“Please, wait a second. Let’s not be too hasty,” Asterios replied with a wry smile, slowly raising his hands.

The golden-haired woman tilted her head a bit. “Why?”

“Are you sure this is the right thing to do? You have just arrived in a different realm. Maybe things aren’t exactly as they seem.”

She pondered for a second before refocusing on Ast’s face. “I can sense powerful dark energy latched onto your core. It’s dangerous to leave it like this. Who knows when it starts acting out.”

“I see.” Asterios nodded, still observing the brightly glowing staff-spear pointed his way. “Let me just ask first, are you hostile towards entities born in darkness or those who wield such elements?”

He saw her thinking for a moment again before she gently shook her head.

“Not necessarily. Both Darkness and Light are essential for the balance of the world. Both can have either positive or negative effects so it depends on the use. Such pure dark energy enveloping one’s core can have very strong adverse effects after prolonged exposure.”

“Alright. This energy you are sensing might not be the negative one, to be honest. I’m a Summoner. My magic allows me to create bonds with other entities. One of my companions is pretty much a shadow, and that’s most likely why you can see those traces around my source or spiritual circuits.”

After Asterios finished speaking, Umbra materialized himself from Ast’s shadow and appeared on his shoulder. The woman’s glimmering golden eyes moved onto the black raven and watched it for a moment, glancing between it and Ast’s body.

The bright glow surrounding her staff faded and she retracted it with a soft sigh.

“I apologize for jumping to conclusions, then. I did not wish to do them any harm.”

“It’s okay. Misunderstandings happen. I could tell you had good intentions.” Asterios smiled at the woman. “Anyway, the reason behind me calling you here was to recruit you as my companion and familiar. If staying around my friend here, Umbra, is making you uncomfortable, we can skip going through the details and I can send you back. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

She looked around the plains before replying. “So, it really is a different world. I knew it had to be after I laid my feet on the ground. It’s been ages since someone saw this much green in our realm.”

Asterios waited for her to finish taking in the sights, carefully observing the woman’s reaction to seeing the girls standing on the side. She glossed over them without showing anything special or worrying before returning her gaze to him.

“I would like to learn more about our situation before making my decision. And no, I don’t think I would have an issue being around your friend. Nevertheless, assuming that Summoning Magic functions the same way in both of our realms, I would have never expected to be summoned by someone.”

“No problem. Do you mind if my other companions join the conversation?”

After seeing the woman shake her head, he nodded at the girls to come closer before continuing.

“Let’s start again, then. I’m Asterios. As I have mentioned before, I’m a human, I think. I have quite a complex ancestry, possibly related to Dragons. And that might be the reason why I was able to summon you and not a beast-like entity if that’s what’s making you intrigued.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Asterios. My name is Bryn and I’m a valkyrja. It’s my first time seeing an individual of your race so I apologize if I accidentally offend you due to my lack of knowledge.”

“It’s alright. Same here.” Asterios waved his hand. “As for the people behind me, this is Miria and Selene, my current familiars and mates, and this Silvia, our traveling companion. I’ve already introduced Umbra.”

The girls exchanged simple greetings with the winged woman. Then, Asterios took over again.

“Before we move further, I have to ask about one more thing. We are looking for someone who specializes in Healing Magic or knows similar techniques. I don’t want to waste your time if you have neither.”

Bryn smiled warmly. “You are lucky, then, Asterios. That’s exactly the field of my expertise. The majority of my magic focuses on healing and regeneration. I know a bit of offense and defense too, but not as much as support.”

She raised her staff slightly into the air and it began shining again. Gentle light illuminated everyone’s skin and they felt a pleasant calmness wash over them, slightly rejuvenating their bodies. It didn’t seem to be uncomfortable for Umbra either, which was good.

Asterios nodded. “That’s great. You might be who we need. Do you have any issues with becoming my contracted familiar if we were to follow up with this summoning after we talk some more?”

“If it’s the same thing as I know of, then I don’t think so. I will receive some kind of remuneration for my help while getting bound to you and being able to traverse between our worlds, right? If you are okay with me not accompanying you at all times, then it should be okay. I have a lot of responsibilities back at home.”

She then sighed a little dejectedly.

“It’s a little saddening knowing that I will be the only one with access to this realm. I would have brought everyone to settle down here if it was possible. It’s so beautiful. I bet it looks even better from the sky,” Bryn said very quietly, more to herself than the others.

