It took Irene a few minutes to actually track down Drake, but he was hardly an inconspicuous figure. He had reached Level Six faster than every other person in Orario's history, save one - who was his wife, and had only reached that level shortly before him. Simply asking got her answers from those who knew, and soon enough, she arrived outside a large restaurant, her fingers idly playing with Filvis's ear. The wooden sign over the door declared it to be The Bronze Brazier.

"Hmm." She wondered at the name idly, before cracking open the door and stepping inside, Filvis following behind, albeit with her tail tucked between her legs, no doubt fearing a surprise reversal of her shapeshifting to turn her into her elven form and make her apologize to Drake.

That would be boring, though. If she was going to do something other than sleep all day, she needed to come up with something a bit more creative than that.

The Bronze Brazier had a large, open area towards the center, where people could dance. Drake was in it, alongside the redheaded woman he'd been carrying. The girl was voluptuous and naturally beautiful, red-haired and casually confident, a giddy smile on her lips as the pair tossed one another up and down in an elaborate dance only a pair of adventurers could manage. The girl seemed positively giddy, and the sight of her stirred a nostalgic feeling in Irene, as though meeting an old friend that one hadn't spoken to in years...

Irene's lips curled into a frown as the strange feeling filled her. Some sort of magic? Her finger tightened on her staff, but she didn't detect anything. No, there was some ambient magic peeling off of both the woman and Drake himself, but it didn't seem to be affecting her - more the quiet fumes of a furnace. Drake's was much stronger than the girl's, and had a most curious flavor to it. Irene simply stared, continuing to feel at the magic that bubbled off him.

Magic had a flavor. Flame magic was fiery; water magic was wet; but it was almost impossible to identify a novel flavor, without seeing it or a similar one in action before. It was like identifying a shape by touch and by sight - one had to know both, before one could learn to associate one with the other. The girl's magic was spatial, similar to her own Universe One, but Drake's? Drake's was... something new to Irene, which was strange. There was little in this world that was new to her any longer, certainly in magic.

For the whole elaborate dance the pair had, Irene couldn't identify even an association. It was distant from any spell she'd ever known before. It was a new color of the rainbow, and that naturally drew her interest, even beyond what Filvis had said about him.

"You have excellent taste in men, Filly," she said, though Filvis was looking at the floor and sitting on her tail. The dog just whined.

As the song wound down, it was the girl who lifted up Drake to carry him out of the dance floor, and he just smiled and let her, leaning in to her neck and peppering it with soft kisses, earning a nervous flush from the girl in question. Presumably one of his wives? Though he had lovers, too. Hm.

Either way, she watched the pair be seated, and headed over to them. Filvis just remained planted where she was, her dog eyes wide and staring as Irene wandered off. It wasn't worth it to drag her along, and she'd have to be brave enough to live the rest of her life as a dog to run away from her - only Irene's magic could turn her back. If Filvis were brave enough to do that...

Well, she wouldn't be in this situation now.

"Hello," Irene said, simply pulling up a chair to the table that Drake and the redhead had taken up, then sitting down on it.

"Um. Hello. We're in the middle of a date," Drake said.

"I noticed," Irene said.

Drake glanced at the redhead, checking for her approval. "Welcome," the redhead said, her voice almost overbearing in its eagerness to speak. "It's fine to come say hello," she proclaimed, even puffing up her chest a bit - and Drake's eyes wandered to her breasts for a moment in response. "I am Erza Scarlet," she said. "This is my husband, Drake Holt. And you are?"

"Irene Belserion," she said. Drake stiffened at that name, but as soon as he had done so, the movement vanished, glancing at Erza again.

"Why did you want to say hello?" He asked at that point.

"Oh, I was just curious to talk to you, Drake," she said, a smile on her lips. "I've heard quite a lot about you from a former acquaintance of yours."

