After giving Lily the erotic version of his usual massage, he untied the rope and left her sprawled on the bed, panting and trembling from pleasure. Ryner was now in the commoner’s district, walking around while eating some grilled meat on skewers that he bought. He aimlessly wandered the city and although it was huge, he was getting tired of the view. A tourist always needs something new and exciting.

“(Maybe it’s time to leave.)” [Ryner]

He pondered in his mind, walking around Sakael before returning to the Sleeping Duck for dinner. Sitting down at a table in the corner, Trish spotted him and came over, menu in hand.

“Hi there Ryner! What would you like?” [Trish]

“Mmhhh, let’s go with the meal set A again. Also, the usual milk please.” [Ryner]

“Coming right up!” [Trish]

A few minutes later, Trish came back with his meal and put it on the table. Then, for some reason, she silently stood there, making Ryner tilt his head in puzzlement.

“What are you doing?” [Ryner]

“I’m waiting for you to ask another question, like usual.” [Trish]

She answered him with a beaming smile.

“So me asking questions has become the norm, huh.” [Ryner]

“Pretty much. But well, if you don’t have any questions, then I have one.” [Trish]

“What is it? I’ll answer anything, whether it’d be my type of girl, food, toilet-ouch!” [Ryner]

His cheek got pinched again.

“I’m starting to feel oppressed.” [Ryner]

He said while rubbing his cheek, but Trish grandly ignored him.

“Although you don’t need to answer if you don’t want to but, your eye… Can you see from it?” [Trish]

Trish uneasily asked while pointing at her own right eye. Ryner’s right eye had a white iris while his left was dark brown. So, she thought that he received an injury there that caused blindness, but he acted as if he could see from it.

“What? Is that it? Yeah, I can see. It’s just colored strangely because this and that happened when I was a kid and that washed away the color.” [Ryner]

“This and that?” [Trish]

She parroted his vague words while frowning.

“Yup. Do you have any other question, my young Padaw *cough cough* pupil?” [Ryner]

While drinking his glass of milk, he asked her with a calm and mature aura, treating her like his student. This annoyed Trish, so she tried to mess with him and asked while raising her hand in the air.

“Yes, I do! Do you ever drink anything but milk? Rather, can you even drink?” [Trish]

“Of course I can, I simply drink on occasions only.” [Ryner]

Ryner calmly warded off her attack, but Trish pushed on.

“Then when DO you drink?” [Trish]

“When I’m alone or when my friends are shoving it down my throat.” [Ryner]

“Ignoring the first one that’s simply sad… No the second one is just plain sad too.” [Trish]

Once again, she was left baffled.

“Hey, I can drink. I just choose not to.” [Ryner]

“I really don’t think you’ll ever be popular with women Ryner.” [Trish]

Finally, she decided to attack at a major weak point that most men possessed.

“I’ll have you know that I just came back after doing this and that with a beautiful woman.” [Ryner]

Unfortunately for her, he had a defensive measure prepared.

“Really?! You?! What kind of girl actually fell for you? Where did you meet her?” [Trish]

Her harsh words showed just how shocked she was, although Ryner’s answer left her disappointed.

“I met her in the red light district. She works there.” [Ryner]

She grandly sighed before getting an idea and smirked. This could trap that sleepy idiot.

“In that case, the next time you visit her, bring a bottle of alcohol with you. I’ll give you a discount!” [Trish]

“No, wait, I don’t plan on drinking- oi, come back here.” [Ryner]

Trish turned around to get some bottles before being stopped by Ryner. She looked back at his troubled expression, a huge grin on her face. Then, a big burly man with black hair and beard appeared next to them, a white apron on top of his clothes and a bottle of alcohol in one hand; it was Trish’s father. He put the bottle on top of the table, gave a thumb up with a grunt to Ryner and went back to the kitchen.

“Thanks dad! Look! Dad said that it is okay for you to have this for free!” [Trish]

Trish happily said while holding the bottle and showing it to Ryner who was looking puzzled.

“Seriously, how did the inn master know..? Is this the power of a former C rank adventurer?” [Ryner]

“What’s with that bottle?” [Lily]

Red, now known as Lily, asked Ryner when he appeared before her once again late at night, holding a bottle of alcohol.

