by Brent Tyman
Aurielle Tres Luxsuma has requested to join your Clan.
Accept/Deny?
I finally had my Tank! With a slight nod, I accepted the request and smiled as I read the next message before succumbing to sleep.
Aurielle Tres Luxsuma has joined your Clan!
Current Clan Members has increased to 4!
Default Role Applied: Novice
11
The next morning didn’t turn out quite as I expected. I’d barely managed to stifle a yawn and sit up in bed, only to realize there were a crap ton of unread Clan messages.
And it seemed they started pouring in as soon as I had fallen asleep. Clarissa had sent message after message about Aurielle’s joining the Clan and, from the looks of things, she had been up all night.
Anny had only offered a quick ‘Welcome’ message, without any further comment. At least she got some shut eye.
Clarissa wanted to know where I was staying so she could see me immediately. I only had to mention the Golden Bear before she said that she knew exactly where to go and was already on her way.
I supposed we didn’t have to go to the Academy, now.
I glanced back to see that Aurielle was still fast asleep on the bed. Curiously, she had opted to sleep unusually close to my side of the bed, almost within touching distance. The bed really was darn near as big as it could be, and she had plenty of room on her own side.
I didn’t mind, though, not at all.
To be honest, I was used to sleeping with my women at this point, and would have missed their presence last night if I hadn’t been so tired. If someone like Kesara walked in on us, though, it wouldn’t take long before the gossip mills turned on at full speed.
Aurielle had taken her armor off, and I could only spot a portion of her beautiful face amongst the spray of her red hair peeking out from under the blankets.
She was happily snuggled deep under the covers, and I didn’t want to wake her.
Now that I was up and about, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with myself until she woke. Despite the tour the cat girl had given us of this hotel-like inn, I had already forgotten where I was supposed to go for food.
After a quick trip to the bathroom to ensure I wasn’t sporting a major case of bed-head, though that was certainly true before I dipped my hands into the basin of tepid water and ran them through my hair, I headed out in search of what passed for a kitchen here.
Despite having seen it all previously, this inn still made me marvel at its splendor. I liked the look of it better than the Academy, but only because it wasn’t nearly as gaudy as that place.
At least the inn tried to be somewhat cozy…
After walking around aimlessly for a while, I finally found a cafe-like area where guests sat at large tables and ordered their breakfast from a menu. It was very much like a restaurant here.
I just hoped the food was good. It better be, given the price I had paid already.
This place was huge and featured multiple staff bustling and weaving in between tables, carrying heavily laden trays of food. Despite the time of day, it was quite busy here; I could only hope it didn’t take too long for my server to come around.
If the food turned out to be not to my liking, I could always head out to my favorite fish place, for my usual treat. Heck, going there had led to Juliana finding me again a couple of weeks after our initial meeting. It seemed to have good luck, which I wouldn’t mind more of, given where my poor luck stat stood at right now.
I sat down at a rather large oak table that could seat up to four more people. It didn’t take long before a waitress came over with quill and parchment in hand.
“Good morning, Sir. Have you looked over the menu yet?”
I looked down at the thin piece of parchment that was probably the menu, but everything on it had such strange names that I struggled to even comprehend what I was reading.
“Uhh,” I blurted, trying to work out what I actually wanted. “Do you have a chef’s special or something?”
“We do!” the woman chirped. “Today’s special is grounded Tarskabeast meat and Olftear soup with a hint of Grubsberry. I’m sure it will be to your taste.”
I blinked at that and then blinked again.
Tarskabeast meat? Olftear soup? What the heck was all that?
Jeez…
“Sounds… good?” I said, though it came out as more of a question than a statement. “Sure. I’ll have that.”
“Excellent choice, Sir,” the woman replied as she bowed and turned in one smooth motion.
She hadn’t even noted down my order on her slip of parchment. Maybe a lot of people were having the special today. With nothing left to do but wait, I found myself tuning in to listen to what everyone else was chatting about. The patrons were all talking so loudly, it was almost like they wanted everyone else to hear them.
