The conversation began to naturally drift back to the party, dancing, and events of the previous night. More events than just the lascivious ones, that is. Not to say they didn’t dip into lewd jokes and suggestions—Kassandra’s presence alone guaranteed that they would—but most of the discussion went to what the girls enjoyed about the event.
I stayed out of it for the most part. Not because I didn’t feel like I had valid opinions or thoughts on the situation, but more that I was content to simply listen to the ongoing conversation between my girls.
Breakfast was eaten and the dishes taken away by the ever-industrious maid. Lorelai ensured that we had hot tea before excusing herself to give us privacy. From the way she eyed up Rieka’s mussed bedding, it was obvious that the maid wanted to set to cleaning up, but thought better of doing it while her mistress was entertaining guests.
Probably for the best, I thought with a small smile. Give the smell more time to fade. Thank you again, Jane, for getting air moving to clear out the smell. I hadn’t thought about that initially, and I’m happy to keep things quiet until Rieka is ready to make something official.
Making things official with my girls made my small smirk blossom into a full-on grin that I quickly hid away in my teacup. I didn’t need to have the girls asking odd questions about why I was smiling at the empty bed like a maniac.
I don’t know how we are going to make it work, I thought, taking another long sip of the fragrant tea, but I know my girls will figure something out. I just have to hope that if I keep climbing the ladder with the DSR and my Traveler powers, maybe I can establish a solid gateway between Earth and Cortha. If I could travel easily between the two locations, then deepening our relationships will be even easier.
My mind flitted over the teasing that had passed between me and my girls, as well as the promises that I’d made to several of them. Children in the future… Now that was something that would require certain changes in my life. I knew that I could trust the girls to be responsible and take care of any kids they ended up having, but I also had heard enough stories about the weight it put on both children and their mothers to grow up without a father present. And I didn’t think that it set a good precedent that the girls would have to manually summon me—paying something worth actual money each time—to spend time with any kids we had.
We’ll figure something out, I promised myself while running my fingers through Rieka’s hair where the princess leaned into my side.
Rieka had left her platinum-blonde locks loose for the moment, the waterfall of straight hair flowing down her back and the strands were silky smooth while I ran my fingers through it. She was sitting comfortably, her tail wrapped around behind me and wiggling faintly as it tried to wag despite being pinned against the cushions of the loveseat by my back.
“—music was good and the dancing was fun.” Valda was saying when I tuned back in on the conversation, “but I had honestly expected more activities besides just dinner and the dancing.”
The scaled woman turned her eyes toward me with a small smirk on her lips, and I immediately got where she was going with the segue.
“Yeah,” I deadpanned. “I’m rather surprised that no one decided to get up on their nobleness and try challenging me for monopolizing the princess’ time at her own party.”
“Was the other way around, anyway,” Kassandra giggled. Her scaled tail coiled underneath her, the tip of said tail wiggling in amusement. “I was somewhat worried that we’d need to surgically remove Rieka from your arm by the end of the night, she was clinging so close to you.”
Rieka didn’t respond verbally, instead sticking her tongue out at Kassandra with all the delicate nobility of a toddler. That gesture set off another storm of happy laughter with the girls.
“So mature,” Jane said between laughs.
“Can you do that again?” Shayla teased with a smile, producing her sketchbook from her hip-bag. “I want to try and get the expression down for a painting.”
“No!” Rieka protested, laughing out loud.
“Yes,” I insisted, squeezing her to my side. “I have got to have that for my wall. My sweet and noble princess acting like that? It would be perfect to have on the wall.”
Rieka pouted, her ears folding down to either side of her head while the girls kept laughing. Kassandra even chipped in with a comment that brought Rieka’s smile back:
“Honestly, something that colorful would bring a lot of life to your place, Liam. We really need to get the other girls there to help give you advice for decorating and making it comfortable.”
“Oh, I can’t wait till we have a chance to visit!” proclaimed Jane, bouncing animatedly in her seat. “I want to see everything I can of your world, Liam. The novelty of visiting a human-settled world—even if they aren’t the same humans as are here—is just… I can’t put it into words!”
