My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1533-1535

Chapter 1533

When I woke up after spending time with Lydia, I realized that I was alone. My tail beat unhappily against the bed. Wait! I had a tail again? At some point, while we were sleeping, our souls must have snapped back together again! I thought this would be a difficult thing that could only be done in a rare circumstance, but I had merged again. Well, we did just have sex, but it wasn’t even normal sex, so was that okay? It seemed we could merge from the front and the back.

Well, it was fine. It wasn’t like Lydia was gone. She was inside me. I could feel the signature of her soul wrapped around my own. Our combining had seemingly healed all of the damage to my soul and also repaired my lost arm. With just this much rest, I felt like I was back to my full ability, and if another King Roth appeared, I’d be able to fight him too. That was good because we still had the army to deal with.

Before I had any longer to dwell on it, I heard a knock at the door. “Yes?”

The door opened a crack and Faeyna poked her head inside. “Master, I’ve been told to instruct you that the Dioshin army is on the move.”

“I understand.”

I had shut down my Slave Communication while spending time with Lydia, so this was the easiest way to contact me. Elaya and some of the others knew ways to bypass that and connect through other communication skills that acted exactly like Slave Communication, but they were respectful of my privacy. I got up and dressed quickly. There wasn’t a place for the tail, so I made due the best I could and ripped a hole in it. I could always use repair later to fix it.

I headed to the entrance to the mansion, where everyone else was already waiting for me. If things went bad today, then rather than an end to the battle, we could be in a fight for our lives. I didn’t feel as worried as I once had though. I knew that there was still reason to worry, but I felt at peace. All of my girls were back at my side, and the enemy had lost their strongest person.

The group of us left the mansion and then met with the army. We had managed to recall most of the army pretty quickly with portals last night. The idea was to show our strongest presence. If we met them with just a handful of us, they wouldn’t respect us. That’s what Elaya had said. This was a formal show of force and negotiation. It was similar to what Aberis and the Ost Republic had been doing when I had returned from the Illusory Sword Dungeon. The idea had been to discuss peace, and only if peace failed would the battle begin. In this case, peace was dependent on Eliana’s marriage, but even then, Lord Aberis had always intended to backstab them. Hopefully, things went a bit smoother this time.

It wasn’t long before our entire force was lined up just outside of Chalm. Meanwhile, their forces began to emerge from the forested area. If the Osterians hadn’t been clearing out the wilderness and pushing it back the last few months, we wouldn’t have even had room to line up both armies. They would have been on our doorsteps.

At that point, the girls and I began to ride out into the center spot between the two armies. They began to come out too, riding on those strange cat creatures. When I saw the man in the front, I couldn’t help but let out a noise of surprise.

“Lord Duran?”

Chapter 1534

To my surprise, it was the wolfkin faction leader, Lord Duran, who was riding in the front of their entourage. There were many others alongside him, including the rabbitkin, foxkin, and murinekin. It was pretty easy to guess what happened. As soon as he reached earshot, I spoke up.

“A coup?”

Duran smiled, stroking his smoothly shaved chin. I had only seen glimpses of him before while under King Roth’s care, and he had looked rather haggard and beaten. He had managed to heal himself and clean up pretty nicely.

“You weren’t the only person I sent messengers to when I saw things going south.” Lord Duran explained. “The rabbitkin and murinekin had negotiated a cease-fire, but after I revealed to them the true story of what happened with the experimentation, as well as Lady Death, they were all too willing to move while his back was turned. The other tribes had already taken one of the worst losses of their lives fighting you, and once I leaked King Roth’s true motives, the completely demoralized.”

“Their true motives?” I asked, suddenly feeling a bit anxious.

“That this was all a pissing contest. That he was jealous another man was called a better harem master than him.” He responded, a small twinkle in his eye.

I didn’t know if he knew more than he was letting on, but that didn’t matter. On the surface, pulling his army back and fighting harem to harem truly did make it seem like this was just King Roth’s big ego.

“I didn’t think we had done much damage…” I responded.

“Unlike the murinekin and the rabbitkin, whose ability to breed is similar to humans, most beastkin have reduced breeding. When it comes to the Bearkin and Beastkin, they can barely breed fast enough to maintain a steady population. They aren’t prepared to throw their lives away needlessly, so every death was a blow to them. Even if those people are resurrected, the damage they sustain can affect future breeding. The tribes are not particularly united by a strong bond, and when a tribe’s livelihood is damaged, it doesn’t take a lot for them to turn.”

“So… Roth had already lost his throne before we even fought,” I responded, feeling a bit bitter over how hard we had to fight.

“Well, it was true that they were demoralized, but it was only when the remains of his harem returned with the announcement that he was dead that the official surrender occurred. A few loyalists tried to cause trouble last night, but they were quickly subdued.”

“And they made you king?”

“No, not at all. I’m only leading because I’m the one who knows you personally.” He let out a laugh and leaned closer. “If I’m being honest the other tribes are kind of frightened of you now. You defeated King Roth one on one. His former gave a free account of everything that happened, and it was enough that they wanted me to sue for peace.”

