Mature Content: Not much really. A little kissing and feelings and stuff.

Author's Note: So, a bit of movement in several directions. I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter 6: Mine

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Darting silvery forms sped through the water at great speed. Their razor-toothed smiles were wide and friendly in a way that was quite disturbing. The creature’s tore into the flesh, blood permeated the water in response to their aggressiveness and voracious attempts to devour their opponents.

Cut and torn, a masculine hard slammed forward at the last moment. “Howling Gale!”

Scott had discovered something interesting a short time ago. The howling gale spell could operate underwater! The razor-tooth finnies, a species of aquatic monster similar to overgrown piranhas, were blown back by the powerful tidal current that the sorcerer created.

Dozens of small damage numbers floated upward from the school of finnies. The attack did little damage but it could encompass a wide area and proved quite useful when attacking a mass of underwater monsters.

The best part was that the sudden shift in the flow of the water caused disorientation. Kiley and Neira used that moment to unleash their discordant magical music to further weaken and confuse the creatures.

Rhea slipped into the area and used her arcane sword skills to deliver lightning based damage to her opponents. Unlike a directly cast spell, the electricity from her blade did not cause her problems. It did, however, greatly damage the underwater enemies she faced.

It was not a perfect strategy. The finnies were not powerful monsters, but they moved in large schools and they were highly aggressive. Scott had decided that they were the grass rats of the sea. However, they were within his level-range.

Another school of the silvery scaled monsters appeared. Thankfully there were only a few dozen of them this time.

Rhea slashed into two more of the aquatic monsters, and then retreated. The group she was fighting had begun to regain their coherence. The battle pattern would need to be repeated.

She drew the new school of monsters toward Scott. The sorcerer waited till she swam past him at all possible speed, and then he prepared his spell once more. “Howling Gale!”

He managed to capture most of the finnies within his area of effect, but six of them escaped to the side and then kept coming. The mermaids went ahead with their part of the plan, and Rhea returned to battle the school of feisty fish monsters. Scott would be able to handle six of the beasts despite their agility in the water.

The sorcerer drew back a little and waited for the monsters to group together enough that he could use his spell again. Out of his four current spells, howling gale was the most useful underwater. He had used it heavily at this point.

Scott unleashed his spell then raced in toward the swirling mass of fish. He angled his movements to the side and repeated the process. Soon, he had corralled the fish and returned them to the rest of the monster swarm.

Rhea drew back, and the methodical method of fighting repeated itself. Several hours passed in this fashion and the group withdrew back to the shore. They had gained a large amount of experience and many ability points from the battle. However, that fight had just been to increase their strength and underwater fighting knowledge while waiting for the real opponents to return.

The Shar-Shar were a goldmine of experience right now. However, the real reason that they needed to fight more of them was that they still needed a few more items in order to be complete underwater battlers.

Rhea pulled out a few of her Fairy’s Cure tonics and passed them around. She had nearly run out of them, but that was fine. Their time on this island was nearly done, and they had several tents left.

Each of them drank a tonic, and then Scott and Rhea picked up the mermaids. They carried the fish-tailed girls to their shore-side camp. The Shar-Shar would not spawn directly around the sanctuary area, and they used the place to rest between battles.

“I’m getting a little sleepy, Scott.” said Ero. They had not rested since the night before and it was close to dawn.

“Alright, Ero. We can sleep at dawn. The Shar-Shar don’t like to come on land during the day.” said Scott.

“OK...” said the Fairy girl, before making a loud yawning sound within his mind. She had been alert but bored for hours.

Scott had not needed to call upon her powers, but the need to remain aware and alert had drained her stamina a bit.

Kiley snuggled up to her fiancé then smiled at Scott and Rhea. “This is kind of nice...”

“Right.” said Neira. “It’s like we’re on a double-date.”

Scott smiled at the girls then reached over and clasped Rhea’s hand. The elf girl looked at him for a moment and then sighed in a soft, content, manner. She leaned against him then smiled a little as well.

“Wait, something is wrong, isn’t it?” asked Ero.

Scott blinked then thought about it for a moment. “Hey, you’re right!”

“Who’s right?” asked Rhea. She looked at Scott curiously.

“The battle music has not changed back into normal music.” said the sorcerer. They had not completed their last battle apparently.

“Ah, there is probably a finnie in the water nearby or the Shar-Shar are respawning.” said Rhea.

Scott nodded to her. That was probably the case. The entire point of hunting the finnies was to kill time while waiting for the Shar-Shar to respawn. He was about to respond when he noticed something strange.

His eyes lit up and his lips quirked into an amused smile. He pointed to a silvery gleam on the beach. “Well, maybe that’s the problem.”

