When I asked the receptionist for further details, it was just as I had suspected that it was a Champion, one highly likely from j.a.pan or well-versed in its culture, who a.s.sisted in designing the inn in the past. I wondered if Padimon is the go-to country for j.a.panese transfers since I've seen and heard so many things related to my home's culture already.

Needless to say, we ordered two double-sized futons put together for each pair of us in our group to sleep in overnight, and somehow the girls wanted to sleep b.u.t.t-naked and I was too tired to refute, so I joined in.

Sleeping while being surrounded by hot naked monster girls smelling of faux lavender from the bath salts, it didn't take long for me and the rest of us to fall asleep last night, especially when I was smothered lovingly by Ume's and Ren's softness on each side of me from our sleeping arrangements.

Anyway, back to the present, we are currently in one of the tables of the dining lobby after we made our orders for breakfast. Ms. Gallofree explained to us what happened between her and Eugus when she tried to ask his permission to join my newly-formed party.

To keep it short, it didn't turn out well. Some harsh words were exchanged even when Ms. Gallofree prepared Eugus' favorite meals to lighten up the mood a little, and in the end she wound up crying to sleep in her room … for 3 hours (which is apparently the same amount of time as horses need to rest) before she got up, trained herself to exhaustion while in an angry mood, then fell into depression after cleaning her sweat from the bathhouse and made her way here.

"It is just not fair," Ms. Gallofree says while lying on the side of her face, not even attempting to eat the food in front of her. "I was even told of how Master Kotori saved Dondgarm the second time on his own and made such large donations to the city's reparations and its local church yesterday. With removing the Toxic Troll threat on top of that, how would Guild Master … nay, Dear Uncle, forbid me from even a.s.sociating with him further than I already have?"

"Well, if you haven't gotten the whole story, I did kill … what, around 70 humans in the course of two days, plus brutally tortured a few out of extracting information and out of my own self-fulfillment. Take into my Innate Stats that were recorded yesterday, I'd be wary of such a guy if I was talking to him knowing all of that," I say in between bites.

"I thought being forbidden was bad enough," Ms. Gallofree continues, "but I thought wrong when he talked down on my wish to serve a capable human as his steed, just like what I had read in the stories. 'To willingly let one ride their back, 'tis the greatest of shames for Centaurs and I will not let my niece fall into one for such a dangerous human male,' he said. As if my job as an adventurer was not dangerous enough, he said I would be bringing myself lower than a harlot to even allow such action since I am a female …"

"Uh, don't female Centaurs usually seek strong male warriors of the same race to mate and bear strong children? How is this even lower than that if the female doesn't even like the male?" Lili asks.

"Ms. Gallofree … how much do you want to join our party?" I ask her.

"Very much so!" she exclaims while straightening up. "Dear Uncle has trained me since I was able to carry a sword to be able to hold off on my own, and his influence as a guild master had made others hesitant to approach me, his niece. From the raid the night before, though thou did not know my background at the time, thou art the first to ever fight alongside me as part of a group without him nearby, even though we art from different kin. That aside, I felt something as I fought with thee, Ren, and Erizora that night, and I wanted to continue finding out what that something was. When I learned why thou art taking an arduous journey yesterday, it made me want to join thee more!

"Whatever Dear Uncle thinks of thee, I know thou art a lot more than that, and I want to prove that to him while showing why I want to serve under such a man, especially since he hast not even seen thou fight yet!"

I take a moment to contemplate and consider what would be best for all of us here before turning to her.

"I will be honest with you, Ms. Gallofree," I start, "I almost didn't really care who would be joining my party at first since I lived a mostly solitary life, but after spending some quality time with the girls here and what I've experienced, I made some 'prerequisites' in order for those interested in joining be considered qualified. They may sound superficial to you based on how you might view of me so far, but do you still wish to hear them?"

Ms. Gallofree nods firmly and sits up to give me her utmost attention. The other girls gathered around the table also turn to me with great interest.

"I admit that things might've gone differently if the circ.u.mstances were different, but as you may see already, Ume is officially my wife now, and Ren and Erizora are the second and third members of my growing harem," I declare as I wrap one arm around Ume's waist and I pat Ren's head next to me with the other, the two of them look to me with shocked, blus.h.i.+ng faces. "Things might get complicated if we allow other guys and girls uninterested in joining the harem be a part of this party. With the exceptions of a familiar or two I may summon later today, I've decided that those who join this party must be capable girls who're willing to get along with the others as part of the harem. Is that okay with you three?" I ask the girls in my 'party.'

