Build-A-Harem- The Island Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “Not really, no,” I chuckled, “well, unless there’s a city or something that I haven’t found yet. What about you though, Fern? Do you want to join up?”

  “Honestly?” Fern replied without looking away from the fire, “Get me some fruit and we’ll talk about it.”

  “Fair enough.” I said before looking back to Cassie, “So, you want to take a crack at building a harbor?”

  “As long as I can get your help, of course.” Cassie sort of grunted as she got up and joined Jesse and me away from the fire, “Well, your Toolbox’s help.”

  “I figured that’s what you meant,” I chuckled, “not exactly built for… building.”

  “You can say that again…” Jesse muttered jokingly before turning towards the jungle to our right and starting to walk, “I’ll take you guys over to the harbor site, then I’ll come back here and keep Fern company.”

  “I’m alright,” Fern called after us as we followed Jesse into the jungle, “I think I’ll just take a quick nap in the house!”

  And that’s when I got a refresher of just how small the island was as before Fern could even finish her sentence we reached the waterway I’d had to cross on my first little tour.

  We were a ways inland and it was a lot darker given the time of night, but it was definitely the place and, as with the jetty, a series of blue outlines were marking the areas where certain structures had to be built.

  “What you’re seeing are the most basic designs,” Jesse said, noticing that I was looking between all the outlines with Cassie, “Cassie here should be able to help you make them better. Far better. Right, Cassie?”

  “Right,” Cassie replied with a confident nod, “just as long as Dax can listen.”

  “Hey, of course I’ll listen,” I chuckled, “I’m still pretty new to all this stuff, so I’ll take all the help I can get.”

  “I sure hope you keep that mindset when I start getting pissed off.” Cassie said, leaving me to wait for a punchline that never came.

  “Alright,” I finally breathed out after a few seconds of silence, “where do you suggest we start?”

  “Mouth first,” Cassie replied, putting on a professional voice, “then we’ll work our way inland.”

  I wanted to make a joke, but she was already gone, A, and B I didn’t really think she’d appreciate it.

  “First day,” Jesse chuckled as we lingered for a while, looking up and down the waterway, “what do you think, reckon you’ll stick around?”

  I let out an amused huff at that and shrugged, “Yeah, why not? I think it’ll be fun.”

  “Only think? C’mon, try and tell me that this hasn’t been, at the very least, one of the most interesting gaming experiences of your life.”

  “Maybe, maybe not, won’t know for another day or two.” I replied, making no effort to hide the fact that I was messing around with him, “I’ll tell you what though, it definitely surpassed my expectations, especially with the crafting.”

  “Ah, everything has some kind of crafting these days,” Jesse said as if he was referencing yet another thing that I didn’t fully remember, “but yeah, this place has some pretty cool lore and stuff, to the point where even I, a Meta construct of the game, am not privy to all the information.”

  “That or you’re deliberately withholding,” I lightheartedly accused, “seriously though, thank you for helping me stick with it this far, I’m looking forward to seeing what else this island has to offer.”

  “Island?” Jesse scoffed, “Kid, there’s a big ol’ world out there waitin’ for you to explore it. Wizards, dragons, fights in outer space, and fights with wizards riding dragons in outer space.”

  “That seems like… a lot.” I chuckled, “Do you think I’m ready?”

  “Now? Fuck no, but give it a few months, maybe a little while longer, and I reckon you’ll be ready to command a super-class harem frigate across the stars.” Jesse said, building up my excitement before looking towards the ocean, “For now though it might be a good idea just to focus on what’s right in front of you.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “A pissed off sixth generation dwarf who is growing increasingly impatient.”

  I didn’t even give him the chance to finish his sentence before running after Cassie as fast as I possibly could, trying to block out the fact that she looked to be almost literally fiery with rage.

  Yeah, I wasn’t giving my harem the best start, but hey, it was only the beginning, and I had a long, long, long road ahead of me, and I was sure I was going to screw up way worse than simply pissing off one member.

