Kaya rolled the ball down the lane powerfully, the sphere crashing into the center of the pins at the end. The pins exploded into chaos, but two pins were left despite the amount of force in which it struck, leaving her stomping at her failure to land a strike.

“Oh come on! The pins can get knocked over with so little, how are they still standing!”

She managed to catch the spare, but Kaya looked at the pins with a bit of confusion.

Now that everyone was together, it was time for a bit of fun. The entire Noblefrost Family was present, along with Rebecca and Irene. The strange gaming area had expanded, and now bowling, and a few other areas, were included in the fun they could have.

Nick had taught the girls the basics of bowling, and now all were enjoying the lightly competitive sport–the majority of them wearing more sporty clothes, given that they’d be playing.

“Watch how it’s done, Kaya.” He took confident steps down the lane, and in a single, flowing motion, he sent the ball down the lane.

But Nick had put more than a bit of spin on the ball, and while it looked like it might go into the gutter at first, it curved back and landed just slightly off-center. The pins exploded outward, and knocked them all down for a strike.

The Wolfen girls cheered and clapped, along with Winny and Jasmine, and Nick pumped his fist.

“Hell yeah!”

Kaya groaned. “That makes no sense. The ball didn’t even hit the pins that hard!”

Nick chuckled as he walked back to the seats, getting his high-fives for his strike. “Told you I was good at this. This sport is not all strength or aim. It takes a bit of finesse.”

Kaya snorted. “Oh yes, everyone knows how the great lord Noblefrost is full of… finesse.” Her words were dripping with sarcasm.

Fang nodded enthusiastically from Nick’s side, her tail wagging. “Yes, Boss is the best! Why’d you say it weird like that?” She tilted her head, with her eyes narrowed on Kaya.

“Just…never mind.” Kaya wasn’t about to explain sarcasm to her–the girl did understand it, but it was like a strange blind spot when it came to Nick. She looked up to the scoreboard, where Nick was winning by quite a bit, with three strikes in a row. “It’s Winny’s turn now.”

Winny stood up with confident steps, and despite not wearing shoes, had no trouble on the slippery surface with her hoofed feet. She lined up her shot slowly, and sent it accurately down the lane. Despite its slow speed, it crashed into the pins off-center, and still scored the strike.

Her tail swished, and her ears wiggled, and she sauntered back to the seats. “See sis, it’s not all strength or speed, but finesse, like Nick said.” The three Wolfen girls were quick to high-five her, clap and add their ‘woo’s’ of victory.

Kaya was bewildered at the result. “It doesn’t make any sense!””

“Oh, it’s my turn now.” Rebecca stood up wearing her cute poodle skirt outfit once more. Picking up the ball and taking on the form to roll the ball, Nick thought she looked cute–but Irene voiced the same thought.

“Becca! That skirt is so cute on you!” She floated nearby above them in her scholarly robes, leafing through one of the books from Nick’s study. Turning to Jasmine who was at her eye level, she asked, “Do you think you could make me one of those as well? It’s such a cute style that Seraphara’s Faithful won’t frown upon much.”

Rebecca blushed at the comment before she rolled the ball down the lane. Nick laughed at how her right wing started flapping, as if to aid the ball to move further to the right, and her whole body tilted the same way.

“W-What is it, Nicholas?”

“Just you being cute, is all.”

She was unable to claim the spare in the end with a gutter ball. Luna and Sable then helped point out how she needed to flow a little better with her form, as she lost a lot of accuracy when she twisted before she let go.

Irene smiled as she watched their back and forth discussion. “This is quite the fun family. It is wonderful to see Rebecca be treated so well–to be a part of such love and joy.”

Eirwen smiled. “She’s a sweet girl, full of love for all. We know all these years she’s worked so hard for many. You should definitely be proud.”

Nick added, “Your daughter is amazing, and I can see where she got her loving personality.”

Irene was crying happy tears, but then her smile became a little melancholic. “I know she is, her compassion is wonderful. I wish I…could have been there to see her grow. I missed so much, lost so much when I failed her.”

Rebecca returned to their seating, just hearing the tail end of their discussion as she sat next to Nick. “Mother, we talked about this. I do not blame you, and while I missed you, I was well taken care of–there are children in this world that suffer far more than I did. The community pitched in, and while it was a little lonely, the rest of my childhood was…comfortable.”

Irene floated down and hugged her daughter, her wings flapping. “I know, dear, and I’m so thankful you are well. It was only my thoughts of you that I managed to hold on, all these years.”

Nick noted, “Ten years being forced to aid that man in absorbing that faith energy, and while fending off his corruption. You fought hard.”

“He…tried so much to taint my spirit, making me witness horrible acts. But I held on for my Becca. I knew that if I gave up, my dear daughter and many other priestesses would be a target soon after.”

