At the end of the tour, John tried to remove himself from the scene as rapidly as was appropriate. “Well, if you-“

“Did anyone ever tell you that you say ‘well’ a lot?” Lee interrupted him, crossing her arms in a friendly teasing fashion. “Because you do. I don’t mind, but you really do.”

“Yes, a few people told me that before,” John admitted. “Anyway, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll make sure you’re comfortable here.”

“Alright,” Lee hummed and tried her best at a wink. It was hesitant. It was slow. It was awkward. It was incredibly adorable. It threatened to shatter the already precarious balance of the room. “Seriously, thanks for the house. I know you only gave it to me because of my dad, but it’s still nice.”

“If you want to repay me, work hard,” John at least got to say something that was both honest and non-flirting. “You have talent and I can always use talent.”

“We’ll see what I do.” Lee’s response was flippant and allowed the Gamer to finally head for the door. Once he stood outside, he waited for the rest of his entourage to follow.

“Ya can call me too, if ya want,” Rave said, while following her boyfriend. “If ya get lonely, I’ll set up a party for ya. I’ll take any excuse to put one together anyway.”

The youngest Magoi child gave that an unsure smile. “Not a fan of loud noises and lots of people.”

“We’ll see if we can lower the volume and get the right people,” Rave promised with a laugh. “Have a nice first day in the Hudson Barrier.”

“Uhm, you can come visit the Elemental Islands too, if you feel like it… just for sightseeing, if you don’t want to talk!” Gnome offered, before quickly running out the door.

“As a fellow newcomer, I hope you will settle as well here as I did,” Maximillian said with a little bow. “I’ll contact you later, just so you have my number. I don’t offer you parties or anything, but having more friends rarely hurts.”

“I guess,” Lee conceded the point and then looked up to Aclysia. Noticeably taller, the white-haired maid was almost imposing.

Then she opened her arms and gave the young woman a hug. Lee was stunned, first because of the gesture and then of what Aclysia whispered. She said it carefully, so the Magus family wouldn’t hear it, and stood in such a way that her moving lips were hidden from them by Lee’s head. John picked it up with his superhuman hearing.

“Your interest in my John has been noted. I approve of your honesty. You are encouraged to seek me out if you need something.” Then the weaponized maid straightened back up and reached into her inventory. “To spare you the trouble of ordering food, please take this,” she said and handed over a box filled with leftovers that were too good to throw away. “I hope you readjust your position on cooking. It is splendid work to provide for loved ones.”

“I… guess?” Lee was still overtaken by the multiple surprises there.

John took that window of opportunity to get going without further complications. “Have a nice day,” he said with a smile and a wave, turning away. Soon, the door closed behind their little group and left only the Magus family and Nina inside the little house.

It only took thirty seconds for the grilling to begin.

“And there he is, everybody,” Maximillian led the charge, tapping John’s leg with his walking stick. “The man, the legend, the guy who told me NOT to flirt with Magoi’s daughter - Magnus’ sister - and then went ahead and did it himself anyway.”

“I did NOT start it!” John defended himself.

“And she’s pretty good looking,” Rave added, ignoring her boyfriend’s comment. “Bit snarky, likes to inspect problems, open with her emotions and stuff. Tiger will have a really hard time defending himself.”

“I have this thing called self-control,” John continued his defence.

“Not towards attractive women, ya don’t.”

“If that was still true, we’d still be having the Marie problem.”

“I-I think,” Gnome spoke up, “John can handle himself pretty well. Beautiful women just make him a bit less logical… but he is smart enough.”

Rave laughed and gave the brunette a soft tap on her bottom. “That’s the fact, but that doesn’t let me tease him as much.”

“Master has every right to flirt with her given that she initiated it,” Aclysia said. “Her parent’s demands that Master has to restrain himself, shaky as they were from the start, became null and void from the moment she showed her interest. They must adapt to the situation.”

“That is… kind of true,” John sighed, since that being the reasonable stance made things even more difficult. “Couple of problems there, though. For a start, little as I like to think of it this way, I need Magoi more than I need another lover. If he says no, I can’t go against his will. Not unless I want to worsen the lives of thousands of people. I believe Magoi is reasonable enough to cede the ground if Lee keeps showing she wants to be with me. More importantly, I don’t think she’ll stay interested in me for too long.”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“She’s a fan of John,” Maximillian explained. “Getting into a relationship with fans is weird. They have a mental image of you. It’s pretty easy to exploit that for a one-night stand, but if you want it to last, you have to show them that you are actually a living person. It’s the whole ‘never meet your heroes’ thing, except ‘never date fans you don’t know and that don’t know you’.”

“Speaking from experience?” John asked.

“Multiple,” Maximillian answered swiftly. “In the positive sense. I’ve had enough common sense to not touch anybody I didn’t get to know first.”

“Uh-huh,” the Gamer made an extra doubtful sound, just to make fun of his friend. “Anyway, the point is that she’ll probably stop flirting with me once she settles in and realizes that… oh no…”

“What?” Gnome asked.

