The three of us split off for a moment after we left the women’s restroom, with Ume and I going to our rooms to check in on everyone while Mametama sat with Kenaka to save our seats. For those who stayed with me last night, Kalline, Erizora, and Sue, they were just changing into their gear as I walked in. My Centaur and Ogre girls were delighted to see me as I told everyone I was out training, but the Arch Imp fangirl showed great surprise moments after she saw me. I asked Sue if there was something on me that was such a shock to her, but she only said she noticed how much stronger I had gotten in my short time away. Maybe she had some skills that told her that much about me, but I wondered what she saw that changed in me. Sue quickly denied my change was a bad thing when I asked, however, quite the contrary.

“I thought you were strong already, but I didn’t think you’d get even stronger so quickly! You’re just full of surprises!” was what Sue said in great delight. Erizora and Kalline nodded in agreement from the side. No one seemed too bothered by my improved strength, so I just shrugged and dropped the subject there

Looking at Kalline, I was reminded of the [Horse Riding] skill I recently learned, likely due to me having that dance with her for the first time last night. From a functional standpoint, there wasn’t much point in me possessing that skill. I could just run with my high AGI to a new place, Point B, before using [Portal] to take me back to Point A, and then use it again to get to Point B from then on. This same method would be used again from Point B to Point C, from C to D, and so on. I could even just run straight to Korangar, the kingdom’s capital where the Demon King resided, from here in Palocaesy and get the travel part of my journey done within a day. It may be more efficient, but it wouldn’t be as fun and relaxing as going there at a normal person’s walking pace.

As much as I wanted to learn more of what was going on with me, my [Devil Eyes], and why the Demon King was looking for me, I wasn’t in a hurry. I wanted to live out the rest of my days in Raiza through ways I couldn’t on Earth, and I didn’t want something important to take too much control of which direction I should take in my new life. So I’m going to take as much time as I can get out of living to the fullest. It was what Mom always wanted me to do even after leaving her deathbed, and I was going to honor that wish.

Since Kalline also wanted me to ride on her like the characters in her favorite stories did together—not in that way, of course—it wouldn’t hurt to have a skill like [Horse Riding] to help me learn faster. If I couldn’t find time to do it with her before tomorrow when we start our dungeon-crawling quest, then I was sure to do it on the way to our next destination. In the meantime, I just left this skill at LV 1 for now.

Once my current roommates were fully changed, we met up with the rest of my party, Ume, Ren, and Tyvera, and got to one of the dining area tables that Kenaka and Mametama reserved for us. After aligning a few tables to make it big enough for us to sit together, one of the innkeepers arrived and took our orders for breakfast.

“Hey, Jinma? May I say something?” Sue, who was sitting next to me, asked after we finished making our orders.

“What is it?”

“I couldn’t help but notice, but did you put on some cologne or something? Because you smell really good today,” Sue said.

“Oh! I noticed that too! It was like a fresh breeze when Master greeted us earlier! With that breeze being Master’s pleasant smell, that is!” Erizora exclaimed.

“So ‘tis not a Beast-Type occurrence,” Kalline chimed in, looking to the side in thought, “Honestly, I was aware he returned quite some time ago. I have … started to become more aware and familiar of Milord’s scent recently, but ‘tis stronger than before.” Whatever was on her mind, it turned her cheeks red in embarrassment.

To my surprise, I got hugged from behind before I felt a nose smelling along my neck and shoulders. “... I was tempted to see Master after smelling how strong his scent was, but I didn’t want to disturb him if he was still sleeping, so I held back. It was agonizing to wait though,” Ren said from behind.

Come to think of it, Ren seemed like she was fighting really hard to resist from something when I greeted her earlier, I thought, thinking back to how she fiddled in place while her tail wagged erratically at first sight of me.

“You should have seen Ren, Chief, she was sitting in front of the door, just waiting to pounce whoever opened it,” Tyvera commented, “Still, I had only met you just yesterday, yet I could already tell you came back from somewhere a while ago.”

“Is that so?” I asked, looking up in thought.

I didn’t own a pet back home, but I’ve heard how they tend to come rushing at the door for anyone approaching the door, especially their owners. Dogs were the most likely to behave this way. Imagining Ren behaving just as Tyvera described was cute, heart wrenching, and a little worrisome of how my Werewolf slave was becoming more dog-like by the day.

Still, going by everyone’s testimonies, it was just as I thought about my new [Demon Pheromones] skill that it gets me more attention from demons. It also seems that those who resemble more to animals—or ‘Beast-Types’ as Kalline described them, herself included—were more likely to catch the scent first before other races with their heightened sense of smell.

I asked my familiars through [Telepathy].

Kenaka answered first.

Mametama admitted.

I raised my brows,

Mametama explained.

