"Henryk?" Hestia said. Her brain, shackled to function on the level of a mortal's, struggled to process the sight before her eyes.
"Yes?" Henryk said.
"Who is this woman?" Hestia said.
"My lover, Ray the siren" Henryk said.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!!!" Hestia could not contain herself any longer.
Now, let's rewind time a bit, to nine in the morning.
(Line Break)
"Are you sure it is okay to bring me outside like this?" Ray wanted to confirm one last time. She tried and barely managed to drag the cloak to wrap around her more securely.
"Yes, it's fine. You look too human to be mistaken for a monster right now" Henryk was less nervous, as he spent the past four to five hours with her leaning back on him for support.
"Finally, my torture ends" Hashana collapsed to his knees, thinking that he was finally released from this mental torture. Poor Hashana.
"Hashana, a last word of advice before we part for an assumingly long time. If you meet a redhead in Rivira, don't trust her. Try your best to run away to the surface as fast as you can. Ignore all and just escape with whatever you needed to acquire" Henryk turned away, ending the conversation before Hashana could ask him what he meant. "Now, if you will excuse us" Fey walked away.
Hashana's ears barely registered the words that reached them.
(Line Break)
"My daughter, when would you allow me to walk on my own?" Henryk felt awkward. He was getting paraded by Fey, and people's stares made him uncomfortable.
"No! Papa will be glorified today!" Fey insisted. She raised her head in pride.
"This's embarrassing" Henryk muttered to himself. Having Ray in his arms meant that she heard it.
"Then why are you still complying to her?" Ray asked while looking around. She gazed at the sky for an entire five minutes then decided to look around. She saw the buildings and their varied colors and shapes. She saw the people and their variety of race. She was more in love with the surface now that she has seen it.
"I can't deny her what she wants just because I want to. If I do that, she'll learn to always oppose others' opinions for no reason" Henryk said. "I need to have a very valid reason why, and I must tell her as well. She must learn to do things with reason, not only based on emotions and the wants which bloom inside her because of said emotions"
Henryk gathered himself for a few moments and thought of what they would do for the day.
"I think I know what we'd do today. What do you all think about going shopping for bathing supplies? Also, Ouros, do you think we can use some of the money you guys gathered? We all need new beds and their mattresses"
"Fey'd like that" Fey remembers how pleasant her papa's hands were when he was cleaning her feathers. She wanted to feel the relaxation they brought her again.
"The four of us have no problem with this" Ouros represented the four of them.
"It would bring us nothing but joy, noble father. Use the funds we acquired however you please" Blanc expressed his thoughts.
"That would be nice. I would love it more if you assisted me. As you can tell, it is because I do not have hands" Ray leaned her back onto him. What she said had people in earshot petty her. She did not care about their petty.
"Would Fey's feathers look more beautiful?" Fey inquired.
"Yes, my girl. Your feathers will be shiny once we're done" Henryk caressed her neck.
"Fey's feathers can look more beautiful!" She started trotting.
Henryk turned to Ouros and the bunch, who were following them around. The four kobolds refused to yield and insisted to accompany the father-daughter duo to guard them. "You four will get a wash-up too" Their tails started swishing from side to side. Blanc has not noticed his.
Reaching the shopping area in the northern mainstreet, Henryk noticed some shops of interest.
"Fey wants food!" Fey stopped moving.
"Well, there is no harm in eating something while we are here" Henryk liked the idea of eating breakfast outside today. They missed the opportunity to have a meal since they started making their way out of the dungeon early.
"FOOD!" Fey will satisfy her hungry belly.
"Dear, your tongue is hanging" Henryk reprimanded her softly. She was going to be considered a lady after some time. She needed to start minding her manners.
"Oopsie" Fey retracted her tongue.
"Father, cooked meat is fine for us" Henryk looked behind him. He saw Ouros looking directly at him.
"Younger brother can talk!" Fey was surprised. She did not hear them talk the entire way out of the dungeon. She did not notice Ouros nor Blanc talking a moment ago either.
""Younger brother"? You feel like the younger one here, considering how you act" Henryk said with a teasing grin.
"PAPA! Fey's older than brother Ouros and the others!" Fey felt indignant at the thought of being the younger one.
"Haha, of course. You are older by seven whole years. Fey's the eldest" Henryk said, traces of a laugh mixing in with his words.
"Fey is!" Fey puffed her feathers and chest out in pride. Her gait changed to match her mood. It became more dignified.
