Welldark B1 Ch. 08

"There are many things we do not know about the so-called 'once and future king'. Most mysterious of all: his current whereabouts. As I have laid out, tracking history between dimensions is often quite difficult. While time does move at the same rate between the different worlds, the way it is measured and where the calendar starts can vary drastically," the teacher took a pause to sit down.

Heron Moorsnai was my teacher for the Dimensional Heroes class. A man in his mid-fifties, he had surprisingly good hair and a surprisingly weak spine. He also had a love for passionate gestures. The result was that he strutted up and down the stage, only to collapse into the armchair next to the podium every couple of minutes. Despite relying on a wooden cane during all of that, he never seemed to run out of breath.

"If you ever find yourself studying history, be aware that the library has a Time Compendium. It's always partly inaccurate, but, for most places, it will allow you to find out which dates are parallel to which others. You can't create a proper timeline without it... now where was I..." A moment of silence. "Ah, yes, where Arthur was last is hard to discern. It is either Earth or Marvellia.

"Earth's historical documents from that time are rather primitive and full of holes. In the first place, due to how Earth's god handles things, he is only treated as a local legend. Marvellia went through revolution at the same time and replaced its calendar thrice during that period. The result is a fifty year period of confusion, during which the last sight could have been on either of those two... worlds..."

The last words came out somewhat forced, as Heron fought himself back to his feet and went to the walking part of his steady routine. "The legends between those two worlds are remarkably similar, however. Having fought his son, Mordred, he was mortally wounded and returned to his base of operations in Avalon to heal. As I have told you earlier, although Arthur's tales often mention this Avalon, nobody knows where or even what exactly it is. It could be a place in a world, it could be a world unto itself. Whether he has died there or will yet return, we do not know. Given the time since his last sighting, however, the former is much more likely.

"In summary, King Arthur Pendragon is one of the most famous heroes across dimensions. He sired, directly or indirectly, governments across worlds and always fought on with justice and humour in his heart. While he hasn't carved out any one institution that remains with dimensional travellers to this day, his mark upon history is felt across countless countries, nations and even planets," Heron fixed the collar of his plain shirt and stood straight for a moment. "That concludes this week's lesson. Next week we talk about Nutheus the Core. That should be especially interesting to the slimes and slime lovers among you."

"I do love me some slime girls," I hummed when the 'end of class' buzz all over the room began. Willt and I were throwing our writing utensils into our bags. As was usual, he had taken a lot more notes than I.

"I don't really get that," my longhaired warlock friend answered in a quiet tone, clearly intent on not getting heard.

"Excuse you?" I asked in a playfully offended manner. "What is there not to get about loving slime girls? Their whole body is raw juiciness!"

"I don't know, I don't really like the fact that they're basically all one colour," Willt responded with a shrug. "Plus, translucency is weird."

"Okay, one, your girlfriend can be summarized with the word red...," I pointed out.

"Arlethia isn't just red, but sure, go on," speaking more confidently as the room around us cleared, Willt adjusted his glasses and crossed his lanky arms.

"...two, the translucency is the second... no, third best... no, fourth best part," I kept correcting myself as other things came to mind. "Don't you think it's hot to see your dick penetrating them in real time?"

"No," Willt shrugged and glanced over his shoulder. The only reason why we were still sitting was that we didn't want to get caught up in the cramming that always happened around the doors. "I do like that they can decide where their body is sensitive though. I'm just going to assume that's your favourite thing about them?"

"Well, no, that's number three, actually," I responded and then explained further. "Because, sure, that's hot, but I'm pretty confident I can get them off the normal ways as well. Number two is the whole reshaping bit. Can't argue that having a girlfriend that can take whatever shape you want on any given day is super-hot."

"Really can't," Willt agreed, "Except, you know, it's shape only and the texture is the same. Unless you're talking about a Doppelganger."

"This may be a problem for you, my dearest, demon-obsessed friend," I made a dismissive gesture. "However, for a connoisseur of female beauty such as I, this texture is heaven. For you see, a slime girl is described to be made entirely of a jelly that compares best to the properties of a delicious booty, firm and jiggly. Who am I, to deny the heavenliness of such a creation, made entirely of gropable wonder? Not a fool, I can tell you... unlike you," I pointed directly at his face.

