Building harem town, p.12
Building Harem Town, page 12
“Do you know what to do next?” I questioned the brunette.
“The resin, correct?” Nicola suggested. “I think we want to put it on the shaft of the arrows, stick three feathers on, and then reinforce them with any strands of fiber you have left.”
“Oh, I definitely have fiber,” Aleia giggled. “Penelope and I stopped making cordage after a while because I wondered if the plain fibers could be used for anything else around the camp, and it appears I was right!”
“I will pass around the stone with the resin on it,” Nicola declared. “And then we can proceed with what I said.”
The brunette hadn’t checked with me this time, so it seemed like she’d started to grow more confident.
The three women all wiped resin on the ends of the arrows using sticks and attached a feather to each side, and then Aleia handed them each a thin piece of fiber. They wrapped the strings of bark around the ends of the feathers, and then the fairy and the naiad looked to Nicola for further instructions.
“What do we do next, Nicola?” Penelope giggled as she wiggled with excitement. “This is really fun!”
“Next, we need to sharpen them with our daggers, and then we can go over to the fire and harden them,” the human explained, and I could tell by the way her eyes had brightened that she was really starting to get into her leadership role. “You remember what we did with the spears, right?”
“Yes, that’s easy enough,” Aleia replied.
Each woman grabbed her dagger to sharpen the points of the arrows, and I was impressed when they were each able to quickly hone the tips of the pieces of wood. I was sure they’d all start to level up quickly, and then it occurred to me how strange a thought that was. These were apparently both living beings and possibly characters in some sort of game, and that was hard to reconcile.
“And then there’s just one last thing,” I explained to the women. “Get a stick and heat up the end of it, and then you can kind of melt the feathers down so they’re as aerodynamic as possible.”
I didn’t think they’d have any idea what aerodynamic meant, but they seemed to get the gist as they heated the edges of the feathers.
“Sisters, we’ve done it!” Nicola cried out with a big grin on her face. “I have my bow and arrows! Can we repeat the process one more time to complete three more?”
“Of course,” Penelope said with a nod. “I think today is the best day I’ve had since our god arrived.”
“Better than killing that bear?” I teased her.
“Killing it was nice,” the naiad confessed. “I just wish it hadn’t tried to attack us first. I was scared when I was throwing rocks to attract the beast, I have to admit.”
Penelope, Aleia, and Nicola each finished another arrow, and I thought I’d never seen the dark-haired woman smile so wide.
“Do you want to make the quiver now?” I asked the brunette. “It will really only take a couple minutes.”
“I’m sure you know I want to try to shoot it, Jack,” Nicola laughed. “But yes, let’s get all the crafting out of the way, if it’s going to be as quick as you say.”
“It really is,” I confirmed. “Just get some of the bark from that fallen tree in the first part of the forest, fold it in half, and tie it with cordage at both ends. Easy peasy.”
Aleia giggled at my silly words like I’d expected, which always made me happy.
“I’ll be right back,” Nicola said, and she ran out to the first and returned a minute later with a piece of bark
It was about six inches wide, and it was easy for her to score it down the middle, fold it in half, and tie it up with cordage the fairy gave her. Then she tied on another piece of rope as the handle, and she put the arrows in with a huge smile on her face.
The dark-haired woman stood up, picked up the large bow, and put the quiver over her shoulder as she bounced up and down with excitement. I couldn’t help but watch as her perfect, golden breasts bounced along with the rest of her body, and I wondered how it was even possible to be so damn turned on when I didn't have a physical form anymore.
“Jack, I know you said I had to watch Aleia make the sling, and I want to learn that, I promise,” Nicola gushed. “But I really, really want to shoot an arrow at something, even if it’s just that apple tree over there.”
I’d never seen someone so eager to hunt in all my life, and I laughed internally at the brunette’s killer instinct.
Then I looked up at the sky, and from my estimation, making the bow had taken quite a bit of time. I definitely wanted the sling to get made today, but I couldn’t resist Nicola, either.