His words were picked up by some of those behind him, who gave frowns, unhappy with his words, but didn’t choose to argue against them.

“Sue for peace…” I contemplated. “Doesn’t that mean we get to discuss the terms?”

He smirked, showing his canine teeth. “Why, yes… we do.”

Chapter 1535

Since it was the animalkin pushing for peace, then I was in a place where I could make requests. I crossed my arms and smiled. Perhaps I was overdoing it, as the animalkins from the rodent family looked like they were about to pass out. It was remarkable they managed to rally themselves to go against King Roth in the first place. Then again, they had been depending on me weakening Roth enough and destabilizing the army enough. I was sure if he came back victorious, they would have quickly bowed down. For freeing them from their tyranny, I felt a little entitled to something.

“Alright, I have three demands for peace,” I spoke frankly.

Those behind him tensed, but he nodded as if he expected this. “Speak.”

“First… the entirety of the wilderness will be recognized as my territory by Dioshin. Not Aberis’s territory… mine.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Prince Edward, but I felt like having Dioshin uniquely acknowledge my ownership of the land ahead of Aberis would put me in a safer position. There was a time where I never would have considered such things, so I felt a bit proud of myself for that one. It wasn’t something I had been told by Elaya but had come up with on my own.

“That sounds reasonable.” He responded with a short nod.

“Second, I want a passageway of safe travel through Dioshin to Jespain, for any merchant or trader coming out of Chalm.”

Those words caused the men in the back to let out cries of surprise.

“Outrageous!”

“We can’t…”

This was a unique time where I had all of the tribes gathered at once. They could work out some safe paths that people could travel. A trade route to Jespain where none existed before would be a major game-changer for the eastern continent.

Duran lifted his hand to silence their bickering. “We’ll do it.”

The others looked uncomfortable, but once again they shut their mouths.

“The third option is the easiest,” I responded. “I want your alliance.”

“Our alliance?”

“A promise… from all twelve tribes. There will be a time when trouble will come, and the world will be in danger. I want all of you to ride with me, and to defend our world.”

He frowned, not sure how to respond. “Do you know of some threat?”

“We can speak on it later. For now, I just need a promise that when I call, you’ll fight.”

“I believe I can convince them, but it won’t be for some political reason…”

“Trust me… when the time comes, you’ll know.”

I knew this last one was vague, but I knew Twilight would be coming. When she did, perhaps they would help either way, as they wouldn’t have a choice, but I imagined all twelve tribes fighting separately. If we were going to survive what was to come, then we needed to fight alongside each other. That’s why I made such an agreement.

“Then, I accept all three terms on behalf of the animalkin of Dioshin.” Duran put out his hand.

I reached out and shook it, and upon that the other lords and ladies watching seemed to relax considerably. That was until a group of armed women suddenly barged past them. My girls tensed as the lioness queen and a group of about twenty lionesses walked up around Duran. He frowned as he turned to them.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded.

First ignored him, instead of falling to her knees. “My lord! I’ve finished my task and return for further orders.”

“Huh?” I blinked.

All of the other lionesses suddenly prostrated in front of me as well. “My Lord!”

“I-I’m not your lord…”

She looked up and then bit her lip. “I see… then you’d rather we be slaves. V-very well… then I will call you Master.”

“H-hey now!”

“Yes, Master!” All twenty girls said in unison.

“I have a feeling I’m not involved with this.” Duran suddenly patted himself and gestured for the animalkin to turn around and leave. “Have a good day, Deek.”

“Oi! Where are you going? Take them with you!”

“We follow the strongest!” First declared. “My lord is the strongest. You are also a catkin, so it’s only right that we follow you and become your mates.”

“M-mate!” I jumped back. “Hey, I’m not a catkin! This tail… it’s just… situational!”

“It doesn’t matter! You, Lydia… you and her, you’re one. Our loyalty to the both of you will be undying!”

“You mean until you find someone stronger.”

“N-no!” Her cheeks turned pink, pressing her fingers together. “We happen to know Master is very kind to his women, so we too do not want to be thrown away. That’s why… whether you’re a man, or a woman, or anything else… we’ll keep Master happy!”

“I’ve been wondering that too.” Miki suddenly spoke up. “Master and Lydia have bonded again.”

“What about it?” Terra asked.

“Does that mean… that Master is a futa?”

All the girls froze, and many eyes suddenly fell on my crotch. I felt a sudden intense predatory instinct. Like a gazelle, I began to run.

“Get him!”

I only made it a few steps before the girls were on top of me. They pulled down the pants and…

“Master is a woman?”

“A vagina?”

They looked up to see breasts and then a blushing girl. “You can be rough… if you want.”

“Ahhh… it’s just Lydia.”

“They split up again!”

The naughty Lydia was into the play, while I wasn’t, so our souls parted once again. I ended up phase-shifting away just in time. In the future, I’d have to be careful about when and where I soul bonded. With a sigh, I got and bushed myself before returning to Chalm.

“There he is!”

As I walked back to Chalm, I was followed by twenty lionesses. It seemed like my life was only getting more complicated.