Martel calmly waited as three more centaurs approached. Unlike the others, they were more mature. The look of worry, especially in the lead female’s face, was evident, which implied they were peaceful. Eventually, they slowed until they stopped around 30 feet away from Martel. The lead female looked behind Martel. Her expression visibly softened when she realized that the young centaurs were all relatively unharmed. However, that also made her slightly vigilant against Martel and their party. She could tell they were not soldiers, but adventurers. Soldiers would be easier to deal with as they would be more likely to contact their superiors and turn the situation into a political one. Adventures were far less likely to have this happen, and Sussex could easily write off their actions, given the circumstances.

“Greetings, adventurer. I am the Matriarch of the centaurs. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?” The lead centaur asked with an air of humility.

“My name is Martel.” He said as he revealed his shield.

There was a look of surprise on the centaur’s faces, but their expressions soon varied. Disapproval flashed through the eyes of the two male centaurs flanking the Matriarch, who himself relaxed a little further.

“Shield Hero Martel, thank you for safely pacifying these young and foolhardy youths peacefully.”

“Mother, don’t listen to him!” The female centaur suddenly said. He’s also a dishonorable hero so he shouldn’t be-”

“Cynthia, shut up!” The Matriarch scolded with anger.

“But mother-”

“Silence!” The matriarchs snarled, which caused Cynthia to be silent as her mother only used such a tone when she was in real trouble.

Martel didn’t even pay heed to their exchange as he continued to speak. “Being young and foolhardy does not excuse what they have done. Besides invading the Kingdom of Sussex via the Duchess of Hastings, and aggressively advancing upon one of its towns, they also attacked the Duchess of Hastings.”

The Matriarch was slightly taken aback, but she noticed Kogane and her pupils visually shrank before she smiled. “Duchess Kogane, it is good to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Kogane curtly replied.

“I’m quite happy that you are all right. We heard both you and Rio had gone missing. Given our previous relationship, we desired to help. However, we decided not to cross the border because of a representative and the chaotic situation. However, we have been helping humans who have appeared on our border by escorting them here and killing ant Invaders that we come across. If you have any need for our assistance, please let us know.”

“I’ll… I’ll let Papa decide.”

Martel slightly narrowed his eyes after he sent Arachne to check on the information mentally. He was currently a bit skeptical about the sincerity of the Matriarch. What she had just said could be little more than a story as an attempt to reach a peaceful resolution to the situation. In doing so, she would claim that the centaurs decided to help, and everything was a misunderstanding. Additionally, she also could have made such a suggestion taking into account Kogane was young and impressionable. However, what surprised Martel was Kogane’s deflection. Even though it seemed to be out of insecurity, he could tell that she had done so entirely on purpose. It gave him the power in the situation. It gave him a higher position in the negotiation because he was detached from Hastings and the relationship between the centaurs and Hastings.

To her credit, the Matriarch seemed to realize this as she made a slight frown before she tilted her head. “Papa?”

“Nickname.” Kogane calmly replied.

Martel noted that her gaze was actually towards him as if she were trying to tell him something. However, he decided not to read anything into it. Instead, he calmly stared at the Matriarch.

This time, the Matriarch frowned as the horse ears on her head changed position out of discomfort. She felt the heavy-weight descended upon her from Martel’s silence. In this situation, he held all the power and justification. The younger generation, including her daughter, was now captured and didn’t help her case. She slightly gritted her teeth. “Shield Hero, I hope to come up with an amicable solution, especially during these trying times.”

Martel narrowed his eyes. “Amicably is best. However, because times are so trying, it is important to enforce the laws to prevent anarchy. A price will have to be paid. Otherwise, others may see it as a show of weakness. Especially given the current situation of Hastings.”

The Matriarch frowned again. “What would you suggest?”

Martel gave a relaxed smile. “Well, so long as there is a scapegoat, someone with a high standing amongst the attackers or the ringleader behind it, that would be acceptable.”

“It was all Cynthia’s idea.” “Cynthia said we should do it.” Two different centaurs who had awoken immediately said.

“You! How could you be so dishonorable!” Cynthia said in anger. “You guys all agreed with me else you wouldn’t have come with me!”

“The only reason we came with you is that you’re the matriarch’s daughter!” One coldly said.

Cynthia looked utterly shocked and distraught at the statement. She glanced around the other centaur’s, most of which were now awake, but none of them even met her vision. To Cynthia, it felt as if her world was collapsing. She couldn’t understand it. She tried to be honorable and respectable, so why was she now being shunned?

