Chapter Fifty: Followed…

“Are you going somewhere?”

Shalia looked up from the two dresses that she had placed on her bed to find her mom at the door looking between her and the dresses. There was a small knowing smile on her lips that for some reason caused a light blush to spread on her cheeks. Ever since what happened the day before, Shalia had been unsure how to act around her mother. Not only had she watched the woman get fucked over and over again until she was a quivering mess but she too had been fucked over and over again until she was also a quivering mess in front of her. But while she had been unsure of how to act, her mother didn’t seem to have the same difficulties. She had gone on as if nothing had happened. The only subtle change about her was the small smile that played on her lips whenever she looked in her direction. It was the smile of a secret shared. The smile of one who had indulged in a guilty pleasure, except without feeling guilty afterward. On her part, Shalia didn’t as yet know how to feel about the whole situation, and so she just tried not to think about it.

“Niya and Naiya visited Roka today. They invited him to dinner and told him he could bring someone if he was so inclined. He asked me to go with him,” She relayed the whole situation as succinctly as she could.

Shalia didn’t miss the frown that crossed her mother’s expression at her words. Just a day before, she wouldn’t have understood why the invitation would elicit such a reaction from her. After Greg had revealed that her father was gradually losing his power and that the three families would be eyeing them with murder in their eyes once this was revealed, Shalia understood why her mother looked worried. “They are trying to win him over to their side,” Her mother voiced the very conclusion she had come to. 

At first, she had been confused as to why Niya and Naiya would lie about being friends with Roka, right to his face. And even more so, why he would simply go along with it. It’s only later when she’d had some time to think about it that it all clicked together. Whoever had Roka on their side among the three families, would be the one to come out on top in the race for the position of Town-head. This realization led Shalia to the conclusion that, while the Valla household was the first to try and bring him over to their side, they, in all likelihood, wouldn’t be the last. All this had left Shalia feeling some pressure to do something. To somehow ensure that the three families didn’t turn Roka against them.

The only problem, however, was that she didn’t know what in particular to do. Should she stay the course and continue being friendly with him and allow him to use her to quell his urges using her whenever he wished to and nothing more? Or should she fully lean into the role of his sexual partner, to give herself over completely to the burning desire within her and let him ravage her whenever and wherever he wished to? It’s not like she regretted the experience. In anything, taking her in the rough and domineering way that he had, only made her wish to experience it more. Her indecision was reflected in the two dresses that she had on the bed before her. The one on the right was more reserved, while it would hug her figure and put her generous curves on display, it would cover enough of her to remain modest. On the other hand, the one on the left was a little more risqué. It wasn’t anything too crazy seeing as this was still very much a restrictive society when it came to sexual matters. But while it wasn’t revealing enough to be scandalous, it was short and tight enough to get one’s imagination running wild with thoughts of what could be found just under the fabric.

Her mother came to stand beside her and looked at the two dresses. Shalia didn’t know why, but for some reason, she’d been sure her mother would urge her to go the risqué route. As such, it surprised her when she immediately pointed to the right dress, the more reserved of the two. “Go with that one,” She said decisively as she reached forward, took the one on the left, and turned around to put it away.

“Why?” Shalia found herself asking. She had truly been undecided between the two dresses, so it wasn’t like she was objected to wearing the more reserved dress. She was just genuinely curious about her mother’s thought process in making the selection.

“Because, my dear, men are like hunters,” Her mother answered as she neatly folded the dress and placed it back in the trunk full of her other clothes. “When they start out and are still inexperienced, they might be content to go after easy targets and such. But what happens when they feel that they’ve gained enough experience and that their current targets offer no more challenge?” she asked.

Shalia didn’t even have to think as the answer came to her. “They move on to different targets,” She said, fully understanding what her mother was driving at.

Her mother smiled in approval. “Correct. However, the same is true on the other end of the scale. With very few exceptions, for most hunters, if the target proves too hard to get, they’ll just lose interest and seek easier prey. What you want my dear, is to achieve a balance of both. Don’t be too easy, let the hunter feel the thrill of the hunt. But don’t be too much of a challenge, lest the hunter lose interest and seek other prey,” Her mother explained.

