“Why… are… we… running… so… hard…?” Myra gasped out as she full-on ran behind Asami, still flabbergasted at her friend’s actions.

It had stated about ten minutes or so ago, when Asami had suddenly stopped as they were browsing through the street vendors in Kirkwall, and turned to the west with a frown on her face.

After some hesitant questions from the vendor, Luka, Myra was able to assure the man that it hadn’t been anything he’d said or done to make Asami react that way. After a few questions that she asked Asami, they stepped away from Luka’s stall to quickly discuss what was wrong.

As Asami turned the ring on her finger, Myra started to get nervous as well. Almost as if something… world-altering was going to happen, and soon. Then Asami’s tails had all shot out, straight as a rod before she grabbed her hand and started running.

“No time!” Asami replied as she ran, both arms pumping with her hands straight as knives.

Myra was suddenly very glad that Joram had given her- them- the [Regeneration] Skill Books, as she wouldn’t have been able to run a few miles at top speed otherwise. They passed the house, gaining attention from everyone standing around outside, looking uncertain.

As they passed the younglings, young women, and Joram’s new staff, Ilyana, Imryll, and Shae’ra started running after them, calling for the younglings to stay where they were until they returned. Not having the luxury of paying too much attention to them, Myra instead focussed on keeping up with the seemingly inexhaustible Asami as she kept focussed on the forest to the west and now slightly south.

Soon, though, Asami slowed then stopped as she fell to her knees. Myra hurried to her side, anxious that she’d perhaps pushed herself too hard and saw that she looked both shocked and terrified. Myra quickly turned her head to see what Asami was looking at and saw the new addition to their group, Avi, sitting with the three gals, all in shock at what they were looking at.

Which happened to be Joram and what looked like an incredibly beautiful dragonkin embracing him, her wings wrapping around him with her head tilted back so that she could look up at Joram as she spoke.

They were too far away to hear what was said, but if Joram’s very red face was any indication, it must have been incredibly shocking for him. And uncomfortable, for a moment later he vanished from sight leaving the dragonkin looking perplexed before she reached out a hand and seemed to grasp something in the air before she, too, vanished from sight.

“What?” she asked, not understanding any of what she’d seen beyond a strange woman clinging to Joram.

“We’re in trouble,” Asami said quietly, still staring at where Joram had been.

“What? Why?” she asked, now even more concerned than before.

Asami shook her head as the three elves who’d followed them looked at each other, then at Asami, obviously uncertain about what they’d seen, and now heard.

“We’ll need a larger-”

* * *

Joram was panting as he stood in his Realm, trying to catch his breath as his mind whirled around in circles, slowly spiraling downwards into realms he didn’t want to think about. Then Erys appeared in front of him, nearly causing him to fall over backwards in shock.

“This is… interesting,” she said, looking around thoughtfully before turning to gaze at him once more. “And you say that you’re not a deity,” she said, shaking her head.

“I’m not,” he said lamely as he very slowly backed away from her only for her to follow him until she was once more able to embrace him.

“Mrrandii,” she said, confusing him with the unknown word as he heard Avi cough through their connection. “You are certainly no mere mortal. I will be with you, forevermore, without a single regret,” she said as her arms snaked their way up so that she could wrap her arms around his neck, going so far as to stand on her tiptoes so that she could be closer to his face.

“I have no idea what to say to that,” he said honestly. “But I do know that I can’t reciprocate your feelings,” he said.

Not right now, anyways, he thought as he remembered Asami, Myra, and oddly, the three gals and wondered what they’d have to say about this development.

“Affection comes with time, mrrandii,” she said, not at all dissuaded by his words. “We both have as much time as it will take, so worry not,” she said, then dropped down again so that she could press her face against his chest as her arms went back to hugging him around his chest, reminding him that he’d lost [Clear Mind]. Or, well, that M12 had, anyways. Which made it all the harder to concentrate on what he should be doing because his other Minds were very focussed on how it felt to have someone like her pressed up against him.

Thinking quickly, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You’ll need to wait in line! There are other women waiting for the same thing!” he said, instantly regretting just how bad that sounded, as well as using his friends as scapegoats.

“That’s fine,” Erys said as she turned her head to rest her cheek against his chest and nearly taking out his eye as her horn swept dangerously close.

She seemed to realize that something was amiss as he stiffened up slightly at the close call, then reached up and touched her horn. Erys looked up at him again, looking incredibly guilty before her horns shrank down and vanished into her head, leaving her beautiful hair undisturbed where they’d been a moment before.

“I’m sorry,” she said, actually sounding incredibly contrite and looking disturbingly attractive.

“No harm, no foul,” he said as he prodded M12 until he started concentrating on [Clear Mind] again. “We’ll just… have to… get to know each other. Talk and stuff,” he said, still very much in an area of social interaction that he was very much not accustomed to being in.

“I also wish to know more about you, mrrandii,” Erys said with a smile. “You said something that interested me earlier. You’re an [Otherworlder], so does that mean you were [Summon]’d as a [Hero]?” she asked as she gazed at him intensely as though trying to figure out a puzzle.

