Arthas -
We left the still frozen Akeno to process the scene while all three of us entered the bath. The bath in this City Lord's manor was almost as big as the one from the noble's inn back at the capital so not just three but even a dozen people could comfortably sit there without it feeling cramped.
It was something I was glad for as I could only imagine how awkward it would have been to remain in the room with Akeno after that kiss.
After undressing and cleaning up, we entered the bath which was thankfully not damaged in the raid.
"So, I noticed your reaction to Akeno's surprise. What's that about?" Veena asked as she sat beside me.
I rolled my eyes recalling the blatant flirting from that girl.
Rose also smiled at the question.
I explained the situation to her, what we had that night and how I told her that she was trying too hard.
"And she's apparently taken that as a challenge and has been coming onto me very hard since then." I explained.
"Hehehehe that's so like her. But trust me, she wouldn't do that if she had no interest in you. If she actually disliked you, she would have given you a fake smile while remaining perfectly polite with you."
My lips twitched as I imagined that scene. I couldn't decide which would have been worse, that or this.
"I hadn't even talked to her before that day. I can't see why she would like me?"
"Power." Veena explained, closing her eyes and relaxing into my side. "Most devils are attracted to power and your show of power against that group of troublemakers would definitely attract her. She's always had a fantasy for such shows of power."
"You know her quite well."
"Of course. I have basically raised her with my daughter Rias since she was twelve. I know what she is like."
"So, what should I expect from her now that she has seen me kissing her adoptive mother?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"Hehehehe, what fun would it be if I told you everything right here and now?" She giggled.
"You have a very weird sense of humour." I complained.
"Oh come on, you know you like it."
"Liking is too strong a word." I retorted but didn't say anything more.
"So, how have you been doing, Rose? Is the new place treating you well?" Veena asked.
"Yes. It's a good place and with some work, things will get in line again."
"That it will. By the way, how was your alone time with Arthas? Did you two go on any dates?" She asked, suddenly back into her gossip mode once more.
Seriously, no matter the age, women always liked gossip.
I relaxed as the two women talked about various things.
Veena noticed my bored face and moved to sit on my lap, my length fitting snugly into her asscrack. My arms snaked around her and hugged her lightly, playing with her breasts.
Yup, she knew exactly what to do.
I kissed her neck while my hands played with her breasts, slowly pulling and pinching her nipples.
We looked at Rose who was rubbing her legs at the scene and looked slightly flushed too.
She moved closer to me as one of her hands reached for Veena's breast too.
Both Veena and I were surprised at the move as Rose was only this active after we were a bit into making out and she was hornier.
So her taking an initiative was surprising, although a welcome one.
Veena smiled at her and cupped her face, pulling her into a kiss.
The scene was literally inches away from my face and I could see their tongues dancing with each other clearly. It made my already hard length even harder and one of my hands reached down to Veena's lower lips while the other one reached for Rose's breasts, pulling her to my side.
Both of them separated a few moments later as a string of saliva connected their tongues. I couldn't hold on anymore and pulled Veena into another kiss.
Rose wasn't sitting idle either and kissed my neck.
During that time, my fingers worked on her lower lips vigorously.
We made out for several minutes when I felt Veena's hips shaking against my hands for a bit and she let out a light groan into my mouth as she reached her peak.
She slumped into my chest, breathing heavily as she enjoyed the afterglow of the climax. Rose took this opportunity to claim my lips which were free now and only separated after another minute.
"Oh my, Rose has really gotten better at kissing. Seems like you two had a lot of practice in Alverton?" Veena giggled.
"Not really. We were too busy most of the time and others were staying in the City Lord's manor too. Rose was sharing rooms with other girls while I had to share rooms with the guys so we didn't get much time. We could only get some between work. It was only recently that they moved out of the City Lord's manor and we have the place to ourselves."
"Oh. That doesn't sound good. I guess we will have to make up for our lost time tonight." She said a bewitching smile.
"That we do."
And we did exactly that. After a short bath, we headed to our room directly and jumped into the bed as we engaged into a fierce night of lovemaking.
It was only then that I realised that Veena was even more backed up than Rose and I who were at least finding some time together.
She went wild for the rest of the night and it was only due to my high enough level that I was able to come out on the top.
Rose had fainted twice due to the pleasure.
By the end of it, she was so tired that she just fell asleep on top of Rose.
I was feeling very sticky due to the sweat and juices of the three of us and decided to wash it away with a short bath.