  Not long after that I would be aggravating pirates, orcs, and starting a… heh, spoilers.

  END VOL.1

  BUILD-A-HAREM

  MERCHANTS

  ZACHARIAH DRACOULIS

  CHAPTER 1

  The mid-morning light had just decided to grace us with its presence when Cassie and I put the finishing touches on our harbor, bringing a welcome warmth after the hours of bone-chilling winds that had been channeling their way across the water throughout the night.

  “Still can’t believe we managed it.” I chuckled as I wiped some sweat off my brow and looked over the decent wooden structure we’d constructed in what I assumed was the heart of the island.

  We’d basically just made a wider, sturdier, and overall better version of the jetty with spaces to drop a bridge and a few vertical logs that could be used to tie off a ship.

  Naturally, it wouldn’t take a massive ship, maybe a schooner at best, but Cassie was confident that, given the water depth, we’d be able to get a frigate all the way in once our harbor was up to scratch.

  “I can’t believe it either,” Cassie scoffed after a few seconds before giving the dock beneath our feet a good kick, “you’ve got softer hands than an elf.”

  “That’s racist,” Fern remarked as she came up behind us, “I’m sure I could craft something equally adequate given half the time.”

  “Go on then,” Cassie goaded, “we need to extend this ‘ere dock about fifteen feet.”

  Fern’s face drooped at that, but she was quick to hide it, “Alright, as long as I get the Creator’s help.”

  “The Creator has a name, you know.” Cassie said before I could, “And it’s not his job to bail you out when you can’t cash checks your mouth writes.”

  That’s when Jesse, much to my relief, decided to saunter over from where he’d been in the forest and interject, “As much as I love seein’ two ladies gettin’ along as you are, I think it’s time I had a quick chat with our Creator here.”

  “Aren’t I supposed to be extendin-”

  “She’s screwin’ with Fern, Dax,” Jesse chuckled, “seriously, c’mon, I’ve got something to show you over by the shoreline.”

  After getting a nod of confirmation and a smile from Cassie, I turned away from the dock and followed Jesse who, before I’d turned around, had already practically disappeared into the jungle, going in the rough direction of the house.

  Now, just to quickly clarify, I didn’t need approval from Cassie to leave, it was just that I’d thought we’d finished building about a dozen times by that point, and each time it had been more of a chore to discover that we weren’t done.

  “What’s up?” I asked once I’d caught up with Jesse who had made it all the way to the beach because apparently I was slow as Hell.

  “Just wanted to show you why building that harbor was so important.” Jesse replied, jutting his head out towards the ocean, “Have a look.”

  It took a few seconds of searching before I managed to spot what he was referring to.

  “Is that a pirate ship?” I practically giggled as I watched the ship slowly glide across the horizon line.

  “No,” Jesse sighed, “just because it’s a boat with sails doesn’t mean it’s pirates.”

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t pirates.” I replied with a chuckle that kind of took the wind out of me, “Sorry, there wa
s a lot more heavy lifting than I was expecting.”

  “There shouldn’t have been,” Jesse replied concernedly, “did Cassie make you carry stuff while I was away?”

  “Well, yeah, she said that it…” I trailed off as I realized that I’d been conned, “Oh…”

  “Yeah,” Jesse huffed amusedly, “Dax, friend, you’ve gotta stop bein’ such a pushover.”

  “We can work on that later,” I said, not liking the idea of doing any more introspection than I was already doing, “for now let’s focus on getting that pirate ship over here. Why’s it not coming over?”

  “Doesn’t know there’s a place to stop,” Jesse replied matter-of-factly, “you can put up all the fancy ‘Welcome’ signs you want, but they’re probably just goin’ to assume that this place is abandoned and move on.”

  Unsurprisingly, that ticked me off a bit.

  “Then why did you make me build it if it was just going to be a huge waste of time?” I snapped, “Seriously, what the Hell?”

