WIEDERGEBURT Act IV: Chapter 6

“You saved me, my caravan, and my goods from certain death! Please be sure to eat as much as you want!”

I was pretty sure Alshams would come to regret those words during the course of our meal, but right now, he had just earned Lin’s approval with those few words.

“This princess will be more than happy to take you up on your offer!”

Kari bowed her head toward the man. “Thank you for your kindness. We are very grateful to you.”

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness,” Fay added.

“Thanks.” Siv didn’t have much to say, and I was sure she’d rather say nothing, but she at least had the sense of mind to offer her thanks.

“Not at all,” Alsham said, wearing a grand smile. “I am happy I can serve the people who rescued me and my caravan from certain death.”

I didn’t know if this man would have really died from those Sand Sharks. He was at the Third State of Spiritualism, which meant even an A-rank Demon Beast might not be able to defeat him, but I at least recognized that he probably would have died under the constant onslaught of Demon Beasts that attacked during the journey back. I also wasn’t going to be a stickler about this. There was a time for humility. Now wasn’t that time.

All of us were sitting around a low table, which only came up to about our knees, meaning we had to sit on the floor and eat. Fortunately, there were plenty of cushions for the five of us. I was sitting close to the head of the table. I think that had been done with the purpose of allowing Alshams to address me. On my right was Kari, Fay, Siv, and Lin in that order.

Lin had complained about being stationed at the end, but it couldn’t be helped. Her tail was just so big there’d be no room for the others if she sat beside me.

Alshams’ family sat on the other side. I had already been introduced to this three wives, two sons, and two daughters.

The tallest of his wives was Cleopatra. Her dark skin was complemented by long silver hair. I could tell her hair color was something she’d been born with and not something she gained from age. She was the only person I knew from the Endless Desert who had a hair color that differed from the standard black.

After her was Lapis, the youngest of the Alshams’ wives. There wasn’t anything about her I’d call unique. However, she was the first one who had gotten over her fear of Lin and greeted us cordially. She either had a very strong character or was the least concerned about being attacked. Either way, it earned her bonus points with me.

Last was Net. She was the quietest of the group, a silent beauty who had the largest bust and spoke the least. I didn’t know if it was because of us, or if she always acted like this, but her cold personality made it hard to feel any desire to speak with her.

Alshams’ four children were the easiest to get a long with. I wasn’t surprised. Children were more accepting of others than adults--provided they hadn’t been corrupted. Which reminded me, of all his children, the least accepting of Lin was their eldest daughter, Rania, who even now was glowering at Lin like she’d committed a personal crime against her.

Several servants had come in and set plates filled with all kinds of food on the table. The scent from so many different foods, all of which actually looked delicious, filled the air and caused Lin’s and Siv’s stomachs to rumble.

The first dish we were served was called Koshari, and it was a layering of rice, macaroni, lentils, and chickpeas topped off with caramelized onions, thick red sauce, and garlic sauce. It was an interesting mix, but I couldn’t deny its flavor. This dish was fairly common among street vendors. However, whatever the chefs had done for this meal made it taste much better than normal vendor food.

There was also the Mahshi, which was really just vegetables with a rice filling. There were zucchinis, eggplants, bell peppers, tomatoes, cabbage leaves, and grapevine leaves. The filling was rice, herbs like parsley, cilantro, and fill, tomato sauce with seasonings and a hint of cinnamon. There were also a few that had been filled with minced meat. This dish turned out to be Fay’s favorite.

The next dish was called shawarma--another popular street food. It was made from chicken with a blend of spices unique to the Endless Desert. The meat was cooked vertically on a spit with the fat melting from the top and drizzling down the meat, then it was shaved off and presented in a wrap. They hadn’t wrapped it here. You just scooped it up from a bowl and put it onto your plate.

The last dish was a type of orange curry. It had a bold and spicy flavor, which Siv didn’t like at all, but Kari adored it. Even now, she was struggling not to eat with the same… um… refinement as Lin, who liberally scarfed her food down like her stomach was a bottomless pit.

