~ Chapter 67: A new party member ~

Upon returning from my ‘cozy’ spot, where I was smashed into the face of a cliff, I was surprised to find Zoreya being nursed by Nanya. That armored woman was probably Dankyun’s relative… or something like that. She was clearly not a draconian though; the lack of scales, a tail, and relatively smaller height gave her away.

“I’m back…” I announced in a not-so-excited tone of voice.

Looking back at me, Nanya raised an eyebrow, and I released Tamara from my Inner Mind. I kept her there until I returned because I had to run fast, and she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with me.

“Welcome back, Illsy!” the first to reply was Shanteya, who came over and hugged me.

“So, what’s the condition of our guest?” I asked after returning the hug to my el’doraw wife.

“Zoreya is still unconscious, but the armor she’s wearing is enchanted. We can’t take it off unless we rip it off her, but then we’ll risk injuring her. The shield is… complicated…” she furrowed her brow as she said that.

When I looked to my left, I saw it laying on the ground, with the face down, on the same spot where she dropped it. Although, I didn’t remember her blacking out. All I could remember was Nanya’s punch and then the cliff… that was it.

With a sigh, I released Shanteya from my embrace and walked over to the group. Tamara was poking the cheek of the unconscious woman, while Nanya applied a cold compress on her head. Now that I took a closer look at this woman, she was quite beautiful. Long, blond hair tied up in a ponytail, milky skin, a fair complexion, and soft pink lips made her look like a fairy tale princess. A woman of such beauty would certainly harbor the attention of many greedy and uncouth men. Then again, it could also be a gift from her god for showing such loyalty and faith.

Either way, she was indeed a fine gem to look at.

“Illsy, welcome back.” said Nanya as she shot a glare at me, forcing me to stop gazing at the sleeping beauty.

“What did I do this time?” I showed her an awkward smile.

“You nearly killed the poor woman.” she replied.

“Oops?” I shrugged.

Nanya squinted her eyes at me, but I did not see what the big deal was. Maybe I was still angry at Dankyun, and since Zoreya had the same family name as him, I saw her as a potential threat?

“Well, she’s not dead… yet. But I apologize. I honestly didn’t hear her!” I made a bow to express my regret.

It was true, the words I heard were nothing but gibberish mixed up with the sound of my beams smashing onto her shield. They were quite loud since the shield blocked them but didn’t properly disperse them.

“She was screaming quite loud! I don’t think you didn’t hear her…” she accused me.

“But that’s the truth…” I complained.

“Sigh… well… I could forgive you.” she smirked at me.

“Erm… will it hurt?” I asked with a stiff expression on my face.

“Maybeee… Do you agree?” she asked.

I had a feeling I was falling into a trap, but I did not want her to stay mad at me. Well, she wasn’t going to stay mad at me, she was just going to glare until the next time she got horny or jealous on Ayuseya and Shanteya.

Last time something like this happened was about a week ago, when I decided to walk through the town alone and ended up at a brothel. One thing led to another, and when I realized where I was, there was a lovely brunette ready to jump on me. I avoided her and ran out of the building before anything happened. Unfortunately, I met Nanya outside. When she saw me, she punched me in the face and then dragged me by my left foot back to the inn.

That was the first time I experienced a caveman-style kidnapping.

After that, she glared at me for the next couple of days until she saw that I was enjoying my private time with Shanteya a bit too much. Ayuseya didn’t mind, but she kept teasing the demoness about it.

“I agree…” I gulped.

“Good! Then tonight you’re sleeping with me and Shanteya!” she grinned.

“Huh? You mean like ‘that’? What about Ayuseya?” I asked surprised.

“Yes. I want to try it! When I mentioned it to her earlier, Ayuseya turned red, and her brain went ‘poof’. She’s currently searching the area for a village or town where we can spend the night. Or, at least, that was the excuse she gave me before running off embarrassed like a maiden after her first kiss!” she grinned, and her tail swayed left and right.

The demoness may have just acquired something to tease the draconian about.

