Harem Master - RPG story Ch. 006

Hi all! It took much longer than I wanted it to, but chapter six is ready. Chapter seven and eight are written, but still need editing, but I plan to post them soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Huge thanks to Netrepid for editing.

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Elara hit absent-mindedly at the training dummy. She spent the last half an hour distracting herself, or at least tried, because it wasn't very successful. The image of Zack on his knees, and her daggers moving to attack, again flashed through her mind. She almost killed him today.

She needed to confront this with Asher. He would make her feel better. Or at least forget about all of it by distracting her.

Elara leaned on her knees, wondering if he finished his class already.

She forgot her phone from her room, so she couldn't text him. She swept her eyes around the square. It looked like other groups had also finished their classes. However, supports left the square early on, and Elara couldn't recognize anyone from their group to know if they finished too.

She noticed that fights were still going on on the other side of the square. Elara realized that the tank group was still having their fights, perhaps because of their higher stamina, slower movements, and lower damage, their fights just lasted longer.

Two guys fought against each other, so she wasn't particularly interested in them. But the fight finished just when she glanced there, it seemed like two girls were preparing to take the next fight. Another two girls passed in front of Elara moving towards the tribune.

One of them dressed in all black, with matching hair and dark makeup, the second one had long wavy auburn hair and big glasses which made her look much more adorable than her friend. They climbed on the tribune and Elara noticed Asher, when the girls that she followed with her eyes sat next to him and some other blonde girl.

He must have finished his class earlier. Why didn't he come to her? He sat there with one girl, and already two more joined them. All three of those girls were attractive and Elara felt a pang of jealousy, but quickly snapped out of it. Asher just sat with them, and she was going to allow him to do much more in the near future.

But she would choose their teammates, and she didn't know those girls that sat around him right now, Elara believed that would make everything easier for her, and she could handle it. Easier said than done, but she still had some time.

Elara realized that, in reality, it wasn't so long. They should look for teammates and find them in the next two weeks. There wasn't so much time until she would need to share Asher. She was concerned about what creating a harem would bring to their relationship. If it was going to survive and if it was the right thing to do. She shook her head. There wasn't any other way.

Elara decided that she should focus on something. Finding and choosing their teammates was an important matter. And there were three girls talking with Asher right now, all of them attractive, Elara wasn't a fan of the goth girl style, but it suited her. They were potential teammates.

Elara crossed through the square towards her boyfriend and girls accompanying him. He was engrossed talking with them and didn't notice her until she was just a step from him. She dropped her daggers on a seat next to him and jumped into his lap, putting her arms around his neck.

He jumped, surprised and turned around towards her quickly. Elara pecked his lips, and felt his body relax, recognizing her. Asher put his arms around her to hold her close.

Elara glanced at the three girls and noticed their curious looks. "Hey, I'm Elara," she introduced herself.

The blonde girl sitting next to Asher smiled shyly at her and answered. "Hey, I'm Madelyn," she said, pointing at herself. She was pretty, but it looked like she was trying to hide it. Elara wasn't sure if it wasn't just an impression, but the girl had her hair pinned and her clothes looked rather plain and oversized, like she was trying to hide her body.

"Zoe," she added, pointing at the goth girl. "And Sam," she finished at the third girl sitting furthest from her.

"What were you talking about?" Elara asked, she interrupted their talk rather abruptly, so she wanted them to continue with whatever they were speaking about.

"About today's classes. And apparently about you," Madelyn answered Elara's question.

Elara glanced at Asher surprised. "Me?" she asked, while he hugged her closer to himself, smiling.

"I heard that you beat this asshole, Zack, in a fight," Zoe replied to her question. "And that you beat a horde of goblins," the same girl added.

Elara chuckled. "I see gossip spread around fast." She glanced at Asher and then at the girls. "There was only one goblin, not the whole horde." Asher hands moved to her lower back and stroked lightly there. She smiled at him affectionately.

"Asher already told us," Sam said, speaking for the first time around Elara. She looked more shy and withdrawn than her goth friend.

"Is it common in your area for monsters to attack?" Madelyn asked, scrunching her face with concern.

