While continuing forward in their travel after their exhibition play in front of the two elves who had just came back after foraging for some food in the forest, White gleaned more insight into the flying wyverns in the sky from Soma's bountiful knowledge as a veteran adventurer.

It seems, that this world was plagued by the entity known as the Demon King.

And the wyverns was classified as a recognized monster of the Demon King's monster legions. They were of C Rank individually, but A Rank when they gathered together like vultures to hunt a prey.

Besides the wyverns, this country which was called the Luna Empire, was still infested with a myriad of monsters wreaking havoc wherever they go. Normal monsters as a result had become more violent in response to the aggression caused by the coordinated direction of attacks led by the Demon King. Since their habitats were being trampled upon, monsters like the Terracaps had no other choice but to retaliate. Some of them had even mutated when under such stress, changing the landscape of this world dramatically. The incidents reported in the Adventurer's Guild about monster mutations had doubled since the year Soma had joined it.

This was not just a national crisis, but a large scale conflict that affected even neighbouring countries.

White had not felt the pressure at all ever since coming to this world, but that was because the first place he had visited was Siesta, a city which citizens frequented to drink away their troubles of this world. But of course, he couldn't possibly remember this still.

All of this, was extremely hard for him to take in. So he had to ask twice just to make sure.

"Demon King?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Seriously serious?"

"...Look here. I don't want to hit you... but are you trying to make light of the situation here..."

Soma pressed the bridge on her nose with her right hand as White turned a little apprehensive from that remark. His eyes were on the black-colored rubbery choker on her neck.

They had somehow gone a little too far from doing it that White had somehow unconsciously triggered something within his skill that he did not even know he had. It had been obscured cleanly by Kuro after all so as to not leave any traces of his existence.

As Lestia nudged his shoulders a little and gave a wink as a signal for acknowledgement, White closed his eyes tight and braced himself. Coughing once for good measure, he attempted to create a very demanding and angry voice.

"In the first place...-"

"...No! What is that attitude towards your Master?!"

"H-uueeee?!"

A silly squeal came out of Soma's mouth, as a wave of electricity surged through her back.

"I-it's not... it's not what you think... M-Master... forgive this disobedient dog of yours... ahh...~"

Soma had suddenly turned her behaviour around and went on all fours.

"Wait what?!"

White had not expected that his voice would affect Soma to this extent. In fact, he felt that he was trying to shorten his death sentence by doing something like that to Soma who usually only held annoyance towards him.

"Ara, a dog heehhh~" Lestia moved back a little to give space to this new scenario. Her sheepish smile revealed her ill-natured tendencies for a second there. She truly enjoyed seeing Soma in such a deprived state, ...and there might've been elements of possessiveness over White in her behaviour and well.

After all, she was just like Soma. Lestia still continued to hold a strong desire to monopolize the one she loved.

"Y... you're forgiven."

"Hu-huh? Th...that can't be all... right? ...P-punishment... that's right... punishment i-is due right...?"

"You... you're forgiven already. Please stand up..."

"No Master. I know you're trying to make me feel bad for speaking out of hand and then pretend that I don't have to receive punishment for it...! I-it's not going to work on me! But then,... i-is this... neglect play I suppose... that... might be good too... h-haaah... haaahhh..."

Talking entirely to herself, Soma had begun to pant excitedly. Her eyes were no longer focused, as drips of saliva started to fall out of her tongue that was sticking out of her mouth.

"Guhhhh!!!! Heck n- ... I mean... Are you trying to deny my words?"

"Nnnhiiii....!!! Ha...fuuuaaa... ...I will dutifully accept everythinggg~ Please hold my leash properly, Master~"

...

Lestia had said that it would be good to test the collar's effects. Since it couldn't be removed physically for some reason as if stuck to Soma's neck like glue, he would test the autheticity of it.

Collar of Submission

[Current Rank: 1]

Created by Aspect of a Ruler. Ignores resistance effects and induces a Submissive State on the wearer.

Absolute Dignity is automatically toggled on whenever the Master of the Collar of Submission speaks.

Rank level affects range of control.

As all sorts of dirty words came out of Soma's mouth continuously, White's internal engine which was not used to handling conversations with women properly, ...combusted very quickly.

White's eyes were glued to Soma's dilated pupils that had heart-shaped marks on them, and then a streak of nosebleed happened, blacking him out.

He could hear the worried voices of the two women and elves around him, but he couldn't get back up.

"Nngh... Where..."

White groaned as he felt a little sick in the stomach. He could tell without looking, that his own complexion wasn't looking too good at the moment.

He felt his right face cheek pressing against something soft and cold. The gentle breeze passing his body implied that they were on the move, but strangely he had not felt any bumps at all. If he was in a carriage, it wouldn't have been a smooth ride through the forest where there wasn't a clear path. On the contrary, it was so comfortable that he wouldn't mind staying still like this until he'd reached his destination.

