A Nascent Kaleidoscope

Chapter 272 - 254

Chapter 272: Chapter 254

I tied my hair up with the same hair tie that I'd always used. Regardless of what outfit I wore, I couldn't seem to be without this little piece of fabric that Scáthach gave me all those years ago.

[So....you had a fun night.]

"Oh here we go." I let out a long sigh. "Just....let me have it, get it out of your system."

[Like you did to your grandmother?]

"Yup, there it is."

[Hmm, I'll save the rest for the right moment.]

"Dieeeeeeeeee." I groaned.

[Don't worry, I did already. Like how your dad's going to do when he finds out you plowed his mom.]

I dropped my head into my hands. "You done?"

[For now.] Ddraig said with ill concealed amusement in his tone.

"Great..." I said dryly, taking out Mirage and split the space in front of me. I walked through the newly formed portal right into Yasaka's office.

The beautiful Kitsune greeted me with a warm smile. "You're back."

"Got back last night." I nodded.

"Interesting, I assume you succeeded?" She asked but the look on her face said that she already knew the answer to that question.

"Yup, had to destroy a few Khaos Brigade bases to find the right one , but I found them relatively unharmed." I nodded lazily. "They're keeping it hush-hush while they keep turning over some more of those Old Satan Faction people's bases."

Yasaka had an almost feral grin form on her face. "Well, that certainly brightens my mood. Even if they weren't part of this Khaos Brigade, those Old Satan lot are detestable in their own right. No sane person would look at the original Demons and the Deceiver himself as role models."

"You'll hear no argument from me." I shrugged, remembering the idiots I dealt with. "I had to listen to the shit they spout first hand."

"And did you get to have a chat with her after the rescue?" She set her pen down, waiting for me to answer.

"Uh.....yes." I scratched my cheek.

"....what happened?"

"I added a new member to my harem." I said rather bluntly.

Yasaka blinked. "Oh. OH." She stood up with a little giggle. "So who's the new girl? Are you going to bring her around to introduce us? How did you meet, do I know her?"

"You're not upset?" I didn't think she'd be, but I wanted to gauge her feelings better.

"No, why would I be?" She tilted her head. "It's not like you're going around and sleeping with anyone that's just got a pair of boobs. If you're interested enough to bring them into your harem, then I trust your judgement. As I said before, I was well aware of what I was getting into. And I know for a fact that you're....picky in that regard."

That's true.....I know many women who are extremely attractive and haven't tried for anything with them.

"Maybe you should save that for after tell I you who ." I walked up, pulling her into a hug.

"Is it someone I don't like...?" She pushed my head into her bosom. "And you smell like you just had sex.....alot of it."

"Erm." I coughed awkwardly. "I don't think you hate her?"

"Then who –" She paused, head slowly turning to look down at me. "Wilhelm, did you fuck your grandmother."

"Yes, yes I did."

She slowly raised her hand, and pinched my cheek. "You shameless little pervert" She broke out into a laugh. "And I thought I was the horny one."

"I was seduced."

"Oh, lies and excuses." She snorted between giggles. "We both know you wouldn't let yourself be seduced unless you wanted to."

"Yeah...that's accurate. I guess I did want it and was swept up in her momentum. She came in hard and I just went along with it."

"I'm pretty sure you were the one who came in hard." The corners of her lips curled up, clearly proud of herself on that one.

I reached up and floofed her ears. "That was bad, and you should feel bad."

She playfully swatted at my hands. "So how'd that happen?"

"Rescued her, one thing led to another, she offered sexy times. I said I don't like one night stands, and she went a step further and offered to be lovers." I summarized.

"Huh.....yeah I can see that. I've met Venelana once or twice in the past, she's a very direct woman, doesn't like playing coy unless she's on someone's case." Yasaka nodded at my explanation.

"So it doesn't bother you?" I asked the important question.

"That you're in a relationship with your grandmother?" She grinned. "Not particularly, no."

"Huh." I just stared blankly at her.

"Sweetie." She cupped my cheek. "I'm a Youkai. It's going to take more than that to phase me."

"Funnily enough, Venelana said the same thing as a Devil."

"I think you're too used at looking at things as a human. Which isn't surprising considering how long you lived in ignorance for the first part of your life." Yasaka reasoned. "On a side note, Millicas should be right around Kunou's age, are you thinking about being a part of his life?"

