Chapter 101: The Price Of A Secret!

Night came quietly over the Moon Pools.

After spending most of the day exterminating Redcaps with all the subtlety of a natural disaster, the Four Valkyries finally agreed that continuing deeper through Moonveil Forest after dark would be unnecessarily stupid.

Their assigned sector was secure enough for the night, so they selected one of the larger dry Moon Pools, cleared the surrounding brush and began setting up camp.

Naturally, the first argument began almost immediately.

"I’ll take first watch." Julia stated while placing her bow beside one of the tents.

Paulina shook her head. "No, I should. My nose and ears are better at night."

"You fought more in close combat today."

"So?"

"So you should rest."

"I’m not tired."

"You nearly yawned five minutes ago."

"I was opening my mouth!"

Janet immediately inserted herself into the discussion.

"Excellent! Paulina takes first watch, Julia takes second, Eunice third and I shall bravely take the final and shortest watch immediately before sunrise."

Julia’s eyes narrowed. "Why is yours the shortest?"

"Natural leadership ability."

"Absolutely not!"

Eunice sighed as the argument somehow became more complicated.

Damian, meanwhile, was crouched several meters away and quietly removing small materials from his System Space.

After another minute of listening to them debate watch rotations, he finally looked up.

"Or..."

Four heads turned.

"...we don’t need to do that."

Julia frowned. "Someone must keep watch."

"Normally, yes."

Damian pushed a small formation plate into the soil, then another and another.

Paulina’s ears perked.

"What are those?"

"Warning Array Nodes."

That stopped the conversation.

Damian placed several prepared nodes around the edge of their campsite, carefully positioning each one according to the terrain rather than simply creating a perfect circle. Once the last piece entered the ground, he returned to the center and set down the core plate.

A thin current of Mana passed through the first node, then Refined Qi.

The two energies entered separate pathways before spreading through the small formation and faint lines briefly appeared across the earth.

WHOOM!

Then everything vanished and the campsite looked normal again.

Janet blinked.

"...That’s it?"

"That’s it."

Julia looked around suspiciously. "What does it do?"

Damian smiled smugly. "The perimeter nodes recognize movement, pressure and energy disturbance across the boundary. They’re connected to the central plate, which compares any intrusion against the conditions I established while setting it up. If something large enough crosses the perimeter, tampers with a node or forces its way through magically, the core activates and wakes us."

Paulina slowly looked around. "So... no watch?"

"Unless someone here thinks they can remain more alert for eight hours than a formation that doesn’t sleep, blink, daydream or need to pee."

Janet raised one finger. "Can it detect me?"

Damian stared at her. "...Why is that your first question?"

"Scientific curiosity."

"Yes."

Janet’s eyes lit up. "I wanna test it!"

"No."

"Aww!"

Eunice crouched near one of the almost invisible formation nodes and examined it carefully.

"You made this?"

"Yup."

"Since when do you know how to create magical formations?"

Damian paused. "Recently."

Julia immediately pointed at him.

"There! You’re doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Answering without answering!"

Damian laughed.

Still, he gave them a brief explanation of the basic principle, keeping the truly sensitive parts to himself.

Valorian spell formations and Shengyuan Arrays approached the same general problem from very different angles, but the result was wonderfully compatible when Damian knew what he was doing.

The Four Valkyries gradually stopped interrupting.

By the time he finished explaining how overlapping perimeter nodes prevented one blind spot from compromising the entire formation, all four were staring at him wide-eyed and impressed.

Complete awe and wonder was clearly visible in their eyes.

Damian’s chest loosened.

Ahhhhhh.

There it was.

Finally!

His ego, which had suffered repeated and completely unjustified abuse throughout the entire afternoon, began healing rapidly!

Damian folded his arms. "Hm hm."

Julia immediately noticed the expression on his face.

"...Why do you look so pleased?"

"No reason."

Janet pointed. "He’s smug!"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"You’re absolutely smug!"

Damian turned away before they could ruin the moment.

