Everything that happened since the girls went to bed until now is explained to them by Fenrir. He even tells them about his conversation with Rock and Rod for full transparency.

“So, she’s some roleplayer obsessed with dark stories that wanted a kiss from you, and you call her ‘Princess?’” Cassiel asks for confirmation.

Fenrir figured that the last part wouldn’t go over too well. “I – I was just playing along, and I told her that so that she wouldn't get any mixed signals,” he explains.

Cassiel sighs. “I trust you, but you never call us that…”

“You’re my princess, Cassiel. You are my beautiful, blonde, tsundere princess whom thrusts her pole into me from behind,” Fenrir says.

Her blush was increasingly growing redder and brighter until he had to bring up pole thrusting again.

She grabs his shirt and pushes him against the side of the ship. “Why did you have to ruin it?!” she shouts.

“Cass Cass likes thrusting into men from behind,” Serra says followed by snerking.

Cassiel turns her head to look back at Serra with eyes expressing feelings of betrayal. “He hasn’t called you a princess yet either!”

“That’s too cheesy for me.”

“Wh-wha—” Cassiel blushes again.

“Cass Cass is cheesy.”

Despite Serra being the one teasing Cassiel, Fenrir is the one facing Cassiel’s abuse as she shakes him back and forth against The Shoebill’s hull.

Cassiel only stops abusing her boyfriend when she hears somebody giggling from the side – somebody unfamiliar.

They look over and see the serpentine girl leaning up in the hammock and watching the show. “My, such a violent display of love. Are you alright, my hero?” Nehalennia asks.

“She calls you her hero?” Cassiel asks, glaring up at Fenrir.

He forgot to explain that part. “I-it’s part of the roleplay,” he explains now.

Cassiel lets go of Fenrir, but only so that she can stand in front of him between him and Nehalennia. “Don’t get me wrong. I feel bad for you and those other girls, and I’m fine with helping you and hiding you, but Fenrir is mine,” Cassiel says with a huff and a pout.

“Ours,” Serra corrects her.

“Y-yeah. Ours. He’s our hero.”

Fenrir pokes Cassiel’s side.

She jumps up, makes her signature Cassiel squeaking noise, and then turns around to pound her fists against his chest!

“You have to be approved by us before joining his harem,” Serra explains to Nehalennia, having walked up to her.

“Oh? It is a harem? I was under the assumption that it is a polyamorous relationship rather than a harem,” Nehalennia asks.

“She’s just teasing me by calling it a harem,” Fenrir explains. “It’s more like her harem if anything.”

“May I at least continue calling him my hero? I have already grown fond of calling him that,” Nehalennia asks.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Serra says.

Cassiel crosses her arms and huffs some more.

“I look forward to getting along with you two. My hero has assured me that I shall be with him forever, so we will need to try our best to get along!” Nehalennia declares.

“Haah? What’s this about being together with her forever now?” Cassiel asks, glaring up at Fenrir again.

He forgot to mention that part, too. “R-roleplay?” he tries using that reason again.

Cassiel doesn’t buy it. “I’m kicking you out of this relationship. It’s only going to be me and Serra now.”

Fenrir looks over at Serra, expecting her to defend him, but instead sees her waving him goodbye.

He hangs his head in defeat.

“My hero, it seems that you are quite the bullied one! Here I believed that I lived a life of cruelty, yet you may have it far worse than I,” Nehalennia joins in on the teasing.

“You’ll get along with us,” Serra says, giving Nehalennia a thumbs-up.

“Yeah, she can replace you,” Cassiel says.

“He can be our guard dog! We could even get him a collar and leash,” Nehalennia suggests.

Fenrir is very, very concerned by how the girls look at him after that suggestion. They look… way too interested in that idea.

“I think I’d rather be the one with the collar,” Serra says.

Nehalennia grabs Serra’s hands and holds them in her own, nodding at Serra’s remark. “It would be great either way, would it not?” Nehalennia asks.

Cassiel pinches Fenrir’s arm to get his attention. He leans down so that she can whisper in his ear.

