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MillionNovel > I Own a Brothel in Another World > Chapter 82 – A Journey Through the Sewers

Chapter 82 – A Journey Through the Sewers

    Chapter 82 – A Journey Through the Sewers


    <span style="font-weight:400">We arrive in my little dwarf’s forge. You can clearly tell that Sirgia has been working on other stuff besides simple toys for the establishment by the signs of use on various appliances and devices that shouldn’t really be part of their crafting process. Unless she figured out a dildo with a hidden de for some bedtime assassinations.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She brings us to a small storage connected to the workshop and starts going through some open crates, shuffling through various things, ranging from weapons, parts of armour, to tools, also in different states ofpletion.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Leaning far into one of the quite high boxes, she almost falls inside, but I manage to catch her before the ident takes ce, helping Sirgia dive deeper while holding her by the thighs. If she was wearing a skirt or something, then this could have been quite the nice view. But, the leather shorts she usually wears are incredibly cute too.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Finally finding what she has been looking for, my adorable dwarf requests to be pulled up and I properly assist Sirgia back onto the solid ground. She’s somehow gotten a grey smudge on her cute cheek so I pull out a handkerchief and clean it up, leaving a quick peck in its ce, causing Sirgia to blush ever so faintly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She brings forward something that looks like two pieces of folded material and nces up at Astrea.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“These aren’t yet perfect, but I thought about what I could create for you that could be of help in fights and came up with this. Since I’ve never seen you practise with weapons, I think they shouldn’t disrupt your current style.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea curiously tilts her head and picks one of the pieces of fabric up from Sirgia’s hands. After unfolding it, we quickly realize that it’s a thin fingerless glove of a dark grey colour. On it''s back, you can notice some white lines, forming some kind of a circuit.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The clearly fascinated catgirl quickly puts it on the proper hand and reaches out for the second glove,pleting the set. Astrea squeezes her fingers into fists a few times while examining her new gear from multiple angles.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Soft. Andfortable. Thank you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A small smile forms on Sirgia’s lips. “That’s not all about them. First, the material I used is actually a metal that behaves like fabric under certain circumstances. I was lucky to find a little bit of it when I was out shopping. You don’t have to worry about it getting damaged. It will protect your hands since you use them a lot.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thank you,” Astrea repeats again with a nod.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Second, inject some mana into the circuits etched into them. You should be able to feel them easily,” Sirgia still continues.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After a few seconds, the paths on the back of Astrea’s hands illuminate and we watch something unexpected happen. The material extends and wraps itself around the rest of her uncovered fingers,pleting the full glove.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Next, the fabric over the same outer area, quickly swells in the form of many small squares and rectangles, covering the back of her hand, and even the fingers, in something closely resembling a short ted gauntlet. The knuckles receive slightly pointy ends.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea again moves her fingers around and closes them into a fist repeatedly while clearly mesmerized by the change. The tes perfectly cover just the outer area while leaving the inner side of her palm and fingers as it originally was. And the little panels are perfectly aligned to not restrict her movements even the tiniest bit without leaving any critical gaps. What a masterpiece.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The magical formation will keep the reinforcement up as long as it has mana and will revert the change when it runs out or you withdraw it yourself. With this, you can hit even harder things without worrying about hurting yourself. There’s a magical cushioningyered under the ting, additionally protecting your bones with pressurized air. You should also be able to have an easier time blocking ded weapons with it turned on.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I plop my hand on our adorable artificer’s head and brush through her hair. “That’s incredible. I’m really wasting your talent by forcing you to make sex toys.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Sirgia drops her gaze to the ground with rosiness overtaking her cheeks. “N-No… I’m not that great… This is something many other Dwarves could do… And I don’t mind making those items… They actually help me get into a creative mood…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I kneel down, softly brush her cheek while we look each other into the eyes and follow it with a tiny kiss. “You are still plenty amazing. I’m sure that you will conquer the world of artificers in no time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She smiles more openly and also pecks my lips back. “Thank you, Master.” With a quick hug, she refocuses her attention on Astrea, who is ying around with her new toys. “They actuallye with a pair of boots toplete the set, but I’m not yet finished with them. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea nods at her a few times in quick session and also steps closer to hug Sirgia. So sweet.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Great. This will certainly help a lot today and in the future. Shall we go dress up?” I ask.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“One more thing, Master,” Sirgia answers and we follow her back to the main forge.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She makes an adorable dash for a small tform and brings it to one of the walls. That’s when the two of us notice something peculiar hung on the metal hooks there. Sirgia reaches for and brings down a quite sizable but not overblown double-sided hammerhead with a quite short handleing out of it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Coming back, she stops a bit of distance in front of us. “This should be useful underground.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Sirgia demonstrates her handling of the weird maul by making a few swings and blows. In the middle of one of them, some circuits etched into the hilt get illuminated and we watch as the handle swiftly extends to around one meter long.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She makes a few more skilful moves and the lines glow again, further expanding the hilt to almost two meters long, which starts to look slightlyical with Sirgia’s short figure. But, she still shows her high proficiency with it while avoiding hitting any appliances and furniture. Then, the head of the double hammer reveals its circuits too and one of the sides changes into a more pointy tip, turning the weapon into an actual war hammer.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Finished with her short presentation, Sirgia reverts all the changes and retracts the weapon into its initial state, ncing up at me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’ve reallye prepared, haven’t you? I’m starting to run out of words to praise you,” I say with a wide smile.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Sirgia nces to the side while tightly clutching the artifact to her chest, blushing clearly. I chuckle and step closer to pat her head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. Any more surprises?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve made anything that could be of much use to you in the current situation, Master. I prioritized the others since you got very strong and I thought you’d like me to do that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And you were perfectly right. I appreciate it, really. I love you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I love you too…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seriously. If we weren''t at max Bond Level already, this little exchange would surely push it to the top. It’s hard to resist the urge to just keep hugging this adorable and slightly awkward at times dwarfdy. I me Shino for my obsession with short girls.


