Meri was not bothered by what happened, it seemed. That same day after Opalina went home to her clinic, I confronted the timid Shield Maiden about what I had Sam do to her.

“I-It wasn’t a big deal or anything... I w-was wanting to try it anyway...” She said.

I nervously swallow, even though my eyes tell me she’s not lying. “Are you sure?”

The timid Shield Maiden eagerly nods her head and clenches her fists. “Y-Yes, Master! I would do anything to become stronger a-and braver... and most importantly, you weren’t lying! I definitely felt a change after... a-a-after Sam... kissed me... my first... kiss... w-with a Princess...” She zones out and I blush a bit in response.

“Meri?”

“AH- I’m ok! I-I’m ok!!” She takes a deep breath. “There was definitely a difference. I feel stronger... sturdier... I definitely have more stamina. I bet I could pull off more Reflects now, too! A-and... and in general I just feel kinda more motivated, I think...”

I smile and approach her. “I’m very glad to hear that. If you want, I... I can always...-”

“AH- T-T-TRAINING WAS SO HARD TODAY, MASTER! I’m so sore! I-I think I’m gonna go take a bath and sleep early tonight and lock my door... good... sturdy... strong locks that can’t be broken... ahahaha...” Before I can even say another word, Meri runs up the stairs two at a time and hides.

On one hand It seems my daring cum gambit paid off. Yet... 

It’s no denying things have gotten a bit awkward since then. Meri has even more trouble keeping her eyes on mine without wincing and looking elsewhere, and when I try to broach the topic with her she blushes and runs back into her room.

I haven’t even been able to lower her defenses enough to flirt with her since the matter, yet... I know she’s still curious, damn it. Just like when she watched Opalina and I, Meri’s gotten to the point where she’s somehow peeking in on me every time I’m having sex- even at night.

Sam and Zutiria don’t mind, especially not Sam who has been more motivated herself ever since coming back from Gerblin hunting, but every time one of us even draws the slightest amount of attention to Meri she does her thing...

She runs away and slams the door.

After that time I teased her in the hallway I felt a spark ignite inside me and sending Sam off to kiss my cum into her mouth made that spark explode into an inferno.

I’m not going to deny it.

I really, really want Meri. She’s adorable. She’s precious. I feel almost as if I have a crush on her... I recognize she likely needs time and space to process this, but in the meantime I can’t stop thinking about her.

Thankfully despite my increasing desire for the Shield Maiden three days have passed without much incident.

Nikita showed up for two of these days for more training and everyone seems to be coming along just fine.

Sam has made it very clear to myself and Nikita that she intends to continue along the path of the Great Blader and while her meditation training showed slight progress, she’s pulled off an even more surprising feat.

To start developing her mind even further Sam asked me to use two thousand gold out of her account but when I asked what for, she just got huffy and defensive and asked me to trust her.

I’ll always trust her, so of course I gave her the money. It’s still technically hers after all and we have the money to buy the Catgirls whenever the hell the breeding tribe next shows up, so there’s nothing we actively need money for just yet.

Sam returned a couple of hours later with several bags full of books. I was stunned.

All of them are trashy action novels and pulp tripe with the notable exception being a thick, hearty tome titled ‘Tyrants and You - A History of the Former Kings and Queens of Karnalle’. I can see why that one might have piqued her interest.

Over the past few days I’ve watched Sam struggle to work her way through a single one of her novels, but bless my heart the little Princess is actually trying. I’m so proud of her for wanting to develop her mind like this, even if she’s making slow progress.

In truth, while I told her I wanted her to make her own decision regarding what weapon to use... it’s not like I didn’t have my own opinion. This is the outcome I wanted more than anything. I don’t think a single other weapon type fits Sam as much as the great blade does, and if she actually learned to use it properly she’d become an impressive warrior that few could rival.

But it wouldn’t have meant anything if I just told Sam to do it without letting her make that choice. I’m happy that brash, tomboyish Princess picked what I considered to be the correct option without my meddling.

Moving down the list of training is our resident Black Mage.

Zutiria is having a rough go of things. I can’t imagine sitting around in the same room for twenty seven years doing nothing but reading books and performing alchemy experiments was good for her physical health. Potato mage indeed...

It seems like it’s going to be at least a few weeks before she’s able to do any sort of real combat training, and in the meantime she exercises lightly on free days and heavily on days where Nikita oversees their training. Zutiria is always dead tired on days with the Grekkan, even after Opalina gave us a large stock of stamina potions. The potions also help alleviate the build up of lactic acid in the muscles, so with their use each of the girls is able to train successively each and every day if needs be.

But since these don’t fully help Zutiria, I think it’s safe to say that her mana circuit isn’t the only thing that’s atrophied.

As it’s only been a few days there hasn’t been much progress in her condition with one noticeable exception.

Zutiria was actually able to touch her toes- albeit very, very briefly. I’m quite proud of her for this. I’m a little biased, but an increase in the little lady’s flexibility would be much appreciated in more ways than one...

