The sounds of chatter and food preparation filled Martel’s retreat as its occupants prepared their evening meal. The terracotta-haired Hestia was running the kitchen as cooking was her hobby. Due to her time-consuming training regimen, and the number of mouths to feed, everyone contributed where they could. It was at this moment that the door opened.

""Master!""/"Sir."/"Patriarch."/"M’lord."/""Martel."" The various women said as Martel entered.

“Papa is back!” Kogane said as she quickly rushed up to him and hugged him.

Martel gently stroked the back of her golden head as her five tails waggled in happiness.

“It smells wonderful. II hope you make extra.” Martel said.

“Thank you, Sir,” Hestia replied with a smile. “Thanks to you giving me free rein with ingredients, and thanks to everyone’s help, I’ve even been able to experiment. I hope that it will be to everyone’s liking.”

“I’m sure it will be delicious,” Martel replied with a smile before he looked back down at Kogane. “I brought you a present.”

“Really? What is it?” Kogane asked with excitement.

“Close your eyes and no peeking.”

Kogane nodded and closed her eyes obediently.

Martel motioned to the others to be quiet and pointed towards the doorway where he had entered. “Okay, you can open your eyes.”

Kogane opened her eyes and was slightly confused. Subconsciously looked where he was pointing and became dumbfounded on the spot. Peeking around the edge of the doorway, she saw a face she wanted so badly to see. Her jaw trembled, and tears filled her eyes. “Mama!” She shouted as she immediately ran to the doorway, arms outstretched, and jumped into Rio’s arms.

Caught off guard, as she had only done a similar action when Rio was stuck in bed, Rio subconsciously reached out to grab her. However, she was still weak and couldn’t help but begin to fall backward. She barely lost her balance before the two falling foxes were caught by Martel, who had immediately Gale Stepped behind them in anticipation.

Rio, unfazed as she seemed to have expected it, gently consoled Kogane before speaking to Martel. “Thanks for the rescue…” She began as she scanned the room, and a sly smile appeared on her face. “… Hubby.”

Martel, Kogane, and a couple of other women flinched before Martel spoke again. “I’m afraid that nickname isn’t exactly appropriate.”

“Oh? Why is it not appropriate? I’m Kogane’s mama, and your her papa, so that makes you my hubby.”

“... Please pick another nickname?”

“Nope. You made me change once, but I’m not going to again, so now you’re stuck with it.” Rio replied gleefully. Her smile got even thicker when the crying Kogane held her tighter and moved her tails subtly moved between Rio and Martel.

Martel could only sigh and defeat as he ushered Rio to a sofa so she could relax and catch up with Kogane. At this point, the rest of the newcomers came in and introduced themselves. Eventually, the hellhound went over to Rio and Kogane as they seemed to have the ability for basic communication. This was important to Martel because he intended for the hell hound to become Kogane’s mount. Given that Kogane’s soul Armament was distracting and she was bad at close combat, the hellhound could help make up for these weaknesses in the short term.

Eferhild quickly struck up a conversation with the Amazonian-built minotaur, Pasiphae. Given that Pasiphae was a little socially awkward, they decided to converse through strength via arm wrestling. Given the difference in their muscle mass, it was a little strange to watch. The two of them held the stalemate for quite some time, but, in the end, the table lost.

Echidna was still subdued when she entered the room but was quickly approached by someone with a similar build in a specially built wheelchair. Soon, the two of them began to speak in whispers, occasionally glancing at Martel.

If Martel watched Echidna and Ariel, he might’ve been concerned that the latter was filling the former with misconceptions. Unfortunately, his attention was fully focused on the seed in his hand. [Alessa, the System isn’t being very helpful in figuring out what to do with the seed. Do you have any idea, or do you know if Jonathan tried?]

[He tried some basic planting methods but quickly forgot about it.] Alessa replied. [He got it off the body of an ogre during the Sixth Wave but didn’t get any other information.]

[So this is something from the other world?]

