The lofty scent of morning dew and burning firewood playfully tickled my nostrils until consciousness found me again. Still tired, I didn’t bother to open my eyes and just laid there. We’d gone to sleep without a blanket, using only each other for warmth, so when the morning breeze entered our tent and caressed me in places I only just got used to the day before, I let out a long breath.

            Feeling the same warmth that kept me comfy all night long pressing against my body for more, I ran my hand up and down her arm as I relaxed.

            Content with just her body heat to warm me on this chilly morning, I realized that sleeping like this had to be a testament to this tribe’s way of living not being entirely insane. It might even be a necessity, as those without mates were sure to suffer. I, on the other hand, had a wonderful girl by my side.

            It was when I was basking in this fact that I noticed something a little odd. The head of my lovely lady was resting on my left bicep instead of my right, where I usually found her come morning. I chalked it up to her waking in the middle of the night and switching sides for one reason or another. Not a big deal.

            Eyes still closed and smiling like an idiot, like I probably had every morning in the last month, I let the arm I ran over her shoulder slip further down her body. I’d only meant to hold her by the waist to pull her closer, longing to enjoy more of her warmth, but the sensation felt against my palm was not Yua’s smoothly toned abdomen, but something small, tiny, petite and very soft.

            Squeezing, I recognized the sensation immediately and my eyes shot open. My heart pounding and my cheeks burning, what I saw first was not the loving emerald eyes of the girl that enjoyed kissing me back to consciousness every morning, but a man. Specifically, a part of a man that I really didn’t want to see was staring down at me. Daring to look further up, I found him.

            Staring down at me, crouched beside our makeshift hay bed, was Mochi. The furrow to his brow suggested he was not amused by what he saw. I could say the same were it not for the fact that, upon closer inspection of my hand, I'd groped Mana’s petite breasts right in front of him. She must have snuck into our tent at some point last night. Yua was nowhere to be found.

            “…”

            Mochi glared.

            Slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves as though he had a gun on me, I removed my hand from Mana’s chest. She let out a cute mumble in her sleep before nuzzling her cheek into my chest. Continuing to hold my hand up to show I meant no harm, I begged for forgiveness in a low whisper so I didn’t wake her.

            “I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t know…”

            “Quiet,” he said curtly, but in a whisper. His ears flicked and his tail, unable to show the same restraint, thumped against the dirt floor. “I know it was an accident. I can hear it in your heart.”

            “Great, uh, but I didn’t even know she was here. She must have snuck into our tent while I was asleep.”

            At this, Mochi side, dropping his bottom onto the dirt where he crossed his legs.

            “I know,” he said. “She often sneaks out to fool around. I didn’t hear her leave either… You thought she was Daughter Yua, right?”

            “Y-yes.”

            Thank the Goddess this man doesn’t have the same temperament as Tama. Though I guess being inherently capable of knowing when someone lies is a big help.

            “Calm your heart already,” he said, wincing. “Our people don’t worry about accidentally touching someone else’s body. It happens.”

            “Right,” I agreed instantly and took a deep breath. “So, um…”

            “I won’t be letting Mana leave with you.”

            Geez, man. Do you want me to calm down or what?!

            “I don’t trust that you won’t mate with her if given the chance. She’ll stay with me until you complete my request.”

            “I understand. No argument here.”

            While I wanted to protest his assumptions of my character, I decided against it. He was her father and I was a man that was obviously interested in her that way. There was no amount of logic that could persuade him to believe me.

            “Still,” he said with a sigh. “I wanted to tell you that you should spend the rest of your time here with her until you leave. Otherwise, she’d spend the rest of the day crying.”

            “I’d be glad to. I was actually planning on doing just that anyways.”

            He nodded, stood and started to walk away. Not one to stay put for long, apparently. He pushed aside the tent flaps to leave, but stopped when his ears flicked. Turning back, he cast a quick glance at Mana before scratching his head.

            “When it comes to confronting the humans, don’t hesitate to ask for help. If you can at least remove the barrier, we can handle the rest.”

            “Thanks for the offer, but I said I’d handle it.”

            I wasn’t about to half-ass his one requirement to win Mana’s hand.

            Mochi let out a heavy breath through his nose and left the tent. Wondering why he came in here to spy on us, but didn’t drag her out of the tent with him after finding us cuddled up together, I lightly shook her shoulders.

            “Mana. It’s time to wake up.”

            “Mnmm?”

            Eyelids only half-open, Mana struggled to lift her cheek from my chest. Blinking away some of the sleepiness, she stretched her arms over her head. Parting her lips wide into what could have been the prelude to a ferocious howl, I caught myself smirking when all I got was a long, cute yawn. When she’d finished waking herself, she turned to me and smiled, only thinking to wipe away the drool on her chin after the fact.

            Deciding that Mochi leaving her here with me to keep an ear on us from afar as being permission enough, I sat up and hugged her to my chest.

            “When did you get here?”

            “Mnmm. Late last night,” she said sleepily and yawned again. “I had to wait until you and Big Sis were done mating and asleep, so you didn’t try to talk to me. Otherwise, Daddy would have noticed.”

            “Well, he did notice. He just left.”

            “Eh?!” she said, her eyes widening. “W-Was he mad?”

            “Err… I wouldn’t say that. But he looked disappointed.”

            “Mnmm. Then it’s fine.”

            Mana removed herself from my hug and threw a leg over mine to straddle me again. Facing me, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself up into a kiss. Mochi’s concern was immediately proven correct as the moment her lips pressed against mine, I was powerless to do anything but return the favor.

            Smiling and touching a finger to her pink lips when parted, Mana blushed.

            “Hehe. Big Sis told me to do that when you woke up.”

            “She did, did she? Wait… She knew you were here?”

            “Mhmm. She was till awake when I got here. Said she knew I was gong to come. I don’t know how, though.”

            I rubbed my forehead. Yua was a stickler for the rules, just like her parents, so while she let Mana join us in bed, she must have been acting as a gatekeeper to keep our rest PG all night long. We were going to be leaving soon. I hope she got enough rest.

            “Um, Big Bro,” Mana said, then paused.

Looking over her shoulders, she turned her ears to the sky, both looking and listening for eavesdroppers. I prepared myself to hear the worst, but with my eyes fixed on hers, I couldn’t react in time when I felt her two small hands grip my monster.

I froze. Her hands were smooth and soft. The light pressure she squeezed me back almost seemed to mirror what I’d accidentally done to her a couple minutes ago. And yet, the look in her face as she held me betrayed no lust. She was simply holding me, looking for me to hear her out.

            “Y-Yes, Mana?” I said, trying to play it cool incase Mochi was listening.

