The ship pulled up at a small pier near a jungle island. In the distance, a large bonfire could still be seen from the now engulfed pirate brig. It was evident that her crew had failed to put the fire out, and if you looked with a telescope or a similar device you would see a few survivors swimming in the water. Maron stretched a bit as she stepped off the boat.

She double-checked her gear, and found everything was in place. Maron patted her now flat stomach, and was glad she was no longer pregnant with slime spawn. She had given birth to them in the labyrinth, and now it was possible for a party to encounter slimes in some parts of the labyrinth. Her thoughts didn’t dwell on the recent birthing for long, and she instead surveyed the island.

The pier they were on was only big enough for two ships the size of the one that brought them here, and it was marked as a safe zone. Although it wasn’t much of one. Near the docks was a couple of buildings. About ten houses, and a couple of larger buildings near the center of the port. She walked to the edge of the port and waited for the rest of the party to gather around them. Aki was discussing something with the captain, and she figured the wait may be a few minutes. They already knew how things worked, but they were going to talk with the locals first and see if they can’t learn anything they didn’t in town. The captain couldn’t take them to the boss island without the map fragment that they would obtain here on this island.

They had actually gotten the first fragment for free back in the starting town at the local dark shrine. Otherwise, the captain wouldn’t have been able to get them to the first island here. The next fragment was likely somewhere in the jungle that took up most of the island. She suspected that it might be in a temple or ruin somewhere.

Meanwhile, a young Kobold looked at herself in the mirror. She was entirely naked, and that was normal for Kobold females. Her face was human-like, and her ears were pointed. Her silver grey-fur didn’t cover her face, and was thinner on her chest and belly. As such her navel and breasts and pussy were quite visible. Speaking of breasts she was well endowed, and she was also quite toned. Her hands ended in claws, but they didn’t preclude the use of tools. Her long loose hair cascaded down her back, and she was currently checking out the flower in her hair.

She was trying to distract herself from her worries. Milith hadn’t returned to her in months, and she was frankly quite worried. Through their link, she could feel how weak Milith felt, and she wanted nothing more than to go to her and help. Problem was that she didn’t have a subcore, and couldn’t leave her little island. The flower looked nice, but it wasn’t doing much to distract her. She grabbed a brush and pulled it out of her hair. Before proceeding to brush her hair. 

She was halfway done, and was just about to start on her fluffy tail, when something drew her attention to outside. It was stormy out there which meant that the fishmen were likely to stick to their underwater homes. What had drawn her attention wasn’t fishmen or any other aquatic monster species coming ashore to harass her dungeon. Instead, the stormy winds had smashed a small transport against the rocky part of the island shore. The ship had been torn open, and its mast ripped from the hull. She highly doubted it would sail again, and then she noticed the figures crawling out of the wreck.

Dropping the brush she rushed for the door. With her sight, she had noted that most of the survivors were children. It was a little odd that all the children were girls, but she didn’t have time to consider that. She needed to reach them before the tide rose to engulf the wreck, or they would drown. She rushed through her floors, and when she reached her first floor she paused briefly to collect a few of her kobolds to help.

Then she rushed out into the storm, and ignored the water building up in her fur. Her instincts were compelling her to rescue the children, and she would try to rescue the few surviving adults. Assuming they let her of course. She knew full well that most races considered Kobolds to be monsters.

It didn’t take long to reach the wreck and before she could do anything one of the survivors spotted her group. The man grabbed a spear off the broken deck and made a call about an enemy attack. The adults all stopped what they were doing, and grabbed what they could to use as a weapon. Rushing to meet her kobolds, and leaving the children to fend for themselves. Not a single one stayed with the kids to continue helping them out of the wreck. That didn’t sit well with her, and she immediately ordered her Kobolds to disable them. She then rushed around the battlelines and headed for the kids.

One adult spotted her and moved to stop her. It was a woman, equipping a broken plank for a weapon. She swung it clumsily and missed entirely. Elly slipped into her guard and struck her once with her claws that glowed with a wreath of magic. The woman crumpled instantly, and she was free to reach the children. Most of the little girls were resting on the nearby rocks, and clearly a bit frightened of her. She didn’t pay it much mind, and glanced into the rift in the hold. It was a communal cabin, and she noticed three more girls pinned by debris inside. Elly didn’t hesitate and entered the hold. With her strength, it took her moments to clear the debris, and get the three out to the others. Using her senses she didn’t sense any more life in the ship, and she glances over to see that her Kobolds had already incapacitated the adults.