Asterios decided to ask about that a bit later. “Of course, you are not required to stay here most of the day. We are perfectly fine with you giving us a hand whenever it’s necessary.”

He sensed Miria’s rising curiosity and gave the panthergirl a mental nod.

“Excuse me,” Miria called out to the woman.

“Yes?” Bryn glanced at her.

“Do men of your race have these beautiful wings too?”

“What’s a man?”

Miria blinked a few times after seeing the woman’s slightly confused expression. She looked at Asterios and the others but they seemed as surprised as her to hear Bryn’s question.

“Well… Ummm… Master is a man, for example.” She pointed at Asterios.

Bryn moved her gaze to him and scanned Ast’s whole body from head to toes with great attention.

“Hmmm… Would it be too shameless to ask you to remove the upper part of your clothing?”

Asterios didn’t really mind so he made his dark crimson coat and black vest disappear, revealing his torso. He felt Bryn’s eyes scrutinize every inch of him as she rubbed her chin with her free hand, clearly pondering over something.

“Considering the general build of your body and a completely flat chest… if we removed your hair, replaced your face with a blank surface, and changed your skin color to dark grey, you could very well pose as a monster of the Scourge. Are those foul creatures men?”

He smiled wryly while Selene chuckled softly. Miria shook her head, holding herself back so as not to respond too emotionally.

“No. Master is not a foul creature but a human. What is this Scourge you mentioned?”

“It’s a name our people have given to vile, evil monsters that annihilated our world,” she explained with a hint of sorrow in her voice. “They are almost immortal, being able to regenerate endlessly. They appeared centuries ago and contaminated every corner of our realm in a flash. We were forced to abandon the ground and escape into the air.”

Bryn looked up at the sky.

“Our ancestors constructed ARKs, Aerial Refuge Keeps, floating cities inside which we now live while looking down at the destroyed landscape spanning under us. It’s extremely rare to find an untainted piece of land, and even less common to find survivors. The sky is currently the only place out of reach of the Scourge.”

“Oh no…” Miria’s lips trembled a little from the sad story. “I’m sorry…”

With a nice smile, Bryn shook her head. “There’s no need to feel sorry. That’s just how it is. I’m a member of the Council on one of the ARKs, part of the assault squad that sometimes descends to the ground in search of useful resources, survivors, and supplies which have avoided destruction. And to look for a means to defeat the enemy, but everyone has already lost hope after so many years.”

She then returned her golden eyes to Asterios. “My demand as a contracted summon would be related to this. I would like to request any possible supplies I can get, mostly focusing on food and water. We are always lacking those. ARKs are as big as cities, but they don’t have enough space for farming and other activities to remain completely self-sufficient. Especially after hundreds of years when their populations keep growing.”

Asterios stepped closer and placed a hand on the metal pauldron covering Bryn’s shoulder. “I can promise you to provide as much support as I can. I’m part of a renowned merchant family and have many powerful allies. Even if you can’t offer much to trade back, I will cover the cost out of my own pocket.”

After a moment, a big, relieved smile rose on Bryn’s lips and she pulled him closer. Asterios accepted the hug and entered a slightly awkward embrace with all the heavy metal armor digging into his exposed skin.

He winced a little when Bryn’s sharply angled chestplate almost pierced his flesh. Hearing his quiet, held-back grunt, she quickly stepped back with a faint blush, realizing her mistake. Ast’s girls chuckled at them, bringing more rosiness to her cheeks.

After the laughter died down, Miria glanced at her once again, moving a bit closer to Asterios. She wouldn’t waste this opportunity to snuggle a bit with her master’s warm body from the side.

“So… If there are no men amongst your people… How do you… ummmm… reproduce?” Miria asked, getting even redder than Bryn at the end of her question.

The winged woman looked unbothered by the inquiry and regarded it with natural composure, so much different from the shy panthergirl.

“Simple. Through procreation between two individuals, of course. Valkyries get together with Valkyrs and have children as most mammals do. As for me, I’m a Valkyrie. I have been born with a fertile womb to bear an offspring,” she explains, placing a hand over her underbelly.

“Uhhh…” Miria showed a bit of confusion again. “Then, those Valkyrs, are they not like Master?”

“No, of course not. A Valkyr is born with a different set of genitals, one with the ability to impregnate a Valkyrie’s womb. Additionally, they can’t be flat like Asterios. It’s a Valkyr’s role to nurse the newborn.”

