Building Harem Town 3, page 2
“That’s all I know at the moment, but it’s a big deal,” I tried to explain further. “I’m not sure exactly where she is, but--”
“You don’t know where she is?” Nicola asked with a dubious expression on her face. “I don’t mean to be impudent, Jack, but then how are we going to rescue her?”
“Remember when I had you explore a while back?” I asked the brunette. “You and Penelope were on foot, and Aleia flew? You’re going to have to do something like that again, but I’m afraid it’s going to be further than a mile this time.”
To date, in addition to a solid two square miles the priestesses had explored around the convent, Aleia had opened my vision to the southwest when she’d visited a quarry. The women had all also been several miles to the east last night when they’d traveled to fight the goblins.
But despite the new openings in my field of vision, I still didn’t see any signs of trouble as I zoomed out on my map.
“We’ll travel as far as you need us to, master,” Penelope said as she leaned forward and gazed at the other two women. “Won’t we, sisters?”
“Of course.” Aleia nodded. “We would do anything for you, my lord.”
“And as for this mysterious woman,” Nicola cut in with pursed lips. “This is certainly strange, Jack. Who will she be? It either sounds like you don’t know, or you aren’t going to tell us if you do.”
“Nicola, you can’t just say Jack doesn’t know things--” Penelope interrupted the brunette.
“Everything is fine,” I interjected. “I can’t tell you much right now other than you are going to have to explore, but hopefully it won’t be too far. I know this may not have been how you intended to spend your days, and I was really hoping you could rest, to be honest.”
“But there’s always more work to be done,” Aleia said with a nod. “And there’s no way we’d knowingly let harm come to someone, even if she is a stranger to us.”
“And we always intend to spend our days however you see fit, master,” Penelope added as she bowed her head piously, and the sunlight gleaming on her golden hair made it look like there was a halo shimmering around my most devout priestess of all.
“Of course, we’ll find her,” Nicola said in a decisive voice. “We can accomplish anything, but can we eat breakfast first?”
“More like late lunch,” I chuckled. “But, of course, you can eat. Try to make it pretty quick, though.”
“We still have a bounty of crops from the gnomes’ garden,” Aleia reported. “We could feast on that.”
“I just crave meat so much,” pregnant Penelope pouted. “Can’t I at least catch a trout?”
The gifted blue woman was able to stand in her blessed creek and hold out her hands, and gigantic fish simply leapt into her palms. As I leveled up in my simulation, or whatever was going on, the women’s special skills increased, too. Penelope had a talent for water magic, of course, since she was a naiad, and the higher my level got, the greater her abilities.
“I can check the snare for a rabbit, too,” Nicola chimed in. “Would that taste good to you, Penelope?”
“I think it’s a good idea for you to eat some protein,” I agreed. “The fruits and vegetables will be good, too, but Penelope, you need to keep your strength up.”
“I don’t know what protein is, master,” the naiad said with a furrowed brow and a puzzled smile. “But I do know that our daughter wants something hearty for this meal.”
“Alright, let’s race, Penelope,” Nicola said with a sparkle in her eyes. “Jack wants us to be quick. You go down to the stream and catch a trout, and I’ll check my snare. We’ll see who gets back here first.”
“My silly sisters,” Aleia giggled. “You’re always having fun, even when there’s not much time to spare. I’ll work on the fire so we can cook as soon as you return.”
“Jack, count down for us!” Penelope said as she bounced up and down on her toes. “Tell us when to run.”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “One, two, three, go!”
Penelope and Nicola giggled and shoved each other playfully as they ran away from the living quarters. Thunder, the brunette’s new constant companion, ran behind and barked while his loose skin flopped all around.
“They’re funny,” the fairy said as she bent down beside the fire pit and gathered all the embers into a pile. She carefully laid out more kindling on top and a sprinkling of tinder, and then she smiled a bit as she blasted the whole thing with the propane torch.
