Building Harem Town 2

by Eric Vall

  “And the altar will be as good as new.” Penelope grinned and clasped her hands under her chin. “Now that I am carrying your child, heavenly lord, the altar will be more important than ever.”

  “Why is that, Penelope?” Nicola chuckled. “To pray even more?”

  The brunette had said she was going to be more devout, but it seemed like her public attitude hadn’t changed. Now that I knew what the human was like in bed, though, I half wondered if she specifically acted this way just so I would punish her during my next dream visit. Something to consider for later, but for now I tuned back into the priestesses’ conversation.

  “Of course,” the blue woman sniffed. “It’s only right that I work extra hard to express my unending gratitude to my baby’s father. This blessing is his doing, after all, and you all saw how determined and prolific he was with each of us the other night.”

  “Right.” Nicola cleared her throat. “I certainly don’t think I’ll forget the way he… uhhh… was with us.”

  “So, what are we going to do while the shells cook?” Aleia asked a little louder than usual, and I realized she was blushing like a virgin.

  This only made Nicola snicker even more, and the fairy let out a curt sigh. Penelope was bouncing right along as usual, though, and I didn’t think much of anything would distract her from her good mood today. Now that she’d confided in the others, Penelope was glowing twice as much, and I decided to offer my advice since the women were clearly a little distracted this morning.

  “You could work on weapons, and maybe you could show the other women how to make a trap, Nicola,” I suggested as I tried to get us back on track. “You got lucky with the cougar, so you’re going to have enough to eat for a little bit, but I’m sure you’re sick of having to fish and hunt for every meal.”

  “It would be nice to be able to collect more meat now that we’ve figured out a way to preserve it,” Penelope agreed as the women entered the garden.

  “Should we try the smoked meat now?” Aleia suggested.

  “Yes, I’m starving,” Penelope giggled.

  The three priestesses sat on rocks and chewed on pieces of smoked cougar meat, and I could tell from the expressions on their faces that it might have been a little overdone.

  “It’s good,” Nicola mumbled from around a mouthful of meat. “I just need my water…”

  The brunette picked up her canteen and took a big swig before she managed to swallow.

  “Smaller bites work well,” Aleia suggested as she nibbled on the edge of her jerky. “It has a nice flavor, anyway.”

  “So, we were talking about getting different meat?” Nicola laughed.

  “Sister, that’s not polite!” Penelope gasped before gently smacking the brunette on the arm. “Our lord told us how to make this food, and we must be grateful for every bite.”

  “Hey, if it’s chewy, it’s chewy,” I chuckled. “It’s best not to waste the animals we have to kill, but this doesn’t mean it’s always going to be the best meal of your life. Why don’t I teach you how to make the kiln so you can get started on the quicklime, Aleia? Then you can move on to something else.”

  “And we’re going to make that in this other pit, correct?” the fairy asked as she put down the rest of her food and wiped sweat off her forehead with her arm. “Wow, it is hot today. We’re going to need to make sure to store the meat carefully.”

  “I think the container the gnomes give us should work well,” Penelope mused and pursed her lips. “If it really keeps the light and air out, it should be fine, right? We can find somewhere a little shadier and cooler than the garden to store it, as well. Maybe down by the creek would be good. But yes, sister, this season did seem to come on quickly.

  “It’s really getting to be summer now,” Nicola agreed. “Both you and the meat are going to need to stay out of the sun, Aleia.”

  “Too much work to be done,” the fairy laughed. “I suppose I’ll just get more freckles, but our master says he likes them, so I don’t mind so very much.”

  “The creek will heal any sunburns you may get,” Penelope reminded the other priestesses. “Anyway, we need to focus. Our master is trying to teach us something.”

  “Well, to get started, Aleia, do you think you could build a grate for the other pit?” I asked. “

  “Of course, my lord,” the fairy replied. “I have extra green wood over here.”

  The beautiful strawberry-blonde walked over to the large pile of remaining firewood, and she pulled out several sticks of green wood, cut them to the right length with her dagger, and then quickly set up stakes to support the sticks over the fire.

  “What do we do now, Jack?” Nicola asked.

  “Now, you’re going to build a huge, roaring fire in the pit, and when the firewood is burning well, you can start layering the shells and more wood on top,” I explained. “The fire burning on top of the grate will create an updraft. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes, my lord,” Aleia replied. “And I am happy to make the fire right now.”

  The fairy began to pile some pine needles in the base of the pit for tinder, and then she started on a generous pile of criss-crossed wood before she lit the stack with the torch. The new kiln went up in a blaze of flames, and the fairy cheered.

  “You like that torch, don’t you?” I chuckled.

  “It’s so much fun, master,” the fairy giggled.

  “Now you can put the shell pieces on before adding another layer of wood and so forth,” I instructed the women. “Hey, did you see the new tongs I got you?”

  “Tongs?” Penelope wrinkled her nose. “That’s your godly tool today?”

  “Will they be helpful right now or not?” I laughed.

  “I suppose you’re right, master,” the naiad said with a shrug as she picked up her clay pot and examined the shells she’d collected, which were beautifully spiraled and swirled with intricate tan and white patterns. “These are almost too pretty to burn. We should make jewelry!”

