Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi
chapter-18

I was riding on Schwarz, walking through a forest road.

Behind me was Celia, frantically chasing after me.

“I’m fine!” she shouted, but she didn’t look fine at all judging from how her eyes were bloodshot and how she was running while frothing in the mouth.

I told her to ride from the start, but she said,

“I can’t possibly ride a horse together with my master. I’m won’t be slow at all so please go ahead and ride”

And this is the result.

Schwarz neighed, hurry up and get her to ride, he says.

I was feeling guilty, Celia was suffering, and Schwarz was feeling a man’s butt.

All three of us were not enjoying this at all so I picked her up and had her ride in front of me.

“The horse will get tired and slow if I was riding too!”

Celia yelled, but she was wrong.

You’re too light for Schwarz to mind at all, and in fact he was walking slowly out of consideration for you.

Once she was on, Schwarz shook his head satisfied, and she, noticing that his speed became faster, became dejected as she breathed roughly.

I gave Celia the steel sword I got from Claire and my shield.

It’s slightly large for her but she handled it surprisingly well so I let her have it.

She wasn’t talented at it but she had an extraordinary knack for it.

We were now walking through the Great Forest north of Gordonia which is the northern end of the Central Plains and the border with the Federation.

The way through this over 100 km thick forest was well maintained as the highway connecting the Central Plains with the Federation.

However, because there were only forests with bad visibility to its left and right there were often reports of damage caused by bandits and invading barbarians.

“If it comes to that I’ll fight!”

I was enjoying having an enthusiastic Celia’s butt sitting in between my legs.

Schwarz was enjoying the feel of the little girl’s legs through the blanket that was draped over his back.

I immediately thought that Schwarz and I might be similar to each other, but nah, that can’t be true.

We walked along the endless road.

Of course, because of it being the only road connecting the Federation with the Central Plains, we passed by many people.

There were relay points everywhere along the highway where we can get rough beds and buy water and other travel necessities.

Because of that we were able to continue along on our journey carrying only the minimum things we need.

It was fundamentally different from the road to Sheera village.

It feels like they’re showing off the Federation’s and Gordonia’s power.

As the sun sets, we found the nearest relay point and ended the day’s journey.

There were several people other than us in the bar and several horses and covered wagons parked in the stables.

“Got any open beds?”

“Ooh, a lot came today! You guys got the last ones. Lucky you”

We paid the lodging fees and had dinner in the lobby.

The typical relay point doesn’t make food and the beds are all put together in a single room which can’t be called comfortable so lots of people spend their time in the lobby until it’s time to sleep.

Then there’s the useful information from the conversations between guests.

Celia and I joined in on the conversations, but there are not a lot of good news.

“You’re a mercenary too? That’s a big spear you got there but if it’s just for show you’ll die you know! Mercenaries like me who’s been long on the battlefields ~”

The man who’s been talking about mercenary knowledge at me since a while ago was called Gondo, a self-alleged long-serving mercenary.

He was a strange man, even though he told his own heroic stories again and again in the bar he never remembered any specific place name or country name.

He miraculously survived lots of wounds from hard battles but there was no scar on his body.

“Ooooh! So amazing! Wow! Just like a fierce god!”

The man exaggeratedly reacting to Gondo’s stories was a merchant named Lugh.

Then in the corner of the room there sat three women and one giant of a man.

They were all wearing collars, the man had a brand pressed on his arm.

Lugh was a slave merchant, and these were his goods.

Slavery is legal in both the Federation and Gordonia, so what Lugh was doing was by no means illicit.

Lugh was on the way from the Federation to trade in Gordonia.

“You said your name was Lugh? You sure know how strong I am! …. those are quite good female slaves you have with you, aren’t they. I’m going to be a bigwig soon! I think it’ll be good for you to invest in me while you can so …”

Gondo implicitly asked to let him sleep with the women, to which Lugh reacted even more exaggeratedly.

