Chapter 220: A Harem, huh?
Rangar had already made several trips between the Light Tree and the academy’s training grounds, though he probably would not have called it exercise. Whenever someone called out to him, he stopped. He greeted players he had never met, joined conversations that had nothing to do with him, and usually walked away with at least one new friend.
By then, so many new players recognized him that one could honestly say social anxiety itself was afraid of Rangar.
That afternoon was no different. He had just finished explaining the fastest route to one of the beginner facilities when a newbie sprinted past him, stopped abruptly, and nearly tripped while turning around.
"Yo! I got a call from my friend saying there are goddesses in the academy!" the player shouted, pointing toward the central grounds. "Bruda, I’m going to see them!"
Without another word, he abandoned the path leading to the Level One Hidden Dungeon and ran in the opposite direction.
For once, Rangar had no immediate response. His face twisted into the expression of a famous, shocked yellow animal.
"Wut?"
Goddesses in the academy? No one had told him anything about that.
He glanced around, half expecting someone to explain what he had missed. Usually, he heard rumors before the people spreading them had even decided whether they were true, so letting something this big slip past him felt insulting.
Rather than stand there wondering about it, Rangar chased after the newbie. The trail led him toward the academy’s central grounds, where more and more players had begun slowing down for no obvious reason. Small groups gathered along the edges of the path, whispering while pretending to discuss quests or academy facilities, and a few players had already walked past the same spot more than once.
Once Rangar followed the crowd’s gazes, everything made sense.
Six women stood together near the center of the path, each beautiful enough to draw a crowd on her own. Their unfamiliar clothes, altered features, and confident presence made them look completely different from the ordinary players moving through the academy. Seeing all six gathered in one place made the exaggerated rumors sound almost reasonable.
Annie and Rias stood out in their own ways among the others. Annie’s cheerful energy drew attention despite her attempts to hide, while Rias carried herself with enough confidence to make the surrounding stares seem insignificant.
Right in the middle of them stood Martin. From a distance, it looked less like a group discussing quests and more like six goddesses had surrounded one very fortunate man.
Rangar’s confusion vanished, replaced by a wide grin.
"Martin, bruh!" he shouted.
The call turned even more heads. Martin heard him over the surrounding chatter and turned around. Surprise flashed across his face before he laughed.
"Oh, you found us first for once! Haha! That’s rare!"
"Too rare," Alexandra added.
Ignoring the jealous looks from nearby players, Rangar jogged over and studied the women’s changed appearances. He recognized most of them once they spoke, but Annie was completely unfamiliar. She waved at him from behind Rias, and Rangar waved back automatically.
Then a new thought struck him.
"Is this that makeup I heard some female players talking about?" he asked, leaning closer without the slightest hint of tact. "What the hell is that?! Haha! I need it for my wife!"
Several of the women reacted at once. Elisebeth looked offended that he had reduced their transformations to makeup, while Cassandra seemed ready to correct him. Katherine only smiled, and Alexandra remained silent, clearly too entertained by his misunderstanding to interrupt.
Rias crossed her arms as Annie leaned out a little farther.
"It’s very good makeup," Annie said.
"That is not helping," Rias muttered.
Rangar barely noticed. His attention had already returned to Martin, who remained in the middle of the group. Elisebeth and Katherine had claimed either side of him, while the remaining women formed a loose half circle that left him with no easy direction to escape.
Rangar’s grin turned unbearably smug.
"And Martin, my boy," he said, slapping a hand against Martin’s shoulder, "you really did it!"
Martin’s smile weakened.
Rangar swept a hand toward the women around him. "You got yourself a harem!"
The surrounding whispers stopped for half a second, then returned twice as loud.
Martin froze. He had spent the last several minutes trying not to think too hard about the women surrounding him, and Rangar had just made that impossible.
A harem?
His eyes moved before common sense could stop them. Every woman around him had reacted to his presence in her own way, and the arrangement did nothing to calm his imagination.
Martin quickly looked away.
Elisebeth reacted first, letting out a short laugh as she lifted her chin.
"Rangar, really. You think I’d share him?"
Her tone sounded playful, but the possessive gleam in her eyes said otherwise. She shifted closer, her arm brushing Martin’s before she settled beside him.
Cassandra rolled her eyes, though a faint blush had already reached her cheeks. "We wouldn’t even get any marriage-tax discounts."
Annie slowly turned toward her, her shoulders drooping. "Elder Sister... is that really the only problem you see here?"
Cassandra started to answer but apparently thought better of it, leaving Annie to sigh.
Beside them, Katherine covered her smile with one hand. "That would be far too debauched, wouldn’t it?"
She glanced at Martin from the corner of her eye before adding, "No."
The delay did not help her case.
Rias stayed silent with her arms folded and one eyebrow raised, apparently waiting to see what Martin would do. He wished she would simply reject the idea aloud, but somehow, her silence made him even more nervous.
After a few seconds, he could not take it anymore. "You could say something."
"I could," Rias replied.
She did not continue.
Annie looked between them. "Does that mean no?"
"It means she enjoys watching him suffer," Alexandra said.
Rias did not deny that either.
The crowd had stopped pretending not to listen. Martin felt his face heating up. Rangar had arrived less than a minute ago and somehow turned a private joke into academy-wide news.
"Bruh," Rangar said, sounding genuinely impressed. "You really are living the dream."
"I’m living through an ambush," Martin muttered.
"That’s still more exciting than most quests!"
Annie giggled, while Katherine’s shoulders moved with a quiet laugh. Even Rias’s mouth twitched.
Elisebeth edged a little closer to Martin without taking her eyes off the others, while Cassandra continued rubbing her temple.
Only Alexandra seemed completely at ease. Her lips curved into a dangerous smile as she took in everyone’s reactions. She neither teased Martin nor rejected Rangar’s claim. Instead, her gaze settled on him while the players around them continued whispering, and a thought crossed her mind.
A harem, huh?