  “You can collect some more to make jewelry later,” I chuckled. “We need to use these for the altar.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Penelope nodded, but she cast one last wistful look at the shells, and I made a mental note to give her something special soon.

  She was the mother of my future child, after all, and all these adorable little smiles were making my phantom ribs crack in half.

  The blue woman then located the new cast iron tongs, took several pieces of shell, and put them directly on top of the grate. Aleia then layered on more wood, and Penelope scattered on more shells. The two repeated the process a couple more times, and then the fairy dusted off her hands.

  “We did it!” Aleia cheered to the priestesses. “Now we let them burn, right, Jack?”

  “Yep, just let them burn,” I replied.

  “We’re getting so much done around here,” Penelope marveled.

  “We really are,” Nicola said with a proud nod. “Hunting the cougar was the best feat of all, of course, but we’ve butchered it and smoked it already. When are we going to go visit the gnomes again?”

  “I thought we should go later this evening, especially now that it’s gotten so hot,” Penelope said as she sat down on a rock and fanned her face with her hand. “It stays light out so late right now, anyway. What can we do that’s cooling?”

  “Now that the shells are being fired, you can go bathe, if you want,” I suggested.

  “I was just about to say the same thing!” the naiad sighed. “What a kind and benevolent lord you are. So gracious and giving.”

  “And what if Jack said you were never allowed to go to the creek again?” Nicola asked with a teasing grin. “Would you obey him, sister?”

  “Jack would never say that!” Penelope gasped. “Would you, my lord?”

  “Not if I ever wanted to… get worshipped again,” I snorted. I was going to say, “not if I ever wanted to get laid again,” but I wasn’t sure how the priestesses would react to that.

  “I
’m ready to go,” Aleia chirped. “The warmer it gets, the more I want to bathe.”

  “While you’re in the water, I’ll decide what I want you to do next,” I told the women as they happily strolled down the hill toward the creek.

  “Thank you, master!” the priestesses sang in unison.

  I started thinking about building a simple snare, and I wondered if Nicola knew how. While the priestesses had a fair amount of cougar meat, it never hurt to have more food, especially now that they could preserve it. Even though it was apparently the middle of summer, I was already worried about putting away food for the colder seasons.

  Would I really be here that long? That was a crazy thought.

  In any case, Nicola’s hunting skills seemed to be improving all the time. The cougar meat had brought up the issue of not having enough food storage space, so we would have to plan for that in the cooler seasons as well.

  Suddenly, I heard my name, and I snapped back to attention.

  “Jack!” Nicola called out, and when I focused on the creek, the women were giggling loudly.

  “What is it?” I asked as I kept my god vision on the bank near where the priestesses were swimming.

  “We just found this special… shell… we wanted to show you,” the dark-haired woman snickered.

  Were they begging me to look at them?

  I felt the familiar, torturous sensation of my phantom blood heating, and while I usually tried to do the godly thing and sort of avoid temptation, I couldn’t deny… I loved Nicola’s taunting.

  “Come on, master, look at this shell,” Penelope called out. “You’re going to love it!”

  “Will I?” I responded in a faux-curious voice. “Well, if you’re sure.”

  I let my vision shift over to the lapping waters of the creek, and I found all three women submerged up to their slender necks. The clear water left little to the imagination, though, and I could see Penelope’s pale blue legs stretched out with shimmering flecks of sunlight dancing across them. Nicola and Aleia had their legs comfortably intertwined, and I moaned internally at the sight of the bathing beauties.

  Or at least I thought I did, but Penelope apparently heard me.

  “Did you say something, my lord?” the naiad asked in an innocent voice.

  “It’s nothing,” I sighed.

  “Don’t worry, master, we’re hiding our bodies from you in the water,” Nicola said with a smirk.

  “Only enough to torture me, though,” I groaned.

  “I want you to know that none of this was my idea,” Aleia giggled with bright red cheeks.

  “But you went along with it,” I pointed out, and the little fairy smiled down at the water’s surface. “Did you want to do this?”

  “Perhaps,” the fairy murmured, and she looked up with glint in her eyes before she laid back and floated on her wings in a way that left her slight, freckled body fully exposed to me.

  I felt my entire being heat at the sight of the droplets slowly streaming from her taut nipples to her delicate rib cage. The way Aleia blushed even more drove me wild, too, and knowing the fairy really did want me to see much more of her made it even more difficult to keep my godly head on straight.

  “You ladies understand what torture this is for me, right?” I murmured as Aleia traced tiny wet circles on her belly.

  “But I thought you would like it.” Nicola stopped splashing and looked around at the other two priestesses. “Did we do something wrong, Jack?”

  “Not at all, it’s just…” I trailed off as I tried to think of the best way to explain it without being overtly sexual. “Did you ever have an itch you couldn’t reach, no matter how hard you tried? And it drove you crazy for a really, really long time? Like a painfully long time?”

  “I suppose…” Penelope said in a thoughtful voice.

  “I think I understand,” Aleia said with a nod. “Seeing us is hard for Jack because he can’t be down here with us right now.”

  “Exactly,” I responded.

