Chapter 2173: Women of Warrior City

Althea looked at their new friend. "Why don’t you bring one of your wives? Let’s do a double (or is it triple? Two-and-a-half??) date."

This made Virion pause, looking up as if seriously considering it.

Althea really couldn’t help but pity his wives. While she did not dislike Virion as a person, accepting his differing standards and world view, it didn’t mean she was comfortable with what he was doing.

Garan, on the other hand, was just following what his wife wanted. He had long learned to ignore the guy. Anyway, they spar, and he could hit his face to silently vent out his annoyances.

In the end, Virion agreed to call his wives over to tour with them. Though there wasn’t much sexual tension or love between him and either of his wives, he should still spend a bit of time with them, even just to keep some harmony going on.

Gadia came out with a single maid, with the maid seeming to be very excited for her master. When she saw that there were companions, she seemed visibly disappointed.

Virion probably didn’t explain much, and she felt guilty for giving others false hope.

Adorably, this maid was actually a half-orc. Specifically, a cat-like half-orc, and she was small and more graceful than the big felines. They were quite particular about neatness, which made her a very good maid who could also fight.

To ease the disappointment, Althea stepped forward to greet them. "Hello, thank you for accepting our invite, she said. "Virion agreed to it readily. These two men can bond, while I prefer friends in the fairer gender."

The next to arrive was the second wife. She was dressed rather beautifully and was accompanied by four maids.

A royal entourage indeed.

Their steps were graceful if not a bit hurried. Her eyes lit up when she saw Virion, but dimmed when she saw the rest of them.

Lerea looked at Althea with wariness, and seeing her standing together with the first wife made her delicate eyebrows furrow even more.

Althea wanted to rub her nose in awkwardness. What a mess.

She couldn’t help but give a bad look at Virion. Damned men.

Except for her husband and friends, of course.

"Hello, we met at the party last night," she said. "We asked to be pointed around, and we thought it was good to have a lot of companions."

"I see..."

Anyway, this odd ragtag team went to various places only nobles had access to.

For example, there was a massive arena. It was different from the place Garan and Virion sparred before. As a city with a rich fighting culture, it was not a surprise that they had more amenities related to it than others.

This one was actually an aether building with defensive arrays around the arena.

They watched as the brutal fighters exchanged blow after blow and the audience screamed at the thrill of it.

Some were watching for the blood, most for the vicarious thrill of it.

Virion was sandwiched between his wives. Meanwhile, Althea sat next to Gadia while her husband sat on her other side.

Althea observed the women. Lerea looked disgusted at the brutal fights happening below while Gadia, an obvious fighter, seemed to have sparkling eyes. It was like she wanted to fight down there as well.

"You must like battles," she said to the woman next to her, causing her to flinch.

Gadia turned to look at her, wondering if she was being sarcastic. She could feel that Lerea heard the question. She probably looked amused right now.

"Yes," Gadia answered her without reservation, not caring if her rival or this stupid husband heard.

Virion looked awkward in the middle while Lenea scoffed.

Seeing as the atmosphere had turned odd, Althea’s eyes met with Garan’s, who nodded at her.

"You seem to like this type of show," she said, and then pointed at two seats closer to the ring. She may or may not have, using her vines, thrown in some scent balls over there, causing several people in that area to move seats.

Gadia didn’t want to sit next to Virion at this time either, so the two of them really moved seats.

"Thank you," she said. "I...I wasn’t sure what I was thinking accepting his invite."

"You’re his wife. There is nothing to be ashamed of."

Even if there were minimal feelings, a certain degree of respect and compromise still had to be met. To Virion, since he was bonding with them already, he was already doing his part. This was wrong, but things might be better if Gadia would just say what was wrong.

She had thought that Gadia was the type of frank woman who would say what she wanted and what she thought. It seemed like she cared a lot more for Virion’s opinion than she thought.

The two of them wordlessly watched the fights below with less awkwardness than before. At some point, after a couple of fights, Gadia started to truly talk to Althea.

"Well, Virion and I have been betrothed since our birth, though you can say our dates were all sparring sessions."

"I really like fighting and worked hard for it. When we were young, we were evenly matched. However, when puberty hit, the gap widened."

Even in Warrior City, the usual attractiveness for women was still the same. Most men preferred the meek, submissive beautiful woman who could handle domestic issues while the men fought in wars.

However, Warrior City was one of the more open-minded cities where women had a lot more opportunities as long as they had the ability to do so. Of course, this threshold to be publicly acknowledged as ’good’ or ’skilled’ was much higher.

"Even if we are better than many men, we have to be better than superior men for our ability to be recognized."

It was only when she could beat a third of the guards that she was acknowledged as a talented fighter at all.

Althea mused for a moment.

It was said that a good man was just an average woman. This saying was referred to as practical living, and the standard of which one took care of oneself, one’s family, and one’s partner.

Now, in this case, it was surprisingly applicable too.

Althea smiled at the woman. "I don’t think you were ever lacking," she said. "They simply measure your worth with a much larger ruler."