The Guild Master's Harem

by Alexis Ward

  The Guild Master's Harem

  By Alexis W. Ward

  Chapter 1

  The package I had expected for weeks had finally arrived. A new VR headset that provided a sense of full body immersion, and shipped with a new game, called Kingdom of Dersca, the first game of it’s time to offer time-dilation features. Rumor had it that a minute of real life could contain months of in game time. I carried the package from the front door of my apartment into my bedroom.

  I laid the box down next to my old VR rig on the bedside table. I paused to order a pizza delivery on my phone, then tore into the box. As expected, there was the headset, similar to my old one, shaped like a welder’s mask, but shiny and chrome. My hands tore at the packaging till it was free, then I plugged it into the wall socket so it could go through it’s first power on cycle and connect to the internet.

  In the bottom of the box was the game. I withdrew it and opened the large collector’s edition box and dug my way past the guidebook, a pack of stickers and other promotional material till I fished out the game’s actual cartridge, no bigger than my thumbnail. I slotted it into the appropriate place on the new VR headset and checked the clock on my bedroom wall. Twenty seven minutes till my pizza was delivered, give or take.

  I stared at both VR helmets on the table, old and new, along with the manual for the new headset. Hmm, I should probably read the manual, but the back of the box said that the in game AI would be able to answer most questions about gameplay. The game was also advertised as being highly detailed and intuitive, almost HUDless. Fuck it, why not. I put the new headset on and laid down on my bed. IT took about ten seconds for the gel on the inside of the headset to conform to my face, after that it was comfortable and felt as though it weighed next to nothing.

  I felt disoriented as the sensations of my body dropped away. I’m unsure how much time passed. I floated in nothingness and tried to remain calm. Eventually, I heard a female voice in the dark, “Welcome to the Kingdom of Dersca. While the visuals adjust to your eyes, please answer some questions to help us better tune the gameplay experience to your preferences. Do you wish to play as a boy, or a girl?”

  “Boy.” I said.

  “Excellent. Be aware that in the Kingdom, NPCs and Players are not distinguishable from one another. Barring high level magic, an entity who dies in this game cannot be returned to life.`` the female voice said, “Races are purely cosmetic. Do you wish to be human, or something else?”

  Okay, death is serious. Not your average game then. “Uh, human I guess?”

  The voice chuckled. “No guessing. You must choose.” she said.

  “Human then.”

  A bell sounded somewhere in the darkness. I couldn’t feel my arms or legs. “Excellent. You have chosen human male. As this is launch day, you will be placed in a zone no player has seen before, populated and influenced by the data I’ve gathered from your internet browsing history.” she said.

  “Wait, my internet history? How did you--”

  She spoke again and interrupted me. “Company secret. Didn’t you read the terms and conditions in the manuals? Regardless, by launching the game, you’ve agreed to them. Anyway, next question. Do you like girls, or boys? Sexually. I am fairly certain I know the answer, but I have to follow protocol here.” she stated.

  “Girls, wait, is this some kind of dating sim?” I asked. The box blurb hadn’t mentioned anything like that.

  She ignored my question. “Excellent choice. Populating your corner of the Kingdom now.” There was a pause and I could hear gears grinding in the distance. “As a reward for purchasing the Limited Edition Ultimate Collector box set, you may make one wish. Please bear in mind the terms and conditions which you agreed to earlier and word your wish carefully.” the disembodied female voice said.

  Oh damn. The terms I hadn’t read were really going to bite me here. Normally in a game, I might ask for a magic item, or a level up, or something else that would give me and edge at the start of the game. But all I knew about this game was the blurb from the back of the box, “The most realistic and immersive fantasy medieval simulated VR experience of all time.” The rest of the box was in game art, which looked nice, but wouldn’t help me here. What to wish for?

  “I wish I had a guidebook for this game.” I said.

  “Excellent Choice. Don’t be alarmed but you’ll be waking up in your bed at a local Inn now. Your wish has been granted! My name is Oni, I am the administrative AI, you may contact me at any local temple of Oni. Good luck!” she said cheerily.

  Chapter 2

  I woke up to the smell of smoke and the sensation of being shaken back and forth rapidly. “Open your eyes dammit! Wake up! Hey, listen! Bandits! And the Inn is on fire! I’ll never get a promotion or a raise from the Guild if you die here! I can’t help you if you sleep to death in a burning building--”

  I opened my eyes. A short young woman with pink hair, red eyes, and large triangular ears atop her head was straddling me and had a firm grip on both of my shoulders with her hands. She wore a tight vest which was V-cut and gave me a full view of her ample cleavage. “Uh-- fire?” I said, 90% of my mind lost in the depths of her breasts. I could feel a bulge in my pants and given her open mouthed expression and the darkening of her face, and the brush of her leg against my cock, so could she.

  She rolled off of me, tumbled gracefully to the floor and sprang to her feet. A long pink tail poked out from under her skirt and it swished slowly back and forth. “You don’t know what fire is? Nya! I’ve been assigned to a clueless idiot! Fire is--” she cried.

