WIEDERGEBURT Act II Chapter 24

The assault on the front gate of Hovebrann had been launched. Hreidmar stood at the head of his army, small though it was, and charged toward the gate with an unrelenting battlecry. Erica and Tungsten charged alongside him. Their longer legs allowed them to easily keep stride of the much shorter and stouter Dwoergs.

Of course, the Sekbeists defending the gate had no intention of letting them charge right up to their front door. Arrows flew through the air and rained down on the charging army, but they were fortunately all blown away when Tungsten spun his battle ax and generated a massive gust of wind. When the Sekbeists saw this, they attacked with something else—a weapon that looked like a large crossbow and a strange weapon that used a swinging arm-like extension to throw projectiles threw the air. Everything from massive bolts like spears to giant boulders were launched at the charging Dwoergs.

It was fortunate the attacking group was so small. Had this been a large army, I was sure many Dwoergs would have been killed, their bodies crushed or impaled. Since the group was so small, barely numbering over 200 or so, they were able to avoid the larger weapons. However, just as we had expected, even after reaching the gate, they could go no further and were forced entirely on the defensive.

“We should begin moving,” I said to my partner.

Kari stood beside me and watched the charge. The two of us were located several kilometers from where the battle was taking place. We weren’t wearing any camouflage to hide ourselves, but it wasn’t like there was anything we could use to hide in this rocky desert anyway. It was just a plain of dirt and rocks that stretched out for kilometers.

“You’re right,” Kari said. “It looked like the Sekbeists are all gathering near the gate. Now is the perfect time to sneak in.”

“It’s too bad that crimson sky makes doing a night raid impossible,” I sighed as he began moving. “This would have been so much easier under the cover of darkness.”

“Well, we just have to work with what we’ve got,” Kari replied. I sighed again.

The two of us used the Flash Step to close the distance with the massive rampart that kept Hovebrann isolated. Since the distance between us and the gate was so far, about two kilometers, it meant our figures would appear and disappear every time we took a step. Had anyone been looking in our direction, I was sure they would have assumed we were mirages. At least, that was my hope.

Hope or not, it seemed no one noticed our approach. We soon reached the rampart, which I realized only now that I was standing under it that it was much larger than I’d initially suspected. I placed one hand against one of the massive bricks used to make up the wall. It was about the size of my torso.

“This must be at least 15 meters tall,” I murmured.

The average human was between 1.5 and 2 meters in height, which meant this wall was about eight to nine people tall. We could still climb it. However, the stone surface was a bit smoother than I had expected, which meant there probably weren’t any footholds. That meant…

“Kari?” I turned to her.

“Hm.” Kari hummed as she gazed up at the tops of the rampart, and then shook her head. “I can’t climb this without gear, which we don’t have.”

“I assumed as much. Then…”

“Yes.”

Having received her permission, I scooped Kari into my arms, carrying her as one might a princess. As she wrapped her arms around my neck, I channeled Spiritual Power into my feet. Pure energy changed into lightning. Arcs of electricity danced around my soles, spreading across the ground. Once the power had stabilized, I took a step forward…

And then shot up the wall.

One step. Two steps. Three. Four. Keeping my body bent, I used the Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step, to ascend the wall. This technique, which I had created after the battle at Jordiskger, merely combined the Flash Step with the lightning element. Doing so exponentially increased the speed at the price of increasing the consumption of Spiritual Power. Even I could only use it for about five minutes.

Fortunately, it only took about two seconds to reach the top of the rampart. The walkway I now stood on was about two meters wide and who knew how long. It had a slight curve as it encircled Hovebrann. Setting Kari on the walkway, the two of us set off, keeping a wary eye out for any Sekbeists that might not be at the gate.

It really did seem like most of the Sekbeists were distracted by Hreidmar’s charge at the gate, but all that meant was we didn’t run into trouble until we got closer to our destination. Once we reached that point, the two of us hid behind one of the unused weapons—one that looked like a giant crossbow—and peeked out from around it.

There were dozens or maybe even hundreds of Sekbeists clamoring together near the area by the gate, which was marked by a pair of massive watchtowers. Most of them were loading bolts into these strange contraptions, but quite a few were also throwing rocks or shooting arrows over the rampart and into Hreidmar’s army. Thus far, it looked like they had been unsuccessful in actually hitting the group, but it would only be a matter of time before all that running caused our allies to tire out. Then they would be sitting ducks.

