“Perhaps that’s why the Scourge poured into our realm after the gods disappeared,” Bryn speculated. “Their protection must have disappeared when they abandoned us, seeing no future for the nine annihilated realms.”

  “What a bunch of jerks. They should have stayed and protected you guys or at least taken you with them to wherever they went.” Miria huffed in annoyance.

  “I agree.” Silvia nodded with a serious expression. “They were responsible for you as their direct subjects. They literally created your race to serve but showed no shred of loyalty towards you in difficult times. Pathetic.”

  “Thankfully, your people didn’t give up and saved your entire race with their quick judgment and actions,” Asterios commented. “In the end, you surpassed those gods since you achieved something they couldn’t, or else they wouldn’t have just run away. That’s something to be proud of.”

  “And you now have a chance to take a piece of your long-lost land back,” Selene added with a jubilant smile. “I dare to say that things are starting to look good for you.”

  “Well, we seem to have been blessed by the presence of a much more benevolent god now.” Atra showed an adorable grin as she glanced at Asterios. “Their depictions in all the records that survived the cataclysm do men no justice.”

  “I haven’t seen any before today but I’m fairly sure that you are right.” Bryn chuckled lightly and they started standing up.

  “You are leaving already?” Her friend asked with a slightly dejected expression.

  “It’s getting late. I didn’t plan on discussing literally everything at once. I wanted to show everyone around a little after the introductions. And, even though we don’t exactly feel like it, I should go and take a rest with Master since we flew non-stop for almost a day to reach Brage,” Bryn explained.

  “I see. After everything else, I don’t even feel surprised anymore by that statement.” Atra shook her head with a delicate smile, turning to Asterios. “Before you go… Could I ask for a small favor?”

  “Sure,” he replied.

  “Can I kiss you?”

  The unexpected request stunned everyone, especially Bryn, whose eyes widened to the brim. A wry smile curled Ast’s lips involuntarily as he glanced her way, evoking a fair blush from his Valkyrie friend. Looking back over his shoulder, he raised a brow at all his mates, conveying his question mentally. He didn’t want any of them to feel wronged or uncomfortable.

  But, the girls assured him that this much didn’t bother them so he turned back to Atra.

  “Are you going to help us with the information on Tyr’s Aegis?” he asked and the short girl made a set of quick nods, gazing intensely at his lips. “Alright.”

  A little hesitantly, she stepped closer, getting increasingly rosier on her cheeks and the bridge of her cute, freckled nose. Asterios extended a hand to the adorable lady and gently pulled her to rest on him, watching Atra’s smile grow by the moment. After he nodded at her, she stood on her tiptoes and reached up with her mouth, joining their lips in a delicate kiss.

  That gentle peck quickly turned into a more curious prodding as she continued to rain little kisses and nibbles on his mouth. Soon, she got daring enough to try and sneak her tongue inside and Asterios decided to humor their new friend just a little. He let her kiss him more deeply while responding to a limited extent.

  After a while, Atra obediently drew herself back with a fervent blush, grazing her petite hand over Ast’s chest. She hastily used the other one to fix her glasses which had tilted heavily during their exchange.

  “As I thought, it’s completely different...” Atra said with a coy smile. “Ummm… Can you please grant me one more, small request?”

  “Which is?” Asterios raised a brow at her.

  “Could you impregnate me?”

  Chapter 22

  Trust and the Lack of It

  “Atra!” Bryn gasped at her friend, quickly growing redder.

  “What?” The scholarly Valkyrie glanced at her over Ast’s shoulder. “Aren’t you curious what kind of children we would have? It’s always been just Valkyrs and Valkyries getting together for ages. Even though the gods didn’t like when it happened, there are legends of other races producing offspring with our kind. And it’s of no doubt that the gods themselves indulged in the bodies of their servants, especially if we were made to their liking.”

  “She certainly doesn’t lack the drive.” Grea snickered, nudging the blushing Tina with her elbow.

  “That doesn’t mean you can throw it at him just like that!” Bryn continued while gesturing at Atra with quite flustered movements. “It’s indecent, improper, rude, and you just met today!”

  “So what? What’s the problem here?” Atra raised a brow at her. “It’s not like I’m asking him to love me or take me as his partner. All I need is just a little bit of his seed in my womb. I might be just some random inexperienced academic but I’m sure I would be able to at least make him feel good with my body in return for his cooperation. I might look frail but I’m quite fit and durable. I won’t break. Probably.”

  “That’s not right…” Miria muttered barely audible words under her nose as she gazed at the floor with rosy cheeks. “Even we didn’t get to have Master’s babies yet…”

  Bryn sighed heavily, massaging her forehead. “You have no idea what you are talking about. You certainly wouldn’t be so daring if you saw it.”

  Asterios chuckled wryly and placed his hands on the short Valkyrie’s shoulders. “Let’s slow down a little bit. The kiss was fine since it wasn’t much, but I wouldn’t personally call sharing a very intimate moment with the goal of conceiving a small thing.”

  Atra turned her face to him and showed an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. Maybe I’ve really been a little bit too hasty. I’m quite easily swept up in my emotions.”

