The Gatekeeper Chapter 16- Desires.

After we decided to have our lunch together, I started to walk towards the guild, nonchalantly stepping on the humans who were still unconscious beneath my feet.

When I turned around to take a glance at the girls, I notice something.

"Hey, Nirvana. That necklace looks really nice."

It was a silver necklace with a blue stone embedded in the middle, and with Nirvana looking like a lady in her mid-twenties, it suited her perfectly, even more so considering her hair and eye colour.

She was busy talking with her sisters, we had about a five metre distance between us. Still, that one line made Nirvana panic and quiver. Her face turned a deep shade of red, and the other girls took a distance from her and glared at her with eyes full of hatred.

"M-Master, y-you noticed. T-Thank you!"

She bowed and thanked me, I replied with a normal "you're welcome". After lifting her head and turning towards the three sisters, the following were the greetings received.

"You know, we gave you the money for that!! That thing was 3 silver coins!!"

"We hate you…"

"Who were you again?"

Such went the comments from the second oldest to the youngest, listening to which, tears welled up in Nirvana's eyes, she looked at me for help, but I just turned around and continued walking towards the guild. Nirvana ran to her sisters and kept apologizing while sobbing until we reached the restaurant situated near the guild.

She really resembles Haruki.

"You guys find a table and wait for me. I'll be back in a flash."

"""Understood."""

The trio responded in unison whereas Nirvana, who still hadn't been forgiven and was banished from the sister group, leaving her to cry all by herself.

"Girls, don't be too mean to Nirvana."

Guess they are really p.i.s.sed off at her.

"Okay then, I'll be off."

I urge them to go inside the restaurant while I enter the alley separating the Guild and the restaurant.

"Light Magic- Invisibility."

This is a spell I've been using for a while. Surprisingly enough, it's a primary-tier spell, making it one of the most useful once among the others. The only downside is that it may not last for long periods of time because of the mana consumption and the area targeted. As for me, I can cover a whole city in invisibility without any problem.

The reason why I used this spell here was because I wanted to retrieve the contents of the requests. They were: silver horns, long fangs, black antlers and a pair of orbs.

I store everything in a small cloth bag (which apparently is quite common in this world) and move towards the guild.

After about 20 minutes or so…

"How!!?? Ugh! I don't even care at this point."

Mirae-san says so while appraising the orbs. Looks like Shirley-san is back, she is just sitting on her designated chair behind Mirae-san, munching on snacks.

"Well, I told you, I am fast."

"Yeah, yeah."

She hands me ten gold coins and stamps on my card. My card glows and changes into from a rusty copper colour to a l.u.s.trous bronze.

"You have been upgraded from Copper Rank to Bronze Rank. It takes about 2 months for an adventurer to reach Bronze Rank, and you did it in one day, Congratulations."

Well, I did take the requests which recommended taking a party of more than five people.

"Thank you, Mirae-san."

"Congratulations, Toru-kun."

"Thank you, Shirley-san."

Shirley-san congratulates me while munching on a cookie.

"Hey, Toru-kun, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"It seems that the Annual Athena Festival will be held early this year."

Oh, that? I heard about it from Rin-san this morning. It is supposed to be a big festival of some sorts with food stalls, performances by magicians, display of new technoogy and stuff. But the main attraction is the battle tournament, it is held to determine the strongest in the Kingdom. And the most shocking news was that Sylvia came third in last year's festival. The strongest person in the whole Kingdom is supposedly the crown prince, who used divine cla.s.s magic to defeat the runner-up, Bernard Lenach. She said that it is usually held at the end of spring. But, according to her, currently, it is the middle of spring. These people don't have the concept of months, but my estimates say that it is around the start of May. So why are they conducting the festival early?

"Do you know why?"

"No, this is the extent of the information provided to the guilds. The official announcement with the date and reason will be made tomorrow."

"Oh, Ok. Bye then, see you tomorrow."

Well, right now I have more than 110,000 Yen on me. I hope that the ladies don't eat that much.

I enter the restaurant through the front door, my gaze wandering, searching for the table populated by the girls.

What attracts my attention is the immense amount of mana concentrated on one spot. I move towards the table and find myself looking at a huge round table with five chairs arranged in a bizarre manner. Four seats were close together, one among them was empty, the fifth seat was the furthest away, stationed across the table, in the opposite side of the four seats. Of course, that was the table which my companions occupied. The seat which was left out, was being used by Nirvana. She had her head hanging down, gloomy aura originating from her whole body.