Victory had finally been achieved!

............

With the security problem settled, the group moved onto the considerably more important matter of dinner.

Eunice volunteered to cook and nobody objected.

That alone told Damian everything he needed to know.

The Priestess worked over a small campfire using supplies packed from Rosewood Town, combining preserved meat, vegetables, herbs and several ingredients gathered safely during their journey.

While the smell gradually improved the mood of everyone nearby, Damian finally settled against a smooth section of stone and checked the results from today’s battles.

He had deliberately avoided looking earlier.

Mostly because the Valkyries had killed everything before he could participate.

Tsk!

The Valorian Overworld System, however, recognized party participation differently.

Damian had been formally grouped with the Four Valkyries throughout the operation, so their victories still counted toward ordinary shared Experience evaluation even though Damian himself had contributed practically nothing to the actual Redcap extermination.

The resulting screens appeared.

[Experience Points Awarded: 16.]

[Experience Points: 37/132.]

Damian nodded.

Sixteen EXP was good!

Very good actually, especially considering he had spent most of the day walking around like an expensive spectator.

However, that was where the rewards ended.

No Skill Points.

No Battle God progression.

No combat-related Feat triggers.

No Special Power rewards.

Nothing from the abilities which specifically depended upon Damian personally fighting, killing, exerting himself or successfully applying their effects.

The Valorian Overworld System could recognize party success and distribute ordinary Experience accordingly.

Damian’s other system based powers were not so charitable.

If Damian wanted <Battle God> progression, he needed to actually battle.

If he wanted combat use to count toward <The Divine Forge>, his equipment needed to genuinely perform its functions.

If he wanted Skill Points from souls?

Well, standing ten meters away while Julia turned somebody into a pincushion did not make the corpse Damian’s contribution.

Which was fair.

Annoying certainly, but fair!

His gaze moved toward the four women and indeed, they looked considerably less energetic than earlier.

Paulina was still upright, but her tail moved lazily behind her rather than swishing around with its normal vigor.

Julia sat against a tree and had stopped pretending that repeatedly rubbing her right shoulder was merely coincidence.

Janet had somehow folded herself across a bedroll near the fire and was currently complaining that her legs no longer belonged to her.

Even Eunice moved somewhat slower while cooking.

Five hundred Redcaps in one day sounded awesome when reduced to a number.

Yet actually doing it took a serious toll.

Apparently the Four Valkyries had spent most of the day overdrafting from the ’Bank of Showing Off’.

Damian smiled with amusement.

"Food’s ready." Eunice called.

That statement restored life to everyone.

Several minutes later, Damian took his first bite and his eyebrows rose.

"Oh damn."

Eunice looked over.

Damian immediately pointed his spoon toward her.

"You, madam, are a godly wife candidate."

Silence.

Julia nearly choked on her food, Janet’s eyes widened, and Paulina’s ears perked up.

Eunice herself stared at Damian for a second before a warm flush appeared across her face.

Then she smiled.

"Is that your way of complimenting my cooking?"

"Absolutely."

"So normal praise wasn’t enough?"

"Not for this."

Eunice chuckled softly, visibly pleased despite herself.

"I’ll accept it then."

Damian nodded solemnly and returned to eating.

Excellent woman.

Excellent food.

Ten out of ten field-wife qualifications!

............

After dinner, fatigue won quickly.

Each person entered their respective tent, spread out bedrolls and prepared for sleep while the Warning Array quietly guarded the perimeter.

Damian settled into his own tent and stared at the fabric ceiling.

For a moment, he considered opening the Permanent Realm Passage.

He could cross into Shengyuan, walk into his guest residence, and sleep in an actual bed.

Maybe even enjoy a proper bath in the morning before returning.

Then Damian snorted.

"Come on."

He wasn’t that pampered.

One night sleeping in a forest wasn’t going to kill him, especially not with his current Constitution, magical defenses, Divine Sense and a functioning Warning Array around camp.

