(AN:Here is the next chapter! Amazon: Chapter 17 - 18)

Pretending to be a resident is... fun!

--- Seth’s pov ---

“I’m back!” Lien shouted from the door and then walked into the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to see what I was doing. “What are you cooking?” she asked as she came closer and kissed me on the face, and then went over to my other side while saying, “I’m sorry for taking so long but there was a newcomer as well.”

“It’s fine and I’m making goulash, though what did you have to do with a newcomer? Was it one of the ten god incarnations from Panama?” I asked, following her hands with my eyes.

“Yes, his name is Gil and he inherited Chaac's commandment, though you surely know about that already,” she replied.

“And? What was he like?” I asked, raising a brow as I looked at her.

“Hmm, he seems to have some kind of trauma but I didn’t ask him about it. He’s also pretty weak right now but the good news is that he’s a morally just person, though a little lazy. Regardless, I think that he’s going to become another useful member in the near future,” she summed up her thoughts about him.

“I see. I guess it was worth teaching you the Soul language,” I replied, and then continued stirring the pot.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she muttered.

“Well, that was my intention…”

“I see. By the way, we’re getting closer and closer to finding out how to create mana. During the last experiment we managed to reproduce a tiny amount by using my soul force! It’s possible that you only need a powerful soul and then you’ll be able to create mana, so you should come by,” she said.

“So your theory was correct? That’s great news. If we can produce mana by ourselves then I could enhance Leviathan even more since I wouldn’t have to consider how much mana it consumed from the environment, or I could make it consume even more. Both would be great, though the former sounds too dreamy at the moment… Anyway, I’ll check in next time then,” I replied.

When Lien learned how to sense souls, I also taught her a few signs that reflected people’s personalities. Although I didn’t elaborate on it in the past, I taught her everything I knew about it during the last two years. In fact, in the beginning, it was the soul language that helped me in deciding who was trustworthy and who wasn’t.

It was only later that Ma’at, Lug, and a few others joined whose abilities made the tests and the whole selection system much simpler. Naturally, both worked just fine but the latter didn’t require my presence every time someone arrived. I made it so that when weaker humans came, we relied only on Ma’at’s judgment and the results of Lug’s illusion magic, which took place in the bases that Lien built all over the world. But if it was a god incarnation, then one of us also checked their souls by reading the signs that covered them.

Since only Lien and I knew how to do that, Ma’at called one of us over whenever a god incarnation passed the test. The others didn’t even know about the soul language, and even Ma'at found out about it only because of her mind-reading ability.

I wasn’t keeping it a ‘secret’ because I didn’t trust the others. I wouldn’t have minded even if some of the god incarnations found out about it. The main reason I hid it from the others was that I didn’t want to pass on the knowledge to anyone but Lien and if they found out about it, they’d definitely come to me and ask me to teach it to them. I’d refuse them even if they did, but it was easier to hide it.

Seeing that the food was ready, I switched off the stove and said, “Let’s have lunch.”

“Great, I was starting to feel hungry anyway,” she replied as she took out a plate and filled it with food. Glancing at the table, she shrugged her shoulders and made her way towards the living room. After filling my own plate, I went after her and sat down next to her on the sofa. As usual, she sat with her legs crossed on the couch, and the plate on her thighs.

“Sometimes I ask myself why do we even have a table in the kitchen. We come here to eat every day,” I laughed, seeing her stuffing her mouth cheerfully.

“Mh, this is great~ and also… sitting at the table is less comfortable than sitting in this couch. Just look at this, it’s so soft that my body is sinking into it,” she said as she started shaking her hips. It was indeed a great couch. It was filled with feathers which she picked while I was transformed into my wind form… so you could say that it was made from high-quality ‘monster’ parts. I looked like a giant chicken in that form anyway.

“Well, I know. That’s one of the reasons I also come here,” I nodded, agreeing with her.

“What’s the other?”

“It’s obviously you,” I said, and then put a spoonful of the food into my mouth.

“That's lovely. By the way, can you guess who arrived to Leviathan yesterday? It's someone we both know,” she suddenly changed the topic. I knew my words made her happy, and I also knew that we’d have ended up screwing if we continued sweet talking.

“I have no clue,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

“The answer is…. Valerie! Although Sean followed you here when you offered him the choice, Valerie went on a world-seeing trip instead. And now she's back!” she said with a bright smile on her face.

“You seem to be happy about it. Is there a reason? Didn't you hate her for hitting on me?” I asked, a little confused by her reaction.

“Well, that's in the past and she's never had a chance with you anyway. As for my happiness, I'm just feeling proud of you because she changed thanks to your words. Even her soul is reflecting that she's turned into a strong-willed and independent woman who can think for herself,” she replied, patting my shoulder.

“That's a good thing,” I shrugged my shoulders, not really interested.

“Seth, even if you try to look cool by pretending that it was no big deal, I can see the sides of your lips turning upwards. Also, how come my praise makes you so happy every time?” she laughed, spotting even the tiniest bit of change on my face.

Seeing her staring at me with a knowing smile, I said in a low voice, “Because it feels good.”

Placing her empty plate on the coffee table in front of us, she took mine as well and then rolled over to me. Locking her arms around my neck, she put her forehead against mine and seated herself on my thighs.

Leaning closer - “I know something else that feels even better,” she whispered into my ear.

“I am genuinely interested,” I replied.

“Ha ha, is that so? And what are you going to do now that you’re interested?”

“Hmm~ I’ve got an idea,” I said, and then put my arms around her back. Embracing her tightly, I followed up with a long kiss. For a good minute we didn’t do anything but kissing, and I was about to make a move when the front door was suddenly opened.

“Lien! Are you here?” Michael shouted from the door.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I cursed in a low voice while Lien silently got off of me and sat down next to me.

“This sucks… we should go on a holiday somewhere where it would be only the two of us,” she grumbled, equally unhappy with the sudden visit.

“Actually, that's a great idea,” I cried out exactly when Michael entered the room.

“Hi, Father,” Lien said as she stood up from the sofa and picked up the empty plates.

“Hello. Why did you not answer if you were here?” he asked with a frown, looking at Lien.

“My mouth was full,” she said and seeing him turning towards me, she added, “his mouth was also full.” Finally realising what she was implying, he stopped interrogating her and cleared his throat.

“Khm- whatever. So what is a great idea?” he asked, turning towards me.

“Well, I said that we should go on a holiday once we have a bit more free time, which is likely to happen in the next few days,” Lien replied in my stead.

“Oh, I’m glad to hear that you still take your time to spend some time alone. It wouldn’t be good if you focused on nothing but work,” he said, nodding his head. Our parents approved of our relationship even when we got together and their support just grew stronger over the years. “And where do you plan to go?”

“We haven’t thought about that yet, but didn’t you want something from Lien?” I asked, reminding him of why he came to visit us in the first place.

“Ah! You’re right. I wanted to invite you two to have dinner with us. We haven’t seen you two for almost a week because you kept running around. I think it’s time for you to spend some time with us, or did you forget about us already?” he asked with a frown.

“Erm, okay, we’ll go over,” I nodded. It was true that we haven’t visited them in a while, since we were either working, training, or spending time together. Work basically meant managing Leviathan, helping people outside, killing Sylvanus’ doppelgangers, and chasing after evil organisations.

In these past two years we’ve uncovered five major organisations which were operating in different areas of the planet. The problem was that as far as I knew, only we were helping people instead of killing them. It was also hard to keep track of them and fight back their advances, but it couldn’t be helped. Of course, there were many other smaller groups which controlled villages and towns, but we could easily destroy those.

I found my current life quite funny because I always wanted to keep a low profile and live a simple life with Lien. I also didn’t want to change the world and do big things in my life, but some things didn’t quite go as planned… Regardless, I was having fun doing what I was doing and it also made me happy, so all was fine. It wasn’t like I was feeling deeply for the people whom I was helping, but seeing their grateful reactions always made me happy.

I probably didn’t change much in these past two years. If anything, I became even more of a pervert, but it’s all Lien’s fault for letting me do it, I thought to myself, but somehow my thoughts were heard.

“Excuse me, but what the fuck?” Lien cried out in my mind. Sometimes when both of us were aroused, Link became too strong and we could hear each other’s thoughts directly. It was similar to Ma’at’s mind-reading ability, which made me think that ‘commandments’ were also just types of magic that we couldn’t understand. That being the case, while Lien was trying to produce mana, I was trying to recreate commandments.

Although Lien was my only apostle and a god could have twelve apostles, it turned out that my case was a bit different. Thanks to my ancestor’s and my own ideals, I could have only a single apostle at a time. I found out about this half a year ago when my soul reached a new level and an in-depth explanation was unlocked about my inheritance.

These explanations could be unlocked only if our souls became stronger than our ancestors’, and it also explained why was I progressing so quickly with only a single apostle. In my case, it was as if I was doing it with twelve women at the same time, which was physically impossible to achieve for any guy without creating clones.

I was truly thankful to myself that I was being careful with Lien because thanks to the power of twelve apostles merging into a single one, its burden also grew much stronger. If I started using pleasure touch and other similar spells right off the bat, Lien would have either died, or suffered serious damage to her soul. It was quite scary when I realised that I could have endangered her life if I tried to show off my ‘skills in bed’ to her when we started going out.

“That’s good then. I’ll be going back and leave you two alone, but don’t forget to come over! We’ve also invited your parents,” he said, pointing at me.

“I know,” I waved my hand.

“How? … or never mind, I don’t even want to know,” he corrected himself, shaking his head.

Nobody from my family was surprised by now if I knew something I wasn’t supposed to. Leviathan was filled with my mana and soul, so I could be anywhere and anytime. Naturally, I kept that a secret and hid it from everyone but Lien. Although I didn’t care what other people were doing, they’d have surely felt concerned if they found out about it.

Honestly, I had to imbue my soul into Leviathan else other people could have taken ownership of the space I created, just like I stole Daniel Key’s space back when I killed him. It was better to make it safe and hide it from people than to leave Leviathan in a vulnerable state.

Hearing the entrance door closing as Michael left the house, Lien turned towards me and said, “How about we visit the hot springs in the mountain?”

“So you want to continue from where we left off, right? I’m glad we agree,” I nodded my head.

“But I didn’t-” she was about to deny it, but seeing me staring at her with ‘heart-broken’ eyes, she admitted to it, “Okay, stop looking at me with those cute brown eyes of yours, okay? I’ll admit that I was planning to continue,” she corrected herself.

“That’s good then,” I smiled at her, and then teleported us to the mountain in the eastern area of Leviathan. I never intended to make Leviathan the same as the outside world, so there were many conflicting environments. For example, although a large part of the mountain was over four thousand meters in height, it wasn’t covered in snow and the temperature was also warm enough to walk around in shorts.