Shalia was silent for a while as she processed her mother’s advice. She could understand what she was getting at with her analogy, but putting it into practice would be quite the challenge for her. First, where exactly the right balance between the two was, she didn’t know. Secondly, it wasn’t like she was a neutral observer. There was a burning need within her that the boy had sparked, and it wasn’t going out any time soon. She had given herself to the boy and for a blissful half a day, that need had been quelled. When she woke up this morning, the need was back stronger than ever. Part of her wanted to blame visiting the boy today on the fact that it had gotten to be routine for her. She, however, was perfectly aware that, in the back of her mind, she’d been hoping that he’d pin her against the wall and take her again. That she couldn’t muster the will to push his hand off when he grabbed her ass was proof enough of this. To do as her mother was advising her to, wouldn’t just involve not giving in to Greg’s lust whenever he wanted her, it’d also involve not giving in to her lust whenever it flared up. And somehow, the second proposition to her was much more challenging than the first.

“What do I do about Naiya?” Shalia finally chose to ask, unable to give voice to her internal turmoil about Roka.

An amused smile crossed her mother’s lips. Shalia couldn’t tell whether it was because she saw right through her deflection or because of the question itself. All the same, she responded. “Nothing,” She answered simply. “From where I’m standing, she’s the one at a disadvantage. Not only because you’ve already made the first move and she has to catch up, but even more so because of what we want as opposed to what they want,” She laid out. Shalia’s incomprehension must have been clear to see as her mother went on to clarify her words. “What Naiya and the three other families will be trying to do is to have Roka stand on their side and against the other families, including Ours. We, on the other hand, only seek his protection for when your father is no longer in power and nothing more. For them to win, not only do they need to have him on their side, they need to turn him against us. We, on the other hand, already have a… rather good relationship with him,” She said with a sly smile. “For us to win, we just have to… remind him every now and then of his promise to protect us,” from her coquettish tone of voice, it was clear what her mother was implying by her words.

“Besides, even if he were to ally with one of the three families, it doesn’t necessarily put us at a disadvantage. After all, we are not looking to hold on to power. Whether it’s Valla, Ember, or Aria who takes up the leadership of the town after we are gone, it has nothing to do with us. So long as Roka remains our shield, the three families can fight to the death for all I care,” She added. “But all that is only if they succeed in winning Roka over to their side. However, in their arrogance, the three families won’t try to understand Roka. Which is why they’re almost guaranteed to fail,” She asserted.

“What do you mean?” Shalia questioned.

Her mother answered with a question. “Suppose you were in Roka’s position and you could unilaterally decide who the next Town-head would be. Who would the most obvious first choice be?” She asked.

Shalia didn’t have to think long about it. “Myself,” She responded.

Her mother nodded in agreement. “Exactly! And with the healer behind him, forget opposing the decision, the three families would be falling over each other trying to pretend that this was what they wanted all along. Despite this, Roka doesn’t seem to have even considered it. Why do you think that is?” She continued to interrogate her.

“He’s not interested in power,” Shalia voiced her conclusion.

A snort left her mother as she rolled her eyes. “If that boy didn’t desire power, he wouldn’t be the healer’s student! The answer is much simpler than that. So simple in fact, that just like you, none of the three families will be able to guess it,” She stated, amusement creeping back onto her expression. “The true reason Roka doesn’t desire the position of Town-head is simply because he looks down on it. It’s not that Roka doesn’t desire power, quite the opposite, he desires such power that what this little town can offer is simply a joke! What to the three families is a gem that they are willing to fight and kill for, to him is an unremarkable pebble by the side of the road that he wouldn’t give two glances to. That, my dear, is why you have nothing to be worried about. Just keep him happy, and we might just keep our necks at the end of this little ordeal,” She encouraged.

Shalia was silent for a long while as she digested her mother’s words. She had the feeling of things clicking into place, of one who’d had the veil torn from their eyes. Despite being around Greg for an almost complete season, the boy had always remained an enigma to her. At some fundamental level, he'd been a puzzle that she just couldn’t solve. Hearing her mom lay it all out, she suddenly realized why that had been. She had been looking at him as if he was just another member of the town looking to rise to the top of this little pond they found themselves in. Now that she had been disabused of that notion, however, everything snapped into focus.

“That’s why he’s never cared about our stations?” Shalia found herself saying to no one in particular. Roka wasn’t in any way disrespectful when in the presence of her father. She, however, had noticed there was none of the deep respect in his eyes that the other townspeople had whenever they interacted with her father. It wasn’t that he looked down on her father. It was the exact opposite. He didn’t look up to her father. In his mind, the Town-head didn’t occupy a higher position relative to him. Shalia could see it clearly now, her father’s title to the boy was just that, a title. No different than any other random word that one might ascribe to themselves.

