Act 5: Friends ...and Enemies

The trail was rough; while larger than a normal game trail due to the greater size of many of the inhabitants of the Kharos mountain range, it was still a challenge for horses to navigate. Notwithstanding this, a small group consisting of three riders and their mounts, one pack animal, and one individual on foot picked their way along, occasionally exchanging a few words with one another but mostly traveling in silence.

This group was Fenrir and the companions he had chosen for this expedition, consisting of Nelith, Katari, and Koreen. The giant lupine led the way, stride light and easy, as though he were strolling through the courtyard of his castle rather than hiking across the largest mountain range on the continent. His head was up, eyes scanning the terrain and nose testing each errant breeze for signs of danger.

Behind him came the rest of his party, carefully shepherding their horses along the uncertain footing of the trail, or in the case of Koreen, trying not to fall off her horse. The blue-skinned succubus had never ridden a horse before, and despite the several hours that had elapsed since they had set out, she was still far from comfortable atop her mount.

She was in the middle; Nelith followed directly behind Fenrir while Katari brought up the rear, acting both as rearguard and taking care of the packhorse. Oni didn't typically ride mounts of any description, but Katari had picked the skill up quickly during their trip from Eldfall to Kharvionas Castle. Nelith wasn't as comfortable atop her mount as Katari, but she had enough experience with horses to spare some time to admire the view.

And Fenrir had to admit the views were stunning. This part of the mountains was characterized by towering peaks with deep valleys in between; sheer drop-offs were common and most of the peaks were capped with snow despite the time of year. Anywhere there was an opportunity for them to get a foothold, alpine grasses and highland flowers grew in abundance, decorating the meadows with blankets of green, pink, blue, and yellow. Further down pines grew thick, and from across the valley the sound of a waterfall came faintly to Fenrir's ears. He pointed it out to his followers as it came into view in a deep cleft in the mountainside, carved out bit by bit over thousands of years.

They had only waited long enough for Mitzi to give birth before setting out. While there was no tangible reason for it, Fenrir had a constant sense of approaching danger, as though every moment brought some unnamed threat closer and closer to him and his family. And despite the lack of solid evidence to prove the feeling justified, he took it seriously. He hadn't forgotten Melanoche's comment about the attention his actions during his first trip to the capital were likely to attract.

His thoughts turned back to Mitzi's birthing. By the end of her pregnancy her stomach had grown so large that it seemed a wonder she was still able to stand without overbalancing forwards. Considering that, Fenrir had been expecting a large litter, but she had more than surpassed his expectations with no less than eleven goblin babies. They were tiny even in comparison to Mitzi's size, so thankfully the birth had not been too taxing for her. He had asked her whether so many children was typical of goblins, and she had shaken her head.

"Is usually closer to five or six," the tired but happy goblin had told him. "Mitzi not know why so many this time."

With so many children to feed, Fenrir had thought it well worth taking the time to increase Mitzi's milk production, and after they had named each of the chubby-faced infants, he had taken leave of both her and the rest of his followers and headed out on the trail.

Of course, before he had gone, Chellise had begged him again to let her out of her chastity belt. "Please, Daddy, I promise I've learned my lesson. Please unlock me, I'll be good from now on. Pleeease!"

"No, Chellise, not yet. But you have been a good girl and avoided coming without permission so far, so if you can keep from coming until I get back, then not only will I unlock you, I'll fuck you until you pass out."

She had whined a bit more, but he had held firm, and eventually she had had to resign herself to an extra week or so of denial. Her key had been given over to Kira, with strict injunctions to only release the young succubus for the purposes of using the toilet or washing herself.

He expected to reach the oni in about three days, from what he remembered of what they had said the first time he had seen them. Picking his way around a particularly large rock, he thought over what he knew of that particular clan of oni again. 'Let's see, Katari was raid-chief until she became Beholden to me, and then that position went to a particularly large bull by the name of Sataareth kor-Aqun. He seemed a decent sort, level-headed and intelligent. Hopefully the chief of their clan is of a similar disposition.

