This all went down about 340 days ago, give or take.
In a Rank C-D monster forest near Taracity—a bustling metropolis that makes Seracity look like a backwater village, practically oozing prosperity—I was messing around, copying monster forms and experimenting with some new abilities I'd stumbled upon by accident. All thanks to my usual cheating shenanigans, of course. (I'll save that story for next time, alright? Let's stick to Rick's deal for now, or it'll get confusing.)
Anyway, while I was at it, I heard a scream coming from the edge of the forest, near the dungeon entrance. Concerned, I sent one of my experimental monster clones, a Huwolf disguised as a human with my skills, to check it out. What I found was grim: a Rank C boss monster, Level 160-something, way out of place for this area, had just brutally killed a young woman.
There was no one else around… All I could do was take down the beast without breaking a sweat (since no one was watching, I could go full cheat mode). Then I stashed its corpse for later experiments.
But the real issue wasn't the monster—it was the girl it killed. Who was she? Wandering out here all alone?
Sure, I couldn't bring her back to life, and her face was… well, pretty mangled. But with my abilities, I could tell she was quite the looker in life.
Heh, call me disrespectful to the dead if you want—I'm a bit of a scumbag, I'll admit. No way was I passing up the chance to snag her memories, items, and skills for my separate dimension storage. (Plus, if her memories held anything important or could help someone in trouble, I'd be ready to step in.)
First, I pulled her corpse into my dimension, storing it in a dedicated [Item Box] for bodies, with time completely frozen. (Sorry if that's a bit grim, folks, but zero waste, you know?) Then, using [Perfect Shapeshift] LV.100, I took a few strands of her hair and recreated her "corpse" in its original state, leaving it at the dungeon entrance as a decoy. (Keep the real thing, leave a fake—standard procedure.)
Next, I combined [Doppelganger] LV XXXXX with [Perfect Shapeshift] LV.100 to recreate her as a living copy. Alright, let's see what we've got…
[Status]
Name: Nina, Female, LV.72, SLV.53
Age: 29
Class: Forger (Disguised as White Mage)
Skills:
[High Agility] [Steal] [Lockpick] [Recovery]
Class Skills:
[Forgery] [Mimicry] [Blending In]
[Status]
"Whoa… this body's seriously gorgeous, huh, Huwolf No. 3?"
"I'd know—you're judging Nina's beauty through my eyes."
"Huh, fair point… Alright, let's dig into her memories first."
"Got it."
Gasp! "W-What?! This chick…!"
…
…
"Wait, what's that supposed to mean? Nina's dead? And you three are… her sisters? You're here to return these items to me?"
"Y-Yes, that's right, sir!" Fena said, bowing. "We're so sorry for what our big sister did!"
"Sorry, sir!" Jena and Tena echoed.
"Before she died, our sister was overwhelmed with guilt for what she did," Fena continued. "She wanted to make amends. And when we three learned the whole story, we felt even worse. So, we're here to support you in Nina's place, sir!"
"Urgh… Is that so?" Rick said, his voice heavy. "At least Nina felt remorse for what she did to me… That's something. Good to know she still had a shred of decency."
"Sob… Yes, sir!" Fena nodded. "We won't touch or take any of your items, so you can trust us. We'll never steal from you like Nina did!"
"Exactly, sir!" Jena added. "Please trust us and let us join your party, Rick!"
"And we're happy to let you use Link at 100% with us, sir!" Tena chimed in.
"All three of you…" Rick hesitated. "I'd love to say no, but honestly… I've got no one left to trust. My power's just like Nina told you. If you're all offering 100% Link, then… I'll borrow your strength for a bit, at least until I can gather enough items to keep going."
"Of course, sir! We're in your hands, Rick!" x3
"Uh, alright… Are you three absolutely sure you're okay with me using Link at 100%? This power will drain all your strength, abilities, and stamina—everything I need. And if I choose, I can control you completely!"
"We consent, sir!" x3
"Link!!!"
And so, the three girls—who looked strikingly like Nina but about 12 years younger—pledged themselves to support the hero Rick.
Thus began the tale of Rick, the plain-looking hero, and his harem.
…
Whoops, did I summarize too much? Alright, here's the short version:
From Nina's memories, I learned she knew Rick was a hero with a ton of godly items and a special Link skill. She posed as a white mage, got close, and used Link at just 20%. Once Rick trusted her, she stole everything he had and hid it in the forest (no [Item Box] for her, huh?). When she came back to grab the loot, she got killed, as you saw.
I got curious about this Rick guy—who was he? And that Link skill sounded intriguing. So, I used [Perfect Shapeshift] to become Nina, but dialed her age down. Then, with a mix of my busted [Overlimit] and a pinch of [CurseHBless], I made three fully convincing copies that felt real. I named them Fena, Jena, and Tena. (I'll explain the details another time, cool?)
[Status]
Name: Fena, Age: 17, Female, LV.31, SLV.20
Class: White Mage
Name: Jena, Age: 17, Female, LV.31, SLV.20
Class: White Mage
Name: Tena, Age: 17, Female, LV.31, SLV.20
Class: White Mage
[Status]
I sent them to Rick, hoping to weasel out more info and maybe crib some hero strats for myself. (Not aiming for #1 or anything—just wanna live my cheat life, you know? But having a reference doesn't hurt, right?)
But when I saw Rick's sorry state—average looks, heartbroken, betrayed, stripped of all his items, and still somehow nicer than I expected—I couldn't help but feel bad. So, I let him use the (normal-level) powers of my three fake girls to the max.
And that's how it went. The journey of Hero Rick and his triplet harem kicked off.
Oh, one thing—don't get me wrong, Rick's kind of a dork, but he's… uh, sealed the deal with all three girls by the time they turned 18. Argh, I'm gonna lose it! No way am I spilling the details—too embarrassing! All I'll say is, I've completely cut off any direct connection to those bodies. The only link left is me sensing their thoughts, memories, and giving them orders through a sliver of my soul. That's to keep anyone from tracing it back to me or affecting my real self. But even that is creepy enough!
Still, with his dream harem in tow, Rick's doing better every day. And honestly? The guy's genuinely good! Guess I helped someone out and stuck to my plan of studying other heroes on the side.
"Rick~ Mwah!"
"Fena… Mwah!"
"Rick, dear~ Smooch!"
"Jena… Smooch!"
"Rick~~ Mmm~"
"Tena! Urk—Mmph!"
The three girls are over the moon! But me, sensing all that? I'm screaming internally—ARRRGH!!!
End of Chapter 19
The Ordinary-Looking Hero Rick and His Harem Begin