Myra was sad.

A sad, sad kit.

She wasn’t sure why Joram had been a bit more distant these past couple of days, but hoped that it didn’t have anything to do with him having bought so many beautiful girls. Or the three demons who’d taken to sleeping in their room.

She looked over to Asami as she listlessly ate dinner. She didn’t seem affected by his weird behaviour. If anything, she seemed to be happier than ever, especially after last night’s crazy laughing fit, whatever that was about.

Myra sighed again, wondering if she was a failure as a [Miko]. She was supposed to understand the Spirit Foxes and act as a go-between, an intermediary, for them and her people. Was it because she was now a [Retsu Ken Sei no Miko]? Was a priestess who specialized in fighting not one who could understand Spirit Foxes? She looked down at her hand and saw the evidence of her weeks of long practice.

No longer were her hands soft and delicate as they’d been before she started training. Now, they looked… strong. A bit rough, even with the skin cream that Joram had given her after she’d refused healing from him. But stronger.

Was that enough? Had she lost touch with her spiritual side in favour of gaining martial power? Was-

“Stop that,” Asami said, withdrawing her poking finger. “You’re fine. Joram’s fine. He’s not… in heat,” she said, shaking her head.

Myra blushed. Not just because of her words, but because she sort of wished that Joram was in heat. If he was, then maybe they’d finally take the next step….

Myra jumped again, glaring at the Pokey Asami.

“Stop that,” she said, now very cross with Asami.

“You stop it,” Asami said, now frowning at her. “You’re behaving like-,” Asami cut off as her head whipped around to stare at the house before she got up and started running.

Stunned, Myra sat there for another few seconds before her body took over and started running after Asami. By the time she’d gotten to the doors of the mess hall, Asami was already reaching the doors of the house. Doubling down, Myra used [Bless] as she ran to give her a little boost in speed.

As she entered the house, she caught sight of Asami’s tails as they vanished down the second-floor hallway that led to their bedroom, making her heart drop even as she rushed for the stairs.

Seconds later, she rushed down the hallway and finally reached the bedroom. Inside, she saw Asami holding a bloody body in her arms, rocking back and forth. Her heart stopped for a few beats before Asami spoke.

“He’s alive,” she said, sounding choked.

Myra dropped to the floor as her legs gave out from the tsunami of relief that washed over her. She watched as Asami gently wiped the blood from Joram’s brow, wondering what could have caused him to bleed like that.

Had he been attacked? If so, where were his assailants? Why?

“Stupid boy,” Asami said quietly, interrupting her racing thoughts.

“What?” she asked, not understanding why she’d said that.

“He forced a breakthrough in Strength,” Asami said, shaking her head, making Myra’s body go cold.

She’d long suspected that Joram had reached the Strength limit given his size, let alone what she’d seen him do. Most people were content to reach that limit, making them the strongest people around.

Humanoids, like animal-kin, humans, elves, and dwarves all had a natural limit of 14 in Strength. Sure, one could surpass that limit if they had the right magical item equipped. But that was temporary, not a real breaking of the natural Strength limit.

But, every now and then, someone would push that natural limit by using Crystal Cores. Then most would die as their body was torn apart by their very own muscles.

Slowly, Myra got to her hands and knees, then crawled over to the bed. She then pulled herself up so that she could be closer.

“He’ll be OK?” she said, wishing that it hadn’t been a question.

“He’ll be OK,” Asami said with a soft smile. “Until he wakes up, that is. Then, he’ll wish he’d died,” she finished as a fiery red aura started to appear around her, making Myra gulp as the three demons pushed into the room and started asking questions.

* * *

*Day 8*

M2: What’s the plan, boss?

Joram: Time to recover a bit. That was… a lot….

M2: Roger that.

Joram suppressed a shudder as he slipped out of bed. He’d always thought that Myra was the fierce one between her and Asami. He’d been dead wrong. And almost dead. Damn.

Shaking his head, he made sure to add [Astral Seed] to M2’s list of Powers to manifest every day, as he’d gotten lax with its use over the past week. If he really died, that would suck. Best to have that backup ready to go.

Once escaped and changed, he went to his office and closed the door before looking around for a few minutes. He let the memories come as he looked at this and that, letting the feelings come as they were wont.

Eventually his gaze settled on his Fender, an acoustic model. He stepped over to it, then picked it up and brought it back to his desk and sat in his chair. He absently made a pick then gave it a strum… and frowned. He then took a few moments to tune it, surprised at how naturally it came before strumming it again.

Smiling, he started going through a few chords he could remember, then continued on as more came to mind. He stopped, thinking.

Where did that come from? He wondered as he stared at his hands around the body of the guitar.

‘Altaea’s training,’ Avi said from the edge of his desk. ‘She taught your Prime how to play… many instruments. And to even sing,’ she said, suppressing a few giggles.

“I can’t sing,” he said, deadpanning.

