"Lute, I want you to be a member of my party,"

"I refuse,"

"Whoa… you didn't even think at all and immediately rejected me," Marika looked at me in amazement.

"I've been thinking about having a party with my women," I shrugged.

"Your woman? Ah, I understand women who are always around you," Marika nodded in understanding. "But if you party with me, not only do you get great rewards, we can become great party members," She then explained her wish again.

"That sounds good, but I don't want to leave my woman. Besides, don't you have a lot of people who want to party with you, why don't you pick a few of them."

"They? You should understand what they want from me," Marika had a disgusted expression when she thought of those people.

"I'm curious, isn't it better to recruit party members from Beastmen race just like you, if a princess from Beastmen race is in a party with Human race, especially if that person is a boy. Your race will not like it even the royal family will reject this too."

"Heh, royal family, what they were thinking was just defeating the Human Kingdom. They were no different from the Human Kingdom itself. I have always been educated with idea that the Human Kingdom is an evil kingdom, which has always enslaved our race. But when I look to another side, I also see that our race is also enslaving the Human race. Wouldn't that make no difference either?"

"Well, it can't be helped, even though slavery is outlawed, some people still violate this. The loser will be trampled on by victor, no one can stop that," I sighed helplessly.

"You are right, until whenever the war will continue until one side loses. If only all races could coexist like in the era when heroes appeared… no I shouldn't have wished for the impossible," Marika shook her head.

"Impossible?" I looked at her with an attractive smile.

"What? Was what I said wrong?" Marika looked at me confused.

"No, what you say is true," I smiled.

Marika feels strange with Lute's reaction, she feels Lute is hiding something from her. But since she didn't know what it was, she could only ignore it.

"Don't you have other options for your party members like Alice? She is stronger than me or Natalia she has great abilities too,"

"Alice? The cat girl with the red hood? My instincts say she's a dangerous woman, after all, isn't Alice your woman too? She will refuse my invitation. As for that bunny girl, she has an arrogant nature, I don't like her,"

"What about me? Why did you choose to recruit me?" I looked at her curiously.

"Although I don't like the human race, that only applies to the royal family and their subordinates including those who enslave our race. As for you, you're not one of them, and something inside me says you're different from the human race. I don't know why, and this makes me very curious, maybe if I'm with you, I will experience something amazing," Marika looked at me excitedly.

"So that's your reason, Hmnn... I can accept you in my party but on one condition,"

"One condition? What's that?"

"You just need to take turns with my woman, after all some quests have a limit on the party members that are allowed to be brought. I can't possibly bring all my women with me, I plan to split into several party groups, and we will alternate members with each other,"

Marika folded her arms, she was thinking whether to refuse or accept it. She had given up on recruiting Lute to party with her, but she also didn't want to party with those people if she could.

"Okay, that's fine,"

"In that case, I'll take you to see—"

"Princess, are you here? I've been looking for you everywhere."

Suddenly a man's voice was heard, when I turned my head it was a man from the Wolf Beastmen Race. He looked like a senior from the second grade, he had a handsome stature with gray hair. When our gazes met, he looked at me with hostility and soon arrived in front of Marika, blocking us.

"Who are you? Why are you talking to Princess Marika?"

"I will also ask back, who are you, why are you blocking us from talking,"

"Hmph, I am a bodyguard sent from the Beastmen kingdom to guard the princess in case something happens. My name—"

"Ok, ok, you are so noisy, I don't want to hear it,"

"Pfft.." Marika covered her mouth to hold back a laugh.

"You!!" Blood vessels are visible on his head.

"What? Do you want to hit me? Just try it if you can?" I smiled mockingly.

"You just said it, Bratt,"

Furiously he lunged at me, his hands growing fur and claws like the hands of a wolf. I also gathered the chains in my hands into fists, our attacks clashing causing strong winds all around. We both backed off at the same time, he looked at me with a gloomy look because I was able to withstand his attacks.

"Do you still want to continue this battle? Your Princess has gone a long way now," I smiled playfully.

"What??"

"Aca... Lute why did you tell him,"

Marika looked back with an annoyed face. But she then ran quickly trying to get away from the man. Even though she didn't have a maid beside her, still the royal family would definitely have bodyguards guarding them in case something happened, she didn't like this, as it interfered with her freedom.

"Princess don't go!! Tch, I'll remember this, you'll see," He said angrily, before chasing after Marika.

I shrugged letting him say whatever he wanted, it just sounded like a villain who's always been in a story. I also don't want to linger here, I want to go back to meet my woman.

-----

"Princess Marika wants to party with us??" Silvie opened her eyes wide at my explanation.

"Did you refuse?"

"No, it's just that this is beyond my expectations."

"We will alternate members, as I explained earlier, this shouldn't be a problem,"

They nodded at my explanation. But then Silvie and Alice's faces were uncomfortable seeing Elyse who hugged my arm tightly, she fed me a meal which made the atmosphere around us look romantic.

"Elyse, can you let go of my hand? Wouldn't Elysia be angry if she saw this?"

"Hmm? It's okay she's fast asleep right now in my consciousness. We made a pact beforehand, so I can do what I want with this body," Elyse smiled at me.

"*Sigh* But still you shouldn't be doing this,"

"Mou, alright alright," Elyse looked a little annoyed before letting go of her embrace.

Silvie and Alice's gazes calmed down, I was finally able to heave a sigh of relief and we resumed eating lunch. Shelly and her party are not with us at the moment, they said they are going to do the Quest because they haven't done it in a long time.

Doing quests also increases the additional value and earns rewards, but of course with risks depending on how dangerous the quest is. Because doing practice directly in the field is prioritized, rather than just learning without knowing how to solve it.

"Elyse do you also want to party with us?" I ask.

"Isn't it obvious, of course, I would," Elyse smiled.

"What about Elysia? She hasn't made a decision yet."

"I'll tell her later, I'm sure she won't refuse either."

"How do you know she didn't refuse?" Trecia tilted her head.

"I know, even though we have different personalities, we are still one person. We understand each other well." Elyse smiled.

"I'm so confused about you two even though I've heard the explanation from Lute," Trecia looked at Elyse in confusion.

Elyse just laughed and continued eating, the others were still a little confused even though it was explained earlier. Having two personalities in one body is a rare thing.

-----

In a valley with red rocks, red cracks can be seen on cliffs. the crack seemed so small, that no one would notice if someone passed by. Behind the crack is a passage that leads to a place. The cliff cracks slowly enlarged and a red light shot out from it.

*Rumble*

Soon the crack shattered the cliff wall and a red passage was visible, an ominous aura emanating from the passage. Hearing the rumbling sound, the locals immediately checked what was going on. When they got there, they were surprised by a passage that suddenly appeared on the cliff.

"Th-this, there's no mistaking a new dungeon appearing here!!" A middle-aged man looked at the dungeon with an uneasy feeling.

"Village head, we must report this to the adventurer guild immediately,"

"Y-you're right, I don't want the monsters in this dungeon to come out," The middle-aged man nodded and they immediately returned to report the incident.