Chapter 46

Rei #1 was definitely pissed off as hell at these guys. Her husband, and her wife, oh and also Cass, had been brutally attacked by these bastards. She wanted to go out and help them personally, but she knew that since, unlike her clones, she couldn't disentangle herself from the web of reality to save the rest of the Reis, she should never, ever, put herself at any risk whatsoever.

She totally would have otherwise! That's not bullshit! The other Reis were literally her, separated by a few days at most (well, Reis #12 and #13 were getting on, but, besides those two), so she knew for an absolute 100% fact that, in different conditions, she would act differently. It was still frustrating as hell that she couldn't, which was made obvious by the way that the fresher Reis, who were separated from her by a shorter period of time, were even more angry about dealing with this crap than the slightly-older Reis who predated Drake's beatdown and those asswipes threatening Julia.

The problem was, those fucks were Level Three. Yeah, yeah, she could turn into a Goliath, but also they were attacking in Daedalus Street, which had the thinnest, windiest routes imaginable. The people of Orario pretty much only called that guy crazy because he'd made that place. It's not like they knew about Knossos or the Daedalus blood curse. Point being, it'd be way too easy to accidentally kill somebody with the wrong footstep, or smash up a bunch of homes (possibly with people in them), etc. So she had to turn into like, an ogre, or something even smaller, to actually chase those fucking wannabe murderers around, and of course Danmachi ran on the classic rule of "more big = more better" (it even applied to the strongest adventurer, Ottar).

And Erza was in another fucking city! Fucking stupid fomoire, blocking off her return! Erza could take down these jerkoffs like they were pond scum, if she was around!

Anyway. Since she couldn't just physically, trivially, stomp these guys (especially not as Rei #1), she needed to use her big brain to solve the problem. And it only took a minute or two for her to come up with a brilliant solution, representing just how damn smart she really was.

"Yo, Loki," she said, halfway kicking the door open, halfway just using her foot because some of her bodies were down in the Dungeon and she was naturally monitoring what was going on, which meant her depth perception was shot to shit. "You gotta do something about these bastards, hurting Drake and Cass and trying to kill Julia."

Loki twisted her head around, her eyes seemingly invisible as she turned to look at Rei #1. She was probably staring right at her tits, though. "They should just stop running around playing cop. That's what the Ganesha familia's for. You don't make money by policing the poorest district in all Orario."

"Yeah, but, counterpoint," Rei #1 said. "Didn't you notice that Cass was getting a lot of excelia?"

"That's because she's a training monkey," Loki waved away.

"Or, maybe, it's because fighting crime is a really good way to grab excelia, since it's not just difficulty, but also how important the thing is to you," Rei #1 pointed out. If it were possible, Loki would be squinting even more at Rei #1. "I mean, maybe I'm just a genius who's the first person to ever notice this, but..."

"Mm..." Loki hummed. "I guess it's true. I could make Finn or Tione or somebody go deal with these guys, but... I don't know? What's in it for me, Rei?" Her hands stretched out into big, grabby things, aimed right at Rei #1's chest, the implication being obvious.

"Are you really gonna not protect your own familia members if I don't let you grope my tits?" Rei #1 asked.

"Are you willing to take that chance?"

"Are you willing to eat my pussy?"

"Gah! I don't want to eat pussy! I don't want to do it! I shouldn't have to do it! I'm your goddess!" Loki pretended to collapse backward on the bed, kicking and pounding it beneath her as if she was a baby throwing a tantrum. If she wasn't so annoying, it might have been a little hot, you know, because of the way her half-naked body was writhing around. Also if she'd had better tits.

A thought occurred to Rei #1, as Loki continued to whine endlessly. Wasn't there a great way to correct how much of a flatty Loki was? Which also, coincidentally, was something that Loki wanted, since she remembered the scene from the anime where Tiona and Loki were both trying a boob massage to improve their tit size? "I can do you better than letting you grope me," Rei #1 said.

Loki instantly stopped her whining, snapping up to sit properly. Did she realize that when your emotions did a sudden 180, it made it really obvious that you were lying? She must have, and just not cared. "Not possible. There's nothing better than groping a big beautiful chest," she proclaimed, with absolute confidence.