            “Before you leave the village, will you… Will you at least stay for breakfast?”

            Unable to, or rather, not daring to return her people’s way of asking their mate for a favor, I pressed my hands to her cheeks and kissed her again. This much, at least, her parents didn’t seem to mind.

            “Of course I will. We’re not really in much of a hurry just yet, but the sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back.”

            “Mnmm.”

            Satisfied with my answer, Mana let go of me and stood. Joining her in experiencing the morning vertically, I let her take my hand as we left the tent.

            Feeling the fresh morning air cool my warmed body, the first thing I noted was the group of cat girls chatting away as they cooked over the newly reignited bonfire. One in particular, the only one with her back to us, leaned forward over the table, leaving everything below her casually tail plainly visible to anyone that wanted to look.

            And I did look. And if she noticed, she said nothing of it. Neither did any of the other girls, a couple of whom greeted us with a happy wave. This was just how things were here and I’d come to accept that.

            Or rather, I’d been forced to, but semantics.

            Still, it felt weird to not be so put off by all the nudity. Did my Memorize trait somehow help me to adapt to this place?

            “Big Bro,” Mana said, taking my hand. “You want to see Big Sis, right?”

            “Yes. Can you tell where she is?”

            Using my rights as her master, I checked the crowd for her outline, specifically in the direction of the village sparring grounds, but found nothing. Mana nodded with a cute smile and cute swish of her tail.

            “She’s in the chief’s tent. I’ll take you to her.”

            Linking her arm in mine, she started speeding away. Although, she didn’t take me straight to Yua. Instead, she brought me straight over to the women cooking breakfast. I noticed last night how much this girl enjoyed her food, she was the only one of us that went back for seconds, but did she really have to drool like that?

            “Oh, Mana?” one of the ladies, yet another beauty named Moka, greeted us. “Have you come to help?”

            I could not help but notice that her bustline was on par with Kimiko’s, but after everything that happened yesterday, the only thing capable of stealing my attention was the cute way Mana puffed out her chest with a playful smile.

            “Nope! Big Bro was looking at your special place, so I brought him to meet you.”

            “Wh… Hey!”

            “It’s fine,” Moka said with a laugh. “I don’t mind if you look. I can see your manhood too, remember?”

            At that, Moka deliberately let her pupils fall down to my monster, which hadn’t felt a single scrap of cloth since I got here. I was so used to the feeling that that simple fact almost escaped me. She looked at it for several seconds without so much as blushing, smiled at me as if to say “See? It’s fine” and returned her attention to the vegetables she’d been cutting.

As she cut, and as her large breasts jiggled each time she brought the blade down, she continued.

“But Mana, you really shouldn’t be making excuses. We all know you’re here for a taste.”

“Hehe. Then can I have some meat?”

“Nope,” another of the women said. “It’s not ready yet. If you’re hungry, the only way to get your food faster would be to help us.”

“Hmph…”

“Yea,” chimed a familiar voice behind us. “If I have to help, you should too.”

I turned to find Miso, Yua’s friend, carrying a basket of potatoes over to the table. Though the basket was piled high enough to require two normal people to carry it, she handled it all on her own.

Spinning around without so much as a tired huff for her effort, Miso leaned back on the table to face us. Without any more reservation than Moka showed, she looked me up and down before smirking.

“When you bring Daughter Yua back and we fight again, Imma beat the crap out of her.”

“… You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Unwilling to do or say anything but defend my wife and mate, I told her the honest truth. And, showing a bit of her true colors, Miso didn’t shoot me down with an angry glare or a toothy sneer, she just laughed.

            “Yea, yea, sure. Anyway, food won’t be ready for a while. Just get out of here. That include you too, shorty.”

            “I’m not small!”

            Abandoning her hold on my arm, Mana growled cutely as she jumped onto Miso. Smirking, the taller girl accepted her punishment by letting Mana pinch and squeeze her cheeks. Without showing that it hurt in the least, Miso slipped and hand up and between Mana’s thighs and lifted her. She clearly meant to brush Mana off her, but Mana just slipped over onto her back to continue her one-sided assault. Grinning, Miso prodded my chest with a finger.

            “You better go making Daughter Yua stronger, ya hear? I want an even better fight next time.”

            “You’ll still lose.”

            “Ha! This one has a mouth on him. I guess her choice in mate wasn’t so bad after all.”

            “Of course, he’s plenty nice,” Moka said, setting her knife down to rejoin the conversation. “Not only did he win over Mana, but did you hear them mating last night? Gods, I could only imagine what he was doing to her to make her moan like that.”

            Miso’s ears perked up and my cheeks lit up brighter than the bonfire.

            “Oh, I know, right?” Miso agreed, still showing no effort in ignoring Mana’s pinching. “My Mate couldn’t sleep because of it. He kept asking me to mate all night long.”

            “Mhmm,” another of the women, Akari, nodded. “My Mate kept going until he couldn’t make it hard anymore. After that, I had to hold his ears for him until he fell asleep.”

            “Really? Ha! What about you, Moka? How was Shohei?”

            At this, for some reason, Moka pouted.

            “No. My Mate had too much to drink last night and went to sleep before any of you started. And when he’s sleeping, nothing short of a bear rampaging into the tent can wake that male.”

            The women all giggled at this, but Moka crossed her arms in a huff. Mana also continued pinching Miso, growling all the while.

            “But seriously,” Akari started, looking my way. “What were you and Daughter Yua doing last night? I never even heard her raise her voice unless she was fighting, but she was so loud. My tent is right next to yours, you know?”

            “S-Sorry, we were just… Just mating, is all.”

            ““Hmm?””

            The three hummed in unison and understandably, their gazes collectively shifted down below my belt line. And Mana, my soon-to-be mate, just continued pinching and tugging Miso’s cheeks.

            “It’s probably just because his manhood is so big,” Miso said with a shrug.

            “Hardly,” Moka said with a wave of her hand as she turned back to her work. “Chief Tama’s is really big, too and the Chief Mother is always pretty quiet when she mates.”

            “Pfft. Really? Have you not listened to them when they head off into the forest alone?”

            “Yea,” Akari added, then whispered. “I think the Chief Mother just hides her voice so the Chief can be proud of her when others are around. But when they think they’re alone…”

            Finally, after a significant delay that I was by no means proud of, I realized Mana had accidentally brought me into the village’s gossip corner. Deciding to make a swift retreat before I learned any more about my in-laws than I wanted, I grabbed Mana without care for where I touched her and yanked her off of Miso. The second her feet touched dirt, I took her hand and dragged her away as she sneered and spit her tongue at the grinning Miso.

            Even in the severe daze I was in yesterday, I still managed to memorize the path to the chief’s tent so I really didn’t need Mana’s guidance. Though what I found there almost made me wish that we’d come sooner.