The fellow rolled onto his side.

Within minutes, he was asleep.

............

One or two hours later, Damian’s brows slowly furrowed and his peaceful expression became helpless.

Something was wrong.

It was not a matter of mortal danger.

Just...

A little annoying.

Damian opened his eyes and sighed.

Then, he lifted the top of his bedroll.

A familiar pair of brown eyes stared back at him from approximately six inches away and they were absolutely overflowing with mischief.

Damian stared.

Janet stared back.

The halfling was lying directly across his chest beneath the bedroll.

She was thankfully clothed, although her heavy leather armor was gone, leaving only the softer cloth protection normally worn underneath.

For several seconds, neither moved, then Janet’s lips curled into an evil smile.

She placed one finger against them.

"Shhh."

Damian closed his eyes.

"...How did you even get in here?"

"Rogue."

"That’s not an explanation."

"It’s the only explanation you’re getting."

Damian opened his eyes again.

"What do you want?"

Janet immediately looked away.

"Oh, nothing."

"Janet."

"I simply thought you looked lonely."

"Janet."

"It’s cold outside."

"You have your own bedroll."

"Yours looked warmer."

Damian’s stare became increasingly flat.

Janet held out for almost ten seconds, then she started drawing slow circles over Damian’s chest with one finger.

"...Soooo."

There it was.

Damian already knew where this was going.

Janet looked up through her lashes with an expression of exaggerated shyness.

"How did you get so strong?"

Damian’s expression darkened.

Of course.

Of fucking course!

This blasted halfling was never going to let it go!

He had grown from Level 6 to Level 11 in a ridiculously short time, disappeared for stretches without explanation, returned with equipment nobody recognized and now possessed enough miscellaneous abilities to make a multiclassing addict seek professional help.

Janet had smelled blood.

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

"No."

Her expression immediately changed.

"Damian!"

"No."

"Lord Otherworlder!"

"No."

"My dear, wonderful, handsome, generous and definitely-not-heartless Damian—"

"No."

Janet’s lower lip trembled.

Then the performance began.

"You’ve changed!"

Damian stared.

"You used to be so kind to me!"

"What?"

"When we first met, you were sweet and innocent! You listened to everything I said!"

"I had awakened in another world three hours earlier!"

"And now you’ve become cold! Cruel! Arrogant!"

"What the hell?!"

Tears suddenly gathered in Janet’s eyes, actual tears!

"You disappear without saying anything! You come back stronger! You flirt with Julia! You praise Eunice as wife material! You show Paulina your scary Dragon aura! And what about me?!"

Damian’s eye twitched.

Janet sniffled dramatically.

"Was I merely entertainment to you?! Did our beautiful relationship mean nothing?! You casanova! You heartless cheater! You traitorous bastard!"

"What relationship?!"

"I trusted you!"

"JANET!"

"If you had another woman, you could have just told me!"

"I HAVE NEVER DATED YOU!"

The halfling covered her mouth as though mortally wounded.

"How cruel..."

Anger lines appeared across Damian’s forehead while a vein pulsed at his temple.

This woman...

This evil little witch...

She was going to slander him to death!

"You want to know, huh?"

Janet immediately stopped crying.

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

"Well here you go, you evil witch!"

He pulled out an Essence Surge Pill.

Janet’s eyes widened.

"Wait—MMMPH!"

Damian stuffed it into her mouth.

Janet froze as the pill dissolved and her Valorian Overworld System reacted.

[Essence Surge Effect Applied.]

[Eligible Experience acquisition doubled for the next 12 hours.]

Janet’s eyes became enormous.

Her entire body stiffened atop Damian.

Double EXP?

For twelve hours?!

She slowly looked up.

No wonder!

No wonder this bastard had grown so fast!

"You—"

Damian was not finished, his expression remaining furious.

Janet’s instincts screamed danger.

"Wait, let me tell you something...!"

A Condensing Essence Pill appeared between Damian’s fingers.

