Rupegia

Chapter 93: Steady Progress – Part 1

Another day ends, and we begin our sacred routine during bath time. The maids wash us again, and this time, Poosh joins them.

She has a semi-transparent cloth tying her long, straight, blonde hair back into a ponytail, and sports a cute but small elven bikini, revealing most of her curves. A small percentage of her body is obscured with patches of white wool, though, making her look quite fluffy and soft due to both the wool and her curves.

She also seems to have the opposite of a resting bitch face, warmly displaying a permanent gentle gaze that gives her a motherly air.

Before we begin, she leans over my tub and respectfully asks, "My Lord, may I give you a more intimate touch than what the maids usually provide?"

"Yes," I answer immediately without even thinking, and her gentle gaze becomes even gentler.

Her hand glides along my soapy skin with extreme softness, but it stimulates me to an unbelievable degree, making me forget all about the other cute maids currently washing me.

She's apparently single, so it's obvious what both Alissa and I want from her.

Our Blood Slave contract is simple and straightforward: she's only to be a loyal servant. So, though she offered to be more "intimate," the extent of that is still controlled entirely by her, but the way she gently strokes the head of my soapy cock makes me forget about everything we had agreed on.

Her other hand massages my scalp, pressing on the base of my horns, and the bubbling elven hair product continues the massage wherever she isn't touching.

She suddenly grips a horn and squeezes it, almost making me moan. I immediately think of Roxanne and her fear of having her horns broken. If it feels this pleasurable to just apply pressure to them, I can totally imagine how a succubus might end up snapping them from overindulgence.

The maids push my body forward to wash my back, forcing Poosh to lean down so that she can continue stroking my cock, which also makes her bouncy tits dangle right before me, asking me to grab them.

My hands are currently bound by the maids as they carefully clean each individual scale with a special, ultra-resistant version of Snow Weave, so I can only watch on in a trance as her tits jiggle enticingly.

Poosh gradually dials down both the grip strength and the stroke speed that she's using on my dick, keeping me at a maximum level of pleasure, but also preventing me from reaching an orgasm.

I look up and gaze into her dark brown eyes, then I let myself fall to her [Charm], and I feel myself getting faintly intoxicated by her, like with Roxanne's racial charm, but much weaker.

Someone grabs my resting tail and starts washing the base, right where it's the most sensitive, and that tips me over the edge.

I suddenly cum, and my seed launches far beyond the tub, though I don't think it reached a new record. It feels like the strength of this cumshot was much weaker than the usual from when I madly fuck the girls.

"Oh…" Poosh breathes softly, sounding slightly disappointed, then she looks at my still erect cock with curiosity, and her long sheep ears twitch. "Oh…? Do you have sex skills, my Lord?"

I sigh and close my eyes, letting myself relax completely now that the stimulation has stopped. "Yeah. Quite a lot of them," I whisper as I start to feel drowsy.

"O~h…" She breathes in understanding, then she starts stroking me again very delicately and slowly, just stimulating enough to keep me from falling asleep, but not intense enough to make me want to rip off her clothes and fuck her.

As her other hand snakes down my body, I suddenly feel the need to add, "Just don't finger my asshole."

"Understood, my Lord," she gracefully acknowledges, though I definitely detect some disappointment in her tone.

The maids finish washing me, then they oil my skin and bring me to a clean bed.

Poosh continues stroking me, keeping me fully erect, then Yunia appears before me, also properly oiled. Her pinkish skin shines just like her golden hair, which is currently straight, giving her a cooler air than when it's styled into drills.

She climbs up the steps to my bed and stops above my waist, then she slowly lowers herself down as my cock enters her dripping pussy, already made ready for me by the other maids.

Poosh grabs her waist and fingers her butthole for me while the other maids grope her breasts and stimulate her nipples.

She's feeling rather sensitive today, and she quickly collapses on top of me from the constant pleasure, allowing me to kiss and savor her juicy red lips.

I start vibrating my dick, causing her legs to go completely limp. She moans into my mouth, and I suck on her tongue to relish in every part of her.

The maids continue moving her hips for her, and I'm sure that Poosh can feel my cock vibrating through Yunia's butthole.

After Yunia is done, Osaria comes to have her turn, her thick dark body oiled up and shiny, and her inverted nipples already pulled out and stiff.

She sits onto my wet cock without waiting for it to be cleaned, and soon, the maids have to help her move her hips too because she also can't resist my vibrating dragonator.

