22 Chapter 6 (1): Meet the harem, part 1

AN: Well... that's... I was expecting this chapter to be a bit longer than normal, maybe 50k characters or something like that... instead, it reached that before I finished with the first two thirds of what I was planning to write... and then... the remaining third doubled in size as well as I filled plot hole after plot hole. Time for me to write about filling other kinds of holes in the next chapter, I guess? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) This chapter is 100k characters long now. ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. I mean, it's a milestone, but it's one I didn't want to reach. Also, potential wife number six was not met, but mentioned in this chapter. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep her or not, so we'll see, I guess? Last, to all those complaining about my overusing some specific phrases such as "I guess" as well as ellipses to indicate pauses in speech... I'm still somewhat new to this, I guess?

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Chapter 6 (1): Meet the harem, part 1

That weekend, I went with Ninya and her party on a quest, as usual, and we took down a pack of terror wolves (monsters on the low end of rank C, if you were wondering) on our way back. I'd given all of them enough tips that they were able to take down 9 of the 17 without my help, and with that boost in skill, some of them were eligible for a rank up due to other exploits. They'd given me the credit for the wyverns, meaning that that didn't count towards their ranks, but even so, Van, Ninya, and Irene were now B ranks, with Bradley and Shion still at C. Afterwards...

"Ninya? Care to go on a date this evening?" (Ryuu)

"Of course. I was going to ask if you didn't. Actually... how about tomorrow, and you-" (Ninya)

"Bring the others I had mentioned earlier? I was planning on asking about that as tomorrow's activity, but if tonight won't work for just us, I guess we can just have a get to know you sort of meeting and no solo date... though I'd like some time for just the two of us at some point" (Ryuu)

"You predicted what I was going to ask... we really are made for each other. Do they..." (Ninya)

"They know that secret, and the other one too. Remember, you met them due to them tailing us as you were telling me, well, reminding me, about your father. One of them is also the former fiancee of Astaroth's son, before his untimely demise. Considering she wasn't interested in him at all, she's not sad... actually, I told you that before, didn't I?" (Ryuu)

"No, you hadn't... Well, I'll learn it tomorrow. Until then... tonight works, if you want. I wasn't sure if you wanted some time with just your friends or something this weekend, but if this was your plan, let's do it" (Ninya)

"Can someone fill me in on what's going on? I get that you two scheduled a date for tonight, but the rest? More friends that Ninya's heard about, but we haven't? Is Ryuu secretly the leader of a harem or something? No, they're probably just roommates and good friends... but... in that case, why would they know about Ninya's father... and, what was that other secret Ryuu mentioned?" (Bradley)

"No, I basically am, though they are my roommates. In addition, there's one more you haven't heard about. As for the second secret, it's the secret that you thought might be some nasty scar or something" (Ryuu)

"Ah... I still want to know that one..." (Bradley)

"For someone with a flat nose, you are very nosy, you know?" (Ryuu)

"I'll tell you after Ryuu joins our party, or, if she makes her own, I might join hers, in which case I'll tell you as a parting gift. Same for if this party disbands for one reason or another" (Ninya)

"Oi, don't go killing us off. I hope to have a bright future, you know, one with a few wives and a bunch of kids. I'm not going to let anything stand in my way of that, not even a curse from a Demon Lord" (Bradley)

"You know, a girl standing in front of you has had better luck with getting a harem of pretty and kind girls than you've had getting so much as a single date. What does that tell you about the odds of that?" (Van)

Bradley shrank a bit, despite already being barely a meter tall, and looked like he was going to cry.

"Shut up... you've had about as much luck with getting a second date with any given woman, right?" (Bradley)

"Please save your contest of misery until I'm not around, so as to not ruin the mood for my date" (Ninya)

"Getting laid yet again? If you were a girl, I'd say you're a bit of a nymphomaniac" (Bradley)

"I'm trying to remember the male equivalent... what would that be?" (Van)

"Man" (Ninya, Shion, Irene, and Ryuu, almost in unison)

Everyone other than Ninya, Shion, and myself looked surprised at Ninya saying the same thing, but I ignored that.

"Anyways, speaking of making parties after I graduate, my school is looking for some skilled escorts for the upcoming field trip, where the students are going to form parties with their roommates and do some simple quests with oversight from other adventurers. Basically, the job for those adventurers is to keep us out of danger, such as stepping in if a group of horned wolves or a horned bear attacks, and to report on how we did, not much work for the pay. For my party... uh... I think that the hardest part of the job for our escorts would be to not feel bad about how their party works. Frankly, I'm hoping for some horned bears to show up. Without me, my roommates could probably handle one if they fought together, so I'd be able to the rest and show just how strong we are. Maybe then we'd be able to do more than just E and D ranked quests on our days off" (Ryuu)

Van's eyes lit up a bit, but he quickly reeled in his excitement.

