Okay, out of that deal I'd earned another two points of Knowledge: Ethetria, along with enough experience to give me another star in Clever. Sway had jumped up a tier, along with a completed star in Charming, and Intimidation had boosted my Sly, but not enough to give me a full star there. The UI informed me that my first Bronze Clever star would be waiting for me when I tiered up Charming, Fierce, Sly and Tough.
I had a lot to do and I wasn't sure how much time I'd have before the next big challenge came my way.
I was stacking boxes back into the trailer when Auralla and Truffy rejoined me, and the snoozing Jerry.
"I feared the worst when the third and fourth Domi stood to challenge you," she said, and surprised me with a hug. Surprised and delighted. She really was out of my league in every single respect. I kissed her on the forehead.
"I'm told I need to never set eyes on Sunspire again."
She sobbed, just once, into my chest.
"You probably shouldn't act submissive here," I told her. "The others already suspect I've mind-controlled you somehow, and that even if I haven't stolen your power, I've done worse somehow."
"I don't care," she said. "They were wrong to demand your death. You brought gifts. I heard them, wishing to take what you had offered, and then take the rest. It is like I did not know them at that moment. They acted dishonorably."
Oh. I… hadn't meant to be the catalyst for her disillusionment. The Sunspire she knew was turned sideways, if not on its head.
"I'm… sorry," I told her. I'd brought all this trouble into her life without knowing the consequences. I should've known… every time I got into a relationship it devolved. One minute you're smiling and laughing and buying her a jacket at the mall, the next minute she's crying because her friends hate you, or her parents think you're a lowlife for driving a truck, or her ex gets transferred to the same floor where she's working and they hit it off again.
It's never me and the girl in question, it's always outside influences. I couldn't have known it would happen, but at that moment I blamed myself anyway.
"It is hardly your fault they behaved so disrespectfully!" She spoke progressively louder until the last word was a shout. All around us, people started whispering. Auralla's voice fell to a whisper. "Can you forgive me for bringing you to this place? I feel as if I have betrayed you."
"No betrayal. You're not responsible for their words or actions. And hey, if you want, you can take an extended vacation from Sunspire, link up with me, slowly make our way to the city, and you can return back here. Even if it's only a couple of weeks with you, I'll take what I can get."
She beamed up at me. "Yes. I will say my goodbyes and meet you out of sight of Sunspire."
I don't know what came over me at that moment, but yeah I do. It was her eyes. She had these radiant emerald eyes, and they were honestly so inviting. So I blurted, "You're such a beautiful person, Auralla."
Another big smile, but also tinged with sadness. Her eyes were watering, from feeling so betrayed by the Domi.
"It'll be fine. You'll feel a lot better on the road for a few days. Just you and me… and Truffy. And Jerry. Campfires, learning to cook, moonlight essence sharing sessions. It'll be the best time of my life."
"I'd share essence with you right now in front of everyone if you wanted to."
My mouth dropped open and I stared at her. She was kidding. Probably. I couldn't, tempting as it was.
It really would be like spitting in the face of the elders. Which was not something I was willing to do, both for my sake, death obviously, and hers… whatever punishment she might receive. They'd probably go with banishment, but my mind jumped directly to death by a thousand tongue lashes, okay that sounded pretty awesome actually, I could be down for watching a whole bunch of girl on girl action if they got up to that.
Aw but I'd be dead before they got to her punishment. That was sad.
"
I
want to," she added, muffled, into my chest. Which… wow. My lower brain had definitely heard that one and was awakening.
"Let's save it for the road," I told her.
She pulled away, and the despair was replaced by hope in her big, vibrant green eyes. "Yes, I would like that. I could teach you cooking, because you mentioned you are terrible at it."
"I am the worst."
"And we could tame the beasts together."
"Nice. Yeah."
"We could practice essence sharing."
"That's what I was hoping to hear," I said, grinning.
"Right now." Now she clearly wasn't being serious. The lighter mood made me grin.
"Any time but right now," I said, and her face fell in this overacted, exaggerated way that made us both laugh.
Meanwhile the people of Sunspire watched, and discussed what they'd seen.
Auralla told me of a spot some ways to the east, where a trio of those floating boulders hovered near and above one another, like a pyramid. It was a good five or six hours on foot, and over a decent-sized hill, so Sunspire would be nowhere in sight.
