Chapter 22: Chapter 17: Safety Alas

After I had finally collected myself I tried apologizing to the girls, but they stopped me as they said in unison "Please don't apologize our handsome and amazing Damey, we will stay with you no mat-"

(Quite with the disgusting fantasies bastard.)

'And who the hell are you to tell me my fantasies are disgusting miss masochist?'

(I am not a masochist!)

'Your throat, pussy, and ass disagree.'

(How dare you bastard!? You forced yourself on me! Rapist! Scum!)

'And I'm saying you enjoyed every second of it. Am I wrong?'

(Y-You.... I, that is-)

'Thought so. Not to mention it was you who seduced me.'

(But I never agreed to using my... bum...)

'Yeah but you got even louder after I forced my way in. It was incredible by the way.'

In truth the girls had said something close to what I claimed, just without the praise and prose.

Pyra and I were at each other's throats, which was quite common for us, but I wouldn't give it up for the world. It was fun having someone to banter with.

"We are close." Alex said from my right, and sure enough giant walls had appeared just beyond a hill in front of us.

After my little slip up, and the subsequent consequences, the atmosphere between Alex, Elise, and I, had improved drastically. Elise no longer hated me, Alex was ready to give her all to me, and I was ready to do the same for the girls. Life was good. Still needed to accept Elise's feelings though...

Alex handed me a slim, but long, piece of cloth similar to one she had given to me before. I took the black piece of fabric and wrapped around my head to cover my right eye. "Thanks." I said, to which Alex responded by telling me not to lose this one.

I hadn't told her I used the last one to make a torch... Speaking of why the hell'd she have so many of the cloth strip thingies?

Soon enough we reached the line of caravans, and people, trying to enter the gates. They had come from separate roads a ways back.

Roughly ten minutes later Alex and I, as well as everyone else, had reached the Militia unit manning the gate. His job was to get a name for every face that entered and exited, as well as making sure no contraband entered the city.

"Na- oh Commander Alexandra, welcome back." The guard said as he looked at me and at the rest of what was left of our group.

"Things didn't go so well huh?" The guard said as he started writing in his notepad of sorts.

"Everything from bandits to trolls." Alex said, and the guard flipped his page and started writing faster.

"And you, what is your name?" The guard looked at me. I could see the exhaustion in his eyes which almost made me want to chuckle.

"Damian. Damian Solace." I said extending a hand.

The guard ignored my hand entirely and asked "Any form of identification?"

I retracted my hand, awkwardly might I add, and responded with, "Ah, no, I lost it out on the field."

The guard sighed a bit but didn't press on the subject, probably because I was with Alex, the Commander.

"Alright Alexandra explain the situation then report to command." The guard said, and Alex did. After roughly five minutes, and some unhappy shouts from those behind us in line, the guard ripped a page out of the notepad.

"What a shitshow... Just take this with you to command, and I hope you enjoy your time after resigning."

Alex nodded and we walked into the Dukedom of Yale. And it. Was. AMAZING! Er well the city itself was okay, but what was contained within was absolutely amazing!

Everywhere I looked, off the road that is, were people. These people were not just humans but instead... Elves! Cat and dog girls! Giants! And even dwarves!

So many harem candidates...

If I still hadn't fully realized I had been Isekai'd I definitely did now.

Lining the roads were various shops, restaurants, and inns, with customers exiting and leaving every other moment. Seems the commercial district was located right at the entrance or exit of the city. Quite smart actually.

I saw weapon shops and even forges, I saw general stores and clothing stores, I even saw a barber shop which reminded me I needed a haircut.

The city was so full of life. Sure I had seen many sights in my past life but... I guess living in the wilds for half a month and nearly dying countless times makes you enjoy the little things more.

Soon enough we were out of the commercial district and into the residential district, or part of it. To be honest we didn't stay in it for very long, since our destination was somewhere in the 'very important buildings' district.

Eventually we reached an odd castle-esque building which had a sign with the words "The Militia Command Center" on it. There was a road leading to a building of some kind behind the actual command center. I assumed that was the warehouse for supplies, or something.

Alex dismissed the other knights, clerics, and Masum, who I had only briefly spoken to since he made my clothes. Gareth was taken inside to get some rest. He had woken up but still was in pretty bad shape. Once it was only Elise, Alex, and I, we walked into the building.

