(Lian Li POV)
"Ugh… Master really did a number on me tonight…" Eris groaned, stretching herself.
All of us were gathered inside our tent for the night after Master ended our night training session.
I thought Master might let me warm his bed tonight but Master claimed he had some things to do so he told us to get our rest first.
"Ufufufu~ It was quite a sight to see both of you clashing with each other," Manami commented.
Eris raised an eyebrow, "Clashing or gittin' my little ass handed to me? Because I really think it's the latter ya know?"
Without waiting for us to respond, her face had scrunched up in disgust, "Language…"
Deciding to let Eris have her own inner monologue, I spread my own bedroll on the ground, claiming my spot near the side of the tent.
Since Kiyomi has joined us, we'll have to squeeze six people in our tent instead of our usual five. At least it was still large enough to accomodate all of us since we cuddle with one another.
Since the white haired fox youkai was Manami's sister and had already pledged herself to Master even before meeting us, we had decided she didn't need any indoctrination.
So far, she's been a good sister and we've already seen her as one of our own.
"Speaking of which, how is that elf girl doing?" I asked.
Diao Chan looked up from laying her own bedroll, "If you're asking about that adventurer elf we took away, I passed her over to Delta to handle. She sent a message to say that she was adapting well and I didn't see a need to ask for details."
I nodded, "As long as she can change, that's good enough. We should be benevolent like how Master has been to us."
"Speaking of which, what do you all think about our drivers?" Kiyomi asked out of the blue, the white fox helping Manami brush her tails.
I crossed my arms. "Honestly, I don't trust them."
Cai Hong looked up, "Bad men smell bad."
Diao Chan scrunched up her eyebrows, "They were nothing but complete wastes of space."
"Ara, ara? To ask such a question, does my cute little Kiyomi have something to say about them?" Manami asked, tilting her head slightly.
Her hands didn't stop brushing her sister's tails, "For one, they seem to be harbouring rather malicious thoughts. I was wondering if anyone else noticed or it had all been my paranoia talking?"
"The fact that they only considered going away when they saw me unclasping my sword is a clear sign," Eris commented.
I nodded in agreement, "Well, we can't do much to them right now since we need them to drive the carriages. But I propose that after the journey is done, we do something about them."
All of them nodded in agreement except for Kiyomi.
"I don't think any law enforcers would arrest them over something like that? Unless you guys are planning on incriminating them on other charges?"
Ah, she doesn't yet know about our little church yet.
Well, there's no rush for that now. It's better to see if she truly can fit in first before we fully indoctrinate her.
I was just about to reply to her query when a soft 'crack' resounded through the air from outside our tent.
Not caring that we were already in our nightgowns, all of us had rushed outside our tent prepared to take down whatever was making the sound outside, all of us expecting either a monster or a pair of men seeking death to be the source of the noise.
But all we saw was our cute Master standing outside in his own nightgown with his head raised to stare up at the sky.
Beside me, Cai Hong was sniffing the air muttering, "Bad man juice?"
He noticed our presence and turned to us with a smile, "Sorry, did I wake you girls? There were a few monsters nearby so I went to take care of them just now."
I relaxed, "Master should have just left such simple things to us. It is beneath Master to settle things such as this."
"It's fine," Master waved his hand noncommittally. "You girls have been working hard, it won't be right for me to disturb your rest like that."
Diao chan pouted, "Master… You should have just brought us along… We wanted to watch at least!"
Master chuckled at her words, "I'll keep that in mind next time. Now go back to sleep, it's already quite late."
I was about to obey when Manami stepped forward, her hands pinching the hems of her nightgown and lifting them up to reveal a scandalous amount of thigh.
"Ufufufu~ Since Master is already here… Won't Master indulge in us for a little while?"
How sly of you, Manami! But yes! Please do, Master! I want to cuddle tonight too!
Judging by the expressions on everyone else's faces, it was clear they were thinking of the same thing as well.
Master just smiled serenely at her, how could such a simple smile be so cute?! Master, that's so not fair!
"Go and rest Manami, you girls too. We'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
We nodded and wished Master goodnight as well, only returning to our tent after Master had disappeared inside his.
"How bold of you elder sister," Kiyomi commented. "I know you've always been the possessive one but to do this out in the open… Are our other sisters fine with this?"
I raised an eyebrow at her before looking towards Manami to see a conspiratory smile on her face.
"Ufufufu~ My dear cute little Kiyomi~ one of the first things I've learned from my time with Master is that Master belongs to no one, not even me."
She seemed to understand the underlying meaning behind her words, her eyes widening and looking towards us.
"All of you?"
We nodded in unison, except for Cai Hong who was busy with sniffing a towel that reeked of Master's scent. She never told us where she got that one.
Manami moved behind Kiyomi, hugging her waist, "So there's no need to hold yourself back dear sister. You can go beyond trying to sneak in kisses during your training sessions with Master. All of us has done that and more."
The white haired fox girl smirked, "Oh, I was never worried about that elder sister. I was just afraid you might get jealous if Master shows favour towards me. I had never planned to back down from the start."
"Ufufufu~ that's the dear sister I know~" Manami giggled, caressing her sister's face with a hand.
Well, since Master was not keeping us company tonight, we were treated to the sight of how close Manami and Kiyomi truly were.
It was quite an educational experience to see just how fox youkai deal with the lack of men inside their village when they weren't looking for a mate.
Still… I decided that tomorrow I'll definitely cuddle with Master, my reserves of Masternium were already critically low as it is!