Goddamn if I wasn't getting turned on just thinking about what I might talk her into doing next.
"When do you want to meet out there?" I asked. The Domi might try to limit her to once a month or every season or something. I'd have to go do some adventuring for a while, and return when they let her.
"I'll be there before dark," she said.
Oh. Well.
***
I had Jerry leap lightly up on top of the trailer, got Mack started up, and pulled away from Sunspire. Every one of the villagers watched me turn the huge vehicle and put them in my rearview.
The landscape began to change, but slowly. I drove on in silence, ruminating over the whole Sunspire situation. I wondered what would happen if I could convince any of the Domi or the villagers to have a roll in the hay. Would I get wind abilities from the First Domi? More importantly, what would it feel like to sink my shaft into an orc lady, or even that dragonite? Did she have a cloaca, and if so, what even was that? I couldn't search Google for what exactly a cloaca even was, but I kinda wanted to figure out.
Not more than I wanted to live, but I was curious.
Grasslands gave way to more and more trees, and the flat terrain I'd been enjoying stopped being so flat. More and more I thought I'd end up with a busted tie rod or a wrecked suspension, or just a flat tire, and that would be the end of traveling easy. I'd be forced to set up HQ out here.
At one point I spotted a creature and had Jerry run it down and bring it back, dead or alive. He bounded back a minute later with a dead… creature. Something with the body of a crocodile but covered in bristly fur and with long pointed tusks, like it would try and ram something full speed ahead.
The game UI awarded me a bit of experience for Fierce, which I heartily appreciated. It seemed Jerry was an extension of me, which was very nice. The thing would probably roast well over an open fire, and I'd need all the energy I could get if Auralla was coming to stay the night.
I found the pyramid of three floating rocks just where she said they'd be, about an hours' drive later. I could've made twenty four miles (if they walked fast, and I bet they did) in no time, but I wanted to take it easy on Mack.
These three boulders were much bigger than the rando I'd found in the middle of the savannah, like a hill that had started to wake up and become the head and shoulders of a giant. I stopped Mack as soon as I saw them, which would make it easier for Auralla to come meet me, and set up camp. This earned some Survival, tied to Clever, and then when I went after water, I made sure to sneak around, which got me a bit more Sly.
I considered all I'd been through and learned. Although I'd had a heavenly start to my time here (near death experiences with creatures aside) I got the impression I needed to adjust my thinking. This certainly wasn't earth, and running around pretending it was would probably end me up dead.
Auralla and I hadn't discussed a monogamous relationship. It was already clear that most males who got these sorts of magic powers ended up with a series of women orbiting them like electrons. That meant some things, but chief among those was that males had sex with a lot of women, and those women sometimes went off to fight and die for those males. Multiple partners wasn't just a thing, it was a defining trait in this world.
Could I handle that? I blew out an explosive sigh considering jealousy, bitterness, and betrayal. I'd caught my latest ex in our bed with another guy. It wasn't going to be easy to just cast that aside and surge forward into the arms of a whole bunch of distrustful ladies.
I considered flying under the radar and just becoming a craftsman or a shopkeeper. They lived and worked under the stronger males who had full on harems, and tons of these power tattoos. The idea of running a shop full of earth junk made me happy; it'd be good to settle down in a single place instead of running around making deliveries in Mack with no rest.
Jerry's senses informed me that there was a creature to hunt and kill, so I sent a mental command to keep it in range, but not attack. I snuck off with the pistol in hand, and hoped I could get some serious practice in stealth.
Training would pay off. In the meantime, while I collected firewood and got the fire going, I sent Jerry around in wide circles to see if he could kill any poor defenseless tomorrow's lunch. Maybe Auralla could begin those cooking lessons tonight.
I wondered if I had an apron in the trailer, and if I could coax her into wearing only that.
***
The sun was beginning to dip close to the horizon when I heard approaching… people. Not person. Maybe just Auralla and Truffy, I thought… but no. Multiple female voices. I got my shotgun and baseball bat ready just in case some weird slaver male had found Auralla, or the four Domi had followed her with a war band and some expendable magical beasts to kill me off.
