Chapter 136: Slow morning
[Crimson Scale Clan]
Waking up the next morning by the feeling of Serania stirring atop of him, Darganth lazily opened his eyes. Smiling, he watched as she stared at his face with a dreamy look. Gently caressing her back, he left her to her thoughts as he admired her form.
Compared to when they had first met, her appearance had changed quite a bit. Not only did their tribe's food situation improve during the nearly five years since Gerva's fall but she had also risen far in the ranks of mana users.
Combined with her beastmen genetics, this gave her a level of physical fitness that she could have only dreamed about before. Even without regular physical exercise, she retained a lean, graceful figure that matched with the feline agility she inherited from her beast ancestor.
At the same time, this physique didn't mean that Serania hadn't built up muscles, just that they weren't as visible and defined, especially when compared her to Allaire. But the latter's ancestry also was closer to her beast progenitor, not to mention the difference that came from being an aura user instead of a mage, so such a comparison wasn't exactly fair.
Enjoying every bit of this amazing body, Darganth barely noticed it when Serania realized that he was awake. Giving her a kiss on the cheek, he placed his arm around her as she snuggled against his chest.
“I would love waking up like this every morning.” She hummed.
“Not really morning anymore, but yes.” Darganth answered her.
At his words, Serania furrowed her brows and turned towards one of her bedroom's windows. Momentarily freezing when she saw the sun that already stood near its peak, she quickly shook it off and sank back into Darganth's embrace with a sigh.
“Ugh, that means I have to get up soon. Why does this stupid assembly have to be today?” She said with a groan.
“When exactly? Because I had hoped to visit Bator to, among other things, thank him for helping you so I planned to take you along.” Darganth said.
“In around an hour. But it shouldn't take too long so we can go after if you want”
Initially frowning at Serania's answer, Darganth nodded in agreement at the second part.
“That works too.” He said.
“Great.”
Staying with him for a few more minutes, Serania brought herself to reluctantly crawl out of the bed.
“I should start getting ready if I don't want to be late.” She said as she slowly got dressed.
Sitting up slightly without disturbing Jennia and Allaire who were still sleeping soundly at his sides, Darganth's eyes followed her.
“If you want I can come with you.” He proposed but Serania shook her head.
“You don't have to, I've grown used to the boredom of it. Just spend some time in the city or something like that, I'll message you once it's done and where we'll meet again.”
Talking for a few more minutes and making sure that she was really fine with it, Darganth returned to the room after seeing her off. Finding Jennia to have woken up after noticing his absence, he greeted her with a warm smile.
“Where did Serania go?” She asked once she had taken a look around the room.
“The meeting she had thought Maurus was visiting her yesterday. The council she mentioned yesterday is apparently a gathering of all supreme clans and today is in preparation for it.” Darganth explained.
“And our plans?”
“Afterward.”
Nodding, Jennia looked somewhat lost at the wall as she thought about what to do in the meantime. Turning to Darganth with a look that showed she had gotten no idea, she hoped he had one.
“Well, considering that Serania apparently uses the nearby forest as training grounds I would guess that there are some monsters whose strength is near our level. After just beating back beasts over the past weeks I wouldn't mind an opponent where I could just go all out.”
“Yeah, it was somewhat boring but I nonetheless still agree with Allaire's logic. Going beyond just repelling their attacks when we are the ones invading the beast's territory isn't necessary, or at least it wasn't with those we encountered.”
“So the idea stands?” Darganth asked and Jennia thought about it for a moment.
“Unless you absolutely want to I would say no. There have to be more entertaining things to do here than fighting.” She said.
Nodding in understanding at her words, Darganth had to at least partially agree with her sentiment.
“I don't really know, but I don't think so. The beast continent doesn't have much in the way of entertaining, at least from what I could gather. Even the other supreme clans seem to be solely concerned with survival.” Darganth said.
“So more sightseeing?” Jennia asked.
“That or lazing around. Allaire is still sleeping anyways so I would tend towards the latter.”
Thinking for a moment, Jennia sank back onto the mattress with a shrug and Darganth followed shortly after and they passed the hours until Serania messaged them.