She collapses beside Yunia and pulls her up into a hug so that they can rest together, then the maids start remaking Yunia's drills.

Poosh moves to clean their pussies, which are now dripping with my seed, but Aoi beats her to the punch and does it with her tongue.

For once, Poosh's gentle expression warps into surprise as she watches Aoi with deep curiosity. She remains silent through the entire clean up, but her interest in Aoi remains even after she's done.

I join the girls in the hot bath, and we cuddle while the tentacle monster does his noble work. It's not a Ravaging, but the gentle, sexy moans of pleasure and relaxation from the girls reveal what's going on underwater.

The maids whisper among themselves again, commenting on the lewd faces that the girls make, but Poosh returns to her gentle look again. I wonder if she's seen worse.

For dinner, we get a nice slab of roasted meat, and I notice that my appetite for rare meat has increased significantly. I even start wanting to drink up the juices pooling on the plate as the dragon within me fantasizes about eating a live cow and drinking its warm blood.

Krysta has focused on preparing mana-infused food today, which will soon become quite popular once the Chimeras start going out into the town.

It certainly tastes good to Aoi and me, who have a thing for eating mana, while the girls have more muted reactions. Magical food is one thing, and the girls love magical, non-caloric desserts, specifically, but mana-infused food is something else and much more exotic, though I hear that it's a common request from "mana sniffers."

Sainalai knows a bit of Alteration and [Conjuring Magic], so I guess we should get her to check with our court mages and see if any of them know how to make magical food.

We can just buy it, of course, but it'll be easier if we assign a court mage for it.

Before the day is truly over, the twins come to meet with us over dessert.

They warily look around the dining room, and once they determine that there's nothing lewd going on, they suddenly become more confident and properly come in.

They look with a bit of worry at Osaria, who's now teasing them by showing her predatory gaze, which the two rather prudish boys seem to be weak to.

"How's your training?" Yunia innocently asks as they sit down. She's still sore and has her head up in the clouds from her Ravaging, so she doesn't pay any attention to their nervousness or probe my mind.

Arturus clears his throat and immediately starts talking to distract himself from Osaria's gaze, "We're doing well, and we've even gained a skill level a day lately, but we wanted to talk with you about that."

"Hm?" Yunia hums softly, her stern expression certainly not a match for her current mood.

"We want to enter Goloria's Knight Academy," Antares continues, trying to avoid looking Osaria in the eye.

"Ah, yes, that's a good idea," Yunia agrees as she nods absentmindedly.

Hana pokes Klein in the shoulder with a draconic finger, making the monkey-girl yelp softly. "Wouldn't that be good for you, too?" She asks Klein, completely ignoring her glare.

"Aren't I too old?" Klein questions and rubs her shoulder, then looks towards Yunia.

Yunia blinks repeatedly and tries to focus on the conversation as her mind starts to clear. "You could join the more advanced classes; they're for older students," she suggests.

Hana snorts and Klein turns to look at Roxanne, just waiting for the expected quip, but it doesn't come since the mean succubus only needs to grin for everyone to know what she's thinking.

"Too obvious," she mutters and shrugs.

"You're not that old, so you'll do fine," I comfort Klein.

"The worst part won't be the age gap, but that nearly everyone there will be the child of a noble," Osaria chimes in, though it doesn't help much.

Klein frowns and looks down, her long tail gradually going limp.

Yunia sighs softly and speaks with a little more kindness, "You don't need to participate in every class; only a few of them will be useful to you."

Her tail instantly shoots up as she exclaims, "Ah! That's true. I only need to endure for a little while." Then she looks up at me. She's still nervous, but the encouragement is starting to work on her.

I don't respond, simply looking at Yunia, who answers without me having to ask her, "For us, it's a simple matter to pay for your tuition, but it'll be hard on you since you were born as a commoner."

"If you think I can handle it, then I'll do it," Klein immediately states with a touch of trepidation. She's not the kind of person that would throw away a golden opportunity, though she still has some reservations.

"Anyone can, that's the whole point of the academy," Osaria comforts her again, this time with a lot more success since Klein's anxiety starts to fade.

Yunia turns to the twins, and the subtle gentleness goes away. "And for you two, we expect that you'll earn the highest honors. As the last remaining holders of the Este family name, you must not disappoint."

"Yes. W-we won't disappoint!" Arturus shouts, and his voice cracks, causing him to blush while his brother looks like he's about to facepalm.