"So, the subtle hint there is that we might be able to earn a quick and easy bit of money by escorting your group, is that it? What's in it for you?" (Van)

"My group would be able to fight against those sorts of bigger game, when an ordinary escort would step in and not let us take it on. That would mean a higher evaluation, and a higher chance of a rank up" (Ryuu)

"Well, we'll discuss it and apply if we feel like it's a good idea... how would we know that we'd get matched with your party in particular?" (Van)

"Simply put, your party has been getting a lot of attention the last month or so, considering that it dealt with two greater wyverns at once, while barely C ranked, among other feats. With that, if you made a request to be made to escort some promising newbies, including a mage, if possible, so as to scout and maybe add them to your party when they graduate, the administration would be likely to consider it. You'd be more likely to get us if you specified girls, as to not upset the gender ratio too much. 5 to 3 is much better than 6 to 2, right?" (Ryuu)

Van looked quite interested now, as did the rest... well, Bradley had his own expression instead of that.

"Are we really so admi-" (Bradley)

"Yes, dumbass. Everyone but you has noticed that we have a lot of people trying to hear what requests we take every day, and that there've been a few people following us sometimes" (Shion)

"Not to mention the fact that we've gotten more than a few people wanting to join our party, though most have been D ranks or C rank swordsmen, which we have enough of. We need ranged attackers, mages, preferably, but even so, they ask. Every. Single. Day..." (Irene)

"And the fact that we've been asked a few times what our party name is. We still need to decide on one, but it's... well, half of our party is made of those with no real naming sense... Like Bradley and Ninya" (Van)

"Hey, I suggested a name: Perverted Dwarf and Friends who wish to be anything but friends, but someone thought that, if anything, the name should reflect the party's leader, not the party's comedic relief" (Ninya)

"This means... I might be able to get a date!" (Bradley)

"Not a chance... see, it's the party that's admired. The individual members are... well, the leader is admired, and so is the sole mage who has to take care of both offensive and healing magic, and maybe the scout who provides information to the leader. However, beyond that, the others, in other words, you and me, are little more than individual stitches in a complex embroidery. We're seen as nothing without the others" (Irene)

"Speaking of the others... Where's Ver?" (Ninya)

"Oh, she's with my roommates, learning common sense and a bit of magic" (Ryuu)

"Magic? She can use magic?" (Shion)

"So far, I've seen her use fire and spatial magic, but I think she's got more than just those" (Ryuu)

After that, I went off with Ninya, we made plans for when and where to meet up, and we went our separate ways. I went back to out room, where I explained the plan for them meeting Ninya, and then went off for my date.

"Van... If you keep following me, I'll have to hit you where you really don't want to get hit. If you follow me again after today, I'm going to just ask Ver to use you as a test dummy for her magic. She's learning void magic, so it might hurt a bit. Don't worry, she's also learning healing magic, so you won't be permanently injured... I think. Now, please leave" (Ryuu)

"I forgot that you could find a shadow wraith assassin when you were on guard, so finding me when not wouldn't be too hard... Fine, I'll leave you two lovebirds to your date" (Van)

After I made sure he wasn't tailing me, I went to meet with Ninya, or rather, Tuare, as she was wearing a pretty dress and showing off her huge rack... well, only that she had it, people couldn't see much of them through her dress. We ate, talked, and dealt with a pair of guys who offered to "show us a good time" by having a good time while tossing them into the gutters. After that, we went to the same inn we went to the first time.

"Oh, you two are back? Would you like the same arrangement? One double room for two nights, no bath or food? That'll be two large silvers" (Receptionist)

"Yeah... I guess we made a large impression on you last time..." (Ryuu)

"More like your girlfriend's large bosom did... and the way you two limped out a day later" (Receptionist)

"Yeah, we may have overdone it a little... anyways, we should be fine with just a single night" (Ryuu)

We paid for the room, got the key, and went in, putting up a barrier after we did so.

"Same song, second verse? It's been a month since we had the time to do this. Either we had a large quest, or one of us had some other plans, right?" (Tuare)

"But of course. The more we wait, the better it feels, right?" (Ryuu)

"Only to a point... Well, come on! I'm a bit impatient right now, in case you couldn't tell" (Tuare)