- Akeno Himejima -
She lay on the bed in her room in the City Lord's Manor but sleep was the thing furthest away from her mind right now..Her mind was still blank from the scene she had witnessed before coming to the room.
Lady Venelana and… and Arthas…
A part of her thought that she was having one of her extra raunchy dreams again. Akeno has had her fantasies and the women in the Gremory household were beautiful, whether it was her own king Rias or Lady Gremory or even Grayfia. So having dreams about them was nothing new but the sounds coming from the next door blew that thought away right from where they came from.
This night was no dream.
Her room was directly beside their room and her bed was against the wall so the voices from the room were quite clear. She didn't need to hear closely to know it was Lady Venelana and Rose.
A thought had come to her mind before… was she being forced but that immediately left her mind. After all, it was she who approached him for the kiss herself and none of the moans coming from the neighbouring room indicated such a thing.
But then… how was this happening?
Normally, she would have been turned on imagining the scenes inside the room after hearing such voices but right now, these sounds only made her even more confused.
She heard another loud moan from Lady Venelana, probably her reaching another climax. How many was it by now? Four or five?
No.
This is not going to work. At this rate, she wouldn't have any sleep the entire night.
Ultimately, she decided to go and drink some water to cool her mind so that she could think properly.
As she opened the room, she saw another figure in the room.
Grayfia.
She was dressed in a white night dress which shone in the moonlight coming from the window, showing the outline of her body clearly.
Just as she saw Grayfia or Bina, she turned towards her too.
Bina hadn't said anything about the whole thing before going to bed so Akeno was a bit hesitant to ask but her curiosity and confusion was at their peak and she could take her chances of getting a lecture from Bina if she could get the answer.
So she gathered her courage and finally asked. "Grayf… I mean Bina."
"Yes?" Bina replied in her usual stoic tone, deterring her courage but her curiosity pushed over and she asked.
"What… I mean… what is going on between Lady Venelana and Arthas? What? I don't understand?"
Bina looked at her with a blank look for a moment and Akeno almost had an illusion as if Bina just rolled her eyes at her.
"They are lovers." Bina replied in a calm voice.
The words were said calmly but they stirred up a storm in her mind.
And the result was the words which came out of her mouth. "But how?"
"Lady Venelana met him in the beginner's village and they got very close since then. Over time they developed a bond and got into a relationship." Bina replied calmly.
"But she's married to Lord Gremory, isn't she?"
"And? Devils have harems. I don't remember teaching you that it was restricted to just men. While rare, women also have harems of their own. As for Lady Venelana, she had been looking for a lover for sometime now. It is something Lord Gremory knew about and approved of too."
She found her mouth open at the revelation.
"Then Rose?"
"She is with Arthas and joins Lady Venelana sometimes."
No wonder.
He was always looking at her like that.
While her flirting could make any guy in her academy blush like a tomato, it was nothing in front of someone who has experience with someone like Lady Venelana.
His words came back to her mind again.
And then came the realisation…
He knew.
He knew about their relationship and how she would react to the news and still kept it from her.
He wanted to get back at her.
… and he did.
Ahh… she hadn't felt so embarrassed in such a long time.
She took a seat on one of the couches in front of Bina as her mind was processing the whole situation.
To divert her mind from the embarrassment, she talked more with Bina about how she has been since entering the game world.
She had talked mostly with Lady Venelana in the private Guild Chat.
Talking to Bina can be hard, even more so in a chat.
Now that she finally had a chance and it looked like Bina was also in a good mood, she decided to ask her about everything.
And the story only terrified her the more she heard.
Fighting and getting captured in the first World Quest and being auctioned as a slave.
If she hadn't been found by Lady Venelana and her group at the right time, things could have been so different.
A part of her mind went on to Rias and Koneko who had still not been found and she quickly shook her head.
No.
They would also be fine.
Nothing is going to happen to them.
And then she found out about the whole debacle in the Auction house.
"What level was that man? Do you think we can hunt him down?" She asked, thinking about the guy who tried to obstruct them from saving Bina, Rose and the other players.
"He is a T6 and currently a slave of the Fairy Tail Guild." Bina replied with a smile.
"Eh?"
"He is the same person who was sent to guard the gates of the Fairy Tail Guild when we arrived today. Arthas tricked him during that very auction and made him go bankrupt and then bought him along with the rest of us. He has been serving as the gatekeeper of the Fairy Tail Guild since then."
They talked for a while before Akeno found herself calming down a bit. The voices in the other room had also stopped by now so she decided to take the day off.
Bina looked like she was getting ready for a bath too.