* * *

I had no idea what was happening at that point. I did recognize the name Irene Belserion from books. She'd been the queen of Dragnof, a powerful adventurer who could rival even the greats of Orario, and had a keen mind and prodigious magical powers, bringing her country to greatness. She'd been driven into exile by a god whipping up the populace against her, claiming she was a monster. In the aftermath of her exile, of course, the kingdom promptly and rapidly declined without its incredibly powerful mage-queen, its periphery picked apart by its neighbors, and the god was soon also driven out by a public angry at him for leading them to ruin... but she never returned.

This was not something that Danmachi canon shed any light on, as a quick conference with Rei confirmed. That didn't mean anything special. Lots of things weren't in Danmachi canon, since this was an entire, living, breathing world. Plus, presumably, some things simply hadn't been revealed yet, like whether Syr was Freya or not.

There were two possibilities here. Either Irene Belserion was, in fact, the exiled queen of Dragnof, who decided to speak to me for whatever reason... or she was some lunatic or liar pretending to be her. Those sorts of plots were common. Apparently the guys that had broken Cass's limbs were pretending to be Chloe and Lunoire, for example, and the entire Enyo situation with Dionysus...

Still. If she picked that name on purpose, to allude to the real Irene Belserion, why not add in that she was an exiled queen? The fact that she hadn't did seem to make it more likely she really was an exiled mage-queen.

"I see. What acquaintance would that be?" I asked, figuring it was the natural way to carry on the conversation.

"Hm... should I say the name?" Irene wondered, a strange curve to her lips. She looked off into the distance, and I followed her gaze, catching sight of a very large, husky dog - maybe even a wolf, looking at it. The dog wilted as my gaze fell on it, and I felt mean just doing that. "Oh, you're scaring poor Filly," Irene said, a smile in her voice. "Come here, girl," she said, and the dog slowly stalked over, glancing at me nervously, its tail between its legs. She started scratching 'Filly's' ears at that point. "Ah, right, your question," she said. "Filvis."

I just blinked at that. "Filvis... is alive?"

"Yes," Irene said, as the dog tried to hide its head under her seat, making her sigh and roll her eyes. "Sorry about Filly. She's a wolf, so she's still nervous around some people." She smiled as she spoke, like there was some joke only she understood to the statement.

"I'm... glad to hear that, I suppose," I said, and the wolf started to whimper piteously under the seat. "I'm really surprised. Confused. Uh... she just disappeared after her god got sent back to Heaven, so I assumed that... well, that she had been in the Dungeon at the time. Can you describe her, so I know we're talking about the same person?"

"She was a lovely female elf with black hair, red eyes, with a sword at her side, wearing some frilly white dress. Does that sound like your Filvy?" For some reason, the dog under Irene's chair whimpered loudly.

"Uh. I wouldn't call her Filvy, but yes." I let out a long exhalation as I contemplated that. Why had she run off? After Dionysus had gone up to Heaven, she would have locked a falna. Had she been trying to evade getting strong armed into a new familia like so many other members of the Dionysus familia had been? There were even fewer familias outside of Orario, though... "I'm glad she's alive. I hope she's happy now."

"Oh, she was so mopey with you, too?" I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at that. "I had assumed it was more my presence."

"Where did you see Filvis?!" Erza finally burst in. "Even if she is not my close friend, she adventured with my husband, so I have a duty to make sure she's alright. If she still hasn't found a familia, then I will gladly invite her to ours!"

"No, she doesn't need a familia," Irene said. "I last saw her... oh, on the journey to Orario, a ways back," she said, idly placing her chin on her hand. "She was coming the same path I was. Maybe you'll see her soon?"

"I hope so! Thank you for bringing us this news, Irene," Erza said. "Also, I like your clothes! Daring, yet beautiful!"

Irene was... skimpily dressed. There was underboob in them, which I'd always assumed was uncomfortable rather than anything else, but she seemed fine, wearing it. Her clothes also were coated with little hearts along the edges. I would have gone with "gaudy" or "ridiculous," but Erza had her own tastes, and certainly they were on a beautiful woman. Irene herself chuckled lightly at that. "Thank you. Your own dress is quite nice, Erza." She hummed pleasantly. "Well... I do want to know if the man himself lives up to the legends," she said.