“How should we do this?” Kari wondered.

“I think I should charge in with my newest attack, and then I want you to pick off any stragglers before they can attack me. We’ll mow them down, move toward the gate, and open it,” I said. “There should be a lever or some kind of pulley system to open the gate.”

Kari thought for a moment, then nodded. “That works for me.”

“Then let’s do this.”

I stepped out from behind the massive weapon and channeled more Spiritual Power into my body, transforming it into lightning and charging it through my entire body. It was almost like I was activating Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step, but I wasn’t just channeling Spiritual Power to my feet.

Before long, an itchy feeling spread across my body as I changed into a being of pure lightning. The Sekbeists had only noticed me just now, as pale arcs of blue power shot from my body, but it was already too late by then. Just as a loud squawking emerged from the throats of our enemies, I moved.

It happened in an instant. One moment, I was standing before Kari, and the next I was next to the watchtower on this side of the gate. I turned around to see the destruction I’d wrought. The stone floor was scorched. Numerous Sekbeists were lying on the ground as lightning covered their bodies, writhing in agony as their insides were fried by my attack.

All the Sekbeists that had been on the walkway, a total of probably 50 or so, were dead, but there were plenty that hadn’t been on the walkway. They were standing on a staircase behind it. While the Grunts squawked and shrieked, several Elites snarled.

“What is his kind doing here?! Kill him!”

As the Grunts and Elites charged up the stairs, Kari appeared from behind the giant crossbow and raced forward. She spun her ranseur and twisted her body around in a dance. With each spin of her weapon, a sphere of pure light appeared, which then transformed into a lance of energy.

Sixteen lances appeared in total before she sent them sailing into the crowd of enemies. These lances were made from the light element, so they didn’t just pierce Kari’s foes. They evaporated the areas they struck, blowing holes clean through the chests of Sekbeists and continuing on to kill more. Sekbeists, massive holes in their chests, fell backwards on the stairs or off the sides and onto the ground below. Only the Elites managed to survive. They had the sense of mind to avoid her Spiritual Techniques.

However, just as they were about to attack again, I reached behind my back, my fingers curling around the Dragon’s Tail Ruler. This weapon had no sheathe. I was unsure of how it stuck to my back, but it remained there until I channeled my Spiritual Power through it.

Once the weapon was unlocked, I swing it forward, the segments separating and shooting toward my enemies like the tail of a dragon. A chain of blue lightning kept the segments from flying off in random directions. I controlled the Dragon’s Tail Ruler with this lightning, impaling several of the Elites through the chest before they could dodge. A few did try, but they were on a staircase, which made it hard to move out of the way. The ones that escaped impalement were flung off the stairs when I made the Dragon Tail Ruler swat them away like gnats.

With a swing of my arms, the Sekbeists impaled upon the Dragon’s Tail Ruler were flung off. They hit the stairs, the ground, and the roofs of buildings below, their smoking bodies twitching. The lightning flowing through my weapon not only kept the segments linked together, it also electrocuted my enemies.

“Let’s move!” Kari shouted as she raced down the stairs.

“I’m right behind you!”

I ran up to the ledge of the rampart and jumped onto the staircase below, following Kari as she continued to run. We reached the bottom of the stairs. The massive gate, a gleaming thing made of something that looked like obsidian, loomed over us. We glanced around and discovered there were chains traveling from top to bottom on either side of the gate.

“There must be a pulley system inside of the watchtowers,” I said.

“And judging from the two chains, it probably requires two people to open,” Kari added.

She and I glanced at each other, our minds as one, and then we nodded and each went into a separate watchtower. Kari entered the one on this side, while I entered the one on the other side.

The one I entered had more enemies. They swarmed down the stairs and tried to attack me, but I swung my weapon and sent arcs of lightning shooting everywhere, blasting Sekbeists off their feet. A quick glance around revealed this spiral staircase had two directions: Up and down. Given what I’d seen of the pulley from the outside, I could only assume the lever was located beneath me.

I went down, fighting my way as I descended. The narrow space meant I couldn’t use the Dragon’s Tail Ruler. I placed it on my back again and used my bare fists and elemental powers. I created a blade of lightning in one hand and a water one in the other, swinging them with controlled yet reckless actions.