Due to Bryn’s explanation, a certain image popped into her mind as she glanced at the woman’s crotch. She instantly turned into a tomato while trying to look up, back at her face.

“Does this mean that… some girls in your world… have… p… p…”

“Penises,” Selene finished for her with a melodic undertone.

Bryn looked at them with one brow raised. “Naturally. How else would we procreate? Isn’t it the same for your people?”

Even Silvia blushed at the seemingly innocent question regarding something clearly obvious to the enquirer. Selene couldn’t hide her wide smile behind her slender hand, and Asterios had a little wry expression decorating his face.

It was not a completely foreign concept for him since he had heard about magicians specializing in the transmutation of the flesh from Grea. Now and then, they were asked to perform a change down there by a woman or two. Hell, some of them studied that branch of magic solely for the purpose of enhancing themselves in that region. It was mostly guys in that case.

Asterios didn’t have any specific views on the aforementioned topic, besides believing that everyone was entitled to do whatever they wanted as long as it wasn’t hurting anyone else, but he wasn’t sure how he exactly felt about such bodily compositions.

He sensed that at least Miria seemed a little bit weirded out by the knowledge so he was glad that Bryn was no different than the other women around them. They could have regarded a Valkyr just like a man from their realms, but he was glad they didn’t have to think about this issue too deeply in their case. Miria would definitely take a moment to get used to that if they had.

While everyone was showing similar reactions, Bryn kept staring at them a little puzzled. Asterios decided to explain it, also wanting to make sure that his existence wasn’t uncomfortable for her.

“Unfortunately, while I can’t speak for all the realms, here and in the world of Miria and Selene, it’s women who bear children and usually nurse them for the majority of the time while it’s men who are the owners of the other set of genitals. That’s why everyone is so surprised, and why men, usually, don’t have as developed breasts.”

“Oh.” Bryn’s eyes jumped to Ast’s crotch for a moment, then to his chest, and finally back to his face as she blushed a bit once more. “That’s… new.”

“Exactly.” He chuckled. “Are you okay with this?”

She nodded with a small smile. “It’s a surprise but I think I do. Not like it matters, right?”

“Just making sure that neither side is uncomfortable about this. We wouldn’t want things to become too awkward between us if we are going to work together. I try to keep in mind everyone’s thoughts and feelings.”

“If I may?” Silvia joined in from the side for the first time.

Everyone glanced at her, including Bryn.

“Yes?”

“I can’t help but wonder about the shining halo above your head. It’s closely associated with Light and Holy Magic in our world and sometimes manifests for their powerful and skilled users. There are various requirements and conditions surrounding it. Is it the same for you?”

“This?” Bryn tapped the glowing circle, which released pleasant, ceramic taps. “This is my root. Every valkyrja has it. We can hide it at will but it shows up by itself when we want to use magic since it acts as a catalyst through which the energy moves.”

And just to demonstrate, she closed her eyes for a second and the beautiful halo disappeared. Asterios took a look at Bryn with his draconic sight and noticed that it still existed there spiritually.

What was more, it was pretty much equivalent to an extremely packed spiritual circuit. He could only spot a weak framework inside the woman’s body. Her spiritual energy and essence seemed to flow straight from her source to the ring above her head. It fascinated him greatly.

Silvia nodded in understanding. “Then, your magic won’t diminish, nor will it become unusable after you physically accept a partner, right? One of the limitations of quite a few parts of Holy magic is the need for the caster to remain untainted, and that’s why I was wondering about this.”

A tinge of rosiness surfaced on Bryn’s cheeks. “N-No... My magical prowess is unaffected by such acts. Actually, it’s the opposite. The Light element is closely related to warmth and love so it would even be strengthened if the user embraced a person they had feelings for.”

“That’s good to know,” Silvia replied.

“Do you have a partner already, Bryn?” Miria butted in before Asterios could ask her not to pry into Bryn’s love life right off the bat, knowing what she had in mind.

“Well…” The person in question looked aside a little awkwardly.

Miria tilted her head curiously, waiting for the answer, and trying not to show on her face that Asterios started scratching behind her ear much stronger to punish her a little.

Bryn moved her hands to her chest and began fiddling with her armor. A moment later, she pulled her chest plate off, revealing a tight white top underneath. She hugged the metal piece to her toned stomach and kept shooting glances at her impressive breasts.

Miria tilted her head to the other side. “And…?”