  “Okay, two things. One, I didn’t force you to build anything, that was Cassie,” Jesse jabbed with a little grin, “and two, it’s not a waste of time. Just because they don’t know you’re here yet doesn’t mean we can't show ‘em.”

  “And how am I supposed to let them know that the island isn’t deserted?” I asked somewhat sardonically, “Should I just start jumping around flailing my arms like a lunatic?”

  “I mean, couldn’t hurt, and it’d definitely be good for a laugh,” Jesse replied before pausing and letting a little smile grow across his lips at the thought of me doing that, “but no, I think it’d be better if you just went ahead and lit a signal fire.”

  “I can help with that.” Fern said, again basically appearing behind us.

  “Why’re you over here?” I asked, pretending that I hadn’t just basically jumped out of my skin.

  Fern shrugged and loosened her ponytail slightly, “Cassie was being a bit of a bitch, so I figured I’d just let her go ahead and do her own thing for a while.” she replied with a somewhat venomous tone, “Anyway, yeah, I can help you get a signal fire going.”

  “How?”

  “Wood elf magic,” Fern said before subconsciously running her finger over the slightly pointed ear that had been revealed after adjusting her hair, “it won’t cook or burn anything seeing as it’s basically just an illusion spell, well, enchantment really, but it’ll be enough to let them know that there are people here.”

  For a few seconds there I was just left to be dumbfounded by what she’d said, mostly because I had no idea that she had any magical ability.

  Yes, I realize now that that would’ve been a great time to scan her, but I’d just spent the night building a damn harbor, so cut me some slack.

  “Won’t you need food to get the energy to do that?” I finally managed to ask, “I mean, I assume that it takes it out of you.”

  “Does a bit,” Fern replied with a half-hearted nod, “but realistically all I’ll need to do is put a few sigils on a rock and then stick it somewhere the boat will be able to see.”

  “I might have a place.” I said before gesturing for both Fern and Jesse to follow.

  “Ah,” Jesse let out as we got to the mouth of the waterway where I stood, pointing proudly at the two ornate pillars on either side of the water, “this is what you two were doing over here.”

  “Yep,” I replied, “Cassie wanted to set up a boom gate or something, but I figured dragon poles were way cooler.”

  “And more useful as it would seem…” Fern trailed off under her breath, “Alright, I’ll get the signal fires going, one rock per pillar, and you go and get me some food.”

  I went to accept and go and do her bidding, but then I noticed Jesse’s mocking expression.

  “Or,” I said as confidently as I could, fighting the urge to stand with my hands on my hips like Peter fucking Pan, “you could do this, then I’ll get you food.”

  I recognize now that that wasn’t the best thing to say to a person with low blood sugar and a very empty stomach, but it wasn’t until Fern turned to face me with a level of anger that I honestly didn’t think she was capable of that I decided that it was for the best for me to turn tail and go get the fruit without saying another word.

  Again, I’m not whipped or anything els… Okay, so maybe that time I was a little bit whipped, but can you blame me?

  She was short and pissed off, and my experiences had led me to believe that was a surefire recipe for getting slapped silly and possibly copping a knee in the crotch.

  The nightclub scene was difficult for me.

  CHAPTER 2

  “That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.” Jesse laughed as he pattered across the sand beside me, struggling to maintain my pace as I moved for the house and the garden.

  “You’re the one who told me to not be such a pushover.” I snapped in response after nearly tripping over a particularly thick root almost as soon as I’d gotten into the jungle.

  “Yeah, don’t be such a pushover, that doesn’t mean deliberately antagonize the hungriest person on the island.” Jesse chuckled, stifling a curse as his tail got caught on something and he was forced to double his speed in order to catch up with me.

  “Whatever, dude.” I replied dismissively as I reached the house before spotting the garden, “Oh… oh wow…”

  “Fertile land,” Jesse clarified after I’d walked around the fire pit and started looking over the vibrant, purple fruit covered bush that had sprouted overnight, “yet another benefit of this place.”