“I’ve heard that that’s a thing here,” he said, wishing that she’d let go of him. “But no, I seem to have arrived more by… accident, than anything else,” he finished as he used [Summon: All] to bring forth a pair of comfortable chairs and a small table that stood between them.

That was when he gently disengaged her arms from around his chest and tried to get her to sit in the chair across from him. That didn’t work.

So, instead of just having her hug him as they stood together, Erys was now sitting in his lap side-saddle, as it were. Tails complicated things slightly, it seemed.

“Mmnmmm,” Erys hummed as she thought, now draping across his chest, her arms once again around his neck. “That’s… incredibly rare. Like, once in a few centuries, rare,” she said as her breath tickled his neck, making him get M3 to concentrate on reducing the sensitivity of the nerves in his neck.

“It is what it is,” he said, then consciously stopped himself from shrugging to avoid additional motion between them, then wondered at movement from… her rear. “What’s that?” he asked hesitantly.

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“Oh, my tail was in the way, so I’ve also… removed it for convenience’ sake,” she said as her wings also began to retract.

“You can do that…?” he asked faintly as he tried very, very hard to ignore what his body was telling him.

“I can, yes,” she practically purred. “It will make mating easier,” she said as she twisted in his lap so that she was now straddling him, their faces just centimetres apart.

“What happened to getting to know each other first,” he asked as another System notification pinged off to the side.

“This is one way to get to know one another,” she said, then gave a very cute and certainly undignified ‘kya~!’ as she was pulled off his lap.

He blinked, then saw that Avi had arrived to save the day.

“Can’t you see that you’re making him uncomfortable?” Avi asked, fixing Erys with a stern glare that somehow managed to make Erys blush.

“Can’t we get to know one another?” Erys asked back, now looking… petulant.

“As he said, that can come later,” Avi replied, still glaring enough to strip rust off the Titanic. “First comes getting to know the rest of us,” she said, making Joram blink.

Behind her, he could now see not just the three gals, but Asami, Myra, Ilyana, Imryll, and Shae’ra. He didn’t know why the three other elves were there, but felt that additional company couldn’t hurt in keeping Erys in check.

Erys stared at the newcomers, who were in turn alternating between staring at him and their surroundings in shock. Eventually, she turned back to look at him seriously for a few moments before speaking again.

“You weren’t kidding, were you?” she asked, disturbing him by how much respect he saw in her eyes.

When he just nodded, Asami made her way over to him to take up her position on his lap, reminding him of just how awesome a build that she had as her tails waved slowly.

He could see that the three elves didn’t look particularly comfortable at seeing Asami’s actions, but also couldn’t do much to stop it without causing other more serious issues from popping up.

“Smart,” Asami murmured into his collar as she snuggled closer.

“Umm,” Shae’ra said, raising her hand hesitantly before going on when Avi nodded at her. “Where are we?”

Joram suppressed a mighty sigh before looking over at Avi and wondering what had prompted her to include the three elves in coming to his Realm.

“They’re fine,” Avi said, shaking her head. “We’re in a [Small World] that Joram owns,” she said, making him wonder if she’d just pulled that term out of her ass.

“Makes sense,” Erys said, nodding. “Though it feels… young. Weird. And oddly… comfortable,” she said, looking around a bit more now as Shae’ra also nodded slightly as she too started looking around more.

“It feels… fresh, but full of life and vitality,” Shae’ra said quietly, as though afraid to disturb a sacred place with her words.

“So, we need to talk,” Avi said, getting their attention back on the topic at hand… and causing him to silently curse her. “For now, no sex,” she said firmly as she looked at everyone present, including the three elves.

What? He thought, now stunned for an entirely new reason.

“This guy isn’t ready for it yet, nor are the rest of us, I’m sure,” she continued, striking him another critical blow by including herself in her statement. “So, we’ll concentrate on building first. Building relationships, building accommodations. Building up the rest of everything else, including the property, orphanage, and the dungeons,” she said, fixing everyone in turn with a serious look that had each of them gulping, never mind the vast difference in their personal levels.

Especially since Avi hadn’t yet taken a Path given just how much she’d been practicing and training her Skills. And claiming hundreds of Dust Crystals while she was at it….

“Dungeons?” Erys asked, looking both confused and concerned at the same time.

“Yes, Dungeons,” Avi said, nodding. “Anyways, there’ll be lots of time to go over everything. For now, you, Erys, will be helping out in the kitchens.”

“What?” Erys asked, looking as though she’d gotten whiplash from the sudden change of topic.

“Yes, the kitchens,” Avi said, nodding once more. “You’ll need to get to know everyone else as well as learning… everything. Yes, I know that you’re a respected Elder Dragon and all that, but. If you’re going to be sticking around, you need to get to know everyone else. You will also need to learn how to fit in. Learn what role you’ll have while here,” she said, impressing Joram with just how… in control of everything she was.