"I don't think it's healthy to put too much pressure on them," I caution Yunia, and she snobbishly raises an eyebrow at me, prompting me to explain myself. "You want them to aim high, but it's in our nature to fail, so when that eventually happens, they need to survive the shock. I've seen many people get burned pretty badly because they weren't prepared for failure."

Yunia considers it seriously for a few moments, her long finger tapping the table loudly.

"He's right. You must 'live to fight another day,'" Ciel sides with me and quotes the God of War.

Alissa frowns as an annoying memory surfaces in her mind after hearing the teaching being quoted. "Someone said that to me once, and I hated it at the time, but I've begrudgingly come to accept it," she comments bitterly.

Yunia nods subtly and accepts our advice. She turns to the twins and softens up a little as she says, "Your purpose is to reach the treetops, but we'll be here in case a branch snaps." It sounds like she kind of butchered an elven saying of some sort.

Antares smiles warmly at her, then he kneels like a knight and lowers his head, with Arturus copying him a second later.

"We know our purpose as Supporting Descendants, and we'll grow stronger until you can rely on us," Antares declares with determination, then he rises from the floor and pulls his brother up with him. "The Este noble house will one day be True Nobles, too, and we'll always be loyal to you."

Yunia and Antares stare at each other while Arturus nervously shifts on his feet, then a subtle smile grows on her face as she opens her arms towards them. They happily scurry over to her, and she pulls them into a hug.

She tried to give them some tough love, but her heart didn't hold out for long, so it only lasted for a short while in the end.

And with that, the matter is settled. The twins and Klein will enter the Knight Academy at the start of next year.

While they talk over dessert and some light alcohol, I get up and walk out to the balcony to enjoy the cool, evening breeze.

Before long, Lina comes out to keep me company, not feeling like joining the conversation inside, then Gify pops onto my shoulder.

"Are you finished with your room? I've been feeling like my shoulder was getting a bit light lately," I lightly quip at Gify.

"Gih," she responds tersely, then curls up and goes to sleep.

I use my draconic hands to pull Lina towards me and a tentacle to pat her head while we watch the sea of mist shifting outside our walls.

"This place is so beautiful," I whisper in her ear, and I notice her getting goosebumps.

"It is. I can hardly believe that it's… mine," she whispers back absentmindedly.

I chuckle softly and reassure her, "It may not seem real, but it will, one day it will…"

"I never even dreamed that I'd one day become a Lord, or that I'd marry," she continues, happily revealing her feelings.

"Hm? But there was that man, Hilde's brother. He proposed to you."

She lets out a short snort and smiles wryly as she remarks, "That would've never worked. I'd be unhappy with him."

"Why is that?"

She opens her heart to me and speaks her mind, something that she rarely does, "I think he'd worship me a bit too much. Treat me with too much reverence compared to what I deserve."

Now it's my turn to smile wryly as I tease, "Well, you do deserve to be treated like a Lord, and soon, a Queen."

"Deserved," she corrects herself with a pout, then we go silent since there's nothing more for us to talk about. We already know almost everything we can about each other thanks to [Bind], so we have plenty of free time to spend in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

A few minutes later, a buzzed Roxanne comes out and hugs me from behind, nearly poking herself on my horns. She rubs her head against mine and manages to get one of her rubbery, spiral horns entangled with mine.

"S-sorry~…!" She apologizes as I use a tentacle to separate us.

"It's fine…" I answer tiredly. It may seem like she interrupted this moment I'm having with Lina, but my little dwarf doesn't care as long as we keep cuddling. She's already gotten used to completely ignoring Roxanne.

After that, the pale demon starts groping my body, but she doesn't rub her head against mine again.

"Oh! Right, I just remembered why I came out here," she suddenly exclaims and stops her groping, but only for a moment. "I discovered a powerful mix that kind of acts like that 'gunpowder' you wanted to recreate."

I turn my head sideways and raise an eyebrow at her. "Kind of?"

She giggles mischievously and nods. "Yes, 'kind of.'" Then the tip of her dagger-tail caresses my cheeks. "I still don't know how to make it from scratch, and it's dangerous to play around with it, but it's the closest I've gotten to your 'gunpowder.'"

"Considering how you cause at least one explosion every single day, then yes, it must be dangerous," Lina remarks offhandedly, and I detect a bit of edge in her tone.

"All thanks to your incredibly resistant workbench," Roxanne innocently responds and giggles again.