There was also a place where a snow-covered area followed a rainforest, which made no sense under normal circumstances. Based on what I’ve seen, most people liked these conflicting and out of the norm areas, especially the hot springs in the mountains. It was also a good thing that oxygen didn’t become scarcer the higher up you went, so everyone could take it easy and enjoy the sight from the top of the mountain for as long as they wanted.

“Do you think there are people inside?” Lien asked, quickly following up with a scan. “Yep,” she muttered.

“Well, it’s not surprising. This place had been popular ever since we built it,” I remarked and then opened the door to get in. What made this place truly special was that I carved out a part of the top of the mountain to make two caverns. The hot springs were on the southern side of the mountain, providing the visitors with a breathtaking view on the valley below.

The northern cavern gave home to a two-storey wooden building which was easily accessible if you could climb the mountain. Naturally, that was quite simple for the people who lived here. Each floor had a large changing room which were connected to the pools they belonged to. The men's pool was on the ground floor, the women's pool was on the first floor, and the second floor led to our private pool.

That way men couldn't just walk to the edge of the cliff to peek at women, and if a woman peeked, she'd be seen from below so it would be a 'win-win’ situation. It was obviously okay to put our pool on the top since I didn't care about other women's bodies. It was true that most of the women living here were beauties, but I had eyes only for Lien.

Upon reaching the first floor, we came across Mia who was the incarnation of Mazu, the Chinese goddess of seas. At first, she just stepped to the side to wait for the ‘people’ to pass but once we reached the top, she looked at us and finally noticed who we were.

“Oh hey guys, fancy seeing you here. What’s up? On the way to soak in the water?” - and then whispered to Lien - “Or maybe have some fun?”

Surprised by the question which happened to be spot on, Lien stuttered for a moment in her confusion, “Eh? A-haha, yeah. How did your mission go?” she quickly changed the topic before things could get out of hand.

“It was nothing special. Thanks to Shiba’s scouting, we cut off all of their escape routes and got rid of the Germs easily. It just sucks that these people were nothing but a bunch of weaklings and low-class servants of the group,” she replied, shaking her head. Germ was one of the five large evil organisations that we found.

The other four were Arcane Spirits, Chronos, Necron, and Blood Stigma, each group using a different type of magic. The type of magic was mostly related to their names since Arcane Spirits used vicious soul attacks, Necron tinkered with necromancy and revival, and Blood Stigma experimented with blood, also making people wage bloody wars. The latter was quite similar to what Thanatos was doing, but their leader was definitely much stronger.

The only exception was ‘Chronos’ whose members were trying to manipulate time, but they hadn’t succeeded yet and the incarnation of Chronos was also serving under me… I found it quite hilarious. And even if time manipulation was possible, they’d have to know way more than me, which didn’t seem to be the case. Chronos had some ‘time’ related spells, but it wasn’t actual time travel or anything of the sort. It was just mind magic which blocked the target’s ability to perceive reality. In short, it was illusion magic, a very powerful one.

“That’s good then. And when did you arrive?” Lien asked.

“Hmm, I think about half an hour ago. Now I’m all refreshed and ready for training!” she raised her fist with enthusiasm. Mia and Lien were on good terms, but I didn’t really know her. Well, it wasn’t like it mattered. We knew each other just enough to be friendly but if Lien wasn’t present, we’d have most likely passed each other with a simple greeting. As far as I knew, Mia was also helping Lien in her experiment to create mana, along with Lug, Ma’at, and Skadi, so it was no wonder.

Glancing at me for a moment, Lien started smiling as she said, “Anyway, we’ll talk later. I don’t want to make him wait too much.”

“Hmm~ wait for what?” she asked playfully.

“Shh, you perv,” she waved her hand and shooed her towards the stairs.

“Hahaha, do you take me for a fool? I know what men are like, and Lug also likes bringing me here,” she laughed as she went down. She came together with Lug and they had been together ever since, so she probably knew what we were planning and why we needed a private pool. Well, it was probably obvious to everyone…

Turning around, Lien looked at me and seeing me rolling my eyes, she just laughed at me and continued on her way up. Sometimes I felt prompted to spy on them by using Leviathan, just to hear what were they talking about when it was only girls, but for some reason I felt that not knowing was better.

Once we reached the second floor, we just had to walk through a short corridor which led straight into our changing room. I was quite excited to see Lien taking off her clothes, so I started walking a bit quicker and got to the door before her.

“Why the hurry?”

“I just want to see you undressing,” I replied bluntly and closed the door behind her once she got in.

After staring at me for a few seconds, she pursed her lips and started undressing with a displeased look on her face. “I know that you’ve seen me naked many times and I honestly wouldn't care even if you caught me masturbating... but it's so weird when you’re staring at me like that,” she grumbled in herself.

I was expecting some sexy underwears, but she was wearing a two-piece, laced black bikini instead. Throwing her brown hair over her shoulders, she stuck out her tongue and said, “I bet you didn’t expect that.”

Raising my brows, I said, “Look, even if I was expecting that you’d take off everything, it doesn’t mean that you’re less desirable. In fact, I think I really want to tear it off of you now. Also, I worship the person who invented bikinis. They're the best.”

“Is that so? Why am I not surprised?” she shook her head.

“Because you know me,” I said as I reached forward to grab her breasts, but she quickly moved out of the way and ran away.

“Oh, come on!” I shouted after her.

“Catch me if you can,” her laughter echoed in the tunnel which connected the changing room with our private pool.

Excited to play around with my wife, I took off my clothes and ran after her. Once I got out on the other side, I was welcomed with the familiar sight of the plain and the city in the distance, bordering with the dark sky. Thanks to a bit of magic, we also had fake stars and a giant blue moon in Leviathan. You could see quite clearly even at night, but the sky was still dark which went really well with the blue moon. Sometimes I changed its colour but most of the time it was ice-blue.

Lien was already sitting in the water, staring at the moon in silence. There were a few orange coloured lights hanging from the ceiling of the cavern, illuminating our pool and the pools beneath in its warm light. It made the atmosphere great for a good old calm hot bath. Stretching her arms, she slid down in the pool until only her head was out and then turned towards me. Seeing that I was standing there in silence, she asked, “What are you standing there for?”

“Nothing,” I muttered. She often took my breath away with her beauty at times like these, though I was too horny and pent up to care about it. We haven’t touched each other for three days because of work, so I planned to take my time and continue once we got home from our parents.

Walking over to her, I sat on the ground behind her and put my legs next to her shoulders. “Let me massage you because you’re quite stiff,” I said as I pulled her hair to the side and then started massaging her shoulders.

“Mhh~ that feels great,” she said in a low voice, placing her hands on top of mine. “Have you thought about our holiday? Do you have any idea about where should we go?” she asked.

“I did,” I replied, slowly moving downwards from her shoulders. “Skadi told me about a great place not long ago. They found a map in New York city which marked various locations on the planet which were supposedly the best places for holidays. The one I’m talking about is an island named Hawaii. There were also pictures about the island and it looked great so I thought that we could visit it sometime,” I said.

“Hmm, I haven’t seen many seas and oceans anyway, so I’m okay with it. Let’s go there then,” she replied as she grabbed my right hand and pulled it forward to lean on it and kiss it at the same time. Her lips barely touched my hand but it still made me feel her love way more than simply having lust-filled sex. There were also times when she thought that I was sleeping and she kissed my forehead or my face which felt really good to my heart. I returned the favour whenever I could. The scene was most likely quite lovely, except for something 'disturbing’.

“You know, it’s poking the middle of my back…” she added after a moment of silence.

“Well, there is only one way to get rid of it, which is to satisfy it,” I laughed at her, seeing that she leaned forward.

“I’ll make the first move then,” she said as she sprung up from the water and turned around. The top of her laced black bikini looked great on her, but seeing her cleavage, my eyes were instantly drawn towards her valley and the tie in the front. I could see crystal clear that the thin string which kept her top in one piece was doing its best to contain her bulging breasts.

While she stepped closer and pressed her knee against my erect member, I unconsciously moved my hand and pulled on the string. As the tie was undone, her top gave way to her breasts and fell onto her knee. The droplets of water glimmered on her breasts as they trickled down on her pink nipples. They looked really charming and delicious, so I grabbed her ass and pulled her against me until I got close enough to take her nipples into my mouth.

Locking her arms around my head, she continued staring at my face with a bright smile on hers as she said, “You could suck on something better.”

“Mh- ish that so?” I asked, pulling back for a moment. Using that moment, she grabbed my shoulders and pushed me down. As I laid there unmoving, waiting for her to make her next move, I finally noticed that she was looking at me like some kind of predator. Leaning over to me, she shoved her tongue into my mouth and started kissing me.

Feeling that my penis was pressing against her abdomen and knowing that I was only inches away from her entrance, I got impatient and tried to put it in, but she pulled back and sat on my chest instead. “No-no,” she waved her finger.

“Are you crazy? It’s been three days since I last banged you and you’re dripping wet. We don’t need foreplay,” I grumbled, my eyes drawn towards her pussy in front of my face.

Noticing that I started talking in a lower voice towards the end and that my attention was diverted, she pushed my hands away from her thighs and moved over to my face. Being kind enough to at least please me a little, she turned around and laid on my chest so that she could reach my penis.

“I waited the same amount of time as you did, so let me get into the mood as much as I can before we start,” she replied through Link as she kissed the tip of my penis. Feeling that I pulled her bikini to the side and shoved my middle finger into her pussy, she continued what she started and took my balls into her hands. I could feel a sense of warmth filling my lower half as she started massaging them, which was followed by a pleasant jolt when she took me into her mouth.

Just feeling her lips coiling around my penis, I could totally imagine what an amazing face she was making, even though I couldn’t see anything but her peach-shaped pussy. Her labia were so plump and thick that every time I saw them, I wanted to bite them. As her scent started filling my nose, I couldn’t help but take deeper and deeper breaths.

Excited to take control of the situation, I grabbed her thighs and turned us over so that I would be on top. With my dick still inside her mouth and now my hips free, I started moving the way I wanted.

“Mmm- kh-” she choked in her surprise, but once her confusion ended and she returned to her senses, she continued her skillful blowjob. With her tongue supporting the underside of my dick, she could attack my weak spot every time I pulled back from her mouth. Although it felt great and I felt inclined to dump a load into her mouth, I wanted my three day’s worth of cum to go into her womb.

Using just her mouth wasn’t tight and quick enough to make me blow anyway, or at least, not anytime soon. After a good minute of fooling around, she finally had enough of foreplay and came while sitting on my face. Usually it was a bit hard to make her come for the first time, but once it happened, it was like an unstoppable train and she came every few minutes if I did well. Since she was pent up and I also used pleasure touch, even the first time came easily.