Willt rolled his eyes and slapped my hand away, "If that makes me a fool, alright. What's number one, by the way?"

"They can split. You can have a one-man orgy with any number of perfectly curved girls." Now the same eyes stopped on me with the gravest of expressions surrounding them. "What?" I asked, getting the feeling I wouldn't like what I was about to hear.

"Sorry to break it to you mate," he told me, "but I think you skimmed that paragraph at best. There is exactly one slime species that can do that, they only do it during mating season and to do that they become rooted to one place because their body mass expands rapidly." Willt put a hand on my shoulder and let out a fatherly sigh. "I am sorry to tell you this, buddy, but you can't experience this unless you find one of those and are ready to raise a bunch of oozlings with a woman that will get as big as a house."

I fell silent.

"...I can literally see you consider it," Willt joked.

"One-man orgy," I repeated.

"You're such a simple mind."

"No, I'm a simple, honest guy," I countered. "Don't mistake my genuine expressions for idiocy."

"I wouldn't if you could actually read about any sort of monster girl biology without getting a boner that takes all the blood away from your brain. Your memory is compromised by your horniness."

"It's one point, my dude."

"Still wrong."

Our bantering continued on like this, as we left the room. Dimensional Heroes was our last class of the week. Not much had happened since the incident last Sunday. I had occasionally seen Karona but, even without Esther around, she was keeping her distance. It appeared that that particular bridge had been burned, despite my... Well, I wouldn't call it my best efforts, but despite my general efforts.

Classes had largely continued to be interesting, work was as expected and my relationship with Esther stayed solid, with no new dramatic surprises. The worst 'fight' we had recently had been over my minimalistic approach to homework and greater interest in her thighs. She had given me a minor reprimand, I had promised I wouldn't distract her further. Although I had no plans to dedicate anything beyond minimum necessary effort to homework, I did respect that she wanted to do it all flawlessly. As a result, I gave her the space she needed and, once she was satisfied with herself, we watched a movie together. With our initial communication issues sorted out, we were now sailing in tranquil waters.

My third week at Welldark therefore passed like I had envisioned my first two to go. Attending classes, flirting around and generally having a good time. A small concern I had was that progress with Esther had essentially halted at the current, comfortable understanding we had going on. I would give it a couple of weeks, before getting worried about that lack of development. For one, because it was working so nicely and, for two, because letting our initial fascination wear off before we went any further was probably wise.

I had known more than a few people who had gotten into relationships on a whim and broke up within days or weeks. Esther and I were dating now, which was already a pretty large commitment from both of us. Either of us would have a beyond easy time finding someone else, in this harem-building environment.

Admittedly, if the gender ratio wouldn't have been so skewed, I would have had a much harder time than her. That was courtesy of my perverted honesty and the fact that women were usually the ones to choose a partner.

Willt and I arrived at the train station.

"Huh. It's earlier than I thought," I said, after checking one of the many clocks around.

"Professor Moorsnai seems to generally finish earlier," Willt remarked and shot me a knowing glance. "You're going to pick up your lady, aren't you?"

"She is in her Duelling class, she is going to be all worked up and maybe wear yoga pants," I simply stated and Willt nodded as a fellow man would.

"Yoga pants are good," he agreed. "Well, I have Arlethia waiting at home, so I'll leave you to it."

"If you want to fuck in the kitchen, make it quick and clean up after yourself," I joked, managing to make the warlock blush with embarrassment. I knew he would never do anything like that. His innocent, demon-summoning soul just wasn't bold enough for it. With a somewhat awkward wave, we parted ways.

____________________________________________

When I arrived, things were in the process of wrapping up. The Duelling class room was quite similar to those where I attended my own combat classes. Mock weapons covered the walls and marks on the mat-covered floor delineated the boundaries for each engagement.

