Chapter 16: Chapter 11: Reconciliation

"The way I see it you have two choices. The first is you can continue trying to take my head, destroying yourself and all you stand for in the process, on the slim chance that they don't kill you."

I bent down letting the blade slide deeper into my neck. It hurt like a motherfucker, but I couldn't let it show on my face. If I could pull this off then that would solve most of my problems.

Alex was trembling. She was desperate. Who wouldn't be? It wasn't her fault that her men had died, nor was it her fault one of them sided with the bandits. 

At heart she was still a woman with a whole life ahead of her, even if it was just one of killing.

"Or... You can let me give you a way out."

'Is everything ready?'

(Yes. I am sending the request now.)

"I know you have reached the limit of your talents. I am offering you a way to push past that, and soar to heights you only ever dreamed of. To sweeten the pot I'll even bet that you will get stronger without even training, or using Mana Shards. And beyond that I can guarantee at least ten of your men are still alive.

By this point Alex had lowered, and even dropped her sword. Bitter tears streamed down her face but not even once did she break eye contact with me.

"What the hell do you mean? I am not in the mood for your jokes."

"Do I look like I'm joking? It's not common that I lie about things like these."

[Party Request sent]

[Awaiting answer from Alexandra Hart]

"You have ten seconds to decide."

After a brief moment of silence Alex spoke again. "What is the price I must pay?" She's always been quick on the uptake.

"You will give up your position as Commander and instead serve me. I can guarantee your men are alive but you will no longer lead them. Five seconds left."

'Charm'

[Success!]

Alex rested her forehead on my chest, bending slightly to do so since we were almost the same height.

"I hate you..."

"You can hate me until the day you die. But don't you dare let that day come anytime soon."

As the clock struck zero Alex spoke.

"Fine... But if you are deceiving me I truly will have your head."

[New Party Member: Alexandra Hart]

I did feel kind of bad for deceiving her. After all she wasn't wrong to assume I was a demon.

[Race: Human, (Sealed)]

Pyra explained it like this. Every god has a race of some kind, since godhood was a state of being, and not a race. Which meant a god of water is most likely a mermaid or something, and a god of war was most likely an Einherjar or something. As for gods of fire... Well Pyra said that even she was a demon, and that I only saw her human form. Odds were I would one day become one as well.

'Put two points into her strength.'

She must have immediately felt the difference because she looked up at me with a face that screamed 'what the hell?'

"H-how?" It was obvious Alex didn't know what to say, so she said the only thing she could.

"The 'how' doesn't matter. What does matter is that you made the right choice. If you don't see any other improvements within the next month you can consider our deal null and you can do whatever you want with me. Kill me, make me a slave, doesn't matter."

I slipped out of Alex's embrace, reluctantly might I add, and turned to walk away.

"I'm going back, Elise is by herself and I have to skin an animal with my barehands somehow. Try to come back within the hour."

"...I will go with you. You will need my blade to skin anything without damaging the meat." Alex wiped her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, and then we set off.

The way back to the makeshift camp was quiet, so I observed my status.

[Name: Damian Solace]

[Soul Strength: Mortal (Damaged)]

[Race: Human, (Sealed)]

[Title: Prodigy of Flame]

[Level: 17 (12%)]

[HP: 152]

[MP:1040]

[Strength: 29]

[Constitution: 76]

[Magic: 52]

[Resistance: 47]

[Agility: 33]

[Remaining Stat Points: 10]

[Skills]

-Intuition (A)

-Martial Arts Mastery (D)

-Charm (F)›(E)

-Mana Enhancement (D)

-Mana Sense (C)

-Flame Needle (E)

-Fireball (F)

-Charm (E)

Due to the overwhelming charisma and unearthly looks of the user there is a slight chance of improving how someone sees you.

You are reading story To Live Again (For a Harem) at novel35.com

55% chance to slightly increase affection of the target

Cooldown: 11 Hours (10:51:42 left)

After reaching level fifteen, thanks to killing the bandits seems they were useful for something, the system regained one of its functions. The Party function. It operates exactly as one would expect. 

When people, hopefully girls, join my party they will start to gain EXP for killing monsters. This EXP is divided up and given to every party member. I have it set to where every one of my members get equal EXP even if they killed/didn't kill the monster.

Currently my party could hold three members, myself included, which was incredibly lucky.

Pyra informed me that the system's functions will unlock based on my desires, and since having a harem is living in my head rent free 24/7, I unlocked the party function first.

'Hey Pyra, will I also get those skills you promised me as I level up? Not that I'm ungrateful for Charm, Martial Arts Mastery, and Intuition, but I need every bit of help I can get.'

(You will... But I didn't give you Martial Arts Mastery, or Intuition...)

'Huh? But I thought...'

(You gained Martial Arts Mastery because of your training in your past life. But I have no idea why you have Intuition.) Pyra said.

I was silent for a moment before speaking/thinking again. 'Speaking of, do you think my danger sense is a part of it? It's not like I have a different skill that lets me feel where I am about to be hit.'

