Joining Her Harem Ch. 01

Taking a deep breath, I took my first step into the guild hall taking in everything I saw. My smile quickly faded as the room was fairly empty. The few people that were in the hall all seemed to be sleeping. Most lay on benches, others slumped over at some tables. I had never seen such a disorder before. Nothing was clean, every surface was covered in something, either liquid or food or both. One large muscular woman was even asleep on the floor. I had to quickly avert my eyes. She barely had any clothes on. The only person not asleep was the young woman behind the counter. She greeted me with a warm smile and waved me over.

"Good morning. Here to post a quest for your temple?"

It is no surprise The young woman knew I was from a temple. My robes are a dead giveaway. I was wearing fairly traditional cleric robes. White floor length robes trimmed in blue for some contrast. A golden coin in the center, the holy symbol of Lillia goddess of luck. Since I was just an initiate, they were basic. The staff I carried was also of simple design. Wooden shaft with a blue mana stone at the top. Most clerics did not bother with the Mana stone, but I needed one to assist in casting my non cleric spells.

"No Ma'am, I am here to register as an adventurer." I moved forward toward the counter having to sidestep the muscular woman on the floor. Looking around the room more as I approached.

"Do they need any assistance? Most look as if they have had a rough night?"

The woman waved away my concern. "Don't mind them, it was a fairly tame night last night."

She looked me over more than once. As I reached the counter and her expression soured some. "You know you have to be an adult to register right?"

It was hard to not take it personally. Everyone thinks I am younger than I am. All the sisters found my frustration hilarious. Saying that all wished they had my problems. I did not think it was funny. I am told I have a boyish or even effeminate face, whatever that means. It also does not help that I am barely five feet five inches tall. Most women are taller than I am, so I am also mistaken for a girl almost everywhere I go.

"I am an adult. I turned eighteen last week. I can arrange to get my papers if needed." I offered her a smile trying to get back the pleasant mood we had at the start.

"Look kid, it is your funeral. We only need to warn you. If you attest you're an adult. We don't care or look into it. It is on you if you get hurt. Here, fill this out." She shoved some paper to me.

I was shocked by her change in tone. She was not exactly rude but none of her pleasant demeanor was there. I did not want to sour my relationship with her if I had somehow offended her.

"Thank you. Since I will be working out of this guild my name is Ranz it is a pleasure to meet you." I offered my hand and she looked it over and sighed heavily.

"Kid you sure about this. You can have a good life working at your temple." Her face was now one of pity. I could not figure this woman out.

"Yes, Ma'am. I am positive I want to become an adventurer."

"Well, I cannot really stop you but please be safe." She reached out and shook my hand. "My name is Lily."

"I am looking forward to working with you Lilly." I took the papers and headed to a table to start filling them out.

"I hate it when I learn their names."

I thought I heard Lily say something to me but when I looked back, she already had her back to me walking away so I figured it was nothing. The closest table was next to the muscular woman who was still sleeping on the floor. Most other tables were dirty or had someone on them so I was out of options and took a seat.

The forms seem simple enough, questions about who I am, name, age, race, training and so on. The largest section by far was contact info. They wanted three different contacts. I was not sure what they would need that info for, but I put three senior sisters at my temple. As I was finishing up the woman by my table started to groan.

I looked around to see if anyone else heard her. No one seemed to care. Her groan started to get louder so I reached down and rested my hand on her shoulder. I shook her slightly trying to get her to look at me.

"Are you ok, miss?"

She only groaned louder. I knelt to get a better look at her. To see if she was injured in any way as her groans sounded like she was in pain. The woman rolled over, her hair a mess and matted down in places. Her face had clear imprints of the grain of the floorboards on it. I was surprised when I saw her face more clearly. She must be a half-orc. I had never seen one before but knew of them. Now that I looked closer I could see her skin was a very pale green. While full blood orcs had dark green skin some even looked black in the right light. I thought half orcs had green or light green skin. If I was not right next to her the green tint would almost be unnoticeable.

As I had been trained, I looked over her body looking for signs of trauma, so I could figure out what was causing her pain. I saw a great many scars all over her body. Dozens of small cuts that did not heal cleanly. It was hard to see because of the impression on her face from the floor but her face was clear of scarring. Her right shoulder however was completely scared. It almost looked like her arm had been taken clean off at some point in the past.

I could plainly see all of this past damage to her body because she was wearing next to nothing. She at least was wearing leather pants that could pass for light armor. Her ample chest was only barely covered by a small leather breast strap that hardly counted as armor for a woman this size. I could not find any recent wounds that would cause her the pain she must be feeling. Her groans did not lie so I went ahead and cast a healing spell on her to try to soothe whatever she was suffering from.

"Goddess, please ease her suffering. Healing"

The receptionist was away and everyone else was still asleep, so no one noticed what I did. The woman I helped sure noticed as her eyes shot open as soon as my spell started. At first, I thought I may have scared her as she was just waking up and a strange man was touching her. Her eyes did not seem surprised, only confused.

