"Don't be shy. The transformation doesn't bother me. I may not be able to understand what it's like, but I can be understanding of your situation. All of the girls will treat you the same."
Kyrina relaxed and turned to me, still looking down.
"Did you mean what you said?"
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Kyrina's cheeks puffed out, and smoke began to leak out from her lips. Quickly, my brain quantified the last three seconds of conversation, and I remember my declaration of marriage that I hadn't talked to my other wives and wife to be that should have been my first wife. My brain felt like a shaken jar of pickled eggs, but I snapped back to the dangerous situation at hand.
"Yes, I do plan on marrying you. I just ask that you let me talk to the girls before making the announcement."
Kyrina let out a puff of smoke and deflated, cycling back to her burning cheeks and shyness. I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, putting my arm around her waist. We walked together back to the small tavern where the rest of the girl would be waiting.
Now, this is around that previously mentioned time, and my two wives and wife-to-be were all arguing over my announcement. Mikota had taken Kyrina to the springs to help her get cleaned up so she would be far away from this discussion. The wives were arguing about me not asking them, while Jill tried to explain that the idea held merit. She also pointed out that I had done something similar for each of them.
I was a bystander in the situation, only receiving rotating dirty looks from Sasha and Maxine. Finally, Jill convinced them that this was for the best, and there was more pressing news.
"The original reason for coming to this mountain village was to find the map we have been looking for. While you were gone wife hunting, Maxina and I were able to locate the map and copy it down."
"That's excellent news! So, where are we headed from here?"
"We have to go to a town north of here called Shadeholm. From there, we head north another half a day to a place called The Deamon Ruins, but after that, we are on our own. No one has ever survived to leave the place, so there are no maps of the inside."
"Hmm? It sounds like a pleasant place, but that is our destination, and we have collected all the elements. The final steps are in front of us. Not all of you fully understand what Jill and I started looking for a long time ago, but you will when we get there."
After that, we all left and joined the other two that had come back from their baths. I was a bit surprised, and a question I had wordlessly asked before was partially answered. Mikota must have dug through the girl's clothes because Kyrina wasn't in her typical black dress.
Instead, Kyrina wore a long blue dress that had been roughly customized to allow the tail room. Kyrina looked beautiful, but I was sure I saw a flash of irritation cross Maxine's face when she noticed the tear made for the tail. Mikota would be wise to keep her distance for a while.
Kyrin stayed in the back round for almost the entire night until near the end. I had stayed by their side the whole night, and Kyrina seemed to have a lot of fun. Near the end, she pulled me away from the others and out of sight.
"SWIWHP!"
Considering that I had been drinking along with everyone else, the sudden shift left me with a close bout of motion sickness that almost caused me to puke. Kyrin gave me his hand to steady myself, and when I looked up at him, he was smiling.
"I really have to thank you. Truly, she, I mean, we have had a great time tonight. I just hope this continues."
Kyrin shook my hand but gave me a mischievous look at the end of it. I got an uneasy feeling.
"SWIWHP!"
As Kyrin's hand sucked out of mine, I turned and grabbed the planter next to me and emptied my stomach.
Chapter 45: To The Second Layer
After that night, we all said our goodbyes and headed to Shadeholm. The journey expended our savings, and Sasha found some exciting jobs to keep a roof over our heads, but after three months, we ended up where we were now.
"SWIWHP!"
My mind snapped back from the place it had taken me, and that familiar and disconcerting sound made me look to where Kyrina had been. In her position, Kyrin sat wearing a black shirt and pants, a drastic change from his typical light plate. He was giving me a funny look while examining me.
"Are you alright?"
"Hmm? Yeah, I was thinking about when we met."
"Oh? What parts? the ones where I tried to kill you?"
"SWIWHP!"
"Or the part where you said we would get married?"
Another bout of nausea almost hit me as the motion sickness wash over. Kyrin had changed back to Kyrina in mid-sentence, and the up-close effect was hard to stomach. It was how the entire body got sucked into a single point, and then the other body spun out in its place.
"Mhm, all of it," I groaned as I clutched my head.
"Are you alright?" Kyrina asked with a worried expression.
"Oh? No, I'm fine. I just get a little dizzy when you two switch places."
"Is it better if I do this?"
Half of Kyrina's face melted and then pulled itself back together as one half of Kyrin's face.
"Let's say it's not worse than before, and I don't feel like I've been thrown in a blender. So, I think this is the best plan while in close quarters."
The other girls were now paying attention to our dialog and started to laugh. Sasha and Maxine both had finished their pie. Sasha was stretched back in her chair, while Maxine had her back turned to everyone with a toothpick trying to get something out of her teeth.
