Chapter 130: Separation : Reunion
"Then, let's meet again on the 1st Floor a month from now..." said Himmel, exchanging smiles and a handshake with Vahn as he prepared to return to his world.
"Take care of yourself, Himmel. And try to keep in mind what I said about Frieren. If you want her to value her time, take it upon yourself to help her make the most of it," advised Vahn, his expression and tone serious. After his previous encounter with Frieren, he had looked into the world she and Himmel originated, noting it bore her name. He had since harbored a great deal of respect for Himmel as a character, but he seriously disapproved of how the man had kept his feelings to himself and chosen to remain single his entire life just because he didn't want to leave an even deeper scar on Frieren's heart when she inevitably lost him due to the immense disparity in their lifespans...
"Once the Demon King has been vanquished and the people can live in peace..." reiterated Himmel, exhaling faintly from his nose before releasing Vahn's hand and turning away. Then, like so many before him, he vanished in a flash of bluish-white light, coinciding with him startling awake back in his original world.
'And then there were three...' thought Vahn, turning to the final group of Ascendees: Yoruichi, Roxanne, and Nami. He had asked them to stay so he could clarify some things, so they had been patiently waiting for him to see off those who stuck around personally.
Beating Vahn to the punch, Yoruichi, standing with her arms crossed and sporting a mischievous grin, playfully inquired, "So, one final orgy before we go our separate ways?"
"Tempting, but it's probably not the best idea," responded Vahn, wearing a smile of his own as he explained, "Between Tower cycles, the flow of time reverts from a ratio of 360:1 to the RSM, the Reconciled Standard Median. In more straightforward terms, one second here will be one second back in your original worlds."
"Yeah, that's not ideal..." remarked Nami, similarly standing with her arms crossed but sporting a markedly more serious expression.
"What did you wish to discuss with us?" asked Roxanne, dutifully helping guide the conversation back to its original track.
Nodding, Vahn revealed, "The next time our paths cross, there will be up to ten additional women accompanying me, the majority of which will be Transdimensional Travelers. I'm telling you this to remind you what you're getting yourselves into. You should know by now that I'm pretty generous to everyone, so if you want to experience a conventional romance, this is the best time to consider ending things and treating the past four months as a fling. Because it's all but guaranteed that more women will be joining my harem in the years, centuries, and millennia to come, and each of you deserves to be worshipped by the lucky bastard you choose to spend the rest of your lives with. If you remain at my side, you will effectively be one of many flowers within a bouquet..."
Exhaling audibly from her nose, Nami retorted, "I mean, it's not like you're planning to brand us with slave crests or force us to remain at your side if we choose to continue our relationship with you, right? I may take breaks to focus on other things, but I'll definitely drop by every now and again to relieve stress or simply hang out."
"It's about the same for me as well," appended Yoruichi, maintaining her mischievous grin as she stated, "I've never once considered us to be in a committed relationship. I just drop by to have fun and fuck whenever the mood strikes me. That works best for you as well, right?"