---

---

The leader of the Shabu Shabu Party alternated between the use of regular attacks and bursted slashes, faring more than well enough against the tentacles that assaulted his person. In fact, one could say it looked like he wasn’t having much trouble at all, only really appearing somewhat distressed as he became more and more covered in blue slime. Slicing through yet another tentacle, Rhein sighed as the limb once again reformed itself and re-entered combat. As he deftly dodged and parried the whip-like tentacles of the Slime, Rhein overheard Grimhildr shouting at Saffron, who had once again decided to refrain from helping any further than he already had. Hell, the one way he had helped required Rhein to do the heavy lifting. At this point, though, the eyepatched “gentleman” had already known what to expect of the Blood Mage, so all he could really do was shake his head. At least, competition aside, the other party was doing something to distract the creature, managing to catch its attention by bombarding it with heavy fire from their Prowlers or the ground fighters they deployed just moments earlier.

As Grimhildr ran past Rhein, the tentacles that had been attacking her whipped after the Dragnan girl in pursuit, which really just kinda meant that Rhein was also in the way of the strike. Slamming the Fragarach sword back into the shield, Rhein’s eye narrowed as multiple tentacles came to strike simultaneously. With a click of the sword trigger, the blade was once again pushed out of the casing as Rhein spun on his heel, a burst of the mana-steam erupting as the swordsman released an arc of energy off of the blade, his rotation causing it to create a full circle around him as it launched in all directions, cutting through the tentacles. Feeling satisfied with himself, Rhein resheathed the blade only to once again be slapped into the dirt, apparently forgetting that the Slime was capable of restoring its limbs while he was patting himself on the back.

Meanwhile, as tentacles were beating down on Rhein, the rest of the fight raged on. Due to the combined effort of everyone involved, it appeared that the Slime was actually being beaten back, heading back towards the forest as it was barraged by shells and spells. The Slime was caught unawares by the Beastlady who lurked in the trees, waiting for her moment to strike, and this negligence would be the gelatinous monstrosity’s downfall. The ensuing shower of blue goo and the resultant cessation of strikes from the Slime allowed Rhein to pick himself up from the ground again, which led him to see the form of Estelle plummeting from the sky and landing in a pile of the Giga Slime’s gooey chunks. For a moment, Rhein actually looked genuinely concerned, but quickly reverted back to his usual lax expression as he jogged his way over to the remains of the Giga Slime. As he passed the unconscious Estelle, he quickly glanced at her to see that she was breathing before looking to see that the other Hunters were already working on collecting the Giga Slime’s broken core, which was about the size of a baby elephant. ”Hey, I dunno what the rules are, but don’t you guys think we should get the core? After all, my friend over there got the finishing blow.” he suggested, prompting a look from the bespectacled Eldrin man from earlier.
“I might’ve considered it if you and your comrades hadn’t tried to harm us. But I’m afraid that you have all put me in a mood that doesn’t inspire good will.” the man stated, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Rhein rolled his eyes, more than a little annoyed that this guy had lumped all of them into the same group. He hadn’t done anything!

”Uh-huh…. But, y’see, it isn’t like we all had a hand in that, yeah? Hell, I even told ‘em not to go to crazy about it. Maybe a few little love taps like ‘Hey, get a load of this thing, right?’. Real chummy sort of stuff. Not my fault they went overboard.” Rhein retorted, shrugging his shoulders. The Eldrin pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration with the eyepatched Party leader.
“I suggest you all take your leave now, before I make you leave. I’m being kind now by even allowing you to make a case after your subordinates attacked us.” the Eldrin growled. Rhein noted the lance that the man carried over his shoulder, taking into account that it was a rather long weapon. Specifically, some model of Dash Joust, which usually had some sort of thrusters for greater penetrating power. The guy wasn’t exactly wrong to be a bit mad, but it was annoying.
”Oh? How’re ya gonna do that?” Rhein replied, obviously provoking the Eldrin man, who appeared to be the leader of the other Hunting Party. Within a split second, a gust of wind rushed by Rhein, but the Shabu Shabu Party’s resident Nap Expert didn’t flinch as the long joust rushed by his head. The Eldrin had decided to give a warning strike, which grazed Rhein’s cheek, drawing blood.
”Now, now, Cornelius, let’s all calm down.” a voice chimed in, soon being shown to belong to the mustachioed Horvin from earlier. ”The boy is right. Their group did finish the beast off. And I’m not one to let someone leave emptyhanded after the risky move that Beastgirl pulled off.” the Horvin stated. Rhein always felt that it sounded strange being called “boy” by a Horvin, since they always kind of looked like children themselves. Mustache or no mustache. But apparently the diminutive man’s words worked. Sighing, the raven-haired Eldrin known as Cornelius turned back to Rhein, still looking a bit pissed.

“Alright. I am willing to let you have half of the core for your troubles. Be lucky that sir Mathis has reminded me that your friend laying on the Slime has not done anything to upset us. Unlike the rest of you.” the Eldrin remarked, beginning to annoy Rhein further with his tone. Frankly, Rhein was already starting to check out of the discussion, so he was glad to at least get something out of the exchange without much work on his own part.
”Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Corni. I’ll have to measure the core to make sure ya don’t stiff us, though.” Rhein retorted, hooking the Fragarach onto his back as he walked back towards Estelle. Still unconscious, and harboring pretty nasty burns on her arms, Rhein shook his head as he muttered under his breath. Placing a hand over the beastlady’s burned arms, a calm, green wave of healing energy spread from Rhein’s palm as the healing spell took effect, repairing the damage that had been done from the explosion. ”Making me have to go ahead and play medic, huh? What an irresponsible gunner.” the eyepatched man commented, mostly to himself.

”Oi, Grim! You think you can carry ‘Stelle back to that old rustbucket of ours?”

---

---

It's not as though Saff didn't hear Grim calling for him to get off his ass, in the contrary, Saffron heard him loud and clear. He just decided to plainly ignore it. Not that it mattered, anyways, he thought as he eventually got up, pocketing the knife he'd been playing with, making his way towards the front of the Prowler, jumping in through the side windows. Given his history of Not Doing A Goddamn Thing, he often got scolded to drive homebase back to the others when they were done doing their thing. And though he was no Grímhilðr, he knew the basics. By the time he was behind the wheel and handling it manually, the fight was pretty much over and all that was left was for Saffron to pick up the rest of the guys.

