Zero to Hero: A High Fantasy Harem Romance LitRPG

"If that old bag makes me sit on that stupid cushion and close my stupid eyes in that stupid hall in front of that stupid statue one more time..." Vral foot stomped her boot onto the dirt trail we'd been travelling for the past ten minutes, causing her wavy black hair to fall past her sharp jaw and striking red eyes. "I... I'll..." She huffed. "I'll do something malicious!"

Ever since we left the Light's Hope Temple for Goodfield, she'd been huffing and grumbling with every step. Her finally opening up was a significant improvement.

"Ohh, Scary. You're really keeping that edge of yours sharp, Slasher." I looked her out of the side of my eye and grinned.

"Shut up." The little goblin crossed her arms over her ample chest and turned her chin up. "I'm still Vral the Slasher, damn it, even if you two have tamed me a little. Still, I'm just as dangerous as I ever was. You both better stay on your toes around me. Especially you, boy toy."

"Damn, you haven't called me that in a minute!" I stuck my tongue out at her. "I must have struck a nerve."

"Tch, yeah right. Nothing you say could ever bother me."

I chuckled. "Mhmm."

"So..." Tristan stepped closer to Vral. "What I'm hearing is that meditating's been going well, huh?" Tristan's sapphire eyes sparkled with mischief as she thrust her wide, shapely hip into Vral's shoulder.

That hip check caused the kettle that was Vral to boil over. "No! It's not going well!" Vral stomped the dirt again, causing a nearby squirrel to chitter angrily at her. Whipping her head toward the irritated woodland critter, she pointed a black fingernail at the thing and snarled, "What are you lookin' at, furry?!"

With a squeak, the squirrel vanished up its tree. A second later, an acorn struck the little goblin on the top of the head.

"Ow!" A half-dozen throwing daggers appeared between Vral's knuckles. "You're dead, squirrel meat!"

Before she could throw one, Tristan grabbed her wrist. "It's not the squirrel's fault you're finally not good at something, Vral. Don't take out your anger on the poor thing."

Vral's head whipped upward, her eyes flashing at Tristan. "What do you mean I'm not good at something, elfie?!"

"You heard me. You're finally not good at something. It's about damn time, too." Tristan laughed. "You're good at everything."

"Tch!" She nibbled on her thumbnail for a good minute before speaking again. "You kicked our ass at that stupid throwing competition back in Galden! And I still can barely fucking read! I ain't shit!"

"Yeah, and I got a stupid title for my trouble. Never-Miss Tris..." Tristan shook her head. "I'm going to find that halfling and throttle him. How'd he even give me that title, anyway?"

"It's funny you say that. I was thinking the other day about how Arturus gave me both of my titles, too. It must be something he can do. I'll have to ask him about it next time we see him."

"Huh." Tristan laughed. "While you do that, I'll ask him to give me a better one."

"Yeah, well, at least you two can see your titles! I can't see a damn thing! I'm starting to think all this system shit is just you all fucking with me!"

"You'll see it. Just give it a little more time, love." Tristan was always so supportive.

"Argh!" Vral ran her fingers through her hair. "Everyone keeps saying that! But I don't get it." She pointed her thumb at me. "Our veshkul'tha here has gone from backwoods badass to epic warrior in two months of training with grumble dwarf and blondie." She slapped my armored thigh with the back of her hand. "And in the same amount of time, you've learned half of all the spells available to the temple from your hot ass cousin!" Her shoulder nudged Tristan's hip. "Meanwhile, I've been sitting on my ass for two straight months looking at a statue and humming to myself!"

"I wish I'd learned that many spells." Tristan sighed. "I'm currently learning spell six. That's all." She wiped her face with her hands. "I still have so much work to do, and there's barely any time left to do it."

"Still!"

"You'll get it." I reached out and brushed Vral's hair, which had gotten quite a bit longer since we'd returned to Light's Hope Temple two months ago, behind her long, pointed ear. "It took me over a year to figure it out. If you do it in three months, you'll put me, let alone your entire race, to shame."

"As much as I'd like to show you up, it's not possible!" She threw her hands up. "Goblins can't do it! This is all a waste of time!"

