10

Ziggy barely manages to keep his jaw from dropping. The group of new recruits looks strangely familiar. He's sure he's seen them before but is drawing a blank.

Xuannu, seeing Ziggy's expression of surprise, smirks. "Let me introduce them youngest to oldest, so there is no confusion," she says. "Our cute little Hume Bunny with the pale blue hair is Shea."

The pretty girl with bunny ears, a skirt that scarcely qualifies, and a chest barely restrained by what amounts to a bikini top, hops forward. "Hi!" she says excitedly. "I'm Shea. I've heard lots about you. Can you tell me how the Dungeon is? Is it scary? Are the monsters really strong?"

Shaking his head briefly, Ziggy collects himself. "Well, I've only been down to the fourth floor so far, but it sounds like we'll be learning more about it together. I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

'Cough-Biblically-cough,' he thinks.

Xuannu, not needing to read his mind, grins. "Shea here has a Skill that allows her to increase or decrease the weight of herself or whatever she is touching. She can even grant something a negative weight," she says.

'Sound like gravity manipulation?' Ziggy thinks. 'That's awesome.'

Shea takes a seat on the couch next to Ziggy. "Next up is the silver-haired cutey with the big blue eyes, Kaori."

Kaori steps forward and bows. "It's a pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to working with you in the future," she says politely. She's a bit stiff, and Ziggy notices a slight flush to her face.

"Kaori has a powerful healing spell at her disposal. Something any party of adventurers would be thrilled to have with them, and she also has a powerful Skill that even further enhances her magic," Xuannu says.

Ziggy nods. "We're happy to have you with us, Kaori. I'll try not to keep you too busy," he says with a friendly smile.

She bows deeper. "Hai."

'She's a little shy, isn't she,' he thinks. 'I wonder what it will take to get her out of her shell?'

Kaori takes a seat near Xuannu. The goddess smiles at the apparently shy girl and turns back to Ziggy. "Your next new teammate is Yue," Xuannu says, indicating a petite loli with golden hair and crimson eyes... and that did it; the mental connection was made, and the damn of information in Ziggy's mind broke.

"Oh!" Ziggy says, nearly shouting and startling the women. He almost slaps himself for failing to restrain his reaction. "I'm sorry about that outburst. I just had a realization."

The women tilt their heads in confusion. He thinks fast and gestures to Yue. "You appear to be young, but Goddess Xuannu had already indicated that she was introducing you all youngest to oldest. I'm guessing you possess some sort of regenerative ability that slows your aging, and you probably possessed it even before receiving your Falna."

Everyone looks surprised except Yue. She merely blinks and then nods. "Mmm, that's right," she says in a calm flat voice.

Ziggy nods. "You must have a strong magical affinity then."

"She does," Xuannu says with a raised eyebrow. "In fact, she has a particularly unique spell called Pente Stoicheia, which allows her to manipulate one of five elemental forces. We haven't been able to test it fully, but it does show incredible potential."

"I bet it does," Ziggy says, nodding, remembering the anime Yue and company were from and the way the girl in question merged elemental spells to create unique, terrifying magic. "Imagine if you could somehow blend the elements to create something truly amazing."

Yue thought the same thing.

They stare at each other, thinking about the potential of magic and the limit of three spells known through Falna and how to get around it. Yue has a range of expressions similar to the other pretty blond he knows, but a sparkle in her eyes brings a smirk to his face.

She nods and takes a seat next to him on the couch. Xuannu blinks at that. She wasn't expecting the dour girl to express much interest, but with that single choice, she could see that Yue might not be as emotionless as she tried to portray. Xuannu had seen her past and knew her motivation for joining a Familia, but it wasn't for romance.

Slowly turning away from the petite girl Xuannu continues with the introductions. "Finally, we have the lovely Tio."

Tio attempts a kind of curtsy despite the tight kimono she is wearing, and her motion nearly squeezes her ample bosom out the top. Not that Ziggy is complaining, but Yue is rolling her eyes, and Xuannu has to cover her mouth to avoid laughing.

As the beautiful black-haired girl with the golden eyes readjusts herself, she continues her introduction. "I-it is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Solomon," she says. "I look forward to working with you."

Ziggy feels a slight tingle in his loins, and it's not just from her glorious cleavage. With her pointed ears, she could pass as a particularly busty elf if not for the cat-like slit of her pupils. Ziggy knew that in the Arifureta story, she was from the Dragonmen tribe, but he was pretty sure there isn't anything like that in Danmachi... unless the ROBs did something.

