Harem Master - RPG story

--- Asher Montgomery ---

"Asher!" Rachel shouted. From the glare she was giving him, it was clear she wasn't happy. "Have you lost your fucking mind?!"

"I can explain," Asher protested quickly.

"I'm waiting." Rachel crossed her arms. Her gaze locked on him, with her forehead creased with wrinkles.

"Right..." Asher muttered. "So, we got into the Forest dungeon again, and we were traveling when we heard sounds of fighting. We moved toward them and found tigers attacking the dryad," he explained, gesturing at the slim, green-skinned girl on the bed.

Rachel didn't say anything, still staring at him angrily. It crossed his mind that when she was mad, she lost a lot of her charm, but he kept it to himself. He wasn't ready to die.

"We killed the tigers. She was wounded and passed out... We gave her a potion, but it only stopped the bleeding. It didn't restore her health, and she wasn't waking up. So... we brought her here," he finished his explanation.

"Why you didn't kill her? And brought her here," Rachel said, her tone cold as an ice drink that freezes your brain and makes it impossible to think. At least that was how Asher felt at the moment.

"Right..." Asher grunted. He looked at other women in the room, but they remained silent, leaving him to explain everything. "So, ugh... I didn't mention it before, but I had a dream..."

"A dream?" Rachel asked.

"About the dryad," Asher replied.

"I had hundreds of dreams about monsters too," Rachel said. "And I never brought one here."

"No," Asher said. "I had a dream about her. About this particular dryad."

"What?" Rachel asked. A confusion clear on her face.

"I can't explain it, but I have this feeling... I can't let her die. She's important," Asher said. He hoped Rachel would believe him like the rest of his team had.

"So you brought her here?!" Rachel gasped.

"What was I supposed to do?" Asher asked.

"That's-" Rachel stopped herself. She let out a long groan and took a deep breath before she spoke again, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill her right now."

"She's special," Asher said. He had no idea how to explain the feeling inside him.

"How?" Rachel asked.

"I dreamt of her."

"I heard that already," Rachel said. "How are you even sure that's her?"

"I recognized her."

"Yeah? By green hair and green skin?" Rachel asked.

"No, from the look she gave me just before she passed out," Asher said firmly. "The same one I saw in my dream."

Rachel sighed, closing her eyes. "A monster looked at you in your dream, and you brought it to the Academy?"

"They kissed," Lucy suddenly cut in, entering the room with Elara. "And I think even more happened, but he doesn't want to share juicy details of his wet dream about the dryad."

"Lucy!" Asher gasped.

She stuck out her tongue at him while jumping onto the bed, sitting next to the dryad's legs. "How is she?" Lucy asked.

"Where were you?" Rachel asked, glancing between Elara and Lucy.

"Distracting the guards and the medic so Asher could smuggle this cutie here," Lucy replied.

Rachel groaned again, turning toward Asher. "You fucked a monster in your dream?!"

"I didn't!" Asher grunted. "We just stood, staring into each other's eyes. That's who I recognized her. It must mean something!"

Rachel sighed loudly, glancing from Asher to the monster on the bed. Then her gaze shifted over the rest of his team scattered around the room. "And you all assumed it's a good idea to bring her here?"

"Yes," Elara replied firmly, standing at Asher's side. "We'll heal her. Talk, and then send her back to the dungeon."

"You forgot to mention that we'll fuck her," Lucy chirped in.

"We won't," Asher protested.

"Wanna bet?" Lucy asked, grinning.

"It's not a fucking game!" Rachel yelled. Everyone fell silent. "You brought a dangerous monster to the Academy. She'll wake up and attack everyone around. Who knows who would get wounded? Or killed? What if she gets out of the Academy and attacks normal people? You'll have their blood on your hands!"

When Rachel looked at Asher, he averted his gaze. He was certain the dryad wouldn't attack them... Unless she would panick. But if he could talk to her, everything should be okay.

"We'll bind her," Ava said. "And keep an eye on her. When she wakes up, we'll be ready. If Asher is wrong and she'll be aggressive... we'll kill her. She's level six, wounded, without a weapon, alone, and shocked. She won't have a chance even against Elara alone."

"I don't think I must," Ava continued, "but I will remind you that Asher's class is something no one has ever heard of before. This dream might be a coincidence, and he might be wrong, but what if he's not? Would it really surprise you if he suddenly got a skill that let him fuck a monster into submission or something?"