I kind of understand the situation.

I indifferently move through the ranks of men who were eyeing the occupants of the huge round table, looking around me, the round table that the girls are utilizing seems to be the biggest one here. Even after realizing this fact, I move towards the table and greet the girls, who were sitting on their chairs elegantly (except Nirvana).

"Hey, I'm back."

I say in a not too loud voice. The distance between me and the table is no more than two metres, I seem to have crossed the danger zone that the men had created. n.o.body had dared to approach the table in question, they had a minimum distance of three metres between the table and themselves. I had just crossed that imaginary border and approached the table nonchalantly.

"Oi! What is he doing?"

"Who does he think he is?"

"How can this brat even approach that table?"

So were the mutterings of the men surrounding the table. These mutterings weren't meant to be heard by me, but I don't have complete control over my senses yet. After hearing my greeting, all four of them stood up, as if they were waiting for this moment. I knew where I was supposed to sit, so without any further delay, I settled myself on the chair specially prepared for me.

On my right side was Shirone, Freya was sitting on my left, and Kuromi was seated beside Shirone, on the rightmost chair. Nirvana, who was sitting right across me, just continued to look down, unable to lock eyes with me.

The atmosphere was heavy, none of the girls spoke.

Looks like I will have to be the one to dispel this heaviness.

"Today is a special day, you are free to eat whatever you like, don't hold back."

"""Understood."""

Nirvana remained silent.

"Hey, isn't it too mean to treat Nirvana like this, she is your big sister isn't she?"

"But-"

"Let's decide on a punishment for her, and make up, shall we?"

Freya started to retort, but I managed to cut her off with a suggestion of my own.

"Toru-sama, we would like to discuss something, can we please ask you to refrain from listening to our telepathic communication, and the same goes for her."

All the servants I acquire will be telepathically inter-connected via me. I can consciously choose to intervene in their conversation, but I'd rather not do that.

I nod my head twice, Nirvana copies my actions and nods as well.

The three little sisters looked at each other, confirming the situation with telepathy. There was a kind of frequency in my brain which was oscillating. Guess that is the telepathic signal, I can tap into it if I really want to, I am their master after all. However, let's just not.

After about 5 minutes of what seemed like a heated discussion. Freya locked eyes with me and said.

"Master, you will send us all back after this, right?"

"Yes."

"And you also mentioned that you cannot die unless you are struck down instantly?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"As your servants, we can't allow our esteemed master to remain unguarded at any given time of the day."

I would've probably retorted here, but the fiery determination in Freya's eyes stopped me before I even made an attempt.

"We also understand that having all of us accompany you everywhere will be undesirable."

"Yes, you're right."

Having any of you sticking to me would be undesirable, but let's not say that to her face.

"Therefore, we request that you allow one of us to stay by your side each day. We decided that one of us will accompany for one whole day, and then switch with the next one in line. Is that acceptable?"

It wouldn't be too bad to have an escort. And such a beautiful one at that.

"I thought that you all were deciding on Nirvana's punishment."

"Yes Master, about that…"

Nirvana lifts up her face, and looks at Freya with eyes on the verge of tears.

"Big Sister will not be escorting you until three consecutive cycles are completed."

"WH"

It was Nirvana who raised her voice, but she instantly quieted down after a.s.sessing the situation.

"So, I will be able to escort master ten days from now, is that it?"

"Yes, agree to this condition and we will forgive you."

The way this last line had been delivered was completely different from the way Nirvana had been treated until now, it was warm and accommodating, unlike the cold and distant treatment she had been receiving until now.

"Bwahhhh. F-Fine, I *sob* accept your condition."

Nirvana started crying really loudly. The men who remained ignored until now made some movements and caught my attention. They were startled and were moving back from the crying beauty.

Nirvana suddenly stood up from her chair which resulted in the chair flying backwards, she ran over and ended up jumping on Freya and burying her head in Freya's chest.

"*sob* Thank you."

"Yes, yes. Now, if you keep acting like this, it would inconvenience Master. Get your chair over here and sit down obediently."

"Yes!"

Sometimes I wonder, who really is the oldest.

She grabbed her fallen chair and set it beside Freya's.

Now, two women were on either side of me. I can feel the scornful gazes directed at me, let's ignore them and just eat.

Nirvana made up with everyone, and they started chatting and giggling with me stuck in the middle. Their topics ranged from 'being my escort' to 'holding a banquet in the beast world'. The reason for the banquet would be an important announcement. Announcement that all of them had found a master and had vowed to follow him, resulting in all the unowned residents of the beast realm becoming my indirect servants as well.

