28 Chapter 6 (7): A field trip

Chapter 6 (7): A field trip

The next day, it was time for the school's first field trip, also known as the party evaluation exams. Three parties other than ours made the cut to even go, two male, one female. Each went off in a different direction on a different quest. The other female party went on a D ranked quest, the male parties going on E and D ranked quests, and mine going on a C rank quest that was barely above D rank. Our job was to deal with an abnormally large number of goblins in the area around a small village about two day's walk to the northeast, and the party watching ours was, of course, Van's party (not including the twins). Ver was beside us, in wyvern form, and Bradley was the first to speak with a lecherous expression.

"Hey, looks like we have a group full of really pretty girls. I know that Ryuu is taken, but th- OW!" (Bradley)

"All four of them are taken, numbnuts. Get your head out of the area between your legs and start focusing on the job... not that there's much for us to do, with Ryuu on their side" (Ninya, the source of his yelp)

"Right, right. Ryuu, how've you been? You didn't go on a quest with us last week, so it's been a while" (Bradley)

"I didn't go on a quest with you because I was trying to avoid you. I knew that this would give me several times more exposure to you than I'd want for any given week, and I had other things to be doing in any case. Now, shall we actually get going? Wait, I guess introductions come first, don't they?" (Ryuu)

Everyone introduced themselves, save for Ninya and myself, and we went on our way. Because of my being able to use storage magic, my party's baggage wasn't slowing us down, and I did the same for Ninya and co's bags. That meant we were able to move faster than was expected, so we only had to camp out one night. Char and Mae brought down some horned wolves (D ranked alone, this pack of five low C) on our trip, which Elise cooked, and Ver scarfed most of it down, though there was still enough for both parties to eat their fill. Mae took first watch, Char got the second watch, I got third so I could feed Ver in peace, and Elise took the last watch because she's normally up early in any case.

Day two, we brought down a blade stag (middle C rank) and had that for lunch. About an hour after we finished lunch, we reached the village, to find it surrounded by several hundred goblins (E rank alone, 5+ are D rank, 25+ C, 100+ lower B) so I asked Elise to use her spectacular vision to scout in more detail and report.

"That's... not good. They're not... moving by instinct. Something's leading them... ordering them around. Most have metal armor... rest have leather. All have... iron weapons or better... save for mages... who have... rather strong staves. Hmm... Oh, that's bad. That's really bad. There's a large group... on the northern side... all are hobgoblins... protecting a goblin king. I'd say... minimum low A... this is bad" (Elise)

Goblin mages are D rank alone, but with the group of 10 or more goblins they're almost always with, they're usually C ranked. Hobgoblins are D ranks alone, and a goblin king is C rank alone, but with the medium-sized army he is always accompanied by, the task of taking him out is always upper B rank, minimum. Some have larger armies, which bump them up to low A or even high A.

"Well, looks like it's time for us to get to work. Can't be harder than that Gigant Basilisk we took down a few weeks back, right?" (Ryuu)

"Right... That was... fun..." (Elise)

"Stop, shock, and burn?" (Mae)

"Yeah. Elise, we don't need you to shoot its eyes, instead, you focus on making sure they don't try anything sneaky. Now then, just follow the plan and we'll win this in time to make dinner!" (Ryuu)

"Ah, you guys can leave this to us. We'll handle it. Actually... we'll open a path for you, you go help the people on the inside of the village's walls when we do" (Char)

"That's not what-" (Van)

"Your primary duty is to save lives, right? We can handle it if it's just goblins or hobgoblins, no matter how many we are up against. However, we can't deal with the ones inside the village. That's where you come in" (Ryuu)

At that, they agreed, and I launched the first spell, lightning magic that fried a few dozen goblins, and Van's group charged in that opening as we held the goblins back. Once they were safely inside, thanks to Mae's timely staircase made of earth, we destroyed the stairs, and moved to phase two. Mae used magic to cause localized earthquakes, keeping the goblins from moving much, and I cast rapid-fire weak lightning magic to paralyze them all, buying time for Char's casting Offering of the Inferno, fire magic that didn't have much power, but would drain mana from those it hit to spread the flames to more targets, in a chain reaction that swept through their ranks. When they were all burning, Mae and I switched to casting magic to actually kill them. Mae created spikes under their feet, while I rained lighting onto their strongest. Like that, we took out another 60 or more in a few minutes, rested for a moment, and did it again. The fourth time we did so, a few snuck up behind us, but I was ready for them thanks to Elise's keeping watch, and they died quickly. After we'd killed 500 or more, we got to the cluster of hobgoblins around the goblin king. They had goblin mages blocking the effects of our magic, so we charged into their ranks, Mae hacking and slashing them to bits, Char acting like she had five arms, each with their own sword, four of them made of lightning or fire, and in my case, slashing, stabbing, and strangling them as I cast my larger spells when I had the chance. Elise was on the wall, sniping the mages and archers when she had the chance. Ver, meanwhile, was hidden in my subspace, occasionally popping out to cast a spell or two and then retreating again. After a few minutes, we'd reduced the enemy numbers from over a hundred to under twenty, but those were all elite hobgoblins who were several times stronger than an ordinary hobgoblin, and had incredible coordination. Fortunately, we had a plan for that as well.