As I wiped her fluids off my face and sat up, I couldn't help but get even more excited, seeing the predatory look in her eyes. Looking over my shoulder, she pointed at the boulder in the water and said, “Let's go over there.”

Hoping to see what she had in mind, I teleported over and sat down in the water. “Not there, lay against the boulder,” she said in a commanding tone, seemingly in a hurry to sit on my cock. I was equally aroused so I obeyed her ‘command’ and asked, “Are you going to ride me?”

“I am,” she said with a smirk as she stepped over me and then knelt down. While looking deep into my eyes, she wrapped her slender fingers around my cock, her hand not even big enough to wrap it entirely. Looking down, she bit her lower lip as she lowered her body and guided my penis towards her pussy.

“I can see on your face just how impatient you are. I bet you’d rather shove it into me than to wait for me to put it in,” she said.

“Well, I admit that if you keep teasing me by moving so slowly, I may push you down, but is it really so visible on my face?” I asked as I held my breath, seeing that I was almost in. She loved doing this, fucking with my mind. That’s why I always took control and just did whatever I wanted instead, but I made an exception this time.

“It is~” she mused as she pressed my dick against her pussy and then raised her hips once again. Tilting my head to the side, I looked at her in silence.

“Haha, I’m sorry but as much as I want your dick inside, it’s too much fun to tease you,” she laughed. “I’ll put it in now,” she added in a low voice and quickly moved before I did. After rubbing the tip of my penis against her pussy a few times, she glided my dick straight into her soaking wet pussy.

“Damn~ I’m gonna come so fucking hard,” Lien grit her teeth as she gently swayed her hips. My balls and the root of my penis were underwater, so every time she moved, a slapping sound followed. Looking over her shoulder, I was mesmerized by her perfect round ass, so much so that I wanted to fill her insides with my load.

“Why did you get bigger?” she asked, still moving slow and steady.

Resting my back against the boulder once again, I grabbed her ass firmly and looked at the sexy faces she was making. “Are you having fun?” I smirked, seeing that she started panting a little.

“Mh~ I love your cock,” she whispered into my ear.

“And what about me?”

“I love you too,” she said.

“I see. What do you think? Would this be better if I moved you?” I asked, moving her hips back and forth a few times. I could feel her folds clamping down on me the moment I took control over her body, but she still shook her head in denial.

“Are you being honest?”

Seeing that she once again shook her head sideways, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Then let me show you how it’s done properly,” I smiled at her. Nodding her head, she leaned over and pressed her lips against my shoulder. Placing her right palm on my chest, she then puth her left arm around my back and closed her eyes, all ready to be moved.

“Well then, here were go,” I muttered as I started moving her and used pleasure touch on my penis at the same time. I could feel her lips quivering as she was trying her best to hold back herself from moaning, still ending up snuffling in my ear.

Gently biting my shoulder, she started murmuring to herself, “Oh shit, I’m coming. No, I can hold back, I can hold back, I can hold-” enjoying her husky voice in my ear, I spread pleasure touch to my hands as well, which made her shut up instantly. It was kind of sad because I was hoping to hear more of her chanting. Resting her hands at the bottom of the pool, she leaned back and gazed deep into my eyes.

“It feels great to hold your ass, you know?” I remarked.

“Hahn~ shut up,” she said between her pants.

As I ran my eyes down on her body, I noticed that shiny red scales started appearing one after the other around her navel and on her thighs. Smiling at her, I said, “Fire form? I love that one. You’re my little succubus.”

“Oh, I will be,” she purred, halting her movements until the transformation finished. In her fire form, she had red scales on the outer sides of her thighs and her arms, and on the underside of her breasts. There were also a few around her navel and above her ass, which put a perfect emphasis on her assets.

But the best part of her body was her tail. It was black in colour, like her nails and the tip of her tongue. The other two looked a little weird at first, but I got used to them in no time.

“Here you go, play with it,” she moved her tail in front of my face and started swaying it as if it was a piece of candy. Although she was a little taller in her fire form, she was still only around a hundred and seventy centimeters tall.

“Oh, you must be joking. Are you crazy?” she cried out, seeing that I also transformed into my fire form. “Crap, you're too big in this form,” she grumbled as my transformation finished.

“Heh- you're so tiny,” I snickered, seeing that she was only about half of my height, even in her demon form.

My arms were about as thick as her waist and my wrists were about the size of her thighs. My manliness also grew bigger which would have made things troublesome if she had stayed the same size. Luckily, she grew taller and 'deeper’ in her fire form, so I could spread her pussy a bit more without hurting her.

“It's not my fault that guys transform into fucking gorillas with in their fire form...” she grumbled as I wrapped my hands around her waist. I honestly felt great knowing that I could grab any part of her body and wrap it with my hands entirely. I felt so corrupted and great when I held her down and moved as I pleased. It was the best.

“Mh~ damn, it hurts a little,” she muttered as I raised her hips and then pushed her down on my rod.

Using a bit of magic, I quickly adjusted the size so that she could enjoy it and then continued moving. I thought about asking her if it was good, but seeing her gasping for air made it an obvious yes to me.

“What's up? Having trouble breathing?” I asked with a smile on my face, seeing her gaping with her eyes closed.

“Don't get cocky,” she said as she leaned forward and shoved her tongue into my mouth. Pulling back for a moment, she put her forehead against mine and gazed into my eyes.

“I love you,” I couldn't help but say, seeing her beautiful green eyes reflecting her lust. The moment she heard my confession, her lust shifted into love, but only until I didn't hit another good spot.

Pressing her lips against mine, with our eyes still opened, she said, “I love you too, Seth.”

Raising my left arm, I wrapped it around her body and pulled her into my tight embrace as an answer. I could feel her heartbeat through our connected chests, filling my mind with a sense of warmth. Locking her arms around my neck, she smiled at me as I started moving a bit rougher.

Seeing her right eye closing for a moment and her lips quivering, I knew I was hitting her weak spot, but that was my intention. I knew her pussy inside out, and it was the best.

“Lien… you're too tight. I can't hold back like this,” I whispered into her ear, trying my best to hold back from cumming.

“Bu-but it feels so good. My whole body is just stiffening up because I keep cumming,” she replied in a low voice.

“Haah~ shit, see? I'm coming again,” she muttered, and a moment later her folds gripped my dick so tightly that I couldn't hold it any longer. Since it was time, I pulled her down on my cock and creamed inside her deepest parts. Feeling a slimy texture flowing into my abdomen, I looked down only to realise that I was too big to fit into the water, and that a bit of my sperm also flowed out of her.

“Yeah, keep looking at it. You fucking filled me up with a single shot,” she said, sticking her finger into the sperm on my abdomen.

“Well, fire forms tend to be explosive in everything-” I started but I was left speechless, seeing her placing her cum-covered finger into her mouth while staring at me devilishly. Raising her brows, she smirked as she stuck her tail into my mouth and started moving along with me.

“I love your tail,” I said as I bit it and then started sucking on it. It was filled with nerves so her tail was really sensitive, which made it another spot that was super easy to tease. Leaning forward for a moment, she pulled out my tail from under me and took it into her mouth. Smiling at me, she pressed her lips against mine and then shoved her tongue into my mouth.

As our tongues kept rolling around, we kept licking each other's tails. Once I busted another huge load into her, which ended up flowing into the water, I put her on the side of the pool and spread her legs into splits.

My veins were bulging out of my penis which was covered in cum and Lien's pussy fluids. It was a truly arousing sight to behold. Turning to the side for a moment, I raised my brows and then looked back at her.

“Can you sense it?” I asked.

“I do, and I also know who’s coming, I just don’t get why’s he coming to our private pool,” she replied, seemingly not even caring about the matter.

“Where is your top?” I asked as I reached forward and grabbed her breasts. “I love how my fingers just sink into your tits, they’re the best.”

“Haah~ my top? Dammit, I think I left it on the side of the pool,” she replied, turning towards the tunnel.

“Uh- I'm not willing to stop here so you better get it with telekinesis,” I said as I slowly inserted my member and then started moving inside her.

“Mh~ but wait a moment, for fuck's sake. How am I supposed to use magic when you're banging me?” she gasped for air.

Taking her clit between my fingers, I smiled at her as I said, “Well, you better hurry up or the new guy is going to see us like this.”

“You brute,” she grumbled as she closed her eyes. It was clear to me that instead of focusing on using magic, she started enjoying sex.

“Hey, didn't you forget something?” I asked.

“Oh, come on, who cares about that fucking top? Just shut up and let me enjoy it,” she grumbled, instantly closing her eyes once again.

Shaking my head, I used my magic to bring it over and then used it to tie up her hands. “What now? Are you going to step up your game?” she purred playfully, knowing me all too well.

“It's punishment time for not listening,” I said, and then used pleasure touch on her whole body, charged to the maximum. The moment I did, her pupils enlarged and her whole body stiffened up as she orgasmed instantly. As long as I kept pouring my mana into my spell, she'd continue orgasming, so I planned making it short. I didn't want her to go crazy from the pleasure, but seeing the lewd faces she made when she orgasmed was the best.

I stopped only after a good fifteen seconds passed, and came into her one more time. I used it on myself as well, but with a weakened effect.

“Haahh- damn, I never thought when I returned to Balan that I'd get to feel this way in the future,” she muttered to herself, a bright smile plastered on her face.

“Thank you, darling,” she added as her body loosened up. Knowing that Gil would appear in a moment, I picked up Lien and pressed her against the boulder in a hurry. Placing my hand behind her head, I pulled her towards me and gave her a deep kiss.

“Woah! What a beautiful place!” Gil gasped when he came out of the tunnel. He was on the other side the boulder so he wouldn't see us unless he got around it.

Feeling that Lien locked her legs and arms around me, I started moving inside her, not minding this random guy on the other side. As long as we kept silent, he wouldn't be able to notice us. It was true that I could have used magic to hide ourselves entirely but then it would have killed the exciting part of this whole situation.

“It was really nice of Brian that he sent me here! I wonder why he didn't come with me,” Gil muttered while I just kept banging my wife. I felt so corrupted for doing this, but it was ten times better than doing it normally. We both loved dangerous situations, and neither of us denied it. We even did it on the streets at night a few times.

“Can you untie me? I want to touch your chest,” Lien said through Link.

Using my magic, I removed the bikini top from her wrists without even stopping. Doing as planned, Lien put her small hands on my chest and started caressing me. Our tongues kept rolling around inside each others mouths, sealing every moan that would have left Lien's mouth.

Since I had one more 'limb’ with my tail, I could fondle both of her breasts with my hands, and I used my tail to poke her clitoris instead. I had gotten really good at controlling it, so I could even use it for grabbing, pinching, and other similar movements.

“Aaah~ the water is great,” Gil kept moaning on the other side, which was quite annoying, but his presence made sex more exciting so I forgave him.