[Yes, which is why the System isn’t much help beyond basic information. You see, that world is extremely close to ours, which is why the space between them can be linked together. However, the rules in that world are also slightly different, though not much as where the demons come from.]

[Wait, the demons are from a different world?]

[Yes, and I have no idea one, only that they suddenly appeared. The world that the waves come from is natural, but we only banished those demons and their leader there.]

[Wait, so are the waves natural or unnatural?]

[While it can theoretically be manipulated, they are natural. That world is old and dying, which causes the space between them to act as it does. It is only because of this that we could send them away, and how they can come back.]

[Come back? Are these demons around?]

[Yes, although only one can come back through the Wave each time. You see, the First Wave is when space between the worlds is at its weakest. This is why only weak creatures come through as stronger creatures will cause the space to be chaotic and torn apart. However, the demons seem to have the ability to seal their strength temporarily and sneak through. However, their bodies are strong enough to only allow one in at a time.]

[How strong are these demons?]

[The weakest that I am aware of has less strength than you, while the strongest are at peak ancestor level. Their leader should be above peak ancestor.]

Martel could help but take a deep breath when he heard this information. The average soldier was around Rank C. The average adventurer and elite shoulder were around Rank B. The elite amongst the adventurers was around Rank A. Extraordinarily powerful individuals would be around Rank S. This left Ancestor level to be around Rank SS and peak ancestor approaching Rank SSS. This meant that the leader of the demons should be at the latter Rank. It was no wonder that he lost against him in one blow in his alternate timeline.

As Shiba, he had completely ignored the Expertise System and completely focused on Leveling as we had little to care for, having lost everything. In this timeline, he was a solid S Rank when he first entered this world. Thanks to obtaining Cali’s talents, and his own, he was able to grind the Expertise System fairly quickly.

While not many did, some levels from the Expertise System gave an increase in Stats. Given that he had already become a master in several fields, his Base Stat boosts were quite significant. At this point, even though he was still only Level 3, his fighting power had almost reached the threshold of SS-, which was not much worse than Shiba’s strength that had reached SS. Given that each lettered Rank was roughly twice as strong as the previous, this meant that the leader of the demons was most likely twice as strong as he had ever been.

However, Martel pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as it was no longer as important. Unlike that timeline, the foundation of his strength was much deeper. He had different abilities, like soul Armaments, and was not alone. Of course, this did mean he could slack. In fact, it meant the opposite. He had to work hard so that everyone he cared for would also be at the strongest and so that he would be stronger still when it wasn’t enough.

Martel’s attention was brought back to the seed as he wondered what to do before a lightbulb appeared atop his head. Well, instead of a lightbulb, it was a fiery red bird.

“Hey, big brother, what are you doing?” Asuka asked as she perched on his shoulder.

“I was just wondering how to grow this seed as normal methods don’t seem to work. You just reminded me about how we woke you up.”

“Using fire? I don’t think that will work, but I’ll help.”

“No, not fire. Just giving it a different source of energy.” Martel said as he very gently began to pour his mana within the seed.

Martel carefully monitored the changes within the seed using all of the senses, including his mind. To his delight, he found that the seed appeared to absorb and hold his mana temporarily. Unfortunately, he found that his mana was dissipating from the seed too fast. He thought carefully and recognized this phenomenon as being similar to what happens naturally with nature magic.

Nature magic could create nature from nothing or seeds at a reduced mana price. However, once the mana source had been cut, the plants would immediately wither and die as the mana dissipated. This was extremely unfortunate as it meant that magic could not grow surplus food. To do so, it would have to be influenced by something that could supersede the laws of cause and effect, like a Talent. “Laelynn, can you come here?”

“Yes, Master.” The light green-haired elf replied as she quickly made her way over and greeted him with a smile. “Is something wrong?” She couldn’t help but ask when she noticed that his expression was a little unnatural.

“Yes, very,” Martel replied as she regained his composure. “How’s your training been going?”

“Very well. I’ll work hard to get stronger so I can be useful to Master.”