"As long as I still have the place as your primary wife, I have no problems." [Ume]

"I'd honestly be uncomfortable having other males aside from Master's potential familiars join the group at this point." [Ren]

"And of course, females who're strong and able to fight for the protection of Master's and the party's safety is also a must." [Erizora]

"Seems we're all in agreement. There may be girls who wish to keep relations while not joining the party, but we'll go over that later," I say before turning back to Ms. Gallofree, who stares at me with shock. "That aside, if Eugus were to allow you in joining us, I would make an exception and give you the part as our 'advisor' of sorts."

"Advisor?"

"Ume and I are strong, but we got our high ranks by paying the extra money and proving our strength. We pretty much know next to nothing on what adventurers usually do over the course of their daily livings. Ren and Erizora, you've probably only been taught in how to serve your owners through your slave-training, right? Were you taught any rules on what's to follow as adventurers?"

"Not really, no." [Erizora]

"We learned what we could while on the field, but we only just followed what those who rented our services ordered us to do without letting us give much input." [Ren]

{I'll have to change that in this group, then,} I decide. "Then, Ms. Gallofree, that would make you the most experienced adventurer in the field out of all of us here. We would likely go to you on questions about what behaviors are acceptable between adventurers, strategies of attack and defense while on the field, and so on. Would you be confident in giving us your inputs for those situations and then some?"

"Y-Yes, of course. Dear Uncle had me read through what rules to follow as an adventurer and also taught me everything he knew in the field when he escorted me on certain quests with other people."

With my maxed out 'Intuition' activated, I could see and hear how firm her resolve was when she answered. Not even catching a hint of a lie on top of that, she's definitely not taking this lightly.

"Then, while you'd be with us as part of the exception, I wouldn't force you into joining the harem along with the … 'activities' that goes with being in one, but I would be expecting you to get along with us as we go about our lives together, putting our differences in race aside," I continue. "The dangers of being with us are inevitable, but I want to put cooperation as our highest priority when it comes to this party. I gave you this chance when I wasn't thinking much on it at first, but after considering more of your background, I believe you'd make an excellent addition and contribute a lot to our party. Do you guys agree?" I ask the three girls, of which they nod in agreement. "So, I will now ask you this, Ms. Gallofree: if I can convince your uncle in some way to change his mind, would you still want to join our party, taking what you know of us now into consideration?"

Ms. Gallofree takes a moment to look down and think hard with a fist to her mouth. Her cheeks at one-point tint red for some reason before looking back up to me. "May I ask some things for confirmation?"

"Of course."

"These … 'activities' thou said will do with thy harem … thou meant s.e.x, right?" she asks with her face a little redder than before.

"Well, yes, that's right, but that may not be all that we'll do, though, other than taking quests together, of course. Even if I try to change things up a bit, I could only imagine how bored the girls might get out of it later on."

""Are you kidding?!"" the girls in my party exclaim, making me jump in my seat.

"Jin, I only have just learned the wonders of s.e.x yesterday," Ume says. "I may not know much yet, but if there actually are girls out there who have the gall to say 's.e.x is boring,' I'd shove your d.i.c.k that grew from 2.5 centimeters last night, now a whopping 20.5 [~ 8.1 inches], right up their p.u.s.s.ies once, take it out, shove it up inside me, and let you f.u.c.k me silly while we make those narrow-minded disgraces of females watch us have the time of our lives so they can see just what they're missing out on after getting a taste of your hard, succulent meat."

"PFFFFFT!" Lili who's been quiet up to now did a spit take before coughing up whatever juice went down her windpipe. Erizora rubs her back out of comfort since she sits next to her.

{Holy c.r.a.p … 20.5? A lot happened this morning, but I thought it seemed a little heavier than usual last night when it was fully erect numerous times earlier. Wait, did Ume learned that from reading whatever she got from her 'Diagnosis' skill, too? Well, anyway, it's a bit more than where I wanted it to stop, but I guess this is fine, just don't grow any further, please. Actually, should this topic even be discussed so openly in public?}

"That's how incredible your c.o.c.k is by itself, don't even get me started on how you used it, especially last night at that private bath," Ume continues before pressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s on my arm while hugging it. "I don't know what the f.u.c.k it is that you're worried about, but you can bet I won't get bored having s.e.x with you anytime soon."