“Mh~ slow down,” Lien pulled back for a moment and whispered into my ear.

“Why?”

“I can't hold back my voice,” she replied, and then started kissing my neck. Feeling her lips on my neck got me even more excited, so she really wasn’t helping. Slowing down my movements, I thrust forward slowly but with all my strength instead. I could reach her deepest parts that way.

“Mhm, I'm going to come again,” she said.

“Same here, but we're running out of time. Should we stop after this?” I asked.

“Well, we promised my father that we'd go over so we can't just dump them to continue fucking. I'll let you have your way once we get home anyway,” she replied.

“Heh~ sounds great,” I mused as I pulled out my penis and put her down. Grabbing her by the head, I made her face my cock and after a bit of help from pleasure touch, I came straight onto her face.

In my fire form, the amount was more than enough for a thick facial mask, but it obviously flowed down. Some of it also covered her breasts, slowly trickled into her cleavage. Not expecting this turn of events, she wiped it off of her face and then looked at me with wide opened eyes, her hands raised.

“What the hell was this? You didn't even warn me! It almost got in my eyes!” she shouted at me through Link.

“Hahaha, that's what I wanted! I mean, surprise you,” I replied.

“Well, you succeeded,” she grumbled.

“I know!” I smiled at her, seeing her trying to clean up the mess I made of her, but it seemed to be impossible without going underwater or using magic. Her hair was also filled with sperm, which was really hard to clean.

“Screw you… I'm going to use magic else this is going to take at least half an hour, and we don't have that much time,” she grumbled as she removed all the sperm with a single spell.

“Hahaha, I don't mind it. It was totally worth it, though it was really hard to pull out. I'm way too used to cumming inside you so it kind of hurts when I can't,” I shook my head.

“I can't say I'm happy when it doesn't go inside me, but it's a part of human nature so it can't be helped. Anyway, we should be going,” she said.

“You're right.”

“But wear something first,” she pointed downwards. While we were talking, we also turned back into our normal forms and I cleaned myself. Once I put on a short and Lien wore her bikini, we teleported to the other side of the boulder as if we had just arrived. With our super acting skills, we both looked at Gil with surprised faces.

Equally surprised by our sudden appearance, he kept staring at us in silence for a few seconds and then finally came to his senses. “Ah! Pardon my rudeness,” he slightly bowed in front of me. He probably knew by now that I was the ‘mysterious’ husband, but honestly, only newcomers called me that.

“Hello,” I replied with a nod and then sat down in the water, facing him. This pool was quite small since it was only for two people, while the ones below were large enough to fit even a hundred people comfortably. Although our legs almost touched, we still had some space between us.

Following my example, Lien sat down next to me and after greeting Gil, she asked, “Who sent you here?” She made it sound as if it didn't even matter, so Gil didn't realise that he was being interrogated, though we both heard who was it earlier. Regardless, we had arrived just in his opinion, so we weren't supposed to know without asking him.

“Hm? My friend, Brian. He told me that there was a hot spring in the top of the mountain and that I should visit the one on the top floor because it's the best. He was right-” Gil was about to start praising the place once again, but Lien interrupted him.

“Wait. Although you don't have to leave and neither of us is mad at you, you should know that this is our private pool. You see, the women's pool is also right below us so if you were to look down from there, you could peek at them,” she said, pointing towards the cliff.

“What?! I'm really sorry, I didn't know about this!” he cried out, jumping up from the water. “But wait… he told me he couldn't come here, so could it be that… he knew?” he started realising that Brian tricked him.

He met us already so he knew we wouldn't be angry, but it was still a dick move. Well, I found it quite funny to be honest, and he ended up making sex better so all was fine on my end.

“You were definitely pranked,” I chuckled, seeing that realisation had dawned on him.

“That fucking bastard!” Gil stomped on the ground as he got out of the pool, glancing at me with a sorry look on his face. After seeing him in person and reading his soul, I agreed with Lien's assessment. He had a pure heart, though his soul language also showed that he was a quite perverted person. His eyes kept moving towards Lien's cleavage, which made it even more obvious, though I couldn't blame him.

No matter how pure or perverted a guy was, neither of them would be able to resist looking at tits, especially when they were as plentiful as Lien’s. They'd have to consciously fight the urge to look at it but then they should be aware of it, which would mean that they glanced at it already… That was the way of the nature. It was impossible to avoid. It wasn’t like I was happy about it but I changed a bit over the years. I understood that some things would never change, no matter what kind of person you met.

“Hey, Gil, you don’t have to leave. She just told you so that you’d understand what happened to you. This may be our private pool and we’d like to keep it that way, there are a few high-ranked members who still come here from time to time.  We aren’t taking stuff like this too seriously,” I said, seeing that he wanted to leave right away.

“Are you sure I can stay? It's not a problem even if I have to leave,” he said, once again glancing at Lien for a moment. He probably didn't even notice where his eyes were moving since he was doing it unconsciously.

“It's fine as long as you don't start peeking, though I’d be happy if next time you went to the men's pool. It's the one on the ground floor,” Lien replied.

“Of course, and I don't intend to do something so low,” he shook his head.

“That's good then,” she smiled at him.

“Well, I imagine this is your first time meeting, so now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, let me introduce you to my husband, Seth,” she added.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Gil, though you seem to know it already,” he lowered his head until I raised it with telekinesis.

“Yo, and yes, I knew who you were since I recognised your soul signature. It's different for everyone,” I replied.

“I see, that sounds amazing, though I have no idea how could you sense me since we've never met before,” he said.

“Well, it becomes easy once your soul and mana grow stronger. That’s also why the ten of you got personal invitations,” I shrugged.

“Nah, you're just weird,” Lien waved her hand.

“No, I'm not… those old freaks are the weird ones,” I shook my head.

“Haha, if I may be so rude to say this, I honestly thought that you'd be harder to talk to,” Gil said as he looked at me and sat back down.

“I can't say I'm fit to be the leader, but I'm the one anyway!” I laughed at it.

“I didn’t mean it that way, and I honestly think that it's a good thing. Personally, I prefer your kind of leader,” he smile at me.

“Aww, you'll make me melt. Be careful or Lien is going to be jealous!”

“As if that would happen. He isn't even a woman,” she shook her head.

“So what? I feel this is the start of a new and forbidden friendship! Right, Gil?”

“Please, stop trolling,” she rolled her eyes, not even letting him play along. “Jokes aside, I wouldn't worry even if he was a woman,” she added.

“I'm not surprised,” Gil replied with a shrug.

“You're right, she's too beautiful so she doesn't have to worry,” I nodded. “But what’s even more important is that she’s the corner of my little heart,” I smiled at her. Seeing her face reddening, I realised that I was making the mood awkward, so I cleared my throat and apologised, “Khm- sorry.”

“Well, it's me who's intruding so I'm the one who should feel sorry,” he replied, shaking his head.

“It's still disrespectful to flirt in front of others and although we managed to get out of that stupid habit over the years, we still tend to take things a little further than intended sometimes,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well… it’s true that I felt a little awkward but it was also nice to see that you two are so close. It makes me feel like I’m going to be the part of a big family or something,” he chortled.

“I see, I’m glad to hear that. I know that you arrived this morning, but how do you like it here? If you have any questions then feel free to ask me,” I said.

“What can I say? It’s the most beautiful place I've ever seen and up till now I liked everything about it. I've also met a few other people after I found my friend and they were all nice to me, which is kind of unusual. I mean, it’s quite usual that people are frustrated over something and then they react differently, while here, even though I talked to at least twenty people, neither of them seemed to be unhappy or irritated,” he started blabbering.

“It's not that nobody is frustrated. You can worry about stuff or get angry with people even in a place like this. What makes them different is that they can control their emotions unlike most of the people outside,” I said, waving my finger. I didn’t want him to have delusions about this place.

“Fair enough, but I still think that they're generally nicer. My friend was of the same opinion and I've never doubted his judgment,” he said with a smile.

“Are you talking about Brian?” Lien asked.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“I hope that you don't mind that I'm going to beat some sense into his head tomorrow for tricking you. This is the third time he caused trouble and it seems like the first beating I gave him wasn't enough,” she chortled, seeing that Gil kept nodding to show his approval.

“Yes, it's totally fine. Also, I think now I know what he meant when he said that ‘now I'm going to get back at her’ after he told me to come here,” Gil replied, adding another important piece of information.

“Oh- so that's what he was after! Well then, I think I'll have my fun with him tomorrow, though it's going to be a little hard to make some time for his beating,” she started laughing.

“Oh right! Since we've met, I might as well ask you about it!” Gil cried out, remembering something. “So there was this giant dragon made of vines which was too strong for us to beat, and it was also protecting the tree behind it. Do you have any idea what it was and why was it protecting a tree?” he asked.

“Hmm, I don’t wish to go too much into the details since you’re going to learn about it once you start going to our school. Or maybe I should call it training camp,” I muttered, and then continued - “Whatever. The short version is that those trees are the keys to finding Sylvanus and that dragon was one of its doppelgangers,” I replied.

“I’ve got it. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it then, and I also hope that I’ll be strong enough to beat that thing,” he raised his fist, all pumped up.

“Haha, if you’re willing to put in some effort, you’ll be able to wreck those weaklings in no time. Your soul is strong enough to use WORD magic and you’ve got a large mana pool so all you have to do is learn more about magic,” I said, waving my hand.

“I’ll work hard to meet your expectations. I’ve decided quite a long time ago that I’d help people but after fixing stuff in Panama, I felt a little bit lost on what to do. Thanks to you people, now I’ve got something to do again!” he said with enthusiasm.

Seeing his borderline crazy resolve to live for others, I couldn’t help but frown. These kind of people were quite easy to sway and control, and that wasn’t a good thing. Luckily, it was quite easy to cure as long as the person was willing to listen. Usually tha was the hardest part. To make others listen, but there was a reason we tested the applicants… so that wasn’t a problem here.

“Gil, it’s a nice thing that you want to help others but don’t forget about yourself. I don’t know what happened to you in the past and it’s none of my business… But! You seem to be punishing yourself by pushing yourself to live for others. For some people that may work but you don’t seem to be one of those, so think hard about what you want to do. Are you feeling guilty by any chance? Because that’s how you come off to me for some reason,” I said.

Lowering his head, his enthusiasm now dead, he sat there in silence. After a good twenty seconds, he finally responded, “I can’t say I was expecting this kind of bluntness… but you’re right about that.” Raising his head, he continued, “I did something inexcusable in the past, and I simply can’t forgive myself for what happened.”

“The reason I said that you’re right is that no matter how many lives I save or make better, they don’t cure my sense of guilt, only ease it. I think the only way for me to free myself from this is to get some kind of punishment and to talk to my brother’s wife,” he muttered the last part.

