“Master, you’re back,” she said. “I’d like to listen too.”
“It’s Clyde. And where’s Noona?”
“Watching her anime,” Kanako said. “A new episode of some show called Hero-sama maidens something released a few minutes ago. You should’ve seen her, Master. Googly-eyed and excited.”
Clyde chuckled.
“I can only dread what she’s roleplaying.”
“She’s a strange one,” Fuyoko said as she emerged from Ming’s room, Loli Saga book in hand.
“Everyone suspiciously moved to the first floor,” Clyde said softly, but left it at that.
As soon as they were in the boardroom, the kuudere loli sat to Clyde. Natalia took his lap.
“What questions do you have for me, Lord Stone?” Naoko said, her soft loli voice seemingly caressing the room.
Clyde pat Natalia’s head as he asked the first question.
“Do you know anything significant about the Soulless family?”
Naoko blinked at him.
“Onii-sama, you should avoid getting involved with them. They claim responsibility for the extinction of all kitsunes, but it's who they follow that worries the world,” Naoko said.
“You mean the Disciple,” Clyde said.
Naoko nodded once.
“They’re the largest and most powerful dragon family in the world.” Naoko’s dual-colored eyes glistened for a bit. “Male dragons are rare these days because of the Supreme demon lord’s influence and battle. Their natural enemies did the most damage, bringing the dragons to the point of no return. Now Males are expected to have multiple mates and all-day protection.” She shook her head. “Also, they’re always trying to mate with prodigies outside their family. Through many arrangements regarding the family Heads, the Soulless continue to grow in power.”
“Well, I didn’t expect for this to be easy,” Clyde said. “Maybe…I’ll just wait until I have access to Stone Mode again.”
“You can’t use the Power, Pervy-nii?” Natalia said.
“Nope, its recharging,” Clyde replied. “Apparently what that voice did to me shot past the limits of my body.” Like a blown lightbulb, he thought.
Airi stopped taking notes on her pad.
“As much as I’d like to see the Soulless family be taken down a peg, they’re just far too many. And without Stone Mode, the elders will have a field day with you.”
“Not necessarily,” Naoko said, pointing at the purple-haired Super Druid. “My training would be pointless if they provided no results.”
“It’s my training too,” Natalia said, arms folded in a pout.
Fuyoko glanced at Kanako then at Clyde.
“You could always wish for your powers,” she said.
The genie gasped.
“My Master wouldn’t waste his last wish on such a thing.” She looked at Clyde with teary eyes. “Right?”
He sighed.
“That’s actually not a bad idea. Full control of my powers.” Before the genie could cry, he continued. “But these wishes are way too valuable to throw away on something I could achieve properly with the lolis.”
Kanako stuck her tongue out at Fuyoko. The other woman laughed.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Fuyoko said. “Just practicality.”
“One more question,” Clyde said to Naoko. The loli nodded. “Do you know of any way to cleanse the Princess Dire curse?”
“Purifying the caster is one way,” Naoko said, “but as to who it is, I do not know. Killing the princess herself is also a possibility. She’s the catalyst of the curse.”
“That’s messed up,” Clyde said.
“There is a way to weaken the curse,” Naoko said.
Natalia perked up.
“How? I’ve researched it for years.”
“Bring me a Depleted Omen’s sphere, an essence crystal, and the horn of perhaps one of the fiercest monster girls around, the chimaera.”
“Any idea how I’m going to find these things?” Clyde said.
“I can only tell you the ingredients that could weaken the curse,” Naoko said. “It is up to you to utilize the information.”
The young man couldn’t argue with that. At least the loli-witch had some hope.
“Onii-chan, it’s okay,” Natalia said. “You don’t—”
“Don’t try to change my mind, runt,” Clyde said. “I told you I’ll help and I’m not going back on that. Hell, this is the first real lead we’d ever had.”
“Don’t forget about me,” Airi said, winking. “I’ll help you find these items in no time. I wouldn’t be the number one adventurer if I couldn’t.”