"Maybe? I don't know, I'm still wrapping my head around everything." I finally pulled away from her chest. "I'm still a little high strung after attacking the Khaos Brigade. I think I'll just not think about it right now and maybe take a day off to relax." I idly voiced my thoughts before looking at her and stopping. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry, for what? I said I don't mind Venelana, or even new people becoming my sisters." She looked confused. "Admittedly, it is a conversation we're going to need to have about the future with everyone. I don't recall anyone saying anything about when you take in a new woman."

Yeah....that's something we need to talk about now that its sorta an established Harem and not just like -- a group of women I had together. Yasaka didn't really seemed concerned with it, but I can't assume the other's won't be different.

"I feel like.....I stepped over your spot to be with Venelana." I didn't quite know how to explain it. "I don't want you to feel like you were pushed down, I guess."

"Oh, Wilhelm." She reached out, pulling me back into a hug. "I've never felt that. I know our first interactions left a little hesitance on you, but I know you're not keeping me at arms length. I do have context, it was just after Scáthach died, you hadn't had time to cope with that and I was being very flirty, I don't fault you at all for how you acted. I haven't pushed anything myself because now I am waiting for the right moment. Believe me, I would have dragged you kick and screaming to my bed If I wanted that." I looked up and I think her cheeks turned a faint pink, hard to tell with my face still mostly in her breasts. "But I.....want it to be romantic."

I slid my hand into hers, giving it a little squeeze. "Is this a bad time to say that I'm looking forward to our date?"

She looked even more bashful at that. "....I guess we had the same thought in mind." Her eyes darted to the side.

"You're too cute." I laughed

"Mou~ Don't bully me." She puffed up. "And speaking of the date....I was going to go speak with Nurarihyon since the day is drawing near. He likes to come and participate. Would you like to meet him?"

"Meet the infamous Nurarihyon, I'd love to." I heard the stories when I was a kid, how could I not meet that infamous youkai?

"Wonderful, I am going to go in a couple days." She beamed.

"Alright, I'll make sure my schedule's clear. Are we taking Kunou?"

"Of course! That old man adores Kunou" Yasaka giggled to herself. "And he's a lot more manageable when our little fox is around."

"Ah, so it's a strategic Kunou deployment."

Yasaka looked amused by that. "Our little fox is a weapon that can't be ignored."

"Sounds like fun."

"It'll be nice to get away too. Especially on official duties." She groaned. "But that's in a couple days. Are you just going to relax for now? You should probably tell the others soon about our new harem sister."

"I will, I will." I waived off her concerns. "I'm not trying to buy time or run away or any other nonsense. Everyone is, as far as I know, busy right now and I just want to relax for a little while. I figured I'd grab some of the guys and go do something."

"Boy time?"

I shrugged. "Something like that."

Though, it's unlikely I would grab Thorum, since I hadn't told him yet. Speaking of, I should head back to Skyrim for a couple days and spend some time with my friend.

Perhaps I'd tell him at that point.

But I digressed.

"Need me for anything important?" I asked.

"No, go have fun with your friends." She shooed me away. "Some of us have work."

I laughed, sneaking a kiss on her cheek. "I'll be back later."

"See you then~" She waived a tail at me.

****

"So, not that I'm not up for this, but....why'd you call me?"

I turned towards the source of the voice. "I don't have many guy-friends." I shrugged. "And you're fun to hang out with."

"We tried to kill each other..."

"Meh."

He looked at me and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. Gods know how many times I've fought to the death with my friends in life." Achilles relaxed in some casual clothing, a fishing rod in his hand.

"Many bonds are formed through combat." Another voice spoke up. "Some can only be forged through the clashing of blades."

"Don't gotta tell me twice." Achilles agreed, reaching for a beer. "I became lifetime brothers with the other students under Chiron after beating the shit out of each other every day." He grinned, a wistful look on his face.

"Ah, I'm jealous." Sasaki Kojirou sat beside the fastest hero. "I never had such an opportunity. To perfect my swordsmanship, I rarely left the mountain I lived on."

"Didn't you just want to kill a swallow that was bothering you?"

"Indeed, a worthy adversary it was." The Swordsman nodded.

"Not the weirdest thing I've heard." Achilles wasn't even perturbed.

"Yeah, cause you're Greek."

"That's racist."

"Tell me I'm wrong." I countered.

"I never said you're wrong." Achilles laughed.

"What about you, Kairi?" I turned to my left, the freelancer was sporting a beer himself, fishing rod extended out.

