The three of them quickly made their way forward moving through the path as quickly as possible.
With Richard keeping an eye on the surroundings with his aura, Leo was able to continue testing things with his Lust magic, but he also kept an eye on the surroundings, not completely indulging himself in teasing Ingrid.
He couldn't be too distracted with Ingrid when bandits could ambush their group at any time. The path had plenty of foliage and flora, making attacking from a hidden spot significantly easy for the bandits.
They traveled for the entire day — It wasn't a problem, considering that they all had Aura — and only stopped by the time the sun was about to set.
"Here we are." Richard said while slowing his horse down as they approached a large pair of gates, "Athens." Richard said the name of their resting stop.
"Follow me, Young Master." He approached the gate on his horse with Leo and Ingrid following closely.
"Halt!" A pair of guards was standing atop the gates. One of them had them aimed at them with a bow and arrow while the other addressed them, "State your purpose."
"We're traveling adventurers seeking refuge for the night," Richard answered succinctly.
"Identity?" The man asked.
"Here." Richard raised a seal that was granted to verified adventurers of the Solomon Duchy.
"And them?" The man was still vigilant.
"Neo," Richard called Leo by his alias and Leo pulled out two more seals to show to the guards from his saddlebag. Their identities had already been prepared.
"You may enter." The guard said before shouting to someone on the ground. A smaller door opened on the side of the gate that was barely big enough for them to bring their horses through.
Richard didn't mind and got off of his horse before grabbing its reins and walking toward the gate. Leo and Ingrid followed his actions as Leo grabbed his horse's reins with one hand and Ingrid's leash with the other hand.
Getting through the gates, they were greeted by what seemed like a dead town. There weren't any people out on the streets and except for the stray animal, everything was silent.
"What a lively town…" Ingrid commented sarcastically.
Leo didn't care for her remark since that was his thought too, "Is this place supposed to be like this, Richard?" He asked.
"What do you expect?" He asked, "The empire sends resources here annually to keep this place maintained, but only a small number of people care about this place. Mostly the natives. With most of the empire's criminals running around the Wastelands freely, this town isn't exactly a beacon of peace." He explained before moving in a direction.
"Have you been here before?" Leopold asked, curious since Richard seemed familiar with this path.
"I have," He nodded without elaborating further.
Since the sun had already set, the streets were significantly dark without any sources of light. Following Richard for a few minutes, Leo and Ingrid saw the front of a large wooden house that seemed like some sort of small inn from the number of windows that they would see from the outside, though only one or two seemed to be lit.
Richard tied his horse to a stable-like area at the side followed by Leo's horse. There were already two horses there, so it was sufficient for the horses to rest for the night.
Walking in, Leo saw a forty-something woman sitting on the desk lazily while reading something. She looked up when she heard their footsteps.
"Sophie." Richard greeted, "I'd like two rooms for the night."
"Rick…" She greeted him back, "It's been a while since you were here." She said while fishing for two keys from her drawer.
"Life keeps me busy," He replied.
"Sounds more fun than being stuck in this shit hole for my whole life." She joked.
Richard didn't say anything and tapped his finger on an orb on the table, "Two credits." He said, surprising Leo and Ingrid both.
Credits were very valuable, with even a single credit being enough to rent a decently luxurious hotel room for at least a week and still have half of it left over. Spending one credit per room for a single night in this kind of a place was exorbitant, to say the least.
However, they knew better. This town's location was special, which meant that they could charge exorbitant rates since there was no competition to speak of. This was also why Richard paid without even being asked.
"You can show yourselves to the rooms." The woman didn't get up.
Richard nodded before walking upstairs to the first floor. He handed Leo one of the keys before saying, "Rest well, Young Master. Tomorrow's journey is going to be much more difficult." With those words, he entered his room and locked the door.
"How exciting…" Leo said dryly before opening his door and entering with Ingrid who had her head so low that she had almost buried it within her cloak. With Leo leading her around by her leash, she was too embarrassed to show anyone her face.
"Take off your cloak, fold it, and place it on that bedside table," Leo said while walking to the bed. Ingrid promptly followed his commands and left the cloak at the table before standing in front of Leo with her hands joined together in front of herself.
As for Leo, he sat on the bed before looking at Ingrid thoughtfully, he didn't forget to admire her beautiful lingerie-clad figure along with the wet patches on her panties and thighs. He'd teased her enough through the journey that this was expected.
'What route should I go with her…' He thought, 'Unlike the others where I had to discover their preferences, this time, I have full reign. Both the crest and Lust Magic will allow me to mold her to my will…'
He fell deep in thought as Ingrid shuffled uncomfortably. She felt as if she was nothing more than eye candy for Leo.
'Meia already gives the best blowjobs… With some more training, she might even get better, so that's off the table.' He decided, 'Extreme masochist? I think being a pain slut would do Ingrid good…' Leo thought as he recalled her sadistic expression when she took out those arrows from his back and reveled in his pained screams.
'What about an exhibitionist… I think putting her on display for the world to see would be fun…' He thought before refusing the thought. It wouldn't do anything for him, he wasn't into showing off his trophies.
'Maybe a pet?' He thought, 'I already have the collar and leash down, I just need to make her crawl and make animal noises all the time.' He thought.
He narrowed his eyes at her and said, "Bark."
"Woof…" She promptly followed his words before clasping her hands over her mouth with eyes widened. She blushed in embarrassment while giving Leo an aggrieved look.
"Hmm..." Leo thought for a moment, "Meow like a cat." He said next.
Ingrid tried to resist, but it was to no avail, she was then forced to make multiple different animal noises as Leo seemed to evaluate something. As for Ingrid, if she hadn't received a command from Leo to stand on her spot, she would be curled up in a ball, hiding her face after making so many shameful sounds.
'She can't work as a pet…' He thought disappointedly, 'A sleeve for my dick? Meia's mouth is perfect for it, I could train Ingrid to be good at fucking…' He thought, 'Nah, too good for her.' He discarded that idea too.
'I guess I could do anal slut instead…' He thought, 'Nevermind, I don't have any tools for anal training here…"
He thought of a few more routes where he could take things and decided that the pain slut route would be the best one for Ingrid. It would give him the freedom to treat her as roughly as he wished while also taking revenge for the pain that she put him through.
'Am I more petty than necessary?' Leo had the stray thought before shaking it off, 'Of course not. She tried to murder me. She deserves everything that's coming.' He thought, 'And it won't be all bad. I'll make sure that she loves it…' He smiled darkly as Ingrid shivered, feeling as if her fate was going to turn for the worse.
"Okay, Ingrid, I've decided what I want to do with you." Leo's words made Ingrid shiver. She knew it wouldn't be anything good. And his following words proved it, "I've deduced that you like being put through pain. So, I've decided to help you embrace your inner masochist and help you become a pain slut. I'll make sure that pain is the only stimulation that arouses you." Leo's final sentence seemed to trigger something in Ingrid, but she didn't know what. All she felt was a weird tingle in her stomach.
"Come here, kneel in front of me." He commanded as Ingrid followed, kneeling between his legs, her knees felt the rough wooden floor, but she shrugged off the pain. With her physique, she would have to rub her knees on the floor for hours to chafe them. Just as such random thoughts were popping into her head, she heard a clapping sound, followed by a painful sting on her cheek.
It took her a second to process that she'd just been slapped by Leo. The weirdest part was that instead of outrage, she felt a sensation of peace from that slap. Her stomach felt strangely warm and the nubs on her chest were starting to get erect as the sting from the slap registered in her mind.
'This is going to be fun…' Leo thought with a smile as he observed the confused expression on Ingrid's face.