or four times, and I soon had a stockpile in [Storage]. Niva drank two glasses every night. Tilde found a cow-printed bikini in Beccy’s closet, and she demanded I wear it when it was time to get milked. I figured I could play along. 

I was starting to develop fetishes, and cosplay, I suppose, was one of them. 

---

Sometimes, Ruru would knock at the mansion door to update me on the elixir. His recipe took days because he had to steep the panabow’s petals multiple times in the mana-infused water and again in the sap from the Eagle Yew. To thank him again for his help, I’d go fishing with him. Sekh never wanted to go, but sometimes, Niva would tag along in her wheelchair. Then when it was time to prepare dinner, it was rare to eat alone. The charismatic Deerfolk with a heart of literal gold would come over with a batch of fresh ingredients. He’d have Arguna and Aello with him, and we’d all sit in the kitchen to spend time with each other.  

When it came to the damage in the training room, I thought Aello would have a heart attack. 

But the proof of Sekh’s training wasn’t there. She whispered Aetos probably had a hand in the repairs, which made sense. I guess this was good, though. With how much Aello idealizes High Elves and those from Vredi Forest, not to mention the power of nature and respecting it, she was bound to have a heart attack. 

Or worse, outright ban me from Aetos Village. 

Yeah, I should’ve thought about that before.  It was a close call this time, but I gotta be more alert. 

Knowing Aetos’s ability to manipulate the mansion, I excused myself for a moment and discovered the lewd evidence of our fuck fest was also taken care of. The semen-covered clothing was clean, the proof gone from the rooms. 

Returning to the kitchen, Aello asked if everything was okay. I smiled and nodded, and we started making the fresh lettuce wraps with tomatoes, onions, and bits of fresh cheese. 

While I was having a fun time, I believed it was even better for Arguna since she was enthusiastic about having someone else to communicate with. The first time she and I signed, Sekh and Tilde looked at me oddly before I explained it. The fairy was about to ask how I learned it before remembering I had help. “Huh,” she later whispered in my ear. “I didn’t think it worked with nonverbal language. Hey, that’s a good thing, you know.”  

After experiencing what it was like to eat with a family with Irisa and her parents, I realized I felt the same butterflies flying around in my stomach when I dinned with Ruru and the others. On rare occasions, the Dryad would accompany them for dinner, and I was able to learn more about her. She was definitely the meek and quiet type—even more so after that little incident when we first arrived—but I was serious when I meant it was all water under the bridge. But when she would come over, we’d all go into the backyard to play around in the flower fields. When the breeze picked up, it sent scattering petals of reds, blues, violets, and yellows across the horizon to create a floral rainbow that was honestly too beautiful for words when I played the songleaf. 

But these distractions were just that. Fun distractions. I’d only find joy in them for as long as I were here, and once my business was concluded, I’d have to get back on the path of revenge. And I never forgot that for a single moment. That day was going to come sooner or later, and while it didn’t necessarily arrive on the fifth day we were here, my life would undoubtedly change with the arrival of something none of us could predict.  

---

“Ash?” Tilde yawned as she looked out into Susize’s bathroom. It was early in the morning, and her quizzical voice awoken me. After slipping from Sekh's embrace, I joined the fairy and repeated the same thing. Like snowflakes, light gray ash descended from the sky and found refuge on the grass and little waterfalls. I held out my hand to catch one, and it was slightly warm while retaining the properties of snow.  

I heard Niva yawn from behind as she wiped her sleepy eye. Her blanket fell from her chest. Sekh was the next one to wake up. I heard her call out for me when her arms searched around and failed to find me. Naked as me, she soon joined me by the opening to the bathroom. Funny enough, she also sounded confused as to why ash was falling. Only the people who lived here could answer that, so after getting dressed, I left Sekh in charge of making breakfast while I skipped outside. Finding Ruru and Aello on my map, I made my way over to them to find a rather childish chaotic sight.  