“I got it as a gift. Are we allowed to drink here?” [Ryner]

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just let me get a couple of glasses here.” [Lily]

“Ah, right. I forgot to bring some. Thanks.” [Ryner]

After she took out two glasses from the drawer next to the bed, Ryner poured the alcohol in. They both took a sip while sitting next to each other. He then noticed that Lily was blushing and slightly fidgeting.

“Lily, your face is red. Don’t tell me you’re already drunk?” [Ryner]

A bit surprised to be called by her real name, she put down her glass on top of the drawer before talking.

“No, that’s not it. It’s you damn massage, god I can still feel it.” [Lily]

Halfway through, she closed her eyes and clenched her fists as if she was enduring something. After Ryner left, her body became really sensitive, making everything feel better with her customers. Ryner found every one of her weak points and kept hitting there, bringing her more pleasure than she could handle. She had never felt so good before and even completely entrusted her body to him during the massage session.

“Anyway, Ryner… You’ll bed me properly this time right?” [Lily]

She said as she took out from the drawer what seemed to be a pack of condoms. Truth be told, she was curious. If it felt that good with just his hands, then what will it be like if they really went at it? Unfortunately, Ryner easily crushed her expectations after being surprised by what she took out.

“We have those things too!? And no, we’ll need to get to know each other more before that happens. I’m here for another massage, now where’s the rope at?” [Ryner]

“Seriously just what are you worrying about!? You’re in a brothel!” [Lily]

“Hey, tell me a story of your life, I’ll look for the rope in the meantime.” [Ryner]

She sighed wearily, then grabbed the rope under the bed and threw it at him.

“There’s nothing to say. I’m a whore who likes to spread her legs, but can’t trust her partners. I work here because the salary is nice and the work conditions are good. I sleep during the day and work during the night. Sometimes I get day shift, although the time with you was an exception. What about you?” [Lily]

Although she was exasperated, she still told him a bit about herself so that he would tell his story too. She was curious about his past after all.

“Let’s see… I’m a tourist that came to this city to sightsee. Although there’s not much to do, so I’m thinking of going somewhere else soon.” [Ryner]

Although she didn’t learn much about him, but upon hearing him say he would leave soon, something snapped in her. Before she knew it, she grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him down on the bed.

“What are you doing?” [Ryner]

He asked while Lily got on top of him. Although he was ready for any surprise attack, he was still surprised by her sudden actions. But the moment she pulled a knife, he would have already subdued her. However, he didn’t want to hurt Lily, so he decided let her do as she pleased for now so long as there was no danger.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” [Lily]

She answered as she started taking his pants off. Already feeling danger, he quickly changed his mind and grabbed her wrists to stop her.

“No, I mean why are you suddenly assaulting me? Does this count as rape? Will the staff help me if I scream like a little girl?” [Ryner]

Lily then lied down on top of him, her bountiful breasts were squeezed on his chest. As usual, she was naked, so Ryner could clearly feel them through his shirt.

“Because I’m a whore so I’m not letting you leave here until I get a taste of your-.” [Lily]

“And like I said, why the sudden attack? What’s gotten into you?” [Ryner]

Ryner interrupted her and asked once again in a stronger tone this time. Hearing his forceful voice, Lily completely leaned on him, entrusting her weight to him. He could smell a sweet scent from her long red hair that was next to his face.

“It’s because I was looking forward to your next visit.” [Lily]

She softly said right next to his ear. Since the first time they met, she was actually fond of his touch, of his hands crawling over her skin. Today, he touched her most important part like many other men and it felt good. Or rather, it felt wonderful and slightly different from the others, and that unknown difference is what attracted her.

“I want to see what else you can do. Your stupid massage turned me on so badly.” [Lily]

She kept whispering to him with hot breaths and started grinding her body against his, moving back and forth, causing the bed to creak slightly with every move.

“I feel like a beastman during mating season. You need to take responsibility for this. That’s why…” [Lily]

She said while panting near his ear before lifting her head back up and staring in his eyes from up close, a strand of hair between her soft lips and her face blushing, visibly aroused.

