142 – A change of pace.

After my shift ended I went to my tent and decided to wake my girlfriends up.

I started with Yolin, shaking her shoulder.

The Oni's eyes slowly opened and she smiled. “What? Can't sleep?” She chuckled and made room next to her. “You can cuddle with me,” she offered, opening her arms.

The invitation was tempting, but there were matters to be discussed.

I shook my head. “We'll cuddle after this, give me a second,” I replied and shook Lapia's shoulder.

The Elf moved her head, keeping her eyes closed. “What?” She hissed. “Is it morning already?”

“That's Natasha's glow,” Yolin giggled.

The Wizard sat up and rubbed her face. Her hair was a mess and had a bit of drool escaping her mouth.

I smiled and cleaned it off for her. “It's two in the morning,” I informed her.

Lapia sighed and opened her eyes, then squinted and blinked due to my glow.

I turned to Alyssa and reconsidered for a second, but took a breath and shook her shoulder.

The Luzo clicked her tongue, opened her eyes, looked around, then glared at me.

“I wanted to talk to you three,” I started, ignoring two glares from Alyssa and Lapia.

Yolin nodded, then yawned. “About?” She asked and sighed.

I sat down and faced my three girlfriends. “I have summoned the council to talk about Pokora,” I revealed.

“Council?” Lapia repeated, still sleepy. “What?”

Yolin chuckled and sat up. “Sure.”

Alyssa closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. “Does it have to be in the middle of the night?”

I bit my lower lip and hummed. “I couldn't think of a better time, to be honest,” I explained. “We don't exactly have privacy during the day.”

“True,” Yolin agreed and produced a glass bottle of water, then drank some.

“What?” Lapia repeated, and her eyes slowly closed on their own. “What happened?” She whispered.

Yolin put an arm around her shoulders to support her.

Alyssa stretched and let out a long sigh. “Can't argue with that,” she finalized and sat up. Her eyes glowed white for a second and then blinked a few times.

Lapia's sleepy face slowly faded until full awareness. She turned to the Healer and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” she muttered and turned to Yolin. “You too,” she said and gave her a peck on the lips.

I smiled at the interaction and spoke. “Soo... Yolin,” I turned to the Oni. “Are you and Pokora going out, or...?”

“Yeah,” the Oni confirmed with a nod. “We are.”

“Nice,” Alyssa, Lapia, and me said at the same time.

The tank covered her mouth and laughed.

“You see,” I continued. “When I took watch with her... we were a bit horny and ended up fucking,” I confessed.

“Nice,” Alyssa, Lapia, and Yolin said at the same time.

“So that's why she avoided me,” Yolin muttered.

I nodded. “So, I was thinking we should... talk about it. If we all want her to be part of our relationship.”

Yolin shrugged. “My view is obvious,” she pointed out. “I think it'd be better to officially invite her.”

“I thought she wanted to take it slow,” Lapia considered. “But hearing that you two fucked... well, I think she's getting closer to her cycle.”

I nodded.

Alyssa looked at me and grinned. “You didn't ejaculate inside her, did you?” She inquired.

I shook my head. “There was no penetration,” I told her. “And I'm not on my cycle yet.”

“She's a horny one,” Yolin chuckled. “And she only asked me to not talk about our first date.”

We turned to Yolin and smirked.

The Oni shook her head. “I'm no snitch,” she denied.

“What's her view on joining?” Lapia probed.

The tank shrugged. “She's young, had no experience, and her cycle is getting close. She's just nervous,” she pointed out. “She's not against it, though.”

We all nodded at that.

“Should we all invite her together?” Alyssa proposed.

“Maybe when we reach Ladania we could get a room for the five of us and invite her?” Lapia offered.

“We could invite her when we're getting the rooms,” Yolin supplied, picking up on Lapia's idea. “You know, like... when choosing how many, we turn to her and go 'wanna spend the night together?', and if she agrees we explain things.”

“Should we wait until the others pick theirs and go in?” Alyssa wondered. “Maybe she won't like it if the others are around.”

“The concierge will be there,” Lapia pointed out.

“Yeah, but they're a stranger,” I argued.

“Right,” the Wizard uttered. “I'm a bit more open so I don't see those little issues.”

“Maybe we can have a drink and let the others go to the inn first,” Alyssa suggested.