I gulped and looked over at Shanteya.

Did she agree to this as well? I thought.

“I’m alright with this.” she replied as though she had read my mind.

“I understand, well… if you two want to try this, I have nothing against it. It would be a new and interesting experience for me too.” I smiled and tried to keep my imagination at bay.

While we were talking about this, Tamara was throwing glances between us. Thankfully, she didn’t ask any embarrassing questions.

After this small discussion of ours, I created the temporary house we so often used throughout our journey. By now, we have all grown accustomed to it. Instead of it having only three rooms, it had four now. One was the main room, where I slept. The second was the bedroom with three beds for the pet and wives who chose not to be part of that night’s passionate moment with me. Considering tonight’s menu, one of the beds was going to be used by a non-wife. The third was a training room with many enchants and sturdy metal walls. The last one was a bathroom.

The arrangement of the rooms also changed. The main one was at the top, under us was the bedroom, and under it was the training room, which was also the biggest. The bathroom was on the second floor.

Nanya carried Zoreya all the way to the bedroom, and Tamara followed her merrily. Meanwhile, I remained outside with Shanteya to repair some of the damage I caused around this place. In other words, I put out the fires and absorbed all the broken trees. Lastly, we hunted for some food.

[Ayuseya’s point of view]

Nanya was probably the most perverted out of all of us, and Shanteya had all the experience. I hated to admit it, but I didn’t really have much with what to please our husband. I was even taller than him. The number of times I spent the night with him also counted the lowest when compared to the other two. Lately, I began to feel like I wasn’t doing my best for him, or maybe he wasn’t feeling satisfied with my body.

When I asked this of Nanya, she suddenly proposed for all of us to spend our night with Illsy together, I thought she was joking, but she was dead serious about it. As for why she asked such a thing, it was purely out of the desire to experiment something new. Besides, we were all his wives, so we had all the right to do it.

Even so, I was not ready… It was impossible for me.

Thus, I ran away…

“Sigh… Nanya is mean.” I spoke with a low voice as I kept jumping through the trees.

About an hour or so later, I managed to find a village. Having a map would have helped, but Illsy had them all, and I forgot to ask for one. Well, it didn’t matter, I was a very resourceful draconian princess!

I approached the village to make sure it belonged to humans and not some other type of humanoid monsters. As soon as I saw the typical leather armor belonging to human guards, I stopped and carefully approached them.

[Villager Guard A’s point of view]

“Sigh… I wish something exciting would happen for once.” my friend said.

He was a man about my size, but I wasn’t a big fellow either. I was about average, just a little over 1.70 meters. We both wore the same type of leather armor, without any sort of standard or crest to show off. That sort of thing was reserved only for nobles and those working under them. The members of the family wore the crest on their back and front, while their servants on their shoulders. Every human kingdom applied this form of identification.

“You better watch your mouth, Babu!” I told him.

“Hah? Why should I?” he raised an eyebrow at me “I mean nothing ever happens in this dull place! It’s just a village in the middle of nowhere!” he sighed again and leaned on his spear.

We also had a pair of swords kept in their scabbards at our hips, but our training was minimum or self-taught to say the least. A guard from the kingdom was sure to beat us before we had a chance to say otherwise. Our strength was at best a little above Beginner Rank.

The strongest man in our village was a fellow from a nearby town. He was a former adventurer who fancied one of our beautiful women. His strength was around Intermediary Rank, maybe Master.

In a way, we were lucky, no powerful monster lived around these parts.

“Hey! There’s someone coming from over here!” Babu pointed towards the forest.

Squinting my eyes in that direction, I saw a beautiful dragoness with red hair flowing down on her back; long, curved horns; beautiful red eyes; golden scales; a beautiful fancy dress; and a two-handed sword on her back. She was a beauty, but also a very tall and powerful looking beauty.

I gulped and gripped the shaft of my spear.

Who could she be? I wondered.

“Excuse me, kind men! May I ask what name this village has?” she asked and showed us a polite smile.

