“John…” Yin began, giving me a smile that was very much not a smile.
“I think you like worrying us, don’t you?” Sharon said, mirroring Yin’s expression. I felt a cold sweat form on my back as I tried to back up, only to find that the airlock had closed behind me.
“Uhm… we can talk about this, right? Heheh… no need to be hasty?” I chuckled awkwardly. Any man that has ever been in a relationship can tell you, the most fearsome being they have ever known was the person they were in that relationship with. In my case, it was these two beauties. They scared the ever-loving daylights out of me sometimes!
“Sure, we can talk…” Sharon grinned, grabbing me by one hand while Yin grabbed the other.
Distractions, distractions, what could I use for a distraction?! “So, are you two ready for the ceremony when we get back to Gerin?” John has used Distraction!
Yin froze for a moment, looking at me in confusion. “Ceremony?” She asked as she tilted her head.
I nodded my head rapidly in response. “Right, the ceremony! Didn’t we agree that we’d have a nice wedding after we got away from Kithorun? Where better to have it than Gerin, since that is where you evolved, and Sharon and I are both elves now?”
Distraction is critically effective! I watched as the two girls’ smiles grew much softer. I mean, really, why would we want to have the wedding on Kithorun? Do you even know what their customs are? When Qu’Lopti marry, it’s not a nice, romantic ceremony. Instead, it’s a dramatic battle of husband versus wife to determine the ‘fate of the world’. In other words, they fight with fake weapons, until one of them admits defeat. The ‘loser’ is the one that has to pay for the refreshments afterwards.
“Okay… fine. You’re off the hook, for now.” Sharon gives me a wry smile. “But I’m not forgetting how you didn’t keep track of your grove and let all of this erupt so suddenly. We’ll have to find a planet that we can safely put everyone, or distribute them out through different groves until the final evolution. Which is how long…?”
I glanced back to the timer, and nodded my head. “Just under nine months. After that, I guess we’ll have the questions to life, the universe, and whether or not your grove will be able to survive this…”
Sharon’s lips curved downwards at the mention of that. We still didn’t know what would happen with her grove, and Malthan wasn’t wanting to tell me. So, she simply sighed and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. If the grove is destroyed, I’ll just try to make another one. With everyone’s help, it won’t take long before it is at a level where they can live in it again. It’s not like I’m losing my druid abilities either way.”
I smiled, grasping her hand lightly. “It’ll be alright, one way or the other.” Hearing me say that, Yin nodded her head as well, pulling Sharon into a comforting hug.
Now I needed to add this to my list of things that we had to do over the next year. While it wouldn’t be that hard to simply move everyone from my grove into different groves of Sharon’s other animals, it’s a different matter for trying to move all of the animals in her own grove, since many of them required special habitats. Did this seriously have to happen while we have a war going on?
Yes, yes it did.
Oh hush, you. I grumbled mentally to the new window that appeared, and began sending messages quietly to Talia, asking to arrange for our ceremony. Now that I brought it up, I definitely had to go through with it. Of course, I had planned to do this at some point while we were at Gerin anyways, I just figured it would be after the war. But desperate times called for a desperate distraction!
Pulling the two girls along, I returned to our room for a while. The captain was taking a break for a few minutes to cuddle his future wives!
Chapter 9: Catching Up
After spending some time with the girls, I decided to take a little while to explore the ship, see how everyone was holding up. Okay, the girls called my parents over and kicked me out so that they could plan the wedding, but still. We were finally almost back to Gerin, and people would be able to meet with their loved ones. And for those who had lost loved ones in the New Human Empire attacks… they would be able to mourn with their friends.
My first visit was Yo, since I had not been able to spend much time with her during this trip. Her experiences in these last few years since arriving to the Qu’Lopti world have been… interesting, to say the least. She fully immersed herself in the Qu’Lopti culture, enjoying every day she spent with them.
When I got to her room, I knocked on the door to get her attention. I wasn’t wanting to interrupt her if she was busy with something. “Just a second!” She called out, before reaching the door a few moments later.
Not only her personality, even her physical form has undergone a bit of a change. She was now a bit slimmer, her figure more defined than it had to be. She was solid enough now that she could even wear real clothes without them getting soggy. When she opened the door, I saw the green slime girl giving me a warm smile. She was currently wearing tight jeans, as well as a white shirt with a pink heart over the chest that highlighted her figure. Her hair was arranged to look like a ponytail, though there was no actual band holding it in place, simply her own slime.
“Hey dad, what’s up?” She asked as she jumped forward, wrapping her arms around my neck to give me a tight hug.
“Ah, wanted to see how you’ve been doing. Mind if I come in?” I asked, taking a peek inside to make sure the room was presentable. Thankfully, part of her maturing meant that she no longer covered the walls of her room in slime when she was bored.
“Hmm? Sure, come on in!” She nodded her head happily, letting go of my neck and stepping back with her arms behind her. “I’ve got Yang in here right now, that alright?”
I was a bit confused by that, and it probably showed on my face, because she followed it up with a sad smile. “She still hasn’t entirely gotten over what happened at Kithorun, so I’ve been doing my best to comfort her. It’s easy to relate, you know? I mean, my power basically requires that I consume the bodies of people or monsters. So I’ve had her come here every now and then so we could hang out.”
