Combat Healer Ch. 08

Had she done this out of pure obligation?

I didn't know, but I couldn't say any of that in front of Val without hurting her feelings.

Because, while it seemed like she was still really innocent, just as innocent as I remembered her, she also was by no means stupid. She understood the things going on around her perfectly well. Or at least, most things...

She might not have realized we were having sex just now.

Or maybe she realized, and was playing innocent.

Hard to say.

I cleared my throat, choosing my words carefully. "Umm, yeah. I thought she wasn't interested in me, so I said I'd marry her if she unlocked a Focus. Figured she wouldn't even try."

"Not interested in you?" Val said in alarm, only to look down, her tan cheeks flushing. "I...I'm...My father offered me to you, because he knew I wanted nothing more than to become your wife."

Seriously? I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I had assumed that her being here meant that she'd warmed up to the idea, or done it out of obligation, not that she'd been infatuated with me from the very beginning. Or that it was actually her interest that prompted the offer in the first place.

Fuck! I'd really messed up!

"But you ran away," I said in disbelief. "As soon as he made the offer, you disappeared."

Mel scoffed. "Seriously Allie? You're not that dense, are you? She was obviously embarrassed."

I glared at her. "I'm not dense at all," I retorted. "You know very well that her disappearing could have been perceived as a bad thing."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's true." She then focused on Val. "But then, I guess that means you really did unlock a Focus?"

She nodded confidently. "I did, and I was told it's very rare. I've been practicing nonstop for the last ten months," she repeated.

I frowned as I considered that, only for Mel to nudge me.

"What?" I said in surprise.

Mel rolled her gold eyes. "Well, do your thing. Analyze her or whatever. You made a promise, after all. You can't break her heart."

I gawked at her. Was she serious right now?

What about us?

Val gasped, suddenly looking mortified. "Did you truly not wish to wed me?"

"No, it's not that," I said urgently, definitely not wanting to hurt her feelings, and also not wanting the sexiest girl in the world to think I didn't want her. "It's just..." My voice trailed off.

Fuck, if I told Val that I was with Mel, it would break her heart.

My girlfriend spoke up again, her tone blunt. "What he wants to say, is that I'm currently dating him. But I'm sure you don't mind sharing, right?"

What the fuck?!

I almost had to do a doubletake at her.

"Are you serious?" I said in disbelief.

"I don't mind sharing!" Val blurted out. "I would never presume to be my betrothed's only wife!"

I couldn't believe this was happening right now.

Like, I literally felt like I must have passed out while Mel was fucking me, and this was some kind of crazy dream.

Of course, I knew that arrangements like this happened all the time, with sometimes two men sharing a woman, like Turg and Dagru did, and sometimes a few women sharing the same man.

But sharing me?

Two women wanted to share me?

I cleared my throat, trying to wrap my head around this. "Okay, so let me get this straight. Mel, you're okay with sharing me." I paused. "Does that mean I have to share you?" I asked seriously.

She scoffed. "No, of course not. I'm not going to show..." Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Val, before rephrasing, speaking more generally, clearly not wanting to talk about her 'juicy pussy' problem right now. "Allie, I really do like you a lot, and you make me feel so happy. And everything I learn about you just makes me want you more." She sighed, dropping one hand, her other rosy hand still on her hip. "As you can imagine, I've been with quite a few other guys before, and I know a million gold coins when I see it. Your kind, considerate, smart, level-headed, strong, and it's like you're always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else. You study not because you need to know something now, but because you know you'll need to know it later. And later might be ten years down the road, or it might be today, but you're still preparing to handle anything that comes your way. I find that hot."

Wow.

Hearing someone say my good qualities out loud like that was really great for my ego, but also...

She thought I was worth a million gold coins?

Dang.

Mel then shrugged again as she continued, her tone casual. "Besides, I'm into girls a little too, so if Val here is super serious about marrying you, then I'd be interested in fucking with her too."

