Matters of growth.

After a few seconds, his phone rang; Sylvia was very careful to always have the phone he gave her near her. Anna had desired to check the patches of vegetables that Sylvia was growing near the glade and the dryad was very happy to be able to make new ones grow using the fruits and vegetables that her queen had brought.

Such a trip would take nearly half an hour and it would take a while for Kim to arrive at the rendezvous point. John wandered in his castle and, as he walked upstairs his eyes fell upon the mysterious puzzle box he had found in the Maze. The fact he couldn't put it in his inventory or use Observe on it was as troubling as it was frustrating. He carried the heavy metal cube to the crafting table and sat on a chair. His first instinct was to try to move some elements around to see if it made any sense to him, but apparently he had to do it manually, the damn thing appeared to be magically inert or at least impervious to it. He turned the cube, checking each of the six faces, each with it's own puzzle.

After a few minutes on one of them he had figured out how it worked. He had no idea what the symbols meant, but the way they moved and their appearance made pretty clear how they should move. A good 10 more minutes of sliding things around and he heard the sweet clicking sound of one of the locks disengaging.

"Hey, one done! Now let's look at the rotating rings..." he told himself. He had to align the lines of each ring with the ones on the next, but there were 2 or three possible positions where each pair of rings aligned with each other. He was interrupted by a text from Kim telling him that she would reach the point in ten minutes. John asked the girls to come back and started to think about what he would wear.

He wasn't sure if the demon slayer would be understanding of the new Arcadian fashion fad. He left the cube there and went down to wait for his court to arrive.

Anna removed the slime suit and put on a light summer dress, it was looking a bit too large for her, but it kept her decent. Cali wore her loincloth and lizard hide armor while her sister had wrapped a piece of cloth around her hips and chest over her slime suit. John was wearing his jeans and t-shirt combo, which made the crown on his head look a bit ridiculous.

After receiving a second text, John disappeared and reappeared nearly instantly with Kim next to him.

"Welcome to Arcadia, Kim Moon," he announced. "This is Anna Klein, my girlfriend and my queen. You already know Sylvia, who helped save your life. This huntress is Cali and this is her sister Vesta, I rescued them from dire circumstances and offered them a home here."

Kim had changed a little since the last time he saw her. Her very short hair was now shoulder length and tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a light blue shirt and some loose black pants. John looked closely and had trouble to spot the issue she was mostly concerned about.

"You seem to gather magical creatures. Be careful, this one is marked by a dangerous spirit," she said, throwing a dirty look at Vesta.

"This is the situation we were talking about, a creature named Tarkos **** her and did this to her to make her his bride. Sylvia was captive there too and we rescued both. Moira did a purification ritual, the spirit holds no sway on her, but the mark is probably permanent. Now, what seems to be the problem?" he asked her.

"Don't play innocent, Newman, you know exactly what you did! You did something to me when I was here last time!" she said, in an accusatory tone.

"John, did you really do that? You didn't tell me about it," asked Anna.

"Listen, when this monster exploded, we both got burned and scratched by shrapnel. You had a big piece of metal in your chest, it had broken 6 ribs, punctured your lung and was really close to your heart. I dragged you here and then Sylvia and I did all we could to heal you. I have some skills that can heal, but I am not a trained healer, Sylvia has little experience with humans and at the time never met a human girl. I look at you now and you seem totally fine, the long hair is looking pretty good in fact," he explained. "Your call was the first time I heard about the other thing you described and I don't really see the problem right now."

"You... I guess you've seen it already and all others here are women," she stated. She removed her shirt to reveal that her chest was bound with a strip of white fabric rolled around her. She probably didn't even own a bra, her former anatomy had made it unnecessary. She looked around and finally unrolled the strip revealing the changes that had happened to her.

Whereas she had been so flat chested that she almost could have passed as a boy, she now possessed a small pair of breasts. They were by no standard big ones and were the smallest in the room, but they gave her a more feminine look, just big enough to fill the palm of his hands, John thought.

"You really shouldn't do that. This was too tightly bound, it will damage your tits and they will end up looking ugly," said Anna.

"You don't get it! They did that to me! I don't want these!" she retorted.

"My magic restores the body to the state it should have. I researched it afterwards when John told me that you did a lot of sports and exercise. Too much exercise at a younger age can mess with your hormones. You never developed fully during puberty and the built-up muscles stopped you from growing boobs. Being in the fountain for so long with so much healing magic poured in you has allowed your body to reset. This is how you should look like and you look beautiful like that, I don't see why you would want to get rid of these," explained Sylvia.

