Alex went straight to the main door of the wooden building, with the thick left arm of the Viscount on his shoulders. Anika made a slight smile to the Viscountess, and as they followed the two laughing men lost in their memories of old pranks, Anika asked:
“Viscountess, the swimming pool is far from here?”
“No, it’s right at the back of this house, on the left side of the hot spring. It uses heated water, so it has to be near it. At the right, is the sauna, to where I am going first. I like to relax in all that heat. My daughters are crazy about the hot spring, so if you want to try that first, you should follow them. If you still prefer the swimming pool, ask a maid to guide you. We are first going to the changing rooms, to take off these clothes.”
Anika smiled, thinking where she should go first. When a maid signaled the women to follow her, a servant pointed with his open palm to a door near him, inviting Alex and the Viscount.
Anika, Wenammy, and Pearl followed the Viscountess through the door that the maid opened, and they saw a large room with cubicles and shelves with towels.
The Viscountess explained that to use the pool, they could change into a bodysuit made of thin cotton, that went till the middle of the thigs and to the elbows, with thin straps over the shoulders and leaving the back naked, that would be perfect for Wenammy’s wings to be free. Or if they preferred, they could be in their underwear. She recommended the bodysuit for the swimming pool, because there were also men in there, and for the sauna, only a towel to cover their body and to sit on top because the seats were also very hot. For the hot spring, because there was a separation from the men’s side, normally women went there naked, to really appreciate the warmness.
After a quick talk, they all decided to try the hot spring first, and the Viscountess went to the sauna. Following the young Rabbit-kind girls, Anika, Wenammy, and Pearl exited the room and went along a corridor, with only a long towel wrapped around their naked bodies underneath.
As the back door was opened by a bowing maid, Anika noticed that the wives of the Nobles were already there near the Princess and her lady’s maid, and they were all staring at the newcomers. Bethany Mathews waved at them from a curve of the pond that was releasing steam, and they went to meet her, wondering why Ghar was there with her eyes closed and seated on the edge, leaned against the wooden fence that separated the men’s side, with her feet inside the hot water, the turban hiding her features, wearing only her necklace of Magical Orbs that was glowing in the sun.
Wenammy bit her lower lip. She couldn’t stop staring at Ghar, admiring her light brown skin, dark brown nipples, and toned abs. Pearl was also looking, and Anika teased them both when she noticed their look going down below Ghar’s bellybutton:
“Close your mouth, you two! You are almost drooling! You are having weird thoughts, aren’t you?”
Wenammy turned bright red and pretended to not know what Anika was talking about, but Pearl kept on staring and answered:
“Indeed I am, and I am not ashamed. Just look at her! Even you have to find that sexy, Anika! I knew she looked good with her fur clothes, but she has such a body!”
Anika shrugged and sat on the edge next to Ghar. She looked at Ghar’s nipples with an interested look, and spoke after letting her eyes go down along Ghar’s body:
“She is sexy, alright. And surprisingly pretty down below! She even has a haircut! It resembles a leaf! I don’t know if all female Orcs have such care on their bodies like Ghar, but she looks stunning.”
Olive’s voice came from Ghar’s necklace, while she was still with her eyes closed:
“Thanks. We all have great pride in our bodies, and we take good care of them. For you, Orcs might look like mindless beasts, when in reality, most of them are just fools or brutes. It’s up to the females to make them aware of us, and we use all sorts of subtleties to attract the best ones. I never had to do much to call the attention of an Orc because I was the firstborn of my Clan Leader, but I couldn’t be lazy because there were a lot of females rivalling me for a male.”
Anika slowly slapped her Mermaid’s tale on the water and asked:
“Why are you not in there, near Bethany? You don’t like water this hot?”
“I like, and I was in there for a while, then I wanted to feel the afternoon breeze on my body. Go inside for a while and then come sit here again, you will see what I mean.”
Anika lowered her body into the water slowly, to get used to the heat. Wenammy was already there, near Pearl Pearson and still staring at Ghar. The young Rabbit-kind girls were staring at Ghar as well, but they were also looking at Wenammy’s wings, Anika’s tail and light blue nipples, and Pearl’s orange nipples, which contrasted with her light golden skin. Pearl saw one of the girls staring at her chest, and asked with a slight smile:
“You like what you see?”
The young Rabbit-kind gulped, and her sisters looked at her, wondering why she looked so flustered. She spoke with a trembling voice:
“I-I am sorry for staring… it’s that… We don’t see many Elfians, Mermaids, and Fairies… and… I was used to seeing breasts with pink nipples, but light blue, orange, or white… it’s a nice change…”
Wenammy looked below to her tiny breasts and frowned:
“I know my nipples are whiter than most Human women, but they are not completely white.”
The young girl made an awkward smile and answered, making Wenammy turn bright red:
“I think yours are extremely pretty, and they make a nice view with your multicoloured wings.”
Anika burst into laughter, making the young girl turn even redder than Wenammy:
“Ahahah! Wenammy, you got yourself a pretender! Go for it, girl, grab this Fairy and kiss her already, I think it’s what she needs to let her frustrations go, she is way too shy for my taste! Just a little teasing or a young girl admiring her, and she gets all nervous!”
