Chapter 31: Taming the Shrew

"Are we all ready to go," I asked even as I gave my hand to Aviada to help her stand up, but she chose to ignore it in favor of standing up herself. Despite her overt display of dissatisfaction, it was clear that she was impressed with my confident display. My earlier martial display was enough to keep her in the run. From the frown that appeared on her face when her gaze slid to Helga, I could see that she wasn't happy with me having multiple partners, but she was willing to play along.

Helga's situation wasn't too different, a bit worse, even. Unlike Aviada, proving my combat superiority hadn't been enough to remove all of her immediate concerns, but since she was still with us, the promise of leveling assistance was clearly enough to keep her in place. And that was enough, because it gave me the whole day to work on them.

Both girls nodded after a bit of delay, and we started to walk deeper into the wilderness, the wards protecting the area weakening with each step. It was risky to step outside the protection of the wards, of course, but the danger was the whole point of our trip.

"Can you pass me your sword?" I asked Aviada without even bothering to look at her as I felt the wards weakening even more. It was a strategic request, as while I trusted myself enough to handle most of the dangers around, especially since the school tried to hunt any creature above level ten as much as possible. It was impossible to exterminate them even in the limited area surrounding the school, but still, it made a good area to hunt in a small group. For most of the other areas, anything smaller than a full squad would have been treated as total insanity, but around the school, it was just extremely risky.

She growled a bit instead of replying. "Sword," I repeated, this time turning just enough to catch her gaze. It was a slightly belligerent approach, but at this point, I had a good understanding of Aviada's personality, and being kind all the time would have damaged our relationship even more. After all, she was a girl that surrendered her virginity only through a physical struggle despite her clear desire.

"Why don't you try taking it yourself," Aviada answered with a smirk. "Do you think you can handle it?"

I kept eye contact as I brought my hand toward the hilt of her sword, acting like I took the bait. Her smirk widened just as my fingers were about to brush the ornate hilt of her sword. There was no doubt that a magical sword like that had a lot of protective enchantments that prevented it from being used without its owner's permission. The effect was likely something more humiliating than deadly since Aviada was willing to use the enchantment as a prank, but considering her rather vicious personality, it was hard to rule out extreme pain from the likely effects.

She seemed certain that her simplistic prank was successful, which was why she failed to react in time when I grabbed her shoulder instead and pushed her against a stone. She hit it with a nice thud, though the pain of it didn't even register to her. "Nice try," I murmured into her ear, a move that turned the situation into a tight embrace. "Too bad that you are too obvious with your intentions."

"So, what of it?" Aviada whispered back just as satisfied. "You still need my sword, and I'm not inclined to allow you to use it without a bit of pain." I pulled back enough to stand face to face, keeping my expression clear. "What are you going to do about it, torture me?" she added mockingly.

"No, no... That would be too much," I said in an exaggerated calmness. "Regardless, you seem to need a lesson to adjust your behavior." Before she could say anything, I waved my hand, and four thick manacles pushed out of the stone, wrapping around her extremities, pinning her in place before she could react. I made sure to make them extra strong, enough to keep them in place even if Aviada received another boost like the last time. She was close to reaching fifty percent in the companion system, which I suspected to be another point of explosion.

[-23 Mana]

She was caught flatfooted, not expecting me to use magic against her. "That's cheating," she gasped in shock and dissatisfaction.

"And using the protective enchantments of your sword in our little game isn't?" I countered, and then watched in satisfaction as her expression went alight with realization, followed by a blush. I continued with an amused calmness. "Since you are the first one to break our little rule, there is no harm in using a dash of magic to teach you your place, right?"

She nodded automatically before she could catch herself, which, upon realization, made her blush even more. "So, what are you going to do, torture me?" she spat out challengingly, though she seemed excited at the possibility.

"Of course not," I answered, dismissing the prospect with a careless wave of my hand. "I have other things in mind..." I turned to Helga, and made eye contact. "Could you come here, sweetheart," I said, and Helga followed the order despite the doubt on her face. I caressed my hand over Aviada's skin once more, and put a spell up of my own devising, one that was a curious mixture of arcana and biomancy. Aviada failed to notice its initial presence since she was distracted with jealousy as Helga walked closer, unhappy with the sudden third party intrusion to our little game. Her jealousy rose even further when I pulled Helga Into a sudden embrace and stole her lips with a kiss, though when I pulled back, Aviada wasn't the only one that was looking annoyed. Helga clearly didn't appreciate being used as a tool to annoy someone else.

I pressed my finger on Helga's lips to prevent her outburst even as I turned to Aviada once more. "Feel free to beg for mercy when you've changed your mind about giving me permission," I said, then held Helga's hand and walked to the other side of the stone, just out of Aviada's line of sight while ensuring she would be able to hear everything. Helga followed, but dragged her feet to display her dissatisfaction.