Lucy shook her head, but no one had a chance to say anything before Ava continued. "If Asher is right, the dryad is special and somehow connected to him and his class. Who knows what opportunities it brings?"

"Think," Ava gasped. "You know something is happening. Monsters are getting out of the dungeon, but not through the portals we know. And," she said firmly, "monsters are moving between levels. That means they've figured out a way to travel between levels and to our world."

Ava moved to the dryad. "Here you have a monster who shouldn't be at Level 1. Yet, she was. What does that mean? That she knows how to move between levels, and possibly to our world. She has the answers. She recognized Asher. She dreamed about him too. Maybe she will tell us how she traveled between those levels. We might discover how monsters travel to our world."

"Yes," Ava said, turning toward Rachel. "It's a risk holding her here, but is it really high? If we stay here all the time, there's no way she can hurt anyone. And what if she knows where the portals that monsters use to get to this world are? How many lives could this knowledge save?" Ava asked.

Rachel stood silently, staring at Ava.

Asher mouthed thanks when Ava looked at him. He hadn't thought about it before. They hadn't talked about it either. Asher wondered if she had been thinking about it earlier or came up with all of that this moment.

He hoped it would help convince Rachel. It sounded much better than that he had dreamt about kissing a monster, so he brought her to the Academy.

Rachel groaned loudly, turning toward the dryad. She stared at the monster for a moment before she sighed. "How the fuck did you even bring her here under the guards' noses?" she asked.

"Oh, that was my master plan!" Lucy gasped cheerfully, raising her hand.

Asher only now remembered that Lucy had been hurt and felt a bit ashamed that it took him so long. He looked over her arm, which looked okay, and additionally checked her status, confirming that she was back at full health.

"I made a big drama, distracting them with my perfect acting," Lucy explained. "And Asher brought the dryad like a princess just under their noses, when all their attention was on me."

"And no one even asked any questions?" Rachel asked.

"They did, but we brushed them off with prepared answers," Elara replied.

"Oh, and that's another amazing part of my plan," Lucy gasped. "If anyone realized that we brought more people than we should, we'll tell them it was Ava's elemental."

"I should reprimand them," Rachel murmured.

"And tell them that students smuggled a monster out of a dungeon?" Ava asked.

Rachel scoffed, glancing at her. "What do you want to do with her?" she asked, looking at Asher.

"We'll bind her," Asher replied quickly. "And stay here until she wakes up."

"We will try to talk with her," Elara cut in. "If she's peaceful. If not..." she shrugged, putting a hand on her dagger.

"I'm staying here too," Rachel said. "We need something to bind her."

"I have this," Lucy said. She pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her explorer bag and shook them.

Asher sighed softly, worried about Rachel's reaction when he saw the pink fur around the cuffs and a wide grin on Lucy's face.

"We need something serious, not a sex toy," Elara said.

"Test them out," Lucy said, tossing them at Elara.

Elara caught them mid-air. With a confused look, she tugged at the chain between the cuffs. It didn't break. Then she tried to snap the metal restraints, but despite how thin they looked, she couldn't even bend them.

"They're made from dungeon materials," Lucy explained. "Special edition for explorers. So, if one of them's a bad girl, her Harem Master can put her in them and punish her properly," she said, winking at Asher.

"Let's put them on," he grunted, taking the cuffs from Elara. He knelt beside the monster. Gently, he took her wrist and locked the cuff around it, then brought it to the bed frame and secured the other cuff, binding her in place.

He really hoped the dryad wouldn't panic. But he knew it might happen - the last thing she'd likely remember was being attacked by tigers, and now she'd wake up bound in a completely unfamiliar place. Still, he hoped that seeing him might help calm her down.

He checked her status, wanting to confirm that she was getting better.

---

Forest Dryad

Level 6

Health: 29/210

---

"She's healing really slowly," Asher said.

"You gave her a potion?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, but it didn't work," Elara replied.

"Maybe a healing skill would work," the teacher suggested.

"We don't have one," Lucy said.

"We know someone who does," Rachel stated, glancing at Asher.

Asher let out his breath slowly, wondering if he wanted to get Madelyn involved in this whole thing. But her healing skill could help the dryad, shortening the time she would spend at the Academy.

"Who?" Lucy asked.

"Madelyn," Asher murmured, pulling out his phone and choosing her number.

"Hey," Madelyn said, answering the call.

"Hey, Maddy," Asher said, walking out of the room to have at least some privacy.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're all okay," Asher replied. "But I need your help."

"What's up?" she asked.

"Umm... Can you come to house number three?"