“Well, I don’t know what she has to do with your problem, but I could take care of the punishment part if that’d make you feel better…” I said.

Making a thoughtful face, he kept staring at me for a few seconds before saying, “Can I ask you something that may upset you?”

“Of course,” I nodded.

“I’m saying this in advance but whatever consequence this is going to bring, I’ll accept it. So… what if I was your brother and looked the same as you, and you were both weaker and Lien couldn’t tell us apart, and then one day I’d go to bed with her, pretending to be you? Because that’s what I did to my brother,” he said, clenching his fists.

“Well… woah… that’s borderline rape, you know? I wasn’t expecting that and I must admit that even imagining it makes me want to kill you, but we aren’t actual brothers and I don’t know how would I feel about it if we were.”

“What I do know is that I wouldn’t want to see your face for quite a long time, family or not, that’s for sure. As for reconciling, I think I’d need a few years but if I saw that you really regretted what you did then I think that it wouldn’t be impossible,” I replied honestly.

“I see. Are you not going to kick me out or kill me or something?” he asked.

“Is that what you were hoping for? Do you want that kind of punishment? Death?” I raised my brows.

“I’m honestly not sure. It kind of feels like I’d be giving up and that’d be the easy way out, so I’ve never really considered death. Maybe I’m getting tired of this,” he sighed, scratching the back of his head.

“I have only one question. Have you ever apologised to your brother’s wife? Have you ever talked to her about what you did to her? Because if you did this with Lien, she’d be hurt even more than me, I believe.”

“Huh?”

“Well, yeah, I’d probably blame myself for mixing you up,” Lien shook her head helplessly. His ‘trauma’ was a rather peculiar one which didn’t really have a solution. At least, I couldn’t think of any. The closest to a solution was that his brother and his wife would forgive him, and then maybe he could also forgive himself.

“I… I think I’m an idiot. I’ve never apologised to her properly and I’ve also talked only with my brother. I know that I’ve just came but would you let me go back to Panama? I wish to talk to them now,” he said as he jumped up from the water and bowed deeply. Unfortunately, the towel around his waist came undone because of the weight of the water in it, and fell off.

“Well, that's quite bold of you, though I can't say we appreciate nudity,” I couldn't help but laugh seeing his flustered face as he picked up the towel and covered himself.

“I'm terribly sorry,” he bowed even deeper this time, his face as red as a ripen tomato.

“It's fine,” I waved my hand. “Regarding your question, I’ve contacted Ma’at and she’s willing to accompany you, so you can go. I mean, you wouldn’t find the way back if you went by yourself…”

“Thank you very much!”

“Thank Ma’at, not me,” I said as I stood up from the water. While he ran back to the changing room to get dressed, I removed the teleportation-blocking formation from our pool and Ma’at came over.

Once Gil returned, I made a portal for them, much to his awe, and then sent them off to Panama. Since our talk took more time than expected, we were already running late from dinner, so we both dressed up and left for our parents’ home in a hurry.

His story was quite disturbing but after a good old dinner with my family, I forgot all about it for that night and continued where we left off with Lien once we got home.

 

--- next morning ---

“Mmm~ I swear this is the best way to wake up,” Lien murmured as she laid on my chest, enjoying my warm embrace.

“Are you sure? Wasn't it better when you woke up to being licked?” I chuckled, taking one of her nipples between my fingers.

“Haha, stop it. Didn't you say that you would go on a mission with some people?” she tried to push my hand away. Grabbing her wrists, I forced her hands down and got over her on all fours.

“Grr~ aren't we being forceful?” she smiled at me as she raised her knee and pressed it against my crotch.

“You're hard. But you'll be late,” she said.

“Yeah… it sucks but I've got to go,” I shook my head. “Also, don’t get me wrong because this is just morning wood. It’s natural, you know?”

“Hmm~ is that so? How about I go with you?” she asked, raising her brows.

“That'd be great, but you've got other stuff to take care of, don't you?” I asked, leaning closer to her.

“Yeah…” she sighed. “I've got to read the reports then hand out missions to different teams and I should select a few teachers for the next month. There is also the matter of doppelgangers and a few other areas which we should secure, and the list goes on,” she shook her head.

“I'll take care of the ones related to doppelgangers and security, and you can also ask Lug and Skadi to help with the rest, so it should be alright. I think we’ll be able to go on a holiday in three days. I'll also close the portals to the test grounds in the meantime and then hand over management to Lug and Ma'at. Skadi still has her own country to watch over, after all,” I replied.

“Mmm~ that sounds great. I'm looking forward to our holiday!” she said as she threw her arms around my neck and pulled me in with all her strength. Not minding that it’d be really hard for me to leave like that, she kissed me on the lips, also shoving her tongue into my mouth. It was really cruel of her.

A good minute later, I had to muster up all of my willpower to pull back, and then finally get out of the bed. Getting in bed with Lien was like a nightmare come true… there was no way to get out of the bed! It hurt so much every time.

Once I dressed up, I said my goodbyes and then sealed my soul as planned. The same problem kept repeating itself over the years. Sometimes it’d have been better if I could have hid my power but I could only block others from scanning me, at most. That never resulted in what I wanted, to underestimate me, since it made people understand that I was much stronger than them.

That being the case, a few months ago I spent a few days researching a method which would make it possible to hide my power without making it obvious that I was stronger. In the end, I found a way to do what I wanted by compressing my mana and soul force within my body and wrapping it with an illusion spell that Lug taught me.

He was the incarnation of Lugh, the Irish craftsmen god who was also associated with law and truth. He also had a special ability which made it impossible for people to lie to him. It was really handy when we had to interrogate someone.

Thanks to his ‘creation’ magic, he could construct anything from illusions to complete buildings, so he was a very useful member. Basically, whenever somebody tried to scan me, I altered the mana that passed through my body and turned it into what I wanted them to see. I could even play the role of a super weak human who could barely use magic, even though I had enough power to destroy the planet. Of course, nobody wanted to destroy the planet, not even Sylvanus. Its target was humankind, not the planet.

During the past two years I’ve run into the leaders of the five organisations that were our enemies so my face was well-known to them, but that alone wouldn’t have been a problem. I could have easily changed my face if it was only that much. The problem was that my mana and soul had a certain kind of ‘oppressing’ feeling, so whenever I tried to catch the servants of one of these groups, they either self-destructed before I could get close to them, or teleported away.

I could catch the weaklings but they didn’t know anything about the location of their base. I had to catch people who could use WORD magic else I wouldn’t get anywhere. That wasn’t the case with the other god incarnations who were living in Leviathan. Many of them had been wounded gravely in the past and I had to heal them, so I came to the conclusion that if I pretended to be a common resident, maybe I could get to meet some of the higher-ranking members of these organisations.

For that reason, I decided to go undercover and go on a mission with a few newcomers who had yet to see the leader's face, in short, me. Lien organised a team for me a week ago and also made sure that those newcomers wouldn’t meet me even by accident. This would be the first time I went on a mission with others, so I was looking forward to seeing their performance.

There was an outpost close to the exit which was mainly used to welcome newcomers like Gil. Although we called it an outpost, it was more like a family house. As I got into the house, I walked straight into the living room since I knew the others were there.

“Hello, am I late?” I asked, scratching the back of my head.

“No, no, please come in, you’ve arrived just in time,” Ma’at replied with a smile. She knew about my plans so she also pretended that she didn’t know me. She was doing well with her acting.

“Now that everyone is here, let me introduce you to each other. This person here is Cuchulain,” she pointed at a red haired guy who had a large and bulky body, very similar to mine. We both looked like some muscle-brained people. He also had thick facial hair, matching the colour of his hair, and making him look quite a bit older than his actual age. I’d have easily said that he was at least forty if I didn’t know that he was only twenty-five.

“The next person is Pele,” she pointed at a red haired girl who was the goddess of volcanoes. It was quite obvious seeing the fierce look on her face. As our eyes met, she didn’t avert her eyes and gazed deep into mine instead, clearly reflecting her tenacious personality. She was quite hot, in every meaning…

“The next one is Erlang Shen,” she continued, pointing at a brown haired guy who was quite small in stature and had a baby face, and then at the dog sitting by his feet, “And the dog next to him is a tamed beast, Eran, so you don’t have to fear it.” Regardless of his looks, he was the strongest of the three by far, and I could feel the aura of a true warrior emanating from his body.

Turning towards me, she continued with her poker face and said - “and the last person is Seth. This’ll be his first mission so please watch out for him and guide him. Of course, you don’t have to look down on him because he’s quite talented,” she winked at them.

“Screw you, why are you setting me up as some kind of newbie? I hope that they won’t start disciplining me or something of the sort because I couldn’t bear to listen to stuff I know,” I rebuked Ma'at in my mind, knowing that she’d hear it.

“Hahaha, it’s more fun this way. You’ll have to pretend to be a newbie!” she replied and after clearing her throat, she said aloud, “Now let me tell you the details. Your task will be to infiltrate a city named Kyoto where many people and god incarnations have gathered. They’ve also made some kind of ‘adventurer guild’ system where people can request stuff and the ‘adventurers’ are going to fulfill those. Of course, they’re compensated for their services.”

“Most of the missions there seem to be related to monster subjugation and escort missions, which shouldn’t be hard for you. Your main goal will be to go on these escort missions because the adventurers and merchants are often attacked by members of Germ and Necron. Their culture is quite different from anything you’ve ever seen before, so you should watch your manners while being there. I’ve prepared a list for you which describes some of these cultural differences. If possible, practice them before coming in contact with the locals,” she rounded up her explanation.

It wasn’t her job to hand out missions and stuff like that, but this time we made an exception since Lien shared the plan only with Ma'at and a few other high-ranking members. The people who were normally responsible for guidance would have probably made a blunder when they saw me. Ma'at was used to hiding her emotions because of her commandment, so it was best to leave the acting to her.

“Do you have any questions?” she asked as she handed out a piece of paper to all four of us. Although I knew about everything, I pretended to read the paper just like the others and then waited in silence.

“Uhm, pardon me but what do these ‘san’ and ‘kun’, and ‘sama’ stuff mean?” Pele asked with a frown.

“As stated on the paper, they’re put after the names in their country, but you don’t have to worry about them because you’re going to receive a translator ring, which is going to help you in speaking their language. For most people just use ‘san’ and for strangers you can use ‘senpai’ if they’re older. I’m not entirely sure about how this works, but they seem to be kind to strangers and also know that not everyone understands their culture,” she said.

“I see. I’m looking forward to seeing their place in that case,” she said with a nod.

“I’m glad to hear that but please be careful on your mission because Germs’ magic is very dangerous. You’ll need your healing powers,” Ma’at warned her, waving her finger.

