BXBX NOVEL Chapter 200 199: A New Week
In celebration of the REAL 200 Milestone, tomorrow will be 2 lemons, so yeah...
Just going to do some basic \'clean up\' of things for this chapter; turning in the Requests, Jahi sending out the letters to the Marquess, Empress, and Sultana, and us working towards the next \'break day\' in the story, where smut happens~
Exiting the Caverns, we all glanced down at our dirtied armor, bulging packs, and tired expressions.
While not the most demanding trip into the Caverns we have had, it was more mentally exhausting than we had thought going in.
Learning that Jillian was already setting up some moves against us, albeit the tiniest of ripples as she sent a small pebble to test the waters, was still worrying.
This newest revelation would require a lot of planning, from both us and our parents.
Because, with that, this was no longer the prelude.
We were in Act 1 of the power struggle that the Sariel-Kameiel\'s wanted to initiate.
While the two heirs, Jillian and Ayla, might have a personal vendetta against Jahi and us, their parents needed to know that it was happening; there was no way two large Families were just teaming together for no reason, especially when one was adamantly neutral for the last few decades.
That meant that the Sariel Duchy and Kameiel Territory wanted to remove, or weaken, the Asmodia\'s, for one reason or another.
The current Heads of both Families weren\'t going to take action against us, letting their Heirs fight amongst themselves while they fought the real battle.
After all, they would be going against the Marquess and Countess, both of whom have a large importance in this Empire.
They\'ll need something large to manage to not only knock them off from their current pedestal, but also to replace them; the Empress wouldn\'t sit still and let her Empire\'s border go unguarded due to a Families\' petulance.
So, this was the start of something larger.
However, before Jahi could make her way to the cottage, I dragged everyone inside the Guild Hall, turning in our Requests first.
The purpose was two-fold; I wanted to earn money, and I needed the experience.
The sooner I leveled up my system and... \'evolved\' it, the stronger I\'ll become, and the more I can protect and support my lovers.
Of course, I still knew that we needed to get home quick, so as much as I hated loosing out on all the extra coin, I sold everything at base price, which had the receptionist frowning slightly.
Either way, we left with well over 40 Gold, coming from the large amounts of bones, scales, and drops from the few hordes we had wiped out.
Also, each of us kept the money we made from our own Requests, but the rest would be split like before; 50% for the family, 15% for Anput and Leone, and 10% for both Jahi and I.
However, now that I had the banknote in hand, we made our way to the cottage, since we could turn the banknote in at any time.
Jahi instantly made her way to our room, sitting down to write letters for the Marquess, while Leone and Anput did the same for their parents, letting them know what had happened today and what they believed would happen in the future.
Meanwhile I was in the kitchen, preparing a hearty meal of crabmeat soup, deciding to reward my girls for a hard days work.
I would write my own little note to be given to my Mother later; currently, I needed to worry about making sure my girls were taken care of before that.
When dinner finally rolled around, each stumbled from their rooms and sat down, digging into the meal with gusto.
Each was likely thinking of the various things that could potentially happen now that Jillian had made the first move...
Of course, I was as well, but my thoughts were vastly different then theirs.
For instance, how high did I need to raise my [Stealth] skill in order for me to infiltrate the Sariel House and slit Jillian\'s throat?
Would my current strenght be enough to wring her neck out before she could make too much of a fuss?
Considering how much I despised dealing with politics, I was looking at everything from a basic, uncomplicated point of view, weighing my options before me.
However, each was tossed aside, left to \'rot\' as the ideas were considered individually, my mind finding too many holes and blank areas for me to truly consider them.
So, I sat at the table and made sure each girl got enough to eat, before offering them various sides as well.
For Leone, her bowl was laden with blood, which she gulped down swiftly before turning her palate back to normal food, while the others simply scarfed down more.
As for me, I was fine after a bowl and some slices of bread, using the warm loaf to sop up the remaining soup.
When that was over, I moved to clean everything off, listening on as Jahi pounced on Leone, taking the Vampire away quickly.
Anput followed behind them moments later, her eyes on me as she watched me ignore what was happening, focusing on my cleaning.
I would join them later, of course, but for now...
[Level 24 - 1,009,463 / 1,121,931]
[You are inching ever closer, Host. To be honest...]
The systems \'voice\' grew quiet, and it took on an embarrassed tone as it continued.
[I\'ve been... limiting the XP gained; I can feel the changes happening in the background, so I want to give that some more time before undergoing the full evolution... Sorry]
Controlling the water inside the bowl, I shook my head.
\'It\'s fine; I\'m not truly in a rush. Unless you plan on keeping this evolution from happening in multiple weeks, I\'ll be fine. Besides, I\'d rather give you the time you need...\'
I could feel a warm pulse from the system, before both of us fell silent, thinking of the future.
When I finished up, I entered the bedroom and allowed myself to be dragged onto the bed, offering more services to my girls in an attempted to distract both myself and them from the world outside.
That was how our days slowly passed by as well; going to the Academy, we all gave Jillian looks, the Elf not looking too pleased as she saw Jahi using the green sash as a cleaning cloth.
As for Ayla, she was the same as before, her smirk now being directed at Leone and I.
Jillian and Ayla made sure to only interact with us from afar, not attempting to spar against us when we entered Combat Class.
The days grew boring and monotonous for me, as I kept my focus more on our surroundings than I did the class, taking notes of each student.
I wanted to dig out any information I could, to try and find who was and wasn\'t on our side, but the results made me annoyed.
Nothing.
There was fear and wariness directed at us from most, and the ones who held nothing were people I already knew to like us, or hate us.
Of course, there was Marco Sizali, who was still an enigma, but beside him, Countess Aurim and Greselda were... neutral to us, while Draka and her group had also taken a step back, still friendly but not like before, letting the rest of the Nobles know that they weren\'t \'friends\' with us.
Which, honestly, made me more angry at Jillian and Ayla.
It was so stupid, but until this situation was taken care of, there was nothing we could do.
Sadly.
~~~
Jahi PoV
Sighing, I glanced at the pocket watch in my hand, wanting this class to be over.
We had finally reached our break day again, and I had something that I...
Wanted to see.
I had managed to convince Leone and Anput into something, and I was curious about what would happen.
Kat knew as well, but the Dogkin didn\'t seem particularly thrilled or against what would take place tonight, seemingly neutral to it.
It was something that I was curious about seeing unfold, and the two girls didn\'t seem against it either; in fact, Leone seemed to want to try it, while Anput was fine either way.
So, I watched as Leone went through the basics again with Kat, the two voluptuous women sparring in slow movements as the Dogkin guided the Vampire.
Anput and I were almost allowed to treat this as a free period, since none of the Professors wanted to spar with us on the regular, and we weren\'t allowed to bully the weak.
As for sparring one another, when I had gotten a little serious with Anput, we had started treating the entire field as the allotted ground for our spar, which interrupted others, so that wasn\'t allowed either.
Which left us bored, leaning against the wall.
Anput had quickly found that she was better off using the time practicing her basics in magic, and I was usually inclined to do the same, but today I was rather excited, so...
Sighing, I watched as the hands on the clock slowly reached the time I was waiting for, prompting me to grab my three women and lead them away.
I needed the distraction, the escape.
Any ideas on the System and it\'s \'new\' stuff is much appreciated; still a loose idea in my head lol, and that happens soon~!