The Dryad and other children were rushing around with buckets trying to pick up the ash. Ruru and Arguna, of course, were helping as much as they could. “Lady Springfield!! Lady Springfield!!!” Aello cried with a smile as she happily flapped her wings. “It’s the ash rain!!!”  

“Is that a good thing?” To say I was confused would be an understatement.   

“Oh, yes. Yes, it is!” The Vermillion Harpyfolk then explained that there was an area within Dirge called the Ashlands. As its name suggested, it was literally nothing but ash. The previous elder of the village told a starry-eyed Aello that long ago, a powerful fire spirit once lived in a volcano that stood in the very Ashlands. Over time, humanity, beastfolk, and monsters alike took advantage of his generosity to obtain the blessing of warmth. Yet those that took the spirit's help refused to pay proper tribute. The spirit, in turn, used his anger to erupt the volcano. It was a solemn turn of events of one being pushed to the limit, but I wondered if it wasn’t an allegory of taking care of your surroundings.   

She then explained that the mana-infused ash worked extremely well as fertilizer. Without it, Aetos village wouldn’t have been what it was. Yes, the Eagle Yew provided safety and nourishment, but the actual farms were what produced the juicy, succulent veggies in the lettuce wraps we’d made. 

But since the ash wasn’t something to worry about, I walked back to the mansion and let Sekh and Niva in on the good news. As I expected, Sekh noticeably twitched upon mentioning the story Aello told me. More specifically, the whole ‘spirit living in a volcano thing,’ and she asked me if she could explain it after she had a few days to gather her thoughts on it.   

Yeah, I figured she had something to do with it. 

I had no reason to deny this, so I just rubbed her fluffy ears and gave her a hearty kiss on the cheek while helping her with breakfast. We still had a ton of veggies left over from when Ruru and the others came, so a vegetable omelette was on the menu. For Sekh and Niva, though, I made sure to cook up some small pieces of meat to pack inside, but we were running out of that. 

I need to learn how to use spices… 

After filling our stomachs, I decided to hang out in the atrium with Sekh and watch while she trained. A thought came to me, so I searched for a bird, downloaded its visual data, created a clone, and mimicked that avian form. I directed it to fly to Susize’s room, into the bath, up through the missing ceiling, and out to the forest to a place I’d never been. Much to my delight, the missing map data began to fill in. Better yet, I could focus on it with my map’s satellite mode and control it like a drone via a set of controls that appeared. The limiting factor was mana. The further it went, the more it costs to sustain it. Instead of ordering it to fly back, I killed it and made another. But this time, I assumed direct control.   

So, I was a bird. A gray bird with green-tipped wings, but a bird nonetheless with a bird’s vision and senses. Yet it felt weird to see my body sitting right there while my consciousness was over here. After flailing around for minutes, flying wasn't a challenge. Tilde said I would automatically return to my body if this one perished, so I decided to go for it. Like before, once I was a certain distance away, the mana cost was too much, and I ended up in my base body. I probably had to level up [Mitosis] to extend the range. Either that or evolve it into the next tier—whatever that was called.  

I flew out a few more times, heading in directions I hadn’t been yet to fill out my map without having been there. On my sixth take-off, I had my map zoomed out quite a bit and noticed many people gathering near the village’s entrances. Judging from the size of the white dots on my map, it looked like a caravan of wagons, but something felt off. I canceled [Mitosis] and told Sekh I was going to check it out. She nodded, told me to be careful, and returned to her training.   

---

Running out of the house, I jogged over to the half-dozen wagons, which had about thirteen people who looked like they were in the middle of unpacking tents and firepits. Some belonged to the sketchy variety—the kind you didn’t want to encounter in a dark alley after night.  