Rhea looked over then laughed a little. One of the finnies had flopped onto the beach and it was making a sincere effort to reach them.

Scott hopped up then strolled over to the aggressive little fish. It was smaller than the others that they had fought. Though, smaller was relative. It was still about as long as his arm.

The man waited until the fish hurled itself into the air. He performed a flip-kick that sent it flying higher into the air and then performed a powerful jumping, spinning upper-cut that finished it off. It had been losing health steadily while it was on the shore, and had absolutely no ability to defend itself outside of the water.

A few seconds after the fish burst into motes of light the music changed back to its soothing and festive island beat.

Scott could not help but smile at the tune. Every time he heard it, he wanted to start singing the song, Under the Sea.

A battle report popped up and he grinned from ear to ear. That had been a highly productive hunting session, even if he was dog-tired.

<<< Battle Report >>>

Victory!!

Your party has defeated four hundred fifty-six razor-toothed finnies! Due to defeating so many monsters in a single battle, you will receive additional rewards.

+ 0 EXP

+ 37605 Fayth

+456 Ability Points.

Item(s) Acquired:

Silver Scales X 312

Fish Eye X 97

Fish Tail X 456

Finnie Teeth X 36

Swim Bladder X 3 [Rare]

>>

Scott could not help but feel like dancing a little. Working in a group allowed them to easily defeat a larger number of monsters. He could never have fought that many finnies by himself. He would have run out of mana long before he could have killed even a fourth of that number. Actually, if he were honest, without the crowd control effects of the mermaids he would have been devoured.

He checked his survival lore ring experience and his eyes lit up. “Sweet, only thirteen thousand experience to go!”

Scott trotted back to camp to tell Rhea the good news but the elf girl was already up and speaking excitedly. “What’s going on Rhea?”

She whirled toward him then revealed a bright smile. “I just reached level nine!”

“Really? That’s great! Two levels in a day. That’s really good for you, isn’t it?”

“That’s amazing for me! I rarely hunt in groups, so I don’t get this sort of chance often.” said the elf girl. She had gotten the lion’s share of the experience since she did most of the actual killing. Unlike the battles with the Shar-Shar, she actually earned more experience per battle than Scott did. The finnies were roughly the same level, or slightly lower-level, than Scott. He did not receive the absurdly highly experience bonus for killing them. If anything, his experience rewards would have been slightly lower than normal if they did not kill enough monsters to warrant a small bonus.

“Great job! Maybe we should stay here until you reach level ten? You would be able to receive your stat upgrades and first tier profession bonuses. That would help a lot when we go to free the rest of the mermaids.” said Scott.

Rhea looked toward Neira and Kiley. The mermaid girls glanced at each other and then back at their new friends. Neira spoke up. “The Shar-Shar probably won’t, like, hurt our people too much at the moment. The full-moon is almost a month away. We can wait a few days, maybe, if you really want to keep hunting.”

“Right.” said Kiley. She nodded at them and then smiled. They did not receive anything from the fights with the finnies, but they did receive ability points and loot from the Shar-Shar. Helping their friends grow stronger was useful and they could increase their own abilities a little in the process.

“If you’re sure...?” asked Scott. He wanted to go save the mermaids, but this entire event smelled terribly of an impending boss battle. He wanted to gain his survival skills and acquire whatever that goblin soul would grant him before moving on. If rhea could manage to reach at least level ten that would help a lot.

The mermaids looked to each other once more and then nodded. Neira looked at Scott and then said, “We’re, sure.”

“Alright, we’ll spend a few days doing a lot of hard grinding.” said Scott.

Neira’s eyes lit up and then she leaned forward giving him a view of her fishy cleavage. “How aggressive.”

Kiley placed her hands to her cheeks and then squealed, “Kyaa! So bold!”

“Huh?” asked Scott intelligently.

Rhea laughed at his moronic expression then took the confused man by the hand. “Come grind with me a little.”

“Uh, OK...” Scott’s confusion faded after he thought about the situation. He snorted and then rolled his eyes. He had not meant it like that at all.

Ero woke up a bit then slipped out of Scott’s mind. She fluttered near him for a moment then yawned loudly. “If you’re going to grind, I want to help.”

Scott blinked at the little fairy. Her eyelids had started to droop and she fluttered around erratically. “Maybe we should just get some rest? Since we’re going to stay here until at least tomorrow morning, now, we might as well get a little sleep.”

Rhea tugged his shirt then pouted at him a little. “You don’t want to grind with me Scott?”

He shook his head at the girl. “Beauty sleep is pointless for you, but I need as much as possible.”

