There's always this thing that fascinates me more than games; Architecture. It's something that makes the kid in me become excited since this job allows one to draw out their amazing ideas and have someone else build it. It might be because my dad is an Architect.

***

A day has passed again after the fiasco the king has caused yesterday. I say ‘fiasco' because he told everyone in the house about my engagement with Thema instead of me. I still can't get used to the idea that he'll be my father-in-law though.

Today, the king will announce to the public about the engagement and the wedding ceremony next month. It's obviously rushed and all, but I can't delay it due to his competitive spirit against the other two dads.

Speaking of which, they immediately came to my mansion last night to talk (complain) about the engagement. They greatly tried to let Thema marry me without being engaged for at least 4 months which is the marriage custom. However, they were no match against the king when he used his status as king. They nearly tried to kill each other though. My fathers-in-law are crazy people.

Well thanks to that, I got to hear a bit of their history.

It turns out that the three of them used to be friends in their teens while they were attending Half-Moon Academy. Not only that, they used to go on adventures in their prime. I didn't get to hear the exact reason why, but they're burning with rivalry against each other.

Going back to the main topic, obviously Cherry was and still is against the idea of me having a fourth wife. It makes me think how she would react that my future daughter told me that I have six.

Anyway, she really got angry at me for agreeing to the engagement to the point where she nearly stops fixing my heart. It sounds a bit scary when it’s literal.

Currently, my body’s finished healing and is now in an unconscious state. That’s because I still haven’t returned to it. It would be scary if it woke up without me the ‘soul’.

“I’ve just confirmed that your neural linings and mana ley-lines are linked. Returning to your body should possibly be safe.”

“It doesn’t really feel that safe when you say ‘possibly’.”

Phillilia’s currently holding my head while checking any anomalies in my body. Seeing my own head lying on her lap sure is nice. Oh, Cherry’s also here too.

“Of course your body is safe. I restored it myself without rest.”

“Yes, we know that. You’ll get a special treat from me when I return back to normal.”

Leaving aside Cherry’s blushing face, we’re currently outside the mansion due to technical reasons. Aside from the perfect day to wake up as mortal again, this open space makes my merging with my body safe for everyone around me. That is because of the power output that will return and forcibly compressed back into my body.

This is like helium pushed into the balloon. If not done properly and carefully, the sudden power compression would level this whole place. The power of [Infinity] and Divine Fragments aren’t a joke.

If worse comes to worst, I’ll prioritize my fiancées’ lives more than my body’s well-being. I’ll just find a way to create a new body if that happens. I hope it doesn’t cost too much though. My money’s not infinite after all.

“Is everything ready, Phillilia?”

“Yes. After I start to stimulate the mana ley-lines, you try and merge with your body. After that, I cannot help you anymore. I can start whenever you are ready.”

“As soon as Cherry deploys her barrier, we can start.”

While waiting for Cherry that’s making a very strong and large-scale barrier, Phillilia starts conjuring mana inside her body. Because of my spirit form, I could see the ley-lines of her mana going to her chest. I’ll return the mana she used on me later.

“->”

Upon invoking the spell’s name, a semi-transparent golden ball appears in front of Cherry and instantly expands while it takes us in it. Judging from the mana density and script composition, this is Grand-class magic. This isn’t something I can do easily.

“This is very impressive. I didn’t know you can invoke such powerful defensive spell in such a short time.”

“I-it’s because of my connection to you though. Normally, I can’t use this magic during combat. But with enough mana and concentration, I can invoke this without problem. Also, this magic can only be used if invoked by 5 members of the Goldenbloom household.”

“…but didn’t you just use invoke it alone?”

“Oh, that? It’s because I have enough mana from my connection with you to overcome that requirement.”

“But even so…”

I want to retort, but seeing her puffing cheeks made me shut up. It’s cute.

“Have you forgotten that I’m a Helius Saint?”

Oh… I have forgotten about it. I haven’t seen her use grandiose level magic in a while so I forgot.

“W-well anyway, I’m going to start to synchronize with my body.”

When I said that, I let loose of my form’s semi-solid state and change to etherealized form.

*Later*

My body feels heavy.

For some reason, nearly every part of my body feels itchy but numb at the same time.

“I can feel his thoughts coursing through his mind. He’s already conscious of his surroundings.”

That voice, I think it was Phillilia’s.

“Really? If so, he should react when I do this. –ah! His fingers twitched!”

This softness and elasticity… this is Cherry’s cherries.

“Papa~! WAKE UP!”

“I’M AWAKE!”

Because Marie suddenly shouted near my ear, I got startled and sat up straight immediately.

“I’m bac—uhh… my head feels like it’s spinning…”

“Idiot, don’t make sudden movements. You just regained consciousness.”

Oh, mom’s here too. I thought she’s already heading back to Dalseriev with dad and Louise. And it’s been a while since she last called me an idiot.

Slowly, mom and Cherry supports me to make me lay my back on a pile of pillows. Maybe because my body hasn’t eaten for a long time, I’m feeling weak.

I look at Cherry then turn my head around looking for Matt and Jane.

“Oh, right. Jane, Matt, you can come in now!”

