Royal errands

Riding his bike in the grass plains of Arcadia triggered some memories in John. Memories of how it all started, when he was barely understanding anything about what was going on and still figuring out what to do with his new life. And now he was king, had a girlfriend, and he had to admit it, some sort of harem. Beyond the power, wealth, and to be honest, insane amounts of sex, this gift had also thrown him very quickly into his adult life, making him risk his life and shoulder many new responsibilities.

It didn't take long to reach the ratfolk village. The mismatched assembly of half buried structures of varying sizes had changed again, and despite the fact that most movement was done through tunnels connecting the buildings, some clear paths devoid of grass and sometimes even covered in stones were visible between the houses. The small vegetable garden he had seen last time had already more than tripled in size, and who knew how much more farming was happening in the caves where they harvested mushrooms.

John had to admonish Algernon and his kin for not resting so soon after such a trying event, but was assured that none of them had ever felt better in their existence. Having them understand and accept becoming subjects took little convincing, they already considered him as their king and it was only an administrative formality. Contrary to what he had planned, John didn't give Algernon the ring right away. While discussing other things with the folks, something gripped his guts. Making them subject was a foregone conclusion, he and Anna had already agreed that while bringing people from the outside was to be discussed, formalizing the presence of Arcadia's denizens to boost the kingdom should be a priority.

But the rings were another thing. Few in number, high in meaning, he had not consulted her on what to do with this unexpected extra ring. His reasoning was sound and he doubted that his loved one would object to it, but doing it without her input and only showing it to her after the fact would be a breach of her trust. It would mean that she didn't matter and that setting her as his equal in the kingdom was just for show. This was new for John too. That the most logical decision was not always the best to make if it didn't take into account the feelings of people that mattered to him was something that he would have to get used to.

On a whole other reasoning, receiving the ring just like this was a bit demeaning. This would be, for Algernon and his people, an event of almost the same importance as what had just happened before. And what was the point of owning a lavishly decorated throne room if not to organize some sort of pompous ceremony for great occasions? John simply told Algernon that he'd probably summon him, the other subjects and whoever might want to join to the castle the next day, to an event pertaining to the future of the kingdom. It reminded John that his sense of theatrics would probably cost him a few hundred dollars as such an event would no doubt empty whatever he would buy to restock his empty food reserves. But it was in the end a small price to pay for creating a spirit of unity and belonging in his kingdom.

The next bit of the trip would be a bit more tricky. John first had to drive Daphne, still wrapped around him for ease of transportation and because the empathic slime girl seemed to love physical contact so much. He left her in the glade, where she drank some of the sap conveniently seeping from Sylvia's tree trunk and then went to bathe in the fountain. John told her that he would come back to pick her up in a little while and went on his way towards the former Lightning Stones, now turned Arcane Sanctum.

The creation of new structure had stabilized the outbursts of power from the old stone ring. Nonetheless, John donned his full new suit of armor before entering the place. It was so full of power that the mana reserves from his new gauntlets were filling themselves without any effort on his part. The information on the Ring Altar and what he had gleaned from the dwarvish tome had made clear what he needed to do. He used the reinforced claw on the tip of his finger to engrave some of the gem shards inserted in the pillars with runes for Home, Power and Space.

Ring upgrade unlocked: Home Beacon.
In addition to the last point of entry being available for travel, each ring can now save a permanent waypoint that will always be available no matter from where the ring bearer entered Arcadia.

Ring upgrade unlocked: Domestic Travel.
Rings can now be set to be used to travel to the castle from within the Kingdom. Rings set this way can't be used to exit through waypoints going outside the Kingdom nor come back to the Kingdom from outside. Waypoints set to destination in the kingdom can only be used if accompanied by a bearer of a ring set to Domestic travel. This option can only be set at the Ring Altar, and changing it one way or the other will wipe any waypoints created by the ring.

These upgrades were welcome and made the most sense. Allowing every Earth based ring bearer the possibility to go home or to a safe point after an adventure and taking into account the soon three Arcadia based ones.

