After a few days and several exhausting moments, Talis and I finally pushed our raft near land.
"Hah, I can see land, you two! Keep pushing, we're almost there!" Said Vanimo with an eager smile as he glanced at the faint silhouette of land in the far distance before turning and glancing at Alexander at the back of the raft.
"Finally, all that suffering has been worth it." "Tell me about it; being unable to have sex is so annoying." Said Alexander and Talis, respectively, as the former's expression aggressively twitched while the latter deeply sighed.
Taking a deep breath, I ignored Talis's dumb words and focused entirely on continuously expelling a constant flow of flames from my palm, which was what was pushing us forward. Several more minutes passed, and when my mana reserves were nearing empty, we finally arrived near land, causing me to lower my hand while sighing in relief as I felt our raft beach itself onto the skinny strip of sand.
"Land!" Yelled Vanimo excitedly as he leaped off the raft and landed on the sandy beach, quickly making a sand angel.
"Vanimo, stay on guard. We haven't checked our surroundings; who knows who could be watching." Said Vanye sternly as she rested her hand on the hilt of her sword while stepping off the raft, her feet sinking into the sand.
"The likelihood of there being someone sneaking nearby is improbable." Said Lazuli blandly as she ignored Vanye, paying more attention to the beach than her.
"Come here, Vanimo! I'm going to leave you unable to walk!" Stated Talis with a lustful grin as she flew towards Vanimo, who shivered in both fear and lust at her words.
Stepping out of the raft, I stretched a little bit while using [Heroes Gaze] to scan our surroundings for anyone or anything, though, unsurprisingly, just as Lazuli had said, there was nothing within the vicinity, so I just plopped onto the ground, grunting as I watched Talis and Vanimo vanish into the forest.
"What do we do now?" Asked Vanye as she ignored Lazuli and walked towards Alexander, who opened a single eye before shrugging his arms.
"Find out where we are and attempt to buy tickets for a ship that can get us to the Mezcla Continent. Though, until my mana reserves are full, I'm not doing anything." Replied Alexander as he glanced at Vanye with his single eye before closing it while he continued to rest, causing Vanye to lightly nod as she approached a large rock before sitting down and leaning against it.
Sitting upright, I sat cross-legged and began to meditate, further speeding up the rate of my mana recovery, though while doing so, we all faintly heard Talis and Vanimo's love-making, which seemed to stir arousal within Lazuli as she suddenly plopped onto my lap.
"Yes, Lazuli?" "Hmm, nothing." Remarked Alexander and Lazuli, respectively, as the former raised an eyebrow while the latter shook her head as she gently rubbed her butt against his crotch, causing it to harden.
Inwardly sighing, I attempted to focus back on meditating, though that was obviously a foolish attempt on my part as lust was beginning to take over my thoughts. However, what really sent me over the edge was when Lazuli pulled my pants down, revealing my cock to the world and to Vanye, who was sitting not far away.
"~Mhm~ splendid as always." Muttered Lazuli with a hungry gaze as she licked her lips while staring at Alexander's cock that twitched in desire.
"Tch, if you're going to do it, at least do it somewhere private!" Stated Vanye angrily with a deep blush as she glanced between Lazuli and Alexander before shutting her eyes while the image of his manhood constantly appeared in her mind.
"Hmm, I suppose we can go and secure our surroundings. What do you say, ~Alex~?" Asked Lazuli with a faint, sadistic smirk as she whispered into Alexander's ear while firmly grasping his girthy shaft, causing him to inhale sharply.
"Yeah, we sure can." Said Alexander with a nod as he stood up and pulled his pants while following behind Lazuli, who led them into the forest, leaving Vanye alone.
Although Lazuli clearly was feeling horny and wanted to see some action, and while I was also the same, I actually wanted to do a sweep of our vicinity to ensure nothing suspicious was going on; after all, who knows where the hell we are.
After spending thirty minutes walking through the forest about a kilometer away from our landing site and finding nothing noteworthy or suspicious, we slowly returned to the beach; however, just as Lazuli leaned against a tree, eager to make love with how she was sticking her but out, I suddenly heard the crunching of leaves from behind.