As he neared the defeated Giga, Saffron parked the ride at the edge of the circle of slime, not really sure how Grim would handle her beloved ride bein covered in slime. She was probably gonna be pissed enough that he even drove it that much, so the elder Dragnan decided not to push it, instead hopping out to see why everyone for the most part was just standing around. Probably a squabble over the prize, deduced the Blood Mage, taking note of strangers gathered around the core, Rhein and the others of the Shabu Shabu Crew not included within the circle. Speaking of which-- Saffron turned his head slightly, not really looking for the rest of his party but sniffing them out, his feet making an easy pace of following the path, pausing just before Rhein and Estelle as he called for Grim.

"I'll do it," Saffron offered, his eyes barely glancing at the healing burns on the gunner's arms as he squatted down, brown eyes focused on the cut on Rhein's cheek. The funny thing about humans were that they were everywhere. So, while human blood wasn't exactly rare, it wasn't exactly endorsed either. Sure, a copious amount sold for a price at your resident shady market, but so did other sorts of blood. In a sense, they were forgettable, spare for the occasional rare sweet blood that just adds the perfect spark to magic. Rhein had... extraordinarily normal blood. It was nothing special, really, but the fact that Saffron didn't have any human blood in his collection just made it intriguing. Especially considering it belonged to a very capable and very mysterious leader of a very shitty crew.

Pulling off his cloak and wrapping it over Estelle-- she was covered in slime and really gross-- Saffron wrapped his arms around her, lifting her with slight trouble. She didn't weigh as much as Rhein's fucking Fragarach, but the fact that she was all sorts'a soft and heavy and slimy and unconscious didn't help alleviate her weight. Not only was he carrying Estelle, but also the burden of the implications placed under their appearance. As he started making his way back to the Prowler, he paused, realizing he totally did this out of his own volition and cursed under his breath, each step reminding him that he made a Terrible Mistake and even forgot to ask Rhein to have a little blood sample. He didn't even care that he didn't apologize to the guys he literally bombed a few minutes ago that were standing a few ways away. "Stupid," he muttered under his breath as he made it to the Prowler, suddenly less motivated about anything and not being careful about getting Estelle into the Prowler.

Pulling his cloak off of her, he made his way back out and started airing it out, making sure to get as much of the slime off as possible. Leaving it to hang by the side of the Prowler, he waited on the others to return or for Estelle to awake, scrambling back up on the top of the ride and sitting on it's side, starting to transfer what little pig's blood he had left into one of his little collector vials around his belt, resuming his earlier state of Not Doing a Goddamn Thing.

A few hours later...

Heartbeat pumping faster as she ran from the slime monster, alas, her efforts were too late and the beast gained on her before widening its maw and swallowing her whole. "AHHHH!!!" She shot up in her bed and almost slammed her head on the Prowler's ceiling. Her arms had a plastic like film stuck to it and it crinkled and cracked every time she shifted in her posture. Flashbacks of the fight blared through her mind and she finally understood what had happened. "They must've carried me back... ugh," she brushed at her arms, the goo had certain repelling musk.

"I sure do hope that we were able to get some of the core if not all of it," she mumbled as she glanced around the cabin, wondering what everyone else was up to. She found a pen scrawled a small note saying she was going out to bathe, hoping they wouldn't worry about her whereabouts. Slipping out of her disgusting clothes, Estelle threw on a gigantic over-sized shirt and wandered into town. Spotting a bathhouse a few blocks down, she smiled and made her way to it. Upon arrival, a large toad greeted her and the Beastlady paid her fee before slipping the clacky wooden bathhouse slippers on and making her way to the steaming showers.

Stripping her clothing, she pulled some tangled, slime-covered strands of hair apart before stepping into the running water, allowing it to cleanse her body of any odors and gunk. Once she was cleaned up, she found a nice hot spring pool and stepped in, with a white towel wrapped around her body and a second holding her hair up. "How nice.." she moaned before closing her eyes and leaning back against the warm rocks that lined the edge of the bath.

---

---

Much to Rhein’s surprise, Saffron volunteered himself to take on the task of bringing Estelle back to the Prowler. Did the Dragnan feel bad for not pulling his weight or something? Saffron’s pointed gaze at the cut on Rhein’s cheek gave him the heebie-jeebies for a moment, almost as if he had read the horned man’s mind. Thankfully, Saffron didn’t up the creep factor by actually asking Rhein for some blood. The idea of his own blood being a part of the Blood Mage’s collection was off-putting, to say the least. The eyepatched fighter watched Saffron carry Estelle back to the Shabu Shabu Party Prowler for a moment before returning to the huddle around the Giga Slime core. Apparently, they had already begun to work on dividing the core while he was conversing with his comrades. After a few minutes worth of haggling and overall just being kind of a stickler on the dimensions of the spherical core’s halves, the Shabu Shabu Party managed to come away with the (roughly) half-sphere of the Giga Slime’s core. Of course, due to Rhein having dealt with the negotiations in place of Estelle, he had Grimhildr carry the large object back to the Prowler for transport back to town.

Upon turning the core in to Delion’s Hunting Office, the Shabu Shabu Party were rewarded with what was actually a pretty generous sum of money. It was a Giga Slime, after all. Covered in slime, and overall incredibly dirty from being pounded into a crater by Slime tentacles, Rhein decided to take a bath shortly after the Party made their way back into town. Heading to the bathhouse, Rhein had a very pleasant time as he washed the goo off of his body and out of his silver-white hair. Curiously, he neglected to take off his eyepatch the whole time. Finishing his shower, Rhein decided that it wouldn’t hurt to treat himself with a nice dip in the hot springs. The eyepatched man cursed to himself as he noticed that the springs weren’t co-ed, but ultimately figured that the real reward was in having to actually work to peep. Submerging himself in the hot pool of water, Rhein heaved a sigh of content as he leaned back against the rocks. Nobody else was in the pool besides himself, so he was left with some actual peace and quiet unlike earlier in the day. The eyepatched yawned and stretched out, his muscles relaxing as he sat in the spring. It was not often that the other members of the Shabu Shabu Party would find Rhein in a state of undress, so one might be surprised to see that their leader had a few scars marking his body, the most notable of which extended from his right shoulder and stopped just at his left hip. A peculiar wound, to be sure.