            The flaps to the chief’s tent were wide open enough to invite all who wanted to visit. And inside, what I found was indeed my Yua like Mana had said. But it was how I found her that left me wordless.

            Riding on top of Tama’s crotch, her hands pressed to his sculpted abs, Yua bounced wildly, causing the cot they shared to creak.

            Feeling a nearly non-existence sense of worry, I blinked and continued forward to close the gap for a better, more clear view and saw my worry fly away as fast as it came.

In their shared nudity, Yua pressed herself against him so firmly that she was almost grinding herself against him as she bounced.

 And yet, neither of them showed the slightest hint of arousal. Yua was as dry as a desert and Tama was limp and lifeless, even as her breasts jiggled and shook right in front of his face. Without a care in the all the world for this, she spoke and cleared everything up for me.

“Come on, Daddy. Please wake up. I want to fight again before we leave.”

I was not shocked by what I saw. I was unmoved by their appearance. Nothing but a bit of father-daughter bonding right there. I was zen. I was an unmovable rock. A stone. A boulder. I may be a boulder that had been smashed to bits with the sledgehammer that was this village, but I was a boulder that was simply exasperated.

            Maybe this village had well and truly broken me. I could say for certain that, had any other man been in his position, I’d have killed him. But when it was one of her people, when it was him, I knew there was no threat.

Besides, while Tama’s eyes remained closed no matter how she rode him, I could tell from the slight playful swishing of the tail she accidentally pinned under her knee that he was simply feigning sleep. Likely so he could enjoy his daughter’s wakeup call after so many years apart.

Sighing to myself, I let Yua continued to try and grab his attention as is and turned to the other side of the tent. There I found Kimiko. Resting on Yua’s old cot with her back propped up by an uncomfortable-looking crate, she wore a warm smile as she read from a scroll of some sort, as though the predicament happening in front of her was truly of no concern. It was her that noticed our arrival first.

            “Oh, Alex, come, come. Sit with me. I have something to show you.”

            Kimiko threw her legs off the cot and pat the spot beside her. With no reason not to, I accepted her request and sat down. Mana instantly jumped to sit on my thigh and Kimiko once more pressed herself into my arm as she held out the scroll she’d been reading.

            “After our talk last night, I remembered that my mother had drawn some pictures of the plants in the forest. Aside from fighting, drawing was her favorite hobby, so she often took some parchment out into the trees to draw. And turns out your Connifery Flower was one of her subjects, see?”

            She unfurled the page and handed it to me. Letting Mana hold one side, I held the other as I took in the admittedly beautiful drawing.

“It’s a more detailed picture than yours,” Kimiko continued. “And she did write down some information on it, but it doesn’t say exactly where to find it. It only says that it grows on the base of large trees. Sorry, but this is the best I can do to help.”

Feeling a smile warm my cheeks at this sudden turn of good luck, I handed the scroll back to her.

“No, thank you. This is more than enough.”

“Oh, dear, you should keep it,” she said, pushing the scroll back. “You may need it.”

“Thanks again, but you should keep it if it used to be your mother’s. I already memorized everything on the page.”

“Eh? Really?”

Seeing her honest confusion tilt her head to the side, I briefly rummaged through my memories to find if I’d told her about my Memorize trait, found nothing, and quickly explained. She nodded, listening with a great deal of curiosity perked up her ears.

“I see. That sounds like a wonderful trait. But…” she stopped herself, then leaned into me more to whisper in my ear. “If that’s true, I think you should really put more effort into training. Your fight with My Mate made it clear you’re not very good at it. But you should be able to learn quickly, at least.” She paused, smiling a bit sympathetically. Then her ears perked back up and the warmth returned to her smile. “Oh, I know, how about I teach you a bit before you leave?”

“Uh…”

Taking moment to re-read her info box, I learned that she, like Tama, was level 60, but her only class was Beast-Warrior. While that alone was fairly shocking considering how gentle she was, after watching all those Beast-Warriors fight Yua, I didn’t see how she’d teach me anything other than regular strength training. And I already had Yua helping me there.

“Thanks, but I’m not a Beast-Warrior like you. No claws.”

“Oh, that’s true,” she said and pouted.

“Hmph,” Mana pouted right back, then let her hand slip down between my legs to grab hold of my monster. “Don’t make fun of my mate! He’s plenty strong!”

Seeing this, the truth of Kimiko’s smile faded away and a darkness that clashed with the bright morning sun peeking in through the tent, instantly snuffing it out. While her lips were still turned upwards, it was clearly no longer a real smile. It was forced, a show meant only to keep us rooted in place. It even caused Mana to shudder in my arms.

Without restraint, Kimiko’s hand shot down, grabbed hold of my rod and slid down it in one quick motion to push Mana’s hand away. Trembling with an honest look of fear that caused her to tear up, Mana didn’t fight back. And this time, Kimiko didn’t let go of me.

“Mana,” she said, her voice anything but sweet. “He is not your mate yet. Obey your daddy and keep your hands off of his manhood.”

“S-Sorry Chief Mother. I won’t do it again, I promise!”

Jumping off of me, Mana dropped to her knees and bowed low, touching her head to the floor. Why was this girl so quick to obey Kimiko when she apparently made a habit out of ignoring her own mother’s wishes?

Kimiko huffed, but the warmth had not returned to her just yet as she turned back to me. Her eyes held no apparent malice, but a chill ran up my spine when I met her gaze. The part of me that wanted to say, but you’re not my mate either, pissed itself and ran away to hide in the corner.

“Alex, you did well not to let her take you last night,” she said, shaking my rod at me in place of wagging her finger. “But you need to stop letting her touch you.”

“S-sorry.”

Unsure if I should bow as well, I squeezed my knees out of repentance. Gentle as she may be, I knew at least that her much higher level meant that she could easily remove my monster from my body with a flick of her wrist. And for obvious reasons, I very much wanted to avoid that.

“Hmph,” she huffed and finally, thankfully, pulled her hand away from me. “Honestly, Mana. I wasn’t even insulting him.”

“Sorry!”

Shaking her head, Kimiko let out a single short sigh before her ears perked up and her eyes widened. And like that, light returned to the world.

“Oh, before I forget…”

            Without another word for the still bowing Mana, Kimiko leapt off the cot and bent over right in front of me. As she gave me an up close and unfiltered view of her special place, she rummaged around in one of the tent’s many boxes. When I heard the clinking of glass on glass, I knew what she was looking for.

            Careful not to put myself in a state similar to Yua’s as she continued to try and get his attention while seemingly unaware of how Mana and I nearly got maimed, I leaned around Kimiko and scooped Mana off the floor.