“Oh, he cares. Just not in the way you think,” Her mother countered. “Apart from the natural desires of youth, why do you think he so desires me? Why do you think he has no problem with you pursuing Bran? He may not desire the title of Town-head, but his ego is just as big if not bigger than that of the three families. You and I are trophies to him. Marks of his hunt. Every time he entered me, he reveled in the fact that he was taking the Town-head’s wife. He allows you to indulge your infatuation with Bran because it drives him wild to think that he’s taking another man’s future wife! If you and Bran were to become a couple tomorrow, it wouldn’t deter him in the least. If anything, he’d fuck you even harder, fill your belly with his seed, and smile as you walked back to your husband. The thrill of taking what’s not his, that’s the kindling that fuels his lust. And the higher the position of the one he takes the woman from, the bigger the thrill he draws,” their mother laid out.

“How do you know all this?” Shalia found herself asking. It wasn’t that she doubted anything that her mother had just told her. Shalia herself could remember what the boy had said to her about Bran and herself even as he took her maidenhead. The motivation behind the question was instead born from the fact that, unlike her, her mother had barely spent any time with Roka. And yet, in what little time she had managed to be around him, she seemed to have gained far more insight into Greg than Shalia herself had. She wanted to know how she’d managed this. She wanted to be able to do it as well.

For the first time since she walked into the room, Shalia noticed some hesitation in her mother. In Shalia’s mind, the question had been rather innocuous, hence her confusion at the hesitance in her mother. After all that had happened between them and Roka, she didn’t think there was much that needed hiding between them. Despite her hesitation, her mother eventually answered. “You already know of the history of the three families, don’t you,” her mother more said than asked. Still, Shalia nodded in confirmation. His father had already revealed the reason the three families occupied the position that they did. He’d, however, cautioned Shalia from revealing that she knew about it even to the other noble scions who were her friends. Letting one’s opponents think that their secrets were still secrets was an advantage that one shouldn’t easily give up.

“Well, they aren’t the only ones with a magical history,” Her mother revealed much to Shalia’s shock. “When I was a young girl, much younger than you are right now, my mother would tell me stories of my great-grandmother’s great-grandmother. A very powerful mage that was both loved and feared in equal measure by many. Being a bloodline mage, her abilities were passed down through her children. But with each passing generation, unless they actively pursued ways to strengthen their bloodline purity and strength, the abilities passed would just grow weaker and weaker. I am so far removed from that ancestor of mine that to even call myself a bloodline mage would be stretching the meaning of the word beyond any reasonable bounds. However, since I came in contact with the boy, I feel like some long dormant part of me is awakening,” She revealed with a small smile, causing Shalia’s eyes to grow wide. “It is that part that grants me insight into the boys thinking,” She finally answered her.

“W… what bloodline was it?” Shalia found herself stammering the question almost breathlessly.

Her mother smiled at her. “Tell you what, if we survive your father stepping down from power, I’ll tell you. Until then, knowing will just place you in undue danger,” She diplomatically refused to answer. “For now, you need to get ready. You don’t want to be late, do you now?” she said as she turned and left the room with a smile…

***

Repressed.

It was like looking at something that was kept behind a meter-thick slab of glass. That was the feeling Greg got from the DISCERNING ring whenever he looked across the table to the smiling woman seated opposite him. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any desires, Greg could very faintly sense them. The woman, however, had spent so long suppressing them out of a sense of duty, that she barely even remembered what it was like to have them. The reason for this state of affairs was now seated at the head of the table making small talk about how the winter preparations were coming along. The former Roka’s disinterest in the upper echelons of the town made it so that it came as a surprise to Greg to learn that the head of the Valla household was paralyzed from the waist down. How this came to be, he couldn’t even begin to guess. It, however, raised his assessment of the man. That the man had managed to take the position of head of his family in this world where strength was paramount, meant that there was more to the man than met the eye. To underestimate the man would be a serious mistake on his part.

This state of affairs, however, meant that Greg had no way of initiating anything with the woman. Despite having every title item that could possibly help the situation, the woman had barely reacted. It had taken a total of three weeks to break through Shalia’s resistance solely using his innate title of AROUSING. Greg suspected that even if he used all the relevant title items plus his innate title and charm, it’d take longer than that to break through the barrier the woman had set up around herself.

Still, while the mother was as yet unavailable, the daughter seemed to be doing her best to try and win him over. Every now and then she would flatter her eyes at him, compliment him in a way meant to stroke his ego, or touch his arm from time to time. They’d been devious with the seating arrangements. Niya, his mother, and Shalia sat on one side of the table with Niya in between the two while Greg and Naiya sat on the other side. This way, not only was Naiya closest to him in terms of proximity, but Shalia was also kept as far from him as the seating arrangement would allow.

