Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities

Martin opened his inventory and reached for Robert’s Crystal Warhammer. Branches snapped, leaves shook, and something charged through the brush with all the restraint of a monster crossing into academy territory.

Rangar burst onto the riverbank.

His gaze passed over Martin, Robert, Scunko, and the enormous Dragon Turtle in the water before locking onto the grill.

"Kebab."

Martin closed the inventory. "That’s your greeting?"

"Ya promised me kebab!" Rangar pointed at the skewers as if presenting evidence before an elder. "I’ve been waiting so long the Light Tree could’ve grown another branch. Then I smelled this from halfway down the academy path and found ya feeding Robert first!"

Robert barked out a laugh. "Tracked it through the forest, did ye? Scunko might have competition."

"I wasn’t tracking it. The smell found me."

Martin picked up a skewer and held it out. "Take this before you accuse me of breaking another promise."

Rangar accepted it with both hands. His first bite silenced him so completely that Robert leaned closer and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Damn," Rangar said at last. "Worth the wait."

"That’s a lot of praise for meat on a stick."

"Kebab," Rangar corrected. "Show some respect for your own cooking."

The four of them settled around the small grill while Angel floated near the bank. Martin gave her the rest of the fish one at a time, mostly to stop her from swallowing the whole tray along with them. Robert claimed a second skewer as additional rent, and Scunko sat on Robert’s boot, nibbling his stolen share while guarding it from everyone.

For a while, the food kept the conversation easy. Robert complained about a player who expected a perfect weapon from cracked materials. Rangar described a newcomer who tried to intimidate a training dummy and lost. Angel slapped the water whenever Martin took too long with her next portion, sending a wave over the bank, while Scunko answered each splash with an offended flick of his tail.

As the meal went on, gaps began to form between Rangar’s stories. He kept glancing at Martin’s name, where Night Espresso’s crest and affiliation had once appeared. Each look at the empty space beneath it made the next pause longer.

Twice, Rangar opened his mouth and closed it again.

Martin set his empty skewer aside. "You don’t have to figure out how to ask me about Cassandra."

Rangar’s smile faded. Robert’s hand paused over the last skewer before settling beside Scunko instead.

"I heard Night Espresso was gone," Rangar said. "I heard Miss Cassandra was judged Condemned and cast out of Forest Hidden. Plenty of players are talking, but none of them tell the same story."

"Most of them don’t know the whole story."

"Do ya?"

Martin looked toward Angel. Only her head and the highest ridges of her shell remained above the water now. She watched him without begging for another fish.

"I know enough," he said. "It isn’t my story to tell. She’s stopped hiding, and she’ll work to repair what she can. I’ll be there to help her."

Rangar listened without interrupting.

"I’m still angry with her," Martin continued. "I don’t know whether everyone will accept her again, and I won’t make that choice for them. But I believe she’ll see it through."

Rangar held his gaze for several seconds, then nodded.

"I see."

The river filled the silence. Scunko finished his stolen food and licked both front paws, unconcerned with a conversation that had nothing to do with him.

Rangar turned the bare skewer between his fingers.

"So, does that mean there’s no chance of ya creating your own guild?"

Martin blinked. "That’s what you ask next?"

"It matters." Rangar straightened, recovering some of his usual energy. "Night Espresso is gone, and Miss Cassandra can’t return here. But ya can. I believe our Light Tree has taken a liking to ya, Martin."

He gestured toward the distant glow visible between the trees.

"Ya cleared its dungeons before anyone expected ya to. Ya brought Robert materials, helped our hunters grow, protected beasts, and fought for this academy. Even after ya became Night Espresso’s vice leader, ya pushed Miss Cassandra to trust ordinary members instead of replacing them whenever things got difficult."

Robert grunted in agreement. "The lad also feeds anyone who follows the smell."

"A vital leadership quality," Rangar said.

Martin shook his head, but Rangar’s question stayed with him.

Creating a guild of his own would give the former Night Espresso members somewhere to gather without rebuilding the same structure Cassandra had controlled. It would also place Martin at the center of decisions he refused to make for everyone else.

"I don’t know whether the others want another guild," he said. "If we build one, it won’t belong only to me, and I won’t decide its future before everyone has a chance to speak."

Rangar waited.

"Guild or not, the people who choose to stay will become a team again," Martin continued. "We’ll protect our beasts and stop the Beastslayers before Just Die can create more of them."

Rangar’s expression hardened with conviction.

"I can’t speak for the elders or everyone else, but ya have my support, Martin."

A woman’s whisper crossed the riverbank.

"And so you have my support, Martin."

The voice had been quiet, yet every person and beast present heard it clearly. Scunko froze with his paws against Robert’s boot. Angel raised her enormous head from the river, and water streamed down the smooth blue skin of her neck.

Martin turned toward the unfamiliar voice.

A woman stood at the edge of the grass where the river curved into the trees.

White robes in an ancient Greek style draped around her body, leaving her arms bare and gathering at her waist beneath a narrow golden cord. Long green hair fell past her hips in wild, uneven waves. Several strands crossed her face, while others drifted around her shoulders despite the still air.

Martin could see the trees through her.

Her bare feet hovered above the grass without bending a single blade. Her body was transparent enough for the river’s reflected light to shimmer through her white robes, while golden radiance moved beneath her skin in slow currents.

Beside Martin, Rangar stopped breathing. Robert went still with his soot-darkened hand resting beside Scunko, his eyes fixed on her.

The Light Tree towered above the surrounding canopy, and the same living gold flowed through the transparent woman as though she carried part of it within her.