Poseidoness

"So what's next, Alice? Succubus village?" I asked.

"I know you can't wait to go there," Alice retorted. "Damned pervert. I considered making that one a Luka-free mission, but since I sent Alma Elma to go find the Beelzebubs I don't have anyone powerful enough. If we run into trouble, the only way we get out alive is if we complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. It'll be up to you to be the muscle, and up to us to take the pleasure attacks for you."

"You know you don't have to do that."

"I know you'd like for us to not do that! And I certainly can't rely on Ilias. She's becoming a damned pervert too!"

"You know about that?" I asked.

"There have been rumors. Little goes on in this castle that I don't know about. I don't know the details, and I'd rather not. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because unlike you, I am not a….." Alice prompted.

"Damned pervert," I replied.

"Exactly."

"So that means that I have to take one for the team," Alice concluded. "If succubi attack, I may have no choice but to let them violate me. I hope you're grateful, Luka."

"I'm pretty sure you can just beat them up," I noted. "Even in diminished form, you're a lot stronger than any ten succubi. Plus you could always pleasure them back. You're as good as they are."

"Thank you, Luka, it's nice to know that you rate my sexual prowess so highly. There's just one problem. Succubi are very resistant to pleasure attacks."

"I thought the magic worked on all monsters here?"

"It does, but since succubi are all damned perverts, they are inured to pleasure attacks. They pleasure each other constantly and so get desensitized to it."

"So are we doing Succubus Village next?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Alice asked.

"Um…. I don't think so?"

"Damned pervert," Alice muttered. "So eager to go to Succubus Village that you forgot about the orbs."

"Is there an orb nearby?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yes!" Alice exclaimed. "Poseidoness has one! Didn't she have one in your world?"

Now that I thought about it, she did. I guess it made sense. Tamamo had been entrusted with gathering up and keeping safe all of the magical artifacts of the world. Those artifacts that were standalones, she kept either in the vaults of the Monster Lord's castle, or in her own shrine in Yamatai Village. But powerful items that had to be used together, she judged would be safer if spread out around the world. So giving one each to beings like the Sphinx, and the two queens of the seas, made sense. That way, if one or two of the orbs got stolen by human adventurers, it meant nothing, because the orbs could only be used together. The Rings of Brocia had been spread out under similar circumstances, although those were far older than the orbs and so Tamamo hadn't had anything to do with those. They had been lost and spread out more by happenstance than plan.

"I also just remembered that we need Poseidoness to restore Queen Kraken," I said. "You still have her in your bag, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Alice said irritably. "Do you think I'd just misplace a queen?"

I couldn't wait to get Succubus Village over with. Alice was probably going to be disagreeable until we put that village behind us. The pressures were starting to build on her, what with the Beelzebubs on the loose and the knowledge that her mother might be trying to martyr herself. I had long experience tolerating Alice's moods. In her defense, she only became moody when there were very serious thngs to get moody about. She became as sweet as Tamamo once I'd gotten her off the throne.

Since the mission to get the next orb was underwater, who to take with me proved to be fairly obvious. Alice, since she could function well under water. She had sometimes joked that she was almost a mermaid due to her appearance and comfort with the water. She could use magic to breathe as if on land, and could propel herself as fast as any mermaid, although with less agility since she didn't have a tail fin.

Along with Alice, I brought Cindy and Meia. Cindy was always good to have at my side, but she was limited on land due to how much energy she expended walking. Cindy was by far at her best either in the water, or on land near the shore. Meia wasn't really a fighter, but was outstanding with magic and obviously would not slow us down once under the water.

As for myself, I had the Orb of Guidance. I looked around skittishly as I stood on the shore, half expecting a crab girl to storm out of the water and grab me in one of her giant claws, but then I realized that Cindy was already with me and normal crab girls weren't as tough as she was. It was as if she knew crab fu or something. Although on paper I outmatched her even on our first encounter so long ago, she just had a knack for finding ways to win.

It turned out that I needed her. This new world was fairly peaceful. I wasn't getting attacked very often, at least not compared to my first encounter with a world full of monster girls. On my first journey, I was attacked with regularity, since that's just what monster girls did, and they always thought I was alone, since Alice would helpfully disappear before most encounters. Having friends with me had deterred many attacks on my latest journey. The improved relations between humans and monsters had been another factor making it safer for me to be out and about in the world.

