Chapter 16: Trust

Chapter 16: Trust

I kind of leveled a lot. Could it have been help from the Goddess of Growth? I have been giving her small prayers every day, perhaps she answered. There's also what seems to be a boost to the first few kills of a new type of monster, the same thing happened with the goblins at Royd's Kerfuffle. Or is it just diminishing returns? Perhaps it's an anti-grind mechanic. It's all just speculation, I got nothing.

We wait a little longer and a squad of soldiers appear, they look winded but capable of fighting, they are here to hold the area and replace us. Soon the townspeople will be let out to recover the corpses of every wyvern killed. We will receive a bonus for each proof we bring but the price of wyvern ingredients will fall drastically so even if we bring all corpses the extra money isn't that great.

There are still hunters inside town patrolling, a few wyverns decided to fly over town so they helped keep the town safe. The town is still silent and the populace is slowly coming out of their homes.

With that everyone goes into the bath, except for Ciel and Lina. I'm feeling a little bad about them but they got magic tools to warm themselves so it will be fine. Alissa gets clingy during the bath, she's getting a bit too overprotective, which just makes me feel bad because I think I'm even worse.

Too tired to make a proper meal we just eat a lot of meat with bread.

"Let me just say, I'm glad you are all here. This was a tough fight, but we survived, we succeeded and I'm very proud to fight alongside you all," I say and lift my cup for a toast.

"Awn..." Roxanne tilts her head.

Alissa sniffles and Hana gives me a bear hug.

"I'm glad I decided to join," Ciel says.

"I'm glad you are my master," Lina says.

"Now... what are you doing?" Alissa asks.

After surviving the bear hug I kept my cup raised waiting for the others.

"Erm... a toast?

"What? Bread?" Alissa tilts her head in confusion, cute.

"No, uhm... here, in my homeland we celebrate by hitting the sides of our cups to make noise," I grab her cup and mimick a toast, "Then we go like this and say 'cheers'!"

"Ooooh, a 'Brother's Pledge'," says Lina.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Dwarven warriors hit their cups together and share their beer before a battle. This is a pledge that since they will spill blood together soon they might as well share alcohol too."

"Curious, it's somehow similar," I say.

"Well then, cheers!" Hana says and we clink our cups.

We leave Aoi home with Hana and go to the university, the rain is very light so we just use a simple cloak. I'm not tired enough to skip classes and Lina is excited to enter the library. The problem is riding Alissa along with Lina, I have to hug her and she fits perfectly between my arms. This is quite stimulating.

I enter the class feeling a little more tired than when I left home. I sit down on my chair and touch my ribs, the discomfort is still there. Healing magic leaves your body confused after you use it so you can still get some discomfort and reduced performance for a while even if you are perfectly healthy.

"Oh, Ryder! You are here! Aren't you supposed to be fighting?" Lyle asks as he enters the room.

"What are you talking about the battle ended a few hours ago."

"Is that so? Father had me locked in the room all day so I have no idea what happened," he says and scratches his cheek shyly.

Wow, I can actually imagine him running out to try out his lightning on the wyverns.

"What position were you in? Did you see grandpa's magic? Did you see the Dragon's Bane? Did you see the army fight? What about the other fellowships, did you see who had position one?" He rushes towards my desk.

"Jesus, calm down. One question at a time."

The entire class starts murmuring.

"Erm, who's Jesus?"

"Reference from my homeland, ignore it... Anyway, I was position three, east side."

"What?!" This time its Garanae who's surprised.

"Ah, you said 'grandpa', so it was he who used [Thunder Strike]?"

"Yes! Tell me how it was!" He's like a child at Christmas.

Suddenly there's a circle of students around me waiting to hear the story.

"Oh, what's with this commotion," says professor Ludwick, he just arrived.

"Professor! Ryder fought at position three!" Says a random student.

Save me!

"Wonderful! Tell us how it went!" The professor smiles widely and floats towards us.

Seriously!