Upon Cherry’s call, the door opens and Jane and Matt come in with a pushcart with a plate that has a lid. I bet its soup.

“How long was I out?”

“Two days.”

“The he—”

“Just kidding. Only two hours.”

Wow! I didn’t know Cherry has a sense of humor now. Still, it’s a bad joke. I have a lot of work that I can’t miss out.

“This calls for a celebration. But unfortunately, you’re still weak. Take a sip from this soup for now.”

“It smells delicious. Did you make this?”

Since I can’t properly lift even a finger, Jane feeds me the soup with a small spoon.

“Miss Matilda and I made this. By the way, the soup has dried grapes thanks to her magic.”

“I also helped in the overall cooking though…”

… Grapes in a soup…

When I open my mouth feeling slightly reluctant, I saw mom looking at me with a smug on her face.

“What a lucky guy you are to have many beautiful women attending to you.”

“Fwup up, mum.”

Skipping the pink scene, I tried my best to regain my strength physically. Though I can use magic to restore my strength, I can’t because there’s a chance that I would overload my body’s magic capacity. Since it was just repaired, it still has a possibility of breaking.

Maybe for a few days, I would be powerless.

Of course, I told the girls and the rest of the household to not to spread of the information of me being powerless at the moment. That also goes for the King and Cherry’s father.

Right now, I’m still on my bed with Marie.

Though it took me nearly an hour to gain strength to at least move my arms and neck, I’m feeling better than before.

“Pa~pa~”

I’ve been caressing Marie’s hair for so long she fell asleep. I’m letting her use my lap as a pillow. Also, it’s an exercise for my skin since I can’t nearly feel anything on my palm. Every part of my body is numb.

Also, Phillilia, Mom, Cherry, and Matt aren’t in the room anymore. They’re instructing the maids and the rest of the staff to keep my health’s status a secret since it might stir up some trouble.

“I really thought you we’re going to die back there.”

While leaning on my shoulder, Jane suddenly said some depressing line.

“Well, I did die back there. If you three didn’t come on time to save my corpse, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

After I said that, Jane leaves my shoulder and looks at me with puffed cheeks.

“Don’t say something like that! You’re making it sound like we didn’t save you at all!”

“I didn’t say anything like that though. What I’m trying to say is that I’m really grateful for risking your lives for me, especially you. Even though you’re powerless, you still stepped into the battlefield just for me.”

As I said that, I put a lot of strength on my back to sit up straight and hold her hand. And slowly, I get close to her face.

“Though, even if you didn’t save me, I would still come back one way or another. And that’s because of you three.”

After that, I give her a light kiss on the forehead.

“So, you’re saying that what we did was useless?”

“You know, these past few days, you’re starting to sound a lot like Cherry.”

Before I lean my back on the pillows, I ruffled her hair making a mess out of it.

I look at my ring, Rune Grabber. As I stare at it, somehow, I can see a change in the design.

It’s weird.

Before, it was just a big violet gem on a bland silver ring. Now, the bland ring has designs of spirals with an expanded base that eats more than half of my finger.

I didn’t notice it before.

Though I was told not to use magic or anything, but maybe manipulating a bit of my mana shouldn’t do that much damage.

As I concentrate on my mana surrounding my body, I let it flow to the ring activating it.

“What are you doing!? Weren’t you told not to use magic!?”

“It’s ok, it’s not magic. I’m just manipulating my mana. And don’t tell Cherry or Matt. >”

When I activated the ring, runes of luminous colors get projected out from the crystal. Since I’ve recorded a lot of magic, it nearly filled the room in colors.

“No matter how many times I see this, I still get amazed by it. Magic sure is wonderful.”

Ignoring Jane’s comment, I try and see if anything is different from before after its change.

After scanning through many array of runes, I finally found the odd one in the group. However, it’s not like the others. Rather than a spell rune, it looks like a curse rune.

“Twilight Link…”

It even has its own name making it even weirder.

Normally, I would make spells along with its own name. But this one, it has its own name.

While pondering about it, I suddenly remember Violet and Cherry (2nd gen ver.)

No, it can’t be. This can’t be the one she put into the ring. No matter how I tried to look for it before, I couldn’t find it. No matter how I think about it, there’s no reason for it to show up now of all times.

“What’s the matter, Key? You look troubled.”

Looks like I worried Jane.

“Sorry. Something just bothered me a bit. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Okay… but if you feel something weird, please tell me immediately. I’ll call Miss Cherry and Miss Matilda.”

“… You still call them Miss.”

Maybe Jane’s still in the middle of accepting the fact that she is in the same level as them now. She’s calling them with and without honorifics interchangeably.

Going back to the main topic, there’s no way I could test what this spell is without using magic. Using magic now would endanger my health and could possibly kill me.

I’m fragile as glass…

Since it’s unproductive if I just stare at the runes all day, I deactivate the ring and postpone the investigation on a later day.

Skipping some time, I ask Jane to call dad to my room to have a private discussion. Though, I wanted it just to be us in the room, mom’s here too. She wouldn’t leave dad alone.

“So, what’s the problem?”