Val's tan face immediately turned an extremely deep shade of red, with her squeaking as she tried to respond. "O-Oh. Umm, okay."

Mel simply nodded at her, as if she hadn't said anything overly strange.

And I mean, for an Oni, what she was saying truly wasn't that strange. Not at all.

Honestly the only reason why I found it strange was because all my previous relationships had either been with the one elf or with human women. And while elves also sometimes participated in nonconventional relationships, it was much more common for two to pair off, as was the case with many humans.

Mel continued. "So, we good then? You get two wives, and I get two fucking hot humans."

Val spoke up. "Oh, umm, I'm half-Holstaur," she admitted.

Mel rolled her gold eyes. "Well, yeah I figured that much. The horns and all. But you've got like the body of a human with all the good parts of a Holstaur."

Val's tan face was that deep shade of red again. "Umm, thanks."

"You're welcome," Mel said simply, only to focus on me again. "So we agreed, then?"

I frowned. "Well, let me take a look at her, because if she's not strong enough, then we can't take her on Quests." I focused on Val. "What did you say your Focus was?"

"Oh, umm, I didn't say yet, s-sir..." She looked embarrassed. "Umm, s-should I call you m-master? The women of my kind call their husbands master."

Mel laughed. "Yes, please do. I like that."

Val smiled slightly, her shoulders unexpectedly relaxing a little. "Okay," she said warmly. "Oh, and I'm an Essence Archer."

Our eyes nearly bugged out of our heads.

That was just as rare as Jackel's focus!

I quickly activated my Eye of the Goddess skill to perceive her attributes.

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Valshia Kumrahg

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STATUS

Race: Holstaur/Human (Hybrid)

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Class: Ranger

Focus: Essence Archer

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ATTRIBUTES

Strength: 15 (Lv. 7)

Dexterity: 18 (Lv. 9)

Fortitude: 17 (Lv. 8)

Wisdom: 12 (Lv. 6)

Intelligence: 19 (Lv. 10)

Charisma: 19 (Lv. 10)

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Total: 100

Rank: S Tier

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Level: 50/50

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Holy shit!

How was this even possible?!

No way she got so strong, so quickly!

And her level was maxed out!

What the hell?

I barely knew anyone who had a maxed level, and they were all much older! But she was only nineteen years old right now!

And, I mean, a few people in our guild did have a maxed level, but all of them were in the top five teams. And sure, I imagined that someone like Sylvia was also maxed, if I could even check her information, but almost everyone else in the guild was roughly 49 out of 50 at the highest, since getting those last few levels was super difficult.

On the one hand, this meant that her remaining growth would be solely through her skills. But honestly, that really wasn't a bad thing, since we were all roughly in the same position, considering that getting even one more level could take years. Meaning, most of my growth came from skills now too.

And damn, she was even S Tier, so it wasn't like she was weak by any means.

But how did she get so strong?!

And in such a short period of time?!

I decided to see if I could divine her Abilities.

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Valshia Kumrahg

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ABILITIES

Skills: Determination, Sharp Eye, Perfect Aim, Critical Bullseye, Rapid Fire, Iron Stomach, Ranged Weapon Proficiency

Spells: Essence Bow, Essence Arrow, Barrage, Tempest

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Determination?

The other skills were pretty self-explanatory, but I wasn't sure I'd ever seen anyone have a skill called Determination.

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SKILL: Determination

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DESCRIPTION

Level: 1/1

Type: Innate Passive

Effect: Accelerated growth associated with one's level of determination.

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Holy fuck.

That was amazing. I didn't even know such a skill existed.

But what did that imply? Did she literally get this strong, this quickly, because she was that determined to be with me?

Like, fuck.

I decided to ask. "Why did you work so hard to get strong?" I wondered.

Val looked surprised and confused. "What do you mean, master?"

I hesitated, briefly taken off guard that she was really going to start calling me master.

Ah fuck, whatever.