"There is," Rei #1 said. Loki eyed her suspiciously, tilting her head upwards, revealing those crimson irises of hers, just barely visible at that angle. "I can give you big boobs."

There was a moment of visible tension in Loki's body language, a microscopic expression that flitted across her face, before the actual competent liar appeared in front of her. "Really?" She was pretending to disbelieve Rei.

"You have a lie detector," Rei #1 said, frowning at how ridiculous it was to pretend something like that.

"Oh yeah," Loki agreed. "So, I get Finn or whoever to go smack these jerks around, and you do that to me?"

"Mhm," Rei #1 agreed. "For real, though, why aren't you doing anything about it already?"

"They didn't kill Cass or Xulia, which I'm pretty sure was done out of respect for the familia."

"They tried to stab Julia in the brain, and then she blew herself up," Rei #1 countered.

"And? She's obviously fine." Loki shrugged. "Look, it's one thing when your low Level familia members go off on their own and kick up a little trouble, one way or the other. It's another thing when you send your Level Sixes down to retaliate for them getting their asses kicked. Now, boobies!" She proclaimed, pointing at Rei #1.

"You promise to get one of the higher Level familia members on it?"

"Yeah, yeah, if I get big tits," Loki proclaimed.

Rei #1 stepped forward to Loki, her hands peeling up the goddess's top and going to her chest. Obviously, Loki took advantage of the opportunity, and promptly started groping Rei #1's tits, challenging her to complain. Rei #1 could only roll her eyes as Loki just stood there, a big stupid grin on her face, hands groping and rolling around Rei #1's tits as Rei #1 worked. It didn't really take that long, before Loki had some nice, perky C-cups. Then she withdrew her hands, and knocked Loki's own hands away. Loki glanced down at her tits, frowning. "What the- these aren't big tits!"

"Half up front, half after," Rei #1 explained, smirking.

"Fine, fine." Loki halfway rushed to the door, swinging it open and sticking her head out. "Finn!" She shouted. "Tiona! Whoever can hear me and is high Level!"

Rei #1 couldn't help but smile to herself. She was so damn smart.

* * *

The girl without a name felt bad for Drake. He had only gotten involved in fighting crime for her sake, and for Cass's, and he'd been seriously hurt last night. If he hadn't had a second body, she might be dead right now, from trying to stop those two men and save him from being tortured. He had understandably chosen not to go out to fight crime again, and the girl without a name had decided to do much the same. It was just too risky right now, and it wouldn't help anybody if she got herself killed. She'd just have to find a way to Level up in the Dungeon, then she could kill those two men who had tried to kill her.

Of course, since Drake had done something so nice for her and Cass, she had to reward him! At first, she had thought about what sort of really wild fantasies he would like to fulfill on her, considered a visit to the Dark Continent to find a tattoo artist who could actually stamp his name on her ass... then she'd realized that those were things she wanted! Drake had been willing to indulge her fetishes, whoring her out to day laborers, but it was obviously something he was doing for her sake. So, she had decided to ask Drake directly: "Goshujinsama, what are your fetishes?"

"I mean, I have a good number of them," Drake replied, sounding just a little sheepish about it.

"Ah... goshujinsama, don't be embarrassed!" The girl without a name replied, grasping his hands in hers. "I'm your wife, you can tell me whatever you're into! What things do you like, that you haven't really done with me or your other wives? I'll do whatever it is!"

She could see the almost physical response from him, and a glance downward said that his cock was hard, which was good. It meant he did have other fetishes. Her eyes went up to his, waiting for his explanation. "There's breeding, though I have done some of that," he started off. The girl without a name felt bad. "What? Is it the curse?" Drake asked, clearly identifying her concern.

"No, goshujinsama. It's because I might have to do something like blow myself up again, and I don't know if the baby would survive, so..." she trailed off. Drake nodded in response to that.

"You do want kids, though, right?" He asked her. She nodded. Did he have some other ability, that she didn't know about, which would make it possible? "I just realized - we could adopt. If that's something you'd like to do, and that's possible here. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier," he added, frowning. "We should adopt," he said. There was the thing that the girl without a name really liked about Drake - he could be such a kind and generous person, even if he was also sometimes cowardly (well, relative to her, at least - holding out against that interrogation was pretty brave!). "Well. Not now, necessarily, but there's no reason I should only have biological children. Adoption is possible here, right?"

