“Liam, I’m so happy for you!” Kassandra squealed with excitement as she threw herself at me.

  I caught the excited bundle of dwarf lamia as she launched herself through the air at me in a collision course. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled the giggling woman to my chest with a smile.

  As had become habit, I turned with the motion to bleed off her momentum. Despite her short height, the weight of her tail put Kassandra at somewhere around five hundred pounds which gave her quite a bit of force.

  Said tail took the opportunity that my maneuver presented with as much gusto as its owner normally showed for kisses. Kassandra’s scaled tail wrapped tightly around my waist even as her arms went to try and mirror the gesture with my chest.

  “Agreed,” Rieka said with far more reservation but no less love in her tone. “I am quite proud of you for that choice. By purchasing land and constructing the building yourself, it will give you far more control over what you want to have the place look like.”

  My wolfish princess stepped in on my left, since Kassandra was tucked in under my right arm, and stood on tiptoes to press a kiss to my cheek. Behind her, the fluffy, platinum-blonde mass of her tail whipped up a storm as it gave voice to how excited she was as well.

  “Liam, if you need help coming up with ideas…” Shayla suggested, the lush moth woman standing shyly behind Rieka—being careful to stay out of tail-lashing range.

  “I’ll be calling on both you and Jane for suggestions on that front,” I said immediately, making the moth woman blush and smile at the same time.

  “Me? Why me?” Jane asked as she scampered around Shayla and Rieka to stand in front of me. The miniature scholar stood with her small hands on her hips, her long tail wiggling in the air above her head with its tufted tip bouncing like a wind-tossed dandelion.

  “Because you know about historic construction. I plan to have input from all four of you, but I expect that you will likely know where the most information is stored on ancient architecture. I need the place to be sturdy as well as appealing. Plus, I’ll also need to conceal part of it.”

  “Oooh! Secret passages and the like, very mysterious!” Kassandra cheered, shifting back and using her grip on my waist to balance while she grabbed my head with both hands to pull me into a kiss.

  “Tapping into your ancient human roots, I see,” Rieka teased, her pointed wolf ears flicking back and forth rapidly while she watched me kiss Kassandra.

  I didn’t see any judgment or envy in her eyes, which honestly relieved me. I had worried for a while that I might have to deal with jealousy from the girls, but none of them had shown any signs of it.

  Maybe because you don’t favor any one over the others? I thought with a smile as I kneaded Kassandra’s muscled bottom. She purred happily into our kiss, her coils slowly squeezing and relaxing rhythmically around me. Or because you make it a point to ensure none of them are left out?

  Regardless of why, my girls were happy and I definitely wanted to keep it that way. It didn’t hurt that I enjoyed doing it and loved each of them dearly either.

  When Kassandra finished her kiss, I leaned down and stole a proper kiss from my princess that had Rieka’s ears laying flat on her head while her tail fought to achieve enough speed to turn her into a helicopter.

  After the princess had her fill, I made sure the other two in our group each got their affectionate kisses. Shayla’s wings fluttered enough to scatter some of the papers that had been laying on Kassandra’s table, while Jane squealed in surprise when I scooped the small woman off the ground using my left hand, but clung happily to my side in a mirror of Kassandra afterwards.

  “So yeah, that’s my news. I finalized the purchase yesterday, and I’ve got another month in my current apartment until the sale goes through. Escrow should be quick since I had cash on hand, but banks operate on their own timescales,” I said with a shrug, settling onto the large, ottoman-shaped couch that Kassandra had in the middle of her sitting room while still cuddling my pair of burdens. “What about you four?”

  “Things are going well for us! Well, for me at least,” Jane was first to speak up, her rounded mouse ears tickling my cheek as she snuggled into my side, drawing on my chest with one small hand. “Classes are winding down as more people are getting their notices about the border unrest. I think Juneau is actually going to be sending quite a few people up to get some ‘hands-on’ experience in combat.”

  “Which is frankly surprising to me,” I said with a sigh. At Rieka’s questioning look, I elaborated. “I remember you and Kassandra explaining it to me that you were all expected to train and take those missions for monster suppression from the Hunt and Trade Hall to get hands-on experience. The idea that a school, specifically one that is heavily populated by nobles, is going to send its students off to fight in war feels wrong.”

  “It’s not really a war,” Shayla said quietly.

  The moth woman had settled onto a small chaise lounge across from me that allowed for her wings to stretch out behind her. Sticking with her normal outfit of summery dresses—this time in a soft yellow that accented the red and brown in her wings and hair nicely—she reminded me of a renaissance painting. Though admittedly one with certain predilections.