“Not the least of which would be the novelty of visiting any other world,” Valda chuckled, shooting Jane an affectionate look as the mousy scholar nodded rapidly in agreement.
Valda had pulled her ubiquitous sword from its sheath and was carefully polishing the blade with a soft cloth. I’d noticed some time ago that the lizard-folk woman always seemed to default to looking after her equipment whenever she wasn’t doing something else. Either sharpening, polishing, inspecting, or practicing with her sword like it was a massive, murderous fidget toy.
I mean, to be fair… I thought while watching her hands work. Her life depends so much on that blade that I can’t fault her for wanting to ensure that it is always ready to use. Or being proud of it, since it’s one of only a few human-era weapons that are currently in circulation. The vast majority are in the hands of national leaders, but hers belongs to her alone.
That reminded me and I turned my head to glance down at Rieka.
“Your mum was happy with the gift of weapons we got out of the ruins, right?” I asked, and my princess nodded quickly, smiling up at me.
“Yes,” Rieka said. “I made sure she got the manifest of everything, along with the division of what was given to those taking part in the raid, Valda’s mother, and what we kept for ourselves. She thought it was more than fair, generous even.”
“Good,” I said with a nod and leaned back against the couch once more. “I wanted to make sure that was taken care of. I can’t remember if we’d handled it yet or not.”
“Liam’s had more important things on his mind, after all,” Kassandra teased, grinning widely while her eyebrows wiggled furiously.
“The most important of things,” I replied without hesitation, shooting her a wink. “Nothing else matters to me more than you all. Without you and the other girls, I’d still be living in that shitty life with the horrible job and no future. But because fate aligned and I got the opportunities that I did, I’m in a much better place.”
“And we are all glad of it,” Shayla said softly before Kassandra could comment. “We are all so happy to have you in our lives, Liam.”
The winged woman said this without looking up. She had the spiral bound notebook of high-quality sketching paper that I’d bought her in her lap, and was rapidly running a stick of charcoal wrapped in paper over the page in front of her. Her antennae bobbed and wiggled, the ends curling in like little fists on occasion while her brow furrowed in concentration.
Jane and Kassandra shared a look then glanced my way with soft smiles of their own. I shrugged and smiled back. We all knew that the moth woman was honest to a fault, though her innate shy nature made it hard for her to speak most days. What she did say was something we all trusted entirely, though.
“Going back to the previous conversation,” Valda murmured, breaking the silence gently. “I’m still surprised that fellow was causing so much trouble before Rieka arrived.”
“Yeah, me too,” Kassandra replied with a frown. “You’d think that those wanting to perform for an audience would wait till the primary part of said audience was present, but I guess not. My best guess is he was trying to establish himself as a powerful player before Rieka got there, not realizing he was picking on the princess’ close friends.”
Shayla didn’t comment, but I saw the blush slowly creeping up her cheeks while her antennae began to ball up and uncurl faster at being called a ‘close friend’ to the princess.
One of these days, we are going to break her of that shyness and ensure Shayla knows her worth, I resolved silently.
Before I could continue, glittering words blazed their way across my vision.
Attention, Traveler. System has detected the presence of documents that may potentially compromise dimensional stability at some point in the future in your vicinity.
System is requesting that Traveler retrieve and destroy said documents to prevent potential future issues.
Will the Traveler assist?
Y/N
I blinked and stared at the burning words in front of my vision. The request had come out of nowhere, but then again, the System had a habit of reaching out to me without warning when it needed something.
Where is this coming from? I thought to myself. At least I believed it was to myself. The System reminded me that it was always listening when it responded a moment later.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
The System scanned the local environment during your conversation and detected the presence of the compromising material.
The documents are not in the possession of Traveler’s contracted companions. They are instead stored in a location known as the ‘Royal Library’ in a restricted research section.
