DD 304 Ch 10 (Patreon)

It hadn't been nearly the twelve hours we'd committed to before Ambrosia knocked on my door. "Sir, there is a Whalewryn here to see you," the gothic angel said, arms folded in front of her.

I blinked, then nodded, jumping out of bed as my brain registered the words belatedly and threw on my clothes. "I'll be right out," I shouted, checking my CID and seeing it truly wasn't yet time. I doubted that mattered to the eager Misha waiting outside. I hurried out, my pants nearly falling off in my rush, only to find Crimson leaning back on the couch, talking with Misha casually while sipping coffee.

"Oh, there you are, Ken," Crimson said, setting her coffee down with a small clack on the table.

"You say it like I'm interrupting something." I straightened my clothes, suddenly feeling like I shouldn’t have been in a rush.

Crimson looked at me. “Maybe you are," she challenged, cocking an eyebrow with a massive smirk.

"Alright, well, then I'll just head back," I said, hooking a thumb over my shoulder and stepping backward.

"Cut it out and come here," Crimson said, cracking a grin and patting the couch seat next to her.

"Well, if I have your invitation, then," I bowed exaggeratedly and stepped forward.

Crimson was all pouts, and I had to admit I enjoyed getting the better of her in situations like this. "Misha was just telling me all sorts of information about her people. They're very interesting."

"What questions were interesting?" Misha said hurriedly, a little grin slipping onto her face as she tried and failed not to steal glances at me.

"There are a lot of aspects of Whalewryn I hadn't thought about," Crimson said. "Your people don't have much in the way of governance.”

I tilted my head at that, then decided I was invested enough in the answer to sit down. "Well, now you've got my attention. You must have someone who makes the laws and rules. Otherwise it would be complete anarchy."

Misha shrugged. "I guess it might be complete anarchy, then, because even now there's fewer rules and more general understanding."

"But you have to have organized living… cities, towns." I pressed. There would always be laws if there was a society.

"Nope," Misha said. "Besides, the dungeon provides most things we need to survive."

I frowned. "You have a homeworld, though, correct?"

"We do, but it's almost entirely water," she explained. "Until the dungeon, there was no way we could make much in the way of structures. To get to the ocean floor would crush most materials, well until we were able to get things from the dungeon."

"You've built cities now?" I asked, and she waffled a hand.

"Some wealthy adventurers more or less did it, to mimic the other races in the dungeon more than out of any real desire for a city. And even then, surviving at the depths required to build anything substantial means you need to be an adventurer to survive. So really, it's just a few exclusive structures on the bottom of the ocean."

I leaned back, blinking, thinking about that setup. Of course, if there weren't cities, the need to organize laws would be far lower. But it almost made me uncomfortable to consider that level of anarchy.

"So the whole pod structure really is how Whalewryn survived on your homeworld," I said, genuinely just excited to talk with her about it.

"And now we're here," she gestured around, indicating Star City. "A few have found places to settle down, but I don't think many Whalewryn care much for it. After all, why would we want to stay put here when there are much better things we could be doing with our time?"

"Huh," I said, considering her words, understanding where she was coming from far better now. "So your interest in joining us is quite the oddity," I said, only for Crimson to glare at me.

"'Oddity' is probably not the word Ken meant to use." Crimson stated.

I opened my mouth to correct myself before snapping it shut. Sometimes an apology was just easier. "Crimson's right. I meant no offense."

"Oh, none taken," Misha said in a hurry. "I am an oddball amongst my people. I mentioned it previously," she said, with a blush. I recalled that her people weren't very sexually active, save for a few times a year at most, and it sounded like she'd found herself in a far different position as a result, having trouble connecting with the males of her species romantically.

"Right," I said, remembering what she'd told me before.

"Yes… which is why I think it'd be wonderful for her to spend some time with your party, Ken," Crimson told me with a knowing look, leaning her head down to peer at me through her lashes.

"Of course we'd be happy to have her, and I think the whole reason she's here, Crimson, is because I invited her to go leveling with us." I brought Crimson up to speed.

"Oh, well, in that case, don't let me hold you up," Crimson waved us both away, a giant smile plastered on her face, as if she'd done her good deed for the day.

"Come on, before Crimson changes her mind," I said.

Only for Crimson to shout, "I heard that!"

I met Crimson's gaze. "You were supposed to."

Crimson let out a heavy, put-upon sigh. "What happened to my adorable Ken, who did what I said without arguing? Once upon a time."

