Chapter 20: Isekai Life & Awkward Meeting

Ashryn and Katriana elected to stay downstairs while I took Voss up to the room to let him drop off his chest. He managed to handle the thing all by himself, I just needed to make sure the guard recognized me and unlock the door. Which he did, acknowledging me with a nod, and I did, using the big brass key.

Voss put his chest just inside the the room, just out of the way so that people wouldn’t trip over it, and look around whistling at the luxury of the place. “Wow, this is nice! I didn’t expect an inn like this to-” He frowned suddenly. “There’s only one bed.”

“Uh, yeah...”

Voss gave me an aside glance, and then asked, “Listen, we’re both men here, right? There are certain things we can discuss in private, yeah?”

“Yeah, I suppose...” Voss! I don’t care if you’re gay, just please don’t turn out to be gay for me!

“You’re nailing your sister, aren’t you?”

Oh, good. Well, I think that’s good. Better, at least.

“Y-yeah, that’s kind of the situation...”

He sighed. “Well, that’s fine, but ... that elf girl’s been making eyes at you since she met you, plus there’s that whole ‘most important person’ spiel.”

“Yeah, kind of...”

“So ... what’s the situation here?”

Well, the situation is that this is a personal Heaven put together for me by an angel with dog ears and a stubby tail as a reward for being such a pathetic shut-in I had not even swatted a fly during my whole life back home, but I can’t tell you that.

“Katriana and I have started a romantic relationship recently, and I asked for her to give me room to have other lovers and wives, though she can’t, or at least she hasn’t expressed any interest in doing that. I don’t know what Ashryn’s whole deal is, but I wouldn’t turn her down.”

Voss gave me an odd look.

“Jeez, you are a wizard, aren’t you? A deal like that has got to be sorcery.”

“U-um...”

“Relax, Prince Sparky, you do what you do. You are a prince, after all. I’ll sleep on the couch, just don’t fuck while I’m trying to rest, okay?”

“Uh ... yeah! Totally! No problem with that at all!”

After that awkward but kind of positive exchange, we headed back down the private dining room. Ashryn and Katriana were chatting over wine, though they quieted when we came in. “All set upstairs?” Ashryn asked.

“Yeah, we also sorted out the sleeping arrangements,” I replied, “Ashryn, you can either hare the bed with me and Katriana or sleep on the floor if you chose.”

Ashryn beamed, but Katriana looked surprised. “Oh,” she said as if she had a sudden realization, “Oh ... okay. Good.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “Ashryn and I are going to get find someone who specializes in armour for women, so you boys go party or whatever, just make sure you stick together, alright?”

Huh. I’ve never had Katriana say she doesn’t want to be around. I turned to look at Voss, “Well, I guess she’s accepted you, if you’re being trusted with my care and attention.”

Voss frowned. “Are you a wizard or a gerbil? Jeez,” he said with a shake of the head, “Well, we’re going to see the joust. Damned if this tournament if going to be in town and I don’t end up seeing any of it. That okay with you?”

“As long as you’re getting your own plate mail done, that’s fine with me.”

“Fiiiiine.”

Dinner was great as usual, but this time when the plates started to get cleared up, Voss produced a game board and some chips, and he and Katriana began playing something called Nine Men’s Morris.

“So, Ashryn,” I asked, “What’s your story anyway? I know you had some kind of prophecy about me read to you, but what was your life like in the convent?”

“You want to know about me?” she said with a smile, “Let’s see ... I was raised in the convent at a really young age. My father is an elf-knight in service to the queen of Tir na Ceo, and my mother is the captain of a merchant ship that does trade between the Tir kingdoms and the sea folk. Neither of them had the personal time to raise me, so I was given over to the Starlit Order to be raised as a priestess.”

“That seems kind of sad. Aren’t you upset at your parents giving you up?”

“Should I be? They gave be to the Order so I would have the best life they could possibly give me. Is it better to have half the attention of one parent, or the full-time care of people you’re not related to?”

I guess that made a certain amount of sense. “So ... your parents aren’t married?”

“No ... elves don’t often get married,” she mused, “Being together with only one person for potentially a whole millennium ... well, it’s rare even for someone to have only one partner in a human lifetime, right?”

Was that a jab at me? What were Katriana and her talking about?

She took one of my hands in hers and softly said, “You know, we could go elsewhere and have a more ... detailed discussion about Elven relationships.”

I stiffened, and glanced to the side. Katriana and Voss’ game must have been heating up because they had stopped moving pieces around on the game board and started to remove them as each took a turn.

I was very interested, but, Katriana...

I gently gave Ashryn’s hand back. “I’m sorry, not right now. I’m very interested in exploring these things with you, but I haven’t had a clear signal that’s it’s okay to go ahead yet from someone else I care about, so...”

Ashryn’s hand flew up to her mouth in surprise, then, to my own astonishment, she grinned. “Aw, you’re so sweet!” She came around to my side of the table to throw her arms around me and give me a kiss on the cheek. “I knew you were kind. I’m happy to be proven right.”

“ ... So you’re not mad?”

“Well, I’m a little disappointed, but ... you tell me when you’re ready, okay? I mean, I think I like you ever better, now!”

That’s something, at least.

We while the evening away with board games- Voss ended up teaching us all the game in time, but I was pretty wiped and hardly remember it. It sucks being the lowest Constitution score in the party ... No, wait, it sucks having low Constitution, period.

Either way, I ended up being the first to excuse themselves, and went upstairs to rest in preparation for Voss’s vacation day.

Before going to sleep, I decided to sit for a bit and cast Reduce on my shoes. They weren’t shrunk forever- at my level, the spell would only last five minutes- but it got the spell out of my system so I could go to sleep.

Sleep proved elusive, though. I tossed and turned for a bit, but I couldn’t get thoughts of Ashryn out of my head. I resisted the urge to jerk off- things were going to be awkward enough in this room for the next little while without me adding additional semen for nobody’s pleasure but my own- but face down, face up or sideways all my attention was on my erection. Somehow, I managed to get to sleep before anyone came upstairs, but it wasn’t easy.

My eventual wake up was very pleasant, however.

Under my left arm, curled against my side, was Ashryn. Clinging to my right arm, also sound asleep, was Katriana. It was a warm, nice, soft feeling.

On the couch, Voss was snoring, but I’ll take what I can get. I wonder if he knew I got a blowjob over there the night previous?

I resisted the urge to just fall back asleep. But I did take my time getting out of bed. It took an effort, but I eventually forced myself up out of the pile of cute girls because one- I didn’t feel sleepy and two- I realized that I’ve been in two fights and one sex session and haven’t had a bath in all that time.