Hal gave her a quick recap of all that happened so far and what he intended to do the next day (normal time),

"Want me to join in?" She asked.

​​

He looked back at her over his shoulder,

"Do I want you to join me when I brutally kill a bunch of bandits just so I can feed their bodies to my Devil Beasts? Yes, Yes I believe I do" he said with a bright smile.

Rita giggled and slapped him lightly on the arm,

"Couldn't you sugar coat it a little? I'm a lady" she said.

Hal turned around completely and grabbed one of her breasts to squeeze it ever so slightly,

"You don't have to tell me that" he told her with a wolfish smile that brought redness to Rita's face but she rolled her eyes at him as she edged past him to eye the map on the desk.

"You're trying to decide which checkpoint we go to first right, so how about this one?" She said and pointed at one of the checkpoints on the map.

Hal gave the map a casual look before he shrugged,

"I wasn't actually serious about making a decision, I was just going to any of them that... Feels right. I highly doubt it makes a difference which one I choose" he said while nuzzling into the side of her neck,

"Actually, it might matter. Look..." Rita said and pointed at the map again,

"I don't know about you, but there is a sense of importance and urgency about these three locations. For one thing, the strokes that mark them as checkpoints are much darker compared to the others."

Hal had to admit that it hardly made sense to be skimpy on pen strokes when highlighting locations of interest in regards to an elusive and dangerous band of bandits.

Surely, there was something the law enforcers were communicating in the darker strokes and Hal was willing to bet that upon accepting that there was not much they could do about it, the darker strokes now served as a warning for areas to avoid for having a higher possibility of attack.

As for how he came to the conclusion that the law enforcers had accepted their fate, well, for one thing, they did not look like they were all that eager in their fight against Red Beard's band of bandits, and secondly, they posted a Bounty notice.

"Then it's settled. Tomorrow, we journey through all three checkpoints until they bite. Now that that's settled..." Hal said and turned Rita around to face him before capturing her lips,

"Mmm" Rita moaned into the kiss and when they separated, she chuckled,

"You're always so eager"

"Do you want me to stop?" Hal asked in a would-be polite tone of voice and his eyebrow raised.

Rita wrapped her arms around his neck...

"gods no"

... And pulled him closer to pick up where he had left off.

...

Hal had no intentions of going after the bandits until the next day (normal time) so he used the accelerated time in the Harem space indulging in the bodies of his ladies all except Karmen who actually spent most of that time sleeping blissfully and once she awoke, she cultivated and refined Hal's essence as he had permitted her through the contract.

She was done with it all by the time Hal was ready to go after the bandits and was more than eager and ready to indulge in another session that from what she had been told was bound to be much more wonderful than her first time with him.

The accelerated time inside the Harem space actually amounted to Ten Days and only towards the end of it did Hal refine all the essence he had gotten to attempt an increase in his cultivation after which he tried not to be disappointed.

Rita was now also heading ever closer to the mid-stage of the cosmic Phenomenon realm and Hal saw it fit to share with her the eventual roadblock ahead.

The only lady Hal did not spend time with while he was in the Harem space was Marla who was attempting to further the mastery of her Divine grade physique.

Quite an uphill battle to be perfectly honest in regards to the process's difficulty.

Eventually, he stepped out of the Harem space to see it was nearing afternoon and walked towards the very end of the city until he was out of it completely and heading appropriately out of the view of Dell's gate city folk.

It was then that he brought out his Golden chariot and opened up the portal to the Harem space to welcome the exit of Rita, Lillian, Olivia, and Karmen.

Together they entered the carriage with Lillian proceeding to its helm to power and drive it to the first of three checkpoints.

Karmen joined her.

Hal took a deep breath and was all smiles as he laid down on the long seat of the carriage with his head on Rita's lap.

Rita stroked his long black hair and said,

"I have to say, plans to trap bandits and have them lead us to their hideout aside, this has the potential of being quite the enjoyable ride."

Hal looked up at her,

"You can't seriously mean that" He said.

Rita shrugged,

"Well, I do. I mean look outside at the beautiful scenery. It just feels... Alive"

"I think you are missing the part where it's a region ruled by the tyranny of bandits"

Rita looked down into his eyes,

"I don't see how that should affect the beauty of the region. It's the people that are terrorized, not the environment" She said.

"The environment suffers by consequence. Besides, I see what this is all about" Hal said and closed his eyes.

Rita eyed him, having guessed what it was he was about to refer to,

"Oh, what is it 'all about'?" She asked.

Without opening his eyes, Hal said,

"You're being sentimental. You're sentimental about being back in the Duchy you were born in and it's bringing up all these feelings within you"

Rita gasped as though she could not believe what he was saying,

"Oh come on. I am not being sentimental... Olivia, what do you think of the scenery?" Rita asked.

Olivia looked from Hal, who now had his eyes opened again, to Rita who looked to be desperate for someone to back her up in this argument.

Hal sensing a moment in which two ladies gang up against him decided he would not have it.

However, before he could say a word,

"I would rather not get involved..." Olivia began but Hal interrupted,

"Ah, she's on my side" Hal said.

"What? She just said she doesn't want to get involved" Rita retorted.

"Yeah, that's because you scare her and she would rather not upset you by admitting she agrees with me" Hal said.

"She's not scared of me" Rita said in outrage and Olivia spoke up again,

"Actually, I was not done. I meant to say, I would rather not get involved but the scenery is indeed beautiful" she said.

Hal sat up with his eyes widening comically,

"What?"

At that moment, Lillian spoke from where she was controlling the carriage,

"We are coming up on the first checkpoint" she announced and Hal who had his Astral perception scouting the outside smiled when he sensed the men lying in ambush in quite an organized fashion.

In fact, there was something about the manner in which they were organized and ready to strike that told Hal this was not an impromptu attack that lacked proper planning,

"As it turns out, we won't have to tour the other checkpoints as we already have company..."