'On the other hand, I may run into that gray-skinned Unproven again. What was his name...? -Ah, yes, Vashedin. After the way I humiliated him, he's likely to want ****, and I wouldn't put it past him to target my girls instead of myself. After all, even Katari was perfectly willing to use Chellise as a bargaining chip in order to get some of the Vigil's supplies. I'll have to be on my guard.'

Their course was roughly north-northwest, following the spine of the mountains. The maps Fenrir had seen depicted the mountains growing both larger and wider as one headed north, though of course with the limited distance they had covered so far it was impossible to see any tangible difference. And anyway, three days of travel in this kind of terrain wasn't actually that great a distance geographically. Unlike on the plains to the east, it was utterly impossible to maintain a straight course, even for Fenrir, though he could have made numerous shortcuts that his companions could not manage.

The trail was marked with the signs of various creatures. Some were animals he had known from his previous life; deer, elk, wolves, mountain goats, foxes, and even the occasional bear. Others he was unfamiliar with, though he did spot the spoor of a yeti once. Most were old, blurred by time and the elements, but Fenrir kept an eye out for fresh sign, partially as an indicator of possible danger in the area but mostly because he wanted to catch something for their evening meal. They were traveling fairly light apart from the items they were bringing along to trade, and food was one of the things they had skimped on since Fenrir's abilities were more than capable of bringing in whatever game he set his sights on.

The day was growing old when he found what he was looking for, now down in the pine belt as the trail they were following dropped to cross a valley between two high ridges. With instructions to the girls to start looking for a suitable campsite, Fenrir set out in pursuit of his quarry. Thirty minutes later, he paused on the edge of a small clearing to observe his girls as they set up camp.

Katari was looking after the horses, hobbling them in preparation for setting them loose for the evening, while Nelith and Koreen worked together to set up a fire ring and unpack cooking utensils. As he watched, Koreen dropped a stone on her foot, making her curse and hop around one leg as she clutched her toes. "Stupid- rock!" She leveled a kick at the offending stone, but only succeeded in hurting her other foot.

While the blue-skinned succubus vented her frustrations by means of some surprisingly inventive profanity, Fenrir laid down his erstwhile quarry on a flat rock near the stream that flowed along one side of the clearing and went to help her and Nelith with camp setup.

"You know," he said to Koreen as he placed the rock that she had dropped in its proper place around what would soon be the campfire, "if you just slowed down a little you wouldn't drop things so often."

"Fuck you," she muttered, still rubbing her injured toes.

"Fuck me yourself, if you think I need it," Fenrir replied, smirking at her.

Her thighs twitched, but Koreen managed to avoid giving any other indication that his quip had struck home. Nelith walked over from where the saddles and packs were piled with their bedrolls in her arms and dumped them to one side of the fire ring. "If people are getting fucked, I want to be first on the list."

"You sure about that? You might be pretty sore tomorrow as is considering you're not exactly used to riding, especially over terrain like this."

Nelith snorted. "Oh, please, like sex is going to hurt me. Even with a dick like yours, Chief, sex is more likely to help my muscles than hurt them."

Fenrir took half a second to think over how each of his succubi had handled the aftermath of sex so far. "You might have a point there," he admitted.

"So you'll fuck me?" the darkhaired succubus asked, a gleam of lust entering her eyes. Koreen glanced up, looking a little put out.

"After I've eaten something myself, sure," Fenrir shrugged. "Not just you, either; Koreen, I'm going to want your pussy tonight as well."

Koreen's face brightened, and as Fenrir turned away from the fire to skin his catch, he heard her whisper to Nelith, "Suck it, Nel, you don't get to have his cock all to yourself tonight!"

A glance backwards revealed Nelith shrugging her shoulders with a grin on her face. "I fully intend to, but it's not like I was planning on hogging it anyway. The Chief has plenty for both of us."

That seemed to take some of the wind out of Koreen's sails.

