He tells me to focus on Shalia

“I think you have a better chance at dating Shalia.” Darx says. “To get into a relationship with a girl, you need to talk to her. Kinda hard to talk to the princess if she’s always protected by the guards.”

He has a point there. I can’t exactly make Kathleen fall in love with me if I never get to talk to her. The way things are now, she probably doesn’t even know I exist. Unless …

“But what if I join the royal guard.” I say. “That’s an option, right?”

“It is.” Darx replies. “But where is the assurance that you’ll have to protect the princess? You could be set on guard duty on the castle walls, protect an ambassador or a noble on his way to or from the castle, …”

He’s right. The royal guard does way more than just protect the princess and there are so many guards already. She probably already has her a group of body guards that she if familiar with and won’t be changed.

“Yeah. I’d have to get lucky to guard the princess directly.” I continue. “Besides, royalty like her have to save their marriages for making alliances anyways.”

“See. You simply have far better chances at getting lucky with Shalia.”

Given what I’ve done with Shalia in her room earlier today, I could say I’ve already gotten lucky with her.

“Indeed, I do.” I say.

After that, both of us went to bed.

The next morning, Darx and I went to pick up Wendy and Shalia like usual. Shalia and I even held hands like normal. But it’s different now. I’m no longer holding the hand of a girl I’m pretending is my girlfriend. I’m holding the hand of a girl I really want to be my girlfriend. But more than that, I’m holding the hand of a girl that I have already been inside of. She even let me cum inside her. Would she still have some of my sperm in her womb? Is it any wonder simply holding her hand is giving me a total boner right now?

When we get to the dining room, we had our usual breakfast with the gang, including Dante. Except this time, we notice there were 2 new girls at our table.

The first one is a pretty brunette with brown eyes in a fancy aquamarine dress. A dress like that makes her look like she’s from a rich family. And her boobs are huge! If she takes a deep breath, I am certain they will pop out of her dress.

The other newcomer looks Asian, like Shalia. Only her hair is black and tied in a poly tail. She is also wearing armor made of a lot of black leather and some spots further reinforced with bands of metal stitched onto her clothes. She’s probably a fighter like Wendy. Unlike Sophie, Ari’s breasts look a lot smaller. Would they also be each other’s opposites personality wise?

“Hey, you came.” Wendy greets the two new girls.

“Darx, Ryul, Shalia. These are Sophie and Ari. They are from Dante’s previous group. The one Syvis is with now.” Wendy introduces us. “Leona and I met them last night during our extra training. Turns out Ari has been doing some extra training as well and.”

“Yeah, she started doing so a few days ago and she asked me to come with her in case she gets herself hurt.” Sophie explains in a very cheery demeanor. “Oh, Ari. You are such a worry wort.”

As we sit down, I notice the new the Asian girl lean over to Darx and whisper something in his ear, but I can’t catch what she is saying.

Darx then turns his head to the main door. Did he hear something? I look at the door too, but nothing is happening. Then the door opens up and Gerald comes through.

“This is a disgrace!” Gerald yells. “Do you have any idea who I am?! I am a member of the Levine family!”

“I honestly don’t give a damn which family you’re from.” Kiara says calmly as she follows closely behind Gerald. “You can just as easily be from the latrine family for all I care.”

Gerald opens his eyes wide in shock and surprise and angrily replies, “Latrine?”

“Like I said, there are quite a couple of beastkind in my guild and if you want to have a chance at getting an invite from me, you will have to stop looking down on them.” Kiara continues.

“Tss, as if I even want to join your stupid guild.”

Gerald then starts grabbing for something that’s around his neck but he can’t seem to get it off. Did Kiara lock it on there with her [Shadow Manipulation]? The more he moves, the more I hear the ringing of that bell. I wonder why Gerald would make any bell sounds, I can’t quite see.

Then Darx suddenly tells us he is wearing that same choker with bell her threw into Leona’s plate yesterday. Within moment, we are all laughing at him.

“What are you guys laughing about!” An angry Gerald yells at us.

“Hey, Gerald!” Leona calls back at him with a smile. “Nice Latrine family heirloom you got there!”

Everybody at our table starts laughing again, including Dante and Ari.

“Wow, Gerald. I didn’t know you were into jewelry.” Sophie calls out to him as well.

From her choice of words, I would assume Sophie is making fun of him as well. But her demeanor suggests that she was being serious. I have a feeling Sophie is going to be a fery complex individual.

Gerald’s face turns red with anger from our comments, then he walks off to the table where his friends are waiting for him. With Kiara as his mentor this week, I have a feeling this is going to be a fun week for us.

After breakfast, Sophie and Ari go back to their own group to train under Syvis. Dante takes us outside for the usual training. Except he has a little surprise for Miranda. Apparently, Dante has asked someone from the royal guard to bring a carrier pigeon from the royal rookery. He then guides Miranda to taming the bird. Supposedly, it’ll take a few days until the bird trusts her. But once that’s done, she’ll be able to use her [eyes in the skies] skill.