"Like, what were you trying to achieve in the last year?" I clarified.

She nodded, as if to indicate she understood. "You said you needed a woman to fight by your side, so I got stronger. I did everything so that I could be the woman you wanted and needed."

Wow.

Just wow.

She really did this for me.

She got so strong, so quickly, because she was that determined to be with me.

I mean, no way she would have been able to do it without this Determination skill, but at the same time I suspected she obtained the skill simply because she was just that determined. Enough so, to push past the normal limits of what was possible, and grow at an accelerated pace, far beyond what was normal.

"So?" Mel wondered. "Is she good enough for the team?"

I sighed. "Yeah. She's more than good enough. Honestly, she's basically at the same level as me and you."

Val's purple eyes lit up in excitement, and Mel's gold eyes widened in surprise.

"Only problem is," I continued, causing Val's expression to drop in concern. "Will Turg be alright with splitting our reward one more way?"

After all, while there was value in having more teammates, there was a point at which too many was just too many. Because the value of increased speed of clearing Dungeons was lost when you had to split the reward too many ways. Not that there weren't much larger teams than ours, but I could imagine Turg having an issue with adding another member at this point.

One more was fine, since we'd gotten in some situations where just having one more person would have been perfect. But two more? I wasn't sure if he'd be okay with that.

Especially, if it was another pussy he couldn't fuck.

"I don't need a reward," Val blurted out. "I just want to be with you."

I smiled at her, sincerely touched by her obvious devotion.

Dang, this was great. But still a problem.

"Well, that would be an easy solution, if it was possible, but reward distribution is based on the guild's rules. Otherwise, you'd have teams abusing some of their members. Thus, the guild divides the reward in equal parts, and it's up to the teams to ensure everyone is pulling their weight."

Val's expression dropped again.

Mel chimed in. "What about forming our own team?" she wondered, only to pause when I looked at her in shock. "Only if Turg is against adding her," she quickly clarified.

Of course, I knew forming our own team wouldn't be a big deal to Mel, since she'd literally just joined and didn't know the others, but I'd gone through a lot of tough shit with them, and wasn't super thrilled to have our group split up.

Even if Turg and Dagru could be assholes sometimes.

Thus, I shook my head in disbelief. "It's true that having a Battlemage, Archer, and Healer would meet the basic requirements for a stable team, but it would be extremely dangerous for us to go it alone. Not to mention, Turg would be pissed. Like, really pissed. Shel probably wouldn't care, but Turg would, which would be a problem when I'd still have to see him every once in a while."

Mel frowned. "Well, let's maybe see what she can do, and then you can approach him about it." She sighed. "And look, I get that you're friends with the guy, but I'm going to be honest with you. I saw the look in his eyes when I told him that I wasn't going to fuck him. He was not happy to discover that you were getting someone he couldn't have, and I'm honestly not sure if he's going to let it go."

I sighed heavily, knowing she was right. "Yeah, I saw the look too," I admitted. "And honestly, after getting along for so long, I'm only now starting to realize that part of the reason why we got along so well, was only because I didn't have anything that he wanted." I glanced at Val. "Like, he was always in a better situation than me, in most ways. But now that I've got something that he'd like to at least 'try out' once or twice, I'm seeing the more selfish side of him. Of course, I knew he was always a bit selfish, and definitely hates to lose, but I didn't really have to deal with it before."

"Plus," Mel continued. "I have no doubt that every man in this place is going to try to bed Val, him included. Which means, if you have two things he wants to try out, then that might push him over the edge."

Fuck.

Shit, she was right.

I knew she was right. But what was I supposed to do?

If it came to a fight, the guy would crush me. Literally, he could just sit on me, and I'd be dead within minutes, just from not being able to breathe. Of course, I'd thought about what I'd do in a fight before, and even learned some tips from Jackel.

If it was someone else, I'd use Stun, pull out my knife, and stab them in the throat.

