The greatest research team in the history of men had been assembled.

  Bearing the name “the Pan-Gouvian Realm Investigation and Research” (PGRIR for short), this research team was headed by the mighty Empire of Rodrithelia and the Brotherhood of Fire Wyverns, and promptly joined by other Gouvian nations and organizations, with a singular, overarching goal of investigating the strange occurrences in the environment. Its members included top experts of different lines of services and fields: sorcerers, clerics, scholars, beast tamers, and even the Fighter’s Association had supplied their men as a security detail for the researchers.

  Baiyi’s position within the team was that of a highly-respected Consultant. He had no actual power within the team, but from that vacuum came the freedom of action 1 .

  The Church had not sent anyone to monitor his activities, while the dragon knights trusted him implicitly. Of course, none of that should surprise anyone. Attempt to monitor Baiyi? That would be an act of distrust to a respectable, reputable master; the hero who had saved all of Isythre, and the trusted companion of The Apostle Saint Noel…… the Church would be stupid enough to do that!

  An epic investigation had begun. One by one, subteams were sent to various corners of the Gouvian realm, with the same purpose of collecting data for temperature, air pressure, humidity, and other conspicuous environmental variables, aka Baiyi’s hypothesis. After noticing that, just as Baiyi had said, there was no difference in the temperature, so they put in even more effort to find any semblance of a confounding variable.

  They came to the conclusion was that this thermal anomaly was the same in all parts of Gouve.

  However, that was the extent of their conclusive finding. The origin and the reason behind the Anomaly still remained a mystery. Various theories flew, but none of them managed to extend beyond speculations.

  The investigation was essentially fruitless, but some of the teams had recovered a few unexplored mineral mines in faraway floating islands, and that could be considered as an unexpected gain.

  Not much progress was seen from Baiyi’s side, either. The Law had always been ineffable, and even the Voidwalkers were not really in the know. Sometimes, they even fought among themselves in the guise of intellectual debates, but no concrete solution ever came of it; some started suspecting the War God for pulling an elaborate prank.

  Baiyi didn’t share this sentiment. The War God wouldn’t be too idle as to pull such a lame practical joke, and even if it was true, Baiyi could retaliate by screwing Attie good. For the time being, the Fifth Walker was still very far from frustration.

  He still brought the dragon-belle, Aya, with him when he went investigating; a habit that had not gone unnoticed by the dragon knights for about a week and more. They were acting like a pair of lovebirds so much, rumors had started flying that Baiyi had married the girl and become part of the family. Others wondered if a Soul Armature and Dragon could even produce a baby together……

  Baiyi never cared about the rumors, but Aya was obviously disturbed by them. In the beginning, she had frequently clarified their situation, but the habit was discontinued later for some reason.

  To be honest, a mysterious, powerful, mature, and valiant man like Baiyi was naturally attractive to a young woman like Aya. They may not have much to talk about when they were outside, but the Fifth Walker’s encyclopedic knowledge and his eloquence, combined with his habit of teasing and implying, had managed to cause him to have a minor crush on the dragon-lady.

  However, it was still a minor crush. That was why Aya was very troubled by the rumors.

  Aya was not the only one who was fed up. Baiyi was just as annoyed at the futility of his effort.

  Yet, someone was still happy about it—why, it’s the girls!

  Baiyi had always been a very stern father, whose rules included ‘thou shall not wear skirts that are too short; thou shall not wear skimpy clothes; thou shall not eat too much junk food, and thou shall always do this bulk of homework’. On the other hand, Aya was not as relaxed as most thought she was; she always applied strict aristocratic standards on Mordred. Conclusion? The girls were not always having much fun……

  Now that the two adults had been going out all the time, they left their kids alone. They even left a lot of money for the kids in case the kids needed it, and that was when the mice played hard during the whole week.

  The girls enjoyed themselves so much they almost forgot their own names. Every part of Rodrithelia had seen their chattering faces and footsteps; every dish and place worthy enough to be special entries in an airline magazine had been visited, and the number of clothes they bought for themselves was mind-boggling! Even their storage pouches—items that utilize dimensions for storage purpose—couldn’t store them all. The resident straight-laced among the girls, Laeticia, had already been thoroughly corrupted.

  And one day, the girls went even further ahead and moved from frivolous spending and mindless frolicking. Baiyi had returned home earlier than scheduled, and when he realized the girls were absent, he had summoned the maids.

  And that was when a young dragon landed on the Command Unit’s courtyard. Then the Soul Armature saw the kids, who all had dirtied faces, helping Little Mia down from the back of the dragon slowly.

  Baiyi had to see it to believe it! The girls were as dirty as monkeys that had fallen into a puddle of mud, but Little Mia even had blue-black spots on her elbow and legs—as well as a bloody cut on her left thigh! Her face was pale, and her legs could barely support her weight, so she could only be upright with the help of Tisdale and Laeticia. Even the tears in her eyes were fresh!

