The flight was...very uncomfortable...no,actually it was horrifying.

I was still very much inside my head when I started mounting red hawk so I didn't think about the height at the time to be intimidated by it both habana and hobushi also sat in a way that sandwiched me in between them so I still had somewhere to hold onto or keep a steady balance from.

I only realized the consequences of flying after we slowly started to take off the ground my body felt incredibly pulled down as red hawk started to flutter his wings to raise himself to the sky the girls were very excited throughout the flight even more so since I was constantly being hugged or hugging the person on my front feeling shaky,habana who sat behind me fondling and hugged me in a very inappropriate way,but I was just too distracted by the flight to even care while hobushi who sat in front of me moaned after every small turn the hawk made because of the way I was hugging her and squeezing her my nails must have even pressed onto her body while we flew and I did grab her breasts a few times by mistake making her sometimes even scream squeezing her tight like a scared kitten,but even then no,one said a word of complaint the only one who seemed to be weirded out by this was red hawk,since we were all doing this while riding on his back,he didn't directly tell me that he was bothered by it,but hinted me that we should probably stay a bit tame if we didn't want to fall down which just scared me even more causing no,real help.

Fortunately the ride wasn't all too long the speed in which we flew was amazing the pressed on us like a shield,but I wasn't bothered by it,the view was also something to look at directly showing the slowly rising sun behind the snowy mountains,it wasn't always scary,but enjoyable too...still though if I can help it I don't want to fly ever again...

When we finally got down on proper ground my heart felt as light as a feather while both habana and hobushi had ragged breaths and flushed faces,they seemed incredibly satisfied by the ride and got excited for the ride back home discussing their seats with each other planning to switch and see how it feels from different sides,these two already noticed my weakness to height and were using it to their own pleasure...fiends...

I ignored their conversation and breathed out heavily looking forward towards the outskirts of the dark elf village that I had visited a few days a ago,people were gathering and looking at us curiously they had spotted reed hawk in the sky and probably felt startled by the big birds appearance on the front I could see one exceptional figure standing tall and waving at us,my vision had been improved mightily because of the level up showing me incredible detail and also revealing to me that the person who was waving at us was the current village chief of the dark elf village Vulgan.

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-Yesterday one of my scouts reported that the taint seemed to have disappeared,I take it that you have done the part of your task my friend ?

-Yes,it was indeed not easy,but I managed without much loss

I replied tapping on my arms rest for a moment as I glanced at shalila,vulgans wife carrying a wooden plate with two cups of steaming hot tea on top of them,she distributed the cups to both of us as we sat on our seats sipping slowly.

Hobushi and habana who were standing behind me looked around the living room curiously,we were currently inside vulgans house,we didn't waste all too much time for pleasantries and instead jumped right into business.

Our small meeting continued like this in which I told him about what happened when I fought against that core that was causing the taint,I didn't make it all too dramatic,but quick and clear.

I left out the part in were we fought the mysterious winged woman and almost died,because there was no reason to tell him about this since it didn't have anything to do with the request altogether.

-I see,you have done well friend and as agreed I will reward you with the suitable items fit for your amount of work you can tell me what you want I will give it to so don't worry

I smiled nodding towards vulgans true and reassuring character,he was a straight up kind of guy when it came to conversations its something I liked about him especially when it came to deals like this,I didn't need to feel uncomfortable when asking about the reward.

The conversation took up tempo again as I asked him about the things he currently had and the things that I may need,items that I couldn't just procure from anywhere that is.

Armor,clothing,weapons and food were solid in my case since these things could be already made for me,what I really may need was a map not just from this forest,but maybe also from different kingdoms just in case,books and medicine were also very welcome or magical items even,but I am not even sure what kind of items there are to make it worth my while.

Vulgan and I took our time to discuss this topic of what my reward should be we ended up deciding on a few maps that he had gathered while on his adventurers days and also large amounts of medicine for all kinds of uses such as ointment,salves,pills and teas he said that he would give me a proper description of each of those medicines,but I quickly stopped him and asked him whetever or not he could make the descriptions in human language since I didn't know any sort of characters in this world and hoboku was also the only person who understood that language.