"He realized you're actually a bit of a pushover." I answered, enjoying the look Crimson gave me in return. I didn't dare give her another win and actually take it back, so instead I grabbed Misha's hand as if we were making an escape, causing the Whalewryn to laugh, her ears flapping behind her.

"Your party is so much fun," she said, and I shook my head. "I'm happy you think so, but Des is still asleep, and trying to wake her up right now would be disastrous for all of us." Misha's eyes went wide, and I grinned. "Not really worse than an angry Des. We're bringing her, Charlotte, myself…” I tapped my chin. "and perhaps Penny for what comes next."

"Then I'd prefer Des be in a better mood." Misha gave that very serious consideration. "Of course, the last thing I'd want to do is upset Des."

"Oh, no, it's fine. You can upset her all you want. Come, maybe while we're waiting we can get some training in too," I offered. 

The Whalewryn glanced at me curiously at the offer, as if not entirely sure what that meant, and I couldn't help but wonder what she normally did for training.

***

I sat down on the workout bench, watching Misha work with fascination. Her thin body was clearly used to hard work, by the seriousness she brought to every movement, but she also had the strength and energy to perform each with delicate ease.

"Am I doing this right?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder while doing overhead presses.

"Perfectly," I said, shaking my head.

"Is that bad?" she asked, turning to regard me.

"No, it's fine," I said, though it came out more like a question than I'd intended. She paused, uncertainty clouding her features, before I clapped my hands. "Alright, we're going to switch it up and do a combo exercise."

"These are all very fun," she said with genuine excitement that I knew Des would be baffled if she had heard.

"Well, I'm glad you can enjoy exercising. Our group does quite a bit of it." I told her.

Misha flexed for a moment. Though she didn't look it, she was plenty strong. Then again, she was an adventurer above level fifty.

"We're going to do a squat, then a deadlift." I told her.

"So we're mixing the two?" she asked, picking up the five-hundred-pound bar with ease.

"Yes, though perhaps we'll have to move you to one of the gravity platforms if you're going to get any actual workout out of this. You said you haven't done any lifting before?" I pressed.

"Nope," she said, placing the bar back down. "But exercise is important to any Whalewryn. Though admittedly most of that is just swimming, or swimming in the depths under pressure. The Orkai have even made a few chambers to help mimic deep-sea conditions."

"Well, whatever you're doing, it's certainly working. When you said you hadn't done much exercise, I was thinking we'd have to do a lot more to catch you up to the rest of the party."

My words must have summoned my beautiful almost succubus, because Des came into the gym, blinking bleary eyes and wearing some barely-there nightgown, without anything on underneath.

"Huh?" Des asked, yawning, looking around for the guest. Meanwhile, Misha's eyes were fixed on Des's body with wide-eyed attention.

Des blinked, spotted Misha, and grinned. "We've got a guest?"

"Misha is a temporary party member, and we should treat her as such," I said.

Misha was all blushes, before pulling herself together, realizing we were both watching her, swallowing and facing us with a small amount of shame still dusting her cheeks. "I didn't realize you were so open with your dress code."

"The less the better, really," Des told her. "If you'd like, you can take a look through my closet."

"I don't think that's necessary," I said, a touch too sharply even to my own ears. "She's here to be an adventurer, not pick up a modeling gig."

Though, by the way the Whalewryn's eyes tracked Des's clothing, I was almost certain the two of them would be swapping outfits before the end of the day.

"Right, right," Des said, distracted. "We'll just focus on leveling for today," she said, and even though I barely believed her, I was more than happy to accept it.

"Well, Des is going to get dressed," I said pointedly, looking at the demonic mage who tapped at her CID. Thankfully, her usual adventuring gear appeared on her form and she'd removed the latency on her outfit changes, so she wasn't distractingly nude for a moment every time.

Des pouted at the small sigh of relief I gave. "Such a dungeon-head," she said, turning to Misha. "When he's got diving on his mind, he doesn't see the most important bits right in front of him." Des pinched her fingers together in emphasis, and Misha nodded along with her like it was the most common-sense statement she'd ever heard. "It's so much easier when everyone understands," Des said, turning to Misha.

"Stop corrupting her," I hissed.

"Corruption would imply she wasn't already there to begin with," Des said with a pointed look, daring me to refute the statement. Which, of course, was quite hard, given everything else the Whalewryn had told me about her people.

"Dungeon, now," I said, and ripped open a portal before Des could get up to any more nonsense.

"I love it when he gets bossy," Des said, and bit her lip so hard I worried it might bleed.

