I couldn't think of anything else to call it other than a date.

  Mood lighting, room already ordered, food on the way, just got done helping her enact vengeance, made both of us more money than we had seen in our entire lives, and had enough magical gear and css levels to take on monsters I thought I would only see in months, if not years.

  I thought for a few seconds.

  Again, due to Chagrin's absurd intelligence, this body and brain could think dozens of times faster than normal. It wasn't as though my perception of reality was changing- it wasn't like some form of super speed or time dition. It was just the neurons in my brain fired far, far faster than anything I had before I had gotten into this body. It wasn't as though my eyes or body could always keep up with how fast I was thinking.

  In the few seconds as I muttered an "Uhhh..." I had to make several decisions.

  First, was it a good idea to pursue a romantic retionship with Bucket?

  Bucket had a good build, stats-wise, as far as I could understand. She was practical, had the artillerist subcss, and was an artificer. Goblin was by no means a bad race to have, given that it had things like Fury of the Small, Darkvision, and Nimble Escape. She was incredibly intelligent, which meant we wouldn't have any issues with our pns or ideas for progress. She was currently very loyal to me, given the mission we just finished, and she clearly had feelings for me, due to reasons already known. She was by no means a bad option.

  I think if I were to have been just myself transported here, I would have probably taken her upstairs on the spot. My incubus blood was screaming at me to do so, to the point where I was worried about making a loud thump with my third leg against the underside of the table.

  Yet, I knew I needed more. Bucket would be able to make all manner of useful items, infusions, and would be a great assistant in combat. Part of me wondered if there could, realistically, be better options than her.

  Would it be realistic to aim for the hand of a goddess, a princess, or a queen in marriage? Could I take on multiple partners? Was that a thing?

  I looked back on the culture of the nd, if such a thing was even acceptable. While it was optimal to have multiple in love with you for the sake of group loyalty and cohesive tactics, it would be a logistical nightmare to maintain

  Historically and by royal precedent, having consorts was the norm, and many nobles participated. This was due to the need for many casters and warriors in a family to maintain household strength. With multiple strong husbands or wives, one could very readily defend their home and trust in their partners, rather than depending on hired or paid knights, no matter how loyal. The gods were known for their own various inter-divine shenanigans, and so religious context held little standing either.

  It came down to racial culture. Humans, it varied. For elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes, who all lived incredibly long lives, were bipor in their nature- either pick one partner to spend the rest of your life with, or have unbelievably exciting sexual lives with multiple partners, married or not. Half-orcs and other monstrous races, including tieflings, tended to be a bit all over the pce as well- generally favoring partners who were either easy to dominate and control, or ones that were stronger than themselves to produce greater offspring.

  "Fuck you!" One of the dwarves shouted as he punched the other.

  "You hit like your mother!" The other shouted back, taking the hit to the chin and returning it with a throat chop.

  The crowd of folks shouted and cmored, making bets and spilling drinks. Bucket giggled as her eyes gnced that way for a moment.

  When it came to polyamory, or an individual having a sort of harem, there were really only two circumstances where this was considered normal. Either A, a monster like a troll or a giant, captured and ensved multiple women for their own pleasure. B, a royal, a noble, or perhaps a particurly popur or powerful adventurer, had multiple spouses, consorts, or mistresses due to incredible political standing, strength, power, money, and so on.

  So to summarize, it wasn't something commonly seen, but it wasn't surprising either. More than anything, it was difficult to pull off, as most people still wanted one partner, since sharing emotions can be difficult.

  Personally, and likely influenced by my now incubus nature, I wouldn't mind having multiple partners. I knew I had my own lustful tendencies, and these were only exacerbated by the fact that I had the body I did. Sure, having the ridiculous anatomy I did was... cool, as one way to put it... It also meant my compatibility with other people either meant reserving myself for creatures rger than I, making smaller creatures bigger through magic, or finding other wild means to make things work through magic.

  Back to Bucket- given her upbringing as a goblin, I knew that it was very common for them to have multiple mates at a time, and many times, simultaneously. I didn't think she would be opposed to me taking on other mates ter, or partners, or whatever you wanted to call it, but would she? Was I ok with that?

  The st thing I had considered when entering this world filled with beautiful people was entering a retionship. My first and foremost priority had been getting more power and surviving. I was pretty healthy after surviving. I'm sure I had enemies coming after me, but not ones I couldn't reasonably handle. Was it ok for me to find pleasures and pastimes here? To learn to take things a bit slower?

  Things had changed, and so had my mindset. I had made it out of the early game, or the early stages of D&D. No more counting copper pieces to make due, no more begging for meals. The fact that I had been given a room without issue made that clear.

  I had a choice now. I had individual decisions. I was less restrained; I had earned more freedom.

  And so, a decision had to be made. If I were to go and get all this power, theoretically, to one day bend reality and make wishes like a fully fledged wizard would, it would only be fitting to have a harem, wouldn't it? Was that something I wanted, or was it this body? Was it Chagrin's hidden desires? Was it even a good thing to want something like that when I was still only level 7? Wasn't that greedy? Was there even room to question it, if the power I would have could justify it and defend it? Who could argue or make compints against someone powerful enough to bend time and bring down meteor swarms?