"Mother Varga doesn't think so," Tristan's voice turned sincere. "She's certain you're close to a breakthrough. You just need a little break to clear your head. That's why she sent us out to help Nivan and Nel in Goodfield."

"Thank the Dark Father's sweaty sack..." Vral sighed. "I was going nuts in that place." She kicked a mushroom, casting a puff of spores through the air.

"You big brat." Tristan rested a hand on Vral's shoulder.

"I am a brat!" Vral shouted. "And you love it!"

"I never said I didn't."

I laughed. Stepping forward, I squeezed her shoulder. "It'll all work out." With those words, I took the lead. As much as I'd been enjoying the view of the girls walking in front of me, I was excited to get to Goodfield and wanted to set a faster pace.

It normally took four to five days to get to Goodfield. Courtesy of my [Grit] talent, which was granted to me by my fighter class back when I first unlocked the system, I couldn't really get exhausted. I was planning to do the trip in two days, but that would only happen if I pushed us. Luckily, the return trip would be instant since I'd marked the Temple as one of my recall locations.

Chosen abilities were the best.

"Hey, Nivan and Nel aren't going anywhere, you know?" Tristan sped up and locked step with me on my left.

"I know, but I'm excited." I walked a little faster. They could handle it. "I haven't seen them in a while. I'm looking forward to seeing them."

When I'd disappeared after getting sent to fight with Vral in the Pit—a coliseum, prison, and slave market that used to operate in Khozad'Thar until the Templars and I dismantled it—Nivan and Nel, two of the junior templars of the temple who'd been not-so-secretly dating around when Tristan and I realized we were in love with one another after a year of miscommunication, decided to get married.

Then, after they'd stayed with us in Khadrel's manor back in Khozad'Thar after I'd been rescued, they returned to the temple, got hitched, and decided to take on the vacant village chief spot in Goodfield. Word was, they'd been doing a great job running the village. Also, Nel recently found out she was pregnant.

So, this little trip of ours was to both help them with a little monster problem they were having and to give them our love and some wedding gifts in person. Oh, and we were going to check in with Bertram and Bethany and get some more of their cheese before leaving on our next quest.

"What if she pops before we get there?" Vral asked as she found her place at my right side.

Tristan laughed. "She's not that pregnant. It's only been two months since she didn't have her cycle."

"Oh. Gross. I was sick as hell at two months. I don't envy her. Not one bit."

"I remember that. I held your hand most nights." Tristan smiled. "That was really bonding."

"Yeah, and I had hair duty." She'd usually kept her short on Earth, but after she got pregnant, she let it grow out. It never did get long enough to tie back, though, so I held it back when she got sick.

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"Ugh, yeah. And Stella rubbed my back. That was the best."

My heart skipped a beat. "Yeah, it was."

Two months ago, we'd descended into the Depths with Faye and entered an alternate world called a road. In it, the three of us lived eight years of life together back on Earth. Toward the end of our time there, Vral had gotten pregnant, and we'd had a child in time for Christmas. Then, the dream crumbled, and we fought our hardest battle to date.

However, while none of it had been real, and we'd done our best to process our collective sense of loss for what could have been, we still had countless memories from that fake world. My sister, who'd passed away back in the real-world version of Earth when I was nineteen, was one of them. In that fake world we'd entered, I'd made different decisions, which meant she'd never died, so we got to live a whole life together. It really had been the best.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I added, "Plus, we only have a month left before we're starting our next quest. We can't dick around."

That set Vral off again. "That's what I'm saying! I want to fight and get stronger with you! At this rate, you'll both leave me in the dust, and then what?"

I couldn't exactly challenge her words. I had learned a lot since returning to Light's Hope. Renard, the dwarf paladin who called the temple home, had made it his personal mission to train me and Ro-Saleh, Tristan's sun elf almost brother-in-law, from sunup to sundown in preparation for the quests we'd been given. My party, composed of me, Tristan, and Vral, had been charged by the Divine Hero Faye, the hero of Reial, the world I happened to get pulled into by accident three-ish years ago by the Goddess of this world, with cleansing an old place of power from the Fourth Era called Embermist Keep.