Placing the petite girl on my lap, I purposefully positioned her legs to rest between mine to prevent both her and Kimiko from trying to grab me again. Holding her trembling frame, I did the only thing I could do and watched Kimiko’s backside swing side to side as she rummaged through her things.

            “Here it is,” she said holding out a small vial whose info box read Cure Poison Potion. “Turns out we only had one left, but you can still have it. I already sent a couple of our Expeditionary Force to go make an order for more.”

            “Thanks,” I said, taking the vial and letting it slip straight into my item box. “But you didn’t send them to Amoranth, did you?”

            Kimiko shook her head, her long chestnut hair swaying as she sat down again.

            “Not at all. You came from Amoranth, so if you didn’t already have some, then I doubted the shop there would have any. There’s another city not too far from here that may have some.”

            Nodding along with her logic, I figured she must not know why Madame Turquesse suddenly ran out in the first place. The demon the army was supposedly fighting was far on the opposite side of Amoranth, after all.

            “Come on, Daddy,” Yua complained in a pout. “Stop fooling around. I know you’re awake.”

            Unable to get him to open his eyes after declaring that she too knew he was faking it, she raised her hips up in the air and slammed them back down on him. Knowing full well that that movement was a more forceful version of how she rode me just last night, I was still surprised with myself for staying calm.

            “Mmm!”

            When her force was met with a continued silence, Yua slammed herself down on him again and again. The clapping of their hips could only remind of lewd thoughts, but again, Tama showed no signs of arousal. Or consciousness, for that matter. As now that he knew Yua was on to him, even his tail ceased moving.

            “Fufufu.”

            Seeing this, Kimiko smiled sweetly and giggled. No doubt enjoying the sight of her mate and daughter getting along, she decided to throw Yua a bone.

            “My Mate,” she started, spreading her legs wide enough to throw one over my thigh. “I’d like to mate. Could you wake up for me?”

            Instantaneously, and I really mean instantaneously, as in there was no middle ground… Tama’s manhood stood up.

            “Wah!”

            With it already pressed firmly against her, his sudden arousal pushed her, launching her forward to land face first into his chest. Finally, worry began to bubble up in me when I saw his large rod standing tall and proud between her thighs, but all he did was hug her to his chest and growl when Kimiko closed her legs.

            “Tch. My Mate, I was having fun,” he grumbled, lifting himself into a sitting position to place Yua on his lap. Still hugging her to his chest, he more or less forced her legs to wrap around his back. He took one look at Kimiko and grunted. “Don’t ask to mate unless you mean it.”

            “Oh dear, sorry,” Kimiko giggled.

            Baffled at the two, but still calm, I was entirely unsure of how to react to Yua still sitting on him.

            Seeing my confusion, Kimiko took it completely the wrong way and pressed herself into my arm again.

            “You might have guessed already, but this is another of our customs. Whenever your mate wants to mate, you are to accept them immediately and without question. As for My Mate, it’s the best way to get him out of bed.”

            “Tch.”

            Kimiko giggled to herself, but Tama only scoffed, not denying anything as his cheeks flushed and as he pinned Yua’s arms to her sides in a forceful hug.

            Wait… Is that why Yua’s always been so receptive whenever I was in the mood? She wasn’t acting as my slave, but as my mate? Damn. Had I bothered to ask more about her people instead of just focusing on her, I might have had our true relationship all cleared up sooner.

            “Come on, Daddy,” Yua pleaded, her cheek pressed to his chest. “Let’s fight one more time.”

            “Mnnn…”

Grumbling again, Tama looked my way before answering.

“Not yet. I need to speak with this boy alone first.”

“… Fine.”

Yua huffed and he released her from his hug. He, however, did not remove her from his lap. He just turned to throw his feet off the bed and stood with her as is. Facing us, his rod only just now starting to wilt, he grabbed Yua’s ass with both hands and lifted her into the air before tossing her rather rudely onto my free thigh.

She landed right where their people demanded she be, but it seemed an utterly pointless gesture when Tama continued.

“Boy, come with me.”

A man of few words, Tama didn’t bother to elaborate before he left the tent. Yua watched him go with a seriously depressed pout hanging on her lips. I got the distinct impression she’d be like this for the rest of the week if I took her from the village before they could fight again.

I sighed.

“Yua, Mana, sorry but it looks like I have to go.”

Without question, Yua slid off of me and moved to sit with her mother. Mana, too, put up no protests, likely not wanting to get scolded again. Now freed of their weight and softness, I hurried to catch up to him. It was all I could do to hope he wasn’t going to force another fight.

My hopes were all but dashed completely when I exited the tent and found him walking towards the temple once more. I followed him anyways and we stepped inside and onto the arena. Almost ignoring me, Tama crossed his arms to look over the carnage we’d left behind.

The stone pillars I’d spawned to act as my shield were mostly broken, shattered, their remains littering the arena. Only a few remained standing at all. Several scorch marks from my fire and lighting spells blackened the tiles and the section I removed through Material Destruction was now nothing but a huge scar on this once pristine flooring. There were even several foot-shaped black burns thanks to Tama’s Overheat ability.

            Everything happened so fast back then, that I didn’t have the wherewithal to consider the damage we’d caused.

“Would you like me to help clean this up?”

Tama scoffed and his tail rejected the idea for him.

“I said I wanted to talk.”

“Okay. Then what did you….”

“I heard you mating with Daughter last night.”

“Oh, really?”

            Perhaps sensing my lack of shock, his cat ears twitched and his tail whipped the air as he turned to face me.

            “Don’t underestimate my ears, boy. Even among the other cat-kin, mine are the best.”

            “… I’m not apologizing. She’s my mate. We’re going to mate. End of story.”

“Tch,” Tama clicked his tongue, but I knew I had him. And so did he. “I don’t care about that. I’d be more pissed if you didn’t perform your role as her mate properly. What I wanted to say is that you were doing it for too long. Unlike you, Daughter is a warrior and warriors need their rest. She doesn’t need you keeping her awake all night”

“… Is that why you brought me here?”

If that’s all he wanted to say, then he might as well have said it back at the tent. If Yua were so inclined to listen to us here, she would have heard him anyways.

“No,” he continued. “Boy, can you tell me what you see over there?”

            He pointed towards the far end of the arena where I saw the glint of a metal blade laying there amongst the destruction.

            “Is that my swor…!”

            Tama sent gut-wrenching punch straight into my stomach. I felt my insides twist and churn into a fine paste, but I managed not to black out this time. Lot of good that did, as that meant I was conscious for all the pain that left me heaving. My legs buckled out from beneath me and I collapsed to my knees.

