“Uhh… what?” Fenrir asked, watching with wide eyes just as everybody else was.

Even Serra was confused by what she was seeing.

None present could take their eyes away from the undeniable sight in front of them. The two women who were so violently killing each other just moments before had stopped to whisper something to each other… and then began to kiss. They did not just kiss once and be done with it either. They kept their lips pressed together, enjoying one another’s warmth and softness, without a single care for who saw nor without any interest in the fact that there was a copious amount of blood flowing out from both of them.

“My – my hero, did you not have a movie date planned with her?” Nell asked.

“Yeah. I… feel like I’ve been beaten to the goal or something,” Fenrir answered. “Is this what it feels like to be the guy in a netorare doujin?”

“What’s that?” Serra asked. “Doujins are lewd, right?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“But I want to know.”

“Nell, help.”

Nell nodded and began her explanation with a smile. “Ah, you see, my dearest Serra, I believe that he is speaking of—”

“You can stop helping me if you like those.”

“But I only like them in fiction…”

“Too bad. We’re not tainting Serra’s mind with that.”

“You’re making me want to know even more,” Serra pouted.

“I – I want to know what it is, too,” Azalabulia said.

“I have regrets. I’m never making a joke involving that again,” Fenrir sighed. “All you two need to know is that it’s the most horrible thing there is and that only true degenerates with no morals like it.”

“Or people who have an excellent taste in culture!” Nell said.

“No. Only people with no taste in culture.”

“But, my hero, is that not similar to how our relationship started? One could say that I was technically a member of Ull’s harem. Even if nothing happened between us, I was still treated like his property alongside those he did enjoy sharing beds with. Were it not for the glory of netorare, I would not be a member of yours and Serra’s harem now instead!”

“I… I want to argue with you but I think you might be technically right. Did I NTR you away from Ull?”

“You have! Both emotionally and physically. I am nothing but property of yours and the others’ now, only living to be used after having been stolen away! Such a shame…”

“Wait, have you been applying this sort of logic to our relationship the whole time? Has this been netorare to you since the beginning?”

“Of course, my hero. Whether you like it or not, netorare is at play here.”

“I think your definition of netorare is way too loose.”

“I – I am too loose for you? Ah, to degrade me in such a way. You are truly,” Nell sniffled, “so cruel.”

“Pl-please don’t make everybody misunderstand.”

“But, my hero! You are the one calling me loose after being the one to make me—”

“Don’t worry about it man,” one of the random men standing behind Fenrir said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Everybody who’s worked over here knows about her.”

Everybody within Fenrir’s group, Fenrir included, was surprised that some random player actually entered their conversation for once. Instead of just leaving them to talk among themselves as if they were in a world where nobody else existed with any agency, some totally random player who was only vaguely familiar and nothing more to their group actually entered the conversation.

“Oh. Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Fenrir said. “I don’t think I’ve gotten a chance to talk to you, but I’ve seen you around. What’s your name?”

“Pfar. With a P before the F,” Pfar answered, dramatically increasing his odds of becoming a member of their group by actually telling them his name. “Crap, my VA just let me know the pizza’s here. Later, Fen.”

“Wait, you know my—”

Pfar fell backward as he left virtual reality to get his pizza.

“He knew my name,” Fenrir said, returning his attention to the usual group. “He even called me Fen.”

“But that’s what most people call you,” Serra said.

“She’s not wrong, Fenny,” Oleander agreed. “Don’t most people around here call you that? They hear us call you it all the time, so they probably picked it up that way.”

“I… don’t know whether I should feel weird that somebody I didn’t know knew to call me that, or bad that I didn’t know the name of somebody who knew to call me that,” Fenrir said.

“I just want to know why it’s Pfar with a P instead of Far with only an F.”

“Pfar with a P sounds kind of cool, I think.”

“They sound the exact same, Fenny. If I add a P before your name – Pfenrir with a P sounds the same as Fenrir with only an F. Except it looks stupid now.”

“Pfenrir with a P would look stupid, but Pfar with a P looks kind of cool when I imagine it in my head.”

“You’re weird, Pfenny.”

“Wait, did you just say my name with only an F or with a P? It sounded like I heard a bit of a P at the start there.”

Oleander shrugged while looking away. “I’dunno. They sound the exact same to me, Pfenny.”

“I – I have no idea how you’re spelling my name now…”

“I’m jealous,” Serra said.

“Why?”

“None of us get to put a P in front of our names. Pserra sounds dumb. Pnell. Pcassiel. Paza – Pa… Pazawaza works.”