“That’s good to hear. Do you think you can try and put mana into this seed?”

Laelynn happily nodded and immediately tried. Martel carefully observed the changes within the seed and was happy with the results. Given the dissipation rate when he tried, his mana would be insufficient to fill the seed in one go and allow him to replenish. Unlike him, thanks to her Talent, Laelynn’s mana did not dissipate. He believed that their mana combined should be enough, so he encouraged her to continue.

After giving Laelynn a mana potion, so she would not spend long the state of being mana drunk, Martel continued to input his own. It wasn’t until he only had 1/4 mana left in his reserves that the seed appeared to become saturated. It was at this moment that the mana inside the seed was completely absorbed.

Martel was surprised as this normally happened to Laelynn’s nature magic, but it also included his mana. Additionally, the seed quickly became heavier, and he eventually decided to set it on the ground. A couple of seconds went by as nothing appeared to happen. Then the seeds cracked once, twice, before vines quickly shot out from the cracks and expanded rapidly. Martel couldn’t help but worry for his ceiling in the case that this seed was a disguised magic bean, but that worry soon diminished. The vines eventually created an egg-like structure a little under 6 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter.

Unsure about what was happening, half of the party continued cooking dinner while the rest readied themselves in case of unforeseen dangerous circumstances.

Everyone waited with bated breath for several seconds until the pod of vines began to change. The vibrant green began to dull to brown as the vines began to wither. The vines began to crack and disintegrate before falling to the ground, revealing what was within the pod.

Martel’s eyebrow twitched.

Within the pod appeared a woman. This woman’s physical appearance appeared to have some fae ancestry as her sharp facial features bore a striking resemblance to the elves. Her skin was a shade of light green, while she wore a dress of leaves in a similar color. Her hair was a shade of green but tailed off into blue as if it had previously been dyed and grown out. The rare leaf appeared to grow out of her head to pin her hair along with several stems.

Martel immediately used his eye Talents to find more information but was immediately dismayed. [Alessa, why did I get the answer ‘analyzing’?]

[Because she is not a creature of this world, nor has her race ever been exposed to the System. It takes little time for the System to read the rules involved. Once the System upgrade is complete, this probably won’t happen.]

At this point, the woman stirred and stretched as if coming out of a long sleep. “So it’s almost planting season.” She said as she began to groggily take in her surroundings before locking into Laelynn and Martel. “Are you to my new masters who woke me? Thank you for saving me. Has the world recovered? This doesn’t seem like a forest or farmland. Let’s see. I’ll need some seeds and earth and…”

“Wait a second.” Martel interrupted as he realized that this individual situation was probably similar to Asuka. He also wondered if his name hadn’t been turned to ‘master’ as it was thrown around so easily.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not used to talking to something that can talk back to me. Plants and animals don’t tend to be great conversation holders.”

“I understand.” Martel quickly said, realizing that this woman was a bubbly chatterbox. “What is your name?”

“Name? I don’t have a name. I’ve never had anyone to talk to, so I haven’t needed one. Can my masters give me a name? I would be very grateful.”

“Well, you’re going to need a name,” Martel said as he turned to Laelynn. “Any ideas?”

Laelynn was surprised but quite enthusiastic as she began to think. “Well, she came from seed, so something like a plant. How about a flower? How does Rose sound?”

“Rose? Roses are very beautiful. Am I beautiful? I like the name.” Rose said happily.

“That’s very good,” Martel replied. “Can you tell me a bit about who and what you are? How did you end up in that seed?”

“Rose, Rose, Rose. I have a name.” Rose began to mumble to herself happily. “Oh, yes. I am a dryad. I guess you can think of me as a sentient plant. When a heavily vegetated area, like within the depths of a forest, becomes saturated with nature’s energy, there is a chance that a normal seed will become a dryad seed. That seed will continue to absorb the energy before becoming a dryad. This is what happened to me. I was born within the depths of the forest. I knew a lot of information, but I couldn’t go anywhere. Because I was born with the energy of that specific location, I was also bound to it as it was a source of sustenance. I could move away, but the energy somewhere else could be too different or not enough to sustain me. Many seasons went by, but the forest began to become sick and die. I was really scared. I eventually ran out of energy and reverted to my seed form as a means of hibernation. As for how I got here, I assume you brought me here?”