    <span style="font-weight:400">On that topic, out of all my current lovers, Sirgia, Cornelia and Shino are the ones at max level. Astrea recently jumped to the fourth level while Elea and Neira reached it some time ago. I think it happened during the time when I was away and they had discussed bing my wives amongst themselves.


    <span style="font-weight:400">In the sea of Partners that aren’t exactly my bonafide lovers, Bond Level 2 dominates, if I’m not mistaken. Or perhaps it has been overtaken by the girls with level 1 after we hired more employees that don’t get as close to me as the <i><span style="font-weight:400">working</i><span style="font-weight:400"> girls. I should be checking that more often.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Out of curiosity, I pull up my menu to have a quick nce at my Partners list. But, first, I take a peek at my status, partially out of habit. And that’s when I notice that my bracketed values have risen slightly whenpared to thest time I checked. And that can mean only one thing.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Girls, can you check your statuses?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">They both nce at me for a moment but follow the request without any questions.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh. I advanced into the fourth Tier,” Astrea informs me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Me too,” Sirgia joins.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I smile and pat their heads. “Great. It seems that our training did pay off. We have been going at it pretty much every day since my return. And I can’t say that we weren’t having intimate moments quite often too, isn’t that right, Sirgia? Both of you were at the third Tier for quite some time already.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">My precious dwarf giggles very quietly while ncing at me shyly. She did act quite clingy shortly before and then after the expedition. Not that I mind. I love spending my time with her or the other girls. And it does provide quite the benefits too.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll give you some time to check for any changes. Let’s meet in my chamber in thirty minutes, ready to go. Is that okay?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">They both nod. Before I leave, Sirgia pulls me down to ce a tame peck on my cheek and Astrea then rubs her face into mine while purring affectionately. I’ll honestly die from diabetes at one point.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I move to my room and start gearing up. Ailish materializes herself from wherever she previously was and assists me. She throws me a few potions and useful concoctions or salves for various diseases and poisons from her own collection she has brought back from the cave.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Promising to keep an eye on me and letting me know that she will intervene if things go really south, she pulls me into a deep and very lewd kiss while clearly rubbing her crotch over my thigh before disappearing into my Soul Realm. The things you have to go through having a thirsty Arch Subus around…