  I sat up. “Stop stop, I know what fire is!” The room contained two beds, a few lit candles, two backpacks on the floor, and a window through which I could see what looked like a portion of a town being burned to the ground with people fighting with swords and spears in the streets. Lastly was the one door that led out of here. And of course, this catgirl person, this short, heavy breasted catgirl person.

  She rolled her eyes and stomped her foot once. “Then why didn’t you say so, the fire will spread here soon, so we gotta go!” she said as she shouldered one of the backpacks.

  I got out of bed and found that I was wearing blue cotton pants and a frilly white dress shirt. There was a jacket atop the other backpack. I put it on and it fit me perfectly. I shouldered the remaining backpack, it had to be mine, right? Then I looked back to the girl, then down to her breasts, and further down to her tail that peeked out at the bottom of her skirt. “Heyo, I have a face. It’s up here. Have you never seen a beastkin before? I’m only like 3% cat, just have ears and a tail, yeesh.” she said. I ran my eyes back up her body, lingered for half a second on the curve of her waist, then looked into her red eyes.

  “My name is uh, let’s go with Marcus.” I said.

  “Oookay, let's-go-with-” she started.

  “No no, just Marcus. Marcus. Okay?”

  “Marcus. Got it. My name is Zemma--”, a spear thrown from the street below crashed through the glass window and impaled itself in the hardwood floor a few inches from her feet, “--ksir! Kya! I’ve been assigned to write a guidebook for the Adventurer’s Guild! An expert was supposed to meet me at this room to assist me, that would be you right? Come on! We gotta get away from here!” before I could respond she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me through the door into the hallway. With her in the lead we ran down a flight of stairs, into a large room filled with overturned tables, chairs, and a few corpses that looked pretty fresh. Here I stopped. Zemma yanked on my arm for a half a second till she realized she couldn’t move me if I didn’t want to move. She grabbed my hand with both of hers and took a deep breath. I assumed she was simply going to try and pull harder.

  “Stop stop. Think Zem--w
hatever your name is. You said bandits, right? And we saw people fighting in the streets.” I asked.

  She froze mid inhale and let out a deep breath. “Zemmaksir! And yeahnya, bandits. Which is why we need to get out of town and run as far away as possible right now!

  I sighed and tugged my hand free of hers. “Right, but if, if we had to fight, do you have weapons for both of us? Or yourself even?” I asked. My backpack felt pretty light. I doubted it contained anything that would hold up in combat.

  Her expression changed to one of horror briefly, then she twitched her cat ears and drew something from her sleeve with a flourish. She held the fountain pen above her head, and a bit of ink dripped onto the floor. “The pen is mightier than the sword-nya!” she exclaimed.

  I resisted the urge to use this moment to appreciate her body with my eyes. Instead I knelt down and turned over the nearest corpse. He had a knife on his belt, which I took and added to my own belt. “Well, if I have to stab someone, I’d rather have a knife than a pen.” I said.

  Zemma frowned and tucked the pen back in her shirtsleeve. “Hmph. You’re the boss, oh hero. But I’m a scholar. No weapons training to speak of, that being what you’re for. Can we go now?” Her tail twitched anxiously. I heard a shout and the clash of metal on metal outside, it sounded nearby.

  “Sure. I’ll have you know I’m no hero though. Let’s go.” I said as I stepped toward the main door of the Inn. I paused and looked back as Zemma grabbed onto my shirt sleeve again.

  “Maybe, but you’re all I’ve got and I don’t want to die-nya!” she said as she squeezed close and wrapped me in a hug. Her breasts squeezed against my forearm and my loins flamed with arousal.

  Then the front door of the Inn slammed open with a crash. Zemma yelped, let go of me, then hid behind me all in one fluid motion. A burly man who wore a breastplate with a skull and crossbones bandanna around his neck stepped into the doorway. He held a large sword in both hands which was smeared with blood. “Ey boys! We missed a couple the first time through here! I see a beastkin still alive an’ twitchin and she’s quite lovely!” he shouted.

  The he locked eyes with me. “You’re between me and what I want, bud. Leave that girl for me o play with en’ I won’t gut ya.” he grunted as he gripped his sword with both hands. The bandit roared and charged towards me before I could think of a witty response. Zemma let out a high pitched scream and cowered behind me. No time to think, I drew my knife and crouched low as the bandit rushed toward me with his sword held high.

  The bandit’s battlecry slowed and distorted into a drawn out “Auuuuuurrrrr--” sound and Zemma’s screech lilted so high that it hurt my ears as it faded to silence entirely. The bandit seemed to slow down, like he was running through molasses. He moved forward at a glacial pace, not quite frozen completely. I looked back, Zemma seemed to be under the same strange effect. I tried to speak but all that came out was a noise like a fly buzzing. The words SKILL ACTIVATED scrolled across my vision in tiny letters, as though it was written atop my eyeballs. Strange. A system message? What skill, exactly? The bandit managed another step toward me. He had about six more to go.

  Time really had slowed down for everyone except me it seemed. I assumed this sort of passive ability wouldn’t be something I’d start with, but I wasn’t about to complain. TEN SECONDS REMAIN scrolled across my vision. I assumed it referred to the slow-down effect. I sprinted toward the bandit as I drew my knife, then drove the blade into his eye. There was a slight resistance, then it pierced through as though his eye and the grey matter behind it were wet paper.