"Shh, quiet." Muttered Alexander firmly as he gestured to Lazuli, who nodded while lowering herself to the ground, allowing the thick vegetation to conceal her presence.
Leaping into the air, I silently latched onto a tree trunk as I looked through the dense foliage, searching for what was causing the crunching of leaves and branches that were slowly getting louder; yet, what I saw surprised me.
'The fuck!?' Exclaimed Alexander as he dropped to the ground and dashed through the forest, causing Lazuli to frown.
Although I wasn't trying to be quiet as I ran through shrubs and small saplings, the person never heard me until I finally arrived before them.
The person standing before me was a young human woman of average height, yet, currently, she was covered in wounds and hunched over, holding her side with both hands that were profusely bleeding. Most of her wounds weren't large, but each one was deep, causing me to think of a dagger or short sword; her bloody clothes were a complete mess and were barely doing their job at this point. As for the wound on her side, it was leaving a trail of blood in her wake, though worst of all, it looked infected with greenish puss leaking out through her fingers, which screamed poison.
"H-Help, m-my m-men." Said the young woman weakly as she stepped toward Alexander before finally succumbing to her injuries as she fell unconscious, collapsing into his arms.
My heart, which had been pounding ever since Vanimo first mentioned he could see land, finally stopped, causing me to groan inwardly as I carefully picked the woman up into my arms.
'Back to back? I don't know whether to be happy or annoyed.' Thought Alexander wryly as he carefully held the woman while turning around, only to see Lazuli staring at him.
"Who is she?" "No clue." Said Lazuli and Alexander, respectively, as the former suspiciously eyed the young woman in the latter's arms.
"I see your heart has finally returned to normal; is this another Vanye situation?" Asked Lazuli skeptically as she eyed Alexander, who inwardly winced before awkwardly averting his gaze.
"Um, no clue. Anyways, can you burn that trail of blood this woman left? I'll take her back to the beach to heal her. Thanks." Replied Alexander with a faint smile as he kissed Lazuli's cheek before dashing through the forest and returning to the beach.
"First, Yuki. Then Me. Then Vanye, and now this woman. How many more times?" Remarked Lazuli in slight annoyance as she stared at Alexander's back, only to click her tongue as she shifted her focus to the bloody trail, which she began to burn.
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"Um, who the hell is she, Alex?" Asked Vanye with furrowed brows as she glanced at Alexander, who swiftly emerged from the forest.
"No idea." Replied Alexander as he quickly stopped before gently placing the woman down on the beach.
"Hmm, with so many injuries, I'm impressed she's still alive." Muttered Vanye lightly as she stepped forward and inspected the young woman while Alexander grabbed two vials from his space pouch.
Pouring one vial of my blood into the woman's mouth, I poured the other one on her oozing wound.
"Your blood is amazing, you know that, right?" "Yeah, I know." Said Alexander and Vanye, respectively, as the latter gazed at the rapidly healing young woman before glancing at the former, who nodded.
It still took a few minutes, but eventually, the young woman had fully healed and returned to perfect condition; hell, she was probably even better than how she normally felt. Anyways, since it was just Vanye and I, I summoned Zartha from my body and pointed it at her.
"We didn't finish our conversation last time, but my swords are alive. Also, I've never treated nor spoken to you as if you were my servant or slave, have I? So why would I suddenly do it now?" Remarked Alexander blandly as he glanced at Vanye, who averted her gaze with a faint blush.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry." Muttered Vanye meekly, struggling to admit her fault, while Alexander re-absorbed his sword.
"Heh, I can tell that was difficult to say for someone competitive and prideful like you, though apology accepted." Said Alexander with a faint smirk as he glanced at Vanye, who scoffed while folding her arms in annoyance, only for Lazuli to finally arrive.
"You probably want to see this, Alex." Said Lazuli as she glanced at Alexander before looking at the young woman, her words causing him to furrow his brows.
"Vanye, can you watch over her? I'll be right back." Asked Alexander as he looked at Vanye, who nodded before standing up and approaching Lazuli.