Chapter 142 – Brainstorming the New Journey

Chapter 142 – Brainstorming the New Journey

After we leave Sirgia’s workshop, Hecate decides to accompany us without disappearing somewhere into the surroundings. I get a chance to look at her new suit some more as we stroll through the mansion together, with her to my right and my lovely dwarf wife to my left. She really starts to look like a superhero.

On our way to the lobby, we let any women we run into know that I want to hold a small meeting. They agree to share the notice with everyone else they stumble on and continue heading wherever they are. Of course, I reach out to all my wives and they start gathering people on their own too. For those girls who are out of the mansion, I send a few Whispers, telling them not to hurry and that we will wait for their return.

I could send Whispers to literally everyone but it’s not necessary to suddenly interrupt anyone in the middle of something. We are not in a rush.

In the meanwhile, I prepare the reception hall with Sirgia, bringing some more chairs and sofas out, and getting some snacks and drinks from the kitchen. As we do our thing, a few women join us, including the slightly blushing Cornelia. I give my charming magician a reassuring peck on the cheek and try to take her mind off exposing herself to tens of other women by focusing on the preparations.

It doesn’t take that long before the spacious chamber begins to fill with beautiful ladies of numerous races. The air gets filled with friendly chatter as everyone picks their seats, usually in groups of closer friends. But, that’s not a rule and I can see a bunch of them mingling with individuals not strictly related to their race or time of arrival in our establishment. It’s a really nice thing. It just shows that they are finding common interests amongst themselves.

About half an hour later, I’m pretty sure everyone is here. The lobby got crowded as fuck. I’m not even going to try and count how many residents we have here at the current moment. As long as we can comfortably house all the women, it doesn’t really matter. I talked about it with Ria and Elea, and they will let me know when we start running low on personal rooms. But, just in case, I sent a word to Ross to look for some people willing to work on underground expansion already. Better early than late.

So, after everyone gathers and finds a spot to sit down, I head to the area clearly prepared specifically for me and my closest Partners, also my wives. It’s a giant sofa, possibly even wider than the one Micah had in the Beastkin Community. And that one was damn huge.

Oh, memories. We shared a very fun time with Astrea on it back then. I wonder if this one will experience something similar.

In any way, I watch as ten gorgeous women of various heights and body shapes parade through the centre like they are walking the red carpet to some world-class gala. Everyone stares at them with smiles. It doesn’t look like this procession evokes any negative emotions from the onlookers like envy, jealousy, or such. The spectators seem happy to see them.

Thus all my women sit down on the comically wide piece of fancy furniture, of course, made of dark mahogany and fitted with comfy, purplish cushions for the seating and the backrest. From left to right it’s Ailish, Teffith, Meru, Astrea, Cornelia, Sirgia, Elea, Neira, Elise and Ria.

Shit. Only now it actually gets to me how many there are. It’s kind of insane when I look at them and they look at me. To think that there’s also Shino and Lianne. Plus, I’m pretty sure I can count Ghilerie in, possibly even Elyari too. Things are getting quite wild, I’d say.

But, I’m caught staring for way longer than I should and notice an increasing blush on Cornelia’s cheeks even from as far away as I am from them. Not wasting any more time, I follow in their footsteps and reach the magnificent sofa. She and Sirgia leave a gap for me and I obediently squeeze myself in between these incredible ladies who have accompanied me for so long already.

Giving my dazzling scholar a reassuring rub over her magnificent thigh, I exchange smiles with Cornelia and turn to the entire gathering. Then, glancing towards the ceiling, I wave at it, and soon, a certain someone rappels herself down from it right onto my lap. I pat Hecate’s short hair and she lets me hug her from behind. Now, the preparations are complete. And I’m even somewhat covered so as not to distract our audience.

Taking a brief moment to admire the literal rows of charming women from multiple amazing races, I let out a sigh and smile.

“Alright. Thanks a lot for coming here. I appreciate everyone sacrificing a bit of their personal time to show up even though I mentioned that it isn’t necessary if you can’t or don’t want to for whatever reason. I wanted to discuss with you the current state of things, our plans for the future, answer any potential questions, and finally, do a little brainstorming session regarding my upcoming journey into the deep waters with Meru,” I explain.