  I answered Bucket's question, filled with a sense of confidence I hadn't had before. One that almost felt dirty, but it was backed by emotions I had been mostly ignoring for the past number of days. I did like Bucket, and she liked me. What was wrong about delving into a retionship when the feelings were mutual?

  Finally answering her question, even though hardly two seconds had passed,

  "Yes, this is our first date. One of many, I'd like to imagine." I said, my nervous expression almost unnaturally shifting to a rexed smile.

  Bucket looked surprised, her eyebrows rising.

  "Oh, really? I didn't expect that from you. Why the shift?" She asked, keeping one raised in aquizzicall manner.

  "I can't find a single reason not to," I said, gncing to see when the food might arrive. I could smell a few warm meals brewing up in the back of the inn, wafting from the kitchen, so I knew it would be soon.

  "You sure know how to make a dy grin, or am I just easy?" She was all questions now.

  "Anything but. Need I remind you we saved each other's lives?" I said, for what had to have been the third or fourth time. Still, it felt less like romance and more like two hopelessly horny nerds trying to justify why sleeping together was a good idea.

  It was a damn good reason, I had to admit. Plus, what kind of guy in my shoes would pass up on something like Bucket? Are you kidding?

  "That is true, that is true... still, we should slow down for just a few moments. Let's keep to the date, at least for a little while. Chagrin, tell me, where did you learn magic like that?" She asked, her tone getting a bit more serious, although the grin spread across her face told me there was plenty of teasing to come.

  Looking back in Chagrin's memories for a moment, he had really only been a sort of acolyte by day, smith by night type of cleric. All the wizardry had come from me, abusing his initial stats and my own influence on his character to press into the arcane.

  "When I was a bit younger, I had spent some time in a church in a small town I fled to. Due to my outward appearance, the town banished me. When I was out surviving on my own, I grew to devote myself to Eldath, who had no reason to deny me. I've been faithful to her since, and she's granted me a great deal of magical benevolence." I said calmly.

  "I'm sorry to hear about those vilgers, and I'm sorry for what they did to you." She said solemnly, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands in her p.

  "You mentioned fleeing to that. What were you fleeing from?" She asked, tilting her head.

  I inhaled sharply, unsure whether to mention my noble upbringing.

  "Well, I used to be the son of a noble. Rather, adoptive son. My mother had some run-ins with an incubus, which resulted in my birth. My father wasn't pleased, and because of the hit to his reputation, he exiled me. I know little of what has been made of his house since, but I know he sent several individuals after me. I think they may still be hunting me, but I haven't encountered them for quite some time now."

  She only nodded, and not wanting to let everything become somber, I shifted the conversation.

  "Now that you have your anvil back, what is the first thing you'll make on it?" I asked, shedding a smile.

  Her eyes lit up at the question, her ears perking instantly.

  "Oh, let me tell yah! I want to make some Armor of Invulnerability, but add some Immovable Rods so I can be unstoppable! With that, I could essentially float wherever I'd like, making scaffolding void, and most forms of danger meaningless! If I add some of these Lungs of Ventition we found, and then get some means of propulsion, I could even go to space! See the stars!" Her voice was giddy and fast-paced, so fast that any normal eavesdropper would have a hard time keeping up.

  "That sounds incredible. What makes you want to go to space? To see the stars?" I quizzed.

  If her eyes were stars, they'd be wider than the sun.

  "Have you ever heard of a Nautiloid? One of the first ever spacecraft! Manned by mind fyers, it's more biological than mechanical! Yet they can traverse the void of space, move between pnes, teleport, and even have siege weapons! They're incredibly rare, but, oh, the things I would give to see one! I want to go to space, find one, commandeer it, and make it my own! Or even design a ship of my own to take to space! The unknowns that exist out there- I hear the moon is made of adamantite! Do you know the riches that could be made from mining on the moon?!" It was like her own mouth was having trouble keeping up with how quickly she spoke, but she had clearly given this some thought.

  "I could take inspiration from the Apparatus of Kwalish, give it big arms and legs, and have it scuttle along the surface! Make a big ol' quarry, and mine away until I've got piles of gold on par with an ancient dragon! OH, how the riches I'd have would st for generation after generation..." She practically started drooling.

  "Space is the final frontier! It's infinite in size and distance, with so much to explore! Sure, other dimensions exist, but I hear you can reach them via space; you don't even need portals! I want to go to space and explore it all- find new worlds! Find new pnes! Find new treasures and make my mark on it all!" She was up in her chair now, waving her arms around as if she were combing through the stars with her fingers.

  I could only ugh and smile as she continued her little rant, and it was honestly adorable.

  "That is one hell of a dream, Bucket, but I know you could do it. Where would you go first, once you got your ship?" I asked.

  She had to think for a little while before she answered.