That was when he saw Erys set her jaw stubbornly, reminding him of how Myra would clamp down when she thought someone was pushing her to do something that she didn’t want to do, or stop her from doing something she wanted to do. Before she could speak, he did.

“That’s how it will be,” he said firmly, noticing how Erys almost instantly relaxed when she processed his words.

What surprised him more was how the three elves reacted. Ilyana seemed to be the most composed of the three, but he could see that she was hiding how pleased she was. Shae’ra also looked pleased, though confused as to why she was pleased, while Imryll just looked happy, her youthful face practically beaming as her pointed ears quivered slightly.

What have I missed here? He wondered as he took in the three gals who had their own unique reactions, though no less pleased in nature.

“You’re dense,” Asami mumbled into his collar, making him blush. “But that’s cute too.”

He was about to die of embarrassment when Myra spoke up.

“So… does this really mean we’ll need a larger bed…?” she asked, putting the nails in his coffin.

“A larger room, too,” Avi said, nodding. “But, once again, no getting any ideas before Joram is comfortable with going further than cuddling,” she finished, causing no few women to blush.

“Why am I included?” Ilyana asked suddenly, now looking a bit uncomfortable.

“Asami?” Avi turned to Asami instead of answering the [Seamstress], obviously throwing the ball to her court.

Asami sighed before wiggling around in his lap- causing yet another System notification in the process- so that she could look at the gathered women.

“Do you know about Spirit Foxes?” she asked, getting a few odd looks, even from Erys. “We are considered [Sacred Beasts] because of our ability to communicate spiritually, knowing good people from evil people. Knowing what’s in a person’s heart, and thus able to discern if someone is being truthful or deceitful,” she said, looking at each of them in turn.

“What are you getting at…?” Shae’ra asked, looking a bit nervous as Imryll started blushing at her side.

“I know the truth of things even before a person realizes it themselves,” she said, giving them all a pointed look. “I’m first. Myra is second. You all can determine an order after that, I don’t care,” she finished by wiggling around again so that she could nuzzle up to his chest as she hugged him close.

For his part, Joram felt that he took the news reasonably well. Probably due to M2-M11 reassigning themselves to fire control and emergency processing as he closed his eyes.

For their part, the gathered women exchanged uncertain looks, a few trying to nervously laugh off the [Revelation]. Even with his eyes closed, he could see that Ilyana was probably the most surprised of the three elves. Her face was gradually growing rosier as the seconds ticked by until she turned away to look into the distance.

Shae’ra was trying to laugh it off while Imryll had covered her face with both hands while squatting on her heels. The fourth elf, Arise, looked as though she didn’t believe a word of what Asami had said, though with how dark her ears were, he had to wonder just what she was thinking.

Fyrellia looked… rather enthusiastic about the idea of sharing his bed in a more intimate way, while poor Qyress looks about as embarrassed as Imryll did. She had her black feathered wings wrapped around her chest like Erys had done, but was also very red and looking anywhere but at him.

He took a few minutes to take in the women, wondering why such extraordinary people were so interested in him. He thought he understood why Asami liked him, though he was still more than a little bit hazy on the details. As for Myra, he suspected that it was more based on something that he’d consider… normal.

You know, one of those clichéd bits where a proud girl embarrasses herself terribly in front of a boy. Then the boy treats her like nothing happened, leading to feelings starting to develop….

Oh, dragon balls, the thought, realizing for the first time that he was one of those protagonists that the single crowd hated on. And for good reason. Something as simple as treating someone normally really seemed to work here….

He looked at the rest of the variously uncomfortable women and nearly sighed.

‘Yes, treating people like people tends to get people looking at you favourably,’ Avi said, her sending thick with amusement. ‘Throw in saving the town and starting up an orphanage out of your own pocket and, well, you can see where that’s going.’

If Asami hadn’t been curled up in his lap, he would have facepalmed. As it was, Asami just started chuckling, causing her breasts to do interesting things against his chest.

Myra, though, looked as though she wanted to climb into the chair with them, if he was reading her right.

“You are.”

So, he carefully picked up a startled Asami into a princess carry and stood up, getting a wickedly pleased grin from her when she “heard” that thought.

“Let’s all head back now,” he said as he tried, then failed to put a now leech-like Asami down. “I’m sure there’s still lots to do today,” he finished, then gathered everyone around.

He had to try extra hard to ignore how Myra grabbed his left arm and pressed herself close, studiously ignoring the blush that came to her face for acting so forward. Avi just shamelessly glomped onto his right arm, not seeming to care that others were watching.

Erys, though, decided that she needed to claim some real estate, as it were, and latched onto him from behind, also pressing her chest into him.

The three gals, it seemed, didn’t want to be left out, but couldn’t find a way to get in on the glomp-fest, so satisfied themselves by just reaching out and touching him. The three elves, though, were much more reserved and just reached out and touched Avi, the same way that they’d done to get there in the first place.

Wondering at what awaited him in the days to come, Joram concentrated a moment and shifted them back to Iria.