Luckily vulgan agreed most of his people seem to be familiar with the human language or even more his town was occupied by a lot of season veterans who had seen the world outside the forest showing that he wasn't the only strong warrior in this town which was impressive and also showed that they were truly strong not even afraid to the slightest living in this dangerous forest.

When we finished our discussion I thought that it was the end of it both of us got ready to finish our mild warm tea,but just as I was sipping my cup...the offer of the ratman came to my head...the lamia in particular.

-Vulgan do you know anything about the monsters in this forest...the lamia in particular

Hearing my sudden question vulgans eyes turned wide as he looked at me a bit surprised.

-Why the lamia ?

His perplexed expression showed me that he indeed did know a few things about the lamia,he didn't seem to be outright frightened by it,but cautious enough to ask like this.

Seeing his serious look,I wasn't sure how to answer him,I didn't think it was such a big deal,but this only sparked my curiosity even more and vulgan saw that look in mine which made him sigh as he placed his cup of tea next to him,he looked at me with a solemn look on his face as he started explain me some things about the forest and the lamia once more.

Unknown to me it seems like the forest is divided into 3 parts which are the outer,inner and core area of the forest in each of these areas there are different types of monsters lurking around the outer area which is close to the outskirts of the forest having the more weaker monsters while the inner and the core having one of the strongest,currently we were in the inner part of the forest the monsters here are all mediocre,but strong nonetheless.

-Why do I not know about this ?

I asked him slightly confused,he could have told me about this on our first meeting,but for some reason he didn't,hearing my question vulgan laughed and said.

-Well at the time I didn't think it was anything important you and your girls seemed to be very strong so I naturally assumed that you knew your place around here without a problem since you survived for so long without an issue and it also doesn't take a genius to figure out that the further you walk into the forest the stronger the opponents get you know,on top of that not many know about this fact really and knowing about it doesn't matter

I nodded understanding his logic,but there was another question.

-What does this have anything to do anything with the lamia ?

My question seemed to have been on point since vulgan nodded and continued to answer me.

-Inside the forest you may have encountered a lot of different monsters some savage and wild that kill anything they see while some more civilized then others a different race a kin really categorized as a monster in this forest,but are smart,speak and understand each other building villages and groups together...

While he was talking a few images of other races with settlements started racing through my head,I understood clearly what he meant since I had seen it all through the eyes of the slimes that reported a lot of things back to me.

-Having so many groups together makes conflict inevitable even beasts need to establish themselves to live a carefree life..or at least a life with less conflict and through all of this conflict it is also inevitable that there is going to be a winner and one of these winners are the lamia,they aren't the most scary or powerful creatures in the forest,but they are one of the most organized and well lead creatures and as I said before the other kingdoms don't dare to wage war into the forest against the monsters since most of them are scared by the powerful monsters that are lurking inside and vice a versa the monsters also don't go just out of their way to war with the other kingdoms since they are evenly scared of getting destroyed,it is a very strange way of balance we have...

Vulgan chuckled to himself taking another sip from his tea while I considered his words for a few seconds.What he was telling me sounded very clear to me,but also puzzled me a lot since it almost seemed as if the lamias had enough power to claim the whole forest,but at the same time he speaks as if thats not the case current events also show that the lamias aren't very active more reserved really since they were only taking from the ratman in a very quiet manner which lead me to only one conclusion too.

-there are other evenly strong factions in this forest...

Hearing my words of reasoning made vulgan twitch for a moment,but he wasn't all too surprised since this conclusion was obvious.

-Yes,my friend thats true and on the topic I should really start warning you from the core part of this forest you don't wanna go or even step over that line,since in that part live over 20 or even more monsters that are far more powerful then you and I can imagine,currently there are 3 monster factions that are the most prominent and well known which are the lamia,succubi and dragons they all have their own respective leader who rarely come out of their homes,but are very dangerous.

Hearing this I couldn't help myself,but ask.

-Who is the leader of the lamia ?

As if expecting my question vulgan smiled and emptied his cup of tea answering me.

-The queen of snakes medusa

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