Leo was riding his horse with Ingrid in front of him. She was the one controlling the horse. His hands were wrapped around her stomach, holding her steadily as her fists clenched the reins of the horse.
Both Leo's and Richard's horses were moving at full speed with Richard in the lead, ready for any ambush from the front.
They were passing through a merchant path in the woods. It was regularly used by merchant caravans and travelers passing through the Solomon Dutchy.
After a while, the woods ended as they came across a fork in the road. They took the path on the left when Leo heard Richard say, "We're officially out of the borders of the Duchy, Young Master. Be careful. We are going through the Wastelands that are only loosely managed by small nobles who are too busy fending for themselves. We will soon start running into bandits."
The path got significantly worse and seemed like it hadn't been used for a long time, signifying that the caravans and the common travelers preferred to take the other route.
"Understood," Leo said.
"Shouldn't we be taking the route through the Seraphem Duchy?" Ingrid couldn't help but question. She was referring to the other path that the fork led to.
"It would take too long to travel through that path," Leo told her, "And it's supposedly training for me." He shrugged.
When Ingrid didn't say anything to respond to him, Leo got a little smile on his face. His hands slipped inside Ingrid's robe and his fingers trailed along her belly with a gentle, teasing touch. He hooked his finger through her garter belt and pulled it before letting it go, making it snap against Ingrid's belly, making her shiver, "I answered your question." He whispered while caressing her belly, "What should you do?"
"Master…" She gasped as she felt his hands moving upward, getting closer to dangerous territory, namely her breasts. She took a while to come up with a response, but Leo was patient. He started caressing the underside of her bra as he made his way inside and pulled it up, freeing her breasts for his assault, "Thank you for satisfying this humble one's curiosity…" Ingrid finally answered with an almost deferential tone that brought a smile to Leo's face.
"Be a good slave and pay attention to the path. We don't want to get ambushed by an arrow from behind a rock, do we?" He whispered teasingly. Ingrid felt his hot breath on her ear and felt a shiver run through her body.
When he didn't hear her answer, "I expect a prompt answer." He said as he pinched both her erect nubs between his fingers and tweaked them. At the same time, he started using his hormone manipulation to make her feel deep pleasure from the pain that he was inflicting on her.
Ingrid's response was immediate as she yelped from his action, but he could feel her squirming in her place as her knuckles tightened around the reigns.
Still, he only used Lust magic within certain limits. He didn't want to get tired and end up getting beaten up by random thugs. He only used it to the point of lightly training it but not affecting his stamina too much. To compare, it was like he was lightly jogging. His current use of Lust magic would indeed consume his stamina, but it would be almost negligible.
"Yes, master." She gasped as she felt a jolt travel through her entire body, "I'll pay full attention." She said.
He spent upwards of an hour teasing Ingrid as he relished in her cute reactions to his teasing. Each of his touches made her shiver, but she was forced to keep holding on to the reigns of the horse. He didn't hold back in toying with her body and continuously teased whatever parts of her body he could currently access. He especially enjoyed using Lust magic to make her feel contrasting emotions that left her confused and extremely receptive to his pleasurable touches.
Sadly, such good things didn't seem that they would last through the entire journey. They soon had some company.
"Young Master, get ready for a fight!" Richard shouted and drew his sword.
Leo heard the twang sound that came from the string of a bow after an arrow was released. Before he could even register it, he heard a clanking sound as Richard parried the arrow using his sword.
"Fuck." Leo quickly dropped down from the horse, "Keep this guy safe, stay here, and wrap your cloak close. Also, don't even think about slipping your hands inside the cloak." After ordering Ingrid, he quickly drew his sword from the scabbard that was tied to his horse.
It was a finely crafted steel blade. Its hilt was wrapped by slightly worn leather and on the end, there was an insignia of his duchy. It was a sleek, yet heavy one-handed blade that was given to Leo on the day that was custom forged for Leo on the day he started his aura training. It was Bloodrender.
"You gonna help me out, Richard?" Leo asked after seeing that Richard was still on his horse.
"This is your fight, Young Master. I'm only here to protect you." Richard said while keeping his eyes on their surroundings.
"Golly…" Leo said dryly. But he understood that there were probably no dangerous personages among them, "Any clue about their locations?" He asked.