Of all the tools I’d made appear on my altar, the women liked the fire-blowing torch the most.
“Nicola and Penelope are funny,” I agreed. “And Thunder is really cute.”
“Yes, he is,” the fairy laughed. “It’s nice to have a pet around.”
Once flames shot up from the kindling, Aleia laid on more firewood, and I zoomed out to see how Nicola and Penelope were doing. The naiad had waded into the creek, and she now stood with her palms wide open waiting for a fish to jump in.
Nicola had retrieved a large rabbit, and she was in the process of resetting her trap with a proud, wide smile on her face from the new catch.
“How are my sisters doing?” Aleia asked as she stared idly at the fire. “I’m very hungry, too. I thought about going over to the kitchen to cook, but I like to stay by our home sometimes, too.”
“You do have a lot of places to cook around here,” I chuckled. “And Penelope and Nicola will be back soon.”
Within the walls that now surrounded the convent, there was a large fire pit in the kitchen, a few pits in the garden that had been used as kilns and meat smokers, and then the humble fire circle outside the women’s living quarters, which was where the fairy now sat.
“I’m worried about this poor woman,” Aleia sighed. “This all sounds so scary.”
“I know, but I think you’re just going to have to keep your eyes open,” I replied.
I hadn’t been given a task yet that wasn’t doable, so I figured the woman in distress couldn’t be too far away, though there was no doubt my challenges were growing more and more difficult. The battle with the goblins had been long and bloody, and my priestesses had persevered, but it made me wonder what was coming next.
Nicola and Penelope returned with their bounty at approximately the same time, and after gutting the fish and dressing the rabbit, the women had a big meal.
“Should we go?” Penelope asked after a few minutes as she put down a fish bone and rubbed her palms together nervously. “I don't want this poor distressed woman to suffer when we could be saving her.”
“I agree,” Nicola said with a firm nod as she patted her puppy on its giant, black-and-tan head. Thick drool ran out of both sides of the huge baby animal’s jowls, but the brunette gazed at him adoringly. “Jack, tell us where to begin.”
“Alright, here’s the plan,” I sighed with a bit of trepidation. “Aleia, start flying south. Penelope, Nicola, I want the two of you to stick together as you walk up past the road.”
“Yes, master,” the naiad responded. “I’m eager to be of service to you.”
“I appreciate all of you,” I told the priestesses. “And I’m sure the woman you rescue will appreciate you, too.”
The women armed themselves with swords, bows, and Aleia’s favorite sling, and I felt satisfied they were ready to go. The gnomes had given the priestesses the beautiful blades, and Nicola had carved the bows herself. The fairy had woven the sling with her nimble fingers, and she rarely missed a shot.
Aleia fluttered her purple wings and propelled herself up into the air, but then she paused for a moment and waved to the women on the ground.
“Good luck, sisters,” the strawberry-blonde called out. “If you need me, Jack will tell me, and I’ll come find you.”
“Thank you, sister,” Penelope said with a grateful smile. “I’m sure we’ll see you soon. I’ll miss you, though.”
Aleia began to soar southward, and I zoomed out to the extent of my mental map to watch as more and more areas cleared.
“There’s a big river down where Aleia’s flying,” I remarked to Penelope. “I’m sure you’ll want to visit it sometime.”
“Oh, I would, master,” the naiad agreed. “Although, from here, it looks like it could be a difficult hike to get through those slopes. Still, I’m sure it would be worth it to see a magnificent body of water.”
“Luckily our walk today shouldn’t be too difficult, at least the parts we’ve already explored,” Nicola cut in. “Let’s go, Penelope. I’m growing impatient.”
“Should we bring Luna?” the naiad asked.
The priestesses had liberated one of the goblins’ horses from their mountain stables when they were fleeing from their last fight, and although the blue-eyed mare was small, she was mighty. Still, I didn’t think they should take her for this journey because I didn’t want the horse to get into a situation she couldn’t handle.