At this time, System does not have confirmation that the documents have been deciphered. But, with the advances that the Traveler has brought to the local rulers regarding the language of a local species designated as ‘humans,’ System believes that it will only be a matter of time.
System requests assistance in removing the dangerous portions of the documents.
Dangerous how? I thought, brow furrowing as I directed the question at the extra-dimensional supercomputer talking to my mind. And if they are in the royal library, we can just ask Rieka to have them removed.
Negative.
The documents in question are in a section that is reserved for specific researchers and the local ruler herself. System believes that utilizing the Traveler’s contacts amongst the royalty will be detrimental to retrieving and destroying the documents.
System calculates a high probability that the documents will be ‘lost’ and moved to another location. This is based on analysis of previous attempts to peacefully interact with feudal ruling classes. Alternatively, local rulers might actually comply with Traveler, but the researchers might choose not to, believing that the information is more important than securing dimensional stability.
System calculates that the best option would be for direct intervention via a Traveler representative to remove documents before they can threaten the stability of this world.
That sent a chill down my spine. In the entire time that I’d been a Traveler, the System had rarely spent so long rationalizing a request it made of me. That it was also a sensible rationalization didn’t reassure me, either.
I could just see a group of researchers making copies of documents on the sly, I thought grimly. Just because they believe that there is no such thing as dangerous knowledge. But why is it dangerous? If I have more information, then the girls will be—
The System cut me off almost immediately, the words of its next message not only glowing but flashing as it scrolled across my vision.
Do not alert contracted companions to the issue.
System has calculated that the risk only increases with more natives aware of the issue.
If Traveler is able to secure documents, then it shall be as if they never existed. Some information is best forgotten, though System is uncertain if this is the only copy of said records.
Scans indicate that documents are originals, but System is not one-hundred percent sure this is the only copy.
And what are the documents concerning? I fired back, doing my best to keep the scowl off my face. If you want me to steal something from Gemma, who is one of my contracted companions and the mother of another, then I need a damn good reason to even consider it. Something more than the nebulous ‘securing the dimensional stability,’ please.
Several seconds passed while the girls talked. I took another sip of my tea and set the cup down on the table in front of me. All the while, I didn’t stop finger-combing Rieka’s hair while she leaned into me.
In the past, the System had made a request of me and asked that I not inform the DSR personnel about the situation. I didn’t like hiding information from friends, but Cariad and Cerebaton were both employed to assist the odd, supernatural computer that apparently assisted my cross-dimensional travel and status as a Traveler. Now, though, that same computer was asking me to keep a secret from my lovers, and that would require a damn good reason.
Almost a minute passed before the System replied, this time with the normal, glowing text that I was used to.
Traveler’s complaint is registered and accepted.
System cannot divulge all information regarding rising concerns, but will follow past requests and current demands for further reasoning.
Documents in question contain information similar to what the Traveler has been requested to destroy in the past. Specifically, research regarding the summoning and binding of dimensional entities that should not be accessed in this world, as their nature destabilizes the local environment.
Example: Summoning research and circles inscribed specifically for forcing the appearance of daemons from the entropic axis of dimensional magic.
I frowned at that, before forcing my features to return to normal as Jane glanced my way. I gave the mousy scholar a wink and a loving smile, making her blush for a moment before she returned both.
When Jane returned her attention to the conversation, I let my features fall back into their normal, neutral state and considered what the System was telling me.
So there is more of the research regarding entropic summoning in the palace then? That… makes some sense. It’s not as if the human-era ruins we found were the first of their kind, I thought slowly.
Partially correct.
Nation designated as ‘Coldeye queendom’ has found and excavated three other sites from past eras.
Specific research that System is requesting assistance in destroying is related to the opposite axis at this time.
I blinked rapidly in surprise at that statement.
Opposite axis? To entropy?
Thinking quickly, I closed my eyes and delved into my Powers menu quickly to check, hoping the information was still there. The System didn’t speak up, letting me dig about until I found the power in question.
Manipulate Element (Primal) - Cost: 800 SP - Select Light, Dark, Time, Entropy. User may add them to the list available at Minor level and improve as normal. The opposing element of one chosen is forever lost.
