The Gamer Chapter 1349 – Quiet Game (Patreon)

Hailey: Sorry, I won’t be coming around today. Lots to think about.

‘Well, it’s nice to read that she’s straightforward about it,’ John thought and answered the text in a swift, nice, and understanding manner. If John had been suggested to enter a relationship by Lydia first thing upon entering the Abyss, then he… would have taken the offer immediately, actually. There were a number of stark differences, not least of which was entering a harem as a woman and a relationship as a man.

All of that being said, John did not generally think the words ‘lots to think about’ were a positive sign. It reeked of second guesses and second guesses often led to doing something one wanted to do just because the doubts piled up. While he considered if he should write Hailey another text to nudge her in the desired direction, he received one himself.

Hailey: Thanks for being understanding. Need to break things to my parents, check on the potion working, and all of that.

Hailey: Tell Red to prepare something difficult for when I have time. ^^

That was as much an assuaging of his problems as he would get without pressing her into an outright statement. ‘Will do,’ he thought, as he wrote those exact words back. Then he put his phone away to let her do the thinking and him the resting. He had been pouring concrete from 3 to 6 in the morning, finishing the structure of the first floor after a great effort by everyone to get the carrying walls done. He had just woken up at that hour and decided to go ahead. Now he had earned himself a nice breakfast with his girls and then a nap.

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John woke up about three hours later, with two women lying on top of him. His arms were wrapped around them. An instinctive response by his body that was as expected as finding haremettes that had decided to cover him in the first place. At a harem this size, there was always someone happy to take a nap next to him.

Today, or at this hour, the two were Lorelei and Nia. The blonde pair, one gold blonde the other of such pale blonde that it was practically white, both laid half on top of him. Adorably, Lorelei had her hair open. It was more orderly than usual, having enjoyed a thorough combing by Lydia when the queen last found time for a prolonged stay. It was slowly reverting to its semi-wild state and rubbing against John in a drowsy trance certainly did not help. The countryside clothes that she was wearing smelled pleasantly of the outside.

Nia, by comparison was the exact same as ever. A wild, fluffy, backwards oriented mess on to the top of her head, like a field of wheat bending under a gust. The extremely long hair at the side and back was confined in a ponytail, the straightness and thinness of her hair making that a single long strand, slung over the backrest of the couch. It had not ended up there naturally and was continuously shifting left to right as something that John could not and did not want to perceive was playing with it. The white dress she wore felt impossible to the touch – like it was there and not there at all.

John spared himself the headache of how that was possible. He tried to stretch without disturbing them. An effort that could not succeed. The moment he took his hands off them, the two blondes let out tiny sounds of longing, followed by the deliberate breath of someone whose consciousness took over from the sleeping mind.

“Good morning,” he whispered to them. He was vaguely sure it was still morning. His internal clock was exceedingly accurate. Beatrice, who had a practically perfect measurement of time, could also be contacted at any point. “Kiss me?”

“Yes,” Nia confirmed, not thinking long about it. Stretching, she gave his puckered lips a quick smooch. Turning his head slightly, he then enjoyed the same from a mildly blushing Lorelei. It was adorable that she still had a bit of shyness in her, after all they had done together. People were built in so many fascinating ways. John knew he was blessed to have such a variety of women loving him.

Since he no longer needed to be covert about it, he stretched audibly. His spine popped twice. Sleeping on the couch was not the best for his back. Nia and Lorelei mimicked the motion and the three enjoyed the prolonged sensation of a post-nap elongation together. “Baaaahh,” John let out a relieved sound, while he relaxed every last muscle in his body. Then he just smiled at the two and pulled them in for a deeper kiss. Both eagerly obliged, a quick peck was not enough to manifest their love for each other.

His mind did a quick check on what everyone else was doing. Since he had poured the concrete, there was very little to do. They had to wait until it hardened fully, then remove the pillars that held up the frames that allowed them to pour the slabs in the first place. In the meantime, there was very little to do. Well, there was a lot that COULD be done in and around the construction site, but why not take this excuse to take a couple days off? They had been working their collective butts off laying bricks and preparing everything else for days.

From what he could see through his familiars’ eyes, that sentiment was generally shared. Most of the girls were chilling out in a lake that Undine, Lee, and Gnome had put together on the Abyssal side. Regularly, the harem had a preference for hot springs. Because they were going to visit an actual, physical hot spring during their vacation, they were currently suppressing the urge to just make one. Nathalia did not like that decision. She played along, however.

It wasn’t going to be much longer anyway. John had booked the trip for the next weekend. Had theirs been a smaller group, they could have just waltzed in there. Alas, a harem of 20 (with a potential bonus visitor) did not get to visit an establishment unannounced. Even if the owner was an Abyssal eager to serve the president of his nation. Physicality limited the privileges even the strong and wealthy got to enjoy.

John was enjoying his current physicality a lot. Hugging and being hugged, he held his two loves while he slowly made his way into an upright sitting position. They approximated something like a state of satedness regarding their desires to kiss and turned from a clump of bodies into a line. Nia sat to his left, Lorelei to the right. The seer pulled a red hair band out of her pocket and then got to braiding. The final result was a bit messy, her blindness interfering in the way she parted her hair in three and then in how she weaved it all together. It was fascinating to observe in what ways her second sight was elevated and in what ways it was diminished.