In the blink of an eye, she made us forget about any sort of danger her presence might have brought.

“Ah, erm… this is Pollian village. It belongs to the Tseruan Kingdom. Who are you, m’lady?” Babu asked.

“I am but a simple adventurer who got lost. Thank you for your help, I will be going now.” she said and then turned around.

“Ah! Wait!” Babu called out, but with one jump, she vanished from our eyes.

We blinked surprised and looked at each other. Neither of us understood what we just saw, but she didn’t seem like someone against which we should keep our guard up. The woman left without even giving her name, but she was certainly not human. Upon a closer look, I wondered if she may have been a draconian? If so, it was the first time I saw one.

[Zoreya’s point of view]

You are weak, Zoreya… Weak just like a human should be! a young Dankyun said as he laughed behind the wall of fire.

Zoreya! Run! Hide! voices echoed around me as the flames spread closer and closer to me, covering my brother, separating me from him.

I looked back and saw the kind woman who took care of me, of all of us, like a mother.

Survive, young one… Survive for all of us. she smiled and then something pulled me away from her.

“NO!” I shouted and woke up.

My breath was heavy. My hands were trembling. I was sweating. In fear, I looked around and realized that I was safe. Two empty beds were to my right, and a window was to my left. There was no fire, no cries for help. Everything was just a dream, no… it was an old memory.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. This wasn’t the first time I had that nightmare, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time either. It was the curse I had to live with, the punishment I had to suffer for being unable to stop Dankyun when I had the chance.

Where am I? after opening my eyes, I looked around and asked myself this.

The last thing I remembered was entering a battle with some women, the wives of the Dungeon Lord, then I struggled… I lost, and I nearly died. It was a bit foggy, but everything was coming back to me.

“My shield!” I said when I realized it was gone.

Closing my eyes, I recalled the energy signature. Once it was clear as day, I pointed my palm at the window next to me and then gave the order to return.

Divine Spark. Piece of my Soul and that of my God, return to me at once pure and untouched by evil hands!

In that moment, the shield, wherever it was, disintegrated and then reappeared here, next to me. Upon falling on the metal floor, a CLANK was heard, and I opened my eyes. The noble shield of Melkuth was back in my possession, for I was the only one allowed to wield it. In my hands, it was as easy as a feather, but in the hands of another, it was as heavy as a mountain.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Welcome back, my friend.” I said with a soft smile on my lips.

Now, with a determined look in my eyes, I got up from the bed and walked out of the room. Strange noises came from behind the door in front of me. I approached it cautiously.

“Oh boy! Here comes a big one!” the demoness’ voice was heard from the other side and then… a fart?

Quickly pinching my nose, I stepped back from the door.

By the gods! What foul stench! What manner of monsters did this woman eat?! I thought and then walked up on the stairs to my right.

At the next floor, I heard someone laughing.

When I opened the door, a rather curious and strange scene was shown to me. The nekatar child was chasing a red dot moving on the floor, while Illsyore was sitting on the bed and pointing his palm at her.

The man wore a pair of pants and a shirt with small arms. Now that I took a better look at him, he was around 1.90 meters tall, with pale white skin and a big green crystal in the middle of its chest. He had short cut jade green hair, deep emerald green eyes, and he wasn’t fat all. Besides the big crystal in the middle of his chest, there were five smaller ones on each arm. All of them had the same color, a pale green, and looked identical in size and shape.

Behind him stood the el’doraw woman who slit my throat. Unlike many of her species, she had a rather pale skin and silver hair. She wore a pair of pants, and a thin shirt, but certainly no bra. She was currently massaging the Dungeon’s shoulders.

“NYA! Pesky dot! I’ll get you!” called out the young girl as she jumped after it, swaying her tail and smiling eagerly.

The nekatar was hunting the red dot, and she was the only one who kept her clothes the same as when I first saw her, meaning a simple pair of leather armor.

“Ah! Our guest has awoken! Sorry about nearly killing you today.” the man named Illsyore said with an apologetic smile and a hand up.

