“…” [Ryner]

“…” [Riteinia]

“Would you stop looking at me with those bloodthirsty eyes? And go somewhere else. You’re too close.” [Ryner]

“… Right now, if I stretch my hand out, I could touch your hair, and rip your head off.” [Riteinia]

“Did you all hear her?! Punish her! Toss her in jail! Get me a restraining order!” [Ryner]

After the volatile situation was somehow defused, the amazons were now accompanying Ryner’s group through the swampland. The elves repeatedly brought up the non-aggression pact that came with their agreement and convinced Riteinia to not attack Ryner. If the Matriarch had started a battle against the elves, then her amazon tribe would no longer receive their support. So, although dissatisfied, she retracted her claws and did as they asked.

But, her golden eyes were constantly glued to the lazy-looking human afterwards.

“She’s not attacking you, so bear with it.” [Elf]

Said the elf who was sitting on the driver’s seat next to Ryner and steering the wagon. On his right side was Riteinia who was riding a horse and intently staring at him.

“Then you mind at least telling her to stay farther away? I feel like my chastity’s at risk just by looking in her eyes.” [Ryner]

“Bu-.” [Elf]

“Ryner, you’re chaste?” [Riteinia]

Riteinia butted in their conversation.

“No, not really. I lost it after doing this and that. Jealous?” [Ryner]

Ryner answered her blandly and instantly with a deliberate mocking tone at the end.

“… I’ll rip it off once I’m done with it.” [Riteinia]

“That, was the scariest straightforward ‘yes’ I’ve ever heard.” [Ryner]

“… As I was saying, having the Matriarch and her tribe with us in the swampland is a great help. They’re strong allies.” [Elf]

The elven woman said after shaking her head and sighing exasperatedly.

“Yeah, for everyone except me. Besides, they’re not that strong.” [Ryner]

During their carefree conversation, multiple battles were raging on around them. The amazons that had now joined their force were busy fighting off the monsters that came to prey on the travelling group.

“Take it down, now!!” [Amazon]

The women fought the approaching tonokas in groups of three or four. While someone was facing the huge frog, the others would attack it from its blind spots.

They cut deep in its flesh with their swords or used war hammers to smash its bones. The frogs croaked and growled in pain and fury as their glowing yellow eyes darted about to locate all the amazons. Their snail-like eyes would get shot by arrows, which harmlessly bounced off instead of piercing through, but it was enough to attract their attention. The others would then attack it from its blind spots.

By repeating this process and making sure that someone always distracted it, the amazons managed to take them down relatively easily.

However, it didn’t always go as planned.

“INCOMING!!!” [Amazon]

Some tonokas weren’t single-mindedly chasing after one individual, but used their characteristic magic to target everyone present. As mana beasts capable of using magic, they created four balls of water that were two meters wide above their eyes. From these liquid spheres, compressed jets of water were shot out and cut through everything. The amazons frantically dodged as these deadly water beams gouged out the ground and sliced through rocks and trees like butter.

“Watch its tongue! Watch its tongue!” [Amazon]

“I know!” [Amazon]

Still, magic wasn’t their only means of attacking. One tonoka managed to hit an amazon by using its long whip-like tongue that had multiple feelers at the tip. Despite blocking with her shield, the woman crashed into a boulder and sunk into its hard surface as if it was a chair. Although that would have broken a person’s bones, she only got a few bruises and glared fiercely at the giant frog. But, her expression quickly turned frantic and she hurriedly pulled herself out of the boulder before jumping to the side.

A compressed stream of water effortlessly cut the boulder in two, right where she was a second earlier. Her shield that withstood the earlier bash had a small chunk sliced off despite being strengthened by her mana. Moreover, the jet grazed her arm, which ripped off her flesh and caused fresh blood to flow out.

Like many around her, she nearly died.

“I told you to watch out for its tongue!” [Amazon]

“Shut up and kill it before I kill you!” [Amazon]

“Says the one that never bested me once!” [Amazon]

Even so, it was nothing unusual for these amazons. The fear of death didn’t grip their hearts. In fact, no one had died. Thanks to body strengthening coupled with their already high physical attributes, the amazons were suppressing the tonokas.

“… Ok fine, amazons are pretty strong.” [Ryner]

Ryner said as he watched three amazons savagely hacking away at a frog and spraying its blood everywhere until it succumbed to its wounds.

“There’s no way my tribe would lose to mere frogs.” [Riteinia]

Riteinia seemed unconcerned with the battles happening around her. Even when one of her brethren was caught by the multiple feelers of a frog’s tongue and was being pulled apart, she kept gazing at Ryner and showed no sign of worry for her kind. Her attitude was well-founded since the tonoka didn’t manage to tear the limbs off the woman and its tongue was soon sliced off by another female warrior.