Janet’s face changed.

"Hold on—MMMPH!"

Another pill entered.

The medicinal energy dispersed.

Then—

[+20 EXP.]

Janet stopped moving completely, her eyes staring at nothing.

Damian reached for another pill, but she didn’t react.

[+20 EXP.]

Another.

[+20 EXP.]

Janet.exe had stopped working!

Her mind was still trying to comprehend the first twenty Experience Points when the next reward arrived, followed by another, then another!

Damian continued feeding pills into her mouth with the righteous fury of a man!

Eventually, Janet’s brain came back online.

"MM! MMMPH!"

Another pill.

"Damian! Wait—"

Another.

"That’s enough!"

Another.

"YOU CRAZY—MMMPH!"

Once the first ten doses passed, the adaptation began reducing the base amount, but the active Essence Surge continued doubling everything eligible.

The numbers were still absurd.

Janet’s eyes gradually went from shock...

To horror...

To existential crisis!

Levels that had taken months of quests, training, danger and accumulated victories were being eaten away by some bastard calmly stuffing white pills into her mouth!

By the fifteenth Condensing Essence Pill, Damian reached for another but Janet slammed her teeth shut.

Damian paused and then pushed the pill gently against her lips, but Janet shook her head violently.

He poked her cheek, but still nothing.

He tickled her side and her entire body jerked, but those teeth remained locked.

Damian squeezed her jaw lightly, but once again, no let up.

The halfling stared at him with an expression of absolute grievance.

"...Open."

Janet shook her head.

Damian’s eyes widened like bells and his nostrils flared.

"Hmmm??"

Janet swallowed.

Through clenched teeth, she weakly muttered.

"I’m... I’m full already..."

Damian stared at her, clearly unsatisfied and still angry.

"Hmmm?!"

Janet’s eyes became watery again, except this time there was no acting involved.

"I’m... I’m an Adept already..."

Silence.

Damian blinked, then his anger finally lost momentum.

"...Oh."

He snorted and released her and Janet immediately collapsed face-first against his chest.

The mighty halfling Rogue was defeated, having been force-fed progression until she surrendered.

Damian looked down at her listless body.

"Serves you right."

Janet made a weak sound.

"...monster."

"Keep talking and see if I don’t continue."

Her mouth snapped shut.

............

Damian suddenly frowned, his gaze shifting toward the tent walls, then he sighed.

He threw the covers aside, lifted Janet beneath the arms and carried the nearly limp halfling outside.

The Warning Array still showed no hostile intrusions, which was natural, because the intruders were already inside the perimeter!

Damian stepped into the clearing and pursed his lips.

"Come out! I know you three have been listening!"

Silence.

The camp remained still.

Damian waited patiently, and eventually, Paulina slowly emerged from her tent, her ears lowered.

Eunice came next, looking distinctly guilty.

Julia lasted the longest.

Nearly twenty seconds passed before the Elf finally stepped outside with her head lowered and both ears bright red.

Damian stared at all three, then they also noticed Janet who hung limply in Damian’s arms.

Her face wore an expression of dazed defeat while her mouth was coated with saliva and faint traces of whitish medicinal residue.

All three women immediately froze.

Paulina’s eyes widened, Eunice covered her mouth, and Julia went completely pale.

Their gazes slowly moved from Janet to Damian with horror and fear.

Damian’s eyebrows drew together, wondering what they were looking at him funny for, then understanding struck and his face darkened.

Oh, for fuck’s sake!

He didn’t bother to explain himself.

Instead, Damian found a clean folded cloth, set it down near the campfire and placed Janet into a sitting position.

She immediately slumped forward.

Damian pointed beside her.

"Sit."

Paulina sat instantly while Eunice hesitated, then followed.

Julia remained standing until Damian looked at her.

Her face became even redder and she slowly sat down with her head lowered.

Damian took a seat opposite all four and folded his arms.

Nobody spoke.

Paulina’s normally lively tail lay quietly behind her, her ears drooped.