“Just take me now.” [Lily]

“… And although the queen still has not recovered, I am sure…” [Sirius]

At the castle, in a vast, well decorated room where the party was taking place, the prince was up on a platform, giving his speech. Round tables with white drapes reaching the ground were placed around the room, each with luxurious food on top of them. Chandeliers with magic stones on the walls and ceilings were lighting up the entire room. Large windows covering one wall gave a clear view of the castle grounds. Nobles dressed in their best suits and dresses were standing around the room and listening to the prince’s words with a glass of wine in their hands. The king and his daughters were together in front of the platform, with Knight Commander Klauss there to guard them. He wasn’t wearing his armor, but he had his sword on his belt. Eventually, the speech came to an end, which was the signal for the plan to start.

“Long live the Garroth kingdom!” [Sirius]

The prince and everyone raised their glasses for a toast and at this moment, a loud shattering sound filled the room. Objects flying at high speed suddenly broke through the large windows and destroyed all the magic stones, making the room go dark. While everyone was panicking, black smoke suddenly filled the room and birds flew out from underneath the tables set around the place, flying everywhere and causing even more chaos. Klauss drew his sword and got closer to the royal family, ready to lay down his life to protect them. Unfortunately, that was a bad judgement since he caught sight of four men dressed completely in black with a short sword in hand, rushing for the prince. Sirius was completely oblivious to their presences because of the smoke hindering his vision and the birds causing havoc.

“Prince Sirius!” [Klauss]

The knight yelled out as he ran to him. He rushed in front of the prince and crossed swords with one of them before pushing him back. From just that exchange he could tell that he was a powerful assassin, probably A rank. The other three, most likely of the same rank, were encircling them, causing Sirius and Klauss to stand back to back. Although the old knight was sure he could defeat them, taking out all four of them while protecting the prince was no easy task. This was another mistake in judgement since he was the only knight that was near the royal family because they didn’t like being surrounded by bodyguards, which was now coming back to bite them. Locked in combat, most of his attention was focused on the four enemies after the prince. Knights standing by the walls were rushing towards the king and princesses, but they couldn’t move quickly in this chaos with smoke, birds and nobles in their way.

This allowed a window of opportunity for a fifth man to get close to the royalty. This assassin, undetected by anyone, sneaked up on the first princess and covered her mouth before quickly dragging her off with him out of the broken window. Everything happened in a matter of seconds and no one, not even her family who were standing close by, or the strongest knight of the kingdom, noticed her disappearance. Once the birds flew off through the windows, the smoke cleared and the four assassins were dispatched, everyone finally realized that Tiffany had been kidnapped. The knights, including Klauss, quickly rushed through the windows to rescue her, but a fair bit of time had gone by already.

Surrounded by a group of knights that stayed behind, Leila fell to her knees with tears falling down her cheeks while Adrian stood still with a serious expression. A king needed to be dignified, but he was clenching his fists so hard that blood was oozing out. Both of them might have lost another family member. Sirius kneeled beside Leila and gently patted her back. He had a mortified expression filled with frustration and regret because his leg was injured during the fight, forcing him to stay behind since he would only slow the knights down. And why wouldn’t he be sad? His wife was kidnapped right before his eyes. Seeing him, no one suspected that he was the cause of this tragedy, or that inside his mind, he was relieved that everything went well. He laughed at the frightened nobles, he mocked the knights running around and he enjoyed seeing the king and princess in such a state, especially Leila. Just a bit more patience and he will obtain what was rightfully his from the start. The throne belonged to him.

Ryner was sitting on top of a roof, eating some grilled chicken skewers that he bought from a late night stall, thinking about Lily. It had been a long time since he last made love to a woman. Although he visited brothels many times before, it always ended with a normal massage. This was the first time someone complained to him like that, telling him to sleep with them. In the past, there were some times when a girl would fall for him, but it would always end quickly once she found another man. Also, even if they still liked him, he would find a way to turn them down gently. After all, he believed in lust, but he didn’t believe in love, and he didn’t believe in another person’s love. His life taught him so. As such, he classified what happened between him and Lily under the lust category and decided to return to the inn. Just as he made up his mind, two figures were heading towards him.