But something was different in the Northern Sea. Between the shore and the Northern Undersea Temple, I was attacked fifteen times. It wasn't just one kind of monster, either. Seemingly every monster in the sea seemed to want to eat me. None of the battles were terribly difficult, but we were all growing tired and bruised. Meia had an ugly black eye forming from a tail strike by a young sea dragon girl, while Alice was still suffering the effects of a jellyfish girl sting. Cindy, while unharmed due to being our resident tank, was exhausted.

"What is going on here?" I wondered after a sea anemone had grabbed me, stung me several times, and Cindy and Alice had rescued me yet again. I really wasn't good at fighting underwater. The lingering effects of the anenome's paralyzing stingers weren't doing me any favors either.

"I swear!" Alice exclaimed. "If one more monster attacks you, I'm going to beat her until she tells us what the hell is going on here!"

"They could just be hungry," Cindy suggested. "Luka is really delicious and northern sea monsters are even more semen deprived than southern sea monsters."

"Luka, did you get attacked this often the first time you went down to the northern temple?" Alice asked.

"Not even close," I replied. "This is the worst I've ever seen. If this had happened to me the first time I'd have died for sure."

"The monsters seem to be attacking with more viciousness than I would expect," Meia mused. "Most sea monsters try to entice males to surrender quickly, but all of these attacks have been quite violent."

"They are using pleasure attacks," I noted, remembering what the sea dragon's pussy had felt like. I'd never experienced something so soft. Various tentacles from other species had also tried to coax me into orgasm.

"That's just because pleasure attacks are the most efficient way to take a man down," Alice said. "But Meia's right, even the pleasure attacks are violent in nature. You haven't noticed how rough they've been?"

"I just thought sea monsters were always rough."

"Luka!" Alice cried out a warning. Impossibly fast for its size, something enormous attacked from my blind spot. Her mouth clamped down on my torso as I was carried away from my friends at what I knew was a much faster pace than they could hope to match. I was on my own for this fight.

Still not knowing what exactly had grabbed me, I summoned Gnome and broke out of her mouth. Thankfully, she had rather human teeth, not fangs, otherwise I would have been bitten in half. She turned to reacquire me and I got a good look at her.

She was some kind of sea serpent I had never encountered before. She had a horn that was taller than my body sticking out of the center of her head, and a tail that was at least three times as long as Alice's entire body. Her skin was pure white, which told me that she must spend most of her time in the depths, although that was purely academic and not of any particular concern to me in the moment. I wasn't sure what to do. I knew that her huge size could be deceiving. There was no way for me to safely calibrate my power to neutralize her without killing her. Killing her remained an option, but one I wanted to avoid if possible.

"Undine, is there any chance you could make me swim really fast?" I asked, not sure if the power of water included an ability like that.

"Don't ask me!" Undine answered. "Mastering the power of water is difficult. I can't just do it for you, even if I wanted to. But the nature of the elements is that there are more ways to use them than anyone can imagine. You know how to call me up to my full power. Just call me and think of a way to use me that enables you to swim fast."

Since the insanely large monster had already turned and was heading straight for me, mouth opened wide, I summoned Undine and entered the flow. I partially dodged the monster's attack, glancing off the side of her cheek rather than entering her mouth, which forced her to stop her momentum and turn around yet again. I had to think fast.

Looking deeper into the flow, I saw all the possible pathways I could take to dodge the gigantic wave that was the monster. Most were well within my capability. I could simply go with the flow and hit her in the forehead(avoiding the horn, of course), or the chin, or her cheek again. As slow as I was in the water, it was the best I could hope for. I'd been taught for centuries that this was the proper use of the flow. Don't fight the water. Simply float along with it. But looking deeper, I saw that was not all there was to it. There were other possibilities, small pathways zipping around, over, and under the great monster. But giving myself to the flow would not be enough. I had to seize the flow and use it for my own purposes.

