Chapter 75 – The Monster Pens

After lunch had been finished and cleared away by the staff, Nicholas said his goodbyes and went off to tend to some of his household duties while Caiden escorted Vel and me to the monster pens out the back of the estate. With a full belly, a sexy young woman to my right, and an incredibly attractive young man to my left, I couldn’t have been happier. The only thing that could have made it better was if there were fewer clothes, but that kind of threesome was not something Vel was interested in.

Still, you can’t judge a girl for fantasizing. And given my track record, that kind of threesome is bound to happen one day or another, it just won't involve Vel.

Because of how shy both my companions were, there was an awkward silence in the air as we made our way out of the manor building, through a pristinely kept garden, towards a small open-topped brick structure. Instead of pushing both of them further out of their comfort zones, I decided to just let the silence continue. Eventually, they would warm up with each other, and Caiden to me, enough to elicit more natural conversation, but it wasn’t a desperately needed thing at the moment.

To fill the time this short walk took, I occupied myself by pulling up my notifications and status screen. After all, it had been a while since I looked at either, and I was interested to see what gains I had made in that time.

Conjure Sex Toy has reached Rank 5

Deception has reached Rank 5 (3)

Kissing has reached Rank 14

Seduction has reached Rank 5 (3)

Sex Toys has reached Rank 12

Name: Evelyn HartRace: HumanGender: FemaleAge: 18

Class: SlutLevel: 12

Might: 10Agility: 10Vitality: 29Intellect: 10Willpower: 20Charm: 45

Class Skills: 7/10Conjure Sex Toy, Rank 5Freshen Up, Rank 6Fascinate, Rank 6No Lube Needed, Rank 3Sense Gaze, Rank 6Stimulate, Rank 8Tight Fit, Rank 6

General Skills:Anal Intercourse, Rank 5Cunnilingus, Rank 12Dagger, Rank 3Deception, Rank 5Felatio, Rank 6Kissing, Rank 14Seduction, Rank 5Sensual Massage, Rank 15Sex Toys, Rank 11Vaginal Intercourse, Rank 10

Traits:Blessed By An AngelMonster Lover

The fact that there was o new level up waiting for me was a little disappointing, but then again, not at all surprising. Levels got harder and harder to get the higher your level was, and today hadn’t been filled with as much sex as I had over the past few days. Sure Vel, Saph and I had a quick threesome in the morning, and then Vel and I went at it again in the bath a little while ago, but that was nothing compared to just how much sex I was having back at the cabin.

The more interesting thing about what I was looking at was that four of my skills were at bottlenecks. Given my class’s boost to the growth of sexual skills, I expected that anal intercourse would be relatively easy to get past the rank 5 bottleneck, but the sensual massage was going to be different. Its growth had slowed down tremendously at this point, and I felt I would have to do something special to push it over the edge, to rank 16. Kissing was also getting close to that point as well, but that was something I would have to tackle when the time came.

On the non-sexual side of things, both deception and seduction had reached the rank 5 bottlenecks. Although their growth wasn’t as fast as my sexual skills, it was still relatively quick. Since these were the first general skills I had that didn’t receive my class’s bonus to growth or the malice that daggers got, I wasn’t sure what to expect from trying to push them past the bottleneck. Hopefully, it won’t be too much of a challenge...

As we got closer and closer to the open-topped brick structure that we were heading towards, my attention slowly drifted away from my system screens, toward the building. In comparison to the grand structure of the estate's manor, this building was relatively quaint.

Various bushes and shrubbery grew right alongside the brick walls, where various vines even grew up the sides in places. Beyond the outermost walls, the tops of several trees growing inside could be seen from within. All of this gave the place a very natural, almost overgrown feel, but there were hints here and there that such a look didn’t come from being abandoned or forgotten about, but it was something purposefully cultivated by those who looked after the space.

When the three of us got close to the monster pens, the distressed cries of something that sounded like a bird shrieked out from further within the structure, which was soon accompanied by a very bassy growl that had a telltale vibration to it that clued Vel and me in straight away that it was Saph making the latter of the two noises.

Hearing this, Caiden let out a sigh and shook his head as he said. "It appears they might not be getting along after all."

With more urgency than before, Caiden quickly led us into the monster pens, through a gated entrance and deeper into the central courtyard. Despite being located in the middle of a brick structure, the central courtyard of the monster pens was filled with trees, green grass, and shrubbery, giving it all a very natural feel, just like the outside.

At the centre of this space were Saph and small puppy-sized monsters that took my breath away. The monster, which I could only assume was Caiden’s Silverwing, was young, probably only a baby or child still. It had the smooth-furred back half of a lion cub, with a fluffy swishing tail and sharp lion claws. Meanwhile, its front half appeared like that of an eagle, with a beaked head, bright green eyes, avian-like front legs, and most adorable of all, a tiny pair of wings that looked too small to allow for flight.

The reason for the name Silverwing was apparent, as while the lion part of the monster had the normal yellowish-brown fur of a lion, the feathers on the wings and the rest of its eagle features were a sparkling silver colour. In fact, they were so brightly coloured silver that I mistook the feathers for metal for a moment, but that was just how the light of the midday sun caught them. They weren’t actually metallic in nature, but normal feathers.

