chapter 1098 – tier 5 guild hall 4 – home inspection


    john pulled into the main harbour with his yacht. the moment he passed the open gates that marked the border between the building and the open water, a window popped up offering to automatically take care of the rest. john clicked it and went back up to the main deck.


    “you lot remember when the guild hall was barely large enough to even fit this ship?” he asked when he was back with his harem.


    against all odds, nia was the one to answer first. “you had to place the barrier so it covered enough water.”


    “good times,” rave said and stretched. “we should definitely use the boat more though. i like it on here.”


    “you just say that because you can plant pot in the greenhouse.”


    “i can sail to the good weather and wait for the drugs to grow. dream life right there,” his girlfriend responded. “plus, this boat has an incredibly good internet connection and i’m surrounded by my fellow hotties.” planting quick kisses on the cheeks of eliana and metra, who happened to stand the closest, rave stated, “dream life right here.”


    “fuck off with your optimism, it makes me happy,” eliana growled.


    “uhm, isn’t that a good thing?” gnome asked.


    “yes, and i hate it.”


    “amusement: you act like undine looks,” beatrice stated, causing the gothic slime girl to slowly turn her head. directly after her golden eyes failed to intimidate the passive maid, she looked over to metra, who snickered the loudest.


    “gotta hand it to the annoyance when she makes a good joke,” the first of wrath waved off.


    “hey! hey, hey, hey, hey,” sylph babbled her way into the conversation. while everyone else was standing along the railing, right where the stairs would eventually extend towards land, the arcvolt elemental flew along the side. velka seemed eager to join her, but was equally happy to remain in nia’s care. “you can’t just give her my title! i am the annoyance! and the hype!”


    “fuck you, i’m the hype!” salamander shot back, gesturing roughly northwards. “i have a fortress!”


    john looked north, wondering if they’d be able to see the fortress from where they were. the answer was: some of the spires were visible beyond the treetops. since the guild hall was now ten kilometres in diameter, the curvature of the earth did actually affect vision enough to make things hide behind the horizon. trees and other decorative environmental pieces did the rest. the only reason why they could even see salamander’s fortress was because they pulled into the harbour from the north, putting a ‘mere’ one and a half kilometres between it and them.


    “before i activate all of the elemental shrines, or before we let people back in in general, i want to check a few things out,” john said, while the yacht stopped by the pier. magically, the stairs just folded outwards and met with a pier that reshaped to perfectly accommodate the boating seaquence. “starting with the midnight forest. better to check on the fairies first.”


    “were they already allowed back in?” siena asked.


    “no, i’ll activate the fairy lantern when we get there.” they made their way down the stairs, before continuing the conversations. “to ask the obvious question: who doesn’t want to tag along?” he looked over his gathered crowd, expecting at least scarlett to bow out. nothing of the like happened. everyone seemed interested in checking out their improved home.


    “best we inspect the changes you made to our home first.” nathalia took the lead, already strutting up the pier and towards the new road. “unless you have a better road in mind. i desire to see this domain from above.”


    “sounds good to me.” rave smiled and followed the dragoness. both of them were naked. most of the harem actually was. they had taken off their clothes over the night and few of them put them back on. to be exact, only lydia, momo and gnome were dressed. john joined the nude camp for a simple reason: it felt empowering to walk through one’s own domain free of clothes. once the people poured in, he wouldn’t be able to do it anymore. ‘well, that’s what i have the private island for.’


    on foot, they walked through the empty commercial district. because everything was so pristine, including those buildings that had previously existed and simply been moved, it felt somewhat like they were walking through a large set piece rather than an actual place people operated in. aside from that, john was very pleased with what he saw. the many small imperfections in symmetry weren’t quite as visible from the ground. some of them even looked intended. only someone as obsessed with these things as beatrice could find any fault.


    an arm slung around john’s neck. “hey, my king,” metra said, pressing her body against him as best she could while they walked. his arm rubbed against her abs, letting him feel all the rises and falls of her defined muscles. their firmness was enticing. “how do you feel about... let’s call it sanctifying your new property with some fun?”