Pointing myself at one of the tiny, thin pathways through the flow, I willed myself to zip through it at high speed, as if I was a fish myself. The tactic had more success than I anticipated. I went through the water like Aquaman, past the monster's huge body in less than two seconds and barreling back towards my friends at a speed that would have killed me due to friction with the water had I not possessed the orb of guidance.

My friends looked on dumbfounded as I went past them, then seeing the giant sea monster barreling through the water in hot pursuit, followed as best they could. Cindy, who could not match Meia or Alice's speed, much less my recently discovered speed, bravely turned to confront the oncoming monster. A less experienced Luka would have turned back to assist her. But I knew that the sea monster had no interest in Cindy. She would seek to knock her aside or go around her, either tactic buying us precious seconds to reach the undersea temple, which Alice informed me was only a few hundred yards ahead.

Despite my speed, I found myself dodging yet another attack as a shark girl's jaws attempted to intercept me. The flow warned me of the attack, and I simply wasn't there when the shark girl's jaws snapped shut. Sighting the undersea temple, I swam through a small window that was barely wider than my body, the also slight Alice and Meia following. I turned to see the great sea monster outside the temple, swimming around to find an entrance that would fit her enormous body.

"What… the… hell?!" Alice breathed.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Narwhal girl," Meia answered. "Largest sea monster girl in existence. They have an enormous appetite. They've been known to wreck ships and carry off over a dozen crew members at a time, then take them to a deserted island where they keep them and wring their semen out day after day."

"A Narwhal girl being aggressive isn't unusual," Alice said. "Attacking one man, no matter how delicious, is. Something is making these monsters crazy. Is someone brainwashing the queen? Or has she fully aligned with my mother and is already waging war on any humans her subjects can find? No, that can't be it. Poseidoness has always been for coexistence."

"So brainwashing it is, then," I said. "I'm glad I didn't expend any power. If Hiruko is here I'll need every bit of it to even stand a chance."

"Luka, please don't hesitate this time," Alice urged.

"Don't worry," I said with determination. "Hiruko back on my world eventually saw things my way, but we were never friends. Any false memories she has of me wouldn't be good ones."

"By the way, nice trick with the power of water. Have you always been able to do that?"

"Nope, first time. You know what they say about necessity."

"Speaking of necessity," Alice said. "Please restore me to my full regality. Monsters inside the temple are more likely to recognize me, which might cause them to ask questions first before attacking. Assuming they haven't all been driven mad."

With a thought, I did as Alice asked. The truth was, I really enjoyed her in her adult form. I'd never say it to her face, but she was a bit of an ugly child who must have really blossomed when she grew up. I know, it's a terrible thing to say. All children are precious! But I never hesitated to restore Alice to her true form whenever I had the opportunity. Her adult form was super hot.

It seemed to work, as the monsters we passed in the temple stared but took no action against us. Something about Alice's glare and determined demeanor made them decide not to ask questions either. The lone exception was an anglerfish girl who slowly drifted towards me, but who promptly changed direction when Alice gave her a sharp look.

To my great relief, Cindy soon joined us, reporting that the narwhal had simply gone through her without stopping. Cindy was ashamed that she hadn't even slowed it down, although she had briefly grabbed it with one of her giant claws, before being shaken loose. But most importantly, Cindy was unhurt. I demonstrated my gratitude with a big hug, which Cindy returned joyfully with six arms.

We made it to the center of the temple where Poseidoness resided. Looking at her tentacles, I remembered why I hadn't remembered much about the encounter. I'd blocked it out. Poseidoness had violated me with one of those tentacles. I resolved to see if I could avoid that this time around.

"Oh?" Poseidoness said upon seeing us. "What does the Monster Lord and a human want with me?"

I looked to Alice, hoping she would do the talking. I remembered that asking for the orb would be a great way to get violated again.

"First and foremost, Poseidoness," Alice began. "Thank you for referring to me by my appropriate title. Have you been well?"

"As well as an old monster can be," Poseidoness said. "the lack of semen down here really is depressing. Is the boy a gift?"

"Do you want me to fry you?!" Alice responded, then gained control of herself. "What I meant to say was, no, he's my companion. We are on a quest to regain my throne. Can I count on your support in that endeavour?"

"You have always had it," Poseidoness replied. "You know that I share your views on coexistence, just as the southern queen does."

