During the trip with the gang, Luke realized how much fun it is to travel in a group. The first trip wasn't lonely because the half-wolf had the company of Atom and Bastet, but traveling with his friends gave him another kind of feeling, something unique. The laughs, the stories, the jokes, and the intrigues are things Luke missed during the almost two months it took to go to Yoelona's fort.
Before they realized the time had passed, they were already in the vicinity of a town called Camboriu, a few miles from the Cardinal Kingdom. Since it was getting dark, they decided to stop and set up camp.
While the men were putting up the tents and burning the fire, Meredith called Alexis to go bathe in a river that the gang saw as they were coming down a hill. This river was huge, but the water was relatively calm in that early evening.
The two half-beasts were completely naked and were washing their bodies in the cold water, enjoying a few little rays of sunlight that were orange in the sky.
Alexis never worried about being in the dark because she had her ability to produce light should she need it.
"It's so nice to finally have a girl with us!" Meredith exclaimed after lengthening her spine from spraining too much when washing her hair.
"Oh, don't say that; I'll be embarrassed!" Alexis spoke up and threw some water in the direction of the half-fox.
"Ouch!" Meredith expressed with an amused smile after the icy water suddenly touched her body. "I was serious. The boys are very nice, but they are..."
"Men?"
"Exactly! I bet they sometimes forget that I'm a woman. Haha!"
"Even Luke?" Alexis asked, curious.
"Not in the old days, but now he does... Before, whenever we were alone, he would get embarrassed and shy."
"That would be something I'd like to see!" The half-dragon exclaimed because she thought Meredith was being ironic; however, she soon realized that she was not. "Wait... is that serious?"
"Who knows..." Meredith shrugged, smiled, and fought back the water throw she had just recently received from Alexis.
In the bushes beside that river, Ynosuke and John were sneaking around to try to spy on the two women, but there was a lot of bush blocking their view everywhere they went.
"What a mess... go a little to the side, John." Ynosuke spoke from his knees, pushing John a little to the side.
"I can't see anything either." John muttered, irritated, trying not to scream.
"What are you guys trying to see?" Luke asked, putting his head between the two of them.
"AAAAAAAH! FUCK!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT, LUKE!?"
The two boys were very startled by the gloomy voice of the half-wolf and his yellow eyes.
The girls in the river heard the screams, but could not tell what it was about. Were they predatory animals or locals? After a few seconds, the answer finally came. Luke came out of the bushes and shouted to the women:
"Ynosuke and John were trying to spy, but I've already sent them away!"
"Thanks, Luke!" Meredith acted naturally because they had taken many baths together and shouted with the aid of her hands to better propagate her voice.
However, Alexis Dmitry did not act the same way, after all, she was completely naked, and although the water was covering her from the waist down, her breasts were still showing.
"Lu-Luke!?" The half-dragon's face became as red as a raspberry.
Then she inadequately tried to cover her huge breasts with only her left arm and plunged into the water. After Luke had gone, Alexis stood making little balls in the water with her mouth, while a mixture of feelings and sensations plagued her mind.
"Why did you act that way?" Meredith asked, curious. "Aren't you and Luke dating?"
"WHAT!? What are you talking about?" Again, Alexis' face heated up and turned red.
Meredith was more confused than ever. "I thought the person Luke is dating was you, or is it the white-haired Elf that Ynosuke commented on?" she wondered.
"No, he's dating Ayumi... she's..." Alexis was about to continue but noticed the startled expression on the half-fox's face, which slowly turned into a slight smile of happiness, proving that Meredith recognized that name very well.
"Because you and I have become friends, I was happy that you and he are dating. However, if he is dating a rich Elf, I will no longer hold my feelings..." Meredith stated, and from the look on her face, she didn't seem to be lying.
Alexis was surprised by this attitude; after all, vying for a man against the most beautiful and powerful woman in Oukiwa didn't seem like a good idea. Although Alexis had already realized that Meredith was into Luke, she didn't know that the half-fox's feelings were so intense.
Slowly Luke was evolving in the practice of Sea Ornament. In the first stage, fluidity was essential for him to grow his muscles and joints. Martial arts train parts of the body that generally cannot be trained by simple bodybuilding, which is why they are so important for any fighter. When Luke could show that he had strengthened his muscles to the necessary point and that he could memorize the simple attack and defense positions of the Sea Ornament in motor coordination, Ynosuke could say that the half-wolf had completed the First Stage. Still, these are slow processes, even for talented people.
On the following day of the afternoon on the river, the gang finally arrived at the Cardinal Realm in the morning. Everything looked exactly as it did a month ago to Luke, and to the S-Class, everything looked the same as it had when he visited the city two years ago.
The colossal walls that never aged or deteriorated were still as firm as ever, and the population seemed peaceful. While Matthew was guiding the wagon, Luke turned back and asked the half-dragon:
"Alexis, I have been curious about something since I first visited this town. Can you tell me why there are so many half-beasts here?"
"Hm... A history professor once told me that a century ago, there was another big war in the Flak Kingdom and that most of the half-beasts arrived here as refugees from that war." Alexis explained.
John paid attention and added. "It makes a lot of sense since the Cardinal Kingdom is nothing more than a kind of 'branch' of the Cardinal Sanctuary in the Flak Kingdom. Likely, they have already come with a destination in mind." This boy was a born tavern gossip and knew a bit of everything.
This left Luke wondering about his ancestry. 'I wonder if my grandfathers were refugees?'
Within minutes that subject faded from his mind. After they entered the city, instead of them going to a hotel, the half-dragon suggested they go to her house.
When they got there, they found a dusty place full of weeds at the entrance.
"Oh! That place is a dump!" Zack spoke with sincerity.
"Sorry about that! I haven't been here in a while..." Alexis spoke with a lopsided smile.
Luke walked over and placed his hand on the head with the red hair of the half-dragon. "This is a beautiful house. We will help you clean it as payment for giving us a place to sleep..."
"Actually, I was planning to charge one gold coin a day..."
"Eeh?" Luke removed his hand from her head as if she were a wild animal. "Why so greedy? Are you broke?"
"Always!" She exclaimed with a smile and put her hands on her waist like something to be proud of.
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