She bid her goodnight and left for her room.
When she was going to bed however, she realised that during the conversation, she had completely forgotten to drink water so she opened the door to go and drink water… and that's when she saw a scene which stunned her once more.
Bina and Arthas were going to the bath together.
Her eyes trailed towards his form. He was wearing only a pair of shorts and his body was slightly sweaty, most probably due to the intense action in the room.
Was he also going to take a bath…
If so then, why was Bina with him?
- Arthas -
I got down and wore my shorts which were laying beside the bed.
Over the past six months or so, especially after my relationship with Veena, I was not that bothered with nudity. It wasn't even just our relationship but the training I had been doing with the knights.
During a realistic fight, clothes getting torn off was not uncommon. If someone hesitated during that moment, it could cost them their life.
This was something which Veena and Bina had drilled into my mind.
It made sense too.
After all, in the real world there was no anime physics preventing the clothes from getting blown off like in anime.
Thinking back to how Goku and other fighters fought wars which could destroy entire planets, energy strong enough to casually end galaxies and yet… yet their clothes, especially their trousers were always protected in just the right places.
No wonder both of them weren't bothered by nudity.
In fact, it wasn't just them but Arnold and Sir Ralph too who taught me this.
When talking to them I realised that despite being from a game world where game mechanics was above everything else, their advice was based on real world experience.
I am pretty sure that if they had been in the real world in the mediaeval times, they would have surely made their names famous worldwide.
But that didn't mean I had become an exhibitionist by any means.
There were two other girls in the house who were not in a relationship with me.
Actually, Bina wasn't really bothered by it and she had seen me naked before too so it was only Akeno. That girl tried to act mature but she was still inexperienced.
I didn't want to give her a show.
Although on second thought, knowing what I knew about her, she might actually tease me for it too.
Nah… I had seen the look on her face when Veena kissed me.
There won't be any teasing for the near future at least.
As I stepped out, I saw someone in the living room.
Bina was getting up from the couch and going towards the bath too.
My arrival attracted her attention and I paused for a moment.
"Are you going for a bath too?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Okay then. Go ahead. I will go in after you come out." There were other baths in the City Lord's manor too but for that I will have to go out and that would require me to dress up or risk being seen by other maids or guards.
I didn't want the rumour that the new City Lord was an exhibitionist who wandered around his mansion naked at nights.
"No, I will wait." She replied, stoically.
Ah, she was in her maid mode.
There was no way, she was going to go in first while I waited.
I knew how to deal with this so I just smiled and pulled my trump card.
"You have a leave till tomorrow morning. Take this time to relax."
As expected, a smile came to her lips as soon as I said this.
She turned towards the bath but before walking there, she spoke once more. "The bath is big enough for both of us. I have just heated the water. It would cool off if you wait long."
I raised my eyebrow at this and then shrugged and followed her to the door.
She did a bit of stretching, each move of her was making her clothes stick to the thin fabric of her nightgown, making it clear that she wasn't wearing any underwear inside. After stretching, she opened the buttons of her gown and let it fall on the ground and stepped into the bath.
When she was in the water, she looked at me and I realised that I had just been watching her and hadn't moved from my place yet.
I too got out of my shorts and noticed that she had raised an eyebrow as she looked at me.
I ignored her look and entered the bath, sitting facing her.
She smiled at my reaction and took out a wooden tray from her inventory, followed by a bottle of alcohol and two glasses and poured both of us drinks.
I took one glass and took a sip of my drink.
I knew how she behaved when she was drunk. So at least one of us had to remain sober. But before she got drunk enough, it was easy to talk to her.
"You look much more comfortable than the last time we were together in a bath. Back then you looked like you were actually putting in an effort to do that." She started a conversation.
My lips twitched at her words. I remembered that I had only done that due to a bet with Veena.
"I like to think that I have good adaptability." I replied, taking another sip of the drink.
She just chuckled at that.
"More like you did it because Lady Veena told you or something like that." She called out, making my lips twitch again.
She obviously noticed this and smirked victoriously. "Don't be sad. You are acting more like a good leader now. People always want their leader to be bold and confident. You are doing better."
"Thank you." I nodded. "So how were things in Llyne after we left?" I started some small talk with her.
We talked for almost an hour.
It was actually very nice talking to her when she was not in her stoic maid mode.
By then she had finished the bottle and the water was also getting cold so I helped her into her room, although helping her while she was drunk and naked was another mess altogether. She was the complete opposite of her maid persona while she was drunk. She was an even bigger flirt than Veena when completely drunk.