“Not at all! Your war stories are truly splendid! but as you can see the women are very good looking and they’re all virgins. They’re fine gems that’ll fetch over 100 gold in the capital’s markets”

“100 Gold! Do they even have slaves that ridiculously expensive!”

“No no no, these fine gems will probably be of interest to noblemen”

Lugh proudly made one of the woman stand.

Her age was 17, though she was a slave attention was given to her appearance, her waist-length light brown hair did not lack in beauty.

She had average height and her body was slender overall.

She was looking downcast from the shame of the public humiliation but she was certainly a beauty, I can say she’s a considerable beauty.

What catches my eye the most were her gigantic breasts, those breasts that seemed to just about tear up her clothes were the biggest from all the ones I’ve ever seen.

They were incredibly-sized breasts that jiggle whenever she made a slight move.

The two girls beside her weren’t bad either.

To the point that entering the category of ‘beauty’ itself became fuzzy.

“The other girls were quite the gems themselves. If anyone tries them out their value would drop, so … but of course if you give 100 gold for this girl or 50 gold for one of the others I’ll hand them over right away and you can enjoy them to your liking?”

A typical mercenary won’t have that kind of money.

Gondo fell silent while grumbling.

Slaves are the master’s property, so stealing and of course damaging them would mean compensation and getting caught by the royal guards.

Lugh broke his hopes even further.

“But gems like these attract quite a lot of vermin, so I had this man watch over them”

The giant man seems to be serving as the women’s guard.

He gave Gondo who seems he hadn’t given up a glare.

The long serving mercenary was frightened by the unarmed man and dejectedly made way to bed.

“By the way you seem to be travelling with a beautiful young lady as well, may I ask what your relation is?”

After driving Gondo away, Lugh turned his eyes to us.

Celia was obviously displeased.

“She’s my follower”

“Hoho. Quite a charming follower you have there! It must be great to travel with her!”

He let out a boorish smile, She must be fun at night, isn’t she? So you like little girls?

I can ignore him just fine but Celia seems like she’s right about to explode.

“Your slaves are all fine beauties, just watching them ain’t bad either, but it’s this girl’s bedtime soon. Excuse us”

“That’s unfortunate! If you had 100 gold …”

I waved my hand and turned towards the bed with Celia.

I did have 100 gold.

It won’t be a waste to spend them on the giant-titted slave but if I did Celia’s going to give me the look.

I’m a bit hesitant to fuck like a beast in front of a girl who idolizes me, and having my way with a woman I bought with money is boring, too.

The beds were all crammed in a large room so excepting the slaves, everyone slept in the same room.

I can’t rule out the chance that there might be some fools who don’t have any luck with women on their trip and was going to poke their noses on Celia.

“Celia, can you get in my bed?”

“Eh? Y, yes! I’ll be in your care I’ll do my best!”

There’s nothing to do your best about.

It’s a bit cold so I hugged Celia from the front.

It’s probably because she’s still a kid but her body temperature was high, she was warm.

Then when I hugged her she became warmer, which was good, too.

As I was enjoying the warmth in my arms, Celia timidly wrapped her arms around my back.

“Aegir-sama…”

Celia looked at me from my embrace with upturned eyes. For me, being buried in a man’s chest is a nightmare, but Celia seemed happy, rubbing against my chest.

I felt something soft on my chest, Celia gave my chest a kiss.

After having gone so long without a woman for company, my body reacted to the little girl’s seedy body and sent blood to my nether regions.

“If you’re too close I’m going to do you, you know?”

“……”

Celia said nothing, she put the bedsheets in her mouth and bit.

She did it so she wouldn’t leak a sound, huh… I was only joking though.

Right at that moment, we heard Schwarz’s neighing.

I raised my body, wondering what he’s up to, but then the other horses followed suit and several neighs were heard one after the other.

Celia and I looked at each other and immediately took our weapons.

There was no time to put on armor.