            “Hmph,” Tama snorted, taking a step back.

            “I thought… you wanted to talk…”

            “I did. Males talk with their fists. Now, boy, what is that?”

            “My… sword?”

            “And why did you leave it sitting there all night? A warrior must have their weapon beside them at all times, yet the first thing you did after waking up, was tend to my daughter.”

            “And that’s why you’re mad?”

            “Hmph. No. I’d have killed you if you didn’t care for her first.”

            “Then…”

            “But collecting your weapon should have been the first thing you did after leaving my tent last night. Instead, you went to mate and steal another of our tribe’s daughters.”

            Every time I think I have their customs down pat, they hit me with something new. And the worst part is that I understood his point. Ignoring the value of the sword, it was my last line of defense once a fighter like him managed to cause me to burn up all my mana.

            And more importantly, it was my last, surefire way to defend his daughter. And soon Mana.

            “…I’ll go get it.”

            Repressing my complaints, I forced myself to my feet and walked across the arena, lurching and holding my stomach all the while. Tama followed without a word until I picked it up, checked it for damage and set it back in my item box. His ears twitched and he recrossed his arms.

            “Funny magic, that.”

            “It’s an ability… I told you last night.”

            “Yea, I suppose you did… Can that ability fix this mess?”

            He gestured towards the crumbling stone pillars and the burnt floor with his chin.

            “Yes… Is cleaning this up my punishment for forgetting my sword?”

            “Pfft. No. That’s what the punch was for… I just thought I would ask my daughter’s new mate for help.”

He whipped his head to the side opposite me to avoid my gaze, but his tail pointed at me in his stead. It was as if he himself still wanted to refuse that I was her mate, but his tail could not tell a lie.

“The way you explained it seems like it should be easy for you to fix, but it would take us weeks. So…”

“I can do it… It’s my mess. I’ll clean it up.”

He smirked, balled his fist again and pushed it into my chest. Just when I thought I was somehow watching another punch fly at me in slow motion, said fist suddenly began to glow green.

“Healing Punch.”

Almost instantly, the pain in my stomach receded and I was able to stand upright like nothing had happened. He snorted.

“Hey, Tama, why is it when you use Healing Punch, you heal people instantly? When Yua does it, it takes at least a minute just to heal a small bruise. And she’s always so exhausted after.”

“Heh, right. Daughter can already use Healing Punch, too… Boy, are you wearing clothes when she heals you?”

“Yes?”

“Then that’s why. That and because she doesn’t have enough stamina.” He unclenched his fists and pressed his palms to his chest. “Healing Punch takes the wielder’s stamina and moves it into the wounded person’s body, forcing it to heal much faster than should be possible. Having clothes in the way just makes this happen slower. Direct skin contact is best. Preferably near the heart. Otherwise, you’re just wasting stamina.”

“So, that’s why you grabbed Yua’s tit to heal her last night…?”

“What’s a tit?”

“… Her breast.”

“Hmph. What, are you jealous of my skinship with my daughter? You may be her mate, but I refuse to give that up.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” I said and I was surprised to know I meant it. “I’m just curious how the ability works… Is there a limit to what wounds you can heal?”

“Other than the wielder being unable to heal themselves, the only wounds that should give you trouble are ones that are already fatal or poisoned.”

Right. Can’t heal a person that’s already doomed to die before you can even start the healing process. And if all it does is heal, closing the wound caused by a poison-tipped weapon wouldn’t remove the poison, it would just lock it inside the body. This would just guarantee their death despite their efforts. Good to know.

“I see. Then I take it that Yua doesn’t know any of this?”

He shook his head, standing there lazily while I used Material Destruction to clear the rubble and Material Creation to repair the arena floor. Tama helped by pushing the larger chunks of debris over to me.

“Usually, we do not teach our people all the details until they show that they know it. Otherwise, they’ll waste valuable training time thinking about an ability they can’t even use… Heh. The fact that Daughter got this far all on her own just means she takes after me.”

This doting father pumped his fist, just as pleased with his daughter’s strength as she was herself. Seeing his proud grin, I did not have the heart, or stomach, to remind him that she only learned the ability so soon thanks to my being her master and letting her borrow my cheat abilities.

“Do you think Yua can master that Overheat skill you used?”

“At her level and age… Normally, I’d say hell no, but since she is my daughter, I expect she will soon enough. Heh. She might even figure it out for herself.”

Once more, the doting father stood there praising both himself and his daughter. The more he talked about her, the less he helped clean. But my magic had already cleared up most of the mess anyways, so there wasn’t really anything for him to do anymore anyways.

“Boy, your magic sure is handy. You sure you don’t want to stay in our village?”

“Yes. Thanks for everything so far, but we only stopped here because Yua wanted to. We need to head to Guerraway next.”

“Guerraway? Why in the hells would you want to go to that place?”

He clicked his tongue and I couldn’t help but notice in his tone that he spoke about the city as if he hated it from the bottom of his heart.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Not much. Just… recently, the humans there have been harassing our tribesmen whenever we send them to the city. Seems they got the idea in them that the forest belongs to them now, even though all they did was build a wall next to it.”

“… And did this start around the time you found the other humans in the forest?”

“Before it, but yes.”

Then why didn’t you say so yesterday…?

“I see. Thanks for the warning,” I said, getting back to my feet. “That should do it for the cleanup.”

He looked around the arena, as if he’d only just noticed the progress I’d made. He broke into a smile and slammed his foot against a section of floor I removed and reformed with Material Creation. When it didn’t budge, he gave me a thumbs up.

“This mean you’re leaving now, boy?”

“I’d like to, but I promised Mana we’d stay for breakfast. I’d like to let my girls with their families while they can.”

I wanted to speed things along so I’d have time to help Madame Turquesse brew up some potions in order to earn that sweet bonus to support them, but I couldn’t. After seeing the pure joy Yua’s experienced since coming back here, I didn’t have the heart to tear her away so soon. Plus, she may not be mine yet, but Mana should have some time to say her goodbyes before I whisk her off to be my second wife.

“Heh. My girls, huh? Now you’re talking like a proper male!”

With a hearty laugh, Tama slapped me on the back a little… way too hard. Trying not to fall on my face, I blinked away the light of that endlessly white expanse known as heaven before the Goddess could beckon to me.

Feeling as though he might have broken something, I had a fantastic reason to remember that my Sex Master class leveled up last night and that it gained me a few more skill points to use. I went ahead and dumped them all into strength in hopes that next time, it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Well, if that’s it, I’m heading back. You and Yua should...”

I turned to leave, trying not to touch my aching back so I could at least pretend that I could withstand what, to him, was probably meant as a love-tap. But then I heard him sniff the air a little too loudly, like he wanted me to notice.

