Kano woke slowly, feeling something soft cocooning his body. The huge bed, as if made for a king, still felt foreign, but no longer shocked him the way it had the first time. The down pillows were so deep you could drown in them, and the coverlet was so light it seemed woven from air itself.
He opened his eyes and swept the room with his gaze. Tall windows spilling with morning sun, high carved ceilings that seemed to mock the simplicity of his former life.
Kano stretched and braced a hand against the side of the bed, squinting at the bright light.
"Oh, pure luxury..." flashed through his head.
He threw off the blanket and looked at his clothes. What remained of his shirt looked pitiful: torn, scorched in places, sleeves so ruined they could pass for strips of old rag.
Kano held it up skeptically, gave it a little shake, and one of the sleeves simply tore free and drifted to the floor.
—"Perfect," he muttered, sighing.
His gaze slid to his pants. He grabbed the belt, tugged the fabric to test its mettle, and only then exhaled in relief.
—"At least the pants survived..."
He paused, letting the thought sit, then added:
—"Though with my luck, they'll probably explode any minute."
Standing, Kano felt the warm wooden floor under his feet, a pleasant counterpoint to the cool of the morning air. He ran a hand over his face, raked his fingers through his messy hair, and cast one last look around the room.
It was immaculate. Everything here looked as if an army of servants had marched through yesterday and polished every last inch. Not a mote of dust, not a hint of clutter.
"I'll have to get used to this," he thought, shaking his head.
He pulled on the pants quickly, tossed the ruined shirt aside, and headed for the door.
When he stepped into the corridor, he was met by a soft hush, broken only by distant voices.
Somewhere ahead, around a corner, a ringing laugh.
"The girls..."
Kano lingered, listening. Judging by the sound, they were chatting cheerfully about something.
"Something tells me they're definitely talking about me."
With a sigh, he took his first step forward, bracing for the new day.
He walked the corridor, trying to pin down exactly where the women's voices were coming from. A sharp left turn—and he caught the delicious aroma of fresh-baked bread, laced with something meaty. His stomach answered at once, reminding him he hadn't eaten anything normal yesterday.
He stepped into a vast kitchen that looked more like a mess hall for an army. Wooden tables, shelves piled with fruit and vegetables, a stone oven where coals crackled softly.
In the middle of it all, at a long table, sat three familiar figures—Naira, Lianel, and Selina. They were animatedly talking and laughing, but the instant they noticed him, perfect silence fell over the kitchen.
Kano halted in the doorway, one eyebrow rising.
"This is suspicious."
Naira pretended to be busy with her food. Lianel looked away. Selina nervously twirled a knife between her fingers as if deciding whether to cut her own throat right this second.
"So something did happen."
—"Oh." Kano sat down across from them, folding his hands on the table. —"Why so quiet? Am I really that scary already?"
Naira didn't answer, Lianel took a sip of water, and Selina cleared her throat.
He grinned slyly and put on a mock-shocked face.
—"So, you've finally realized you went a bit overboard yesterday?"
Naira grimaced, but still said nothing.
Kano looked at them seriously.
—"Listen, I know you don't trust her because she's a demoness. And yes, she really could set us up at any moment..."
The girls watched him closely, as if sensing what would come next.
—"But." Kano let the pause stretch. —"I'm alive because of her. In the dwarven dungeon, she saved me. For now, I can't just drive her away."
Selina looked aside.
—"I think we can change her for the better. What do you say?"
He expected them to argue, to start proving their point...
Instead, their faces lit up.
In the next heartbeat, Naira lunged forward and crushed Kano in a fierce hug.
—"Oh, Kano, you're such a fool, but you're ours!"
Kano didn't even have time to process what had happened before Lianel and Selina piled onto him as well.
He felt a wave of feminine warmth swallow him whole, and then...
His lungs stopped working.
—"O-okay, okay... let go," he rasped, trying to remember what oxygen felt like.
But Naira only tightened her huge arms around all of them, squeezing like a bear that had found an especially tasty catch.
Kano heard—and felt—the girls' faces, along with his own, surrender without hope to the depths of Naira's chest.
Naira paused for a heartbeat, glanced down, and...
Her eyes flew wide.
She let them go at once, blushing as the realization hit.
Coughing, Lianel rubbed her neck and grumbled:
—"Now I understand how big breasts can kill."
Kano flushed and tried not to meet anyone's eyes.
—"L-let's just have breakfast..." he mumbled, lifting his spoon. —"And then we'll head into the city, because I need new clothes."
Naira snorted.
—"You're the chieftain. You can do practically anything."
Kano shot her a wary look.
—"I don't want to walk around like this..." He paused, then added a bit nervously. —"And... that pervert is out there somewhere..."
The girls turned their gazes to him in perfect unison.
—"Out with it," Selina drawled suspiciously. —"What's that supposed to mean?"
—"Don't tell me you already... you know?" Lianel teased.
Kano recoiled sharply.
—"No, of course not!"
Lianel smiled slyly.
—"Oh, he's definitely never had a woman."
Kano turned an even deeper shade of red.
—"What?... You... I..."
Relishing the moment, Lianel stretched.
—"Oh, are we going to have our hands full with you..."
The girls burst out laughing, and Kano, muttering something under his breath, focused on his food.
Kano took the last sip of his tea, stretched, and rose from the table.
—"Well then, ladies, shall we go get some new clothes?"
Selina, Lianel, and Naira stood up in sync, and Naira even stretched, rolling her shoulders.
—"If you're that eager," she said with a mocking smile, —"what are we waiting for?"
Kano didn't answer and was the first to leave the kitchen, heading through the palace corridors. The girls followed.
As soon as they passed beneath the great arched exit, the dawn wind breathed over them, and the panorama of the city spread out before their eyes.
Or what was left of it.
Once a lavish capital, its streets now showed ruins, scattered stone, and the marks of long neglect. Yet on some squares the work already boiled—dwarves and orcs restoring buildings, trying to breathe life back into the place.
And right before the palace entrance, a group of dwarves waited.
Kano recognized Rudgard at once—his burly figure stood at the front, the rest of the dwarves lined up behind him like a small military unit.
When Kano approached, Rudgard struck a fist to his chest with ceremonial gravity and nodded.
—"Chieftain, we're setting out for the dwarven king. I'll tell him everything that happened here... and what we've done."
Kano folded his arms across his chest and studied him.
—"You think he'll agree to help?"
The dwarf considered for a second, then let a crafty smile spread across his lips.
—"He's old, stubborn, and loves gold more than his own children. But he also knows chances like this come once in a thousand years. If I can convince him... he'll back us."
Kano nodded slowly.
—"All right then—good luck."
Rudgard laughed and stepped closer.
—"I'm not saying goodbye. I'll be back with builders—and maybe a couple of catapults."
Kano snorted.
—"Easy there—don't overdo it."
Rudgard clapped him on the shoulder, and the dwarves wheeled about and set off on their long road.
Kano watched them go, inwardly aware how much rode on that journey.
But his attention shifted quickly to something else.
Because a new band of orcs had appeared before him.