We ordered our food. After about 10 minutes worth of wait, our food arrived. While I was expecting the amount of food that Sylvia ordered, it was surprisingly normal. There were eight plates on the table, each filled with extravagant dishes. This surprised me because when Sylvia and me had dined together, there were twelve plates in total.

"Umm. You don't need to hold back, I told you, didn't I?"

"What do you mean Master?"

As the reinstated representative of the four sisters, Nirvana asked me while stuffing her face with a spoonful of veggies.

"Don't the Dragons need large quant.i.ties of food to function properly?"

That may have been a rude thing to say to a woman.

"Master, when we transform ourselves into another species, we acquire all their tendencies, habits, and preferences. As I mentioned before, it is more of a skill than actual magic. Right now, we are humans, as such, all of our bodily functions are also that of a human, that includes things like appet.i.te, self-consciousness, desires, etc."

Why do I feel as if a lot of things have cleared up after the mention of the word 'desire' in Nirvana's explanation. Now, I am uneasy about the whole 'escort' thing.

"Oh okay, I got it."

After the meal, I paid the receptionist two Gold coins and received eight silver coins in return.

The time as we exit the restaurant exceeds 7 P.M. The sky is almost dark and the streets are somewhat unpopulated. I decide to send the Dragons back. We move towards a completely isolated alley and stand in a circle.

"So, Freya will be staying, right?"

"Yes!!!"

Freya enthusiastically nods.

"Well then. Nirvana, see you in ten days, I guess. But if you're really needed, I'll call on you, so don't worry."

With this one statement, I stopped the overflowing dam that is Nirvana's eyes from exploding.

"Uu~. Fine. But Master, please call upon any of us in the time of need. We are your servants, we would act as a shield to protect your life, if need be. Today was the best day of our lives, we finally got a worthy master to whom we can swear our loyalty to."

Is getting a master really that big of a deal?

"I am flattered. Now then, Freya, stand behind me."

At my command, Freya broke out of the circle and took a position behind me.

Nirvana and Kuromi had tears welling up in their eyes while Shirone was as indifferent as ever.

"Bye…"

I haven't tried sending my summons back, but I know how to do it… Does that make sense?

According to the instructions provided by my ever so convenient mental library, I just have to 'allow' them to leave, similarly, if I want to call them back, I just have to 'allow' them to enter this world.

It is a little complicated. Beasts on their own are incapable of crossing over worlds, therefore, they need a master to do so for them. As soon as they return to their own world, our mana connection will be severed, but our master-servant relationship will remain, thus, allowing me to contact them via telepathy. If I want them here, I just have to reinstate the severed mana connection, thus, 'allowing' them into this world.

Explanation is really hard to understand, let's just go for it.

I try to feel the mana connection between me and the girls, I follow the same blue river and start tracing it back. At one point, I find what you would call 'streams', there are four streams of mana which are connected to my own mana supply. They resemble some kind of water channels which are siphoning off the contents of the river.

Each of the water channels belongs to one of the four girls, and the mana they're draining is quite extravagant, but my mana replenishment rate is many times faster, so it invalidates the drainage altogether. I can judge the owner of each of the 'mana channels' easily, even if there were a million servants, it would be simple to spot the mana channel for a particular beast.

I don't know the exact reason, is it because I am their master? Or is it because of my superior mana recognition capabilities? Whatever, let's get it over with.

I consciously stop the mana flowing out of my reserves to Nirvana, Shirone and Kuromi.

As soon as I stop the mana from flowing towards the three of them, a dim light shines upon the girls and their silhouette disappears momentarily. However, the mana channel still exists, its just that my mana isn't flowing through it anymore, It seems like I just have to lift off the barrier and allow my mana to pa.s.s through the channel to summon them back. This is simpler than I expected.

I turn around and find a grinning Freya standing there with her hands behind her back and slightly bent waist.

Human desires, huh. Why do I feel like my chast.i.ty is in grave danger?

This isn't the most desirable situation, but, what can you do?

We head towards the inn we'll staying at, Freya excitedly takes my arm and absorbs the extravagant sights provided by the city. The time is a little more than 8 PM and thus, the city is illuminated wonderfully by the various coloured lanterns, some of which are powered by light magic, while some have actual fire. The small shops are filled with both humans and demihumans, each of which have a lively smile on their faces as they enjoy the beautiful city that is the Royal Capital.