“Wait, boy. Hit me.”

“What?”

“Hit me,” he repeated. “You suddenly smell like you got stronger than you were last night. I want to see what you can do.”

He took up the same wide-open stance he did against Yua yesterday and thumped his palm onto his abs, telling me where to aim my fist.

Did he notice that I used my skill points? With his nose?

Seeing him awaiting my fist, I felt I had no choice but to comply with the chief’s request. So, feeling as though I wasn’t going to be allowed to leave until I played along with his games, I readied myself. My fighting stance was nowhere near as well-trained as either his or Yua’s, but I only needed one hit.

I pulled my arm back and launched my fist into his stomach. I already knew there was no need to hold back against this man, so I put absolutely everything I had into it. It felt a little weird to only just realize this, but I’d never actually punched anyone before. In this life or the last. Not too sure how to feel about my first time being someone whom I knew could just shrug it off, though.

Thankfully, this wasn’t some ridiculous trick meant for me to start a fight so he had an excuse to beat the shit out of me after what I did to Yua last night. He just let my fist land squarely against his abs. Exactly like when Yua hit him, his stomach bent inwards a tiny bit, but rebounded just as fast. It was like all he did was suck in his gut and let out a breath, but I had to shake off the numbing pain in my hand after.

Then he swung at me.

            I dodged his fist, but only barely. And I only managed it because he held back again. He smirked and crossed his arms.

            [Monk Class Acquired]

            [New Ability Acquired: Iron Fist]

Well, that’s and easy one to figure out. All I needed to do was punch someone as hard as I could to get the class. Wish I had that yesterday, though.

            “Strange,” he started. “Boy, you were much weaker yesterday, but you’re just as strong as Daughter now. Is this the work of that ability she was talking about? For a human, that’s pretty impressive.”

            What’s impressive is that you could tell we had the same level of strength just by taking a hit. Those last five points I put into my Strength stat just now did even things between me and Yua, but for him to notice that by just smelling me...

            Not sure what to think of that.

            “Thank you… I guess?”

            “Hmph. Boy, do you know how I got these?”

            He pointed unceremoniously to the only blemish on his body: the four thick, jagged scars that ran across his chest. Their heavy purple-ish discoloring was enough to know how deep the cuts that made them had once been. They might have been near fatal. A testament to the powerful blow that once rent his flesh. They were clearly the results of an animal attack.

            “Yua said it was because you were drunk and distracted during a fight with a bear.”

            Tama closed his eyes and nodded. He then leaned towards me and lowered his voice into a whisper, probably because the girl in question might be listening to see if her father and mate were getting along.

            “The part of me being drunk was a lie I made everyone tell her. Always was. I didn’t want her to feel guilty.”

            Thinking back to Yua’s brief retelling of the incident and how she said she’d heard it so many times that she actually got bored of it, I couldn’t help but ask.

            “Why would she feel guilty?”

            “Did Daughter ever tell you what it was that managed to distract me? Me, the chief, the strongest person in this village?”

            “No?”

            He nodded, letting out knowing laugh that died out the moment his ears flicked.

            “I wasn’t drunk. I rarely drink. It dulls the senses and I must always be alert. What distracted me that day was… It was her crying voice.”

            Tama looked down, but not out of sadness. He ran his fingertips across the scars, tracing the arc they carved permanently into his chest with a small, happy smile.

            “It was the day my daughter was born. The first time she breathed in the fresh air of this forest and let out a hearty cry after My Mate finally gave her to me. That was what distracted me. That damn bear came to challenge my people for the rights to rule this forest while I was awaiting her delivery. But as chief I had no choice but to accept their demand for a duel. It was then, in the heat of battle, that my newborn Daughter cried out for me.”

            “… Sorry you missed it.”

            Tama laughed and shook his head.

            “There’s nothing to be sorry about, boy. Not only did I give that bear a scar to match, I still made it back in time to hold her before she opened her eyes. I chose to wear these scars as a reminder of the day she was born.”

            Leave it to a parent, even this muscle-head, to put his daughter first. It made me happy to know she was so loved, even though she came back here scared that she’d be turned away as a failure.

“Tama… Would you go ahead and fight her again before we leave?”

“You’d have me fight her knowing I’d win?”

“It’s what she wants.”

Slowly, a wide grin crept across his lips and he thumped me on the back again. This time, the blow did little more than make me stagger. Without waiting to, or even offering to heal me, Tama walked off back towards the village.

“That’s a good mate,” he said, his tail waving for him. “Now hurry up and get stronger.”

“I will. I’ll make sure I protect her.”

“Bah! She can protect herself. I made sure of that. Your job is to make her happy.”

I watched him head back down into the village, straight for the sparring grounds. Yua must have either decided to wait for him or was taking on a couple other matches while she waited.

As I watched him disappear into the crowd, I caught the sight of a familiarly petite cat girl jumping and down excitedly by the bonfire, waving her hands to grab my attention. When she had me, she stopped bouncing to point towards the food line, mouthing something I couldn’t hope to have heard. Though her wide smile looked like an invitation. All evidence of her earlier scolding was already gone with the wind.

Picking up my pace into a brisk jog, I waved back to let her know I got the message. I helped Yua to get the fight she wanted, so I suppose I should be allowed to fulfil the wish of my soon-to-be second mate, right?

“Big Bro, hurry!” she said, running to jump into my arms. “If we get there early enough, we can get bigger pieces of meat!”

Latching her legs around my back, she all but forced me to carry her. She grinned happily just as much with her big blue eyes as with her lips when I didn’t set her down. Hefting herself up further in my arms, she pecked my cheek. Feeling her already miniscule weight slipping as she did, I went ahead and blended in with their ways by cupping my hands under her bottom, purely to hold her up, and hurried to join the line of hungry bellies.

 

“Hahaha! Did she really?”

“Oh, dear, yes,” Kimiko laughed. “She moped about for an entire week just because Mana wouldn’t fight her anymore.”

“Hmph!”

 As Kimiko regaled me in a side of the story of their last fight that Yua herself neglected to share, Mana plopped back down on my lap with a second plate of food for herself. Patting her head as she huffed, cheaply feigning ignorance out of guilt, I laughed at the new dirt I had on the girl that liked to jab me with her smirks.

“Oh, I remember that,” Chibi said, quickly sliding across the log into me. “She wouldn’t even leave the tent to eat unless the Chief dragged her out.”

Hand to her smiling cheek, Kimiko nodded emphatically, but it was Mana who responded.

“Mmn. If she didn’t hit so hard, maybe I wouldn’t have stopped.”

“You sure? She couldn’t have been all that strong back then. Maybe it’s just because you’re so sma…”

“Graaaa! Don’t say it!”