After lunch time however, Dante tries something different. He wants our full team to attack him. Is he insane? We've got like 3 A ranks, 2 B ranks and a Darx. But Dante insists. So we start to fight him and man, he is tough. Both fast and agile, and using his great sword as a shield. We can hardly even touch him. At the end of the day, we fail to beat him.

After dinner, Wendy and Leona head to the courtyard to do some more extra training. They meet up with Ari and Sophie before heading out though. Darx instead heads back to the library. He even takes a bottle of water with him. Man, that guy really likes books. So different from me.

Shalia instead grabs my hand and goes with me on another walk through the palace halls. This has basically become our after-dinner walk. Together the both of us appreciate all the beauty and splendor of the castle has to offer. While I do appreciate all this art, Shalia seems to be more into it than I am. Then again, the girl I am with is a form of art in and of herself. She has got these big blue eyes, a cute nose, full kissable lips, her pink hair is absolutely gorgeous, a slender body. I have to put effort into not thinking about her naked, because whenever I do, I immediately get an erect dick.

The next day goes pretty much the same. Even Ari and Sophia are at our table again. Shalia even decides to sit next to Ari and spend some time with her. I can understand why. She's a fellow Asian. Of course she would want to find kinship with someone similar to her. If there had been another elf here, or even a half elf, I would probably see that one as prime friend material as well.

After that day's dinner we go for our usual walk. But this time, after a while, Shalia stops and looks around. Then she asks, “Doesn’t this place seem familiar to you?”

I look around and, now that she mentions it, yeah, it feels like I’ve been here before.

Shalia then walks up to a door and says, “If I’m correct then …” And she enters the room.

I follow her in. There is nobody in the room, but the objects that are there make me immediately recognize which room this is.

“This is where Kiara first brought us.” I say as we close the door behind us.

“Yeah, where we first introduced ourselves.”

Damn. It’s been only a week ago since we first came into this chamber. Back then I didn’t know Shalia. I only knew Darx. Now I’m in a relationship with Shalia. Well, sorta. She still sees me as a fake boyfriend. I’m going to have to find a way to convince her to see me as a real boyfriend.

While we’re here, Shalia walks up to a wall tapestry. It’s the one with the logos of the 3 big guilds on it.

“Uhm, hey Ryul. What do you think about the Dark Dragons?” Shalia asks.

Oh damn. This must be about joining a guild. If I give her the wrong answer here, I may push her away from seeing me as a real boyfriend. Think, Ryul. Think. What would Shalia think about joining a guild?

“Uhm. I’m not sure. I mean. I haven’t met any of their members, so I don’t feel I should judge.” I answer. She won’t really be helped with this answer, but at least it’s safe.

Shalia turns to me and asks, “Would you join them?”

Ok Ryul. She’s giving you a second chance. Try putting yourself in her shoes again. How would I feel if I were a young girl, far away from home and all by myself?

“Well, they are big, famous and reputable.” I start. “But I guess that means their guild has many more strange faces than the smaller ones. I guess I would feel a bit intimidated joining a guild with so many high-ranking adventurers all by myself. It probably would be easier if I had someone to join it with me.”

Shalia then looks away from me and asks, “What if … suppose I were to join them. Would you join them with me?” While looking back at me when she says those last 4 words.

She’s asking me to join the same guild as her? YES! OFCOURSE!

I smile at her and calmly say, “Sure.” Shalia smiles back at me.

“Then, we’ll have to work really hard to prove ourselves.” Shalia continues. “They only take on the best after all.”

I take Shalia’s hands in mine and say, “Don’t worry, we’ve got 3 whole weeks left for that.”

“Still.” Shalia replies. “I think we should start hitting the library. I’m going to need to learn more spells. A mage with my magic elements is nicknamed a druid, but I don’t even know how to cast nature spells. And I’m sure there’s a couple of books that can help you with your skills as well.”

I know Shalia is just trying to help. But when she talks about the importance of books, I simply can’t help but groan.

“Shalia, you’ve seen me struggle the first time we were in the library. Do we really have to go back there?” I groan.

“I know.” She replies. “But a guild like the Dark Dragons has high standards. They won’t accept you unless you prove yourself worthy. So please, do it for me.”

Jeez. She’s really got me in a bind. If now I say no, I may as well give up on a serious relationship with her. She’s got me in a spot where I have to say yes. I guess it won’t be all that bad. I mean, Dante has to teach all 6 of us. At least if I put in the effort of reading a book or two, it would be like getting some private lessons.

I sigh in defeat. “Ok fine. I’ll go to the library with you.”

Shalia then rewards me with a smile, a hug and also a kiss on the lips. Even though her getting me to go to the library with her was a defeat on my part, she makes me feel like I won. Darx is right. Shalia is a wonderful girl for me to be with.

But after the kiss, Shalia’s expression sours a bit.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing. It’s just …” She starts. “I’m sorry but … Would you mind pretending to be Heben again?”

I see. So she hasn’t gotten over him yet.

“Sure, no problem.” I tell her.