Dao Divinity 2 Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Dar ended up stopping by his hut and letting Amber do just what she offered, which she seemed immensely pleased by tucking it away with an affectionate kiss.

He didn’t really want to show up for dinner, sporting that hard on, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get it to go away with his dinner companions. Especially not with Amelia egging him on as she had been.

Amber slid her dress back up over her shoulders. “I see you enjoyed them.”

“I’ve never had anybody do that.” Dar admitted as he pulled his pants back on. Amber had used her chest to work him most of the way. He’d seen it done in videos and animations, but never felt it personally.

“I’m glad you liked it. Now just imagine it with Marcie's giant ones.” Amber cupped her own chest to make it seem larger.

Dar gave an awkward chuckle. He still wasn’t entirely used to the girls talking about each other. It was great, but still took some adjustment. “Well, she needs to make the first move. I’m scared to spook her.”

Amber hummed in thought. “I think you need to make the first move with her, Milord.”

“Think you could get her permission for me? I’d like for her to at least voice it to someone. I don’t want her feeling like she has to.”

She nodded. “Yes, it would make her think about it too.”

“Exactly.” Dar sat down to put on his boots. “I need her to think about it and accept it beforehand, so she doesn’t have to make a choice at the moment. Otherwise, I fear she’d question it during and after, and that would end poorly.”

“Yes. I can see how that could end poorly. A normal lord would just force her and continue to, even if she didn’t like it. But you aren’t a normal lord. You’re Darius Yigg, The Black Knight, and the first human to become an Immortal.” Amber smirked as she finished all his titles. “It is an honor to serve you.”

Amber did a well practiced bow with a flourish of her dress.

“Cut it out. You know I don’t care for that sort of formality.”

She swooned. “And ten times more kind than a lord would be with even one of those titles. Makes a girl wish she wasn’t a commoner.”

Dar needed to get out there to dinner with the whole family. He swatted her on the rear. “Get your shoes on. We are going to dinner.”

“Ah, there’s the whip.” Amber lamented, but a smile cracked her facade.

Dar got up and left. But her antics had put a smile on his face.

As he stepped out of the hut, he saw the village was already gathering for supper. People were splitting into family units as a few women minded the pots on the central hearth. Marcie was over at the pots now, stirring one of the three that would feed people today.

But Dar noticed one thing out of the ordinary. There were fish leaning over the fire on sticks, grilling. Dar felt his mouth water.

“Who got all the fish?” Dar asked, sitting down with his family. The leader meeting could wait until after. He wanted to spend some time with his girls.

Mika blushed. “I did. After everything the other day, I realized I was just doing as I was told when I knew I could do something better.”

“This is amazing. Do you want to fish every day?” Dar wondered who else had been underutilized so far.

“I could probably catch quite a few fish. If you got me a solid spear and net, I’d be able to catch more than I did today.” Blushing, Mika seemed to have trouble looking him in the eyes. She seemed far different from the girl he’d originally met. That girl had been overly confident, but also happy as a loner. He wondered if the change was as she was trying to join their family.

Then again, they had met under strenuous circumstances. Mika had been more concerned about staying alive.

“Of course. Please. Let me see if Bart can get someone to make you a spear. Actually, let’s have you work with a blacksmith tomorrow morning, and we’ll get it hammered out.” He put his hand on her arm and gave her a smile. If she needed a spear then, she’d get one.

Amelia gave her friend an encouraging jab of the elbow. “Wow, I’m jealous. He doesn’t offer to make me anything.”

Dar rolled his eyes and changed the subject. “What’s wrong with Neko?”

The girl in question was angrily batting her tail while hiding it in her lap. A small growl escaped her lips at whatever was wrong.

Cherry reached over and grabbed the cat girl’s tail away from her, and held it up for all to see.

The end of her tail was encrusted with cement. Dar tried to not laugh, knowing it would likely only make Neko upset.

“Poor kitty. We are going to have to cut it off.” Shaking her head, Amelia took on a sad tone.

Neko shot several feet in the air, like her feet were made of springs, and hurried to hide behind Dar.

The whole group broke out in laughter, and Neko growled quietly behind Dar, bringing him back to the situation. “Amelia, you shouldn’t tease her like that.”

“But she clearly understood everything I said. Proves my point.” Amelia gave Dar a devilish smile.