Eirwen gasped. “Witness? You mean you knew what he was doing? That…sounds even more terrible than I imagined.”

Nick remembered what kind of things Lumos was forced to say, and what nasty things he may have done with that, all to beat down her spirit. And then how he likely caused the murders of dozens of priestesses and adherents, the dissidents within his church.

She nodded. “I could somewhat feel his nasty thoughts, even if unable to put exact words to them, and I had a small awareness of his actions. But suffering all that was worth it, for I lasted until a hero came.”

Irene gave him a teasing smile. “And it was the same for you, hero. Feeling your love for your wives and your family’s love for you made it all the more worth my struggle. I could enjoy that for decades more.”

Nick’s eyes widened, and couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed that they had a sort of…voyeur during their private moments. “I had no idea.”

Irene saw his embarrassed look, and teased with a sly look as she continued to hold on to Rebecca firmly, “Oh, you’re embarrassed, hero? You showed me a beautiful world, one with a startling mix of love and lust! I couldn’t be more pleased that my daughter will soon taste your strong, yet tender affections!”

Rebecca blushed heavily, her wings fluttering as she looked between Irene and Nick. “Mooom, please! T-Taste?”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Kaya seemed to realized something else, a disgusted look on her face. “Ew, could the other souls Nick deals with, the ones he judges, do the same? What about Followers that recently died?”

Irene laughed. “No, for the way Nick tugged and brought me in with that Concept was different, I think… and that…strange monolith is a true prison. They can have no awareness of what happens on the outside. That Samuel rallied the prisoners shows he only had true talent for the darkness. It seemed those other people you faced were quite the same.”

Jasmine was next, and she scuttled forward and came to a stop at the edge of the lane, before she rolled the ball down the center. The ball struck and knocked most of the pins down, but one remained standing on the left–until she made a finger gun, and with a quiet pew, the final pin fell over.

But no light was visible, she must have used a beam of light outside the visible spectrum somehow.

“Hey, I saw that! That’s cheating!” Kaya growled.

Jasmine acted confused. “Whatever do you mean, Kaya? What did you see?”

Kaya’s jaw dropped at her shamelessness. “I saw you…you must have used some…light beam, or something?”

Jasmine hummed, feigning ignorance. “Hmm… Must have? My, my, Kaya. Even if that’s true, to think you’d get so mad, though–it’s just a game, isn’t it? You must really want Master’s reward. Fine. Let’s mark that frame as a nine, since it bothers you so.”

Kaya blushed, folding her arms and looking away as her tail swished in irritation. Of course, she couldn’t deny this. “Hmph.”

Sable chuckled. “You’re trying too hard, Kaya. You should just relax, this is just for fun, isn’t it? At this rate, you’ll get white hairs and the penalty game instead. But maybe that’s what you really want?”

Luna hummed. “I think you’re right, Sable. Boss will definitely get the first place, but maybe he can combine reward and penalty? I think that would excite her–perhaps a little too much.” She sniffed, giving Kaya a teasing look.

Kaya blushed even further, and Nick hugged her around the hip and scratched her between the ears. She sighed into his embrace, and Nick looked at his mischievous wolf girls.

“Don’t bully her, we got other games to play today. I don’t want a repeat of the last gaming day, so I’m rescinding the reward and penalty game. We’ll just play for fun, and I’ll just give all you girls the same rewards.”

Sable pouted. “Aww, but Boss, I thought you much enjoyed that in the end? This time, we could all be a part of it, too.”

Nick was interested in that, but… he looked at Irene and Rebecca, who were talking to each other about the game. They were around polite company. “Maybe another time.”

Sable chuckled. “Got it, Boss. After the wedding then.”

The three Wolfen girls were up next, and Nick couldn’t help but laugh that their wagging tails somehow sent the ball veering just a little bit off their aim. Luna was the first to catch on that this was happening, and managed to still her tail before she released the ball.

Everyone had fun as they had snacks and drinks as they took their turns for a time, and Jasmine and Luna took turns feeding and pampering Nick. He then pampered each of the girls one by one with his scratches and head pats, and sneaking small kisses as well.

Rebecca joined Nick on his lap, where they held hands and kissed while they waited for their turns to bowl as well. After a couple of games and some screwing around with their various spells and abilities, they moved on to the next game.

There was a caged off arena-like area, with various vehicles inside.

Fang gasped. “They’re like that car thing! We can drive these?”

Luna titled her head. “There’s more than enough for all of us. What is this?”

Nick replied, “They’re called bumper cars. Everyone get in one, and I’ll show you.”

Everyone started to get inside them, but Jasmine stood at the edge of the arena and pouted. “These…seem a bit small for me.”