“I believe her to be the most appropriate scapegoat,” Martel said.

The Matriarch had a complicated expression on her face when he said this. She opened her mouth as if she would say something, but stopped as she pondered what she could appropriately say.

“I challenge you to a coming-of-age duel.” Cynthia suddenly said with a hint of anger

Martel ignored her, but the Matriarch had a look of surprise on her face before she glanced at Martel to see how he responded.

A little confused, Martel turned to Kogane and bent down to her level.

Kogane, who immediately understood his intention, began to speak in a hushed whisper. “Centaur society is heavily focused on honor and integrity along with martial strength. Duels are a heavily integrated part of society and are often used to settle disputes. A unique aspect of the coming-of-age duel is it can only be issued by 16 to 20 against those of the same age. The main reason is that the challenger desires the loyalty of the challenged. Typically, the terms of what will occur are decided beforehand, and the challenged can refuse. However, they will often be looked down on for doing so.”

“What conditions can be put forward?”

“Just about anything honorable and viewed as fair by both party members. Loyalty, siring their child, a life partner. Typically, something a young adult would want.” Kogane replied.

Martel paused for a moment before he turned to the Matriarch. “Has she fought a coming-of-age duel before?”

“Until now, she’s never been the challenger, but she’s been challenged seven times and won all of them.”

“What was her reward?”

“Their loyalty in the future, if she ever desired or needed it… Though they don’t seem to have adequately performed.” The Matriarch said as she glanced at several of the centaurs who had spoken earlier.

Martel paused for several seconds as he turned to look at Cynthia.

“Sir, there is no need. You could make her your slave right now.” Hestia replied.

Of course, Martel already knew this, but he knew that Cynthia would not be convinced, and he wanted her as a member of his party willingly. “What are your terms?”

“If I win, we will pretend this never happened. If you win, I will swear my loyalty to you for life as punishment.” She replied.

“I agree,” Martel said with a smile. Cynthia appeared a bit naïve to him, especially how she treated honor, but something was refreshing about it as well. Even though the others had abandoned her, she still protected them. She could have asked for someone else to become the scapegoat, but instead, she decided to try and save everyone.

“What are the conditions of the duel?” Martel asked the Matriarch.

“It’s fairly simple. No dishonorable weapons like poison or hidden weapons, no killing, and the battle will be lost by the person who first becomes bloodied or surrenders.”

Martel nodded as this was indeed quite straightforward. The ‘bloodied’ state referred to HP being depleted and would no longer heal.

Even Cynthia’s initial wound by the redirected arrow had healed him before she began to fight with Hestia. The only reason why he knew she was the one who was injured was that her leather armor was cut and there was blood, even though the trained eye could see that there was a distinctive lack of a wound.

“May I untie her?” The Matriarch asked.

Martel nodded, and the Matriarch began to release Cynthia. At this point, Arachne came back and reported the centaurs were being quite proactive at the border, preventing monsters from crossing and assisting the fleeing humans. Martel wasn’t too surprised with this result given the centaur’s culture; protecting the weak was an honorable thing.

Now, Martel’s main concern was the duel he had with Cynthia. It was now that he began to run into a problem, which was how much strength he should show. He didn’t want the party to become reliant on his strength, but reliant on their own to foster growth and teamwork. If he suddenly revealed himself to be abnormally more powerful than them, their mindset would change in a negative aspect. They might get into a dangerous situation, thinking he would save them or expect him to act.

Luckily for Martel, Cynthia was only Level 1. Once again, the difficulty of leveling-up showed. Coupled with the fact that most youths in this world would train in safety before leveling if they leveled at all, it resulted in a relatively low level amongst the youths.

Martel patiently waited as Cynthia swapped out her damaged equipment, and Martel got a good look at her. Her appearance was typical of most of the centaur’s found in fiction. Her upper body was human, but the hips were fused into the front of a horse body. Cynthia, in particular, was relatively attractive. Her face’s most notable aspect was that her nose was relatively pronounced, as were most centaurs. However, it was not abnormally large as it still fell within the realm of human appearance. She had long brunette hair fashioned like a ponytail that traveled down her back and was fastened there as if it were a mane. Perhaps this was to emulate the horse’s mane but was more likely to keep it out of the way for conflict. On the top of her head were a pair of horse ears that were seamless with her hair. Her horse body was a similar color to her hair. Physically speaking, her entire body was muscular compared to her peers. She didn’t have a bodybuilder’s physique, but the muscles were pronounced enough to show.

