Joel didn’t really know what had come over him. It was unlike a member of the Al’Verath family to be so compassionate, he knows. Any other member would have killed that woman then and there, but Joel didn’t want that to happen for some reason. He felt…sympathetic. He thought that everyone deserves a second chance, not matter how badly he or she blows the first one. Besides, he doesn’t think that there’s much of a risk in keeping the woman alive for now. Revy’s plenty strong enough to handle her if things go south.

Actually, it was due to Revy’s influence that Joel thought this way. Well, her indirect influence. By the time he had been old enough to remember things, Revy was already supposed to have died in a tragic accident during her Awakening. He did grow up hearing stories about her, though. Not from his parents or any of the numerous servants, but from his math tutor.

You see, after she “died”, mention of Revy became a bit of a taboo. Only that tutor would speak of her, of the devastating genius that had grown up far too fast, of the prodigy above prodigies. He also came to learn of how she had been the perfect Al’Verath—cold, callous and without regard for anyone else. The tutor thought that she might have become the worst villain in history had she not died. Hell, she even went through the family’s initiation before disappearing. Joel himself hadn’t had to go through that until he was thirteen, and it had still been devastating to him.

He had grown up with stories of Revian Cearia Al’Verath, and felt scared of her ghost. She had been the quintessential Al’Verath.

Then, after all these years, he unknowingly meets Revian again.

No, he meets Revy, who spits in the face of everything Revian Al’Verath had been. Quiet, thoughtful, and introspective, she’s nothing like the brash and demanding Revian he had heard stories about. Caring for her friends, sympathetic, and a bit ditzy at times, she comes across as a normal person now, if a decidedly odd and attention grabbing one. She’s not the uncaring and demonic little girl he’d heard about anymore. She’d changed.

And if she can change, then why can’t anyone else? Everybody deserves a second chance, since anything can happen with it.

Besides, the woman that they brought home seems fairly young. And she’s beautiful, which helps matters greatly in Joel’s opinion. And her breasts….Ohohoho~

Well, Joel’ll try and have a talk with her, hear her story and all that. Most people only want someone to listen to them, to hear what they’re saying, to be witness to their wishes. It makes them feel wanted, needed even. They feel like they matter at last, which can make all the difference.

So, as soon as Revy, Joel and the woman made it to the apartment, he pulled the woman into a side room and started a conversation.

Eventually, she even started opening up to him.

I sat on the couch, rubbing my temples.

There’s been too much trouble lately, and I’ve been acting severely out of character for myself. I’ve been using my illusion powers too much, for one. They’re a crutch that I never got to use before now, and I might be going a little mad with the joy of having a purpose for them at last. Hell, I’m using them right now to convince Joel and Red that they’re actually in the same room together. Hint: They aren’t really. I’m not stupid enough for that, at least.

Anyway, even though I’m only using the lowest forms of my power, it still shouldn’t have to come to this, right?

Now, let’s consider why, exactly, I have to use my abilities. It’s to keep Joel safe, for the most part. I’m keeping Joel safe because he’s in danger from other branches of the Al’Verath family. They want to kidnap him to use as a hostage against his parents, and effectively remove them from the Al’Verath family succession bid.

I want to have an ordinary and non-descript life. I had that for a few years, until Joel’s parents found me again and brought me back to Earth. I went because I didn’t want to fight on Jor, and because I knew that it would eventually get to the point where I had to face off against Joel’s parents anyway. So, rather than wait for that to happen, I went to Earth in order to disarm the situation in a way that made my power over them clear. Also because I wanted to absolutely humiliate them, but that’s neither here nor there.

I want to go back to my normal life. What’s in the way of that at the moment? Namely, Joel is. His presence in my home has caused all these problems. However, I know that I’d regret it if I simply kicked him out and left him to fend for himself. Whatever happens after that would have been on my hands, and I don’t like that feeling. So, I took him in even with the risks.

That turned out to be a bit of a mistake, in hindsight. Still, he might have grown on me a little, since I don’t want to see him hurt. So, the question now is about how I might be able to get him out of here in a way that keeps him safe.

There are a few things I could do.

First, it’s my understanding that Starfall Team 1 has returned to Jor, if that text I got about Joel’s position was any indication. That would point towards Joel’s parents hiring them in the end—for protection services this time. However, I can’t just push Joel on them, since I’ve already proven them to be a little inadequate for the job. If they can’t beat me, then they won’t be much good. I’d only continue to worry about Joel, and go on with the knowledge that he would be safer with me. And if something happens to him, I’d have to shoulder the blame on top of the guilt. Since I’d like to avoid any situations that would leave me feeling guilty, I’ll not take this option.