"The archer's behind that rock." Richard pointed to the obvious, "The rest are up to you to find. There are no other archers though." He said.
"Can't even use your aura sense to help me…" Leo grumbled and took a fighting stance.
"Aaa!" A man cried threateningly and came out from behind the rock that Richard had pointed at. He hurriedly pointed his bow at Leo and let it loose. He had been shaken by Richard's almost overwhelming display.
'Not gonna ambush me this time.' Leo thought as he slashed Bloodrender in the air. It was followed by the sound of metals colliding as the arrow fell to Leo's side.
Mid-swing, Leo's grip over the sword changed and he held it in a reverse hold. He turned the sword upward, bringing it parallel to his right arm. He then held it in front of himself and quickly made his way forward to the archer, using Bloodrender as a shield that he could use at a moment's notice.
Before the archer was able to nock another arrow, Leo was upon him. Just as he swung his sword, a sword came into his path and made him deviate from his slash. Leo looked down coldly at the man who'd just emerged from the ground and quickly stabbed his sword down.
The man's eyes widened as he tried to block Leo's attack, but he was quickly overpowered by Leo's raw strength, and Bloodrender pierced his heart, drawing first blood.
The archer had merely taken two steps back as Leo killed the ambusher. He saw and made a noise similar to that of a bird.
Within a second, Leo was upon him again. But this time, his slash was deviated by a dagger that someone threw at his sword.
"Fucking pests…" Leo growled and grabbed the dagger that was still in the air and slashed it at the archer who could only helplessly watch as it pierced his neck.
"Attack!" The dagger thrower saw Leo's actions and shouted loudly before charging at Leo with his sword.
Leo flipped his sword's grip and brought his arm up to make the man's sword swipe against his raised one without letting it touch him. The action threw the man off balance and Leo took the chance to grab the man's sword by the blade end and disarmed him.
He threw that sword backward and stabbed one of the newcomers with it. As for Bloodrender, he flipped the grip once again and extended his arm forward, directly stabbing the man, whom he'd just disarmed, in the mouth. He pushed his arm forward and freed his sword, severing half of the man's head in the process.
There were only two more people left and they were quivering in their boots. They quickly dropped their weapons and turned around to run.
Leo shrugged, "We done?" He asked Richard who was examining the battlefield closely. To be more specific, he was focusing on Leo's sword fighting.
"Good work, Young Master." Richard praised him, "However, your sword's movements could use more fine control. And your grip flipping is slow enough to be an exploitable weakness in a battle against an equal." He said.
"I see." Leo wasn't going to dismiss the advice of a peak knight like Richard.
He walked back to his horse where Ingrid's gaze was focused completely on him. He was familiar with that gaze. It was one of infatuation and lust.
He smirked at her and got on the horse, ignoring the blood that was staining his robes, "Horny after seeing your master slaughter weaklings?" He whispered in her ear.
"Hut!" Richard didn't care for Leo's flirting and prompted his horse to continue. Ingrid shivered at Leo's words but promptly followed after Richard's horse.
Leo didn't tease Ingrid right now since he didn't want to get startled by another ambush. Instead, he made conversation with Richard, "Where do you think they were from?"
"Probably bandits from one of the nearby villages. It's unlikely that they were assassins considering that your departure was known only by me, your father, and you." Richard said.
"But they didn't even threaten us and try to rob us." Leo was confused.
"Who can tell…" Richard trailed off, "The Wastelands are a dangerous place. Letting people go is often more of a risk than outright killing them. Most bandits here have a policy of kill first, rob later."
"Maybe they wanted to kill us so that they could eat our flesh," Ingrid added helpfully, creeping Leo out. His brow twitched at her words and he tweaked her nipple painfully.a
"Agh!" She shouted as she felt like her sensitive nub was about to be ripped off of her body.
"Don't speak if you don't have something useful to say." Leo rolled his eyes. Unlike before, he didn't use any Lust magic, so Ingrid felt pure pain for those few seconds.
However, if her expression after Leo freed her nipple was any indicator, she was loving the remnant feeling from that painful experience. Leo started gently caressing her sore nipple, enhancing that feeling. It was these contrasting feelings that he loved working on, after all.