Was he on some kind of monster Lestia had tamed in order to make travelling easier? White didn't mind the trivialities currently.

Uahh... how smooth...

...Hmm? There is a crevice here...

Feeling slightly strange that his 'cushion' had such a strange design, he decided to press his face down into it.

Thinking back later during the day, White would blame his current action on the haziness in his head from morning sickness. He would become disoriented whenever he woke up from a long period of rest.

"Nnn~"

Huh? What is this strange sound?

Deciding to investigate further, he wriggled his head deeper into the tiny crack in the 'cushion'. His nose felt something soft and wet in its tip.

"Yaaan~"

"..."

This adolescent boy was wide awake now.

He attempted to lift his head up, but a pair of hands pushed them back down. White attempted a muffled scream as his face was buried inside of the 'cushion'.

"Mmphhh?!"

"Nn... stay stil... aahh~ that's the spot..."

White's face was extremely red from embarassment, and the fact that it was being covered currently might just be a blessing in disguise.

...He had mistook Lestia's thighs for a cushion, a cliche trope that he would have never expected himself to fall into or experience. During this brief moment, he gave his silent apologies to all of the anime protagonists in the world.

"Fufu... you're not moving as much as before already... did you get tired~ What a shame, you're so good at this~ ...Ara Soma, why are you staring at us so passionately? Do you want to do it too~ Fufu~"

"We're reaching soon already."

"I-it's not intentional! I swear, it's not intentional...!!!"

In response to sudden fluctuating waves of bloodlust pointing towards his direction, White was desperate to clear his name. His previous 'dignity' was reduced to nothing.

"That's some serious killing intent..."

"Sshh... Arglav, don't speak a word or you're going to be next... You already know Big Sister's temperament..."

"Ahh, you're right. I'm sorry, White. You're on your own...!"

White could hear the two elves' decision to pretend to see nothing and leave him to the sharks. His face was drained of color as he realized that the Big Sister that the two elves had mentioned with such high esteem, was probably that shark.

A great white shark.

"H-hiiiiiiiii!!! Don't eat me please!!!"

A strange remark came out of White's mouth. But he was genuinely cowering for his life.

Unfortunately, White's internal monologue had been strong enough for Lestia to listen in on.

"Fuf...uhahahaha... a shark...! A shark!!! Huhuhuhuhu!!!"

"Guuuu....!"

Soma groaned softly, as if she had swallowed a bitter pill.

Fortunately, nothing had happened to him. It seemed as if his intentions had been understood by the other party.

...Although he did still hear the usual phrase from Soma.

"Take a hint will you..."

...Stupid White."

A moderately long time had passed, and it was now about evening time.

White had since left the comfort of Lestia's slime-created thighs and was now sitting on the back of a Terracap with Lestia and the two elves. This time, the Terracap was a living one. Soma had mentioned to Lestia in private that it was probably not a good idea to use an undead one in the city, especially since only monsters could hold skills of necromancy. It would be a better idea to pass her off as a Summoner instead, although it was still quite a rare sight to see someone walking around with an aggressive creature like a Terracap.

Glossary description: A carnivorous but unintelligent reptile resembling a giant crocodile with six legs and thrice the size of a human, often seen moving together in a horde. It is a nocturnal monster that hunts in the Schmizula Forest during the night. When threatened or excited, it releases a battlecry that's strong enough to shake the earth. Besides being big and durable enough to trample almost anything in its path, terracaps are also capable of using Wind Blasts, a Rank 2 skill by condensing wind pressure within its body and releasing it like a catapult.

Soma was walking in front to lead the way. Incidentally, there were no issues with her walking for so long as her stamina from her Level 89 stats were more than enough to perform such a superhuman feat.

Still, she would sometimes send death glares to White who was taking it easy with Lestia at the back. White would attempt to get down and offer his seat to Soma but she would just flat out refuse and force him to sit back down.

White was seriously confused at her erratic behaviour.

Soon, they could see the city walls from a distance.

"Uaahhh, it's the city! There's really a city in a place like this!"

"Fufu, I haven't seen one in this world as well, but White is a little too excited, no~?"

Soma soon began to speak in response.

"Well... it hasn't changed much, but that's our destination right there. The City of Hio... Wait... is that..."

Soma stopped her words and squinted her eyes in order to try and get a clearer view of the city walls.

"Hup. Your hand, Lestia."

"Ara, how gentlemanly~"

Having the Terracap stop, White got off first and brought Lestia down after him.

Patting the fallen scales of the Terracap off her leather one-piece, Lestia moved over to Soma with White.

"What's wrong? Is there something interesting happening?"

"It seems to be... a siege..."

"A siege?"

"The city... the city is currently being besieged by an army of monsters!"