She spoke only after we reached the other side of the stone, and was thoughtful enough to cast a spell to block Aviada from hearing our discussion. "If you think I'm going to be your toy just so you can-" she started, but I pressed my finger to her lips, cutting her off once more.

"Do you want to see a brand new spell that uses multiple branches of magical theories," I said, not bothering to hide the victorious smirk. She looked annoyed, but this time, I knew it was aimed at herself rather than me. The reason, the nod that followed showing her interest. After all, it was far from the worst indignity she suffered on the path of magic. "Watch carefully," I said even as I raised my hands, and started to build the main part of the spell whose receiver part already placed on Aviada, biomancy and arcana energies melting together in a complicated pattern. "I use the arcana to decode the sensations of the target and for transfer, and biomancy is perfect for replication..."

[-45 Mana]

The spell wasn't exactly cheap even with my large mana pool, but the way Helga's expression brightened as she examined the complexity was enough reward, not that I was unhappy with the resulting notification.

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 47%]

"The way the main spell matrix is bridged to its connecting parts is just fascinating..." Helga murmured before launching a complicated analysis of the structure, once again showing the sharpness of her mind. Just by listening to her for a few seconds, I already came up with a solution to certain aspects that stumped me before. However, while working together to improve the structure of the spell was tempting, I had more important things to work on, so I leaned forward, cutting her words off with a searing kiss, using the closeness to merge the spell with her.

[Level Difference of at least 50%! No Experience]

Helga just gasped in pleasure, not doing anything to counter the spell from affecting her. Why would she, when she knew that it had no impact on her side? Aviada, on the other hand, gasped in shock at the sensation of a kiss was felt on her lips despite not having anyone around. "Caesar," she called out in anger.

I waved my hand to dispel the silencing spell and answered. "Yes, honey, do you need anything?" Even as I answered, my hands were wandering over Helga's body hungrily, caressing Helga's body aggressively.

"You're playing a dangerous game!" she exclaimed, but it was an empty threat. After all, she was firmly locked in place with nowhere to go.

"You can just admit defeat, and I'll let you go," I reminded her. "You just need to say that you're too weak to handle a simple magic trick."

Aviada's gasp of shock was almost as arousing as Helga's sudden expression of arousal. Not surprising, considering the discussion of superiority between magic and martial abilities had been the biggest source of argument between them discounting me. Always opportunistic, I used Helga's prideful distraction to untie her robes, which she failed to react to until a stiff breeze made her shiver. "We're out in the open," she murmured in shock.

"Yes, we are," I answered, but my fingers continued their holy task of divesting her from her bulky robe before repeating the task with her blouse, removing both of them smoothly despite Helga's attempts to ensure otherwise, leaving just a skirt and a bra on her body. When her bra came into view, a smile appeared on my face, because it was wildly different from the bulky ugliness she had been wearing the last time. It was still made from the same fabric, and its edges were a bit uneven to show that the work was probably done by her hand, not that it was even remotely as important as the generous amount of cleavage that appeared as a result, barely held back by the structurally-compromised bra.

"But anyone can come and see us," Helga gasped in shock, but I was familiar with her expression enough to catch the excitement underneath. I tried to reach her back, but she pressed it against the rock, cutting off my way to remove her bra. That would not do, I decided, so even as I leaned to press my lips to her neck for distraction, my hand slid under her skirt, and pushed her panties aside. Helga's gasp of shock arrived just as my fingers got the first taste of her wetness, which was immediately followed by a gasp of arousal as my fingers started violating her core. She still tried to complain, of course, but conveniently, my lips were located in the perfect spot, making the task of silencing her simple and enjoyable at the same time.

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 48%]

Under the combined assault of my lips and my hands, it didn't take long for Helga to abandon her attempts to play coy and wrap her arms around my body in a passionate hug instead, clearly enjoying the feeling of my muscles over her half-naked body, forgetting that by moving forward, she once again exposed the hook of her bra for me, which I unlocked with a flick of my fingers before trailing down her spine, enjoying her shiver.

All the while, occasional gasps were coming from the other side of the rock, marking Aviada's weakening capabilities to keep her reactions suppressed, but I just took a note of it before focusing back on Helga. Aviada still needed some time before she reached the point I wanted.

Helga let out a gasp when I pulled away from her lips as well, but unlike Aviada's, it was a sharp, loud one that was filled with need and desire. Such cries no doubt damaged Aviada's will even more, not letting her forget the source of the erotic sensation that was invading her body.

Her enthusiastic assistance deserved a reward, so I started moving down, covering the trail with kisses. I took a small break around her chest, of course, enjoying her generous bosom through pressing my lips against her teats aggressively. I would have liked to add my hands to the treatment. Unfortunately, both of them were busy, one with patrolling the sensitive points around her knob, the other was furiously removing the complicated knots of her skirt so that the area was prepared before my arrival.