The men, noticing that something’s amiss, prepared their weapons clatteringly.

This highway is patrolled by guards at fixed intervals and is relatively safe, but it’s a different story at night.

Attacks come at night and left into the forest before the sun rose.

That way they don’t catch the guards’ attention.

Whether ‘they’ are robbers, or barbarian groups.

Since they came along through the woods, the army couldn’t find them well.

Everyone were holding weapons and heading towards the lobby, meanwhile, the story-telling mercenary was sound asleep so I kicked him in the head.

This guy can at least be used as a shield.

I looked outside the window, there’s the possibility that it wasn’t an attack but only some horse thieves.

But outside the window I saw the shapes of over ten people around the relay point, besieging it.

Horse thieves don’t lay sieges.

They were clearly aiming for us.

I informed everyone about the situation outside and urged them to get ready for battle.

“I’m Aegir, a mercenary”

“I’m Bruno, likewise a mercenary”

“I’m ~~, the owner here, I can use a spear”

“I’m ––. A merchant, so a fight is …”

“I can’t fight! So this slave will do it in my place!!”

“I’m Mack”

“Sorry I’m late! My name is Gondo! I have ran through many a battlefield, had countlessOOF!”

I kicked Gondo hard to cut his introduction short.

I’m thinking of beating him up next time he wastes time.

The slave’s name seems to be Mack, he had a good body build and seemed useful, but he’s totally unarmed.

Only three can practically fight, now how many will leave alive.

As for me I’d be fine with just protecting Celia and myself, but I want to keep giant tits alive somehow.

Breasts that size are treasures to all mankind.

“There are at least ten hostiles. We’re at a disadvantage in numbers. We should hold the fort here until dawn!”

Mr. so-and-so peddler said that, but we can’t do that.

If I were those guys outside I’d set us on fire and smoke us out.

Also, the enemy somehow moved at a quick pace.

Smoke already started entering from multiple points.

Amidst screams, Mack was about to open the door as his master ordered, but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

Against an ambushing enemy who already lit fires, leaving through the sole exit was utter stupidity.

I signalled the sword-wielding Bruno and spear-wielding owner, we pushed Gondo out the door.

Arrows lodged themselves on Gondo one after the other, followed by several spears piercing through him.

The long-serving mercenary laid down his life’s burden with a shriek.

“NOW! GO!”

The owner, the mercenary Bruno, and I ran through on either side of Gondo who had turned porcupine-like.

There were 4 men who speared Gondo, Bruno and the owner each took on one, while I cut two down.

“GET THE ARCHERS!”

Bruno yelled.

Correct. We couldn’t move while being aimed at by archers.

The enemy archers all had their bows prepared but because they just shot Gondo down none of them are ready to shoot.

I closed in on them in a single breath so they threw their bows away and switched to swords, but it was too late.

I cut two of them in half and smashed the heads of two others.

Now the bows are gone.

But there were more enemies than I thought.

I heard screams from behind so I looked back. Bruno and the relay point gramps were each crossing swords with two enemies, but there were still more of them.

The peddler screamed like a small animal as he was pulled down to the ground and repeatedly stabbed.

The remaining 5 men broke through Bruno and gramps and headed toward the women.

(Will I make it in time!?)

I ran with all I had but they were faster.

But unexpected reinforcements came.

A wall appeared in front of the enemies who were approaching the women.

It was a fast-moving wooden wall, Mack was holding up a table and swinging it wildly.

It couldn’t be called a weapon but it’s heavy enough that you’d instantly die if you get hit by it.

Moreover, Mack was holding it by its legs and projected the tabletop out so attacks couldn’t reach him.

“Nice one!”

But the crisis wasn’t over yet.

Gramps, who was fighting 2 on 1 finally ran out of strength. A spear pierced through his chest.

Bruno had cut one down but two immediately came over, making it hard for him to cover anyone else.

Mack was fighting 5 while Bruno 3.