"No, it was the first time. We lived far away from any dungeon entrance, so we were shocked when it attacked us."

"You think it traveled so far?" Zoe asked.

Elara sighed. "I don't think so. There's probably an unknown entrance somewhere close."

Locating this entrance would allow explorers to defend it, and stop monsters from spreading around, but it wasn't so easy. Big ones were obvious to find, but smaller ones in the middle of the forest or in some underground cave were hard to locate.

Elara's thoughts were interrupted when a guy stopped in front of her. She glanced at him, he was tall and fit, but not muscular. Skin color and facial features suggested that he was Latin, and his short dark hair matched it. He stared straight at her, while she still sat in Asher's lap. She felt her boyfriend's arms tighten around her protectively.

"I'm Thomas Black. I heard that you knocked down Zack with one blow." he stated, then he glanced at Asher, and only skipped his eyes over the rest of the girls.

Rumors how she almost killed Zack spread around, so it was obvious people were interested to team up with her. She stopped herself from wincing, reminded of how she almost killed someone today.

"Do you want to join my team?" he asked Elara, and she was taken aback. Straightforward, asking if she would join him. He didn't tell her anything, his class, or other people that he had in his team. Nothing.

He didn't even ask about testing it out first. Just to join his team, like she was supposed to happily agree. It crossed her mind that he might be popular or something like this, and she should know him. But she was from another city and had no idea who he was.

Even if he wouldn't make a bad first impression, he was a guy, so there was no way for them to team up. Elara realized it might be a good occasion to state some things publicly, it looked like rumors spread around quickly.

"First of all, we go as a pair," she declared, hugging herself tightly to Asher. "I'm an assassin, and Asher is a support."

Thomas winced and glanced with a frown at Asher, and Elara wanted to tell this guy to fuck off and go away already. She sensed Asher's arms tighten around her, his hand stroked her lower back, trying to soothe her, after she stiffened with anger. Elara stopped herself from insulting Thomas and instead tried to be polite.

"I'll consider your offer and let you know if I'll be interested," she said with a harsh voice, and realized that it didn't sound very polite.

A weird look passed through his face. "You should decide quickly," he scoffed, turned around and rushed away from them.

Asher's arms relaxed around her, but his hands lingered on her back and thigh.

"You're going to receive a lot of offers like this," Madelyn interrupted the silence. Elara was aware of that, she showed off and everyone will consider her as a potential teammate now. She would need to select the best people.

Asher sighed, loud enough that Madelyn noticed it. She stared at him confused. Elara couldn't read his mind, but guessed he was worried they were losing some great opportunity because Thomas wasn't an option for them because of his gender.

Elara squeezed his arm trying to reassure him without words, she believed that everything would end up good.

"That's nice, but I prefer to choose on my own. I'll choose and ask people that I'm interested in," Elara explained to Madelyn.

Madelyn nodded with a smirk. She glanced at Asher. "I see who wears pants in this relationship." All of the girls giggled when Asher flushed slightly, but then he rolled his eyes at their teasing.

Asher stared forward observing the fighting tanks, refusing to comment on anything, while being outnumbered by four girls. Elara followed his gaze. A guy fought against a girl, and she was suffering. Barely defending herself and still some of his blows made it through and hit her. She never had an opportunity to attack in return. It was only a matter of time when it would be over.

The girl might be a potential teammate for them, but right now Elara couldn't really assess a lot about her. Clearly matched with a stronger opponent. Instead, Elara focused on the three girls accompanying her.

"And you girls, what classes are you?" Elara asked them. All of them were watching the fight, Zoe talked with Sam quietly, but they turned towards Elara.

"We are both mages, just as Thomas," Zoe replied, indicating herself and Sam.

"I'm support. With Asher in the group," Madelyn chimed in.

"You should really consider Thomas's offer. He's the best mage of the year. His father is a powerful mage explorer. He trained him even before Thomas had his class," Sam explained.

Elara felt Asher's body tense, it only made it worse right now, letting him know that they were losing a chance with the best of the year. But that really didn't matter, Elara was strong before, but with his boosts she became even more powerful.

They didn't need to find the best in terms of skills. Asher could make them the best. They needed someone who would fit in their unusual team.