On her body was leather armor, juxtaposed by the matriarch's guards who were heavy armor. Most young centaur’s wore leather armor and only wore heavy armor as they got older or dependent upon their fighting style. She had a bow and quiver strapped to her back, and a great sword strapped to her side. The sheath was unique as it had an opening halfway through the slide, which allowed for simpler drawing and sheathing due to the length of the sword. There was a similar sword on her other side, but this was most likely for balance and a reserve weapon.

Eventually, the two were ready and

“Are you both ready?” The Matriarch asked after they took their positions roughly 30 meters apart.

“One thing first,” Martel said before he began to whisper a spell and cast it at Cynthia.

Caught off guard, Cynthia slightly panicked, but she stopped worrying once it struck her as she recognized it as holy magic. It was then that her emotions began to calm. The agitated expression on her face relaxed as she gratefully looked at Martel. “Thank you very much.”

Martel shrugged. “Since it’s a duel, we should fight at our best strength.”

“Do you need to recover your mana?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Martel replied.

The Matriarch also gave Martel a grateful look and even had a trace of respect in her eyes. “Are both of you ready? Then, on begin. 3... 2... 1... Begin!”

At the mark, Cynthia merely charged towards Martel, who was doing the same. He needed to close the distance as much as possible as the faster she got, the more force behind her strike. Cynthia seemed utterly unfazed by his maneuver as she prepared her greatsword to strike. With all of her might, she made a diagonal-downward slash towards Martel.

Before the fight, Martel had already turned the shield into a buckler that was now on his forearm. Although the shield was smaller, Martel was planning to use precision instead of rough blocking. At Cynthia’s strike, Martel immediately jumped to the side in the same direction of her slash, just enough to get out of the range of her charge, but not her blade.

Cynthia immediately tracked Martel with her swing, but Martel managed to block it perfectly. The shield and greatsword met but did not separate. Martel used the momentum from his dodge and her swing to further his movement and lessen the impact. The moment he was waiting for was right before the blade left the shield.

‘Return to Sender’

As if by magic, the sword shot off the shield directly back toward Cynthia, who was caught completely off guard by the sudden force that came out of nowhere. There was a flash of white as the greatsword struck her armored shoulder.

Everyone watching was slightly taken aback by this as it meant that the attack could’ve been considered a crit and would have possibly cracked the bone. The System used HP to prevent serious damage from happening in the first place as it would take longer to heal. The downside was that it used a lot of HP, but the upside was that she would not have to fight for a short time with broken bones.

To her credit, Cynthia recovered exceptionally quickly and immediately maneuvered back towards Martel and attacked again.

‘Redirect’

Because she was no longer charging, Martel didn’t particularly need to move out of the way, so he used Redirect. This time, her blow was directed towards the ground. It struck the ground and her leg simultaneously and caused her to trip and slightly lose her balance.

Martel was quite pleased because Redirect could be used similarly to Return to Sender. It was difficult in practice as it had to be done manually.

Not wanting to let the opening go to waste, Martel neatly jumped on her back and used Gentle Touch on both of her shoulders and rendered them near useless. With a clang, Cynthia’s greatsword struck the ground as she regained her balance. After she stood up, with her arms limp at her side, she stopped moving.

Cynthia remained in this position frozen for several seconds, which made Martel slightly confused. He hadn’t prompted her to surrender, as she could potentially see that as provoking, and he believed she would also surrender at this point. As he was slightly confused by Cynthia’s actions, he suddenly noticed that her complexion had become rosy. He glanced over at Kogane, and his eyebrow twitched when he saw she had covered her smile and narrowed her eyes.

“Kogane, is there some special significance to what I am doing right now to centaurs?” He apprehensively asked.

Kogane forced down a snicker before her expression turned stoic, and she gave him a reply. “Papa, if you were to mount a human woman, what do you think that would mean?”

Martel’s face turned into black lines.

“Regardless of race, mounting a centaur expresses your superiority over them and intent to mate. This is the reason why centaurs have rarely acted as mounts.”

At Kogane’s explanation, Cynthia’s face turned even redder.

Martel noticed this, but he needed to make something evident as he whispered to her. “Besides the fact that I didn’t know, the fact that that part of you is a horse means it’s not going to happen.”

Cynthia visibly flinched before she suddenly began to shake… In anger.