My spell began to fade, and the woman grabbed my shoulder with her hand. It shocked me how large her hands were. Easily they must have been twice the size of mine if not more. As the thought crossed my mind it stung my pride as a man. While I try not to let my small size get me down it is hard not to be self-conscious about it. Especially when I am comparing myself to this woman.

She pushed me away from her some. I assumed she did not want me in her space, so I tried to get up but her strong hands kept me in place. She was just trying to get a better look at me. She seemed to be sizing me up. Once she had finished, she looked me square in the eyes and simply nodded.

"I was not sure what was wrong, but you sounded like you were in pain. I hope that helped some." I offered her the best smile I could in this so far awkward encounter.

"Yes."

"I am glad. My name is Ranz. What is yours?"

"No."

"Oh... ok you don't have to give me your name if you don't want to." I moved to get up, but she held me tightly still and I would not be able to break free even if I wanted to. The look on her face was now one of Sadness. It was an odd expression to cap off an already odd interaction.

"Oh dear, Honey, get away from her."

The receptionist Lily saw that I was kneeling over this woman. She came rushing over from behind the counter and grabbed me. Lilly pulled me close to her even going so far as to put herself between the woman and I. The muscular woman fell back to the floor looking up at the ceiling. I did not think her face could have gotten any sadder.

Once it was clear the woman would not be moving from her spot Lilly spun around.

"You are going to want to stay away from that one. She is just dead meat so leave her to her party."

I had never heard of the term dead meat before. It seems like a terrible way to refer to another person.

"Lily, I am sorry. I am not sure what Dead meat means?"

Lily's face took on a truly pitying look "Baby that means she is a condemned criminal. Instead of execution they are enslaved and forced into the military or bound to an adventurer."

I looked back over to the woman on the floor. She had her hand over her eyes as if trying to hide from the light, but I could tell she was looking right at me as Lily explained her situation. It seemed as if hearing the explanation hurt the woman.

"Well, that is still no reason for her to be left in pain on the floor."

Lilly shook her head at me. "Honey she should be dead. She is paying her debt with her life. It should not be easy for her."

I could not believe Lily was being so cold. Even if she was a criminal being treated as if she was already dead. I moved over to the woman and offered her my hand. I was not sure I would be able to assist her in getting up, but I was going to try.

"We all have a past. That does not matter, you do not have to be who they say you are."

"No." was all the woman said, as she turned away from me. She got up on her own. I knew she was big but now I could see she was massive. She was well over a full foot taller than I was and at more than twice as broad.

"Gods was Draga bothering someone again. Ten Lashings tonight."

I turned around to find a woman entering the Guild Hall. She must have seen my interactions with the woman she called Draga. This new woman was tall and thin with dark red hair and the black robes of a mage. Though she had them opened far too much in the front as I could see clearly down past her navel. Her chest was large and not even contained completely by the robe. The flesh of her nipples was mostly exposed. Her staff was elaborate and had a large mana stone. It must have cost a fortune.

Behind her entered a tall good-looking man. He had a rough look to him but was so handsome, it made him seem not as threatening. His armor was a light plate armor covering most of his upper body and thighs. He placed his arm around the woman and pulled her close.

"Now Triss we don't know what happened. Let's not jump to conclusions."

I was unsure of who these two newcomers were, but I did not want Draga to get in any kind of trouble because I helped her.

"Greetings, my name is Ranz. Draga has done nothing wrong. It was I who was bothering her." I gave a slight bow to show my sincerity.

"Who cares about that mongrel? She needs to serve her purpose. Not get in the way of a priest such as yourself."

I was slightly offended that the woman did not offer her name in return. From context I assumed it was Triss, but it was just good manners to give your name. I overlooked it because I wanted to try and smooth this situation over. But thankfully the man with Triss was more aggregable.

"Hello Ranz. My Name is Landis. I am the leader of The Black Serpents. Draga there is our party member. Draga you are sorry for bothering this nice priest, right?"

"Yes."

"Prefect. Go on and get ready, we are leaving soon."

Without a word Draga left the guild hall. Landis and Triss headed over to the table I was sitting at.

"Ranz do you mind if we sit down to join you."

"That will be fine. I was just finishing up my registration. Let me hand it over to Lily."

Landis nodded and then helped Triss to a seat and sat next to her. I gathered the papers together and presented them to Lilly. She took them to the back I assumed to file or process them. I turned back to Landis and Triss and sat down to join them.

"So just registered with the guild sweety. Are you sure your mommy knows what you are doing?"

"Now Triss he is clearly an adult. Don't speak to him like that." Landis jumped in to defend me. I normally never bothered when people talked down to me like that. I found that confronting them only made the problems worse.

"So Ranz, do you have a party you are planning to join already?" Landis leaned onto the table toward me.

"I just got to town last night. In truth you are the first party I have even met since coming to town."

Landis slapped the table causing me to jump a little. "What perfect luck. Our party is in need of a healer. By the look of your robes, I would say you are a cleric."