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart," Alice said gratefully. "I didn't doubt your loyalty, Poseidoness, so I hope you aren't offended. There has been an epidemic of monarchs around the world being brainwashed by monsters even more powerful than queens. In one case, more powerful than the Monster Lord. I feared that you might have been a target of theirs."

"If I am, I am unaware of it. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I am confused under the best of circumstances due to my nutritional deficiencies, along with my advanced age. Really, I don't know why you have so much confidence in me."

"I have confidence in you because of your wisdom and your heart," Alice said graciously. "I very much doubt that you've been brainwashed. If you had been, your loyalty would be to my mother, or you'd be doing irrational things simply for the sake of disruption."

"The monsters outside have been pretty irrational," I pointed out.

"Oh, yes," Poseidoness said. "There is a ship on the seas that has been poaching monsters. There is a great deal of fear and anger in the seas as a result."

"Poachers?!" Alice cried. "In this day and age?! How is that possible!?"

"It is a mystery. Reports are scant. We know there is a strange looking ship that moves faster than most sea monsters and has powerful weapons that can slay even the largest, most powerful sea monsters. What happens to the monsters' bodies after they are murdered is an outrage. Their carcasses are stripped of anything that can be sold, the remainder left to float, eventually torn apart by the more savage monsters, as well as the fish who inhabited these seas long before the first monsters arrived."

"And this is a human ship?" I asked.

"Monsters would never sell each other's body parts for money," Poseidoness answered coldly. "In fact… Now what?"

The what was a steady rumbling that gained in intensity as it got closer. Bursting into the chamber was the narwhal girl that had been chasing me minutes before. Apparently she had not only found her way into the temple, but even had access to wide passageways that could accommodate her to the center of the temple. Which made sense, otherwise how would Kraken or Poseidoness ever get in or out?

"Your majesty, are you in danger?!" the narwhal girl exclaimed, eyeing me with overt hostility.

"Do I appear to be in danger?" Poseidoness asked blandly.

"There is a human here!" the narwhal unnecessarily pointed out.

"Yes, and the Monster Lord, as well as a crab girl and a mermaid. Horn, do you think a single human male is responsible for all those murders?"

"Er… no, Poseidoness."

"Shouldn't you be searching for a ship, rather than a single human?"

"But if they wanted to get rid of you, sending a hero to do the job is precisely how they'd do it!" Horn protested. "It was clear that this human was on his way to the temple! And he wields great power! He's dangerous! Please allow me to eat him!"

"Horn, is it?" Alice asked. "Do you recognize me?"

"Should I?" Horn asked, confused. "Oh wait, didn't she say that one of you is the Monster Lord? That must be you!"

"I am she," Alice confirmed. "And I can vouch for this human. Are you monsters just attacking every human who enters the water?"

"Of course we are! If the humans seek to make war on us, they shall have war in return!"

"Are the humans attacking you, or is just one ship doing it?"

"Oh. I think I see your point," Horn conceded.

"Right….. and according to reports, isn't this ship different from normal human ships?" Alice asked pointedly.

"That is what the reports say, yes. I have not seen the ship myself."

"So then shouldn't you be keeping an eye out for THAT ship, rather than making war on every human you see?" Poseidoness asked.

"i…I guess," Horn said uncertainly.

"Then in that case, you owe the human an apology."

Horn sighed loudly. "Very well, human," Horn said. "In what manner do you wish me to apologize?"

"A verbal apology will be sufficient," Alice cut in quickly, already noticing that I was contemplating the ways in which Horn could show her remorse. It really was becoming an addiction for me.

"Oh thank goodness," Horn breathed. "Not that you aren't tasty looking, human, but I don't know how to be gentle."

"You could-" I started to say.

"You could simply say you are sorry," Alice finished for me. Meia giggled.

"I am sorry, um….." Horn said.

"Luka," Alice finished for her.

"I am sorry, Luka."

With a heavy sigh, Horn left the room, and judging by the distant rumbling, the temple as well.

"That ship really does have my subjects on edge," Poseidoness said. "I really would be happy if the ship could be found and dealt with."

"I'm concerned about that as well," Alice agreed. "This is the first I'm hearing about it. If we find anything out, we'll deal with it ourselves, if possible."

