The Sixth School Ch. 050

"And does that bother you?" He asked. Although Greg could hear the amusement in Shalia's voice and hadn't detected any jealousy from her, he couldn't help being cautious. After Olivia's warning about how the wrong emotion could lead either Shalia or her mother to reveal everything to the Town-head, he wasn't willing to overlook any signs that things might be going off the rails. After all the contingencies that he and Olivia had come up with the night before, Greg wasn't worried for his life. Killing the Town-head, however, wasn't something he was very keen on doing. If he could avoid letting things get to that point, then that's what he'd do.

Shalia turned to him as if taken aback by the question. "I watched you lie with my mom. You encouraged me to go pursue Bran while you took my virginity. Believe me when I say I'm not harboring any delusions of us ending up as a pair," She offered calmly. Greg was relieved to note that there was no anger or bitterness in the girl's voice as she spoke. In her voice was the calm acceptance of the situation. "We need your protection, and in return, you get to have us whenever you want, wherever you want," She said. Despite her best attempt at remaining neutral in her delivery, Greg noticed the slight pink that spread on her cheeks when she said it out loud. The DISCERNING ring also picked up a slight spike in her arousal as she did. The girl might have been playing it cool but clearly, she was just as turned on by the idea of giving herself over to him as much as he was. "So long as we remain protected, I don't care who else you pursue," the girl informed him.

Despite the temptation to be paranoid, Greg got the sense that Shalia was speaking the truth much to his relief. "Neither?" he at last said. When Shalia looked at him with a look of confusion, he explained. "You asked who I would be going after first. The answer is neither."

Shalia regarded him for a while before speaking. "I can't force you to believe that I'm telling the truth, but if you are holding back because you think I'll be jealous, it's your loss," She said with a shrug.

This time it was Greg who rolled his eyes. "Not everything I do revolves around you Shalia. We both know that neither Niya nor Naiya suddenly woke up and thought of me as a friend. Like you, they were probably forced to try and get close to me. Some feelings of resentment directed toward me because of this, I'd understand. The two of them, however, seem to seriously dislike me. With Niya, I can understand. I'm getting close to the girl he likes and he isn't too happy about that," Greg stated.

"What?!" an exclamation of surprise left Shalia at his words.

Greg, however, ignored it and continued. "With Naiya, however, I'm a little less clear. I'm not in any way standing between her and Bran..."

"What?!" Shalia exclaimed once more, this time there was a much colder undertone to her words.

Once again, Greg ignored her. "Neither am I trying to get her to be with me, so why she's so resentful of me as opposed to just being mildly annoyed at being forced to interact with me is beyond me," Greg voiced.

"What do you mean that Niya hates you because of me? And are you telling me that Naiya is after Bran?" Shalia clung to the two parts of his answer she was most interested in.

"Come on Shalia, For all your faults, we both know that your looks aren't one among them," He replied, not hiding the way his eyes roamed over her enticing body. Despite herself, Shalia appeared both pleased and aroused by the compliment. "Is it really that hard to believe that Niya would be drawn to you?" He asked.

"But... he's never said anything..." Shalia said looking unsure how to respond to the information. "And that three-tusk boar Naiya is after Bran!" the girl wasn't distracted for long as she came back to the issue.

"What? You thought you were the only one with eyes?" Greg responded laconically. Even in his former world, Bran could have been an underwear model. Greg, however, tucked that thought away in the secret room, away from Olivia's reach.

His words were followed by a long silence as they moved nearer towards Greg's house. Greg could tell that the girl wanted to rail more about Naiya and her interest in Bran, who she considered to be hers. Some part of her, however, must have realized that Greg wasn't really interested in their little love triangle. In the end, a sigh left her. "She's angry at you because you're the reason she can never have Bran," Shalia stated. Before Greg could ask, she explained. "My father wanted me to marry you. The same has probably been asked of her," Shalia stated.

A frown marred Greg's features at her words. "Wait, but you were your father's only gambit in trying to get close to me. The Valla household isn't in as desperate a situation as that, why would they force their daughter into a relationship that she doesn't want?" Even as the words tumbled out of his mouth, Greg realized that he'd done it again. He'd once again made the mistake of defaulting back to his twenty-first-century thinking and expected it to apply in this new world. The idea of forcing one's child into a relationship they don't desire was so alien to him that he'd outright precluded it from consideration. Greg couldn't help but clench his jaws, annoyed at himself as he remembered how many times this very same mistake had led to terrible outcomes within the dungeon. While inside the dungeon, such mistakes could be forgiven as death was not permanent. Out in the real world, however, making such mistakes was a recipe for losing his second chance at life.

Part of Greg was hoping for some kind of explanation from Shalia, but all she did was shrug. 'That answer, you can only get from the head of the Valla household. And while I wasn't at all happy when it happened to me, I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't happy that her attention has been taken away from my Bran," She declared. It hit Greg that, while he might have broken through the bitchy exterior of the girl before him, she wasn't necessarily nicer to anyone else. Rather than empathize with another girl in the same situation as she'd been in, she only saw how it benefitted her and didn't care beyond that. This despite the fact the two were supposed to be friends. On the other hand, Greg knew that Naiya would probably also be happy to be rid of Shalia as competition if the shoe was on the other foot. Added to the fact that Naiya's family would happily eliminate Shalia's family if they weren't under his protection, Greg found that he couldn't really judge her too harshly.

"What about her mother," Shalia pressed him once a bit of silence had passed. "You've explained why you won't pursue Naiya, but I see no reason why her mother isn't a good target for you," She stated. To anyone else, the statement would have been ridiculous given that Naiya's mother was married. But after fucking her married mother right in front of her, Greg could understand why Shalia would make the statement.

"Too much work," Greg answered simply with a shrug. But simple as the words were, they also happened to be the truth. "She has spent so long suppressing her sexual desires out of a sense of duty to her husband that just getting her to acknowledge that the desires are still there will be an ordeal in itself. Why waste the energy when there are so many other more easily accessible women in the town? Besides, getting involved with her would mean getting involved with the Valla household, which in turn would mean getting even more tangled up in the politics of this town. Hard pass," He said with a look of clear distaste.

Greg would be lying if he said he hadn't been a little bit tempted by the prospect going in. The absence of a chance to act on his desires, however, had given him the chance to think the whole situation through. If he got too close to any one family, the other two would probably start to see him as a potential foe. And for what, the chance to lead some no-name town in the middle of nowhere? The juice just wasn't worth the squeeze. Pursuing the women from the three families would be dangerous which means that it'd almost certainly net him a sizable amount of lust points. Greg, however, had been repeatedly warning himself that just because the system rewarded him for doing something, didn't necessarily mean that it was the smart or wise thing to do. If he kept ignoring his own advice, then he'd have no one to blame when shit hit the fan. Besides, while he wasn't that worried for himself his family was still very much vulnerable. Greg wouldn't be able to forgive himself if they were harmed simply because he couldn't keep it in his pants.

"Aren't you going in?" Shalia asked as they walked past the gate to his place and Greg didn't go inside.

Glancing at his home, Greg shook his head before calmly replying. "Shortly after we left the Valla household, someone started following us a few houses back. I suspect that you might meet with misfortune if I let you walk back home on your own" he revealed...

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