Chapter 112: Return to “Normalcy” – Part 2
First things first. After I "reward" the maids who accompanied us for a job well done, I go to Osaria to apologize. She's in a eting with the Mayor, whose na I still don't know, so I decide to wait until they're done.
A "Royal" like
waiting for soone else? It'd be inconceivable if I were dealing with anyone else, but she's soone I love. Of course, it'd be pretty snobbish to just demand that any random stranger stop whatever they're doing to pay attention to , though Yunia says I'll have to do it eventually to keep up appearances, so I might try to find a way out of it by coming up with an excuse, or sothing.
I just send Osaria a ssage and wait in the castle. Their eting isn't long, so she gets back before long.
She cos in walking sensually, smirking as she gives
a predatory gaze. "You called for , my love?" She whispers slowly, delighting herself in calling
that.
I smile warmly and hug her waist, getting a handful of her cheeks while squishing her breasts against my chest. "I just wanted to apologize for not coming back yesterday," I softly reply and peck her lips.
She chuckles softly and returns a long kiss, then she caresses my horns suggestively. "How considerate of you, but you don't need to worry about
like that."
I shrug. "Eh. Treating the people you love with respect never hurts, right?"
"Hm-hmm…" She hums in agreent, grinning happily, then we kiss deeply, and our tongues slowly savor each other.
But we both still have work to do, so we eventually stop each other before we get too aroused. It's hard to stop at just a "quickie" with soone as ravenous as Osaria.
We break the kiss, and I fondle her large, soft breasts for a mont as I ask, "Klein is already in a dungeon, right?"
"Yes, and this ti, she has called for the cute gay couple to join them," she hesitantly replies.
"Hm?" I look up and raise an eyebrow at her.
Then she tactfully continues, "I assure you that she hasn't laid with him, but they're starting to get along."
I sigh softly, but I'm not really as sad as I thought I would be. As long as Hermann doesn't persuade her into being exclusive, then I think we'll be fine, even if she marries him.
Fucking soone else's wife does have a special allure to it, after all.
Osaria turns up the massage on my horns, and I realize that she's learned a thing or two from Poosh. "Don't let this get you down. I'm sure that making her fall unconscious on your dick in front of the boy will make it all worth it," she tries to console .
And it kind of works as I stare at her bemusedly. "Speaking from experience…?"
She grins cheekily. "Maybe…"
"Well, I was kind of thinking the sa thing, anyway…" I admit with a shrug, and we both laugh like villains.
After the mont passes and we start to stare at each other lovingly, I rember that there's sothing I want Osaria to do.
"If you're not too busy, please take so ti and level up a bit. You can even go with Klein's squad so that she can gain experience in protecting my loved ones," I kindly suggest.
Osaria's eyes open wide, and her luscious lips part in surprise. I'm basically giving her more years to live, and that seems to be quite the powerful show of love in this world.
She suddenly hugs
tight, seemingly trying to suffocate
with her delicious, dark breasts. "Thank you, my love," she whispers heatedly, and I hold my breath for as long as I can.
Today's mana training routine is held on the balcony of our bedroom because Yunia wanted to do it while looking out at our city.
Now that the emotional roller-coaster is over, I eagerly welco the peace of training and ditation.
But there's soone who seems quite eager to et with
again.
"Geh ge gei gah," Gify chirps, and my cock stands up at attention.
I turn my eyes to Alissa, and we both smile in sync, then we head out to our Eia plantation.
While at first, I was excited, the sight of the Eia plants quickly smothers my enthusiasm because of how freaky they are. They're "half-sapient" plants, and they look strikingly similar to elves.
They have an elongated, bulbous green head with two dark slits where the eyes of a humanoid would normally be, and a long, horizontal slit crosses their entire head, acting as a freakishly wide mouth.
They're South Park's Canadians.
Yunia becos quite offended at my comparison, so I put it aside and stare at our biggest source of inco with a bit more awe, as it deserves.
Their wide, humanoid-shaped bodies are made of leaves like Cublends, the bush-people, but their arms are as long as they are tall, and they're also made of much thicker wood than the branches that support the rest of their body. Bear hugs are both their way to kill prey and also how they show affection. Their roots grow in all directions, including up, and as we get closer, they start to shake in our direction, then the plants slowly turn their creepy heads towards us.
After a mont of silence, the closest plants start buzzing and shaking softly, which then spreads to the other plants behind them, and soon the entire plantation is softly humming.