After a distraction class resumes as usual. Today we will have a group learning session about [Item Box], we will use the method of staying close to someone who knows the spell and observing how his mana behaves. This method is easier if you don't know the theory of how the spell works. [Item Box] has a chant but it's like trying to sing a song on a language you don't know, you are just going to butcher the chanting. Learning with this method also cuts the need for a chant.

We push back the desks and gather in a circle around the professor, everyone here should have enough levels in [Sense Mana] that we don't need to hug him to observe the spell. I feel a little sad though, for some reason this cute little old man is very hugable.

As expected half the class pass with no one acquiring the skill. I kept quiet the entire time since people already saw me use "Items" but no one seems to remember. Possibly because "Items" uses no mana and so nobody paid attention when I used it.

We sit by the usual spot at the buffet. It seems Garanae is acquiring some respect for me after he heard of my battle with the wyverns. He's still someone who never saw real combat and while we are (on the outside) at the same age I'm already the town hero with plenty of notches on my experience belt. His family is rather protective of him as the sole child with combat prowess, but then again, neither Lyle or Hatara has experience in battle. I kind of understand their family's reasoning, Rabanara is a rather ruthless place to live so they are only going to fight after they finish their courses.

After a few minutes of talking Lina finally appears.

"This is Lina, my newest slave."

She bows and sits and I introduce the others to her. Alissa pushes a plate with cookies for her and gives her a strong gaze. Lina is likely to not eat anything in front of these nobles so I guess she needs a little push.

"Another?!" Garanae erupts. His respect for me waves goodbye, it was short but we had a good time.

"She's just a slave, I'm having her read books at the library and soon I will get someone to teach her enchanting, hopefully."

Lina was confused at Garanae's outburst but now she's perking her ears to my statement.

"Still, another woman! How many are you gonna have around you until you are satisfied?!"

I shrug, Lyle sighs, Hatara squeezes his arm but he does not notice.

"I actually never went after any of the women around me, we just met and they decided to love me."

"That's... shameful!" He stands up and looks down on us, "That's not how love should be, love is dedicating yourself fully to another person. How can you say you are giving all your heart to Miss Alissa when you have to cut it into pieces to any woman that approaches you. The Goddess of Love would be disappointed."

Lina clenches her fist and her face muscles twitch, she's struggling to keep her poker face. A slave shouldn't argue with a noble, though it would please me if she did.

"I have a blessing... from the Goddess of Love," Alissa says in a chipper tone.

Garanae's mouth hangs open.

"You lie," he finally lets it out.

"I do not. You can check at the temple, we verified it there and told them how I got it. Perhaps they can even tell you the story if you are oh, so curious," Alissa says with poison on her tongue.

Hatara finally manages to push him down. Garanae seems to be lost for words. He finally makes his mind and leaves silently, seemingly stunned. Hatara follows him close.

"I apologize on his behalf, Mr. Ryder, his family is very pious and takes pride in that," Lyle says with a small nod.

"No offense taken, we just have an irreconcilable difference on morals. I really don't think he's very knowledgeable, he's just repeating what he learned. But what about you? Do you share his opinion or will you have a harem of your own? If your grandfather is a powerful court mage then there might be a wide number of women that would be pleased to marry you."

"I... well, this is... something...

"Let me tell you that there's nothing better than waking up surrounded by women, especially when one wakes you up using her mouth," I smirk.

"Wha, mou, huh, wake, dic-, hah..."

Lyle broke. He gets up.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

"See, uh, see you l-later, Mr. Ryder..."

"See you later, Mr. Rizek."

Lyle leaves with robotic movements. Lina is blushing.

"See, little Lina, your master is a proper sadist, even his friends aren't safe from his teasing," Alissa says with a grin.

"Alissa, I-I'm not that bad."

"So you say."

"And you are just like me!"

"I take that as a compliment."

Lina blushes harder.

"Master, what did you mean by teaching me 'enchanting'?"

I'm glad the topic changed.