    “so, these are the same as ever,” john went to one of the showers to explain. a faucet let him regulate strength and temperature of the waterflow, as was usual. compared to a normal shower, the only unusual thing was that the heads were non-removable, but that had been the same in the last iteration. “this, however, is new.” he walked to a larger pad by the entrance and pressed a few buttons. softly, water started to patter down from the holes in the ceiling, like soft rain. “going to make shower orgies a bit easier, since we don’t have to stay by the walls to stay clean.”


    “i like it.” rave grinned, the artificial rain drops running down her breasts and dripping from her erect nipples.


    john quickly averted his gaze to remain focused. glistening skin was very dangerous. “let’s go there first,” he said and pointed towards one of the two other glass doors that were connected to the room.


    behind it they found a room even larger than the living room. about a third of it was taken up by an assortment of baths. various models of jacuzzis or simple tubs for anything between one and twenty people were set into the white tiles. as much as they all enjoyed bathing together, sometimes soaking on one’s own in a long tub was more relaxing. the rest of the room was taken up by a fifteen-metre-long indoor pool. john had added it just to fill up the remaining space.


    moving ten metres east, they looped back into the other room adjacent to the showers. there, the floor was once more made from cobblestone. there were loungers, currently empty shelves (to be filled with massage oil), and other spa related utensils. somewhat odd was a tiny pool in the corner by the last door, mostly bordered off by a metal railing.


    “want to take a quick dive, jane?” john asked.


    “meeeeowbe?” rave eyed him up, definitely suspicious that she had been singled out. carefully she walked to the water and dipped her toe in it. “oy, that’s ice cold! i hate cold!”


    “hmmm, it would have been funny if you jumped face first,” salamander hummed, disappointed.


    “nothing is funny about cold.” rave took a couple quick steps away from the water, before anyone could give her a shove. not that anyone would have. it would indeed have been entertaining to see rave regret her typically rash decision making, but forcing her to experience the ice cold water was a step too far. “why do you even have that in here?” she demanded to know.


    “it’s traditional to have cold water by the sauna,” john told her and pointed at the last glass door. inside was the aforementioned style of room, covered in wooden planks and equipped with the typical benches seen in saunas. the source of heat was in the southwestern corner of the room. peppermint infused water stood next to it, ready to be evaporated on stones lying on top of the heat source. it was a technique lydia had told him about and that he had found pleasant in the past.


    they returned to the living room, where aclysia quickly checked out the fridge while lydia got dressed again. everything seemed to be in order, so she joined the rest of them by the dinner table. a few even sat down. a waste of time, they would continue almost immediately.


    “and that concludes the tour,” john said.


    “then let’s gaze on your domain,” nathalia demanded, already standing by the door.


    john raised an eyebrow, but skipped out on asking why she was so insistent on this. instead, he nodded and, once lydia was back with them, led the way to the roof.


    the view from up there had always been phenomenal. they were a solid hundred metres off the ground and could see the various areas of the guild hall easily. it had already been impressive previously and now it was just awe inspiring. the green sprawled out in all directions, rivers, lakes and hudson sparkling in the sun, and the elemental islands adding their individual touches. beyond was the city, copied and newly constructed areas rising in the distance.


    fundamentally, it was impossible for the 10-kilometre-wide guild hall to fit into the also 10-kilometre-wide hudson barrier. the guild hall distorted space around it to fit, nicely blended over by the water separating the areas.


    the entire party stood by the edge.


    nathalia faced john. “i do not care much about your subjects,” she stated. “i’ve never cared much for most people, humans least of all. most of you are fleeting by my standards. fragile in the short span of time you occupy in my life. even your organizations, warbands, tribes, nations, guilds, whatever you wish to call them, they pass me by. things that last for less than a hundred years are hardly worth my attention.” she gestured at his guild hall. “this impresses me. that alone would not be enough to convince me of what i will say next... however, i do love you, john, and if i am going to bind myself to you, then i might as well defend that in which our children will grow up.” she took a final breath, before uttering the words that bound her to john that little bit closer. “i will be fusion’s patron goddess.”


    a window opened to confirm the decision on his side. hastily he pressed the yes button, before nathalia could be annoyed with any hesitation on this decision.


    and several more windows followed.