But then there were three more wagons that’d been retrofitted with thick, iron cages with heavy locks. But instead of carrying livestock, they held people—about six to each. And not just regular people, but folks with slave collars and bracelets. With a Wrath of 5, I felt a growing heat send fury through my bloodstream that eclipsed the warmness of the falling ash. I immediately found Aello chatting with a battered man who’d seen many battlefields. He was muscled and scarred, bald as an apple, yet he didn’t strike me like a brute like the rest of the people. Even if he did have that giant warhammer on his back, he seemed…normal.  

“Aello, what’s going on? Who’s he? What’s the deal with the slaves.”  

The little Dryad stood beside Aello and took a bag of coins from the guy who must’ve been a slaver. “This is Oswell, Lady Springfield. Oswell, this is Lady Springfield—High Blessing of the Forest.”  

“I thought you said this village is open to all with peaceful and non-violent intentions.”  

“And it is, Lady Springfield,” Oswell said, his voice deep and syrupy. Reaching into a pouch on his side, he took out a metal card that looked like the one from the adventurer's guild. “I am an authorized headhunter from the government, and I'm registered with the Bloodhounds, a guild of bounty hunters. Whenever we’re nearby, Lady Aello offers us a place to rest our weary bodies if we pay and promise to not cause trouble. I do not have an innocent soul in my cages. Would you like to see their tags?” 

I nodded, and Oswell reached into his pouch to retrieve a set of rectangular wooden tags that faintly glowed a mystic green. There were eighteen of them, and as I flipped through them, they all had the bounty’s name, written appearance, crime, their bounty, and whether they were wanted dead or alive. I recognized one of the names, though. After handing the tags back to Oswell, I walked over to the caged wagons and saw four familiar faces.  

“I can’t believe it...” I said, grinning at three of the four siblings who caused that monster train incident. Max—the eldest sibling—wasn't around, but those three were standing next to a Catfolk with yellow eyes, long purple hair, and a violet tail. 

AI, do what we did before when we talked to Irisa, and send Sekh a message. Tell her to come out to the wagons. 

Right away, my lord. 

Oswell appeared next to me and explained. Henri, Nold, and Uryla—the second oldest, third oldest, and youngest sister of the siblings—were used as collateral by their eldest brother to get a loan because they needed more supplies. Those three turned around and gasped, then quickly adverted their eyes when I started to chuckle. “Let me guess. That bastard was poor on his words. Couldn’t get the payment? He borrowed money from the government?”  

“That’s correct, Lady Springfield. He knew the stakes when he signed the contract, yet he refused to tell his siblings about it until we came to collect. They’ll be sold off as slaves to the highest bidder to pay off his debt.”  

“Lady? A noble?!!” Uryla exclaimed with teary eyes.   

“Lady Lyudmila Springfield, at your service.” I grinned and took a bow. Oswell sensed a connection, and I told them of the history between us.  

“Ah, I’d heard something about that. Max couldn’t pay off that fine without a loan as well. Coincidentally, I noticed you were eying that Catfolk. She was stealing from her mother’s store in Ria. I’m not sure if you know it, but theft carries a heavy punishment in Ria.” 

That was me, not her. Guess Karen needed someone to blame. What a despicable bitch.  

“A mother sold her own daughter?” Erin turned to look at me. Her attire was tattered brown robes that I learned came from her mother, not Oswell. That must’ve been why Henri and his siblings were dressed casually. I asked why the slave bracelets and collars, and Oswell replied that he needed something to keep them in line until they reached the city. Enslavement was the easiest way to obtain that loyalty without resulting to capital punishment for even the tiniest infraction.  

“Don’t even cut it. You’re a slaver, through and through”  

“Some call me that, but my comrades and I are doing the world a just service,” Oswell said, arguing his position. In the depths of my mind, a plan began to take shape, so I shut my mouth and kept it closed so as to not burn away any potential bridges I might need.  