“Why did you call us your masters?”

“Because I used your mana to wake up. The energy of nature and mana are different but similar enough that I can turn mana into nature’s energy. Because dryads are extremely useful for agriculture, dryad seeds are heavily desired. This is because a dryad germinated in such a manner becomes compatible with their mana. The advantage of this is I can take their mana and convert it into nature’s energy. This is faster than what I can gather normally and doesn’t force me to a single location. The reason why you are my masters is because I will occasionally require some of either of your mana to maintain myself. Exactly how much and often will depend on my environment or how much mana I can produce. In return for the mana, I do what you say, so that makes you my masters. Isn’t that right? I think that's how humans normally treat dryads.”

“I suppose that’s fine. I thought you haven’t spoken to anyone. How do you know how other dryads are treated?”

“I just kind of know. I think it’s because I have knowledge from other dryads. It’s not like memories, just indirect knowledge that is shared through connected plant life.”

“I see. How are you useful for agriculture?” Martel asked as it was a subject of concern.

Rose pointed to her head. “Do you see these stems? While there aren’t many, I can grow any type of vegetation so long as I have consumed the respective seed. Using masters’ mana, it will grow very quickly. To put it another way, I can be a portable garden or seed manufacturer for large projects.” Then she pointed to her rear. “I also turn plant material into a highly efficient compost that doubles plant growth and lasts for years.” She continued before she pointed to her chest. “I can also produce special water that improves the quality of plants. I can also directly produce the juice of any fruit I have consumed, but that isn’t useful to agriculture. I only know that male masters seemed to enjoy it.”

Martel did his best to keep a poker face and ignore the several narrowed eyes sent in his direction. “Does the increased growth affect fruit production and the like?”

“Yes. And I can speed up that process manually as well.”

Martel’s eyes lit up as he glanced at Laelynn. He had already run a couple of tests of Laelynn’s Talents and had a rough understanding of how it worked. Suppose a normal nature mage wanted to grow an apple tree. In that case, they could do so relatively easily, but it would quickly wither away and die. Thanks to Laelynn’s Talent, the tree would grow very quickly and will remain as normal. However, Laelynn’s Talent did not seem to affect the production of fruits directly. Vegetables would be empty of nutrients until a significant amount of time passed. However, coupled with Rose, they were an amazing combo.

With a single apple seed, Rose could grow several apples. Laelynn could then take subsequent seeds and quickly grow an orchard of apple trees that would otherwise take many years. Then, through Rose’s care, the orchard could quickly produce many high-quality products. Given that Martel had found himself in control of a large amount of land that was recently ravaged and underdeveloped, this was a terrifying combo.

“Rose, can you also control plants?”

Rose tilted her head to think. “It depends on the plant. For example, I can’t make a tree start walking around.”

“How about a vine?”

“Oh, vines are easy. But I can only manipulate what is there.”

Martel’s smile grew thicker as he turned to Laelynn. “Make a vine.”

Laelynn nodded as she withdrew a seed from her space bag. After a few seconds of mumbling, a 5-foot vine suddenly sprung forth from the seed.

“Rose, can you manipulate this?” Martel asked.

Curious, Rose approached the vine a couple of seconds as if to observe. She made a subtle motion with her hand, and the vine trembled, though Laelynn subsequently jumped. “If Ms. Master gives me control, it should be possible, and that is only because I’m used to her mana. I can’t do it for others as there will be too much resistance.”

“Can you just call me Laelynn?” Laelynn interjected. “He’s my master, so it’s a little weird.”

“Okay,” Rose replied nonchalantly, clearly not as attached to the meaning of the word as Laelynn was.

“Does the Manipulation require mana?” Martel asked.

“No, I can just do it.”