“…I just realized that I’m the quintessential representation of the perfect man. The only thing that she’ll realize is that she’ll want me more.” While everyone around (except Aclysia) groaned, he put a hand on his face in an act of despair. “Woe is me for being this attractive.”

“The funny thing is,” Rave said, “you’re kinda right. If she’s attracted to your public persona, all she’ll get to know is that you act that way privately as well.”

“Well, maybe she’ll back down when the harem angle dawns on her?” John suggested. It felt incredibly odd to argue the case. On one hand, he obviously wanted her to not mind the harem lifestyle and keep flirting with him. On the other, it would spare him quite a bit of trouble if she didn’t. “Or maybe she’ll turn out to be a cunt?”

“Eh, you know her parents and Magnus,” Maximillian said. “That’s not really a family that raises dysfunctional people.”

“Worst ya could get is another girl with mommy issues,” Rave joked. “That’d make… four of us? Does Eliza count? Then it’d be five.” She was talking about Siena, Undine and herself, for the other three. “Anyway, guess we’re playing the slow game with her?”

“We’re not playing any games with her,” John decided. “If there’s anything happening, it’s because she keeps going after me. I won’t try anything that her family could say is inappropriate. I respect them too much to do that.” He put his foot down and ended the topic. “That’s the first time I really spoke to her, let’s not lose ourselves in some fantastic speculations.”

“Aww, but those are fun,” Rave complained, putting an arm around him. “First impression is that I like her.”

“That’s a good first step at least,” John agreed. “Anyway, we’re going to the Elemental Islands now,” he said, the teleporter coming into the view down the street. “What’re you up to?”

“I’m heading over to Scarlett’s office for the weekly cleaning,” Aclysia reported. “Afterwards, I’ll meet with Beatrice to work out some treasury related issues. Nothing of importance, but work that must be done regardless.”

Gnome scratched her head as if she couldn’t believe what she said next, “I have to do some conflict solving… leader of the Elemental Islands and all that…”

“You’re doing a fantastic job at that, by the way.” The compliment was accompanied by a pat to the head. “I don’t get any complaints and the Production District workers are happy with the nice things the elementals do for them. All thanks to your work.”

“Umu-umu,” Gnome leaned into the head pat with a pleased sound. “Wasn’t easy to convince everyone to do nice things. N-not that I would claim to have done it all by myself!” Rather than meet that with a response, he kept patting her until she started blushing and let out the traditional sound of embarrassment, “Uwuwuwuwuwu.”

“Imma tag along for a bit, but I’m going to the Light Island,” Rave told her boyfriend. “Cappy and I decided that we should really be pushing for his ascension to Tier 4. That’s the most sensible way to become stronger right now.” She took a pause to look at her hand, clenching it into a fist. “Can’t lose to Moira a fourth time, now can I?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” John nodded. The next confrontation they had with the Golden Rose, if it turned violent, could very well turn out to be the one that decided whether Fusion or the Order got to be the dominant power in North America. The Federation was running out of space to expand into while the Order still had the west coast to push towards. While John was confident that Fusion would turn out to be the stronger economic power by its government ethos alone, if the Order had access to enough bodies, it would likely turn into a formidable military force.

That was a problem for the distant future though. Immediately they had the Elemental Islands to think about, then there was the meeting with Eliza he would have later in the Sex Dungeon, and in the short-term there was the public opinion and the demon situation to think about. One thing after the other though.

They stepped onto the teleporter and all warped to the Palace. From the main Transport Station, they made their way to the hub room where John had clustered all of the inter-Guild Hall connections. Only Aclysia stayed behind on the main one and used it to teleport to Scarlett’s office. The rest of them split up to the different teleporters that brought them to their island.

“See ya later,” Rave waved before she disappeared in a flash of arcane light.

“I-I wish you great success!” Gnome told Maximillian before she went to her island.

As for the two guys, they didn’t immediately go for any teleporter. “So, buddy, what element are we going after?” he asked. “You wanted to go after either fire or water, right?”

“Earth entered my consideration as well,” Maximillian said, stroking his chin. “As you pointed out, it would be easier for me to learn such a thing.”

“You don’t seem all that attracted to Gnome’s type though,” John pointed out.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d really like an elemental with big tits, but that’s not actually why I’m doing this.” The gravity mage made a tossing gesture. “When it comes to incapacitating my enemies, my magic is extremely powerful. Dealing damage to them is a bit more of an issue. Making rocks fall sideways isn’t going to help me against opponents at my current level, much less those on yours.”

“Regular rocks are more likely to break on me than the other way around,” John agreed. Unless an earth mage reinforced the strength of stone or earth, crushing such an attack just required John to stand still. “I suppose the question becomes how aggressive you want to be. Combining water with gravity magic will let you go for some nasty drowning related strategies and boost your defensive capabilities. Would come down to an attrition warfare style. Fire will probably have less synergy, but it will definitely help with your offensive power issue.” John paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Of course, that’s just thinking with the general applications of the elements.”

“Which is a wise policy to start with,” Maximillian hummed and crossed his arms.