Chapter 894: Claiming Her Place

We were presented with our winnings before we were approached by Yumiko and Amber, the latter looking at me with a lewd gaze of anticipation.

Well... I guess she was already sending me the signals earlier so...

I went ahead to reach up and started groping Amber’s boobs.

She moaned and squirmed around cutely as I massaged her globes, marvelling at their softness and how cute my lover looked while I was groping her.

Vieretha did not find what I was doing amusing, however.

"Tera... What are you doing?"

I cleared my throat, "Ahem... As you can see, I’m making my lover happy right now."

The Dragonling looked between Amber and I, her brows furrowing the more she looked at us.

Amber then smiled at her, "Mmm~ I think you should introduce us, Tera~"

Oh right, to Vieretha, my girls were supposed to be my bodyguards instead of just my crew and she might still think I’m like some important lady of some family or something.

I guess since she’s going to be part of my crew anyway... There’s no point keeping this from her anymore.

I pulled away from Amber, ignoring the pout that she was giving me for not continuing to grope her.

"Vier... Let me just clear up some misunderstandings... The bodyguards that you saw that day? They weren’t actually my bodyguards. They were my crew mates acting like my bodyguards to give people the false impression that I was some kind of noble lady or something. I am not anyone important. I’m just a Mercenary Captain of a Mercenary group. I am not some runaway noble or a child of some really important family. In fact, just to let you know, we were Mercs that Yuki hired to help protect her exhibition from the inside, which was why you saw us fighting against the thugs when they attacked the exhibition."

She tilted her head at me, "So... They aren’t your bodyguards?"

I don’t know if I should be surprised that that was the thing she was concerned about.

I shook my head, "They aren’t. They are all part of my crew and... Well... Remember what I said about my crew being my family? They are all my lovers too."

Almost immediately, her brows furrowed and I felt the temperature in the air drop by a few degrees.

"Are you saying... That everyone on your crew is just... In a polyamorous relationship?"

I didn’t need to answer her as Amber butted in right then with her arms wrapped around mine.

"Oh not at all~ While we have no problems with each other, the one we love is Tera and only Tera! We are in her harem~ So this is Tera’s harem!"

Amber... I highly doubt that would actually make her feel bet--

"Oh, is that the case? Alright then," Vieretha relaxed, prompting the temperature around us to return back to normal.

You know what... I’m not even going to ask...

She then turned back to me, "So how many crew mates do you have?"

"Umm... If we count you and me, there’s eight people on my ship right now."

I decided not to tell her about the dog since I don’t know who else might be listening to our conversation right now.

I’ll have to wait until I get that Bio-Weapon license before I feel safe enough to talk freely about it.

Hmm... I wonder if I can ask Vieretha about obtaining both that Bio-Weapon license and the cooking license too? She did say that she’s managing one of those cooking schools didn’t she? Though I wonder if we can still make use of her connections after we take her away from her family?

Guess we’ll just have to see...

Vieretha tilted her head, "Which means your harem currently consists of six other people aside from me?"

"Umm.... That sounds about right, yes."

Let’s not count the other flings I’ve had while we were travelling through space...

I thought she might be upset that she was the seventh to join the group but unexpectedly, her chest thrust out with pride while she nodded with a look of self satisfaction.

"Hmm~ Hmm~ That’s to be expected of Tera. That’s normal~"

Why is she looking so proud of it?

Well, I guess it’s better than her looking all angry so I decided not to say anything.

Instead, I tried to change the topic to the original point where I should be introducing her to everyone.

I cleared my throat again, "Ahem... Vier? This is Amber and Yumiko. Amber acts as my second in command and vice captain of the group while Yumiko is our close combat and weapons specialist. Again, they are both my lovers as well. Amber, Yumiko, this is Vieretha of the Iceborne family, she has just recently decided to work under me as my err... My... Personal assistant."

It felt weird to even say that Vier was my personal assistant... Since I never really needed one to begin with but this was all just an excuse so that she could escape from her family. I’ll probably have to explain it clearly to everyone when we are in a secluded spot away from prying eyes and ears.

Vieretha looked at my two lovers in front of her before nodding, "It is nice to meet you both. It seems we shall be living together from now on so I hope we can get along~"

It felt like she was trying to assert some kind of authority over them right now, as if her position as personal assistant was higher than theirs or something.

Neither Amber nor Yumiko looked amused by that tone but neither of them said anything and just gave her a fake smile in response.

"I see. So I take it that you are joining the crew then, Miss Vieretha?" Amber asked.

"Oh~ Yes I am~ That’s why there’s no need for you to be so formal with me. I am well acquainted with your Captain, after all."

"Really? Well acquainted you say? I think I’m better acquainted with her than you are though? Especially since I know how she feels, smells and taste while you don’t~"

Amber?!! What the heck are you saying?!!

The air around us immediately turned cold again as Vieretha narrowed her eyes at Amber, "I see... I suppose I should fix that problem as soon as I can."

What problem? What the heck are the two of you talking about? Why does it feel like I am being intentionally left out of the conversation right now?

Also... I could pretty much see the electrical sparks between Vieretha and Amber right now as they stared at each other.

On the other hand...

"Mistress... You were so cool during the event just now..." Yumiko praised me, taking advantage of the fact that the other two were occupied to start rubbing her face against my palm.

Ok, Yumiko... Calm down... We’re in public right now...

Vieretha seemed to have taken that as some kind of challenge as she grabbed my other arm to hug it to her chest, "It seems like we have stayed here for too long. Tera and I are still in the middle of getting to know each other so I’m afraid we would have to take our leave."

Amber’s eyebrow twitched slightly, "Oh? Is that so? Well I suppose there should be no problems with us joining in, right? After all, you should also get to know us too, considering we would be colleagues from now on."

"Fufufu~ What are you saying? I should first get to know Tera before anyone else, right? Especially since she’s at the top of this group. And since having more people would impede in my efforts of getting to know Tera, it would be better if uninvolved parties stay out~"

"Oh really now~ Why don’t we just ask Tera to see what she wants instead, hmmm?"

Everyone turned to look at me and I’m just wondering why am I getting put on the spot instead?

Even Yumiko was looking up at me with her pleading puppy eyes too...

But well... If you were to make me choose... Sorry Vieretha... But I’m going to have to side with the majority here...

I cleared my throat, "Ahem... We’re all here to play, aren’t we? So I guess maybe having more people together would be better. Besides... What Amber said is true, we’ll all be living together on the same ship from now on so... It might be better if everyone gets along. In fact, I do hope all of you get along."

I emphasised on the last part especially, hoping that they wouldn’t fight each other just because Vieretha was new... And this was already not considering the fact that she’s a noble Dragonling from an important family that we would be ’kidnapping’ away as well.

Amber and Vieretha looked at each other before both of them made a face and turned to me at the same time.

"If that is what you want, Tera..."

"I’ll cooperate for now..."

Come on... We’re here to have fun! Relax!