A wave of booing echoes through the hall and I glance at the three women responsible for causing it. Shaking my head, I chuckle lightly at the smirking Tiefling trio.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave until the punishment week is finished. You’ll get to feast your eyes on me for the entire promised duration, I can guarantee you that.”

The mischievous, colourful ladies cheer in response and hit a few high-fives between themselves.

“What about right now?” Hari, our horny exhibitionist catgirl asks.

I let out another sigh and tap Hecate’s tummy. She quickly catches on and climbs up over my body, seating herself on my shoulders instead. I hug her slim, toned legs to my chest with my junk completely exposed to the sea of women again. To give them some more fanservice, I spread my legs a bit, because why not?

A few whistles and catcalls roll through the air and my wives chuckle between themselves. I can see Hari starting to salivate but Zehra smacks her on the back of her head for the thirsty Catkin to control herself.

“Any more requests before we continue?” I ask while meeting the gaze of anyone I can.

No one speaks up or gives any other signs, although I catch a few of the more open girls giving my crotch a longer stare while clearly pondering over something. They don’t voice out their thoughts though and I’m pretty sure those are very inappropriate for the moment, and the main reason why they don’t do so.

“So, let’s begin with how things stand right now.” I resume our gathering. “I bet some of you have already familiarised yourselves with our new residents, who I want to gladly welcome into our small but quite quickly growing family. They are of course Mari and Velen. I hope that you two will find your stay and work here a pleasure rather than a chore and that the atmosphere won’t disturb or make you uncomfortable.”

Everyone starts clapping as the two women stand up and give a few small bows around them. They sat down next to each other, possibly anticipating something like this, so it looks even better when they do it than when they would have chosen different spots.

“I’m happy to be here too. And I do not mind the atmosphere or a bit of peculiarity like this,” Velen answers first, gesturing with her eyes at my body. “The people here seem to be very kind and helpful from what I’ve already experienced and I’m grateful for it. I’m also looking forward to working here.”

“Same here, hahaha,” Mari joins in with a hearty laugh. “I had a hard time peeling myself off my work to come here. I can’t even imagine what kind of things I will be able to create with Nyfile and the others. And, I think I’ll soon get used to the unique atmosphere too. It’s definitely not a bad thing...”

Her eyes skip briefly to my hard member and a more apparent flush covers her freckled face. I smile at the blushing tomboy and we share a nod before they sit down together.

“Thank you. I’m happy to hear that. Let us know whenever you need anything.” I regard the duo with one more glance and return my gaze to the gathering. “Thanks to their arrival, we’ll definitely see some upgrades related to both our services and everyday life. First, possibly the most eagerly awaited aspect, the cosplay and roleplay departments will be finally properly opened in the upcoming days.”

Some applause follows, a few more enthusiastic cheers echo through the hall, and the crowd calms down after a moment. Mari gives me a glance and I nod at her. A little timidly, she stands up again and steps forward so that everyone can see her.

“As Alastair said, we are going to start bigger projects soon, but we can already showcase a little something which I think looks really nice,” she says a little hesitantly, perhaps stressed by the huge audience, and then unclasps the shoulder belts of her work pants.

The overalls fall to the ground, revealing Mari’s tanned and toned legs, a short black skirt hiding her underwear, and most importantly, extremely cute black stockings which end with a pair of adorable ears at the front edge, where a very simplistic few white lines imply a cat’s slitted eyes, whiskers, and nose. The back edge is decorated by a curly black tail with a white asterisk on the black material below it, which I bet is meant to be the cat’s butt.

That part is definitely new.

There’s a collective ‘ooooooh’ and our resident half-blood Catkin girls perk up in their seats. Even Astrea stirs a little as her eyes lock onto the stockings. Hari jumps off her chair and practically hovers towards Mari with Feriha following shortly after her feline friend. The two catgirls trot around the tomboyish woman while examining the apparel from all sides, excitement literally written on their faces.

“This is so cute!” Hari finally fails to hold it in and almost squeals from delight. “Can we get those? Can we?”

“They look very adorable indeed.” Feriha nods, tilting her head on both sides. “I didn’t even know I wanted anything like it until I saw this. Will this be a part of the roleplay costumes?”

