Chapter 68: The Truth They Already Know

The blue screen in front of me indicated that the side effect was finally over.

My breathing was returning to normal, my heartbeat was slowing down, and my body temperature was gradually cooling to its usual state.

[ Would you like to take one skill from Alicia? ]

As a Valkyrie Tamer, I could copy one of Alicia’s skills after sex, one for each time she climaxed. In other words, her most recently acquired skills became mine.

I felt pleased with the powers I had obtained from Alicia.

[ Crystal Wall: Creates a magical wall that protects against magical damage. ]

[ Holy Light: Creates a luminous flash of holy energy that can be used as an attack with a chance to stun, or to illuminate your surroundings in the dark.

Cost: 20 ]

I looked at my status, thinking about how I would level it up later in my journey.

[

Name: Richard Forster

Class: Valkyrie Tamer

Level: 10

Valkyries: 2/3

Health: 140 points

Mana: 65 points

Strength: 26 points

Defense: 11 points

Magic: 5 points

Agility: 10 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

’I know they’re support skills and Alicia is good enough to cover me, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t invest more points in Magic.’ I thought inwardly. “I already have decent Strength, at least for now. So I could invest more in the other stats.”

“We should set up camp to spend the night,” Justine said after she and Erina put their clothes back on.

“Weren’t you two supposed to return to town? Won’t your subordinates come looking for you?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, Rick. I left them a letter telling them to help rebuild the town and that we wouldn’t be back right away,” Erina answered in her laid-back tone.

“But they’ll come for you after hearing those gunshots, right?”

That’s right. There was no way they hadn’t heard the fight with the Wolf Lord. We were a bit far from town, but still, if Erina and Justine could reach us, why couldn’t their Knights?

“I wrote that I would go out hunting, and if they didn’t want to end up in my line of fire, they’d better stay away,” Erina said with a smile, as if it were no big deal.

“So you threatened them,” Alicia said, voicing exactly what I had been thinking.

“I call that being assertive,” Erina said shamelessly.

“I feel a bit sorry for your subordinates,” I told her.

“Don’t, my love. Let’s spend the night together~” Erina said, moving in to hug me, but Justine grabbed her by the collar before she could reach me.

“Hey! What is your problem?” she asked the woman with glasses.

“Since we’re going to camp, we should get more food. One hare won’t be enough for all four of us,” Justine said in her usual emotionless tone.

“You just don’t want to see me hugging Rick!” Erina accused, calling her out.

“I… didn’t think that,” Justine replied.

“That pause was very suspicious!” Erina shouted at her, but Justine had no intention of arguing further.

The black-haired woman dragged Erina deeper into the forest. “The sun will set soon. We can’t waste time.”

“Rick…” Erina cried out my name as she was pulled away by the collar, her feet scraping against the ground as she was dragged away.

…

I lit a campfire while Alicia was placing our sheets. When the sun set, the two girls came back to camp.

“Hey, look what we found!” Erina called out happily as she came closer.

She was holding four rabbits, two in each hand, by their legs.

“Wow, that’s impressive,” I said, looking at the four rabbits she had brought. “Good job, Erina.”

“Hehe~” She made a goofy smile after I said that. “Rick is praising me.”

“Huh? Something wrong, Justine?” I asked her, noticing that the black-haired woman was staring at me silently, her expression unreadable.

“I helped catch them too.” She said to me.

I looked at Justine in surprise, her cheeks turning red after revealing that undeniable hint of jealousy.

I smiled at her, placed my hand on top of her head, and gently caressed it. “You did a good job too, Justine.”

“Eh?! I want a pat head too.” Erina said in a pleading voice, and I didn’t see any reason not to give her the same treatment.

“Aaah~” Erina let out a happy sound as I stroked her wine-red hair.

I looked at the two members of the Silver Fang and said, “Let’s get close to the fire, and prepare our meal.”

…

When night fell, we sat around the campfire, our rabbits roasting over the flames. I stayed close to the fire, turning the meat so it wouldn’t burn.

