Growth Hero 2

by Brent Tyman

  I reached out to gently caress Aurielle’s cheek and she leaned instinctively into my hand.

  “Before we do anything, though,” I began, “We should set things straight with Juliana and Clarissa. We definitely want them on board with this.”

  “Do not worry,” Aurielle said. “Both of them approached me yesterday regarding you… regarding the possibility of…” That slow blush crept up her neck until it set her cheeks aglow. “Well… us.”

  I could feel my brows raising up pretty high at this surprising news.

  “Really?” I asked, running my hand down her arm until I gently clasped her hand. “What did they say?”

  “Hmm,” Aurielle said, tapping a finger to her chin. “Well, Juliana asked a few questions about the sincerity of my feelings for you and wanted to know if I would drag you off into any needless danger.”

  I smiled at that. Juliana did her best to ensure I didn’t get into more trouble than I could handle. She seemed to take extra care about making sure I was okay. I definitely appreciated her concern.

  “I assured her that I would protect you and your Clan fiercely, which seemed to calm her fears.”

  Aurielle looked embarrassed all of a sudden. “Clarissa simply wished to know of my more… intimate plans,” she finally admitted, hiding her face in her hands.

  I shook my head at that, a grin splitting my face.

  “Yeah, that sounds like her, alright.” I chuckled.

  “And once I answered their questions, it seemed they approved of my intensions,” Aurielle said.

  Who’d have thought that Clarissa and Juliana would be okay with this? How did I get so lucky and end up with them? Especially given my rather lackluster Luck stat.

  “Well, in that case…” I said, bouncing my eyebrows. “Maybe I should do something about these intentions of yours.”

  “Oh?” Aurielle inquired. “Please tell me what you wish to do. On my honor, I swear I will help you.”

  I smiled as I drew close to the suddenly grinning Aurielle.

  “How about you help me with this?” I asked, before leaning in to kiss her on the lips.

  Aurielle was definitely more like Juliana than Clarissa with this first kiss. She was hesitant, tentative even, but I enjoyed how soft her lips felt against mine as we savored the moment.

  Then, as if a switch had been flicked, her kiss grew hungry and she leaned into me more, her tongue parting my lips to dance quite vigorously with mine.

  Jeez…

  When she finally pulled back, each of us a bit short of breath, she gave me an absolutely gorgeous smile. Accompanied as her smile was by those beautiful eyes, I ended up getting lost in her gaze once more.

  “I…” she began, before a noise interrupted whatever she’d wanted to say.

  “Nyaa! What are you doing, Nyaa?” A voice called from outside of the room.

  “Ahh!” Anny’s voice squeaked all of a sudden.

  “Anny, wait!” Clarissa’s shrill voice called out, but before I could fathom what was happening, the door to the room burst open. Juliana, Clarissa and Anny all tumbled over each other as they fell into the room.

  “Ouch…” Juliana groaned. “I told you, Clarissa Vos Hoganna, this was a bad idea.”

  “It was a brilliant idea,” Clarissa said, “and I will let you know why… as soon as you get off of me.”

  “I can’t believe we were caught,” Anny sniffed as she sat up with the other two. “I feel horrible.”

  “Pfft,” Clarissa snorted, waving a hand. “Nobody will know, provided our lovely receptionist here doesn’t blab to anyone.”

  “Nyaa!”

  I heard the familiar cat girl receptionist whine as she clasped her hands before her at the scene. “I didn’t mean for this to… Nyaa! Please accept my apologies! Nyaa. Nyaa Nyaa, Nyaaa!”

  Her ‘Nyaas’ were getting out of control. I still had no idea what the heck was going on, though.

  “Uhh… are all of you alright?” I asked. “Weren’t you off to get some dinner?”

  “That is exactly what should have happened,” Juliana said as she got to her feet, dusting off her red dress, “if Clarissa Vos Hoganna hadn’t suggested we stay here and press our ears to the door.”