A rusted sword was cleaved in two when I swung my blade of lightning. The Sekbeist didn’t have time to be surprised before I carved him open from his left shoulder to his right hip, blood spurting from the wound and covering the stairs. I hopped over the slick substance and threw my lightning blade at the next enemy, impaling them through the throat. As they died, I kicked them in the face, sending them into the group of Sekbeists behind him. My enemies tumbled down the stairs and I picked them off one by one.

This continued until I reached the bottom.

The bottom floor was wider than I expected, which explained why there were so many Sekbeists. A vast and empty space spread out before me. As I looked around, I found a wheel-rod axis, a lever in which a wheel acted as the force-arm and a rod-axis as the load-arm. It stood embedded into the ground, and chains wrapped around the thick rod.

I went up to it and began turning the lever. As I did, a loud grating noise echoed inside of the room as the chains wound tightly around the rod began easing. A cranking sound followed the noise. I continued turning the lever until it refused to turn anymore, and then climbed back up the stairs and emerged from the watchtower.

Kari emerged from the other tower at about the same time I did. She glanced at me, and then we both looked at the gate—a gate that was no longer closed. A closer glance revealed that the gate appeared to be located underneath the floor, so I guess that meant the levers pulled the gate down rather than lowering them like a drawbridge.

More importantly, with the gate now open, the Dweorg army began pouring in. Hreidmar, Erica, and Tungsten were at the front of the group. They all stopped near me. Hreidmar was grinning beneath his beard.

“Ye did good.” He slammed a hand into our backs, causing us to stumble. These Dwoergs were small, but they had a fierce strength. “Now the real battle begins.”

As if his words were prophetic, a loud horn echoed from somewhere deeper in the city. I couldn’t tell where it came from. However, as this happened, Sekbeists began appearing from between the buildings that surrounded the mountain in droves. They came out from behind buildings, hopped over roofs, and walked down the streets. There were so many I couldn’t even count.

“Dolug, Brulor, and Jadouc! Split up yer forces and lead these foul creatures on a grand chase! Bezet, Safrud, and Throrgouck! Head over to where our fellow Dwoergs are being imprisoned and rescue them! When you are all finished here, meet up at the gates to the palace!”

The six Dwoerg commanders who had been present during the war council unleashed a ferocious battlecry as they took their men and charged into the Sekbeist ranks. Given how outnumbered they were, I assumed their actions were foolish. They weren’t Spiritualists. However, just as this thought crossed my mind, the Runes on their weapons and armor began to glow.

“That’s—!”

My eyes widened as the Dwoergs crashed into the Sekbeists, their weapons cleaving through their foes with ease. One Dwoerg swung his battleax, severing a Sekbeist’s legs from his torso. As the two halves slid apart, he kicked the dead creature in the chest with enough power to send it crashing into several more Sekbeists. Another Dwoerg attacked with a warhammer, slamming it into the ground with so much force that the stone road collapsed. The Sekbeist unfortunate enough to be struck was turned into a bloody pulp. Meanwhile, the surrounding enemies were sent flying away. Most of them crashed into walls or their fellow Sekbeist. A few landed in such a way that I could tell they were dead at a single glance. 

The Dwoerg forces smashed straight through the Sekbeists and then split up. Their enraged enemies howled and gave chase, also splitting their forces apart.

“Come on.” Hreidmar gestured for us to follow him.

Still shocked by what we had just witnessed, we followed behind as the Dwoerg King led us toward the secret passage that would grant access to the mountain palace. 

***

Everyone packed up their tents the next day and headed out at Catalyna’s instructions.

Our formation was the same as last time, with Catalyna and Marko in front, the water affinity Spiritualists surrounded by guards in the middle, and my group taking up the rear. There were only two Spiritualists aside from myself who had a water affinity. One of them was a young man who looked to be about 24 or 25. The other was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s.

This valley was mostly an open plain consisting of grass. The grass only came up to our shins, so it wasn’t high enough to offer any cover from flying Demon Beasts. A few boulders were strewn along the path. There were also several copses of trees, such as the area we’d camped out in the previous night. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this valley was the river running through the center and the giant mountains on either side.

I glanced at the mountains separating this valley from the rest of the land, gazing as far up as my eyes could see. I had no idea how high the peaks were. The clouds covering them kept me from seeing the very top.

“We’ll have to be careful of flying Demon Beasts,” I said.