Lina's gloomy eyes look even gloomier as she frowns. "And now I've just remembered that it's time for me to review the enchantments for the workbench. If you get yourself wounded, then everyone will blame me."

I snort and confess, "I… I really don't think that we would. Everyone knows how crazy Roxanne is."

"I'm fine either way," Roxanne casually responds with a shrug and chuckles, then she starts groping my body with more enthusiasm and begins nibbling on my ear lobes.

Roxanne remains glued to me for the rest of the evening, but she restrains herself from going far enough to scare off the twins, so they stay with us for a long time, and we end up going to sleep a little later than usual.

Today is the 8th.

As a follow-up to yesterday's thirst, Roxanne wakes me up with her womb by twisting it in that insane way that only succubi can.

I cum inside her, and she doesn't let anyone clean her up, even going so far as using a tight loincloth to block off the entrance of her pussy. My cum is partially magical, so there's a significant chance that she'll actually absorb it like Aoi does. Also, there's no chance of it impregnating her because the Fertility Ring turns both eggs and sperm inert, making fertilization impossible, and then it even kills all the sperm a day later when the effect runs out.

My [Dragon Transformation] increased by 1 (now 5). Steady progress.

Alissa increased her [Enhanced Reflexes] by 1 (now 2+8). She can squeeze some more power out of her bow by increasing these "body enhancement" skills, but they're hard to come by, so she wants to split her focus with [Illusion Magic].

Roxanne increased her [Space Magic] by 1 (now 1+10), which means that she's now a step closer to boosting her [Explosion] with [Warp Space].

Hana increased her [Mana Efficiency] by 1 (now 2), which took a point away from [Reduced Mana Cost]. Efficiency helps with the enchantments in her armor so that she can use them for longer periods of time.

Ciel increased her [Light Magic] by 1 (now 9+31). Earning her skill points is better than just using my Gift to assign the free points because she actually learns more about the skill. The Gift is a shortcut to power; it'll never replace the real thing.

Yunia increased her [Spirit Magic] by 2 (now 6+19). It has been a long time since she last leveled this skill, so a full day of training without any interruptions was enough for her to gain two levels.

Lina's "slave" entry is gone, so she's now a free woman again.

She stares at her system screen as a mix of emotions stews inside her heart.

One emotion suddenly overcomes the rest, and it prompts her to act.

She gets up from the bed and hurries out onto the balcony as she pulls out her choker from her [Item Box], then she stops at the railing and rips off the slave tag from the choker.

We get up and calmly follow her as she gets second thoughts about what she should do next. She didn't hate being a slave, definitely not after meeting me, but there's something inside her that's ecstatic from knowing that it's over.

"Throw it. Throw the tag away," I kindly encourage her.

She turns to me and frowns in worry. "But… that'd be disrespectful," she refuses.

I smile warmly at her cuteness. "If you want to mark this day as a 'new chapter' in the book of your life, then throw it."

Osaria nods and agrees, "I know that you'll feel at peace once you do."

An idea stirs in Alissa's head, and she suggests the opposite, "Or store it. It'll probably become a precious historical item after our deaths." Then she smiles, proud of her idea.

"How do you figure that?" I immediately question her, the system translating my words into something very different.

Her smile becomes slightly mischievous. "If you fulfill your promise to Yunia, then the former tag of Lina of the 'Evil Eyes' will certainly become very valuable with time if we keep it safe."

"Maybe I should throw it away…" Lina mumbles, disheartened. She's very uncomfortable with that horrifying title.

Ciel walks up to Lina and gives her hand a squeeze as she encourages her, "Store it. It's a memento of your past, of who you were, and of how far you've risen."

Now Lina is truly torn. She really doesn't know which choice to pick.

"There's one more thing you could do…" Aoi starts with a toothy grin, then she walks to Lina and extends her draconic paw, asking for the tag.

Lina is apprehensive but gives it to her, then Aoi raises it up so that we can all see, and runs a very sharp claw along the entire length of the tag, leaving a shallow groove going through the writing.

"There, now it's clear that you're not a slave anymore. That's something an Earthling would do," she states proudly and returns the tag.

Lina stares at it for a moment, then she starts to smile adorably as her emotions settle down. She puts on the cute leather choker, then stores the tag back in her [Item Box].

She lets out a crystal-like, cutesy giggle, then grins warmly at all of us. "Thank you," she whispers, and of course, we respond with a group hug.