Hi all! It took much longer than I wanted it to, but chapter six is ready. Chapter seven and eight are written, but still need editing, but I plan to post them soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Huge thanks to Netrepid for editing.
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Elara hit absent-mindedly at the training dummy. She spent the last half an hour distracting herself, or at least tried, because it wasn't very successful. The image of Zack on his knees, and her daggers moving to attack, again flashed through her mind. She almost killed him today.
She needed to confront this with Asher. He would make her feel better. Or at least forget about all of it by distracting her.
Elara leaned on her knees, wondering if he finished his class already.
She forgot her phone from her room, so she couldn't text him. She swept her eyes around the square. It looked like other groups had also finished their classes. However, supports left the square early on, and Elara couldn't recognize anyone from their group to know if they finished too.
She noticed that fights were still going on on the other side of the square. Elara realized that the tank group was still having their fights, perhaps because of their higher stamina, slower movements, and lower damage, their fights just lasted longer.
Two guys fought against each other, so she wasn't particularly interested in them. But the fight finished just when she glanced there, it seemed like two girls were preparing to take the next fight. Another two girls passed in front of Elara moving towards the tribune.
One of them dressed in all black, with matching hair and dark makeup, the second one had long wavy auburn hair and big glasses which made her look much more adorable than her friend. They climbed on the tribune and Elara noticed Asher, when the girls that she followed with her eyes sat next to him and some other blonde girl.
He must have finished his class earlier. Why didn't he come to her? He sat there with one girl, and already two more joined them. All three of those girls were attractive and Elara felt a pang of jealousy, but quickly snapped out of it. Asher just sat with them, and she was going to allow him to do much more in the near future.
But she would choose their teammates, and she didn't know those girls that sat around him right now, Elara believed that would make everything easier for her, and she could handle it. Easier said than done, but she still had some time.
Elara realized that, in reality, it wasn't so long. They should look for teammates and find them in the next two weeks. There wasn't so much time until she would need to share Asher. She was concerned about what creating a harem would bring to their relationship. If it was going to survive and if it was the right thing to do. She shook her head. There wasn't any other way.
Elara decided that she should focus on something. Finding and choosing their teammates was an important matter. And there were three girls talking with Asher right now, all of them attractive, Elara wasn't a fan of the goth girl style, but it suited her. They were potential teammates.
Elara crossed through the square towards her boyfriend and girls accompanying him. He was engrossed talking with them and didn't notice her until she was just a step from him. She dropped her daggers on a seat next to him and jumped into his lap, putting her arms around his neck.
He jumped, surprised and turned around towards her quickly. Elara pecked his lips, and felt his body relax, recognizing her. Asher put his arms around her to hold her close.
Elara glanced at the three girls and noticed their curious looks. "Hey, I'm Elara," she introduced herself.
The blonde girl sitting next to Asher smiled shyly at her and answered. "Hey, I'm Madelyn," she said, pointing at herself. She was pretty, but it looked like she was trying to hide it. Elara wasn't sure if it wasn't just an impression, but the girl had her hair pinned and her clothes looked rather plain and oversized, like she was trying to hide her body.
"Zoe," she added, pointing at the goth girl. "And Sam," she finished at the third girl sitting furthest from her.
"What were you talking about?" Elara asked, she interrupted their talk rather abruptly, so she wanted them to continue with whatever they were speaking about.
"About today's classes. And apparently about you," Madelyn answered Elara's question.
Elara glanced at Asher surprised. "Me?" she asked, while he hugged her closer to himself, smiling.
"I heard that you beat this asshole, Zack, in a fight," Zoe replied to her question. "And that you beat a horde of goblins," the same girl added.
Elara chuckled. "I see gossip spread around fast." She glanced at Asher and then at the girls. "There was only one goblin, not the whole horde." Asher hands moved to her lower back and stroked lightly there. She smiled at him affectionately.
"Asher already told us," Sam said, speaking for the first time around Elara. She looked more shy and withdrawn than her goth friend.
"Is it common in your area for monsters to attack?" Madelyn asked, scrunching her face with concern.
"No, it was the first time. We lived far away from any dungeon entrance, so we were shocked when it attacked us."
"You think it traveled so far?" Zoe asked.
Elara sighed. "I don't think so. There's probably an unknown entrance somewhere close."