  “It’s alright. We all do get like that sometimes.” Asterios nodded, gently squeezing her shoulders with a reassuring smile. “While I don’t mind seeing to someone’s request if it’s in my power to do so, such an arrangement involves more than just my person. It’s related to all my current mates too. Ignoring the matter of sleeping with a complete stranger while I have them, it’s my first mate’s privilege to bear my children before anyone else, as long as she doesn’t waive that right to someone.”

  Miria’s face exploded with crimson when Asterios took a peek in her direction with a tiny smirk, clearly announcing that he hadn’t missed her quiet remark. Grea tried her best to withhold her giggle while the other girls smiled at their feline friend sweetly. Miria’s tail danced behind her back like crazy and her cute ears twitched furiously as she hid her scarlet face in her furry hands.

  Catching Ast’s gaze once more after he returned his eyes to the front, Atra trailed with her palm over his chest. With a tinge of rosiness plaguing her cheeks, she inched closer to his belt, passing Ast’s firm stomach, feeling every bump of his abs, and sighed dreamily.

  “I’m getting a little jealous of you, Bryn…” she whispered, tearing her gaze off Ast's body and directing it at her friend. “Have you…?”

  Bryn furrowed her brows for a split second before getting all red too and frantically waving her hands. “Gods, no!”

  “Is it because of his similarities with the Scourge?”

  “No! I mean, yes, it was like that in the past, but not anymore! I’m just not one of Master’s chosen mates!” Bryn hastily denied. “Anyway, it’s not the time for things like this!”

  “Then when if not now? It’s not every day you find a man in a world where they don’t exist. This could be the only chance I get in my life. It’s not like I can travel to a realm full of them like you do. And even so, it’s not guaranteed that I will get to meet someone as strong, kind, and… sexy.” Atra blushed with more apparent crimson as she met Ast’s eyes again. “I can tell that he’s special. Even if he isn’t a god, laying with a Dragon is almost equally… captivating.”

  “While I can’t deny the last part, there’s always a chance that there might still exist some survivors in one of the lost realms, no?” Silvia asked, stepping more into the view. “And with how things constantly develop, I wouldn’t be surprised if Asterios found a way of helping others cross the realms too, after figuring it out himself. I can clearly see him coming to you and everyone here the first thing after achieving that and guiding your race to a more habitable world, possibly with plenty of normal males from various species.”

  “What Silvia said is most certainly right.” Selene nodded with an impish smile. “You’d surely find at least a few worthy individuals amongst them. And if you don’t… Well, you could always do your best at trying to capture our beloved’s heart. It definitely won’t be easy as the crazy researcher’s spot is already taken.”

  “Crazy horny researcher,” Grea corrected her while puffing out her perky chest. “And I ain’t giving that dick away without a fight! I would tell you to come at me at any moment but that’s unfortunately reserved now!”

  The girls chuckled softly as Asterios shook his head. “It’s as they all say. Let’s maybe focus on the time-sensitive things first. We can think about everything else after the Descending Spire is safely in our hands. Who knows? Maybe it will share some secrets with us that will be helpful in what they mentioned. All the places related to my parents had something.”

  “Fine. I might have made myself look super impatient but there’s no one better at waiting than me.” Atra smirked softly while fixing her glasses and she finally stepped away from Asterios. “I won’t hold you back for any longer, then. Come and visit me at my house tomorrow. I’ll start thinking about how to convince the Council to grant us the highest possible clearance. That should be enough for you to find some solid evidence for your friends back at Tyr.”

  “We appreciate it greatly, Atra.” Bryn smiled gently at her short friend. “See you later.”

  Bidding farewell to their new scholar friend, they exited the messy chamber after Atra deactivated all the formations she’d put up earlier. It took a moment and they understood just how careful of a person she was, weaving so many different spells into her research room to prevent anything from coming out of it unintended. Or perhaps others trying to peer past the walls and spy on whatever was happening inside.

  Bryn had to guide them out of the extremely complex archives and they returned to the outside world after about fifteen more minutes of wandering around the shelves, bookcases, pulpits, and such. The sky was still decently bright, though they could notice the first signs of the approaching evening.

  Since they weren’t on Tyr anymore, they had to find a decent place to spend a night at. Some of them could of course return to their original world, or move with Bryn back to her ARK while leaving a person or two on Brage as an anchor, but they saw no reason to risk it when they could just make use of an inn or something. Therefore, Bryn led them to the one place she knew personally, located close to the center of the flying city.

  “I have a question,” Miria said as they were walking down a busy street, passing countless valkyrjas moving in all directions. “I just noticed how many elderly and children there are here and realized that we haven’t seen almost any on your ARK. Why is that?”

  “Now that you said it, I see it too.” Selene nodded with slight wonder.

  “Very observant of you.” Bryn smiled gently. “The reason for that is Brage being the hub of knowledge and history. It’s only natural that the scholars teach our young here, where they have the access to all their records, instead of spreading over all the ARKs. Whenever children grow out of their infant stage, they are transferred with their guardian to Brage and attend school here for about ten years. Then, they can choose their desired occupation and receive a three-year introduction from the retired experts before heading out to their station.”