Had she not been drunk, I might have returned her flirting too.
Unfortunately that was not the case so I just dried her with a towel in her room and made her lay on the bed, covered her with a blanket and returned back to my room to take a nap.
x_
"We have filled a hundred and eight spots in the guild. There are still forty two spots left." Elaine reported as we gathered the next day for breakfast.
"That's actually better than expected." Shiroe replied. "The real crowd will come today when these members go out and tell everyone about the guild perks. I guess we closed the counters too quickly yesterday."
"It was already late. You guys did the right thing. No need to chase after them. They will come on their own." I replied lightly as I took a bite of my food.
It was much better than yesterday.
I looked at Bina and gave her a light nod.
Earlier this morning, I had introduced her to the maids and guards of the City Lord's Mansion and gave her a full command of the group.
And boy did she take command seriously.
In just a few hours, even the food seemed better than what we had been eating before. Perks of having a good maid.
"Yeah. The real problem will be keeping them out." Star replied.
That's true.
It was decided that Suikazura-san and the guild members who used to be in charge of this back in Llyne will manage the task and will be recruiting new members.
Shiroe and Theodore will be making teams for the Knights and the Guild members to level up. We also needed to make a schedule for the patrol of the Guild members in Alverton to maintain security.
Thankfully, with Veena's arrival, the business and trade side of things was taken care of. Bina was helping me with the management work of the city.
Rose was taking care of the construction of the new dorms which finally left me with some free time.
And I could concentrate fully on training with the Knights or accompany Marielle's group for their Class Advancement quests.
Since everything was decided, we got to work too.
We all went our own way.
Even Kurumi had reached the level cap for her class and decided to take an advancement quest.
It was a frightening pace but considering her daily routine, it was understandable.
During our leveling spree in Llyne, each group hunted for around eight hours, in shifts so that we could always have enough knights stationed at the city too.
Kurumi, she used to do double shifts every day.
Even on the days where our main group didn't go out to hunt, she went out to hunt twice with other player groups.
Due to this, her leveling speed was almost double that of most people, almost rivalling my own.
Obviously, this behaviour was noticed by several people who wanted to emulate her but failed magnificently.
Kurumi had real life experience beyond which most people lacked.
After several people were injured, they stopped trying to do the impossible and just deemed her another crazy anomaly.
We talked for a bit and then left for our own work for the day.
Akeno as usual followed me to practice her skills with the knights but unlike before, she was quiet.
We reached the Knight's Academy.
The Knights were getting a hang of their daily routine and they were already doing their usual workout before I entered the Academy.
Arthur had gone with Kurumi and Elaine and the rest to work for their Advancement Quest so there was no one who could guide them with usual exercise but that didn't stop them.
"I didn't expect them to be working out." With how tired they looked after training, I was expecting them to be lazing around and resting whenever they got any chance.
"Then you underestimated the bruise to their egos at getting beaten up by you for the last few days." Akeno replied, finally breaking the silence that hung between us all this time.
"Really? I didn't realise that. Guess, I will have to keep it to a moderation and show them that they have a chance against me lest they give up hope and stop working hard." I replied.
"Ara ara, quite confident about that, aren't you?"
"It's just a logical progression. With things getting in line here, I will be focusing more on leveling up and with the different rates of leveling between Players and NPCs, the difference between us will only become increasingly vast." I shrugged.
"That's very logical. Then again, you have always seemed to be a very smart person to me. What I don't understand is how someone like you is in a relationship with Lady Venelana?" She asked, surprise still fresh in her voice. "You do know who she is, don't you?" She asked.
"Which identity are we talking about? The current lady of the House of Gremory, former member of the Bael or the mother of the current Lucifer and the strongest devil in the world? She does have a lot of identities." I asked, unphased.
Her lips twitched a bit and she replied after a short pause. "All of those. Aren't you scared of any of those titles? Or were you so busy thinking with your lower head that these thoughts didn't come to your mind?" She asked.
"Scared? Yeah, I was quite scared when I found the woman I had been sleeping with was not only a devil but also married and the mother of freaking Lucifer." Well, that and the fact that I was in the Boob world of all places. "Trust me, just the fact that she was married was already a shocker to me. My mother has taught me many things but being a homewrecker is not one of them." I replied while also recalling that night.
"So what changed your mind?" She asked.
"Who would be the right word here." I replied. "I talked to Veena, asked her what her family, her husband and her kids would think about that. Mind you, we hadn't been in any relationship, physical or otherwise before that. She was just helping me out when I was kinda having an emotional breakdown of sorts. Things just developed from there."