“I understand. Thank you for your guidance,” Pele bowed slightly to show her respect.

I heard from some people that bowing was an ‘unthinkable’ act for most people two hundred years ago. I had nothing against it if I knew I made a mistake and that I was in the wrong, but it felt really bad for some reason. The people who grew up in Balan had more similarities to the people of the past, probably. Regardless, I understood that facts were facts and that it had nothing to do with my feelings, though no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t remember bowing to anyone.

“I also have a question. Is there anyone among us who has low defense or healing capability?” Erlang asked, running his eyes through us.

“My fire can burn everything in my close vicinity and it can also heal me so germs and necromancers are a good match for me,” Pele replied with a nod.

“I’m… let’s just say ‘out of the norm’ when it comes to my body,” Cuchulain also nodded his head.

I knew what he was capable of, and he was a real monster inside. He had another form which was quite a bit bigger than my demon form and it was way stronger and quicker than any human body. There was a limit to physical strength, even if all elements were infused into our bodies, but his true form went even beyond the strongest elemental form.

“No problems here,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Good. It’s also not a problem for me so I have no complaints,” he said.

“We pick people based on their capabilities and what’s necessary to finish the task so you have no reason to worry about that, but it’s promising that you asked something like that. If there are no more questions, then let’s continue with picking a leader and then I’ll send you to Kyoto straight away,” Ma’at said, seeing that we were done chatting.

“I’m sorry for holding you back in that case. I think I’ve got too used to bad management,” Erlang grumbled, looking at us apologetically.

“It’s fine. Is there anyone who wants to take the lead?” Ma’at asked. Seeing that everyone was silent, she started laughing, “Hahaha, I’m glad to see that you trust ‘management’ so much all of a sudden. I hereby declare Erlang as the leader of this party because he reached the highest point during the test and he’s also the strongest. Please follow his commands closely,” she said.

Although this wasn’t their first mission, it wasn’t like they were veterans either. In fact, this would be their third time, and this was the first serious one.

“Now then, are you ready to leave?” she asked.

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

“Mhm,” I also nodded.

“Alright then, off you go!” she clapped her hands and a portal appeared in the doorway. Unlike the ones that appear during recruiting times, this one was crystal clear and showed the exact image of the world on the other side.

“How did things go with Gil?”

“I’ll tell you about that once you get back but I think that things are going to be okay,” she replied while we said our goodbyes and picked up the bags that were prepared for us. The moment I stepped onto the ground on the other side of the portal, it closed behind my back and space twisted a few times in its place before it returned to normal. It was a method I taught to Ma'at so that the portals couldn’t be tracked back to Leviathan at the time they were closed.

Turning around, Erlang said, “Okay, first let’s see what’s in these bags.”

“That’s a good idea,” Pele nodded and took it off of her back, followed by everyone else.

“Hmm, some food, a map of the area, this seems to be money, the paper that we’ve read back there, the translator ring, and some other stuff good for survival. Oh, and these?” Erlang took out one thing after the other from his backpack and stopped only when he saw a bunch of pills in a transparent pouch. Since Ma'at wasn’t used to this kind of job, she actually forgot about those but luckily, I was here.

“I’ve seen those before. They’re pills which contain some kind of spell in them. We’re supposed to take them in if we can’t withstand the germs’ magic or our souls are wounded,” I said. “The blue ones are for healing your soul and the green ones are the pills against germ magic.”

“Are you sure about that?” he asked with a frown.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Alright then, I’ll trust you. Let’s keep these in our pockets in case of an emergency and store the rest of them. Could someone put my stuff back into the backpack while I check the map?” he asked, but while he was talking, I used telekinesis to store everyone’s stuff.

“That’s… handy. Thanks,” Pele muttered, looking at me with a surprised face.

“Cool, we can look at the map together in that case,” Erlang said with a smile and then stomped on the ground, making a flat rock rise out of the ground. Placing the map on it, we checked out the route to our target, the ‘adventurer’s guild’.

“Alright, now that we’re all clear, let’s go to the city. Remember, our top priority is to find and kill, or possibly capture members of Germ or Necron. Capturing them would be the best but our chances are low and we’re relatively weak compared to the more experienced residents of Leviathan, so we should be careful,” Erlang said. For some reason I was kind of excited.

This was the first time that I went on a mission pretending to be a normal resident, so I was looking forward to seeing how they worked alone, and I also wanted to hear their opinions. They were all calm and collected and took commands seriously without childishly fighting the leader, even though this was the first time they met.

I was pleased to see that they weren’t fooling around, though they forgot to do a rather important thing. Nobody asked what the other could do… but I was hoping that they’d do it before they started fighting.

Kyoto was an enormous city, bustling with life and people, which was a rare sight these days. Most of the buildings in the center were modern but the ones on the outskirts were all old fashioned. Although I was used to modern architecture, the older buildings looked fancier. I liked their looks quite a lot.

The streets were filled with vendors and stalls, selling all kinds of meat, weapons, fruits, vegetables, armours, and even scrolls. Some of the people also shouted what were they selling and for how much, but most of them stayed silent.

“Woah, that necklace looks so nice,” Pele gasped, spotting a necklace in the display window of a jewelry store.

“Is that seriously what caught your eyes?” Cuchulain laughed, seeing her sparkling eyes.

“Yes! You see, my body is too hot so I can't wear anything, they'd just melt on my body. I'm using magic to contain the heat within a close proximity of my body, hence, I can only dream about wearing fancy clothes and stuff like that,” she said, shaking her head.

Looking at her dark red T-Shirt and tight black hotpants, I asked, “Eh? But how come you still have clothes then?” Of course, I knew the answer.

Scratching the back of her head, her face reddened a little as she said, “Originally I lived near a volcano and took the test to Leviathan naked… It was terrible but I had no other choice. Once I passed the test, the leader of Leviathan made me a few clothes from the skin of some powerful fire-based monsters. I was eleven years old when I got my commandment, so it was a huge change that I couldn't touch anyone and that I couldn't wear anything.”

Hearing her full explanation, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She definitely went through a lot, but she should be fine now. We'll also help her in regulating her body temperature so she won't have to avoid body contact.

“Eh? I'm sorry for asking. I didn't think you had to live like that,” I apologised.

“No, it's fine. You had no way to know and even if you were to know about this, I wouldn't have been offended by a question like this…” she shrugged her shoulders.

Stepping closer to her, Cuchulain pressed his finger against her arm, only to pull it back in a hurry. His finger turned charred black, so he quickly waved his finger and used healing magic. Looking at Pele with a dumbfounded face, he said, “What the fuck? My dick would definitely burn to a crisp if I tried to make a move on you!”

“Hahaha, yeah, I guess that's the only 'good’ side of my body temperature,” she chuckled, and then hung her head as she continued, “But… it's not like it's a good thing either.”

“I feel sorry for you,” he muttered.

Did she just ignore such an obscene joke? I thought she’d smack Cuchulain or something, I thought, seeing that she didn’t even care about it.

“What about fire forms? People with that attribute should be able to touch you, no?” Erlang asked, turning around for a moment.

“Yes, but the people who lived near the volcano had no such knowledge and power. I hope that there'll be some people in Leviathan who I'll be able to get along with. Most people seem to be strong enough to transform into all elemental forms,” she said.

“Are you sure about that? I think that it's only those who are S ranked and above,” Erlang said with a frown. Realising that there were many like that, he waved his hand, “Never mind. It's not like those people are rare. Even I'm close to reaching the S rank. I'll be soon able to combine all elements!”

“It's a great thing that we were taught stuff like that,” I said, trying to promote our ‘services’.

“Indeed,” they all nodded.

“I'm quite curious about the guy who built that place. I wonder what's he like,” Cuchulain said.

Well, I wonder…

“Ask Seth. They are both named Seth so maybe they know each other,” Pele said laughing.

“Haha, ask away. I know everything about him!” I continued her joke.

“I'm not sure if I'd actually want to meet him, though. What if he's some super strict guy? His wife was nice to me though, so maybe he is also nice,” Cuchulain added.

“If he was so strict then the rules would be very much different…” Erlang said, shaking his head.

“Erm, now that you mention it, you must be right,” he nodded. It was quite strange to hear them talking about me, but everything seemed to be fine up till now.

“It's not only that. I've also heard good things about him from the other residents. They said that the leaders are all level-headed and easygoing people who are strict only when they have to,” Pele added.

“Cool. The only problem I've got is that Ma’at can hear my thoughts, so I avoid her most of the time,” Cuchulain said.

“Eh? But have you never thought about her feelings? It'd be quite sad if everybody avoided me and told me that they disliked my presence. I think it's really cruel,” she replied, slightly raising her voice.

“Well, we've talked it over already. I told her that I have no problem with her personally and she told me that she understood and that it was fine. I believe she got used to it, just like how you got used to being naked,” he said.

Hearing his last words, I chortled.

“It's not funny!” she glared at me. “Also, don't be so dumb. Do you think that she'd tell you that it was not okay if she felt that way?”

“I don't know. Now that you mention it, probably not. She seemed to be a nice person so I do feel bad when I think about it but it just doesn't sit well with me, no matter what,” he sighed loudly.

“Is that so? Well, I agree that she's most likely used to it by now, but I'd prefer if people stopped avoiding her,” she shook her head.

“Look at the bright side! You can be her friend and she's definitely strong enough to touch you, even without transforming!” Erlang clapped his hands.

“You're right. I've visited her a few times already and we do get along. She's also close friends with Lien so I might run into Seth in the near future. I mean… after living there for a month, it’d be nice to at least meet the boss.”

“I'm here,” I said playfully.

“Haha, not you, silly,” she also laughed at it. We were both laughing but for different reasons.

“Guys, enough of chatting for now. We've arrived at the guild so focus on the mission,” Erlang said, stopping on the side of the busy street.

“Okay~”

The guild was a large building on the right side of the street, filled to the brim with people. There were two lions engraved into the wall on both sides of the giant double door, which looked really cool in my opinion. The paper in our bags gave a detailed explanation about the process that we'd have to go through, so we came prepared, thanks to the scouts.

“Stay close to me and don't cause unnecessary trouble,” Erlang added, not really meaning it. None of the people in Leviathan would expect the other members being that retarded. It was more like a habitual reminder.

As we got into the building, we went straight to the end of the line in front of one of the counters and waited for our turn. Our line was quite short so it took only about half a minute to reach the counter.

Smiling at the Japanese woman, Erlang started, “Hello. We're new to the city and we'd like to register in the guild.”

Brushing her short black hair behind her ear, she smiled back at him and said, “Welcome. Please fill these forms in that case and then bring them back to me. You won't have to stand in line again.”