I nodded my head, understanding. “I see.” Then, following her lead, I went into her room. There weren’t a whole lot of places to sit in here, just a bed and a desk. As such, it wasn’t surprising to see Yang sitting on Yo’s bed, though her face flushed a bit as I walked in. Was it that embarrassing for me to catch her hanging out with Yo?
“Hello, Master.” She lowered her head slightly, her wings tucking behind her. “What brings you here?”
“Well, I was coming to check up on Yo, but I guess this is a good chance to see how you’re doing as well. Yo said she’s been helping you out lately?”
Yang gave a soft smile at that, nodding her head. “Yo has been very good to me these past months, yes. But… please don’t ask me to do that again.”
“That’s fine.” I smiled, moving to sit by her. Her face flushed a bit more as she looked over to me. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you ever feel up to it, I have a bunch of materials sitting in my inventory for you to work with,, whenever you want to get back to work.” Because of my grove slowly collapsing, I decided to go ahead and move the dragon’s body parts to my inventory. Surprisingly, the size did not seem to influence how much I could store, and I was able to take care of it all easily.
“Thank you, Master. I’ll keep that in mind.” Though she said that, it did not seem as if she would be volunteering to craft again for a bit.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. “By the way, Yang. Yin, Sharon, and I are finally having our wedding ceremony once we get to Gerin.”
Yang gave a small nod, with a soft smile on her face. “I know, Master. Yin sent me a message about it a little while ago.”
Yo, on the other hand, sniggered mischievously. “So, you three are finally tying the knot, huh? About time. You’ve been going at each other practically as long as I’ve been alive!”
&nb
sp; I sighed, shaking my head. “How are you and Kismet doing?” Unsurprisingly, Yo had had no problem with the Qu’Lopti’s marriage traditions. Her and Kismet held a grand battle that lasted for hours before the former boss monster finally subdued her.
“Hmm? He’s fine. I think he went to take lessons on the ship’s engineering for a while. He’s been wanting to learn more about the ship’s systems lately.” Yo said, sitting at the desk across from the bed and nodding. I guess I’ll add that to my list of stops to make today.
“Thanks, I should go and make sure everything’s doing alright.” I said as I stood up, reaching over and patting Yang’s head. “You girls going to be fine without me supervising?”
The slime girl put on another mischievous smirk, while Yang’s face reddened slightly. “We’ll be fine, dad. I was just about to get her to sing for me again. It’s part of the rehab, you know?”
I nodded in understanding at that, and took my leave of the room. On my way to the engineering section to meet up with Kismet, I first bumped into Priscilla. It’s surprising how empty the halls were, but I guessed that most people were either busy doing their work or preparing to get off the ship when we reached Gerin.
“Ah, John!” She smiled brightly to me when she spotted me. “How are you doing?” She was still wearing her normal maid clothes, like she always did. Her bunny ears poked out from her long hair as she tilted her head cutely towards me.
“I’m fine. How’s your research coming?” Lately, Priscilla has been devoting herself to learning more and more about Alchemy, to the point where she was now likely better at it than myself.
“It’s going great!” She grinned, hopping in the air slightly as she said it. “I just got done developing a new type of poisonous plant last week, and was able to discover some new recipes for it!”
“That’s good. Did Sharon let you know that I’ll be needing your help soon, getting everyone migrated?”
She nodded her head, her ears bobbing back and forth. “Yes, Mistress already informed me. I’m arranging for habitations based on priority, and living requirements. Naturally, we need to have as few people outside the groves as possible, to conserve space, and we have to put people in groves that contain an environment they could survive in.”
That made sense to me. We probably couldn’t put many people in Priscilla’s grove, because half of her plants were poisonous. Unlike me, she fully explored both the medicinal and poison paths of alchemy. “Alright. Well, I was just about to go check on Kismet. If you need me for anything, let me know.”
I was just about to walk off when there was a startled noise from behind me. “Ah! Actually, could I get some of the dragon’s blood from you? I had a theory about how it could be used, and was wanting to test it.”
I nodded, and retrieved some of it from my inventory, depositing it in a glass vial that Priscilla produced. “Thank you very much, Captain! Have a good day!” She spoke with a grin before running back down the hall.
Finally, after walking a bit longer, I made it to the engineering section. There, I saw Kismet speaking with Halinth, the chief engineer. “I see… But, how does this open a stable portal?” The shadowborn asked with his brows furrowed.
Halinth was a tall, muscular elf with the typical facial features of a bully. Despite that, he was actually pretty kind. “Ah, you see, when… Oh, hello Captain!” He turned and saluted me as he noticed my presence.
“Ah, hey John.” Kismet smiled to me as well, waving a hand at me when he turned around and spotted me. “Sorry, was trying to get some lessons. Want to be more useful around here.”
I nodded my head at that. “That’s fine. How’ve you been doing lately?”
Seeing that I was here for him rather than the engineer, Kismet seemed a bit surprised. “Ah, I’ve been fine. Itching to get out of the ship again. To be honest, it’s pretty boring being stuck in here all the time. I miss being able to fight out in the open ground.”
I chuckled slightly as I heard his answer. “Well, I’ll be sure to put you on the next team whenever we have a combat mission. Surprised you’re not with Yo right now, you two are usually inseparable.”
He smiled wryly, shaking his head. “She’s having a session with Yang right now, and I didn’t want to get in their way. I’ll get her when we’re alone, but I have to be willing to give her space when she’s got guests. She’s even been complaining that we need a bigger room for when she has her girl friends over.” I heard a chuckle coming from my mental connection with Celeste, but I wasn’t sure what she found funny. Might have just been one of her books. She downloaded practically every story the Qu’Lopti had written, and was just as addicted to reading as ever.
“Ah, that’s true. Yang didn’t seem like she’d appreciate the extra company when I was there.” I nodded my head. Kismet simply chuckled softly.
“Right. Anyways, is there anything else? Sorry, but I am really hoping to learn how some of this works before I get back to them later.”
“Huh? No, that’s all, I guess. Be sure to keep in touch if you need anything.”
“I will, and congratulations on finally getting married with Yin and Sharon.” He smiled to me, before I went off to check on the next group of people. Next up was the secondary team, who for some reason decided to stick with me. When I asked Nathan why they stuck around rather than going off to adventure…
“You’re basically an apostle of the God of Chaos. You really think your life is going to stay boring for long? If I hang around you, it’s bound to be more fun than going off by ourselves.” Yeah, that’s pretty much what he said. I sometimes wish he hadn’t been so right.
Anyways, I tried to talk to them again, but they were currently in the simulation room. This room was added to the ship after arriving on the Qu’Lopti world, using their VR devices. Essentially, it allowed the users to program a simulation for either themselves or a group. Checking the settings, the one they were using was a team combat exercise. Since this was an online battle, I figured they were fighting against the crew of one of the Qu’Lopti ships.
Well, I can come back and check on them later. I shook my head, making my way towards the mess hall. I could at least chat with the crew for a while and eat, until we arrived at Gerin.
Chapter 10: Together, Forever
By the time we had arrived at Gerin, I was more than ready to get off the ship. After five years of no travel, I had forgotten just how frustrating it can get. We need some better way to travel or something… I mean really, at this point our individual abilities mean practically nothing, since this war will mostly be conducted between ships. I’m confident that our levels and abilities surpass the New Human Empire… but what about our technology?
Celeste seemed to have picked up my thoughts, because she replied a few moments later. “Well, there’s not much that can be done about that, unless you invest in gear or abilities to let people fight in the vacuum of space. Right now, you, me, and Yo are the only ones that can do that. And sorry, John, but I don’t think we're strong enough to take on a fully armed fleet with just the three of us.”
I thought about that for a moment, but nodded my head. If we could get everyone able to fight like that, it might not be a problem. But not sure everyone would be open to the idea of changing into either a slime, Deus Ex, or void elf.
“True, but there are some other methods, like environment shields. Though we’d have to purchase one from the gold market to learn how to develop them. Naturally, the best method for fighting a space battle is spaceships. If you want to have better chances of winning, you need to increase the power of your space fleet.”
Again, I could only nod in response. I know. Hopefully, the Deus Ex will be willing to join us. Since our flight path did not take us close enough to the Deus Ex homeworld to make contact, we had yet to get in touch with them about combining fleets to fight the New Human Empire.
“Captain.” The comm in my ear sounded off. “We’re arriving at the border of Gerin space now. They’
re hailing us for our identification now.”
“Understood, I’m on my way. Patch me through to them for now.” I waited for the signal before I spoke up, while walking towards the bridge. “This is John Hulett of the Ariadne. Who am I talking with?”
“This is Captain Himural of the Noral. Your ship’s appearance doesn’t match our records of the Ariadne. Do you have an explanation for that?” A masculine voice was transmitted to me in response.
“I’ve had seven years to upgrade the ship, I am not surprised that the appearance has changed.” Well, I kind of was. I mean, each change was just a little bit at a time, so I hadn’t really noticed that the ship was now a bit longer and considerably more well-armed than in the past. “Queen Talia of Gerin 6 is expecting us, and can verify our identities.”
“Just a moment.” I heard from the comm as I arrived on the bridge, seeing three ships in front of us through the screen. Most likely, they had their guns trained on us right now in case our information didn’t check out.
A few moments later, a message appeared in front of me.
Talia: You waiting for subspace clearance?
I responded by sending a brief ‘Yes’, and soon we were allowed through. After coming out of subspace, we saw a further ten ships, the smallest being the size of the Ariadne. I suddenly felt like my ship desperately needed an upgrade… Or just an entirely new ship. Celeste-
“No, even with your vast gold reserves, you can’t afford a fully functioning ship of a higher quality than the Ariadne. The Ariadne itself would go for five million gold coins, which even you would have difficulty producing. It is easier and faster to get either more upgrades for this ship, or find another way to get something better.” Before I could even ask Celeste, she seemed to anticipate my question, answering me mentally. Well, it was worth a shot. By the way, did you ever figure out about the subspace in groves?
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