The little penumbra beast felt the presence of their human’s companions approaching.  

It had no intention to show itself to anyone except their human yet. It didn’t want to trap their human in the forest either and it didn’t plan to leave the forest for the time being. Therefore, it turned back into unsuspecting mist and left.  

The dense mist slowly lifted up and Jiushi and Tommy had a clear sight again. They were like trapped mice in a labyrinth until they felt a strong magic spell accompanied by a bright light amidst the mist.  

It never had happened before, so they followed the lead in the hope it was Harem God. They found him easily without the mist hindering them.  

He was still leaning against the tree, unconscious. There seemed nothing wrong with him, just the sunken cage was unnatural. 

Jiushi tried to wake him and he luckily woke up when he was called out.  

“Are you okay, Harem?”  

It was already the second time on this trip that he got asked this question. In fact, it was the question he heard the most since he met Ace and Jiushi. 

And it started to annoy him. 

Harem God shook his head. He still felt sluggish, but it disappeared after a few minutes 

Tommy asked him what had happened, but Harem God could only recount to when he had passed out. Tommy scanned him with magic, just in case. Except for his fairly depleted spiritual core, nothing major was wrong with Harem God. 

The sky in the meantime had darkened and signaled them to leave the forest. 

But this time, they not only walked closer to each other; Jiushi went as far as tying them together.  

Harem God protested at first, but the other glared at him, saying, “I have no interest in searching the forest for you in the middle of the night. Next time you lose your way, I’ll let you camp outside without equipment.” 

Harem God obediently shut up.  

The rope was tied to their belts that had attachments for snap hooks. It seemed like they were made for such situations which surprised Harem God. 

Tommy also tied a rope to Harem God, so that the three looked like mountain hikers. 

They left without problems with Tommy in the lead. The rear was taken by Jiushi and the problem child with the parasite in plant-disguise were escorted in the middle.  

It took an hour of walking before they could leave the forest and met a traveling family that took them on their carriage to the next town.  

Both Harem God and the parasite were especially quiet during the drive. It was normal for the former but the rebellious captive used to wiggle in resistance.  

Without it doing that, the sight of it being kept in an ice case seemed quite stupid for the children of the family. They continuously asked Harem God why he had a vine in the case, but the latter didn’t understand a single word they spoke, so he couldn’t answer them. 

Even if he understood them, he would probably ignore them. At some point, he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.  

They reached the closest town by nightfall.  

Tommy paid the family with silver coins and the three men found a nearby inn to stay the night. Each of them got a single room.  

Harem God immediately wanted to run off to his room, but Jiushi held him back and dragged him to the bathhouse. Tommy stayed back to supervise the cage and to send out a message to Ace. 

Most of the ore miners that were working in Mistore Forest came from this town, therefore they had quite advanced facilities for bathing and cleaning despite their low population. 

The moment Harem God stepped in, he thought he was in the land where the sun was rising. From the furnishing to the installations, it reminded him strongly of the holy land of anime. Even the symbols on the flags hanging from the entrances were exactly the same as in his Hentai. 

He had always dreamed to go to Japan one day and he even harbored the pipe dream to visit their highly praised hot springs, but he had never expected to fulfill his wish in another world. It was not a hot spring, but more than enough to make him feel excited. His fatigue was instantly replaced with curiosity, to the suffering of Jiushi. 

Next time I go alone. 

Jiushi had to entertain the teenager at heart throughout the whole process. It was a facility owned by Vanguard and free of charge for members, but Harem God wasn’t officially part of Vanguard yet, so Jiushi had to fill out a guarantee in case he would break something. 

Harem God was truly lacking in social competency. The years of solitude didn’t show as much when he was together with just one or two people, but in the face of a public place, he acted like a typical maverick. 

He was like a toddler running around without caring for rules. Being alone on Earth let him forget some concepts important to live in a society. Before he could just throw away his dirty stuff anywhere and get new ones, or he could just touch things as he liked without considering whether it was allowed or not. He didn’t need to take into account what other people might find uncomfortable nor care for manners, since there was nobody to get angry at him.  

Beside his carelessness was also his stone-age-man-like behavior that induced second-hand embarrassment. There were things that didn’t exist on Earth, like the numerous illumination pearls. He had one in the room Ace had given him, but the ones in this place had different sizes, colors, and even came in different shapes. 

Harem God marveled at the everyday utilities more than some country pumpkin. He would stop in the middle of the way and block the path for other people or the staff. Due to him not understanding the local language, he also didn’t move even though being politely asked, which annoyed quite a few people. 

Luckily the traffic wasn’t much since it was late and the demand for bathes went down after the mining in Mistore Forest stopped temporarily. So, he could “only” offend a rather low-ranked and freshly admitted Vanguard member. 

They had a small dispute, since Harem God was subconsciously exuding spiritual pressure which was considered very rude in public places. It could also be deemed as a crime if the pressure was more than a normal person could handle.  

The other party was an english speaker so Harem God understood him, but his inability to suppress his pressure or talk to clear the misunderstanding provoked the other man. 

Harem God was nearly dragged out to a duel, only because Jiushi left for one minute to get fresh towels. He just came back in time and the anger of the other man evaporated when he saw who Harem God was with. 

The existence of a freshly Awakened found on Earth had already spread throughout Vanguard and seeing him together with one of Vanguard’s leading figures involved with the rumor instantly gave away his identity. It also cleared a lot of his misgivings about Harem God. 

“He is the newbie? No wonder he can’t control his abilities yet. But he sure is like the rumors said, no wonder Ace had his eyes on him,” he said jokingly to Jiushi. 

He then turned to Harem God and left with a pat on his shoulder, “Must be nice to have two sugar daddies.” 

The words were direct and undisguised. He didn’t even lower his voice so that both heard him clearly. 

For Harem God...they were quite lethal.  

Jiushi could feel his anger rising and the dormant spiritual energy in Harem God began to increase exponentially.  

“Don’t,” Jiushi grabbed his wrist to suppress the mana from leaking, “Ignore what he just said. It’s safer for you, if they think you’re just a pretty face.” 

Harem God swung away his hand in his fury, but he didn’t dissolve the spiritual energy Jiushi had injected to halt his circulation. 

Despite the latter’s logical consolation, the fact that he was just a pretty face was the truth. Harem God became aware of his own weakness time and time again on this trip, and this festered at his pride. He already sensed the gap of strength back on Earth, but it wasn’t to the point of him being completely dependent on the two men. 

It's scary. 

Announcement

I now make the unofficial schedule official. A new chapter comes out on Sunday or Monday (mostly in the night between them)
Maybe I will be late and a new chapter will come out on Tuesday occasionally.

tiaf

In this chapter we can see that your dumb author doesn't do well with hyphens, still sets commas arbitrary, and can't get to the snusnu. (u-u;;)