“How dare the city state council reduce the number of patrols in the outer city! Do they want me to be robbed by unruly ruffians at night?”
“Likely a consequence of clearing out the Dungeons of threats, such as those Demons. I’m sure things will return to normal soon.”
“Pah, things have only gotten worse since the Demons attacked, not better. Imports from the south have all but dried up, and now this!”
It seemed that guy wasn’t happy and wanted everyone else to know it too…
Another conversation caught my attention.
“Did you hear the news that the Chief Chancellor of Yunissa is in the city?”
“Of course, it will be a prime opportunity to introduce our trading company to the Yunissans, if only we could arrange a meeting…”
“You would have better luck convincing an adventurer to part with their precious rank badges. No doubt he intends to check in on his daughter at the Academy. They wouldn’t let us merchants even near its splendor.”
I wondered what the heck they were on about. Sure, the Academy had enough wealth plastered all over its walls to warrant plenty of security, but they hadn’t had any issue with letting me in. Although, come to think of it, I suppose that was mostly due to Clarissa’s stubborn insistence that they register me as her guest. I doubted the guards would have allowed me to waltz right in there without a reason, such as carrying a worned out Juliana, or being Clarissa’s guest.
I still had that badge they had given me for entry, didn’t I?
This Chief Chancellor fellow intrigued me. This was the third time I had heard about him, and I wondered what he was like. Hopefully he wasn’t like Juliana’s father, as I’d already had enough of overbearing types to last me a good long while.
There was nothing else really noteworthy that I could pick up from the various conversations over the next few moments, other than that the prices of certain monster drops had gone up sharply, thanks to the Demon attack suspending Dungeon dives for a couple of weeks.
Maybe we could get even more coin if we pushed hard and farmed out the earlier floors of the Dungeon. I could certainly use the coin.
My waitress returned with a silver platter in each hand. In one smooth motion, she slid both of them onto the table in front of me and lifted the tops to reveal the strangely named Tarskabeast meat and a bowl of soup. A surprisingly strong smell wafted up to my nose, and it shocked me. It didn’t smell like anything I had ever eaten before. I had to admit though, it smelled pretty good.
The tangy spiciness of the soup made me cough when its smell reached me, and the waitress threw me a quick smile.
“Please enjoy, Sir, and forgive the smell of Grubsberry in the soup. Even a grounded drop is potent.”
With that, she bowed, turned on her heel and disappeared amongst the sea of tables in a flash.
“Well…” I muttered, looking down at my food. “Here goes nothing.”
The Tarskabeast meat was divided into rectangular portions of yellow meat, while the soup was a deep blue with bright red splotches that must be the Grubsberry. I’d never heard of yellow meat.
But by the
Gods, was it ever delicious.
I ended up scarfing down this strange meat before trying any of the soup. It had the presence of both chicken and fish, but it was somehow also sweet to my tongue.
Jeez, I could get used to this.
Once I was done with the Tarskabeast meat, I tried out the soup, and it was by contrast quite tart. There were little flecks of red amongst the creamy blue soup, and I was sure those were the culprit.
It was good, but I much preferred that sweet meat.
With the meal done and settling nicely in my gut, I had only just gotten up to leave, when the cat girl receptionist from yesterday appeared at my side.
“Good morning, Nyaa,” she said, smiling. “Please come to the foyer, Nyaa, as you have a visitor, Nyaa.”
“A visitor?”
“Nyaa,” she replied before bowing and turning on her heel. It seemed a lot of the staff did that here. “Please follow me, Nyaa,” she called over her shoulder.
With a shrug, I followed the cat girl until we reached the reception, and it was there that I saw Clarissa impatiently tapping her foot on the tile.
“Handsome!” she shouted when she caught sight of me before pointing all around us. “You never said you were going to be staying at the Golden Bear. I love it here.”