“Awesome!” Martel could help but say as he looked between Laelynn and Rose. “We will go over the details tomorrow, but the two of you are going to make an amazing team.”

On that positive note, Rose spoke to the more social side of the party as everyone got to know the new arrivals.

Martel glanced to his side at Laelynn, who had a gleeful smile on her face as she hugged his arm, and his expression softened. “Laelynn, can we go talk privately.”

Laelynn happily nodded, and he escorted her to another room before they settled down on the couch.

“What did you want to talk about, Master?”

“… I saw Lily again today, and she talked about healing you. He knew about how dangerous it was. About how painful it would be?”

“Yes.” She replied casually.

“Why? You could have died.” He solemnly asked.

Laelynn’s smile slowly faded as she realized Martel’s demeanor changed. “I just wanted to be useful for Master.”

“You just wanted to be useful?” Martel asked, a little angry and admonishing, but calmed himself down. “You could have still been useful.”

Laelynn shook her head. “I couldn’t even walk. I would’ve only been a burden.” She replied, a little downtrodden.

“Nonsense. I could’ve found a safer way to restore your body or make up for it.” Martel replied, knowing that he could easily create artificial limbs for her. “Even if I couldn’t, you could still be plenty useful. I could listen to you play your harp to calm me down, and your smile could brighten my day. If you died, then you’d be completely useless to me.”

Laelynn’s smile bloomed as her eyes became a little wet. “I would still take the potion.”

“Why?”

“Because my music and my smiles are not enough. Master, I know you’re not lying. However, I know that I would feel that I would be a burden to you. If I didn’t have a choice, I wouldn’t say much. Even so, I would try to find a way to fix myself. I took the potion of my accord, so you don’t need to blame yourself. You didn’t pressure me into it.”

Martel couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. He was indeed feeling guilty, even though he didn’t show it when talking to Lily. Partially because of his ignorance, he did not feel that a regeneration potion would be dangerous at all, much less only a 30% success rate. On top of this, Laelynn’s character didn’t make him doubt that she would have willingly offered up her remaining arm if it could be useful to him, and he asked for it.

Speaking of Laelynn’s character, Martel found it even more amazing that she seemed to see right through him. He had asked her about her education, and he was surprised but the result. She was given very basic instruction growing up but was mostly left to her own devices with little social interaction. On top of this, she obtained no training when she became a slave because she was immediately sold and ended up in her sorry state. The depth of her ignorance and naivety was shown on Martel asked her how she had become a debt slave in the first place, especially with such heavy debt. Her answer completely enraged Martel as she had replied with ‘my father needed money, and I wanted to be useful to him.’ Even under her curse, Martel could not understand what kind of father could have made such a decision. He wanted to ask more, but Laelynn seemed to sense his anger and gave a vague response. Respecting her privacy, he hadn’t pushed the subject but kept it firmly in the back of his mind.

“How did you know?”

“Because Master is a good person.”

Martel didn’t know how to respond to that. He had only just begun to feel this way, yet she seemed to know he was blaming himself. Moreover, her response seemed to her subconscious thoughts, but she believed it to be fact. It made him wonder if he needed to work on his poker face. “Laelynn, I was thinking of releasing you.” He gently said. As he owned her debt, Martel could also forgive it with a thought.

Laelynn’s eyes went wide as her mouth trembled. Her voice was laced with trepidation. “Does Master not want me anymore?”

Martel couldn’t help but be stunned by her sudden emotional change. “Who said I didn’t want you?”

“If you release me, then you won’t be my master anymore.”

“Wait, what is a ‘master’ to you?”

“I belong to my master.” She said with the eyes of an abandoned puppy.

Martel took a second, but then it struck him like lightning. She wanted to be useful to someone, and she wanted to belong to someone. If she was useful, then she had a sense of belonging. All she wanted was a place that she belonged to with someone else. Having a ‘master’ fulfilled that.

“Okay, don’t worry, I won’t,” Martel said as he wiped away her lone tear and stroked her cheek.

