These goodbyes were much more emotional than warranted, as each stood in line to give you a deep kiss. Despite any reassurances you'd make about being back in a day, two at most, they all seemed on the verge of requesting to come along at the last moment.

But you couldn't just stall forever, and so with another goodbye to them you left the estate.

It was convenient to have your slaves deal with the airship's inner workings, making sure she remained air-worthy, yet you couldn't help but think about the ways you'd be able to manage doing this alone. Soon you realized that you really wanted to do a solo adventure at some point. Maybe one of those sneaking missions at night that most MCs ended up doing for some reason or another would be fun. With how things are developing with Forthwythe and Rostchilde you felt sure you were gonna get your chance one day.

You ponder these things as Herta stays by your side, relishing in your presence and occasionally helping out as an engineer or co-pilot or as stress relief for you. Eventually there's a lull in the flight, and you let things go on autopilot for a bit as you silently stare out the window with your first slave-wife.

The farmlands of your estate turn to grasslands and forests and hills as your ship soars above it all, only for the scenery to be abruptly cut off by a mountainous range. Said mountains surrounded your lands on all sides, making travel difficult — but not impossible. Your four Riverdale wives would talk to you about their experiences surviving the mountainous wilderness whenever you asked.

This was looking like any other flight, except one difference; the mountains were active and teeming with monsters— rock golems, much different from the golems once found in your dungeon, mechanically patrolled and climbed certain routes like abandoned toy soldiers, at times requiring some cannonfire to make sure they didn't throw a boulder up at you. You found some rock wolves, as Mel called them, fighting lesser leveled monsters and also throwing the occasional stone at you whenever The Vixen's Luck got too close — thankfully they didn't waste their time against you, being smart enough to realize it was impossible to bring you down. You caught glimpses of giant snakes with dragon heads slithering across the area— these were the giant wyrms, apparently— and the occasional owlbear prowling around in search of food. Goats somehow made a place for themselves in this ecosystem, avoiding and (impressively) fending off any monsters that approached their herds with a headbutt.