Rhein’s guard was down and, frankly, he had gotten rather comfortable just soaking in the spring. Before long, the man’s eye closed and he once again drifted off to sleep.

---

”Uwaah~! Look at his face! He’s really enjoying it, isn’t he? Your cakes are top-notch as always, eh Reina?” remarked a pink-haired catgirl, elbows propped up on the table as glanced over at the blonde-haired Eldrin woman beside her, whose face lit up as she watched the young boy eat the chocolate cake she had baked him. Both the Beastgirl and the Eldrin were clad in maid uniforms, though the key difference between the two were the fact that the catgirl happened to be wearing a sleeveless uniform while the Eldrin known as Reina was a bit more conservative in her attire. Finishing the cake, the tiny silver-white haired boy leapt down from the chair and made a mad dash towards the Eldrin, catching the much taller woman in a leaping hug around her waist.
”Y-Young Master, you must be more careful!” the Eldrin scolded, although she didn’t seem terribly upset by the caramel-skinned boy wrapping his tiny arms around her.
”I just wanted to thank you for the cake, Reina, fufufu~.” the boy chimed, gray eyes sparkling as they stared up at the maid. At the sight, she began to blush, which earned a sly look from the catgirl.

”Oi, oi, Reina, you dirty shotacon. Quit hoggin’ the young master, will ya? Young master, won’t ya give Nezha a hug too?” the catgirl purred, prompting the young boy to hop into her open arms, though the catgirl was very obviously aiming to have the boy rest his head on her ample cleavage. Reina seemed to be a bit offended by the ‘shotacon’ label, glaring at Nezha.
”Speak for yourself! You couldn’t be a more obvious shotacon if you tried!”
Frankly, it was quite strange to see a refined-looking Eldrin woman like Reina throwing the term “shotacon” around, but that only made it obvious that she was quite flustered. As the two stared holes into each other’s heads, the young boy was none the wiser, only perking up once again when more maids began to enter the room and tried to get the attention of the apparently very adorable young lad. The “Young Master” enjoyed his time hanging out with the maids until he turned his attention to the cracked door, spying a figure looking into the room from around the door frame, gray eyes locking with his own before they slipped out of sight.
”Young Master Rhei--”

Rhein’s eyes snapped open and he looked around, noticing that he was still sitting down in the spring. ”Aww, geez. I’m gonna prune, aren’t I?” he muttered, standing up from the hot pool and stretching his limbs as a few other men began to file into the area. Damn. If he hadn’t been asleep for so long, he might have actually had a chance to try and get a peek at the ladies hotsprings. Almost as if they had read his mind, a man clasped him on the shoulder as he started to walk off. “Oi, brother. You give off the air of one who is a true brother in the spirit of manhood. Whaddaya say you join me in the boys in spyin’ on the laydeefolk, eh?” the man inquired, winking at Rhein. Man, he really made it sound hella weird. And how the hell did he give off the vibe of a pervert? The nerve!... Well, he wasn’t wrong.

”Hmph. Just don’t hold me back. I happen to be far above the level of you amateurs.” Rhein remarked, delivering a line that was remarkably out of place for the situation. The other men in the bathhouse almost seemed to gather around Rhein, apparently having been won over by just that line. Weirdoes.
“You guys heard the commander! We’re gonna pull off the greatest peeping mission in history!”
When had Rhein been elected commander? And what was this about a “greatest peeping mission in history”? Even Rhein was swept up in the current of hype surrounding the gathering of men in the bathhouse, standing triumphantly as the men admired how “cool” he was.
”Alright, boys. You’re about to walk the path of a demon, so don’t blame me when you can’t turn back.” Rhein stated, only to be met with the chants of the men around the hotspring.
Thus, the Delion Hot Spring Demon Gesellschaft had been formed.

Only the sound of trickling water could be heard as well as the light sprinkling from the shower room. Estelle completely and utterly relaxed, her breathing and heartbeats slowing down to a very slow and controlled pace as she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. The hot air and steam were opening up her pores and detoxing her entire body, leaving her skin glowing with sweat, giving it a light shimmer. Unraveling the towels around both her hair and body, she ducked under the water and came back up to sit against the rocks. She was quite enjoying having the spring pools to herself. It was getting rather dark as well, the moon illuminating the place with a ghostly glow.

The neko wondered why this place wasn't packed, but didn't mind being alone in such luxury. Glancing at her arms, she noticed they had a pink hue to them and remembered some feeling of scalding pain before she blacked out. Huh. Rhein must've healed me. Closing her eyes back down, she was just about to get lost in her daydreams, when she perked up at some cheerful chanting coming from the other side of the rocky wall that was pouring hot water down into the hot tubs. "Hmm, the men's side must be over there," she mumbled to herself. "I sure hope this wall is tall enough to fend off any creeps," she shuddered slightly at the thought of unwanted pair of eyes oogling her right now. Shaking the thought, she relaxed again and rested her head on her now folded towels serving as pillows.

Suddenly, she felt the water start to quiver and the warm rocks beneath her begin to shudder. Eyebrows furrowing, she opened her eyes only to see a giant... woman stomping into the pool. With every step the... manly lady took into the tub, the water levels rose a few inches until they were spilling over the edge. Estelle cringed hard and really hoped this woman was in fact a female. Her face totally screamed the opposite yet when she stripped off her towels her body confirmed that she was in fact on the correct side of the hot springs.

Estelle flashed her a friendly smile which the woman seemed to like as she heaved her way towards the Beastlady, who's smile was beginning to twitch and crack.

"Hi! Vi name iz HELGA!" she boomed with a voice as deep as that of Darth Vader. Estelle also picked up on a heavy Russian accent, her whole body beginning to quake at the greeting.

"M-my name is E-Estelle," she mewed softly, feeling dwarfed under the woman's towering height and bulky mass.