Soon, her skirt met with the ground, and I was about to take this as the signal to restart my journey when I felt her hands on the back of my head, pushing me even tighter against her bosom. "Keep sucking," she shouted. She clearly tried to make it an order, but made a beginner mistake, hoping to compensate for the lack of authority with a louder voice. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if she was being extra loud just to annoy Aviada.

I was unable to answer because I was silenced, not that I was unhappy with the method she chose to do so. Any excuse to get a taste of her delicious breasts was welcome. Of course, just because my lips were busy with her bosom didn't mean the rest of my body stopped in their tasks. My hand that was previously busy getting rid of her skirt grabbed the edge of her panties instead, intending to pull them down.

My hungry touch aiming to divest her of the last piece of her clothes reminded Helga of the fact that we were in an open field where anyone could stumble into. She grabbed the other side of her panties panickedly, but by doing so, she had forgot one important fact. In her efforts to make her underwear sexier, she had cut a lot of fabric from them, weakening it greatly. So, when she tried to pull it from the other side, it ended with her panties tearing into two pieces, the sound of ripping echoing in the opening.

Her shy yelp was amusing, but as her arms weakened, I decided to use the opportunity to travel down until I was down to her slit. Only then, did I pull away the hand that was continuously circling above her entrance to keep pushing her closer to orgasm. Just before I dived down to her slit, I raised my gaze up, catching the sudden shyness that colored her face.

At that moment, I wanted to push Helga on the ground and take her mercilessly until she climaxed again and again. Unfortunately, doing so would have ruined the punishment Aviada was going through. I didn't want her to climax. Instead, I wanted her to suffer on the edge for a while without the relief of a climax.

A shiver went through Helga's body as I leaned forward, which made her thighs jiggle attractively. I waited until my breath fell on her shivering lips before turning my head slightly and leaving a lingering kiss on her inner thigh, finishing with a soft nibble. Her legs trembled in anticipation, threatening her balance enough that she had to lean against the rock to keep herself upright, the same rock that had Aviada chained on the other side...

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 49%]

Her pleasure was not hard to read, but approval from the system was always welcome, especially when that approval also informed me that Helga was about to cross the likely point for the second milestone, making me curious about its benefits, both to me and to Helga. Wanting to push further, my tongue started to brush Helga's sensitive spot with increased intensity, enjoying her moans as she drove closer to her climax, but then a second set of cries joined her moans, reminding me of our remote companion.

"So, Aviada, are you ready to submit?" I asked.

"Never," she answered in a raspy cry, showing her mind was occupied by the impending climax. A little frown appeared on my face as I waved my hand, and the main structure of the spell appeared in my sight. Continuing to service Helga while manipulating the spell was difficult, but not impossible. My left hand took the spot that was emptied by my lips and continued Helga's treatment, while my right hand was busy modifying the spell. Occasionally, I shifted my attention to Helga's face, enjoying the way pleasure battled with fascination as she watched the number of modifications I was making to the spell.

Under the circumstances, it was only a matter of time until Helga exploded with a climax, which happened a minute later, just as I completed the changes to the spell's structure.

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 50% - Second Stage Completed +10000 Exp]

[New Perk: Mana Regeneration]

[Companion Acquisition: Relationship not sufficient for the third stage]

A wave of joy covered her body as she climaxed, but I was experienced enough with her orgasm face enough to understand it wasn't just that. "I'm guessing you received a boost to your charisma," I asked in a whisper.

"How?" Helga managed to mutter in shock.

I didn't know whether she was asking about the achievement she had just received, or how I knew she received it the moment she did, but before she could clarify, another shout reached our ears.

"What the hell!" Aviada shouted. "Why did it suddenly stop, I was just about to..." she continued before coming to a sudden stop. I smirked, happy to see that the modification of the spell worked just as intended.

"We'll talk about the achievement in more detail later," I told Helga. She nodded, still too distracted by her climax and her achievement as I grabbed her hand and dragged her along while I moved towards the other side of the rock... I was curious how Aviada had reacted to my little trick, and whether Helga would realize that she was still naked...

—

[Level: 15 Experience: 117050 / 120000

Strength: 17 Charisma: 24

Precision: 12 Perception: 13

Agility: 16 Manipulation: 19

Speed: 12 Intelligence: 16

Endurance: 13 Wisdom: 18

HP: 1050 / 1050 Mana: 1141 / 1350 ]

SKILLS

[Master Melee [69/100]

Expert Arcana [75/75]

Advanced Subterfuge [50/50]

Advanced Biomancy [50/50]

Advanced Elemental [28/50]

Basic Speech [25/25] ]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration