"Ehhhh!?!? Whuwhuwhaaaat!" Comes from Aria. She looks panicked in the corner of my eye.

Seria still looks pretty yandere, but then takes a deep breath, and steps out of my space, relinquishing her hold on my face. She turns to look at Aria.

"Fufufu... I apologise. I did say I would not play with your things, didn't I, princess? To... to clarify... I love Elijah as a magical anomaly. The Etranger is quite an interesting scholarly topic. And he is my student."

Seria breaks into a jovial laugh.

It... it didn't seem that way to me, Seria... but I should probably keep my mouth shut.

Aria's panic dies down at this firm proclamation. I also notice the other girls wandering in front of my vision now. Kiku is blushing and chittering in 'O RLY' mode again at this development. Rishya is sighing, watching Kiku. Kaede still appears unaffected. Kali is bearing a strange, angry looking grimace.

I clear my throat and turn away from them. Probably a bit of cowardice on my part. I think I'm really truly getting an understanding of the scariness of the harem situation. They're all so cute, though. I wonder if I can't make multiple choices?

Maybe that's just greedy? Will I hurt them? Wouldn't I suffer a trip on the nice boat? It really is a dilemma.

"Are we ready to set off?" I question, changing the subject.

"...I will take the skull... give me a moment." Says Kurono, sighing.

Kurono steps over the remains of the skull beast. She narrows her eyes and concentrates. I watch, waiting for her to pick it up.

But it never happens.

There was a brief whistling crack that makes me jump, like a bullet had just accelerated over my shoulder.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The skull then seems to blur briefly, like it is in motion, and it is honestly just gone.

Yuuzu pats her on the shoulder, giving Kurono a complicated expression.

"How should we move as this enlarged group?" Asks Aria, sidling up to me protectively.

Kiku appears to have settled down as she does the same.

"Um... can miss Kali act as further rear guard to protect miss Yuuzu, and miss Kurono?" She instructs.

"Gotcha, swordsgirl." Kali states deadpan. She looks worried as she files in with her two charges.

"How often do the changes in layout and re-spawns occur here?" I query.

"Not that often, in our experiences. The alteration today was quite significant. We had a brief meeting with the... camp before we came down here as a vanguard. We were due to return after gathering information on one of the routes."

"This is fairly normal for dungeon exploration, Nii. If large threats appear and no one checks in, there is a gradual increase in the party elites that are sent in." Kiku confirms.

Probing new content with a single party? That sort of thing of thing would never be game with the MMO crowd. There would be hundreds spreading out in a chaos. It makes sense but...

"Doesn't that make you three a sacrificial morsel, though?" I ask.

Yuuzu sighs and Kurono looks angry.

"That is... probably true. The culture of these places and their tight knit communities... they live here... and we... we were the new outsiders. Why would they not... send us?" Yuuzu gives a wry smile.

Ouch. I probably was insensitive. How strange. I didn't realise they actually lived in the dungeon. You would think it would be a constantly shifting traveller camp but... hmm... I guess to some, it's a livelihood rather than a mere training exercise.

Kiku shrugs when I give her a brief look. I guess she knows little as well. She did say her father encouraged other means for a mercenary. Perhaps I really wouldn't have liked those people eh? But I also don't think anyone deserved that kind of brutal death...

"Well, I guess this time that rather backfired on them..." I say, sounding rather morose.

"Um... It's not your fault, Nii." Kiku pats my shoulder.

Man, she's a kind girl as well, like Aria. I pat her hand with a clang on her gauntlet.

She looks flustered and shifty and takes away her hand.

Oops. Is that putting her on the spot in this situation?

Well, I can't help it. Barrelling into self-destruction or no, I believe in being honest with the girls as much as I can.

Am I starting to become exactly the fool of an upstart indecisive protagonist I used to hate? Heh... I wonder...

Well... twat or not, it’s a far cry from an old life of boredom.