"Tio, here, is from a very rare bloodline called Dragonmen," Xuannu says. "They are exceptionally long-lived, even more so than the elves, but their reproduction rates are also very low."

"A thousand years ago, when the now named One-Eyed Black Dragon was driven out of Orario, its path passed over the central city of our former kingdom. Its corrupted blood and energy drove many of our citizens mad, leading to a horrible tragedy. An entire generation was lost, and those that remained were severely weakened," Tio says.

"Since then, our people haven't been able to tap into our bloodline's strongest abilities for fear of the corruption of the One-Eyed Black Dragon consuming us. It has gotten to the point that this, our latest generation, is completely unable to undergo even a partial transformation. I am the first of my people to attempt to recapture our stolen heritage by joining with a god."

Ziggy stares at the sexy dragon lady, blood calling to blood. He wants nothing more than to tear that kimono down around her waist and free those tits, then bend her over the arm of the couch and-

He shakes himself a little. 'Damn it. Keep it together,' he admonishes himself in his head. 'Meet her first before you see if she's as much a masochist as she was in Arifureta.'

The idea almost sends his thought back into the gutter. "Ahem," he coughs and then calmly continues. "So, how does it look so far? Is the Falna helping?"

"Yes, it is!" she says excitedly, leaning in close to Ziggy. "I've already unlocked the Dragonfication skill. While it's not a full transformation like my ancestors could accomplish as children, it is still a step in the right direction."

"Well, that's wonderful," Ziggy says as neutrally as possible. There is still that gnawing desire to bed or eat the dragon girl, but he's forcing himself to stay calm. "I'm happy to hear that you're on the right track. If there is anything we can do to help, let us know."

Xuannu looks at Ziggy with a slight frown. "Ziggy? Is there something wrong?" she asks.

Ziggy swallows and tries to smile falteringly. "I-ah," he says, licking his lips. "Shhhe has the blood and essence of a dragon."

Xuannu blinks. "Well, yes, but I don't see-" she begins but freezes. Her eyes widen in realization. "You don't mean...?"

Ziggy's lips twitch. Xuannu reaches out and pulls Tio back from Ziggy. As she moves away, his hand reflexively reaches out, but he's able to yank it back.

"What's happening?" Tio asks, and the other girls are expression mirrors the question.

Ziggy's foot has started tapping as he closes his eyes and tries to pull his shit together. "Ziggy possesses a certain Skill related to dragons, and Tio is triggering an aspect of that Skill," Xuannu says.

"I-is it going to be alright?" Tio asks. "Is he going to be a danger to me in the Dungeon? Should I leave?"

"I'm not sure," Xuannu says speculatively. "Ziggy, darling. What does it feel like? What is it telling you to do?"

"I-I want to," Ziggy says, forgetting where he is as he starts to snarl. "Tear off every scrap of clothing on her body, devour those luscious tits, slide my tongue in her hot cunt, and then bend her over the couch and slam fuck her until she begs me to breed her."

"Oh," Xuannu says, relaxing. "Well, that's not so bad."

The other girls in the room look aghast at Xuannu's dismissal of what Ziggy just said. Xuannu looks at the girls. "What? Would it be better if he wanted to eat her heart?" she asks, and Ziggy growls. The other girls' eyes widen; except for Yue, she just smirks. "It's just a little sex, practically only foreplay. Nothing to get all worked up over."

"I don't think either of those is a good option," Tio says, pulling her kimono a little more snug around her.

"Oh, don't be so sure, my dear," Xuannu says, waggling a finger. "My Ziggy's brought home more valis in one day than some young adventurers do in a month, and he's improved more in a couple of days than most do in a year.

Once he gets rolling, there will be a line of eligible ladies trying to worm their way into his bed. It might be a good time to tie yourself to him. Beat the rush."

The four girls take another look at Ziggy and his handsome face and chiseled body. Their resistance to the idea weakens ever so slightly. "And that's not even to speak of his cock," Xuannu says, drawing the four sets of eyes down to the now too-tight pants.

Even the kuudere Yue blushes at Xuannu's outrageous statement. What's with her tricking them into staring at that giant salami? And why aren't any of them looking away yet?