  "Oh, I've heard of this pce called Ravnica. It's a huge city over the entire pnet! I'm told the technology there is incredible and unlike anything we've seen here. I'd go there first, pick up a bunch of cool stuff, and then vanish off somewhere beyond. There's just so much to do when you can go anywhere and see everything, yknow?" Her smile was stunning. I couldn't get enough of it.

  "So, what's the first step in getting your ship? Are you going to steal one from some mind fyers? Or make it yourself? How do you even power something like that?" I asked, genuinely curious. She was far more technologically savvy than Chagrin or I was, so her words here mattered.

  She shook her head and smmed her hands on the table as she sat back down.

  "Stay with me, Chagrin, ok? You're in for a ride!" She excimed, before pulling out some parchment from her bag and getting a quill and ink bottle.

  Bucket began to furiously draw across the parchment, sketching up schematics for what looked to be something simir to a spaceship- it was shaped like an orb, with a bunch of interior rooms with all manner of machines I couldn't recognize- the outside was coated in what I could only guess to be weapons, thrusters for propulsion, and a lot of protective pting.

  "Alright, listen here. First, we need elementals, and a LOT of them! We can get some items to conjure and control them, bind them to the ship permanently through high-level spells of Pnar Binding, and then keep them contained with some magical alloys. They act as our source of air, fuel, ammunition, water, and propulsion. The entire thing needs to be airtight, so we can stay inside without depending on magic items to breathe- but we would still want those in case we get damaged by giant astral creatures. Canons need to be magical in nature, too, of course, as well as almost every single routing system in the entire ship. Magic Mouth will be used to wire it all together, so unless we go through an anti-magic field, we can control the whole ship with our words. Now, given there's no sound out in space, we'll still have regur controls stationed around the ship, but..."

  Bucket went on for the next half hour in great detail about the ship she pnned to design and build in the future. Our food came and went, as the parchment got stained with stews and sauces from our meal. I pitched in with questions and discernments, offering ideas for useful spells we could implement to enchant the spaceship. It steadily turned into something much rger than the pod she had envisioned, with on-board teleportation circles, anti-boarding parameters, anti-divination chambers, and various other defenses that could be crammed onto the station.

  It was a wonderful thing to think about, and Bucket seemed all the more enamored as we went on and on. The fight pit eventually ended, as the two dwarves ended up breaking an arm and a jaw in the process. Many of the patrons had left or gone to their rooms for the night, all while Bucket and I continued the drawing of something I could really only deem the most defended vessel ever.

  What had been a date turned into a blueprint bonanza- not that I was compining. If this is what my retionship with Bucket was going to be, I had absolutely no compints.

  When Bucket had run out of ink, and our bowls and ptes were empty, we both looked at the schematics and blueprints with pride. She looked up at me, locking her fingers with mine in one hand.

  "Y'know, Chagrin, I think I'd make you my first mate aboard my ship. Not just in title..." Her eyes had a devious glimmer in them, and one I returned in kind.

  "We may need some additional support around the bedding areas, if I am to understand what you mean," I said, slowly getting out of my chair.

  Her hand drifted out of mine as she rolled up the papers and stood up as well, and we both set down some coinage on the table for the meal, before making our way towards our room.

  The rest of my problems outside this inn, outside Bucket and I's little brainstorming session seemed so small.

  "Maybe if you put on some muscle, I can take that comment seriously." She grinned, giving me another nudge to my side.

  "Just you wait, you'll see. Give me a few months, and I'll be tough enough not to need this belt." I said, unlocking the door to our room.

  "Mhm, and in the meantime, I'll appreciate the 'humble' Chagrin I've got." She said with a grin, skipping in as I held the door for her, before she jumped up and sat down on the bed.

  I stepped in and locked the door behind me before moving to turn on the ntern on the bedside table.

  I heard her already beginning to unfasten her belts and drop her gear on the floor, and I knew the time I had been both hoping for and dreading was coming.

  Was I ready for this? The possible rejection? The anatomical incompatibility? Everything below the belt was screaming to get to it, yet everything above my neck was worried sick over how this would even work. Was I reading the situation wrong? This was the time, right? She'd been practically oggling me since we beat the Ice Devil, so it only made sense, no? We were well past friends, no? Yet we hadn't even kissed? She'd held my arm, we went on our first date- was this against cultural norms? I wasn't even confidently able to say this went against Earth's cultural norms, given all the horrors of the dating scene before I got sent here.

  Did it matter? I asked that so often. Did it, though? If it felt right, did it matter? Did it feel right? So much of me said it did, including my heart. Hearing Bucket rant about how we could abuse artificial mana leylines to increase power output exponentially had me more excited than I wanted to admit. My head was telling me to be cautious, paranoid, and worried. I was maybe a week, two weeks into this world? And I had struggled for years and years with previous romantic partners on Earth? Was this just circumstances? Was this just luck?

  Bucket coughed, and I snapped back to reality.

  I turned to look, and I felt my entire face go dark yellow in flush again.

  She sat there, bare, leaning back on her hands, grinning ear to ear.

  "Sooo.... are we gonna be loud enough to get kicked out of town? Or are you casting Silence so we can get ten minutes of heaven?"