"Oh!" Herman's eyes lit up and he stared at her, clearly taken in by her beauty. "Are you a priestess?"
"That's right." Irene bowed humbly. "I am Irene. I am a lowly priestess serving the Holy Church."
She hesitated for a moment, and seemed to steel her resolve. Stepping forward, she placed a hand on her well-endowed chest.
"I heard that you are looking to recruit people into your party. I ask of you, could you please consider allowing me to join your party?"
"Yeah." Herman looked pretty infatuated with her, his eyes lingering over her amazing figure, which was visible through the body-hugging robes of the holy church. "It just so happens that we are currently looking for a priest…"
Miranda and Yvonne immediately latched onto Herman, each of them taking one of his arms and gripping it tightly.
"Don't you think…a more experienced priest would be better?" Miranda asked. "Right now, our party lacks experience."
"That's right," Yvonne agreed. For the first time, the mage and the huntress were in sync and actually shared the same opinion. Wow. I never thought I would live to see the day when that happened. "Forgive me for being blunt, but you don't seem to have participated in any battle before?"
"That is true," Irene admitted. "But my teachers say I have great talent. If I can accumulate experience alongside you all, in the long term you'll see how much beneficial my presence will be. Please give me a chance!"
"I'm not sure we can trust you," Yvonne said snidely, tightening her grip on an uncomfortable Herman's arm. "You could just be aiming for the Hero. I've seen girls like you, using your beauty just to further your own agenda."
"We should recruit a more experienced priest," Miranda insisted. "One who is preferably male…"
Irene wasn't stupid. She could read the atmosphere and recognized that the other two girls saw her as a threat to their attempts to romance Herman. However, she was stubborn as well, and refused to give up so easily.
"Is that what you're worried about?" she laughed and sidled over to me. "You don't have to be concerned over such matters. I'm Klein's childhood friend and lover."
"No, you're not," I replied flatly, stepping away and putting as much distance between us. "You are not my lover."
"We promised to get married after the demonic emperor is defeated," Irene continued, ignoring me.
"We made no such promise," I said firmly. "Are you mixing me up with Chad, Irene? He's the one you're supposed to marry, not me."
"No way!" Irene looked horrified. "We broke up on the day I left for the capital, remember? I told you that you're the one for me."
"And I clearly rejected you."
"You know Irene, Klein?" Herman asked, not paying any attention to the details of our exchange. I sighed and nodded.
"She's a childhood friend from the same village I'm from. She left two years ago to become a priestess."
"That's great, isn't it?" Herman turned to Miranda and Yvonne, who continued to cling onto his arms. "If she is Klein's childhood friend, then it means she is trustworthy. If we are forming a party, it's best to recruit people we know and can trust."
"You've a point there," Miranda conceded.
"If Herman says so…" Yvonne nodded.
"No, actually, it's because I know her that I'm sure she can't be trusted," I began, but nobody was listening to me. Irene was practically throwing herself at me, but I did my best to dodge.
"Come on, Klein! You're such a tsundere! You know you want me in the party."
I gagged, turned away and threw up, causing her to jump away in fright. Meanwhile, Herman was nodding in approval.
"That solves the issue with the priest. Now that we have a healer in our party, we can search for other members!"
"Yeah!" Yvonne whooped.
"A more experienced member this time, I hope," Miranda agreed. "Magic is one thing – even without experience, mages and priests can still pull them off as long as they have the relevant knowledge, but for a knight, we should find an experienced one."
The two girls appeared to have accepted Irene because they chose to believe that she had joined the party because she was aiming for me instead of Herman. With the belief that she wouldn't be a love rival, they felt as if Irene wasn't a threat to their affections for the Hero.
But I hated Irene, so I tried one last ditch effort to change everyone's minds.
"What about Father Faraday?" I asked. "I also know him, and he's quite the experienced priest. I'm sure he'll be of greater help than Irene."
"If you're looking for Father Faraday, he has already been recruited into another Hero's party." Irene sounded envious. No wonder she was so desperate to join Herman's party, to the point where she would fake having a relationship with me.
"Damn. All the more we have to do our best to catch up with the others." Herman raised a hand determinedly, his eyes burning competitively.
"Honestly, I think we should just go at it at our own pace," I replied with a sigh. "There are things we can do that the other Heroes can't. There's a reason why the gods chose seven Heroes and not one."
"You're probably right." Herman grinned. "But it's still my dream to become the strongest Hero one day."
"We'll help you with that!" Miranda promised. For some reason, I felt as if the glint in her eyes was ominous, but I couldn't put a finger on why I felt that way. I decided not to dwell on it.
"Let's see if we can find a knight or warrior to join our party," Yvonne urged, and we turned to leave the Holy Church. Irene hummed happily as she followed, now firmly part of the group. For now, she chose to stick close to me, but I could see Herman's eyes wandering over to gaze at her.
I could see the desire in his eyes. The poor guy was infatuated with Irene.
Fortunately, he had two other beauties on either side of him, and it wasn't long before Miranda and Yvonne pulled his attention back to them. I didn't feel sorry for him. I was aware that he had sexual relationships with the both of them, usually alternating between them. When we stayed at inns, in particular, I could hear Herman banging one or the other. Sometimes he would choose Miranda for a few days, then switch to Yvonne for a couple of days, then Miranda for a week.
Wait, I had only spent a couple of weeks in this party, so how did I know that? It wasn't long enough for me to have figured out that pattern yet…
"Klein?"
I felt Irene tugging on my arm and turned to glower at her. She was unaffected by my glare and instead smiled sweetly.
"From now on, I'll be in your care."