‘Why don’t you give it a try? You might be surprised,’ Avi said, coaxing him along.

“I’ll stick with playing, for now,” he said, not wanting to embarrass either of them by trying to sing.

For as good as his hearing was growing up, several levels better than others in fact, he’d been terrible at singing. He’d often joked that he sang like a stepped-on frog. So, he contented himself to playing a little guitar.

Which he did now, amazed at how easily it came. He’d always had a bit of trouble with the strings due to his thick fingers, not quite able to just press down on one string at a time. Now? Now it felt as though his fingers were flying across the frets, hitting each note perfectly as the music flowed from his mind to his hands.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

So entranced was he that he kept playing until he noticed that dawn had come. Blinking, he looked down at his fingers and saw that, contrary to what he’d expected, they were perfectly fine. No cuts, no abrasions from playing for the first time in ages. Probably due to [Toughness] or something like that.

He turned to get up and stopped as his eyes landed on Asami, Myra, and the three gals as they stood in the doorway, gawking at him. Clearing his throat, he stored the guitar away in his Inventory before getting up and heading for the door. They parted silently for him, so he continued on through and went to the mess hall where he found that the younglings were just finishing breakfast.

Celys saw him coming in, then quickly broke off her conversation with Ilyana before heading his way. He didn’t know what she wanted to talk about, but he hoped that it wasn’t something bad, like telling him that his orphanage plan wasn’t able to go through or something.

“Good morning,” Celys said when she got to him, then continued when he greeted her. “The merchant caravan will be leaving today, so you won’t have to worry about them tonight,” she said happily.

“I take it that they weren’t as… welcome as they’ve been in the past?” he asked, somewhat curious about why she was so happy.

“Well, their prices certainly weren’t welcome, that’s for sure,” she said with a sniff. “I also don’t trust slavers any more than I do a monster, so I’ll be glad to see them gone.”

“Fair,” he said with a nod. “Well, good talk. I now need to get all of the younglings together so we can get them registered,” he said, turning slightly so that he could address Ilyenna. “Hey, could you get everyone together? I’d like for us to take a trip to town.”

Ilyenna looked up to him for a few seconds before she nodded, then took off, whispering to people as she passed them.

“Are you sure about an orphanage? It’s a lot of responsibility,” Celys said as she stepped to the side so that she could better see his face.

“Well, I’m not sure about the adoption part, but yes, I am certain,” he said, nodding.

“There’s a lot to discuss about all of that,” Celys said as she watched Ilyenna hurrying from group to group as a few others joined in telling yet more people.

“Well, taking care of them all is the first priority. After that, I’ll be sure to sort things out as they come,” he said, still watching as everyone gathered.

“That’s true,” said Celys as she turned to watch the gathering gaggle of girls as well.

It didn’t take very long for everyone to gather since most were still in the mess hall, while the rest had just headed over to the greenhouse. Once he found that everyone had arrived, he explained his plan to them, once more reiterating that he would help anyone return to their original home if that was what they wanted.

At the end, he let them know that they’d head out once everyone was done with breakfast. He then called over the three gals.

“I’d appreciate it if you could also come along,” he said, getting odd looks from them.

“We’ll go wherever you wish us to go, young master,” Fyrellia said as she bowed slightly from the waist.

“Well, I’ll appreciate you coming along because I need more people to help watch over the younglings while we’re out,” he said, trying to convey that it wasn’t an order.

“We will come along,” Fyrellia quickly replied. “But, as we are, we won’t be of very much use if we don’t have any equipment,” she said, her head tilted slightly down so that she could look up to him through her very long eyelashes.

Does she really expect that to work? He wondered as he noticed Asami smirking from a couple of metres away.

“Well, I doubt that there’ll be a monster attack or anything,” he said, taking note of Fyrellia’s slight disappointment that she quickly hid behind a smile. “But, I’ll see what I can do about getting something that each of you can use when we get back,” he finished, smiling inwardly as he saw all three of them light up in their own ways.

Arise played it cool like the tsundere she was. Fyrellia beamed at him, though held herself back from glomping onto his arm, likely due to her self-preservation instincts that kicked in because Asami and Myra were both close at hand. Qyress smiled happily, though showed a shy side by fidgeting a bit and turning away slightly.

“Did you want to come along too, Chief?” he asked as he turned back to an amused Celys.

“As the Chief of Kirkwall, I should be there to confirm things, yes,” she replied, her amusement shifting to business-professional in a flash.

Nodding, he turned back to the girls and found that they’d all finished eating in a flash and were already placing their dishes in the bussing bins on the counter. With them all done, he then called for them to follow him as he turned to leave the mess hall.

He was pleased to see that the merchants had already gone for the day, leaving them to leave without the girls getting nervous by having to get close to where the slaver was.

“Do you think it’ll rain today?” he heard Ilyana ask from behind him, surprising him a little that she’d also come along for the walk.