"I appreciate that, Alipheese. Did you have any other business?"

"Two things," Alice answered. "First, this."

Alice pulled a dried squid out of her magic bag.

"Oh my! Is that…?" Poseidoness asked.

"It is Queen Kraken, yes," Alice confirmed. "I'm afraid that despite my current appearance, I have lost most of my magical abilities. I can't restore her. Can you?"

"I fear I cannot. That is a very specific type of magic that I am not well schooled in. Perhaps Queen Mermaid could do it."

"No one has seen Queen Mermaid in almost a century," Alice pointed out.

"A Heavenly Knight, then?"

"If I'd remembered, I would have asked Tamamo," Alice said regretfully. "But I don't think any of the others can do it. I guess we'll just have to wait until we see Tamamo again. Luka, why don't you ask her about the other thing we came for?"

"Oh yeah," I responded. "Poseidoness, we also require an orb. Do you have it?"

"The silver orb?" Poseidoness asked. "I am the guardian of it, yes. Are you prepared to fight me for it?"

"Fight you?" I asked, visions of tentacles in my butt playing through my head. "Why?"

"Unless of course the Monster Lord orders me to give it to you."

"I don't know," Alice said, smirking. "Luka seemed really eager to receive an 'apology' from Horn. I think he's horny. Maybe he'd enjoy your unique kind of pleasure."

"Alice!" I objected.

"Oh, fine!" Alice teased. "Poseidoness, the orb is needed to hatch the Garuda Girl so that I may gain access to Hellgondo and take back my throne. Since you support my claim, will you give my human companion the orb?"

"I shall," Poseidoness said, extending the orb to me with one of her tentacles. "I really wish you'd let us fight, however. I haven't had a chance to stick my tentacles up a man's anus in quite some time."

"Thank you so much!" I said gratefully. "But you know how it is, we're very busy, very urgen things to do! Bye!"

With a thought, I returned us to the Pocket Castle.

"That was rude," Alice said.

It was a two day journey to Succubus Village. If Safina is a desert hellscape, and Noah is a lush, beautiful land of forests and mountains, Gold would be…. Meh. The climate wasn't harsh, but the plains were pretty boring, occasionally varied by small ranges of hills or even mountains that didn't look majestic at all. It looked more as if the tectonic plates in the area had been petulant, puking up mediocre geographic features that weren't even worth climbing.

One thing that did distinguish Gold, however, was how geologically active it was. Gold had several volcanoes, the most prominent of which housed the spirit of fire, Salamander. But the volcano was going to be our last stop in the Gold region, due to the urgency of the problems in Succubus and Lady's Village, problems which always seemed to come in pairs no matter which universe I was in.

I really wanted to leave Alice and Sonya back in the castle. I knew they'd both be in a bad mood due to the mission. Alice snidely made bets with Sonya about how many succubi would end up getting recruited. Just between you and me, I wanted to recruit two dozen. But I knew that I probably wouldn't recruit any unless they were particularly powerful, for reasons besides Alice and Sonya's disapproval. First, I already had succubi, including the most powerful one I knew, Alma Elma. Second, I'd have to recruit at least three men for every succubus to keep them fed. I knew that most succubi in that village would be fed up with potatoes.

At the risk of getting too academic in a story about saving the world while having a lot of sex, there's a reason why the mayor of Succubus Village back in my world had decided to make her village a potato growing village. Aside from the favorability of the land and climate for that kind of agriculture, potatoes are one of the most nutritious foods there is, providing at least some of every nutrient known to man, with the exceptions of Vitamin D and molybdenum. It may not taste as delicious to a succubus, but it's the best substitute for semen nature has ever devised. You see, semen, despite only having protein and some other trace nutrients, is efficiently converted into everything a monster needs to survive by their digestive system. I have no idea how it works, although I've been assured that it isn't magic. Their bodies continue to break down semen efficiently even when on Earth, where there is almost no magic. It functions as a superfood for them. So when semen supplies are lean, potatoes can bridge the nutritional gap better than anything else that can be grown in the Gold region.