"Ah! Drake is truly an exceptional, once in a generation master at sex!" I had no idea why Erza's mind leaped that direction, except possibly that our dancing had gotten her horny. "But that's not why he has so many wives and lovers, that's due to his steadfast heart and good nature."

"Mm. Filvis did have such nice things to say about him, too. Does anyone dislike you?"

"A few." I kept it short, and Irene just reached down to scratch the dog's ear.

"Mm?" She hummed, not leaving it at that. "Such as?"

It was Erza who leapt in, not quite catching that I was intentionally keeping my cards close to the chest. "Hestia falsely believes that Drake is an unbearable cad," Erza explained, her voice animated. "Which is utterly untrue! Yes, he has many women pursuing him, but it is simply his enormous heart that drives him to accept each in turn, unable to tell them no for fear of hurting them!"

"Ah. A god. I do have some experience with them being rather... unpleasant." That did suggest this was actually the deposed Queen Irene Belserion. Though I guess a faker could be subtle about it... made you more believable.

"There's also Freya," Erza added. "Ishtar too! Though she's since been exiled from Orario, thankfully."

Irene's brow furrowed, a faint inward curl. "So you make gods your enemies... a dangerous man to call one's beloved." Filly whimpered again.

"I don't know if Freya really hates me," I said. "She did just... try to make things up to me, regarding that whole... situation with Cass. I think she meant it, even." Irene quirked one eyebrow, and I decided to go on. Erza certainly wasn't going to keep it a secret, seeming to have forgotten the concept. "Her most powerful familia member paid a couple guys to break all of Cass's limbs. She apparently... cut him off from her affections." Given there was a high probability she'd mind controlled him into submission, I didn't even know if that was a bad thing. It was basically her agreeing to stop raping him in that case. "I don't try to make enemies, but there are some bad people in Orario, and with the power I have, I can't stand idly by in the face of evil."

Irene smiled at that, though it didn't seem like an admiring smile - more, again, that smile that was privy to a joke nobody else was. "So you hate evil people?"

"Who doesn't?" I asked, just bewildered by the question. I paused. "Well, Cass doesn't," I continued. "I don't think she hates anyone." She was a better person than me, for sure.

"Fascinating," Irene said, then rose from her seat. "It was nice to meet you, Drake Holt," she said. "Farewell. Come, Filly," she said, and the wolf seemed absolutely ecstatic to be able to scurry off, even darting straight to the door and beating Irene there. Irene just chuckled at the show.

Erza turned her gaze back to me. Her smile was brilliant. "Now we can get back to dancing! And then-!" She licked her lips, and I could guess that she was thinking about sex. "And then we can go dress shopping, I want a dress just like Irene's!" Or maybe not. "And then we can go home and have sex!" Well, almost right.

"That sounds wonderful, darling," I told her, leaning in to kiss her on the lips, and hefting her up into a bridal carry as I moved back to the dance floor.

* * *

Hestia looked at Bella's body, wrecked by combat. Long, raking claw marks snaked across her bare forearms, where the clothes had been torn away. Even as Hestia tried her best to be extremely ginger with the girl, peeling away the bloodied, sweat soaked rag of a shirt, the girl shivered. "You should take better care of yourself! Also, that darned Drake completely abandoned you to get killed by monsters again!" That cad! He really was a monster! She'd tell Hephaistos about this next time she saw him - she had to save her friend from her silly crush!

"No!" Bella was defending him in a rush, because she was too young and foolish to understand things that the much older and wiser Hestia did. "He didn't abandon me! I went into the Dungeon alone!"

"Because Drake wouldn't go with you!" Hestia countered.

"No... because I want to be able to stand at his side, rather than hide behind him," Bella said, her voice getting quieter. "I snuck out! I didn't tell Setsuko or Naomi!"

This girl! It was absurd!

She really would defend Drake no matter what! "Ha... you should give up on that jerk, Bella," Hestia said.