"It's not all, I... I'm feeling different... I can only think of... I need to keep a clear mind and I can achieve clarity when I meditate. You need to fix me!" she said, she was more emotional now than he had ever seen her. He could almost see some tears building up in her eyes. Anna walked toward her and put an arm around her bare shoulders.

"It's stuff everyone goes through during puberty, Kim. Thankfully there are a few ways to remedy it. I think all of the training and what it did to your body blocked that. You will just have to live with this like every one of us," said Anna. She then whispered in Kim's ears, loud enough that John heard though. "How often do you masturbate?"

Kim's face turned red instantly. She was looking very shocked.

"What are you talking about? I do no such thing! I am not some sort of pervert or deviant!" she justified herself.

"Oh sister! Where did you get these ideas? Everyone does it, even girls who have boyfriends. If you want, I can show you a few things and help you with that. John, can you do anything to help her?" asked Anna. In face of her recent discoveries about her own sexuality, the offer was a lot less innocent than it might seem to Kim. John thought about it for a second, but saw little that he could do that Kim would accept right now.

"I have no skill or spell that could reduce these thoughts. Concerning the breasts, I could probably make them a bit smaller, but there might be side effects and they wouldn't disappear. I imagined them a lot bigger from what you told me on the phone. I would seriously advise against it, they are not big enough to handicap you and I think that, once you have the time to get used to it, you will stop panicking," he replied.

"You won't mind if we borrow the bedroom for a bit, dear?" asked Anna. Despite not being invited, John gladly accepted. Anything that could help Kim out of her shell would be helpful in the long run. Once again the offer was less and less innocent on Anna's part, Kim was in for a surprise when it came to the bed in his room. The two human girls walked away to the basement, while John returned to his puzzle box.

Vesta and Sylvia were standing near him, helping him figure out how to solve the second lock. Cali on the other hand had no interest in the thing and was on her knees sucking his cock. Something about which John wouldn't complain, but which was a bit distracting. She had a lot of experience in doing that, but she was still amazed at how much bigger than the males of her tribe he was.

The pleasure of the blowjob and the excitement of thinking about what was happening downstairs had put John's mind in a sort of second state. Somehow the puzzle seemed to make more sense now, the lines, Cali's lips, Sylvia's tits resting on his shoulder, the muffled moaning coming from downstairs...

He had cum just as the lock made the long awaited clicking sound and Cali was avidly drinking his cum. Every girl who had tasted it told him it was delicious since he had been upgrading his junk. Two out of six out of the way, but sadly the easiest two. He was pretty sure that the other ones would require him to understand the symbols. His search online had given no results, but it was really hard to search for symbols and runes in a search engine, especially when he had no idea what language was used.

He had some mana to waste and since he was already in the crafting area he made a few more units of enchanted wood before checking the castle improvement screen in the pedestal of the entry room.

Limited resources were available but one item was craftable and it was one that would be useful. The castle didn't have a bathroom so far, with no running water in it. He used some enchanted wood and slime material to create some toilets in the empty room next to the bedroom. With a nice polished wooden seat, the slime in it would absorb and dissolve everything put into of it and even wipe the person sitting on it when they were finished. An ingenious addition to the castle that will prove useful for longer stays.

The moaning coming from the bedroom had stopped and soon after that a blushing Kim got out of it, followed by a grinning Anna. Kim was only wearing panties and holding her pants in her hands. John noticed that her chest wasn't the only thing that had changed. Her ass, that was flat and muscular initially, had acquired some padding. Anna, on the other hand, was only wearing her crown.

"I installed some toilets in the next room in case someone needs them," he told them. "So, how did it go?"

"Ohhh you know, girl stuff. Our friend here is kind of late to the party and has a lot to learn. But I showed her a few tricks that should keep her thoughts from distracting her too much," replied Anna. Kim's eyes were looking at the empty space of the room and, despite her blushing, she was clearly smiling, something else she rarely did.

"I... I should go home... I shouldn't have bothered you with this. I guess it really isn't that much of a deal, I might have overreacted. I'm sorry for accusing you. I hope you don't think less of me for it. I could come back once in a while if you want. You know, if you need a training partner..." she told him as she tried not to look ridiculous while putting her pants on. John really wondered about what happened in that room for such a change of attitude to happen so fast. He guessed that he would have to pry it from Anna.

"I'd gladly accept your offer, I would love to train with someone as skilled as you are. I'll text you when I get some free time. I'll help you leave now," he offered.

In record time, she had dressed herself. The strip of fabric around her chest was now only supporting her new tits and no longer crushing them. Once she was ready he blinked outside with her and returned alone.

"I want all the naughty details! What the heck did you do to her?" he asked his queen.