Kari nodded. “I heard these two mountains are home to Pteranodons. They’re C-rank Demon Beasts of the reptilian variety. They have a two meter long wingspan and attack from the sky, swooping down to nab their prey. Their feet are covered in sharp claws that are able to tear through even steel. While they are listed as C-rank Demon Beasts, they often hunt in packs, which increases their threat level to B-rank. Sometimes they might have a Greater Pteranodon leading them, further increasing them to an A-rank threat.”

“You certainly know a lot about these Demon Beasts.” Lin was staring at Kari in admiration. “This princess is impressed.”

Giving the other girl a beaming smile, Kari said, “Thanks. I’ve done a lot of studying about the Demon Beasts who live in the Demon Beast Mountain Range.”

While Kari and Lin spoke about Pteranodons and how to combat them, Fay wandered up to me with a wary look.

“Is it really safe for us to be wandering through this valley like this?” she asked.

Not turning my head to look at the girl, who I could see out of my peripheral vision, I said, “it’s fine. While this seems dangerous, this valley doesn’t have that many Demon Beasts living here. The Pteranodons make their homes in the mountains on either side. Granted, if they appeared before us, we might be in trouble, but they only hunt at night.”

Fay’s eyes widened in acknowledgement and realization. “Which is why we camped near the valley mouth instead of traveling further in.”

“Yes.” I nodded toward the front, where Catalyna was leading the formation. “The Pteranodons tend to stick near the center of the valley, which meant the chances of us being discovered last night were minimal. She obviously knew we’d run afoul of Pteranodons if we journeyed into the valley itself and camped closer to its center, so she had us camp just outside of their hunting grounds.”

“Hmm… I guess she really knows what she’s doing.” Fay clicked her tongue as the metal segments in her fingers clacked together.

“Do you still have hard feelings over what happened during the Spiritualist Grand Tournament?” I asked.

Wearing a miniscule frown, Fay shook her head. “Not so much anymore. That said, I still don’t really like her.”

“So brutally honest,” I teased. Fay blushed, but she said nothing more.

It took most of the day to cross the valley, and by the time we had reached the exit, the sky was growing dark. Catalyna ordered us to set up camp once we were outside of the Pteranodons hunting ground. This time, our group had an easier time setting up the tent now that we had experience, and we managed to finish quickly enough that Catalyna ordered us to gather firewood and food.

Fay and Lin went off to find firewood. Kari and I journeyed to gather food.

The area past the valley was a large plain with grass even taller than me, so we didn’t bother trying to hunt over that way, instead sticking to the edge of the valley. We wandered over to the river. This area was shallow enough that we could stand in it.

“This looks like a good spot to catch some fish,” I said.

“And we can get our feet wet at the same time.” Kari was wearing her enthusiastic smile as she sat on the pebbles near the river’s shore and pulled off her boots, then removed her stockings. I watched as the black fabric was slowly peeled away from her skin. Centimeter by glorious centimeter of porcelain thigh was revealed. After she finished removing her stockings, Kari let out a content sigh and wiggled her now free toes.

“Feel better?” I asked as I took off my own boots and socks, though I remained standing while doing so. I also rolled up my pant legs until they were just above my knees.

“Much better.” Kari reached up and massaged her feet. “Walking through such rugged terrain all day really killed my poor feet.”

“Which is an absolute atrocity.” I went up to her and held out my hands. “Seeing such cute feet get abused by so much walking is a crying shame. If you want, I can massage them for you.”

“Maybe later.” Kari stuck her tongue out at me as she placed her hands in mine, allowing me to pull her up. I let go of her hands and waded into the brisk water of the river. Following me into the water, Kari released a slight yelp, having clearly not expected it to be so cold.

“You’ve never caught fish before, right?” I asked. Kari shook her head. “The key is to remain perfectly still. If you move, any fish swimming by will sense the movements through the water and avoid you.” As I spoke, I looked down at the water. There were no fish yet. “Once a fish comes close, you have to react quickly. Don’t try to catch it with your hands. Instead use a swift scooping motion to toss the fish onto the river bank. I’ll show you how it’s done first.”

I watched as one fish finally swam up to me. Narrowing my eyes, I waited until it got closer, and then swung my hand through the water like an eagle claw snatching prey. However, rather than dig my fingers into the fish, I scooped it and a large amount of water up with my cupped hand, sending the creature onto the river bank, where it flopped around.

“Oh!” Kari clapped her hands together, causing me to smile.

“Wanna try?”

“Sure!”

