Bertt's books - MLR - 2.7 - Yo, got a space for third?

Luna could not fall asleep. Of course she couldn’t. It was only midday, but still she tried, if nothing else, just to spend her first sleep with her co-wife. Yet she could not. Leanor was asleep moments later, and that left Luna to simply contemplate the last few months.

It was not often that she thought about things as much as she did today, but something simply stirred that need to think and go over the events of the last few months. She found herself to be happier than she ever had been before. Yes, she had been sad when she was thrown out of her pack, but the thought of groveling and begging Ober to take her back was sickening and laughable at the same time. 

Why had she ever been so into a man like that one? He wasn’t even half the man that Lucas was. He was not as handsome, not as strong, and not as caring and kind either. A part of her was angry at her past self for loving such a man, but another was glad because it made the differences between him, a bad man, and Lucas, a good man, so easy to see.

She stepped towards her night table and pulled out her daggers, preparing to sharpen them. They didn’t really need the maintenance. Magical weapons never got dull, but she liked going through the motions. It reminded her of simpler times, ones she really wanted to remember today.

If only Lera could see what had become of Luna: how she leveled up faster than any of her former packmates ever had, how she had a man that they would all envy. At first, Luna even thought about bringing some of her pack here so Lucas’s harem could get larger–after some discussions with Leanor, both of them agreed he would take more women, which was a given. But not her packmates. Luna and Leanor would do their best to scope them out at first, and Luna’s former pack was… even less inclined to this kind of society than she was. And Lucas, after all, deserved only the best of the best.

She felt her cheeks burn at the thought. He had chosen her, accepted her, and loved her.

A part of her was sad that Luna was not the first to be pregnant, but from what she knew about mortals, beast folks usually carried their children for less time than other races. Perhaps if she hurried up, she could still catch up to Leanor?

Certainly, a thing to ponder. She brushed the whetstone against the steel and then held the dagger up, the dim light providing just enough for her to see on the blade itself. As she stopped, however, she caught a sound, and her ear twitched. There was a creak of the wood. Someone was here.

She sniffed the air, smelling something. It was a sweet scent, one of combined roses and the sweetest of berries. The scent also awakened her heat immediately, almost as fast as Lucas’s pleasant musk sometimes did.

Then she quashed the feeling and immediately stood up from the bed, just as the door swung open fully and a demon stood in its place.

She was a beautiful woman, lean but with visible muscle under the thin layer of softness. Her chest was somewhere in the middle between Luna herself and Leanor, but her hair was jet black. Two horns curved forward from her skull, golden, just like parts of her clothing. Her eyes were black with red irises that burned like coals. She only had one tattoo, a vibrant pink on her lower stomach in the shape of a heart, exactly the way Teara sometimes drew them, which was strange. That was obviously not a hunter’s mark like her pack used to give out. Her tail immediately moved in the air and pointed towards Luna as if preparing to strike. The distance was off, though.

Luna remembered her training. The demon was not a dungeon monster, but if she didn’t understand something, it usually meant an attack that would come in a different way than she was used to. She dodged to the side just as something shot out of the demon’s tail, piercing the wood on the other side of the room. Leanor woke with a start, clearly distressed, but Luna dashed forward, using [Feather Step] to hasten herself, and tackled the woman.

They rolled together through the whole hallway, the momentum carrying them forward, before they both got up again right on the other side of the hall. Luna didn’t stop. Leanor was obviously not in a fighting state, and so her task would be to get this attacker as far away from her as possible. She ducked, dug her heels into the floor, and rushed forward again, tackling the woman through the small window.

They fell down below, tumbling in the air and trying to grasp the other. In the end, her opponent had gained the upper hand and, using her tail, she brought Luna down on the ground, landing on top of her with all of her momentum. Her feet dug deep into her abdomen.

Luna gasped, breathless, but she still retained her hold on her dagger. She slashed the demon, who moved out of the way at the very last second, although Luna managed to score a cosmetic wound. She quickly made some distance, making Luna realize that sting probably wasn’t a skill exactly. Perhaps it was the way she fought. Was she a ranged fighter?