A group of adventurers approached them. All were women. Only two of them came forward, the rest seemed wary. 'Nothing we can do about that yet'
"What do you need?" Henryk asked them their purpose while giving them the side eye. Ouros and the rest were ready to engage if necessary.
"We... we want... to..." One of them was trying to say something, but she was stuttering a lot. She pressed her fingertips together from nervousness.
"This shy..." It was a whisper from an older looking woman who had similar features to the stutter girl.
'Sisters?' Henryk assumed.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Amanda Florence. This shy one is my younger sister. Her name is Rosaline Florence. She seems to be fascinated by your daughter" She introduced the two of them. She did it with grace. Of course, since she was an elf. Her younger sister had shorter ears, signifying her as a half elf. Both inherited their hair from the same parent it seems, as they have two very similar shades of golden-orange hair.
"Fey's papa's proud daughter" Fey accepted the praise wholeheartedly.
"My name's Henryk Williams. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. This here's my daughter, Fey Williams. The others in the back are her brothers. The one with brown-red hair and black accents is Ouros. The one with black short hair is Mont. The one with shaggy gray hair is Blanc. And the last one with a mix of black and white hair is Noland" Henryk's expression softened as he talked. "So, young ladies, what did you want by approaching us?" He asked in a more respectful manner this time. Respect is paid in respect.
"Henry, you forgot someone" Ray reminded him.
"Oh! Sorry about that, Ray" He then looked back at the sisters. "This beautiful lady here's Ray. She's my soon-to-be wife" Henryk thoughtlessly said that sentence as if he said something to bother a certain someone who should not be named. He quickly masked his panic and, seeing as Ray giggled at his racing heart, changed topics in an attempt to forget what just happened. He would live to see the aftereffects of introducing Ray in such a manner. "Back to topic. What brought the young ladies to us?"
"My younger sister wanted to have a feel of your daughter's feathers. It has been on her mind since the night you visited the Hostess of Fertility" "Can... I?" Amanda described what was on her sister's mind. It was the younger sister, Rosaline, who asked. It was nigh a whisper.
"Yes, lady little flower can! Fey's feathers were taken care of by papa for a long time! Fey's feathers are soft and fluffy!" Fey announced proudly. She was proud to receive her papa's care.
Rosaline walked slowly, with unsure steps. It was her first time seeing a tamed monster up-close and personal like this. She did not know if they could talk, either, before meeting Fey that is. "Can I? Really?" She asked awkwardly.
'She's the awkward and shy type with strangers, huh? Her sister seemed to be the graceful and self-assured type' Henryk thought about it so he can treat them properly on their next meeting, if they survive the dungeon and come back. It was a morbid thought that he forced himself to think about.
"Yes, lady little flower can! Fey'd love to!" Fey cheerfully told her. She was anticipating the coming caresses.
Rosaline finally found the courage to reach out to Fey's feathers. Once her hand touched them, her face melted and she leaned in and hugged Fey, burying herself in Fey's feathery thicket. "Fey's feathers are the best!" Fey announced. She sounded doubtless, as if there was no competition.
Amanda, who did not look interested at first, stretched her hand to feel Fey's feathers. 'To have my younger sister melt in them in public, despite her shyness, they must feel good' Although Amanda did not fall into Fey's feathers like her sister did, she still smiled after touching them.
"Hurry up, sister. We need to go" Amanda hurried her sister. They needed to go do some familia-related chores.
"No" Rosaline forgot herself and her chores. She was completely melted in Fey's feathers, with no desire to get up by herself. Someone needed to pluck her off Fey. Amanda was the one for the job. She plucked Rosaline from Fey and dragged her away.
Rosaline never felt wronged by her elder sister prior to this day. She tugged her sister's sleeve.
"Haah" Amanda sighed. She knew what her sister wanted. "Can we meet you somewhere later? My sister wants to befriend your daughter"
"The guild's your best bet. I go there every other morning for dungeon lessons"
After getting food from a stall owner whose heart nearly stopped, the group ate while moving. Henryk was handfeeding Ray, which prompted some women to look at their loved ones and click their tongues. Some of the more violent women directly punched theirs in the guts.
(Line Break)
After they were done shopping, they returned home.
"Now that we are prepared, we will wash your furs" Henryk had such menacing eyes and wicked smile that his sons were getting scared of him. He gave them ominous vibes.
