Chapter 34

I woke up to find myself in familiar surroundings. Getting out of bed, I headed for the terrace to find the others. My ladies were all seated at the large table, though tonight included Aphrodite. They all rushed to greet me, each kissing my lips and grabbing my crotch, before yielding to the next in line. Once all of his ladies were done, I was ushered into a chair and the others took their seats.

“Welcome my love,” Freyja announced with a loving smile on her face. “I got your raven, and the council has been notified by Tyr of what you have found out during your quest. They were deeply disturbed with the status of the Sphinx and of how Kali’s group had interfered with the ravens to the guild. They had thought that their system was tamper proof, but when a god like Kali puts their mind to it, they are capable of anything.”

“The one that attacked you is the one that worries me,” Aphrodite said. “Freyja told me about what the woman was able to do, and of the unique circlet that she had on her arm. We are working with our contacts to try and find out who would be the pact house leader, but circlets are incredibly old. The other problem is we have millions of people retired here, and many move on to other parts of the world when they feel like eternity is no longer something they enjoy.”

“What do you mean if eternity is no longer something they enjoy?” I asked, confused about what that comment meant.

“Those who earn the right to retire here are immortal as long as they reside here,” Freyja answered. “As soon as they leave this city to live somewhere else, the magic keeping them from aging ends.”

“What if they return?” Amenthia asked, intrigued by the direction the conversation had turned.

Aphrodite shook her head, “Once you leave, you cannot return. By accepting eternity here, you are removing yourself from the world. Should you choose to return to it, even for a moment, you are choosing the world over eternity.”

“There aren’t many who have stayed longer than a few thousand years,” Freyja admitted. “The novelty wears off and they find that they begin to welcome death. So they leave and find other means to fulfill their lives.”

“Because of this it is hard to tell who left and when they might have,” Aphrodite added. “Even with the name, abilities and circlet information, we haven’t been able to find anything, so far,”

I shook my head, “I doubt you will. Kali has been in this game a while. If she convinced people here to join her cause, then she could have removed any record of Catherine, or anyone else she convinced, of ever being here. The Knowledge Center still isn’t sure how they were blocked from being able to see what Jonta did and I bet they haven’t seen anything in Silvia or Velya’s documentation either. The only way to know would be to talk to the various pact houses that used that circlet and stone color. They can tell you if they had a member like that. I don’t think this Catherine is someone that anyone would forget meeting.”

“Based on what you said about her, I would agree with that,” Freyja replied. “Still we don’t know if her name is actually Catherine, since as you know, some people can choose a new one. Necromancy is extremely rare, as it had been removed from the possible schools of magic millennia ago. It was deemed taboo, especially when fallen comrades were turned into the undead servants of adventurers and enemies alike on the upper levels. It was determined to be something that would not be allowed to be used and all books or sources of necromantic magic were sealed. Given the things Kali has been willing to do, this woman could have been given the talent of necromancy after she left.”

“Sounds like something else Kali had circumvented for her advantage,” I replied with a frustrated sigh. “If that is the case, then we need to be extra careful around Catherine as I don’t think she would care about turning any of us into an undead minion. Especially if it means giving her an advantage against the rest of us. I have no doubt that it would be difficult for any of us to harm someone of our group that was turned into an undead pet.”

We spent the next hour or so talking about our plans with Amber and how we would be spending the next few days. Aphrodite and Freyja seemed a little off put by her presence, even though we had fought together against Silvia.

“Just keep your eye on her,” Aphrodite said, sternly. “With all the shit starting to go down, you need to be careful.”

“You don’t trust her, even after they fought with her during the challenge?” Amenthia asked.

“I just need you all to be cautious,” Aphrodite replied. “You are all important to both of us, but most importantly, we want Pathios to be there for his children.”

“We will be careful, I promise,” I promised with a sincere smile. “However, you said children...”

Aphrodite smiled, “Yes, I did. That is because I am confirmed pregnant, so congratulations daddy. I told you that I could feel them when they came into being, but I still had Eir’s people confirm the pregnancy and the health of the twins.”

Everyone at the table erupted in cheers and rushed to hug the goddess. The dour talk was forgotten as we all celebrated the good news. We retired to the bed, and I took my time pleasuring the new mother to be, making sure she had been given a fresh load of cum. Then repeated those steps for each of my other ladies, starting with Freyja and finishing with Cassie. With all of my lovely ladies satisfied, we piled up together to allow sleep to overtake us.

I woke to find myself alone in bed for once, which was odd. That threw off warning signals in my head, and I slowly got up from my bed to head to the door to my room. When I popped my head out, I found everyone getting ready to have breakfast.

“Well good morning sleepy head,” Amenthia announced with a laugh. “I guess you really worked hard yesterday, huh?”

