My heart tries to suddenly leap through my mouth. The girls feel it through [Bind] and a wave of determined anger washes over me, helping me control myself. Gify turns on a light "massage" to help.

"W-what…? What 'private property' are you talking about?" I ask while I recollect my composure.

Taavi narrows his eyes at me and says, "Katasko's office in Goldport was completely razed. You're accused of destroying it."

Well… this ain't good.

"And how did I supposedly do that?"

"We know that you're a talented summoner. There are plenty of ways to do it."

So, they don't know how it was done? Why else would he be so vague about it when just knowing that I have [Summon Monster] would turn me into a suspect?

Aoi rubs her scaly blue head against my cheek, calming me even further.

"Why do you think that I would do such a thing?"

"That's what the trial is for. You're a prime suspect," Taavi says, matter-of-factly.

I grit my teeth in annoyance.

You're being awfully vague.

"I've never associated or interacted with Katasko before. I've only met a representative of them once, who offered me a job that I declined, which made them quite angry. So, is this Katasko admitting that they have a vendetta against me because I refused to work for them?" I add a bit of smugness to my words.

Taavi pauses and looks at one of his men. The significance of that is not lost on me. Then he turns to us and his glare is fully reignited. "Such matters will be revealed during the trial. You'll have your chance to defend yourself and turn your questions to Katasko."

I feel like facepalming and groaning, but Anton's and the other caravan guards' movement catches my attention. Anton stands beside an earth elemental, the other guards stand behind him and form a line between us and the Enforcers.

Taavi turns his glare to Rande. "Think very thoroughly about what you are about to do. We are here to take them back for trial, not arrest them, yet. And if not now, then someone else will, and that person won't be very gentle."

"You want to take away my personal guards?! You want us to die out there?!" Rande exclaims, his face flushing red with anger.

Taavi's tone turns to one of annoyance as if he's talking to a petulant child. "The road to Goldport is safe. You won't find any danger that your other guards and you yourself won't be able to handle."

Rande gets so angry that he spits saliva as he says, "Did you know that not even a day-cycle ago we were attacked by a circle of magi?! I lost eight of my men!"

This gives him some pause, then he speaks without as much conviction as before, "The road to Goldport is safe. If you do not feel safe, then we will allow you to come along. You should have looked deeper into Helios' character before hiring them if you were that concerned for your safety."

Hana glares at him with so much anger that it even scares me a little.

"Come alon-…" Rande stops himself before he has a heart attack. "I'll appeal in the Tribunal for lost profits due to imperial meddling!"

"I'll appeal in the Tribunal for a deferred trial," I say and Taavi grips his bridle tighter. He can't stop either of us from appealing. "And I also demand a suspension of your escort due to extenuating circumstances. We will report to the Tribunal after our escort job is complete."

Taavi's glare comes back in full blast. "Do you take me for a fool?! What 'extenuating circumstances'?"

I gather all of my courage to look as sure of myself as I can. "Nobleman Ento, Noblewoman Silvina, and Root Lord Ricardo were targeted by the circle of magi Dawn of Fire. We killed all of the attackers, but only because of my 'talent' with [Summoning Magic], as you yourself said that I possess."

Even behind his helmet I see Taavi grit his teeth.

I continue piling it on, taking the chance now that I've seen a way out. "The law is there to ensure justice and bring order, but what is more important: the law or the lives of these men and women? As you said, I'm no murderer, I'm only being accused of destruction of private property. So tell me this: will the God of the Sun look kindly on you when you take me away and threaten their safety?

"I'll report to the nearest Tribunal when my job is complete and my employers are safe," I finish with perfect confidence, because that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I can still get the temple or the Tribunal to protect me; there's a lot of room for me to work with.

I see approval in the eyes of Alissa, Ciel, and Lina.

Taavi narrows his eyes at me and his tone grows less confident as he speaks. "When you get to Goldport there are hundreds of ways you could take to escape the Empire. What stops you from taking any of them?"

"My fiancee and I are both blessed by the Gods; you can trust that we won't run from the Empire. And if that's not enough, I have a letter from an Agent of the Tribunal attesting to my character," I say and pull out Rudito's letter.

I summon a small bird and have it fly to Taavi. It lands on his hand and he takes the letter from its beak, slightly impressed at my display.

He reads it three times and returns it to the bird. "I have to discuss this."

He dismounts and gathers four men with yellow bands on their arms. I notice that one of the men he's talking to is the one that he looked at in the beginning of our conversation, so I focus on him.

Soul Info Name: Nero Gavalas Race: Human Level: 44 MP: 250 Magic Power: 30 Strength: 23 Endurance: 22

His level is awfully high for an imperial soldier, it's even higher than Taavi's.