    <span style="font-weight:400">As I predicted, Shinoes to see me before I head out and I let her in. A faint blush quickly spreads on her face after we make eye contact, clearly rted to our previous conversation.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s honestly a little surprising that a hidden pervert such as yourself got this much embarrassed by just talking about a threesome.” I chuckle at her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shino makes a visible pout but it gets quickly reced by a soft chuckle as I pull her into a hug.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I might have overreacted a bit, Sensei, but it wasn’t really because of that but… my silly misunderstanding. I’ve gotten myself so excited that it must have definitely shown back then, hahaha.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Which means you would be up for it?” I ask teasingly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her cheeks turn a shade redder. “If… If that’s your wish, Sensei… I wouldn’t say no…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I pepper her blushing face with a myriad of little pecks. “And what would your wish be?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I mean… I did fantasize about it a bit… Pleasuring each other with your other woman while watching you… f-fuck a third one… waiting for our turn…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Such a lewd girlfriend I have. I’m sure Elea and Neira would be happy to take part in that. You would love some big Dark Elf melons to smush your face, wouldn’t you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seeing Shino hide herself in my chest, I chuckle again as my fingers y with her hair.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. I’ve teased you enough. Just remember that I would love to make your dream fantasiese true so don’t hide them away in shame. I’m slowly working on our cosy department. I think you would enjoy some of that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She looks back up at me. “Really?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, really. I just need to find a decent tailor or a few. And now that I have your help, a professional artist-designer, I kind of can’t wait to see what kind of outfits you woulde up with. They always were so damn sexy and creative in your art.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shino giggles and pecks my lips. “Thank you, Sensei. I would also love that. I’ll start thinking about some. Drawing sketches will keep me away from getting bored. And… I do have a few that I would like to wear… when we…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? Like what, for example?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ummm… Japanese school swimsuit?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I should have seen that oneing…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shino chuckles again. “Have you ever seen one in real life, Sensei?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Nope.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then I would be the first!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I shake my head and pull Shino in for a brief kiss. “I’ll have to double my efforts then. My cute girlfriend in a school swimsuit is certainly a sight to behold. But, before that, I have something else to do.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry for taking up your time, Sensei.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t be. I’ll always find time for my lovely girls. I’ll wrap this up quickly so that we can spend some more of it together. I owe you that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I actually thought about asking if you’d let mee with you, but I figured out that bringing a Human along might not be the best idea and it could just make things harder for you. I’ll keep my fingers crossed instead. Call me if anything happens. I should be able to track you with this bond between us and then use my Shadow Step to rush to you, Sensei.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Someone knocks on the door and my two partners for today’s operation walk inside, fully prepared. Sirgia put on a pair of greaves and gauntlets of reinforced leather while keeping a tougher version of her shorts and vest to protect her torso, padded with additionalyers of hidden metal tes. The retracted mechanical hammer hangs attached to her back.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea’s outfit is much lighter to not obstruct her movements. She has donned a leather tank top and shorts, wrapping up bandages around her forearms and calves. The gloves she got from Siriga are already on her hands, in their dormant state. I can easily tell that nothing here is an ordinary piece of clothing.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shino turns to the duo and bows lightly. “Take good care of Sensei, Sirgia-san, Astrea-san.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Un.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I will.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">They both answer with a nod and we all move out. I’m obviously dressed in my adventuring outfit, which has been tweaked by Sirgia quite a bit over time. And I obviously never take off my Grennian Undergarments when I’m walking outside since the day she chose it for me on our little date. An additionalyer of protection is always wee.