Irene was floating above, and pointed to the back. “There’s one over there that looks like it might fit you! Though, you may need to drive with your webbing…”

There was indeed a larger vehicle, that was likely meant for larger humanoids.

Jasmine hummed and scurried over to the large vehicle, and her spider body… mostly fit inside where people’s feet would go. But Sable was right–her hands from her hovering torso couldn’t reach the steering wheel. But she shot out her webbing from her fingers, and was able to drive the vehicles.

Nick looked over it. “Should work. So everyone…”

They each got into their own vehicles, including Irene. Nick described how to use the pedals, and they started moving the carts around, each moving forward and turning sporadically. Fang was quick to crash into Luna, knocking her back.

“Oh! Whoops, I–”

Sable then slammed into her cart, sending her careening to the side.

Nick then crashed into her, laughing at their shock. “That’s the idea! Just go crazy.”

And then everyone started crashing into one another, except for Jasmine.

“Why is mine so slow?” Jasmine was moving ponderously, but once Fang rammed into her and was instead knocked back quite a bit, it became a little clear why.

She was just so heavy. Also, it seemed to be counter to how easily she could bully others into a corner.

It really became pandemonium, as everyone began crashing into everyone.

Rebecca smacked into Eirwen, and then bounced back into Kaya and was shoved in another direction. She gasped and laughed at each of the sudden accelerations, “Ahh! This is fun.”

Irene was laughing as well, bouncing all over the arena. She looked a little crazed as she bounced around, which Nick thought was a little odd, but then Eirwen crashed into him with a giggle.

The wolf girls teamed up and started crashing into Kaya, driving her into the wall lined with bumpers of their own.

“Hey, no fair!” Kaya groaned. “I can’t even move now!”

The girls kept jolting into her one by one, laughing as the wolf pack teamed up on Kaya.

Nick and Eirwen came to her rescue and knocked each of them back and away, allowing Kaya to sneak out.

Fang pouted. “This is wrong! Boss should be on our team!”

Jasmine crashed into Luna, sending her much smaller cart spinning away. Fang and Sable both tried to crash into her repeatedly, but it was like they just bounced back instead.

The spider maid laughed. “This is kinda fun! I’m like the big bad boss. None can stop me!”

Sable snorted as she started driving circles around her. “Yes, but we hardly need to. You’ll never catch us.”

Irene and Rebecca both crashed into her, but it was like they just bounced off ineffectually as well.

They all played for a time, but it didn’t take that long for the novelty to wear off. They exited the vehicles once they had their fill, and looked back at the gaming area.

“That was fun!” Irene looked back at the vehicles. “It’s a simple thing, but driving the cars is fun and the way you jolt when you crash into another is exhilarating.”

Rebecca was all smiles. “I quite liked it, and it was fun to play with mother, and everyone else. What is next?”

“There’s plenty of games for us all to play here.” He looked over to the gambling section. “You girls must be close to the Faith Conduit by now?”

Rebecca nodded. “We’re getting close, but we are managing the risk. The chips your family has been giving has been a big help.”

Nick hugged her closely to his side. “My family? You mean our family. You’re definitely a part of it, even if not in name yet.”

“That’s right!” Eirwen hugged Rebecca from the other side of her, “We all consider you a true friend, and we can’t wait for you to join us.”

The other girls nodded and shared their sentiments, and Rebecca and Irene both looked so happy they were nearly brought to tears.

“Oh, thank you so much, girls. You have truly made me feel so welcome and loved.”

Irene was all smiles at seeing Rebecca happy. “You lovebirds are planning to be wed soon, right? Of course, the hero has my blessing, and I’m sure he’ll have my mother’s as well.” She hugged herself with her arms and her wings. “When I was with him, I could feel how much he loved my dear daughter, and the rest of you. I was so happy to feel how he loved you so! ”

The girls all looked at him with loving expressions filled with fervor, and he suddenly realized it was going to be a busy night.

Nick cleared his throat, changing the topic for now. “The plan is for us to enter Seraphara’s Ordeal tomorrow. Once we complete it, I think we’ll both be ready for the ceremony. Isn’t that right, my future wife?”

Rebecca blushed, her wings fluttering. “Y-Yes. I am ready to be yours, and for you to be mine.”

Irene clapped, her body lifting higher into the air. “Oh, I’m so excited for you, my Becca! For you to marry the one you love so, it brings me great joy. I can’t wait to see you in your wedding dress!”

Jasmine said, “They’ll be gone for a while in the Ordeals, but we have her measurements. I’ll make certain the dress is perfect.”

The gaming was nearly forgotten as the talks shifted into wedding plans, but Nick was happy to see his girls so animated as they planned out Rebecca’s special day.

Soon, Nick would be facing several different types of new challenges in the Ordeal, but he was excited for what would come once he was successful.