I thought back to our conversation and it looked like Akeno was actually listening, which was kinda surprising as from what I knew of her and what Veena had told me, she was very quick to jump her guns.
I guess this world has made her grow in more ways than one. But since she was listening, I continued.
"Veena explained that I shouldn't judge devils or most long lived races by human standards. I had no idea about the supernatural world before that mind you. She said that she and her husband were quite close, probably each other's best friends even now but over time, their desires and passion for each other just faded away. This is something that happened in many older devils and even her own mother-in-law was living by herself now. They could either live a monotonous life together or find other partners. Her husband had other lovers and some of them were her friends too." I said, looking towards her and to her credit, she nodded lightly.
"Yes. Lord Gremory does have a harem of his own."
"Veena said that both she and her husband had an understanding and they were also going to live their own lives in a few years. They were just worried about their daughter and were waiting for her to get married."
"What!" She asked, her voice a few octaves higher, her surprise clear on her face.
"I guess you didn't know that."
"I… I mean I know they were rushing the marriage but this… I had no idea about this plan of theirs."
"I guess no one other than those two knew about this. Not even Bina had any idea and was also surprised when she found out about our relationship."
She just nodded dumbly.
"Well, what else. Since things had gotten that far, I too agreed. After all, when someone like Veena is coming after you, there are very few people who would disagree." I shrug. "Although, she did make me promise that I would look for other lovers for us, female only. Apparently, her time with her husband's harem gave her a taste for female lovers. So when she saw Rose getting close to me, she actually encouraged both of us to get together and then pulled her into our relationship too. She can be very persuasive."
Her eyes twitched lightly but she didn't say anything on this.
"So, that's all there is to our relationship. Two people who got together in times of danger and got into a relationship. If you ignore the identities of these two people, you would realise that the relationship we have is not that uncommon."
"You don't say…" She rolled her eyes.
I just shrugged. "I am kinda surprised you are taking this as well as you are. Veena told me that your relationship to her is almost like her own daughter."
Like seriously, I was more worried about accidentally giving her the equivalent of 'I fucked your mom' experience the next time we met.
"I am still trying to process if this is real or if I am trapped in some kind of elaborate illusion." She replied.
"Technically, this game is an elaborate illusion so you're not wrong."
Her lips twitched at this and I laughed. "Well, at least now you stop trying so hard."
"No wonder you weren't affected by my charms. You had experience with Lady Veena." She pouted.
"Eh, I won't lie but I wouldn't have fallen for such novice level teasing even if I had no experience." I joked. "The problem is that despite your seeming mature act, I bet you haven't even had your first kiss yet… and that shows."
"Ara ara, is that a challenge?"
"It's a fact, dear."
"You seem to be very experienced to be saying that. Then again, I guess Lady Veena, Rose and even Bina… your experience is not low." She threw a bomb.
"Excuse me?"
"What?"
"What was that about Bina?"
"What else? I woke up last night for water and saw you going into the bath with her. I have been in the devil society long enough to know the services a maid can do for their master and knowing Bina, she would not even blink an eye…"
"Alright, I would like to stop you right there before your mouth wanders off to the same place that your mind has. Bina and I don't have anything going on between us yet. We are… good friends."
Yeah, I guess I could call it that?
Seriously, what even was our relationship?
"That's surprising. Normally most people are too afraid of her to approach her as a friend."
"Probably because she is on duty. If you want to know the real Bina, meet her when she is on a holiday or a break. Good news, I am her current master and I can give her a break whenever I want." I replied with a smile.
"Oh. That's new. What else?"
"New?" I got up after equipping my armour and getting ready for the next round of training. "She is a better flirt than you."
With that, I left the pouting Akeno back as I faced the first group of knights for the day.
- Kurumi -
She jumped back after slashing the monster one last time and Arthur took the final hit, slicing it off in two and ending it.
The monster collapsed and the fight ended.
She looked around. "Alright, I don't sense anyone else around this area. We can take a short break." She said as she slumped down on the ground.
Elaine also let out a sigh and sat down on the ground while Arthur sat beside her, bringing out a towel to clean his sword.
"So you were in a team with the Gremory Heiress' Queen?" She asked Arthur.
"I was lucky to see her in the second town. They were looking for a new team member, a squire or a swordsman and were good at what they did so I joined them." Arthur shrugged.
"Did you guys get any clues about Le Fay or Shirone?" She asked again with little hope, as if the answer would change this time.