That was why I remained here longer than I wanted to—even fighting through the discomfort of freely conversing with damned slavers. Sekh arrived soon after with an equally as surprised look on her face. And like me, she grinned like the damn devil when she saw three siblings huddled away like livestock. “My liege, you were right. Revenge does come in flavors other than death,” she said, looking at them. She bragged about her freedom, and they were denied all rights as living beings. Yet when it came to little Erin Barclay, who huddled away in the corner to make herself seem insignificant, Sekh refused to taunt her. 

And I think I knew why. 

When we returned to the mansion, Erin was on our minds. I didn’t rightly care if she took the fall for my crimes, but if there was a way to use this in my favor... 

---

When night fell, we were relaxing in what was essentially a hot spring. I’d spent all day thinking of a plan only a chimera could pull off, and I was so damn proud of it that I couldn’t help but talk about it. “So, here are the details...” I started to say, nuzzling my cheeks against the back of Sekh’s head. I wet the pink cloths to cover my hands in soapy suds, then wrapped them around her soft, firm breasts and massaged them to my liking. I especially liked to grab them from the bottom and roll them around my palms. Her beautiful purrs and moans made me hard, but they also energized efforts to make her titties as clean as possible.  

The plan was simple, if degrading. It all revolved around me gaining Oswell's trust and offering to pay off Erin’s bounty to buy her. The problem was that I had no money, but I could lie and say I had some in Ria. Aello could speak on my behalf since she practically worships the Vredis. Once we were on the move, I could use [Mitosis] and [Shapeshifter (Chimera)] to make copies of Oswell’s men and sew chaos. Or I could poison their food since, although the average level was the mid-20s, none had much resistance to venom or poison. Anything stored or assimilated by a clone was added to me, so I never actually had to reveal myself. If I played my cards right, that was.  

Tilde had her grievances about my plan. Mainly, I was such a low level it’d be like a sheep amongst wolves if I fucked up. Especially since I was a curvy High Elf with a pretty face. There were fates worse than death, after all. I’d known them all too well. Her other problem with the plan was that, like with Noelia, Oswell and his group hadn’t done anything to piss me off other than being slave owners on a technicality. I absolutely abhorred slavers, and Tilde said that if I thought that way, I was technically as bad as them. Because of the whole Sekh situation.  

As for why I wanted to do this? It wasn’t just the chance to gain a ton of power. Erin had to be pissed at her mother. And her mother had a safe inside a successful business.  

I wanted that safe. If Erin wanted her freedom, she would help me.   

Sekh also had her worries because I couldn't make any mistakes.  

“But you’re going to be there,” I told her. “You’re the strongest one here with more experience than anyone else. That’s the only reason why I’m so confident. Because you have my back.”  

“They’ll all die in your name, my liege!” Sekh said determinedly. I kissed my beautiful Dark Lord of Tyranny, created a slime clone for the nearby Niva to hold, and enjoyed the rest of the bath even while Tilde continued to press me for my thoughts.  

“So, are you going to kill Erin after you’ve used her?”  

“Why?”  

“Uhh... She broke up a family with her false rape accusation. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that?”  

“No, I haven’t. But Erin was like 9 years old. I doubt she understood what was going on. The Barclays are bastards. Karen most likely forced her daughter to do what she did. I know what came from that, but I doubt Erin could predict the fallout. She was probably set up as well. With the way Karen treats her, she’s just another tool. That’s it. I don’t think we can put the blame all on her. She’s a victim, I think." Even as I said that, if she caused any trouble, I would end her life. Either she played along, or she'd meet an unfortunate fate staring down the end of my barrel. 

There was no other future for her. 

“Hmm... I mean, that’s possible. She was a pre-teen. And her family is a total shit stain. But if that’s what you believe, Master, I’ll believe in you. Guess we won’t know the truth until we interrogate her.”  

Soon after, it was time to slip under the eloquently woven sheets within Sekh’s sweet embrace. Even if I no longer required sleep, I could still fall victim to the sandman. Especially if I was inside her with my lips around her nipples and her gentle arms around my head.