Chapter 67: A necessary telling off

He had been momentarily drowning, then the paralysis was gone and he was back on his feet squished between a very distraught cat and dog. The injury on his arm was still there, sadly and he could still feel nothing in his right which was still dangling lifelessly.

The giant monster for its part had the head chopped from its massive serpentine body.

Rana looked very very angry. In a way Simon had not seen before, so when she dragged him across to the green magic circle he followed without any protest, his monster girls still hanging on to him like glue.

The basilisk was left in its spot and he even saw the treasure chest spawning. But he could interact with neither as he was teleported out. Again his instincts told him to let Rana do whatever she wanted to do.

The expression remained as he was hauled through the crowd many looking at his particular scene with raised eyebrows but no one did or said anything though and let Simon be spirited away.

It was not until Rana was back at the spot where he first met her that she let out an audible grunt of extreme exasperation.

She plopped him and his clinging monster girls onto the stone floor as she moved into her stall. She brought a vial of bright red liquid and tossed it to him who promptly caught the thing.

"Drink that. It should heal your wound and take care of the venom."

The way she said those words brought up dark and painful memories and his body instantly tensed up getting ready for a beating.

She was giving Simon a very very stern look with her arms over her large chest.

Simon drank the rather sweet and syrupy liquid. The effect was almost instantaneous, the bloody gash which admittedly had already started to heal from his natural regeneration closed up in an instant. He could also feel his right arm again and repeatedly opened and closed his fist to check its dexterity.

Both Stella and Amy started to whimper now as they nuzzled into his sides.

"Do you know why I am angry?"

The words took him out of himself and to Rana who still looked just as angry. He rapidly shook his head.

"At least you are honest. Tell me, what does the word Tamer mean?"

"To bring monster girls under your control and use them as you saw fit."

That was the dictionary definition even if it left a sour taste in his mouth, but Simon did not think Rana would appreciate his more nuanced answer at the moment.

"Ok."

"Now. Can you tell me why monster girls are necessary?"

The more he answered her question, the more he realized where the conversation was going and exactly where he fucked up.

"Because they are more powerful than men and can protect them from harm?"

"And what is the normal course of action when they can't?"

"Flee..."

"Then why in the love of all that is fucking right in the world did you ever think it was a good idea to go head to head with a boss basilisk!?!"

"Because..."

Simon shut up.

"Do not interrupt me, you suicidal imbecile! Trust me! I am this close to reporting you to the psyche ward and having your temperament retrained! Don't make take that last step!"

Her eyes were on the verge of erupting as she continued her rant.

"Do you know why tamers don't take the field even if they are empowered by a dozen bonds? Fucking simple! Their base is that of a basic human male and regardless of how many force multipliers you add, a human will never match a monster girl!"

"It was only by sheer luck that the combined power of all the benefits and the power of your monster girl's aura that you are even alive right now!"

Simon shrank into himself with every word, no bestial desires this time, only shame.

"Speaking of monster girls, I thought you loved them. Just look at your two monster girls. They are so fucking traumatized that they don't even know what to do right now!"

"I mean for fuck's sake! All you had to do was use the escape crystal or run away so the basilisk was out of our line of sight! But mister hero here had to prove his might! Well, guess what? I could snap you like a pretzel with one arm! And your monster girls could kill you by breathing in your fucking direction! You are weak! Not a fighter!"

"You are also supposed to be smart! A leader! SO FUCKING LEAD YOUR IMMORTAL WAR MACHINES!"

Simon realized that Rana was not being coherent and bashing him with everything she could think of from the top of her head.

But her words held a lot of weight and now being given the full breadth of understanding, he realized how stupid his actions were. He had so many different options and the one he chose was the one that put his life at risk.

And he realized it was not only his life to lose. If he died both Stella and Amy would follow and being the cause of the death of his budding family hurt a lot deeper than his own demise.

He wrapped his arms around Amy and Stella hugging them tightly, promising himself to do better.