May be chosen one additional time for one of the second set of opposing elements.
The power looked the same as it had before, with the minor exception that the word ‘Entropy’ was underlined, while the word ‘Time’ had a line run through it. The second part of the power listing explained why, as the ‘opposing element’ would be ‘forever lost’ to me.
I remember it warning me when I picked this up, I thought grimly, thinking back to when I’d first gotten the power. I’d jumped on the idea of getting entropic powers with the idle hope of being able to protect myself from those kinds of threats, as well as potentially being able to touch Cariad finally.
Traveler’s assumption is correct.
Documents in question are specifically regarding the expression, targeting, and summoning of beings along the ‘Time’ axis of primal magic.
Such beings are just as dangerous to dimensional stability as entropic creatures.
System again requests Traveler to assist it in removing said documents.
I considered that carefully. I’d spent a fair bit of time wondering about how it was that entropy was opposed by time. It made some sense in the fact that entropy was often described as a measurement of chaos in a given system, while time was a unit of measure that ordered the world around it.
And I’ve seen enough games and TV shows to know that ‘order’ doesn’t always mean ‘good,’ I thought carefully. The fact that the DSR is made up of creatures imbued with chaotic energy, yet works in an organized fashion to protect the order of the world tells me that it’s not cut and dried simple either.
Traveler’s assumption is correct.
Creatures along the Time axis are not inherently the enemy of the System. There are a number of such beings that, like the daemons of the DSR, assist the System in safeguarding the dimensional membrane.
However, contact with such beings is also extremely dangerous. As dangerous as direct contact with an entropically-aligned creature such as the daemons.
As such, System is again requesting Traveler’s assistance in removing reference information that may potentially lead to unsafe contact with creature types that would potentially damage the dimensional membrane on the world designated ‘Cortha.’
I mulled that over for a long moment. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe the System. The extra-dimensional supercomputer had been honest with me in the past, and it was giving me context now when I asked. That counted for a lot in my book, so I was more willing to listen to it right now. I just didn’t like that I would basically be stealing the information away.
System understands Traveler’s hesitation.
The information in question is simply too dangerous to leave in place. Traveler’s intervention is the least damaging solution to its removal.
Not involving Traveler’s contracted companions is intended to ensure their own safety as well. System assures Traveler of this. If the threat potential were not high, System would not request Traveler to directly intervene.
Will Traveler accept the request?
Y/N?
I fought back the urge to growl in frustration. There was no way the girls wouldn’t notice it if I had started, so it took me a precious few moments to wrestle my irritation down.
I don’t like that you are putting me in this situation, System, I thought back at it. I do not like it at all. You haven’t answered my past questions either, about the humans from this world.
A beat of silence followed, both in the conversation between my ladies and mine with the odd, magical computer.
Information is classified at this time.
System requests Traveler understand.
Will Traveler accept request for assistance?
Y/N?
I wanted to refuse the request. There was too much unknown information and risks I wasn’t aware of. I didn’t like keeping information from my girls, and to a lesser extent from Gemma.
But at the back of my mind, I went over the different times that the System had expressed specific requests of me. It had always been for very good reasons, and usually for extremely dangerous threats.
The System didn’t argue with me this much back when I was dealing with ‘disaster class’ weapons, I thought grimly. Which implies that the damage potential here is even higher… fuck.
I closed my eyes, the glowing words still hanging in my vision with their pointed question waiting.
Not liking it, but unable to argue myself out of the situation, I mentally pressed the ‘Y’ on the interface.
The words vanished with a fizzing effect before a new message scrolled into place after them.
Locate and remove documentation in the Royal Library of the Coldeye queendom relating to the forced summoning of time-aligned creatures.
Reward - 1000 SP
Not doing it for a reward, I growled mentally at the System. I’m doing it because it represents a threat to my girls.
The message fizzed again and the System scrolled another message underneath the offered mission.
System contacted Traveler specifically because of this reason.
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