Mari blushes even more as the two girls circle. “N-No... These are just normal kneesocks... We planned to make a bunch of them after asking who would like a pair or two and taking their measurements...”

“I want one! No, three! Or maybe seven so that I can have a pair for each day!” Hari jumps happily, beaming at our new tailor. “Can you make other colours too?”

I chuckle at her. “Do you really need that many? Ninety percent of the time I see you, you are almost completely naked over some piece of furniture.”

She whips her face to me with an elated smile. “I’ll keep them on! They can stay during sex! Wouldn’t they make you want to mate with me even harder if you saw me in nothing else, Alpha?”

I roll my eyes with a smirk, already starting to imagine finding a hanging, exposed butt somewhere on the railing with nothing but feline stockings in sight.

“You can have as many as you want, just don’t overwhelm our friends, alright?” I squint at the thrilled Catkin.

“It’s alright. These are nothing complex,” Mari answers with a weak smile and even pats the much shorter girl a little. “We are also working on panties with a similar theme, maybe even bras later.”

Hari’s eyes narrow into slits and she launches herself at the poor woman, repeatedly giggling to herself and shouting ‘I want them!’ in turns. Feriha seems to be more in control of her emotions but I can see the other feline bouncing on the soles of her small feet, and her tail dancing eagerly.

After a moment, the calmer catgirl somehow brings the excited one back in line and they return to their seats alongside Mari, who picks up her dropped pants on her way. Judging by their reactions, I think there’s a good chance that her new underwear line will be a grand success no matter what.

Then, Velen stands up and everyone glances at her with expectant gazes. She shakes her head with a soft smile.

“Unfortunately, I don’t yet have anything to show but my new colleagues have already filled me in on most things and we began discussing our next move. Nothing is yet confirmed. I can only promise that we’ll come up with great things too, possibly for everyday and work use like with Mari’s clothes.”

Her statement is welcomed with a round of applause and the chamber turns silent again. Seeing as no one seems to want to add anything else, I continue.

“Great. Thank you. Now, let me just say that I’m extremely proud of you all, no matter your field of expertise or the department you work in. Everyone should be aware of how much our guests praise not just the establishment but you as the amazing people who actually give life to it. I appreciate your efforts.”

“Don’t worry. You know how strong Master is. Since you won’t have to protect him every day, you will have a lot of time to learn how to speak just as we talked about, and to do that thing Master asked you to.”

Hecate gives her a blank look, then glances at my face for a few seconds, and finally nods at each of us. I hug her lithe, pale body lovingly and peck the nape of her neck.

“Thank you. I’m sure you will do great. Just don’t overdo it like this little, naughty dwarf often does.”

Sirgia giggles adorably at my remark and I return my attention to the others, who have also quietened down, clearly ready to suggest a thing or two. First, Velen stands up and I raise a brow at her.

“We have already talked about your new journey back in the lab and I wanted to share that we are confident in preparing a potion, or perhaps pills, which will make it much easier on the skin under the water. Breathing might not be an issue when you use magic or anything else, but that doesn’t change the fact that Human skin, or any other non-aquatic race’s to be precise, isn’t designed to function properly while completely submerged in liquid for longer periods of time,” she explains professionally.

I cock my head back. “Now, that is something I did not think about. Shit, all those movies lied to me.”

A few women look at me curiously and I wave a hand at them dismissively.

“Anyway, how long might you need to prepare a working prototype?” I ask.

“We hope to be done before you are ready to depart, but naturally, alchemy is often unpredictable so I can’t guarantee results in that timeframe. We will do our best.”

“I understand and appreciate this. You can’t rush perfection.” Velen gives me a tiny smile and I respond with the same. “I’ll wait as long as necessary. We don’t want to turn into water balloons down in the abyss.”

“Considering your situation, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that water is like your second nature.” Cornelia smirks at me, clearly hinting at my Primordial origins.

“If we somehow can cover these two aforementioned matters, I think I know who could potentially accompany you, Master,” Ailish joins in.

“Yeah?” I glance at my charming Succubus.

“Cornelia is a good fit.”

“Eh? Me?” The person in question looks at her in shock. “I’m just a normal Human woman, how am I a good fit?”

“You are a Frost Magician. There will be water everywhere. You will literally be able to snap your fingers and freeze anything you want solid. Your magic should experience a tremendous boost too.”