[Animal Tongue] gives
a faint understanding of what they're doing, and I get the sense that they're just greeting us. To understand more, I'd have to "commune" with them since they communicate mostly with their roots through exchanges of Life.
One of the plants stops humming and starts coming closer to us. Its leaf body slides along the floor as a trail of small roots pushes it forward like a caterpillar, then it stops before us and extends a single root towards .
"It's asking to commune with you, possibly because of your nature spirit, but I would advise against it if you have any important business in the next hour," our guide explains.
Yunia says that her first "communion" was quite overwhelming and not that unlike an hour-long Ravaging, though more spiritual in nature.
"You've been fucking plants your whole life, and this is the first ti you tell ?" I question her through [Bind].
"Wolfy, please. It feels similar to it because it overwhelms your senses, but there's nothing sexual about it," she tiredly retorts.
"You're the one who compared it to a Ravaging," I reply with an internal shrug.
"I… alright, 'touché,'" she dryly admits.
"Don't encourage him to ," Alissa interjects, pouting internally.
I gently push the root down, and the plant seems to catch my aning as it retreats to its previous position, then the loud humming dies down to a very faint buzzing.
"Gih," Gify informs us, so we ask our guide to stay, then we stroll into the plantation.
As we walk and push our way through the leaves, the plants slowly "stare" at us in a very robotic fashion, though they don't really have eyes, then I notice that they're slowly starting to give way to us, and I begin to understand why they're said to be "half-sapient."
Most of the ti, they act robotically, in the sa way that insects do, but together, their interconnection with each other serves like a brain, and they seem to be able to slowly learn things. They're precisely in the middle of the gray area between plants, insects, and sapient beings.
The way they connect to each other and communicate with Life must be why the Eia pill has the effects it does. The elves have found a way to concentrate their ans of "communication" into the pill or into Eia extract, which is why the "buff" from ingesting it is called "Heightened Connection to Life."
According to Yunia, [Weaverism] is all about "connecting" things, so the pill must provide a direct boost for the skill.
As we reach the center of the plantation, we spot a clearing up ahead of us, and I make out Cereleia's gorgeous, stern, elvish face as she stands among the creepy heads of the Eia plants.
Once we reach the clearing, we notice that she's surrounded by green, chubby children who are playing around, the elusive Children of the Forest.
"Oh… are those, uh, my children?" I stiffly blurt out.
Cereleia slowly turns her face down and looks around at the chubby children as they play around her. "No, these aren't yours," she softly replies, then turns her gaze back towards us.
Alissa slls a flowery scent coming from Cereleia's beautiful, swept-back vine hair, which is covered in pink cherry blossoms, and I notice that they seem to be extra bright today. Even her perfectly balanced body seems even sexier than I rember.
In her hands, she's carrying sothing that seems awfully like a wooden, moss-covered printer. It even has a piece of A4 paper sticking out of it, and I notice that there seems to be sothing written on it.
"Gih," Gify announces, then she stands up and *pop*s out of existence, only to re-*pop*s onto a Child's head and start playing tag with them.
"Greetings, Lord Ryders," Cereleia's warm voice graces our ears.
"Greetings, Guardian," Alissa and I reply in kind.
"I've prepared the communication device." -She presents the not-printer- "I took so inspiration for its design from what you've given , Lord Wolf."
"Uh?" We hum in unison and tilt our heads to the side.
Her lips curl in a subtle, smug smile. "Your 'spirit touch.'"
"Right!" I imdiately exclaim and tense up, then I lower my head briefly in apology. "I'm sorry for doing that to you, only later was I inford how that kind of 'touch' is considered part of your marriage ceremony."
"Hm…" She hums softly, and her eyebrows knit in slight confusion. "But we didn't marry, I didn't give you a piece of
in return."
Alissa and I share a look. "What do you an by that?" I ask, a lot more confused than her.
"You gave
'a piece' of you, an 'impression' of your soul. We 'communed,' as the elves like to say, though I didn't give anything in return, so the 'marriage' is invalid."
I blink blankly. "Oh… okay… but what did I 'give' to you?"
"An 'impression' of your soul."
"And what's that?"
Cereleia averts her eyes, searching for sothing, then she spots Gify and her expression brightens slightly. "Nature spirit Gify, how can I explain an 'impression' in a way that the humanoids will understand?"
