The next day, they walked to that river straight away, and they all ended up taking a swim. The river was wide but shallow, its water lukewarm in the heat, but quite clear. As they got out, the blazing sun dried them off in no time. They refilled their flasks, rested a bit in the shades of the surrounding trees, then continued on their way when the sun got obscured by some translucent clouds.

From the top of the next hill further south, something unexpected appeared before them: a town.

“Huh, that's weird,” Friska said, looking at her map. “This place isn't marked.”

“Is every settlement... marked on it?” Porco panted as he caught up with the rest of them. He was half-naked, and he wrapped his shirt around his head to block the sun. Terry was dressed the same way, but Porco seemed more exhausted than the villager boy. Perhaps his intense experience with the succubus last night added to it, but either way, he was sweating a lot.

“For sure not every settlement, there's plenty of unknown places and activities out here. But it's a good quality map that was made just five years ago. This place is still very close to the sea, and it's not too small either... it's more of a town than a village. It must have been here for a while, so how could it be unknown?”

“Isn't this Newchance, by any chance?” Chio asked. Unlike their male companions (and to a lesser extent Friska), the angel and the succubus weren't bothered by the heat. Chio felt straight up energized by the strong sunlight, she was in a good, carefree mood all day. Arabella was fine too: a succubus can even walk through fire, so a desert's warmth posed no trouble to her.

“Nope, no way,” the fairy stated. “Newchance is supposed to be several days of walking westwards from here, and even if I somehow completely read this map wrong, it's said to be straight next to the ocean. This is not Newchance.”

“Maybe someone else settled down here in these last five years,” the girl suggested.

“Do those buildings look new to you?” Friska asked.

“Well... I'm not sure.”

“We need to take a closer look,” the fairy rolled up her map and put it inside its leather tube.

“You sure about that?” asked Arabella.

“Me? I am. I mean what the fuck, I wanna see what this place is!”

“Maybe there is a tavern,” Porco glanced cheekily at the little woman while he swiped the sweat off his forehead.

“I guess we can take a look,” said Chio.

“If you say so,” Arabella shrugged, and began descending on the slope. So far in their journey, she was usually on the front, leading the group.

As they approached the town, it became clearer and clearer that it's an abandoned place. The wooden buildings looked old, some were ruinous, many had broken or boarded windows, holes in their roofs, and so on.

“Hello?” Arabella hollered as they entered the dusty main street.

There was no answer, so they just continued walking inwards, with a bit of wariness.

“Friska, how old do you think these buildings are?” asked Porco.

“The architecture doesn't seem super old. I would say this place must have been built in the last century. Oh, look!” she pointed at one of the biggest buildings, a two-story one, must have been the town hall. It had a balcony above its entrance, held up by wooden pillars. On the corner of the railings of the balcony, two little carved angel statues were placed, one had a broken-off wing. “That's very Cesanitian.”

“Why?” asked Terry.

“I mean it's out of style these days, but they had many periods of being obsessed with angelic imagery. It's a trend that kind of comes and goes with them.”

Chio suddenly felt a bit self-conscious. She wasn't exactly used to the idea that people saw her kind as worship-worthy.

“Cesanitian settlers, huh?” Porco took his shirt off his head, and wiped his face in it. “I wonder what happened to them.”

“I guess we might just find out,” Arabella said, facing the other way. Chio followed her gaze, and got a little startled as she noticed the small humanoid straight up sprinting in their direction.

“Hey, slow down!” yelled Porco.

The little guy stopped some five meters away from them. He was about half as tall as an adult human, and his skin was brown – he was a goblin. He wore torn, dirty grey pants, no shirt, but also a faded red bow tie and an oversized black top hat held up by his large, pointy ears. Most notably though, he had a crossbow, a human-sized one, which he dragged after himself on the road. As he stopped, he aimed it at the group. His arms were shaky.

“Don't point that thing at us!” Arabella warned him, stepping forward threateningly.

Chio was sure her lover was considering transforming to defend them, so she quickly grabbed her arm to hold her back.

“I point my whacky stick to where I want!” the goblin screeched.

“What? We have nothing to give you, dude, just leave!”

“Insolence!” the goblin raged. “You barge into my town cocksure, like it all belongs to the great you, and then accuse ME of mischief? Oh, I know your greedy kind, you hole-stuffer, mouth-drooler, nail-hoarder carpetbaggers!” he was gesticulating frantically as he ranted, throwing his crossbow all over the place.

“We're not...” Friska tried to speak, but she was interrupted.

“You are too late, you fools! They've been here already, squeezing every bit of juice out of this goddam town. All that's left for you is this!” he fired his crossbow. Luckily, the arrow flew way over their heads.

