"You don't need to eat so much anymore, so just have token meals whenever you're not healing or actively working."
"Prayers must be at least five times a day, carry this little book as an item of worship and hold it while doing your daily prayers."
"It is your duty as husband to pleasure your wives, but you must always have control of excessive frolicking."
"Your posture must be like this for a deep prayer, like this for a quick one and like this in case you stand in front of a holy symbol for each occasion respectively."
"These are the main passages you must learn, these are the popes you must memorize, and this is the simble of the order, which marks you as a paladin, meaning you have to memorize these vows too."
"That is a great point about equity over equality and it's applications, and I will be sure to mention it in the next time I am in from of the pope, so write it down at least ten times."
The moment Aki got out of the temple, he felt like he'd stab the next old lady he saw. He wouldn't do it, no, but that spoke a lot about the bishop, who had bothered him even about how he washed his teeth and his sleeping posture.
He'd be able to activate a shit ton of buffs from wrath had he ever the need to kill her.
Instead of going directly home, he was to help the apprentices in visiting the temple of the life goddess, which almost always had an orphanage or supported one.
He was not going to complain about helping orphans, but not having slept a wink and being nagged by an old lady for twenty hours straight made him quite cranky.
Which is why he had a calming smile and had turned his calming presence to max. Be it from greeting the sister who usually dealt with these matters, distracting the children while he healed them from anything a lesser healer might have missed or just plain telekineticaly floating the orphans around or braiding the hair of that one girl that was afraid of heights, he did it all with his maximum amount of effort and even got hugs and kisses from the smaller children.
His mood was lifted, sure, but he was still not ussed to not sleeping.
The younger apprentices praised him both for handling the situation and for his magical prowess. He made sure to tease them since he was apparently the only one that was married. Or even thought of having two wives.
"I mean, it's great, sure, but I do get jealous when they make out without me." He said, his work of making the situation the most awkward possible before they reached the adventurers guild going flawlessly.
By the time they did get there, he was pretty sure he knew what all his escorts were going to do the moment they got some free time. He did have work to do, however, so he could not simply keep teasing the teenagers and the one guy that was older than him.
"Hey, i'm here to take my B-rank promotion test." He told the receptionist. "I'm Aki, from the Alastor party."
"Yes, we were expecting you sir. Your wife completed her test flawlessly by the way." The attendant smiled and signaled to followed her.
"I was pretty sure, but it's always good to hear confirmation." He shrugged, smilling more about the categorization of 'flawlessly'. "I know the test is more about combat and being reliable, but is there something else besides that?" He asked, trying to get an advantage of a few seconds planing would never be a bad idea.
"I wonder~." Was his answer. There was no sign that the guild master would be the one to do his test, but there stood the man.
"Yo. Am I supposed to hit or capture someone or the like, because I already have the guy doing the illusion encased on stone." He pointed out.
"It's part of the test, but more of a formality since I already knew they'd not work on you. You can let Fred go now." And he did. "I just really wanted to spar a bit with you since I felt this would be my last chance before you completly wiped my the floor with me." The taller man shrugged.
Aki just smiled.
*****
"He is a genius, there's no doubt, but that would normally be useless against an A rank even if they are retired." Commented the man dressed in heavy robes.
"I'm just impressed he could make the baldie look like a brat that hasn't advanced his main skill yet. A very precise use of mind magic even if it... Ha, right when I was saying it. Ooh, he also knew about it, would you look at it." Narrated the one eyed man with grisly white hair and beard while perfectly following the flow of magic and the battle at the same time.
"You both do remember the branch master of this town is a mage hunter, right? Could either tell me how he is being made a fool of by a mage?" Asked a completly armored person, their voice more raspy and tenebrous than an indication of gender.
"Oh, that, it's because the boy also knows mage hunting techniques apparently, he's countering the spell breaks, ignoring them, feighting, or just plain out using body reinforcement while taking in the mana in the environment. Probably has a higher level parallel thought skill." Analyzed the pirate.
"Really? I can't actually see it all, so it's kind of hard, but neither seem to be bad kids. That guy could have gone much further before retiring than he did."
"Not everyone is a battle maniac like you. He does have bad taste though, heard his first wife was an adulter and the second one died from a mysterious disease that didn't leave a body. Whatever that's an innuendo for, it's not good." Smirked the scholar.
After Aki was finally beat up.
"You're damn hard to keep down. Limit break healing?" If someone was getting a berserker skill, it was this piece of fuck.
