I am considering Laura to be part of the harem.
I do have ideas for other pairings as well now. Let's say Eatelle does join the harem, Joshua will still find a lover down the line. I won't take the fun out and say who though (:
As always, Giliath demandx your power stones!
*
'Free lodging and good home cooked meals, acquired', I inwardly said to myself happily.
Both Victor and I wrapped up our conversation as to why I had come to Legram. It looks like he was on board with both the proposal of a house merge, as well as me training in the Arseid style. I did have initial interest in proposing to Victor to join us in the house merge, but I want to see how the other nobles would react first before things got too out of hand, so I kept those thoughts to myself for now.
Still, while thinking that, I heard Victor speak to me again after we finished up the tea that was served to us.
"It sounds like you plan to stay here for the time being. I will have Klaus test your aptitude tomorrow at the dojo. You trained under the Sword Fox's guidance in the past, so I have no doubt your skill is high already. It would do Laura well to have someone similar in strength too.", Victor said.
"Got it. Despite being so young, Laura must be quite adept in the Arseid style already.", I mused to myself, wondering how strong Laura is now. It wouldn't be until five or six years later would she attend Thors Military Academy in Class VII along with Rean and the rest. Those five years will come swift, even for me it won't be long to attend Thors. Laura is Twelve now, and when Thors starts, she would be Seventeen, same age as Rean.
For me, I'm thirteen now. For my school plan, Kloe originally attended Jenis in May, S1201, and I will be accompanying her for my first two years there. In S1203, I will be in my first year at Thors. If the senior squad still enrolls then, I will be spending my first year with Angie, Crow, George, and Towa as members of the first Class VII testing group. It will be another year after when Rean and his group would arrive.
All the while during that time, the three chapters of Trails in the Sky are set to happen. I'll be on home turf ground during the rise of the Liber Ark, but unfortunately, I will already be attending Thors by the time Phantasma happens. That place doesn't have boundaries though, as no matter where one was, Phantasma would still call out to that character to bring them inside of it.
It was September of S1199 now. That meant I had a year and eight months to develop my foundations and complete the Vermillion Trials. Thinking that, I saw Victor nod his head after he heard me complement Laura.
"Yes. To the point where our other students are already hesitating to enter a fight with Laura. The spars she has get pretty one sided. Sometimes she would go as far as to hold group matches.", Victor said, shaking his head a bit as he has been viewing his own daughter's growth.
"That bad, huh?", I asked.
"I'm afraid so. You couldn't have come at a better time, if I'm speaking honestly here. She may be a genius of the sword, but Laura is...quite oblivious to other matters. I fear if she ever decides to enter high society, it will not go well.", Victor responded, lamenting since Laura mostly focused on training in the sword and not much else.
"Hahaha, well if it's a friend Laura wants, I can definitely fill that gap during my stay here.", I replied letting out a playful grin as I laughed.
"Oh boy, here we go again...", Tamamo retorted, and couldn't help but shake her head a bit after hearing me say that. Victor only glanced at the silvery-white fox in my embrace before looking back at me.
"Hmm, I am quite serious about this matter. I fear that Laura may never get a boyfriend at this rate. Let alone high society, if she enrolls in the school I have plans for, I doubt she will even make a friend there.", Victor said in a more serious tone. "But with you here now, Naoto, why don't you enter the bath Laura is in? She sees her fellow disciples as nothing but empty air when it comes to personal matters, but maybe with your arrival, something will happen.", Victor suggested with interest.
"P-Pardon?", I couldn't help but retort as surprise appeared in my eyes, not expecting. 'Did Victor seriously just suggest that I get into the bath with Laura? I did crash into Alisa while she was taking a bath back in Roer, but this is taking it to another level..', I couldn't help but inwardly sigh, thinking that.
After that was said, several moments have passed since then, allowing the moon to rise up into the night sky.
"So it really came to this...", I began to utter, only to be greeted by a blast of hot air as I opened the door to a rather spacious bath. It stretched several feet long and wide. It was pretty on par with the open air baths in Ymir, but this was a privately owned bath of the Arseid family.
"Just suck it up will you, Master? The Radiant Blademaster is having you as a guest here, so we are free to use the bath too. It doesn't matter if Laura is using it or not.", Tamamo said, walking right into the bath with me. The moisture in the air was now starting to cling to her fur, letting it sparkle a bit.
"That's not the issue here...", I retorted Tamamo, shaking my head a bit. Despite it being blasted with hot air, I could see a single figure further into the distance already submerged into the water, as well as her wet dripping blue hair. Laura was also not expecting the door to open, so she looked my way.
"It's you...", Laura said, seeing me arrive with nothing but a towel to cover part of my body. "I am guessing your talks with Father went well?", Laura decided to ask me.
"They did. I will be staying here as a guest for the time being. I do apologize for the intrusion.", I said, nodding my head a bit.
"Haha, it is no trouble. This bath is quite spacious and can house several people in it. Baths are used to relieve the stress of one's body, so feel free to join me.", Laura said, with a smile. Perhaps because of the stream, she couldn't see me clearly, so I am guessing she did not see the sword mark over my chest.
"See? You worry too much, Master.", Tamamo said, sticking her tongue out. Yet she ignored the washing area, and proceeded to jump directly into the bath. She started to swim around in it not too long after.
"Fair.", I could only shrug my shoulders seeing Tamamo do this, causing Laura to look at the little fox now enjoying the bath.
After walking to the washing area to rinse myself down, I proceeded toward the large bath, slowly taking a dip in. Laura's naked figure appeared in view, and her skin was very healthy and peachy. Yet Laura didn't seem to be bothered with me proceeding to sit down beside her not too far away. Since we were closer now, I could even see Laura's breasts bouncing on the water.
Yet ignoring that, I let out a long sigh, feeling the stress of the day being relieved from my body. Tamamo and I started from Titus Gate, so it definitely was a rather long day for us being on foot, travelling, and adding monsters to that mix.
"This water really is nice. Tama and I were in our own area battling monsters as we made your way earlier. I can already feel my body stress lifting up.", I said, trying not to look at Laura as I did.
"So that was the case. If you're going to be our guest here, I can only assume with Father that your standing is indeed high, since you'll be staying at our home.", Laura responded.
"Pretty much. Sir Victor said he will have Klaus test my aptitude in a spar tomorrow, but for tonight I'll just be relaxing.", I happily said.
"Is that so? I do not like prying into others' affairs, but you definitely have learned the way of the sword. That is a pretty big sword mark you have over your chest.", Laura said, wondering how I got my latest scar.
"Haha, that is definitely a store of itself that I can go into later. For now, Sir Victor mentioned the two of us becoming fellow disciples of similar strength. I wouldn't mind if we became friends either.", I decided to suggest on Victor's behalf. In terms of just swordsmanship, I do wonder how I compare to Laura's progress. The fight I had against Ace opened my eyes, but that had many other factors. This is just in terms of learning the way of the sword. Yet as I said that, Laura looked at me again.
"A friend...huh?", Laura uttered to herself, despite being obvlious to the matter that a naked boy was right next to her, enjoying a soak in the Arseid bath.