"Well, there's a dwarf in one of my classes that's researching enchanting. Perhaps he could help you increase your [General Enchanting] skill."

"Oh, a dwarf! Perhaps we could use the dwarven pride against him, he would likely accept if we goad him in the right way," her smile is mischievous.

I'm a little concerned about your choice of words.

We get back to class and Garanae avoids my eyes, Hatara is annoyed and looks apologetic, Lyle is back to normal but a bit shy.

The rest of the class is free, most people use this time to talk to the professor about the theory. If you are having trouble increasing your skill by practice then you need to touch up on your theory. It's nice that this university isn't hand-holding you with lengthy and boring classes, if you are here you are paying to learn, not to just get a useless degree to fill a checkmark on a list of things necessary for you to succeed in life.

Back at home, Alissa had passed at the bakeries Nour talked about and brings the first wonder, chocolate chip cookies, my heart melts. With the rest of the minotaur milk, I dunk my cookies in the milk and eat them in front of the fireplace while light rain pitter-patters on the windows. Comfy.

Ciel laughed at the idea of using milk like that but they all agreed it was wonderful, only chocolate chip cookies are worthy of being dunked.

Aoi seems to dislike chocolate. Whatever, more to me then.

During the night I talk to Lina and she tells me the resumed version of what she found. I'm telling her to focus on the story of the High Forest for now and then expand. I plan on visiting there once so I want to know all about the lands on the way there.

Today is the 17th.

I wake up refreshed as always and notice a lot has changed. My strength, endurance and speed increased by 1 (now 10, 11 and 11), my [Space Magic] increased by 4 (now 18+16), my [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+12), my MP increased by 40 (now 600) and my "Magic Power" increased by 5 (now 240).

Roxanne leveled up once and her [Water Magic] increased by 1 (now 23) and her [Mana Control] by 1 (now 25). I put all 7 remaining skill points Roxanne had into [Water Magic], with that she can cast [Ice Lance].

Alissa leveled up twice, her [Bow Use] increased by 2 (now 25), her [Hawk Eyes] increased by 1 (now 3) and she gained the title "Blinding Arrows".

"Blinding Arrows, why did you receive that?" I ask.

"She did hit a lot of eyes with her arrows, perhaps the townsfolk that got the corpses recognized her kills," Ciel says.

"How do titles work anyway?" I ask.

"It's a way to reward those who accomplish great deeds with some glory. It has a bit of an effect like blessings do, though much, much more subdued. It's no surprise for an experienced fellowship to have people with titles."

"But hers is different from mine, mine is a nickname."

"Yeah, unfortunately, yours is not about great deeds. Nicknames are special but don't be ashamed when people use it, someone calling you by your nickname means well," Ciel says with a snicker.

"Then why are you laughing?"

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at your shy behavior when people mention your nickname."

Well, whatever.

In the morning I go to the hunters guild with Alissa to sell our corpses and submit the proofs of subjugation. When we enter the whispers start, most eyes are now on Alissa. Although I'm happy I'm not the attention I get jealous at a few of the clearly lewd stares.

When she sees us a familiar brunette attendant hurries out of her booth to greet us.

"Mr. Ryder, good morning. I have a message addressed to you," she says with a bow, "It's an invitation to the celebration party for the battle against the wyverns. The Lord is hosting it. Here.

She hands me the envelope. The same as last time he invited us, only that the location is going to be on an estate owned by the Lord's family. This estate is behind the castle, so we will have quite the scenery to look at when we go there."

We deliver our spoils to Gordon, who seems content at the number we killed. Sonny appears for delivering the rewards and I'm sure he looks a little disappointed. The reward for participation in the battle as position 3 was 40 gold coins, quite a good sum. But the guildmaster still owes me a bit.

We go back home to spar.

I have been putting some points into [Inspire Growth] but aside from my ridiculous growth none of the girls seems to have noticed any difference. Maybe it's because I'm not teaching them, the skill might need me to actually inspire them. I will put their extra points into [Increased Growth] when they are training.

