Harem System In A fantasy World

He did not want to reunite with the girls inside the Legacy World by chance. It would be better to meet everyone properly before then, preferably at his home back in Grimholt.

Elion pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as they stopped at yet another clothing store late in the day, when the sun was already hanging low in the sky.

They had discovered something peculiar during their little tour of the city. Aeron liked shopping.

Yes.

Aeron Tudelig, son of a Duke, survivor of a deadly ancient trial, and annoyingly prudish swordsman, apparently enjoyed shopping. Not only that, but he liked looking good too.

It was an odd hobby for someone like him, but Elion was not judging.

Unfortunately, that meant he and Zenovia had been dragged around all day by this lifestyle devil, moving from one shop to another as Aeron inspected fabrics, coats, belts, boots, and accessories with far more attention than any warrior reasonably should.

It wasn’t too bad, since they didn’t have anything specific planned, and he would probably not see Aeron for quite a while after this, so it was a good chance to get to know the guy before they inevitably parted.

God forbid a guy needed to make one or two male friends, and Aeron was perhaps the only other guy Elion could call a friend in this world, well, somewhat.

Elion was just about to follow them into the next clothing store when his gaze was suddenly drawn to a flash of long, flaming red hair as a woman swiftly walked past them.

For some reason, Elion’s attention snapped to her immediately, "Huh?" He turned his head to look at her, but all he could see from this angle was her back.

But those features were extremely familiar.

Long red hair and tanned skin. His brows furrowed, ’Is that...?’

No.

It could not be.

Could it?

Elion activated Discerning Eye almost instantly to check the woman’s status; A heartbeat later, his suspicion was confirmed.

His eyes widened, ’Tessa!?’ Without thinking, Elion moved. He dashed after her, leaving a bewildered Aeron and Zenovia behind.

The woman was only a few metres away, walking quickly through the crowded street with someone else by her side. Elion closed the distance in moments and reached out, catching her by the wrist.

Before he could even say another word, she twisted sharply, already swinging her fist toward whoever had dared to grab her.

Elion noticed the movement, and he was ready to block. But then their eyes met, and Tessa froze. Elion could see the shock on her face, the narrowing of her pupils into pinpricks, and the quiver of her lips as her fist stopped inches from his face.

For a second, she simply stared at him, her mouth slowly falling open, struggling to register the sight before her, but he really was undoubtedly standing before her right in this very moment.

"Elion!?"

An odd light flashed in Tessa’s eyes, and before she could stop herself, she threw herself at him. Elion barely had time to react before she hugged him tightly, pressing herself against him without a care.

His face was immediately smothered against her chest, which, in typical Tessa fashion, was not exactly covered as modestly as it could have been.

Elion blinked as the softness of her full breasts squished against his face. His arms slowly rose and patted her back.

"Good to see you too," he said, his voice slightly muffled by her squishy melons.

...

A couple of minutes later, the unexpected reunion had moved to a nice, open balcony restaurant nearby. The group of five now sat around a table, each of them holding a glass filled with some form of refreshing drink.

Elion leaned back in his seat. Tessa sat across from him, watching him intently with a gaze filled with many questions.

Aeron and Zenovia were seated to the side, both visibly curious. Beside Tessa sat a young woman who seemed to be her companion.

She had introduced herself as Kiki. At the moment, Kiki looked the most shocked out of everyone present. And honestly, who could blame her?

Her master’s own daughter, a woman who did almost nothing except train, had just thrown herself into the arms of an unknown man in the middle of the street. The same Tessa who treated almost every male like air.

Kiki could not comprehend it! Worse still, she did not seem to like it.

Tessa had always been her role model. Seeing such a sudden and dramatic change in her behaviour was bound to shake the poor girl’s understanding of the world.

For a while, the table remained in relative silence. Perhaps everyone was waiting for someone else to break the ice. In the end, Tessa took a slow sip of her ginger ale and finally spoke first.

Her gaze shifted briefly toward Aeron and Zenovia, "Is it fine if we speak here?" she asked.

Elion understood what she meant.

No doubt, Tessa wanted to know how he had ended up in Silvergrove after the incident at the academy. She probably also wanted to update him on how the others were doing.

Elion gave it some thought. The biggest obstacle to speaking freely was obviously Aeron.

Elion still did not know how deeply Aeron was embedded in the kingdom’s nobility, but as a Duke’s son, he was bound to be acquainted with the Dawncrest family in some way, which was obviously a very annoying problem.

Elion’s gaze moved toward Aeron. Aeron noticed the look and raised both hands with a harmless smile.

"I can pretend not to hear anything suspicious."

"No offense, but I’m not exactly a trusting person, and I have a rather interesting history, but you are bound to find out soon enough, so it doesn’t really matter," Elion said.

"I can also actually leave."

"No need, if you are that straight-laced about it, we can speak in more detail when it is just the two of us." He looked back toward Tessa, "Give me the simple version first," he said. "How bad is it?"

Tessa placed her glass down on the table, "Where to start... After you vanished, the academy became a mess."

"Which academy is this? Elion was in an academy?"

Elion gave him a flat look, "Questions later, Aeron."

"Fine."

Aeron closed his mouth, though the curiosity on his face did not fade in the slightest. Everyone turned their attention back to Tessa as she began explaining how things had been over the past month.