“Mmm....” Lapia hummed in thought. “I bet Bonte will get drunk silly at some point and Bromisnar will take him to the inn along with Thelea. We have Elena and Hanna left.”

The three turned to me.

“What?” I raised my eyebrows.

“You tell them to go rest,” Alyssa schemed. “They'll listen to you.”

I winced.

“You know,” Yolin began with an amused chuckle. “We're making this way more complicated than it needs to be. How about we just get a room for us four and Pokora gets a room for herself, we go out and have a drink, then invite her on the way back or when we get there. That'll leave her with the option of refusing if she wants to go slow, and accepting if she wants to join at that point.”

“As expected of the oldest one,” Lapia praised.

“Leave it to the voice of experience,” Alyssa giggled.

Yolin rolled her eyes.

“Bruh,” I uttered. “You're 80 and 104 years old...” I pointed out.

Lapia raised her hands. “I don't know what 'bruh' is, but I've never had someone want to take it slow with me.”

“Same,” Alyssa agreed. “For both things.”

“Maybe that's a good sign,” Yolin pointed out with a smile. “You're can't wait for Pokora to join.”

“Absolutely,” Lapia confirmed with a big nod. “That woman is a snack.”

“She's quite attractive,” Alyssa agreed with a series of nods.

Yolin nodded and yawned. “Alright, let's go back to sleep.”

Alyssa and Lapia nodded and laid back down.

I made my way to Yolin and cuddled with her under the covers.

“I'm so excited!” Lapia giggled.

We laughed and talked until we fell asleep.

Morning, breakfast, road.

We followed the path towards the city and I noticed more people show up.

A few groups had come and gone in the last week, but nothing too noteworthy.

After around ten in the morning, however, a sort of traffic could be seen on the road. People on mounts, carriages pulled by animals, flying animals up in the sky, and low-leveled individuals on foot.

I inspected them, finding looks of surprise and adoration in equal amounts when they turned to me.

Yolin had said Ladania was a city full of Chasers... so 'adventurers' is what I had imagined. The few I had seen so far were... not the most interesting people in the world in terms of levels and equipment, and it seemed that was the norm.

There were no shiny armors, no mysterious Wizards wearing wacky robes followed by a troupe of short men on ponies, no quirky blue-haired girl trotting along dubiously aged explosion-inclined mage girl chased by a tracksuit wearing imbecile who teased a blond heavy-armored tank, no black knight carrying a massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough-looking slab of raw iron that was used like a sword.

None of that.

There was a lot of different species, though. Many I had not yet seen.

Towering above everyone in sight- except for Thelea- a fantastical creature walked next to the road. Around two and a half meters tall, a pair of long, thick, and curved horns, and the body of a bull.

A Minotaur! I thought, looking at the individual.

The bare torso without a trace of a scar was a bit disappointing but made sense considering untended wounds often lead to life threatening infections. The entire body was covered in a thick, dark brown fur with a few black spots here and there. The head was that of a bull's, but the eyes had the intelligence and wit of a sentient and fully functional person.

After my chat with Hanna I understood that people are what they look like.

The man met my eyes and huffed like a bovine would, then looked ahead.

Wow. Amazing. I looked ahead and recalled something. Don't they discriminate against people without horns? Where do we Halves fit in that retarded view? I wondered.

A good distance away, a few horsed people were approaching.

No.

Horsed people was wrong.

Centaurs!

Connected at the waist with the horse part, and covered in dull plate armor from head to... hoof, a group of four Centaurs trotted the road. Their hands were empty and moved like a person riding a horse at a fast speed.

They nodded when they reached us, then went on their way.

I nodded back.

Holy shit that's amazing! This is is cool as fuck!

A while of me absolutely losing my shit at the various species we came across later, we reached the city.

Ten meter tall walls met us, but the gates were wide open and without guards.

When we were about to cross the gate, a tall figure blocked the way.

A Goliath walked to the middle of the road and stood there with his hands on his hips. “Halve!” he called out.

“Yeah?” I replied, stopping Sonya. “Sup?”

“I've been waiting for you! Fight me!” He roared, producing a pair of massive axes that were as long as I was tall.

“What the fuck?” I whispered, confused at the spectacle.

People around us stopped on their tracks and turned to look at the source of the challenge.

[Barogh Goliath, Lvl 391 Exekus]