After the ceremony, Luka left Gerard's tent with Brea, and Vaun also rushed off into the dark of night without looking back.
He took a glance at her current, seductive attire and smiled.
"You should wear something light, something that's difficult to see in the forest, but still protects you from the goblin's blades."
"Do you think I am stupid?" Brea remained vigilant against Luka's approach, a clear symbol of her proud warrior bloodline.
Luka shook his finger in the air.
"Not at all, but your usual outfit is too heavy and restrictive.
How about you wear something you might don to the young princess's engagement party?"
"Y-You bastard!?"
She reached for the dagger clinging to her thigh, but waved her hand, finding nothing.
"Looking for this?"
Luka twirled the blade wrapped in a discoloured sheath. "It was a little dirty, so I thought I would do you the honour of cleaning it."
"Filth! Hurry and hand it back, that's important!"
"Oh, is it?"
Without a second thought, he flicked the dagger in the air.
It flung in a neat arc, landing in her hand as it danced through Brea's fingers before slotting into her garter belt once more.
"Although we've become joined through an oath and future bonds, don't think I will just lie down and spread my legs for you, wimpy little boy!"
Brea slammed into him with her shoulder before storming off to her tent.
"Eh!?"
However, she misjudged Luka's slender-looking body. It harboured an unnatural amount of force that rebounded her off him. The sudden momentum sent her staggering, and she almost fell into a mud-filled ditch.
"S-Shit!"
Luka's bright grin faded to a sneer, and his wide eyes instantly shrank into thin slits.
"Ahh.
Just like that.
This way is much more preferable, you barbarianharlot.
I cannot thank you enough for lighting this seething blaze within me, nothing like the calm, gentle light of dawn. It's chaotic, violent and filled with nothing but blind avarice. Like a forest fire."
He adjusted his hair, moving the messy strands that dropped into his vision, slowly threading his fingers through to the back.
"It's about time I revisit that damn elf and release her."
"You can't!" A familiar shout echoed through the night from behind him as a figure suddenly rushed at Luka.
Thud!
The woman's tall figure almost flattened him, nothing like the soft love-tap from Brea, this was like a full-on cavalry charge!
Luka staggered, dazed as Galatea's hair reflected in the torches shimmered gold and covered his face, as she clung to him desperately.
"W-Why can't we just kill that disgusting bitch...?"
His hands settled beneath her hips, gently squeezing the plump softness and sinking into her flesh through her thin cloth pants.
"Galatea... we can't see that she has the information that we need. I didn't learn of the mines through magic, nor about the mountain pass where the wild goblins linger. It was all thanks to her, everything that will help us in the coming battle—"
"B-But..." Her face came close, so close he could practically taste the mead on her breath.
'She's been drinking?! ThatGalatea!?'
Though she enjoyed honey-flavoured ales and wines, she would never drink during campaigns or times when battle could break out at any moment.
The ceremony of his becoming a lord was a special one-off.
He didn't mind her being so close, the soft breeze of her nostrils exhaling a comforting heat against his cheeks.
Luka hooked and lifted her hips, allowing her lower body to brush against the lingering heat caused by Brea's tantalising figure.
Then whispered in her ear, blowing gently against the pale tips.
"Huuu~ are you worried?"
Galatea quivered in his embrace and lowered her chin, avoiding his gaze. The comfortable weight of her body sank into his palms, which caressed her rump. In the silent night, she finally mumbled. "She's strange and dark elves love to seduce and kill men after they finish the act...."
"That's a myth."
"Don't..."
"I have to, Galatea, don't overstep the line."
"Why?"
"Because the future of our entire race counts on Babylon standing firm, here and now. No matter how much I adore you, please understand my current position."
She stared into his eyes.
Her hazy sapphire blue eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
Then she asked with a familiar rough, raspy tone as she bit her lip, dragging it back.
"D-Do you mean those words?"
"Which?"
Galatea paused, her eyes darting side to side.
"If it's adoring you, then yes. I believe I've adored you for far longer than I realised."
"Haa... s-since when..." her voice trailed off as she rubbed against his body faster, her breath more laboured with each motion.
Luka began to suspect that something had changed with Galatea.
Maybe from the moment his change started.
He felt a much stronger bond to the young woman, who should be foreign to him.