“Yeah? What about the fiery lizards?” [Ryner]

The human that the Matriarch kept her eyes on pointed to the side where four-armed lizards, that were the size of a grown man, were fighting against her tribespeople. They walked on their two hind legs and had black scales as well as thick, dark brown hair that went from the top of their heads to the tip of their tails like a horse’s mane. The hair also branched off and covered the back of their four arms all the way to their wrists.

Unlike the huge frogs, these lizards, the aritios, were agile and quick on their feet. They dodged the amazons’ strikes and attacked using their claws and fangs. Also, these mana beasts possessed fire magic and released jets of flames from their four hands. Furthermore, they would set their manes on fire and their scales would heat up like hot iron, which made it hard to get close to them.

“What about them?” [Riteinia]

“Your smug look is annoying.” [Ryner]

Even so, the amazons were undeterred and bravely cut them down. Their weapons that were strengthened by their large mana pools resisted the heat and broke through their hard scales. The intense sprays of flames were hot enough to burn them to death, so they kept their distance and waited for an opportunity to charge in and sliced off the lizards’ heads.

The amazons were effectively repelling the monsters that were popping up from the swampland to attack the wagon. Still, sometimes, some of them managed to reach Ryner and the elves, but they then had to deal with said elves.

“To our right. An aritio.” [Elf]

“I’ve got the flames. Take care of the aritio.” [Elf]

After a short exchange, one of the elven women leaned her upper body out of the wagon, lifted her arm and made a wall of water after whispering a few words in her tongue. The lizard’s fiery streams were extinguished upon contact. Then, the creature was instantly sliced to pieces by another elf that shot out countless wind blades.

There were also other monsters that attacked them such as skinny dogs with the head of an alligator and black spiders that had eight long legs as well as a crab’s pincers. However, compared to the tonokas and the aritios, they were no threat at all and were practically exterminated the moment they stuck their necks out.

“LOOK OUT!!” [Amazon]

An amazon suddenly shouted out. Looking up, Ryner could see a tonoka high in the air. It had leapt up using its strong legs and was now falling towards the wagon like a meteor. But, no one was panicking at all. Ryner was just gazing at it in a carefree manner and tilted his head.

“You know, these things are pretty brave since we’ve killed a bunch of them and they’re still not retreating.” [Ryner]

“Who cares?” [Riteinia]

Riteinia finally stopped looking at the annoying man and got off her horse. Then, she jumped towards the tonoka like a bullet and punched its large body. After the loud sound of something wet exploding, the falling frog had a huge hole in its torso and was nearly ripped in two. Also, the Matriarch’s overwhelming attack changed the tonoka’s course, so its corpse loudly crashed down away from the wagon.

“Bravery without strength just makes them suicidal insects.” [Riteinia]

Riteinia declared soon after she got back on her horse while acting as if she just dealt with something trivial.

“Ummm, no. Frogs aren’t insects. Rather, they eat insects. Don’t you know anything but fighting and killing?” [Ryner]

“… I will definitely kill you someday.” [Riteinia]

“Someone’s in a bad mood. Here. Have a mushroom. You’ll feel better.” [Ryner]

“Ryner, don’t feed a poisonous mushroom to the amazon’s Matriarch just to annoy her. And you were still carrying some?” [Elf]

“… Poisonous?” [Riteinia]

“No, don’t listen to this elf. She’s completely clueless. Red and white mushrooms aren’t poisonous. Just look at my dog. It’s red and white, but it’s not poisonous.” [Ryner]

“… You wanted to poison me?” [Riteinia]

“No, no, no. To any cultured man and woman, this mushroom will give you an extra life, or was it make you bigge-whoa! That nearly decapitated me! Elf lady! Do something about this crazy lady! Hey! Quit punching, damn it! I’ll kill you!” [Ryner]

“Then bring it! I’ll postpone having your child and rip your guts out first!” [Riteinia]

“Fine! I’ll go for your head in that case! Oh wait, you’re lacking a brain, so I need to aim for your heart! But first, let’s see if you have one. Mi! Puppy dog eyes!” [Ryner]

“Woof!” [Mi]

“Not at me! At the crazy lad-!” [Ryner]

“It’s Riteinia!” [Riteinia]

“You two… *Sigh*… Whatever…” [Elf]

So, despite the various troubles that they came across, the group steadily made their way towards the elves’ home, hidden in the swampland.

“We’re here.” [Elf]

After a few hours, the group composed of amazons, elves, a human and a dog arrived at a circular, gloomy field of grass with no trees, boulders or swamps. At the center stood a lone tree that had lost all of its leaves. Its thick grey trunk seemed to be made of two smaller trunks that intertwined into a spiraling cone which pointed straight towards the heavens.