The interior was actually pretty nice, with blue marble floors and nice flat walls that had an interesting flower-esque pattern to it, unlike the brick walls on the outside. There were chandeliers hanging from the roof, providing light to this little reception area.

The three of us, with Alex in the lead, walked up to the man working the reception desk, and Alex handed him the note the previous Militia Unit had given her.

With furrowed brows the man spoke, "Just one moment Commander, I will go inform the General." And with that he left.

A few minutes later the man came back with a look of mild concern on his face.

"The General will see you now." He said, and we three walked through the door the man had just come from.

After traversing the maze, that was the corridors, we made it to a pair of large doors. Alex pushed them open and stepped right in.

Inside was a... Throne room of sorts. There was a long red carpet in front of us that lead to three seats, where a man sat.

We walked in and closer to the man on the throne, when the doors closed behind us. Using Absolute Perception I saw some guards, that were fully decked out in armor from head to toe, had closed the doors.

Looking around there were at least ten of these guards, each of which wielding spears. They all lined the long carpet that lead straight to the thrones.

Once we got close enough Alex stopped and so did Elise and I.

"Stand at attention!" A knight, near the actually quite attractive man on the throne, yelled out.

Immediately Alex fell to her knees with a fist on the floor and her head bowed, and Elise simply bowed her head.

I was standing with one hand in my pocket, and the other at my side, with my head held high, which wouldn't typically be seen as 'standing at attention' but who cares, amirite?

The man frowned a bit in my general direction when a knight approached me and whacked me with the shaft of his spear. (A/N Devilishly smiles)

I barely moved after the hit, and only frowned a bit, which must've surprise the guard since he stuttered a bit. Sure I could've easily dodged the little pat but I didn't really feel like it.

"S-stand at attention scoundrel!"

"Hmm? Scoundrel?" I looked at the man sitting on the throne with a slight smile on my face, "This how you treat your guests Duke? Assault them, insult them, and then make them kneel to you?"

Yes the man on the throne was in fact the Duke of these lands, or so his name suggested.

[Name: Acstivon Yale]

[Race: Human]

[Title: Duke of Yale]

[Level: ???]

[Strength: ???]

[Constitution: ???]

[Magic: ???]

[Resistance: ???]

[Agility: ???]

I was initially surprised once I saw he was, in fact, the Duke, but I was more surprised that I couldn't see his stat points at all. Pyra explained it was because he was over a hundred levels stronger than me...

The Duke sighed deeply before waving his hand "At ease." He said as the guard backed off, and both Elise and Alex returned to a regular standing position.

The Duke, Acstivon looked at Alex and said, "Is it true you wish to resign?"

"Yes, Your Grace." 

"May I ask the reason? Last I checked you were close to reaching the next star."

Alex bowed her head a bit, seemingly trying to collect her thoughts.

"I'm sure you have read the report on what happened in the field?" The Duke nodded his head, which was resting on the back of his fist, and Alex continued "Even though enough of my men had survived for me to keep my life... I don't feel I deserve the title of Commander anymore. So I ask you to allow me to leave."

Acstivon sighed deeply before speaking, "You Hart's are too kind for your own goods. I approve of your resignation. I'll deal with the paperwork, you can just leave."

Alex bowed forward and said, "Thank you, Your Grace," as she turned to walk away.

"Yep thanks Acstivon, I'll probably be back to discuss some things with you." I said as I too turned and started walking away. Both Elise and Alex had frozen in their spots, and the guards were quite literally shaking in their boots. Even though the knights had helmets on I could see their angry faces. This skill was quite powerful...

Thing was, Acstivon had a slight smile on his face, I could tell even with my back to him.

The girls only continued walking once I reached the door and turned back to look at them. "You girls coming or what?" I said as I turned back around and pushed the doors open, which was surprisingly easy.

Once we had left the room I kept my perception on Acstivon who, as expected, gave an order to one of his guards. "Keep an eye on that man. There is something special about him."

I chuckled and walked forward, before feeling something hit the top of my head.

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I didn't feel any sort of danger sense, nor did my perception warn me about it so, due to the shock, I fell forwards onto my stomach.

"You bastard! You could have gotten us all killed!" Alex roared out at my poor figure.

I was still clutching the new welp on my head, but I soon stood up.

"The hell'd you hit me for? You could have just said, 'Oh my sweet and lovely Damian please don't be so-"

I was interrupted by a kick straight into my family jewels.

"Like hell I'd ever say that!"