Sweaty women in tight clothes stretched and bowed to place the training weapons back in their places. More than a few wore clothes that were just barely appropriate, cladding only their breasts and firm booties under the spandex. Bare midriffs of wonderful flatness revealed various stages of toned abs. Drops of sweat suggestively ran down exposed skin. My nostrils were filled with the intoxicating mixture of light perfumes, panting exhaustion and the general sweetness of beautiful girls.

I had almost forgotten who I had even gone there for when Esther and I spotted each other. With a firm movement of her hands, she twisted the training weapon she was holding at the handle. It appeared she had conjoined a sword and a dagger replica to create a wooden replica of her own Artefact. All of the training weapons had the capability to be attached to one another in some fashion.

Wordlessly, I walked up to her, still distracted by the numerous girls exhaustedly sighing and laughing around me. Whoever the teacher was must have put them under a lot of pressure. 'There are no guys here,' I suddenly realized, unable to spot a single person with presumably floppy reproductive organs. 'Maybe I should switch to this class...?'

While I still asked myself that question, I heard the sound of clacking teeth. That was all the warning I needed to quickly twist out of the way of the incoming lunge. Having missed her jab at my shoulder, Esther whirled her off-hand around and tried another stab at my side. Although slightly painful, I knocked the wood aside with the back of my hand, then took a step backwards.

With an amused look on my face, I dodged and parried four more attacks. Esther raised her training sword high and brought it down in one massive swing. A massive overswing, missing me by quite the margin. I saw it as my opportunity to counterattack. Which was exactly the gamble she had taken.

As I attempted to grab her arms and force her into a contest of strength, she dropped both of her weapons and rammed her already lowered shoulder into my gut. We both went to the ground, but the suddenness of her attack stunned me momentarily. That raw power comparison that I had wanted to start was now happening, but not to conditions in my favour. Quick as lightning, Esther had secured her position on top of me, pressing my hands against the mattress and straddling my hips.

"You should greet me, if nothing else, before leering at other women, perverted Karitas," the lady of my desires scolded me.

I could see it in her eyes that her jealousy was real, but not too intense to be really worried about. "If it ends with me in a position like this, I don't think I'll greet you first ever again," I joked, not even attempting to struggle. My gaze lowered to her breasts and stayed there. Even completely covered by lycra-fabric and likely held by a sports bra, those bountiful cushions had to obey the dictate of gravity. Round and enticing, they hung basically above my face. What was more than what I saw is what I felt further down. With a growing grin, I added, "I don't think you dislike this either."

The fully erect dick of any male was a very sensitive organ. For me to feel the soft grinding of her crotch against mine was basically a given. I was more than certain that the particular bit of hers those slight movements was stimulating had done its own bit of swelling. I was also certain that both of our underwear would suffer if this went on.

Esther blushed in a way that was beyond exhaustion or embarrassment. With a moaning sigh, she straightened up. The damp fabric stuck to her midriff and let me see her subtly toned abs in about a quarter of their glory. Wet clothes or no clothes would have gotten me half or full wonder. She let go of my wrists and my hands immediately landed on her surprisingly meaty thighs.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" the lady of my desires asked, her pink lips slightly parted as she let out yet another slight sigh. The slight movements of her hips hadn't stopped and we were getting into properly dangerous territory now. I was only distantly aware of the eyes on us.

"I made a long list of suggestions," I answered earnestly. "Well, I compiled it. How about we start with the Kamasu-"

A wooden blade suddenly stabbed the floor next to my head. Not to create any wrong impressions, this was a literal blade made from wood, not one of the blunt training weapons. Its sharp tip sank several centimetres deep into the sports mat I lay on. Travelling up the edge with my eyes, identifying it as something akin to a katana, I eventually arrived at the dark grey hand holding it.

She was a dark elf in her middle ages. Silver eyes stared down at me, set in a sharp face that could have been attractive if she hadn't been scowling at me. Long, white hair framed her stern expression

"Yo," I tried to keep it relaxed, greeting her with an upside-down wave. It failed to have the wanted effect, only causing her expression to grow more displeased. I got the feeling that the next wrong choice of words would hurt. "Sorry, how may I help you?"