“I think you should leave her home,” I told Penelope. “She might not be that useful, and you don’t want her to get stuck.”
The naiad and the human began their trek up the grassy green hill toward the road. Thunder bounded alongside at the brunette’s heels. The women walked stoically even as the sun blazed down on their faces, and they swiped sweat from their foreheads.
So far, all seemed well on God Vision, and even as I scanned the ground within the area the women had already explored, I didn’t see anything strange. All I could hear was the wind rustling the trees and the chirping of the birds, which contrasted with the anxious pounding I could feel in my phantom chest.
“I don’t know what we’re looking for, Jack,” Nicola said in a grim tone after several long minutes of hiking. “The forest seems perfectly normal to me today.”
“Just keep going,” I instructed the two women. “You’ll know it when you see it. Or, rather, you’ll know her when you see her.”
“Okay,” Penelope sighed. “I’m happy to keep walking for as long as you wish, my lord.”
Suddenly, a large cracking noise echoed through the trees.
Fuck.
“What was that?” Nicola hissed as she drew her bowstring and turned her head so she could see the forest from all angles.
“I don’t see anything,” I reported as I looked around, too. “That was loud, though.”
“It startled me,” the tough priestess admitted. “I suppose I’m on edge.”
“It scared me a little,” Penelope confessed.
“I think that was a branch cracking off a tree in the wind,” I said. “I know it’s hard when you don’t know what you’re looking for, but with Aleia on the case, and you two on this trail, I’m sure we’ll figure out what’s going on soon.”
“I hope it’s sooner rather than later,” Penelope shivered. “I’m feeling chills running down my spine.”
Nicola and Penelope continued marching forward up the trail with their jaws set in determination, and I admired their persistence as they climbed over tree trunks and navigated their way through mazes of stones on their sandaled feet. Thunder made his way across the terrain with ease as he stayed close to the brunette’s side, and when I focused back on Aleia again, the fairy was still flying southward. She started to look around with a worried, slightly-frustrated expression, so I decided to check in.
“How’s it going, Aleia?” I asked. “You look upset.”
“Master, I haven’t seen anything,” the fairy sighed as she stopped to fly in place. She blew her reddish hair out of her face. “I so want to help you with this, but there doesn’t seem to be anything here.”
“I know,” I responded. “But I really need you to keep going. Try to keep your spirits up.”
In reality, the fairy was opening up large additional swaths on my mental map, but there was no way for me to explain that to her.
I zoomed down to the ground below where Aleia was flying, but I didn't see anything except thick, green trees, a large herd of deer scampering through the forest, and a grizzly bear scooping a fish out of yet another stream.
Although the land was sloping down beneath her, the fairy stayed high in the air. I was glad the sun was shining brightly on her freckled shoulders so she wouldn’t be as cold as she’d been the night before.
Penelope and Nicola had already walked further north of the camp than any of the priestesses ever had. The uphill slope began to get steeper and rockier, and I was glad they had the sex boost to give them more energy. Sharp pebbles littered the ground between the trees as the women hiked further and further uphill, and although they were both graceful, I saw the brief flashes of pain on their faces when rocks got caught in their sandals. The grade of the land only increased the farther they hiked, and the naiad started to huff and puff a little and hold her belly during the climb.
Then Nicola abruptly stopped in her tracks.
“Shh,” the dark-haired woman said as she put a finger to her lips. “I think I hear something.”
“I can’t hear much besides the trees rustling,” Penelope whispered. “Does it seem a little windier up here?”
“Are there birds around?” the brunette wondered as she looked through the forest. “It sounds like there’s some sort of flock in the trees. Not chirping, just sort of… flapping.”
“Do you sense any animals nearby?” I asked, but then Aleia suddenly called out to me.
“Jack!” the fairy panted, and I quickly switched my vision to the strawberry-blonde, who was soaring about fifty feet above the treetops. “I think you need to see this.”