What they feared did not come. Henryk carefully removed the filth in their fur and added soap to thoroughly wash their backs, as they could not reach them as easily without hurting their shoulders. He left them to clean the rest themselves. After removing the soap, he brushed their fur gently. The stunning thing was how much Blanc changed. His originally shaggy fur was now both clean and sleek, much better than his brothers'. No, that was not the stunning thing. The stunning part was how Henryk never noticed that Blanc's fur was a metallic silver that shined under sunlight.
Fey's turn was different. Henryk helped by wiping the feathers carefully, and then adding some of her body's natural oil to them. He rubbed the oil gland, where her avian tail once was, and spread oil on her feathers. Henryk then cleaned and brushed the horse half as he did with the others, with soap and water. He rarely helped with this process since preening was a good source of Vitamin D for Fey.
With Ray, Henryk forgot all nervousness, and all reason at all, and diligently cleaned the feathers while forgetting that Ray was not a bird but a person. From long feathers to small ones, from head to toe, Henryk washed every part of her body.
He was so absorbed in his job that he did not realize what he was doing. Ray stayed silent the entire time, only reminding him when she thought he was done with what she was comfortable for him to help with.
She enjoyed seeing him being self-conscious around her afterwards.
(Line Break)
"Now, after absorbing the surprise of our elegant prince," Blanc turned his head away shyly. "we'll discuss your levels and skills. Essentially, we want to form a better plan for when you go dungeon delving on your own. Any questions before my rant starts?"
Mont raised his hand. "Yes, Mont?"
"Do we even have any skills?" Mont heard Hestia's words and grasped some knowledge of how a falna works. Monsters were not supposed to be able to acquire it, thus there were no skills for them.
"One of my skills gives you a fake falna. I will tell you how different your falna is to mine in a minute. Is that answer enough?" Henryk said.
"Yes, father" Mont nodded and leaned a bit back.
"Good. Anybody else has questions?" Henryk waited for a moment before continuing. "To start, a skill of mine gives you a fake falna, as I told you just now. Yours, however, is different to mine since it's an imitation. While mine allows my actions to accumulate excellia and needs a deity to update it, yours bypasses these things. Your falna allows you to absorb some excellia from magic stones and enhance your basic abilities with them. What basic abilities are enhanced is up to me. The update really only takes effect if I wish it to. To put it shortly, my will acts as the catalyst to update your falna, like a deity's blood does to mine" He patiently waited for a few moment in case someone had a question. None did. "Let's start by viewing Ouros's falna"
(A moment later)
Henryk did not notice Ray sneaking to lean on him from the side. If she became his lover, and his soon-to-be wife as he jokingly said, she would take her chances to charm him. Slow and steady wins the race, as one storybook said.
"So, what do you think, Ouros? What can you do with these skills?" Henryk said while facing him.
"I can guard the property we own without paying much visual attention. The second skill makes it possible to trap both prey and foe alike in a certain area that identifies as a room. I can claim property if it was not claimed by anyone. That may make it easier to detect "intruders" in the dungeon"
"You took them literally. Although that's not wrong, you should look at the ways you can bend the skills around. The word room can mean any space that can be occupied. It doesn't have to be enclosed by four walls. Heck, it can be open on all sides and still be called room. The dungeon's no one's property. You can claim a part of it temporarily. That should put both of your other skills to effect. Think deeper into it. You may see something I didn't" Henryk said while pointing at his own temples.
"Thanks, father" Ouros said.
"Now, it's Mont's turn" Henryk moved onto the next person.
(A moment later)
"What do you think?"
"I can have weapons that can stick inside someone and then wrench them with as much of my opponent's flesh and blood. The other skill will almost always be active, I fight by my brothers' side all the time after all"
"Well, try not to strike bone, and especially don't get your weapon stuck behind a bone. Even if you can wrench it free, the edges may suffer. Also, guarding can come in more than one form. Two that come to me now are "protect against damage or harm" and "take precautions against possible damage or harm". Like Ouros, think abought how you can bend the skill to your will, you never know" Henryk said.
"Thanks, father" Mont said.
"Now, our shiny, silver prince" Henryk said with a particular jest in his voice.
"Please stop this, noble father. It embarrasses me" Blanc said with as much composure as he could muster.
"It's fun, though?" Henryk whined before moving on.
(A moment later)
"What do you think, o prince of ours?" Henryk was not the best at listening to people sometimes.