She gave me a knowing look and all of my ladies began to laugh. Dilbar and Ilthvana just sighed and shook their heads, while Theresa just looked confused. I quickly refreshed myself in the bathroom before heading to join them. Once breakfast was done, we packed our things and prepped our camping gear just in case. We would know better when we saw Amber later today. I was told that my pack had been taken care of and we found Katie and Cassie were waiting for us as we left our room. Both of them gave me, Amenthia, and Entivala deep passionate kisses. Katie gave each of us potions that she had prepared and promised to have the others she made sitting in the Armory for restocking. They were newer blends of health and mana potions that were more potent than the ones we had been using up until now. This meant that at our current health, we wouldn’t have to drink the whole potion to refill our health or mana. This would prove useful since there was a good chance that we wouldn’t be resting in an in or near a pact house. Next Cassandra handed me a pack with a huge grin on her face.

“This has a new tent that I modified,” Cassie explained. “Fra’tilia used the best waterproof canvas she could get her hands on. Then I used runes on the metal posts used for the framework to make them sturdy as hell, and to ensure that no sound will leave the tent no matter how loud you get. I also engraved it to work off two commands. The first command is expand. Place the tent on the ground with the bindings undone, step back, reach out with your mana and say the first command. The tent will set itself up. When it is time to leave and break camp, use the retract command to have it return to its compact form. I also had a friend cast a spell on it to enchant the fabric with a particularly useful spell. The enchantment is designed so that the inside is larger than it looks on the outside.”

I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle as Dr. Who and Harry Potter both immediately popped into my head.

Cassandra gestured to the pack, “Technically you can fit the entire party inside of the tent, with separate areas for everyone. I think it would be better if I showed you.”

She removed the tent from the pack and walked over to the open area on the floor near the bathroom. She reached out with her hand, closed her eyes, and said ‘expand’. The tent opened up and began to build itself on its own. It looked like a three- or four-person tent when it was all set up. She smiled at us and stepped into the tent. Curious, I approached and stepped inside, astounded by what I saw. It was no different than the tent you saw in the Goblet of Fire movie. Even had a wood burning stove in the center with a chimney pipe going up into the middle.

“I was inspired by a series that Theresa talked about called Harry Potter. She is a major fan of that series and when she mentioned this tent design, I was doing all I could to recreate it. Since our storage bags use pocket dimension magic to create near endless storage, I figured the same could be placed on a tent to a degree. The stove top is cast iron and perfect for cooking full meals, just be careful as you’re moving around near it. There are five areas for sleeping, each with curtains that will blanket the sound. Two areas to the left, two to the right and then your sleeping area at the back will have more than enough room for you and your ladies. You will be able to hear anything outside clearly, but no one outside will hear what happens in here. The runes are part of that, but it also ensures that heavy winds, storms, or other stuff doesn’t knock over the tent.”

“This is amazing,” I uttered as I looked around. “I can’t believe that you did all of this for us!”

Cassie blushed from the compliment as the others came in and looked around. They too were astonished with everything inside.

“Is this like a small pocket dimension?” Entivala asked in wonder. “I mean it would make sense and if that is the case, could we add stuff in here that would remain when this is collapsed?”

Cassie looked around, “I am not sure, but I don’t see why not. I mean the stove survives the compression.”

“Could we get a bigger one made at some point?” I asked as my mind started thinking of how we could utilize this to our advantage.

Cassie glanced at me and cautiously said, “Yes but it would cost a pretty penny. IT would require more fabric for the outside of the tent to ensure it expands inside to meet your needs. This was done for free this time because my friend owed me a favor, but it wouldn’t happen a second time.”

I glanced back at her and smiled, “That is fine. Reach out to your friend and find out how much it would cost to make it two or three times bigger.”

Cassie’s eyes widened and she realized just how big I was planning to go with the interior.

“What are you thinking of that would need all that space?” Amenthia asked, as she moved around looking at the different spots.

I smiled wildly, “If we can indeed fill this with stuff and it never be damaged, then no one would have to stay back again.”

I glanced over at the others, and it was Katie who began to smile first as she began to understand what I meant.

“If this is big enough, and nothing inside gets damaged or tipped over or any of that, then we can set up even more rooms. Like a room for Katie to make potions, or a room for Cassie to work on her rune smithing. Why not rooms for both, rooms for everyone who comes with us, including guests? I mean at three times the size it would be bigger than our dorm. Maybe we can even get a shower, onsen and some other things inside as well. I mean you can see the stack of the wood burning stove inside, so...”

Cassie and Katie rushed me and covered me in kisses, which caused the others to laugh at the scene. We left the tent and Cassie gave the command to return it to its mobile state. She quickly secured it to the pack and handed it to me. There was another round of kisses goodbye from my ladies and then we headed to the armory. It didn’t take long for us to get armed, and as Theresa grabbed the hand crossbow, I reminded myself that we had to check in with Gordwin to see how things were going with the new crossbow commission we gave him. Once we were armed, the others removed their tents, and I was surprised when Dilbar said he would carry the tent pack.