Chapter 85 Journey to Haydel (Part 1)

I woke to Tom's noisy entry into the room. I looked around quickly and found myself lying alone on the bed, with my charges huddled together at the far end of the room, staring at us with frightened eyes.

The beauties, however, were fully dressed and their beautiful faces showed no trace of the night's events. Having greedily stroked their well-groomed bodies, barely hidden by erotic clothes, I realized that I wouldn't mind to have a romp with one of the beauties. The morning boner was getting the better of me.

"Can you come back in an hour, huh?" I asked Tom, eyeing the slender legs of the enchantress I'd chosen as my first victim.

"Woah! That's what I'm talking about! Four in one night and want more in the morning," marveled my companion. "But you remember where we are, don't you? When we get to a safe place, we'll stay in it for a week!"

"Is something the matter?" I was immediately alert, jumping out of bed and beginning to dress hastily. Luckily, my clothes were lying where I'd dropped them yesterday.

"Not yet. But I can smell the enemy is close!"

"You smell it?"

"Well..." stammered Tom. "I don't have a full-fledged skill for detecting enemies in advance. But over the years as an adventurer, some intuition has grown on me after all. And right now, it's telling me we'd better get out of these hospitable mountains."

I did not argue, trusting my companion completely. He skillfully built all our captives, loaded them with things, and soon they were already moving through the tunnel deep into the mountain. He and I positioned ourselves a little to the side.

"But you surprised me," Tom admitted, looking around lazily. "I thought you'd have to be dragged around all day after a night with four high-level ladies. And you're chipper, and your companions clearly respect you."

"I just got lucky with the skills," I smiled. I asked, nodding at the red-haired warrior in the leather-striped skirt, who had been showing off her toughness yesterday, and today was walking obediently in the ranks, carrying her share of the load. "And how did you manage to succeed?"

"So I have the characteristics on the level, and experience with skills," smirked my interlocutor. "This particular redhead I first cured with the help of a priestess, then fucked her properly, and then forced the prisoners at my disposal to take turns having her with a dagger sheath."

"And they obeyed?"

"And willingly! It's us men who have each other's backs. And not all of them. But the ladies are ready to tear the other one to pieces if there's a profit to be made..." explained Tom. Then he added thoughtfully. "Besides, it seems to me that each of our captives is not averse to pleasing a man who is stronger than she is. It's just that they hide it from each other, or maybe they don't realize it themselves. That's why they're always willing to submit when they realize they've lost."

"Well, why do they hide it?"

"It's because they've been brainwashed by the sharp-eared bitches. They don't have men of their own, so they want people to have no men.....

So, talking, we reached another round hall with a lake in the middle, lit from a hole above. The tunnel ended there. Skeletons in half-decayed clothes and half-decayed armor were scattered around the hall itself, mixed in with the essence crystals I already knew.

Judging by the design of the armor and the gracefulness of the skeletons, a battle between elves and monsters had once raged here, ending in a victory for the latter.

Tom nodded approvingly, and immediately sent our captives to collect essence crystals and jewelry (the rest, after years of lying in a damp cave, had fallen into utter disrepair).

At the same time, the only scout we had was sent to search for secret passages.

By the time the ladies had finished gathering, another passage had been found and our group was finally out in the open. We came to a section of an old, half-overgrown road that ran right up to the steep cliffs. Beyond the road was a dense forest.

"Let us now go toward the pass, from which the road to Borderline begins," said Tom, after a short thought, and confidently led our party to the left along the road. - It is a small town, and news from the remnants of our army is unlikely to reach it. And the people there are not particularly vigilant.....

"Wait a minute," I interrupted him, remembering that that was the name of the only town I'd ever been to. "But as far as I remember, it's on the very edge of the settled lands. So, on the contrary, everyone there is wary. And the adventurer's guild is big."

"What? Why would he be on the border?" my companion was surprised. But immediately slapped himself on the forehead. "Ahh... I forgot that because of the demons we fell out of reality for a long time! What year is it now, by the way?"

"473rd, I think," I remembered the words of one of the dark elven women once said near Valdra's altar.

"That's right! I'm from the 137th... And in the valley, I remember someone mentioned the 209th.... You were here later than everyone else. And you could have been cursed. Hence, everything in the world could be different by now..."

"No, no, no" I stopped Tom, fearing he was going the wrong way with his conclusions. "I didn't fall under the curse and I came just as everything was taken away."

"Are you sure?" squinted my companion. "All right, then. Anyway, it turns out we can't go to Borderline. We can't go back either... It makes no sense at all to go deep into the human lands.... We can either go to the bandits or negotiate with monsters....

"By the way! Bandits don't live long, because they send adventurers after them. But I think I can subdue monsters. As far as I remember, some of the men managed to do that, and they rose in rank quite well with their help. Sharp-eared bitches, however, quickly learned how to expose such things and covered up the freebies. But now we don't need to fulfill tasks, we need to find a shelter! It's decided! Let's go to Borderline! We'll see what's happened to the towns on the road."

We walked in silence for a while, each of us thinking about our own things: Tom was hatching plans to capture the local bestiary, and I was wondering if I could trust him enough to reveal my nature.

"Look, what happens to our captives if we go to the monsters?" I asked cautiously, deciding to test my interlocutor.

"Anything," he shrugged. "If you like someone you can keep them. No, give it to the monsters. All the more reason to use them to catch fresh ones. And maybe we'll rescue some of our own or recruit some male adventurers. They haven't been killed off yet, have they?"

"No, they haven't. Though I haven't met any men of high rank..."

"Really? Okay, well, we'll have to look into it anyway. I'm sure I'll be able to deal with the monsters if they're smart. But what happens next is a question..."

"There's no way we're going back to humans?"

"Well, unless you go to a remote village and spend the rest of your life in the middle of nowhere and obscurity. In my time the peasants didn't like sharp-eared bitches and women in adventurers, and I don't think anything has changed, so it's unlikely they'll give us away. But we can't go into the cities! So we'd better get to the monsters!"

"Agree" I nodded...