Gify sighs tiredly and stops playing, then she pops back onto my head and shows
my own soul. I see a blue, sparkly sea; deep, wide, and full of life. At its surface, a huge storm rages as if in slow motion. Huge boulders, trees, dirt, water, and pieces of buildings all float along so slowly that they give an impression of peace.
That's the new . A calm sea at one mont, yet with a storm at its surface, just waiting to be released to continue raging wildly.
Cereleia nods appreciatively at Gify and starts explaining, "Different from your [Sense Soul], which allows you to explore the details of one's soul, your 'impression' is sothing more abstract. It's the 'outline' that it leaves when it touches another soul."
"Sounds more like it's the 'essence,' a 'summary' of what I am," I counterpoint.
She shakes her head, making the tapestry of cherry blossoms that is her hair to whisper softly as it moves about. "Perhaps 'summary' could fit, but not 'essence.' Soone else has found a way to transmit the 'essence,' and it's very different from what Gify or you can do."
"Oh?" I hum curiously, but she simply flashes a smile.
"Do you wish to receive my 'imprint' and complete the marriage ceremony?" She calmly asks, forcefully changing the topic, and her question catches us by surprise. This is a bit too serious to trigger Alissa's fetish, so we both decide to tread carefully.
"What does 'marriage' an to you?" I stiffly ask.
"A promise of partnership and companionship, but it's far 'looser' than the usual marriage is for you humanoids," she answers matter-of-factly.
Though Yunia encourages
to make this "connection," I'm not so sure that I want this.
"It conflicts with my own definition of 'marriage,' so I don't think I want to go through with this, at least, not yet," I politely explain.
She gently nods. "That's understandable, but our 'agreent' could already count as 'marriage' if you see this as more than just the continuous exchange of your seed for a favor."
And I smoothly decline, "I'd like to get to know you better before I consider that."
She smiles subtly, faintly pleased. "We'll have the entirety of your life for that."
Right, because she's basically immortal.
I nod cordially and gesture to the not-printer. "We will, but right now, I'm curious about what you're holding."
"This device will write down any changes that we detect throughout the entire High Forest."
So it really is a printer.
My tail starts swaying slowly in curiosity. "How did you co up with it?"
"When I was designing it, your 'impression' in my soul reacted, so I followed what 'felt right.'"
Both Alissa and I raise our eyebrows in surprise. "I wouldn't have imagined that just an impression could be capable of that," I remark wryly.
And Cereleia grins suggestively as she sultrily explains, "It had been imprinted quite deeply within ."
"Do you wish to deepen my mark on you today?" I boldly ask as I mirror her tone, my cock already straining to burst out of my pants.
She narrows her eyes and softly licks her lips as she looks at my bulge, then she raises her eyes and shakes her head. "The imprint? No, but I do wish to extract more of your seed. It's quite delicious, and it has the nice effect of stabilizing my soul."
I guess this is why the Chiras love
so much.
I un[Equip] my clothes and stride forward. "Then let's get this started."
Cereleia kneels and sets the "printer" down beside her, then she eagerly waits for my cock with her mouth slightly parted.
Okay, without using my spirit touch to keep her off balance, she becos the ultimate cum extractor, and my MP is far from enough to last for long against her.
After being fully drained, I return to the castle and have Sandoro and Almaria look over Cereleia's detection system. They need to set it up in a special location with a Life connection to the rest of the forest, but the connection mustn't be any larger than is absolutely necessary. So far, we only know of Dryads using the Life network as a highway, so we have no idea of what else could co out of it, but we can guarantee that nothing big will be able to ride the connection if it's too small or flimsy.
Then Alissa and I return to the castle, and we continue with our mana training routine, which gives
so ti to rest my body.
A little bit before lunch, Sandoro and Almaria finish setting up the detection system, and we start receiving information about everything and everyone moving throughout the entire High Forest, so we go check it out.
The intelligence room is deep below the earth and far from the castle, so we have to take a [Gate] to get there. It's a spartan, stone room with comfy chairs set out for us, a table with a very detailed map of the High Forest, and enough room for ten of our n to read through the paper that continuously grows out of the "printer."
We sit at the table and wait while the soldiers do their work. They filter out anything that's too minor and try to interpret Cereleia's description of the rest.
The first thing that catches my attention is the fact that there's a wide, town-sized object slowly moving above the treetops, circling around our city. That must be the Grantorefortdisabis, the secret fortress of the Elder Council.