"Okay, time for shock and awe!" (Ryuu)

The three of us retreated, Char and I preparing large-scale lightning magic, Mae creating a barrier between us and the village, as Ver flew up above them, and then she released a roar as I removed most of my limiters at once. The shock of having a greater wyvern appear at the same time as someone with about five million mana did created an opening for just a second, but that was enough for Char's lightning magic and my own to fry them all. After that, the only one that was left alive was the goblin king, who died to Ver's jaws after I'd put my limiters back on. Around the time we had started to go into melee combat, however, Van and co had finished off the two dozen or so goblins that had made it into the village, and they were able to witness the whole thing while their jaws were hanging open. Ninya, to her credit, picked off a few fleeing hobgoblins, but for the most part, she just watched in awe with the rest of them.

"I think... we underestimated Ryuu's companions because we compared them to her..." (Bradley)

"I knew they were strong when they only looked at a blade stag as food, not a threat, but then... when she said something about a gigant basilisk being fun... I raised my expectations... and still didn't do so enough. Their teamwork is on par with those who've been fighting together for decades... but they haven't known one another for even two months yet... how..." (Irene)

"And Elise's support... she knew what targets to hit, and which ones would be dealt with by someone else... and she never missed. Not even once..." (Shion)

"That's the power of love, I guess... I sure as hell can feel it when I'm fighting with Ryuu" (Ninya)

"It'd be a waste of good talent to try to recruit any of them without all of the others... and even then, we'd just get in their way more often than not... well, maybe Ninya wouldn't" (Van)

While they were talking about that, my party was busy collecting all 922 of the corpses into one spot, and I was putting them en masse into my storage. When I checked later, the total numbers of each type came out to be:

[607 total goblins]

517 normal goblins (18 killed by Van and co)

35 goblin mages

26 goblin warriors (1 killed by Irene)

12 goblin thieves (3 killed by Shion and Ninya)

9 goblin archers

4 goblin heavy knights (1 killed by Shion)

3 goblin leaders

1 goblin strategist

[314 total hobgoblins]

97 normal hobgoblins (4 killed by Ninya, 1 by Irene)

58 hobgoblin mages

44 hobgoblin archers

42 hobgoblin warriors

31 hobgoblin heavy knights

17 hobgoblin shamans

11 hobgoblin leaders

6 hobgoblin assassins

2 hobgoblin commanders

1 goblin king (killed by Ver)

We spent the night at the village, and then set off on our way back around dawn. On our way back, however, things got rough... not. An hour or so before sunset, we encountered a pair of hatchling wyverns and their mother, who bagan to attack us. However, Ver flew out and talked to them, eventually getting the mother to fly away on her own as the hatchlings cautiously approached us on somewhat unsteady legs.

[It's all right now. They aren't going to attack, their mother decided to kick them out of the nest a moon or so early, as she figured they might be able to get stronger if they stayed with us. Char, you have the spatial element, so you might be able to tame one... nobody else does, right? Well, besides Ryuu, of course] (Ver)

"I... I have it, but I haven't been able to use anything useful from it, so I've kept it hidden... I can try to tame one, however, if they are willing" (Ninya)

One of them, a female of an extremely dark orange color, went up to her, while the sky blue female moved towards Char. They both let out some soft cries, and Ver translated for us.

[They seem to like the ones they are with right now, though it's just an instinctive feeling. If you wish, they would be willing to serve you two, if you would train them and make them strong in return] (Ver)

"Well, I'll do my best, if you'll take me. Ver and Ryuu will help me with what they can, right?" (Char)

"Of course. We're friends... almost family, actually. I'll do whatever I can" (Ryuu)

[Same here. I'd have done so even if you hadn't asked... Ah, she's saying to give her a name] (Ver)

"Hmm... how about Sky, in honor of what you shall become a master of, and of your color?" (Char)

A dark blue collar appeared on Sky's neck, and she started to twine her small, slender body around Char's legs as if she was a cat. Meanwhile, Ninya had named hers Arelstiar, or Arel, after the city of eternal autumn near Lar's castle.