From under his helmet, I can see a perfectly trimmed square black beard jutting out. It seems that his skin color is similar to Hana's, the common color of the average imperial. His arms are like logs, though they are still thinner than Anton's.

The imperials talk for a few minutes, sometimes a little heatedly, while the rest of the imperial soldiers stare at us sternly, leaving us rather tense. Rande calms himself down and his skin color returns to his natural tan.

Enforcers are trained to look mean so you don't even think of opposing them.

They finally stop talking and Taavi turns to us, his glare and confidence returned to him.

"The trial was set for the next 25th. If you are not in Goldcross by then, you'll be hunted down by the Enforcers and the temple, blessed by the Gods or not," Taavi says, nearly spitting as he speaks.

"That is acceptable," I say and nod courteously.

"Do not think that hiding in Maoka will get you out of this," he adds.

I simply smile back at him, unnerving him yet again.

He motions to his men and they move off to the side of the road. Rande motions to his own men and we return to our positions.

Thankfully, I'm on horseback, otherwise, I would have shown them that I've forgotten how to walk.

The imperials stare at us as we slowly make our way. The commoners look just about terrified of the situation, and the caravan guards show some discipline by remaining calm and alert.

When we pass by the officers following Taavi, I stop in front of Nero.

"You, what's your name?" I ask him.

"Sargeant Barak," a low and gravely voice answers. The man's brown eyes stare at me intently, but his expression is neutral.

"Oh, I thought I recognized you, my mistake," I give him a fake smile and spur my horse forward.

Once the imperials are out of sight, everyone's composure crumbles in an instant.

Rande immediately turns to me, eyes open wide in disbelief. "Wolf! Did you fuck someone's wife?!" He asks.

I immediately frown at him. "No… why would you think that I did?"

"Because he did," Osaria says from the window of the carriage. "This situation is… very familiar to Rande."

"Wolf is far too kind to be a wife-stealer like you," Oura says from the other window of the carriage.

I sigh and massage the bridge of my nose. "Anyway, I want to thank you all for the support," I say and look around.

"You're all good people," Ciel adds.

"You had our backs, so we have yours," Julien says.

"Ha! That's what I like to hear!" Hana exclaims.

"Even if only temporary, we are brothers-in-arms," Rande says.

"Paying us back for the times we saved your balls," Hana says and gives a fearsome smile to Rande.

Anton snorts and says, "You can unite the beastfolk if it means pissing off some nobles."

Ciel cringes slightly at his words. That's because the beastfolk united and pushed the Empire and the temple out of Bestiaram a long time ago.

"You can consider that you made a true friend today," Alissa says, putting into words the emotions she felt coming from me through my [Bind].

Julien gives us a friendly smile, Anton gives us a neutral nod, and the rest of them give me a short salute and some smiles.

Rande gives me a sympathetic smile and says, "Well, it's the least we could do, but it's not like you're going to be in much danger of being convicted. Lord Confiel can make the accusations disappear quite easily."

"I think the trial itself is a sham. Katasko wants to recruit us, so they might be trying to use the trial to cut a deal or something," Alissa says.

Rande frowns. "Ah, I see. Katasko is run by some pretty obnoxious nobles, so it doesn't surprise me that they would use such a tactic."

"If you end up not getting protection from Lord Confiel you can come to us and we'll do what we can to help," Osaria says, and Rande and Oura nod. Osaria's juicy lips form a smile, but her slightly droopy eyes have a hint of sadness to them.

"Thank you for the offer. We'll keep it in mind," I say and bow to them.

We return to our usual mood and continue on, then I gather the girls for a small meeting.

"So, we are going to Lord Confiel first," I say.

"Our bargaining power has decreased, though," Alissa says with a small frown.

"Eh, I still think we're going to be fine. We just have a lot of power," Roxanne says.

I let a sigh escape. "I'm more worried about what they have in store for us besides the trial," I say.

"If the trial really happens, we can just put the blame on them for harassing us," Hana says.

"Then there's not much else to do besides waiting," Ciel says.

"Wait, did you actually do it?" Klein asks.

I smile at her and reach over to pat her head. "I can't say anything to you yet."

"Well… fine…" She crosses her arms and pouts. "Actually, now that I think about it, the answer is pretty obvious."

I smile wryly at her and [Massage] her tail.

"It will all depend on how amenable Lord Confiel is. If he doesn't want to help us, then we can run to the Low Forest," Lina says.

"I'm tempted to ignore the trial while we hunt for the 'Noble' title," I say.

Ciel frowns and says, "That's too dangerous."

I shrug. "If we are running to the Low Forest, then we might as well do it before going there."

Ciel insists, "I would rather not. Even though it's Gecynd's 'advice.'" And Lina nods along.