“I think so, yes,” Shae’ra replied after a moment of looking up at what sky could be seen through the canopy far above.

“Well, it shouldn’t be too bad under here,” Ilyana said, motioning towards the massive sequoias.

“The road is well made, so at least it will make walking easier for the younglings,” Shae’ra said, nodding.

“So, what’re you going to do?” Ilyana asked her suddenly, surprising him a bit with the question.

“Do?”

“You know. Will you stay, or try to go home?” Ilyana asked quietly, though not quietly enough to escape his ridiculous hearing.

“I’ll…. I think that I will stay,” Shae’ra whispered, sounding a bit uncertain.

“Why?” Ilyana asked, genuinely surprised, if he was reading her expression right.

“I…. I feel that this is the place that I’m needed… for now,” said Shae’ra as though she were still trying to figure it out herself.

“Mmn,” Ilyana hummed, then nodded. “If I didn’t have to keep my shop in Kirkwall, I’d probably stay too,” she said, nearly causing him to trip on the perfectly smooth road.

“It’s not that far, so why not see if you can stay here, too?” Shae’ra asked, delivering another blow to him as she did.

“Hmm, that’s a thought,” Ilyana said, astonishingly seriously.

Joram stopped listening to them as he tried to figure out how he felt about what they’d been talking about. He wondered if it was some weird connection that High Elves had, as sense of kinship, that had them chatting as though they’d knowing each other all their lives. Was that really what elves were like? Or was it something else?

He quickly dismissed those thoughts, not wanting to go down that rabbit hole yet. One day he would need to, but not today. Today was for the girls, just kids, really. He’d finally be able to take those damn slave collars off them all.

It didn’t take long to get to town hall, though he did make sure to keep the pace set to what normal people would keep. Even back on Earth, he’d been a fast walker, compared to most, anyways. Here? He wasn’t sure if it was due to his [Running] Skill or his high Speed Attribute, but he’d found that if he wasn’t paying attention, he’d practically whip by anyone else.

Since it would take a bit for everyone to get registered, he summoned a bunch of those chair-benches you’d see in airports that were all attached to a long base. He got no few exclamations of shock and surprise from doing that, but he didn’t want kids to have to keep standing for a long time.

While he waited, he decided to talk to Kaloran again, once more taking a look at the property on the west side of Kirkwall.

“Seriously?” Kaloran asked, giving him a strange look. “Why would you need even more property? You’ve already bought a crazy amount of land.”

“Well, just thinking, is all,” he said as he thought about things.

Seeing as how Kirkwall was more or less circular, and that you couldn’t buy any land within about 200m of it, he wondered just how much land he could buy before Celys gave him an earful. It seemed as though the land that Kirkwall officially claimed extended out about two of their miles from its walls. Which made sense seeing as how he could only purchase seven of those plots of land, each one being about 400m long, so when you took into account the space outside of the walls that he couldn’t buy it was roughly 2 miles. Or, about 3.2 kilometres or so.

He saw that there was still plenty of room inside the walls for population growth, so they wouldn’t need to expand them any time soon. Which meant that he could probably get away with buying more land….

“So, I’ll take the land from here to here to here,” he said, first pointing at the northern section then the southern section, then ran his finger along the outside of the map.

Kaloran’s jaw dropped as his brain calculated the cost involved in purchasing so much land. Land that no one had wanted before seeing as how it was so hard to do anything with.

“That’ll be…” Kaloran trailed off as his brain tried to keep up.

“One hundred ninety-six gold, yes,” Joram said, then placed his last two Grade A Cores on the desk in front of Kaloran.

“I’ll get the paperwork started,” Kaloran said, sounding numb as he stepped away to gather what he needed.

As Kaloran worked, he continued to pay attention to everyone else. The younger girls seemed a bit confused by everything, thought the older ones were able to assuage any of their worries. Them, as well as Asami, Myra, and Celys. He was glad to have them along, all things considered. Especially last night.

*Shudder*

Shaking his head, he found that as he listened in to conversations here and there, that the girls were inclined to stay, which surprised him more than just a bit.

‘I’m sorry for snooping,’ Avi said from his side, looking uncharacteristically serious. ‘But I’ve been reading what surface thoughts that I can from them. It seems as though almost none of them have a home to return to, for one reason or another.’

Joram paused, then looked over at Avi, his expression grave.

‘What?’

‘Their individual experiences fall into two broad categories,’ Avi said as she kept eye contact with him. ‘They were either taken by force, usually by bandits, or they were sold by their families to pay off crippling debts to one entity or another,’ she said, making his hackles rise in anger.

Before he could say anything, he felt someone grab him from behind in a tight hug. Then the soft feeling on his back made sense when he saw that it was Asami through his [Touchsight].

“Please calm down,” she said, shaking a bit as she spoke. “They can’t handle it.”

Then he finally noticed that almost everyone in the room had fallen over, gasping for breath.