"It is, goshujinsama! There's a whole orphanage, we can adopt children from there if you want!" She thought about how to raise them - but Rei had so many clones, she could definitely watch any number of kids at once! Plus, there was Setsuko, who would probably enjoy raising an extra child or two! (And of course, the girl without a name would help!) "But goshujinsama, before that, I want a fetish of yours besides breeding! It can be as dirty as you like, whatever you want," she said.

He shifted for a moment, somewhat hesitant about making those admissions. Maybe she should try to be more supportive in the future, so he would feel more comfortable telling her everything? "Sure. Okay. I'm also into race play, and Stepfordization, and just housewife stuff in general," he explained. "Like, naked apron, saying that the man's in charge of the family, that kind of thing."

"Ah, so I would say things like, I'm your nigger bitch wife?" She asked, tilting her head curiously. That sort of thing wasn't really her fetish, but she'd probably enjoy it. It was degrading, sort of like being whored out to day laborers.

He shook his head. "Uh, no. No racial slurs." She nodded. "More like... actually, I really hate these kinds of conversations."

"Me too, goshujinsama!" The girl without a name agreed. They were so boring and tedious and not sexy at all! That's why she just told Drake to choke her in the heat of the moment, and things like that, instead of sitting around checking boxes on a spreadsheet about what she wanted him to do.

"So instead, how about we just do it as roleplay? I'm 'mind controlling' you, and you're obeying the commands I put in. Whenever I put my hand on the side of your forehead, whatever I said, becomes your new reality."

She could see his cock twitch in his pants, and she nodded. "That's a great idea, goshujinsama! Much sexier than a boring consent discussion!"

At that point, he put two fingers up against her forehead, and she felt a heat in her cheeks, anticipation filling her body. "You are my wife." She nodded. "You want to be my wife." She nodded again, more enthusiastically this time. "What's a woman's place in the home?"

"Ah- well, it sort of depends, goshujinsama," she started.

"No. It doesn't depend. A woman's place in the home, is whatever her man says it is." She nodded in response to that, and she could definitely see the arousal in Drake's gaze, as he looked down at her. "You're happy that I can make all the important decisions for you."

"I'm happy that you can make all the important decisions for me."

"You are my happy, domesticated, obedient little housewife, and that's all you want to be."

"I'm your happy little housewifey," she said, panting a bit as she said it. It was a bit... well, it wasn't really vanilla, but it was pretty light, in its own way? It was still sexy, though. She did love mind control!

"You want me to breed you. Black women should be bred by white men. That's natural. That's what you believe."

"Yes. I should be bred by a tall, sexy white man like you," she agreed, smiling brightly. She was definitely able to get into this. Maybe she could add a bit of this as flair into her normal conversations? She bet that Drake's reaction would be really cute when she suddenly proclaimed herself an obedient wife who would do whatever he said! She could even do the race things without worry, since those weren't things people in Orario thought about! (She was one of, as far as she'd seen, three black people in all Orario!)

"Strip," he ordered, and she instantly started to do so, hurriedly peeling her way out of her clothing, revealing her dark flesh to Drake's prying eyes. He definitely loved seeing her naked body, which she was happy about. She was lucky that God had given her such a beautiful body, because it meant that Drake could just eat her up with her eyes like that. "Kneel," he ordered, and she dropped to her knees as fast as she could - and since she was a Level Two, that was pretty damn fast! "Take out my cock," he ordered, and her hands went right to unzip it, staring up at him and smiling the whole while, doing her best impression of a "domesticated housewife." (If you thought about it, she sort of was a domesticated housewife! She did do pretty much whatever Drake said, after all.)

"I'm so happy to be able to see your nice, big, white cock," she said, slapping her cheek with his length, smiling up at him dotingly as she nuzzled his cock. "I love serving it so much," she told him, breathless, her fingers sliding up and down his length, one hand going down towards her slick sex - and he promptly kicked it away. She blinked in surprise at that. "Darling?" She should say darling instead of goshujinsama now, right?