"I'll see, but I look for some specific things that he doesn't meet," Elara explained partly, they needed a woman, but it would cause questions if she revealed it, which she didn't want to answer. Madelyn frowned, gazing at her, she bit her lip in thought, but didn't comment.

Sam leaned towards Zoe and whispered to her. The goth girl nodded and turned towards them. "We'll go talk with our friend, she just finished her fight," Zoe informed, while both of them left towards the circle, where the fight just ended.

"How did the class go, sweetie?" Asher asked Elara.

"You probably heard about it already," she leaned her head on his arm.

"Only that you kicked someone's ass. But I would prefer more details." Elara wanted to talk with him too, but without Madelyn listening to them. She glanced at the girl, they caught each other's gaze, and Madelyn understood just from the look.

"Okay, I'm going to look around, see if there is maybe something interesting happening," Madelyn murmured, leaving the pair.

"She seems nice," Elara pecked him on the lips and scoped herself more into his lap when the blonde girl was out of earshot.

"Yeah," Asher glanced after Madelyn.

Elara smacked him on the shoulder playfully. "She's support, you can't add her to your harem," she whispered.

"What?" He looked at Elara and saw her teasing smile. Asher rolled his eyes. "We met on the square before the class," Asher frowned lightly. "She didn't leave me for a moment until now."

"But she spotted us yesterday in the main room, and she was aware of you from the beginning," Asher explained hurriedly, Elara kissed him lightly on the lips. She was just teasing, but he felt the need to explain himself.

Elara smiled, reminded of their kiss yesterday, it seemed she accomplished what she desired, and people knew that he was her's. Not only should other girls stay away from him, but they would know that they came as a pair in a team.

Elara rested her head on his chest and relaxed listening to his every breath. Now when they were alone, she wanted to speak with him about her fight today. He stroked her back lightly, which helped her relax and sent pleasurable tingles through her body.

She took a deep breath. "Our tutor asked who fought in a life and death situation before," she started. "So, I told him about our fight with the goblin," she smirked. "I'm not sure how it became a whole pack."

Elara lifted her head and glanced at Asher. He was completely focused on her, waiting patiently for her to continue the story. She sighed and leaned her head back against his chest.

"He paired me for the first fight against Zack. I think he's a warrior, at least he looks like one. I selected daggers similar to those I used at home, and he picked an axe."

She skipped all of the comments that Zack directed towards her. "I dodged his first attack easily with my Fast Attack and cut him on his torso. Then, when I was behind him, I faked the attack and slashed at his leg when he attempted to kick."

"Thanks to you and your boosts, I was much faster than him," Elara pointed, wanting to emphasize that it was thanks to Asher. "I rushed towards him, and even before he had a chance to make a full blow, I cut at his hip with my Powerful Attack."

Elara paused, reconsidering the whole fight. "And?" Asher prompted.

She sighed, and Asher hugged her tightly in response. "He fell to his knees and dropped his weapon. I jumped in and cut him again. And..."

Elara wanted to attack again, in the heat of the battle she was completely focused on winning, she didn't pay any attention that he wasn't defending, and was low on health.

Asher grabbed her chin and lifted her face until they eyes met. She recognized concern in his eyes, but also that he was confused with what this all was about.

Elara looked down and buried her face in his chest again. She continued whispering after a moment of silence. "I wanted to attack him again and again. I... I wanted to win. He was not defending." Elara swallowed thickly. "I don't think I would stop on my own," she said, almost inaudibly.

Could she really do it? Kill another human? She didn't even know how much health Zack had, maybe she was closer than she realized. What if the next blow would kill him? Even if not, would she stop on her own, after the next cut? Elara didn't like that she wasn't sure about answers to those questions.

Asher's hand stroked through her hair lightly. "They mentioned that he is fine, that the medics took care of him," Asher said softly. "You stopped in time."

"Only because Nolan interrupted. He commanded us to stop the fight."

"Was he judging your fight?" Asher asked.

"Yeah, he could check our health points due to these red circles on the ground," Elara explained, realizing that Asher didn't know the rules of the fights here.

"So you don't know how much health Zack had?" Asher probed.