Out of all my wives, the two who were the most refined was Fay and Siv. Kari knew etiquette, but I think because she’d been forced to act like a refined princess for so long, she prefered not displaying it unless she had no choice. She was at least doing a good job of seeming polite here. Even so, I could tell from how her hands shook that she was struggling not to shove her spoon into her mouth with gusto.

“Tell me, young Eryk, how did you and your wives get to be so strong?” asked Alshams.

“It is possible to get this strong by facing adversity,” I said with a smile. “The five of us have found ourselves in dangerous situations time and time again. Many of those times, death had come to claim us, but we beat it back each time, growing stronger as a result.”

Raul was sitting on Fay’s lap as we ate. He tried to grab at some of the food his mom was eating, but she deftly kept it out of his reach. This didn’t stop the boy from trying. That probably explained why Fay had begun playing a game of keepaway with our son, much to the little boy’s delight.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye one of the boys, their eldest, looking at Fay with lust in his eyes. The youngest child was staring at Siv’s dragon wings. This, of course, caused Siv to blush and attempt to retract her wings so no one could stare at them--or her.

“So it’s strength gained from necessity?” I merely smiled as the man posed the question, allowing him to create his own conclusions. “Either way, gaining that kind of strength at your age is very impressive. I didn’t reach the Third State of Spiritualism until I was in my forties. Perhaps if I had reached it when I was younger, I’d look the same age as you.”

“I don’t know if that would be a good thing… I rather like the way you are now,” Lapis stated, only to slap her mouth shut.

“Lapis!” Cleopatra scolded her youngest sister wife.

“It is quite all right.” Alshams waved a hand as if to ward off his eldest wife’s anger. “Lapis has always been a rather free spirit. That’s part of the reason I married her.”

“Besides, Darling doesn’t mind if you speak up,” Lin added. “It’s boring when only two people are talking.”

While Cleopatra looked like someone had shoved something long and hard up her butt, Lapis clapped her hands together once and smiled.

“If my dear’s savior does not mind it, then I do not see a problem with me speaking out of turn,” she said.

Cleopatra stewed in what appeared to be boiling rage.

I never had much to do with the nobles in my past life, so I didn’t learn a lot about them back then. Kari and I had remained on the fringe of society. We acted as mercenaries, taking missions for money. We had once or twice acted as escorts for a member of the nobility. Yet even then, we only took those missions when the person we were escorting was a woman. I didn’t want to chance some overly horny man getting weird ideas in their head and attempting to court Kari.

That explained why I didn’t know much about noble culture here in the Endless Desert. It seemed society in the Endless Desert was a Patriarchy instead of a Meritocracy like Nevaria. Here, skill did not necessarily determine who had power. It was all about bloodline and gender.

A good example was this family, the Shuruqs. I wouldn’t say they were a bad family, but Alshams already spoke of how his eldest son, Amen, was going to become the head of this family. This was despite the fact that his eldest daughter was not only older but also more powerful. From what I could see, Rania had already reached the Second State of Spiritualism. Meanwhile, Amen didn’t appear to have even reached the First State of Spiritualism yet.

It was entirely possible that Amen would eventually surpass his sister, but I could tell from the callouses on Rania’s hands that she wasn’t some damsel who sat around and did nothing. She had combat training. Oddly enough, her father and mothers seemed unaware of it.

Conversation continued and Alshams asked me about my travels. I decided to be bold and let Kari talk about how journeys through the Demon Beast Mountain Range. She explained all of the ruins we had discovered, spoke of what she believed their origins might be, and also told them about the demon beasts we had fought. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.

For his part, Alshams actually seemed interested in what Kari was saying, which boosted my opinion of him. I didn’t know if he knew I was testing him. However, he passed with flying colors. He seemed to truly not mind that I was “letting a woman speak over me.” Cleopatra, on the other hand, glared at Kari like she had committed a capital offense.

“That sounds so exciting,” Lapis said, hands clasped together. “I would love to explore all those places you spoke of.”

“The Demon Beast Mountain Range is a big place,” Kari said. “Even now, the people of Nevaria are still exploring it. We don’t even truly know how big it is.”

“I understand completely. The Endless Desert is also a big place,” Lapis stated, nodding several times. “I don’t think there’s a person alive who has managed to explore it in its entirety.”