  “Can you elaborate?” I asked her while Rieka perched in her preferred armchair to my right. “I would assume that given there was talk on the announcement of a rival nation attacking the border, it would be considered war.”

  “The barbarian tribes aren’t really a cohesive nation,” Rieka answered for the moth woman. “They raid every year, and the Coldeye Queendom sends support to our allies in the Ironclaw Clan because they hold the mountains with the easiest passes from the northeastern plains.”

  “Okay, but my point still stands,” I said dryly, getting a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement from Rieka. “This is a school. Yes, they train mages and the like, but sending their students to fight like that feels odd. Wrong even.”

  Rather than elaborating herself, Rieka gestured to Shayla to let the moth woman explain. Shayla took a moment to gather herself, the fluffy fronds of her antennae wafting slowly through the air as she clearly took the time to decide how she wanted to approach the question.

  “While it’s not a war, the threat of those tribes is still very real,” Shayla said at last, her pitch-black eyes somehow managing to lock with mine despite the lack of pupils. “My family isn’t as familiar with the dynamics of it, but the dynamics of the conflict between those tribes and the other nations that share their border is a long one. I wouldn’t be surprised if Queen Gemma is wanting to use the increased pressure of these raids to help some of the students get used to the idea of battle due to pressures elsewhere that we are unaware of.”

  “Which is also my thought,” Rieka added with a slow nod that made her platinum braid bounce. “The nobles and the mages of the nation are considered a very powerful resource, and mother would not risk them without cause. But if she fears war is on the horizon, then she will want to test the current crop of students and scions to see which will excel and which would just be a liability when conflict comes.”

  “Something else, Liam?” Kassandra said, her soft voice right in my ear sending a thrill down my spine.

  I turned to look at her out of the corner of my eye when she paused, and my mischief macaroni tilted her head so that she could peer up at me around her silver-rimmed spectacles. Her slitted brown eyes sparkled in the light, but there was an earnest set to her expression for once.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “This is just my intuition speaking, but these raids pick up every few years like this. To the point where one in three class-groups from Juneau end up assigned to the border like this. Many of those seeking careers in the military will make their decisions based on these deployments.”

  That bit of news was new to me, and Kassandra clearly saw that as she nodded and smiled up at me when the realization hit.

  “So this is probably going to be a lot safer than I was initially worrying about then,” I said with a relieved sigh.

  “Oh no,” Jane piped up immediately. “There will be plenty of danger to this. We may call them barbarians, but that does not mean they are stupid. They’ve learned to look for the students there to train and target them.”

  That statement was unwelcome, and I felt my inside clench with worry once more. Both Jane and Kassandra snuggled in closer to help reassure me. I knew that I’d be needed to look after the four of them during this trip, and that I would have to be on my toes.

  Thinking about that reminded me of something, and I turned a glance to Rieka. My princess was leaning forward in her chair, elbows on her knees and a thoughtful expression on her regal features.

  “Rieka,” I asked, getting her attention. “Have you all gotten deployment orders for this yet? I realized that I was still assuming…” I let my sentence trail off when Rieka nodded.

  “Yes. We got them a day ago. Part of why we summoned you. Our group is to head out in a few day’s time to go to the border. We will be meeting a local representative partway there who will be in charge of overseeing our training on site. Usually it's a higher-ranked member of the Ironclaw Clan, since it’s their territory we will be fighting on.”

  “Good to know,” I said with a frown. “I haven’t gotten far enough to be able to use Grant Power to give you the reservoir ability yet, but hopefully soon.”

  “Any advantage we can get will be appreciated. Even if we don’t have the Mana Reservoir available, I was planning to ask if you could give us some tips on close combat with claws from Shape-Shifting at the very least.”

  While I didn’t like the idea of the girls having to be within melee range where they’d need claws like that, I couldn’t fault Rieka for suggesting it. The power would be a good back-up in case they were caught without weapons of any kind in an emergency.

  They’ll only need it for a moment, I promised myself. You have that Tunnel to Contracted power after all. They would just need to send you a message to let you know. There’s also Ward Companion that will alert you, too.

  Nodding decisively, I gave the two pressed to my sides reassuring hugs. I wouldn’t be changing my plans anytime soon, but setting up that emergency Shape-Shifting effect and using Ward Companion before I left was going to be paramount.

  “Knowing that we have Liam to protect us is going a long way to helping me accept this,” Shayla said quietly, drawing the attention to her.

  The moth-winged woman had a hold of one antennae and was gently combing it with her fingers, the fluffy appendage wriggling like a muddy puppy in her fingers.