Luna got her feet under her, dashing after her enemy. The demon’s tail once again snapped behind her, shooting something. Luna focused only on her own movements and on the projectiles, trying to dodge them. She only half succeeded, and the woman was no easy target either. She kept moving and making it hard for Luna to completely close on her.

It took Luna a moment to realize that the demon was trying to get away from the village. Perhaps she hadn’t expected Luna to fight back.

She registered some shouts around them, making Luna realize that some people were already calling for help.

Suddenly, the earth started rumbling and ethereal hands grasped for the demon’s legs. They tried to pull her down. The spell reminded Luna of Leanor’s description of what she had done to the bandits, except this time her opponent was more competent. The demon sneered and then moved even further away, no longer keeping up the defense.

Luna would have none of that. This demon attacked them, and so it was Luna’s task to dispose of her. She rushed forward, using Feather Step for the third time in a short span, feeling the toll on her body. The gap closed but not enough, so she grasped one of her daggers by the blade and threw it forward. The throw was unpracticed, and the demon’s tail quickly whipped out as the demon turned back, her tail curling around the handle.

And then something cracked. Luna looked ahead at the demon, who had fallen to the ground unconscious, and behind her stood a dwarf still holding a mug of beer in one hand while he held an iron hammer in the other.

“Ye okay, lass?”

***

“Mr. Lucas, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but...”

“Wha—?” I turned towards the woman. My voice was alien to me. Alcohol did that sometimes.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but your wives were attacked.”

I immediately sobered up using my active poison resistance to quicken the process of alcohol passing through my body. I went through all the stages: completely hammered, sobering up, and then a hangover, until I was completely sober, only a minute later.

“Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“I said that your wives had gotten attacked.”

I summoned Echo and my armor snapped around me as I stood up, looking around. “Where?”

“M-m-mr. Gulio has already dispatched the attacker. She’s currently detained in the mayor’s house.” The young woman mumbled. One of Tavor’s siblings? They shared the eyes.

I nodded in thanks to the woman and then jumped, a single leap bringing me to the center of the village once again. Leanor and Luna were already waiting outside, anxiously shifting on their feet. Their hands were intertwined, and once they saw me, their faces lit up.

Omelette sat on the ground right in front of them, staring at me.

“Hey, you all, is everything alright? Is anyone hurt?”

“It’s fine.” Luna smiled. “I dispatched her.”

“Really? I heard Gulio did.” Leanor sighed.

“I had her exactly where I wanted her to be, but then he came and stole my win! I’ll pay him for that,” she said, though her tone let me know she wasn’t completely serious. Leanor looked a bit more uncomfortable and then quickly brought me up to date on the current situation.

Apparently, a demon had snuck into Gulio’s house and then attacked Luna on sight. My wife brought the fight outside, and some of the other villagers came looking for me. Though I apparently kept moving around, making their task hard. I didn’t remember that part well. Gulio was the one who struck the final blow. A hammer to the head sounded uncomfortable, no matter the level.

All the way through Leanor’s re-telling, Omelette kept staring at me.

“Is this what you wanted to warn me about, buddy?” I finally asked once Leanor finished her tale.

He chirped angrily and then dug at the ground with his talons.

“Listen. I won’t ignore you next time, all right? Sorry.”

The Gryphon stared into my eyes and then let out a slow chirp before he turned, beat his wings, and took to the sky.

Apparently, my pet was really angry with me.

Leanor chuckled, apparently finding the situation funny.

“What? My Gryphon being angry is funny to you?”

“He reminds me of Tavor when he was younger. He’s about that age in Gryphon years, isn’t he?”

“What? I have no clue how their age works. He’s a teenager? That’s what you are trying to tell me?” I looked at the sky, seeing him circling above. “Actually, you might be right.”

I looked back down, deciding that Omelette being angry at my ignoring him was a problem for later. I checked Luna and Leanor once more and then stepped forward, prepared to meet the first demon I’d ever seen.