Then, depending on the situation, I could heal them, leave them to die, or if I wanted to get really creative, then I could cripple them enough to not be able to chase me, and then heal them enough so that they wouldn't die.

Kind of evil, but hey. If they were trying to attack me, then they'd get what was coming to them, which might be a life without hands or feet.

But Turg?

I mean, shit, if I fought him once and actually won, then he'd know what to expect next time, and jump me at a later date.

And even trying to switch guilds wouldn't be an option, since it wasn't like we would never see each other. Fuck, this could turn into a really huge problem, and I honestly wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"Relax Allie," Mel said reassuringly. "Val and I will protect you if it comes to a fight."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think you realize how formidable he is. Not only does he have Battle Instinct, but he also has Warlord, an extremely formidable skill that makes him a monster in a fight. I'm not trying to belittle your abilities, but he could probably kill all three of us, by himself, if it came right down to it."

And that was saying something, considering he was only A Tier with a total of 98 points. Meaning, he was basically at the same level as Val and Mel both, not to mention I was S Tier, and yet I still wasn't confident we could survive against such a calculating, shrewd, and powerful foe. After all, there was a point at which nothing could compete with just skills and experience.

Unlike people, Scourge Beasts were different.

At the end of the day, they were no more intelligent than the average animal, but against a person like him? Especially one who was so battle-hardened and practically lived to fight? Yeah, that was a different story entirely. Turg was the kind of person who felt most alive in a fight, which was one of the reasons why he took on so many Quests. He loved every second of being in the heat of battle, covered in the blood and gore of his foes.

Val spoke up. "I'm so sorry if I've caused you trouble," she said sincerely.

"No, of course not," Mel replied. "This was possibly going to be a problem either way. I knew that, from the moment when I had to deny him."

"Yeah, it's not your fault," I said sincerely. "Again, the only reason why him and I got along so well before, was because I didn't have anything he envied. But now that I sort of do, he's just revealing how much of a selfish bastard he really is."

"Well, for now," Mel interjected. "Let's maybe try to find him and see how he reacts to the idea of Val joining. She can explain that she is betrothed to you, and if it's going to be a problem, then we should know right then and there. He should show us how he feels, without actually blowing up."

"Good plan," I agreed. "And yeah, he probably won't do anything too crazy while he still thinks he has a chance to succeed. It won't be until he's tried a few times, that he'll realize he's been defeated, which will either piss him off, or just prompt him to get over it."

Mel nodded. "And I think it's important that we deny him, without bringing you into the situation."

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

She sighed. "Well, if I say, 'I'm with Allie, so no, I won't fuck you,' then he's going to view you as being the problem. But if I say, 'No, I'm not interested in Oni men,' then he'll realize that there's no hope, whether you're involved or not."

My eyes widened. "Oh. Wow Mel, you're really smart."

She grinned at that.

"What about me?" Val wondered.

Mel shrugged. "Just say you're not into Oni men. Say you like humans and elves. But don't make it about Allister, or else he'll view him as a problem that needs to be removed."

"S-Should I admit I'm betrothed, then?"

Mel nodded. "Yes, I think that's important. But if he asks to fuck, and you say no, let it because you don't want to, rather than because you want to stay faithful to Allie."

Val nodded more confidently, her thick straw-blonde hair shifting on her tan shoulders. "I can do that."

I sighed. "Okay, then I guess let's head downstairs and see if we can find him. Val, you can leave your stuff here if you want."

"Oh. Okay, master," she replied warmly. "Thank you very much!"

Oh fuck, now that this was really happening, I couldn't help but enjoy the fact that she was calling me master. But I also realized that could be something that fuels the flames we were trying to avoid getting any larger.

"Umm, maybe don't call me that around others," I commented.

Mel's gold eyes widened. "Oh, of course." She focused on Val. "Yeah, actually you can just call him Allie when we're around others. I know it's normal for Holstaurs to use 'master' for their man, but not so much Oni. At least, not unless it's being used sexually."