  “You don’t have to use my full name, Juliana,” Clarissa complained as she rose. “And I pointedly remember you agreeing to this, so don’t think you can just blame it all on little ol’ me. Our handsome Alex is smarter than that.”

  The women argued for a moment, but not before shooing the cat girl receptionist away, after securing assurances that she wouldn’t set the gossip mills spinning on this. I didn’t know if there was any gossip worth passing on here, other than the women falling through my door for some reason.

  “It appears that they could not resist trying to eavesdrop on our conversation,” Aurielle remarked.

  I turned to her. “That’s what this is about? Jeez, they could have just stuck around,” I said, then shook my head.

  Aurielle smiled at that. “And it appears they did,” she said.

  After the women went back and forth on who to blame for this idea of theirs, Clarissa pointed her finger at me.

  “Handsome! Please continue with whatever it was you were doing with Aurielle,” she insisted.

  “Wait. I wish to ask her some more questions,” Juliana said, raising her hand.

  “How many more questions can you possibly have for the woman? I’m fairly certain you know each and every pebble she stepped on yesterday, with how much you’ve asked her already,” Clarissa said, placing her hands on her hips.

  “I’m sure there are more considerations I must account for. Maybe just a few more questions?” Juliana said.

  Figuring they would probably beat around the bush for a while longer, I decided to just ask them straight up.

  “Is it true that you two are fine with me and Aurielle seeing where this might go?” I asked.

  Both women paused in their argument to look me in the eye.

  “I’m more than fine with it,” Clarissa beamed. “Aurielle is quite the catch for our Clan, handsome. Don’t you dare let her go!”

  “I… agree,” Juliana admitted, although she did so with a furious blush. “After conversing with Aurielle, I cannot find any reason to stand in her way.”

  I started to open my mouth to respond, but Clarissa pointed at me again.

  “That means you’ll just have to prioritize our lovely day at the beach, as soon as the tournament is over, handsome. I need a nice long day in the sun, with my man at my side.”

  “Our man,” Juliana insisted, “And yes, I hope we can all get along and enjoy the few moments of respite we are allowed, together. Perhaps a trip to the Sovereignty would be more… fulfilling?”

  “I don’t really fancy having a burning tree fall on top of my head,” Clarissa grumbled with a roll of her eyes.

  “It is not as… well… it is not that bad,” Juliana growled.

  I was still stuck on their last comments. They really were okay with me and Aurielle? I honestly couldn’t be happier.

  “Hey,” I said, standing up to face my women. “Have I mentioned lately how amazing each of you are?”

  Clarissa quickly dived for my arm and pressed herself into my side, her cleavage pressed up right below my eyes.

  “I wouldn’t mind hearing you say it again, handsome,” she purred.

  Juliana grabbed my other arm, opting to lay her head on my shoulder instead. “We are family, are we not? I am happy when you are happy, Alex,” Juliana said, stroking a hand down my arm.

  I kissed each woman in turn and enjoyed the contentment I felt as they leaned into me. The harem I had built here truly was a blessing.

  “Ahh, should we… should we give them some privacy, Aurielle?” Anny asked.

  “Perhaps it would be best,” Aurielle agreed.

  “Wait, what? No!” Juliana quickly squeaked. “I assure you, Aurielle, you are more than welcome to… I mean…”

  The more
Juliana fumbled with her words, the redder her cheeks got.

  “Yeah,” I said, laughing. “We should probably focus on the tournament, for now. Still have to decide on what monster to go after.”

  “Very well, Alex,” Aurielle said, nodding. “But on my honor, I will find a way to repay my debt to you. You have my word.” She paused. “I have also not courted a man before.” Pink only a shade less than Juliana’s blush crept up her cheeks. “Perhaps…”

  Four pairs of eyes stared at her.

  Aurielle cleared her throat. “Perhaps Clarissa or Juliana would care to show me how courting is done?”

  “Oh, yes!” Clarissa beamed, “I would sooo love to help you with that! We should go talk somewhere more private Aurielle, maybe in the Golden Bears’ hot springs?”