He put his hand to her head, and she pretended to be utterly mindless for a moment, staring into the middle distance as she continued to stroke his cock. "You don't care about your own sexual pleasure. All that matters to you, is making me happy, and getting me off. You can go without coming for the rest of your life, if it just gets me off."

That was a pretty wild one! Was he coming up with it just for her? Whatever the case, she brought her hand up from where it had been, stroking his cock softly. "I only care about making you come, darling," she agreed. "That's all a good wife like me cares about. My own pleasure isn't important at all!" She then opened her mouth wide, wrapped it around his cockhead, and just slammed her face right down his whole length, choking herself out. In fact - she brought her hands up to her throat, squeezing around it, giving Drake that little bit of extra stimulation, and he groaned in pleasure at the stimulation. Her tongue flapped wetly against the underside of his cock.

"That's right," he breathed out. "That's what you should do," he said, his cock throbbing inside her mouth, clearly relishing it. "You love serving your husband, don't you?" She nodded around his cock. "You don't think that you're my equal at all, do you?" She shook her head - of course not! She was his domesticated black housewife right now! She did her best to add that little bit of impassioned note to her expression, as if it was ridiculous that she would ever be his equal! (She didn't really want to waste time thinking about if she was 'really' his equal, given he could boss her around all the time. That would just make getting bossed around less sexy!) He peeled her up and off his cock, making it pop out past her lips, letting her breath again. "Tell me what you are, Ju-" He cut himself off, remembering she couldn't respond to her name. "Tell me what you are... Betsy," he repeated.

"I'm your docile, obedient, slavishly loyal and submissive, completely domesticated, black housewife," she told him, breathless as she spoke. "I love to do everything you say, to obey your every command, because you can do so much better a job of thinking than me. You're a handsome white man, after all, and I'm just a silly little black girl, who can't even get bred properly. I'm lucky you even consider me your wife!"

He grabbed her head in both hands and just slammed her right down his cock again, beginning to facefuck her, his balls slapping against her chin. She hummed and moaned wetly around his cock, staring up at him all the while, as her face was forcibly slammed up and down his big, fat cock. "You're right," he told her, pausing to grind her down in his pelvis. "You are lucky I made you my wife. And you are my wife, aren't you?" She nodded. "It's not that I consider you to be my wife - it's an objective fact that you are my wife, and as my wife, you have no choice but to do anything I say, don't you?" She nodded again, as he continued to choke her out. She could feel her vision fog a bit at the edges, as he kept going on and on - but she loved it! Getting choked made sex so much better, her head felt like it was just about to pop off into bliss!

He yanked her off at that point, and as she panted and gasped for breath, her eyes spinning just a mite from the rough treatment she'd received - he exploded, raining down sweet white cum all over her face. She closed her eyes, and spoke. "Thank you so much," she said, as he continued to spray all over her. "I'm so lucky that you enjoy coming all over a silly little black girl like me, darling," she said, as he just continued to come and come. He seemed like he was coming more than usual! She could definitely add lines like this into normal sex, if that's what he liked.

He sat down on the bed now that he was finished using her face, and she just remained there, kneeling. "Clean my cum off your face," he ordered. "I'm taking a nap. No masturbating, remember, Betsy."

"Yes, darling," she agreed, easily, as her fingers scooped and fed his cum into her mouth. He was extra selfish today! They should do this more often, if he liked it so much!

* * *

Ryu felt... so much better, having had the chance to exhale all those intense emotions that had been quietly bottled up deep, deep inside her for all those years. She had thought so many different things, many of them false, and now she could finally breathe easily. It was freeing to have the option to leave the Hostess of Fertility, to return to the Astraea familia or to do whatever else she pleased with her life - but that sense of freedom mostly brought with it a desire to return home. She missed Chloe, Mia, Lunoire, Anya, and most of all, Syr. They were her friends. Her found family.

"Yeah, the fomoire are still there," Rei said, sticking a pinky into her ear and rooting around. "So, going back to Orario on foot, probably not the best idea."

Astraea simply hummed in response to the statement. "It's strange for them to do something like that," she said, a faint frown on her lips. "Ordinarily, monsters outside Orario don't give such vigorous chase as you described. Much less leave their home territory. Could something have set them off?"