“Pa-Pazawaza?” Pazalabulia asked.

“I think Aza’a name is the only one where it actually makes a big difference. It takes her from sounding like an evil wizardess to… some sort of fluffy animals that probably lives in the desert,” Fenrir said.

“Wha-what makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s cute, Pazawaza.”

“Don’t just – d-don’t just change my name…”

“But it’s cute.”

Pazawaza’a face turned a brighter shade of red every single time that she was called cute until they all realized that there was something else that they should have been paying attention to.

Cassiel and Eva.

“So… does this mean that Eva is one of our girlfriends now?” Fenrir asked.

“Yeah,” Serra confirmed.

“Well, that happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. I thought we might go on some dates or something first… but we didn’t exactly do that with either of you.” Fenrir looked at Nell and Azalabulia.

“You are silly, my hero. You took neither Cassiel nor Serra on dates before dating them, did you?” Nell asked.

“I mean… I – I guess you’re right. Aren’t we supposed to at least go on some dates before we start – you know, dating?”

“No dates has worked,” Serra said. “Dating before might jinx it now.”

“Weren’t you the ones who encouraged me to actually try and have a date with Eva?”

“We gave you consent to bring her into the relationship. How you did so was up to you.”

“I’m just… I mean, I don’t mind, but this just seems pretty sudden, doesn’t it?”

“Nah,” Serra said. “I’ve seen them check each other out.”

Fenrir tilted his head. “When?”

“We’re gay. It’s what we do.”

Nell nodded her head. “She has a point.”

Even Pazalabulia turned her head away with a slight blush on her cheeks.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m promiscuous or something for being the only guy in this relationship… but I have a feeling that I’m not even the one who does most of the looking and touching.”

“That’s me,” Serra said.

“Well, that much is obvious, but I’m starting to think Cassiel and Nell beat me in that regard, too.”

“That is only natural, my hero. Do you think that the one who constantly fantasizes about such perverse topics is going to pay less romantic and sexual attention to her girlfriends than the boyfriend who would rather think about fishing?” Nell asked.

Fenrir looked at Azalabulia, expecting her to join in on admitting that she is far more perverse than him when it comes to the other girls.

“Ca-can I have my name back now?” Pazalabulia asked.

“It was never… alright, Azawaza, you can have your name back,” Fenrir said.

Azalabulia looked genuinely relieved.

Apparently, her in-game name was actually very important to her – important enough to turn her into a child who had their nose “stolen” but with her name instead.

It was moments like that which caused Fenrir to really want to watch her teach a class full of kids someday. He experienced just how serious and teacherly she could be at times, but then he experienced when she was just like a little kid – more like a little kid than some actual kids.

“They’re still going,” Serra said.

“It is impressive, is it not?” Nell asked. “To be kissing so gently while on the verge of death being watched by a large crowd.”

“Wait,” Fenrir said. “The crowd…” Fenrir looked around. Surely enough, everybody in the crowd, Tabitha included, seemed pretty intent on watching Cassiel and Eva kiss in front of them. “Nell, remember how you made that barrier around?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Yes?”

“Can you put one around them?”

“But how are we going to watch if I do that?”

“That’s the point. I don’t want everybody getting to watch them.”

“Ah, are you jealous, my hero?”

“Yeah, I’ll admit it.”

“You are precious. Worry not, I shall protect them from the prying eyes of those surrounding us.”

Nell stepped in front of Fenrir and raised her hands toward Cassiel and Eva. A moment later and water began to spin around them as if it was a tornado of water forming from the ground up, except it took on the shape of a swirling ball once it was tall enough to surround the girls without hitting them.

“Wait,” Fenrir said. “Now we don’t get to watch.”

“Good job,” Serra sighed. “I wanted to watch.”

“My hero, did you not realize beforehand that you would not get to watch if I hid them from view?” Nell asked.

The crowd, no longer able to watch, finally began to disperse or ask Tabitha about the results to determine if they won any earnings or not.

“I mean, we need to watch them to make sure that they’re not about to die and all that,” Fenrir said.

“Cassiel can heal herself and Eva, can she not?” Nell asked.

“She can, but they seriously hurt each other. I’m not sure Cassiel will be able to heal herself in that case. What… what even happens if they die? It’s been so long since any of us have died that I forget what even happens.”

“You cannot log back in for twenty-four hours and you respawn in the last place you slept,” Azalabulia answered, bringing out that teacherly voice of hers.