Taking the papers from her hand, we thanked her and moved over to an empty table. The others started filling the form without any hesitation, but my case was a bit troublesome. Although Erlang and the others didn’t know about this, I’ve had a connection with Kyoto. I opened two portals in Kyoto about half a year ago and made a pretty good connection with the leaders of this place. They've also received my protection multiple times already, but what was more important was that they knew my true name.

There was a high chance that even the receptionist would question me if I wrote Seth Clearfall in the name field, not to mention my teammates. While filling the other fields, I tried thinking of a good family name and decided to go with Newin, which was Lien's family name. She used her name as Lien Clearfall after our marriage, which was the norm in Balan, so very few people knew her family name. Most of those people were either family or close friends.

Once we finished filling the forms, Erlang took it back and continued the process while we stayed at the table and inspected the people in the hall. Most of them had black hair, which I found a little weird. Their souls and mana were quite strong generally, enough to rank the military strength of this city the second on the planet. Leviathan not included.

Of course, I couldn't be sure since there was a chance that we haven't explored some even stronger cities yet. But as far as I knew, only Budapest had stronger people. It was a large city in a small country, surrounded by tall mountains and giving home only to a few monsters. That being the case, they took little damage at the time of the apocalypse, meaning that their development wasn't hindered by anything in particular. They also kept a large portion of their past knowledge, so learning magic was an easy task for them.

“Come here,” Erlang used his soul force to notify us. Doing as told, we then had to cut our fingers and drop a drop of blood onto some tiny formation. Its only purpose was to store our DNA so that we could be identified anywhere and anytime by simply using our guild cards. I could have spit on the formation as well, but for some reason everyone cut their fingers instead. Maybe it had some hidden ritualistic meaning but I couldn’t be sure.

They made exactly two cards for everyone and gave one to us while they kept the other one for themselves. It was a good thing that I had perfect control over my mana else my card would have exploded from being overloaded by my mana-filled blood. After receiving our cards, we moved over to the bulletin board to look for some kind of mission.

The receptionist also told us that if we were to pick a mission where we had to protect someone, we’d have to be assessed first to make sure that we were strong enough to accept it. If we took a subjugation mission then it was entirely our responsibility, even if we died. Anyone could pick any kind of missions and our power rank would be assessed based on the hardest mission we’ve finished, as long as it didn’t endanger other people’s lives.

I believed it was logical this way. We could attack a powerful monster horde recklessly even without joining the guild and it was the same with subjugation quests. We could take them but if we failed, only we’d die, while during bodyguard missions, we’d endanger other people’s lives if we overestimated our abilities. That being the case, it was best to finish a hard monster subjugation mission first so that we’d be automatically assigned a higher rank and then we could take escort missions without all the hassle.

Based on the descriptions, most of the escort missions were related to merchants who moved back and forth between the cities and towns of this island. Kyoto was too large and there were too many people with too little source of food, so they got around the problem by bringing in food and goods from the nearby towns and villages.

Although there were paved roads and ‘safe’ routes with very few monsters, that was only because the adventurers of the guild took care of the monsters and maintained the roads. The real problem was that the merchants who were responsible for bringing in the goods were often attacked by monster hordes because of the large amount of food, or by the members of Germ and Necron.

The paper that was in our bag also stated that we should accept only A ranked missions and above, so we accepted an A ranked monster subjugation mission. Our task was to kill a horde of Silverfur Ape, south from the city. These apes would have been called S ranked monsters in Balan while they were just regular monsters here.

The Silverfur Ape was considered a B ranked monster in Kyoto but the mission was A ranked because there was a horde of them. It really made me wonder how did Balan survive this long and why wasn’t it overrun by monsters, along with the nearby cities. Regardless, it wasn’t in danger anymore since I laid a Horrific formation around it not long after I built Leviathan.

About ten minutes later, we reached the southern gate and left the city to look for the horde.

“Based on the reports that the guild received, eleven Silverfur Apes were seen about five kilometers from the city, so they shouldn’t be that far,” Erlang said once we got further away from the gate.

“Can I say something?” Pele asked.

“Why couldn’t you?” Erlang asked with a confused face.

“Alright then… I’ve mentioned before that I lived near a volcano so I’m pretty familiar with a few types of monsters. There was a group of Flare Apes where I lived and they often wandered far away from their ‘nest’, so I’m not sure if what you said is actually right. But it’s also possible that they did so only because there was nothing to eat in the close proximity of the volcano,” she said.

“I see. So you’re saying that there’s a possibility that they’re similar to the apes you met and that their nest is far away, right?” he asked, raising a brow. “I just want to confirm,” he added.

“Yes,” she nodded.

Covering his face with his hand, he shook his head and cursed silently a few times. Finally calming down, he said, “Thanks to your question, I’ve realised that I’m an idiot… you see, we were picked based on our abilities, or at least, that’s what Ma’at said, so what can you guys do? I forgot to ask the most important question. Also, is there anyone with some scouting ability?”

“Hahaha, now that you mention it,” Cuchulain started laughing. “If I’d have to describe my abilities, I’d call myself a frontline fighter because I’m very hard to kill and take very little damage from spells. I can transform into a different form which is very resistant to magic and is much stronger physically than most of the living beings on the planet.”

“Also, my trait increases my perception and sensitivity so it’s hard to ambush me and stuff like that,“ he added. Although traits had their own names in Balan, that wasn’t the case everywhere in the world.

Thank god, I thought they’d never do it. Well, let’s use a bit of magic so that I’ll be asked last and can fill in for them, I thought as I used a weak mind magic which diverted attention from me.

“I can protect myself just fine but what I’m even better at is moving quickly and raining hell upon my opponents, literally,” she showed us a devious smile as lava started dripping from her fingertips. It was the same as when I was in my fire elemental form. Her spells couldn’t be blocked or altered by normal means and mixing up the laws wouldn’t stop her from using her spells either. I was quite sure of that.

“As for my trait, every source of heat boosts my regeneration speed, reaction speed, and movement speed, so basically, my whole body is boosted by my own body. If I were to get in trouble, just shoot a few fireballs towards me and I’ll heal in no time. It’s more effective than healing magic for me,” she said.

“Cool,” Erlang nodded. “I can fill in multiple roles since I can transform into seventy-two beasts, all with their own unique abilities and I can also move quickly, so I’ll take on the middleman role. I can tame monsters with my trait to serve me but that won’t be too useful during this mission. Wait, what about you?” he asked, noticing that I was left out. My spell was a bit stronger than expected so he even forgot about me but once I cancelled it, he remembered me.

“Damn it, I keep screwing up,” he muttered in an inaudible voice. The others clearly didn’t understand what he said but I did.

Well, sorry, that was my doing. Anyway, they’ve got Cuchulain as the front fighter, Pele can attack from afar and she can also fight close combat while Erlang is the mid player. I guess I should be something like a supporter.

Deciding on my role, I said, “In that case, I believe I was picked to be your support because I can erect barriers, scan large areas, and heal others. I can also empower you. My trait makes it possible for me to create materials by transforming mana. Of course, I also have to know the composition of said materials but rest assured, I can create many things,” I replied.

Raising his hands, he said, “Okay, I give up. Here I was questioning Ma’at about the line-up of our party, even though I forgot to ask the most important question. We’ve got all kinds of people for this mission, it seems…”

“Neither of us thought about it and this is also your first time leading a party, right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Then isn’t it fine? We still talked it over before getting into a fight and I’m quite sure that we’ve all learned from this mistake,” I smiled at him.

“You’re right but it’s still pissing me off. I’m kind of happy that none of the leaders and teachers are here. It’d be quite lame if they found out about this…” he shook his head.

“Hahaha, yeah. Let’s keep this a secret and remember it for the rest of our lives so that we won’t make the same mistake again!” Cuchulain laughed heartily.

Well now, isn’t this funny? Though Ma’at would hear you if you thought about it anyway so it’d be hard to keep it a secret from her if you actually remembered it. They’re still so naive when it comes to Leviathan. They’re like cute children. It makes me want to have a child with Lien…

“Is something the matter?” noticing my thoughtful face, Erlang asked.

“Ah, no, I was just thinking about something,” I chortled.

“I see. Shall we continue on our way then?” he asked, turning towards the others.

“Yeah~” we replied.

Since I wasn’t supposed to be too strong, I didn’t tell them the direction the apes were at and would ‘scan’ the area only when we reached the where they were last seen. Pele was actually right because their nest was about thirty kilometers away from the city but the apes that we had to kill were quite close to the city.

I was looking forward to seeing how they would deal with them once we killed the adult apes because it wouldn’t fix the actual problem. Monsters grew at an incredible pace so the apes would be back a week later if they didn’t get rid of the younger ones in their nest.

It was a really good thing that I was the ‘support’ guy since I didn’t have to pretend that I didn’t know where to find the apes. After reaching the right area, I pretended to scan our surroundings every few minutes and guided them towards our targets.

“Stop right there,” I said in a low voice. “They should be on the other side of this lake, so let’s prepare.”

“Wait a moment,” Erlang waved his hand and walked closer to the bushes. The lake was surrounded by lush forestry and tall bushes, so we could hide there quite easily. Of course, we also used magic to hide our presence and block our voice.

After peeking over the bushes and seeing that the apes were just drinking and sitting on the other side, he turned back around and said, “I know that these monsters pose no threat to us but I still think that we should take them seriously. It’s better safe than sorry. That being the case, first Cuchulain will go in and draw their attention towards himself. Since he’ll be alone, they’re surely going to attack him.”

“Seth, you’ll use your support magic to cover him in case something happens. Pele, with your fire, it should be easy to cut off their escape routes. Just set the forest on fire and we’ll put it out once we’re done with the apes. As soon as you’re done, you can start attacking the apes. As for me, I’ll also attack the apes once Cuchulain diverted their attention.”

“Are your roles clear to everyone?” he asked after he finished planning. It was a simple plan and although it was unnecessary to deal with these monsters, it was a good thing that they wanted to practise their teamwork. I was pleasantly surprised. I really thought they’d just kill them without all this ‘hassle’.

“Yeah, shall I go out then?” Cuchulain asked.

“Mhm,” Erlang nodded and then quickly moved around the lake to get behind the apes, followed by Pele.

“Hey, you stupid monkeys! Come here!” Cuchulain shouted as he walked through the bushes and stopped in front of the apes. Enraged to see him intruding on their territory, they all roared and beat their chest, and then jumped over the lake. Even before they could reach the ground, Cuchulain transformed into his giant form, reaching a height of five meters, and punched the two apes that were about to land.

The apes’ bodies were crushed into a bloody pulp on the spot and seeing their comrades death, the other apes realised that they were no match for this human and turned around to run away. But by the time they got there, they were surrounded by a sea of fire and two more people appeared behind them. Pele and Erlang finished the rest in the blink of an eye while I put out the fire before it spread too much. I simply removed oxygen from the whole area which killed the fire instantly.