"If it did, she doesn't see it," Rei replied lazily. "The other Rei, I mean."

"I understand." Astraea simply hummed in response to the whole situation. "At least they aren't coming this way. Monsters like that rarely choose to attack a city, but when they do, it can be quite disastrous." She tilted her head mildly to one side, as she considered the situation closely. "It is strange... something must be driving them to do this, I think. But what?" She raised one hand to her cheek, a finger tapping against it.

"Maybe they got bored with being wherever they used to be," Rei suggested.

"So they chased you for solid hours?" Astraea asked, smiling. "But not all the way to Rezianal. Hmm." She paused suddenly, a faint frown creasing her lips. "Could the purpose be to bottle you into Rezianal?"

"Why?" Rei asked. Ryu had much the same question. "They're big ol' minotaur-looking monsters, why would they care what city we're in?"

"It is possible for a powerful adventurer to manipulate such a monster," Astraea pointed out.

Rei's reaction was delayed by only a second of thought: "God fucking dammit," she said. Astraea quirked an eyebrow at the curse, clearly finding it unusual in addition to being obscene. "It's totally fucking Freya. She probably sent those two asswipes after Cass and Julia, too. Ugh!" She pounded the table in frustration. "I should have known, fucking cunt!"

"You've had problems with the Freya familia, I take it?" Astraea prompted.

"She's in love with Cass, and she's a total psycho bitch, so yeah, guess you could say that." Rei gave Ryu a long look. It was one that seemed piercing, trying to dissect her to make a decision about what to say. Eventually, she decided on nothing, letting out a sigh, massaging her forehead. "Drake, tell the other end about this situation, they've got more brains than me and I don't want to blow a bunch of Essence on cloning."

"I'm telling them," Drake said. He let out a sigh. "If we try going back, though, won't that just make her do something else to stop us? Possibly even more dangerous?"

Rei crossed her arms and flopped back in her chair. "I guess," she said. "So, what. We just sit here?"

At that point, Erza finally spoke. "We could take a ship!" She proposed, looking to Astraea for confirmation.

"I suppose you could," Astraea agreed. "But if this really is Freya, won't her agent simply try to stop you?"

"What, is he checking who gets on ships?" Rei asked.

"Perhaps he is," Astraea agreed. "How would you know? There could easily be more than one, as well."

Rei groaned. "Then what's your suggestion, big brained goddess of justice?"

Astraea simply smiled lightly at that, ever the magnanimous goddess, and Ryu was reminded of her leadership back in Orario. "I can't make those decisions for you."

"I said suggestion, not decision," Rei countered, earning a small laugh from Astraea.

"From what you've said, and what Drake said earlier, when the men were attacking his other body, it seems likely that the target of the aggression is this Cass of yours, and separating her from you was a necessary precondition. Rather than thinking of how you can get to her, why not consider how she can get to you? It seems clear the intention is to separate you, after all."

"Wow. That's actually... a really good idea. Drake?" Rei prompted.

"I'm going to talk to Loki now," Drake said.

* * *

When I walked into Loki's office, I saw her groping her new boobs with the same energy as a teenage boy from some hentai, just cooing and going wild on her tits, as if they were the most incredible thing in the world. Rei had given her new boobs, and she was completely intolerable with them. "Loki," I said, and it was only then that she seemed to realize I was there.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Loki said, grinning with the energy of a woman who was clearly incredibly satisfied with her life. "Heh. They used to call me a flatty, but not any more! I'm gonna be big boobed Loki soon enough!"

"You look beautiful either way," I told her, which made her cheeks flush.

"I-I do, yeah," she said. "Look, just because you've fallen head over heels for me," she started, still groping her boobs as she spoke, "doesn't mean you gotta say mushy-gushy stuff all the time. It's weird!"

"I don't remember saying that I've fallen head over heels for you."

She let out a sigh of relief at those words. "Yes, thank you," she said, nodding along. "That's normal. That's what one of my children sounds like."

"I can also say you're an incorrigible sex pest, and that it is crazy that you haven't stopped groping your boobs for even a single second since I entered here."