Meanwhile, Ro and his crew, including Na-Ya, Tristan's maternal cousin, Jorn, a middle-aged templar who'd recently been cleaning up his act ever since he had a steamy love affair with a witch whose name none of us could remember, and Maven, the temple's resident ranger, were heading west to Velmire, the adjacent duchy. Turns out, while we all had gone into Copperhold to find the blacksmith Dorit, Khadrel and Elise had time to uncover who tried to assassinate us and why.

Apparently, the Crimson Kingdom, a large syndicate of criminals and smugglers who seemed to have a hand in every region in Istaera, and the Hands of the Fallen, a cult dedicated to reclaiming the dark powers used at the end of the Fourth Era, had been operating in the duchy adjacent to ours ever since they'd been removed from Khozard'Thar. And, one of the lords of Calvareth, a piece of shit lord I knew from my time in the Pit named Riall d'Farin, had been the one who planned the attack, using the powers of the black blades we'd found and a large number of innocent refugees to hide his involvement. He'd since been executed for his crimes, and his family was stripped off the d'Farin name.

Tristan sighed. "It's not like I'm as strong as either of you, Vral. You both are way stronger than me. If you're that worried about being weak, then what does that make me?"

"I mean, you're weak right now, but you won't be forever."

Tristan frowned. "Neither will you."

"You heard Faye! I'm at my plateau! If I can't unlock the system, then I'll end up being dead weight!"

It was my turn to chime in. "You could never be dead weight, Vral."

"Sure, you say that now, but what about later, huh? If I don't stay strong, what use will you have for me?" Vral's voice had started to shake slightly. "This isn't Earth. People aren't worth shit if they're weak. Being strong is the only way to have value here. Doubly so for my blight of a race."

"Hey, none of that." I caught her arm and spun her around so she was facing me. "Don't do that to yourself." Down in the infinite hallway, we'd watched a memory of hers in one of the doorways. Some nobleman told her things like that when she was a little girl. I knew where those words were coming from, and it made my blood boil.

"I mean..." The insecurity was clear on her face. "Would you still want me around if I wasn't strong?" She swallowed. "I couldn't even help you fight those monsters at the seal. I got my shit wrecked. Even Tris was able to keep casting spells to help you, but I couldn't do a damn thing."

"Vral..." Tristan whispered.

"Of course we would, Vral. Why would you even ask that? We've built a whole life together once before. We're in this for the long haul." My chest tightened. It had been a while since Vral had been this insecure. However, with Tristan and I both improving, Vral had been feeling like she'd been standing still. Along with that feeling, her old insecurities had been bubbling up again.

"I mean, that was back on some fake Earth..." She bared her teeth. "Back when I was a real person. But here?..." Shaking her head, she said, "In this world, that's not the case."

"Dont talk about yourself like that."

"It's true! And I never took your hand, so it's not like we're hitched or anything. I know you two love me, and you're both my treasures, but I'll understand when you let me go one day." She gestured at me, then Tristan. "Alex, you're on the road to being a real hero, and Tris, you're going to be one step under the Goddess one day, but I'm..." She pointed at herself. "I'm just some dirty goblin. The only thing I bring to the table is my strength. If I don't even have that, what point is there in keeping me around?"

"I see now..." Tristan whispered beside me.

I didn't know what Tristan was seeing, but what I did know was that I'd been doing my best to redirect Vral whenever feelings like these came up since no amount of talking about them ever seemed to help. I'd thought that Vral's insecurities had faded after we'd walked our road together. Instead, some part of her ended up internalizing that the only reason she'd been able to live a happy life, one where she was valued and fit in, was because she was something other than a goblin.

I didn't know how to tell her how I felt in a way that she could hear, so I'd been trying to redirect away from the anxiety. Just like I was about to do now. "Even if you couldn't hold up in a fight one day, which I don't think will ever be the case, you're passionate, funny, wonderful, and I wouldn't want anyone else by our side. You're one of my two favorite people in the whole world. You're my treasure." I meant it, too.

"Aw!" Tristan gushed. "I agree!"

Another thought came to me. I winked at her. "Plus, you sure are pretty to look at. You think I'd ever let you go?" I was joking, but also... not. Ever since we left the temple, I'd been purposefully walking a little slower so I could get a full view of the immaculate women who'd decided to hitch their carts to mine for some crazy reason. The view had been exquisite.

"He's not wrong. You're a babe." Tristan put her hand on Vral's shoulder. "Have you ever seen yourself?"