"You got the keys again?" Maddy asked.

"Yeah, we're renting one as a team, and Rachel let us in earlier," he replied, realizing that he hadn't even asked Rachel if this would be their house.

"Give me a minute," Madelyn said.

"Should I pick you up?" Asher offered.

After a moment of silence, Madelyn replied. "No, I'll be fine."

"Okay."

"Bye."

When she hung up, Asher returned to the room. The tension was thick and everyone was silent.

"She'll be here in a moment," Asher said.

"How do you plan to bring her back to a dungeon?" Rachel asked.

"We won't," Lucy replied, grinning. "We'll hold her in a basement as our sexy monster girl!"

"She's joking," he explained, when Rachel looked at him. At least he hoped she was. "There's not even a basement here," he added.

"Don't ignore my question," Rachel said.

"The same way we brought her here," Elara said. "We'll pretend she's one of Ava's elementals."

"Do you have this skill already?" Rachel asked, glancing at the fire mage.

"Tomorrow," Ava replied, glancing at Asher.

A knock at the door saved him from the room full of women, no doubt thinking about how he planned to grant Ava her new skill.

He let Madelyn inside, she was wearing an oversized hoodie, with the cap pulled over her head. She was panting slightly with her cheeks reddened.

"Did you run?" Asher asked.

"Umm..." Madelyn hesitated, biting her lower lip. "I walked quickly," she murmured.

"I could have come for you," Asher sighed.

"It's okay. You need my help?" she asked.

"It's... complicated."

"Oh... it's about your class?" Madelyn asked, averting her gaze to the floor and taking a small step away from him.

"No," Asher replied quickly. "I mean, maybe, but not like that. It's... from the beginning. A few days ago I had a dream about a monster - a forest dryad," he explained. "We were friendly to each other," he said, preferring not to explain how exactly friendly they were. "And I wasn't thinking a lot about it later, but today, we were in the dungeon, and... we met her."

Madelyn raised her gaze to Asher, her blue eyes moving over his face as she looked at him in confusion. "And what did you do?" she asked, whispering.

Asher sighed. "She was wounded and passed out the moment she saw me. But when her eyes locked on me, I saw recognition in them. You know, like... I'm sure she was dreaming about me."

"Okay," Madelyn replied slowly.

"She was wounded, and... Please don't panic. If you want to get out, it's fine. But... try to stay calm, okay?"

"No..." Madelyn muttered, her eyes opening wider.

"No?" Asher asked, actually surprised by her answer.

"I mean... you didn't bring her here, right?"

"Umm..." Asher muttered.

"S-She's here?" Madelyn asked, looking further into the house.

"Yeah," Asher replied. "We tried to give her a potion. But it didn't help. She's still unconscious. Her health is regenerating very slowly, and maybe you can heal her?"

Madelyn bit her lip, shifting her gaze back to Asher.

"Maddy, I know it's strange and dangerous. But I have this feeling that she's special. That she's somehow connected to me, or my class, or something. I must help her," he tried to explain.

Madelyn just nodded.

"Okay," Asher sighed, glad that she was going to help them. "She's cuffed, unconscious, and Elara'll be close. Even Rachel is there, so you'll be safe, even if she wakes up," Asher tried to calm Madelyn just in case she was scared.

"Rachel is here?" Madelyn asked.

"Yeah." Asher nodded.

"And she's okay with that?" Madelyn asked again, sounding surprised.

"Well... we called her after the dryad was already here. She shouted a bit at first, but Ava calmed her down and convinced her it might not be such a terrible idea," Asher explained.

"Was she very mad?" Madelyn asked, smiling softly.

"It amuses you that she rebuked me?"

"Kind of," Madelyn replied.

Asher snorted. "Ready?" he asked.

"I can't heal a lot," Madelyn said.

"It's okay, we just want you to try. Then we can wait for your cooldown, we have time. We'll probably spend the whole night here. To make sure she's okay and... not attacking anyone."

Asher moved to the door and let Madelyn in first, but she stopped at the threshold when all the women of Asher's harem focused on her at once.

"Hey, Maddie," Lucy said cheerfully, waving her hand. "Do you remember me?"

"As if someone could forget you," Elara murmured, smiling.

"Hey," Madelyn whispered.

"Look at this cutie," Lucy said, pointing at the monster on the bed, like she was proud they brought the dryad there.

Madelyn focused on the monster and seemed to relax as the attention shifted away from her.

"She's really here," Madelyn whispered, getting closer.