As Kari and Lapis found some common ground, I looked over at Lin at the far end of the table. Since she was placed so far away, she seemed to have decided on eating away her sorrow; I eyed the massive stack of plates she had set off to one side. It looked like she’d eaten her weight in food.

Lin weighed over 226 kilograms.

The children--save Rania--seemed impressed by my wife’s ability to pack food away.

“I wonder where it all goes,” Gamal, their youngest child, pondered out loud.

“Who knows,” Kamilah muttered. She was their second youngest at eleven. “Maybe it goes to her tail?”

I was sure dinner would have continued, but at that moment, a man burst into the room, gasping for breath. It was Zane. His bare chest covered in sweat, he looked like he’d run several hundred kilometers under the scorching sun.

“What is the meaning of this, Zane?” asked Alsham, his face growing dark at the interruption.

“M-my apologies… my lord…” Zane gasped for breath as he knelt and bowed his head in humble servitude. “L-Lord Osiris… from… from the Malik Family… has arrived… he’s… he’s right outside your gate…”

“What?!”

Not only did Alshams’ face go pale, but the faces of all three of his wives had become considerably lighter as well, like the blood was draining from them. However, none of his family could outdo Rania. Her face had gone completely white--impressive considering how dark her skin was. And yet, even though she looked like she’d just seen death staring her in the face, her eyes remained locked on Zane. Similarly, I noticed that Zane, despite bowing his head reverently to Alshams, was looking at the man’s daughter and not him.

Interesting.

***

Alshams had his servants escort us to the room we’d be staying in. I had a feeling he did not want this Osiris character finding out about us.

This villa had a large guestroom meant for entertaining other nobles, though I was told by the servants that it was mostly used for distant relatives who had come to visit.

The guest room was not as large as our bedroom in Nevaria, which I’d say was maybe two times bigger, but this room did feature a massive bed that was large enough to fit all of us--even when accommodating for Lin’s several meter long snake tail. This room was located on the second floor, accessed via a ramp.

Raul had been placed inside of a crib and was soundly sleeping, Kari and Fay were sitting together on the edge of the bed, Siv was staring into Raul’s crib, and Lin was sprawled on the bed like a lazy snake basking in the sun. I was seated on a devan. The soft pillows underneath my butt were comfortable enough that I could probably sleep here if I so chose.

“That Alshams guy sure left in a hurry,” Fay said. “I wonder what is going on between him and that Lord Osiris?”

“If we consider how both families are nobles, I suspect there might be some political pressuring or an attempted backdoor deal that Alshams doesn’t want anyone knowing about.” Kari bit her thumb in thought. “I know it’s none of our business, but I’m really curious to know about the situation. What is going on between those two?”

“I won’t lie and say I’m not also curious, but please remember that what happens here has nothing to do with us,” Fay said. “We shouldn’t get involved.”

Kari rolled her eyes. “I know that. I never said I was going to get involved. I just said I want to know more about the situation. Surely there’s nothing wrong with expressing my curiosity.”

“You expressing curiosity is the same as stating you plan to find out more about whatever has made you curious, which could land us in trouble.”

“That’s a very harsh judgement.”

“This princess doesn’t care what happens to these people at all.” Lin pouted as she placed her hands on the bed and pushed herself up. She’d stripped off her shirt the moment we were in private, so her modest chest was on full display, light pink nipples not even hidden by her long black hair. “Those idiots look at this princess like she’s a disease just because she’s a lamia. She has never met a group of ruder humans.”

“Well… humans and lamia are constantly fighting for resources here,” Kari said. “Lamia have been known to kill and enslave humans before. Even Eryk was once kidnapped by the lamia once before. They planned on using him as a Spiritual Power Source to help create a strong child.”

“What?! When did this happen?!”

While Lin was the one who shouted, Siv and Fay also looked at Kari and me in shock. We had never told them about this. To be fair, there had never been a good time to bring it up, and it honestly didn’t matter.

“It happened in our previous life,” Kari said.

Lin placed a hand against her chest and sighed. “Don’t scare this princess like that. She thought some lamia skank from this life had really tried turning him into a power source.” She paused and tilted her head. “Though now she’s curious to know why they would need something like that?”