A deep, unbreakable binding that lingered in his chest.
'Maybe, there is part of my Galatea in there.
This powerful tone of voice and those habits came much later, after her wounds had healed slightly.'
But he wouldn't force her. Not when it was so fun to tease and chase her while pretending to be oblivious to everything. There was a method and sequence to all things, even a former Archangel understood this.
"For much longer than I thought. I believe it might've started the moment I saw you, in that dusty, run-down place..."
However, the moment he approached, he aggressively cornered the sneaky little mare. She instantly vanished like a thunderclap.
Gone in an instant.
"E-Eh?! W-Was the castle so run down back then? I can't remember. Hmm?!" The young and lovely Galatea returned to his embrace, but ultimately squirmed free.
She rubbed her backside and pointed at him with a sharp glare. "D-Don't touch me like that in public, it's improper, Luka!"
"Mm, I couldn't help myself, forgive me. Galatea."
'I see. I see...'
"Mhm, good if you do... I will let you touch my... Eh?
Luka, hey?! Where are you going?! Hey!"
Galtea's voice rang out, but this time she didn't follow him.
'Is it lingering fear, or aversion to what I am about to do... Who knows?'
He turned and headed straight to the prison tent where Luvia awaited him.
The two guards changed from earlier, one of them a familiar female from Iris's forces, while the other he didn't recognise but seemed to be the same.
Neither greeted him, but both of them gave a strange look as he passed them.
...
Luka stepped into the tent, which no longer smelled musty and now carried a faint fruity scent, his mind curious about the effects of his abilities and the face Luvia could use his system for.
"Phew, you wouldn't believe the night I've had so far."
But the moment he entered, she lunged at him.
"What have you done, what have you done to me!!!!"
She wailed and clawed at her smooth brown flesh around her neck, yanking the chains enough that she tears them free.
'Oho, exciting!'
Luka stood still, letting her hit him.
However, the moment she knocked him to the ground and wrapped both her hands around his throat.
It wasn't him who showed a sudden pained expression while struggling to breathe.
But her.
Luvia gripped his neck tightly while choking for air.
'So it stops her from hurting me directly.'
He remained calm as he watched her struggle.
She punched his face, only for a sudden force to send her flying into the pillar with a thud. Her body slid down with a swelling bruise on her cheek.
"Why, why, why, why?!"
Then she took the sharp six-inch nails which locked her chains in place and swung them down at his eye....
Luka finally moved, his hand grasping her thin wrist and locking it in place.
His eyes became sharp.
"Don't harm yourself anymore, you're mine. I am the only one allowed to harm you."
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean.... Hey... You. Human bastard, look at me! Say that again, I dare you."
When he turned to face her, she tried to bite his throat. But having comprehended the skill, he slipped from her mouth and smashed her against the ground and pressed her body beneath him.
Luka smirked.
Then leaned closer and sniffed her neck.
His lips slowly traced along her throat until he reached her long, droopy brown ear.
"Listen well, dog, I am your master."
"Nngh..."
She resisted right until the moment he whispered into her ear, then her body uncontrollably trembled, and she averted her gaze.
The effect of their soul-deep pact doubled any damage she tried to inflict on him, but in return, it tripled the pleasure she felt from his actions.
"You smell really good, woman. Delicious and ripe for the picking."
"Ssshut up... It's your fault!"
Luvia ended her struggle and relaxed beneath him while chewing her lip.
He teased her for a short while before deciding to get down to business: "Do you know somewhere close we can kill goblins before sunrise?"
'Will she be honest, or lie to me?'
"Eh?"
The dark elf's ears perked up as she stopped averting her gaze. "You'll let me leave with you?"
"Ah, come with me."
"Hmph, just take that racist bitch of a knight!"
"I can't, it has to be you."
Her ears drooped the moment he spoke, her dark chocolate cheeks reddening as she nodded and mumbled. "The western forest is best, if we go to the east... it might alert the goblins resting in the village and catacombs."
Luka's heart fluttered.
She passed his test without even realising.
Though she had no clue the reason why he said he needed it to be her who came with him.
'Of course, I need you.
My damn father created a title that forbids you from leaving more than thirty metres from my side at level 1!!!!'
Though she wouldn't find this out until much later.