“Bitch, you could have hurt us!” Arabella fumed, starting to walk towards the goblin angrily. “You want me to turn you into a mindless cunt? Huh? You want that?”

“A what now?” the little guy suddenly seemed startled as he stared up at the redhead towering over him.

Chio darted past her lover, gently pushing her aside. “We have no bad intentions, good sir! We are merely some peaceful travellers, we had no idea someone was still here in this place! We can leave if you want us to!”

“Oh. Why didn't you say so?”

Porco, who was watching them alongside Terry a bit farther back, burst out laughing.

“Hey, he shot a fucking crossbow at us! Is that funny to you, big guy?” Arabella crossed her arms and gave Porco a disapproving look. The young man gulped.

“R-right!” Chio snapped. “That was very not nice of you, sir! You can't just shoot at people without even giving them a chance to make their intentions clear!”

“All right, all right, I won't do it again!” the goblin promised. “Now, if you don't mind...” he turned around, but Friska was suddenly on his other side, and she took his hat off, flying back above the others, way out of reach for the little stranger.

“A bug girl?! Give it back!”

“I'm a fairy, you weirdo! Don't get ahead of yourself, you're out of shots now, so you better behave!”

The goblin's veiny eyeballs bulged out as he glared at Friska, but he stayed put.

“I have some questions for you,” said the fairy.

“Questions?”

“What is this place?”

“You want to know about... here?”

“You heard me! We had no idea that there is a whole town here.”

“Ah, I see how it is,” the goblin smiled creepily, straightened his back, and spread his arms out. “Welcome, weary travellers, welcome to the town of Copperdust! I'm handled by the name of Stefan Springs, and I'm the trusty major of this town!”

That's not a very goblin-like name, thought Friska.

“You can relax you knuckles, hide away in our cellars, or hunt some tumbleweed. Don't expect food though. I could spare a worm or two, but there isn't much.”

“That's fine, we... aren't hungry,” said Chio awkwardly. “Is there anyone else here?”

“Oh, you don't have to worry about the others, miss! You see, they all went insane!”

“That's promising,” Arabella commented.

“Is it?” asked the mayor. “I loath to disappoint, but they are not here anymore. They pranced off a long time ago.”

“Why, what happened here?” Friska asked.

“A lot of things. The story of Copperdust is not long, but quite thick. Come, let me show you around! Wait... may I get my head cover?”

The fairy tossed the hat down to him, and their tour around Copperdust began. As they followed the now merrily skipping Stefan down the main street, Friska quietly noted that it would be strange for a Cesanitian settlement to have a goblin major – the kingdom of Cesanitia overwhelmingly consisted of humans, so their rare non-human inhabitants usually weren't treated with the most respect, and that was doubly true for goblins.

“He is a fraud, isn't he?” asked Arabella. “Major my ass. Probably moved in as a freeloader once the town was already abandoned, and just acts almighty.”

“Might be genuinely delusional too,” Friska added. “I think he really believes himself to be the major. Pretty interesting, heh?”

“He is weird,” said Terry.

“But he doesn't seem to be a complete stranger to this place, does he?” Chio asked.

“Maybe he has been here for a while,” said the fairy. “We will see.”

First, they walked to the southern edge of the town, the opposite side from where they entered. Here, Stefan showed them a signpost that said 'Welcome to Copperdust'. He seemed to like the signpost quite a bit. He then showed them the forge, where according to him, the blacksmith hammered his own penis off.

“Oh my,” said Chio, glancing at their male companions with solidarity, as if it was them who got their privates hurt. “Why?”

“I couldn't say,” Stefan shrugged. “Who knows what went down in that spongy brain?”

The building was empty, even the old anvil was taken away. “So someone raided this town?” Arabella inquired.

“Oh, don't get me started! Once upon a moon, when this community got nice and empty, all you could smell here was quiet peace. Some folks wandered in, but they knew what respect was. And knew what fear was,” Stefan grinned menacingly. “But then the pirates came trotting in, and then those dunces from the west, then the pirates again.”

“Dunces from the west? Must be Newchance.”

“I don't know how old their chances were, but they had an ugly fat human with them. It was their leader.”

“Lazarus, I suppose,” said Friska.

“Anyhow, there is not much left in these houses now. But there are a few things still. Come! Let me show you!”

Next, they entered one of the dwellings, it seemed empty too, except for spider webs. But on the upper floor, there was a rather ugly picture of a kind of idiotic-looking female angel.