  “You can say that again.” I chuckled after scanning one of the weird, almost alien-looking fruits, “It says I’ve unlocked some more recipes?”

  “I’m guessin’ you can get better fruit by refining these ones,” Jesse replied, pretending that he didn’t know exactly what it meant and what I could do with it, “use the seeds to grow stuff that’s more valuable and whatnot.”

  “Heh, cool.” I said before spawning in a satchel over my shoulder and filling it with the fruit, any and all semblance of frustration with Jesse having washed away almost as soon as I’d seen the garden.

  “What’s that for?” Jesse asked once I’d given the bag a quick weigh and started back towards the beach.

  “Figured she’d respond well to me giving her a whole bag full of the stuff instead of one at a time,” I replied, “give her a bit more control as to how much she eats and when.”

  Jesse seemed mildly confused by that for a few seconds, but eventually gave me a nod, “Glad to see that you’re really not running this like some kind of sex slave den.”

  “Why would I?” I asked, genuinely thrown by the statement.

  “I don’t know,” Jesse replied with a shrug, “just interesting to see what you do when you’re given absolute power.”

  “It’s not though, is it?” I scoffed.

  “It kind of is,” Jesse said like he didn’t really want to tell me, “these girls are just reacting to how you’re behaving. You respond well to being a pushover, they keep treating you like a pushover, but at the same time if you ruled with an iron fist… well, let’s just say that they’d operate under those parameters too.”

  “That doesn’t really seem right, you know, given the fact that they were more than happy to negotiate rather than submit.”

  “That’d be because the game had you figured out before you set foot in here,” Jesse halfheartedly chuckled, “I mean, it’s still a surprise to me and all, but the truth is that the neural net is one Hell of a thing.”

  Luckily we managed to get within earshot of Fern before my brain decided to have a mini-meltdown due to Jesse constantly playing fast and loose with the undeniable immersion and total lack thereof.

  “Got you that fruit,” I called over after Fern had placed the second fiery rock atop the pillar closest to me and started climbing down the etchings, “whole bunch of it too, figured you could use i-”

  I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Fer
n lost her footing about halfway down the fifteen-foot-high pole and, without wasting a second, I leaped forward and caught her.

  It wasn’t a massive distance, Fern might’ve had a nasty bruise if she’d fallen from the full height, but she was looking up at me like I’d saved her life.

  “T-thank you.” Fern huffed out, her lungs apparently having been emptied when I caught her.

  “No problem.” I replied as her vibrant green eyes stared up at me, acting like catching her didn’t make my arms feel like they’d practically snapped.

  Honestly, at that point I was just grateful that she was as light as she was, so when, out of the blue, she leaned up and kissed me you can imagine how surprised I was.

  “I think… I think I’ll go ahead and leave you two alone for a while,” Jesse chuckled as Fern’s fingers found their way up to my hair, “shout if you need me.”

  “Mmhm.” I replied, my mouth not exactly in a position to form proper words.

  After I was sure my lizard friend was well away, I started to really focus on the kiss which, naturally, meant that I started to screw little things up, knocking my teeth against her, realizing that her weight was starting to bear down on me, that sort of thing.

  Beyond all the little problems came the surprisingly sweet taste of her lips and tongue, her diet of solely fruit apparently having permanently altered her saliva’s flavor.

  And then we broke apart, Fern smiling and biting her lower lip as we did so.

  “That was… surprising,” I chuckled, “thank you?”

  Fern giggled at that a little then shook her head lightly, “No problem. You can put me down now.”

  “Oh, oh yeah, right.” I stammered out before setting her down on the sand and, with an almost aggressive amount of jerkiness, pulled the satchel off and stuffed it in her hands, “I was just coming back because I had the fruit.”

  Unsurprisingly, Fern was slightly taken aback by the forceful offer of food, but she quickly shook that off and took the bag happily, “Thank you… Again. You want to sit with me? We can watch the ship come in.”