Fuyoko chuckled.
“I second that, except for the number one part.” She knuckled Airi’s shoulder.
[Quest completed. Dragon business, step 2. Reward: 500,000 EXP. 100 free points. Luck potion.]
[Quest: Dragon business, step 3. Non-specifics. To be guided by Harumi, Liru, or an outside force. You will know when the time comes… This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. Reward: unknown.]
[Adventure Quest: find a depleted Omen’s sphere, an essence crystal, and the horn of a chimaera for Naoko. Reward: Weakening of Natalia’s curse. Unknown.]
“We got this, squirt,” Clyde said, patting Natalia’s shoulder. The loli laid back, but said nothing,
[Your relationship with Natalia has increased to—]
System, you’re being inappropriate again , Clyde thought. He glanced at the silent Liru, taking a mental note at her empty expression. Hearing how undefeatable the murderers of her family were, probably made the woman feel sick.
“We’ll worry about this tomorrow,” the young man said. “This meeting’s done. Let’s go see how Yuki’s progressing on that hotpot.”
Toru, Seth, Misaka, and Fumi, in human form, were just stepping into the house as Clyde and the meeting participants entered the living room.
“Mmm, is that amazing cooking I smell?” Seth said as he made his way to the kitchen. He pat Clyde’s shoulder along the way.
“Hi Clyde,” Fumi said, hugging the young man.
“Hey Fumi,” Clyde said. “It’s good to see you again.” He stepped to the side, noticing the suitcases in her man’s hands. “I’ll let Toru show you the way. Dinner should be ready within an hour.”
Fumi gave him a Japanese-style bow.
“Thank you.”
Toru nodded at Clyde in respect before helping the slime girl with her bags. Clyde still marveled at Fumi’s ability to shapeshift.
As Sazuki and Kiko walked in, the young man wondered…maybe he overdid it with Team Stone’s size. He mentally divided the harem and non-harem girls into two. There was just no way to add more. Fuck that. He didn’t give a shit what the system had to say about that.
This should make his team lead job a little easier. He also wouldn’t have to keep track of any more than he had.
He thought of the girls on Team Stone that he didn’t consider members of the harem. Not that things would always be so black and white, but the young man could cross that bridge upon arrival.
Non-harem girls: Matsume, Nina, Naoko, Undine, Fumi, Kanako, Misaka, Fuyoko, Sazuki, Kiko. Tetra, Maki, Sophia.
He thought about tossing Noona and Hinako onto that list, but he liked them. Well, he also liked Tetra, but the busty detective was probably married or something. She wasn’t official Team Stone, but definitely provided her weight to the support.
He examined the harem within his head. Alice, Harumi, Kitome, Chika, Tear, Yuki, Ming, Ruri, Melody, Airi, Natalia, Noona, Hinako.
These women shown him the most affection, support, and honestly made his life in Satovia awesome. Sure, Naomi arguably deserved a spot, and he considered her a close friend, but they didn’t spend that much time together outside of Sato academy. Maybe one or two dates at the most.
He’d honestly welcome Matsume, but decided that Ruri’s assessment took priority. If the hellhound wanted her subject to be her bodyguard and careta
ker, who was he to override that?
Maybe labeling wasn’t a good idea. This list would serve as a focus point, but not something to shun away anyone’s heart.
For all he knew, Arisa would drop her earthly mindset and dive into his arms. Pfft, yeah right. As if he’d delude himself to believe someone he hadn’t seen for ten freaking years would pull the anime childhood friend crush trope.
Abruptly, the doors swung open. Tear and her crew walked in with a rather cute orange-haired guest.
Ah shit.
Episode 54 (Part 3)
Clyde shuddered at the Gin smile curled across Tear’s face. To think his fiancée went out and caught herself a dragon. He almost voiced it, but figured this was one of those statements that sounded badass in his head, but would only cause the others to groan.
“Clyde, meet our new guest, Kimiko,” Tear said. “Kimiko, Clyde.”