Realizing she was right, and that Neko was really learning far faster than he was giving her credit for, he turned his head to look at the jaguar girl. “Let me see it.”

Neko held her tail in her hand and gave Dar a wary look, glancing down to his ax.

“Fine. Here, take my ax. I promise I won’t cut it.” Dar knocked the ax down so it wasn’t leaning against his stump, where it would be easily reachable. It seemed to satisfy Neko, who carefully gave him her tail with an almost reverent gesture.

It was far softer than Dar had expected. He’d seen her grooming it more than once, but he was surprised at just how velvety it was. At the tip, it looked like the cement had been pressed in, but luckily it seemed to have only gotten caught in the hairs, and not on her skin.

“We could shave some of the hair off and remove it now, or we could just let it grow out. Normally, you use vinegar to get it off your skin, but I’m not sure if we have any.” Dar looked over at the rest of the girls.

“It’s unlikely. That’s not exactly someone’s priority when they are running for their lives.” Mika answered for him.

“Okay, so no vinegar Neko. Do you want to let it grow out or do you want me to trim the hairs and get it out?”

Neko pulled away and clutched at her tail, then looked back at Dar before she held up a finger. Sadness filled her face as her finger hummed with dao as she cut it out herself, leaving a little bald patch at the end of her tail. She pouted and sat down next to Dar.

“Or you can do it. Your tail still looked very pretty.”

That statement seemed to cheer her up a bit, but she still stared at the bald patch now at the end of the tail despondently.

“Milk it for all it is worth, kitty. You’re mine tonight.” Amelia grinned from across the circle.

“What does that mean?” Dar asked.

“We three are poor souls all alone in our hut. And kitty needs some lessons before she’s ready for you.” The salt spirit grinned.

Mika hid her face in her hands. “Ames, you can’t come on that strong.”

“Look at him. He’s interested in the idea. You should have seen him earlier.” She said, the last part conspiratorially as she trailed off to whisper in Mika’s ear.

Niko blushed after a few moments and shot Dar a look that he couldn’t quite decipher.

Thankfully, Dar was aided by Marcie and Amber, who came around with a dinner of a vegetable stew and a whole roasted fish on top.

Dar tapped his new ceramic bowl. Turning it around to look at it more carefully, he noticed that it wasn’t quite round, but it was far superior to the wooden bowls. While a bit more oblong than round, it would be far easier to clean. He could even make an enchantment to steam them. A little box with heat runes and some water should do the trick.

“What new thing did you just invent in your mind?” Cherry asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Dar waved it away.

“No, we want to know.” Sasha encouraged him, getting her own food.

“Uh, back in my old world, we cleaned our dishes with steam. At least, we did in the restaurants. You’d hose them down to get the big stuff off and then do a steam rinse to kill off any lingering bacteria.” Dar picked up his grilled fish and bit into it. It was simple, but fantastic. And a very welcome change from stew.

Dar let out a groan of approval and his idea vanished as everyone tried the grilled fish.

“This is great.” Sasha agreed with her first bite. “Is there even a little salt on it?”

Mika nodded. “Yes. Just a little from Amelia’s work today.” Her eyes tracked back to Dar, enjoying the fish, and she smiled warmly at his enjoyment.

“I think you won out on me today. Just a simple fish yet I gave him pounds of salt, yet he isn’t over here pounding me.” Amelia teased.

“I thought you already took your reward?” Dar threw it right back.

“Oh? What reward was that?” Sasha could sense there was something there.

Amelia, however, looked at Cherry and Sasha with a bit of fear. “Nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing.” Amber spoke up. “She made out with Dar and then Neko.”

“With Neko?” Cherry perked up, completely ignoring that Amelia had kissed him. Then again, she was still encouraging him to take more women, so maybe that wasn’t a problem for her.

Sasha nudged him and whispered. “Moving fast, well done.”

“Dar, are you okay with her being physical with Neko?” Cherry turned to Dar.

“Of course, I have no issue with you girls seeking pleasure in each other. Otherwise that would be hypocritical of me. But I’d ask you to keep it to our family or those that are going to join.”

Cherry traded a look with Sasha before continuing. “That’s unusual for male demons.”

“It’s better than that.” Amelia continued, clearly feeling emboldened now that his two dao companions weren’t going to fry her for it. “He liked it. A lot.”