"Yeah, yeah," Loki said, her gaze going back to mine. "Look, I'm sure you didn't come in here just to whine that I'm too sexy now. So what is it?"

I decided to just say everything - how we were pretty sure Freya was in love with Cass, how probably Erza was holed up in Rezianal because of Freya, and how bringing Cass to Rezianal would probably disrupt those plans. Loki continued groping her boobs the entire time I was talking. "I already sent Tiona out to deal with those guys!"

"If they're after Cass and Julia, they probably won't start a fight with a Level Five," I responded, making her groan and faux-wriggle on the bed. Still groping her boobs, just to be clear. "Rei really shouldn't have given you those tits, you're acting weird with them."

"I'm acting cool with them!" Loki countered, which was so absurd, especially given that she was still groping her boobs. "And why am I only just now hearing that Freya is in lurve with Cass?" She wiggled her fingers as she said 'lurve,' but she did not remove her hands from her newfound tits. I was starting to wonder how she would eat in this condition.

"Because it's my best guess, not solid information."

"It's probably right," Loki said. "Back with the Ishtar thing, she said, ahh, 'If things had gone a little differently, I'd be kicking you around too.' Only all hoity toity. If she's in lurve with one of y'all, that'd explain it pretty neatly." Loki sat up on the bed. (Hands still on boobs.) "Right, right, gotta use this sexy ol' brain of mine. Can't exactly hope to seduce Freya with a couple of C-cups." She finally, finally, removed her hands from her tits at that point, though the way they moved, her tits might as well have been made of glue. "Point of sending the guys after Cass is obvious: force her to Level. Point of sending the guys after Xulia, also obvious: kill her. She doesn't like Xulia, no?"

"She doesn't, I'm pretty sure," I agreed.

"Right. So. Cass goes to Rezianal, that means... gotta be one of her adventurers, dunno who, hard to say what they'd do. But it would definitely put a wrench in the works, so assume Freya figures out a way around it, which would be..." She frowned. "Stop the ships from going? Watch them? Watch them. Send the boys after Cass if she tries to run. Time it right... ehn, it's pretty risky... but yeah, I think that'd work for Freya. Or just tell them not to let her on board, which is even easier, so obviously do that. Could go ask to see if she did that."

"So you don't think we can take Cass to Rezianal, screw up her plans that way?" I asked her. Even if she acted like a stupid twit about boobs, she was actually whip smart when she applied herself.

"I think... ehn... go check the ships to see if you can get Cass on them. I'm guessing there's a reason you can't already. They might just make excuses, but if everybody makes an excuse, it's not fooling anybody. But if they don't, yeah, screwing with her plan that way sounds like a good idea."

* * *

Checking did confirm that they weren't willing to take me aboard the ship - or Cass. "Sorry, mate, tryin' to avoid adventurers, politics back in the mother country, you see. If it were up to me, we'd be glad to take ya aboard." "There are many other ships here, but we are all full up! My greatest apologies!" "So sorry! We no speak Koine good. Only Far Eastern speakers allowed aboard, you no speak Far Eastern, yes?" "No." "I refuse." "Bad luck." "I disapprove of polygamy." "The Loki familia? Sure, I love 'em! But them sending adventurers out on boat trips, that's suggesting they're trying to home in on my business! Can't risk it!"

Freya was smart and thorough (or else, good at delegating to smart and thorough people), I'll give her that. I did, in fact, go through literally every single ship that was in port, reminding myself, Think of how dumb you would feel, if the very last ship was the one that hadn't been told not to take you. Unfortunately, the very last ship gave much the same answer as the very first: a paper thin justification to not help.

I guess we'd just have to wait it out.

* * *

Cass quietly rose to her feet. Her fall-na had kept her strong, even though she had been confined to a bed for the past two weeks, so now that the casts had come off, she could walk. Airmid, the silver-haired doctor, frowned as she looked at her standing upright. "You've healed remarkably fast," she said. "But you should take it easy for a bit." There was plentiful concern in her voice and body language, the subtle way she wanted only what was best for Cass...

