Obligatory Harem Shenanigans

Chapter 17

Mina

I fidgeted as I rode, the weight of the black key around my neck uncomfortable. Reiner had entrusted it to me, and the responsibility sat even heavier than the chain. Even so, I wasn’t willing to give it up to Andrea or Lilian who would have welcomed it as a privilege. Mira had refused once before and lost favor with him, a mistake I wouldn’t make.

“Mina! Try to keep up. Even the demi is doing better,” Andrea said with a haughty tilt of her chin. With fiery red hair and green eyes, she was striking — but I looked at her with disgust. She thought noble blood made her special, but I was from another world entirely. She was nothing and I wouldn’t rise to her provocations.

“Easy Andrea,” Reiner chided her gently to stop a fight before it could start. I smiled at him while she looked away, annoyed at being admonished. He didn’t play favorites, so even she couldn’t claim he was doing anything but calling her out for her own ill-nature.

“Is this really a good idea?” Mira asked timidly from her position just ahead of me. Andrea, Lilian, and I shared a rare moment of agreement as we looked at her with differing levels of disgust. As a sage Mira should have had faith in Reiner and his heroic destiny. Instead, she second-guessed every move we made and questioned common sense.

Sometimes it was prudent, like with how much provisions we should carry. If we’d packed as we intended, we’d have been out of luck and had to turn back to resupply before the desert. After giving in to her complaints we’d doubled the amount. That didn’t excuse Mira’s cowardice, however.

“Mira, I know you're scared of combat, but believe in me. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Reiner said with a smile that was enough to melt my heart despite it not being aimed at me. It had been two years since I ended up transported to this world to help him fulfill his destiny and I hadn’t regretted a single moment of it.

From the side, the demi-human said something with a look in its eyes I didn’t care for. I took hold of the key and reminded it of its place briefly. Reiner said I was a light touch with punishments, but the slight magical recoil stung my hand unpleasantly when I used it. I wouldn’t tell him that however and let him think I was a little naive. Mira visibly shuddered. She looked unnerved as the creature stumbled from pain. She’d been bad with demi-humans from the start and proximity hadn’t improved the matter.

“I-I know… I’m sorry, it’s just my nerves,” Mira said, then looked toward the demi-human before looking back to Reiner.

“Can I take the key?” Mira asked. We all were so shocked by the request that our reins went slack and the horses ambled to a stop. She’d cried when she was asked to take it before and refused no matter how much Reiner tried to explain to her why it was a duty we needed to share.

“What changed?” I demanded; suspicious she was trying to improve her standing. I had always hated her from the moment I first heard Reiner call her name. It was irritatingly similar to mine. I wouldn’t let her worm her way back into his affection, little sister or not.

“Mina, don’t be harsh,” Reiner said with a rueful smile. He gestured for me to give up the key, and despite not wanting it in the first place, I did so reluctantly.

“You’re doing your best, right Mira?” Reiner said and Mira nodded. With the key now in her hand, she did something I’d never suspected she was capable of. She took hold of it and the demi started shrieking in pain. No matter which one of us had punished it before it had always endured in silence. Now Mira extracted screams while Reiner smiled at her. When she was done, he patted her on the head and we started to ride again, knowing the demi would be compelled to follow.

“I underestimated you,” I said, riding a little quicker to catch up with her. She didn’t respond, just staring at me for a moment before looking away. From the start, she’d been strange, a child from the same orphanage as Reiner rather than an actual relative. I’d assumed she would be my primary competition, but she’d stayed out of things for the most part, seemingly unmoved by the ebb and flow of his favor. Now I had to wonder if I was playing checkers while she was playing chess.

A thought I ruminated on right up until we reached the maze of stone described on the map. It was pretty, the stone a wind-carved marble in pinks and peaches with bands of deeper colors in some places. It would have been a romantic ride if not for my unwanted teammates, but I didn’t bother complaining. We were all probably thinking the same thing and it would just turn into a shouting match.

It only took three hours to navigate the maze with the aid of the map and we emerged into a narrow valley with a pretty lake. A low fence without a lock held us up for a moment but looking around its purpose was clear. All around horses and sheep grazed leisurely, penned in on every other side by the valley’s slopes.

“Look, a farmstead,” Reiner said, pointing out a small house and odd shelter next to it. It looked like someone had started to build a barn only to stop when the frame and roof were done. I supposed it looked like a dairy shelter from back on Earth, but I hadn’t seen similar structures here and it threw me off. We rode up and found a note pinned to the door.

Out to buy supplies, back in a week or two.

If our son sent you, please feel free to use the house and stables. Anything of ours is yours.

“See, that guy wasn’t shady,” I said, snorting at the scratchy handwriting of the note. It looked like literacy wasn’t a priority locally, but I supposed I was being judgmental. A farmer in a remote area didn’t have access to the sort of amenities that Stromhold offered its citizens.

“He was cocky,” Andrea growled, still pissed off that he’d spoken to her informally, and laughed at her insistence on honorifics when she was younger than him. I’d thought he had a discerning eye to put her in her place like that. Even so, I couldn’t remember his name. I could barely be bothered to remember other men’s names when they were important. With Reiner at my side, I certainly was not going to remember a random peasant’s name.

“It beggars belief that a lowly farmer could survive living next to a dungeon, let alone map it,” Lilian said, defending her stance though no one was even looking at her. As a cleric, she tended to have a black and white view of the world. Things that agreed with her being white, and everything else being black.

“It’s probably weak, he said the upper floor didn’t even have monsters,” I said, annoyed that on the threshold of adventure that I had to listen to petty complaints.

“Well, let’s provision ourselves as our hosts suggested and make our descent. I’m curious to see how docile this dungeon actually is,” Reiner broke in before anyone could say anything more. With our course decided we all started getting to work collecting things we’d need. It was only the work of an hour, but things still managed to go wrong. Out of nowhere, Mira started crying and clutching her stomach before running for the outhouse.

“Seriously?” I said aloud and the other three nodded in exasperated agreement as Reiner went to check on her.

“She thinks the peaches she brought went bad,” he said ruefully when he returned a few minutes later.

“Then why don’t we do the initial survey without her?” I offered, more than happy to exclude her completely.

“I don’t know,” he started, a sweetheart like always.

“Mina’s right, she’d feel bad if we had to stop. It’s better if we check on things while she recovers,” Andrea chimed in, picking up on my idea and contributing smoothly. Now we just needed Lilian not to fuck it up by offering to heal Mira.

“They have a point, and we can leave the demi with her as protection,” Lilian offered, and I wanted to high five her for the first time since we’d met. Reiner would never have left Mira alone, but the demi-human was an acceptable fighter and couldn’t turn against her even if it wanted to.

“I guess you’re right, she did tell me not to wait on her,” Reiner agreed reluctantly, only to give a resolute nod a moment later. We all nodded gravely with him, but inside I was fist-pumping. Mira must have thought she could win by starting slow and looking helpless only to build up. I’d forgotten the basic rule that the higher one climbed the farther they had to fall. I needed to fix my trajectory and secure Reiner’s affections before showing off my full range of abilities or I’d be an easy target.

With the matter settled, we went back and double-checked our supplies. With everything covered and a little room left we added a few 'nice to haves' to our equipment along with the necessities. It took an extra hour, but it was worthwhile, and we all felt confident as we set off for the dungeon.