After my sparring session, I finally acquire [Battlefield Perception] at level 1.

Today is nature class, the professor teaches us [Regeneration], [Vine Weapon], [Grow] and [Animal Tongue]. We are to train individually any spell we want.

Level 10 spell [Vine Weapon] creates and harden vines until they are usable as weapons. At first, we can only use it to make blunt weapons but with higher levels, you can make usable swords and make them last even when you release the vine. I learn the chant and try to copy the mana flow the professor is leaking. It was rather easy to make a club even though I'm not level 10. With a bit of effort, you can easily make other things, like shields or armor.

The next spell at level 15 is [Grow], it is the secret of the elves of the High Forest and the halflings of Lorei Laurelai. They are so good at these spells they just look at a plant and they can make it grow any way they want. No wonder the halflings are considered experts in farming. The elves of the High Forest use this spell to mold the trees so they can live inside them. They can model walkways and roads high up on the trees and even make things like furniture and weapons from the wood.

Level 20 is [Animal Tongue], it is the one I'm most interested in, I need this to talk to Aoi more easily. It's like a [Blessing Magic], which you cast once and it lasts a long time. It's odd because casting it from the skill system without chanting is like flipping a switch. When the spell is on it consumes my mana very, very slowly, so I see there's more than one way the same spell can be invoked. I gotta research that, I never heard about such a thing before.

We go back home and my discomfort with Lina increases. I use the skill every man should learn and achieve absolute mental purity while her cute little ass shakes and presses on my crotch. To make things worse I'm sure she intentionally moved backward just to press her own body into mine.

There's already plenty of wyvern meat on the market, it tastes exactly like turkey. Alissa bought a lot since it's dirt cheap.

Aoi seems extra happy today, when we were gone she managed to approach the griffin nature spirit. Being part animal herself the spirit seems to not mind her presence, but even she won't dare touch it yet.

Today is the 18th.

My nature magic increased by 2 (now 0+11).

In the morning we all leave to go shopping. I want to upgrade mine and Ciel's armor into scale armor, she nags me that it's a waste but she got cut last time in the chest by the claws, our armor should at least protect us against slashes.

I feel like I wasted my time looking at other shops, the Bear Hug is the one we previously bought our equipment at and again it seems to have the best deals around. The owner is a friendly, large fat man with a round black beard and curly hair. His aura makes him seem very hugable but his eyes are of a predator and no one dares hug such a man, I only feel death by crushing will be the result.

Lina's trivia: Mining in this world is a dangerous job. Not only can monsters spawn inside long mines but the mines themselves get regularly attacked. This seems to explain the high price of metal armor and the comparatively low price of leather or scale armor. Even cloth armor is expensive in comparison.

We settle down with adding emerald scales to our leather armor, quite literally an upgrade. Now it's heavier, more difficult to move in and makes more noise but it's nearly impervious to slashing. With the rewards for the wyvern battle, this armor didn't even cost us half the reward, the market is overflowed with dragon and wyvern products right now.

We give Roxanne a Grey Berserker jacket, she had an older Young Behemoth she got on her hometown. We wanted to give her a hauberk or something like that but she lacks the muscle for it, Hana will force Roxanne to exercise a bit with aerobics so she deals better with the increase in armor.

"But what about the danger? If any of you die I will be devastated."

"We just do as you always tell us. No need for sacrifices, we will just go in a way where such a situation will never happen to begin with," she grins.

I sigh, I lose. I might as well just throw myself at these women then, what reason is there not to?

"What about Hana? Doesn't she gets jealous?"

"Hana is a freak, as long as she gets her share of your dick she's fine, I think."

I laugh, I guess it's true.

"Well, that's a bit rude to her. She does feel some jealousy but you do a good job with her so she's happy," Alissa adds, "Anyway, we talked too long, go after Ciel."

She pushes me away.

"Yes yes, just making sure where you stood before I went to her."

The cupola is a large round room with tall and wide windows, there are sofas pointed outwards and a few tables were a waiter keeps hot tea and cookies. There are a few couples around, displaying some envious public affection. Ciel is sitting alone on a sofa.