Ziggy takes a deep breath. "Goddess, perhaps I should leave the room. I'll get myself under control. It's just that this is the first exposure I've had to draconic essence, so I'm a little overwhelmed. I'll be fine in the morning.

I usually start my morning exercise just before the sun rises if anyone is interested. I believe the Sword Princess will be joining me again and maybe Asuka, as well. Until then, it was nice to meet all of you, and I apologize for this embarrassing display. Especially to you, Miss Tio. I hope you won't think too harshly of me."

Ziggy stands up, eyes still closed, and makes his way to the door. Once outside, he leans back against the door and takes a shuddering breath. "Fuck me," he says before pushing away and walking towards his suite. "I need a cold shower."

.

.

Back inside the room, the women were all exchanging glances. "C-can you tell us what just happened?" Kaori asks Xuannu, blushing.

"Y-yeah, is it going to be okay going into the dungeon with him?" Shea asks. "He's not some sexual predator, is he?"

"Ziggy already has several willing partners if all he wanted was a quick fuck," Xuannu says casually, increasing the level of the embarrassment of the more sensitive of the girls. "I wasn't exaggerating about that, myself included and some he isn't aware of yet. He isn't likely to force himself on a girl. The problem is that Skill. I won't tell you about it; you can ask him yourselves if you want to know."

"But he seemed like he was having a hard time controlling himself," Kaori says. "If it affects him so, will he really be able to control it in the stressful environment of the Dungeon?"

"He seems to believe so," Xuannu replies and shifts her gaze to Tio. "My question is, will you be able to control yourself, Tio?"

Tio's cheeks flare red. "Wh-wh-what are you saying?"

"Oh, please," Xuannu says, waving off Tio's objection. "Sweetheart, I'm a goddess of sex. I can smell arousal like most people can smell dinner cooking. You're so wet I should make you sit on a towel so you don't stain the furniture."

And with that little gem, Tio's blush reached nuclear levels. Xuannu rolls her eyes. "Ladies, three of the four Familias currently in the Peach Blossom Palace are headed by goddesses that represent some aspect of sexual desire and bedroom arts," she says. "You should rid yourselves of the absurd notion that sex is something about which to be embarrassed.

I'm not saying to run naked through the streets, but at least within the Familia, we should be comfortable discussing sex with each other. If you have any questions about the topic, I dare say I know more than any whore in the Entertainment District about the sexual arts. Including that brute goddess of theirs."

The only one of the girls not entirely scandalized and questioning their decision to join the Xuannu Familia is Yue, who only looks curiously at her new goddess and thinks about the handsome man who just left. 'I wonder if he would help me,' she thinks.

.

.

.

Ziggy stretches his body as he crawls out of bed, thinking about the day ahead of him. It took an hour to get his libido to chill the fuck out last night after he had that reaction to Tio's draconic nature.

Splashing some water on his face and swishing some water around his mouth, Ziggy gets ready for whatever the day brings him. Walking down to the courtyard where he usually exercises, he considers how e should increase the difficulty of his routine to suit a level five adventurer. High repetitions didn't seem like enough to give her a challenging workout.

'Perhaps, I can supply some active resistance. Ais will still overpower me, but it might be enough to give her some results. Or maybe-" he stops as he enters the courtyard to see two blond kuudere staring at each other with undisguised curiosity.

Asuka, Mikoto, and Shea look between the Yue and Ais, unsure what to make of the scene. To be honest, Ziggy isn't sure either. It's not like there is some cosmic rule that two kuudere can't exist in the same place at the same time, but it still seems odd for some reason.

'They really are cute,' he thinks. 'I wonder if I can have a kuudere sub-harem?'

A million worlds away, the author wonders the same thing.

"Ahem," Ziggy coughs. "Good morning. I hope everyone slept well."

"Mmm," Yue says, turning towards Ziggy.

"Un," Ais says, doing the same.

The rest give morning greetings, and Asuka even comes up to Ziggy fidgeting and blushing before suddenly hugging him. He smiles at the girl. He notices two things. First, she isn't wearing her normal headwrap. Her hair has obviously been recently washed and combed, which leads to his second observation, the subtly applied makeup highlighting the delicate and lovely features of the girl's face.

Ziggy lifts her chin with one finger until their eyes meet. "You look very nice this morning, Asuka."

The blush intensifies on her face, and she squirms in her boots. She mumbles out a quiet, "Thank you," before returning to hide behind Mikoto.

