Rixsa let out a low, rumbling cackle, the dead rabbit swinging rhythmically from her hand. She didn't move away; instead, she leaned against the tree, thoroughly enjoying the sight of the "Pious Elf Knight" unraveling like a cheap ball of yarn.
"Come now, no need to be so shy," Rixsa purred, her scarlet eyes glinting with mischief. "I just want to know the methodology. What exactly were you really doing with that string?"
"What does it look like?!" Alexis snapped, her voice cracking as she finally managed to buckle her chest plate back into place. Her hands were still trembling. "I was... performing a verry important body assessment!"
"Fu fu... horny little one, aren't you?" Rixsa teased, poking Alexis's shoulder with a clawed finger. "I didn't think 'Light Poles' had enough blood flow for these kinds perverted of thoughts."
"Shut up! I know you've done the same thing!" Alexis shot back, her pride stinging more than her embarrassment. "Don't act like you haven't been lying awake at night wondering if you'd survive a night in a Leviathan's cave! Or if it would be impossible for you to to engage in 'activities' because of the size difference."
"Yeah, no... you're just wrong, very wrong to be exact." Rixsa said, her smile turning smug as she started walking back toward the fire. "Be realistic, Alex. The average size for Monster-kin is 5.6 to 6.9 inches. They're just slightly above Demi-human and Beast-kin men. It's physics... or biology. You don't need a magical string for that."
Alexis scrambled after her, her boots crunching on the dry leaves. "But Nervall was a prime, high-value test subject! And he is a Leviathan!" she argued, her academic side taking over as a defense mechanism. "Leviathans are top-tier Draconic predators. Their biological output is scaled to their mana density. You can't compare him to a common orc or a lizardman! It... It would be vastly incorrect!"
"He's not a 'standard' Monster-kin, Rixsa!" Alexis continued, waving her hands emphatically. "If his female counterparts are seven feet tall, the sexual dimorphism alone suggests that his... his measurements would be significantly outside the standard deviation! I was simply calculating the probability of internal organ displacement!"
Rixsa stopped at the edge of the firelight and looked Alexis up and down. "Internal organ displacement? "Ha." Rixsa chuckled. "More like how much you could take before you pass out from a pleasure over load, Girl, you really are a freak. You're not looking for a boyfriend; you're looking for a structural integrity test."
Rixsa tossed the rabbit onto a flat stone and unsheathed a small skinning knife. "But hey, if you're that worried about 'fitting,' maybe you should stick to the Elven scholars. Me? I'm a Wolf-kin. We're built to take a hit. If he's an 'S-Rank Threat,' then I'm an S-Rank Tank."
Alexis sat down across the fire, clutching her knees to her chest. The "High-Blood" allure of the Leviathan was becoming a terrifying, yet intoxicating, reality.
"I'm not a freak," Alexis whispered, mostly to herself. "I'm just... thorough."
"You... not a freak? Sure, 'Thorough,'" Rixsa grinned, tossing a bit of rabbit fur into the flames. "Just remember to hide that string before we reach Blue Jade. If Nervall sees you measuring your 'lung capacity' while looking at his crotch, even he might get scared.
Alexis and Rixsa arrived in a small town and decided to ask an expert about the size of draconic reproductive organs for research purposes. Whoever guessed closer to the actual size would gain two weeks with Nervall, during which the other could not interfere and could only offer support to the winner. The expert helped them by providing the information they needed but advised them to stick to men of their own race, since finding a dragon-kin was difficult, and even more so a leviathan on the surface.
"The news from the expert hit like a physical weight, shifting the air between the two knights. Alexis stood tall, her eyes gleaming with a mix of triumph and absolute terror at the mathematical reality of 7 to 9.7 inches. She had won the bet, but the "prize" was starting to look like a heroic challenge.
"Two weeks," Alexis whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of excitement and nerves. "Two weeks where you have to play wingman, Rixsa. You agreed. No sabotage, no clinging, and you have to help me... facilitate the arrangement."
Rixsa looked like she had just swallowed a lemon. "Yeah, yeah. A bet's a bet. I'll help you. But don't blame me if you end up in the infirmary because you were too 'thorough' for your own good."
The expert, an elderly scholar with spectacles thick enough to see into the next century, watched them with a knowing, slightly pitying smile.
"If you truly know a Leviathan on the surface, you are dealing with a biological anomaly," she warned, closing her heavy tome. "They are built for the crushing depths and for females who stand seven feet tall. For a beast-kin, it's a trial. For an Elf..." She looked at Alexis's narrow waist. "It's a medical emergency."
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping. "Unless you find a Rebirth Star. It's a rare celestial ore that, when infused with mana, allows the body to temporarily—or permanently, with enough exposure—expand its internal limits without damage. It's the only way a 'petite' woman survives a Leviathan's full attention."
"Expensive and rare?" Rixsa muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Great. So now we're not just looking for slimes and fighting monsters, we're treasure hunting for a 'Capacity Upgrade' stone."
Alexis looked at the map, her resolve hardening. "We have 10 days until we reach Blue Jade. If there's even a rumor of a Rebirth Star in this region, we find it. I am not losing my two weeks of 'victory' because of a lack of... structural preparation."
Rixsa sighed, looking at her boots. "Fine. As the 'loser,' I'll track the rumors. But if we find it, I get to use it too. If you're going to be 'the winner' for two weeks, I'm not spending the rest of my life as a 'shrimp' compared to you."