"This place is even better than the loggia," I say sitting close beside her.

"There's no wind here so it's very comfortable," she says with a smile.

I grab a cup of tea and stare towards the view for a few minutes.

"I'm glad you are here Ciel. You are the first person I befriended in this town."

She chuckles.

"So you were completely alone here before meeting me?"

"Yeah. I'm really not the kind that makes lots of friends. I just don't talk that much."

"Except for women," she glares.

"Come on, not just any women."

"That's what they all say."

I feel a hint of mockery, she's not completely serious.

"Oh? So you have experience?"

She smiles.

"You are not the first that invited me."

"But I'm the first you accepted, why is that?"

"Because you are interesting. I already said that before."

"Is that all?"

"..." She looks away I see the hint of a smile.

"I feel like I really do care about you. Call it whatever you wish but I care about you as much as I care about the others," I say.

"You care about Lina too?" She sends me a sharp gaze.

"One step at a time, I know Lina for far too little time to say such a thing."

"But you will eventually buckle."

I shrug.

"Who knows. Would that be a bad thing?"

"For Lina? No. But what about the future?"

"What about it?"

"Are you just going to accept any woman that throws herself at you?" I notice a hint of poison on her voice.

"No. First of all, I won't accept any woman the others also do not accept, I just need one of them to disagree. I don't own them, we are a team, a fellowship. I just make the decision most of the time but I want, no, need their opinion on this, we are all equals and we all love each other. And so will be you, if you join us."

She looks away and I grab her hand.

Oh boy, it's now or never.

"Ciel... would like to marry me?"

She bites her lips and thinks. I'm getting chills.

She stares into my eyes, her tone turns decisive and leaves no room for question, "No. You have to tell me your secrets first. Only then will I answer."

I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I was planning on that, but I have to tell Lina too so perhaps we should wait until we are home, it's a long story."

Ciel looks at me confused, then her eyes change to that of concern.

"I'm not a bad person. You should know I'm alone here and I come from very far away, I just didn't come here walking."

"Hm... so you teleported here? But how?"

"That's the difficult part to explain."

Her expression freezes for a few moments.

"Will you go back?" I feel the anxiety in her voice.

"No," I smile bitterly, "I decided to keep here, to make a family here."

She sighs. She interlaces her fingers with mine and squeezes my hand.

No need for modesty, I pull her close and kiss her. She seems surprised and resists at first but then she melts. I push my tongue and a few seconds later we are passionately kissing each other, I grab her waist and pull her closer. Her delicious flowery perfume, the sweetness of the moisturizer she uses on her lips, the taste of Gorgon wine on her tongue, the slight breath of alcohol. I take it all and enjoy it, this woman is now mine, she didn't answer yet but it's not needed, I know she's mine.

We break the kiss and spend some time cuddling. She pulled in me so I just enjoy it. Her massive breasts are a better pillow than Hana's, I'm sorry but it's the truth.

It's getting late so we go down and bring back the girls. Alissa was dancing slowly with Lina, they refused other men who asked for a dance. Roxanne was at the table sleeping in Hana's arms. Aoi is biting Hana's cheek scales playfully.

When we leave Roxanne wakes up and wants to drive, I give her a head chop, don't drink and drive. I'm the one who drives this time.

Back at home, Roxanne sobered up a bit and we all sit down at the table.

"Time for the truth," I say.

Ciel is looking at me with her mouth open, Lina is expressionless.

"You can't possibly believe we will just accept this," Ciel says.

"Just like this? No. Here, look at my ID card, look at the magic skills, specifically."

I hand them the card. Lina blushes.

"[Enhanced Sem-..."

"Not that! The magic! Look at the magic!" I interrupt Ciel.

"Oh, uh, okay," she blushes a bit.

I put 15 points into [Water Magic] and cast [Water Breathing] on them both.

"Wait, what?! This is [Water Magic] and you didn't even chant!"