Julia had apparently abandoned all hope of preserving dignity and refused to show her face.

Janet continued staring into the distance like someone had personally shattered her understanding of reality.

Only Eunice retained enough composure to finally speak.

"Damian..."

"Hm?"

The mature Priestess hesitated.

Then, very carefully—

"Did you... do "that thing" to Janet?"

Damian stared at her, black lines practically appearing across his forehead.

"No!"

Three women exhaled simultaneously, looking deeply relieved.

Like prisoners receiving pardons!

Damian’s eye twitched.

"...Why the hell do all of you look so happy?"

Nobody answered.

His expression became increasingly offended.

What was that supposed to mean?!

They were relieved that doing "that thing" wasn’t the requirement for becoming stronger?

Was doing such an act with him truly such a horrifying prospect?!

Paulina looked away, Julia’s ears nearly caught fire, and Eunice suddenly became extremely interested in the campfire.

Damian understood enough from their expressions to avoid pursuing the issue.

He wasn’t going to corner them into declaring whether they found him attractive or whether any of them wanted a relationship with him.

That was their business.

Who they loved, slept with or ultimately chose belonged to them.

However...

There was something else they needed to understand.

Damian’s expression became serious.

"I told you before. My secrets are my secrets."

The atmosphere immediately changed.

Paulina raised her head, Julia finally looked toward him, and Eunice straightened.

Damian continued. "I’m close with you guys, and honestly, I really, really like each and every one of you. But this isn’t a joke."

There was no teasing in his voice nor any amusement.

"Janet has pestered me endlessly because that’s simply how she is. She kept digging, kept asking, kept watching and was obviously never going to stop."

Janet weakly raised one finger to protest, but one look from Damian and the finger slowly lowered.

"Exactly."

He returned his attention to the others.

"I finally decided that rather than have her spend the next ten years trying to sneak into my room every time I gain a level, I’d let her learn the secret directly."

Damian glanced toward Janet.

The halfling remained listless, eyes unfocused as though her entire worldview had been thrown down a staircase.

"Naturally, there is a price to pay for knowing."

Janet twitched.

"And she will pay it."

The other three became very quiet.

"That is why she looks devastated, not because I did anything sexual to her." Damian added bluntly.

Julia immediately looked away again, Paulina coughed, while Eunice’s cheeks warmed.

Damian ignored all three reactions.

"And I know you’re curious too."

Nobody denied it.

"Maybe not enough to crawl into my bedroll and perform a fake breakup scene for a relationship that never existed..."

Janet muttered weakly.

"It was convincing..."

"It was slander!"

"...Convincing slander."

Damian’s temple twitched but he forced himself onward.

"But you’re curious, all three of you. You simply have more restraint and tact than this little demoness."

Janet looked offended, though only slightly.

Damian leaned back. "If you want to know, fine."

Their eyes sharpened.

"But the price isn’t light."

That sentence hit differently, because they remembered a conversation from a few days ago.

Damian had explained his position clearly back then.

Some secrets were too dangerous to hand away merely because someone was a friend.

If a person wanted access to the deepest parts of his life, there needed to be a relationship strong enough that betrayal would no longer be some casual possibility.

Either become his subordinate, join his family, or...

Become his wife or lover.

The clearing became deathly silent.

Paulina’s ears slowly rose, then lowered again.

The issue of her promised mate suddenly felt considerably less like a distant issue.

Julia’s face, which had finally begun returning to normal, became red all over again.

The Elf had once loudly insisted she wasn’t interested in romance at all.

As for Eunice...

The Priestess sat perfectly still, as her oath of celibacy had not mysteriously vanished simply because Damian Baines possessed miraculous pills.

Nobody spoke nor did anybody joke.

Even Janet remained quiet.

Because for the first time since she had crawled into Damian’s bedroll...

The consequences had finally arrived.

And beneath the moonless canopy of Moonveil Forest, the same three choices pressed down upon the Four Valkyries once again.