"Psh, says the eleven with the thick ass."

"Takes one to know one."

That seemed to shake Vral out of her mood. As a big grin spread across her face, her hips started swaying as she took the lead again. "You two would love that, wouldn't you?"

"What?" I asked.

"To keep me around for your amusement. Or maybe..." Her red eyes almost looked like they were glowing. "Maybe you want your own hot goblin servant, one who's ready and willing to serve your every whim."

"What are you talking about?" I had a feeling her frustrations were coming out sideways. Or maybe she was processing her past a bit? She had seen her childhood play out in those doors not so long ago. We all had. She'd been a servant to some lord, who'd purchased her to be the playmate of a young noble girl named Sophia. Vral's relationship with that girl seemed like it had been the only good one she'd had in her life back then.

Or maybe this was some of her earth personality bleeding through? To be fair, she had been pretty kinky back on Earth. That was most of the reason she'd ended up pregnant. Also, her powerful legs. That leg lock...

"Oh, I know what's in those skulls of yours." She looked over her shoulder at me. "You'd love to me hear me say something like 'Oh, master. You've been gone soooo long. Your day must have been so long and hard. Please let me rub your shoulders... and other things...'" She looked at Tristan next. "Mistress, do you need help putting on your evening gown? I'm quite proficient at dressing... and undressing."

"Where's this coming from, Vral?" Tristan was blushing furiously.

"Where's what coming from?" Vral batted her eyes at the priestess.

"You know what you're doing!" I tried to push the images away. It wasn't the time!

"Master! Mistress! Does this maid outfit fits right? I think it's a little tight on my hips..." She pulled at her leather pants where they hugged her hips.

The image of her in a maid outfit was doing things to me.

"You know, I wouldn't mind serving our 'master' with you sometime, Vral. Maybe we could make a day of it." Tristan's eyes sparkled at me. "Could be fun."

Goddess... Both of them in maid outfits...

"It's been decided!" I slammed my fist into my palm. "We'll be buying you both maid outfits when we get back to Galden!"

"Let's buy them when we go to Fairview." Tristan's voice was breathy. "In fact, we can try all sorts of fun things once we finally take a vacation there."

"Yes." That was all I could say. Just yes. Like a dope.

"Yeah, and we could buy him an outfit too!" Vral smirked at me. "After we serve him for a day, he should serve us for two. You know, since there's two of us and one of him."

"Wait."

"Good idea, Vral! But instead of a maid outfit, we should get him a butler outfit, but we'll throw away the top. Show off those lines of his." Tristan stroked her chin as those lusty eyes of hers looked me over. "Oh, and let's get him some leather pants, too. After he plays the loyal butler, we can have him be our stable boy."

"Yeah! I like that. Let's get him some chains, too."

"Chains?" Tristan looked confused.

I didn't like that idea. I could handle the leather pants, but... "Girls, no chains."

"Yes, chains!" Vral snapped. "Unlike you two assholes, I never got to pound it out in that prison cell. I've got a resentment to resolve and an itch I've been dying to scratch."

Tristan blushed. "Okay, yeah, that was hot. We'll definitely get him some chains."

This conversation was turning against me. Fast. "Maybe we can hold off on the maid outfits. And the chains."

"Nope, it's been decided." Tristan's eyes were turning feral. They did that whenever she and Vral packed up, just like they were doing right now.

Tristan always said that it was something about us having shared roots, which was an elven concept about elves being bonded emotionally with their mates, but it was also a real thing that she experienced, even though she was only a quarter elf.

Also, considering we'd been staying at the temple and the opportunities for sexy time were limited, let alone the fact that everyone there was basically family and it was weird to go hard when the hallways echoed terribly, we hadn't exactly gotten busy in a while.

We were all more than a little pent up.

"Okay, fine, but no chains. I'm cool with the other stuff."

"Don't crush my dreams, asshole!" Vral fell back into step with us. "You owe me."

"Yeah, don't crush her dreams! Or mine! I want to relive that experience!"

The memory floated into my mind. "Okay, yes chains."

"Yessss." Both girls hissed.

I started doing the math. If we could get to Goodfield in a day, we'd have free time for some extracurriculars.

I made an executive decision.

"Girls, we're picking up the pace."