After a moment of awe and bewilderment at the monster that was before me, a monster I had only ever heard of in fantasy stories, my attention turned back towards Saph. The blue tentacle slime was positioned a couple of metres away from Silverwing and was making very aggressive moves. Or at least, I assumed they were meant to be aggressive, as they looked rather silly.

The way Saph was vibrating their gelatinous bodies and stretching their tentacles up in the air, waving them around, was just too amusing to ignore, and I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing them act like that. In fact, if it wasn’t for the aggressive gurgling sound they were making, there was no way I would have known that they were trying to be aggressive towards the cute, childlike monster.

Speaking of which, while Saph was acting like that, Silverwing was bouncing around all excited and puppy-like. Every now and then they would open their beak and let out an inquisitive bird screech, but it wasn’t until they tried to test their luck and sniff the slime that things turned bad. One of Saph’s tentacles came down fast and hard, striking the ground in front of Silverwing with enough strength to send up a small cloud of dirt. Not realising that this wasn’t actually an attack against it, but a warning, the little baby monster scrambled back, letting out the same sort of shrieking cry that we had heard early.

Although it seemed like Saph and Silverwing weren’t getting along, it didn’t seem like they were actually hurting each other, it was more like they just didn’t know what to make of each other. Further proof of this was the fact that there were several plain-clothed men surrounding the edges of the courtyard, who could only be those responsible for tending and caring for the monsters kept here. The fact that they hadn’t stepped in and separated the two small monsters could only have meant that nothing bad had actually happened.

"Is Silverwing a gryphon pup? I’ve never seen one before, but Dad told me that gryphons are one of the rarer types of monsters out there." Vel asked, taking me a little by surprise given how shy she was. But then again, although she was relatively shy, she wasn’t the kind of person to let that stop her when she wanted to know something.

"Yeah, they are quite rare, but I had the good fortune of having a father who was bonded to one that recently mothered a litter of pups. Silverwing’s other siblings were all gifted to the crown and a few other influential nobles, but thankfully Dad let me keep one of Lightclaw’s, his bonded gryphon’s, pups." Caiden explained as we stood there watching the two monsters continue their little dance, completely unaware of our presence.

Despite being momentarily scared off by the warning whip of Saph’s tentacles, that did nothing to stop Silverwing’s youthful curiosity, and before too long, they were coming around for another sniff, earning themselves another warning shot.

"How old is Silverwing?" I asked.

"He will be four months exactly in a few days," Caiden answered, moments before a loud roar emerged from one of the open doorways leading further into the monster pens.

Both Silverwing and Saph immediately stopped what they were doing upon hearing this roar, but while the young gryphon pup began to excitedly jump up and down on the spot in anticipation, Saph’s reaction was quite different.

The blue slime slowly lowered its tentacles into a more submissive pose and began to nervously shake. The reason for Saph’s fear became obvious when the source of the roar emerged out of the open doorway with thunderous footsteps.

Given what Caiden had just told us, I could only assume that this new monster was Lightclaw, his father's bonded monster and the mother of Silverwing. Not only did she have a remarkable likeness to the younger gryphon running around, but she was much, much bigger. Lightclaw stood wider and taller than a horse. In fact, from the front talon to the tip of her beaked head, she was around nine feet tall.

While all of the lion and eagle features gave the young Silverwing a cute, adorable look, those same features were much more terrifying on Lightclaw. Between the razor-sharp claws on both her back and front set of legs and the intimidating beak, it was clear that this gryphon could easily tear a man apart if they so wished. And considering the fact that the man Lightclaw was bonded to was a knight, she had more than likely done such a thing before.

As soon as the gryphon pup’s mother appeared in the central courtyard, Silverwing ran over to her, running circles around the bigger monster while letting out a stream of excited yips. Lightclaw, on the other hand, was having none of it and simply gave their child a stern growl that stopped him in his tracks. However, it was clear that Silverwing still really wanted to run around by the way they fidgeted on the spot, but were too afraid or obedient to disobey their mother.

Turning her attention away from her energetic offspring, Lightclaw turned her head to look at the blue slime that was slowly shrinking more and more as the terrifying monster focused entirely on them. Luckily for Saph, all Lightclaw did was lean in and give them a sniff before turning away again.

Bored with whatever was going on out here, the large gryphon moved to head back to wherever she had emerged from, but on her way, it noticed the three of us standing by the entranceway, across the courtyard. However, all she did was give us a snort before turning around and disappearing into the monster pens. That said, this did clue the other two, smaller monsters, to the fact we were watching them.

The moment the fully grown gryphon was gone, Silverwing excitedly ran over to Caiden and jumped into his arms, cutely but ineffectively flapping his little wings as he did so. Similarly, but not as quickly, Saph made their way over to Vel, to who they wrapped their tentacles around and let out a whole bunch of gurgling noises at. For once, I was a hundred percent sure that the young elven woman had no idea what the slime was trying to say, as the speed and intensity reminded me of a child so worked up that their words blurred together into an unintelligible mess.