The other girls burst into laughter at the awkwardness of Wenammy and the boldness of the young Rabbit-kind, with the wives of the Nobles and the Princess, looking at them from the other side of the hot pond, wondering why all that laughing.
On the other side of the fence, Alex heard the laughter and smiled. The King was near him and Viscount Tom West was in front of them, seated on a submerged rock, leaving only his head above water. The Nobles were spread near the edges, not too far away from them. The King winked towards Alex:
“They are probably talking about you. You really don’t know how lucky you are, Alex. Shinatobe, Okami, a Mermaid, an Elfian, and a Mermaid. Any of them would be a fine wife.”
Before Alex could say a thing, the Viscount spoke:
“Or he could have them all. It doesn’t happen very often, a Noble with more than two wives, but it’s not unheard of. It depends on the women, of course, but if he plays his cards right…”
Alex went down a little more and spoke with his voice muffled by the edge of the water:
“They already said that if I want, they could all be with me. Even Shinatobe said she didn’t mind… I suppose it’s only me that is having some difficulties with this situation.”
The King slapped Alex’s head, making him choke with the water up to his nose:
“You lucky bastard! How could you have difficulties with that? Unless you also made that stupid vow of chastity of your father!”
“No… I didn’t. It’s just… They seem way too much for me, you see? I don’t even…”
Alex went silent because he was about to say way more than he should. He knew that the King and Viscount Tom were aware that Alex had a life in another World, but it was never a good idea to voice out that fact without knowing who could be listening. Instead, he changed the subject and spoke in a low voice:
“I was thinking about what you said, about the Nobles that were jealous of me and the commoners that are having hard lives in their lands. I am not sure if I need to change some things or not, regarding the way I treat the Nobles.”
The King answered in a low voice as well:
“Perhaps you should start with the next phase of your plan, remember? The first phase was being successful, next was spreading the knowledge and convincing the Nobles with your results that your methods and changes work, improving the lives of everyone and not only the ones that work for you.”
Alex leaned his head on the edge of the hot pond:
“I was also thinking about that in Bouria. I saw a lot of things that I didn’t like, although the King is worried about providing a good life for his citizens. They are way behind us, in development. They produce enough food for the people, but it will be a problem if there is a long dry or two consecutive bad harvests. If it weren’t for the Magic they spend on the fields, things would already turn bad very quickly. I suppose I could disclose my methods to the lands, free of charge, forgetting about the payment of a licence, considering that I already have enough money for a nice future and I still have a lot of ways to continue earning money. With good harvests, it will also make room for a few changes in the society, perhaps making some stubborn governments change the way they treat their people, especially the commoners.”
The King raised one eyebrow:
“Wait a minute, that was phase three, influence other countries. You want to jump…”
“Yes, I think it’s better, especially with the arrival of Ghar, and finding out that Orcs are not the mindless beasts we thought until now. We must get ready for the eventuality that the Monsters settle here, for good, considering that we don’t know how to send them back, or how to prevent the Voids from appearing. With Monsters joining the population, food will be essential, especially if we want to have peace. Up until now, we kill Monsters as soon as they arrive so that they don’t kill anyone, but if they are convinced that they can live in peace in this World…”
The King completed:
“Then there won’t be a need for more fighting with the Monsters. Or at least, with some of them, because I still don’t trust Goblins or Harpies. A change like that will be very difficult because everyone is used to see Monsters as carriers of a Magical Orb.”
“Yes, but my methods don’t use Magic, or use only a little that most people are able to do, rending useless the Magical Orbs the Monsters have inside of them. It would still be necessary to kill any Goblin or Harpy that arrived, so we would still get Magical Orbs, but it would be only to prevent them from killing people instead of killing them just for the Orbs, like what happens frequently.”
The King spoke after taking a glance to the Nobles in front of him, to make sure none of them was eavesdropping:
“What we don’t know, is if that Consortium is a force to be worried about or not, but we will find out if we dig deep enough. I know that long ago, their aim was to gather as many Magical Orbs they could, while getting rid of Monsters, Elfians, Mermaids, Beast-kind… Basically, any being that wasn’t Human. They were a weird group, and they managed to stick their claws in a lot of countries. Many governments fell or changed because of them, and it was once suspected that there were more countries under their influence than free countries.”
Alex made a slight frown:
“My father told me somethings about them, but he told me to relax because they disappeared long ago, and no one ever heard from them again since they were haunted down by a group of Mage Summoners and Spirits. With the way Shinatobe spoke, I got the impression she was in that group.”
The King slowly nodded with a serious face:
“I also think she was, or at least, that she knows more than anyone around. Yahei also knew what happened, but he once told me it was so terrible, that it was better that only he and Shinatobe carried that knowledge. I never asked again because I saw the sadness in their eyes. Shinatobe discovered something so terrible, that she didn’t stop until she wasn’t sure all those weird Dark Mages were dead. She killed and tortured a lot of people while she was after the Consortium, and one day, she stopped, and no one heard from them again. Until today, that is.”
Viscount Tom West frowned, wondering what they were talking about, and the King told him what Shinatobe said in the Castle. The Viscount made a slight smile while washing his face:
“She will tell you eventually, Alex. She can’t keep things hidden from you for long, you know that. Now, relax, you worry too much when you have such a fine group like us taking care of you.”