It wasn't hard to convince him to come. He was....pretty trusting of me at this point, and it seemed like he didn't have anything better to do either.

"You learn who you can trust with your back quickly when you're fighting for your lives." He nodded as well.

"Too true." Achilles responded. "Enemies one day, allies the next. Friends transcend both of those. Even If you have to fight a friend, you do so with honor." He slammed his fist to his chest.

"Well said, Dragon Slayer." I grinned.

"Oh fuck you." His noble atmosphere quickly dispersed.

"Dragon Slayer?" Sasaki questioned.

Achilles groaned. "This idiot kept calling me Siegfried throughout the Grail War – and did it on purpose." He practically growled.

"It was a valid guess!"

"I used a spear!"

"And King Arthur is a woman!"

".....I fucking hate that I can't argue with that logic."

The other just laughed at his expense.

"How is the little lion doing?" The Swordsman asked.

"Doing good, we attacked some of her descendants in my birth world. They were being dumbasses, so she and Mordred set them straight." I summarized the little adventure.

"How envious."

"Eh, you didn't miss much. I beat up some guy calling himself Gawain, but he wasn't a match for a Servant." Achilles snorted. "I have fought a few fun things though, they got some neat stuff over there.

"Speaking of, I got my house anchored, you can come on over whenever you want. One of my women is the leader of half of Japan's Youkai, there wouldn't be an issue if you wanted to explore or do stuff." I made sure to extend an invitation.

"Oh, I may take you up on that offer." Sasaki looked interested. "The Witch has been talking about her friend recently. This...Atalanta?"

"Yeah, they've been dancing around that shit for awhile." Achilles side. "Sis isn't one to usually let things lay like this. Thinking that I should give her a kick in the butt to get her going."

"We all need that sometimes." I agreed. "I can pop by to see Medea and give her a heads up that Atalanta's wants to come over."

"That'd work." Achilles took a drink. "I''ll tell Sis that Medea's waiting, it'd make her hurry over."

"God knows I have to do that with Mordred when it comes to Artoria." Kairi groaned as well.

"Even Artoria needs a pep talk every now and then." I chuckled at the thought of us both having to push them together. "But they've been doing well."

"Yeah, it's been quiet." Kairi grunted, looking off into the lake we were sitting at.

"Shit, I want some action." Achilles, leaned back, his head falling to the grass.

"Well, I had something come up. Apparently, my grandmother and half-brother got kidnapped by some idiots calling themselves the Khaos Brigade."

"You need help?" Achilles shot right back up.

"My blade is yours." Sasaki followed up immediately.

"Already took care of it."

"Dick." Achilles fell back down.

Sasaki let out a sigh, setting back down. "I fear my blade shall dull at this rate."

"Oh, stop whining. My house is also connected to another world were there's dragons causing issues. If you really want, you can head over there."

"Ohoh." Sasaki has a strange glint in his eyes. "I've never tested my technique against a dragon before."

"Dragons you say?" Achilles looked interested too. "They were rare back in my time too. I only fought some wyverns, never a full blown dragon."

"If they're causing problems, does that mean Dragon Materials are on the open market?" Kairi asked.

"Oh yeah, by the droves. I even have a bunch of bones and scales in my storage." I revealed to the freelancer.

"And how strong are these dragons?" Kairi asked again, the other two leaning in.

"It varies, the weakest.....could blow away a guard tower made of stone with a shout." I paused. "The Divine Words you saw me using, that's the Dragon Language used there." I made sure to iterate.

"Hmm, maybe I should bring Mordred." Kairi rubbed his chin.

"She'd fucking love that." I snorted. "That's where Meridia's from, and I got my best friend over there. So, I can set you up if you're interested. They even have a Magic College that's open for anyone to join."

"Really?" Kairi lowered hi sunglasses. "And they just let anyone browse their books, learn all their spells and that crap?"

"Yup." I popped the end of it. "Rin's enrolled, and the Archmage – the leader of the place – has been very good to me. Suffice to say, you'll be able to go there without any issues. And they don't stop their students from learning Necromancy, but be warned, Meridia despises the raising of the dead. So you do that, and all bets are off."

"I never dabbled with that aspect of necromancy." Kairi quickly replied.

"Yeah, I know.....just wanted to make it clear."

"I haven't seen that little miss in quite a long time. How is Saber's master doing?" Sasaki looked reminiscent.