“I’ll let you shoot your bow,” I began, “but you have to promise me you’ll catch something with it. The three of you have to eat dinner in just a little bit, after all. I think there’s even a squirrel nest in that apple tree.”
“Yes, I caught a glimpse of it earlier,” the chestnut-haired beauty said with a thoughtful look on her face. “I know it may not be the most exciting kill or the largest amount of food for us to eat, but I don’t particularly feel like going back into the forest again. I’m going to test my bow first, and then I’m going to wait for a squirrel.”
“Squirrel meat is delicious!” Penelope declared in an excited tone. “But I’m just happy to see you shoot, sister.”
“I suppose I should just try,” Nicola sighed, and it appeared she had a slight case of nerves again. “It’s been a really long time…”
“You can do this,” Aleia encouraged the other priestess. “We all know you can, isn’t that correct, Penelope? Heavenly master?”
“Of course, she can,” I said. “We don’t actually have to watch, Nicola.”
“That’s right, sister,” the naiad agreed. “We’ll all close our eyes while you shoot it for the first time.”
“You’ll close your eyes, too, Jack?” the dark-haired woman asked me as she shuffled from foot to foot. “I won’t be able to tell…”
“Yes, I definitely won’t watch you,” I promised. “I don’t want you to be stressed out.”
“Well, then, I suppose I’ll try,” Nicola responded, and when she took an arrow out of the quiver, I saw both of the other two priestesses shut their eyes.
I turned off my vision, and within just a few short moments, I heard the distinctive sound of an arrow hitting something.
“What was that?” I teased the brunette. “I thought I heard something, but I’m not sure--”
“I did it!” Nicola actually squealed. “Everyone can look now!”
When I turned my sight back on, I glimpsed an arrow sticking straight out of the center of the trunk of the apple tree.
“Yes, sister!” Aleia cheered and clapped vigorously. “I knew you could do it.”
“Well, I suppose I can hunt a squirrel now,” the brunette laughed. “That was exactly where I was aiming.”
“Try for one that’s stopped in its tracks because it’s eating,” I suggested. “Those little bastards are fast.”
“Bastards!” Penelope laughed. “That’s a funny way to describe a squirrel.”
“Of course, I know that, Jack,” Nicola scoffed, and it appeared she was back to her usual self. “I’m very experienced.”
“Of course, you are,” I chuckled. “I didn’t mean to be condescending. I’m just as excited as you are, and of course you know what you’re doing.”
“Should we start working on the sling while Nicola hunts?” Aleia asked me. “I know how much you want us to have our own weapons.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan,” I agreed with the fairy.
“I’ll go stand on the other side of the garden so I don’t bother you,” Nicola told the other priestesses. “I suppose I’m still a little shy about being watched, as well.”
The brunette walked over to a place next to the garden wall, but I kept my eyes on Aleia and Penelope.
“I think I’ll be able to make the sling in a short amount of time, my lord,” the fairy mused as she tapped her chin. “It’s a simple matter of tying the cordage into an elongated basket shape that’s a few inches long, and it will have long twine to either side of it. There will be two ropes on the outside of the basket and one in the middle, and then you can tie a long piece of fiber to one end and weave it through the cordage to create a solid pouch. For the two long pieces of rope on the sides, tie a loop in one end to hold a finger, and then tie a knot at the end of the other.”
“So, it’s like a long cord with a pouch in the middle?” Penelope asked with wide eyes.
“Exactly!” Aleia grinned at the other priestess. “Do you want to try to make one, too? I think we can create the slings in a matter of a few short minutes.”
“I’d love to!” Penelope chirped. “I want to learn more about weaving and creating weapons in general. Jack, I think we should make a basket to transport materials from the forest to the garden.”
“I was just thinking the same thing earlier,” I said in an approving tone. “But we just have so much to do…”
“Like eat dinner?” Nicola chimed in, and I realized the dark-haired woman had walked up to us with two fat gray squirrels in her hands. “I actually caught them!”
