AN: Hello, your lazy author present you chapter 26:D, enjoy!

PR by Zenla, the royal proofreader

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After Kerrina's and Muriem's confession, we stayed silent for the rest of the evening, just enjoying each other company. The girls were probably too embarrassed to talk, and I was as well, I didn't expect this from them, at least not this early. I knew they loved me, but I though we would cross that bridge after leaving Argot, not before. Or maybe it was what I hoped, for I didn't want to have the parents around at that time. I though I would reveal it on my last time here before leaving for the world. Well, I guess I'll have to reveal it before leaving for Lana Academy...

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Some time ago, while Aenthar was exploring the Frontier, 2 girls were sitting next to a river. They were still wet from their recent dip in the water. They had their clothes next to them, and the blond girl was looking at the necklace on top of her clothes. She took it, then held it against her chest while giggling.

Kerrina «You really love Aenthar a lot don't you?»

Muriem was surprised by the sudden sentence and blushed furiously, but didn't deny anything. She looked at the necklace with a loving smile.

Kerrina «My father said that Aenthar will do great things in the future. Nana and Namir said he will be a great man.»

Muriem «I don't doubt it one bit. Isn't he amazing?» she said with a bright smile and sparks in her eyes.

Kerrina «Yes. He is. However, my mother also said that great men attract women. In the future, many women will try to be with him.»

Muriem «No way!!! I don't want that!! Besides, he already has us!! There is no need for more!»

Kerrina «That won't change anything. Mother told me that we won't be able to keep him to ourselves.»

Muriem «You can't agree to that!!»

Kerrina «Among the lycans, there usually are more women than men, so it's common to see a man with 2 wives. Besides, even among the humans and the andrellas it's not uncommon for rich merchants and nobles to have more than one woman.»

Muriem «Ugh, I know that. It's true that our village chief had 2 wives. But Aenthar isn't a noble or a merchant!!»

Kerrina «He is not, but he will be as good as one. I'm sure you noticed how many people in the village have tried to get him interested in their daughters.»

Muriem «... Yes, I know... I know that some of the girls are very jealous of me for living with him..»

Kerrina «I'm one of them.»

Muriem «What???»

Kerrina «I'm jealous of you living with him, but that doesn't mean I mind, so don't look so sad and scared.»

Muriem «...Hmm... Ok...»

Kerrina «Don't make that face, I like you very much, and I have no problem with you being with him. Besides, when we leave that problem will no longer be a problem.»

Muriem «You really scared me you know. I though you were angry... Thank you Kerri.»

Kerrina «My pleasure. Back to the topic, mother told me we won't be able to keep him to ourselves. She told me that Aenthar will definitly cross path with several pretty and talented women, more talented than us, and that Aenthar will probably want some of them to stay with him. Maybe he will be forced to take one of them to advance on his path.»

Muriem looked dejected hearing all of this.

Muriem «You know, I hoped that it would only be the 3 of us. Namir did tell me something like that before, I knew that some people would try to be with him, but I still wished we would have him for ourselves...»

Kerrina «Mother told me that the only thing we can do is support him as best as we can and keep an eye on the women trying to get him. She told me that our opinion must be important for him if he decides to take another girl, and for that we must show him how much we care about him.»

Muriem «I understand. Though if it's showing him how much we love him, it won't be a problem.»

Kerrina «It's fine for now since we are still in Argot, but it will be important later.»

Thus, when Aenthar decided to increase the difficulty of their training after learning healing magic, the girls didn't shy away. When he confronted them about the future during their trip, they showed him their resolve, their trust and their feelings for him.

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On the way back, I told the girls that I want to keep our relationship a secret from everyone for the time being. I told them that I was not ready to announce it to our parents (truth is I'm a little scared of their reactions), and that it may bring a bit of trouble for our preparations. They were a little disapointed but they did agree.

After a short trip to the guild, Muriem went home with Komodo while I escorted Kerrina to her house. Once there, after making sure that there was nobody around to see us, I took her in my arms and gave her a deep kiss before leaving. That night, before sleeping, Muriem came to my room for a small chat, which was just an excuse to hold me and kiss me before going to sleep.

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This went on for 3 months. 3 months during which I would spend 10 days at the smithy and 5 in the Frontier with the girls. While in the village, aside from learning at the forge, I would train my battle skills in the morning and my magic skills in the evening.

I would sometimes spar with the girls at the river, followed by a bit of flirting in the water, to my great pleasure. Kerrina grew and matured a little more, being around C cup or something like that, bigger than Muriem's.

And that was becoming a problem, because my libido was starting to emerge. And with Muriem sneaking to my bed from time to time, it was starting to get really hard to control myself when I was alone with one of the girls. I prayed for the remaining time before leaving to pass quickly, because the sleeping dragon was awakening.

The girls reached E rank adventurer, and I was around halfway to D rank. I collected many samples of the ores I couldn't identify, and would sometimes make a few experiments in alchemy to isolate the components. My memories from sciences classes weren't the best, but I believed it would give me an edge in what I was trying to do.

The problem would then be to know what element it is using the little bits I know from my previous world's Periodic Table. How do you indentify an element you've never seen or touched raw? Should I just melt the sample bits by bits? But if it was that easy, some of them would have been in use long ago. At least that will keep me busy.

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At the begining of the 8 month of the year, when I got to Old Johrgard's smithy, he told me that he had to leave the next day for more than a week, and that during that time I will have to take care of the smithy. He gave me a few orders I would have to complete during his trip, all other importants orders he had already made arrangements for them. The forge would be in my care for several days.

I had gathered a lot of ores from the river and the Frontier, so I thought I would use that time to smelt them. Since the old man decided to leave his important place with me, I would have to do a perfect job. That night I told my parents, Muriem and Kerrina that I would be very busy at the smithy, and that I would sometimes spend the night there to take care of the ores I gathered while keeping everything there in a good shape.

The time I spent taking care of a smithy on my own was very satisfying. And among the orders I had to take care of, a lot of them required me to forge steel. And it's not that easy to make good steel. But I believe the results were good.

Concerning the ores I gathered, most of them couldn't be smelted because some work was needed to purify them, isolate some components. The rest were mostly made of iron, copper and zinc. I got a little bit of tin and silver as well. But truthfully, for around 3 months of exploration in the Frontier, the total value of what I could use immediately was disappointing compared to what I had in mind at the beginning.

I guess I should focus more on beasts and monster materials, until I can refine the others samples or pinpoint a few specifics elements.

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AN: A second chapter today to make up for a previous day of laziness :D

Erik and Jenna is a great wingmen, especially Jenna :D.