“I think they’re getting along way too well,” Cassiel whispers.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect any of this to happen this way,” Fenrir whispers back while Serra and Nehalennia form a new bond through shared perversion. “Anyways,” he speaks up, “do any of you mind if I wake to go and grab a couple more hours of sleep? I planned on sleeping right until the ceremony is about to begin, so I’m still pretty tired,” he requests. A large yawn follows his words to prove his point.

“Please do, my hero. You need as much rest as you can get,” Nehalennia says.

“Yeah, my hero,” Serra teases.

While he’s still leaning down for Cassiel, she whispers one last thing into his ear, “O-only if you call me your princess again, and not ruin it…”

Fenrir holds Cassiel close by her hips and presses his lips to her ear. “You’re my beautiful princess, Cassandra,” he whispers.

Cassiel’s face turns pure red, and the others can swear that they see steam rising from her ears. “O-okay, you can go back to sleep.”

“Thank you. Wait, before I go,” he looks at Nehalennia, “how’d I end up in the hammock with you on top of me?”

“I pretended to be asleep until I heard you stop talking, and then I carried you down here, put you in the hammock, and went to sleep on top of you,” Nehalennia explains, her voice sounding as if everything she just said was completely normal.

“Just how strong are you?” he asks.

“The blessing did more than change how I look!”

Fenrir shakes the rest of his questions out of his head, getting into the hammock and waking from the game once more to catch a few more hours’ worth of sleep.

It’s time for the opening ceremony when he wakes up and gets back in-game.

The only ones below deck are Tabitha and Bonekraka. Bonekraka grunts when he sees Fenrir. “Anybody explain what’s going on with Nehalennia to you yet?” Fenrir asks.

Bonekraka points at Tabitha. “She did,” he says.

“Mornin’, wolf boy,” Tabitha says while tinkering with the engine.

“You’re constantly working on that. You sure it’s ready?” Fenrir asks.

Tabitha looks up at him with a wide smile. “Nope!”

“Good enough.” Fenrir goes above deck.

The first sight he sees is that of Rock on her back, tongue hanging out from her mouth as she heavily pants, and tail looking like it wants to wag but is simply too tired to.

Nehalennia is wearing the robe that Fenrir got her to hide herself from any passersby on the docks, and she’s standing with Serra on each side of Rock.

“What’d you two do to her?” Fenrir asks.

“Lots of playing,” Serra answers.

Fenrir looks over at Cassiel whom is standing upon a crate with her metal greaves dented with dozens of bite marks. “What happened to you?” he asks her.

“Serra told Rock that she’d give her treats if she attacked me!” Cassiel explains, pointing an accusatory finger at Serra. “She bullies me when you’re not here to be the victim!”

Fenrir and Serra exchange a mutual thumbs-up.

“Where’re the two lovers at?” he asks.

“Hotel,” Serra answers.

“Yeah, I figured as much. You know if they plan on being back for the ceremony?”

“Olly said they’d be quick.”

“Yeah, right. Well, let’s get things ready in case we have to go without them. It’s just the opening ceremony, so the full crew isn’t required.”

They get to work organizing the fishing equipment, cleaning up the deck, and testing Tabitha’s inventions to make sure that everything is working properly. While doing so, Fenrir checks the surrounding city out to see if his concerns are legitimate.

They are. There are far more guards on duty today. Oleander was able to gather enough information to know that more guards are not planned for security during any part of the tournament, yet there are guards everywhere looking as if they are searching for something.

For somebody.

Furthermore, Ull’s own legions are accompanying them.

“I don’t think he’s happy about you being gone for so long,” Fenrir says to Nehalennia whom is standing next to him.

“Not at all!” Nehalennia says with a smile.

“I may need you to hide below deck until everything is over. Is that alright?”

“Hiding below is of no concern to me. If I must hide for a few days for a lifetime of freedom, it would be more than worth it.”

“Worst case scenario, we hide you in Tabs’ backpack.”

“That… may not be acceptable.”

“It’ll be fine. You just might accidentally make something in there explode.” He looks down at her and sees her pouting. “Alright, alright. No hiding in the backpack.”