"Mm... I know you think that, my goddess, but I can't. He's-!" She turned scarlet. Had he already taken her maidenhood?!? That beast! It wasn't enough he had twenty-plus women already, he had to take Bella too?! This innocent, sweet young girl was too pure for a rake like him to even touch or look at, much less-! "He's... he's so understanding," she said.

"Gah! He's taken your virginity!" Hestia said. "You poor girl," she said, placing one hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "But you shouldn't let that-!" Decide the rest of your life! Girls down here in Gekai often confused their first sex time to the person they had to spend the rest of their life with, and while that was ideal, obviously one mistake didn't mean you had to spend the rest of your life living with a huge jerk cad rake lascivious monster who seduced every woman he saw!

"N-no!" Bella squeaked out. "No!" True. "No, we didn't do it! He was..." She blushed again. "Ah... I saw him and Setsuko... and he was just... ahhh he's too sweet!" Her face was brilliant red as she said that, hands going up to her face. "How can a guy be so nice?! He was just cuddling and telling me everything was okay and he liked me even if I'm a pervert but he could wait as long as I needed, that he just wanted me to be happy with myself, and-"

"He called you a pervert?! That beast! He's the pervert!" Hestia said, the roaring rage in her heart coming out of her mouth too. "He has had sex with..." She took a moment to center herself before she listed out those women he'd pulled into his web. "Cassandra, Noriko, Setsuko, Julia, Erza, Rei, Lena, Haruhime, Koriand'r, Ganko, Aisha, Naomi, Ryu, Jahanara, Tione, Loki, Ais, and probably even more I don't know about! He's the pervert, don't you understand?!?!? You're an innocent, sweet, virginal pure girl, if he made you feel like a pervert, that's a trick!"

"N-no! I... he didn't make me feel that way! He was saying- ahhh I'm not explaining it well!" She hid behind her hands again. "Please just update my falna, goddess!"

Hestia grit her teeth. Drake was truly a monster. He was turning her first familia member against her! Seducing her into his web! Probably the girl would join Loki's familia soon enough, and then that newly-not-flat jerk would have a grand old laugh at poor Hestia! Even Setsuko would leave her! Tears started to form in her eyes. This was his plan all along, wasn't it?! That was why he was pretending to be nice to Hephaistos! He wanted to help his evil goddess ruin Hestia's life for good!

Still... she had to update Bella's falna. She pricked her fingertip, letting divine ichor rain down on bare skin - and the girl had somehow Leveled up again.

* * *

Riveria had told Ais that sex was best with a person you loved, and that did seem to be true. After she had successfully confessed her love to Drake, the sex had been better than before then. She had also said Ais that you should wait for marriage, for various reasons, such as to avoid having a child out of wedlock (which was impossible, as Drake had complete control of his fertility), to protect her reputation (which was irrelevant, since loving Drake would make her Level faster, so she could kill the Red Dragon sooner, which would give her the best reputation possible), and that sex was better in a committed relationship like marriage. While Ais had not listened to her, because most of her reasons were nonsense, she was looking forward to having even better sex now that she was married.

Since Drake had brought only one body to sexually and romantically satisfy herself, the Prettiest Princess, and Rei, Ais had to deal with not always getting to have sex the second that she wanted it, because Drake might be busy with Rei. (If he was busy with the Prettiest Princess, he would stop and have sex with Ais instead. The Prettiest Princess seemed very understanding of this, masturbating while Drake had sex with Ais.) However, today was different: it was her wedding day, and therefore she should get priority over any other woman. That was simply logical.

"Yeah, I guess I gotta let you go first," one of the Reis said, after she explained all this on their way back to their hotel.

"Whoa, hey, genius idea," the other Rei said. Ais glanced over at her. "What if I made it even better for you?"

"How so?"

"I could make you super-duper horny. Sex is better when you're horny, but Drake would get mad if I didn't ask permission, 'cause you're his wife and shit," she said.

"Good girl," Drake said, patting her head, and Rei waved away his hand.

"Oh." Ais thought about it. Sex was better when you were horny. However, she was already horny, as she had just gotten married to the love of her life. But, this would be super-duper horny, which presumably was more horny than she already was. "That sounds good."