"Mikoto, are you joining us this morning?" Ziggy asks.

"Hai," Mikoto says. "Though we'll be heading back to Lord Takemikazuchi before the run portion."

"Alright," Ziggy says. "Nice to have you."

He turns towards the taller of the blond kuuderes with a warm smile. "I'm happy to see you again, Miss Ais. I wasn't sure if you were getting enough out of the workout yesterday to want to continue."

She nods. "Un. I felt better than usual after my regular practice," she says.

Ziggy felt his eyebrows raise. Maybe he wasn't crazy, and this would actually be effective in the way he hoped. "That's good to hear," he says.

"Shea. Yue. I'm happy to see I didn't scare you off last night," Ziggy says. "Again, I apologize for what happened. I was unprepared for the reaction I had to Tio's presence. I'm pretty certain that I have that under control now, and it shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh, th-that's alright. Goddess Xuannu explained that it was just your Skill responding to Tio's-"

"Yes, that's exactly it," Ziggy interrupts before Shea potentially reveals something that Tio may not wish others to know.

Meanwhile, Yue is looking curiously at Asuka for a moment before walking over to Ziggy and wrapping her arms around him. Ziggy blinks and looks down at the cute legal loli. "Yue? Is everything alright?"

"Mmm. She hugged you. Is this not okay?" she asks, looking up with soft crimson eyes.

Ziggy smiles with furrowed eyebrows and pats the girl on the head. "It's fine."

Looking back up, he sees Asuka and thinks it may not be entirely fine. He sees Asuka's eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and Mikoto is holding her hand. Ziggy separates from Yue and walks over to Asuka.

Kneeling, he takes the petite girl's face in his hand and dabs at her eyes with a soft cloth. "No tears, Asuka," he says with a soft voice. "It'll make your makeup run. And anyway, you have nothing to cry about. It's not like I'd ever abandon you just because another woman shows interest in me."

Her chin drops, and she looks to the side. Ziggy takes her chin once more and lifts it until their eyes meet. "Asuka, you know what my desire is. There will be more in the future.

Whether it is Yue, someone else, or a dozen others, I still won't abandon you, but I'll understand and respect your decision if it is not something you can handle. I will still be your friend, and friends can still hug and care about each other."

She bites her lip, and her eyes shift around, trying to avoid looking into Ziggy's bright blues. "I-I'm still not sure. C-can I have some time?" she asks.

"Of course," he says. "I want a big family, but I'm not in a hurry. Take all the time you need, sweetheart."

She nods, and Ziggy flashes her a smile.

Standing up, he sees Ais looking to the side. Following her gaze, Ziggy sees Kaori and Tio peeking around the corner of one of the doorways. Smiling, he waves at the two. There is a slight twinge in his blood at the sight of Tio, but nothing too intense this time, and he pushes it back down.

He waves at the two girls, and they blush before ducking back behind the door. The two walk out into the courtyard a moment later and stop in front of Ziggy.

"G-good morning. Is it alright if we j-join you?" Tio asks.

Ziggy smiles and bows. "Of course, I'm happy to see that last night didn't scare you off. Once more, I apologize for my loss of control."

'I still want to fuck her brains out, but that's true of pretty much every woman here. I can do this,' he thinks. 'The dragon thing only adds spice to that desire.'

"N-no, I completely understand. My people can have a similar reaction when we enter our mating time," Tio says.

"That's interesting. Perhaps we can discuss that sometimes, but for now, I should start the routine so we can get into the Dungeon before all the good monsters have been killed," he says with a wink.

"Oh, yes!" Tio says. "What is it we must do?"

"Uh..." Ziggy frowns, looking at the tight kimono the dragon girl is wearing. "I don't think you can perform these exercises in your current outfit. Not without damaging your kimono or exposing more of yourself than you may wish. They require a great deal of flexibility and range of motion."

"Oh!" Tio says, blinking. "Of course, I should have realized that."

Her shoulders drop, and her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "It's alright. Maybe you and Kaori could watch this session and join us tomorrow instead."

Kaori, hearing her name, realizes that her split-skirt and bustier combination is inappropriate clothing for an athletic exercise session and blushes as well.

The two stand to the side while Ziggy goes over the purpose and concepts behind his yoga routine with the new addition, using Ais and Asuka to demonstrate the positions and techniques. He took no pleasure in touching their nubile bodies to highlight the proper stance and effects of the various poses. Really.