Chapter 475: Rules and a Test of Skill

The next morning.

Rod woke up inside the ranger's cabin.

He pushed aside the boneless succubus body draped across his chest.

Unlike the past few days, today he woke up easily.

Last night he hadn't kept the party going in the cannon room.

After all, there were many girls at the gathering, and some of them hadn't confirmed an intimate relationship with Rod. Playing around at the villa on one side while throwing a party with the girls on the other always felt a little off.

"Master~~"

Half-asleep, Tally crawled over like a sloth and sat on his thigh.

The succubus's warm body curled up; her pretty, delicate face was soft and warm as she nuzzled into his broad shoulder, the touch like velvet brushing past.

"Get off."

"No~o~"

She hugged him tighter, her sweet breath tickling across Rod's chest as she spoke.

The embrace felt even softer—flesh that flowed like a water balloon.

Speechless.

This girl, barely awake early in the morning, was already getting worked up from just a hug.

"Tally, yesterday someone suggested I set up a reward-and-punishment system among the enslaved girls—saying only those who advance quickly through the ranks get to live in this cabin, while the slow ones have to move to the farm villa outside the forest."

The moment the words fell.

The succubus in his arms froze on the spot.

She slowly loosened her embrace, met Rod's gaze with uncertainty, and forced a stiff smile:

"Slander, pure slander! Just hearing it, you can tell it was suggested by some scheming, slutty ghoul with a head full of bad ideas. Master must not listen to her!"

"Really? I thought it was pretty good—because some succubus with a head full of juice-sucking, even after taking two Spirit Seeds, still hasn't broken through to the mid-seventh tier."

"Aiya~ then she must have her reasons, you know? Girls and boys react differently. After all that tossing around, it's aching backs, sore waists, wobbly legs—it's so hard on us."

"I see, then that Young Lady succubus has had it rough. In that case, I won't trouble her anymore from now on—her master will just have some other girl help out."

Tally's smile stiffened again.

Then, with a perfectly serious face, she said: "It's hard work, but it's enjoyable! That succubus has already gotten to the point where she can't go a single day without seeing Master—otherwise she'd just die of thirst on the spot."

She pressed her face over and kissed him ingratiatingly.

Little kiss after little kiss, from his cheek to his neck, and she insisted on making smacking sounds.

At the same time, she decisively changed the subject:

"Oh right, Master, weren't you forging that centipede-like monster's battle soul before? Why has it been so long and you still haven't finished it?"

Centipede?

Rod was baffled for a moment.

But he immediately connected it to the battle soul he'd been constructing lately—the Hyakume.

That was one of the physical specimens he'd purchased from Shi Difenney's specimen shop in the Demon Control Union.

The thing looked like a massive sphere made up of over a hundred demon hands, with its body's center drowned in a forest of limbs.

Each palm had a yellow, bulging eyeball in it—looked like evil-affinity cranked to the max.

It really did look like a centipede, walking on a hundred legs.

During the Axe Beach trip, Rod had seized a spellbook called 【Flame Ray】 from the campion Boden's hands.

After studying it briefly, he found that it contained a high-powered usage method that could be activated by sacrificing eyeballs.

If luck held.

The skill rolled from constructing the Hyakume battle soul might synergize with 【Flame Ray】.

The thought of it made Rod eager to speed up his progress.

Without even getting dressed, he hugged Tally and settled onto the fur sofa, took out the Hyakume specimen, and chatted while forging.

"Once it's built, what do you want to do?"

Tally nestled in his arms like a little baby.

Her put-on little face flushed slightly, and she squirmed as she pinched back and forth at his firm abs with her finger.

"It's nothing, it's just that a few nights ago, Tally dreamed Master turned into a Hyakume and came to ambush me—all those arms turned into wet, slippery tentacles, planning to roughly violate every single part of Tally's body~~"

As she spoke.

She trembled slightly and opened her mouth to nibble Rod's chin.

Her softly panting breath carried a sweetness like honey.

"But Master failed, and Tally easily knocked you to the ground. Tally pinned you down and used 【Whip of Pain】 to roughly violate Master right back~~"

Rod raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"It was Tally's first time feeling that way in a dream, so I want to beg Master—can Tally be rough and completely in charge once, while Master just pretends to be an obedient little puppy?"

Understood.

This girl always wanted to flip the script and be the master for once, to genuinely play the dominant role.

But whether it was her previous attempt at hypnosis or her sneaky attempt to get a 【Succubus Tattoo】, Rod had caught her red-handed both times.

The succubus race was born with a sadistic streak, so it wasn't hard to understand.

"Heh, what do you think."

Master and servant have their distinctions, and the natural demon bloodline comes with a personality that pushes its luck the moment you give it an inch.

Don't even think about it.

No matter how Tally acted coy, Rod remained unmoved.

It was just this girl clinging on desperately, swaying back and forth, turning the soft seat into a hard one.

But a succubus's feeding had to be strictly controlled — it had to be on a fixed schedule and fixed amount — so she could only pace back and forth at the doorway.

Tally was tormented to no end, meekly begging in a low voice while her hips twisted uncontrollably.

Rod simply refused to get to the main act.

He split his focus.

While forging the Battle Soul on one side, he practiced 【Flame Ray】 on the other.

When the forging progress was pushed from 70% to around 80%, the skill was also learned.

Time to test the move again.

The forest won't do.

Too many trees, unsuitable for fire-type skills; for that very reason, people rarely bothered to learn skills of this element.

The Korin Plains made for a fine shooting range — plenty of beast-sick patients around.

He'd heard the Star Spirit Hayley over there had once come looking for him, so he could touch base with her along the way.

Thinking this.

Rod ruthlessly pushed the girl off him.

He unhurriedly got dressed.

Then savored the breakfast Watching Yuna had brought.

Only then did he saunter out the door, beginning today's patrol and training.

The succubus still called out to her master in grievance, nuzzling here, touching there, but this dog of a master only let her nuzzle, so she could only slip back into his shadow in reluctance.

Rod, meanwhile, happened to run into the tiefling Sael, who was also out for morning practice.

He thought about it — it seemed tieflings actually had pretty good talent for fire-type skills, what with their fiendish bloodline and all.

So he dragged her along to the Korin Plains as well, taking the chance to give her some hands-on instruction in 【Flame Ray】.

This got Sael so worked up she nearly burst.

She'd long wanted to go, but since Rod counted as an elder, he'd worried she might catch the beast-sick blood and never let her go.

On top of that, Shi Ying had set up a defensive line in the Claw Valley Highlands, so even sneaking off with her adventurer companions was impossible.

This time she could not only witness the current state of the beast-sick incident firsthand, but also receive Mr. Rod's personal instruction.

She immediately flew into a flurry, starting to check her appearance, hurriedly and secretly dabbing on another coat of the magic potion for stopping sweat.

(End of this chapter)