Bertt's books - MLR - 2.6 - Wedding Celebrations

I got a comment that you all would like chapter images lol, so I'll be adding those. I'm not gonna be losing time by editing them to match the true descriptions of the characters though, so there will be small innacuracies! Peep the covers on amazon to know how the characters really look :d

I ended up rubbing Leanor’s belly until she fell asleep without consummating our marriage. The others probably thought that we just took our time, but the truth was that she felt so sick that it was a miracle that she remained standing. Luna offered to stand guard and protect Leanor from some hidden danger that she was sure would come. 

There was apparently a ritual during wedding ceremonies in her former pack that included rival pack members coming in and trying to steal the bride or something. I didn’t really understand the purpose behind that custom, but she remained careful and vigilant all throughout the whole afternoon. In the end, I said I would go check out the wedding and how people were celebrating for a quick glance, but Luna told me to go away and have some fun.

I tried to protest, but in the end, I stepped out of Gulio’s house and took a breath of fresh air. No longer was it so cold that it hurt my lungs, which was certainly nice. The moment I stepped out, I saw several people leaning against the buildings, puking their guts out. Omelette was still sitting near the door, and he clicked his beak at me the moment he saw me. I simply took him and placed him onto my shoulder as well as I could, since my pet was getting a bit too large for that. Still, he tried to shuffle around so he could get comfortable, and then we walked towards the village center once again.

Realizing I was a bit too willing to let go of my defenses, I activated my notification barrier in case something dangerous approached, but it didn’t go off like I feared it would. With a sigh, I approached the nearest table and picked up a mug of beer.

“Hey, lad, you’re finally here.” Gulio approached me, bringing his own mug to tap with mine. “Ready to get the celebration started?”

“My two new wives are not feeling that well, so it appears I’ll go a bit lighter than last time though.”

“Easier on the drink? Are ya crazy? Last time ya got so hammered that it was a miracle you didn’t have a headache for tha whole week, and now that it’s yer wedding, ya want to go light?”

“Yeah, well, as I said, my wives are not feeling that well. I want to have a clear head in case I need to go and take care of stuff. Other than that,” I looked at my shoulder. “My little buddy seems to be telling me something, though, without being able to speak, I don’t really understand what.”

“How about this, then?” Gulio leaned closer as he grabbed another mug, swapping his now empty one for another. I heard a sigh from his human wife. “Yes, sit down. Have a nice sip of beer and then we play a game.”

“A game? What do you mean?” I asked, though several people were already gathering around us.

“Oh, it’s a simple game, lad. You can join in. We drink and each time one of us gets the answer wrong, we drink some more.”

“The answer to what?”

“Let’s just try guessing what your buddy here wants to tell us, eh?” He grinned and then brought out a bottle of whiskey from under the table. “Now we drink and the game begins!”

Giving up, I nodded and sat down next to Gulio, several of the village women cheering as I finally joined their drinking. I was quite popular last time as well, and a lot of them tried to get me to drink with them. This time, it would appear, they would get their wish.

Hopefully, this game would lead to something. If I found out what Omelette wanted, I could at least help resolve it as fast as possible. I took a sip, feeling the cold beverage go down my throat, and began guessing.

***

Iris could wait no longer. Yes, it was nice to have a roof over their heads, the roof of the house they had broken into anyway. Eris was far too quick to accept their new accommodation, but Iris saw the trouble in it. Obviously, someone living on the outskirts of civilization, so far away from help, was quite strong, and giving him a hint that something was up once he saw the broken door was not one of their best ideas.

Still, she, too, wanted to sleep on a bed, and several of those placed upon the second floor had no smell to them at all. It was as if half of the house was completely empty, which suited her just fine. For a moment, she even began wondering whether it would be okay to ask the man living here to accept them into their household. Perhaps they would do some other work, and they could settle here. It was not the worst of places, and if the man was willing, perhaps he would take both of the sisters as well.

Iris looked at herself in the mirror placed in the largest of rooms on the second floor, and found herself striking: curved golden horns, tan skin from the long paths taken through the desert, and an hourglass shape with a modest chest size. Her clothes were normal to her, but apparently humans found clothes such as these very erotic. At least that’s what some of the legends said.

Certainly, the man would find some allure in her at least, right? Perhaps after some convincing, he would take Eris as well. She was cursed and the weaker of the two siblings. Succubi were like that. If there were twins, then one of them was bound to be the weaker link, but that never stopped Iris from loving her smaller sister. She was as sweet as a berry and as cute as a small animal. Obviously, the man living here would see that, right?