Kimiko bowed slightly, tears dotting the corners of her eyes.
“Nice to me—meet you.”
Tear placed a hand on the dragon girl’s shoulder.
“We’re going to have a chat in the boardroom.”
“You mean an inter—”
“A chat,” Tear said, interrupting Natalia, Gin smile still on her face. “I may not make it to dinner on time.”
Tear quickly kissed Clyde before directing her victim to the boardroom, followed by Tetra. Hinako glared daggers at the succubus’s back. She hugged the young man, allowing him to feel more than enough boob, before following the others to the boardroom. He needed to spend some time with her.
He turned to see Harumi standing and smiled. Natalia, on his back, whacked him on the head.
“Onii-chan, no baka!”
Clyde snickered, then both he and the pink-haired girl erupted into laughter. Unfortunately, getting the loli off his back wasn’t possible—he really wanted to pull Harumi into his arms.
No, the young man couldn’t be denied this luxury.
“Let’s go check on Alice and Chika,” he said. The moment he reached for those delicate hands, Natalia swatted his.
“No hand holding! Pervy cheater nii.”
“What’s gotten into her?” Airi said.
“The usual loli shenanigans,” Clyde said, starting toward his room. Harumi and Airi followed.
“Harumi shall not be tainted by you anymore,” Natalia said.
“Little girl, I will paper fan you,” Clyde said, earning himself a nibble on his ear.
Chika and Alice were playing the Loli Saga fighting game, eyes burning with competitive rage. The multiple super-fast clicking of the controllers made the young man flinch a little. Well, the flinch was mostly due to Natalia’s squeeze of fury, before she finally hopped off his back.
“Don’t break my controllers,” she whined. Harumi sighed. He quickly used the opportunity to pull her into a hug.
“How are you feeling?” he said.
“A lot better now,” Harumi replied appreciatively, her voice nearly seductive.
“I’ve missed yo—”
Airi did her trademark throat clearing, then whispered,
“Soap opera duo, you’re kind of being watched.”
And indeed Alice, Chika, and Natalia trained their glares on him, game paused.
“What? It’s important to check on her well-being, because you know,” he said.
To his surprise, they nodded.
“That’s pretty thoughtful, pervy-nii,” Natalia said, folding her arms. “I always believed in you.”
“The words of a caring soon-to-be father,” Alice said, voice tinged with respect. “That will be passed on to all of us.”
Clyde felt his face grow hot and tried to be nonchalant. Gaining their approval, especially Alice’s, felt...incredible.
Chika walked over and hugged Harumi.
“I claim godmother,” she said. “Or wait, maybe big sis.”
Harumi giggled, hugging the girl back.
“Hey, I want to be godmother too,” Alice said, hurrying over to give her friend a hug.
Airi laughed.
“That position is already taken. You’ll have to be big sisters.”
[Your relationship with Airi has increased to friend, closer level 9, passionately interested and very curious.]
[Your relationship with Harumi has increased to Absolute Cherished, level 9.]
[Your relationship with Alice is already maxed, at Soulmate. Your chances of triggering a duo attack with anyone fighting with you has increased from 1% to 3% Duo attacks will always present chances to inflict massive damage, rare and hidden status alignments, and more. Triggering a duo attack with a wife will increase damage further and a chance to instantly KO standard enemies.]
[Your relationship with Chika has increased to beloved level 2.]
[Your relationship with Natalia has increased—]
His prompt-viewing was interrupted with the loli anime-diving into him.
“Make babies with me too pervy nii-chan!”
The others shot her a blank stare.
“I think I’d rather not see him on one of those Catch a Predator shows,” Airi said. Natalia pouted as she wrapped her arms around Harumi.
“You’re a predator,” she snarked.
“And you’re bait,” Airi quipped, while rubbing a fist into the loli’s head.
“Harumi, Airi’s bullying me,” Natalia said.
Clyde let out a breath and took a seat on the super bed.
“So who wants to get whipped?” he said, wiggling a controller. Then he regretted his words.