  “I take it that you are planning to volunteer to go?” I asked, remembering that there had been talk of the fact that Shayla was one of the few who wouldn’t get an outright order to go.

  She nodded, glancing past her antennae to me and giving me a small smile.

  “I know you’ll look after us, and I’d worry about the others…” Shayla said, her voice small but determined.

  “I, for one, will appreciate having you with us,” Rieka said warmly. “You’ve proved you can keep your calm during our various delves into ruins, and your magic is powerful.”

  The girls continued to talk, but my attention was diverted elsewhere. Right as Shayla had finished her sentence, a brilliant purple flash of light around the edges of my vision told me that I’d received a message from the System interface.

  When the message didn’t simply play over my vision, I closed my eyes to check the appropriate tab. What I found in the tab was a message from Cariad that was more rambling and urgent than I had expected from my normally collected daemon friend.

  Cariad

  Liam, I need to ask a huge favor of you. Mr. Cerebaton mentioned to me the other day that you said you were open to taking contracts from the DSR as an exception to the rules. We have had something come up that needs to be addressed and it’s on your girls’ world.

  There is a lot of information to go over, but I can only share the specifics if you agree to the job. What I can tell you is that the ‘sample’ you found and delivered to us from that ruined lab has born unexpected fruit. It took time to get the information together, which is why it took this long to get to you, but we have a lead on another facility that has a similar energy signature.

  There was enough push-back from the higher-ups about destroying the ‘sample’ that Mr. Cerebaton can’t just send a squad himself to investigate. We need to have someone on the System roster report it before we can dispatch a team.

  Please let me know if you are able to check this out for us, and I’ll let you know what the terms are. Since we are only able to request your assistance on this, and not your contracted companions, I can’t compensate them in any way. Even though I know they’ll have to be the ones to get you actually to Cortha to check it.

  Again, my apologies for springing all this on you, but it’s time sensitive. Please get back to me as soon as you can!

  I opened my eyes and bit my bottom lip thoughtfully as I considered it. The fact that Cariad was asking for help after all that she’d done to help me over the last several months alone was enough that I nearly accepted right away. But because the girls were going to be going into a dangerous situation soon, I couldn’t just volunteer without them.

  Jane, the clever and smart little woman that she was, saw the shift in my expression and immediately spoke up.

  “Liam, what is it?”

  “I just got a message from Cariad.”

  Mentioning the daemon’s name was enough to arrest the conversation and drag the attention of all four girls to me.

  “What did she need, Liam?” Shayla asked, releasing her antennae to let it bob upwards and settle next to its sibling. The moth woman leaned forward, tilting her head curiously.

  “She said that her people got a lead on another facility like the one we just visited with something dangerous in it. They were asking me to look at it because office politics are getting in the way of dealing with something dangerous in a timely manner,” I explained, summarizing the points to what I thought was the most pertinent.

  “Do you know how far away it is?” Rieka asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

  I shook my head in the negative and her frown only deepened.

  “Just that you four would have to be the ones to call me here to deal with it. So I’d assume it's relatively close?”

  “If it’s something dangerous like that… thing we saw at the other place, then it needs to be dealt with,” Jane said with a confident little nod. “I liked Cari from the little encounter we had and what you’ve told me about her.”

  “Agreed,” Kassandra hummed, nuzzling her cheek into my chest. “Cari’s been supporting our Liam ever since that first night he was summoned. I think we can spare him for a bit to help her in return?”

  “There’s no guarantee we need to spare him,” Rieka added as well, her expression clearing up as she turned her attention back to the other girls. “If it's something dangerous, I’m sure I can get an excuse from my mother to go with him. It’s not as if I don’t know the way to the Ironclaw lands myself. With Liam to carry the messages to Mother—”

  “Before you get that far,” I interrupted. “Are all four of you okay with this? We just got back from somewhere dangerous and you are all being summoned to the border for that clash…”

  The four girls all shared glances, communicating silently for several seconds before they turned back to me and nodded nearly in unison.

  “Just make sure you aren’t doing it for free,” Kassandra said while poking me in the chest firmly. “You are the kind of person to forget to ask for a reward even when one should be expected.”

  “Agreed,” Rieka echoed. “You’ve helped us with enough things since that first time we summoned you, we can help you with this one for once.”

  My heart surged with love for these four girls as they all nodded their agreement with that statement. Knowing that I had their support was going to make this an easy decision.

  Focusing back on the System interface, I quickly sent off a message to Cariad.

  Liam

  Talked with the girls. We are in, so give me the details.

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