Wading further into the water, Kari stopped about a meter from me, and then became completely still. She kept her eyes on the water. I watched as her eyes darted to and fro, and then landed on a spot some distance away. There was a fish swimming toward her. Kari raised her hand in preparation to catch it, and then, just as it came near her, she swung her hand like I had done.

“KYA!”

And fell into the water with a loud splash.

Trying to hold back my snickering, I wandered up to the girl as she sat in the water, shivering from the cold, and held out my hand.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She groused as she grabbed my hand and let me pull her up. Then she got a good look at my face and her cheeks swelled. “You’re laughing at me.”

“What? No, I’m not.” I looked away.

“You totally are! You even looked away from me because you can’t stop laughing! That’s rude.”

Kari continued to give me that childish pout, which was more innocent and pure than the ones I’d seen on the adult Kari of the past. This Kari was so similar yet so different from the one I knew. However, I considered this to be a good thing. Kari hadn’t been forced to go through the terrible hardships that forced her to become colder. She hadn’t married Grant Leucht, and if I had my way, the Demon Beast Invasion of Nevaria wouldn’t happen either.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” asked Kari, frowning at me.

“I was just thinking about how much I love you,” I said with a smile.

Despite how I often told her this, Kari cheeks gained a pink coloration as she looked away. She moved her leg in an unconscious gesture. I could see her foot drawing circles at the bottom of the stream.

“You know… actions speak a lot louder than words,” Kari muttered.

“I suppose they do.” I leaned down as though preparing to kiss her. In response, Kari tilted her head up and closed her eyes, but just as our lips were about to touch, I paused. “But I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to display such affection in the middle of trying to catch dinner. Maybe if you hurried up and helped me catch some fish, I’d be more willing to show you how much I love you instead of just telling you.”

I moved away from Kari before she could say anything. The girl had opened her eyes wide now, and she stared at me in shock, like she couldn’t believe I wasn’t going to kiss her. As I presented her with my brightest grin, Kari’s face turned red as she kicked a large amount of water at me. I laughed and kicked water back at her. Kari squealed before retaliating with return fire, which resulted in us engaging in a full-blown water war.

We would eventually come back with about 25 fish. Everyone would ask the two of us why we were soaking wet.

***

I had drawn the first shift that night. The dark sky overhead was speckled with stars. Perhaps it was just because of my changed location, but the stars looked different that night from when I saw them in Nevaria. It was probably my own perceptions changing, however. The stars themselves never changed. Even now, I could see the many constellations that I’d seen thousands of times before.

The other person with me that night was Finn, but he’d gone off to patrol the grounds.

Thinking about the Nevarian Spiritualist made me frown. I wouldn’t say I was suspicious of Finn, but at the same time, I didn’t trust him either. Throughout all of yesterday and today, he had been glaring at me like I had personally offended him. There was no ill-intent in his glare. Even so, the looks he sent me were getting annoying.

While I thought about doing something about him, I also knew it wouldn’t be wise to create drama. Still, I remembered the assassin from last night. They had been using a rapier similar to Finn’s. The design was different. I’d already checked and Finn’s had a different guard. Even so, given what happened with that assassin from the previous night, I was understandably wary around him.

I cast another branch into the fire while thinking about what I should do. If I’d just thought to use Spiritual Perception, I’d at least have been able to get his Spiritual Signature. Everybody had a unique Spiritual Signature. No two Spiritual Signatures were alike, not even in identical twins.

As I sat by the fire, sighing and lamenting my own foolishness, the sound of footsteps came from behind me. They were light and soft. Feminine. I could tell who it was from the distribution of weight and the rhythm as they crunched against the ground.

“Kari,” I said. “Can’t sleep?”

“You didn’t even turn around.”

I could hear the pout in her voice, which made me smile.

“I don’t need to. I can always recognize the sound of your footsteps.”

“That’s a pretty impressive thing to recognize.”

The footsteps started again, growing louder until Kari reached the log I was sitting on. She sat down herself, so close to me that our thighs were touching. Her arms were covered in goosebumps.

I wrapped an arm around Kari’s shoulder. Pulling her close, I let her snuggle into my torso. In return, Kari wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me as she shifted her body. The warmth of her body was even more lulling than the fire. I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep.

“I like this,” Kari murmured. I couldn’t see her eyes, just the crown of her head, but I knew she had closed them.

“You mean snuggling with me?” I asked.