It didn't.
"None." Arthur shook his head. "I personally think Venelana Gremory's plans are much more likely to yield any significant results in finding them. What about you? How did you end up joining them? I am surprised they even let you in their main group, knowing your identity."
"It was a coincidence." She went on to explain how she had met Gasper in the beginner village and accompanied him to Greenfrost, how she had seen an NPC kidnapping Rose and helped her and was in turn was recruited by Arthas. "It was only after that that I found out they were with Venelana Gremory."
And then her eyes twitched on recalling how Arthas had caught her lie at the first meeting. That guy…
"The Guild Master, Arthas… he saw through my ruse." She let out a sigh and explained. It was embarrassing to be seen through by someone around her own age, especially if that person wasn't even a part of the supernatural world. Then again, at least she wasn't like Elaine who got drunk and blabbered everything.
"He is very good for someone not related to the supernatural world. It's very hard to believe that he hasn't formally trained in swordsmanship before. Do you think he could be lying?" Arthur asked.
"No."
"No."
Both she and Elaine shook their heads at the same time and then looked at each other.
She went first. "He is really ignorant about the supernatural world. Didn't even know the basics. I have tested him already."
"Hmm. Actually, his parents are well known and even contracted to the Golden Dawn. They were looking for ways to heal his condition. I had heard a bit about him then." Elaine explained. "Arthur Strauss, the genius heir to Strauss industries. He's good at academics, having received many awards but he was never connected to the supernatural world."
"I see. Then his talent with swordsmanship is indeed once in a generation." Arthur nodded.
"That guy is very sharp. Most people don't realise this because Shiroe takes care of all the planning and battles and Veena takes care of the business aspect of the Guild. This allows him to quietly hide behind them and pretend to be a musclehead. But that guy has a very sharp sense of observation and intuition."
"Is he dangerous?" Arthur asked, with a slight frown.
"Dangerous? For us, no. At least not until we try to do anything bad to the Guild. He is a very good Guild Master like that." She commented, recalling his work over the months.
"Yes. I have actually heard even Lady Veena say that he is a very good leader. Most people in his position try to take credit for everything or do everything their own way, not listening to others. Arthas is not like that. He always assigns work to those who are good at it and even gives credit when it's due. That's a rare quality in leaders."
"I just want to say he's lazy but he uses all that free time to train so I guess he is a bit like Vali. One is a battle maniac while the other is a training maniac." She replied.
Yeah… those two would probably get along very well.
"Alright. Let's get back to our quest. We also have to do some scouting for Shiroe." She got up and dusted her clothes.
Her leveling speed had gone down as she caught up with the rest. Now she had to invest more time to keep her current rate of progress.
- Arthas -
Finally!
Fucking finally, I can go out to hunt again.
A week had passed since Veena and the rest came to Alverton.
Things have finally started to get back on track once more.
First of all, the players of Alverton found out about the Guild Perks and the ones who were offended or doubtful about the Fairy Tail Guild at first, preferring to maintain a wait and watch attitude, all came running to join the guild.
Too bad for them, other than the ones being held open for friends, the rest of the slots were all full in just the first hour of the second day we opened for recruitment.
We did open up counters of pre-booking slots for the next round and got over seven hundred applications over the next two days.
Yes.
Seven hundred applications.
It was greater than even Llyne.
Then again, I guess seeing the general condition of the Fairy Tail Guild members and even communicating with them over the period of two days, they understood more about the perks of joining the Guild and rushed over.
Obviously, there were some people who wanted to make noise about the Booking charges but the number was not high.
I later found out that most people were shit scared of me after the example I had made out of Cardo's group.
As for the one who did make a noise despite that, we gave them our usual answer… to fuck off.
We used the Booking Money to buy two more properties and start making new Guild Dorms for the newer members.
Currently, we could only have around two hundred and fifty members and around seventy members still didn't have any place in the dorms. This number would have been higher if not for Marielle and the kids living in a different building or the rare few who had rented their own places instead of living in Guild Dorms.
Our aim is to have enough places to house around two thousand members as we are expecting at least that many guild members in the Fairy Tail Guild by the end of the year.
Another thing which happened was that we received a group from the Greenfrost Church who had come here to rebuild the church in Alverton which was destroyed in the previous raid.
The group consisted of three T5 Priests, three T5 Templars and five T4 Clerics.
It was an unexpected help.
I also got a letter from Sir Ralph who congratulated me for killing Cain Blackburne. Apparently that was an even bigger deal than I was expecting. He wrote that he was very happy to hear that I had become a T6 and was looking forward to my growth in the future.