Martel, who noticed this, tactfully got off of her. “So, shall we continue?” He asked to change the subject.

Cynthia finally appeared to calm down before she shook her head. “No, it is my defeat; I am thoroughly convinced... Could you do something about my arms?” She asked sheepishly.

Martel nodded as he used Gentle Touch again.

At this point, the others had begun to approach.

Cynthia reached down and grabbed her greatsword. She looked at Martel with a conflicted expression before resolve filled her eyes, and she knelt in front of him and placed her sword tip down. “I, Cynthia, will fulfill my promise. I swear my eternal honorable loyalty to Martel, to be his sword, to slay his enemies, to be his shield and protect him with my life.” She said before she presented the sword to him.

However, before Martel could accept it, Hestia immediately interjected. “You… You aren’t needed.”

Martel frowned as he glanced at Hestia, acting a little flustered, unlike her.

Cynthia, who still had a bone to pick with Hestia, smiled at her. “I will be Milord’s knight. It is up to him whether or not I, or others, will be needed.”

Hestia seemed bothered, but Cynthia’s response irked her. Before she could retort, Martel spoke up.

“Hestia, you are overstepping your bounds.”

Hestia slightly flinched. “Yes, Sir, I apologize.”

Martel nodded as he turned back to Cynthia but did not yet accept the sword. “Cynthia, as you know, I am the Shield Hero. That means that being with me, being my knight, will be dangerous.”

“I understand, and I’m willing to give my life for you.”

Martel gave her a knowing smile as he withdrew a contract paper and infused mana to write terms on it. “In that case, have a look at this.” He said as he handed her the paper.

Cynthia grumbled as he was not following the typical protocol for the situation, but slightly acquiesced and read over it. At first, she was quite surprised by the thoroughness of the contract that she believed he had hastily put together. However, that surprise soon turned to discomfort when she realized that it was a slave contract. She acquiesced when she realized that he did have the authority and justification for forcing her into slavery. There was even a condition that she would not be forced to do anything she deemed unjust unless there was no other reasonable option, and lives were at stake. However, that wasn’t what irked her.

Cynthia began to shake. She appeared as if she would rip apart the contract paper before she pointed towards Hestia. “Milord, you want me to act as her mount?” She asked, trying to suppress her anger.

Hestia looked just as surprised and even pointed to herself in confusion. “Me? Why me?”

Martel smiled. “Because of both of your Talents.” He said he brought up Cynthia’s Talent for Hestia to see in both of their Talents for Cynthia to see.

Combat Synergy LVL 0.14

After being in physical contact with another, typically a rider, for 1 minute (-5 seconds per level) the two will be considered as one entity (still works through clothing and armor). Both will obtain the higher of the stats including, but not limited to, ATK and DEF (includes the equipment), STR, DEX, Affinity, Resistance, etc. Additionally, HP, MP, and STA will be shared. Opponents will find it difficult to attack one specific entity.

Martel watched as a light suddenly appeared in Hestia’s eyes. Because Cynthia’s ability only affected the actual stat value, not the modifiers. The most likely situation between them would be for Cynthia to receive Hestia’s DEF and Resistance. In contrast, Hestia received Cynthia’s ATK and Affinity.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was notably frowning when she read over both of their Talents. The reason why was not that she didn’t understand, but she understood perfectly. Other than her honor and pride, she could not find a good reason to refuse.

Martel, who could guess what was going on in her mind, decided to continue to persuade her. “Cynthia, this is part of the reason why I want you to be a slave, so you can claim that I am forcing it and leaving you no recourse.”

Cynthia was slightly taken aback but nodded as she could understand. Ultimately, she gritted her teeth and made some changes to the contract, even though she knew she was in no situation to create demands.

Martel glanced over the contract and found that the only real change she made was to insist that Martel strived to use her as a mount more than anyone else.

Martel raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly became flustered.

“It’s… It’s just because you are m’lord. If milord doesn’t use me as a mount more than anyone else, it wouldn’t be right. That’s the reason why and not because I liked it or anything.” She said before she realized she said too much and refused to make eye contact.

[Oh, of course, the centaur would have a personality similar to Morgan.] Martel shrugged. “Fine, I’ll do what I can.” He said before he finalized the contract. A moment later, the slave crest formed.

Cynthia immediately raised her sword as she had done before with a look of expectation.

Martel accepted because it was a matter of honor for him as well as a test from her. Taking the sword meant that he would not truly treat her as a slave, but as a companion with the owner of a knight.