They also seem to have fourteen small mobile outposts spread out across the High Forest, nine of which are in our territory.
It's a bit chilling to know that they're watching us so closely, but Yunia says that unless we've misread them horribly, we're definitely not in any danger of being overthrown.
Then the soldiers mark a considerable number of hidden bases and war parties. The locations of the two Dawn of Fire bases match the information we have on them, but it seems that there's quite a lot of movent around the larger one.
"If they're smart, they must be evacuating that base in fear of our retaliation," Sandoro points out.
"Which is the correct choice since we're going to wipe them out," Yunia states matter-of-factly, and Roxanne grins in delight since she holds quite the grudge against them.
The fact that they hurt Roxanne, Osaria, Klein, and even Anton makes
quite angry, too.
"Let's wait and see where they're going so that we can wipe out their new base, too," I deviously suggest, and both Sandoro and Yunia smile evilly, quite pleased with the idea.
"I'll inform Teresina of our intentions and ask if she wants to take part," Ciel volunteers. I'd like to talk to Teresina myself, but there's soone else who I want to et with this afternoon, soone Yunia isn't that eager to see again.
There might be a small group of bandits stalking the northern part of our territory, but we'll wait until soone reports them before we make a move. It'll be quite suspicious if we start catching bandits the mont they enter the forest.
Feasting on delicious food from a new culture each day was aweso, but there's nothing like having Krysta's imaginative cooking along with comforting elven veggies and their delicious smoked at.
After a filling al, we spread out a bit, and each of us starts doing our own thing.
Alissa trains her [Illusion Magic] along with two of Nocturna's spells, [Daydreaming] and [Sleep], but she just wants to rush to the next spell, called [Dream Veil], which would allow her to change her body as she wills it to with illusions.
Roxanne is paying a visit to the RRRI, which is being "grown" out of the old [Weaverism] school. Since the entire town is made of wood, it's possible to change anything simply by using [Grow] in the right spots, though comrce really dislikes if we change the location of things because it makes things harder for them, so we use this ability sparingly.
Hana is training with the Lordsguard since she's eager to level up her [Draconic Body]. She'll also pay a visit to the ships and see how the n over there are faring. Once our crystal refinery is done, we'll put the Carrier and Winch back to work again.
Ciel is eting with Teresina and strengthening our relations with the Temple. I could do that, especially with the priests who worship the Goddess of Love, but it'd be a different kind of "strengthening."
Lina, Aoi, and the golems are all busy at their forge, working together to build a lathe. Their focus is on recreating an example of a manufacturing plant to mass produce rifles, which will, later on, be re-geared to mass produce the airplanes that the Chiras are currently researching.
Yunia is eting with Mimi, Sandoro, and Istante, our quartermaster, to discuss things like our inco balance and the mothballing of our Chira planes since they don't have much use in our current warfare doctrine.
Since I don't have the sa stamina as Hana does to train all day, I decide to perform a quick "inspection" of the Companions, but it's interrupted by Sainalai, who has so business with . The cute, brown-haired loli is definitely high on my target list, but I haven't had the chance to flirt with her as much as I've wanted to.
I put on my pants again to make myself presentable, stopping my "inspection" of one of the Companions, but I leave my writhing tentacles inside the others.
Sai walks in and looks quite amused at the scene. She's been dealing with the Chira spirits for a while now, so she must be pretty desensitized to things like this by now, though my display of consentacles still gets a reaction out of her.
"Your Highness," she greets with a bow, then sits on the sofa before .
"You wished to speak with ?" I gently ask as the elf woman beside
screams in pleasure.
Her eyes wander, yet her tone betrays no discomfort or awkwardness. "Yes, Your Highness. May I study the golems? I wish to understand how their souls 'stick' to their bodies."
I let my tail sway in curiosity. "Do you wish to apply that knowledge to helping the Chiras?"
She brightens up, becoming more excited. "Exactly. There's a rare spirit monster in Lorei Laurelai that can 'possess' objects, and I wish to give the Chiras a similar ability to help with their day-to-day lives. Also, it could potentially increase their compatibility with their 'battle bodies' or even accelerate their training."
I hum, very pleased with her idea. "I see. You want to create sothing like a [Possess] spell."
She nods energetically, smiling adorably, like a child. "But now, imagine if they could 'possess' a golem like Jarn."
Ooooh~… fantasy Jarvis!
Announcent
Hall of Fa of Patrons
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