The group which was sent to us was also bigger than normal cities which only had two Priests and two Templars. It seemed as if Sir Ralph had pulled some connections to get that done.
Either way, it was a great help to us.
With that, we got some more healers at the town to help out.
I invited the Templars for the training so that they could help out in future if we ever ventured into the miasma filled zones.
During our talks with the Templars and my own research, we found out how troublesome it was to hunt in those zones.
We would need specialised teams who could dispel the miasma temporarily and heal the group continuously on top of using miasma pills to have a chance to venture deeper into them.
More information we found out, although only in rumours, was that high Tier Druids could actually permanently dispel miasma from a place and restore the lands. Although finding them was extremely difficult. Unfortunately, they were almost non-existent in the country and we would have better chances to find them near the elven forests.
Either way, we gathered several Guild members who were interested in becoming Healers or Templars and put them in a group with the Templars who would guide them going forward.
Today, I came for a guild member's quest.
She had to lead a team of a maximum five T4 Players, including herself, to take down a T5 Field Boss. With me were Akeno who was also a Cleric although she had her Mage Class equipped right now, Kurumi and two other members of the guild who had come along to help her out.
Due to the absence of the T5 members of the Church, this part of her Quest was also delayed and by now, except for Kurumi and Akeno, everyone else had gotten a T5 Class.
Well, not everyone.
Gasper was still a T4 but bringing him out of his room would have been tougher than killing the Boss. So we gathered two other Guild members and I tagged along with the group just in case.
They would only fight the field boss and I will interfere if anything goes wrong.
It was my first time hunting near Alverton.
The forests… they felt different.
Even the monsters were slightly different.
Unlike the goblins and normal animal type monsters in the areas near Llyne, these forests seemed almost sinister.
Most of the monsters that we encountered here were of the dark or poison type.
Leeches, snakes, Dread Wolves, Corrupted Hyennas…
Their attacks caused various status effects like poison, confusion, and curses which made them troublesome to hunt. Even their tolerance to pain was quite high. That said, they had lower damage and brute strength than the ones around Llyne which made it more balanced
Our research said that these monsters were affected by the miasma deeper in the forests but weren't strong enough to stay in that place and were either chased out or fled to avoid dying from the miasma.
Holy Power was the bane of these monsters in general. It not only harmed them but also slowed them for a while, allowing the other members of the team to finish them off easily.
Apart from Holy Power, Fire and Lightning Magic was quite effective on them.
I raised my hand to stop the group which was following me.
My Observation Haki had sensed a presence coming towards us from the groves ahead.
A moment later the figure became clear.
A large bear with a brown coat and black specks. Its fangs were dark in colour and it was breathing a blackish gas out every time it breathed. Its claws were also dark and had a miasma hovering around it.
A T5 Monster but not a Field Boss.
The monster let out a roar and charged towards us.
"Holy Ray!" I raised my arm and used a Holy Ray to directly hit the monster.
The monster crumbled before it could reach us and rolled out, unbalanced.
I didn't give it any opportunity to get up as I slammed the ground and used my Holy Blade Skill to lop off its head in one clean strike.
Taking down a T5 monster in two skills… it wasn't just due to my T6 Class and stats.
A large part of it was also due to my Monster Slayer Class which gave me extra damage against monsters.
The team looked at me with wide open eyes but I waved my hands and walked forward to collect the loot.
"Our target is another kilometer inside the forest. This was just a stronger mob. Don't waste your energy here."
Kurumi took the lead as she was good at tracking while Akeno and I walked behind to guard the group from behind. The other three were in the middle.
The awkwardness between us had lightened a bit after the discussion I had with her about my relationship with Veena.
And she wasn't lying when she said that she was still trying to process the information and would only know what she was feeling after that.
It took her an entire day and then a night of seeing Veena walking out naked from our room with me in my shorts to drink water that she finally came to terms with the whole situation.
As for how she came out of the room right at that time, two days in a row… that wasn't something I wanted to think about.
Even Bina could do that when she wanted so I was already used to it.
It was what came after that which surprised me.
This girl… she was actually turned on by the whole thing. Seriously, there is something wrong with the minds of the long lived supernatural races or… maybe it was just Akeno who was an anomaly?
Ever since that day, she had started coming onto me even more blatantly than before.
Rose was embarrassed.
Bina was stoic as always.
But Veena found it hilarious.
I think she was more amused by how freaked out I was about this as she had to try reasonably hard to get me to break my composure.
