Burning Bandits Bullying an Elf

I woke up when the sun rose the next day. We didn't make any progress in our journey yesterday, but I certainly wouldn't complain. Lila was still sleeping, with my arms wrapped around her, hugging me tightly, her face against my chest.

I lifted one of my hands and caressed the velvety soft fur of her ear; their silky soft strands had a soothing sensation, her ears responded with a subtle, endearing twitch.

I heard a soft moan as her tail trembled slightly and her hands moved pulling against my back, signaling she'd woken up. I kept stroking her ears and massaging the base where they emerged from her head, eliciting soft murmurs of pleasure. Her tail wrapped around my thigh hugging it, the very tip brushing my balls.

I had to force myself to stop, or we'd never get going anywhere today. I stopped and pulled my hand away; her head rose unconsciously, trying to follow it. She opened her golden eyes and looked into my eyes with a smile.

"Good morning," I greeted.

She didn't look in any hurry to get up, but I knew we needed to get a move on again, or we'd never get anywhere.

As I untangled myself from her and stood up, I reminded, "We need to start traveling again today."

As I got dressed, she threw the blankets off and stretched. Her perfectly smooth white skin was dazzlingly beautiful in the morning sunlight, her small curvy body twisting in seductive ways as she stretched and stared at me. My eyelids twitched, and my heart squeezed as I tossed new clothing over her since the ones she was wearing yesterday were ruined.

I turned away so as not to get distracted, and could only think about how if she isn't from the fox race, no one in all the multiverses is qualified.

After a few seconds, I heard her get up and put her clothing on. I devoured all the stuff we didn't need on the road and helped her put her disguise back on. After we were ready, we set off towards Ironspire again.

Lila walked a little weird for a while and muttered about not being sure why she wanted to do it again already this morning. I grinned and offered to carry her, but was rejected, after a while she began to walk normally again.

At night I would put a blanket on the ground, and we played bed games until Lila fell asleep, though not as much as the first day. While she slept, I worked on cultivating and increasing my number of mana circles.

Lila couldn't cultivate along the journey like me since she either had to sleep or was walking, so we started using a dual-cultivation method that didn't interfere with our usual cultivation method since we were doing it anyway. It seemed to average out to have about the same cultivation speed as if we'd spent the time in normal cultivation, which wasn't surprising since it was in the section of the best cultivation methods of the manual.

Unfortunately, the magic circles couldn't be improved this way also, but when I asked Kitty about it, she said that they actually could but we just didn't have the right manual for it.

Another few days passed, and we reached a small town near the edge of our current map. It was more like a cross between a village and a town. The homes and stores were all simple, but there were more of them than in most villages. It also had a small adventures guild branch.

The guild sold nine different maps that could be arranged in a grid with the center centered on the current town and the ones around displaying the land around the center map.

We purchased the center map and the one below it that had the border to Ironspire close to the bottom edge of it. Both maps only cost 50 copper together and were of higher quality than the one I got in the other village, making me feel like I had been a little ripped off before.

There was also a spell that the receptionist could cast on the map for 10 copper each that would display the current location of the map holder on the map. We decided to purchase the upgrade to the map so it would be easier to tell exactly where we were. I knew how to use a map but I was really slow at it.

I asked if we could purchase the spell but was told the guild doesn't sell the spell and we would have to ask the magic tower when we got to the capital of Ironspire.

I learned the magic tower was responsible for training talented mages and worked sort of like a sect from the previous world, recruiting disciples and teaching them. But contrary to the sects in the previous world, it would sell some of its more basic spells to anyone with money, although for the more advanced ones you still had to have a position in the tower, with the higher the position the higher the grade of spells allowed to learn.

After leaving the guild we walked through town and exited on the other side, continuing along our journey. According to the map, it was about 20,000 miles yet to Ironspire. It would take a normal person a little over a year to walk there, but we should be able to manage it in about 6 months due to our increased speed from cultivation.

Three months passed, and I'd become a 5th circle mage and had also broken through the 4th layer of qi refining.

When I reached the 5th circle, I remembered Lila saying she was going to burn everyone and asked her about her plan for it and if she just meant the royal family or if the entire kingdom was the plan.