“Me! Wait, I’ll go get my bag of tools,” Chika said, eyes shining and brimming with stars. Clyde anime-dove into her, refusing to allow the silver-haired girl to escape.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said, laughing.
“Dog pile!” Natalia yelled.
“Wait!” But it was too late. The women piled on top of him.
Everyone laughed. Clyde’s boner shot up and Airi’s crotch was right on it. He saw her quickly cover her mouth, blushing heavily.
“What are you doing?” someone deadpanned.
They looked up at Ruri. She had a blank glare on her face. She looked as if she was about to sniff the air, but Airi interjected.
“Well it’s been fun, but I’m going to go check on that hotpot progress.”
She hurried out the room. The others slowly got off Clyde. He quickly sat up and hid his bulge under the guise of a book that happened to be on the bed. He sat the controller on top of it for good measures.
Nobody caught onto his antics, allowing the boner to safely deflate. Alice gave him a sideways glance, but nothing indicating a bust.
“I’d better go check on Ming,” Clyde said.
“She’s writing,” Ruri said. “And kicked me out.”
“Nyaa, that’s probably because she didn’t want any fleas,” Neko said, peeking her head into the room, then took off running as the hellhound chased her. Natalia roared in laughter.
“That’s a good one,” the loli said, wiping a tear from her eye. “Why didn’t I come up with that?”
Clyde shot her a Toru-approved blank stare.
“Don’t come crying to me when she bites your head off.”
“I should glue you to the ceiling for the rest of the night,” Alice said then strolled off.
Clyde laid back. Natalia almost straddled him, but his mystic senses allowed the young man to dodge at the last second.
“It’d be years before you can catch me, kid,” he said with a chuckle, then stood. “Let’s go make sure the hound hasn’t slain the pussy.”
Now it was Harumi’s turn to shoot the young man a blank stare. He shrugged.
“My jokes can be an acquired taste for this world,” he said.
“Uh-huh,” Harumi replied skeptically.
When they made it back to the front room, they found Ruri and Neko on their knees while Yuki glared daggers at them.
“You will stay like that until the food is ready.”
�
��This is all your fault, cat,” Ruri hissed.
“Nyyaa, you’re the one who almost knocked her over, hound,” Neko retorted in the same hushed voice.
“If you bring dishonor to this house again, I’ll have you commit seppuku,” Ako said, “or beat you with a punishment crop. Grandmother has already given me purrrmission, nya.”
The entire room doused into silence.
“And you cringed at my jokes,” Clyde said to Harumi. The pink-haired girl softly facepalmed.
**
Early Evening…
Corpolanis, Terravon…
Chiyo cheerfully marched to her little sister’s apartment door, grocery bag filled with snacks and anime DVDs. She couldn’t wait to spend more quality time with her precious orange-head. Ami would be a little angry, she did trick the middle sister into taking over hosting duty. Ah, what a small price to pay just to get Kimiko hooked onto Hero-sama and the Maidens of Justice. She’d try Loli Saga next. Both shows were adapted from the mangas, written by the same author. Hero-sama was one of Ming’s earliest works, but it didn’t get published until months after the Loli Saga exploded into popularity.
Chiyo frowned when she noticed the door unlocked. She taught each of her sisters the meaning of responsibility. Leaving doors slightly open for burglars wasn’t in the lessons.
When she didn’t find Kimiko inside, a burst of worry coursed through her veins. Her precious sister was a beautiful young girl. What if stalkers got to her? What if she was currently being raped and tortured endlessly? What if…
Chiyo pushed away these thoughts. As if a dragon would succumb to such mortal misfortunes. The bad feeling the woman had did not go away.
She closed her eyes, tapping into her sister’s draconic magic trail. She was… Oh no. Fifty miles away. Right where the Kitsune lives. And there could be more.
Boiling utter rage blasted into Chiyo. No one would hurt her sister and live to tell the tale. She dashed outside and transformed into her full dragon form. She’d kill anyone who dare hurt her precious orange-head.
10.The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #10 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 16