So the short version was that I wasn't likely to recruit any succubi. It was a shame, really. I'd seen how effective pleasure attacks could be on monsters, and the best part was that since monsters were stronger than humans, subduing them that way posed no risk of serious injury. With an army of succubi, I felt I could conquer any challenge. My motivations had nothing to do with my willingness to keep them fed, honest!

Anyway, I tried to keep the conversation light and away from Succubus Village as we traveled. It helped that many monsters joined us from time to time. When we'd first begun our travels, castle residents would often spend the entire day with us, but as the social life of the castle expanded, most residents only wanted to travel a few hours at a time, returning inside to rest and do more interesting things. Even Alice, Ilias, and Sonya would take frequent breaks. While I sometimes took whole days off if Alice got too greedy with me, leaving me exhausted and spent, once I started walking I generally didn't take any breaks except to eat the lunch I packed. It was while eating that lunch that I got ambushed.

Most of the castle denizens preferred cafeteria food, so I was sitting alone with Sonya, eating sandwiches. I felt fairly safe because we were in a flat region of Gold, where it would be nearly impossible for anyone to sneak up on us. At least on land. The attack came from the air. I heard the flapping on the wind seconds before, and stood up to look around. I looked in the wrong direction and got tackled by a harpy. Two more harpies quickly disarmed and held Sonya, who struggled angrily.

My opponent and I rolled around on the ground from the momentum of her slamming into me. It was clear that she intended rape, because otherwise her claws would have been out. For all the harpies knew, I was just some traveler out with his girlfriend, just another weak human to prey upon.

I intended to show them that they had picked on the wrong human. I was relearning the use of the spirits very quickly. I summoned Gnome a second after I hit the ground. As soon as we stopped rolling, I tossed the harpy off of me with ease, kipped up and drew my sword. The harpy I faced was clearly a warrior, as ripped and lean as Flappy. She was also a wild harpy, which meant that her attacks were less polished and more frenzied. She took to the air and dove down, this time with claws out. I didn't even need spirits to avoid her attack and strike her with my sword. She fell to the ground, inspecting her side.

"What is this?" she asked, confused. "You cut me deeply, but I don't bleed. But I feel so weak!"

"Magic sword," I said. "I don't like to kill, so I use it to deal with monsters who try to rape unwary travelers. You see, if I hit you one or two more times, you'll be sealed into the form of a harmless bird. You'll remain that way for weeks, having to subsist on fruits and worms. While you're waiting to regain your power, you can reflect on your actions."

"Seal?!" the harpy said with alarm. "As a bird? No, please! Don't seal me! Men like blowjobs, right? If I give you one, will you let me go?"

I knew that her offer was insincere. If she blew me, I'd be at her mercy. Then all three of them would gang rape me, and possibly carry me away, there to repeatedly gang rape me until I forgot who I was and my whole mission. But even if her offer was sincere, I wasn't going to take it. Making a woman service me because she feared me was a form of rape as well, and I was no rapist.

"How about… you just go?" I said. "You attacked me, I didn't attack you. You don't have to do anything for me. Just leave."

"You're letting me go?" she asked, confused. "For nothing? Even though I attacked you?"

"Yes, I'm letting you go!" I said impatiently.

"Thank you, sir!" the harpy said gratefully. "I won't forget this! Now I owe you!"

"Oh, God, please no more of that," I said with exasperation.

The harpy flew off. I turned to see if the other two had left. They had not. They did release Sonya, however, to focus on me. They didn't take Sonya seriously once they had disarmed her. If I'm being honest, I didn't take her seriously as a threat without her club. As far as I knew, she had two skills: club swinging and healing.

"Kris may have been too chickenshit to deal with you, but we aren't!" another warriorlike harpy yelled. The other harpy looked less certain and a little softer, although I knew that could be deceiving. What she lacked in muscle she probably made up for in magic, elements, or even enhanced sexual skills.

"Tsubasa, you take him from the right, I'll get him from the left," the warrior harpy ordered.

It was a classic harpy fakeout. Tsubasa did indeed come at me from the right, but the warrior harpy feinted to her left and then went straight up in the air, intending to bring her foot claws slicing down on me. Monsters didn't generally seek to hurt their prey, but damaged goods was better than none at all. They'd treat my wounds once they took me back to their lair. Besides, a man a monster had to fight for was probably better tasting than a man who succumbed easily, and almost certainly produced better offspring as well.