It would all have been an effective strategy if not for the fact that Greg noticed the carefully hidden resentment in the girl’s eyes whenever she looked his way. The DISCERNING ring only reinforced this conclusion as it was completely quiet whenever Greg tried to get a read on her. It wasn’t that her lust was muted like that of her mother, it just simply wasn’t there. Greg knew that the girl was being forced to try to get close to him, but why that would translate into such an intense amount of resentment, Greg couldn’t puzzle out. It wasn’t like Greg had been awful to her in any way. As things stood, however, neither his innate title nor his title items would be able to break through the wall of resentment.

With no one to indulge in some fun of a more lascivious nature, the dinner ended up being a more bland affair for Greg. On their part, the Valla family seemed to be playing a long game as they weren’t too overt or forceful in their attempts to win him over. They made small talk about the well-being of each other’s family, the winter preparations, and his studies under the healer. By the end of it all they had managed to get Greg to agree to go on one pre-winter hunt together with Niya. In any other season, Greg could have easily said that his schedule with the healer wouldn’t allow him to be away from the town for the whole day. With the animals migrating, however, a lot of prey animals would be found much closer to the town. They could go out and come back with good prey within an hour or two, twice that if they were unlucky. As such, with no way to object, Greg had agreed to it in the end.

“So, which one of them will you go after first?” Shalia broke the silence that had followed them as they left the Valla compound and moved through the town. When Greg turned to her with a look of incomprehension, Shalia rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t act like you didn’t spend the whole evening trying to figure out whether Niya or her mother will be your first target,” She said with an air of amusement.

“And does that bother you?” He asked. Although Greg could hear the amusement in Shalia’s voice and hadn’t detected any jealousy from her, he couldn’t help being cautious. After Olivia’s warning about how the wrong emotion could lead either Shalia or her mother to reveal everything to the Town-head, he wasn’t willing to overlook any signs that things might be going off the rails. After all the contingencies that he and Olivia had come up with the night before, Greg wasn’t worried for his life. Killing the Town-head, however, wasn’t something he was very keen on doing. If he could avoid letting things get to that point, then that’s what he’d do.

Shalia turned to him as if taken aback by the question. “I watched you lie with my mom. You encouraged me to go pursue Bran while you took my virginity. Believe me when I say I’m not harboring any delusions of us ending up as a pair,” She offered calmly. Greg was relieved to note that there was no anger or bitterness in the girl’s voice as she spoke. In her voice was the calm acceptance of the situation. “We need your protection, and in return, you get to have us whenever you want, wherever you want,” She said. Despite her best attempt at remaining neutral in her delivery, Greg noticed the slight pink that spread on her cheeks when she said it out loud. The DISCERNING ring also picked up a slight spike in her arousal as she did. The girl might have been playing it cool but clearly, she was just as turned on by the idea of giving herself over to him as much as he was. “So long as we remain protected, I don’t care who else you pursue,” the girl informed him.

Despite the temptation to be paranoid, Greg got the sense that Shalia was speaking the truth much to his relief. “Neither?” he at last said. When Shalia looked at him with a look of confusion, he explained. “You asked who I would be going after first. The answer is neither.”

Shalia regarded him for a while before speaking. “I can’t force you to believe that I’m telling the truth, but if you are holding back because you think I’ll be jealous, it’s your loss,” She said with a shrug.

This time it was Greg who rolled his eyes. “Not everything I do revolves around you Shalia. We both know that neither Niya nor Naiya suddenly woke up and thought of me as a friend. Like you, they were probably forced to try and get close to me. Some feelings of resentment directed toward me because of this, I’d understand. The two of them, however, seem to seriously dislike me. With Niya, I can understand. I’m getting close to the girl he likes and he isn’t too happy about that,” Greg stated.

“What?!” an exclamation of surprise left Shalia at his words.

Greg, however, ignored it and continued. “With Naiya, however, I’m a little less clear. I’m not in any way standing between her and Bran…”

“What?!” Shalia exclaimed once more, this time there was a much colder undertone to her words.

Once again, Greg ignored her. “Neither am I trying to get her to be with me, so why she’s so resentful of me as opposed to just being mildly annoyed at being forced to interact with me is beyond me,” Greg voiced.

“What do you mean that Niya hates you because of me? And are you telling me that Naiya is after Bran?” Shalia clung to the two parts of his answer she was most interested in.