For a moment I couldn’t decide who to help but just then the situation changed.

A shadow rolled out from underneath the table Mack was swinging around.

Little Celia crept up to the ankles of the men, who had met a roadblock, and slashed.

Two of the enemies collapsed, one of them lost concentration and was blown away by the table.

The remaining two found a new mark and tried to kill the small shadow, but.

“Good job”

I was already in front of their eyes.

I swung the bardiche at full strength, splitting one of them in half, not horizontally.

It split him vertically, from the crown of his head down to his crotch.

An unbelievable amount of blood splattered all over and everything inside his body scattered everywhere as the damp firewood broke.

The remaining man had completely lost his nerve and was screaming in horror, but a sword thrusting from underfoot pierced his throat and ended him.

On the other side, Bruno finally finished cutting down his enemies, and the two whose ankles were cut by Celia were stuck with the table by Mack and turned into pulp.

Bruno’s quite good, he massacred the enemy even when outnumbered 1 to three.

Examining the corpses, it looks like these aren’t your everyday bandits, but barbarians from the east.

The fact that they had spears and swords mean that they attacked bandits and frontier villages on the way here.

Normally they wouldn’t be possessing metal tools.

In the end, the three slaves were unhurt, and Celia only skinned her knees when rolling about.

Bruno and Mack were almost unhurt and gramps and the peddler died but taking our relative numbers into account it was a good fight.

Which reminds me, where’s Lugh?

“He’s down here”

Bruno poked at Lugh who passed out behind Mack.

It seems he got hit when Mack was swinging the table.

“………”

Mack’s face paled.

A slave who raised his hand towards his master would at the very least be executed.

Very few masters would accept force majeure as a reason.

“Do you have any unpaid favors from him?”

There were sometimes masters and slaves who had good relations.

“……… None”

That speeds things up.

Mack fought bravely, protecting the treasures of mankind.

It was sacrilegious for him to die for this filthy man.

When Bruno and I got hold of Lugh the fire had already circled, we threw him into the fire blazing at the inn.

It’s like we made a whole roast pork nobody ordered.

“He was surprised by the barbarian’s attack, hit his head, and fainted”

“Then after that he died in the fire. A tragic end”

Bruno and I exchanged handshakes.

I could get along with this guy.

Celia was standing silently next to me, let’s give her a compliment.

She unexpectedly had good battle sense.

The fact that she didn’t hesitate to point her sword at a human being probably meant she was made to do this before.

“Now the problem is the cleaning up”

Bruno broke the ice.

Now that Lugh has died, the law states that his possessions should go to the bereaved family but unfortunately all his belongings here were carried away by the barbarians.

Which means the problem is how to deal with Mack and the three slaves.

That and the fact that the inn was attacked by barbarians need to be reported.

“I’ll report the attack on the inn”

Bruno was heading towards Gordonia Kingdom.

Distance-wise, it’s not very far to the next inn so that’s good.

“I’ll be going to Gordonia and Aegir will head to the Federation. Which way will you guys go?”

He asked the four people.

“I’ll …. go to the Federation…”

“Me too!”

“I would like to go with Aegir-sama”

I thought so.

Lugh came from the Federation.

These girls were “acquired” at the Federation.

No matter what fate awaits them they would naturally want to at least spend it a little closer to home.

Also, I was going with Celia, and didn’t look like I was treating her roughly.

They probably felt that they could avoid getting a harsh treatment.

“I …. want to go to Gordonia Kingdom”

Looks like Mack wanted to head to Gordonia.

Bruno cringed a little.

Well, of course, I got three pretty ladies while he got a big beefy macho man.

“In that case you should use Lugh’s wagon, can’t make three girls walk there, right?”

Luckily the wagon shed didn’t catch fire, so Lugh’s medium-sized two-horse canopy wagon and the peddler’s donkeys were still there.