“Enough.” Dar stopped it before it went any further. “If it is a question, then yes, I have no issue with girls in our family sharing each others’ body. In fact, where I came from, that was a common fantasy among men.”

Sasha stepped around Dar and kissed Cherry. The two of them leaned into it and really went at it, making out in the public hearth. Their hands tangled in each others’ hair as they seemed to go off to their own world.

Dar picked his jaw up off the floor and cleared his throat. “It might be best not to do that in public.”

Both of them turned to him with big grins. “That was pleasant. Not quite as enjoyable as my rugged big lug, but you are a skilled kisser, Cherry.”

“And our man does seem to really like it.”

“That was hot as hell. When’s my turn?” Amelia leaned forward, about to fall out of her chair.

“When the big lug you love to tease gives you the green light. Not a moment before then.” Sasha sat back down on Dar’s left and gave the salt spirit a look that warned caution.

Ah, Sasha would be the one to keep her in line. Dar would let the women handle each other, though he realized he was close to overstepping when she kissed him.

The conversation died down as they focused on their food and they settled into familial silence.

Finishing up, people were looking tired from a hard day’s work, and Dar was feeling it as well. But he still needed to discuss plans with the other leaders of the village.

Getting up, Dar kissed Sasha’s head just as she started a yawn. “Feel free to get some sleep. I’ll come join you later.”

The witch wrinkled her nose before giving up an argument before she even started, sighing in agreement. “Today was particularly trying. I’ll take you up on that.”

“Night love.” Dar gave her another kiss before he pulled Cherry along with him to the leader’s group. Over his shoulder, he noticed the rest of them tightened into a smaller circle and Sasha started talking.

“What’s that about?”

“Women things. Let us sort out things, and you just sit back and enjoy?” Cherry asked.

Dar didn’t like that they were keeping him out of it and grunted neither in agreement nor disagreement.

“She’s organizing your women for you. Let’s leave it at that, okay?” Cherry tried again.

“You know that is still a foreign concept to me… but I’ll leave it in yours and Sasha’s hands. Not like I’m complaining.” In some ways, he felt like he was just the binding agent for these powerful women. But if Cherry and Sasha were going to manage them, then any complaints would be downright silly.

Cherry bumped his hip as they got to the other group’s circle. “Didn’t think you’d throw much of a fit.”

Pushing that aside, Dar spoke to the group as he joined the leaders circle. “Evening. How was everyone today? I hope we didn’t get any more surprises out of the day.”

Russ growled. “I’ve heard about the fun in the woods, but I’d like to hear it again from you. Also, the woodcutters are scaring away game in the northern forest. If you want me to keep bringing back as much as I have been, we can’t keep them in those woods.”

Dar scratched at his chin. He hadn’t considered that. “Then I’m afraid we need to do something about it. While we were felling trees today, one of the groups was attacked by two ettercaps and their pet spiders.”

Russ looked confused, but one of his women whispered into his ear and he nodded along with Dar’s story.

“We settled that one situation, but then I went with Rex to scout deeper in the forest than we’d been before. We found…” Dar paused, looking over to see if Rex wanted to fill in from there. It was technically his role, and Dar didn’t want to take it away.

Rex cleared his throat and stepped back a few steps in the story. “We brought along torches to keep them away as we scouted. Deep in the forest, maybe ten miles southwest, was the largest ettercap colony I’ve ever heard of. We didn’t get too close, but we were able to see it from over a mile away. It was a giant wall of white, tightly woven web, like a fortress made from their web.”

“That’s not good.” Russ added unhelpfully.

Dar looked to Glump as the oldest in the group besides Cherry. “Any thoughts on what to make of that?”

“Normally, I’d get the hell out of their way, but we don’t have that option now, do we? Winter is coming, and we can’t afford to try to pack up and go to either of the cities. They are too far, and there are other risks to this group regardless” Glump was clearly agitated based on the way his throat bloated when he closed his mouth.

“Then we need to fight.” Russ growled and knocked over his bowl.

Dar gave the young demon a level look. “How many do you suppose are in there? Our guess is hundreds, Russ. We might have some powerful fighters, but that’s a lot of ettercap who have the element of knowing the territory and having pet spiders to throw at us to wear us down. We’d be exhausted before we even got to the main battle.”