"Seriously, Koreen, you're still acting like he's a normal man who's gonna run out of stamina after a round or two. You weren't conscious for most of it, but remember when we had that giant orgy when he first got back? He fucked us nonstop for basically the entire night, and we were the ones who got tired first. I mean, I think he reached his limit by the end too, but the last few rounds were more us just lying there and taking it than actually participating. And that was with us having time to rest while he fucked the others."

"Really? Wow..."

Fenrir could not suppress a smirk; it was immensely satisfying to hear succubi of all people speaking in awed tones about his sexual prowess, even if it had mostly been given to him through his Mindbreak perk. The grin lingered as he began the process of dressing his kill, preparing the meat for himself and Katari, plus a little for the two succubi as well. They weren't likely to want much, but both Nelith and Lilli had concurred with Yumiko in that it was best for them to have some regular food along with their sexual essence. Knowing Koreen had a special distaste for food of this sort, he was careful to save the most delicious cuts for her.

Once done, he buried the waste and washed up in the stream before turning back to camp. In the time it had taken him to prepare the meat for cooking, Katari had gotten back with an armful of firewood and now there was a merrily crackling blaze to ward off the growing chill in the air.

Nelith looked up as he approached. "Perfect, Chief, we're all ready for you." She reached out for the meat he was carrying, setting it up to cook over the fire.

Fenrir settled down next to Koreen to await his meal, joining in on the conversation around the campfire. Katari was going over what they could expect as guests of the oni, which, while nothing Fenrir hadn't heard before, was nonetheless valuable information for the two succubi.

"As guests you will be protected; it is a great dishonor for a guest of an oni clan to come to harm while still among the clan. Of course, if they should behave in a manner unbefitting of a guest, they are often expelled and no longer recognized as a guest, but you must do something obviously and willfully offensive for such to occur. Mere accidents or misunderstandings are not enough for such measures."

"That's a relief," muttered Nelith. "I can just see Koreen tripping over her own feet and spilling a drink all over the chief somehow."

"Hey!" Koreen protested, but Fenrir waved her down before she could get any further.

"Not the time, girls, pay attention. This is valuable knowledge."

Koreen subsided, grumbling a little to herself, and Katari continued. "You may be invited to spar, but have no compunctions about refusing, or accepting if you wish. They are merely friendly overtures, meant to make you feel more at ease among the oni by inviting you to engage with their customs. Be wary of accepting too much drink, however, as oni **** is stronger than most."

"I suppose it would need to be, with oni having so much more body mass on average," Fenrir mused. "But why are you referring to the oni as them instead of us? You are an oni, after all, and until about a month and a half ago you were a full-fledged member of the tribe."

Katari hesitated, and her gaze dropped to her lap. "...That was before I became Beholden. I belong to no clan now. I am yours, my lord, and no other bond is to be considered in view of that debt."

"I ...see." Fenrir decided to let the matter pass, and Katari went back to describing what they could expect as guests of the oni. While she did, he turned his awareness inward, keeping an ear out for any new information but otherwise focusing on what he felt within.

As a result of his training over the past few weeks, his Monster level had risen from forty-eight to fifty-seven. 'I'll admit I kind of expected to gain a new ability at level fifty, but it seems that wasn't the case. Are new abilities gained once you reach a certain level, or are there specific requirements for gaining one? I've gained two since being dropped into this world; Howl of Fury, which I've yet to actually use, and Target Mark, which I have used, though there hasn't yet been a case where it was indispensable.

'Let's see, I gained Howl of Fury right after slaughtering that Vigil company, and I first noticed I had Target Mark right after my first meeting with Elmeria. At the time I assumed it was because my Assassin class had evolved into Spectre, but now I'm not so sure. In both cases, I had a use if not actually a need for the ability, so maybe it was that which prompted my gaining each of them? Hmm, need more evidence to be sure.'