The winged woman tightened her hold on the armor with a wry smile. “My chest…”

“We can see that,” Selene said. “What’s wrong with it? Do you have scars from battle?”

“It’s big…”

Everyone deadpanned at Bryn. Even Asterios didn’t expect such an answer. It was true that, out of all the girls present during this meeting, she had the biggest breasts, and they were certainly a sight to behold even when hidden by the tight leather, but it wasn’t like she had an abnormally huge bosom, making it unappealing.

“Is this another thing perceived differently in our cultures?” Asterios asked.

“Uhhh… Is it?” She seemed as confused as they were. “I mean, it’s usually Valkyrs who have big breasts to be able to feed the baby properly. For Valkyries to be more than petite is considered… unnatural and off-putting. So, I’m not really that attractive…”

The girls on Ast’s side looked between themselves, questioning the reality of this situation. Miria even cupped her own leather top, realizing how small she looked in comparison to Bryn. She quickly stopped when Selene’s chuckle reached her ears.

Asterios smiled at the uncertain Bryn. “I can confidently say that over eighty percent of the population of all races living in my and their world would certainly say something along the lines of the bigger the better. So, yeah. If you joined us and showed up anywhere without your armor, you’d be hit on at least once a day or more with your beauty.”

She raised a curious brow at him, having it hard to believe. “You aren’t just comforting me to gain my favor, right?”

“He isn’t,” Selene and Silvia answered together instead of Asterios.

“Besides, Master doesn’t care about siz—ow!” Miria earned herself a chop on the head, interrupting her. “I mean, you said to Master that it doesn’t matter, right?”

Bryn smiled more comfortably seeing the funny interaction between them. Asterios kept affectionately brushing the spot he hit the panthergirl on while Miria’s cheeks remained rosy.

“Getting back on track, would you like to follow with the ritual?” he asked.

She took a deep breath, which caused her tight top to stretch under the pressure of her bountiful chest, and nodded.

“I would. I can’t pass on access to another realm with spare resources. You guys seem nice too. If it’s possible, I would like to enter a contract with you.”

Asterios nodded back and finally resummoned his full clothes. Miria let go of him and the duo of master and new familiar repositioned themselves in the magical circle while Bryn put her chestplate on again.

They went through the whole process without a hitch, with Asterios knowing well what to look out for to avoid accidental changes. Bryn didn’t state a specific amount of supplies Asterios had to provide, trusting that he would keep his word of gathering as much as he could for her. He gave off a good, warm feeling, supporting that trust.

After finishing, they kissed each other’s foreheads and the bond formed correctly. Bryn immediately noticed the connection between her and the others, also realizing how deep and profound the ones between Miria and Selene with Asterios were. Hers felt tiny in comparison.

“Alright. Should we jump to your world and check what you are in need of at the moment so that my family can make some preparations?” Asterios asked after they were fully done.

“That’s a great idea, Master!” Miria bounced around them happily.

“What?” Bryn stared at him with a frown.

Selene chuckled and hugged Ast’s left arm. “My Lord can freely visit our realms, fufufu~ I would like to see this ARK too.”

“I’m so jealous. A flying city sounds exciting,” Silvia admitted with a tiny smile.

“If you are interested, then it’s possible for you to—”

“Miria.”

The panthergirl giggled timidly and stopped. It made Silvia curious so she glanced at Asterios.

He sighed. “Yes, she is telling the truth. But, I don’t think your father would appreciate me turning you into my familiar. Additionally, we haven’t yet tested if the connection from normal Summoning Magic will be enough or if you would have to become my mate.”

“Oh.” Silvia’s cheeks gained a faint trace of rosiness. “So you being able to contract other races is most likely influenced by your lineage, right?”

“We still have to study some parts of the information we had found recently but it seems like it. Do you mind if we escort you back to Ashen Barrel and take a moment to visit Bryn’s realm?”

She shook her head. “Go ahead. Don’t worry about me. I can return with Miria and regroup with Svertaniel, waiting for your return. That way, she can join you as soon as we get there. Thank you for the opportunity to watch and help with your summoning. It was an amazing experience.”

Silvia made a little bow and Asterios quickly raised her up.

“The pleasure was mine. Thanks for your assistance. I guess we’ll see each other later.”

So, Miria picked the princess up and dashed away while Bryn, still slightly flabbergasted, opened a gate to her home, watching how he and Selene casually walked through it. She blinked a few times and quickly followed them.