I nodded.

[Illsyore’s point of view]

One of the many things I discovered in the past few weeks was the fact that nekatars reacted to the Red Dot just like any other feline out there. Of course, just as it was with cats back on Earth, not all of them found it interesting. It had been shown that some individuals, be them tigers or household cats, didn’t find it very interesting and often ignored it.

Luckily for me, this wasn’t the case with Tamara. The furry feline jumped after it the moment she saw it. Thus, it became one of our favorite past-time games. What I was not expecting was to find Nanya to also be interested in hunting down the Red Dot. She had a tail as a demoness, and while her name had the ‘nya’ part, I never expected her to share any resemblance to our furry friends.

According to her, demons were natural-born hunters. Their instincts were good and well developed ever since they were small children. As for Shanteya or Ayuseya, they both found it rather odd that they reacted in such a manner to the ‘Almighty Red Dot’. Well, Nanya reacted only when she was in a playful mood. If she was pissed for some reason, it only annoyed her.

When I noticed Zoreya with her shield up and standing at the door, I raised a hand up and said “Ah! Our guest has awoken! Sorry about nearly killing you today.”

She nodded.

“How did you sleep? Are you feeling alright? Anything you need?” I asked her.

Shaking her head, she lowered her shield and approached me.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Not far from where you fainted. I simply built a temporary home for all of us. Pretty fancy, don’t you think so?” I said smiling.

Zoreya furrowed her brow when she heard me. It made me wonder if my words were translated properly because I was speaking Kalish, not Shorayan. Regarding this, it wasn’t like all of her words or mine were suddenly spoken or heard in that language, I simply knew how to put the accent and understood the meaning of each word.

“You built this?” she asked.

“Yes. I am a Dungeon Lord after all. It would have been ridiculous if I wasn’t able to build even a measly house!” I laughed.

“That is true, but why am I not tied up or locked in a cell?” she asked curiously.

“Because I’m not like all the other dungeons out there… or well… probably those that had some rather unfortunate encounters with adventurers and were never thought to be otherwise?” I replied scratching the back of my head.

This info wasn’t that much of a secret and seeing how she most likely was aware of the Aunnar Kingdom’s royal Dungeon hidden in the palace, she probably knew that some of us could be reasoned with.

I should probably stop playing with Tamara, or she’ll misunderstand me for being rude. I thought and stopped the laser pointer.

Of course, with the nekatar’s red dot suddenly vanishing, the playful feline was at first confused.

“Where did it go?” she asked surprised, catching Zoreya’s attention.

After looking around the room for a little bit, she gave up and walked up to the window, where she took a sit on the chair. Tamara was now just a humble spectator to our interaction.

“After you fainted, me and Nanya brought you here and applied some cold compresses because you had a slight fever, probably from using up all of your Magic Energy at once. We tried to take off the armor to make you feel more comfortable, but without breaking it apart, we saw no way of doing so.” Shanteya explained as she kept massaging my shoulders.

“Thank you. As for my armor, it is locked with magic. Unless I will it to take it off, you won’t be able to do so. I did this in order to prevent my enemies from undressing me while I fainted.” she explained.

“We figured it was an anti-raping spell. Well, don’t worry, we wouldn’t have allowed Illsy to touch you even if it wasn’t there.” she giggled and patted my head.

I blinked and looked up at the el’doraw. With an innocent smile, she returned to massaging my shoulders.

“And why would I do that when I have you, Nanya, and Ayuseya keeping me company?” I asked.

“That is true, you make all of us moan rather loudly, but as your wives, we must always be careful of other women trying to lure you away from us. I have a special poison just for that!” she giggled and then gave me a kiss.

After the kiss, I asked furrowing my brow “Is the poison for me or her?”

“Who knows?” she tilted her head and smiled.

“You do not regret having to share your man with other women?” asked the armored woman all of a sudden.

Looking at her, we both blinked surprised.

“No?” Shanteya replied.