“Well, that was anticlimactic…” Pele remarked, seeing the pile of corpses.

“It’s because you all did great and followed the plan. We didn’t have to chase them and stuff like that,” Erlang said with a smile, clearly happy that his plan worked out. It was a quick and simple plan, a perfect one for this kind of stuff, so I was also satisfied with it.

It wasn’t like they were being tested but since I was here, I couldn’t help but analyze everything they did. The bright side was that they didn’t know that their boss was watching them, so they weren’t pressured.

“And what do we do now?” I asked.

“First of all, we should take a part of their bodies and destroy the rest because others could steal the reward for the mission. Secondly, we should also find their nest and destroy it if possible,” Erlang replied, saying one pleasing thing after the other. It was nice to see that he was getting used to his role.

While he was talking, Cuchulain started cutting off their fingers and Pele burnt the rest of their bodies, leaving no traces behind. A few minutes later we were all done to continue and since scanning and searching was left to me, I guided them towards the nest straight away. I knew that maybe others wouldn’t be able to find it that easily but I couldn’t bring myself to wander the forest aimlessly.

Once we got rid of the monsters in the nest, went back to the city and finished the mission by claiming our reward. In case of subjugation missions, anyone could accept any of the missions but the reward would go to the quickest party. It wasn’t unheard of that some party killed the monster horde and another party claimed the reward before they could return with their proof.

As a matter of fact, a party of people had seen that we were newbies and tracked us all the way to the apes. If we left their bodies there, they’d have taken the proof as soon as we left the bodies and then hurried back to claim the reward before us. It was such a low and vicious method to earn money, I honestly considered exposing and killing them. But then again, maybe death was too much and just putting them in jail would have been enough.

After taking a short rest, we accepted another monster subjugation request but this time it was an S ranked one. The S rank of this city was nowhere near the one in Leviathan and even we were way above your casual S rank, so it was totally fine. The next mission went as smoothly as the first and we once again received the reward, also earning the recognition of the receptionists. S ranked parties were still rare but we became one nonetheless.

Since our rank was updated and we had gained the recognition of the guild, we accepted our first escort mission. The paper work went without any problems and the mission would start tomorrow at nine in the morning. We’ll have to guide one of the merchants to a town which was east to the city, close to the lake called Otsu. Naturally, that was the easy part since we also had to escort them back to Kyoto but on the way back, he’ll bring a lot of food.

As far as I knew, the merchant asked for his protection from five high ranked parties with at least one S ranked party included, so we weren’t the only ones who’d escort him. Since we’ve got quite hungry after running around for hours, we decided to have an early dinner in one of the restaurants nearby. It took some time but we found a good one which wasn’t too crowded and wasn’t the cheapest one around.

One of the best things about Leviathan was that we had people from all over the world bringing in their local cuisine and we also had fields with all kinds of vegetables, corps, and herbs, so there was a huge variety of food available. I learned many new recipes and gained many new favourites but it also made me pickier when it came to food. It wasn’t a necessity to eat for me anymore, it simply felt good, so I went ahead and enjoyed it whenever I could.

Luckily, the others didn’t mind the higher price either and wanted to try something more delicious instead. After placing our orders, Erlang said, “It’s three in the afternoon and we’ve finished two missions. If we wanted, we could still finish at least one more mission before going to sleep but I’ll let you decide on this one.”

“Eeeh~ no way. I want some sightseeing while being here,” Pele shook her head in denial.

“I’d be okay with it if you told us to go but since you’re leaving the choice to us, I also pick staying and sightseeing,” Cuchulain replied.

“I also think that it’s okay to stay. Our mission isn’t to become adventurers and get rich and eradicate wildlife,” I said. The whole adventurer thing made up a huge part of the economy of Kyoto since eighty percent of the taxes returned to the guild which was managed by the leaders.

That was how they paid adventurers and that was how about fifty percent of the population earned money. If we carelessly destroyed wildlife and got rid of their monster problems, we’d cause more bad than good. It was better to wait for them to slowly clear out their surroundings and change their economy based on their needs. It was a no go for me to delve into their matters.

“I see, let’s look for a hotel after having dinner and then you’ll be free to look around the city. If possible, please avoid trouble and don’t cause a commotion by showing off or starting a fight and stuff like that,” Erlang said, visibly happy to hear our decision. He probably didn’t want to go either.

While waiting for food and then while eating, we continued talking about our past and where we came from. When it was my turn, I told them about Balan and about how I came together with my wife without telling them her name. I also told them I’d introduce her once we returned to Leviathan. Once our bellies were full, the four of us left to look around the city which looked even better in the dark as the lights lit up the city.

I honestly found it beautiful, though it still wasn’t comparable to Leviathan. I was really proud of what I built over the years and the size of our community continued growing as more and more people joined. There were also areas where myths and tell-tales formed about Leviathan which were quite fun to listen to, as the creator of the place.

Kyoto was one of those places and it happened on the way back to our hotel that we came across a middle aged man who was making a speech. Realising that it was about Leviathan, the others also became interested and stopped. There were quite a lot of young people surrounding him, visibly interested to hear more about such a ‘mysterious’ place. Sadly, he seemed to be towards the end of his tale when we got there but he was praising it so all was good.

“...it’s a beautiful place with infinite lands and enough food to feed a whole country! Also, those who manage to get in are going to become way stronger than any of our high-ranked adventurers! They’re operating all over the world and are helping people and fighting evil organisations…” he waved his hand, filled with enthusiasm as he kept talking about it.

“And how do you join them?” a kid asked with shining eyes.

“This one, I’ve seen with my own eyes! It’s still unknown when but from time to time, black scrolls start falling from the sky, inviting people to join Leviathan. When that happens, a dark portal appears and after going through, you have to face some kind of test. The thing is, nobody knows the details of that test, even though many failed and returned! It’s said that no matter what you do, once you leave the test area, you’ll forget all about that happened inside!”

“But then how do you know all this?” one of the kids asked cleverly.

Smiling at the kid, the man waved his finger as he said, “Your question is a good one, I’d have asked the same if I heard this from someone else. How do I know this? The question is rightful but so is the answer! I know this because I came across a group of people who passed the test! They also had the original emblem of Leviathan, a coin with a flying island on it, imbued with the mana of the creator of the place.

“As I touched it, I could feel immense power emanating from it, the kind I’ve never felt before. It was those people who told me a few things about the place but they didn’t really go into the details, saying that it was a secret. I’ve tried passing the test multiple times already but I still don’t know what happened during the time I was in. I may have no chance to pass their test but you… you kids are still young! Maybe you can pass it the next time the portal opens and see what lies beyond this mysterious place!”

Realising that it was the end of the tale, the kids started cheering on him, all excited to enter Leviathan. Smiling at the scene, we just shook our head and continued on our way without saying anything. Still, huge smiles were splattered on our faces, feeling proud to be a part of such a ‘mysterious’ place. People in Kyoto knew about germs and necrons since their members often attacked the adventurers and many of them also knew that the members of Leviathan were the only ones who were actively fighting them.

Once we returned to our hotel room, I covered my face with a black cloth and changed the colour of my clothes to black. Since I marked the man’s soul I knew exactly where to find him but there were quite a lot of people around him so I waited until he reached an abandoned area and teleported over to him.

Surprised to see a man clad in black appearing in front of him, he jumped back and raised his hands in his defense but as I removed my seals and uncovered my presence, he could sense my power instantly. Terror sat on his face, knowing that he had no way to fight me back if I wanted to take his life, so he lowered his hands and asked, “H-How can I help you, my lord?”

“Haha, there is no need for such formalities and I’m not your lord either. Anyway, I happened to hear you telling the kids about Leviathan and I’m the person who built that place so I really appreciate what you’re doing. If you can do it another thousand times, I’ll let you look around Leviathan,” I said as I gave him the emblem he mentioned during his tale.

Since I didn’t want others to take actions in our name, I made an emblem for every citizen and whenever they left Leviathan to go on missions without hiding their origin, they had to show it to the local authorities. Our emblem was quite well-known in Kyoto and many other countries and cities.

“Ah! Yes! Thank you very much!” he shouted in his happiness.

“But don’t confuse things! You can’t live there, you’d have to pass the test for that, that’s absolute,” I added, making sure that he understood. “Naturally, I’m not forcing you to do this for me. You’re free to ignore it and can keep the coin even if you refuse but let me warn you, you shouldn’t abuse it because this will be the only coin in the world which won’t be in the hands of a resident. In other words, I’ll find out about it very easily…”

“I wouldn’t dare to! And please don’t worry about it. Consider it done! I’ll definitely tell my tale another thousand times and with this in hand, I’m sure I’ll be able to make it even more authentic!” he said, placing his hand over his chest.

Those who picked the first route that opened during the test failed automatically and that was the reason most of the people failed. They didn’t look for other routes. Seeing his simplicity, he probably failed because of the exact same reason… but it was up to him to find out and change his ways. There was no way I’d tell him and reveal anything related to the test to him.

“Oh right, would you like to see more of this world and tell your tales in different parts of the planet?” I asked.

“That’d be wonderful but I’m not strong enough to visit other countries and I don’t speak any other language either,” he shook his head helplessly.

“Hmm, we could fix that problem quite easily,” I chuckled.

“How?” he asked, intrigued by the idea.

“This ring on my finger is an AI, controlling wind magic through our brain. Even now, I’m talking in my own language but it’s using wind magic to translate the sounds I make to your language. If I gave you one, you’d have no problem with the language and I could order someone to take you to another country whenever you wanted to visit another place,” I said.

Staring at me with a dumbfounded face, maybe not even understanding everything I said, he finally said, “I don’t know what is AI and I didn’t quite understand everything but I get that you can fix both of those problems, right?”

“Yeah,” I laughed.

“Then I’m more than willing!” he raised his voice.

“Hmm, I’m glad to hear that. Let me make some modifications to your coin,” I said as I took it back and drew another formation on it. Seeing liquefied mana flowing out of my fingertips, he continued staring with wide opened eyes and holding his breath.

Once I finished, I gave it back to him and said, “There, all done. Now if you take it between your fingers and chant the word ‘Leviathan’ three times, I’ll be notified and know that you want to move to a different country. If you say it only once, I’ll take it that you’re in huge trouble. Don’t do that only if your life depends on it. Are we clear?”

“Yes, my lord!” he said, saluting like some kind of soldier.

“Good. Once you tell your tales a thousand times, call for me through this coin in whatever way you see fit and I’ll let you look around,” I said as a ‘dark portal’ appeared behind me and I stepped into it.

Once again back to my room, I laid a formation which’d notify me if someone was about to get in or was in front of my door and then teleported back home. Mission or not, I wouldn’t miss sleeping with my wife!