Mikota curled into a ball on her chair, pulled next to Jill's. Mikota had put her head on Jill's lap and was now having her hair stroked. Everyone was relaxed, so I lifted Mikota, carried her to our new rooms, and put her down in bed. Jill suggested the baths, but Kyrina said she would stay with Mikota, so the four of us went down and found the spring was free rather than single tubs.
I was the first to get undressed, and I slid into the water, watching the loose dirt fall off. The day picking weeds on autopilot and the other memories left me exhausted as if I had just experienced those memories in the flesh rather than a daydream. Three splashes around me made me look around, coming out of my thoughts, and I was surrounded.
Three beautiful women with wet towels glued to their shapely frames advanced on me with mischievous looks in their eyes. Part of me thought, Mmmmm, but the more logical me knew these girls were up to no good, but I had been cornered. I tried to turn and pull myself out of the water, but that's when they pounced!
They must have smelled my fear because they were on me the second, I made a motion, and before my hands got a firm grip on the edge, hands gripped me, everywhere.
"HEY!" I tried to protest, but I was systematically ignored by all three as two held me in place, and Jill approached with the scrub brush.
Oh no.
Jill, the first girl I had ever kiss and my oldest friend, one of the kindest women I knew, except. Right now, I was nothing but terrified of this kind and loving woman that had a scary and far too familiar zeal burning in her eyes. She raised the scrub brush like a weapon above me and felt like I was about to piss myself in fear.
Jill, so cute and friendly, unless she thought you needed something. That might be too vague, but it's a reliable and apt description of her personality...defect. If Jill decided you needed a check-up, you got a check-up, now, and on the spot. If she thought you were dirty, you went in the bath, and she held you down until at least the top two layers of skin had been removed from every square inch of your body.
I received such treatment, and every plead I made for it to end was met by giggles and laughter from Sasha and Maxine. During my wails for it to "finally just end or kill me now," I noticed something about Sasha. She held me in place tight with her hand, but I only felt a constant pressure like a normal hand.
Finally, the flaying of my skin ended with Jill stepping back to examine my red rubbed-raw body and gave the girl's a nod. They both relea
sed their grips, but Sasha grabbed me and pulled my sore back into her chest with her arms wrapped around me. I looked down and noticed a thick rubber-like coating covered the claws.
"What are these?" I asked Sasha as I lift one of her hands to my face.
"I found them in a shop, they were a bit different before, but the owner warmed them up and shaped them for me. The man said he had made similar ones before for other Tiger-Kin."
"That's really amazing. I will be nice to sleep without wearing that heavy chainmail."
"I'm not too sure if I'm going to wear them to bed or not yet."
"What do you mean?" I asked, a bit puzzled. I had thought that this would be the main reason for getting them.
"Well, If I don't wear them, I know Maxine won't sneak into bed."
I reached behind myself and started tickling Sasha, The other girls had disappeared, and only the two of us were left in the water. Sasha tried to attack me back, and we ended up tangled in the shallow part of the spring. Her towel had come, off and Sasha slid her naked body over mine as she pinned me down, my head just barely above water.
"I think we can get more use from these claw covers than just sleeping," Sasha lifted her weight slightly and then pushed us into the slid wall of the spring.
For the first time, Sasha and I held nothing back as our lips and body pressed into each other. The feelings we shared were pure ecstasy as I could feel her pulling me into her. After we snuck back into the room and Maxine was already fast asleep, the two of us crawled into bed.
In the morning, I woke up to Maxine clutching one side of me, practically falling out of her nightgown. On the other side, Sasha had pressed her chest round my arm like a vice clamp. I could feel the blood start to trickle from my nose since every other part of me was more than filled.
Before I could act on the urges that were coursing through my entire body, the door banged open, and Mikota strode in with Kryina and Jill. The sound startled the girls, and they pressed into me hard. I should have been in a dreamland, but the blood pressure broke like a dam, and blood squirted from my nose.
"Quit being such a pervert, Dave! Why aren't you ready to go yet?" Mikota scolded me.
"I was having a wonderful sleep. It's not my fault that you went to bed so early." I retorted back while using a napkin. Jill handed it to me to clean my face off.
"YAWN!" Sasha gave an exaggerated stretch as she stretched her jaw with a long-drawn-out yawn.
I kicked the girls out except for Maxine, who was still clinging to my side, even after I sat up. I lowered my face down to her to kiss her forehead, but her eyes opened, and suddenly I was being blown into the air and spun, landing back on the bed. Maxine mounted me and pinned my arms down for effect, considering how small she was.
"Your mine tonight, and the Kitty gets her own room, you hear? That means your mine tonight!" Maxine was almost panting.