“Cynthia, I accept your sword and your pledge,” Martel replied before he handed it back to her.

“Thank you, milord,” Cynthia gratefully replied.

The Matriarch sighed as she saw the eventual fate of her daughter. She wanted to give her a good earful, but that was no longer her place. “Shield Hero Martel, as a mother, I hope you can take good care of my daughter.”

“Of course. Even though our initial meeting was under the best circumstances, I believe it was for the best.”

The Matriarch nodded before instructing the guards to untie the remaining centaur’s and pulled Cynthia aside to speak with her.

While they did this, Martel turned to Hestia. “Go take off your armor and wait for me in the carriage. Have one of the girls to help you if necessary.”

Hestia flinched in surprise but calmly nodded before she turned around with slightly shaking steps.

While everyone was busy, Martel went to the guards, eyeing them carefully, informing them that everything was all right, the situation was taken care of. No one questioned him, but none could due to his position.

From a legal perspective, heroes were given certain rights, privileges, and authority internationally. Because the situation was a direct result of one of the heroes’ actions, he took care of any threats by himself, and the Duchess of the territory had given him the authority. After he was done ensuring everyone that it was all right, and the centaurs had begun their retreat, he made his way to the carriage.

Within the carriage, Martel found an anxious Hestia who flinched when he appeared. Martel slightly sighed when he saw that she was retaining a stoic expression. “Hestia, do you know what you did wrong?”

“Yes.” She replied a little hoarsely.

“Well, I’ll let you know that there were several things that you did wrong. Start at the beginning.”

Hestia paused for a moment. “I would have lost against Cynthia?” She asked, instead of making a statement.

Martel shook his head. “It’s normal to win or lose a fight; the problem was your fighting style. What do you think was wrong?”

Hestia hesitated again. “I… I don’t know.”

“You have a shield, but you don’t use it properly if you use it at all. You may not have had much of a problem with it due to your high defense, but using a shield is more than simply putting it in front of the attack.”

“You mean like how you used it in your duel against Cynthia?”

“Partially, although those were skills, the ideas were the same. The shield is not meant just for defense, but also for offense, either directly to attack your opponent or indirectly to create an opening for you to strike. If you’re going to use a shield, we will have to make sure that you use it properly.

“Another main problem with your fighting is that you have too much dependency on your armor. Just because you have a high defense does not mean you should let the enemy strike you as they wish. What if they are far stronger than you? What if they can ignore your defense? What if they outlast you and chip away at your HP?”

“Isn’t… Isn’t that what we have healers for?”

Martel frowned. “Hestia, that is extremely naïve. Yes, healers can replenish your lost HP, but what if the healers are absent or busy healing someone else? Believe it or not, the best way to have a strong team is not to focus purely on teamwork. Instead, it is to become as competent on your own as possible. Once this point is reached, true teamwork can be achieved. If you don’t need to be healed as often and, the healer will respond more easily if an emergency pops up. This is true for just about everyone. If everyone is extremely competent in their positions, they can boost each other, and the team will work much better. Do you understand?”

Hestia clutched her leg as she looked down and slightly nodded.

Martel sighed. “Hestia, I need to be extremely firm with you because you are the core of the team, someone irreplaceable. The moment the tank goes down, everyone else is in danger. As such, you need to learn to fight to preserve your own life.”

Hestia relaxed slightly. “Can you teach me?”

“Yes, I plan to take the rest of the day off in town so I can give you a crash course, but will be moving towards Hastings tomorrow. You’ll be getting firsthand experience.”

“Yes!” Hestia replied with a slight fire in her eyes.

Martel smiled. “It’s good that you’re so fired up, but we still haven’t gone over everything you did wrong. Do you know what’s next?”

Hestia slightly flinched as she had tried to avoid that. “How I acted with Cynthia?”

“Yes. You overstepped your bounds and tried to make decisions for me, which is not okay.”

Hestia’s head drooped. “… I’m sorry.”

“It’s good that you’re aware. Please don’t misunderstand; your input is precious. The first time when you told me that I didn’t need to duel her, it fell under that category. However, when you flat out refused her was the problem.”

“I understand.”

“Good, since you understand, you should accept your punishment.”

Hestia visibly flinched as her eyes visibly darted around for an escape as she remembered his last’ punishment.’

“You will get two spankings for your mistakes. A third if you try to run.” Martel continued when he saw her response.