But Cass didn't respond. She had no plans to take it easy. She had been unable to protect the people of Daedalus Street. Drake had been hurt because of her. The nameless girl had almost been killed. She had to go back, to help the people there. To defeat the two men that had injured her so grievously. They didn't want to kill her, she knew that much, so-

"Hey!" Airmid shouted, interrupting her thoughts. It was obvious she could tell what sorts of things Cass was thinking about doing. "I told you, take it easy! You have to ease yourself back into things!"

"I'll... practice with Aisha... to make sure... I'm okay."

"No!" Her frustration was rising, combined with an endless familiarity. "You will take a break, for at least another two weeks! Ordinarily, those leg casts wouldn't even have come off by this point! Not even for an adventurer!"

Cass didn't verbally respond. She didn't want to lie to Airmid, who had been kind and gentle to her during her treatment, but also, she didn't plan to wait a full month before going back to Daedalus Street. She worried it had already begun to fall into disarray. Drake talked about-

"Listen to me!" Airmid shouted at her. "I am your doctor, and I am telling you, to take a break," she repeated, voice firm.

"I... appreciate... your intentions..." Cass said, making Airmid growl in frustration.

"Don't appreciate my intentions! Listen to them!"

* * *

Erza felt somewhat guilty, spending as much time in Rezianal as she had. Drake, her husband, had gotten a new body, just to share properly with all his wives - but it was just her and two Reis here in Rezianal! That meant she was monopolizing him, rather than sharing with her friends and co-wives! Julia, the other ten Reis, Haruhime, Setsuko, Noriko, Cassandra, Lena - and Loki and Aisha as well, though they were both merely lovers at present (but she had hopes!)... they had to make do with just one Drake. Eighteen girls were forced to share, and she practically got this one to herself by comparison!

Still, she understood perfectly well why they were staying in Rezianal. Cass was healing in Orario, and the fomoire were still outside Rezianal, even if they were keeping their distance. Getting back to Orario would be difficult.

Drake returned to their shared bedroom (Astraea had generously provided one for them), carrying a tray with some sandwiches on it. He wasn't much of a cook, but he could be very kind in waking her up this way.

"Thank you very much, Drake," she said, wanting to make it clear that she appreciated him. Perhaps she should... fellate him, after she was done eating? That would show her appreciation! She felt a faint heat in her cheeks, and took a large bite out of one of the sandwiches.

"It's fine." Drake sighed. There was something bothering him, by the way he sighed. "Cass wants to go back to Daedalus Street, to face off against the people who hurt her."

Erza understood perfectly well that desire! Those men were villains, and further, Cassandra always wanted to strive to become better and stronger. It was one of the things she admired about her friend and co-wife. But she couldn't leave Cassandra to do it alone! She snapped to her feet. "Let's get back to Orario. We'll pay for a boat."

"Something might attack the boat," Drake pointed out. "It probably is Freya with the monsters, so she likely already took that into account."

"Then we'll kill whatever it is! Or- or we could go around the fomoire! I'll carry you on my back, or perhaps you can carry me on yours, and we-"

"Yeah, that's cool and all," Rei said, just slamming open the door, making Erza instinctively cover her naked body with the blanket for just a moment. When she saw it was just Rei, though, she let the blanket fall, which appeared to distract her for a few seconds, before she forcibly dragged her eyes back up to Erza's own. "But one of the fomoire got in a fight with one of the other fomoire - I think over a girl fomoire? - and now it's coming towards Rezianal. I don't think it's because of Freya, so, this is actually a for-real problem. It'll be here in like - an hour? Two?"

Erza glowed golden for a moment, and instantly she was armored and ready for battle. "Then we will have to defeat it!"

"We do need to come up with a good plan," Drake said. "A fomoire is really strong."

Erza had to admit, Drake spoke the truth. There was a good chance she would fall, if she simply threw herself haphazardly at a monster like that - but she would certainly try her best! "We should consult Ryu," Erza declared, moving for the door. "Ryu!" She shouted out, loudly, looking for her friend.

The slender elf soon appeared, looking surprised. Erza explained the situation to her. "We are the two strongest adventurers in all of Rezianal," she said. "As such, it is our responsibility to handle this threat."

Ryu simply nodded. "You are correct. It is."

With Drake and Rei and Ryu and herself all working together - she knew they could overcome this beast!