Two men dressed in black were jumping from rooftops, away from the pedestrians’ sights and moving at high speed. One of them was carrying on his shoulder an unconscious woman that Ryner didn’t recognize, Princess Tiffany. After kidnapping her, this assassin linked up with another one who was on standby to help him escape from the castle grounds. As the two were running, they noticed Ryner who was sitting in their path, staring at them. With the knights after them, they decided to keep going straight instead of taking a detour and to simply kill the eyewitness. The man who wasn’t carrying the princess accelerated and rushed at Ryner with a short sword. He collided with the poor victim that didn’t even have time to stand up. They both rolled on the roof before separating, the eyewitness lying on his back, unmoving.

However, the same could be said of the assassin as he laid face down. If one took a closer look though, they would notice that he was no longer breathing, his eyes wide open and a skewer stabbed deep in his left eye socket.

“You can reinforce your body too, right? You should have strengthened your eyeballs.” [Ryner]

Ryner said as he slowly stood up while eating the remaining chicken skewer. Right before the collision, Ryner hit the side of the blade with the side of his hand which knocked away the sword that was about to stab his heart. At the same time, he stabbed the surprised attacker in the eye with the skewer, killing him. The assassin underestimated him and only strengthened himself during his initial rush, trying to save up on mana and thinking he needed minimal effort to kill him. This was a fatal mistake for his opponent was a monster that survived countless battles. Ryner then turned to the other one who was carrying the woman on his shoulder. Seeing as this was a kidnapping attempt, he couldn’t help but imagine what would happen to her later, which made him put himself in her shoes and caused his stomach to churn.

“I’m going to make this simple for you. Drop the woman and walk away with your life… Or walk away with the woman and drop dead.” [Ryner]

Ryner said threateningly, his sleepy eyes became sharp and he glared at the man, which made shivers run down his spine. Before he knew it, Ryner had decided to save her. A monster going out of its way to save someone was unheard of. But he believed it couldn’t be helped. If he let this go, his dreams tonight would be unbearable as she would definitely join his nightmares and make them even worse. The kidnapper used magic and created several blades of wind capable of cutting through steel, sending them flying at his foe and leaped away to escape. But Ryner was even faster than him, weaving his way through the wind blades and appearing right in front of his face.

While in midair, Ryner grabbed the man by the throat and crushed it. Since the assassin fully reinforced himself, Ryner exerted a bit more strength, which caused him to completely crush the man’s throat with a loud crunching noise instead of breaking his neck. He then grabbed the woman and kicked the corpse away before landing on the ground while carrying her in a princess carry. The people passing by screamed at the sight of a corpse with a crushed neck that suddenly fell down and looked with fright at the culprit who was kneeling on the ground, holding a beautiful woman in his arms. They quickly ran away, fearing for their life.

“Ah… I used my powers… Oh, what the heck.” [Ryner]

Putting that concern in the back of his mind, Ryner ignored the commotion around him and checked on the girl to see if she was hurt, brushing away the hair on her face. He then finally realized that it was the First Princess Tiffany.

“… Crap.” [Ryner]

Knowing that being seen with her in this situation would cause him a heap of trouble, he quickly tried to think of a way to return her to the castle without being noticed. However, a fast approaching presence told him that it was too late. With a gust of wind, Knight Commander Klauss suddenly appeared before him, kneeling on one knee with his sword on the side of Ryner’s neck.

“Don’t move your bastard, or I’ll send your head fl-! The kid from before?” [Klauss]

After threatening him with suppressed anger, Klauss recognized Ryner as the one that caused trouble near the noble district. Without moving away, he took a quick look around, finding the corpse of a man dressed in black not far from them. While they stayed like this for a few seconds without moving, the sound of clanking metal signaled the arrival of the group of knights that were following behind Klauss. Soon, Ryner was completely surrounded by nearly forty knights who filled the street, their swords pointed at him.

“Kid, you’ll be coming with us quietly to explain things.” [Klauss]

The strongest knight declared in a firm voice. However, instead of nodding, Ryner silently looked to the dark sky, and cursed again.

“… Crap.” [Ryner]

*author* +18 tag here