"Vat iz a bootiful name vy dear!" Helga bellowed before crashing down onto some rocks beside Estelle, causing a sizable wave to rise up and threaten to drown the poor cat hybrid.

Oh my gosh. So much for relaxing... She shuddered and tried to stay optimistic, forcing her eyes to close once again. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. This woman smelled like month old meatloaf and tuna.

---

---

---

Siloratan had just traveled for about a day, give or take, from the last village. It really sucked that those villages with jobs tended to be out in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere. And coincidentally that's where the smaller, more useless groups also tended to be. And that's what her current goal was, find a small useless group and then see what she could do with them.

Her mount, a large monster with a remarkable and unique skin color, thumped through the town. Some people looked at amazement but most others seemed to be.. slightly scared. As they should be, of course. The creature was a monster, and if left untamed and un-commanded for long enough it would return to being it's wild self in order to feed itself. But luckily the woman riding atop the creature, with a large hawk placed upon her shoulder, was more than capable of controlling the large beast. But not everyone seemed to know that, which was understandable, but slightly annoying as people would point and stare in fear.

She parked the monster somewhere safe, and tied it down. It was hard to find 'parking' spots, but usually a place where prowlers stood would be a good place for the monster, because villagers tended to avoid those. Maybe that was because sometimes, the hunters were assholes. Either way, she parked the monster and looked around, spotting at least two other monsters, leashed and saddled, but they were far smaller than hers. Probably just for transit, either that or amateur tamers. Regardless, taming a monster was impressive, a real art, so it wasn't a small feat.

She hopped off the monster and petted it, ushering a “Good job, Bubs,” to the monster before turning around and walking away. As she walked past a single, large prowler, she noticed a note was attached to the front windshield. Being curious, she took it off and read it.

Dear Shabu Shabu Friends,

I'm sorry I have to leave like this, but another cool prowler just drove by and they needed a sixth member for an elite mission. Also, they had cool stickers on their car, so I fell in love. They said they'd even let me drive the thing. I look forward to crashing it already.

I hope to see you again sometimes, I'll surely be back! They said we'd be hunting a giga electric dragon or something. I don't know what that is. Something also about 'possibility of electrically induced coma' or something. But I'll be fine! I'll see you around!

Love you, Estelle! Your cushions are the best. And Rhein, you're the only one who understands my love for cushions!

Not you Saffron. Eat a bag of d-(scribbles and smears that resemble someone writing in anger)

♥ Grímhilðr

Huh. Shabu Shabu party. Sounded like an interesting mix - if slightly erratic and stupid. The name Rhein reminded her of something, someone, but it was really just a wild guess, and that person was dead, wasn't he?

It might be worth a look to go see if this group was interested in taking on an Eldrin hunter. Even if it was just to sate her curiosity about the letter. She pocketed it quickly, and then headed into the village again. She walked by the hot springs at first, but heard a rather loud stomping noise. Curious... had a monster escaped into the village and was it now ransacking the hot springs? She decided to go check it out. She headed in, paid the clerk, and quickly changed into the bathrobes. She kept her sword with her though. Just in case a monster was there. If she had to she'd fight it in the nude, because monster hunting came first, in order to keep everyone safe. Such were her duties as a noble woman that wished the best for the people around her. Oh, she had such a noble heart.

But as she approached the hotsprings, all she saw was a catwoman and a .. muscular woman. That seemed to be the cause of the stomping. She was just in time to hear the catwoman say her name. “Estelle?” she mumbled to herself while she slowly approached the baths on the other side of the muscular woman and Estelle, placing down the sword on the edge of the bath. Slowly she got rid of the bathrobes, revealing her slim, petite body. Then she dipped her feet in to the bath and slowly let herself sink into it, forcing herself to dip in further than normal due to her 6'6 stature. It was generally quite hard for her to enjoy hot springs for that reason.

“Um, excuse me,” she said, looking at Estelle specifically. “You said you were Estelle? I.. might have something for you. A boy.. girl.. girl? Um, she asked me to deliver a letter to you.” That was a lie, but it'd be stupid to tell her that she had basically stole the letter. Also, her fascination for races that weren't Eldrin was starting to play up, and she felt strangely attracted to the cute catgirl. She didn't want to ruin her chances with this girl already.

---

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the rocky wall was an assembly of mostly naked men inspecting the wall for any cracks in its “defense”. This had gone on for a few minutes before a Horvin man strolled up to Rhein and gave him a salute. ”They’ve got it packed tight, Commander. Not a peephole to be found. Whadda-we do now?” the Horvin reported, prompting a sigh from his “Commander”. With the option of finding an easy peephole out of the way, it was going to be a hard sell to get everyone a good look before the ladies on the other side left. And that was even taking into consideration the fact that there very well might not have been any girls on the other side at the moment. As Rhein had noted shortly after waking from his slumber, it was already night time, and the moon shed its light down on the hot springs.
”Round up the men. I’ve got a plan, but it’s gonna take some work. And some patience for everybody. But don’t worry. Commander Rhein’s gonna make sure everyone gets an eyeful.” Rhein stated, giving the Horvin a thumbs up before the diminutive man scampered off to go inform the others that they were going to have some new directives.

Once everyone had gathered up, Rhein observed their number, taking stock of the heights of each occupant especially. ”Alright. We’ve had a minor setback so far in underestimating the enemy defense, but we’ve got another way. It’s a special technique performed by many before us in the pursuit of their goals…,” he pointed to the top of the rock wall, “We’re going to form a ladder. It’s a risky move, but if we can pull it off, everyone should be able to get a peep in. We’re gonna need a scout, though. Someone to test the quality of our human ladder, as well as to determine whether we’ll be wasting our time or not.” Rhein explained, causing a wave of whispers to make its way through the assembly, only for one person to speak up.