"This is a place of training. Respect that," she simply stated and pulled her sword from the ground. Her attention shifted to the woman on top of me. "You can do much better, Esther. This man strikes me as equally capable and distracted. Worse, he seems to have the same effect on you."

"When it matters, he can concentrate," the raven-haired lady disagreed to one point, while she nodded towards the rest. "I respect your criticism, teacher."

Not entirely happy with that answer, the dark elf stepped away while shaking her head. "Youths, always getting tangled up with unworthy men..."

"I get the feeling she doesn't like me," I suggested and looked back to Esther, who gave me a playful slap. My face moved to the side, but it was not painful in any fashion.

"You are a comical character," she told me.

Pouting, I responded, "That's not very nice."

____________________________________________

We were out of the building remarkably fast. Esther changed into her school uniform in a hurry, presumably after finding some secure corner. Not like I could follow her into the girl's locker room to verify. Likely, she changed while everyone else went into the showers. I already knew that she had her reasons to skip out on that in public and didn't mind too much. It would take longer than the train ride back home for her to start smelling in any offensive way.

There was the off-chance that she was one of the blessed few that didn't stink whatever they did, but the reality of the humanoid body was, even for the female half, that not everything was sunshine and rainbows. That was about as much as I thought about the topic though, I liked living in a world where I wasn't steadily reminded of the unhygienic parts of lovemaking and existing.

The second we were home, she hopped into the shower and I set up the table at the top of the tower. It wasn't a luxury we took every day, but I was in a good mood after earlier. 'Wish I had the money to invest in candles,' I thought, placing down the tray that I used to reduce the number of trips. Bread, toppings, drinks and utensils switched from one wooden surface to another. 'Esther is just going to scold me if I waste money on that... maybe if I come out of this month with a good amount of Darks still around?'

The chances for that were rather slim. My efforts to spend more consciously were yielding some results, but I still had bought a number of frivolous things. A game for my Ashod, unnecessarily high quality ingredients for my cooking, a lecture on the biology of different races, as well as the money spent during dates, all piled up to create a hole in my pocket. Not a deep, black hole that threatened my living standards, the job at the Café Served ensured that, but one that I had to be wary of.

While I was busy reprimanding myself for getting those things despite my attempt to better myself, I felt my Astral Capacity resonate. It was just a tiny ripple, coming from my belt. Its origin was the Ashod. Those devices were synced with their owners Astral Signature and could vibrate on a personalized, supernatural frequency as their notification mechanism. Unlike buzzing, it couldn't be missed and did not interrupt conversations. The disadvantage was that it only worked if the Ashod was very close. Causing ripples like that wasn't as easy as one would think.

I pulled the rectangular stones apart and caused the magical screen to stretch out between them. Once It had reached a comfortable length, I took the hard-light construct and scrolled around. 'A message from the administration?' I wondered, when I found it in my inbox. It read rather simply: 'You have received new physical mail.'

Somewhat confused, I made my way towards the entrance of the mansion. I hadn't spotted a letterbox anywhere, but I also had never bothered to check. In this day, age and location, I didn't think anybody would bother to send physical mail. Then again, if I ordered something physical off the internet, it had to get to me somehow.

True enough, there was a slit for letters next to the entrance and, once I checked the corresponding area on the inside, I found a panel that I could press my Ashod against to get it to open. Inside, I found two identical letters. One was addressed to me, the other to Esther, both had the signature of Taurus, Welldark's headmaster and founder, on them.

"Why don't they spare themselves the paper, if they can send me messages whenever...?" I mumbled to myself. The answer likely lay in the impressive design. Far from the heartless design of bureaucracy, the envelope I held had that velvety texture of high-grade production, with little decorations etched into it in gold. The letter even smelled nice, peppermint and lavender wafting off it.

After putting Esther's letter on the kitchen table, I closed my eyes to manifest a letter knife. The construction of Astral Capacity appeared in my hand and lay there like forged starlight. As unnecessarily posh as I found all of this, I wouldn't just rip open something as carefully crafted as this. With a few skilled movements, I loosened the glue that sealed it and opened the envelope.