"I can hack into my enemies' defenses" Blanc said, deep in thought analyzing his skills. "The other one allows me to kill my prey if it was weakened enough"
"Wow, just wow. You stole that out of my mouth" Henryk praised him while clapping his hands. "As you speculated, your second skill didn't specify what's the criteria for the prey to be considered weaker. You can weaken your prey with the help of your brothers and that prey's no more. Your skill didn't tell you about the speed difference. If your prey, which may be faster than you are, was weakened, no amount of speed will keep it alive. If you couldn't catch up, it may either fall at the hands of someone else or find itself at a dead end in one of the branching tunnels"
"I will engrave your teachings in my heart, noble father" Blanc said with a little, awkward bow. He did not know why, but he felt it was appropriate etiquette.
"With the way you talk, you are cementing your position as our family's prince, you know that?" Henryk rested his head on an open palm, smug as hell.
"Please, noble father" Blanc was regretting his talking habits, not that he would have stopped.
"Noland, yours is as cool as your beautiful, piercing cyan eyes" Henryk left the poor pupper prince and moved onto the next one.
(A moment later)
"What do you think, Noland?" Henryk said. It took great effort not to call him a shy boy.
"No enemy escapes my detection. My enemies will get weak points generated in their defenses" Noland tried his best to cut his words short. He was a little bit too shy.
"Correct answer. There's also the need to experiment with where these weak points are and how weak they become under the effect of your skill. Take a monster type to experiment on. You can start by shooting everywhere possible at the targets. Once there's no longer a place you didn't shoot, try your skill on them. You need to also let the others experiment with their attacks the same way. They're the ones more likely to hit the target. Think of other ways to use the howl. It's too useful if you can utilize it well" Henryk reminded Noland of what could become a life-saver skill.
"Th...thank...you, father" Noland said before hiding behind Ouros. It was both adorable and funny to see the tallest among them hide behind someone eles.
"What about Fey?! What skills does Fey have?" Fey was dissatisfied. She wanted her papa to tell her the skills she possessed.
"I was about to tell you yours now, you impatient girl" Henryk said with a smile. His voice had some mirth in it.
Noland was thankful the attention left him, but he felt the loss of Henryk's attention. His tail and ears drooped. Uplifting headpats followed. When he looked at Henryk, Henryk was already doing something else.
(A moment later)
"Fey's strong!" Fey announced with absolute certainty.
"Don't get it over your head" Henryk reminded her. He did not want her to become arrogant and full of herself with no valid reason.
"Look here, my little girl. [Keen Eyes] makes it so that no amount of disguise based on color can trick you. Your target's bare to your eyes.
[Crushing Claws] can be useful in many situations. Three of them I see. The first one's when you want to forcefully hold onto a target. Your grip is more than just twice as hard to get rid of. The second situation is when you want to, as the name of the skill tells you, crush your target under the force of your grip. The third situation is one of the uses that bend the skill's wording around for your benefit. If you want to puncture something that has resistance, try gripping onto it using the tips of your talons.
[Soothing Soul] works slowly. You can't rely on it in combat. But if you somehow dragged the fight long enough, there's potential in it neutralizing an enemy.
Now for [Divine Feathers]. This skill isn't fair. It has two effects. The first one only works on sentient beings and isn't suitable for combat. The second effect can be used as support for mages to recover their mind, or as support for vanguard to mend their injuries.
Your last skill, [Size Adjusting]. This one's absurd. You can enter your target's body and expand inside, bursting them into a cloud of gore and guts"
"EW! GROSS!" Fey was disgusted at the thought. She was not going to do something that is so overly gross. In spite of her raised voice, her words retained the quality of being drawn out a little.
"Dear, when the time comes, that way of using the skill will appear in the forefront of your mind. Never hesitate to use it, as that hesitation may result in a great loss"
"....Fey will listen to papa's advice" Fey lowered her head. If not for her anatomy not allowing for it, she may have gagged.