“What is it?” I asked. “Did you find something?”
“Look to the north,” the strawberry-blonde said with a grim set to her jaw. “I see smoke.”
What the hell?
A pillar of thick, dark smoke streamed upward toward the sky from the not-so-distant mountains, and it was right in the direction where Nicola and Penelope were headed.
The hairs on my virtual arms stood up on end, and I scanned the landscape and zoomed down over where the naiad and the human were standing.
“Go to your sisters,” I told Aleia. “They’re directly north of here. I’ll warn them there’s something up ahead.”
“Yes, master,” the fairy replied with a nod. “I don’t have a good feeling about this, but maybe it has to do with the woman you were talking about.”
“I hope so--”
“Jack, should we turn around?” Penelope suddenly cut into my conversation with Aleia. “We aren’t finding anything in this direction, and--”
“Not yet,” I told the naiad and Nicola. “We have a lead. Aleia saw smoke up in the mountains, and she’s going to come find you now. You need to be extra careful.”
“O-Okay,” the blue woman shivered. “Of course, I’m happy to keep going, too, my lord.”
The fairy was a few miles south of the camp, but she moved quickly as she flew back to her sisters.
“Are you ready to fight?” I asked the tiny strawberry-blonde. “I need you to be prepared for anything.”
“Of course, I am always ready to battle in your service, master,” Aleia said with a firm nod. “I didn’t plan for it to be so soon after the fight with the goblins, but I’m always on guard. Hey, I think I see Penelope and Nicola. Sisters!”
The fairy swooped down to where the other two priestesses and the dog had frozen in place.
“Quiet, Aleia,” Nicola shushed the fairy. “We’re trying to listen.”
“To those flapping birds?” Aleia whispered. “Where is that noise coming from?”
Then something huge swooped down from a high treetop.
The ground shook from the weight of the two creatures who landed directly in front of my priestesses, and as they spread their grisly, leathery wings, my women shrieked and brandished their swords.
Chapter 2
The creatures had pointed ears that stuck up from the tops of their heads, and large, jagged teeth protruded from their leathery lips. Thick, sinewy muscles lined their bodies all over, but for a moment, the mottled gray beings stood as still as stone with their eyes closed. They were identical as far as I could see, and their formidable appearances called to mind the image of a whole, terrifying army of these strange beasts.
The priestesses stared at them in horrified shock, but I immediately recognized the creatures.
They were hideous, towering gargoyles, but their gnarly forms almost looked like they’d been crossed with orcs.
Aleia immediately jumped into action and attempted to slash one of the beasts through the throat, but her sword just dinged against his skin as if it were made of stone.
Fuck.
Thunder started to growl at the creatures, and the brave puppy moved to stand between the gargoyles and the priestesses.
“Good boy, Thunder,” Nicola hissed. “Come.”
The dog walked over next to the brunette’s legs, but he continued to stare at the large monsters and growl.
Then one of the beasts suddenly opened its eyes, and he stared at the priestesses with disdain.
“Beautiful women…” the creature snarled.
“Here for the other woman,” the other beast said as he opened his huge, all-black eyes.
“But there’s a fairy among them,” the first creature snarled with a slight grin. “Another trophy for our collection.”
“Three trophies,” his friend agreed. “We will make the leaders happy. Should I start with the blue one?”
“Back off,” Nicola growled. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Stupid little human,” the first creature sneered as he flexed a granite bicep at the brunette. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, either.”
The second gargoyle suddenly shot up into the air with a whoosh of his horrible, leathery wings, and I noticed another disturbing feature about the beast.
He didn’t have feet, he had talons.
Thunder started to full-on bark and snarl as Aleia used her sling to send a rock soaring toward the monster in the air. The stone hit the gargoyle in what appeared to be a soft spot on his groin, and he groaned in pain as his wings wavered.