Then, because the balance heavily tilted to my favor, I let Bruno have all 40 gold in Lugh’s purse, but he threw me half of it.

“Ain’t good to take everything. This is what they call complicity. In return, I’ll be taking all those guys’ weapons”

He’s such a good guy, he’ll be popular with the ladies.

Mack has been looking at him with eyes of respect for a while.

“Also, getting the girls will mean a lot of work, too. And I don’t need the wagon”

I can’t agree with that since it’s better to have more women than less, but I do need the wagon and I can use the 20 gold for the girls.

Even though it’s slower, I expect that it’ll be cold so the canopy wagon was a godsend.

“Bruno, what’re you going to do in Gordonia?”

“I’m a mercenary you know? I’ll obviously be doing mercenary things”

Ah, that kind of makes sense.

“I got a big job with good pay, can’t tell yop the details though…”

Strangely, I seem to have a clue what he’s talking about.

Looks like the Wings of Daybreak have quite an extensive recruitment zone.

“If fate is kind, then let us meet again”

For some reason, Bruno’s voice repeated itself several times.

We’ve completed our preparations.

I had Celia ride on Schwarz while the three girls and I rode on the wagon.

That’s because I’m the only one who can drive.

Just enough to be able to move with the mercenary groups, but I got used to it gradually.

Schwarz was sneaking flirty glances at the mares pulling the wagon.

Doesn’t he at least have some standards? To even get horny at horses …. something feels amiss though?

The stuff that were carried by Schwarz was loaded onto the wagon.

Incidentally, our belongings were taken out by Celia before they burned down.

I pat her head and she smilingly hurried the departure preparations.

As the dawn broke Bruno and Mack went south while we went north.

We’ll probably meet again, anyway.

Now then, since I’m going to be with the girls in the back we should deepen our friendship.

It’s awkward with them being all stiff in the corner like now.

“So, can you tell me your names?”

“I’m Arisa, master”

“I’m Colette…”

“My name is Nonna”

Arisa answered with a firm voice, Colette was clearly shivering while Nonna …. giant tits held her skirt out and did a beautiful curtsy.

She’s the only one with a different air about her.

“Now what do you girls want to do?”

Huh? They all raised their faces.

“If you became slaves out of your own will then I can sell you off at some town or keep you for myself, but is that the case?”

“T, that’s not! I didn’t!” “Me neither!”

Arisa came from a small town and Colette from a farming village, they were going out a little far away when they were abducted by bandits and were sold to a slave trader.

Either the public order in the Federation is not that good or that these two beauties were marked from the start.

“Our home towns were in the eastern part so the public safety isn’t that good”

There you go.

“So I can drop you off to your hometowns along the way but do you know where they are?”

Their eyes sparkled, it seems their homes are straight north once you get out of the forest or thereabouts.

They’re near the main road so we’ll soon find out if we asked at a town or village along the way.

It’s just that the size of the Federation was bigger than the Central Plains by orders of magnitude.

Just simply going north will need me to resolve myself for a journey that counted in months of travel time.

The snow is terrible, too so I can’t expect to be going at the speed I planned.

In that case then more problems will come up.

I’ve been getting indecent feelings lately toward Celia who’s still only a child, so with the 19 year old Arisa and 16 year old Collette and Nonna who’s a beauty two grades higher than them around, holding back is going to be anguishing.

“I’ll make this clear. I’ll definitely send you back to your hometowns, so won’t you let me sleep with you along the way?”

At the unbelievable development, Collete’s face, that had had a wide smile, froze.

“No way …. no … NOOOOOOOO!!”

Collette suddenly struggled and Arisa pinned her down.

“Sorry! Collete’s been getting all sorts of horrible treatment from men until now, I think she might be having flashbacks. I’ll do it with you so please spare her …”

“No, I’ll do it”

Nonna who’s been almost totally silent raised a clear voice.

“That’s…”, Arisa mumbled. Still, her face looked relieved.

