Chapter 6

“Umm ... What?”

Ikuno smiled but didn’t lift her head off his shoulder, “I’ll explain later, take me to bed.”

Kal started walking again, “Sounds like there’s going to be a lot of that later, like how you ended up overloaded with magic.”

Kal walked into the mouth of the cave, Ikuno snapped her fingers and a ball of light formed before them, leading the way into the darkness.

Ikuno was thoughtful, “I have an idea about that...”

“KAL! IKUNO! Are you alright!” came Perra’s voice, they could tell from her footfalls that she was running across the clearing towards them.

Kal froze and Ikuno groaned in mild annoyance. “Better put me down,” she said, “I’ll go get our clothes, it won’t be as big of a deal since we’re both women.”

“Nah, I have a better idea,” he half turned towards the cave entrance and called out, “We’re fine Perra!” they could hear the footsteps slow, “Could you collect our clothes and bring them inside in a couple minutes!” Kal smiled at Ikuno, “Now I can carry you to bed as you wanted.”

There was a pause before the girl answered, “Are you guys naked?!” Perra yelled towards the cave.

“Yes! Some magic stuff happened! Give us a minute to cover up, then bring our clothes in!”

Ikuno suppressed a chuckle as her sharp ears picked up the young girl saying, “I bet it was ‘magical’.”

Kal carried Ikuno into the cavern she called home and walked over to the bed. He was at a loss as to how to pull the furs back and lay her down with his arms full when Ikuno reached out and pulled them back for him. He laid the Ikuno on the bed then pulled the covers up over her naked form. As he walked around the bed Ikuno piled up some of the furs she used for pillows into a wedge that Kal could recline against. Kal crawled under the fur blankets and leaned back, once he was comfortable she scooted under his arm and placed her head on his chest closing her eyes contentedly.

Kal idly ran his fingers through her white hair, “Perra’s going to be here in a minute,” he said.

“Mmm hmm.”

“She’s going to have questions when she sees us like this.”

“That’s fine.”

“What are we going to tell her?”

“If she asks, we’ll tell her the truth.”

Kal was a bit nervous, “Wonder how she’ll react?”

“Looks like we’re about to find out, here she comes.”

The path to the cave entrance began to light up soon followed by Perra holding a brightly glowing stone in one hand with Kal and Ikuno’s clothes in the other. Not long ago Kal and Perra had arrived while Ikuno was out hunting and were stuck outside waiting for her to guide them inside. After that, she made them both a glowing stone that lit up with a word to navigate the darkness. She quickly appreciated not having to escort them each time they came or went from the cave.

Walking into the cavern Perra looked around and stopped dead as her eyes landed on Kal and Ikuno.

“Well this is different,” she said. Kal blushed sheepishly while Ikuno raised an arm and waved hello before draping it across Kal. Perra walked over to the stone chair and deposited their clothes.

Kal gave her a questioning look, “Perra I can’t get dressed when my clothes are over there.”

Perra smiled, “No worries, I won’t be stayin’ long. You look like you’re wantin’ some, alone time an’ I don’ feel like spendin’ the next few hours pickin’ berries or huntin’ herbs like ya usually have me. Though I gotta say Ikuno, I’ve never seen you so lovey-dovey with him before.”

Ikuno gave Kal a little squeeze with the arm laying over him, “That’s because I’m his woman now.”

Perra’s eyes widened, “His woman? Does this mean you two are married or somethin’?”

“Yes?” the look on Kal’s face told Perra he really wasn’t sure.

“No.”

Kal looked down at Ikuno, “No?”

Ikuno sighed and sat up tucking the covers under her arms to keep herself covered. Kal meanwhile scrambled to prevent her from accidentally uncovering his crotch. Ikuno looked over at Kal, “Much as I would have liked to say ‘yes’, I can’t. With the path you have chosen, it wouldn’t be fair to you,” looking at Perra she continued “In human marriage terms it’s as though he put a ring on my finger saying I’m his, but I didn’t put one on him.”

Kal was a little hurt that she didn’t want him to belong to her in the same way she claimed to belong to him, “I don’t understand, why wouldn’t it be fair to me?” he asked.

Perra had scampered off to the library and came back with a chair, Ikuno waited till she was settled in before continuing.

“Let’s start with ink,” Kal and Perra both gave her a confused look, wondering how ink was related, “since you are wanting to become a runesmith mage you will be needing quite a bit. Back in ancient times if you wanted ink powerful enough for a runic tattoo you would need to find the largest, oldest giant squid or octopus you possibly could and find some way to extract the ink, usually by killing them. Understand?”

Kal and Perra both nodded then Kal asked, “Will I have to do that? Go kill a giant squid?”