I could not help but laugh. Landis gave me an odd look because of it. He of course did not know I was a cleric of Lillia.

"Sorry I didn't mean to laugh. You are correct, I am a cleric. My goddess is Lillia, that is why I found your comment so amusing."

Triss was the one to laugh now. "What? You are a sister of Lillia? I thought you were a man."

Triss was of course speaking about how no man had ever received the blessings of Lillia before. I understand why she would be shocked, but it was rude to laugh. Thankfully Landis agreed.

"Hey Triss, apologize. The man said he was a cleric of Lillia. He serves a Goddess that is not something you should laugh at."

"I am sorry." Triss did at least look remorseful in her apology. I am not sure if that is because she felt bad for possibly hurting my feelings, or because her own feelings got hurt from being scolded.

Landis looked pleased with himself and he smiled at me. "I think your goddess is indeed shining her luck down on us both. We have an urgent quest that we must complete. We did not think we would find a cleric in time and you come to us in our hour of need."

Lillia's work never ceases to amaze me. It was lucky I was late last night or I may not have met Landis and Triss. "That is indeed good fortune for us both then. What kind of quest did your party have?"

Landis looked at me, his smile getting wider. "Orcs have been attacking Travels, we need to scout some ruins that are a few days' travel east. I was coming to collect Draga to join the rest of our party to head out. I would be most grateful if you would join us. Since we are already at the hall we can make it official and have you join the party."

I try to hide my excitement but I know I failed at doing that. "Really? The sisters said I would likely have to do what they called a tryout first to officially join a party."

Landis smirked "Well that is true we already have another new member trying out. I always felt it was more fair to have the new blood joining the party." Landis slid his chair over to me and wrapped his arm around me. "You see, a party can be like a family. We share everything. So to exclude you from that is not not right."

I was so lucky to find such a caring party. Landis in particular seemed to be a good man. Triss seemed a little stuck up but I was trying not to judge her too harshly. Especially if I was going to be joining the party. Landis told me about the other two party members. Fay was a new adventure, like me. She had been on a few quests already with the party. Landis said she was a rogue and that her talents went well beyond her base class. There was also Nerk, a warrior Landis has known his whole life. I knew he would be a good man if Landis vouched for him. Of course they also had Draga as well. I was not thrilled by the way Triss and Lily had treated her but Landis again proved his nobility when he defended her earlier.

We filled out the needed forms for me to join The Black Serpents. Lily asked me three times if I was sure I knew what I was doing, while we finished the paper work. Landis dismissed her concerns for me each time. Once we finished up we headed for the gate with Triss and Draga to meet with Fay and Nerk.

Draga was carrying a huge pack while Landis and Triss had nothing. I had my small pack of supplies I had brought with me. It bothered me that she was forced to carry everything. Lily had told me Draga had traded her freedom to prevent her execution. That did not mean we should still not treat her as a person.

"Draga, I would be happy to help carry something. I am not that strong but everything is easier if we share the load." I jogged to catch up to her and smiled.

"No"

That was all I got in return. I wanted to ask why but Triss stopped me.

"Don't bother, that is all it knows how to say Yes and No. It is just a mongrel. Do not confuse it by treating it as a person."

"Triss, she is a person. Even if she has done horrible things in her past." I kept my tone as even and tried desperately to keep my voice from cracking.

Triss hung her head. "Do you know what orcs do to make a mongrel like that?" Triss hissed.

I knew half orcs were the result of an orc mating with a human. Orcs as a whole are a warrior people. Might makes right, their society was built on that. Even their women were larger and stronger than most other races. All orcs, man or woman, took what they wanted. While I lived a sheltered life I still understood what Triss was trying to tell me.

"I am aware...Draga is not responsible for her birth and should hold no sin for it." I tried to hold my head up.

Triss grabbed the metal collar around Dragas neck. "The only reason she has not raped you to death is this collar. If I were to remove it you would know first hand what orcs are capable of." Triss stormed off.

Landis came over to me. "Don't let her get to you. She normally is a much nicer person than what you have seen so far." Landis paused for a second. "Orcs got her family you see. While I am sure she gets what you are saying, it is hard to forgive that kind of thing."

I felt horrible now. I am sure it must be painful for Triss to have a constant reminder of a tragedy from her past. I eyed Draga with concern. Was she truly held back from attacking me by that collar? The women I met on the Guild floor did not seem hostile to me.

As we approached the gate I saw who I assumed would be the other two party members. Nerk gave it away by waving. "Wow, got another fresh one. Has she been broken in yet?"

Triss smirked at Nerk "HE has not. Want to do the honors?"

Nerk eyed me up and down. "Damn, looking like that I would not mind."

"That's enough we need to get on the road. We can talk about this tonight." Landis cut the conversation off before I could ask any follow up questions. He then officially introduced me to my two new party members. Nerk had not taken his eyes off me and in contrast Fay would not look at me. We then set off from Lutte. It was thrilling. I had only been gone from the temple for four days now and I was already going on my first quest.