They must be scared to have their virginity taken by an almost complete stranger.

On the other hand Nonna straightened up her sitting posture so sharply it made a cracking sound and faced me.

However, there was a slight wavering in her eyes, and her arms linked on top of her knees trembled slightly.

“I’ll pass. You’re certainly an incredible beauty but I don’t like sleeping with girls with gloomy eyes like those”

The thing that bothers me the most was Nonna’s eyes, the eyes of someone who’s given up on everything.

Unlike the other two, hers weren’t the eyes of someone who’s scared of being violated by a man even though they can go home.

It’s as if those eyes were saying she no longer had anywhere to go home to.

I could enjoy the sensation of sleeping with and stealing the virginity of an outstanding beauty with giant breasts, but it’s almost like her face will stay dark forever if I did that.

I want nothing to do with something so gloomy.

“I guess you have your circumstances”

All three of them hung their heads.

They were abducted by bandits and handed over to a slave trader.

No way they were okay.

“I’ll promise you this, I won’t lay a hand on you today. So tell me everything until you’re satisfied”

Either way, there’s nothing for us to do today besides going straight forward.

Let’s take it easy and listen to the girls’ stories and wait for them to spread their legs by their own will.

Collete and Arisa had just about everything done to them short of being deflowered after being abducted.

Then after being sold to the slave trader they were made to learn to service men to raise their selling price.

They had to service the slave trader and his acquaintances with their mouths almost everyday and made to swallow their cum.

For entertainment, they two of them were made to perform in front of the male slaves who masturbated and came all over them.

Collete cried while Arisa told me that with a depressed face.

Even if we can return home we’ve already been dirtied, she said.

“This might be hard for you to swallow, but I don’t think you’ve been dirtied”

I stopped the wagon and went inside from the driver’s stand.

I wrapped the two of them with both my arms and hugged them a little tightly.

“Wash yourselves and you’ll be clean again. As for what they trained you, if you found a man you love you can do it for him”

I rubbed their heads and continued.

“No man would get angry if a woman serviced them well. Once you found someone who doesn’t mind your past you can stop worrying about the small things”

The two girls stiffened for some time when I hugged them but they soon loosened up. They circled their arms around me and started loudly crying.

Nonna watched us looking lonely while Celia grumbled and plucked Schwarz’s hairs.

Stop that, Schwarz is black all over so he’ll stand out if he went bald.

We started off again but now Celia was sitting on the driver’s stand.

I was inside the wagon, still holding on to the two girls.

Celia was surprising enough, being able to handle everything, but I was also surprised at Schwarz who followed us by himself without anyone riding or pulling his reins.

Is he really a horse? Is he actually a lewd dude who was magically turned into a horse? I thought.

Then on either side of me there was Arisa and Collette who had been worn out from loudly crying and fell asleep.

I’ll wake them up if I moved, but most of all, they felt good so I stayed where I was.

“A 19 year old crying herself to sleep, how cute”

I rubbed Arisa’s head.

“I think they’ve had some peace of mind”

Nonna gave me a smile.

She seems to be 17 but she had a distant look, almost like a mother.

“They’ve been having it hard until now. They’re relieved that nothing bad will happened to them in your hands, I think”

“Nonna … was it? How about you, are you okay?”

“Fufu. I wasn’t abducted by bandits, so I was able to resolve myself”

So Nonna was probably sold in exchange for a debt or something?

In that case there’s nowhere for her to return to.

In the end, it’s nothing more than getting a master in exchange for another.

“If it gets painful I’ll hug you anytime”

“Yes. I might be counting on you soon”

“Seems I’m going to touch something amazing”

“My, you’re a lewd one,” she said as she gently smiled. She doesn’t look like she’s angry.

However, the darkness in her eyes did not fade at all in the end.

Because we made a noise, Celia curiously peered in. Just then the forest on either side of us ended and a wide open plained stretched ahead of us.

We had finally entered the Olga Federation.