“Come on Shalia, For all your faults, we both know that your looks aren’t one among them,” He replied, not hiding the way his eyes roamed over her enticing body. Despite herself, Shalia appeared both pleased and aroused by the compliment. “Is it really that hard to believe that Niya would be drawn to you?” He asked.

“But… he’s never said anything…” Shalia said looking unsure how to respond to the information. “And that three-tusk boar Naiya is after Bran!” the girl wasn’t distracted for long as she came back to the issue.

“What? You thought you were the only one with eyes?” Greg responded laconically. Even in his former world, Bran could have been an underwear model. Greg, however, tucked that thought away in the secret room, away from Olivia’s reach.

His words were followed by a long silence as they moved nearer towards Greg’s house. Greg could tell that the girl wanted to rail more about Naiya and her interest in Bran, who she considered to be hers. Some part of her, however, must have realized that Greg wasn’t really interested in their little love triangle. In the end, a sigh left her. “She’s angry at you because you’re the reason she can never have Bran,” Shalia stated. Before Greg could ask, she explained. “My father wanted me to marry you. The same has probably been asked of her,” Shalia stated.

A frown marred Greg’s features at her words. “Wait, but you were your father’s only gambit in trying to get close to me. The Valla household isn’t in as desperate a situation as that, why would they force their daughter into a relationship that she doesn’t want?” Even as the words tumbled out of his mouth, Greg realized that he’d done it again. He'd once again made the mistake of defaulting back to his twenty-first-century thinking and expected it to apply in this new world. The idea of forcing one’s child into a relationship they don’t desire was so alien to him that he’d outright precluded it from consideration. Greg couldn’t help but clench his jaws, annoyed at himself as he remembered how many times this very same mistake had led to terrible outcomes within the dungeon. While inside the dungeon, such mistakes could be forgiven as death was not permanent. Out in the real world, however, making such mistakes was a recipe for losing his second chance at life.

Part of Greg was hoping for some kind of explanation from Shalia, but all she did was shrug. ‘That answer, you can only get from the head of the Valla household. And while I wasn’t at all happy when it happened to me, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t happy that her attention has been taken away from my Bran,” She declared. It hit Greg that, while he might have broken through the bitchy exterior of the girl before him, she wasn’t necessarily nicer to anyone else. Rather than empathize with another girl in the same situation as she’d been in, she only saw how it benefitted her and didn’t care beyond that. This despite the fact the two were supposed to be friends. On the other hand, Greg knew that Naiya would probably also be happy to be rid of Shalia as competition if the shoe was on the other foot. Added to the fact that Naiya’s family would happily eliminate Shalia’s family if they weren’t under his protection, Greg found that he couldn’t really judge her too harshly.

“What about her mother,” Shalia pressed him once a bit of silence had passed. “You’ve explained why you won’t pursue Naiya, but I see no reason why her mother isn’t a good target for you,” She stated. To anyone else, the statement would have been ridiculous given that Naiya’s mother was married. But after fucking her married mother right in front of her, Greg could understand why Shalia would make the statement.

“Too much work,” Greg answered simply with a shrug. But simple as the words were, they also happened to be the truth. “She has spent so long suppressing her sexual desires out of a sense of duty to her husband that just getting her to acknowledge that the desires are still there will be an ordeal in itself. Why waste the energy when there are so many other more easily accessible women in the town? Besides, getting involved with her would mean getting involved with the Valla household, which in turn would mean getting even more tangled up in the politics of this town. Hard pass,” He said with a look of clear distaste.

Greg would be lying if he said he hadn’t been a little bit tempted by the prospect going in. The absence of a chance to act on his desires, however, had given him the chance to think the whole situation through. If he got too close to any one family, the other two would probably start to see him as a potential foe. And for what, the chance to lead some no-name town in the middle of nowhere? The juice just wasn’t worth the squeeze. Pursuing the women from the three families would be dangerous which means that it’d almost certainly net him a sizable amount of lust points. Greg, however, had been repeatedly warning himself that just because the system rewarded him for doing something, didn’t necessarily mean that it was the smart or wise thing to do. If he kept ignoring his own advice, then he’d have no one to blame when shit hit the fan. Besides, while he wasn’t that worried for himself his family was still very much vulnerable. Greg wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if they were harmed simply because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.

“Aren’t you going in?” Shalia asked as they walked past the gate to his place and Greg didn’t go inside.

Glancing at his home, Greg shook his head before calmly replying. “Shortly after we left the Valla household, someone started following us a few houses back. I suspect that you might meet with misfortune if I let you walk back home on your own” he revealed…

***