Twisting herself on my lap, Mana grabbed a piece of the boiled potato she’d been neglecting and shoved it into my mouth, smearing half on my face. She silenced the truth, but not my laughter. I wrapped and arm around her shoulder and pressed my sullied face against hers to return the favor. She squirmed in my arms, but Chibi held down her feet so all she got from her struggling was a warm potato mask.

The mothers laughed and Mana grumbled cutely in my arms. She threw another piece of meat into her mouth and chewed aggressively as I cast the Body Wash spell on us. The wasted spuds vanished to reveal the bright pink flush that had pasted itself to her cheeks.

As promised, Mana and I had taken our breakfast to one of the smaller campfires that had been abandoned for one reason or another and enjoyed ourselves. Her telling this and that about the forest animals she liked to fool around with and I enjoying the enthusiasm she exuded in it all.

But, if I’ve learned anything about this place during our stay, it’s that privacy dies at the tree line. Kimiko and Chibi hurried to join us as soon as they could. For the first half of the meal, Kimiko ate strangely slowly, but it didn’t take long to realize it was because she was listening to the fights in the distance. And once whatever bout she was listening to ended, she regaled me in a few embarrassing stories about Yua that I may or may not have asked for.

Chibi, on the other hand…

“Psst, hey, Alex,” she whispered. With a cheeky grin twisting her lips, she stood from the log to throw an arm around my neck. “I’ll distract My Mate for you. If you take Mana for, let’s say, about a ten minute walk into the trees over there, he won’t be able to hear anything you do.”

… She kept trying to provoke Mana and I to take that next step. As embarrassing as it was, it was only more so when, instead of blushing and running off out of embarrassment like any other girl her age, Mana just pressed her lips together denying nothing. I didn’t need to have a pair of cat ears to know she was more or less leaving the decision to give in up to me.

However, I couldn’t and wouldn’t. Not yet.

This was not just me wanting to obey the wishes of her father, nor was this about me being worried Chibi might be playing a trick on us, as her grins might have suggested. I maintained control of myself because I knew it was only a matter of time.

And as if on cue, as Chibi pointed towards the closest tree line to us, the ears of Mana and Kimiko both jumped in unison. Lost in her own giggling, Chibi did not notice the man that appeared behind her. Hell, I didn’t even notice his approach until I saw him out of the corner of my eye. No doubt Mana got her sneaking skills from this man.

“Hahaha. Come on, Alex,” Chibi continued. “I know your heart races when you look at her special place. Just pick her up and…!”

“My Mate!”

“Eeep!”

Jumping so hard at the sound of Mochi’s voice, Chibi launched herself over me and landed between Kimiko’s legs before falling backwards into her chest. Her tail stiff as a rock, Chibi clenched her hands to her chest in fear, and when she saw the look on her mate’s face, her ears fell flat.

Glaring, Mochi shifted his gaze to Kimiko who, smiling back, lifted Chibi into the air princess style before throwing her at him. Though he was a little thin for a man, he caught her as though she were weightless. His arms locked around her like a vice so tight, she didn’t even try to squirm away.

“Waaah! Traitor!”

“Oh dear. I told you to listen to your mate.”

“Lies! You know you wanna see them mate, too!”

At this, Kimiko giggled, but didn’t deny it. Instead, she looked to Mochi.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure these two aren’t alone long enough to mate.”

“Thank you, Chief Mother. At least one of our village’s females obeys our rules. Come, we need to talk.”

“Wah! But he’s gonna leave soon and…!”

Hefting Chibi over his shoulder, as he turned to leave, Mochi’s hand quickly flew towards her backside. Just when I thought he was about to spank her, instead a couple of his fingers vanished between her thighs. It had the instant effect of quieting her, until…

“Traitor!!! Alex! Ten minutes! Just ten minuuuuutes!”

As Chibi was hauled away, she continued her provocations up until I could no longer hear her. Much like the chief’s affections for his daughter, her antics earned her a fair few giggles from the cat-kin as the pair disappeared into the field of tents.

Unfortunately, Chibi’s voice must have been relentless, as Mana’s blushing continued long after I could no longer hear them. She buried her face into my chest while Kimiko shot me another mirthless smile. It was a warning that said she’d shackle me to the fire if she could. I surrendered without a fight by making sure my hands were in plain sight. Forcing a smile, I pet Mana’s head.

How can this woman be so sweet and warm one second and so terrifying the next?

Thankfully, we were saved from the crushing weight of her gaze when Tama joined us, looking as uninjured as expected. At first, I thought he’d left Yua to fight some more on her own, but then she lifted her face up from behind his back and rested her chin on his shoulder, grinning. He was carrying her piggy-back style.

This would have been a fairly sweet sight of the father-daughter pair, but under each of Tama’s arms were two more unconscious cat-kin. And, as if that wasn’t enough, there was even a third, a woman, draped over his other shoulder.

He caught my wondering gaze and smirked proudly.

“These three challenged Daughter to a fight once we were done. This is what’s left of them!”

“Hehe!”

Yua shot me a playful thumbs up before jumping off of his back to take up the free spot on my spare thigh. Clearly not having noticed Chibi’s earlier pleas, Yua pulled both Mana and I into a hug. Tama huffed and carelessly dumped the two men under his arms on the ground beside us and, showing just the tiniest bit of care for the woman, dumped her on the log besides Kimiko.

Her terrifying aura vanishing once more, she brushed the woman’s hair out of her face and checked her over for damage, but I guessed Tama had already healed her since her skin was flawless. It was the same with the other two.

Tama’s ear flicked and his brow furrowed as he looked down on the three of us and I had the feeling it wasn’t because Yua once more celebrated her victories by pelting me with her lips. Grumbling, he sat beside me and grabbed Yua by the waist.

“Eh?! Daddy?”

Tearing her off of me, he slammed her down on his own lap. There he wrapped her up in a big muscular hug of his own and nuzzled against her. Her cheek squished against his, Yua smiled wryly.

“Daddy, I have a mate now.”

“Don’t care. You’re leaving soon.”

Sensing the pain in his voice that Kimiko, Mana and the non-chalant eavesdroppers all did, Yua’s lips turned up sympathetically as she pat his forearm.

“We’ll be back for Mana soon.”

“Don’t care.”

His muscles tensed, as if trying to prevent the escape she didn’t even try to make. She looked to me. As her mate, she was asking me what to do.

I sighed and used up what little pent-up frustration I still had from that cheap shot he gave me earlier by squeezing Mana in turn when I noticed the way his scars wrinkled against her supple skin.

“… You know, Yua, I’m still not used to sitting so close to a fire for so long. I’m getting kind of hot. Think you can stay there for a while?”