John then sat down to use Meditation, bathing in the light of the crackling sphere of concentrated power set in the center of the Sanctum. Trying to both keep one's mind empty and yet focused on something specific wasn't an easy thing. His mind was set on finding a solution to the problem Daphne suffered from.

The thing with this skill of his was that until it worked, it was just a whole lot of nothing happening where his overactive mind could easily get distracted and his life was full of things or people that could fill an empty mind. Finally, his mind was showing him a blurred picture, slowly focusing. The end result was unmistakably Daphne or a similar slime girl. Her body was glowing and tiny sparks were moving from all over her whole body to where her heart would be if she wasn't an undifferentiated mass of jelly like substance. He realized that by assuming that she was defective and only thinking about finding a core for her he had not yet considered finding a way for her to form one herself. The vision brought him nothing more so far in the way of how to do this, so he would probably have to try later.

He went back to the glade to pick a well energized slime girl and then got back to the castle. To his dismay, Anna and Tricia were still fast asleep and showing no signs of waking up, despite having drifted towards each other in the little over two hours of his absence. The petite girl now getting cuddled by his girlfriend with Tricia's head resting on Anna's wonderful breasts. This was almost enough of a sight to make him want to strip down and join them for some impromptu group activities, but they deserved some rest, and there would be plenty of time for this later.

As a good king and boyfriend, he decided to tackle the serious food shortage issue, thinking that his two sleeping beauties would appreciate some breakfast when waking up. Raiding his kitchen at home would not be a good solution to this, so he decided to go on a supply run.

His only waypoint was in New York and Anna's too. Thankfully, his mom's was still there from when she went back home. He knew that she would probably be asleep at this hour, so he was really careful not to make any noise. Of course he didn't expect to appear in her room facing her sleeping naked on her bed. His mom was lying on her side, hugging a pillow, pressing it between her tits.

'So many temptations, it's a wonder I manage to achieve anything.'

He stealthily sneaked out of her room and went to his own. This room where he used to spend the near totality of his free time was becoming more and more like a foreign place. He just grabbed a change of clothes that he equipped and set his permanent waypoint to the room.

He went to the garage and got his bike out of his inventory before riding into the night. John was rarely involved in buying groceries beyond getting the bags from the car to the kitchen after his mom repeatedly asked him to pause his game and do it. There was a Whole-Mart open 24/7 at barely a 15 minute drive from his home; it was the most obvious destination. In a blind spot of the parking lot he equipped the Veil Charm and cycled it enough to obtain a generic unrecognizable appearance.

Once inside he realized that he didn't know exactly what to buy, but even if he wouldn't get everything right, he could at least buy some food and drinks in bulk. The quality didn't matter much, even cheap stuff would get gladly devoured by the folk if needed. He began a routine, going in, filling a cart with various goods, exiting, warping the full cart to Arcadia, going back in with a new face and repeating the whole thing. He ended with 7 carts, full of sodas, soft drinks, bags of rice or noodles, snacks, cookies, candy and whatever caught his eye. He at least had enough to cook toast, eggs and bacon, but apart from this he realized once back to the castle that there was little in the way of planned meals in all that he had bought.

Getting everything one floor underground was a bit tricky. In the end he just emptied a cart, stored it in his inventory and moved it downstairs, and then he had to do round-trips to the kitchen, using his inventory to move things down the stairs without having to carry heavy stuff.

Once everything was moved to the kitchen, he began making some breakfast. After a few minutes he was surprised to see Anna and Tricia standing by the door of the kitchen (that he had forgotten to close).

"I love you, but you really shop like a boy," said his girlfriend, seeing all of the things that he had bought but not yet put away. "Are there some real food and ingredients in there? Or is it just dry stuff and junk food?"

"I made eggs and bacon! Want some?" he said with a smile. She wanted to grumble, but both girls were too hungry to refuse the offer.

They helped pick up some plates and cutlery, and all three went back to the dining area to enjoy some freshly made breakfast.