"Well, we'll make the decision when the time comes."

Klein suddenly speaks up, "Just… just promise me that you'll all be safe? That you won't try anything stupid against the Enforcers?"

Hana gives her a pained smile and nods. Her heart went up into her throat, so she temporarily lost the ability to speak.

I grab her hand and give it a squeeze. "I promise. This, I promise."

The way forward is calm as usual. Night comes and we stop to rest.

I appease Hana of her frustration about today's matter. It was too close to her own experience for her to not fear a repeat of her family breaking up.

I link our minds together and our pleasure echoes within one another. Everything about Hana is intense, even her own pleasure makes me orgasm faster than with the two other girls.

Dinner is as usual, but the guards and Rande are more friendly, then things get lively when the commoners start a small dance and song.

Alissa and Klein are the meals for tonight.

Klein entwines her long tail with Alissa's and they start cuddling on the bed.

-

After calming down, I continue my [Regeneration] of the golem's bones with both of the now satisfied girls resting their heads on my chest. Klein's soft tail brushes against my skin while I fondle Alissa's fluffy one.

"Shouldn't we make them bigger?" Hana asks.

I hum in thought and say, "Maybe. The Gnome race doesn't need big bodies to fight, so I'm considering whether it's really necessary."

"You're really thinking of keeping them in doll-like bodies just so that they look cuter?" Hana gives me a questioning look.

"Yes," Ciel immediately answers for me.

"Really?" Hana gives her a disappointed look.

"Hm… Maybe. Maybe we coould find a way to make them bigger." Ciel looks away and her dark skin reddens a little in embarrassment.

"You could create new golems, instead," Roxanne suggests.

"Let these ones be personal guards who stay with us all the time," Lina piles on and intently stares at me.

"We could use the rest of the metal we have to make a new one," Alissa suggests.

"That metal is too bent to be used again, it needs to be reforged," Lina says.

"Right, prototype living armor will be done after we reach Goldport," I say.

Roxanne teaches Aoi and the Golems [Conjure Water]. After that, she'll teach them [Torrent] and the other spells because apparently, their magic aptitude is increasing by quite a lot.

"Well, the golems do have your memories," Roxanne says with a shrug.

Today is the 25th.

-

The morning trip is very quiet and calm. We only come across the occasional caravan or average traveler going either way and they share news of the way ahead with our commoners and soldiers.

The ground starts to angle downwards and becomes a little hilly. This means that we are close to the end of the High Forest.

I spend my time playing with [Materialization].

"You're a Spirit mage now, Wolf?" Osaria asks when she notices my glowing soul. "And what's that blue thing coming out of your hand?"

"This is my soul," I respond and extend my hand to show it to her. "Gify taught me that. He's been teaching me this sort of magic."

"Gih!" He puffs his chest so much that it grows to nearly his own size.

Her mouth hangs open and she blinks blankly. "How… how are you doing it?"

"This is my secret 'touch.'" I guide my horse towards the window of the carriage and touch her arm with my soul. She shivers and her face flushes slightly.

"You… you touched me with your soul?"

"Yep…" I answer with a smile that quickly fades. "I-is that a problem?"

Her eyes start to glimmer as she says, "No. It's just so… lewd…" She looks away and breathes heavily.

"I never thought of it that way," Alissa chimes in.

"It kind of makes sense. Our souls are the most bare forms we have, it's a very intimate touch," Ciel says while she and Lina nod along, then she blushes slightly as her mind wanders.

Okay, maaybe it could be considered sexual harassment when I did that to Ciel and Roxanne before they became my fiancees.

"Bah, you romantics. It's just pleasure," Hana says with a shrug.

Yeah, just pleasure. Juu~st pleasure…

Intermission 15

Fuck me… did he recognize me? How…? His [Sense Soul] should only see my MP and "Magic Power."

Oh no! Was he observing with his summons while I surveyed the building?!

Wait… that would be risky for him; we had magic sniffers all over the street…

Maybe he just paid someone to observe the street…

Damn it! I was careless and now he knows my face!

"Attention!" Commander Taavi yells and the men straighten up. "We are going to Goloria! Formation!"

The horsemen all neatly line up behind him.

"March!"

The officers move off from the formation and start their own private discussion. I'm obviously not invited.

Commander Taavi notices them but pretends not to. I see his expression stiffen for a moment, then he sends me a glance.

That's it; I need to disappear. Fuck this disguise; it's better to destroy it than to risk being ambushed by the Enforcers. Nobody can trace the forgery back to me, anyway.

The more we march on, the more obvious the officers' displeasure towards me becomes.

They might not stop with just me, Taavi could also be investigated. And if they get Taavi, then the pissers will be angry with me, too.

I can't risk it; I need to start looking for a new occupation.