"Don't worry, Herman will take good care of you," I replied dryly, though for some reason I had the feeling that they wouldn't do anything until three years later. Before my…
…ugh! What was it I was forgetting? What was this annoying feeling in my chest?
Clutching my head, I shrugged the premonition for now and followed the party into looking for a knight.
"What's the matter with you?" Yvonne demanded, glaring at me when she noticed that I was avoiding Irene. "Refusing the advances of a girl as beautiful as Irene? Are you gay?"
Miranda then tightened her grip on Herman's arm and imposed herself protectively between the Hero and me, a horrified expression on her face. "Don't tell me you're aiming for Herman?!"
"You're wrong!" I bellowed. "The both of you!"
"Then why don't you like Irene?" Miranda asked with a frown. "Even though I'm a girl, I also find her extremely beautiful and attractive."
"She's just not my type," I replied, deciding that this wasn't the best time to expose Irene. Then I had a sudden inspiration. "I prefer redheads."
"You…!" Yvonne crossed her arms protectively in front of herself and backed away, looking alarmed. "Don't tell me that you are…!"
"Oh, you don't have to worry," I assured the red-haired huntress. "I prefer female knights. So you're not my type either."
Yvonne had a wild, passionate and alluring aura to her, but I wasn't fond of that sort of aggressive sensuality. I preferred a girl who was more disciplined, someone who was loyal and devoted, with a strong sense of justice. For some reason, an image of an unfamiliar girl flashed across my mind, but disappeared quickly. Try as I might, I just couldn't recall her. There was an ache in my chest, a sour pain that hammered insistently but vaguely at the corners of my mind.
"Who knows? Maybe we'll find a red-haired female knight to join our party later!" Herman laughed. I snorted at that. For some reason, I was certain that wasn't going to happen.
*
The first day in the capital passed by relatively quickly. Other than Irene, we were unable to recruit anyone else despite asking around. The local knight regiment had declined, having already dispatched their best warriors to the other six parties.
"We'll try again tomorrow," Herman assured us, his cheerfulness and optimism as indefatigable as ever. "For now, we should get a good night's rest!"
Using my money that I had saved up when I was an adventurer, we booked a couple of rooms in a nearby inn. Thankfully, during our journey here, we earned a few coins from hunting monsters that plagued surrounding villages and towns (though, of course, I was the one who did most of the work). As such, we didn't have to worry about our money running out anytime soon.
For tonight, Herman had chosen to be with Miranda, which put Yvonne in a foul mood. Glad that I didn't have to deal with her, I retired to my own room early into the night and settled down to study more ice magic. It was a little distracting when the moans came through the thin walls, but I easily ignored them. I was a man of focus, commitment and sheer fucking will, so when I got absorbed in my studies, I was capable of tuning everything else out.
Also, I was used to it. I recognized Herman's groans, entwined with Miranda's moans, and the thumping as they moved around in bed. Shaking my head, I buried myself in my grimoires and began practicing my ice spells.
After an hour or so (Herman and Miranda were still going at it relentlessly), someone knocked on my door. Sighing in irritation, I opened it, only to see Irene standing outside forlornly.
"What are you doing here?" I asked irritably. There was nothing I hated more than being interrupted in the middle of magic practice. She better had a good reason for this.
"Do you mind if I come in, Klein?" Irene intertwined her fingers.
"Hell yeah, I do mind," I snapped crossly. "Aren't you supposed to be sharing a room with Yvonne?"
"Yes, but…" Irene looked away. She probably found an ill-tempered Yvonne terrible company. I could sympathize with her. I wouldn't want to be trapped in a room with that bitch. On the other hand, after that day in the forest, Yvonne was so afraid of me that she would refrain from saying anything that I might construe as offensive. "I just wanted to see you. If you don't mind?"
She pushed past me and took a seat on my bed without my permission." She nodded at my open grimoire. "You're studying magic?"
"Yeah."
"I did hear that you became an accomplished mage. There were news in the capital that you took up apprenticeship under a silver-ranked adventurer."
"Yeah."
Irene's eyes tracked me while I proceeded to my desk and picked up my grimoire. She giggled.
"You really are dedicated to your craft. I knew I didn't misjudge you. I always thought you will have a bright future ahead."
More so than Chad? Was that why she dumped him and tried to appeal to me? What a gold digging bitch.
"What did you come here for?" I asked impatiently. Gesturing to the grimoire I was reading to emphasize my point, I growled. "I'm sorry, but I'm busy at the moment."
"You sure are dense, aren't you?" Irene shook her head in disbelief. I scoffed at that. I wasn't dense. I was deliberately trying to keep her away. Actually, I was more surprised at how dense Irene was. Surely she could read my mood, right? I clearly didn't want her in my room, and I didn't like her at all.
No, she was just being stubborn and overconfident in her ability.
Rising to her feet, Irene slipped out of her robes, allowing her clothing to pool at her feet. She was completely naked right now, exposed to my gaze…except that my eyes were locked onto the pages of my grimoire.
"You should take a break from studying," she purred seductively. "Do something else other than practicing magic once in a while."
She then strolled toward me, moving her hips in a hypnotic rhythm. Clearly she didn't just learn healing magic from the Holy Church. Or maybe she had already mastered these seductive techniques back when she was in our village.
I didn't know and I didn't care.
"Come on, I know you want me…"
"No, I don't." I raised a hand and conjured a wall of ice between us. The temperature of the room plunged, causing Irene to shiver from the cold. She was forced to put on her robes back on because of the sheer intensity of the chill.
"Why?" she demanded, looking utterly shocked and unable to comprehend my rejection. "Why do you not want to sleep with me? Even though I'm offering myself to you?"
"Simple," I replied, staring at her in disgust. "Because I don't want to contract a venereal disease."