He turned his attention to his Class levels, Barbarian and Spectre, which had risen to level forty and forty-seven, respectively. 'Spectre isn't too surprising, since I wasn't doing much sneaking recently, only a little for hunting. So it makes sense that that only rose by two levels, but that Barbarian should be the same despite all the training I've been doing is concerning. It's like there's a bottleneck somewhere, but it's not been with my training. I've been making excellent progress on mastering each of the weapons Katari has me practicing with.' He remembered the odd feeling about Barbarian he had been having for a while now. 'It seems I can't put it off any longer. Whatever's going on there, it's now actively slowing my growth, but what to do about it? I assumed that if I kept leveling Barbarian, sooner or later whatever I'm sensing there would make itself apparent, but it seems that isn't going to be the case.

'Where am I going to find the time to investigate, though? I already have quite enough on my plate between these diplomatic visits, needing to figure out runeworking, searching for some way to remove that null rune that's locking away Safara's magic, setting up a reliable and most importantly undetectable line of communication with the capital, restoring the castle to full operational status, and increasing my own personal strength in other ways, such as unlocking the Sorcerer class. Ah, yes, I also still need to give that dungeon core we found to Mitzi. I didn't want to do it while she was pregnant, but by the time we get back her children ought to be old enough that they shouldn't incur much risk from the procedure.

'Then there's all the rest of my children; while they're all still too young to need much from me yet, bar the slimes of course, they're going to grow up fast. Once they get a bit older I'll need to set aside time to teach them the things they need to know to survive. And that's not even considering the fact that I probably ought to start some kind of counterintelligence soon, just to make sure no major players are getting too close to finding me. Elmeria can cover both the Vigil and the Saintesses, but there's still the Dark-race heavy hitters and other lesser Light-race threats.'

Fenrir tore himself from his thoughts long enough to accept his share of the evening meal from Nelith. He gave her a warm smile to show his gratitude, going back to his thoughts as he ate. 'Myrina's a Barbarian as well; she might know something about what's got my growth throttled. Couldn't hurt to ask her, anyway, and maybe approaching her with an issue like this could help me get closer to the bottom of what's been going on with her. That said, Saeko's on the case already, and she might just be the cleverest person I've ever met. If she can't get to the bottom of Myrina's issue, I'm not sure who could.'

The great lupine watched as Nelith and Katari laughed in response to something Koreen had said, the blue-skinned succubus grinning broadly as she waited for them to stop laughing before she continued. 'I have more on my plate than I know what to do with, but it's important to remember why I'm doing this. Sure, my life would be a lot easier without all my girls, but it'd also be a lot emptier. This is the life I chose, the first real choice I've ever gotten to make, and even with all the problems that come with it I don't regret it, not even a little.'

Not too much going on in this one, mostly introspection from Fenrir about what he wants to do next and some refreshers as to the oni. Next chapter should be a lot more exciting, though.
When I did my reread/editing pass, I added a significant amount to two chapters; ...And Back Again and Facing Fears. Facing Fears has had about 500 words added right before the perspective shift to Tsavani, just after she and Fenrir decide when and where they're having sex, while ...And Back Again has had around 4.5k added at the beginning of the chapter. While the former only has a bit more lore and character development going on, the latter is the full sex scene which I originally debated writing and decided not to. Aside from reversing that decision, there's also more details on flesh shaping and character development, mostly for Elmeria, but there's some there for Mitzi as well. Both bits are well worth going back and reading, in my humble opinion.
Concurrently with the release of this chapter I'm going to start crossposting to Questionable Questing, which means you can find this story on three different platforms now. My release schedule for QQ will be 3 chapters a week until I catch up, same as it was for Scribblehub. You can find the link to it here, if you want it. The threadmarks system there is rather different, but not too difficult to get used to, at least from the writer's perspective.
For here, we go back to our normal hopefully-every-week-but-more-realistically-every-two-or-three-weeks schedule. This hiatus lasted longer than I wanted it to; turns out it takes quite a while to read through 300k words, especially if you're critically examining it all for possible typos and such. Then the parts I added to already posted chapters took time to write as well. But from now on it's back to business as usual.
Enjoy!