Our earlier fight against that deadly beast felt like something from the distant past. Everything should have been peaceful, yet for some reason a tense, almost warlike mood lingered around our camp.

“Aaaah! The night sky is so romantic, right, Rick?” Erina asked in a loving voice.

“Rick, the night is so cold. Can you hold me in your arms?” Alicia said in a similar tone.

I won’t deny that I enjoyed the quiet moment. Erina was nestled against my shoulder, and Alicia was hugging my arm to keep herself warm in the night air. The only one who wasn’t near me was Justine, who sat on the other side of the campfire, watching the flames flicker.

“Rick.” Justine broke her silence, now looking directly at me.

Both Alicia and Erina turned toward her. Justine’s serious tone shattered their romantic mood. I met her gaze with equal seriousness. “What’s wrong?”

“We didn’t have time to talk properly after our fight against the Wolf Lord,” she replied. “So I would like to know, as a member of Silver Fang, why the Princess of Ashia is with you. And why you possess such strange powers.”

I looked at Erina and Justine. These girls had once been our enemies, nearly fighting us back then, but I could tell they had changed. Erina was still resting against my shoulder, though she looked a bit saddened by Justine’s question.

Even Justine—despite her serious tone—I couldn’t sense any hostility from her.

I decided to check both girls’ affection points.

[

Name: Alicia Ludvila Von Astrea

Level: 5 Class: Priestess Affection: 16

]

[

Name: Erina Ashburn Level: 10 Class: Gunner

Affection: 10

]

[

Name: Justine Blackwood Level: 8

Class: Mage

Affection: 10

]

Looking at their status, I could tell for sure that both of them were in love with me. I had no doubt about Erina, but Justine was good at hiding her feelings in front of me. However, there was only one truth: those girls were in love with me.

We had fought together, and they had helped me handle the effects of Ero Boost. They were already too involved in this, yet they didn’t know how serious the situation truly was. They had been following orders without knowing the real consequences.

So I decided to tell them the truth—about my Valkyrie Tamer class, about the murder attempt against Alicia, about the Silver Fang medallion, about the true culprit behind all of this.

“Well, I have a special class,” I began.

“A special class…”

“Rick!” Alicia exclaimed in surprise as I started spilling the truth.

“They have the right to know, Alicia. I think we can trust them,” I told her, expecting her to object. But she remained silent at my side, her slender arms wrapped tightly around me.

“It’s called Valkyrie Tamer. Basically, I can make the woman I sleep with stronger. But one of my abilities comes with a penalty—that’s what I suffered from earlier.”

“I-It’s a rather unique power,” Justine said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

“Well, I obtained this power in a Lost Temple, so it’s not that surprising.”

“Eh? So you received this power from a god?” Justine asked, stunned by my words.

“You really are amazing, Rick,” Erina said, though her voice carried a hint of sadness. It was as if she already knew where this conversation was heading.

Unlike her usual playful persona, Erina was a genius. She had probably already figured it out. Yet she didn’t interrupt, nor did she oppose what I was saying.

It wasn’t that Justine hadn’t considered the possibility. Maybe she had simply been telling herself it couldn’t be true. Her mind searched desperately for another explanation—anything but that.

“The girl named Sarah is your partner, right? A member of your party.”

“Yes. And she’s also one of my wives,” I said shamelessly.

“Huh… where is she?” Justine asked, clearly uncomfortable, but still pressing on.

“She’s with the woman you’re looking for—Diane.”

I expected Justine to snap, but she remained seated, her expression turning grim.

“Before the Wolf attacked, Alicia said she was following you of her own free will. Care to explain that? Didn’t Diane kidnap her?”

“Of course not!” Alicia protested in defense of Diane. “Diane saved my life.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her carriage was attacked by bandits. Diane saved her. Later, we helped them deal with the bandits who were still pursuing them. That’s when we discovered who they were working for.”

“For whom?” Justine asked, struggling to contain her emotions.

“I think you already know by now. The only man in the Kingdom of Ashia who controls Wolf Lords—Gerard Strauss von Astrea, leader of the Silver Fang.”

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