  “Wait a moment, I’m sure Aurielle would benefit far more from learning about the etiquette and elegance expected in these matters. As the heir of the Sovereignty, I am very well versed in such matters,” Juliana said.

  As the women did their thing as usual, I noticed that Anny was fidgeting with something in her hands. Once the women had let go of me, I moved over by her to see what it was.

  “What’s that in your hand, Anny?” I asked.

  “Ahh?” Anny squeaked as she quickly hid her hands behind her back before slowly bringing them out where I could see them.

  “Well,” she said. “I had some cloth made in the pattern of one of the monsters in the Dungeon. I liked its pattern.”

  “Nice,” I said, “What monster did you like the pattern of?”

  Anny opened her hands, palms up, to show me a small cloth.

  Material wise, it didn’t look like anything expensive—just simple cloth. The design on it, however, was quite interesting. The swirls and green scale-like pattern reminded me of only one monster.

  “That looks like the Glower Serpent. Am I right?” I asked gently. She had opted for how it looked with green scales over its natural color.

  She nodded. “Yes. It was a very dangerous monster, but the pattern it had along its scales looked really nice to me. I found a tailor who crafted some cloth from what I could remember of its pattern. Do you like it?”

  I nodded with a grin, making Anny smile back as well.

  “Looks pretty great. We had to sell one of its scales to pay for my magic spells, but…”

  I trailed off as a thought occurred to me. There was one way to pretty much guarantee we would have the most valuable loot in our group; heck, probably for the entire second stage of the tournament.

  I started to chuckle, and then to laugh, as Anny gave me a puzzled look.

  She turned back to look at the other women, who were now all staring at me, with a shrug.

  “Hey!” I said, prompting them to look my way. “I just thought of the perfect monster to go after.”

  “Oh? Whatever could it be, handsome?” Clarissa asked with a frown.

  “You should know what it is already! First things first, though, does anyone remember where that blue line entrance to the Dungeon was?” I asked.

  Everyone blinked at me as they considered my words, but I watched as all of the women’s’ eyes widened in shock.

  “Whaaat?!” They all shouted as one.

  24

  The women weren’t quite as enthusiastic about my idea of going back to whatever floor it was the Glower Serpents resided on. However, they couldn’t deny that, if we managed to pull it off, there was no way the other parties could hope to match our submission.

  Plus, if I received two pieces of loot from it, like last time, then one of them would replace the loot I had sold off to the guild. That was assuming the Academy would keep our submission from this stage of the tournament. Otherwise, we could end up with two extra scales.

  Given the staggering amount of gold they were worth, this was a great risk but also promised a great reward.

  There was only one problem… I didn’t have an obvious way to get back there.

  We needed to start at the same time as the other two parties in our group. That meant we would begin at the regular Dungeon entrance and would have to work our way down to the snowy seventh floor.

  Clarissa’s father still had soldiers digging through the secret entrance where the blue line had led to the surface, but from what she knew about their progress, that entrance was still very much impassable.

  Our only other option was to guess in which direction the shortcuts to the deeper floors might be and have Anny search the area with her pathfinding skill.

  We figured that the Yunissan mages probably hadn’t had enough time to seal up any more of the tunnel than right by the secret entrance.

  It was a bit risky, as there was no guarantee we would find the tunnels in time to finish the second stage. Juliana had suggested that if we weren’t able to proceed, the backup plan would be to continue on normally and grab a Soldier Ant’s loot from the fourteenth floor.

  With our strategy mostly worked out, Juliana, Clarissa and Anny headed back to the Academy while Aurielle and I meditated together in magic training. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining things, but Aurielle’s cheeks did seem to get a bit pinker than usual when she took a hold of my hand this time.

  “Aurielle,” I said as we sat next to each other on the bed. “Is this whole magic training thing working? I don’t think I’ve noticed anything since we started—not that I don’t enjoy holding your hand and meditating together.”

  She had her eyes closed, as she usually did, but opened them at my remark.