  “But why should it be uncomfortable for you if you don’t have a physical form,” Nicola said in a puzzled tone.

  I couldn’t really answer that question. All I knew was despite not having a body, I seemed to have every phantom sensation including, or especially, sexual frustration, but I could feel it to a magnified degree.

  Everywhere.

  Being a god was really fucking cool, except for this one little problem. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to come down all the time like I wanted to, and seeing the women wear their next-to-nothing priestess robes all day was hard enough. Add watching them languidly splash and bathe in a shimmering stream, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever shake these imaginary boners.

  “That’s god business, I suppose,” I informed the brunette.

  “I see,” the dark-haired woman murmured. “I was just curious.”

  “On that note, I’m going to switch my vision away from this stream,” I told the priestesses. “You ladies enjoy yourselves as long as you like, though.”

  “Bye, Jack.” Penelope grinned and waved happily up at the sky, and the water glittering on her blue skin made her look like she was covered in beautiful diamonds.

  “See you soon.” I shifted my gaze back to the garden, but with my being still buzzing from the naked beauties, I couldn’t help pondering how wild it was being in love with three women at once. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever even been in love with one woman this deeply, but here I was living the good life, and the priestesses were so fucking gorgeous it drove me out of my mind.

  I couldn’t even focus when they came walking back into the garden with their clothes on. The thin white cloth they wore was no match for the water running down their chests, and their long, damp hair pushed back from their foreheads was the stuff of fantasies.

  “What were you saying before about trapping animals?” Nicola asked as she poked at the raging fire with a long stick. “That’s something I know about.”

  “Oh, um, yeah, I was just thinking about setting up a trap for rabbits,” I replied and abruptly stopped daydreaming. “You could set up a snare to make getting food a little easier.”

  “I saw a rabbit burrow in the woods the other day,” the brunette said. “We should keep preserving meat for convenience, and the more we hunt, the more we can do that.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I responded. “And it’s better to use your time on other things when you can automate the hunting process.”

  I didn’t think the dark-haired woman would know what “automate” meant, but she just nodded.

  “How long until the shells are ready?” Penelope asked as she twirled her damp blonde locks around her finger.

  “You’re going to need to burn them for a while,” I answered. “They need to get super hot, and they won’t be finished until they all emit a bright white glow.”

  “Aw,” the naiad pouted. “The sooner we can get the altar fixed, the better.”

  “I agree,” I told the blue woman. “The gnomes were such a pleasant surprise yesterday, though.”

  “I suppose we could have done it if the gnomes weren’t here, but I do always enjoy their company so much” Penelope agreed before her eyes grew wistful again. “And I can’t wait to see them again. I wonder if Nissa needs more help with the baby…”

  “So, your pregnancy was why you were so charmed by baby Roza!” Aleia cut in. “Now it all makes sense to me.”

  “Yes,” Nicola said with a nod. “It only confirmed my suspicions.”

  “Well, I really am happy for you, sister,” Aleia told Penelope as she tightly grasped her hand. “We will raise your daughter as if she is our own.”

  “That’s so kind, Aleia,” Penelope responded with a sniffle, and I was afraid the blue woman was going to start full-on weeping again.

  “So, why don’t I teach you more about making a snare?” Nicola interjected quickly.

  “For the rabbit burrow?” Aleia asked.

  “Yes, you can see it fro
m the first clearing you get to when you’re walking down the main path,” the brunette explained. “If we set a trap there every day, hopefully it will spare me from having to wait with my bow or Penelope from having to fish at the stream.”

  “Small animals are also easier to deal with…” the fairy mused. “That cougar was hard to butcher.”

  “Yes, it was,” Nicola said as she grinned proudly. “It was so rewarding, but I wouldn’t want to do it every day.”

  “You’ll be much safer from predators soon,” I cut in, and even though I didn’t have a plan yet, I’d already made a mental note that this was a necessity. “So, that cordage you’ve been making is pretty strong, right?”

  “It is,” Aleia said with a proud nod. “It was strong enough to tie up that entire cougar’s body. Let me show you.”

  The fairy grabbed a long string of cord, and when she tugged on it with two hands, the rope didn’t snap between her fingers.

  “So, we can use that for the noose, right, Jack?” Nicola asked.

  “Yes, exactly,” I replied.

  “We’ll tie a loop on one end and then run the other end of the cord through it,” the brunette explained. “And then we can make a trigger with two sticks. We run a line down from a sapling, attach it to the hook of the trigger, and stick the base of the trigger in the ground. When a rabbit enters the noose, the sapling will fling the animal up into the air.”

  “Do you want to go set that up?” I asked. “Actually, why don’t you all go learn something new? And while you’re out in the forest, you can collect wood to make some additional weapons.”

  “That sounds like a good plan, my lord,” Aleia agreed. “This trap sounds interesting, and we already know what type of wood we need to craft spears, a new bow, and more arrows. I love my sling, but I’d really love a bow, too.”

  “I can’t believe I’m getting a sword soon!” Nicola actually squealed. “I hope it’s big enough for me.”

  “Aw, an itty bitty gnome sword,” Penelope cooed. “How adorable.”