The elves were practically jubilant when they saw it while the amazons sighed in relief upon reaching their goal. Many of these warriors sustained injuries, but none were fatal. They were, however, tired from fending off countless monsters that their group attracted. Their leader, Riteinia, gazed at the lone tree for a while before staring at Ryner’s sleepy face again. As for the only human, he had long decided to ignore her icy cold eyes and examined the withered tree instead.

As the group got closer, its trunk was gradually changing color and turning a healthy dark brown. Moreover, ripples appeared at its center as if it was the surface of a lake disturbed by a thrown pebble. Then, emerging from the tree was the figure of a woman.

Her face that appeared first was breathtakingly beautiful with long eyelashes framing her red eyes. Although she looked human, her skin was of a pale green color. Slowly, the rest of her body appeared from the tree and now stood on the grassy ground. Her long wavy hair was of a darker green compared to her skin and several vines seemed to be entangled in it. Small red roses grew from these vines and naturally decorated her hair.

Her sensual and barely hidden body was rich and firm, as if it was made to tempt any man that laid their eyes on her. She appeared to be in her early thirties and was scattering pheromones everywhere. Moreover, only leaves and vines hid the important parts as they wrapped themselves around her body and formed some makeshift clothes that resembled undergarments. Her skimpy appearance seemed to accentuate her seductive charm despite the shamelessness of her outfit.

Ryner stared at the surreal scene, blinked his eyes and pointed at the unknown woman.

“A half-naked lady with green skin just came out of a tree. Is she with us?” [Ryner]

“Yes. She’s Rosaminta, the Gatekeeper.” [Elf]

The elf sitting next to him said while rubbing the corner of her teary eyes.

“Oh, ok then.” [Ryner]

He readily said and shrugged his shoulders.

“You accepted that rather quickly. The first time I saw her left me speechless.” [Riteinia]

Riteinia commented as she raised an eyebrow.

“After my many travels, I’ve learned to keep an open mind.” [Ryner]

Ryner had a serene expression on his face, but he soon switched it for a lecherous smile and nodded approvingly.

“Besides, she’s a sight for sore eyes, so who cares.” [Ryner]

“Tch! Men. You’re all the same.” [Riteinia]

“If we’re all the same, then go chase after another guy.” [Ryner]

“No. You’re the only one that I’m after.” [Riteinia]

“You sure you really want to have kids with me?” [Ryner]

“That’s a given. Remember this, Ryner. I’ll make you submit to me and bear your child.” [Riteinia]

“Wow, I might be blushing from embarrassment if it didn’t sound like you’re declaring my death sentence.” [Ryner]

As Ryner and Riteinia continued to talk and bicker, their group finally arrived at the tree where the pale green-skinned woman was waiting.

“Greetings, Matriarch of the amazons. It has been a while.” [Rosaminta]

She politely greeted Riteinia in a seductive voice.

“It has.” [Riteinia]

The Matriarch nodded curtly once, but the Gatekeeper wasn’t offended at all since she understood that it was the cold woman’s way of showing her respect. Rosaminta then looked at the elf sitting on the driver’s seat of the wagon. Before she could open her mouth, all eight of the elves jumped down from the wagon and ran towards her.

“Rosaminta!!” [Meirith]

Meirith said as she tightly hugged the Gatekeeper while shedding tears.

“So the young mistress has returned.” [Rosaminta]

Rosaminta gently embraced her and spoke to her in the elven language. The seductive atmosphere around the scantily-clad woman lessened and she now looked more like a mother embracing her child.

“You scared me so much that I nearly withered. I and everyone else were worried sick.” [Rosaminta]

“I’m sorry.” [Meirith]

“Be sure to apologize to your father as soon as possible.” [Rosaminta]

“*Sniff* Yes.” [Meirith]

“Also, come see me again so that I can punish you for doing something so stupid.” [Rosaminta]

“… Y-yes.” [Meirith]

After giving Meirith a rather scary-looking smile, Rosaminta looked at each of the seven elves in turn. Then, her misty eyes lowered a bit in sadness.

“To the seven Travelers, I am happy to see you return safe and sound. Has your journey been… Eventful?” [Rosaminta]

“… It has. So eventful that I’ve had enough of travelling for a long time.” [Elf]

One of the elven women said gloomily and the others all agreed with her. Rosaminta could more or less guess what happened to them from their expressions and appearances. Of the travelling elves that came back, there were those that looked just like them. As such, she wouldn’t ask what happened. Instead, she would warmly welcome them and have them return home, where their friends and families waited.

However, there was one thing she needed to know before letting them pass.

“By the way, why is there a human male among you?” [Rosaminta]

Rosaminta asked as she examined Ryner from head to toe.