Ikuno shook her head, “No, you have the option of a far easier and more pleasurable method.”

“Okay, now I’m really confused.”

“Monster girls.”

“What?!” Said Kal and Perra in unison.

Ikuno had to choke back a laugh at their expressions.

“Monster girls were born of magic and all of them are highly magical creatures, for instance, golem or zombie girls wouldn’t even exist without strong magics. In the case of collecting ink, instead of going hunting you could find a squid girl. Once found, you could extract it from her which would be unpleasant, make you a horrible person and only produce a small amount of low-grade ink. Your other option would be to barter with her, as I told you many monster girls are desperate to get pregnant so taking her for a tumble would get you some high-quality ink, comparable to killing a giant squid.”

Kal looked thoughtful then smiled, “that certainly does sound more pleasurable than going out and killing stuff.”

Perra laughed and smacked Kal in the arm “You letch!”

After a quick laugh at Kal’s expense, Ikuno continued, “You do have a third option though. You can spend some time and build a relationship with the girl. If she were to offer herself to you, as I have, and you claim her, as you just did me, something special happens. Being with you amplifies their magic for a time, if she gives you some of her ink during that period it will be far superior to if you just bartered. But here’s the catch, you must take her because you want her and care about her not just because you want high-quality ink. The other caveat is that they have to offer themselves to you understanding that you are not becoming their husband and have no claim on you.”

“You said it amplifies their magic, is that what happened to you outside?” asked Kal.

Ikuno glanced at Perra and blushed dark purple, “Yeah, kind of...”

“Kind of?”

Ikuno cleared her throat still blushing, “there were a couple of things that happened. Firstly, I’m a spirit of nature and I draw in energy from around me all the time, when I became yours that was amplified and I was suddenly taking in a lot more than normal. Then there’s the other thing...”

“What ‘other thing’?” he asked.

Ikuno’s eyes flicked to Perra, “I’m not sure I should explain this in front of her.”

Perra pouted, “Me birthday is only a few months away and I’ll be of age so don’ let me stop you. I’ve heard this far I may as well hear the rest.”

Kal looked at Ikuno and shrugged.

Ikuno sighed, “As you wish, the reason things went crossways outside is because there is a kind of magic in sex, the better the sex the more energy. We were making a LOT of energy that I was absorbing a LOT faster than usual. I told you my horns act like crystals and store magic, but they were full even before you got here, so I had nowhere to put the extra. To make matters worse,” she glanced at Perra again then back to Kal, “you gave me a LOT of energy too.” Perra smirked but kept quiet so Ikuno could continue, “I had to do something with all of the excess, so things got a little ... loud.”

Perra’s eyes went wide, “Bloody hell! That was you?!” Ikuno blushed deep purple and nodded.

“I thought there was a dragon or some nasty monster nearby! It was so loud I had to stop and cover my ears. When it noise died I ran here as quickly as I could.”

Kal had a questioning look on his face, “You ran all the way here?” Perra nodded, “And it was so loud you had to cover your ears?” she nodded again. Kal did some quick calculations his eyes getting bigger as he realized how far away Perra had been when she heard Ikuno’s roar. He looked at Ikuno and, from the shocked look on her face, saw she had come to the same conclusion.

Ikuno quickly recovered and nudged Kal with her elbow, “Guess I wanted to let everyone know I was yours now.”

“I think you might have succeeded,” he said shaking his head, then looked back at Perra, “why were you coming here anyways I thought you and mother were going to be busy?”

“Mom said she needed to go visit the weaver in town to pick up thread and material for some more winter clothes,” Perra had taken to calling Kal’s mother ‘Mom’ almost as soon as she moved in, “after we got done with speech lessons she had me saddle up the horse then turned me loose for the day. Thought I might see what you and Ikuno were up to.”

“Okay that all makes sense, but what doesn’t is; who in their right mind hears a monster or dragon roar and runs TOWARDS it?”

Perra blushed, “To be honest, I could sort of tell it was Ikuno.”

Ikuno went purple with embarrassment yet again, “What? How?”

Kal was giving the girl a piercing stare, the question plain on his face.

Perra sat back in a huff returning his glare, “When you two send me out for an hour at a time to ‘pick berries’ or ‘gather herbs’ those berries and herbs aren’t always that far from the cave, you and Ikuno can both get rather noisy.”

Kal blushed scarlet, Ikuno gave up and pulled the blankets up over her head which meant Kal was once again grabbing at the furs to keep himself covered. Perra doubled over laughing at them which thankfully broke the mood, with Kal then Ikuno, after she poked her head out from under the blankets, soon joining in.