And so I laid there, clawing at the floor as I tried to regain my breath, and bear the excruciating pain in my gut. I would repay Alex tenfold for this. In bed that is...

At some point Elise had come over to me and started casting her healing magic, and even Alex had a look on her face that said 'did I go too far?'

Before the girls could worry anymore I stood up with a smile on my face, despite the wrenching pain still wracking my body. I would definitely feel this pain for the rest of my life.

"Well isn't your sense of humor quite unique?" I bent forwards a bit to match Alex's eyes. 

Yeah she didn't actually mean to hurt me, and besides I could never be mad at her, well not really mad, play mad is fine.

I could see the brief hint of anxiety leave her face as she turned away from me. She had become much stronger since the fight with Igor and, most likely, she didn't know the full extent of her strength quite yet.

"Still though, the balls? Really?" I cooed into her ear from behind.

"It's your fault. You shouldn't have spoken so casually with his grace."

"Eh he's a pretty chill guy. Besides I wouldn't do anything to put you girls in danger... On purpose."

Alex was silent before speaking up again, "jerk." She said. It was gradual but she had started speaking more freely when around me. The previous Alex might've called me some fancy name like 'imbecile' or something.

Well hey at least I learned something about Alex. She gets quite violent when angry, which is a long shot from her defensive approach to things when embarrassed. This knowledge may just have my life one day. That or my unborn children's lives.

I chuckled and then grabbed her hand, then Elise's who had been silently watching us, then I walked forwards.

"Come on girls, there's a whole world ahead of us. Let's go have some fun."

It was like that that we went back to the commercial district, looking at various shops and such. While I didn't have any money, the girls certainly did.

As expected Elise was looking at clothes, and even flowers, more than anything else. She truly was an angelic woman...

But surprisingly Alex was also taking peeks at certain articles of clothing every now and then. I teased her plenty about it, which earned me a couple of good hits, and more than a few bruises.

She truly was a woman at heart...

I myself looked at some clothes, since mine were all incredibly basic in comparison to what the store offered. I even started looking for some badass eye patches, but they didn't have any.

They did, however, have tunics and trousers of all shapes and colors. While I didn't mind grey all that much, every article of my current clothing was in fact grey.

Soon after we left the clothing store we walked past a blacksmith, where an elegant piece of white and gold armor was being displayed behind the glass window. Alex looked at the armor silently for a few moments, reminding me hers had been destroyed.

"Don't worry Alex, we'll have your armor fixed up as good as new." I told her, as I pat her shoulder a bit, but she just silently nodded. Odds were the armor meant a lot to her. My guess? A gift from her father, which I intended to ask about once we managed to find an inn and, more importantly, register at the Adventurers Guild.

Eventually we left the commercial district and found a building that looked different from the others nearby, it was rounded at the top and had a green roof. There was a sign that read 'Adventurers Guild' near the wide dark brown double door.

Without wasting a moment I walked in, and was greeted by a sight I had only ever seen in an anime.

The building was full of people who were decked out with weapons, clothing, and armor that made it obvious to guess what each person's 'class' was. There were plenty of parties in the spacious building. Mages, warriors, rogues, etc. Filled the place up.

Only a few eyes wandered over to us, before they returned to whatever they were previously looking at. Seems people can't appreciate greatness when it walks in the room...

There was a kid, sitting behind a reception desk of sorts, that didn't currently have any patrons, so the girls and I approached him.

He greeted us with an oddly genuine smile. "Welcome mister! My name is Eliath, how can I help today?"

"Sup, name's Damian Solace, this is Elise and that's Alex, and we are here to become adventurers." I would have extended my hand, however there was a glass wall of sorts blocking my way.

"Of course." The kid, Eliath started writing something, "And do you have any form of identification?" 

"I lost mine in the field, however these two have Militia Permits." I pointed at the girls behind me, and they pulled thier IDs out of whatever satchel was holding them and placed it in the little hole on the bottom of the glass barrier. "Odd name for identification if I say so myself." I chuckled a bit.

Eliath grabbed the IDs and took a look at them before chuckling at my words, "That it is, but I don't think an 'Adventurers License' is much better." The kid handed the 'Permits' back to the girls.

"Alright, Damian Solace was it?" He waited for my nod before continuing. "The testing will start soon, procedure and all. If you would like you can wait over there." The kid motioned behind me with his hand, where a couple of benches were.