“Miss Guligang's art pieces always leave people stunned,” Stefan said delightfully. “I remember her working with great attention on the veranda all the time. She would scream at the top of her lungs if just a birdie flapped its wings too loud. Artists...” he chuckled.

“How long have you been living here alone?” asked Chio, ushering everyone out of the room. She kind of didn't want them to look at this embarrassing depiction of an angel for too long.

“As it was necessary. As the major, I have a duty to keep this town tidy and safe for as long as a single building sits here.”

“Was it years?” asked Friska.

“Time flies like a cactus in a sandstorm,” Stefan waved dismissively. “Come along now, my widewalkers! Let's go to the inn!”

Unfortunately, the wine casks in the tavern's cellar were empty too, which Friska was quite disappointed about. But there was a very old looking, creaking, out of tune piano in the building's main hall. The goblin played a chaotic little tune on it, which was bordering on resembling a legit song. They moved on.

“This is so weird...” Porco muttered as they kept following Stefan through the town.

“He is clearly out of his mind. I'm still not sure we should let him walk free,” said Arabella.

“Come on, he has no chance against us!” Friska argued. “Let's see what else he has to show us!”

“I feel sorry for him,” said Chio. “To be left here alone by his people...”

“Assuming he even was the major,” the succubus commented.

“Either way, he is all alone, that much is sure. I wonder if...”

But the Goblin stopped ahead of them, so they fell silent as they caught up to him. They were in front of a small house, one that wasn't made of wood like pretty much all the other buildings, but red bricks. Also, it had no windows.

“What's this?” asked Arabella.

“It's just where we kept our thingamajigs,” said Stefan. “It's special, because it was left locked for all this time. But I finally found they key!” he pulled a big, rusty key out of his pocket. “Wanna take a look?” He opened the door before anyone replied.

The place was actually full of things: furnitures, chairs stacked on each other, wooden boxes with various tools in them, they even saw another crossbow hanging on the wall. The little guy made a hand gesture as if to say 'after you', but there was barely enough space in there for all of them. Chio still stepped inside to look around, followed by Porco.

“The raiders couldn't enter this warehouse?” Friska asked.

“No, it was locked,” Stefan smiled, and leaned against the door, closing it accidentally. “Oops.”

“Hey!” Chio yelled from inside.

“What the...” Porco added.

The goblin tried to open the door again, but he struggled. He inserted the key in the lock and turned it back and forth ridiculously quickly, then pulled it out. “Huh.”

“Don't mess around, give me that!” Arabella extended a hand. The goblin dropped the key in her palm, and the woman turned to the door, attempting to unlock it. “Is this even the right key?”

“It must be!” Stefan nodded exceedingly.

“Let me try!” said Friska.

“You think I can't turn a key in a lock?” the succubus asked irritably.

“Wouldn't surprise me.”

“What you mean, wouldn't surprise you?!”

“Guys, not now!” Chio was heard from inside.

“Right...”

“Hey!” Terry yelled all of a sudden.

Somehow, Stefan managed to snatch his backpack (which was full of the fairy's stuff), and he began running away, with the same surprising speed as earlier, when he first approached them.

“You fucker!” yelled the fairy, dashing after him without though. Terry, who felt kind of guilty for letting his guard down, jogged after them.

“What happened?”, Chio asked.

“He stole one of our backpacks,” said Arabella, then she threw herself at the door a few times. “How is it so fucking solid? Dammit, I told you this guy was no good!”

“Just... go after them!” said Chio. “I'll get ourselves out!”

“Right. I will fuck him up big time.”

“Wait, no! He is a silly little guy, but he is still no real danger to us... probably. Please don't transform in front of him if you don't absolutely have to!”

“Okay, okay. Just if I have to.” Before the succubus ran off, she stopped for a moment. “Don't get handsy in there, you two! It would make me jealous.”

“We won't!” said Porco with a bit of a voice crack.

As they were left alone in the dark, packed room, Chio started radiating a warm, yellow light form one of her palms, creating a moody atmosphere. It was the same ability that had that healing quality to it.

“Oh yea, I forgot you can do that,” said Porco.

The angel glanced at him a bit shyly, then she turned to the door, extending her other arm towards it. The door shook in its frame, creaked, and the handle moved up and down wildly, but it did not open.

“Huh, that's weird.”

“Is this the power you tore my master to pieces with?” asked Porco.

Chio did not know what to say to that.

“I'm sorry. We are way over that shit now, you explained yourself. Uhm... you wanna try with two hands, maybe?”

“I don't know if that would make a difference, but...” she stopped letting out the yellow light and tried again, to no avail. Porco then kicked the door a few times, but of course it was useless. Chio put her palms together and turned her yellow light on again, then she sat down, resting her back against the wall.