“No—well, yes, I do like snuggling with you, but that isn’t what I was talking about.” Kari paused long enough to gather her thoughts. “I mean this, all of this, being outdoors, traveling through a place I’ve never been to before, going on an expedition to explore ruins and find adventure. This is like a dream come true to me.”

“Do you feel a little like Anderil?” I asked, referring to the character in The Tale of Anderil, the first book she and I had ever bonded over—both in this life and my previous one.

Kari was silent for a moment before shaking her head. “No. Anderil was a man who left his home and everything he knew behind in search of adventure. I haven’t left everything. The people important to me are right by my side, going on this adventure with me. To be honest, I think this is so much better than Anderil’s adventure. He was alone. I have you, Fay, and Lin with me. You three make adventuring even more fun than it would be if I was by myself.”

Her words made me happy—happier than I would have thought possible. A warm joy had spread through my chest. While my leap into the past was likely nothing more than a freak accident, I liked to believe that the reason I had been sent back was to create and protect moments like this.

“Hey, Kari. I never did give you that kiss back at the river, did I?”

Startled, Kari removed her head from where she’d been using my chest as a pillow to glance up at me. Her pure blue eyes were glimmering in the light of the fire, but I couldn’t help but think there was something more ephemeral to that glimmer than mere firelight.

“No, I don’t believe you did,” she mused before smiling. “I think you should correct that.”

I smiled back as I pulled Kari onto my lap. She was sitting sideways, with her legs perpendicular to mine, but I placed my hand on her cheek and turned her to face me. Kari’s eyes slowly fluttered shut as I lowered my head and pressed my lips to her.

Our kiss started out soft, a mere peck of the lips, but when we pulled back and looked at each other, I could see the same desire in her eyes that I felt boiling inside of me. We shut our eyes again. This time when I kissed her, Kari’s tongue was pushing its way into my mouth. It was so like her that I responded naturally, opening my mouth to allow her wet appendage inside, and then closing my mouth around it to suck on her tongue.

“!!”

A gasp escaped Kari’s lips, followed by a muffled moan. The sounds she made and the feeling of her butt grinding into my crotch made me spring to full hardness. It had been so long since I’d had sex. Not counting the time I spent in my 17 year-old body, I’d say it had been about 20 or 30 years since I last had sex. Part of the reason I held myself back from displaying too much affection was because I feared I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I let go.

None of that mattered right now. As Kari shifted against me, I reached out and placed a hand on her chest. She wasn’t wearing breast bindings at the moment, which meant my fingers sank into her tits through her clothing. Her breasts were huge. The only person I knew who had a larger chest was Feinrea, and Kari’s would get bigger than hers when she grew older.

“You’re poking me,” Kari murmured in between kisses.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I could feel Kari’s lips twitch into a smile as we continued to kiss with interitment pecks between conversation. “I’m glad… that I can do this to you. It makes me happy. I-is that strange?”

I shook my head but didn’t say anything else, instead choosing to stop kissing her lips in favor of her neck. Kari’s breathing hitched as she tilted her head to grant me access to her skin. We hadn’t been able to bathe. At most, we had washed ourselves off with rags inside of the tent. The taste of Kari’s sweat was a little stronger than I was used to, but that just made me more ravenous.

I wanted to devour her.

“Big Sister?”

Yet just before we could, a voice spoke up from several meters behind us. It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on us. We jerked apart and looked toward the source, Lin, who stood not far away and was staring at us with half-lidded eyes that let me know she wasn’t fully awake.

“What is it, Lin?” asked Kari as she scrambled off my lap and tried to make her clothes presentable.

“Will you come back to the futon?” asked Lin. “This princess is really cold with just Fay.”

“Oh, yes.” Kari smiled. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right there.”

Offering me an apologetic smile, Kari walked over to Lin and took the girl’s hand before, looking at me one more time, she turned around and headed into the tent with the Lamia.

As I sat there with a raging boner, I wondered what I’d done to deserve this. Now I’d have to deal with this problem myself. Well, it wasn’t like I had intended to use Kari to satisfy my lust right now anyway. I’d prefer our first time to be on a bed or some place more comfortable than outside in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. That didn’t scream romantic to me.

Just as I was preparing to find some place to deal with my problem in private, a loud rustling drew my attention. I looked toward a pair of bushes over by the copse of trees. When no sound appeared, I activated Spiritual Perception, but of course, by this point, whoever had been hiding there was long gone.