“Sadly, there’s no hot spring in my room,” I replied with a grin.
“Oh, I’m sure I would manage without that just fine, as long as you were at my side,” she said as I drew close. “Plus, they actually have a few here we could make use of.”
She gave me a deep kiss, as if she hadn’t seen me for a while, before her eyes turned mischievous.
“I can’t believe you recruited Aurielle into the Clan! How did you do it? Did you have to whip out… your other sword?” She purred.
Sadly, Clarissa’s antics hadn’t gone unnoticed. Everyone else in the foyer was suddenly very interested in us.
Jeez…
“Hey, isn’t that the heir of Hoganna?” Someone said.
“Oh yes, that must be her new flame… Alex something or other.”
How did people here know about me?
“Nyaa!” the cat girl blurted out before covering her mouth with both of her hands. “The heir of Hoganna? I didn’t know Nyaa, Nyaa.”
“Please remain calm and professional,” the other receptionist reminded her peer from behind the desk. “And it isn’t surprising you do not know everyone important in town yet. You are new here, after all.”
“Haha,” I chuckled. “I think you may have generated more gossip than even Kesara today,” I said to Clarissa, who only smirked at me.
“Well, let’s go somewhere private, handsome.”
With how the other guests reacted, with open mouthed gasps, they clearly thought she meant something else entirely with that statement…
Clarissa clung to my arm as I escorted her back to my room. I could tell she had something planned, with the way she was looking at me. Luckily, my room wasn’t far from the foyer, and it wouldn’t take long to get out of the public eye, as long as I didn’t get us lost.
“Hmm,” she purred as I crooked an eyebrow at her. “I was just thinking…”
“Yeah?” I prompted as we finally reached my room and I held open the door for her.
“You and Aurielle… did the two of you really…” she started to ask before she turned her head and saw Aurielle still very much soundly asleep in the only bed in the room.
“Oh Gods, you did!” She squeaked. “I didn’t know you could woo a woman so fast, handsome. Actually, well you swept me off my feet in no time, but this is Aurielle!”
The noise caused Aurielle’s eyes to flutter open, and she yawned as she sat up and stretched out her arms.
Aurielle wore a white nightie that I didn’t even know she had. When her eyes settled on Clarissa, she quickly tucked herself back into the covers.
“Good morning, Alex,” Aurielle said, nodding to me. “And to you as well, Clarissa.”
“Oh… How was your night?” Clarissa asked, grinning. “Was it filled with… exciting night time exercise?”
I found my lips pressing themselves into a thin line and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
On the bright side, at least Aurielle looked thoroughly confused by Clarissa’s remarks. This told me the woman didn’t share Clarissa’s… enthusiasm for night time exercise, as the blonde referred to it.
“Exercise?” Aurielle responded, her brows drawn down in confusion, but Clarissa went on.
“Was it his handsome looks that captured your heart? or maybe his sturdy muscles captivated you. Oh, maybe you are one of those who have a thing for guys with high stats? My handsome Alex will no doubt be one of the most powerful figures in all of the three nations if he keeps at it like he has. I’m already more powerful, Strength wise, than most of my fellow students, never mind just the healers.”
Aurielle, to her credit, finally caught on to what Clarissa was prattling on about and let out a small gasp as her cheeks pinked.
She shook her head, eyes wide. “You misunderstand! Alex and I did nothing more than share the same bed,” Aurielle rushed to explained.
“If that’s true,” Clarissa said, wagging a finger at the woman. “Then how come you are all the way over onto his side of the bed? I can see the ruffled pillow and open covers where he slept from here. You were snuggled dangerously close to my handsome Alex, no?”
Aurielle’s cheeks turned such a bright red, she almost reminded me of how Juliana reacts when she gets flustered.