In my defence, back then I couldn't show many expressions on my face.
I don't have any such problems now.
Obviously, she didn't cross any lines but other than that, everything was fine.
Nowadays, it was normal for her to lean onto me till her breasts were tightly pressed against my arms or leaning in front of me to give me a peak into her cleavage.
I was pretty sure that her breasts were actually slightly bigger than even Veena's which is ridiculous.
That Fallen Angel and Devil bloodline mixing together had created a pseudo succubus of some kind here.
She obviously didn't behave so blatantly in front of other members of the team, more specifically those who didn't know of the supernatural world but even then, this behaviour of hers was seen by another person… Kurumi.
It was like a tiger smelling blood or a cat smelling fish in this case.
Kurumi jumped in too, just to get her revenge for my previous comments.
And that's what led to the current situation.
Akeno was currently hanging from my arm while Kurumi threw smug looks at me from time to time.
We followed the path and reached a cliff from where we could actually see the boss we were targeting.
It was a two headed wolf the size of a truck. Its fur was jet black in colour. Its eyes were red as blood. One of the heads was looking around while the other head seemed to be sleeping.
From what the knights told me, each of these heads had their own special ability.
One of them breathed fire while the other spewed a black poisonous gas which corroded anything it touched.
Another one of their abilities was that once it was hurt to a certain extent, both heads let out a roar which confused or stunned the enemies in a certain radius around it.
Finally, when it is near death, both the heads go into a frenzy and the power and range of attacks increase.
We had already made plans accordingly.
It might not look like it but Marielle had more than enough experience leading a team. She had been a Guild Master herself in the previous game and the past year inside this game had given her a decent fighting experience too.
Akeno was used to fighting monsters due to her training with the Gremorys and while the skill system of this world was slightly different, it was based on the magic system of the outside world so it wasn't a big deal for her.
She was already one of the best mages in the game despite her lower level.
Lastly, Kurumi was very experienced. In fact, she was the most experienced fighter in the entire group. Even though she was originally a magic user, she did know martial arts and was experienced in close-quarter combat too.
The last two members were a Knight and a Bard who were the tank and the Buffer for the team.
We had the knight equip one of my older sets temporarily to increase his damage output and tankiness.
Before fighting, we decided to take a break and eat something to regain energy.
"Alright. This is it. Go on. You guys know of the plan. As for any other monsters coming in from the side, leave them to me." I reassured them.
Yeah.
That's my duty here.
Apparently, this world was both realistic and gamelike at the same time. One of the more realistic parts of this world was that other animals could get attracted by the sound of the fighting and attack the players even while they are fighting a field boss, something which didn't happen in most games.
This didn't happen in all the cases as most field bosses were very territorial and drove other animals out from their territories, but this one in particular was different.
It didn't exactly drive other canines from this area and they could sometimes jump in while a party was fighting the boss which could lead to casualties.
My job was to keep them away while Marielle's group fought here.
"Thank you, Arty-kun. We will be done in a jiffy. Come on girls. We need to teach this bad puppy a lesson." Marielle cheered, leading the group towards the boss.
I stood back and watched.
The monster sensed their approach and quickly stood up but the other head was still a bit dazed due to the half asleep state and there was a slight delay in their coordination due to this movement.
The fight started off with Marielle using a debuff on the monster and a holy type buff on the Knight. Akeno followed immediately after, slamming the monster with her strongest lightning attack.
The Holy Type Debuff and the lightning did its work as the wolf let out a sharp howl into the sky and its fur stood on its end due to the lightning bolt attack.
As soon as I heard the loud howl, I spread my Observation Haki and sensed two monsters heading this way so I got to work too.
Their fight went on for almost thirty minutes, probably because their team was lacking DPS except Akeno's magic but they whitted down the enemy's hp bit by bit until they won.
In that time I killed six monsters that were attracted by the sound of the attacks.
"Looks like our Guild is going to have its newest T5 today." I said as I approached the group who had completed the hunt. "Congratulations, Marielle."
"Thank you, Arty-kun." She replied.
"Alright, let's hurry back. It's already late in the afternoon. We have to get back before sundown."
"Okay~"
We headed back towards the city.
On the way however something happened that made me stop in my tracks.
I raised my hand and the group stopped behind me.
"What happened?" Akeno asked, looking around.
"We have company." I replied as people started coming out of the forest in front of us.
Dozens of people and leading them was a familiar face which just made me sigh in frustration… "Why don't these people ever learn?"
We were ambushed by Cardo and his lackeys.