Second, I could continue as I have been doing by shielding Joel myself. This situation is untenable for several good reasons, most of which I shouldn’t have to explain. I think the main one is that he interferes with the base of my personality—that wish of living a normal life. I get the sad feeling that the longer he stays, the farther that wish slips out of my grasp. He just has too strong of a hero-ness aura, that attracts an equal amount of trouble. The boy simply can’t help it.

The fact that he seems to attract trouble like a lodestone is one of the reasons that he has to stay with me for the moment though. It’s a bad situation for me, honestly.

So, I decide to go with option three.

What is option three, you may ask? Well, it’s the one I really should have done sooner. I was a bit preoccupied with solving the issues on Jor to think about it and plan, which is why I haven’t done it. I was focused on the little picture, and forgot momentarily that there’s also a big one.

In this case, the little picture is Joel’s immediate safety, as well as the issue of dealing with the mercenary groups attempting to attack us. It’s also my wish, as well as the sanctity of my life.

The big picture is the succession bid itself. All this was caused by the fact that the family branches are quietly feuding, and that Joel—and me by extension—was caught in the middle of it. I could find a way to get Joel back to his parents safely, where they could then take care of him. I’d be perfectly fine if he disappears from under their noses, since I’d easily be able to push the guilt and blame onto them. But I’m not going to do that. That’s only solving for the symptoms, and not treating the root cause. Besides, I have the sick feeling that Joel would just run away again, and end up right back on my doorstep.

So, to make things right again, I simply need to get the feuding to stop. I wish I had considered this sooner, but I guess there were too many things going on. I also haven't had the chance to sit down and really think for a while now. But now that I have, it's all clear to me. The branch families need to stop.

It’ll be easy, I’m sure. I’ll need to do it incognito though, so that I don’t attract undue attention. I already have a few ideas on how it might be accomplished as well. Then, after that’s done, I have to deal with that mercenary group still in the city—the one Red’s from. Oddly enough, she hasn’t tried to kill Joel yet. They’re just…talking? How strange.

I walk over to my computer, and start investigating and searching. It looks like this’ll be a long night for me.

Eight hours later, I stumble into the kitchen, tired as all hell. And hungry as well. Hence why I went to the kitchen. But you probably already knew that, no?

It took quite a bit of effort and time, but I’ve done it. The branch families should piss the hell off now, and Joel can go back home. I think I’ll go take care of the mercs now, then come back home to sleep. Yeah—that sounds good.

There’s just one problem that I have to solve first. Red didn’t try to kill Joel a single time. Not at all. There was no attack, no poison, no magic, nothing. She didn’t do anything, besides talk to Joel. There were even a fair number of tears involved. My dilemma is that I don’t trust her, and am unwilling to leave her behind while going to deal with the rest of her little group. Especially if I leave her with Joel. That’s like I’m asking her to harm him while I’m gone.

Dammit, why does everything have to be so complicated?

I barge in on Joel’s little talk with Red, startling them both as the door slams open. There are obvious tear tracks down Red’s face, and they were embracing, as if Joel were comforting her. Unfortunately, they’re not really embracing since Joel is really in the next room over, but I don’t think that’s something they need to know. They pull apart as I enter the room, and Red looks positively startled. What, no killing intent? No bared fangs or knife in the back? Girl, you’ve seriously disappointed me. I only wanted her to try and kill Joel to prove my point, but that never happened. And now I can’t kill her.

…

Wait.

Wait just a second.

Fucking hell, I can’t believe it took me this long to realize. Joel has that whole hero-ness thing for a reason. All the weird things are attracted to him due to his nature.

Dammit. He’s a harem protagonist, isn’t he? Fuck, those are the worst.

In all seriousness though, I need to find out where the rest of the “Angelic Beauties” are, and deal with them quietly. Red likely knows where they are, so I just need to question her. I’m anticipating this involving a long and arduous torture session.

Except it didn’t. Shit, I was right about the whole harem protagonist thing, wasn’t I? I asked her where the rest of the group was, and Red willingly and eagerly gave me an answer. The conversation went something like;

“Need group’s location.”

“Oh, is that all? The rest of the Angelic Beauties are holed up in the Hotel Mondegrasse in the middle of the city. There should be a lookout nearby, keeping an eye on the house and waiting for me to come out after successfully completing the mission.”

What, that easy? The hell did Joel and her talk about? Ah, screw it all.

I walked outside the apartment, dragging Red along with me. No, literally dragging. She was almost unwilling to leave Joel’s side, as if she couldn’t bear to be out of his sight. How the fuck did a ruthless killer turn into…this? And inside of a day as well? Once outside, she pointed me in the direction of the group member keeping an eye on the situation. Discreetly, of course.