    <span style="font-weight:400">At the front entrance, we meet the rest of my lovers. Elea and Cornelia tell me to notify them after the situation gets resolved and how many people will being back so that they can move some of the food prepared for the open night aside and manage the flow of people, allowing us to enter through the back easily if we end uping back at a busy hour.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After everyone gets a quick goodbye peck, the three of us leave the premises of the mansion. Astrea leads us through the city and we arrive in the part where the two of us first met. Looks like we’ll be entering the sewers through an entrance she knows well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We start moving through narrow alleyways until we reach a dead end with a huge circr hole blocked by metal bars. I can’t really see how this thing is supposed to be opened as we walk closer to the entrance.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea moves with confidence and kneels down on the side of the opening. She starts hitting the stone bricksid down around the hole. After a few tries, one of them actually shakes under her knocking and her ears twitch cutely.


    <span style="font-weight:400">With a controlled smack on the very end of the stone block, it flies up into the air while spinning. Astrea catches it easily and we notice that it has a triangle-tip sloped underside with the highest point in the centre, which is the reason behind it gettingunched like that.


    <span style="font-weight:400">An extension of the metal rim holding the bars is revealed at the spot previously covered by the stone brick. And it looks like it’s being held up by a bolt-type locking mechanism, a very simple one and possible to move by anyone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea unlocks it and I help her lift the metal lid, holding it up for the two of them to jump down first. Our catgirl ces the stone block on the edge of the cavity created by its removal. I instantly realize her intentions and nod at her, receiving the same in response.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After the two of them descend safely, I jump down too, pulling the metal bars behind me. The gate ms into the ground and the created tremors cause the brick to fall into its proper ce, covering the locking mechanism, staying open for now. I feel like a real member of the Thieves Guild if any exist in this world.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Wend—without a surprise—in a two-way corridor made out of dark stone bs. This particr tunnel is wide enough to fit around four of us walking side by side and two standing on each other’s shoulders, at least when the girls do it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Anything we should be wary of here?” I ask before we move further.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mostly oversized rodents which aren’t that dangerous unless a whole pack of them shows up,” Astrea answers. “Some tunnels have water or waste flowing through the middle and that’s where other beasts or monsters could potentially appear.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So, the typical stuff. Gotcha.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thest time I was heading for the gathering, I noticed the scent of Goblins at one of the intersections so it’s possible that some might have snuck past the bars leading outside of the city and settled in somewhere.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And that’s not exactly good,” I say to myself. “If you stumble on their traces again, let’s try to see if there really is a Goblins’ Den in the sewers. I’m sure Ross would appreciate letting him know its location.” Astrea lifts her gaze onto me and I nce down at her. “Something wrong?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If there is one, and it’s not too big, could we try to get rid of it? If it wouldn’t slow us down too much?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I rub my chin. “I mean, I’m not really against the idea if we deem it achievable after scouting it first. Is there some personal reason behind this?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“There’s always the possibility that some Beastkin were captured by them. I would like to help. Goblins are really cruel. They enjoy torturing their prisoners and listening to their screams or—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s okay, you don’t need to list me the atrocities theymit.” I stop Astrea and scratch behind her fluffy ears. “I promise we’ll take down the green bastards if we stumble onto them. That is if our strength will be enough. You should never underestimate numbers.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea nods and pushes her head more into my hand, enjoying the caresses for a brief moment.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So, where to now?” I ask. She steps back and starts looking both ways. “Need a map?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She shakes her head. “I know where we are. I’m just thinking about the path we should take. There are a few ces in which the meetings happen and they switch around each month. After I find the most recent markings, it will be easy to navigate to the correct one.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“As expected. If I’m not wrong, it’s not really that the Beastkin living down here can’t escape—since if Goblins can find a way in, they should be able to find a way out—but they choose to remain here?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Partially, yes. Some ns consider it a great shame to be enved and would not ept their branded kin back. While part of the people certainly stays here out of their own volition, the rest is forced to stay by the leaders of themunity, unable to go against the orders of the alpha. They have to listen and work for themunity or they will be punished or even killed. It’s hard to escape from the alpha.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see. But you managed to do it bying with me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She shakes her head. “I wasn’t away for long. If I didn’te back for longer, they would send scouts to track me down and see what happened. They would not forget and try to capture me back to bring me to the alpha for punishment. Even if I was held against my will, they wouldn’t care. Noting back with resources would be my fault. I’m afraid that after noticing my scent in the sewers, they will send someone after me before we get there first.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The more you talk about it, the more I start hating this Community. Was it always like this?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea tilts her head for a moment and one of her ears twitches adorably. “I’m not sure since during my time there I’ve met only one alpha, but some older Beastkin kept saying that there were some less oppressive leaders in the past.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I guess it’s time for a change in leadership again. Lead the way. Let’s not waste any more time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She nods, steps closer to brush her cheek against mine, and starts walking into one of the two directions, I think south. I give some pats to Sirgia as I pass her and we begin moving in a line formation with me in the centre. Both of them are closebat specialists while I have a slightly better reach with my Formless de Arts and magic.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We wander through a few tunnels of simr size to the one we started in for around half an hour. Nothing much happens during that time. I bring out a copy of the map each time we meet an intersection to track our progress by marking them on the paper.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea keeps skilfully guiding us forward, not finding any markings yet. It’s possible that we’ve jumped into the sewers at a very far point from where this month’s meeting is being held and we will have some distance to cover. But, I have trust in her and know that we’ll get there eventually.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After we move into an actual canal with a water flow, our path grows a little more spacious. At least whoever designed the underground did not make the footpaths on the sides of the running water narrow as hell and actually thought about it for a moment. We should be fine even if a fight breaks out in one of these tunnels.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And, of course, I had to jinx us.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As we are walking, something shoots out of the water and a translucent tentacle wraps itself around Sirgia’s leg, who is behind me. All three of us notice it instantly and I cut the appendage off without a second missed, with my already prepared draconic hilt having a shortsword shaped up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We jump farther from the canal and the feeler that has been chopped off turns into liquid, falling onto the stone floor. It begins slowly moving back to the actual water.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I’m starting to think that I know what our assant is, judging by these two characteristics. And I guess Astrea’s Sixth Sense doesn’t activate when she is not the target of the attack. I was in the ssh zone of the boulder the Trolls threw at us back then. Well, I still have Shino’s skill on me anyway. I fucked up and used the borrowing ability during my fight with Kamil, forgetting that the operation is so soon.