"Yup. Though I did get a level in martial arts for fighting you bare handed." Said the heaving young man, his body slowly putting itself back in place.
"If you didn't get a skill level from punching knuckles harder than steel repeatedly for half an hour, then I'd be surprised. If you don't already have it I suggest the Monk job as your next one, fits perfectly and even gives you bonuses for the priest side of things."
"Yeah, that was my thought about it too. All these classes are beginning to sinergyse quite nicely. The bonuses are stacking and all that." He dismissed him, not mentioning his grownth plan.
Most people didn't know that while all jobs you gained made it harder to gain XP, each and every one of them also gave bonuses to aquiring it through certain ways. It was litterally written out to him though, and he'd warned both his lovers, but Xera had her race acting as a job, and Mari had already gotten one specially good job the moment it appeared, 'Great explorer of the white expanse' . She'd not been lying about beeing an exile from a beastman tribe of far, far away.
Now Aki was in the same boat though, Saint was also a bottom 'tier 4' job, which qualitatively changed the XP he was going to use now and forever. It opened him to more powerful jobs, sure, but he did want to find out what'd happen if he had 25 apprentice jobs. Super apprentice aparently counted for a taly he could not see the result of, so...
His next job was actually going to be apprentice writter, since the gramatical skills from knowing four diferent written languages had actually added up to him being able to write quite consisely.
"I would, however, very much enjoy if i could obtain a certain recomendation of minor knighthood." Aki pointed out, shrugging and taking out some expensive wine and a strong spirit. "Drink with me?" He offered.
*****
One tipsy guild master later.
"I'm home!" He screamed, literally teleporting to his lovers side, kneeling and play biting the sides of a resting cat-kin who'd been getting a lap pillow. Her laughter was quite healing.
"Stop it!" She exclaimed loudly in a fit of laughter. He did stop, instead resting his head on her middrif.
"Did i miss something?" He asked, massagin Xera's tail.
"Do know, did you want to acompany us on our date?" Asked the pouting blonde.
"Of course! How could i miss either of you two on cute clothes? It'd be as much of a sin as not looking when you have none!" He smirked, poking the flat belly he laid his head on. His back would complain in a bit because of the height diference, but his heart would shut it up.
"We also went to the bookstore." Xera pointed out, faint smile on her face as she carresed her girlfriend's head.
"Yeah, did you buy any more fantasy books for me? I can't deal with some authors and their political percetions like you. Just enjoying a well fleshed out character and consise story is good for my heart." He said.
"And got accosted by some guys." Complemented the sandwitched woman.
"I pray for their asses, may they one day close again." That drew a few giggles from all of them.
"But then we visited that sweets shop Mari talked about and talked about nothing."
"Am i included in that nothing? Otherwise i will be jealous." He pouted, massaging both their tails. Developing ambidexterity in this planet was luckily much easier than breaking a hand and learning from scratch.
"Of course you are, who else would make a wandering bitch like me worry so... kyaa!"
"You're not allowed to call yourself that." He coldly said, having quickly gotten up and flipped her on her side so he could grab the base of her tail. "And this is as good a moment to give you that present as any." He said, taking something she couldn't see out of his inventory before suddenly there was a pressure on the middle of her tail. Turning around, she saw that Aki was playing with her ass while Xera was putting a deep green ribbon with red runes next to a black one with silver runes. That made her blush fiercely.
"Th th, this?!?" She questioned, urgency on her tone.
"Of course i know about it silly, do you think i'd wait for you to get cold feet before trying to ask?" Aki grineed clutching her right hand while Xera got her left one between hers, a briliant look of expectation on the ophidian. "Mariane Sunstride, would you take us as your fiancess?" They said, perfectly in sink. Yes, magic is a beautifull thing.
The amount of stuttering, tearing and blushing she did in that moment was certainly more than enough for a whole week of it, but both idiots just waited, letting go of her hands so she could sit and carresing them when she seemed about to say something.
"I don't know what to say, at all." She admitted. "We've barrely known each other for what? A bit less than a month? Are you guys sure you want to..."
"YES!" They laughed. "You bird brain, i'm a very picky man, you know? I'd never have even touched Xera if she wasn't such a nerd." Aki pointed out. "And you are even cutter than this bastard. Your smile gives both of us energy. We've cried together, laughed together and lived together, isn't that enough." Xera nailed their feelings home, her words something the woman in front of them wanted to hear for a long time.