  “Interesting. That would explain why Tyr is full of mature, able-bodied valkyrjas.” Grea rubbed her chin. “I guess it’s an effective system when the living space in the entire realm is restricted to only twelve flying cities that aren’t too far one from another.”

  “It certainly helps each ARK focus on their responsibilities without having to worry about the children and elderly, but I don’t know if I could get used to a life like that,” Tina admitted.

  “I agree. It would be hard to part with my mom if I had to move to another village for thirteen years after giving birth to my kittens, or having her move out after she became older and less able.” Miria nodded sagely.

  “There are as many supporters as those who oppose this tradition,” Bryn said. “But, we all understand that building local schools, making copies of all the necessary materials, raising warehouses to hold all that knowledge, and managing everything in each ARK separately is an incredibly complex and costly venture. All that effort and resources could be put elsewhere, in the places that really need them at the moment.”

  “Yeah. Your people have very strong integrity. They are willing to sacrifice their individual needs or comfort for the sake of everyone,” Asterios commented. “That’s commendable. It doesn’t come as a surprise that you guys are managing to live better than decently with such an admirable mindset.”

  “That’s all we can do in our current situation when all hope for a significant change has been lost.” Bryn smiled wistfully.

  “Well, let’s make sure we give your people a new one then, shall we?” Grea grinned, throwing her arms over Ast’s and Bryn’s shoulders.

  Miria cheered joyfully and everyone agreed, bringing a jubilant smile onto Bryn’s lips this time. She locked gazes with Asterios and nodded appreciatively, sporting a faint flush on her soft cheeks.

  They soon reached their destination and walked inside a spacious inn built for the travelers just passing by Brage on their journeys. From the outside, the building looked almost exactly the same as many others, taking a very square and geometrical shape, closely resembling an aged library. It was hard to find something in a different style anywhere on the scholarly ARK.

  Bryn reserved a single room for all of them without mentioning anything about going separate ways this time. Grea and Selene grinned at Asterios behind her back and he just rolled his eyes at the two of the most mischievous of his mates. Tina and Miria giggled together at them while Silvia showed a delicate smile, enjoying such interactions with her new sister-wives, or sister-mates as the girls preferred to call them.

  A room with eight single beds greeted them and Miria’s face fell instantly. Bryn hastily apologized with an awkward chuckle, explaining that she had completely forgotten about this standard. Since it was an inn for travelers, almost every room was prepared in such a configuration so that no one was uncomfortable amongst the bigger groups where the people could be complete strangers or only partially involved with each other.

  Grea got to work immediately and began pushing one of the beds while grunting heavily. Selene quickly picked up on her intentions and used her spiritual arts to levitate all of them around the room, setting up a single, giant mattress in the far corner. They had never seen a bed this massive and Miria was ecstatic to spend a night on such an amalgamation.

  Since it would definitely cause a scene if they showed up in a public bath, they chose to visit Selene’s realm to wash up, going in pairs to be completely safe. Miria joined up with Selene, Tina with Silvia, Grea cheekily announced that she needed some alone time, and Asterios ended up paired with Bryn. Since the gorgeous Valkyrie had nothing against it, he didn’t punish the cunning demon woman.

  They decided to play a two-on-two version of rock-paper-scissors for the order and Asterios beat everyone with Bryn almost effortlessly. Chuckling at each other, they stepped through the portal Selene opened for them and went to enjoy themselves in the beautiful baths in the fox lady’s mansion.

  “I’m sorry,” Bryn apologized suddenly after they had been taking care of themselves in the water for about ten minutes.

  “For Atra?” Asterios smirked softly, glancing up at her.

  “Yes. Her curiosity has always been strong but I didn’t expect her to be this fascinated by gods… and men.” She chuckled wryly.

  “Don’t think too much about it. I certainly appreciate her honesty. She seems like a nice girl, though I’m not sure if I would like to take it that far with her.”

  “It’s understandable. You are already surrounded by so many amazing mates. All the other women must be heavily overshadowed by their beauty and charm. And I think it’s wonderful how you value their comfort and opinion on your relationships. It’s very sweet.”

  “Thank you.” Asterios nodded with a warm smile. “But, I don’t think they overshadow anyone. Everyone has something unique about them. Just like your gorgeous golden hair and the kind, sunny smile that often adorns your beautiful face make you stand out amongst the others. Or your remarkable, curvy body and your extremely captivating chest.”

  A deeper, rosy shade tinged Bryn’s cheeks as she glanced down into the water while scooping some of it into her palm and pouring it down onto her front. The clear liquid trickled down around the perfect swell of her ample, round breasts as she smiled to herself timidly.

  “Do you really think so?” she asked quietly, sneaking a peek at his face.

  “I know that you consider your figure unappealing, especially your chest, but it’s the exact opposite. Trust me, as a man, those are incredibly hard to resist.” He chuckled softly. “I can’t speak for the Valkyrs, unfortunately, but anyone who focuses only on this one single aspect of your body is either blind or a complete idiot. It’s all the parts that make you whole and beautiful. To be honest, where I come from, with all your features, you would be hailed as having the perfect child-bearing body when compared to your petite friend.”