She told me that she was fine with burning the whole world but for sure the capital of Beastholm and the royal family.

After she told me this, I got my first quest in this world to destroy the capital and royal family of Beastholm. The reward was the method for increasing mana circles I'd asked her about before, and I couldn't help but tease her about whether that was her approving of Lila like she was my parents. Kitty just said it was too lonely to live alone forever and she almost seemed a little sad; this made me wonder if she was a person or what exactly she is, but figured I'd find out later when she wanted to tell.

After about another 3 months when it was about midday one day, we came around a corner and found a group of 4 bandits surrounding a restrained girl. She looked to be about 20, though I could see points on her ears indicating she was an elf so she might be older. She had long flowing golden-blond hair, blue eyes, and a shapely body. She was extremely beautiful by all standards, but Lila was still better.

One of the bandits caressed her cheek practically drooling, "So pretty, if the boss hadn't said she needed to remain untouched we could enjoy her here."

Another one moved closer grabbing her breast and chimed in, "He only said we couldn't damage her, we can still have fun with her and release some stress. Her mouth looks so pretty and perfectly sized."

Lila was about to rush in and start beating them but I grabbed her arm and told her I want to try something now that I'd reached the 5th circle. She stopped trying to run forward and nodded. The bandits were so focused on the girl they didn't even notice us until the elf looked at us with pleading eyes.

I nodded to her as one of the bandits turned in the direction she was looking. He immediately excitedly tapped the other one next to him, and he turned also while pushing the elf to the ground.

They looked at Lila and one gave a low whistle, "It's our lucky day! Now we can pl—" Snap!

My fingers made a crisp snap, and the bandits burst into flames. Their screams were so loud I had to cover my ears, wondering if they might even be heard a thousand miles away. They fell to the ground, rolling in pain until their bodies burnt to ash.

A 5th circle mage had the ability to manipulate mana at a distance. All previous circles would have to first ignite mana in their hands then throw it to burn something, but I could light the mana around it directly. This ability created a large gap between 4th and 5th circle mages. Although if there was a high enough level barrier, I still wouldn't be able to manipulate the mana behind it like I just did. Essentially, only a 5th circle or higher could fight a 5th circle mage.

We hurried to the elf still lying bound on the dirt road. Bending down, I could see her crying in relief as I sliced the rope with an air dagger.

Lila patted her head, "It's okay now."

When we stood up, the elf knelt and bowed with her head almost touching the ground in front of me, "Thank you for saving me. May I ask if you would be willing to help me get revenge on the bandits who killed everyone in my village? I, Elaria Windstone, swear on my mana to faithfully and loyally serve you to the best of my ability for as long as we live if you help kill the bandits who attacked my village."

I felt a faint ethereal thread wrap around my mana core and was shocked for a moment before leaning to Lila and asking, "Does swearing on your mana do something?"

She nodded, "It's referred to as a mana oath, and you die immediately from mana turning against you if you break it." Her face brightened, "If there are more bandits, I want to use some for target practice again."

I looked back at Elaria and pulled her up till she was seated back on her bare feet rather than still having her face in the ground. Touching her forehead, I injected lesser energy into her, mapping out her mana veins and meridians.

"Her mana veins are less than average but meridians are actually pretty good. I guess I could use someone to cook or something for you and Luna. And her mana veins can be fixed."

Lila looked annoyed and like she wanted to say something but didn't; I'll ask later.

I asked Elaria, "So, where are the bandits?"

She looked relieved we'd help and pointed to the hill we were next to, "Over the hill is their camp. They should all be there right now."

We started moving up the hill towards the camp. When we reached the top, I could see some tents and a large house in the middle.

To prevent the escape of the bandits when we started the massacre, I cast a barrier around the area, trapping everyone inside.

I took Lila's hand to descend the hill together but she pulled it away. She'd never done this before, and I realized why she seemed annoyed before.

Deciding to deal with it right away before her mind could run wild and worry about too much nonsense, I cast a silencing barrier as well as one for sight around the two of us so I could talk to her privately.

-----

Elaria Image