They existed for a while in silence. Neither Nia nor Lorelei were big talkers and John was gifted with being a sociable introvert – which meant he could easily pull along with banter but he was just as happy just existing in silence. As such, just holding onto them for a long while and letting the seconds tick by was entirely fine. His mind kept busy with the sensations they provided him with. Lorelei’s smell of rosewater. The smooth skin of Nia’s shoulder. The constant, slightly excited breathing. Each in- and exhale was like another note in the symphony of John’s wonderful life.

“I would be blessed with just one of you and here I am with both of you in my arms,” he whispered, when the love in his heart became too much to be contained within.

Nia stared at him with her icy blue eyes for three solid seconds, then snuggled more closely against him. “I love you,” she stated plainly. Then, she reached over and brushed a strand of hair behind Lorelei’s ear. “I love you too.”

“My adoration for you is as great as the grace of the Lady,” Lorelei responded in kind. The two women glanced in John’s direction, smiling in their graceful ways, and then leaned towards each other. Pale pink lips met and parted, tongues venturing outwards and playing with one another. They did it for their enjoyment and his viewing pleasure. John hoped it was the former more than the latter. He wanted every kiss between his haremettes to be one of mutual love. That they did it for him was a treat he enjoyed.

It was nice to see those two, of all the girls, make out with such intensity. Lorelei’s magical sight meant that Nia was even more of a creepy presence to her than most humans. Still, they were exploring each other with hands and tongue, gasping into the other’s efforts to make each other feel good. Nothing about the blank weirded the seer out anymore.

This kiss was relatively short-lived, breaking after John failed to take the invitation that was non-verbally extended to him. Getting involved in that particular kiss would have inevitably ended with someone getting pressed into the couch. He was not in a sexual mood. To be more exact, he was not in a mood where he wanted to get frisky over hanging out. There was so much pleasure in sex, but the tenderness of being with them was its own special reward.

“Want to play a game?” he suggested.

“Warhammer?” Nia asked, after only a few seconds of thinking.

John chuckled. “I really got you hooked on that one, didn’t I?”

Nia rubbed her cheek against his chest, then suddenly stopped and stared up at him. “I like it.”

“I… wouldn’t mind either,” Lorelei added her opinion. “If I may be so bold to present my stance…”

“Of course you can.” John pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, then he smacked her butt with enough force that she almost jumped out of the couch on reflex. “That was for thinking you even need to ask,” he reprimanded her playfully.

“I’m sorry…?” Lorelei responded with confused sincerity.

“You better be.” The Gamer kept up the playful reprimand while all of them got up. “My haremettes never should doubt that I want to hear their opinions.” He bowed down to her ear and whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you too, John.” Every syllable came straight from her soul. Her hands folded in front of her chest, she was almost like a nun in prayer, while she gave him a radiant expression of pure joy.

John could not help himself, he had to scoop her in a princess carry. Not to be caught walking, Nia suddenly jumped onto his back and clung on with legs and arms. Only laughing, the Gamer lugged them around. If he was going to be a haremette mule, then he would willingly accept that.

The bus did have a small hobby room. It was not as specialized for the demands of Warhammer 40k as the room he had for that specific purpose in the Palace, for obvious reasons. The armies were not in display cases and they weren’t as large either. A few battalions worth of minis, tucked away in drawers. Others were filled with board games, pen and paper rulebooks or whatever else could be enjoyed on a tabletop.

“Capture point, objectives, kill points, what are we doing?” John asked, while they found their preferred armies. John went with one of his two preferred armies: the Custodes. The gold, the power of the individual units, and the general lore just appealed to him intensely. The chosen few thousand of an Imperium of trillions, crafted individually to become a perfect being above even the capabilities of Space Marines. Funnily enough, John’s second favourite army was the Imperial Guard. A bunch of normal people just trying desperately to survive in a universe full of terror. The bravery appealed to him.

“Objectives,” Nia stated, while she pulled out her favourite army. By sheer proximity of their powers, one could have assumed that Nia would have been attracted to whatever army had pariahs in them. Instead, she went for the Thousand Sons – the polar opposite of the psychic nulls. An army filled with Psyker Space Marines, among the strongest ‘mages’ in all of the setting.

The reason why she went with that army was why John groaned out loud. “Power gamer,” he accused her.

“Are you banning them?” Nia wanted to know.

That was always the first question one had when playing with her. John shot Lorelei a glance, to let her decide. Personally, he did like the challenge, but Nia was a ruthless player when it came to these things. She frequently beat him. Most of those losses were self-inflicted, because John tried to get creative and Nia just used the most effective, straightforward, and exploitative strategies she had access to.

“I deem it acceptable.” Lorelei tried to sound confident and mostly succeeded. One after the other, she placed her own minis on the table. As expected, she went for the Sisters of Battle. The seer of the Order of the Golden Rose going for the group of fanatic warrior nuns was just natural.

They proceeded to put together their battlefield. The way it worked was that they each placed a set piece on the table in order. After five rounds of that, they had an interesting battle map, even if it did not look particularly real. A bunch of random set pieces on an otherwise normal table were incapable of giving the same vibe as a proper battlefield table. Magic could fix this, if the table had the necessary enchantments, which this one did not.

The objectives were placed in a similar manner, just a bunch of tokens that could stand in for whatever. Then they started to play.

There was very little about the game itself that was worthy of note. They moved their units and rolled their dice. Neither Nia nor Lorelei were prone to bouts of rage or trash talking. John grumbled here and there, when the dice did not fall as he would have preferred them to. Otherwise, it was just them circling around the table, taking their turns, kissing and hugging. Really, it was as civilized a game as anyone could ever have and it still took an hour.

Afterwards, they all returned to the couch and cuddled some more.