I quickly took Red with me, and took care of the lookout. Then, we made our way to the group’s main camp location. I had her wait outside as a bit of a show of trust, and entered the hotel with my katana. Of course, I sneaked in so that no alarms were raised by the merc group or the hotel staff. I then located the room containing the Angelic Beauties and went to town. It looks like that dream I had before was a bit accurate, as the last members of their group gave me a little trouble—a fire mage, and an ice mage. Luckily, the brief altercation we had went totally unnoticed due to the group’s own wards.

I then snuck back out of the hotel, and was slightly astounded to see that Red was still waiting outside the hotel. She hadn’t taken the opportunity to seek freedom, even though I wouldn’t have done anything had she run. What the hell had Joel done to that girl, getting her to be so docile so quickly?

We went back to the apartment, where Joel was eagerly awaiting us. I had made sure to reinforce the undetectable illusion ward while we had been gone; making absolutely sure that Joel was safe.

I then contacted Joel’s parents, letting them know what I had done, and what I expected from their end of things. They looked considerable shocked at the end of the video conference, though I sincerely hope they take advantage of the opening I left them.

Oh, and I told Joel in no uncertain terms to bugger off. The branch families shouldn’t be around to cause any trouble from now on, so he should be safe enough. I wasn’t even surprised when Red left with him the next night. Damn harem protagonists…I’ll never get involved with one again. Too much trouble.

(Earth, One of the Al’Verath Branch Family’s Mansions.)

“What do you mean the main family’s attacking us! Engage them, send our fleets to rain hell down upon them!” Screamed one of the branch family heads during their nightly dinner session. All the branch family heads met here to eat, strategize, and fantasize about one of them taking the Al’Verath head seat and lording over the whole family, not just their own little bloodlines.

This dinner, they had gotten a rather bad shock. The main family holding the chosen successors that they had been fighting against for the past month or so was attacking their mansion directly, and without any warning.

“Activate the Manor defenses, turn on the Mana Shield you dimwit!” yelled the same man to the messenger who had arrived with all haste, carrying news of the main family’s troops marching over the horizon.

The messenger obeyed, and ran to tell the men to mobilize, and for the defenses to be activated.

There were a few problems with that. For one, the manor defenses wouldn’t activate. It was like their power supplies had been wiped from existence when the engineers were looking away.

None of the auto-turrets would work properly, and even began shooting back at the branch families’ men, like their targeting software had malfunctioned. The great dome shield that was standard fare for High-Family manors activated, but only in the dimensions directly surrounding the generator itself, leaving the rest of the manor bared to assault.

It was found that the android soldiers used in emergencies had somehow destroyed themselves during the night, silently and thoroughly. The mana amplifier in the center of the manor was also broken, and sucked the mana out of any unfortunate soul who wandered too close, instead of purifying that which was in the air, and increasing it’s quality.

All their communications shut down after the first few minutes, and the generators also exploded, leaving the manor in darkness, lit only by the fires of the main branches mages and the flash of magical combat. The branch heads sat in the dinning hall of the manor, wondering why their fleet stationed on Mars hadn’t arrived yet to reinforce the ground troops, and why no one engaged the enemy combat ships flying above the manor. They didn’t know that the fleet of the branch families had inexplicably broken loose from their moorings, and completed a warp jump to various holdings of the main family. All without a single soul on board.

Other High-Families watched as the Al’Verath family completed it’s internal purge, and saw the signs missed by the branch families. They recognized that this was a complete and total victory for the main family, when losses should have been much greater. They knew that the Al’Verath family had gotten the help of someone powerful. There was no other explanation.

To try and flush out this new ally of the High-Family, they conducted their own investigations into the incident. Those High-Families reeled when they saw the extent to which this person had interfered. They were flabbergasted upon seeing that there was no tracing this person. And they were terrified when they considered that this didn’t have to happen to a trifling branch family. Other High-Families could have been targeted, with similar results. Immediately, upping computer security became an extremely high priority to these High-Families. They never wanted to experience what those unfortunete branch families had.

Also, since they didn’t know what to call this person, who had so effortlessly hacked into the Al’Verath branch families software, they simply named him or her “The Surgeon”, in reference to the professional way the systems had been broken open, remade, and packaged away again with no one the wiser. There had also been the fact that everything had been accomplished inside of eight hours, but there was no way anyone could know that.

Soon, the fall of the Al’Verath branches made news headlines, and stations reported on the violence that had happened that night when the branches were wiped out to the last. And eventually, the MD list experienced a surprise update, listing “The Surgeon” as the 101st most dangerous person in the galaxy.

Revy didn’t know about all this. She was fast asleep by that time, completely worn out by trying to get Joel and Red out the door as fast as humanly possible. In her humble opinion, it still wasn’t fast enough.

End of Arc 1.5: Of Harem Protagonists and Misery.