When I woke up, Ver had shifted back to her human form (naked) so she could open my nightgown and drink, and I only realized that the rest of Ninya's party didn't recognize her a few minutes later, when Irene had the courage to ask.

"Uh... Ryuu? Who... is that? How did she get here? Why is she... uh... you know..." (Irene)

"Sucking like mad on your tits? Also, can I join he-" (Bradley)

As soon as he started to ask, Ver shot out of my nightgown and shifted into her wyvern form, before staring him down while growling... well, it was more like a roar that she'd swallowed or something, but still.

"Ver... I... I see... so... uh... HOW THE HELL DID SHE DO THAT!?!?" (Irene)

"I guess... I should explain... Everyone, meet Ver, the eleventh divine beast, also known as the Wyvern Lord... Yes, you heard that right. Yes, it is confusing at times. Yes, she is the most recent addition to my harem... and yes, she is less than two months old. Deal with it... well, I'm still trying to, but still..." (Ryuu)

Ver shifted back to her human form, and then she grudgingly put on her armor when I reminded her that she was standing there while fully naked, her big, beautiful, bouncy breasts bulging out 15 cm or so in full view of a perverted dwarf... except not, as Shion, Irene, and Ninya were all overlapping their hands over his eyes to make sure he couldn't see her naked form at all, Van respectfully facing the other direction, until she'd been covered with that skintight leather armor that, for some reason, didn't cover much, such as the area from the top of her shoulders to more than a third of the way down her breasts, nor did it do anything at all to hide her cleavage, as it was split down the middle. To give you an idea of how wide the gap was, it was almost revealing the inner and upper edges of her areola, while also protruding sharply over her nipples, just to add to the erotic atmosphere. It also barely covered her hips and left much of her butt exposed, despite the fact that it covered her thighs and lower legs quite well... if you exclude the large open area on the outer back area of her thighs. It even had openings for her wings and tail... and by that, I mean that it was almost backless save for vertical sections going up her spine (after two short bits converged midway up when they left a gap for her tail) and her sides, the three of which connected above her shoulder blades, went behind her neck, and transitioned to her arms while, as I said, leaving her chest quite exposed. I mean, I rather liked the effect that lack of coverage gave, but not when people other than my lovers could see her... Anyways, back on topic.

"This body reflects both my mental age and how mature my wyvern form is, namely, that I am of an age where I could marry and even have children if I so wished, by the laws of the demon lands, at least. And before you ask, yes, I do indeed wish to bear Ryuu's children, though she's against doing so now, so I shall wait" (Ver)

"You know, you didn't have to include that last bit. Still, I guess this explains some things, doesn't it?" (Ryuu)

"I... I guess... but... what's with that erotic clothing? Is that supposed to be armor?" (Irene)

"Yes, it is. I asked for armor enchanted such that it could change shape and size fit a wyvern as she grew more or used magic to change shape, and it is fine when she's a wyvern, but when she changes to her humanoid form... it became like this. I can't even go to him and ask him to change it, as that'd mean letting him in on the secret that she's a divine beast, which... I'd rather not do for a while. Not until we're both - sorry, until we all are strong enough to deal with anything that information being out there would make come our way" (Ryuu)

"By divine beast, you mean like the Gold Tiger and the Nine-Tailed Fox? So, would that mean that Ver's children would be a new type of beastkin?" (Shion)

"Huh? Where'd that last bit come from?" (Bradley)

"There're legends that say that each of the divine beasts mated with humans to create different kinds of beastkin, though I'm not sure where you'd have heard that legend" (Ryuu)

"It's pretty well known in most communities with a large portion being beastkin, and so, growing up in one such village, I learned those legends. I still remember my childish wish to bear the Black Tiger's children one day, despite the fact that he's probably long dead" (Shion)

"So, a wish like Ver's wish to bear Ryuu's children?" (Ninya)

"Except that Ver's wish is probably going to come true, unlike mine" (Shion)

We kept talking for a while, until I pointed out that we were supposed to be reporting back as well. After that, we packed up and continued on our walk back. We killed some horned wolves, but that was about it for interesting things that happened, besides gathering a few basketfuls of various plants to sell.