“How is this even possible?” asked Porco as he sat down too. “What could withstand your power?”

“I... don't know. Must be some kind of magic,” Chio said. She looked kind of pale in the yellow light. “Maybe I shouldn't have asked Arabella to hold back after all...”

“Don't worry, they'll be fine!” said Porco. He too looked kind of pale.

The girl sighed.

“Are you claustrophobic?”

“A little.”

The man gulped. “There is no way we can't get out somehow, right? If that goblin could open the door once...”

“I'm sure we will be fine. The others will get us out.”

They fell silent.

 

Meanwhile, the goblin ran back to the main road, darting towards the town hall. Friska caught up to him and grabbed his hat off, but this time Stefan didn't seem to care that much.

“Stop, you idiot!” the fairy yelled. “There's some fragile stuff in there!”

The goblin reached inside the bag as he was sprinting, and threw a potion back at the little flying woman. She dodged it, and it landed past her, right in front of Terry. As the glass broke, several snakes materialised on the ground out of thin air. The boy stopped, blenched, then carefully walked around the snakes, trying to keep a distance from them.

“You asshole, that's some expensive stuff!” Friska fumed.

“Slap me if I care!” Stefan yelled.

“Oh I will slap you, dumbass!”

As the goblin reached the town hall's door, Friska caught up to him again, but he picked up a stick that was lying around, and tried to shoo her off like she was a mosquito.

“The fucking nerve!” the fairy cursed, backing off a bit.

As Terry got around the snakes, Arabella caught up to him: she simply jumped over the animals and hurried towards the thief. But Stefan dashed inside, and before he slammed the door shut behind himself, he threw another potion – this one didn't do anything, it was a bright-green one, the kind Friska used to dissolve the metal chains of that woman. As the door closed, the fairy darted to the handle immediately, but Stefan was holding it shut from the other side.

“Step aside,” said the succubus as she arrived, followed by the panting Terry. She opened the door with a single motion, and the goblin just stood there awkwardly for a moment, then turned around and run upstairs. On the balcony with the wooden angel statues, he was finally cornered.

“Stop struggling, idiot! I'm a succubus! Don't make me...”

Stefan screeched, climbed up the handrails, and launched himself towards the roof of the next, one story building. Surprisingly, he made it, backpack and all, even though the gap wasn't too small.

“Oh my god, didn't you hear her?!” yelled Friska. “What do you think you will achieve?”

The goblin stood up straight, and laughed like a villain. The others just watched him in disbelief.

“You can't spook me with empty words, womanoid! I have this bag full of magic now, you thought I couldn't sense it? I have the upper hand at last!”

“Bitch, you don't even know what that stuff is!” Friska raged.

“But I now you are shivering in your pants, now that I have it! Me, silly old Stefan Springs who can't even govern his town when he is alone in it, who gets pushed around by bullies on a whim. But who is powerless now? Huh?”

“Dude, this is the last chance for you to give that backpack back, or I really will fuck you up!” Arabella threatened.

“Maybe you shouldn't have called me toads behind my ears! You think I couldn't sense it? Doubting my authority when I gave you a warm welcome...”

“You welcomed us with a fucking crossbow!”

“It's too late now! Begone, or I'll show you my wrath!” Stefan reached into the bag again, and pulled out a little sack.

“Don't touch that!” Friska yelled.

“Ahha! It's power-up powder, isn't it? I knew it!”

“It's not...”

“Hey Terry, get back inside and close your eyes!” Arabella said, but before the boy could comply, the goblin grabbed a handful of the white powder, and stuffed it in his mouth.

Friska laughed. “Now he's done it!”

Stefan dropped the sack and the backpack too, and his body began to sway back and forth, right there on the edge of the building's flat roof. And then, he fell forward in quite the unfortunate way: he landed on his head. It didn't sound good.

“Ouch,” Friska said.

 

Trapped in the warehouse, Chio and Porco did their best to listen, trying to make out what was happening outside, but they only heard distant, inaudible shouting from time to time. The angel broke their silence at last.

“I noticed you seemed a bit... off today.”

“Yea. It's this damn heat.”

“Are you sure that's all it is? I mean, being with Arabella must have been quite intense too.”

Porco was a bit slow to reply. “To be honest, I was considering asking you a favor,” he said. “I want to avoid coming in contact with her everyday. Because... as you said, it's quite intense.”

“I can imagine.”