The girls and I walked over and sat down, we talked casually for a while until the kid came back. He had me follow him through the building. Since the girls already had Militia Permits they wouldn't need to take any tests. Their star Levels would automatically translate to the equivalent adventurer rank.

After a while we entered a nice cozy room where a table with an odd white crystal, that glowed purple every now and then, was. We sat down at the table and Eliath spoke.

"I don't know how you managed to pull it off, but congrats on conquering one of the most sought out after women, and even a beautiful cleric at that." Eliath started clapping with a silly grin on his face. If there had been any malice in his words I would have been pissed, but I could tell this is what he truly felt. Plus he was just a kid, maybe fourteen.

"What can I say? Few ladies can resist me I guess." I chuckled, and so did he.

We continued casually chatting for a while, and I was growing to like the kid. He was super energetic and had a nice, how to say, vibe I guess.

Eventually we did get down to business.

"Alright then, if you would put your hand on the crystal there we can get started."

I did as told and a hologram of sorts appeared above the crystal. It showed all sorts of graphs and charts and stuff, nothing I payed much attention to.

"Oh my... Holy crap! This is... Just... Wow!" The grin on the kid's face grew into a wide smile as he happily jotted down something into his notebook, scroll thing.

'Pyra what does the hologram say?'

(It gives a summarized version of your status page, your affinities and subsequent spells, and your growth.)

"Like what ya see?" I asked with a slight chuckle.

"It's... Incredible! I've never seen such growth before! To think you grew from D-Rank to the beginning of B-Rank in half a month... You could be the next A-Rank mister!"

The kid seemed to be a total nerd for this sort of thing. I let him ramble on about my glory, stoking my ego in the process, before he finally finished up.

"Ahem. I apologize for my misconduct. I will contact the Instructors. Please wait here for a moment." He said then left.

The kid must've realized he had been rambling on, so he took a more professional attitude.

"Eh, he's a good kid."

Soon enough he came back, "They are ready."

Eliath guided me through the guild, which was much bigger than it originally looked like on the outside, and eventually we reached a large open arena outside. Really made me wonder how the hell I hadn't seen it from outside.

Inside the arena was a man and woman who were talking to each other, laughing a bit here and there.

"This is where your skill will be tested. Strength isn't everything in a Dungeon after all. Oh, but I'm sure you'll do great mister!" Eliath said as we made our way to the people.

Once we got close enough they noticed us. And I noticed I couldn't see their status's either.

The man was the first to speak, "You must be the man of the hour, Damian Solace. I am Levi Stallard." The man, Levi, held his out to me.

I put on a smile and took his hand, "Yep that's me." I said.

After our handshake came to an end I reached my hand out to the woman. She was on the older side, but beautiful nonetheless. I don't discriminate based on age! Er well unless she's illegal that is.

Laila Greston" the girl said as she shook my hand with her own gloved ones.

"It's a pleasure." I said, shaking off her nonchalance and curt introduction. Things like these had never thrown me off!

"Well then, I suppose we should get started. Do you know how this whole thing works?" Levi said to me.

"Lemme guess, I have to fight one of you?" 

"Close, you actually have to fight us both. You see I excel at physical combat while Laila here is a pretty talented mage." Levi pointed at Laila with his thumb, which made the older woman roll her eyes.

"Sometimes you will have to fight hand to hand, but other times you will have to stay at a range. Adaptation is everything for an adventurer."

I was definitely a bit hesitant to fight against Laila, I mean that would mean attacking a woman, and I can't do that! I'm a gentleman, it goes against my code!

Laila must've seen some of the hesitancy I was feeling, somehow, because she chuckled a bit, "If you think you can so much as lay a finger on me, then think again."

It's true, I couldn't see either of thier stat points which meant they were, at a minimum, a hundred levels higher than me. I assumed they weren't A-Rank, since only a few hundred of those existed at any given time, but instead on the higher end of B-Rank.

"Alright then, you will fight me first. There is usually a larger audience but we have not had much traffic today..." By larger audience Levi meant at least someone in the stands, compared to the current no one. "Laila if you would."

Laila scoffed a bit and walked out of the arena, into the stadium, then onto a platform of sorts.

Levi walked to one end of the arena, and I went to the other.

"Ready yourself, and hold nothing back!" Levi got into an odd stance that made it look like he was about to run. "Your rank depends on our fight!"

I too got into my signature stance, low to the ground, feet just outside shoulder width, hands at my waist pointed to either side and my palms facing forwards.

"Start in three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

"That won't be necessary."

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