"She's significantly stronger. And she's learning how to wield a spear properly, so you can bully her if you want under the guise of sparing."

Sasaki blinked. "How fun." His eyes twinkled.

"A spear, huh?" Achilles rubbed his chin. "Think I could get some brownie points if I taught her a thing or two?"

"Sure, but what would you even want?"

"Eh, that Saber Servant of hers, King Arthur, I'd love to fight her atleast once."

I shrugged. "Artoria isn't as....maniac about it like Mordred, but she is a knight with a inclination for battle. She enjoys fighting just as much as us, she just hides it under her regal persona." Artoria liked to hide it, but she was a battle maniac like everyone else around here was. "But I think they're busy right now. Rin and Artoria are hunting down a Divine Construct, so I doubt you could pull their attention away right now."

Achilles let out a whistle. "And they are just there for the taking? I remember you had that Staff..."

"The Staff of Magnus, one of their 'gods' over there. It was in a sort of tomb-labyrinth thing and I yoinked it when I had the chance." I didn't even deny it.

"If I wasn't interested before..." Kairi muttered. "And there's stuff like that available for anyone to take?"

"If you got the luck and talent. Lots of tombs there crawling with undead and monsters that hoard treasures, that sort of thing. The culture I've experienced so far isn't much different than the Norse from the Age of Gods. Hell, Rin's gotten some other toys that many Magi would salivate for."

"Are there perhaps metals of impressive quality there?" Sasaki asked.

"Sure, I had some used in the forging of my sword." I withdrew Mirage, letting it impale the ground. "The Blade is made of a special version of an ore called – Glass. Ironic name, I know. But it's harder than steel, and many times more durable. That's not mentioning all the other metals I had added to the forging process."

"Interesting, very interesting." Sasaki looked over my blade. "I remember the first time I saw it, I can't deny the quality. Are you perhaps familiar with the smith who made it?"

"You want a sword forged?"

"I do." He didn't hide his intent. "The little miss was able to dent my sword in our fight back in the war. While it was repaired through the means of our existence, I wish for something that can withstand foes of her caliber."

"Can't fault a warrior for wanting a weapon that can keep up with me." Achilles chimed in. "I went through way too many spears before my old man passed me his own weapon. It's never failed me since."

"Yeah, I can put in a word for you. The smith was a good guy, and he's really close to my friend. They're part of this – mercenary band, really famous there. Bring him some money and the materials, he'd probably be interested in the unique design if nothing else."

"Ah, to find materials and money then." Sasaki laughed. "Well, my sword should provide for me in the meantime. If things are as you described, then I may be able to wander into some work."

"Oh, none of that. We're friends, I can help you out. You were nice enough to help me when I was lost before."

"I...will gladly accept the kindness." He smiled. "But my honor would demand that I shall pay you back."

"Oh whatever." I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you could make enough money in no time. There's no shortage of work in either world right now." I stopped as my fishing rod got tugged.

"Oh!" Achilles stood up. "You got one, hurry and reel it in."

"No you must be patient. Lure it into a false sense of security, when it is least suspecting, you must strike swiftly and decisively." Sasaki stood up on my other side.

"Do I go quick or let it swim around!?" I felt it tugging at me.

"Quickly."

"Don't alert it yet!"

"Pick one, I've never fished before!" I whined, feeling something tugging hard on my rod.

"Oh for fucks sake." Kairi stood up, walking behind me. "You've given it enough slack; the hook is obviously nice and stuck in it. Now, give it a quick tug."

I followed his advice, yanking my fishing rod back. The water splashed up as the fish kicked about.

"Good, now start reeling it in." He continued.

"It's a fighter!" I jerked the rod back again, reeling it in as the fish fought with me. Eventually, it came closer to shore, the water splashing about as it got closer until finally – "Got you, ya bastard!" I declared finally pulling it out of the water, only to immediately deflate.

"He's a fighter, huh?" Achilles looked at my catch.

"...it's not the size that matters." Sasaki laughed.

Kairi just put a hand on my shoulder.

I held the fish infront of my face, it was barely the size of my palm.

"You know what? Fuck it. It's the first time I've ever caught a fish, lets take a picture." Well, in this life at least, and knowledge regarding fishing wasn't exactly something I inherited.

I quickly took out my phone, setting it up. The other's joined in with a smile. It wasn't the ideal catch, but hey, we were having fun and I just wanted to relax for a few hours.

***

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