So [Demon Pheromones] doesn’t affect male demons. It’s only the female demons that take notice of my scent, but if Mametama got frisky not too long after transforming …

“Kalline, Ren, Tyvera, did anything strange happen after noticing I came back?” I asked my Beast-Type harem members.

“Not really. I thought you forgot something and had to step out, because I could smell your scent was moving away,” Ren answered, still hugging me from behind. Kalline and Tyvera gave similar answers.

Ume, who was sitting the other side of me, poked my shoulder and lightly tugged on her fin ear, giving me the tell to talk to her through [Telepathy], so I did just that.

Nyra asked.

I looked down in thought,

“‘Twould be intriguing if that were the case, as colognes and perfumes are items that are hard for most to afford,” Kalline commented, hand to her chin in thought, “Nobles and some high-ranked adventurers are the most likely to buy them for special occasions. I do not recall any shops in Palocaesy that sell such products, but I know some Lamias are just as capable of concocting them as they would with medicines and poisons. I believe there is distribution and trade in effect between those Lamias and the shops that are interested in marketing them?”

“So, did you get some cologne to smell better, Master? What’s the secret?” Erizora asked.

Honestly, I didn’t think colognes and perfumes were even a thing in this country. I can get Lamias being the most likely to make them, but did they come up with the idea by themselves, or did someone from my world bring it up to them? I remember my former coworker, Kazumi, wearing too much cologne to make me flinch every time we met up. The constant exposure to the product made me lose interest in it over time, especially since I wasn’t trying to ‘pick up ladies.’

Still, if I said I wasn’t wearing anything, I wondered if those listening in, specifically the spies the Demon King might have hired to observe me, would get any strange ideas. With that in mind, I put my [Deception] skill to work and made up a good lie. I quickly filled Ume, Mametama, and Kenaka in about my lie through [Telepathy] so they wouldn’t get caught off guard.

“You got me. Lady Tephalia actually hooked me up with some cologne as a gift when Ume and I had dinner with her the other night,” I answered, “She said I should wear it if I wanted to be on good terms with the Demon-Kin, especially Lady Noire. I didn’t get a chance to put it on with how crazy it got yesterday, so I’m curious to see how well this works out.”

“Ahh, I see, I can definitely see that happening,” Kalline said, crossing her arms and nodding to herself in agreement, “Yes, ‘twould make sense for Lady Tephalia to provide such a gift after thy heroic efforts in Dondegarm.”

The majority of people around the table seemed to have bought it after hearing Kalline’s input. Aside from my wife and familiars who were already filled in on my lie, I sensed two other people that weren’t so easily convinced. One was Ren who still hugged me from behind, but the way she tightened her hold told me she was anxious over something. I remembered she possessed the Thief class, which allowed people to possess skills like [Deception] to tell good lies, as well as [Intuition] to see through them. I wasn’t sure what level Ren was at the latter, but it was surely high enough that she sensed something was off with my story.

I lied to avoid getting my party worried about me. Since I found out the Demon King was watching me for whatever reason, I wanted to keep the number of people involved down to a minimum. This is so I wouldn’t have them carry the burden that was meant to fall on me. It was worrying enough for Ume to shoulder part of it, even if she was my (Dragon) wife who vowed to help me when I needed her. Despite my worries, she became the main foundation to my new family in this world upon our marriage. I knew well enough about families that if the people inside them really care about each other, blood-related or not, one of them can lend the other a hand when they need it. I needed to trust Ume that she’ll be okay while helping me out as my wife.

Ren, for reasons I haven’t fully understood yet, has become the ‘family pet’ of our group. While the majority of pets do want to be loved, they want to return that affection to their owners in kind. That’s what I want to believe about how pets work, anyway. While I’ve given Ren plenty of love up to now, she likely wants to return it in her own way and doesn’t want to feel left out. If she suspected me of hiding something from her and the others, then it’s obvious that she’d show her anxiety in this manner. With that said, since she was one of the few who were aware of my lie, maybe I should fill her in on everything up to now so she could go with the flow of other lies I’ll likely tell in the future. Though it was self-appointed, Ren did take on the role of ‘Alpha Female’ in my slave harem when I redeemed her. She was practically my right-hand man. With her class, skills, and abilities, maybe she can help me in ways the others couldn’t. I decided to take that into consideration.

As for the other person who didn’t buy into my lie, Sue, she only narrowed her eyes at me and gave a knowing smile. I took that to meaning, “I know that’s total bullshit, you can’t hide it from me.” It gave me mixed feelings of fear and suspicion.

Earlier, Sue said she noticed I had gotten stronger over the short time I was gone. I wondered just how much of me she can see through and whether this level of perception was even possible for an Arch Imp.

She said she was my biggest fan at our first meeting, but … just how much does she know me? How long has she been … watching me? I thought, suddenly putting the pieces together.