"Yup! I came up with an amazing plan on how to bring her here," Lucy said. "We put her in-"

"You'll tell her later," Rachel cut her off. "Now, Maddy, can you try to heal the dryad?"

Madelyn nodded, biting her lip, getting closer.

"Don't worry, we cuffed her," Lucy said, touching the pink furred cuffs.

"Is that..." Madelyn trailed off as her pale cheeks reddened.

"A sex toy?" Lucy asked. "Yup, but don't worry, it's for explorers. I tested them myself. Unfortunately, not in practice yet," she added, winking at Asher.

"She's wounded in her shoulder," Asher said, changing the topic to the more important one. "We gave her a potion, but it only stopped the bleeding, not restored her health."

Madelyn got on the bed, kneeling by the dryad's side. She slowly put her hands on the monster's shoulder, around her wounds, and after a moment pulled them away.

---

Forest Dryad

Level 6

Health: 44/210

---

"It worked," Lucy said. "You're amazing." She reached over the dryad's body for a high five.

"Thanks," Madelyn replied softly. She reached out and touched Lucy's palm, so gently and slowly it barely counted as a high five. But the pink-haired girl didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"How much cooldown do you have?" Lucy asked.

"Five minutes," Madelyn replied. "But I'll run out of mana before I can heal her completely."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure you stay full," Lucy added with a wink.

Madelyn looked at her with a confused grimace.

"Be careful sitting so close to her," Elara said to Madelyn. "She's cuffed, but still has one hand free, and she can wake up at any moment during your healing."

Madelyn nodded, shifting away from the monster.

"What do we do now?" Lucy asked, looking around the room.

"Wait," Rachel replied.

"I don't need to be here, right?" Sam asked. "You can handle her without me?"

Asher looked at her, wondering what she had to do that she wanted to leave.

"Sam, we should stay," Naomi protested.

"Oh, come on. I'm supposed to just sit here and watch an unconscious monster? In her current state, Elara could take her down on her own. And with Miss Shaw focusing all her skills on a single dryad, nothing's going to go wrong. Even if it comes to a fight, there's barely enough room here for two people. You don't need me," Sam said.

"Fewer people around might help relax the dryad," Ava added.

"No one is forcing you to stay here," Asher said.

"You can go," Rachel added. "Just don't tell anyone about it."

"Of course," Sam said. "I'm in it like everyone here. I just don't want to waste time doing nothing."

Naomi groaned loudly, looking at her friend who moved out of the room. Asher could see concern on her face. He wasn't sure why, but it was clear Nami wanted to follow her friend.

"You can go with her," Asher said. "We can handle everything here."

"Are you sure?" Naomi asked, looking at him, seeming nervous.

"Yes," he replied. "I'll call if something happens."

Naomi nodded and quickly ran after Sam.

"That was weird," Lucy said.

"More or less than bringing a monster to the Academy?" Elara asked. She was sitting at the edge of the bed with her daggers ready on her knees.

"Hmm..." Lucy hummed, like she was actually thinking about the answer.

Ava sat down on the last empty chair and pulled her phone out.

"What are you doing?" Asher asked sitting in front of Ava.

"Looking for information about monsters caught outside of a dungeon," she replied.

"Anything interesting?" he asked.

"They always fight to death. And no one ever managed to communicate with them," Ava replied. "There aren't many details here. Also, they don't know our language."

"Even if you both want to talk, you can't," Elara said.

Asher grimaced, wondering how he was going to communicate with the dryad.

"They don't need to talk to make love," Lucy said happily.

Madelyn gasped softly, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She looked like she was trying to make herself invisible, hoping no one would notice her as she listened to them.

"Let's wait until she wakes up," Ava said. "Now we should eat something. I'm hungry."

"Pizza time!" Lucy exclaimed.

While they waited for the pizza, Madelyn kept healing the dryad. The wound on her arm closed, and all the scratches and bruises disappeared too.

They managed to eat everything, before Madelyn finished headling the dryad.

"Done," Madelyn said softly, pulling her hands back and quickly shifting away.

Asher checked the dryad's status to confirm that she was fully healed.

---

Forest Dryad

Level 6

Health: 210/210

---

"Why doesn't she wake up?" Asher asked.

No one replied, as none of them knew the answer. Asher slowly knee walked, replacing Madelyn at the dryad's side, and carefully put a hand on her shoulder. Her green skin was soft and warm as he gently shook her.

But she still wasn't waking up.

"Maybe she's in a coma?" Elara asked, her gaze not leaving the dryad.