Laelynn smiled and didn’t say anything. She just gently leaned into his hand.

Martel could tell that she treasured his touch, his warmth. “Laelynn, the potion hurt, didn’t it?”

“Yes, even more than when my other master hurt me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll never let him hurt you again. Can you promise me not to be so reckless with your own life? You would be completely useless to me if you die, after all.”

“Okay,” Laelynn simply replied with a nod.

“That being said, you did risk your life and suffered for me. I will feel bad if I don’t repay you in some way. Is there anything you’d like?”

“I just want to be with Master forever.” She replied with a simple and earnest expression.

Martel was slightly taken aback but smiled. “Are you sure? You can’t change your mind in the future.”

“I won’t.”

“I see… Can you give me your left hand?”

Laelynn obediently extended her hand, and Martel slipped a copper ring on her fourth finger. “Master, this is a pretty ring.” She joyfully said. The symbology of a ring on the left fourth finger was rarely recognized outside of human nobility as the more common form was a decorative bracelet.

“It’s a promise ring. It’s to remind you that, from now on, we will always be together.”

Laelynn’s smile fully bloomed, and Martel found himself briefly absent-minded, taking in the view. As she was happily admiring the ring, Martel gently leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Laelynn flinched but quickly returned it with a giggle. “That was the first time I’ve received and given a kiss.”

Martel smiled to hide the bitterness in his heart and decided to spoil her later. “That ring can also act as a storage device like your space bag. You should probably keep your most important things in there, but pretend to use your space bag to help keep them safe.”

Laelynn nodded, but her head soon tilted in confusion. “Master, why can I feel other people from this ring?”

Martel couldn’t help but be surprised by her keen perception. Besides the lack of engraving and the color being bronze instead of gold, there was no difference between her ring and the ring his wives wore. Part of the magic he enchanted the rings with was to give them an extremely primal form of connection. While no information could be shared, it was meant to be a constant reminder of the bond they all shared as a family.

Martel slightly coughed in embarrassment. “Well, those are all people that have also promised to stay with me forever.”

“Really? That’s a lot!”

Martel’s eyebrow slightly twitched as he felt subtly attacked by Laelynn’s innocent remark. “Well, if you don’t change your mind, then we will all be family from now on.”

Laelynn’s eyes lit up. “Family! I have such a big family now. But, what if they don’t like me?”

“Don’t worry. I know they will like you.” [I’ll get an earful later for sure.] “For now, let’s keep this a secret between us.”

“Okay,” Laelynn replied, obviously happy to share a secret.

“By the way, we should probably refrain from sleeping together for a while.”

“What? Why?” She asked with a look that seemed as if someone had stolen her favorite toy.

[Because I’m not sure I can trust myself anymore.] “Because we will be together forever, but that won’t necessarily be the same for everyone else. You should get to know them while you can.”

Laelynn nodded, a little downtrodden. After a few more words of comfort, Martel set Laelynn back while he stayed for a minute to catch his thoughts. When he exited the room, he found Laelynn Cali whispering to each other just outside the door. He was about to say something but swallowed his words back, and Cali gave them a look. Cali whispered a few words into Laelynn’s ear. Laelynn turned to look at Martel with happiness and shyness before she walked off, leaving Cali, who uncharacteristically narrowed her eyes.

Martel awkwardly cleared his throat. “Need something?”

Cali lifted her left hand, exposing the golden ring on her finger. “Bronze?”

“You can think of the bronze ring as an engagement ring. Gold is a wedding ring.”

Cali nodded. “Close eyes.”

Martel being closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds. Then, a very soft and delicate feeling brushed across his lips. Martel opened his eyes only to see that Cali had given him a brief kiss in her adult form. He was briefly stunned by the alluring appearance of the light blush and slight smile on her typically expressionless face.

Taking advantage of his momentary stupidity, Cali turned around, turned back into her younger form, and skipped away.

Martel couldn’t help but give a bitter smile as he followed. At the very least, Cali was in a good mood.