Auralla emerged from behind a tree a minute later, followed closely by another figure. This one was just like Dia the Second Domi, a tiny person maybe three and a half feet tall, with brownish skin and light purple hair. Purply-blue, but lighter. Her hair was done in the same manner as the orcish Domi: shaved on the sides, long in back, and plaited into a single thick braid. She had wide eyes of a color matching her hair, another odd shock. She appeared not like a little human girl, but like a tiny woman in her early twenties: full hips and bust, and dressed in a sheer single piece of cloth. Again, I could see everything, which felt like it defeated the purpose of clothing, but I wasn't complaining.
What had prompted this? I was perplexed by the addition of the new girl, and disappointed I wouldn't be extending our honeymoon lovemaking vacation any longer. My cock would be most displeased, but I'd find a way to somehow survive.
"Hey!" I said, a little awkwardly, hoping Auralla would explain.
Instead Auralla flung herself into my arms and kissed me, full of tongue like I'd showed her. She'd really taken to this, and ground herself against my midsection shamelessly.
I placed the gun and the backpack containing the bat leaning against Mack, and soon Jerry trotted into the scene at my command.
"This is Avya," Auralla didn't explain at all. "She's my best friend. We call her Avi sometimes, or Giant. You can call her Giant too!"
"Oh gods, not this again," the little one rolled her eyes.
I turned my attention to the newcomer and fell to one knee so we would be eye to eye. "I'm Evan, and it's wonderful to meet you, Avya. You can call me Evan, or Drifter I guess. My friends call me Evvie."
"Evvie!" Auralla laughed. "Avi and Evvie!"
The new girl took my hand to shake it, but something possessed me to press a light kiss onto her knuckles. She was blushing, hard, and hadn't breathed since I started talking to her. She opened her mouth, but the only sound that emerged was an unfocused and nervous 'uhhhhhh.'
I didn't press, but tried to give her a bright smile.
My Relationship with Avya had begun, at Normal with a single star. Apparently being on a first name basis with someone was star-worthy.
No, the UI explained, the first star had come from several hours of Auralla telling her all about me. Which begged the question, of course: how much of all was considered
all
about me?
"I have food, I think… it's meat and it's been roasting over a fire, but I'm not sure if I did it right." I'd rigged up what I thought might be a decent rotisserie, but I hadn't buried the sticks deep enough and it had fallen down. Then when I got them deeper, it looked like the meat was too close the flames. Not to mention that it had already fallen to the ground and rolled in the dirt a little. I figured the dirt would cook right out.
Auralla laughed at my setup and the results, then brought out a knife and cut away bits that were already scorched, or covered in dirt. She then fashioned a better spit for roasting with a few practiced moves, and produced some herbs to rub on the meat before getting it over the fire again.
"You're very cute when you try to cook," she told me while she worked.
I stole a look at Avya, who looked away before we could make eye contact. She'd clearly been staring at me.
There were three options I could see being the reason Avya tagged along with Auralla: one was that she was spying, either for the village or for the Domi. Second, and this seemed unlikely given her size, was to protect Auralla from being captured, or to just cut and run, and report back what evil things she'd seen me do. The third option though… I was beginning to wonder.
I confess to being a bit of an idiot when it came to relationships. You did things together, dates and movies and conversations, made her laugh some, and then waggled your eyebrows and suggested clothes were optional for the next event. Subtle had never been my watchword.
So I couldn't be sure how to act in front of this new girl Avya. I now had a relationship with her, technically speaking, but the Beastmaster power had only come into being after we'd shared essence. Was Avya here to… certainly Auralla wouldn't bring her best friend all the way out here to the middle of nowhere with the express intent to have the two of us engage in my favorite of rituals.
Would she?
Best friends didn't do things like that.
On earth
, I reminded myself. People on earth didn't do things like that. But I wasn't
on
earth.
Certainly Auralla's first very thorough kiss and the light grinding right in front of Avya were evidence that supported the third option.
It was theoretically possible that Avya had some powerful magic and was here to keep me from corrupting her friend further. It was entirely possible that the world was far different than I imagined, and this little person was a magical dynamo. Auralla had received a teleportation power after being with me once, and I had no idea what Avya's deal was. I didn't want to poke the hornet's nest if she could go Super Saiyan Three and put me in my place with a single karate chop.
More info was needed. And meanwhile, I'd make sure not to fuck around, so that I didn't end up finding out in the worst way possible.