“Yes!” I cheered. I was more than ready to move on from this first quest, and it seemed like it was going to happen tonight.
“Sister, you’re good at hunting!” Aleia cried out as she fidgeted with a long piece of cordage she held in her hands. “Do you want to work on the fire and prepare our food while Penelope and I make slings? It won’t take us long at all, and I’m looking forward to eating our evening meal together.”
“I’m impressed, too,” I told the brunette “You’ve provided so much food for the other priestesses, and I’m really proud of you.”
“Thank you, sister, and thank you, too, Jack,” Nicola said as she bowed her head and blushed. “I am happy with my catches. I will need to skin them, of course, so I came over here to get my dagger.”
“Nicola, it seems like you know how to butcher anything,” Penelope breathed, and she clasped her blue hands against her chest. “Someday, I hope to be as knowledgeable as the two of you about, well, everything. I just didn’t get a chance to learn many practical skills in the orphanage. Once I grew older, my days were kept full by taking care of the other children. And of course, in the city, we did not hunt our own meat.”
“That makes total sense,” I told the blue naiad. “But it’s perfectly obvious how intelligent you are.”
It was now apparently Penelope’s turn to blush, and she flashed a small grin and rubbed at the back of her neck.
“I will get my dagger so I can skin the animals,” Nicola announced, “and, like you said, I will cook them over the fire for you as you continue to work.”
“I love you, sisters,” Aleia sighed spontaneously. “And Jack, I am so grateful for your divine guidance. Everything is working out very nicely.”
For a second, I thought she was going to say she loved me, too, and I was surprised at how much I wanted that. Of course, I understood the love for a god was in theory much different than the love for another person, but I still thought of myself as quite human.
What a mindfuck this all was.
Aleia began to lead Penelope through the process of creating the slings, and Nicola walked over to take her dagger out of her pack. The beautiful human unsheathed the blade, and I watched as she held up the knife in the golden afternoon sunlight and admired its sharp edge.
“Actually, I think I’m going to go down to the creek to clean the squirrels,” Nicola mused. “I’m tired of getting my garments dirty, and I want to be able to clean myself immediately. I want to do it soon so the animals don’t get stiff, so I’m going to walk over there now.”
“I’d like to accompany you,” I told the brunette, and I couldn’t believe it when a pink flush ran up her cheeks again.
“Yes, well, I know you will help keep me safe, Jack,” the beautiful woman responded. “I can bring my bow, though…”
“But you’ll have to put it down while you’re cleaning the animals,” I protested. “Penelope and Aleia will be here together, and there’s safety in numbers.”
“It’s just… I was going to quickly bathe afterward,” the dark-haired human practically whispered. “I suppose I am a little shy…”
“I won’t look,” I promised.
“I’m sure you won’t, but it only takes a minute for me to clean a squirrel,” Nicola huffed. “And then I will clean myself off and come right back to the camp.”
“Nope,” I said in a firm voice. “I’m not letting you go alone.”
“He just wants to protect you, sister,” Aleia cut in. “Jack cares for us so much.”
“Fine,” the brunette sighed as she rolled her big, dark-brown eyes, but she had a slight smile on her face. “But I want to get going because the sun is starting to go down.”
“Good,” I replied, though I was sorry my birds-eye view didn’t allow me to view the entire area between the garden and the creek yet. I could have really used the ability to zoom out and watch all the women at the same time. “Let’s do this.”
Nicola held her dagger in one hand and the two squirrels in the other as she began her walk to the small patch of woods that led to the creek. She remained silent as she walked, and when she opened her mouth as if to say something, she quickly closed it again. Finally, though, she began to speak, and I prepared myself for another intense conversation.
“Jack, please admit the truth…” she began, and my brain began to come up with a million possibilities for what was going to come next. “Do you… was the reason you wanted to come to the creek so you could watch me bathe?”