  “This method is very subtle, but I assure you that you should learn the magic spell soon, on my honor.”

  Well, she sounded confident, at least.

  “There is one more thing I wished to discuss with you today…” Aurielle said, opening her eyes but pointedly looking away from me.

  “Oh? What’s that?” I asked curiously.

  “I have…” she started. “Heard that courting couples can grow their bond by… sleeping next to each other. Will you consider this?”

  I blinked at her question and found myself running my thumb in small circles across the back of her hand absently as I thought about what she meant.

  “Uhh… you already sleep next to me, though, don’t you?” I questioned.

  She shook her head, still refusing to meet my curious gaze.

  “My apologies. This is all very new to me. I meant… to sleep right next to you… really closely,” she said.

  I grinned at that. It seemed Aurielle hadn’t realized she was pretty much doing that already, at this point. Almost every single time we had slept together in the Golden Bear, she would fall asleep on her side of the bed, but somehow always ended up all the way over on my side come morning.

  “Oh, right,” I said, trying to curb the grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Sure.”

  Aurielle finally looked at me, her eyes gleaming in the light.

  “Truly? You do not mind?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Of course not,” I replied and motioned to the pillows. “In fact, we can start that tonight, if you’d like?”

  “Yes!” Aurielle all but shouted before covering her mouth with her free hand. “I mean… yes, I would like that.”

  Aurielle proceeded to get ready for bed and I couldn’t help but smile at her. She really was one heck of an incredible woman.

  When it finally came time for bed, neither of us said anything as Aurielle tucked herself neatly into my side. Her warmth felt soothing to me and I marveled at the soft skin of her arm as it rested on my bare chest.

  Aurielle had mentioned several times, that she would protect me and the rest of the Clan as fiercely as she could.

  As the beautiful woman drifted off to sleep at my side, I had already resolved myself to do the exact same thing for her.

  When we arrived at the Dungeon the next day, the atmosphere was a bit less hectic than before. Since they had each group show up at staggered times, there were very few Academy students and adventurers heading o
ver to the Dungeon.

  It probably helped that there were only eighteen parties left in the tournament, to begin with. There were, however, quite a few onlookers who waited off to the sides of the Dungeon’s entrance, cheering any tournament groups that went in.

  I wondered how many had taken part in the tournament’s first stage.

  “It seems they wish for us to go there,” Juliana said, pointing to one of the Dungeon’s entrances.

  By that entrance, a woman held a stack of parchments while another woman waited patiently with her hands behind her back. Each of them wore the white robes with the Academy’s seal over the right breast that seemed to be standard uniform for Academy staff.

  “I wonder where the other two parties are?” Anny questioned.

  “I mean, they are from the Sovereignty, after all. Maybe Juliana’s father gave them a stern talking to that had them running back to Tasberg,” Clarissa remarked.

  “My father is… well…” Juliana said before faltering. “No. Not even he would do something to jeopardize the tournament.”

  “I’m sure they will turn up soon,” I said, before a thought occurred to me. “Also, I think now might be a good time to switch my Growth Stat from Magical Power to Magical Capacity.”

  “But, handsome!” Clarissa whined. “My Magical Power has increased sooo much already. No doubt it will get even better with a little more time.”

  “Haha, yeah, no doubt. But my limited Magical Capacity is proving to be a hindrance, mostly with how much energy my spells end up taking out of me,” I said.

  “Hmm,” Clarissa mused, “I suppose we don’t want you falling over after just a few spells…”

  “Magical Capacity is an honorable stat to grow,” Aurielle contributed simply, nodding.

  “I believe it is a wise choice, Alex,” Juliana offered. “Those ice spikes of yours have proved to be very effective against certain monsters. Being able to cast more of them without falling over would certainly be a boon.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, as well,” I agreed with a nod. “I’ll set it up and hope it helps out with our grinding.”

  I brought up the interface with its blue background and mentally prompted my Growth skill to increase my Magical Capacity, instead. It had been more than five days since I had last set it on Magical Power, so it switched over without a problem.