"Great! Look in these gorgeous grey eyes of mine," she said, pointing to her face, and Ais met her gaze. For a moment, she made a positively ridiculous expression - and then Ais felt her nipples suddenly perk up, scraping against her swimsuit, and her clit did much the same. She was rapidly growing wet, and it was somewhat uncomfortable to walk. "Whoa, think, the girl could use a bridal carry, since she's a bride," Rei said, trembling a bit herself.

Drake just hefted Ais up, and she felt the warmth in her core spread even further, as he took her to their hotel room. The Reis and the Prettiest Princess followed them in, which was fine with Ais. She thought that Riveria had probably said at some point that sex should be private between lovers, but the Prettiest Princess and Rei were Drake's lovers, so it was private between lovers.

Drake laid her out on the bed, his fingers swiftly removing her bikini, trailing across her bare skin in a way that teased, as they slid up between her breasts and clasped her cheeks. He leaned down, pressing his lips against hers, his tongue forcefully invading her mouth, and the heat in her core only intensified, her legs stretching automatically, her hands reaching for his hips, finding the waistband of his swimming trunks and pulling them down. His cock bounced out, smacking at her pelvis, but he just shifted his hips, and then slid up inside her.

She moaned into his mouth at the intense delight of being filled like this. His length pushed inch by inch into her wet and waiting sex, her thighs spreading ever further to accept his length, her inner walls quietly gripping and squeezing it as he pushed into her. Her arousal was only intensifying as he moved, and one of his hands left her cheek to instead run down her body to her clit, softly circling it, sending shivers up her spine as he touched her like that. She licked up at his tongue, her hands starting to wander along his chest. It felt good when he groped her breasts, so groping his pecs would probably also feel good for him.

His length twitched inside her, which meant he was enjoying himself (Rei had explained this to her). His hips accelerated their pace inside her, his finger working over her clit all the more intensely, and he broke off the kiss, staring down at her. "You are so cute, Ais," he told her, his voice so earnest and forthright that she couldn't help but feel warmth flow her cheeks. "I love you," he told her, leaning down to nibble on her ear.

"I love you too, Drake, that is why I married you." He let out a small laugh in her ear, and she pouted a bit at that - but he also accelerated his pace inside her, his hips thrusting away, balls smacking at her ass.

"You are such a beautiful, wonderful, straightforward girl," he told her, kissing along her cheek and chin. "Is that my type, I wonder?" He breathed in her ear.

"Ahh, but then why would you be with Rei?" The Prettiest Princess asked. She got smacked, hard, by one of the Reis, sending her to her back on the ground, and she promptly planted her pelvis on the Prettiest Princess's face. "Mff!"

"Shut up, bitch, you're ruining Ais's wedding night," Rei said, which was very considerate of her.

Drake kissed her again, sucking on her lips, pulling her tongue up into his mouth. He batted away at it pleasantly, his hips pumping at hers, and then her first orgasm of the night hit her, making her moan into his mouth. Her legs snapped around his hips, dragging him inside her, and he let her, as she just ground against him, humping at him desperately, her fingers groping his muscular pecs as she came. He broke off the kiss at that point, grabbing her by the hips and corkscrewing her whole body around, forcing her legs to release him in the process.

It felt fantastic, the feeling of his length rotating through her insides, and she just gasped as he placed her on her hands and knees on the bed, starting to go at it in a new position. "Let's try switching up positions," he told her, and she nodded in agreement, finding this new position quite to her liking as his hands wandered her naked body. He leaned down over her, sucking at her neck - and then Celestial Bliss Trick hit, and pleasure swam across her whole body, electrifying her.

He only upped his pace in response, and she let out a strange noise from her throat, which she couldn't quite recognize. He grunted in response, tilting her head towards him, and she realized she should do some 'dirty talking.' She said the first thing that came to mind: "Arf arf, I'm a fuckpuppy," she told him, and he just mashed his lips against hers in response, thrusting all the deeper and harder into her, her tongue flopping uselessly in her mouth.

