(Jamie)

"Whoa!" Leif exclaims as we enter the room at the inn Max rented. "That bed is huge!"

After a very long dinner, we made our way to the hotel Max and I had originally stayed at, as it'd somehow managed to survive the Hellish Crusade.

"Huh?" I look at him in confusion, then at the bed. "Yeah, I guess it is. It's a king-sized bed. How big of a bed are you used to?"

"Not one that big!" Lief nods vigorously. "It's smaller, like, this big!"

He's waving his arms around, and it takes me a moment to realize he's trying to show me how big his bed it.

"So a little larger than a twin," I realize. "Pretty useful, if you sleep alone."

"Usually have Tiol sleep with me," Leif nods. "Or Brandon. No Kyle, though. He not nice, so he not allowed sleep in my bed, even after we have sex. Tiol usually sleep with me. Make sure I safe at night, nothing hurt me."

"And Tiol is an Archdemon?" I ask, to verify it's the same Tiol that Max had mentioned to me.

"Yeah!" Leif nods. "And Steve is just a desk Demon!"

"Desk Demon?" I ask

"That what Tiol say," Leif tells me. "He say that Steve is just a desk Demon! Steve the one make my contracts! No like mean lady demon during contract!"

"Ah," I realize he's referring to the ones who handle the demonic contracts as DCS. "Okay. Well, you can sleep on the floor, or sleep on the bed, if you want."

"Sex on bed?" Leif looks… I can't read his expression.

"No, you don't have to have sex to sleep on the bed," I tell him.

"We have sex?"

"Just sleep," I say. "Though we do need to bathe, first. Would you like to bathe with Max and I, or by yourself!"

"Together!" He nods happily. "Tiol and Braden and Kyle and I all bathe together! Though not usually Kyle, because he no like me and Tiol! He still fuck me, though, because he like get off! That what Tiol said, 'nyway! After bath, we have sex?"

"Wait," I realize what he's actually asking. "Are you asking if we're going to have sex? Not if you're required to?"

"Yes."

"Oh," I say. "Okay! I thought you were asking if we were going to make you have sex with us. I'm not a rapist, so I wouldn't force you to have sex with me. Why don't we take a bath?"

"Okay!" Leif quickly strips off his clothes and go into the room with the bath.

I look at Max, who just laughs and shrugs, then we strip and head into the bathroom. Leif makes no effort to hide how much he's ogling at me, and I'm sure he'll be drooling in a bit, if I don't get into the water quickly, so I do.

It becomes clear pretty fast that Leif doesn't know how to properly wash himself, so I start scrubbing his back and doing his hair, while he takes care of the rest of himself. He flat-out asks me to clean his dick and ass, and I smack him in the back of the head and tell him he can clean them himself.

He just wanted to use that as a way to get us started with sex, I'm pretty sure.

I start cleaning myself, then we all soak, and Max and I chat for awhile, before we all climb out, dry off – with me drying off Leif – then we all head to bed.

"Good night," I tell them. "Sleep well, Leif."

"No sex?" The Elf asks.

"No," I answer. "Though you can sleep on the bed if you want, just don't try to have sex with me."

"I no good 'nough?"

"You're a damn cute elf, Leif," I admit to him. "But I'd feel wrong fucking you, with the way you talk and act. Get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay!"

Leif jumps onto the bed and wedges himself between Max and myself, and a few moments later, he's passed out. His ass is pressed against my dick, and fuck is it making me hard. It takes me a long while to sleep.

When morning comes, I climb off of the bed and get dressed, then enjoy a breakfast of fruit as the two of them keep sleeping. Leif wakes as I'm finishing, and I look over to him.

"Hey, Leif," I greet him.

"Morning!" He quickly scrambles off the bed and walks over to me.. "We have sex, now?"

"No," I shake my head. "We're not having sex."

"I want you dick in me."

"We're not having sex," I tell him. "Maybe in the future."

"Future?"

He doesn't know that word? Damn, does he need a good teacher. Though from what Max told me, Tiol's a pretty good one.

"If we ever meet again," I say.

"Oh, okay!"

He's being trained by an ancient Archdemon, right? I wonder how he'd react to hearing that there's someone with a Species Ultimate Skill around. He might come this way, or he might be wary. Regardless of what he does, with Light on my side, I'm pretty sure handling him won't be an issue.

Deciding that, I decide to poke the hornet's nest.

"Max is a demigod," I say. "Who's lived in the mortal realm his whole life, so he probably doesn't know. However, you're being trained by an Archdemon, right?"

"Tiol Archdemon!" Leif nods happily. He's quite fond of tiol.

"Has he ever mentioned old Skills?" I ask. "Ones that aren't common or heard of often?"

"Like what?" Leif asks curiously.

"Specifically," I say. "A Skill called 'Limitless Adaptation'. I have a friend looking it up in the Demon Realms, but I'm not sure when we'll meet up again."

"In the future?" Leif asks, and I nod in response. "Okay! No! Tiol never say that to me! Maybe I ask him, when we see each other again?"

"We probably won't see each other again," I sigh. "Was really hoping maybe you knew, since you were being taught by an Archdemon. I highly doubt he hasn't heard of it."

"Probably not," Max says, and Leif looks at him, then giggles. "What are you giggling at?"