“Well... You do have a point there...” Cornelia chuckles awkwardly.

“Don’t want to go on an adventure with me?” I ask with a grin while rubbing her thigh.

“I’m just... not so sure... I’ve barely done any swimming and we’ll be so deep in the sea...”

“It’s alright. Give it a thought but don’t force yourself. We have time to decide. We are here to consider our options.”

We share a longer glance and she nods. “Alright.”

I pull Cornelia in for a passionate kiss and we exchange a few loving pecks before she lets me return to the matters at hand. It’s quite obvious that she really wants to go with me but there are a few concerns that keep her logical mind from fully throwing herself at the given opportunity. It’s a thing to be admired, not mocked.

“Speaking of water and magic, that’s pretty much my area of expertise as a Water Elementalist.” My lovely artist wife enters the spotlight. “I didn’t focus that much on my offensive spells and my Tier isn’t high, though it rose a bit thanks to you, but my Water Manipulation and some other abilities could make it much easier to move around at least.”

“I can confirm Neira’s high level of proficiency in that regard,” Elea says. “She can both control entire lakes to do her bidding and focus on the tiniest amounts of fluid inside even her own paint.”

“That definitely sounds useful. I’ll be happy to have you.” I nod at Neira.

“It would be my pleasure.” She gives me a courteous bow.

“See? Master already has two strong people to protect him,” Sirgia says to Hecate while glancing up and I pat her brown hair with a smile.

Then, I look around the lobby to see if there are any more volunteers or if anyone has another idea we could incorporate into our upcoming expedition. But, it doesn’t look like it. From what my hearing can pick up, everyone seems to be chatting about the topic without any more specific remarks. And that is alright. We’ve already touched on a few important points.

But, when my eyes land on the two jelly beauties sitting on their own chairs right in front of our fancy, wide sofa, my brows shoot to my hairline.

“Wait... Slimes don’t breathe, right?” I ask.

Safi notices me staring at them. “No, Master, we do not require air to live.”

“And water doesn’t really have any negative effect on you, right?”

“It doesn’t. You know how durable and adaptable our external coating is,” she continues to answer.

“Can you even move under the water, though? Do you float back up to the surface? Or do you sink to the bottom like a stone?”

“I’m not sure about our humanoid shapes, but while in our neutral state, we should have no problems propelling ourselves in any direction.”

Suddenly, Emi springs to her feet and starts bouncing up and down.

“Are you going to ask Safi to come with you, Master?! Can Emi come too?! Emi will be super useful to Master! Emi promises! Please!”

I’m sure that if her blue-skinned friend didn’t hold her back by grabbing Emi’s maid uniform, the emerald girl would have crashed into me while begging. Seeing Emi so energetic causes me to chuckle and I gesture at Safi with my hand to release the overexcited bundle of cuteness.

My green Queen Slime hops onto my lap and I start patting her bouncy head. “I’m thinking about it right now. You’ve been with me since the very first days so you’ve definitely earned the right to accompany me out somewhere. The five of us could make a great team.”

“Yes! Emi thinks so too! Emi will be a good girl and help Master the best Emi can!”

I laugh some more as she rubs herself into me with no remorse.

“I know, I know. We’ll talk about this in more detail with all the people involved later. For now, return to your seat so that we can continue, okay?”

She bobs her head so fast it becomes a jelly smudge and jumps off my lap. Before long, she’s back next to Safi and the sapphire lady gives me a charming, ladylike smile as they sit down. I turn to the front once more.

“Alright. This already feels like plenty of progress. If no one has any more ideas or suggestions at this time, I think we can wrap this up. As always, come to find me or any of my wives if you do come up with something. I appreciate your input and everything you do for us. Thank you, everyone. This has been a great meeting.”

After a brief round of applause, people start slowly leaving alone or in groups. We remain on the sofa and watch them go. I share a word or two with the women that pass by, be it some small talk or some flirting. Soon, even my wives begin to scatter after stealing a goodbye kiss from me and only three of us are left. Sirgia and Cornelia glance at me from my sides.

“Soooooo...” I raise a brow at them and notice a rising blush on their faces.

Oh, well. I don’t think they played this episode yet.

Fun.