Turning to regard the children, she noticed that all of them despite being too young for it looked pregnant. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that. “Can you girls walk? We need to get out of this rain, and away from the shore,” said Elly urgently while ordering her Kobolds mentally to collect the adults. At the same time, she formed a few stone buildings near her dungeon for them. The children didn’t respond clearly quite frightened. She even noted a yellowish puddle spreading under one of them, but it quickly vanished thanks to the downpour.

Seeing she wasn’t getting anywhere, she opened the shop and purchased an aura for a small amount of DP. Almost instantly the children relaxed around her, and she was able to lead them back to her dungeon. She wasn’t going to let the adults into her dungeon, and glancing at their bellies, she felt they had been wronged multiple times. She would have to ask the adults a few questions at a later date,

As she led the girls back to her dungeon, she made an expansion to her lower levels to house them. The dungeon was the only real feature on the island, so given how wrecked the transport was it was unlikely that the adults would be able to leave the island. Sure there were a few trees on the island, but it was mostly rocks and sand. Her dungeon looked like a cave that opened into the side of a hill. The hill was rocky, and the loose soil supported only a couple of trees. As it was no town could survive here, but since the whole island was her territory she changed the features near the stone buildings she erected for the adults. By expanding the beach, and raising the area, she was able to add some fertile soil. Which she sparsely populated with edible plants. They could use it to get a town started if they tried, but in the meantime, they would have to risk diving into her dungeon in order to gain vital resources. She added a few chest to her first floor, that contained mostly food.

She had just about finished, and her kobolds had dropped the worthless adults off, when they reached the dungeon. She led the girls into the cave and stripped them out of their wet clothing. Which she immediately broke down, and then she inspected the little girls. It turned out that all of them were host to a parasite of some kind. Using her senses she realized it was a monster but not a species she recognized. She knew she couldn’t remove it, but then she remembered Milith’s swarm creation. She still had the lab, and could grow a few. One thing she had noted is that they all seemed to share a link with each other and Milith. Since she couldn’t speak to Milith maybe one of them could, or even better they would know a way to remove these parasites. Finding them was just another mark against these parents who clearly couldn’t be trusted to care for their children.

Maron checked her sword as they approached the perimeter of the forest. They had spent the last hour talking with the locals, and had learned a bit about the forest. Their chief opponents were going to be Arachnids and Lamia. The two species were well suited to the environment and will regularly attack parties making their way into the jungle. Near the center of the island is a ruined temple that contained the map fragment that they needed.

Cautiously they proceeded down the path. Erin took point, as the scout she was keeping an eye out for traps. She would also thanks to her sharp senses be the first to spot any monsters approaching them. Maron took up the rear and was keeping an eye out for anyone that tried to approach them from behind. Aki, Suzu, and Fira were placed in the center of the formation to protect them from attacks. While Robert and Yui were positioned to protect them. It was their normal formation, and it wasn’t all that different from those used by other adventurer parties. Placing the mage and the priestess in the center of the formation was just common sense. It wouldn’t do to lose the mage or the priestess of the party to a lucky first strike. Placing them in the center protected them, and allowed the bulkier fighters to absorb the first blows.

They had barely walked ten meters into the forest when Erin spotted a party of Arachnids in the trees up ahead. Something she reported quickly, and the whole party stopped. Aki quickly chanted a spell, and sent out homing infernal bolts. While Suzu flew into the air, and readied a spell of her own. They quickly sought out the party and knocked them out of the trees. There had been five demons, but two were killed outright. The others charged, and Maron moved to the front. She drew her blade and began to dance as soon as they got into range.

She easily flowed around their strikes. With each movement, she either avoided a blow, or landed one of her own. Her battle dance was a thing of beauty, and even emphasized her assets. Not that she cared, as was too busy enjoying the brief exercise. Then she saw a flash of movement from behind, as Robert and Yui joined the battle. This allowed her to focus on a single opponent.

The Arachnid she was facing was entirely naked, and equipped with a sword. She was more skilled than her two sisters, and had so far parried all of her blows. The demoness unleashed a skill. As her blade flashed through the air, her tits bounced almost hypnotically. Maron barely spared them a glance, as she twirled out of the arc. Her blade flashed low, and the spider-girl quickly redirected her blade. Just barely managing to deflect the blow, as Maron danced out of her range again.