“Oh, no, Nicola, of course not,” I assured her.
“So, you don’t want to watch me?” she giggled.
“Well, um, no, it’s not that, it’s more like…” I said as I stumbled over my words. “I know you don’t trust me entirely, but I don’t want you to think I’m some… creepy guy who just wants to look at naked women all day.”
Despite my intense attraction to the priestesses, I hadn’t taken the opportunity to spy on them even once, and I’d certainly have been able to do so if I wanted.
“I don’t really think you’re… what did you say? Creepy?” Nicola laughed. “I just know how men can be. And sometimes… I have a strange feeling you’re more like an ordinary man than the usual type of god.”
Well, that hit the nail on the head.
“Ordinary?” I protested, although my tone was friendly. I honestly didn't mind the dark-haired woman’s questions at all. “I hope that’s not a bad thing…”
“It’s not,” the brunette sighed. “I… enjoy my conversations with you. Like you’ve said a few times, it’s like speaking to a friend. A good friend…”
“I’m so glad you said that, Nicola,” I responded. “Because I like you a lot, too. And to reiterate, I’m not going to watch you bathe.”
“Unless I say yes, correct?” the brunette replied with a smirk on her face. “Because… well, never mind.”
We’d reached the creek now, and I watched as Nicola bent down and laid a squirrel out on a rock. Then the brunette took out her knife, flipped its tail up, and made a slit at the base. She continued to cut the animal down toward its thighs, and she periodically stopped to wipe the fur off her knife onto a leaf.
Nicola made it look easy when she pulled the squirrel’s skin all the way up to its neck and then cut off its front paws and head. Next, the dark-haired beauty removed the fur on its legs before cutting off its back paws with her dagger. She sliced it down the middle to remove its entrails, and then she smiled with satisfaction before putting the first carcass down on the stone and repeating the process with the second animal. There was very little blood when all was said and done, but I watched as she held her hands up into the air as if she were looking for something to do with them.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Nicola.
“This clothing isn’t very practical for being out in the woods and butchering animals,” the brunette grumbled. “Penelope designed our garments because she wanted to please you, Jack, but you have to admit they aren’t the most, well, do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, they aren’t very practical, and they don’t… leave much to the imagination,” I laughed. “But why don’t you go ahead and wash the squirrels off in the creek, and then you can wash yourself, too. And like I said, I promise I won’t watch.”
“I don’t know why you accompanied me since you can’t even watch me the whole time,” the dark-haired woman grumbled, but then she immediately turned red when she realized what she’d said. “That is… for purposes of keeping me safe from danger.”
“I know what you meant,” I assured her, though I actually had been a bit confused.
I turned off my vision so the dark-haired human could bathe, though the sound of her splashing made my imagination go wild. Finally, I could hear the noises of her climbing out, and she rustled around on the bank for a minute before she called out to me.
“Jack, you can open your eyes again,” Nicola said, and when I looked at her, I saw her hands were clasped around her shoulders in the chilly, late-afternoon air. She had to bend down to pick up the squirrels and her knife, though, and I caught a near-total glimpse of her nipples through the thin fabric.
“So… are you looking forward to eating?” I asked the beautiful woman to distract myself as she began her walk up the hill back to the garden. I still felt a little awkward after our conversation a few minutes earlier, but that was no way for a god to be.
“I am,” Nicola confirmed as she trudged up the bank with the animals in hand. “I’m quite famished after all our work today. Jack… please just ignore me sometimes because I don’t mean to make things difficult between us. I just know I’m a little different than Penelope and Aleia…”
“What do you mean?” I asked the brunette, although I could think of many things myself. “What are you trying to say?”
“I think I’m a little less… naive than them somehow,” Nicola explained. “They had bad things happen to them, to be sure, but I’ve experienced a lot of cruelty over many years of my life, and it’s very difficult for me to trust anyone. It even took a lot of time with Penelope and Aleia before I believed they didn’t want to harm me.”