An unfortunate side effect of the Mage’s training is her inability to go out on quests during Nikita days. She’s pretty much clocked out for the rest of the day after that, and I understand why...

I’ve been giving her delicate body massages to help alleviate the stress a little but finding a balance between too hard and not hard enough is difficult when her strained muscles hurt so badly.

The only other thing to report on Zutiria’s training is that Nikita has urged the Mage to think about a physical weapon considering that Zutiria’s major weakness is her inability to use all of the mana in her body thus limiting her spell’s strength and the number she can use in a day. The Grekkan insists she needs something to compensate for this, but I can’t for the life of me imagine what sort of physical weapon would suit Zutiria.

But when Nikita told her to think of a weapon, I saw gears turning behind the icy blue eyes of my petite Mage. Just like with the returners, I know whatever she comes up with will be equally effective and surprising. I’m not even going to try to guess, because I know I’ll get it wrong.

Finally, we circle back to Meri.

Meri’s training is increasing in intensity at a frightening pace. What started out as Nikita pummeling the sturdy Shield Maiden with a wooden sword has transformed into an all out assault for hours on end with every type of weapon imaginable.

She graduated from standing around in her gambeson and tanking blows to wearing her armor and shielding herself from the endless barrage of a true warrior revered as a prodigy of Ares.

Auto Loaders are magical accessories created by the Association of Adventurers, and Nikita is making full use of hers to frightening effect.

If there’s one thing that tends to happen when you become an accomplished adventurer and explore a number of dungeons, it’s that you’ll inevitably build up an armory of useful magical weapons, armor and relics. While it’s true that the Guild offers storage space to any adventurer who needs it free of charge, someone had the bright idea of asking a certain question.

What if I could carry all my best gear around with me and summon it at a moment’s notice? The result is an Auto Loader. A small accessory typically in the form of an item of jewelry like a ring, bracelet, necklace, earring, etc, that can magically store anything you ‘register’ to it, within reason. It can’t be alive, and can’t be an entire building. Stuff like that. 

All you have to do is call out the name of what you want. If it’s a weapon, it’ll show up in your hand and if it’s armor it’ll instantly swap out your current set.

If this sounds like a revolutionary invention that’s because it damn well is. It should have changed the entire adventuring world... but it didn’t.

Why?

Association locked them behind a gigantic paywall that only experienced Silver and Gold rank adventurers could afford.

Yes, if you want an Auto Loader you usually have to apply for a Guild loan. The loan sounds amazing on paper, sure, after all there’s no interest... but it takes a large chunk out of your reward from every single quest you undertake until your Auto Loader is fully paid off.

It’s not uncommon for an adventurer to get a loan, injure themselves from overwork trying to pay off their Auto Loader and then have it revoked for failing to meet minimal payment deadlines.

Again, why?

Because they can’t afford to get healed when you SLASH THEIR FUCKING QUEST REWARDS! And THEN they still make you pay the rest of your damned loan!!

Auto Loaders are something so revolutionary and life-saving that they should be standardized and free for all adventurers, regardless of level.

But no.

The Association thinks it's a better idea to get a bunch of free labor in exchange for a single Auto Loader.

Ugh, I really went off on a fucking tangent here. I’m supposed to be explaining Meri’s training but just thinking about this boils my blood to an unfathomable degree. And that’s not even getting into the shady things that the Association does to keep their iron grip on the accessory secure...

In the future I would love to get Auto Loaders for my Guild members when they actually have enough experience and equipment to justify it, but under those terms I can’t see myself going through with it...

Where was I even going with all this? I’m too angry to think straight...

Ah, yes.

Nikita had been using her stolen Auto Loader to weave in and out of Meri’s range with a thousand different weapon types, mixing them up so fast and skillfully that it was like witnessing a Grekkan epic unfold before my eyes. She’d run in and feint with a punch making Meri flinch, then dodge to the left and sweep the Shield Maiden’s legs with a spear.

Nikita wouldn’t stop even when Meri was flat on her ass, though, jumping up into the air and swinging down with a great blade so fast that Meri’s only option was to hop right up and avoid- heavy armor be damned.

I was... very doubtful of this training on the first day when Nikita was still just beating her up. But this switch up makes a lot of sense to me. The fearless Grekkan instructor is assaulting Meri so fast and so often that the poor girl doesn’t even have time to think about being a coward.

She’s overwriting Meri’s reflexes. Instead of running away and crying, Nikita is forcing her to train her primary instinct into standing there and either deflecting the blows, dodging them, and tanking the blows she can afford to tank.

I don’t know if Meri will ever not be afraid of getting hurt, but if Nikita is successful then she’ll at least be able to use the fear positively instead of shrinking back in cowardice whenever danger rears its ugly head.

Speaking of getting used to pain, Nikita left me some choice words... and some even choicer presents on the third day of training when the two of us met privately in my office.