    <span style="font-weight:400">For a moment, I think that we will be left alone after the failed sneak attack, but my wishes do note true and a slimy blob crawls onto the sidewalk from the water stream. As expected, it’s a Slime. A Great Slime most likely, with its size being around Sirgia’s height.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh well. I’m sorry, little one, but you don’t look like letting us pass after this unfortunate ident. While I do feel slightly bad for having to kill you, my lovely jelly girlfriends kept reminding me again and again that you guys don’t think a lot before reaching the King or Queen stage and that I should attack on sight. So, please, kindly die for me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I shove my shortsword into the ground and invoke a skill. A much bigger de emerges from under the Slime and aims for its core. Unfortunately, it seems to be at least somewhat experienced and quickly moves the dark orb out of its path, nullifying the whole attack.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Leave it to me, girls,” I say while retracting the hilt back. “This will be good practice.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea’s fists and Sirgia’s hammer would have some trouble getting to the core without exposing themselves to the acidic nature of the enemy, so I hastily switch the form of my weapon into a nice and long spear.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Stepping forward, I thrust the tip into the blob, going after the core, obviously. Again, the Slime avoids my attempt with ease and shoots a jelly tentacle my way in response. I quickly draw the polearm back and spin it around to mutte the feeler.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seeing that one won’t work, the Slime sends a bunch of them after me, forcing me to dodge around. But, while I’m avoiding its appendages, I naturally make my own thrusts back at my opponent. As I thought, this really is a great exercise.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But, to not dawdle here too long against a single Great Slime, I cast Confusion from my Charm Magic repertoire and make another attack. Most likely expecting it—or just having an insane reaction time after its membrane gets pierced—the Slime still manages to move the core out of the way.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately for it, I do something I haven’t tried against it before by stepping much closer to its body and angling the butt of my spear up into the air. As quickly as I can, I make an additional thrust without pulling the tip outside and manage tond a hit with the element of surprise and its weakened state helping me out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As the de at the end of my weapon pierces through the orb, shattering it into a few chunks, the whole Slime loses its tension and sts onto the ground. Rest in pieces, dear friend. Gods. I way overused that phrase in my teenage gaming days. Just with a slightly more rude ending.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good job, Master.” Sirgia walks closer to congratte me and Astrea follows after her, nodding.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It was nothing. You can’t really praise me too much for dealing with a Slime.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Slimes are often underestimated a lot, which leads to many deaths. Especially amongst people like us, who fight directly. Choosing a proper weapon and approach should be praised, Master.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. I ept your praise.” I pat Sirgia’s head, evoking a small smile from her. “Let’s move on. I’m warmed up now. Not that I want to stumble on more surprises.” I collect the remains of the core and we continue our journey through the sewers.