”I’ll be the scout, Sir!” raising a hand to get Rhein’s attention was a bunnyboy. He stood out amongst most of the crowd as he was the only youngster in the hot spring. And, frankly, he almost looked a bit too innocent.
”What’s your name, pal?” Rhein stared intently at the too-pretty beastboy, gray eye narrowed as he observed his posture.
”L-Laurence, Sir!”
Rhein clasped the boy on the shoulder, having crossed the distance while Laurence was busy being dumbstruck. ”Well, Laurence, we’re counting on you. Form up, men! The boy’s gonna take point!” At Rhein’s order, the men of the Hot Spring Demon Gesellschaft began to form the human ladder, wobbling every so often when the stack started to get particularly high. The sight of so many people working towards a goal was always awe-inspiring, and even Rhein clapped for his “subordinates” as he sat on the rocks watching the men form the ladder. Once they had finally gotten to an appropriate height and seemed to have stabilized, young Laurence made his way up. He was a scrawny kid, and the heat of the spring, combined with the physical activity had caused the men of the hot spring to work up a sweat. But Laurence would not be deterred, for the rest of the Gesellschaft had placed their hopes in him. If he let them down now, he wouldn’t ever be able to face them again! While it was a slippery climb, the bunnyboy managed to make his way to the top of the ladder. To the view of the Promised Land.

Ears twitching with excitement, the rosey-cheeked bunnyboy observed the expanse of the female hot spring. As the scout, he’d have to make sure that he had a lot to report back to the boss. ”Fuwa---!” Laurence had to stifle his scream with his hands, having become thoroughly frightened by the sight before him. While there was indeed a pair of beauties in the spring, they were practically overshadowed entirely by the hulking monstrosity that occupied the hot spring with them. Already he felt that he was letting the commander and the rest of the Gesellschaft down by virtue of the fact that he may very well have alerted the girls to their plans. At this point, the combination of being startled mixed with his feelings of sorrow, prompting the young beastboy to shed tears uncontrollably. Laurence forced himself to descend the man-ladder through his sobbing before running to Rhein once his feet touched the ground.
”S-s-s-sir…. Scout L-Laurence repooorting *sniff* th-th-at we have targets in the spring. B-but… There’s a monster, sir.” Laurence reported, words interrupted by the sniffles and hiccups of the youth’s crying. Suddenly, the boy would feel a pat on his head before looking back up to the Commander, his eyes having been glue to the floor in embarrassment.

”You did great, Laurence. We might have subjected you to too much, too early but you handled it as best you could. Keep it up and you could be the commander of this unit someday.” Rhein remarked, ruffling the boy’s hair before making his way to the ladder himself. He could swear he heard some loud noises earlier while the men were chanting, but did that really mean there was a monster? Probably not. Maybe just some especially ugly woman, more likely. As Laurence collapsed to his knees from exhaustion, Rhein made his way up the man ladder, making his way to the top in no time. ”Holy shit. What the hell is up with that?” Rhein muttered, observing the humongous woman that was in the bath with what appeared to be Estelle (a welcome, but ultimately too-familiar face) and an Eldrin woman, whom Rhein had a sneaking suspicion he may have met before….
Regardless, Rhein now understood why Laurence was crying. In fact, Rhein almost wanted to cry himself at the sight of this gigantic woman ruining what would otherwise be an aesthetically pleasant scene of two girls just enjoying the hot springs together. Though, perhaps he was already beginning to linger atop the man-ladder for too long...

Perking up when she heard another woman's voice, not that of Helga's, speaking to her, Estelle opened her eyes and nodded as she curiously accepted the letter. The woman speaking had long black hair, lightly colored innocent looking eyes, and a slim, slender figure. "Ah yes, may not act like one but Grim is a girl," she let out a light chuckle causing her breasts to bounce and disturb the water at the female's hesitance concerning the youngin's gender. The paper was already getting soiled from all the steam and moisture in the hot spring as she peeled the folded edges back, her eyes scanning the first few words of the message before beginning to tear up. By the end of it, her crying and sniffling had soaked the paper more than the humid environment had and she clutched onto the delivery woman's arm for balance as she started to get too emotional to hold herself upright. "H-how could she?! That selfish brat! She didn't even give us a chance to say goodbye in person.." Estelle sniffled some more and coughed a bit as she swiped at her runny nose, quite obviously failing to hold back her emotions.

Helga put a concerned palm against the neko's shivering back, her gigantic hand covering it almost entirely. Her humongous height had allowed her to read over Estelle's shoulder and she understood why this woman was crying so vehemently. "Vy dear. Plz zont shed much tears. The little ting hath moved on now. Think happy thoughts. Maybe vu meet her again sometay," Helga swiped at her own tear dribbling down her cheek as she empathized with the Beastwoman.

Toughening up her demeanor, Estelle wiped her face of any signs of sadness and forced a strong visage. She snorted up a lob of snot that threatened to roll down to her lip. "Hmph! You guys are right. Grim is a big girl now and has moved on to big girl things and... and... Uwahhh!" The heavy chested woman was a bawling mess at this point, unable to hold it together. More women had entered the hot springs now and began to crowd around the crying cat girl in attempts to console her. "What're we gonna do? We're already a very small group, but now that that good for nothing brat ditched I don't think we can even call us a group anymore!" Her arms were thrown up in defeat.

Meanwhile, Helga it seemed was the only one paying attention to peculiar noises erupting from the other side of the hot-spring rock wall. Because of her large stature, she was much higher above the rest of the women and thus had better ear shot of what the heck was actually happening on the men's side. It was mostly just muffles and enthusiastic voices that were becoming incomprehensible due to the pouring water, but she recognized a menacing tone of determination in the jumbled words.

Stroking Estelle's head and rubbing a weak spot behind the Beastlady's cat ears, it was evident that the sorrowful woman had cried herself to a fatigued state of sleepiness and bliss. "Vou poor ting. Look at chu now. Ur face all puffy like a perooka salami on a hot summerz dey!" Head swiveling like an owl as she heard a terrified noise coming from what sounded like an adolescent boy, Helga narrowed her eyes above the wall only to catch a pair of bunny ears descending. Vose sneaky bastards! Passing the now dozing Estelle onto the black haired twig woman, the monstrous lady now had an angry scowl on her face as she placed firm hands on the spring boulders, climbing up the wall with her back muscles flexing with each movement. The other women in the bath could only watch in utter awe and shock at the gigantic, manly build, but one troll girl in particular wasn't too amused. "Ah yeah vhat is Helga. I verk vith her in zeh meat shop. Half ogre the woman iz," she informed the pool occupants.