  I withdrew the knife, wiped it on the bandit’s pants leg, then walked back over toward Zemma, still frozen with her eyes shut tight and her mouth open in a soundless scream. I blocked her view of the bandit with my body, I wasn’t sure what exactly would happen to that bandit, but it probably wouldn’t be pretty and she needn’t see it. Though I was curious to see it myself.

  As I turned around time suddenly snapped back into normal speed. A gush of blood erupted from the bandit’s face, he tripped over his own feet and then fell to the floor, quite dead. Zemma’s scream cut off suddenly and she eyed me, her eyes wide. I became aware as I looked down at her that her face was within arms reach of my groin.

  “You--- you, you moved so fast. How?” she asked. One of her fur covered ears atop her head twitched.

  “No idea, it just kinda happened.” I resisted my base urges and instead held out a hand to help her to her feet.

  She looked at me, down to my hand, then she noticed the slowly rising bulge of my cock in my pants, despite my best efforts not to think about how cute and attractive she looked, especially when she was on her knees in front of me. She scampered backward and bumped her head into a table. “Uuuummm.” she rubbed her head as tried to stand up.

  I knelt down, grabbed her hand and tugged it gently. “Come on, I can still hear fighting outside.” I said. She nodded and bounced to her feet.

  I dipped down toward her as she stood and planted a small kiss on her forehead on a whim, just to see how she would react. Her face flushed red and she smiled. “Wh-- that. That didn’t happen. Nope, let’s go!” she said and then we went out the door and she led me down dark alleyways until we reached the outskirts of town. We avoided anyone we saw, always taking the long and winding route. Zemma seemed to know her way around the town quite well.

  Chapter 3

  The edge of town was a mixture of farmland, rolling hills, and patches of forest. It was in one of these forests that we decided to hide out for the night. As we sat down on a fallen log in the moonlight Zemma sat out of arm’s reach, her tail curled around one leg. She shivered. “Do you think they’ll find us out here?” she whispered.

  “Dunno, probably not. If anyone of ill intent comes this way, they’ll probably target a farmer's house, I hope.” I said. The temperature had dropped rapidly. My backpack was at my feet. I opened it. Huh, not quite empty. There was a leather waterskin in the bottom. I lifted it, pulled off the cork and took an experimental sip. Water. I offered it to Zemma, she took it and drank a few gulps, then passed it back to me.

  “Good. Thanks.” she said as she dug around in her backpack.

  “Yeah, sure. It’s just water.” I said as I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to not lose precious body heat. Dying from hypothermia would be a lame way to end my adventures.

  “No, I mean earlier. That bandit, I wouldn’t have-- on my own--” she stopped messing with her bag and started to cry.

  Oh no. What’s appropriate here? Are there cultural norms? Crying girls are not my forte. I steeled myself mentally and resisted the urge to cry along with her. Instead I scooted closer and reached out to pat her on top of her head.

  My hand made contact with the top of her head, right between her large cat ears. She froze for a moment then shuddered as tears continued to stream down her face. WIth no better ideas, I ran my hand through her hair and down to the base of her neck repeatedly. Her hair was silky soft and free of tangles. It felt like touching a cloud.

  After a short while of this, Zemma got more quiet until I could just see the moonlight reflected in her tears. I slid a little closer and wiped her face with my shirt sleeve. “I’m reasonably certain we’re safe here, at least from bandits. Freezing to death is a real possibility at this rate though. Maybe we could try one of the farmhouses, see if they’ll take us in?” I suggested.

  Zemma shook her head. “No, no more humans today. They’re terrible.” she whispered.

  I put my hand back on top of her head and gave her ears an experimental scratch. She purred slightly in response. “But I’m human, you know.” I said.

  She pushed her head against my hand, a nudge with no real force behind it. “You’re an exception. More please. But first let me--” she didn’t finish her sentence, instead she bent down and dug around in her backpack, from which she produced two blankets. One fuzzy and soft looking, the other coarse and canvas-like. She hopped up and spread the coarse
one on the ground, then laid the warmer looking one over the top of it. “See, we don’t need to go begging for a spot by a fire, we have blankets!” she purred.

  I looked out into the distance, where far away a portion of the town still smouldered. I’d saved one person, but well, maybe it wasn’t my responsibility to save everyone. Like I’d told Zemma earlier, I was no hero. I turned back toward her when she tugged on my shirt sleeve. “I’m cold, we can both fit under the blankets if you don’t mind sharing.” she whispered. Her red eyes seemed to glow in the dark slightly. Then she got up and curled under the blanket, her backpack served as a makeshift pillow. I was acutely conscious of how much colder it felt without her pressed against me.

  I stood up and positioned my backpack next to hers to use as a pillow then crawled under the blanket, I laid down with my back toward Zemma. A short while after I closed my eyes I felt very very warm and wiggled out of my coat. I stuffed it under my head as extra padding. As I settled back in and tried to get comfortable, I felt Zemma snuggle up against my back.