"That's my girl" Henryk patted her head, restoring some of her cheerfulness. "Now, let's continue what're the other uses I thought of up to now. Mind you, they're possibilities that need to be tested. [Size Adjusting] could also be used to become twice as big as you usually are, but did you know? You can try shrinking your target. The skill never specified a target itself. The skill only said that you can change sizes to smaller ones or to twice as big. What would happen if you became your largest and made your enemy their smallest? That may allow you to overpower some foes. The more muscle mass you have, the more force you can exert. In reverse, the smaller muscle mass you have, the less force you can exert. Think about it for yourself. Discover things and report them to me, little bird" Henryk said while thinking about the logistics of more mass. 'The square-cube law doesn't seem to work in this world, not as strictly as it did in my previous world. It seems to not always mean the loss of anatomical structure in obesely large monsters like the Goliath. Since Fey's a monster now, she could afford being bigger without caring about internal structures failing'
"Fey's not a little bird anymore!" Fey's mood returned to its usual cheerfulness in full.
'Good thing she recovered' Henryk smiled. "One thing I will have all of you do is to first maximize all of your basic abilities before going for the next level"
"ACKNOWLEDGED, FATHER/NOBLE FATHER!" "YES, PAPA!" All five of them shouted in acknowledgement. They took it to heart.
"What about me?" Ray startled him. He almost jumped from where he was sitting.
"Try not to jump-scare me too much. I lived in a forest before. Jump-scares there mean that I need to take instinctive action, which may come in the form of physical violence, which will hurt me both physically and mentally. I will need some time to lose that reaction. Wait until then" Henryk rambled on as he put a hand over his heart. It was drumming into his ears.
(A moment later)
After Ray explained what she thought about her status, Henryk had a few things to add.
"You didn't mention how you could always keep only one magic stone in your armor. A bit risky, but doable. That'll force the skill to always activate if the stone's broken. Say, you put two stones in the armor. That may allow you to fight longer in consideration of different situations. Problem with that's if your enemy broke both at the same time. The skill did specify "only one". Meaning, if both were broken at the same time, the skill won't make an explosion. Do try to remember that little detail. Also, try to use your magic to slap something with the feathers rather than shooting them. If that works, enchant all your wings' feathers and fly by the targets. Experiment if that works or not"
"I will. Thank you, Henry" Ray gave him a kiss on his cheek. He flushed but kept himself from collapsing into a massive fumble.
Henryk took a few deep breaths to calm down and started talking. "Four days later, you four will take Welf to floors from ten to twelve. As per the contract, we should get him to level two to get the blacksmith development ability"
He looked directly at Ouros "Ouros, be wary. The dungeon reacted when I made Fey a monster that the dungeon didn't create. As a sentient structure, it may react to your [Claim] negatively for trying to claim its body for yourself. Be wary of being swarmed by orcs and imps. The dungeon may also deliberately spawn silverbacks and infant dragons. You can try it tomorrow or the day after to make sure if the dungeon reacts to it. If the dungeon reacts negatively, release your skill. The dungeon spawns stronger variants of monsters if given the right stimulus, colored black. Don't agitate the dungeon to that extent"
"I will be wary, father" Ouros took it seriously.
"If you allow it, noble father?" Blanc asked.
"Go ahead" Henryk said.
"What did noble father mean by "You"? Would you go somewhere else?"
"Well, you see, Blanc, we need to get Welf to level two, according to our contract. So, as I, Fey, Ray and captain go on an adventure on our own at the time, we're going to leave helping Welf in your hands" Henryk said.
"Heard loud and clear, noble father. I will do as you ask of me" Blanc clenched a fist in front of his heart and put his left arm behind his back. He did a proper bow with his hands in that position. He may need just a bit more elegance and some royal robes before someone mistakes him for actual royalty.
'I have a bad feeling about this. I hope noble father will be well guarded by Ray' Blanc did not know that Henryk was planning for this. He already knows what will happen the next day, and he is prepared for it. Ray was also there, just in case.
'He struggled with the previous bow but performed this one so well. I should teach him sometime' Henryk added this to his plans, though not high up the list. Proper etiquette was not something adventurers needed in excess.
(Line Break)
"I'm ho~me" Fey announced, and something immediately happened, impossibly fast as it was. Hestia locked her sights on Fey. She did not acknowledge anyone or anything and immediately hugged Fey's feathers.
"Bliss" Hestia melted in Fey's feathers. Hugging them melted her fatigue away.
"Fey's strong!" Fey took it as a win. She, after all, defeated a literal god. It was a deserved win.
Henryk and his sons were looking at Hestia's antics blankly. She especially loved to lay in Fey's feathers after a long day of work. And though they accepted that, what made them speechless is witnessing Fey's reaction to said antics.
"Ouros, are you sure her place shouldn't be the second youngest?" Henryk said monotonely.
