The only hurdle that this journey should present would be angling out of the current after pa.s.sing near the Overlord"s port city. Even if the construction of those fifty canopies seemed stable for now, I had no idea what could happen when we would try to fight with it. Just the turbulence that was bound to appear as we would hopefully leave the current would be enough to shatter the formation and force some of the boats to detach from the rest.

Creating a canopy was an insanely easy task, but it had its downsides. While I wasn"t going to give up on the people who will possibly be unlucky enough o lose their struggle against the current, I will have to be extremely careful with my actions if such situation would occur, since not even a single of the canopies could sustain the pressure of my shockwave!

But in the end, my worries turned out to be way too forward, with the trouble brewing right beside me, as soon as we picked the pace and could relax.

"Stop it."

With Heila"s bottom pressing against my crotch, I had the urge to push her forward and sit in a way that would deny her access to my vital parts, but doing so would require me to rock around the canopy quite a bit, risking all the people around thinking that something bad happened and jumping into a panic mode.

"Why should I? What"s different now, from back then?"

Before she even slid backwards in order to harras me, she already tinkered with her robe, preventing it from serving as an additional barrier between us by simply pus.h.i.+ng it aside. Even if I would like to call her shameless, with how deep the hole in the former tree-trunk was, others could only see everyone else from the waist up, giving her the opportunity to appear pure.

"Listen, everything that happened back then happened in the heat of the moment. I need to sort this out in my head before…"

Just as I was rebuking her, Heila only smirked and reached backwards with her hands. Since my both arms were busy swinging the oars to give the example to everyone else, I was unable to stop her from grabbing my precious part.

"Why are you soft?"

With a tinge of disappointment, Heila asked while slowly rubbing her hands against my manhood. Just from this alone, it turned obvious that she wasn"t going to stop.

"As I told you, I need to figure some stuff by myself. I would be really happy if you could refrain from what you are… Ah!"

Instead of releasing a moan of pleasure, I actually choked on my silly expectations when she suddenly grabbed my b.a.l.l.s and tightened her grasp on them. Apparently, this kitten had sharp paws!

"While I"m not a herbalist myself, you don"t seem to be sick. You still have a feeling there, after all!"

As if what she did was the most obvious thing in the world, she retracted her hands back to her own front, before swinging her bottom even in an even more aggressive way.

"Seriously, stop it, for now, this is the hard part."

Previously, I was worried about what would happen when we will have to detach from the current, but now, I saw it as nothing but an opportunity to switch the topic and escape from her clutches. No matter how many times I did it with Eve or the other girls, the time I spent in the female company was simply too short to let me learn how to act around them!

Using the chance presented to me by the perfect timing, I stood up from my seat so that everyone could clearly see me.

"Listen up boys. So far, we rode on the back of the sea current. Imagine it as a fierce river in the middle of an otherwise calm pond. But now, we need to make a turn!"

Raising my hands above my head, I simply held the left oar in place, while making circles in the air with the right one.

"When I give you the signal, everyone to my left, submerge your oars in the water, so that its wider side will face our direction!"

"Everyone to my right, Ignore paddling on the left, focus on the right side of your canopy only!"

"Everyone behind and in front, just continue paddling on both sides."

"I will now remain standing. Whenever I raise my left hand, those on my left need to start paddling faster, the same with my right hand. Is that clear?"

Recalling how hard it was for me to free just a single boat from the influence of the current, I couldn"t be too cautious… But maybe because how many people were applying force according to my signs as compared to the resistance that those primitive boats had against the water, there weren"t any problems in making a turn!

Obviously, with how careful I was, the entire formation got carried away way further than it happened back when I was transporting Gabriel and his helpers, but with the greatest hurdle successfully challenged, there was nothing for me left to worry about, with the exception of the potential attack of some aquatic beast.

"Going back to the talk we had…"

As soon as I sat down in the canopy, Heila proved that she wouldn"t let me use the situation to avoid this topic.

"What do you have against me? I thought you liked my body!"

This time, she had to realise that for some reason I was uncomfortable with her advances, refraining from any excessive action and limiting herself to just the words alone.

"Listen, I have a girl waiting for me to save her. I feel really bad when I"m going at it with you because I feel guilty of betraying her expectations. It"s not like I don"t like you or nailing you didn"t feel good, but…"

"Does she love you?"

Not even letting me finish, Heila simply rested her back against my chest, with her face clouded by the thoughts that she apparently had while saying this profound word.

"I guess so."

Since I decided to bare my situation to her, there was no point in trying to hide it. From all of Eve"s action, I was sure of her affection. Even if someone could doubt whether the countless times where she declared her love for me were honest, her actions spoke loud enough to confirm my hopes long ago.

"Then I don"t think she would have anything against it. You are a man, and you have your own needs. Before you will be capable of saving her, do you think she would like you to suffer?"

While Heila"s question was clearly directed and manipulative, I couldn"t help but follow her train of thoughts for a moment.

"No, she would want me to move on. But that only brings the main point. I"m not going to give up on her."

Even if someone could think that our relations.h.i.+p was insanely immature with how shortly we knew each other, I was romantic enough to believe in the love at first sight. The main point of everything I was doing was directed at growing strong enough to save her. I wouldn"t even mind laying down with hundreds of women if it was only for the sake of harvesting their yin essence, but with the completely different const.i.tution of the locals, I didn"t even consider this as an option so far!

"Who is telling you to give up on her? If she is so precious to you, then continue to strive to save her, but why would you live like a saint during the time of your own tribulation?"

Out of nowhere, Heila sounded insanely mature, as if it was someone else speaking through the mouth of this barely twenty years old woman. 

"Wait, a saint? Who do you mean by that?"

Who could"ve known that I would stumble upon yet another interesting bit while casually talking about the matters regarding my relations.h.i.+ps!