Misha looked at her, then at me, before coming to some decision with a quick bow. "Yes, I can imagine all the trouble she causes you. Thankfully, she has far more of your attention than I think she understands."

I squinted at that but let it be. I had a portal open and was ready to move on to farming, rather than the near-constant banter Des seemed more than capable of pulling me into.

***

It took a little bit after that to pull the rest of the group into the dungeon, but by getting my feet in there, it hurried everyone up.

"Not just to put you through the wringer," Des said, hand on hip, "but would you do us a favor and show us what you can do?" She watched Misha for her reaction.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Misha straightened up, eyes fixed ahead at the boss in front of us. "We're farming, though, right?"

"Yes," I nodded toward the boss ahead. "We don't actually kill that. We just need to clear as many adds as it summons."

"Do you want them crowd-controlled, or—" she paused, suddenly uncertain of her role in it all.

"You can kill the adds yourself, right?" I asked.

"Of course," she puffed herself up, unwilling to admit defeat just yet.

"Then I'll kick us off," Des said, and threw a bolt of green fire that lanced the air before splashing on the octopus-like boss, which gurgled as the dozens of eggs around it began to wiggle and hatch, more pumping out of tubes on the side of its head.

Misha braced herself as the adds began swarming our group. I'd sparred with her in the past, so I understood a little of how she fought. She darted forward, her fist slamming into the first add, turning it to stone, before pivoting to another, stomping and creating slick ground that did little for the floating octopuses. She frowned, twisted, and dropped an axe kick on the one she'd petrified, shattering it, then spun and sent shards of stone flying in every direction.

"Not looking great," Des clicked her tongue beside me.

I'd known incorporating her into a party was going to be, at the very least, different. The Whalewryn fought with a very different party structure than us. Rather than tanks, damage dealers, and healers, they had an anchor and pillars. The anchor was one or two members who swung a literal anchor at high speeds, creating a constant area of heavy AoE damage while the rest of the party fought within the swinging anchor's reach. They either redirected the anchor for sharp powerful attacks as they hit the chain and changed its direction or acted to keep opponents from reaching the anchor itself. This meant Misha's actual strengths leaned toward crowd control, with perhaps a touch of self-sustainability.

"Well, we shouldn't leave her entirely to her own devices," I said to Des, stepping forward and activating [Sprint]. I rushed to Misha’s side, my blade finding two of the adds and cleaving them both before I pivoted on one foot and put another blade between Misha and one of the spinning octopi trying to come up behind her.

"Thanks," she said, blushing, her ears drooped low in a way that reminded me of a sad dog.

"It wasn't going to work the first time," I said, putting my back to hers. "Your party fought very differently than ours. Perhaps what I'm looking for most isn't perfection on this first run, but the intent to improve."

That statement lit a fire in her eyes.

"You already have the support, so what you need is perhaps a little more damage." I told her.

She spun like a top, sending shards of earth in every direction, drawing the attention of all the adds floating about.

"Careful," Penny shouted, as a wave of frost poured over us, pulling the aggro back onto her as she stepped back and kited the adds still pouring from the boss. Misha shifted, stomping her feet as a pillar of stone jutted into the pack, exploding and knocking a few high into the air, then spun in a roundhouse that caught and kicked several large stones right into the swarm following, right into the ones knocked airborne. It exploded, and she landed back on her feet with a smile.

"Better," Des encouraged. "Perhaps we'll need to get you a few new skills," she shouted around cupped hands.

"I promise I'm worth it." Misha flexed, then pivoted to go after more of the monsters. Rather than her previous attempts to lock them down, she instead used every ability to simply put out as much damage as possible.

I did my best to split my attention between watching her and keeping my head up for the rest of the fight, lest a moment of inattention cost the party. While this was a place for us to grind experience, it was still a boss fight well above our level.

Des was paying close attention too. I turned to shoot her a wink of encouragement.

"See? She's already doing much better." I offered.

"I never doubted her for a second," Des shouted, raising her hand and casting a field of falling green fire, small meteors raining down on the adds, damaging and setting them alight.

Misha, having seen Des's attack, shifted to her own. She spun with a kick that sliced the air, only for her whale tail to come up behind her to send another slicing strike. She moved with kicks followed by tail hits that cleaved through the group Penny had trailing after her. It was simple but highly effective as she quickly cut through the burning mobs.

"Careful, Des, I think you have some competition," I said, much to the chagrin of the demonic mage, sparking a friendly feud as it became readily apparent both of them were now going to do their absolute damnedest to stay ahead of the other.

"Could be worse," Charlotte said, following my attention.

I grinned in turn. "Oh, I think it's perfectly fine. After all, Des has needed some more competition in her life, if you ask me. She's been getting away with too much as it is right now."

"Take that back," Des shouted, punctuating it with a burst of green flames.

"You're going to have to make me," I shouted back.

Misha just laughed, head thrown back, perhaps the most joyful expression I'd seen out of her to date.

"What has you so happy?" I asked.

"You are all so incredibly kind to each other. This is a much better party than my people, they are all so stiff." Then, with a little more consideration, "Though I am getting a bit dizzy," she admitted, from her rapid spinning kicks.

"You're welcome to stop," Des shouted, though it was clearly more taunt than actual advice.

"And potentially lose?" Misha gasped. "I think not. After all, you may have started as a human, but you're a demon now. They always say you can't trust a demon."

"Well then, can you trust Ken?" Des shot back, before a wave of darkness swept through the monsters, killing several already low from our earlier efforts. Des's words caused Misha to pause slightly and lose out on those particular kills.

"Don't mess each other up," I warned both of them. "You're welcome to bicker over who's better, but if you cause the other to make a mistake and get hurt, I will not be kind."

"Temporary truce?" Des offered. "I'd prefer an alliance, if you know what I mean. You and me, against Ken."

"Oh, that I could get behind," Misha let out a throaty laugh.

"Veto," I shouted.

"You can't veto an alliance amongst the harem," Des shot back.

I passed by, switching between groups of adds, and I couldn't help but see the giant smile on Misha's face. Des had already counted her among our group. To be honest, I was warming up to the idea. She was beautiful, clearly talented in the dungeon, but I also knew a good portion of Des's motivation involved her ability to grow all our stats to a higher level. I wanted to be careful and make sure there was more to it than simply using Misha as an incubator for our party's stats.

"Misha, when we're done here for the day, why don't you come with me? We'll go back to Earth, and I'll take you out somewhere to eat." I offered.

"All of us?" Des asked, perking up at the mention of food.

"No, you've been bad," I said playfully, and Des gasped.

"He withholds food. Misha, do you see that? This is why we have to gang up on him, or he'll starve us into compliance." Des intoned.

"Des, that sounds absolutely horrible. You can't say things like that out loud," I sputtered. I only needed to check back over my shoulder to see the devilish grin on her face.

"I believe she was joking," Misha said. "Either way, we're leaving her behind tonight, that's for certain."

"No, I'll be good, I swear!" Des shouted.

"She won't be," I said conspiratorially to Misha as I flowed behind the Whalewryn and cut down more monsters.

"No, I will be. Misha, you believe me, right? We have an alliance against Ken," she hissed, not nearly as quietly as she might have thought.

Misha hummed and rubbed her chin in thought. "This puts me in quite the predicament. I do want to spend some time alone with Ken, but it's not a good start to betray a fellow harem sister."

"You can betray Des this once," Charlotte said, causing Des to gasp and clutch at her chest.

"What have I done to earn such animosity?" she asked dramatically.

“Well, it will be hard for Ken to focus on Misha with you there,” Penny added in her two cents.

"She's being quite dramatic about this," Misha observed.

"Don't consider it a betrayal," I said, pausing for the right word. "Consider it a... learning experience for her."

Misha nodded slowly and turned to Des with a weak smile. "Unfortunately, it seems Ken is asking me to punish you. I can't be too mad about that."

"Not fair," Des said, crossing her arms and pausing her attacks for a second, at least until I turned and gave her a sharp glare.

"You're not actually that upset, are you?" I pressed, staring at her hands that weren’t filled with magic.

"No," she said quickly, lest there be any misconceptions, and began attacking again. "That's what you have to watch out for, Misha. You can play around all you want, but the second you disrupt the dive, our man gets downright frosty." Des told her.

"As much as I like giving Des crap, she's absolutely right," I said. "The second you mess with the dive, I'm bound to be very unhappy about it, because when we're in here, we need to be serious. Much of this can be a matter of life and death, even if we've done this a dozen times."

"So," I reminded Des, who responded with a quick salute, and I felt comfortable that she knew she'd touched the line and would back off. I loved Des, but she was absolutely a bundle of trouble. Perhaps she'd picked up more than just skills when she transformed herself into a demon. I knew there were times I'd felt my own behavior, particularly my libido, altered. Perhaps she had something like that herself, whether she was aware of it or not. But that was a question for another time.