The elf’s pout shifted into a brilliant smile for a moment, but then she thought about what he said. “Hey, that was meant as a compliment, right?”

Scott grinned at her and then kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll take first watch.”

“That’s not an answer, Mister...” said the girl in a dangerous tone of voice.

Scott kissed her on the other cheek. “I can answer questions or I can kiss you.”

Rhea blinked then closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Scott laughed at her sudden personality shift then leaned in and kissed her on the nose.

The elf girl rubbed the tip of her nose then pouted at him. “I have lips, you know.”

He slipped his hands forward then drew her close. “I know...”

Rhea’s eyes widened slightly and then slowly closed. Her sort-of boyfriend tilted his head down and kissed her gently on the lips.

Scott’s left hand slid downward to gently massage her lower back. His right hand rose up and his arm curled around her body. He kneaded her opposite shoulder while holding her close.

His nose brushed softly against hers for a moment then her arms slipped around him. They held each other in that tender embrace for several minutes. When they finally, broke away the moment was ruined by the sudden catcalls and hand claps of their audience.

“Whew! Like, take it off baby.” called out Neira.

“So, hot. Do me next!” cried Kiley.

Scott blinked then turned toward them, but came face-to-fairy with Ero. The tiny girl looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes. It was obvious what she wanted.

Rhea saw the look between them and then sighed. She wanted to build a deep connection with Scott, but she had been forced to accept that the tiny girl fluttering in front of them had beaten her to the punch. She did not have to accept that sort of thing with anyone else, however. She would make that clear to her sort-of boyfriend soon. “Go ahead....”

Scott had the decency to blush after hearing Rhea’s words. Ero squealed excitedly then tilted her body forward and puckered her lips.

The sorcerer was not certain what to do. He did not want to hurt either Rhea or Ero, but beyond the emotional issues there was another problem. How did he kiss someone when his mouth was big enough to swallow her whole?

“Ero, I’d be happy to give you a kiss... but how exactly?” asked the man.

The fairy slowly opened her eyes then frowned at him. Her eyes began to shimmer softly then she sniffed lightly. “I don’t know... I really want to ... but I’m so small.”

“You were bigger once...”

She nodded. “Yeah, but that is only when I use my greater power. I’m not strong enough to maintain that size normally. I’ll need to be much stronger first.”

Rhea hit on an idea. She did not like the idea of sharing Scott, despite her upbringing, but she did think Ero was a sweet girl. “You can read his memories and visit him in his dreams, correct?”

“Yes...?” asked Ero. What was she getting at?

“I can’t believe that I am saying this, but... for now... I don’t care what happens in a dream...” said Rhea. That was not entirely true. She certainly did care a great deal, but she was forced to make concessions. Scott and Ero were now a package deal. The only way to remove Ero would be to destroy her, and Rhea was not that sort of girl. Rather, Origin, the true mind behind Rhea was not that sort of girl. She was the goddess of love and reincarnation. She could not fault Ero for caring about Scott, even if she wished that their union had not happened.

Unless she wanted to abandon her attempts to get to know him better, Rhea had to accept that he had a guardian fairy who had as much right to want to love him as anyone. It helped that Ero seemed to genuinely like her as well, and did not seem interested in trying to get Rhea out of the way.

“Dreams... Well, yes. In a dream I could be any size...” said Ero. She blinked twice quickly and then acquired a truly interesting expression.

Scott looked at the tiny girl and suddenly felt a trill of fear crawl up his spine. He was not certain why, until Ero spoke once more.

“Scott... do you really like tentacles that much?” Ero quirked an eyebrow and unleashed a truly disturbing smile.

Scott’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “No, I am not that sort of guy...”

Ero giggled at him then murmured something Scott could barely hear, but it sounded suspiciously like, “We shall see.”

He looked toward Rhea. She shook her head. “You made your bed...”

“Sexy traitor.” Scott unleashed a man-pout in her direction but in this instance she proved to be impervious to his boyish charms.

“I’m really sleepy, Scott. We should take a nap.” said Ero. She giggled softly then wiggled her eyes in a most suggestive fashion.

He waved his hands in front of the tiny girl. “No getting ideas... Rhea and I aren’t even there, yet.”

“Actually, I’ve been there for quite some time. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive.” replied the elf in a dead-pan manner.

Scott winced then looked to the heavens. Why were they pushing this? Why was he fighting this?

“Rhea... I’m surprised you’re this accommodating...” mumbled the man.

She kissed him on the cheek. “I want to be with you, Scott. In the future, please remember that and act accordingly.”

He realized what she meant immediately. She was willing to accept the situation with Ero due to the circumstances, but she had clearly stated her dislike of the situation. No more getting into sexy situations with random girls while she was out.