(Yes most likely.)

I looked at Alex, who had been walking next to me silently. She was still covered in wounds from her fight against the bandits since Elise was practically out of Mana and, beyond that, her mind was in a chaotic state.

"After we eat we will go scope out the camp. Odds are they've taken hostages, most likely women. If there are at least ten left you won't have to spend the rest of your days as a rogue avoiding all forms of authority. Also there is a chance some of your men escaped. I heard them shouting at each other to retreat."

Alex nodded as her eyes sharpened with a dangerous glint in them.

"Those mutts. If they dare lay their hands on the women..." She said.

The thought even sickened me a bit. Even so I was starting to hope they had, that way I could go all out without a doubt in my mind they were guilty of some crimes. Not that I would hold back anyways, but it was nice to have some sort of justification.

"Let's hurry up back. We'll get some food in us then, after resting, we scout. Well attack after coming up with a decent enough plan." I said then picked up the pace a bit.

It took another ten or so minutes to find the camp, and Elise.

After hearing movement Elise looked in our direction and released a startled yelp.

"Hey we're back. Miss us?" I said cracking a slight smile as I approached her.

Elise immediately noticed the new wound on my neck and tried healing it, to which I stopped her. Her Mana reserves were already bordering empty, and any more use would make her pass out.

"Hey I'm fine, really. Just wasn't paying attention very well and scratched myself, no big deal." I said bringing her into a hug. I signaled for Alex to start on the animals with my eyes.

Elise wrapped her arms around me yet again. It felt like I had done nothing but hug her these past few days. But hey progress amirite?

"Elise I know you are still upset that you couldn't save anyone... So I want to offer you something. I can make it to where you will be able to save anyone you want to. The way it will work isn't something I can-"

"I'll do it. If it will help me save people... If it will help prevent what h-happened today then.. then please... I beg you... A-and besides I finally know what my heart wants..." She said.

Normally I would be over the moon at this moment, but right now Elise definitely didn't know what her heart wanted, and even if she did I would have felt like I took advantage of her.

"Shh, wait until you calm down a bit to tell me those words. Okay?"

She started trembling in my arms but only nodded her head.

"Good, then all you have to do is accept to be in my party. Just say something like yes, or I accept, or something."

[Party invite sent]

[Awaiting answer from Elise Rosewell]

"Th-then I accept."

[Elise Rosewell has been added to the party]

'And you are absolutely certain they don't have a system menu like me? It would be awkward to explain that right now...'

(Sigh. Yes I am certain. At the current level of the function it's not even possible for them to have one yet.)

The Party function has a few other uses other than just sharing EXP.

The first of which I used on Alex. I can use my stat points on the girls to strengthen them immediately. This of course took away from my own growth, but it might be necessary sometimes.

Another thing I could do is see their status's at any given time. Unfortunately I still couldn't see their skills, which I thought made absolutely no sense. Something about the skill check function being locked or something like that.

By the time our hug had ended, which I was extremely saddened by since I was enjoying the feeling of her chest pressed against mine, Alex had already skinned one of the wolves.

Then I realized a slight problem. We had no easy way to cook the meat. I mean sure we could stick small pieces on sticks and use that to cook each piece individually, but that sounded like too much work.

That is what we ended up doing.

The meat was overall just terrible. Or at least the one I made, the one Elise made seemed to be sent straight from the heavens. It was juicy and tender and, while still a bit bland, the natural flavor of the meat popped within my mouth. Overall 10/10 would eat again. So I had her make a few more pieces for me.

When dinner ended I laid against the poor tree Alex had beaten up. Elise soon joined me and laid on my left side. I looked at her feeling a bit shocked but didn't say anything else.

It was getting cold and we didn't have any blankets which was probably the reason. I then had an idea.

I activated Mana Enhancement and tried to lower it's potency, and thus it's Mana usage. Suddenly my body grew warmer, which surprised Elise, but I was more glad I was able to do what I was trying to.

I had completely negated any stat buffs from Mana Enhancement and made it to where it only warmed my body up. This made it use only 4 MP a minute! With my left over Mana reserves I could stay this way the entire night and still have quite a bit left.

'Which reminds me, why can't I see how much Mana I have left? It's difficult to get an accurate guage of my reserves by feeling my core.' I asked Pyra, who was bound to know.

(The function is locked...) She said.

As I was about to close my eye I felt something on my right side. I couldn't see out of my right eye, since it was closed (and injured), so I turned my head to see what it was.

I was extremely surprised to see Alex cuddled up to me. She looked into my eye and said, with a blush might I add, "What? Am I not allowed to? It's cold out here..."

"Eh, knock yourself out... Literally I guess." I said chuckling slightly. I earned a small chuckle from both girls for my efforts.

"You know it's funny... You talk so casually with everyone... Even after everything that's happened. I want to be strong enough to do that one day." Elise said, and then released a yawn.

I hugged her closer to my chest. "You will. One day."

'Pyra wake me up if anything happens.' 

And with that, and the tree digging into my bare back, I fell asleep.

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