“I really couldn’t say.” Kari shrugged and looked at me.

“It had something to do with using my Spiritual Power to nourish the queen’s unborn child,” I answered. “I don’t know much more than that.”

“The queen’s unborn child, huh?” Lin murmured, then fell silent.

I shared a look with Kari and Fay, though neither of them seemed to understand Lin’s sudden emotional shift anymore than I did. Well, I suppose not even women could always understand other women with complete accuracy.

Just then, a sudden knock echoed throughout the room.

“Excuse me,” a voice said.

The door opened and a female servant suddenly walked in. I was very glad it wasn’t a manservant because they would have gotten a glimpse at Lin’s almost naked body--and I would have no choice but to kill them. The maidservant looked at our group, bowed once, and then spoke.

“Lord Osiris has just left. I have been informed by Lord Alshams to let you know that you have been given permission to freely roam around the villa. However, there are some sections that are restricted. Namely, Master Alsham’s bedroom, his wives’ bedroom, the storehouse, and the kitchens are off-limits.”

“Why are the kitchens off limits?” Lin asked.

“You eat too much,” Siv said.

“You eat just as much as this princess does!”

“I have never been able to explore the villa of a noble from the Endless Desert.” Kari sat up, stretched her arms above her head, and offered a hand to Fay. “Will you go exploring with me?”

“If I must,” Fay said with a sigh, though the smile on her face belied her reluctance.

She placed her hand in Kari’s, allowing the other girl to pull her to her feet, and the two of them left together, with Kari chatting about how excited she was to explore a noble’s villa.

“Since those two have gone off to explore on their own, would you to like to explore with me?” I asked, looking at Lin and Siv.

Siv shook her head. “I’ll stay here.”

I didn’t try to argue against her staying in the room. Someone had to watch after Raul, and I also knew that Siv was still very shy and didn’t like meeting new people. We had tried to break her of her shyness. Nothing we did worked. It had reached a point where the four of us--me, Kari, Fay, and Lin--had come to the conclusion that this was just an intricate part of Siv’s nature, something that would likely never change, and so we decided to accept it rather than force change upon her.

“This princess would love to go with you,” Lin said as she slipped her shirt back on, climbed off the bed, slithered over to me, and wrapped both her arms around one of mine. “That said, it is very cold this late in the evening. This princess will be relying on you to keep her warm.”

“I have no problem doing this,” I said before channeling the fire element through my body. My skin immediately warmed up, rising in temperature, and Lin sighed as she leaned into me.

Siv waved at us as we left the room, though her eyes didn’t leave the crib with Raul in it. We waved back before closing the door behind us and traveling down the ramp.

While this villa did have many rooms, a good portion of it was very open, making it a lot different from estates and mansions found in Nevaria or the Northern Plains. Perhaps as a result of the rooms being more open, there were a lot more columns being used as support instead of mere decoration. All the columns were red and had aesthetically appealing designs on the top, flower motifs and plant leaves that extended past the pillar or curved outward.

We passed a few maidservants and manservants during our walk. While many of them paled and moved out of the way, they were at least polite enough to bow when we walked past them. It didn’t forgive them for looking so afraid when they saw Lin. At the same time, I couldn’t blame them. Unlike the people of Nevaria, who had never seen a lamia before Lin, the lamia were basically their version of buemann--a mythical creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior.

Since there wasn’t much to see inside, we decided to travel outside. We hadn’t been able to view the entire area surrounding the villa. It looked like, aside from an animal pen where they raised cattle and a garden with a pool, there was also a training courtyard where people could practice. It was empty now.

Lin’s eyes lit up.

She turned to me.

I could already see where this was going.

“Darling…”

“Come on.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her into the courtyard.

The courtyard used for training was composed of an open room surrounded by columns. There was no roof and no walls. That said, each column was a towering monstrosity of at least a four or five meters. They weren’t intricately decorated like the ones inside of the villa. They were just massive slabs of stone shaped like cylinders.

“It looks like no one is here.” Lin’s mischievous eyes glittered as she looked at me. “This princess believes we should take advantage of our first time being alone in forever.”