"Your bedhead," I answer, and Max starts messing with hair, doing his best to fix it so it's not a bit crazy. "It was worth a try, though. None of my research has yielded anything on that Skill – do you have to have it naturally, does it have to be granted, is there a way to unlock it, how much does it take to Level it, just how much can it do? So many questions, and yet no answers at all."

"Live in castle!" Leif answers. "I go west get here, go through forest! No trail there! Walk on own! Probably got lost on way! We have sex?"

He really, really wants to do it with me, doesn't he?

"No," I tell him. "There's a massive forest to the east of here, though I doubt finding a castle like that would be easy, and I don't want to cross into an Archdemon's territory. He'd probably kill me on sight."

"Okay!" Leif says, then quickly gives me a hug. "I be leaving, go back to castle! See if Tim learn lesson yet!"

"Okay," I say. "Get dressed, and I'll walk to you to the gates. Eat some breakfast first, though."

"Okay!"

After I walk him to the gate, I watch as the elf leaves, and once he's out of sight, I turn to face the Demigod, who's staring at me intently.

"Are you trying to provoke Tiol?"

"What do you mean?" I ask with as much innocence as I can muster.

"As soon as he hears," Max says. "That there's a human with the Species Ultimate Skill, it's likely he'll come hunting you down."

"I have Light on my team," I shrug. "I'll be fine. Besides, I have – at minimum – three weeks before that happens."

Max sighs, then vanishes, and I just laugh, then start walking, making my way home. I'm halfway there when I sense someone approaching me, so I turn to face a nervous-looking guard.

"There's someone here who wishes to speak with you," the way he's nervous, it's not just me, is it?

Who's here?

"Where?"

He leads me to the gates on the southern part of the city, where a cat beastborn is standing. I'd put him around my age, I think. His tails and ears are a light tan in color, and his hair is a darker brown. His skin is fair, though lightly tanned, and his eyes are a yellow-gold.

He's dressed in light leather armor, a pair of daggers strapped to his belt, though I can detect others hidden under his vest, the only thing he's wearing on his torso, and in his boots and pants. His belt has a variety of pouches on it.

This guy's a rogue, and considering he can resist my Level 9 Appraisal, he might actually be older than he looks. That, or a Hero, as they're immune to Appraisal from anyone other than another Hero.

What looks to be an army waits outside. Possibly a thousand soldiers and magicians of varying levels of power, and their emblem seems to be a golden key, for some reason.

"Jamie?" He asks when I approach.

"Mysterious person who may or may not be eighteen or older?"

"I'm twenty," he tells me. "Nearly twenty-one. My name is Colton, and I'm the Hero of Freedom. I was passing through a town a week south of here when I saw a notice that a human was causing issue, and a bounty had been requested. Will you cooperate, or-"

"This… is awesome," I laugh. "A human causing issues? Do you want to know why the bounty was issued, Hero of Koomo? Just ask your patron god. He's actually a big fan of mine. You see, I don't care much for the interspecies discrimination, and a member of my team is a beastborn."

"Then where is he?" Colton asks.

"On the Dungeon's Final Floor," I answer. "Where he's taking advantage of the Final Floor Clear bonus to train himself a bit more with the seven hundred year-old Fairy who joined my team. The 'issue' that I've been causing is forcing them to change their hateful ways and allow non-humans to be treated like humans. What's your INT?"

"Five hundred and five."

"Mine is currently," I say. "Exactly twice yours. And I'm a melee fighter. A mix of warrior and martial artists. I'm also the Paladin of Hope. The bounty is nothing more than humans not wanting to deal with non-humans, and to get rid of a human who doesn't care much for that.

"Now," I continue. "I'm in a bit of a foul mood, because I see this city as mine, and some asshat decided to imprison an Elf for defending himself against people attempting mugging him, which resulted in the head of the Demon Contracting Service declaring a Hellish Crusade just after I finished spending hours upon hours fighting horde after horde of monsters on the Final Floor of one of the most powerful Dungeons in the world. So please, make my day and try to force me to leave for trying to stop discrimination. I would really love to kick some ass at the moment."

"You-" the Hero takes a step forward, a pair of knives appearing in his hands, but he freezes, his eyes widening. "Your Divinity!"

He just received a message, didn't he?

Colton takes several minutes to process the message, then he looks at me.

"I have been informed," he says. "That your words are honest, and that the people of this city are nothing more than people who escape his taboo only because their hate is too strong for them to even want other species as slaves. Is there somewhere we may talk?"

"Does this talk involve your mixed army?"

I gesture to the army behind him, which I've realized is of a mix of Species. The fact that Limitless Adaptation hasn't triggered means that I was never in any danger – even if they got violent, I'm more than powerful enough to handle them.

"No," he answers, then turns around and hollers for them to set up camp, before turning back to facing me. "We can discuss the bounty on you as we eat. I'm quite famished, and after Lord Koomo's message, I'm aware that us having a place to eat won't be an issue here."

"It won't," I smile as I wonder what, exactly, the God of Freedom and Crafts told him.

The Hero did seem to read for awhile before actually talking. I thought it was just shock, but now I'm wondering if it was simply that long of a message.

"Let's go," I tell him. "I know the perfect restaurant."