Chapter 493: Bathrobe and Meeting

After leaving the mushroom people's cave, night had already fallen deep.

But after the forest advanced in tier, some plants had also evolved a fluorescent effect from being saturated with spiritual essence.

With every step Rod took, the fluorescent plants would be stimulated and light up.

Don't say it.

Walking alone like this, it actually felt quite something.

Thanks to the plants' fluorescent effect, Rod quickly spotted the succubus girl up ahead who had been looking for him.

Today Tally was a fox-girl with long hair reaching her waist.

Blunt bangs, hime cut.

A face that was obedient, pure, and elegant.

But she insisted on wearing a soft cotton bathrobe clinging to her skin, perfectly displaying the dimensions and contours of her curvy yet fiery figure.

The bathrobe was loose and wide, and should have looked even more so once the heavy weapons hung down without losing their proud lift.

But once the sash was tied around that slender waist, the incomparable narrowness immediately set off the outrageously aggressive curves of her hips and chest.

This one wore a face full of grievance, and the moment she spotted Rod, she came pouncing over with claws bared.

Rod laughed heartily and spread his arms, pulling her into his embrace.

"So annoying, why didn't you come back to me! Tally's starving!"

Tally said coquettishly.

Her emerald eyes lifted, and her little pink fists seemed to pound his chest hard, but were actually very naughty, groping all over the place.

Suddenly her little face scrunched up and she wailed: "There's a woman's scent on you, Master! Why did you go out whoring without taking me! I want to taste the flavor of Master getting intimate with another bitch!"

Rod spread his hands: "No intimacy, no bitches, just normal business talk. In this world everyone's either a man or a woman — am I supposed to only discuss business with men?"

"Just business? You didn't eat alone?"

"Of course not. Tally, you being this sensitive puts a lot of pressure on me. The moment I'm under pressure, my spirit gets suppressed, and once it's suppressed, the quality of my essence drops. You don't want to feed on essence packed full of negative emotions every day, do you?"

Tally unhurriedly blinked her eyes, looking quite adorable.

"Tally wants it though."

"..."

She cupped her own face, drool spilling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes going glassy: "Just thinking about Master being tied up by me in a little black room in the basement, where every meal and drink can only be earned by your performance in bed, with three whippings a day no matter what, and then the despairing look when your strength is completely suppressed by me — I, I, Tally, I'm already about to..."

Succubi are born with a rebellious streak — that's just how they are, once you get used to it.

But Tally, though.

Having long since been fully tamed, she was probably just saying it on purpose to tease Rod's interest.

Rod pretended to be furious: "Outrageous treason! This child cannot be spared! I'll execute you on the spot right now!"

Sure enough, Tally was not the least bit afraid, and decisively untied her bathrobe.

Underneath she was actually wearing nothing at all — only a pair of snow-white spider-silk thigh-high stockings tightly wrapping her plump, straight legs all the way up to her thighs.

The tops of the stockings pressed a faint arc into the flesh of her thighs, quite sexy.

"No need to take them off, just leave it open like that."

Rod raised an eyebrow, stopping Tally from fully removing the bathrobe.

Her chest, waist, and hips formed a visually stunning, exquisite proportion; beneath the cotton bathrobe, certain important areas were only faintly, barely hinted at at the edges.

This half-concealed, half-revealed way of trying to cover up was what looked good.

Tally naturally knew to listen, and came over with a smile brimming in her eyes.

She rose up on tiptoes.

Her body pressed against the man's chest, and she blew a breath of pink spiritual essence thick with alluring fragrance toward his handsome face.

A succubus's aphrodisiac breath.

This was Tally's trump card move — she knew Rod had strong resistance, and using it too often probably wouldn't work.

So usually a single breath of aphrodisiac essence had to be brewed for many days before it would take effect.

And so.

The moment the pink breath was inhaled through his nose, Rod's gaze shifted slightly.

Tally knew it had taken effect.

Obediently she turned around, swaying her perky bottom with great enthusiasm, welcoming him in.

"..."

The night was thick, accompanied by the plants' fluorescent glow.

Another battle that could not be spoken of.

Whether it was because it was his first time in this world tasting the sensation of white-stockinged long legs wrapped around his body, or because of that breath of aphrodisiac essence, Rod was in quite good spirits.

So in keeping with the scene and character, he uttered a few lines of humiliation-style sweet nothings.

Finally, at Tally's peak, he said in sync: "For the rest of your life, you can only be my Fiji-by toilet."

The succubus's obedience smoothly increased by two points, reaching 95 — only 5 points left to the great barrier of 100.

Three days later.

The conference room inside the Town Hall.

It was wrapped in a multi-layered magical barrier composed of spells preventing scrying and divination, such as 【Protective Ward】, 【Detection Evasion】, and 【Magic Alarm】.

At the four corners of the multicolored barrier, air-filtering clusters of magical energy were constantly spinning and running.

Inside were: the forest faction led by Rod; the Shi Ying town faction led by the witch Dimia and the old gentleman Humbert; and the Blizzard Mercenary Corps led by the lizardman captain Jeroen.

The three factions sat around a grand, imposing circular conference table.

"Everyone. Mr. Rod."

The crocodile-man Jieron spoke first, deliberately nodding to the sponsor Rod in greeting.

His face set firm, he said:

"I'm old Jieron, a rough sort. I rarely deal with officials of the Etherlon Kingdom, nor have I ever held a meeting in the town hall, so I don't know the rules — I'll just be blunt. Our mercenary band plans to attempt a sneak attack on the black dragon Mikhail at Coral Bay within half a month, and we need everyone's support."

"So soon?"

The witch Dimia said cautiously, "It's not that I doubt your band's strength, but you haven't been stationed in Shi Ying Town for long. Wouldn't a hasty strike be too risky?"

"Speed is paramount in war, Miss Dimia. The Blizzard Mercenary Band numbers well over a hundred men. We have to drill troops, take part in defending Shi Ying Town, and send scouts to the Twilight Hills to recon — there's no way we can keep it from the other side. Precisely because we've only just arrived, we need to fire the first arrow against common sense and catch them off guard."

Jieron explained.

Rod nodded, not particularly surprised.

When he'd met Jieron a few days earlier, the man had already expressed similar ideas.

At the same time, he had no intention of objecting.

The side footing the bill ought to have the bearing of one footing the bill. He hadn't ever slain a dragon — leave the professional work to the professionals.

Meddling would only hamper them and might even disrupt their plans.

Just be a good coal boss and that's that.

The halfling Lily, seated beside Rod, asked: "Have you already got a handle on that black dragon's habits, range of activity, and the location of its lair?"

Having just gone through a dragon-slaying herself, she served as a useful one to check for gaps.

Jieron nodded.

"More than that, our mage learned that the black dragon Mikhail's scales were injured not long ago — that was the time Mr. Rod showed his prowess. To heal the scar on his face, Mikhail has already spent more than half of the Jin Along he's been hoarding this period.

And because of that, the black dragon Mikhail's natural love of Jin Along has driven him to frequently raid small merchant caravans up on the Twilight Hills lately."

As he spoke,

he didn't forget to sing Rod's praises along the way.

(End of chapter)