"If anything, we should be worried about boring you," Ren adds as she hugs my other arm. "Sure, it may have been the first time for Eri and me, but as your slaves, we should be tending to your needs, not the other way around. We want to make you feel good with our services, Master, and with how well you claimed us last night, whether we have these rings or not, we'll be up for anything you want us to do!"

"20.5 … grew from 2.5, so Jinma was an 18 before?" Lili asks Erizora, and she quietly makes lewd gestures with her hands to show how big it was, causing the mature Arachne woman flush while covering her mouth. Since Erizora's an Ogre who's naturally big, seeing her make those gestures make it seem much more astounding than before.

{Okay, seriously, how open are demon girls here with s.e.x? I thought this was something only guys do?}

I mean, that's practically all what Kazumi from my previous work always talked about when he has me to go have drinks with at the end of the day, and he was one of the very 'very' few male acquaintances I've had in my life who didn't try to pick a fight with me on a daily basis.

{Hm, can't say I know enough about the humans and demis in this world to agree, but you may have a point with us having more things to do back there to talk about it.}

Ms. Gallofree clears her throat to catch our attention again. "Going back on topic, since I would not be part of the harem, thou would not force me into the s.e.x, yes? So, how would thou go about doing that with thy harem when one is not taking part?"

"Hm … well, since they probably wouldn't like to know what's going on, unless we have different rooms at an inn occupied unlike this one, we'd likely just keep it in the room I'd be staying while I have [Soundproof] up so we wouldn't disturb the other patrons overnight. Since our whole party's sharing the mixed room here, if you were to stay with us there to make things cheaper, I'd want us to get as much rest possible before we set out for our a.s.signed Quest tomorrow morning. I was told there are love hotels in the red-light district we can reserve rooms for a certain time, so it'd be likely that we do it there before coming back here to sleep—"

"O-Oh, no! I would not let thou go through that much trouble for something like that! I would just … nay, in the case that we get ambushed, 'twould be best to stay close to react quickly and accordingly. The single and double rooms art only on the second floor of this inn while the mixed room takes up some of the first floor …" Ms. Gallofree trails off as if talking to herself about what would be best here.

Ms. Gallofree's not even officially part of our group yet, but she's already sounding to be a splendid advisor taking so much into account.

"I wouldn't mind if she stayed with us and she watches," Ume says with a hand up.

""Huh?!"" Ms. Gallofree and I exclaim to her.

"I mean, it wouldn't be much different than what we had last night in the bath. I had a nice time relaxing while watching you doing it with Ren and Erizora. If privacy's the issue, just make an improvised part.i.tion separating the room with 'Create Darkness' from your Curse Magic, put up a [Soundproof] barrier on our side, and the problem's solved."

"The room would reek of sweat and s.e.x, though. I don't think I'd need my heightened smell as a Werewolf to know that much," Ren points out.

{Are there scented candles around here to hide the smell?} I think.

"R-Regardless, 'tis only if I do not wish to partake in thy 'harem activities,' yes?" Ms. Gallofree asks.

"That's right."

"Then … I have decided." Ms. Gallofree then gets up, moves to my side, and lowers herself the best she could with the horse body while bowing down to make a dogeza adapted to Centaurs. "If thou can change Dear Uncle's mind, please, let me join thy party, and I will do my utmost as an advisor to meet thy expectations, Master Kotori."

"All right, then. I already have something cooking up, but you have to promise me that you will go along with anything I say that comes with what I have planned for Eugus without question or argument. Can you do that, Ms. Gallofree?"

She then moves to a kneeling position fitting for a knight having an audience with a king. "I promise to go along with whatever it is that thou have planned, Master Kotori, and please, call me Kalline. It would not be right for my superior to act so politely with a servant like me."

{She really can't emphasize the 'servant' part enough, can she?} "Only if you refer to me as 'Jinma.'"

"That, I cannot do towards my superior. Would 'Master Jinma' suffice?"

I sigh. "I guess that's fine. Now eat your food before it gets cold, Kalline. We got a lot to do today to prepare for our first quest tomorrow."

"Yes, Master Jinma." With that, Kalline returns to her table and finally eats with a gentle smile.

Nyra asks.

{It sounds like Eugus is one of those stubborn old men who can't get with the times. If I don't do something crazy like I did to catch his attention yesterday, then I can just kiss our new adventurer advisor good-bye,} I think while I eat.

"So … will Kalline Gallofree be watching us have s.e.x tonight or not?"

""PFFFFT!"" Ume's blunt question makes Kalline and I spit our food while the rest went on with eating their breakfasts.

We never really got that matter settled until much later today.