“Well… uhh… you see, it was far warmer over here than on my side. I missed the warm embrace of my homeland and thought it felt nice.” She straightened a bit and seemed to regain control of her furious blush. “My apologies for any confusion,” Aurielle said.
Clarissa suddenly laughed as if Aurielle had cracked a funny joke.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see how the rumors turn out on this one,” Clarissa said with a smirk.
“Rumors?” I questioned, “About what? I probably would have gone for only one room, even if they’d had more available. This place is more than I’d hoped to pay, and the beds are big enough, anyhow.”
Clarissa turned my way and gave me a rather coy grin.
“Trust me, handsome. The guests downstairs are definitely going to be talking about you, now that they know about me. That cat girl is going to let slip that you came here with another woman in tow and that the two of you booked a single room. The soldiers we came back with have, no doubt, already told everyone they could about how two heirs are bedding the same man. You know that Kesara woman has already set the gossip mills spinning.”
I had never really gotten into the whole gossip thing that everyone in this city seemed to thrive on. I probably spent too much energy Dungeon delving and improving my stats to pay it any mind.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. I shrugged. “That reminds me, how was your night back at the Academy?”
“Uneventful,” Clarissa remarked, waving a hand. “I’ve yet to talk to my father, who appears to have taken an unhealthy interest in the Academy, for some reason. I heard he spends his time there now, instead of at the manor.”
“What about Juliana?” I asked.
Clarissa shrugged. “Well… I last saw her heading towards the headmaster’s chambers, but the odds of her securing you a place to stay in the Academy are... slim to none. We can always go with my plan to sneak you in, handsome. I think Juliana planned to meet you at the entrance of the Academy with me, but I got too excited about the prospect of having Aurielle in our Clan to wait for her.”
“I assure you,” Aurielle said. “My aim henceforth shall be to aid Alex and the rest of the Clan to the fullest of my capabilities. I stake my honor on it.”
Since honor was so important to Aurielle and those from the southern deserts, I knew that meant quite a lot.
“Hmm, does that mean you will… what was the word my handsome Alex used for it… Oh yes, grind! Will you stay and grind with us in the
Dungeon?” Clarissa asked, twirling around to throw me a quick wink.
The fact that she had started to pick up on my lingo pleased me. Usually, I heard adventurers and everyone else in this world simply call it Dungeon training.
“Of course,” Aurielle said. “My main reasoning for joining was to make use of Alex’s growth skill, which will surely help me grow powerful enough to do my duty in my homeland.”
“So that’s what it was…” Clarissa mused. “Well, welcome to the Clan.” She smiled at the woman.
Aurielle, who was busy combing any knots out of her hair, returned the grin.
“Hmm…” Clarissa turned to me. “Now that we have four members in the clan, handsome, it’s about time you assign some ranks. Surely after all we have been through together, I deserve the notable rank of Officer, don’t you think? You didn’t do it the last time I mentioned it. Remember?”
“Uhh,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “Do these ranks actually do anything? I remember you said Officers can recruit on their own, but is there anything else to it?”
“Of course!” Clarissa chirped. “As an Officer, I would get higher priority in Clan messages, can take things from the Clan storage, and get to tell everyone how much of an amazing Clan Officer I am.”
I wasn’t sure about this higher priority thing, as most messages were just between Clarissa and me, anyway. Anny's presence on the Clan message board was minimal, at best.
As for taking items from the Clan storage, I had no issue with it. I half wondered if we could transport items if I placed something in Clan storage while in the Dungeon and Clarissa retrieved it from Clan storage while in the city. That would almost be a cheat.
As far as bragging rights went, that was just Clarissa being Clarissa…
“Alright, I’ll make you a Clan Officer. I can also up Anny’s rank as well, right?” I asked.
Clarissa clapped her hands. “Yes, we can make her an Old Guard and…” she looked over at Aurielle. “Aurielle can take the rank of Knight, which I think is only fitting, given her powers. We can promote her later on, once she’s been with us a little longer.”