"She may as well be" Ouros did not know what to say. His brothers were just as speechless.
As Ray entered the delapidated church, an overwhelming sense of calm and safety washed over her. It felt like she went back to the hidden village instead. It felt like home.
Ray's expression eased into simple, innocent curiousity. She started looking around, making sure she remained close to Henryk to be introduced properly.
"Henryk?" Hestia's eyes finally landed on Ray. She wanted to ask why her hair was made of feathers, as no mortal race was created with them for hair. Hestia refrained not to be rude to Ray. It could be a skill's effect, some of which altered the owner's physical appearance.
"Yes?" Henryk replied, confused as to why Hestia called his name as a question.
"Who is this woman?" Hestia said.
"My lover, Ray the siren" Said a flushed man as he introduced his uncloaked lover. Now that Hestia looked down from Ray's upper body, she noticed the not-so-human legs.
"It is nice to meet you, lady Hestia. I am a siren going by the name Ray. I will be living with you from today" Ray introduced herself in more detail.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!!!" All who was within a few kilometers of the church heard Hestia's scream.
Henryk told Hestia that he would like to keep Ray's fake falna a secret. He gave her a valid reason for that. That, and the guild should not know that the monsters Henryk tames have a falna, even though fake. 'Not yet' He thought.
After some more time, when it was dusk, Bell arrived.
"I am back" Bell said, returning home tired from a day of fighting all by himself.
"Welcome home, captain" Henryk said. He stepped aside to clear way for the missile known as Hestia.
"WELCOME BACK! BEELLLL!" Missile Hestia slammed into him like usual.
"I am back, lady goddess" Bell welcomed his goddess-missile with open arms.
"Ray, this's Bell Cranel, the captain of our familia" Henryk said to Ray before turning to face Bell. "Captain, this's Ray the siren, my lover" Henryk could now control his blush a little more. It was only after introducing her as his lover for a second time.
"WHHA- MMMFFFF?!" "Calm down, captain" Henryk shut him up with a sealing palm. It would not do if they shouted in surprise at everything.
"It is nice to meet you, captain Bell" Ray's melodious voice and beautiful face made the innocent rabbit blush a bit.
"Cap, I beat you at finding my maiden in the dungeon" Henryk instinctively held her close and laid his claims on her clear.
"Henry, do not hurry the boy on this matter. He needs time and some work on his social image to attract the ladies" Ray commented. Bell's flustered face reminded her of certain almiraj couple, the man between them.
Ray wrapped her wings around Henryk's arm and dragged him to the kitchen. The understairs room was small enough to see the kitchen from the door, which Ray did. "Would you do the cooking tonight? Fey told me of how your cooking tasted good" She dragged him there to eat the cooking that Fey praised.
"I can try something" Henryk rummaged through his memories and remembered some recipes that might be doable with the utensils and ingredients present.
'Henryk has got a girlfriend! Henryk has got a girlfriend! Henryk has got a girlfriend!... I need to up my game!' Bell's thought process nearly crumbled to dust there. It miraculously built itself back up with a new determination.
"What's for dinner?" Fey walked there sleepily. Her steps were starting to wobble.
"What do you say about a dinner made completely out of salad?" That night's dinner was a first for Fey. They learned that she would not like it if there was no cooked meat, or any type of meat honestly. Nothing a stove could not fix.
"So, what about the sleeping arrangement?" They opted to rearrange the basement of the church. There was enough space down there if you know how to rearrange it well.
After they were done rearranging the bedding, everyone laid down except for Henryk.
"Henry? Where are you going?" Ray would have started to feel alienated or ditched since he refused to sleep in the same room. That would have been the case if she did not notice how he generally is around flirty women. The few amazons who winked at him on their way back had him turn the other way, face aflame.
"I'm going to sleep upstairs. The beds have all been occupied" He did not get to say no. His view suddenly shifted to lying in bed and looking at a smiling Ray.
"We will sleep in the same bed for now, then. It would not do to have my lover sleep on a hard surface, right?" Ray agreed to be his lover. Even if their love has not bloomed yet, she was going to be as considerate as she can as his lover.
Henryk did not say any more words. He simply laid on his back and let Ray lay herself beside him. Slowly through the night, Ray, unknowingly, shifted in her sleep and found her way into his arms. It was a sight to see the next morning, when Henryk wanted to scream and burst out of the basement, but could not for the life of him.