Hestia froze up before her shoulders drooped over as she resigned to her fate. Embarrassed, but relieved that Martel had sealed the carriage so none could see her, Hestia tentatively presented herself.

*Smack Smack*

Hestia shot straight up after her punishment. “May I go?” she asked with slightly reddening cheeks.

“Of course.”

Hestia made a hasty retreat, and Martel slowly followed.

“Hey, big brother, is Cynthia joining our family?” Asuka asked as she flew over and perched on his shoulder.

“Yes,” Martel replied.

“Family?” Crystal asked.

“Well, we spend almost all our time together, depend on each other, share the good times and bad. We could be considered even closer than most families, so I think calling us a big family is not a big stretch.” Martel replied seriously.

“Family…” Crystal muttered as she looked like she was in thought.

She wasn’t the only one, as nearly all the other girls also had varying expressions. Most of them were alone or outcasts, so the thought of them being a family was appealing to them. Cynthia also looked as if she was contemplating the new family she was being introduced to. Hestia appeared to be thinking about her parents.

Martel clapped to get everyone’s attention. “So here’s the plan. We are going into town, and, for the rest of the day, I’m going to give you guys some personalized training. Tomorrow, we will begin our push towards the city of Hastings taking care of any enemy forces we find in saving we can.”

The girls all nodded and quickly made their way into town.

Martel wasn’t too worried as he had already completely scoped out the Duchy’s entirety with his SRIN. He also facilitated the rescue of the majority of the survivors, and his Soul Bodies had rescued the still-living victims. The group would only need to worry about clearing out the Duchy of enemies.

Once they all reached the town, Martel immediately began to focus on the training. For the majority of them, it was centered around Ki. With their permission, Martel started to use his own Ki to enhance theirs. It wasn’t as simple as merely putting his Ki in their body, but dealing with how it went through the body and affected the core. This level of complexity was the reason why the technique was not widespread in most worlds.

Out of everyone, Asuka showed the most explosive growth. She had a unique Fire Ki Source that seemed extremely compatible with Martel’s own Fire Ki. Even though she started as Rank 1, she already reached Rank 3 after a short session. Coupled with her powerful flame and magic, she would turn out to be an excellent offensive and mobile fighter.

Cynthia had quite a large amount of Ki for her age, but lacked the finer control and technique and used it for brute force. Martel gave her some drills to help improve this aspect of her fighting.

Martel gave similar drills to most of the other girls. They all similarly had a decent amount of Ki, but never focused on finer control.

Hestia was the one he spent the most time on. Besides giving her the drills and having the Ki increasing session, he went over some basic fighting techniques. Most involved focusing on deflecting enemy attacks instead of simply blocking them. This lessened the damage she would receive on the front line, and used her shield to lead the opponent.

Eventually, during the evening, all this training took its toll on Martel. Not physically… well, actually physically. He couldn’t help it as the Ki’s increasing sessions were relatively intimate, and they were all attractive women. After confirming that everyone was training, Martel quietly disappeared with a flash of purple.

“Onii-sama, you shouldn’t scare us like that,” Yutsuki said with a pout.

“I wasn’t scared, though,” Kuromi replied.

The two of them were currently joined by Martel within the room in an inn that they were sharing.

“Well, the truth is I need your help with something.”

“Of course.” “What do you need?” Kuromi and Yutsuki asked.

Martel broke out into a broad grin. “Well, I’ll need the two of you to help me pacify a raging dragon.”

“Onii-sama, you already ran into a dragon?”

“Yutsuki, he’s talking about the one in his pants.” Kuromi curtly replied.

Yutsuki visibly flinched before she blushed in embarrassment. “Onii-sama is a pervert.” She mumbled.

Martel wanted to laugh, but couldn’t when he noticed that Kuromi had brought out her dagger. “What are you doing?” He asked her.

“Getting ready to pacify the dragon, permanently.” She said expressionlessly.

Martel broke out into a cold sweat. “Don’t even joke about that. No weapons are allowed.”

“That’s too bad,” Kuromi said with a clear look of disappointment. “So, no toys?”

“That’s fine. I have a bunch,” Martel replied with a lecherous grin, which promptly resulted in him getting a pillow to the face from Yutsuki.

“Onii-sama, you pervert,” Yutsuki said, furiously blushing.

Martel smiled as he moved his fingers questionably. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to live up to your expectations.” He said with an evil laugh.

Even with Kuromi’s threats, Martel introduced them to a couple of toys, with plans for more in the future.

End of Day 85