Maron then came in from the left. Two quick flicks of her wrist, and her blade flashed. The demoness barely deflected the first attack, but the second struck true. The blade slipped under her guard and cut a line across her bare chest and belly. The hit was shallow, however, and she danced away from the demon’s retaliatory strike. Just before a bolt of ice buried itself in her opponent’s belly. The Arachnid screamed in pain, and she danced back into range her blade flashing. In a flurry of rapid strikes, she scored several vital hits, and the spider girl went down.

Turning she saw Robert score the final blow against his opponent, and she went down. Looking over she saw that Yui had finished hers as well. Erin was standing nearby, and she suspected that Erin had helped the demoness with her opponent.

“These demons are definitely tougher than the ones on the last floor,” commented Maron as she surveyed the trees.

Aki shook her head, and replied, “Their teamwork left something to be desired. If they worked together a little better, they would have been more of a challenge.”

Suzu landed and on Aki’s shoulder saying, “Yeah, by this point they need to be working together better than this.”

Aki didn’t reply, and ushered the party forward into the overgrown woods. The path was littered with weeds, and the ground was damp. Their feet sinking into it with each step.

They were attacked several more times before they reached the ruin. It was clearly an old temple, but it looked as if time had not been kind to it. The broken shards of the roof littered the ground. The pillars that once held the roof up were all broken or tilted. In the center was a cracked altar, and behind it was a statue of Dewari. Unlike the rest of the place, the statue was in perfect shape, divine energies still radiating from it. The statue was quite beautiful, and in its hands was gently glowing orb.

Maron stood near the entrance to the ruin and surveyed the trees. She spotted a lone lamia demon in the distance. She was a bit young and entirely naked. Her brown and gold scales looked quite lovely, and she was clearly watching their group. She was quite cute, and they had spotted her before. This particular demoness had been clumsily spying on them for some time, and had not bothered to get closer. They had mostly ignored her. She was just out of range for magic, and not worth wasting resources on in the first place.

She kept an eye on the clumsy snake, while behind her Fira approached the altar. She knew that Fira was offering a prayer for the map fragment. They already knew that to get the fragment required them to offer a prayer to the goddess. As soon as the prayer went up a dark light spread across the old temple. Maron watched vines and other growths recede. Then the broken rocks began to flow back towards the temple. Sparing a glance she noted that the pillars were rebuilding themselves.

 Meanwhile, Misaki was lounged out on her bed. Phyllis was currently busy at the guild. So Misaki was a little bored at the moment. She knew she could check in on Lily, but she wasn’t sure what she would do after that. Honestly, Lily had regressed with her new body. Sure she had some mature inclinations, but she was a bit of a child.

Suddenly a dark light burst through the room, and she looked up to see a naked Dewari with a big smile on her face. Clearly excited she practically bubbled saying, “Hey remember our little conversation about how you died?”

Misaki was a bit confused and tried to recall it, and it took her a few minutes to recall. Her face twisted cutely, she replied, “Vaguely. What about it?”

“Well, you proposed that they should be turned into girls for their crimes. I have been spending the last few months talking with another god. He has jurisdiction over your old world, and I made some arrangements for them. They will be waking up as young girls. The worst of the lot will be waking up in the theocracy. A couple of young girls that will be harmed by their transfer are going to wake up here in your gardens. Unless you don’t want them,” replied Dewari with a radiant smile.

Misaki took a few moments to think, and few more asking questions about them Turns out the two girls in question were both under ten. The older one was nine, and the younger seven. They only had their scummy father as a guardian and were sisters. Their father was a real scum bag, and had apparently raped them a couple of times, but he was also the only family they had. Which meant orphanages for them, and she already knew the foster system was terrible. They would be better off with her. Much better in fact, and unlike their bastard of a father she could provide a much better and safer environment. However, she wasn’t sure her dungeon was the best place for rape victims.

“I don’t know, they were abused by their father. I am not sure how well it would go if I tried to raise them, and I don’t really have time myself. I will have five little ones to look after very soon,” replied Misaki after thinking about it.

“Demons understand sex far better than most of the races, and if anyone can ensure they will live a normal life and have children it will be demons,” replied Dewari with a smile, and Misaki replied, “I guess, but I still have the ...”

Dewari interrupted, “You have an entire castle here. Have a couple of maids help you out.”

Misaki finally agreed, but suspected that she wouldn’t have much time for them, and the maids might have to care for them.