Dad said while pouring a glass full of clear wine. It’s still noon yet he’s drinking this early…

“T-there’s no problem or anything. I just want to talk about some project.”

“A project? That’s surprising to hear from you.”

I’ve been talking things like these for a while now yet he’s… Oh. This is the first time we talk in a formal way. I forgot.

“Yes, a project. Since you we’re an architect. I thought that maybe you could be the leading face of this project I’ve been planning for a while now.”

It seems that I got dad’s full attention. He gives the wine glass to mom.

“Interesting. What’s it for?”

“Well, it’s an important project to strengthen the relationship between humans and dwarves. But it’s just a façade for its real purpose though.”

“You really are my son. So what’s it?”

Since Marie suddenly woke up, I had mom take her before I say something and leave the room.

“I’m talking about a large scale project that will require a lot of hands, time, blood, money, and power to build. I can take care of these five, but the leading can’t be me. Also, since this is something that requires an artist’s perspective, only you can be the one who can do it.”

“You know, I’m your father, not a politician. Don’t flatter me too much, it’s weird.”

… I forgot I’m talking with dad.

Geez, now that he pointed it out, it feels weird. I guess I got too used with talking politicians and businessmen it’s affecting my way of thinking.

“W-well anyway, there’s no one else suited for this job except you. If you want, I can grant you your own household and make you my retainer. I’m already a marquis so it will be easy.”

Dad gives it some thought. There’s no downside in this deal so there’s nothing he should worry about. The only thing that he should think about is how he’ll do it. Depending on what he makes of from my plan, there’s no way it’ll be a problem for him.

“Sure, I’ll do it. So what will we be making?”

He sure looks like he’s up for it.

“A battleship.”

“Say what!?”

With a tilting head and stiffened face, dad clarifies my words. I expected this kind of reaction from him.

“A battleship.”

“I heard you the first time, but why a battleship? I was expecting something like a castle or building, but a battleship? Why would you want something like that?”

“You know my situation right? My enemies are gods and probably demons too. They have a whole army with them and I got nothing against it. Even with infinite mana, I can’t beat 7 gods. Having a battleship or two should be enough to level my ground with them.”

Because of what I said, dad couldn’t say a single retort or reject it.

***

“I reject the plan. No matter how you look at it, it’s a declaration of war against every country even with our allies.”

So after discussing the plans about the battleship project with dad, Thema who barged into the study out of nowhere rejected my idea.

Right now, she’s sitting opposite of where I’m lying. By the way, Cherry and Matt along with Jane and Lapis are in the room now. Mom and Louise are with Marie outside playing at the moment.

“I know you’re against the idea, but you know how powerful my enemies are. They’re gods, Thema. They’re powerful and their armies are powerful too. Take your brother for example. He had so much power that actually killed me.”

“This kingdom has prospered without using such drastic means. Yes, we use the power of the gods using my brother, but that is only because the temples allow it so. We may be a large kingdom, but the alliance’s connection to the temples is deep. If we wield such large sword, the alliance might turn their blades against us.”

Well, she does make a point.

“I understand that you’re afraid of endangering your kingdom, but please remember. You have to choose between me and the alliance. But if I remember correctly, your father… has already chosen me.”

After I said that, she closes her mouth while gripping the hem of her skirt. She’s trying to hold in what she wants to say obviously. I think she’s afraid of saying something against me.

“Leaving your father aside, I take your feelings about this into consideration. I’ve already planned this beforehand after all.”

“What?”

While saying that, she calms down while looking like she wants to hear more about it.

“You might not like this, but I have to make the battleship before this plan could actually work.”

“Yes, I don’t like this.”

“Yeah, yeah, but listen. The only reason why the other kingdoms are allied with you is because of your supply of food and commodities like potions and stuff. Not only just because of your brother. I found this out a while back.”

She seems surprised, but she still is listening to me attentively.

“This territory is considered neutral in the eyes of every allied kingdoms, an attempt to take this kingdom would spark an internal war in the alliance so they’re not going to attack this place. However, time will come that the status quo would change, especially now that your brother has become useless aside from his title as a prince.”

Talking a lot made me feel bit nausea since I’m still weak. I had to catch my breath. The girls looked worried now.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that, now that your brother is useless, the Alliance might take this chance to gain control over this kingdom. That is unless we put another pillar to prevent the status quo from falling apart.”

Thema seems to finally gasp what I’m trying to say. She holds her chin while thinking about what I said.

“B-but a battleship, isn’t that too much?”

She looks at me with weary eyes.

“Well, all is fair in love and war. But in this situation, I’m trying to make something to protect my bride’s garden. I can’t let this place she calls home get destroyed now that she’s mine.”

…I shouldn’t have said that.

I got carried away with my words and blurted something so embarrassing and revolting for the girls.

“You really are my son, son.”

Leaving dad aside, the girls are so shocked with my declaration while Thema’s face is red like a tomato.

I know, it sounded like a declaration of love.

“S-since when…”

“I knew it, you really are…!”

“H-how bold…!”

“Awawawawawa!”

“….N”

So shocked that even Lapis actually made a sound… was it that really that shocking?

-End of Chapter-