Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 39. Hearts in The Ruins

They followed the woman to a townhouse that was only partly falling down. The dress was visible through a hole in the rubble.

It was covered in soot but still whole. The problem was that the structure around it was weak and could fall apart at any time.

Natasha looked at the situation and said, "I can freeze the area to make it stable, but I’ll need someone to get the dress quickly while I keep the ice structure up."

Rick immediately said, "I’ll do it."

Natasha nodded and lifted her staff. Ice spread over the broken building, making a temporary support structure. "You have thirty seconds. Go!"

Rick didn’t think twice. He squeezed through the opening, carefully grabbed the dress, and pulled himself out just as Natasha’s ice started to break. The building creaked in a scary way, but it stayed up until he was safe.

The older woman held the dress to her chest and cried. "Thanks."

"Oh gods, thank you... both of you..."

"This was my mother’s, and it would have been my daughter’s one day... you have given me back a part of my family."

She hugged Rick tightly, and then she started hugging Natasha too. The ice mage stood still, clearly not pleased with the show of emotion, but Rick could feel her happiness through the bond.

[COMFORT TO EXP ACTIVATED]

[+60 EXP: ITEM THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED FOUND]

[SEDUCE TO EXP TURNED ON]

[+20 EXP: THANKFULNESS EXPRESSED WITH DEEP LOVE]

[SOPHIA WEATHERBY’S LOVE: 0 → 4]

Rick said to Natasha as they worked together, "We should work together more often."

"Your magic lets me do things I couldn’t do by myself."

Natasha said, "You make things bearable that I’d rather avoid." This was probably the closest she came to saying she liked working with him.

"I’m not very good at dealing with people."

"Well, at least you still want to help them. That’s what counts."

Rick’s skills and Natasha’s magical accuracy made them a fantastic team for the rest of the afternoon. They kept dozens of other valuable things, each one representing a person’s cherished memories or family history.

As the night went on, Rick’s experience grew steadily from all the real help and comfort he had given.

[Total gained today: +385]

[LEVEL UP! FROM LEVEL 12 TO LEVEL 13]

Rick saw Carmilla again at a community dinner in the central plaza. The city had come together to feed everyone who was working on rebuilding, and the mood was surprisingly cheerful given the situation.

"Did you have a productive day?" Carmilla asked as she gave him a bowl of stew.

"Pretty much. I believe I helped about twenty people in different ways." Rick sat next to her and enjoyed the simple pleasure of eating hot food after a long day at work. "What about you?"

"Coordinated three construction crews, stopped two buildings from falling down, and talked a builder out of using bad materials." Carmilla smiled. "Quite productive, huh?"

Liora came in and sat down next to Rick. She looked calm as usual, but when she met his gaze, her amber eyes sparkled with knowledge. "Hello, Rick~."

"I hope you’re feeling better after all the work you’ve done..."

Rick almost choked on his stew. "Thanks, I’m fine."

"S-Shit... she came out of the blue just like that...! Don’t tell me tonight I’ll get the same treatment again?!"

"Not that I denied it or anything..."

"I’m sure you are." Liora’s smile was completely innocent, but Rick could feel her happiness through their spiritual connection. "I dedicated the day to blessing construction sites and aiding injured workers." Honestly... it was a lot of good work."

Carmilla looked back and forth between them, her face showing that she understood. "Rick, is there something Natasha and I should know about when you two act... different somehow?"

"Nothing important," Rick said right away.

Liora said, "He slept with me last night," as she sipped her wine. "It was a lot of fun."

Carmilla’s eyebrows went up. People turned to look, and the conversations nearby stopped. Rick wished the ground would eat him up.

Rick said, "You could have been more subtle about that."

"Why?" Liora’s face stayed calm. "We’re all grown-ups. These things happen when people love each other. I’m not ashamed of it."

At that moment, Natasha showed up with her own food. She sighed when she saw Rick’s shocked face and Carmilla’s shocked face. "What did I miss?"

Carmilla said plainly, "Rick and Liora slept together last night... Apparently..."

"Ah." Natasha sat down in a calm way. "That explains the rush of emotions I felt through the bond."

"I thought you were having a very vivid dream."

"What the fuck, Sebastian!? You goddamn lying son of a bitch...!" Rick said in his mind to communicate with Sebastian.

"Oh wow... I guess Liora’s pleasure is so strong that the system somehow got bypassed by her so that both of them can feel the fraction of it."

"Please don’t talk about this in public." Rick begged.

"Why not?" Liora really wanted to know. "Being physically close to someone is a natural way to show that you care about them."

"Rick, you’re the Hero of Mature Hearts. Your only goal is to make deep connections with older women. Did you really think those relationships would stay platonic forever?"

Rick said, "I just didn’t think it would happen so quickly."

"Life is short, especially for mortals," Liora said, her voice getting more serious. "That was shown yesterday."

"A dragon attacked, people died, and we were all reminded that life is very fragile."

"I realized I would rather not waste time being coy about how much I liked you when I felt through our link how close you came to death."

She put her hand on top of Rick’s. "I wanted you to know how I felt, and I wanted to do something about it while we both still could." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"I don’t feel bad about it."

"Me neither," Rick said quietly, looking her in the eye. "I just wish I had known how to tell Carmilla and Natasha without making it weird."

Carmilla said softly, "We’re bonded partners."

"We’re going to learn things about each other, and that includes things that happen in love." She stopped. "Even though I’m interested in how this changes the bond dynamics."

Rick said firmly, "It doesn’t change anything."

"You’re both still my partners. My relationship with Liora is different, but it’s not taking the place of anything."

Natasha said, "Good answer," and her tone made it sound like she was testing him. "You should know that Carmilla and I talked about this possibility."

"We knew that your relationships would eventually become romantic and physical. As long as you’re honest with us, we’re fine with it."

Rick promised, "Always."

"Then there’s no issue." Carmilla held up her cup. "To complicated relationships and the hero who is brave enough to deal with them."

They raised their glasses, and the awkward moment was over. The plaza kept going with its evening activities. People were eating, talking, and slowly rebuilding their sense of community after the attack.

Rick could only see Sebastian on his shoulder. "Good job."

"You could have messed up that conversation in a big way, but you were honest and polite. Now that I don’t doubt your strongest power and skill are honesty and politeness."

"I’m almost proud."

"Almost?"

"Don’t push it. You have six more days until the Dragon Queen gets here, and she will have something to say about the new people you’re dating."

"This is only going to get harder."

Rick sighed but couldn’t say anything. His life had gotten very complicated, very quickly. He had a lot of romantic interests, a prophecy to fulfill, a world to save, and a Dragon Queen who had shown an unsettling interest in how he "smelled."

But Rick was thankful for how complicated things were because he could see that all three women around him were strong and amazing in their own way and had chosen to stand by him despite everything. This was true even if it meant dealing with relationship problems that would make a soap opera writer jealous.

Rick said, "Six more days."

"Then the Dragon Queen shows up, and things get even more complicated."

Liora said, "Looking forward to it," with a sly smile.

Rick made a noise of pain, but he was also smiling. Let the problems happen he said in his mind.

He would deal with them the same way he had dealt with everything else in this new life. With honesty, bravery, and, it seems, a growing group of older women who thought he was interesting. The Hero of Mature Hearts was living up to his name, whether he liked it or not.