Finally making it to the top of the stone barrier, Helga would find herself making face to face eye contact with a silver haired man with an eye patch. With an inhuman snarl, the ogre hybrid easily wrapped one large hand around the tanned man's neck, her gigantic palm actually engulfing his entire head as she choked him out and shook him violently back and forth. "Look vhat I found me ladees! Perverts!" she called down from the rock tower, now holding Rhein by the head and flailing his body around in the night sky as he was no longer supported by the man made ladder below which had threatened to topple due to the initial savage movement of Helga's attack.

Women screamed and grabbed their towels hurriedly as they wrapped themselves to protect their goodies from prying eyes. All the ruckus and commotion only led to Estelle getting awoken and she rubbed her face awake with a mewling yawn. Drowsy eyed and drooling a bit, she moved her head off of the tall lady's arm and looked up at Helga. "W-what's with all the noi-" It looked like a scene from King Kong where the over-sized gorilla was clutching onto the Empire State Building with one hand and had the damsel in distress in the other. Squinting her eyes, it was nice to be blessed with night vision as a neko and she could easily make out that the poor ragdoll of a man being shucked around was in fact Rhein. Scrambling out of the pool in a panic, she was completely naked as she ran towards the stone wall, shouting and yelling desperately at Helga to stop. "Oh my god you're going to kill him! Please, please stop! I know that man!" She begged her, tears again welling up in her eyes again.

---

---

---

As she handed Estelle the letter, Siloratan felt her cheeks color slightly rose red as her nude body came closer to that of Estelle. It became even worse as Estelle suddenly clutched herself to Siloratans arms. Siloratan nearly fell over backwards into the pool, managing to right herself just in time to sit herself down slightly next to Estelle to offer her a shoulder. The big woman next to them seemed to be doing the same, but all Siloratan could do was focus on the intense burning sensation that was called her cheeks. It took her every muscle in her body to stop herself from molesting the cute, cute neko right there right now. Instead, she simply let the cat girl hold her arm while she raised her other arm and softly petted the girls head. “Th-there there..” she whispered sleekly into Estelle's ear. Some might've thought the stutter came from her shyness to the entire situation, but really it was because she was just incredibly infatuated with other races.

Once Helga was done with Estelle and handed Estelle over to Solaratan entirely, did the feast begin. “Uh, I VOLUNTEER!” she answered Estelle when she said they were too small to even be a group anymore. She quickly righted herself, figuring it was best to show herself off as cool and calm - like she always was - instead of the infatuated woman she was now. “I.. I mean, you guys seem like a bunch of amateurs.. I am lady Caumanandë,”

Some gasps could be heard around the pool while Helga was climbing the wall, in part due to what the big woman was doing and in part because there was a lady of noble birth in their midst. “I am the twelfth child of lord Caumanandë and was a royal guard.. such groups as yours.. HM. They are below me. But look at you, Estelle,” huhuhuhuhu, yes, look at you, busty cat lady with whom I want to share my bed.. “You are so sad.. and I am kind hearted, so I will join your group.”

Just as she said that, Helga breached through and apparently began causing chaos. As everything suddenly became a big mess, Siloratan moved to grab her towel, getting up out of the bath and then grabbed her sword. “Perverts!? In MY baths?!” she asked, before using her Ki to jump across the pool of steamy water and jump to the other side.

“I will hack your heads off, you cowards!” she yelled as she unsheathed her sword with a rather loud shwang from the metal rasping against the metal of her sheath. “By decree of the Queen! I will have all your heads! Or my name is not Siloratan Caumanandë of the North, third of my name, second of my title, the sole protector of her princess majesty Eloria for thirty years...”

She spent another twenty seconds listing off all her titles, which were many and long with little to no meaning. When she was finally done she held her blade up high. “H-Helga!” she said, motioning with her blade towards Rhein. “Hold him up! Hold him up for me to-” It was then that Estelle came out yelling about how she knew this man. Must be a group member?

“A-ah, um,” Also, if Estelle liked this man, then she shouldn't harm him so that Estelle would like her more... “Uuh, she is right Helga! Let him go at once, by decree of the Queen!” Oh lord, what a messy situation this had become quickly. “And Estelle! COVER YOURSELF!” she said loudly, almost yelling at the poor cute kitty, as the situation had quickly become too much for Siloratan to handle.

---

---

”Alright, boys. You’re about to walk the path of a demon, so don’t blame me when you can’t turn back.” Rhein stated, only to be met with the chants of the men around the hotspring.
Thus, the Delion Hot Spring Demon Gesellschaft had been formed.

Saffron, who had been peacefully taking a bath, got up and headed out. Nope. Not today, you shits.

He made his way out of there, getting redressed and deciding to loiter in the lobby, where there was only one other person waiting on standby. A small dark goat beastgirl, with petite pitch black horns and bobbed black hair. Her attire was, in a sense formal, lace and silk intertwined, a ribbon with dark jewelry wrapped around her neck. At her feet lied dark cloth, also with lace, light glinting to show that it was embroidered with black.

Black on black, what the fuck, thought Saffron, sitting across her. On the young beastgirl's lap rested a carton of six clear bottles filled with white liquid. The blood mage stared at them for a bit before his gaze started up to look at the girl, her eyes fluttering from shit to open and she stared right back. A jarring and startling yellow in contrast to all the black made Saff instantly like her. She was cool, despite the whole goth thing. Saff started to tie his staff back to his wrist, the two still maintaining a stare down, ignoring the shouting happening on the other side of the bath house. From the looks of the old toad lady reading a paper didn't seem to give two shits either.

As the blood mage finished leashing his staff, the goat girl finally made a move, resting a hand on one of the bottles. To him, she addressed, "Would you like some warm milk?"

Some more shouting in the bathhouse.

"Yeah thanks, cool."

---

---

”COMMANDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The sight of the gigantic woman scaling the wall had stunned Rhein for just long enough to get her gigantic mitt around his neck (and, by extension, his entire head). The assembly was thrown into disarray, with the remaining men who didn’t make up the ladder looking at each other with utter confusion now that the head of their army had been captured by the “enemy”. Seeing the body of the commander being waved around like a doll, Laurence, who had slowly begun to calm down, once again burst into tears. Things immediately got worse when the Eldrin woman he’d spotted earlier leapt over the wall brandishing a weapon. ”How the hell did she bring a sword in here?!” the members of the Gesellschaft took defensive positions as the tall Eldrin woman shouted about queens and other such nonsense related to the nobility. Was this woman crazy? Why would anyone care about any of that when she had a goddamn sword?