“Right. They’ve both slept here, so at least that’s not a problem. Anyways, the crowd has already left for the most part, so you can probably stop hiding them, Nell.”

“Oh? Do you wish to spy on them, my hero? What if they have moved to the next stage of their play and have stripped each other’s bodies? Do you wish to reveal their bare forms for all to see?”

“They – they were about to die, though. There’s no way that they’re actually stripping themselves while they’re about to die, right?”

“I hope they are. That’d be hot,” Serra said.

“Unfortunately, Cassiel is not such a girl and I doubt that Eva is,” Nell answered. “They are likely kissing at most. Or dead. There is a very good chance that they are both dead already.”

“Remove the barrier,” Fenrir said.

Nell smiled and dropped her hands, causing the round barrier of water to collapse as well. Fortunately, the water that created a roof over Cassiel’s and Eva’s heads was pulled to the sides before collapsing rather than splash onto them.

Now that Eva and Cassiel were in any position to care whether they got wet or not.

Down on their knees, Cassiel’s sword was pulled out from Eva and Eva’s fist was out of Cassiel, but they both lost a significant amount of blood and looked like they were barely alive.

However, as close to death as they might have looked, they were no longer bleeding. The wounds they left on each other must have been healed by Cassiel’s magic. That was it, though. Whatever hidden value there might have been for health, it was surely almost depleted for both of the girls.

Their wounds were healed but their health was not restored.

Fenrir ran up to check on them. “Hey, are you two, uh… alright?”

Cassiel nodded her head, too tired to reply in any other way, as Eva wrapped her arms around Cassiel to prevent her from falling over.

“She healed us,” Eva explained. “But she’s exhausted now. She needs to rest.”

“And what about you?” Fenrir asked, looking Eva over.

“I – I’m fine. Tired, but… fine. More than fine if I’m being honest. I’ve never… felt this way before.”

“You’ve never had a sword run through your before?”

“I don’t mean that. I mean the experiment – it was… a huge success.”

“What experiment?”

“Kissing her.”

“That was only an experiment?”

“It only started as one… totally.”

“That’s a suspicious ‘totally.’”

“It… might have been for more than just science.”

“That was obvious.”

“Are… you upset?”

“What? No. Why would I be?”

“Because. I realized after she healed me that we might have messed up and upset the rest of you.”

“Yeah, no, we all thought it was hot.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Need a hand?”

Eva shook her head. “I can get up on my own.”

Not only did Eva get up on her own, but she brought Cassiel with her. Eva held Cassiel in her arms like a knight carrying a princess.

“Wait, do you… should I let you do this?” Eva asked, looking up at Fenrir.

“If you’re in pain or want me to, I’ll be happy to carry her instead, but I’m fine with you carrying her if you want to and promise not to drop her,” Fenrir answered.

“I won’t drop her. I promise.”

“Then go for it.”

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“Alright. I’ll take her back to The Shoebill.”

“Just don’t do any lewd things to her until she’s energetic enough to consent to it.”

Cassiel wasn’t unconscious or anything, so she was still able to look up at him with a pout to mumble, “Stop… sounding like my dad.”

“Whatever you say, harem master.”

“Harem… master?”

“Yeah. After that little stunt, you’ve put me and Serra to shame. You’re the new leader of this harem.”

“Don’t… be stupid.”

“Your tsundere fanservice doesn’t have the same effect when you sound so sleepy.”

“Hm…mph.”

“Alright, Eva, I’m trusting you to go get her into a hammock. And just as some advice, she’ll feel better faster if you cuddle with her.”

“Cu-cuddle?” Eva asked, blushing just a tiny bit.

“Yeah. You know, wrap your arms and legs around her or something. If you two can kiss for that long in front of a crowd then you can cuddle, can’t you?”

Eva tilted her head. “Crowd?”

“Ha…ah?” Cassiel asked.

“Yeah… you know, the crowd?” Fenrir answered. “All the people that were watching you fight and waiting to see who would win? There were like, at least sixty of us.”

Eva and Cassiel looked at each other, their cheeks slowly turning darker shades of red as they realized what they actually did.

Eva looked back up at Fenrir. “I… I knew we were fighting in a match… and I knew that you and your girlfriends—"

“Our girlfriends,” Fenrir corrected her.

“O-our girlfriends… I knew you were with them, but… we might have forgotten about everybody else.”

“You forgot that there was a huge crowd of people around you watching you two kiss in front of them all?”

“Did they look away?”