“Ah, wait… in your country and maybe religion, a man isn’t allowed to have more than a wife, right?” I asked hitting my left palm with the bottom of my fist.

“No, polygamy isn’t the issue, however, I have never met in my entire life a man with multiple wives who cared equally for all of them.” Zoreya replied with a stern tone of voice.

“Yeah… I’m not like that. I love each and every one of my wives!” I said and then pulled Shanteya into my lap and snuggled her.

She replied with a giggle and cuddled up to me. If I could, I would spend all of my time keeping close to my wives, embracing and kissing them all, but such a thing would be impossible. We still had to cook food, bathe, sleep, and do other things.

“I apologize, but I do not believe your words.” Zoreya said.

I shrugged “It can’t be helped.”

“One thing I wish to ask though, did you really kill my brother, Dankyun?” she asked with a stern look in her eyes.

Is she trying to start a fight again now that she’s better? I wondered as a chill ran down my spine.

“He’s not dead… yet. But I did threaten him pretty well, so I’m not really worried that he’ll do something any time too soon.” I scratched my right cheek as I replied.

Zoreya looked down and clenched her fist.

“So, the monster is still alive…” she said, barely making a sound.

“I take it you weren’t his ally?” I asked.

The moment I said this, she glared at me.

“I am not!” she declared.

“Then why did you attack us and followed us like that?” I asked surprised.

“That is… erm…” she looked down “I didn’t plan for it to become like this… and I misunderstood your relationship with your wives… I thought you were forcing these women to sleep with you and…” she tried to explain herself, but the color slowly built up in her cheeks until they were as red as a tomato.

Aw~! She’s embarrassed! How cute! I thought and giggled.

“I don’t know, do I force you to sleep with me, Shanteya?” I asked as I nuzzled the el’doraw in my arms.

“If you dare not to, I’ll find you and drag you back into bed or make you take me on the spot.” she replied with a smile, but the tone of her voice made it sound like an actual threat.

“Well, there you have it!” I laughed.

The armored woman looked down blushing strongly. I wanted to tease her a bit, but I didn’t want to get in trouble with Shanteya or a certain someone else here.

Speaking of which, she entered the room just now.

“Oh? Zoreya, you’re up. How are you feeling?” Nanya asked.

Currently, she was in her real form and wearing nothing but a thin blouse and a short pair of pants, emphasizing her rather generous body shapes. I loved to be around the demoness Nanya more than I did around the human version of her. The latter always felt unnatural and weird to me.

“I’m doing better now, thank you.” the embarrassed woman replied.

“Hm? Illsy?” she showed me a threatening smile.

“I did nothing. I swear!” I replied bluntly.

Of course, Nanya did not believe me and looked at her trusted ally to reaffirm my words. Shanteya replied with a nod.

“Very well.” she let out a sigh and then walked up to the bed and took a seat behind me.

She pressed her breasts on my back and wrapped her long tail around my waist. With sharp eyes, she looked back at Zoreya and rested her head on my right shoulder. Nanya was establishing her claim over me.

In other words, I was her mate, not Zoreya’s. She had no claim over me and if she tried to get too close, she was going to bite.

“But if you are not Dankyun’s ally, what are you? I mean, your name is Alttoros, right?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Dankyun isn’t my ally. He is the brother I had sworn to kill.” she replied with a determined look in her eyes.

“I see… wait, what?” I furrowed my brow.

“How exactly is that man your brother? Isn’t he a draconian, while you are a human?” Nanya asked for me.

“I can understand your confusion. My name, Alttoros, is actually the name of the orphanage where I grew up. Of course, not in Aunnar but in another country. As the children there grew up, they picked up the name of the orphanage as their family name if they never got adopted. Back then, I was named only Eleanor.” she told us.

“I never heard of this…” Nanya said surprised.

“Why do you wish to kill him? Actually, I have a hard time finding a reason why not to in the first place! ARGH!” I groaned and scratched my head “Why did I let him live again?” I said and then tilted my head to the left.