"Look at the card again."

"Oh... it's true..."

I end [Water Breathing] and remove the points.

"Look at it again."

"The skill is gone..." Ciel is stunned.

Ciel covers her eyes with her hands and keeps quiet.

*Slam!* Lina hits her hands on the table, "YOU ARE AMAZING, MASTER! I always knew there was something special about you, your power is amazing!" Her mouth hangs open.

"Erm... the power is good, I agree but don't need to praise me this much. This system helps me learn things much faster than normal."

"Precisely! No wonder you received a blessing from the Goddess of Knowledge. But how does the point manipulation works? Can you manipulate my skills? I don't have many skills so after the wyvern battle I have a lot of unused soul potential."

"Well I didn't pay attention when it happened with Alissa but with the others, it was after we... had sex.

She stares blankly for a moment.

"Master! Please take my virginity!" She looks at me with fierce eyes.

I facepalm. I knew it.

"I don't want to use my power this way, sex is only for someone I love."

"Ah... forgive me, master, I understand, I got carried away. It would be shameful to use you in such a way," she bows.

The girls are chuckling while Ciel keeps thinking.

"It actually makes sense..." Ciel finally talks, "Two blessings, these coincidences, the women around you, the type of enemies you fought so far. You are being trained and tested, Wolf, you are going to be a hero in the future."

Not again...

"I don't wanna be a hero..."

"A hero is not something you choose to be, it's a destiny that's given to you. But in the end, it's the actions that you take that make you a hero."

"Then I will just run and hide someplace safe!" I throw my hands in the air.

"As if you could. You actually want to be a hero, right?" She says and grins.

"Ok, who doesn't want to be a hero? Sure this power sounds nice but I'm scared, scared of fighting and losing any of you."

"This is why the gods put us all together. It's Because we can bring you forward and help you fight," Alissa says.

The others nod, even Lina. Hopefully, a hero's curse comes with enough plot armor.

"Please don't tell me you are all here just because you believe that's what the Gods want," I say with a crooked smile.

"Wolf!" Alissa yells with reproachful eyes, "What the Gods want does not matter, I love you and you know it!"

Hana pulls me and gives me a bear hug.

"Don't say such things, Wolfy, I love you," says Hana.

"Don't make me repeat my vows," says Roxanne, pouting.

Aoi comes and curls herself on my lap.

"Kweeh!" She makes a cute noise towards me.

Yeah, I guess I said something stupid.

"I'm sorry..."

Ciel sighs.

"Anyway, don't ever tell your powers to anybody. The empire would enslave you in an instant if they knew you could use [Blood Magic] and leave no traces. This is how they make our Identification Crystals and ID's, there would be a long line of criminals wanting your power," Ciel says.

I break Hana's hug.

"Yeah, I know. This is why I took so long to tell you, I wanted to know you more before I could trust you with this. It scares me too much that someone could tear us apart," I say and look at the girls.

"But now that you know it, you owe me an answer," I stare at Ciel.

She blushes and starts flustering. After a minute she calms herself, "Wolf, I... I accept..."

"Even though I told you of how dangerous my life might be?"

"Yes, I'm not a coward, Wolf, well I was but... I trust you, I trust you will do everything to keep us safe. Even if we end up failing, that... That will be enough," she says, her face is pained but her tone is resolute.

I go towards Ciel and grab her hand.

"I will take care of you, support you, fight with you, and love you. I swear to be always at your side and that I will always work towards a better future, together."

"I will take care of you, support you, fight with you, and love you. I swear to be always at your side and that I will always work towards a better future, together," she repeats and smiles.

I kiss her.

"Now please call me Wolfy from now on, it really tickles my heart."

"Sure, Wolfy, I agree it's cute," Ciel says and laughs.

"C-can I call you that too...?" Lina asks bashfully.

"Sure, I'm uncomfortable with 'master'."

Lina smiles.

It's too late, we all just go to bed immediately.

God, I'm greedy, 4 women now.