The hand clamped around his neck was sweaty and rough, making for an even more uncomfortable experience as the half-ogre squeezed the life out of him. As Helga swung his body around to display to the other women on her side of the hot spring, Rhein couldn’t help but think that maybe she was being a bit too rough. At this rate, the woman was going to rip his head off. Though, more importantly than that, he was starting to lose consciousness. Although muffled, he could still hear the commotion on the other side of the wall. Everything had gone to shit so quickly that it was hard for anyone to properly mount a response. They had been utterly defeated by the she-beast known as Helga, and it would be a loss that would haunt the Delion Hot Spring Demon Gesellschaft for quite some time. Just as Rhein was about to pass out, he heard Estelle plead with Helga to release him from her grip. As usual, the catgirl was a life-saver in situations like this. However, within about a second of hearing that, Rhein had passed out.

As Siloratan shouted, a figure ran up and laid itself prostrate before her. To everyone’s surprise, the figured bowing so low his head touched the ground was Laurence, who had dared to enter the armed Eldrin woman’s reach. ”We’re sorry! We had no idea that we were in the presence of a noble, but please spare us!” the bunnyboy pleaded. The other men in the assembly were loathe to admit it but, despite the fact that he was clearly admitting defeat, the boy had more guts than them to approach Siloratan, who had only moments earlier threatened to lop all of their heads off. The commander was right. The boy had potential. But right now, the blonde beastboy was a ball of emotions and excessive waterworks. Following suit, the other Hot Spring Demons also bowed, ”WE’RE SORRY!”
In this situation, they were going to have to swallow their pride and surrender. The commander had been captured and they were being faced down by a noblewoman with a sword. If that meant they would have to beg, then they’d put their backs into it! The future of the Gesellschaft counted on it!

Once the tall dark haired woman bounded out, Estelle became even more fearful as the lady whipped out a sword. Running for the rock wall, she utilized her feline reflexes to pounce skyward from rock to rock. The delivery woman started listing off a bunch of royal nonsense which basically came through one ear then poured out the other. What did perk her up was when the girl instructed Helga to hold up the now unconscious Rhein for a beheading. The Beastlady could only shriek and close her eyes as Helga appreciatively complied.

Thankfully, the slender beheader had a change of heart and made Helga let Rhein go just as the other men surrendered. Luckily she was low enough down the mountain of stones that no one was able to get a look at her nudity. Grabbing an abandoned bathrobe, she covered herself before motioning for the manly, half ogre to hand her the Shabu Shabu Party's unofficial leader. Taking him into her arms, she lovingly craddled his head before looking down at the others. "Since you have given up and apologized, I think we can all let this go quietly.." She announced, but the other women below were huddled together looking reluctant to forgive them for the mess they'd made on such a peaceful night.

"Oh c'mon. I'm sure you've all encountered pervy men. It's in their nature... Hmm we shall take their efforts as a compliment if anything my fellow females. They even made a human ladder just to sneak a glance!" The ladies below looked at each other with rosy cheeks, but nodded in appreciation.

Helga grunted and rolled her eyes before towing Siloratan, Rhein, and Estelle down the rock wall and back into the bath. Everyone made their way out into the showers before meeting up shortly in the lobby where Estelle spotted Saff with another younger Dragnan. Heaving Rhein onto Saffron, she accepted a sorry gift from Helga which resembled not much else but a crusty, dry piece of turd.

"Plz me poor ladee. Vi iz zo zorry for hurting your pervert leader. Feed him dis. It vill make him better," Helga instructed her before waving to join her fellow troll butcher. "Vee shall meet again I hope."

Turning to the flat chested noble, Estelle took in the girl's figure. "Hmm so I heard you're wanting to join right? Oh my gosh I'm so excited!" She mewled happily as she once again latched herself onto the lady's arm before dragging her over to Saff and Rhein. Sticking a finger in the eye patched man's mouth, she prodded his jaw open before shoving the poop thing in the very back of his tongue and clamping his maw shut. Estelle rubbed his throat to encourage him to swallow and thankfully he did. Soon enough he seemed to be regaining consciousness.

"Ay Rhein," she said softly as she slapped at his cheek lightly. She pulled out the letter from Grim and read it aloud to both Saff and Rhein before tearing up again and rubbing her face on her sleeve. "B-but we've got a kind noble here who said she would fill in," Estelle said through sniffles as she clung to the woman's arm, nudging her towards the men in the group to introduce herself.

Meanwhile, Estelle purchased some milk from the goat child just as she was about to exit the bath house.

---

---

Rhein coughed and sputtered as he sprang back to consciousness. ”Ugh. What the hell did you make me swallow?” he groaned, taking note of the fact that they were now in the hallway outside of the baths. Once he looked to be fully cognisant, Estelle began to read the group a letter that Grim had left them. Frowning, Rhein simply shook his head as he heard the contents of the message. ”That little idiot… Show her some shiny toys and she’s full speed ahead.” he mumbled, scratching his head. While he didn’t exactly show it, Rhein was a little disheartened by the younger Dragnan’s departure. Much like the rest of the Shabu Shabu crew, he had grown to be fond of her despite how utterly disruptive she was. At Estelle’s mention of a noble having volunteered their help, Rhein’s eye shifted to the Eldrin woman who had accompanied them in the hall. While there was also a chance that the goat beastgirl may have also been who she was talking about, the overall appearance of the woman gave off a distinctly regal feeling. Plus, she was carrying around a sword in a bathhouse.