“Because you didn’t want to stain your hand with his blood.” Nanya said with a calm tone of voice and then kissed my right cheek.

“Yeah… could be…”

“But why are you following us?” asked Shanteya.

“Once I heard you defeated my brother, I wished to learn if he was indeed dead or if you were lying and just using his name to threaten the prince. Fortunately, it wasn’t the latter. Now, I know I still have a chance to rip his head off with my bare hands.” she clenched her fist.

That’s scary! I thought.

“As you are now, you won’t be able to defeat him.” Nanya said it bluntly.

“What makes you say so?” I asked curiously, Zoreya also squinted her eyes at us.

“Well, he uses [Boost] and a lot of Spell Crystals. Even if you shattered his armor back then, he would get another one. But what I mean to say is that Dankyun is a close-range fighter, who would rather focus all of his Magic Energy into keeping his [Boost] activated all the time rather than spend it on useless spells. At most, he will try a [Fireball] or something, but he is not one for fancy spells. He was always an idiot when it came to such things.” explained Nanya.

“Indeed, even when I fought against him, he didn’t show me any particular spell that could seriously injure or stop me.” I confirmed.

Actually, I also found it a bit weird of how many spells he used against me. I usually thought that individuals at his level would naturally try to learn more complicated spells capable of one-shot kills or stuff like that. Even his Supreme Spell was not something that fancy, just a shower of fireballs, nothing more.

“Then I should be at an advantage.” Zoreya said with a nod.

“Yeah, you are a tank, after all.” I nodded.

“A what?” Nanya asked furrowing her brow.

Oh yeah… I forgot, there are no tanks in this world. I thought. “Erm nothing…” I replied with a smile.

“But now that you know this, what do you plan to do?” asked Shanteya curiously.

“I have made it clear that I am not your enemy, and I know that Dankyun is still alive out there, somewhere. I wish to join your party and travel with you for a while longer, to make certain of your intentions towards the Melkuth Order of Crusaders as well as humans and all the other intelligent species out there.” she explained with a nod.

“Erm…” I looked at Nanya and then at Shanteya.

“That is not up to debate. I have received my orders from Melkuth himself!” she stated clearly and struck the floor with the bottom of her shield.

“Great…” I let out a sigh.

“By the way, you said that the name given to you while in the Alttoros orphanage was Eleanor. Why are you called Zoreya then?” Shanteya asked.

“Zoreya is the name given to me by my god, Melkuth, upon becoming his Apostle and receiving his Divine Shield.” she said proudly and then gave a light pat on her shield.

“Well, I’m not against it…” I shrugged. “But you will get your own room and manage your own expenses while we travel. If we do any quests, and you join us, we’ll split the reward.” I stated the conditions loud and clear.

“That would be obvious.” she nodded.

“Well then, welcome aboard, Zoreya Eleanor Alttoros!” I said and then laughed.

“Welcome!” Nanya and Shanteya said in tandem.

“Does this mean big metal lady is now Master’s wife as well?” asked Tamara all of a sudden.

“Huh?” I blinked surprised.

“Yeah, if you get a weird message appearing before your eyes asking if you wish to become this idiot husband of mine’s wife, select ‘NO’.” Nanya pointed out.

“I don’t think I understand, but I will do so. As Melkuth’s Apostle, I am required to remain both pure of heart and pure of body in order to keep his divine spark in my heart. Love or marriage are both forbidden.” she explained with a nod.

“That’s sad…” I said.

“Yes.” Shanteya nodded.

“Very.” Nanya confirmed.

“Metal lady is a lonely baba!” Tamara joked.

“I’m not a baba!” Zoreya complained.

But she is sort of cute… I thought to myself.

Then why not grab her… enslave her… make her yours? a creepy voice echoed in my mind, but I ignore it.

Lately, the Darkness was annoyingly active, just like it happened during the battle between me and Zoreya. It kept telling me to kill her, and I wasn’t able to hear her when she gave up.

This… was starting to worry me…