“What about Sharde?” asked Ero.

Rhea frowned at the fairy. “Sharde is busy now. I don’t think she will need to be accommodated.”

Scott sighed in relief. He liked that crazy ninja girl, but she was far too aggressive and he did not want to cause issues with Rhea. They had just gotten to the point where they could start to be honest with each other. The last thing that they needed was someone else with a legitimate, if strange, emotional claim trying to actually stake it.

It was supposed to be every man’s dream, pretty girls all wanting to be with him for various reasons. However, for Scott it was more akin to a nightmare. He was not averse to having female friends and even several sexual partners. He just did not like the idea of hurting anyone, and it was next to impossible not to hurt someone in that so-called harem situation.

Besides that, he had trouble even maintaining one decent relationship, much less several at once. No, his romantic history had proven to him that he was destined for monogamy or at least whatever it was between him, Rhea, and Ero.

Scott hugged Rhea tenderly then kissed her on the forehead. The bridge of the elf girl’s nose took on a pink tinge in response.

The mermaids listened to the decidedly interesting conversation for a while before slipping back to cuddle some more. Neira and Kiley fell asleep atop the sand, they were aquatically oriented girls, but they enjoyed sunbathing on a beach or exposed rock. This was no different. Though, they were a little leery about being so far from the sea.

While the mermaids slept, their new friends continued their conversation. Ero alighted atop Rhea’s head so that they could both look at Scott.

“Is this really alright with you, Rhea?” asked Scott. He could not imagine a woman ever telling him to have intimate encounters with another woman.

“No, but I can live with It.” said the elf. It was obvious that she did not like the situation.

“I’m sorry...” said Scott. What else could he say? He could not claim that he wished it had not happened. He would hurt

Ero, and it would be a lie. He truly liked the little fairy girl. She was sweet and seemed so innocently curious most of the time.

“There is no need to apologize. Just... just think more of me in the future, OK? When you and Ero joined together, I could not be one hundred percent honest with you. That doesn’t make me accept this any easier, but at least I can understand it.”

Scott shook his head. “You’re a much better person than I am. If you’d bonded with someone I don’t know if I could accept it.”

Rhea nodded. She knew that already. “You don’t have to worry about that. I know we are working on it, being a couple that is...”

Scott kissed her on the cheek then pulled her close. He had been thoughtless and forced her into making a decision she was not comfortable with. He had done that sort of thing before in his life. It never included another girl in the picture, but things like signing up for special training or adhering to certain rules of his profession when he could have gone against them for the sake of his relationships when doing so would have hurt no one or even been noticed by his chain of command.

“No one else, I promise.” said Scott.

“I have been granted more fortune by the goddess of love than any one man deserves....” said Scott.

Rhea giggled softly, but Ero was the one to respond. “Totally.”

Scott groaned. The mermaids had been a cute, but bad, influence on the girl.

Ero fluttered down from Rhea’s head then kissed both Rhea and Scott on the cheek. “I like it when mom and dad don’t fight. Now kiss me and makeup.”

Scott made a noise then started to laugh. He could not help it. The tiny fairy was too cute for words.

Rhea giggled sweetly. “Ero, you make it sound like you want to kiss both of us.”

The fairy smiled in a warm and friendly way. “That’s silly, Rhea. Of course, I want to kiss you both. I want things to become more interesting.”

Rhea blinked at Ero. “Wait, are you saying....?”

The fairy giggled. “I’ll see you in your dreams, too.”

The elf girl’s eyes widened suddenly. What terrible thing had she unleashed?

Scott laughed at the shocked expression on the girl’s face. “Say, Rhea...?”

“Y-yeah....?”

“Do you like tentacles?” asked Scott. He leveled a sweet and innocent smile at the girl.

Rhea gazed upon the smiling moron and immediately wanted to slap him around a little. She reigned in her desires then kissed him on the nose. “Idiot...”

Scott kissed her gently on the chin. “Sweet.”

The elf nuzzled the side of his face then pressed tightly against him. “Moron...” she whispered gently.

The sorcerer kissed her softly on her delicately tapered ear. “Beautiful.”

Rhea clutched at his back then murmured something soft that Scott could not make out. The girl grew silent after that and simply held him.

Scott suspected that he knew what she had said, however. He repeated what he suspected. “Mine...”

Rhea giggled sweetly but said nothing else. She wanted to enjoy the moment.

Ero fluttered over to Rhea and then flattened her body out on top of the elf girl’s head. “Don’t leave me out.”

Scott laughed a little, spoiling the moment slightly. Still, it was a sweet moment.