I dared not make any excuse in this position, and with her, this worked up. I lift my arms slowly with her hands, still trying to hold them down, and then quickly wrapped my arms around her and flipped over. I peppered her face with kisses as she struggled to break free, but finally, she squirmed from my clutches and off the bed, looking disheveled like a wild animal.
The two of us got changed while poke and tickling each other. By the time we changed, Mikota was pound on the door, telling us to hurry. When we finally finished and were about to open the door to the hall, Maxine pinched my arse, hard.
"Ouch! What was that for? You little devil!"
"Just a reminder about later," Maxine spoke to me while giving a longing look before opening the door.
Chapter 46: Wading Into Danger
Mikota was waiting outside with arms crossed and an impatient look on her face. We all left the inn, and I waved to Karman as he continued to wash a glass. He gave me no response, so I reminded myself that I would have to check later to see if it was the same one.
Jill led us to the market, and while Sasha and I gathered rations and supplies we might need, the other four moved around, mingling into the crowd and trying to glean any info. When we all met up, Maxine and Jill looked disappointed, but the Mikota seem to be having fun playing with Kyrina's tail.
"No luck, hey?"
"Nothing at all, and it's not just that they don't know, but they don't even want to talk about it," Jill exasperated to me.
"Not just that, though. The people held wards and different charms up and shooed us away. All the people were like this, young and old," Maxine explained while scratching her head.
"Hmmm? Well, It's not like we found any about it in our travels. I think we have everything, so we should probably head out so we don't get caught out after dark. I want to be able to camp near or in the ruins tonight."
"After dark? But I thought," Maxine's voice trailed off, and she took on a gloomy look, so I went to pat her on the head while leaning in. I whispered something that made her blush and then smiled, shaking her head up and down.
I was tempted to ask Kyrina and Mikota if they had learned anything, but one look in their direction made me veto that line of thinking. Instead, I had to go over and pull Mikota off Kyrina's tail that she was tickling inappropriately, and we were starting to get looks from the locals. I pulled Mikota along, and the flustered Kyrina followed.
According to the map copied down, we had about half day's walk through a forest that turned into a swamp. The girls weren't excited about closing that, but they knew there was no getting around it. After about an hour of walking, we found a large and gnarled tree marked on the map. This location signaled as to where we entered the forest.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Sasha asked as she peered over Jill's shoulder, trying to make sense of the map.
Even with all six eyes and the ability to have brief premonitions about immediate future events, Sasha couldn't read a map to save any of our lives. Her premonition with Jill's help could allow her to see things happen before they did and know how to react to them. Unfortunately, this ability drained her magical power, so it was only used sparingly.
"Yes, but the path looks pretty overgrown like it hasn't been used in a while," Jill pointed out.
"SWIWHP!"
"Don't worry, I can take care of it," Kyrin announced as he steps from where Kyrina had been stand only moments before.
"Woah, Woah, Woah, pretty boy, calm down. It would be best if you didn't burn the entire forest down," Mikota stepped in front of Kyrin, waving her hands.
"I'm not going to use my magic," and with that, Kyrin pulled a sword from a scabbard that I had not noticed before.
Mikota made an "oo" sound and hopped out of the way as Kyrin advanced on the path, sword drawn. Sasha came over and wrapped her arm around mine. Then Sasha put her head on my shoulder while letting out a sigh of relief.
"I really thought I was going to have to be the one to push the path, using my claws. I'm glad we have Kyrin with us; the vine and stuff get stuck in my nails, and I get wet slivers," Sasha complained as she wrapped herself tighter around my arms.
I saw Maxine scowl and turn away from us, but at the last second, I suggestively lifted my eyebrows, and Maxine almost tripped and fell over. After that, she wouldn't even look at me directly, but I did catch a small smile catch the corner of her mouth when she seemed to be lost in thought, at least until we got to the swamp.
"No."
That was Maxine.
"Not a chance."
That was Mikota.
The rest of the girls weren't happy about it but weren't putting up the same resistance as these two. The problem lies in the fact that the swamp's water was higher than we had expected. Maxine and Mikota would sink to just below the waist. It was only mid-thigh level for the rest of us, and the girl had just tied up their skirt while I took my pants and socks off, slipping them into my bag, but I refused to take my boots off.
"I'm not going in there, Dave. I am not dipping my privates in that water," Maxine protested.
Typi
cally composed, it was cute to see this side of Maxine, but I went over to scoop her up. A small "Eek" slipped out of her lips, and I saw Sasha roll her eyes. I turn to Mikota, who was clutching Jill and shaking.
"What's wrong?"
"Mikota can sense another snake in the area," Jill told me while putting an arm around Mikota.
"Just one?" Kyrin asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah, just one big one," Mikota spoke just loud enough for everyone close to hear.
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