Locating this entrance would allow explorers to defend it, and stop monsters from spreading around, but it wasn't so easy. Big ones were obvious to find, but smaller ones in the middle of the forest or in some underground cave were hard to locate.
Elara's thoughts were interrupted when a guy stopped in front of her. She glanced at him, he was tall and fit, but not muscular. Skin color and facial features suggested that he was Latin, and his short dark hair matched it. He stared straight at her, while she still sat in Asher's lap. She felt her boyfriend's arms tighten around her protectively.
"I'm Thomas Black. I heard that you knocked down Zack with one blow." he stated, then he glanced at Asher, and only skipped his eyes over the rest of the girls.
Rumors how she almost killed Zack spread around, so it was obvious people were interested to team up with her. She stopped herself from wincing, reminded of how she almost killed someone today.
"Do you want to join my team?" he asked Elara, and she was taken aback. Straightforward, asking if she would join him. He didn't tell her anything, his class, or other people that he had in his team. Nothing.
He didn't even ask about testing it out first. Just to join his team, like she was supposed to happily agree. It crossed her mind that he might be popular or something like this, and she should know him. But she was from another city and had no idea who he was.
Even if he wouldn't make a bad first impression, he was a guy, so there was no way for them to team up. Elara realized it might be a good occasion to state some things publicly, it looked like rumors spread around quickly.
"First of all, we go as a pair," she declared, hugging herself tightly to Asher. "I'm an assassin, and Asher is a support."
Thomas winced and glanced with a frown at Asher, and Elara wanted to tell this guy to fuck off and go away already. She sensed Asher's arms tighten around her, his hand stroked her lower back, trying to soothe her, after she stiffened with anger. Elara stopped herself from insulting Thomas and instead tried to be polite.
"I'll consider your offer and let you know if I'll be interested," she said with a harsh voice, and realized that it didn't sound very polite.
A weird look passed through his face. "You should decide quickly," he scoffed, turned around and rushed away from them.
Asher's arms relaxed around her, but his hands lingered on her back and thigh.
"You're going to receive a lot of offers like this," Madelyn interrupted the silence. Elara was aware of that, she showed off and everyone will consider her as a potential teammate now. She would need to select the best people.
Asher sighed, loud enough that Madelyn noticed it. She stared at him confused. Elara couldn't read his mind, but guessed he was worried they were losing some great opportunity because Thomas wasn't an option for them because of his gender.
Elara squeezed his arm trying to reassure him without words, she believed that everything would end up good.
"That's nice, but I prefer to choose on my own. I'll choose and ask people that I'm interested in," Elara explained to Madelyn.
Madelyn nodded with a smirk. She glanced at Asher. "I see who wears pants in this relationship." All of the girls giggled when Asher flushed slightly, but then he rolled his eyes at their teasing.
Asher stared forward observing the fighting tanks, refusing to comment on anything, while being outnumbered by four girls. Elara followed his gaze. A guy fought against a girl, and she was suffering. Barely defending herself and still some of his blows made it through and hit her. She never had an opportunity to attack in return. It was only a matter of time when it would be over.
The girl might be a potential teammate for them, but right now Elara couldn't really assess a lot about her. Clearly matched with a stronger opponent. Instead, Elara focused on the three girls accompanying her.
"And you girls, what classes are you?" Elara asked them. All of them were watching the fight, Zoe talked with Sam quietly, but they turned towards Elara.
"We are both mages, just as Thomas," Zoe replied, indicating herself and Sam.
"I'm support. With Asher in the group," Madelyn chimed in.
"You should really consider Thomas's offer. He's the best mage of the year. His father is a powerful mage explorer. He trained him even before Thomas had his class," Sam explained.
Elara felt Asher's body tense, it only made it worse right now, letting him know that they were losing a chance with the best of the year. But that really didn't matter, Elara was strong before, but with his boosts she became even more powerful.
They didn't need to find the best in terms of skills. Asher could make them the best. They needed someone who would fit in their unusual team.
"I'll see, but I look for some specific things that he doesn't meet," Elara explained partly, they needed a woman, but it would cause questions if she revealed it, which she didn't want to answer. Madelyn frowned, gazing at her, she bit her lip in thought, but didn't comment.