But the man didn’t come, no matter how much the strange gryphon squawked and screamed, trying to get them out of the house. No matter how many days passed–it was almost a week. But today, suddenly at the first sunlight, the Gryphon took wing and departed, heading north. If she had to guess, it went to find its master.

Deciding that Iris could quite possibly get a jump on the man and subdue him if subduing him became necessary, she departed on his trail, which was easier than she expected. There was a path leading straight north, the only one that she could see on the farm, and through the whole way she only had to jump over a branch once. It was as if somebody walked through here every single day. She expected paths and roads like this one near the larger cities, but inside a ravine? No, not here, so close to the war front. Certainly not.

Still, she could not complain about such nice surprises.

Once the forest finally cleared, she approached a village not unlike the myriad others she’d already seen on her path towards the north. This one was a bit more decorated, however. Was there an event going on? She wasn’t sure, but it certainly seemed like it. Even from a distance, she could see the white flowers of the first spring bounty hanging upon every building. She heard cheers and people probably drinking as they celebrated something.

Humans were strange in this way. She never knew what exactly they were celebrating. It was as if there was a need for them to celebrate everything good. Perhaps it was not even the need to celebrate, but to drink. She had never tasted alcohol herself, but in every village she had passed through until now, the alcohol had been very harmful to the people. Perhaps that was what separated humans from demons, then.

Biding her time near the tree line before finally springing into action, she rushed forward, her feet light, before she approached the first house and leaned into it, trying to listen to any useful information. The people were celebrating a wedding, it seemed. As she listened more, she realized that they were talking about three people getting married. Not unusual, but a low number for someone starting his harem. Still, she listened some more and learned their names: Lucas, Leanor, and Luna. It was a bit strange that all of them began with the same letter.

Finally, she listened to where they were currently. Apparently, there was something called consummation, which they were undergoing in one of the houses in the village. Was that a ritual of some sort perhaps? Perhaps not, but still she had to hurry to see this custom for herself. After all, her sister was a mage. If it was indeed something magical, she could tell Eris how the process works, and that could further their collective strength.

She jabbed her tail upwards, piercing some of the roof tiles, before pulling herself up onto the roof. The houses here were thankfully fairly small and squat, except for a few. One of them, by the description, looked exactly like the house that belonged to this Gulio. She’d heard of three male names in that single conversation of two older women, which was strange but in the end insignificant. She could speculate all day, but in the end, the only way she would learn the truth was by seeing it.

Carefully and slowly, she went from rooftop to rooftop, finally approaching her destination. Just as her feet landed on the roof opposite where Lucas was meant to be, the door opened and a large man stepped out. He was huge, by far the biggest man she’d ever seen, and she had seen half-giants. His arms were thick as logs, and he had the casual air around him that didn’t deceive her for even a moment. That man was danger, and it was clear that he was the man she had come searching for.

The problem was that all of her instincts screamed that he was dangerous, and her instincts were never wrong. Every time she found a new village with her sister, she was the one to scout out their enemies first, and her estimation of their strength was rarely wrong. Never before had her instincts screamed so much to run away.

The Gryphon didn’t sense her, but she saw him perched upon the man’s shoulder like a valiant defender. The beast was too large for any man smaller than this one. As they strolled deeper into the village center, slowly, far more carefully than before, she followed and tried to listen in on the conversations.

Thankfully, that part didn’t prove hard. Apparently, Lucas was the one to get married this time around, and his two wives felt sick.

He emerged from that building alone... 

Feeling a plan forming in her mind, she turned and slowly crept towards the building she saw him depart from. If two defenseless women were there, then this was a perfect opportunity to negotiate.

With her tail under their necks, that was.

Faster this time, she approached the two-story house and unlocked the door with a few skilled moves of her fingers. The lock came open, and she crept inside, light on her feet. She caught a scent. Though her senses weren’t as sharp as some of the other races, her class provided her with some advantages. Just how many people lived in this small house, however? It smelled of almost a dozen.

The most musky and manly scent must have come from the man, however. Lucas. She felt her senses dim for a while while she imagined the vein bulging in his arm as he picked up a wooden ale mug, or how she wanted to bite into... No, she was here for a reason. Calming her senses, she dug a nail into her skin to focus on something else and then ascended the stairs.

There was a smell of women, and it was the most present smell yet. A small hallway met her on the second floor, and one of the doors, the one furthest from her, was slightly ajar.

Yes, she could do this. She could capture the two of them and then have Lucas agree to something, with them in her power. It was hard to focus with the scent threatening to overwhelm her mind, but still she stepped forward and activated her skill.

[Hunter tracks - Tier III]