Elara only shook her head negatively.

"But your teacher knew, and he interrupted the fight when he found it appropriate. And you stopped immediately when he told you?"

"Yes. But Asher, I almost killed someone today. Not a monster from the dungeon. Another human. Another student. During training. I..."

"El, how much health Zack had at the end of the fight?"

"I told you, I don't know, maybe he would be dead with another blow," Elara answered, raising her voice.

"Or maybe he could take ten more and your teacher was waiting to see if he would start to defend himself?"

Elara paused, she didn't think about it like that. Maybe Zack had more health, maybe he dropped to his knees, shocked by the strength of her hit. Maybe it was much more controlled and safe than she believed.

Elara realized that she might come up with things that weren't true.

"And that was your teacher's responsibility, right? To judge the fight and decide when it's over. El, you stopped when he ended the fight."

Elara couldn't deny it, she halted mid blow, in the instance Nolan shouted, and maybe all of her worries were just in her head.

"El." Asher grabbed her chin, so their eyes met again. "We're here to learn how to fight and kill. Monsters, not people, but we need to train somehow. And you shouldn't create bad habits. You're an assassin. You look out for weaknesses and attack them. Do you think it's a good idea to stop mid-fight in a dungeon? Because a monster stopped defending? And some monsters look similar to humans. What if it was just a ruse, and it would hurt someone? What if it would hurt me this way?"

No, Elara couldn't let something like this happen. Especially with Asher's health points right now, he could easily get hurt severely. Even one hit from a strong opponent could kill him.

Elara realized Asher was right, they were training to create habits and instincts, she shouldn't develop bad ones, and tried to get rid of the good ones.

"Perhaps, he wasn't defending, shocked how hard you hit him. I would certainly be, if I would get hit like that from surprise."

Elara corrected in her head that he would be dead, but didn't want to point it out to him aloud.

She sighed. "You're right, maybe it wasn't so bad, after a fight Zack was sent to medics, and he looked fine when he came back."

"You see, everything is good." Asher paused, waiting if she wanted to add something. "What did you do later?" Asher asked, and Elara realized he wanted to change the topic and not allow her to dwell over it anymore.

"I trained on a dummy to get a better feel of the new daggers. Then I noticed my boyfriend, surrounded by three hot girls and needed to come and remind them who do you belong to." Elara kissed him after finishing.

His tongue probed on her lips and she allowed him to enter. He pushed into her mouth, and she sucked lightly on his tongue. Asher's hands wandered on her thigh, brushing higher, it was so close. Elara deepened their kiss, lost in pleasure, but when she felt Asher's hand nearing her crotch, she reminded herself that they sat in public.

She broke the kiss and grabbed his hand in place. They were both panting, their faces just an inch away from each other. Elara was really aroused, and it was getting hard to keep her resolve, to wait, until they had their shared room, to have their first time.

She leaned back not trusting herself when his lips were so close to her. "How about your class?" she asked, trying to distract him.

Asher sighed and Elara knew that something went wrong. "We didn't do anything at all. Rachel talked briefly, then she asked us to speak about our classes, and what we plan to focus on while studying, so she has some idea of what to expect."

Elara was aware that he didn't want to talk about his class at all, but perhaps explaining things just to his teacher could help him.

"What did you tell?" Elara prompted him to speak further.

"That I didn't expect a support class, and still contemplate what I will do with it. I should just tell some lies, or tell her that I would be boosting my teammates," Asher paused and looked embarrassed to their hands. "But I got stressed and flushed and didn't say anything. Rachel asked me even more questions, wanting to get anything about my class. I think Madelyn noticed that I'm uncomfortable, and started to talk about herself. Rachel let it go, and I didn't do anything more during class."

Elara stroked his chest, desire to do the same thing without his shirt in the way surged through her, but unfortunately they were still in the view of everyone. "It was nice of her," Elara commented and paused. "Maybe you should have a friend in your class group."

Asher just nodded, and Elara felt his body relax under her caresses. They stayed silent for a moment, and Elara decided to bring up her previous thought. "You should tell your teacher about your class. Explain that you don't want to reveal it to everyone, so she wouldn't ask you about it in front of the whole class."