“You’re two attractive girls and you were kissing each other. No. They watched. Intently. That was why I had Nell cover you two up.”

“We were covered up?”

“Did you two notice anything important?”

Eva and Cassiel looked into each other’s eyes again before looking away.

“Well, that explains some things,” Fenrir shrugged. “Go take Cass to the hammock. It’s your duty as our girlfriend now to take care of her.”

“You’re accepting me as a girlfriend really easily. I… expected that you might be hesitant.”

“Are you forgetting that we had a date planned? To watch some movies over VR?”

Eva’s eyes widened. “I—”

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I…”

“You forgot.”

“I’m – I’m sorry. I remember what happened now.”

“We’ll talk about it after you help Cass back. Also, I’m holding you forgetting about the date against you until I get revenge.”

“That’s fair.”

“I’m not actually going to hold it against you, but I will if you don’t hurry up with Cass.”

Eva nodded before finally carrying Cassiel back to The Shoebill.

Cassiel was so exhausted that she couldn’t even bother being embarrassed by being carried past everybody.

Now that Cassiel was taken care of, Fenrir looked down at the grass where the girls were on their knees.

It was covered in blood.

“Just how much did they bleed?” Fenrir asked himself.

“Not enough,” Tabitha answered. “If one of them would’ve died then I could declare a winner… but they made it a draw. Ya think I expected them to draw?”

“What did you expect?”

“I was hopin’ blondie would win.”

“Any reason why?”

Tabitha shrugged. “I’ve known her longer.”

“You might have tried profiting off of her, but at least you believed she’d win because you knew her better, I guess.”

“By the way, I’ve got somethin’ I want to ask ya.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s with – wait, where’d he go?”

“Who?”

“The creepy guy with the smiling mask. He was starin’ at ya this whole time. Now I don’t see him anywhere.”

“So, I wasn’t imagining that.”

“Anything ya know about him?”

“No idea. She – he, was weird.”

“She?”

“I think I imagined him making some feminine noises during it. I’m not sure. So, I got mixed up.”

“Huh, ya don’t say. Interestin’. Eitther way, I suggest ya keep your eyes out. We don’t need anymore weirdos hangin’ around causin’ trouble, and anybody who watches ya like that ain’t up to any good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ya know exactly what it means. Anybody who looks at ya for more than a few seconds at a time is probably a weirdo.”

“Doesn’t that make you a weirdo, too?”

“Yeah, I’m a weirdo, but I’m a normal one.”

“I’m not sure how that works.”

“The weird weirdos are the ones you look at ya when they don’t have to.’

“That does make more sense.”

“Hey! Tabs!” Oleander shouted, running up from behind Fenrir. “I have an idea for the next tournament!”

“What?” Tabitha asked.

“A sex tourna—”

“No.”

“Pleeeeaaaasssseeeee?”

“No.”

“But what if—”

“No.”

“I’ll do anything you want! Like… I’ll get you some nice parts for The Shoebill or something!”

“N—… maybe.”

“How’s about we turn that maybe into a ‘yeah definitely sure ok?’”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Fiiiinneee. So, Fenny, how’s it feel to be an even bigger womanizer than before?”

“How am I a womanizer?” Fenrir asked. “I haven’t even done anything this time.”

“You’re such a womanizer that you trained your girlfriends to seduce other girls for you. You’re such a womanizer that you don’t even womanize women on your own now.”

“He’s got a point,” Tabitha said.

“Wait, does he?” Fenrir asked.

“Yeah. You’re a womanizer who’s too lazy to womanize women on your own.”

“B-but I had a date planned with her. She’s the one who forgot about it.”

“Oof,” Oleander said. “Maybe you’re such a bad womanizer that your girlfriends have to womanize for you since they don’t have any faith in you.”

“Isn’t being bad at being a womanizer a good thing? I—”

“Yo, Fen,” a now-familiar voice said from behind. “What happened to the girls?”

Fenrir turned around and saw Pfar standing there. “Oh, welcome back. How was the pizza?”

“Good. Got some extra cheese on it, you know how it is. But yeah, those girls. What happened?”

“They’re resting now. It was a draw.”

“Got it. So, that hybrid girl one of your girlfriends now?”

“I… guess so. I wasn’t exactly planning on her joining us so suddenly, but it already kind of happened now.”

“Nice. Anyways, I’ve got some work with the others to do. Feel free to say hi sometime.”

“Yeah, will do?”

Pfar gave Fenrir a friendly smack on his back before heading off to where some more construction work needed done.