However, upon getting a good look at her face, Rhein’s “danger senses” kicked in. While it might have just been a passing resemblance, he was almost entirely certain he’d seen this woman before. ”Well, I’ve still got to get over the loss of one of our number, but maybe I’ll be up to discuss it next morning. Right now, I’m going to take a well-deserved rest.” Rhein remarked, making a hasty retreat without waiting for an answer. That was a lie, of course. Due to a combination of eventually being connected to the hot spring incident and this encounter, he was going to try and get the hell out of dodge as soon as daylight came…

---

”Alright. Everything checks out.” Rhein muttered, having taken the time to check the condition of the Prowler before they departed. Plus, it would probably be smart to check if Grimhildr had tried to play some parting pranks on the Party. Satisfied, Rhein was about to let everyone else know they were leaving when he heard shuffling behind him.
”Commander!”
Shit.
Rhein turned around to see that a small group of those from the Gesellschaft had gathered up before him, including young Laurence.
”We’re glad you’re safe, Commander! But…. Are you leaving so soon?” the innocent blue eyes of the bunnyboy stared up at the eyepatched hunter expectantly. Scratching the back of his head, Rhein shrugged his shoulders and took account of the rest of the group that gathered.
”I reckon so. There are lots more battles to be fought, and more men to gather for our cause, y’know?” Rhein replied, making up a response. Perhaps the idea of becoming a multi-branch operation really appealed to the gathered group, as they all seemed to light up. As the gathering, which Rhein had been informed simply consisted of those who weren’t busy that day, gave their tearful goodbyes to the “One-Eyed Demon Commander”, Rhein couldn’t help but feel like this was really cutting into the swift “escape” he had planned.

”We’ll make sure to hold down the fort here, Sir!” Laurence shouted, saluting Rhein along with the rest of the group.
”Aye, sir. I, uh…. Made ya a little somethin’. Call it a good luck charm.” a Horvin stepped forward and placed a small object into Rhein’s hand. Inspecting it, Rhein saw that it was a wooden figure of a voluptuous bunnygirl. The attention to detail was top notch. And it even had a ribbon attached to it in case he wanted to fasten it to something like a sort of keychain. ”We’re gonna have to elect a new leader while you’re gone, but hopefully this’ll help you remember the boys in lil’ ol’ Delion.” the Horvin, named Jackson, added. Rhein, moved by the gesture, bowed to his “subordinates”.
”It was an honor working with you all. Make sure you tale care of the kid. With his guts, he’ll make a fine leader one day.” and with that, the Hot Spring Demon Farewell Vanguard parted ways, trying hard to hold back the tears they desperately wanted to shed over a man they’d only met yesterday.
Weirdoes. The whole lot of them.

”Well, now that delay is over, it’s about time we get a move on.”
Little did Rhein know that he was probably already too late to leave without incident, having already overslept before checking the Prowler, something which was ordinarily Grimhildr’s job. And, if his guess that the white, raptor-like creature belonged to Siloratan was correct, there was a good chance thar she’d show up to check on it or feed it any moment.

Arching her back and streching her arms with a soft [i]meow]/i], Estelle blinked her blue eyes open. Last night had been quite the scene and all that crying had tired her out. Looking down at her chest, she pouted slightly remembering Grim's decision to leave the Shabu Shabu Party and kinda missed the warmth of the squirt's little head on her breasts. With a slight sigh, she dragged her body up and off the bed to check out what the rest of the crew was up to.

She immediately picked up on Saff's scent curled up into a ball in his bed, so she continued towards the exit ladder. Popping the metallic, circular lid open, she peeped her head out and inhaled the fresh morning air with glee. Spotting Rhein, she smiled warmly seeing a little bunnyboy giving him a gift of some sort. 'How sweet. The pervert squad is bidding their king farewell.' The Beastlady rolled her eyes and shook her head in amusement before hopping up and out of the prowler completely.

Approaching the eye-patched male, she rubbed an itch at her nose and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the dinosaur-esque beast. He had a mount strapped to him and everything so she assumed it was someone's ride. "Who would ever ride such a thing?! How terrifying," she gasped slightly as she stopped by their leader's side, rather intimidated by the monster's height. "So did you have a nice chat with that tall noble chick from last night? It feels kinda weird having an empty place in our team ya know?" Estelle sighed sadly with her heart dropping a bit as she hooked her arm around Rhein's. "Don't tell me she actually owns this thing."

---

---

"I think we'd be better off forgetting about that woman and just leaving. Call me paranoid, but I get some pretty bad mojo off of her. Plus, I'm not sure I feel like having someone around who was a few seconds away from trying to take my head off." Rhein remarked, hoping that would be a good enough excuse for the remaining three Shabu Shabus to just up and leave. The vacancy that Grimhildr left was certainly an issue, especially for Rhein who would have to pull more weight now, but Siloratan seemed to be a danger to his present way of life. "Besides, it'd be a pain in the ass having to stop whenever that thing has to rest or eat, or whatever the hell she'd have it do. She's definitely not gonna give up a creature like that. Especially with that coloration." he added, sniffing as Estelle came closer. "As usual, she's smelling nice today huehuehue."

"I don't think Saff is gonna have any objections but, if he does.... Well, ya snooze, ya lose." Rhein broke away to hop up onto the Prowler and drop down the hatch. They were good on fuel, and everything else was in order, so Rhein promptly started up the vehicle for the drive. He waited for Estelle to get inside and the hatch to be closed before making a move, the Shabu Shabu Prowler rolling away from the township of Delion, going wherever the wind took them (in this case, to the west). Frankly, the eyepatched man would rather be napping. Or waking up Saffron to do the driving so he could go back to taking a nap. Though, considering the circumstances, Rhein figured it would be in his best interests to at least pretend to be in full competent leader mode. After all, perhaps Grimhildr wouldn't have left so abruptly if it seemed like he was more motivated? It would be pretty easy to shift the blame to the Party's de facto leader in this situation, so he was going to try and avoid any sort of inter-party conflict for now. Then again, Grimhildr was a scatterbrain anyway, so this wasn't exactly a super surprising development beyond the fact that she'd been with the crew for a good portion of their yearlong run thus far. And maybe, just maybe there was a chance that the remaining Shabu Shabus (and perhaps even Grim) had a bit more confidence in him than he thought they did.

"Maybe we can find someone less sketchy in the next town over. I gotta admit that having just three of us is a bit too little for my tastes." Rhein commented, figuring that was enough to assuage Estelle's concern over the empty space in the Party. Rhein himself could only hope that whoever they ran into was a little easier to work with. Or at least another hot girl. Hopefully both.