Since neither harpy used the power of wind, I didn't even need spirits to avoid their attacks and counter. Tsubasa was dropped with one swing of my sword, and I slashed at the warrior harpy's legs as if I was Obi-Wan removing Vaders'. Since Angel Halo drained energy no matter where it hit, it did its damage. It also numbed her legs so that she couldn't stand anymore. Tsubasa, not being a warrior was also apparently not used to pain. She lay on the ground whimpering. I felt immediately bad for her. I didn't like causing pain anymore than I liked killing. But since the wounds weren't real, the pain faded quickly. The weakness was more long lasting.

Since Tsubasa seemed neutralized, I strode over to where the warrior harpy was trying to drag herself away from me. I hoped that the fight was over. The warrior harpy seemed to think so.

"I surrender," she rasped, finally giving up on getting to her feet. "Violate me however you wish. As the stronger of us, it is your right."

That offer was actually sincere. It was the monster way. I could still end up her prisoner if I went so far as to weaken myself more than she was already weakened. While she would happily take advantage of me if I was that stupid, it was not her intent. I had beaten her. Therefore, she was mine, for at least as long as I could keep her. But that wasn't my way.

"I'm not interested in raping you," I said curtly. "That's not how we humans do things. Well, not how most of us do things, anyway."

"But… I surrendered! I am honor bound not to take advantage of you no matter how weak you become while raping me!"

That was new to me. A tradition specific to her tribe, or something different about this world compared to mine? In any case, it changed nothing.

"You can go," I said. "The tradition that's more important to me is the one where you have to do what I say if I beat you up. And I say stop raping travelers. Stop taking them prisoner, assuming that was your plan for me. Men love harpies. Just offer to make them happy and they'll be glad to let you. Most of the time. I know there are trust issues, especially if it's common for harpies in this region to kidnap men."

"Luka!"

I heard Sonya's warning shout a second too late, not that it helped Tsubasa much. Tsubasa had either gotten over her pain or had been faking. I'd wondered what was so special about her, given how soft she looked compared to her two more warrior-like friends. When she spread her wings, preparing to embrace me, I figured it out. She had the most densely feathered wings I'd ever seen on a harpy, and they were huge, capable of wrapping up and gently stimulating the majority of my body. Almost any man would surrender once in her soft embrace. She was free to try that on me, but it would do her no good. I almost looked forward to it. I'd never been wrapped in feathers that lush. I'd just enjoy it for a few seconds, then push her off.

My willpower was never tested, however. Sonya demonstrated that she was more than just a club wielding healer. Extending her hand, she shouted in righteous anger.

"Holy Arrow!" Sonya yelled, and an arrow of pure holy light struck Tsubasa in the side, exploding against her and causing feathers to scatter everywhere. The visage of pain on her face was clearly not faked this time.

"Sonya, is she going to be okay?" I asked. "can you heal her?"

"Yeah, I'm on it!" Sonya exclaimed, concern etching her face. That was probably the first time she'd used that spell in combat and it was more potent than she had expected.

Tsubasa sighed in relief as Sonya's hands covered the wound and her magic flowed into the harpy. When Sonya was finished, I could see that the wound wasn't completely healed, but it was no longer dangerous to Tsubasa's welfare, or unbearably painful.

"You healed me?" Tsubasa asked Sonya, unbelieving. "Clearly you use holy magic, which tells me that you're a follower of Ilias. Why would you heal your enemy?"

"I don't know," Sonya replied uncertainly. "You were in pain. I couldn't just leave you that way. Not that I'm any less pissed at you! Who do you think you are, just attacking someone like that!"

"We won't do it again," the warrior harpy promised. "Believe us, we've learned our lesson. We will ask from now on."

"Let that be a lesson to you," I said. "Now, I assume you two are hungry. Want some sandwiches? Between the food and the short rest, you two should be able to fly back home."

So Sonya and I resumed our lunch, with two new guests. When Alice and Ilias showed up, having finished their own lunches inside the castle, both got a look on their faces that clearly said, "You know what? I don't even want to know."