    <span style="font-weight:400">During the next two hours, we fare against some Toxic Rats and Mad Mice in the areas with running waste. The former is dealt with mostly by me, due to their quite annoying abilities to spit acid or cover their fangs and ws with it, but the girls decimate thetter without my help.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Contrary to themon belief back from Earth, it’s the Mad Mice that are therger species in this world, with some getting much bigger than a dog or a wolf, while the Toxic Rats are usually quite tiny.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Nevertheless, the sight of two adorable girls painting the walls red from all the carnage they wreck amongst their opponents is just something else. It’s pretty much my first time witnessing any of my precious partners in real closebat.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yes, I did take a few peeks at Elea’s group back in the ve auction, but they were basically buck naked and underequipped. And Cornelia massacred our opponents during the way back with magic. So, yeah, first actual team battle with proper gear.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And I didn’t exaggerate it by saying that they paint the walls red. Both of them specialize in blunt attacks, more or less. Sirgia easily turns the smaller enemies into a bloody paste with her hammer, expertly smashing the heads of the bigger ones, which also results in quite the explosion of crimson.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea’s attacks rely more on speed and agility, but with the bonus provided by our bond, she does asionally rip a piece of the rats’ bodies with her punches or creates a gaping hole through their stomachs or chests. And that’s without turning the gloves on. Man, I love seeing her move so swiftly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We take short breaks after each encounter to drink some water. I don’t really suggest snacking on anything in this environment unless we’ll get actually hungry. I’m pretty sure they do have strong stomachs considering their circumstances, but better safe than sorry.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After three hours since the descent, we finally stumble on a recent marking. From there, Astrea picks up the pace a little and we wander around much less, following the instructions given by the guiding symbols.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As we are making our way through a canal with waste, being very attentive to our surroundings to not get ambushed by another pack of rats or other rodents, Astrea’s ears suddenly twitch and she stops while starting to sniff the air in front of her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Goblins. It’s the same scent as thest time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So, they might really be here, huh. Do you want to go after them now?” I ask.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I think now is better. We don’t have to protect anyone. And if we find survivors, we can bring them back to the Community to get treated. They won’t let useful people die.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And those deemed useless?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Will be granted a quick death. But it’s rare. They usually exploit people as much as possible, removing only those that really can’t be treated or are on the verge of death already.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Somehow, I don’t feel like they ask the patients for their opinion and I can’t say that I like it. But, maybe I’m just forcing my views here.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea shakes her head. “No. I think the same. If someone asks to end their suffering, that’s okay. But if they don’t, it’s no different than execution. Even if a n ormunity is ruled by the strong, they do not abuse the weak since the weak are its foundation. A n can’t exist without a foundation. Strong need weak to rule over them.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I couldn’t agree more. You know, I feel like you would be a great alpha, Astrea.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She nces at me for a moment and then drops her gaze to the ground, clearly pondering.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I... I want to return home… with you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I step closer and lower myself to rub my cheek against hers as she usually does to me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. No use thinking about that now. We’ll cross that bridge when ites. I will obviously not ask you to stay behind. I love you and I want you to be happy.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea reciprocates the gesture and purrs affectionately. She gives my cheek a faint lick and we separate.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Does the alpha have to always stay with themunity? Can’t they just appoint someone as their right-hand man and juste to check on things from time to time?” Sirgia asks her aftering closer.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea tilts her head as she dives into her thoughts again. Her tail starts moving a bit more enthusiastically.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Maybe… Maybe it is possible. But, if I became and stayed the alpha, I’m not sure if I would have anyone I trust enough who is also amongst the strongest. My friends are much weaker than myself and I don’t think they would want to stay either.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I ce my hand on her silver hair and brush through it with my fingers. “We can brainstorm this problem after dethroning the current alpha. Let’s focus on the Goblins for now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">They both nod and we change directions, leaving the path leading to themunity for the sake of the trail left by the green vermin. Astrea clearly isn’t happy about focusing all her efforts put into her sense of smell on their scent, but she pushes through valiantly, withoutining even once.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After another hour of following their tracks, we finally stumble on our first opponent. Or rather three of them. Astrea spots them way earlier than they can notice us, even with their racial Darkvision.