When she came again - in hardly any time at all - there was a dual moan from both the Reis. She didn't pay much attention to it, though, just focusing on Drake's cock as it thrust inside her. It was her husband's cock that was pounding away at her, scraping along her insides, bringing her pleasure. She shivered at that thought, moaning into his mouth. She slapped her tongue against his, trying to speak, knowing he'd understand her anyway: I love you.

He let out a similarly indecipherable-to-anyone-but-them series of noises: I love you too. She came at those words as well.

* * *

Tione and I had retired to our own room, and I'd curled up with her in bed - but she'd started being sullen at some point during the cuddling. "You're having sex with Ais right now, aren't you?"

"Tione," I started. "I love you." I kissed her neck. "But you knew that I had other wives. This body is just for you. But the other bodies are for them, okay?"

She pouted at that, fidgeting, rubbing her butt against my dick - but she was a semen demon, and she'd drained me pretty dry. "I bet you have a hard on for her," she said.

"Yes, because she hasn't sucked my cock twelve times today," I told her. "It's my first time fucking with that body since this morning," I told her, "and even then, I only came twice. You want me to have come so much that I can't get it up for other women, and I'm okay with that, but the consequence is that sometimes I can't get it up for you. It's physical, I promise," I told her, kissing her neck. "If I had another erection in me, you'd be draining it right now."

She blushed at that, seeming somehow to take those last words as an incredible compliment. "Th-thanks," she told me. "Even if it's soft, we can still do something, right?!" She demanded of me.

"Sure," I told her, gently extricating her from my grasp. She started to move for my dick, but I stopped her. "Just lie on your back," I told her, and she did so, seeming confused more than anything else. I kissed my way down her body, peeling away her bikini bottoms, kissing at her clit, and she shivered in response, squirming under my lips.

"Oooo, this is, mmm, ooo!" She moaned very pleasantly, and I'd hardly even done anything yet.

* * *

Irene had taken Filvis - still in wolf form - to her hotel room. She got ready to curl up into a ball by her bed, just as she'd done on the road... and then Irene simply waved her staff, and Filvis found herself on hands and knees on the ground, her vision suddenly richer, her sense of smell vanishing to what felt like nothing, and started hacking as she felt some bit of hair or whisker that had fallen into her mouth.

She sputtered and stumbled to her feet, wobbling a bit as she got up. She'd gotten too used to walking on four legs, and she spread her arms wide to try to better her balance. Irene just watched with a cruel smile on her lips. "You... didn't chant," Filvis said, the stupid thought the first thing that occurred to her.

"Oh? Didn't I tell you?" Irene asked, her smile growing wider. "I don't need to chant for simple magic like this." She had only chanted to make Filvis afraid, back then.

This was the terrifying monster, the Queen of All Monsters, the Red Dragon that had slaughtered the Hera and Zeus familias like dogs, after all. Even if it looked and talked like a human woman... it was a monster. "I... forgot," she said.

Irene chuckled. "I see. Aren't you thankful, Filvis?" She asked. "Thanks to that, you know that Drake likes you, and is happy to know you're still alive." He had hardly reacted - it had been surprise, more than anything else, clearly. Any feelings she had for him weren't reciprocated... and after her forced apology, never would be. How could she hope to be forgiven? "I even got you some information on how best to approach him. You should be thankful."

That was absolutely absurd. She had obviously been intentionally tormenting her - even if Drake had been oblivious to that fact, she certainly hadn't missed the grins of cruel delight at each particular vicious double meaning. Still... this was the Red Dragon. "Thank you, Irene," she said, bowing her head softly.

"There's a good girl," Irene said, her hand going to Filvis's ear, scratching at it. It didn't feel nearly as good as while she was a wolf, and she felt disgust at being touched, even by another monster... but she just kept quiet. This was the Red Dragon. "Now," she said, clapping her hands, a smile across her lips. "Go apologize to Drake."

Chapter 98 is available on my Subscribestar at this link, Chapter 99 at this link, and Chapter 100 at this link. It includes some downtime and the start of the next arc. All three are available for just $3/month.