  Watching Mia in that dire state had really enraged the man. His legs strode almost without control towards Mia, fueled by his anger; Then, his arm was raised high—the overture of a hard wallop.

  Little Mia’s eyes were squeezed shut. Her neck contracted, and not a peep came out from her mouth as she waited for the punishment.

  The arm fell back limply. He couldn’t do it.

  “M-mister H-Hope……” Mia’s eyes were teary again, and she quietly cried out to her surrogate father. She looked so pitiful.

  The Soul Armature sighed. He knelt on one leg before her face and started checking her wounds. It was fortunate that the wounds were only skin-deep, and none of them too grievous. He gently wiped away the girl’s tears, then produced a healing potion for the girl.

  The two older girls in the group stood at a side, as silent as a cat that knew it had gotten into trouble. They hung their heads as they waited for Baiyi’s judgment.

  Baiyi turned to a hurried Aya, “Please, take them to the showers, first.” Then, after a pause, he added, ” Do you have a feather duster? I would like to borrow it…… 2 ”


  Sounds of young girls sobbing echoed through the Command Unit in that evening. The maids who passed by all had their eyes glued to the tightly-closed door of Baiyi’s room, and their minds wondered if the ever so reserved Master Hope had finally let loose his demons……

  Well, the full incident had very much been revealed: the girls enjoyed themselves without adult supervision. The girls got bored. The girls decided to go out adventuring. Dragon-girl abused her status and summoned a young dragon as a mount. The girls went to a deserted floating island with a barren mountain. Mia slipped. Mia rolled down the hill over a large distance. Mia ended up in her current state.

  The story ended, and the punishment began: Baiyi raised the feather duster high and spanked the girls on their butts.

  The two older girls were due for five spanks, while the younger ones were due for three. Meanwhile, the leader of this rebellious band was locked in Aya’s room where large sobs could be heard; she was probably not having it easy, either.

  “Oww! Oww! I’m sorry! Owww…… I’m never doing it anymore, sir!” Tisdale was the first. Her tears were almost rolling out……

  Baiyi didn’t wanna hit that hard at first. When Tisdale had laid with her torso on his thigh, he noticed that the girl was wearing a very, very short skirt that had breached his rule way too much. Then, when the first three spankings came, Baiyi noticed that the girl didn’t give much of a response except her head was hung low.

  Did he go too light on her? No, he saw that the shape of the skirt was quite…… peculiar. Tisdale’s figure was definitely not like this. Baiyi paused, then his hand went into the skirt and with a yank.

  Tisdale screamed as a bath towel came tumbling out from under her skirt.

  Oh, you have really done it this time, young lady. Cushioning your butt knowing that you’re about to be spanked?!

  The rest of the two spankings were fueled with parental fury and immediately, Tisdale gave out the appropriate response.

  After he was done, he let go of the girl and tossed the towel aside. Then he looked up steely at the remaining three.

  Their faces were red and from underneath their skirts, they also pulled out a towel.

  “Whose idea was this?” Baiyi asked coldly.

  No one answered as the girls silently and simultaneously decided to protect each other. It still didn’t take much time to figure it out, though, as the face of the devil herself became redder and redder until she confessed it.

  “And you learned this from?” Baiyi asked again, cold as steel.

  “F-f-friends…… From…… The C-C-Church……” Laeticia replied in a voice so small, only a mosquito could hear her. She didn’t wait for any command as she obediently leaned on his thigh, waiting for her punishment.

  Another piercing scream rang from the room.

  “Ooh…… Mr. Hope…… Hit…… So…… hard……” Laeticia rubbed on her bottom as she wept in sorrow.

  Attie was better at withstanding pain, and she didn’t cry out.

  Little Mia was the last. Her wound was already healing fast after ingesting that potion. She still teared up after her three hits, though. It’s just that after her punishment, she hugged Baiyi tightly and rubbed her face on his brigandine as she sobbed, “Mr. Hope, it was a-a-all my fault! It was all m-m-my bad! Please don’t be a-angry anym-m-more!”


  Well, that really soothed some of the Soul Armature’s anger 3 . He summoned the girls to his side and gave each of them a healing potion.

  “Play as you like, girls. I don’t forbid that. You can even spend your money however you like—but haven’t I told you?! Never. Ever. Play in places that are dangerous! I told all of you to take care of your own safety, many times over! Did any of you even listen?!” Here came the obligatory parental nag after a physical punishment.

  The girls were released only when dinner was ready. As they arrived at the dining hall, they met a very tearful Mordred who eyes were still red.

  “I’m so, so, sorry, Mia……” She said in shame.

  “It’s okay……” Mia grabbed Modred’s hand gently, drew her lips close to Modred’s ears and whispered, “We were also spanked by Mr. Hope……”


  Mordred felt a lump forming at her throat, but she didn’t say anything.

  When she was eating, one could see a very thick cushion pad underneath her bottom.

  ‘ Whoa. Looks like the dragon-lady had been even harsher than I was! ‘ Baiyi could only think that in his mind.