“But you’re supposed to be The Black Knight, hunter of devils extraordinaire. The stories all sing of your ability to cut through armies of devils. Or is all that a lie?” Russ’ hackles were up as he growled in challenge.

“Careful.” Glump warned Russ. “We aren’t fighting here.”

Dar leveled the young demon with a glare. “I was The Black Knight, but not anymore. But that doesn’t mean you have a chance against me.”

It sounded aggressive to Dar, but Cherry and Sasha had coached him that if he was to be challenged, he needed to stand tall and puff out his chest. This was something from a demon’s animal heritage, not a human conversation.

Dar stood and rose to Russ’ level. “Do we have a problem that needs to be settled?”

Russ growled and stamped his foot. If Dar hadn’t fought much worse since coming to Granterra, he might have been intimidated like that first day with the Minotaur.

But he’d become accustomed to this world enough to know that this was something he had to do to keep order in the village.

“You two. Why don’t we settle down?” Samantha started, but one of Rex’s wives held her back and whispered in her ear.

“We will take care of the ettercaps, Russ. It will be on our terms and we will have a better plan than just charging in and seeing how many we can kill. I agree we can’t just let them grow. Do you have any better ideas on how to take care of them?” Dar tried to appeal to his rational brain, to make Russ think about what else could be done.

Russ huffed and backed down. Two of his girls eased him down to his seat and did their best to comfort him. “No. I certainly couldn’t walk in there like you said and kill them all.”

Maybe his youthful rashness had been more curbed than Dar expected from his encounter with Neko.

“We know they hate fire, but it seemed they were aggressive enough to ignore that.” Dar informed everyone. “But they did stop at the edge of the forest for now.”

“We could just burn it all down.” Russ offered.

Dar tried not to shoot it down immediately and poke his idea full of holes, since Russ already seemed a bit on edge. Instead, Dar just pivoted the conversation. “Let’s leave that as a last resort. We’d lose a lot of resources, and it would potentially spread back to the village. It could also create something large enough to draw a bunch more devils to us.”

“They will slow down as the weather chills, but fire will also be less of a deterrent in winter.” Glump added. “We could try a few probing attacks.”

“I was already thinking along those lines. I’ll admit I’m terrified that they might come out of the forest en mass and overrun the village, but inaction through fear is no action at all.” Dar shook his head.

“But there’s something else I wanted to talk to this group about.” Dar paused, confirming their attention. “There’s a huge tree not far into the forest. I want to send a small team that deep to try and fell it to be carved into a solid wood boat.” Dar gave them his plan. “At the same time, we can understand what the situation in the woods is after yesterday.”

“A boat? How big?” Russ perked up, knowing that might lead him to the bison that he had been wanting to hunt.

“Big enough to bring at least a few bison back if we pack it correctly.” Dar encouraged him.

“Good. With the woodcutters in the northern forest, we won’t get much done, anyway. I will go with you tomorrow to get this wood for a boat.” Russ nodded to himself.

Dar looked over his shoulder at Cherry. “Can I borrow you for the morning too?”

“Of course. We got ahead with the crops today. I’ll wake up early and start a new crop for them to pick today before we go. Sasha will come too.” The last bit was said such that there was no room for argument.

“Sounds good.” Dar looked back at Russ.

“Hold up. Is this the big tree that Frank said was too big to safely take down?” Bart interjected.

Dar nodded. “The very same. But I think with a skilled crew of heavy hitters like this, we can take it down. We’ll have to be careful.”

Bart looked around the group and heard no other complaint, so he raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, how about you take Frank too, just to be safe?”

Relenting, Dar nodded. Frank did have great expertise. “Send him our way in the morning. Would love to have him.”

Bart grunted at having to tell the woodcutter, but nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Dar waited to see if anybody else had pressing topics to discuss, but it seemed like everyone was tired and the big problem was all they had energy to work out that night.

“I wish I had a few to send your way,” Rex said before standing up. “But we’ve doubled the watch, so I’m not sure we’ll be able to spare anyone.”

“Good thinking on the watch. Let’s keep that up until we have better news.” Dar couldn’t hold back a yawn. “Sorry.”

“No. It’s been a long day. Let’s hope tomorrow is a better one.” Glump said.