Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 59: Way to the Mountain
"Well... then it’s decided."
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[NEW QUEST ADDED]
◊ Quest: The Extinguished Forge
◊ Objectives:
- Locate Resonance Crystal
- Locate Fragment of Blacksmith’s Ember
◊ Reward: Vorath’s sword (partial restored).
``
"Mr. Gandloaf, do you have a map or something to guide us in the mountains?" Kira asked practically.
"Yes, I do..." Gandloaf said, going inside his house to get it.
Haru waited for him to leave and turned to the others, confused. "But didn’t he say he’s a dwarf?"
"What do you mean!?"
"Like..." Haru gestured vaguely, remembering the fantasies he had watched, played, and read in his previous life. "...dwarves are short. Some are even a bit mischievous, with long beards, kind of stocky..."
He looked at the door through which Gandloaf had left. "Why on earth is Gandloaf almost 2 meters tall!?"
"I grew too much..." said Gandloaf, returning with an old map and bronze compass, having heard the question.
"How did you grow so much!?" Yukihime asked excitedly, her eyes shining. "I want to too!"
"Hopefully you’ll grow after my death..." Haru thought, looking at her, remembering the absurd boss fight against adult Yukihime "...the boss you become is very OP and I don’t know if you’ll always be good..."
"Well... I ate too much, that’s all." Gandloaf replied, handing the map and compass to Kira.
It was clearly a lie, but nobody pressed her.
"Let’s go then!" Haru said.
...They unhooked the horses from the cart and climbed aboard, heading towards the mountains that rose to the northeast.
"Why is he like that on the horse?" The guard asked, watching Haru and Kira walk away. Haru was standing on the horse’s back as the animal galloped.
Isabela sighed. "He says sitting on a horse is something from fantasy movies, and other things..."
"What’s a movie?!" Yukihime asked on behalf of everyone, confused.
Isabela turned and started walking back to the forge. "You’re not ready to know."
"And do you know, Miss Isabela?" the guard asked curiously.
"I never said I know what a movie is... apparently I’m not ready either."
...
They arrived after a three-hour ride. The mountain rose steeply ahead, dark rock covered in dense vegetation at its base but becoming increasingly arid as it climbed.
They tied up the horses, grabbed minimal supplies, and began the ascent.
Haru turned the map haphazardly, upside down, sideways, spinning it, trying to make sense of the symbols and lines.
"Wow! How do you guys even read this?!"
He was right, in his previous life he had never used a physical map. It was GPS here and there, apps that showed exactly where to go. Maps were for knowing where things were, not for getting to them.
"Give it here, master." Kira said, taking the map, not snatching it like Isabela would, but with natural firmness.
As they walked up the narrow path, Haru couldn’t stop looking at Kira.
She was focused there, looking at the map, checking the compass, comparing it to the surrounding terrain. She knew exactly what she was doing. Fox ears twitching, picking up sounds. Profile of her against the sunlight...
"Kira is beautiful... heheheh, a beastkin for the harem hehehhe..."
```
[HUNTER’S EYE: ACTIVATED]
◊ Target: Kira
◊ Analyzing weaknesses...
◊ Physical: Motion sickness (vehicles), sensitive hearing
◊ Emotional: Loyalty to Yukihime (exploitable via...
◊ [SYSTEM: Analysis interrupted by user]
```
Kira noticed Haru’s gaze and turned to him.
"Hey, master, what’s wrong?!"
Haru just kept staring without answering.
Kira looked down at his own body. "It’s this dress, isn’t it... I knew I should have chosen my size... this one makes me look so fat!"
She stopped walking, grabbed the dress from behind, and pulled. The thin fabric clung to her skin like a second layer, revealing every curve with almost indecent precision.
Her narrow, defined waist stood out, descending in a perfect arc to her wide, round, and firm hips.
Her thick, shapely thighs pressed against the dress, the fabric stretching over her warm, soft flesh, highlighting every subtle muscle.
Her chest rose and fell with each breath, making her full, perky breasts stand out against the fabric. Her hardened nipples clearly marked the thin cloth, as if begging to be noticed.
She lifted her face, looking at Haru, biting the corner of her lower lip. "Is this better, Master...?"
"It’s perfect..." Haru murmured, his voice low and husky, almost reverent.
He turned his face slowly, like someone who had just... witness something sacred and at the same time obscenely beautiful.
For a whole second, Haru remained in absolute silence, in a strange, almost religious peace.
"Imagine having her and Isabela in bed..." Haru took a deep breath like a monk, beginning to find inner peace. "...I will be the luckiest deflowered guy in the world..."
"It’s decided then. A few more girls and... the harem will be complete...I will be the king of the Harem!"
"I miss masturbating... when I get to the capital I promise to do it for a month straight, 3 times a day..."
Kira looked at him now with half-closed eyes, watching Haru unconsciously gesture his thoughts with his hands.
"Why do I feel like master is thinking something perverse?"
"Me, who?!" Haru snapped back to reality, his posture erect like a virtuous monk. "Never!"
A cold wind came suddenly, sharp and unnatural.
Kira stopped abruptly.
She sniffed the air, her nose twitching, her ears perked up, capturing everything.
Her posture changed completely, predator on alert. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on the trail ahead.
"Wrong smell."
Haru immediately became serious. "Monster?"
"No." Dry reply. "Absence."
Haru remembered that she had Kira’s shared Trait, but had never focused on using it properly. She closed her eyes, trying to sniff the air as She did.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"But I don’t smell anything?" he said, confused.
Kira looked at him, her eyes serious.
"Exactly, master. That’s the problem."
The day was beginning to end, the sun setting behind the mountains, casting long shadows. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Walking further, they found signs of massacre outside the village.
Dried blood on stones scattered along the trail, dark stains that had been red days before.
No footprints around the blood. As if the creatures had been killed in mid-air and left to fall.
Trailing animal tracks deer, boars, rabbits, all pointing away from the mountain, somewhat faded by the previous rain but still visible.
Deep marks in the ground, like giant claws had torn the earth.
And then... nothing. Absolute silence. No birds. No insects. No rustling of leaves in the wind.
"Whatever was here..." Kira murmured, looking around tensely, "...scared everything away." And now the mountain forest is... empty."
"Could it be the so-called Culprit One?" Kira asked. "The one Mr. Gandloaf spoke of?"
Haru looked at the marks on the ground, then at the trail ahead that climbed ever steeper.
"I don’t know... But if it is..." we’ll have to be very careful."
They continued climbing in silence, attentive to every sound, every movement, as night began to fall over the empty mountains.
Kira stopped walking, she slowly... turned her head back.
"Master..."
The voice came out low.
"We’re being followed."