Yua’s face brightened a bit as she took a moment to settle into his lap properly, but the moment she opened her mouth to give thanks, Tama interrupted.

“Huh? Boy, you can’t even handle both of your females at the same time?”

This fucking… I was trying to let you have your way without making it look like a handout!

“Daddy, what did I say about being mean to my mate?”

“Tch.”

“My Mate,” Kimiko added with a warning finger. “Mana is not his mate yet. Don’t you start acting like she is.”

“Tch.”

Flinching at Yua’s warning and sweating a little at Kimiko’s, Tama clicked his tongue and slipped off the log to sit cross-legged in the dirt. He pushed Yua off his thigh to make her sit on his lap. He smirked at me, but I knew it was because he was just showing off by moving closer to the fire.

I rolled my eyes, ignored another aimless click of his tongue and turned to Yua. Her emeralds glistened like the jewels they were and her ears flicked in my direction, waiting for whatever I had to say.

“I don’t want to end your reunion too fast, but we do need to get going. How long did you want to stay?”

“Umm…”

Looking troubled, she hesitated to answer. Without looking like he’d ever admit to doing it, Tama squeezed his arms around her tighter to prevent her from answering. Not that she needed to, her gaze said it all.

Our quest had a limit, but she’d been gone for five years and she wanted to milk this moment for as long as she could. And Mana agreed.

“Big Bro, can’t you at least stay until after lunch?”

Her entire being pleaded as she pressed her hands to my chest, but there was no manipulation in those big blue irises of hers. Kimiko clapped her hands to gather attention on her.

“Girls, stop being so greedy. Yua, we’re happy to have you and your mate here for as long as you want, but your mate has his own obligations. And Mana…”

“I know… I’m not his mate yet. Yet.”

With her added emphasis on yet, Tama scoffed.

“Just let him finish his quest on his own. He can just come back for these two later.”

“My Mate,” Kimiko chided. “You can’t expect a human used to living in the city to wonder around the forest without getting lost.”

I mean, I could just use my map menu and my Memorization trait to keep track of where I am, but I kept my mouth shut. It’s very reassuring to have her on my side this time.

“Besides, what if his talks with the other humans turn violent? He may need Yua’s help since he’s not a very good fighter.”

And now it’s not.

“Tch.”

Her comment earned me a disappointed grunt from Tama, but a worried look from Yua. I never would have expected her to ask me to handle it on my own, but even if she did, I wouldn’t blame her. Though it was abundantly clear she hadn’t even considered this simple little quest having a violent ending.

Still, wrapped up in her father’s arms after all this time, her reluctance to leave so soon was palpable.

“I know we need to leave eventually,” she started. “But couldn’t we wait for lunch like Mana said?”

“Yea, Big Bro. It won’t even be that long. And I’ll… I’ll share my portion of meat with you.”

With the pleading eyes of two beauties wearing me down, I made the executive decision to close my eyes before answering.

“Yua, we need to go. Working for the guild is our only way of making coin right now. And I need to be able to do that to support both you and Mana. Failing this quest is not an option.”

I had to complete a minimum of one quest per month to keep my place in the guild and unfortunately, we spent most of that month screwing around. If I’d known about this place sooner, I would have brought her, but we can’t change what’s already happened.

And like I told Mana, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back.

“…”

With my mind made up, Yua didn’t argue back. It was actually a big surprise at how easily she acquiesced. She did, however, slump a little on Tama’s lap.

Mana, thanks to Kimiko’s watchful gaze, knew she couldn’t argue either. She just pouted, letting her ears fall flat. The move nearly gave me a heart attack, but thankfully, she chose not to weaponize that fact.

Not even Tama said a word in defiance. He may not like me all that much, but he and Kimiko both take to this “mates” thing seriously, so even he must believe that my decisions regarding Yua are law. So, he just hugged her a little tighter.

Feeling more like an ass than ever before despite knowing the logic in my decision, we let the subject rest. Though, I did let us stay just a while longer.

 

When it was finally time to leave, I went ahead and fetched Yua’s backpack and handed her her clothes once she finally stood from Tama’s lap.

With a small, but accepting sigh, she took them with a smile and we got dressed by the fire, as I planned on hurrying this quest along by teleporting straight out of the forest.

And just as my body was once more feeling the warmth, but now oddly restrained pressure of my pants, Yua had already hiked up her panties and was in the process of throwing her shirt back on when Tama squat down in front of her and, without missing a beat, tugged the front of her panties back down to look at her.

Rolling his jaw, he pondered aloud, “Daughter, when are you going to regrow your woman’s hair?”

He’s still bothered by that…?

“Not so long as My Mate prefers me like this.”

“Hmph.”

Blinking at him as he himself lifted her panties back up with a scoff, I noticed another chink in my mental fortitude appear and took a breath. Thankfully, Mana’s cuteness was there to save me as she was curiously looking over my shirt while holding it upside down. She offered it up to me with a helpful smile and helped me with my boots.

Now fully dressed and looking even more out of place than I did by not owning a pair of cat ears, I pointed my hand at the fire and cast Dimensional Step.

The spell’s titular blue lights swirled into place and in seconds, the village was connected to the outside of the forest.

Seeing this, Tama grit his teeth and scooped Yua up into another hug. When she returned it and squeezed him for all he was worth, Kimiko joined in. Mana, holding my hand, looked like she wanted to join in too, but when Kimiko smiled at us and purposefully buried her nose in Yua’s hair, Mana stole a chance.

Jumping onto the log we’d been sitting on, she met me eye-to-eye and grabbed me by the cheeks before planting a long kiss right on my lips. Feeling the soft, luscious sensation of her Sakura-pink lips trying to tattoo her taste onto mine, I almost completely ignored Kimiko’s throat clearing. Guess she only allotted us a moment, just a sample of what was to come.

Forcing myself to pull back, I wiped at the fresh tears starting down Mana’s cheeks and greedily stole another kiss while the Gate Keeper Mother had her back turned.

“We’ll be back. I promise.”

“Mnn… Don’t take too long,” she said, clenching my shirt. Tears still in her eyes, Mana tiptoed to whisper in my ear. “Please… I don’t want to be lonely anymore.”

Confused, I let my arms fell away from her when Yua tugged on my sleeve. Wiping away tears of her own, she gave Mana a quick hug before taking my hand and hurrying me towards the portal, as if determined to make it through before her resolve reached its limit.

Yua stepped through without looking back, but I turned to give them all a quick goodbye, only to find Kimiko waving sweetly, Tama clenching every muscle in his body to keep a straight face and, of course, Mana besides them. She put up the best smile she could and waved one last time before I stepped through.