    <span style="font-weight:400">They look quite like I had imagined, recalling some of the mostmon visualisations of these little monsters in popr fiction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they have ess to a good source of cloth as only one of them has its waist covered; the rest il their genitals around as they walk. Or theck of it, since in this world, both genders of Goblins exist, and we do have a single female in the group.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I’ve obviously studied books on Goblins early since they are amon enemy you can stumble on around the world. They are as vicious as their Earth’s fictional counterparts. Not as much lust-filled as in some works, but they do make use of their captured prisoners to increase their numbers too. If they don’t kill them before that.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And with both genders present, they don’t just gang up on women, but on men too. Supposedly, a Goblin born that way instead of inside their own species grows stronger much quicker and has a much easier time evolving. I’m fairly sure I know which goddess out of the two decided to bring them into this world if they didn’t just somehow spring to life after her banishment.


    <span style="font-weight:400">To not cause too much disturbance, I start by sending out my Void Chains in the form of wide straps to coil them around the mouths and throats of the three Goblins. At the same time as I do that, the girls rush ahead.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Astrea breaks the neck of one opponent with a spinning kick in mid-air while Sirgia turns one side of her weapon into a spiked end and punctures the head of the second one to avoid creating a loud noise.


    <span style="font-weight:400">They slowlyy the dead bodies on the floor as the chains disappear and get to thest Goblin together. Astrea twists its head from behind while Sirgia holds it up from the front. And with it also on the floor, the first encounter has been cleared perfectly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We pull the trio to the side before continuing further. Throwing them into the river in the middle isn’t the best idea as another Goblin could possibly spot the bodies travelling with the current and alert the whole encampment if there’s one.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And, it looks like those were the far sentries as we begin to notice ugly carvings and markings on the walls while walking forward. Astrea soon reports hearing their gnarly voices from up ahead, just as we arrive closer to a bigger entrance guarded by two more of these bastards.


    <span style="font-weight:400">We can clearly see a huge intersection inside, most likely in the form of a wide and tall hall with many connectors and paths in or out. A perfect ce to set up a camp and have a great view over its entirety.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Well then. How shall we approach this?
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