“New friend?” Tabitha asked.

“I have no idea,” Fenrir answered. “He randomly talked to me earlier. This was the second time.”

“Pfar, right?”

“You know him?”

“I know everybody around here. Who do ya think has been givin’ them all their orders for what to build where and how?”

“Right. Foreman Tabs.”

“Foregirl Tabs, thank ya very much.”

“Speaking of construction, how are we doing?”

“Well, just look around. The coastal defenses are all but ready thanks to King Cat and his boys helpin’ out. Not sure how useful they’re goin’ to be, but they should break waves and slow down anythin’ big. Then we’ve got the field ready to plant some traps in it. Our little fortress is comin’ along nicely and we should get some cannons up on her walls in the next couple of days. After that, all we’ve got left are to put down some more traps and whatnot, make sure everythin’ is working nice and properly, and wait.”

“What about the town?”

Behind the fortress that was prepared between where the bridge across the river was and the beach lining the ocean, the town that Fenrir wanted to one day turn into a safe haven for NPCs was growing bigger and bigger. There wasn’t much to look at aside from a few buildings for workers to stay in and a couple of fields where some quick-growing crops were farmed to keep everybody fed whenever there wasn’t enough fish, but progress was being made.

Fenrir wanted to get as much help with his town building project as he could before the other cities no longer had a good reason to lend him so much support in workers and materials.

“We had our first NPCs come last night,” Tabitha answered.

“Seriously? Whem? Who?” Fenrir asked.

“They’re helpin’ out with the farm right now. Two brothers. Said they’d be happy to help out with anythin’ as long as we gave them a place to stay.”

“So… ‘if you build it, they will come’ actually works.”

“Yeah. They’ve got no idea where they came from, but this is their home now.”

“Then that’s all the more reason for us to prepare the defenses to make this place as secure as possible so we can protect them.”

“I ain’t sure any defenses we make can be good enough for what’s supposedly goin’ to be comin’ our way, but I can promise they’ll be as good as possible.”

“And that’s all you need to promise. As long as we try our best, there’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

“I don’t know about that, captain dog. Ya tried your best against that smilin’ creep earlier… and I’d be pretty ashamed of myself if I were you.”

“Li-listen, it’s not my fault that he wouldn’t die no matter what I tried.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Try killing him yourself next time. It won’t work.”

“If ya say so.”

“Fenny, how come you don’t flick her like you do me?” Oleander asked.

Fenrir flicked Oleander’s forehead. “Because she’ll abuse me with her hammer if I do. You’ll just enjoy it and maybe moan.”

“Ahn,” Oleander moaned. “Flick me harder, daddy.”

“Alright, I’m leavin’ now,” Tabitha said. “Wait.”

“What?” Fenrir asked.

“I swear I just saw an oversized yellow head peeking out from behind that wall over there.”

“An oversized yellow head? Mister Smiles?”

“I don’t know who else it’d be.”

“Do you even know anything about Mister Smiles?”

“Nope. Never met him before today.”

“Did you hear his voice? Was he the one who told you his name is Mister Smiles?”

“Nope.”

“Then how do you know his name?”

“I don’t. When I was takin’ applicants for the tournament, the big guy walked up to me, stared at me, and made me play a guessin’ game with him to figure out what he wanted.”

“Sounds weird,” Oleander chimed in. “Do we really need another weirdo around here?”

“Right?”

“Maybe they’re just shy,” Fenrir suggested.

“Or crazy and mentally unstable,” Tabitha suggested in response. “Can’t trust somebody who won’t even talk.”

“Then they’d you let him into the tournament?”

“Because money is money.”

“What if somebody bribes you to betray all of us?”

“Depends on the price.”

“Seriously?”

Tabitha shrugged, ending the conversation to walk off to do what she needed to do.

“Think Mister Smiles is another Nyaiko situation, Fenny?” Oleander asked.

“I hope now,” Fenrir sighed. “I don’t think I can deal with another stalker. Well, Nyaiko wasn’t really that bad of one, but I’d rather not deal with another one at all.”

“Yeah… also, I think you’re being called.” Oleander pointed to where Fenrir left his girlfriends.

Surely enough, Fenrir saw Serra calling for him upon turning around.

And she was calling for him by thrusting one finger through a hole she made with her other hand.

They were supposed to do lewd things after the tournament, after all, and Serra was intent on making sure that happened.

First, they’d have to go get Cassiel.

And potentially invite Eva, too, since she was now a part of their relationship group.