“What a coincidence,” I began. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”

I pushed Lin against one of those stone columns. She yelped as the cool stone touched her bare skin, but that sound was muffled when I hampered her lips with my mouth. A loud noise like a mixture of hiss and moan escaped our pressed lips. My dick was already at full mast as I pushed my hips into her, rubbing my cock against her through my clothes.

There was a moment where Lin fumbled with my belt, but then she undid the belt and pushed my pants down until they were around my ankles. My dick felt a slight chill before Lin’s warm fingers wrapped around it. As she stroked my shaft, I slipped a hand underneath her skirt and pressed my fingers against her pussy lips. They were already a little plump. I wondered if she’d been anticipating this, or if she was just horny because we haven’t had sex since this journey started.

I loved traveling with my family, but I would admit it was hard to have sex when there was a baby around. It didn’t help that Siv and Fay, except for special occasions (Fay could only be coerced into it by Kari), didn’t much care for having group sex. Kari enjoyed it, Lin was all for it, but those two were reluctant to engage in orgies of any kind. They preferred spending time with me one on one.

Drool leaked past our lips as Lin shoved her tongue into my mouth. I could feel it traveling down my chin, running along my jaw, and creating a trail down my throat. Lin must have too. She removed her tongue and mouth from mine. However, that was only so she could begin licking the drool off my skin. She started from my collar bone and worked her way up, trailing her tongue across my neck, the underside of my chin, and then plunging her tongue back into my mouth.

She ground her hips against my hand as I finger fucked her, slowly gyrating her body like the belly dancers you could sometimes find in noblemen’s bars in the Endless Desert. Her juices leaked onto my hand as I rubbed my thumb against her clit. It was already engorged. When I pinched it between my fingers, it twitched several times.

“Darling… Darling… I want… more… ha… ah! P-please!”

There was no way I could possibly resist her, not when she used that insistent tone and looked at me with those half-lidded eyes. Those eyes filled with lust were like seductive gemstones. They turned my body into an inferno like I’d reached the Third State of Spiritualism with fire.

I pulled her shirt up, exposing her breasts to the cold night air. Her nipples were already stiff. Goosebumps dotted her skin. I leaned down and began licking her chest. I didn’t just pay attention to her nipples. I covered her breasts in saliva, trailing my tongue across her dark skin before sucking a nipple into my mouth and swirling it around.

“Hrrrn! Hrrrn! Hssss!”

Lin hissed as she wrapped her only remaining free arm around my head. She was still using the other hand to rub my cock, which twitched in her grasp. Spurred on by the feeling of her fingers twining through my hair, I gently gripped her nipple between my teeth and tugged on it.

“Darling! That… ha… that feels sssshhhooo good!”

As she hissed out her feelings, drool leaked down her lips as her tongue hung from her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her breathing was heavy, shoulders heaving, sweat clinging to her skin. I made sure to lick up all the sweat I could, enjoying the salty taste.

A pressure built up inside of my abdomen. I was gonna cum soon. At the same time, Lin had entwined her snake tail around my legs, though she controlled her strength so my legs wouldn’t become locked together. That would have resulted in a rather embarrassing fall. Yes, I was very glad Lin had learned how to control her strength during sex.

However, just before the two of us were about to cum all over each other’s hands, voices echoed from the other side of the courtyard.

It was like someone had dropped a bucket of cold water on us.

“D-Darling! Someone is coming! What do we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what do we do?’ Let’s put our clothes back on and hide!”

Despite the fact that my dick was still harder than a dragon’s horn, I pulled up my pants and tightened my belt. Lin readjusted her shirt and skirt. Then the two of us quickly hid behind a column as footsteps reached our ears. We remained silent, trying to still our heavy breathing as we pressed ourselves to the column.

I wondered who would be out this late at night. Could some of the maidservants and manservants be meeting for a secret rendezvous? I wouldn’t be surprised. Men and women in service to a noble they might be, but everyone got horny sometimes. They needed some release too.

However, when Lin and I peeked out from behind the column, my hypothesis was dashed.

Standing together, hugging each other as though their lives depended on it, was none other than Zane and Ronia.