“Being with her is fucking amazing. So much so that it's a little scary. I told her that we should skip over at least every second day, just to make sure I won't get too addicted. She said sure, but kind of... snarkily. Like she expected me to change my mind eventually and just... fall down before her, maybe the very next day, begging for her touch. I think she was doubting my resolve.”

“Oh. Do you want me to talk to her?”

“Assuming we won't spend the rest of our lives locked in here...”

“Don't say that!”

“But I don't know, I kind of don't want her to think I ran to you crying for help. I just...”

“That's silly, Porco! It's about your mental health, it's no joke! There is nothing to be ashamed of, you are a man, and she is a sex-demon.”

“I know, I know, but still. If you could just promise to keep an eye on me... on us. Without telling her I asked you this, that would be great. Just... help me not lose myself. Help me stick to my own rule. I only want to be with her every second day, that's all.”

“All right. I will still talk to her too, but I won't tell her you told me about all this. She shouldn't be cruel with you. I'm sure she understands too, it's just that she gets carried away sometimes.”

“Thanks, Chio. You are a nice person, you know.”

The girl smiled faintly.

“There is one more thing though.” Porco seemed a bit hesitant. “I was just wondering if... if perhaps being with another girl, a regular one would help ease the frustration on my abstention days.”

“Oh.”

“You look pretty right now, with that light of yours. You look magical.”

The girl blushed, averted her gaze, but quickly looked back up. “You want me to...”

“But at the same time, I promised Terry that I will not do things like that with you,” he added quickly.

“You did?”

“The poor boy would be real jealous, and I can't blame him. Still, maybe just this once... he doesn't have to know...” he leaned closer to the angel, but she pulled away and raised a palm.

“If you promised, then we shouldn't.”

“Right,” Porco sat down again with his back against the wall, and sighed. “It's just the second fucking day out here, and I'm already such a mess.”

Chio stared at her radiating hands. “When I was a futanari, I was an absolute mess too. You have no idea. And it wasn't even just because of a singular person, it was my whole life at that point. I think I know very well how you feel.”

“But it's so good too!”

“Of course it is, that's the catch. And what a catch that is!”

“Ahhh...”

“I think... it will get a little easier over time. If you just get used to it, get your bi-daily routine down, I'm sure that time will help.”

“I hope so.”

“I respect your resolve. And I'm glad you told me how you feel. You can always talk to me, we are all in it together. We are a team!”

“Yea...”

“It's nice of you to think of Terry too. We shouldn't do anything sexual, but I can do this much.” The girl stopped her light-making with one hand, and put it on Porco's shoulder, gently caressing him. He shivered a bit, and then they just sat silently like that for a while in the moody angel-light. And Chio smiled, not so faintly this time.

 

As Arabella, Friska and Terry gathered around the body of the goblin, he began to twitch around, it looked kind of creepy. And then suddenly, his eyes opened wide.

“Wha... where am I?” he asked with a weak voice, almost whispering.

“You got yourself knocked out with my sleeping powder,” Friska stated. “Man, you really shouldn't try to move. Your neck... how do I put it...”

“It's crooked,” said the succubus.

“Huh? Knocked myself... oh. He did it. He messed up, didn't he?”

“What are you talking about?” Arabella asked.

“The ghost! The major... he possessed me for so long...”

“A ghost?”

“That sort of makes sense,” said the fairy. “I guess the impact kicked him out of your body.”

“He is... insane. I was barely conscious all this time... like a fever dream... I don't know how long... I'm dying, right? Is this the end?”

“Sorry, bud, but I think so,” said Arabella. She considered mentioning that they have a girl with them who may be able to heal him, if only this mad major-ghost didn't lock her in a house. But she would rather not mess with the poor guy more.

“I... don't know who you are...” the goblin panted, “but if you could just find my... his nest... it's below one of the houses, the one with the weird painting.”

“Miss Guligang's?” asked Friska.

“There is some stuff there... my father's old watch should be there still... I set out to find it a long time ago. If you could ever give it to my half-brother, he would know... that I made up for my mistake...”

“We will give it to him!” Terry promised unexpectedly.

“Thank you. He is a half-goblin... called Borg.”

“Seriously?” Arabella was surprised.

“What, you know him?” asked Friska.

“Not too well, but there was a half-goblin named Little Borg in the mercenary group that helped us out back in the day.”

“Little... Borg...” the goblin smiled painfully. “Oh... here!” he pulled a key out of his pocket. “Isn't it... important?”

The redhead grabbed it: it was nearly identical to the one she still had, the one the goblin pretended to struggle opening the warehouse with.

“That tricksy motherfucker... uhm, thanks!”

“Farewell cruel world...” the goblin whispered, and closed his eyes.