(Ashen POV)

I decided to take the Star-Mates out for the night, I needed to take a break before telling Xylith my verdict, and after all, these fine women were the ones I spent many months with. But what to do, there wasn’t much to do that was fun, after all, this world was more of a chore than a vacation. Back in Sugarea, I would just farm monsters, actually farm, craft, forge, and do all other kinds of basic tasks with them, just to keep me company and to test out their abilities. But this does bring up a good point, now that I know the NPCs remember their past experiences in Sugarea and all. Do they remember everything? Or just important things? Or maybe, to them, those years in Sugarea were their normal lives, so they remember it like any other person should?

It was a daunting task, trying to figure it all out, but I could put it off for later. The task I’m most concerned with right now is finding something worthwhile to do with them. I’d have to come up with something that they all could enjoy, but they all had such different tastes. If I wanted to figure something out, I’d have to ask them and take in their opinions. If nothing else, I could just mess around and try to have fun with them, like the good old days of Sugarea. I think they are still fond of those times, but couldn’t be certain, I’d have to ask to know anything here. Maybe, just maybe, I could have just enough luck to find something that suited all of our combined tastes.

“So, where would you all like to go?” I said, my monotone voice had a sliver of care implemented.

I got a mix of responses, and of course, every single one varied. “Let’s cook!” Said Olive with passion and stars in her eyes. “Let’s forge!” Cobalt said with a little too much passion and ended up blushing. “Gardening,” Lavender stated simply with a calm and caring tone. “Let’s fish!” Aqua said while making a smile that would make one laugh. “We could frolic,” Sunny said with her usual brightness. “Practice magic!” Ember said with a force that was slightly more apparent than the rest of the group. Amber didn’t say anything, but I could tell she thought something along the lines of gemstones.

I would sigh if I could, but I pressed on. “Now, now, let’s calm ourselves. I’m sure we could do all of these things with due time, but why not enjoy something as a whole?” They all looked slightly lost as if they knew they shared little interests in common. “Why not enjoy a simple evening. We could watch a play or share stories.” It was a fair suggestion, one that got quite a reaction.

Nearly all in sync, all of them besides Amber, who was a bit slower due to her shyness, had said the same thing. “Let’s watch a play!” I was a little surprised with their agreement with one another, but wouldn’t dare to pass up the opportunity.

We didn’t have any NPCs that were specifically actors or even jesters. The closest people we had were Romeo and Juliet, two level 150 NPCs that were more or less trashed. Not saying that to be rude, but because they were so rarely used. They were technically jobless, so I could assign them the right classes, but only two actors wouldn’t be nearly enough for a full-on performance. I suggested the idea, and I had a way to execute it, however, and it would work, mostly. I was planning on using magic to create either summons or artificial NPCs that would soon expire when the play ended. I had many ways to do these ideas but thought about the best method performance-wise.

We didn’t have a theater room either, as it would have been worthless, but we had the conference room with enough space to host the entire play on the large table. “Which play would you ladies like to watch? I have several in mind.” While that was true, I’d rather have a suggestion rather than going off of my preferences.

Many gave signs and small hums that all indicated an overdramatic and unnecessarily dragged out session of deep thought. Then collectively once more, much like their last response, they all spoke in unison. “The dagger and the two stones!” Jeez, talk about overkill.

The dagger and the two stones was a fairy tale told to children back on earth. My brother told me about it, and I took a liking to it. I eventually repeated it to the Star-Mates in-game one day to familiarize myself with it, as I was doing some work with the story for a small personal project that has yet to be completed. It was a story that was rather long, and complicated. I should have foreseen them choosing this, as it was the first story they heard. I told them, but mostly myself again, of several more, but it seemed as though this one was their favorite. The whole fairy tale would be rather hard to perform, and it would take a miracle for me to perform it correctly, but I would have to try nonetheless.

The day was almost at its end, and I had little time to prepare, so I would have to improvise quite a bit. “Let us enjoy the night,” I said, and they all gave small giggles and smiles, some jumped and waved their arms in excitement while others cheered.

It felt nice to spend time with them again, and we started walking out of their chambers. We moved through the long seemingly endless passages of the castle before coming to the conference room. The large table stretched before me once more. It was more than large enough to hold a play on, but I could always scale down the play, but doing so would limit the performance slightly. I pushed the doors open, my hands causing the doors to heat ever so slightly. As we made our way to the table I pulled eight seats from the table using a simple tier 8 spell, and we all took a seat, with me in the middle. Before long, and before anyone said anything, I noticed a problem, I was much too wide to sit next to directly, at least in these chairs.

With a small touch of magic and a bit of flair, the chair beneath me grew large enough to accommodate me and several of them. “I’ll take off my armor to save us some room, come sit with me.” And before long, My armor was replaced by much simpler apparel.

A blue and silver-colored robe made up the majority of my outfit, with specially made boots to accommodate my abnormal clawed feet. I felt off for a moment without my armor, but the feeling subsides quickly. I figured it was due to the bonuses of the equipment, as I took off my entire set, that included my rings, bracelets and two necklaces that were always hidden beneath my chest plate. The garments that I wore now we're more of vanity pieces rather than real armor. The robe I wore had a base color of silver, with thick blue outlines running the outside and in two stripes up the middle where the two sides parted. It had a singular long strip around my waist, supported by several loops, that was silver with blue ends, the entire thing was tied off in a bow.

My boots were anything but normal and even calling them boots was a stretch beyond reality. They resemble a flattened cone, with the point ending at my ankles. They were black and were made of a soft material that I forgot the name of, as it wasn’t all too useful or common in sugarea. The boots were just large enough to surround my feet but not enough to get past my ankles, but that was all that was needed. Without the spikes on my legs, instead replaced by the robe and some soft specialized pants made for my legs, I could fit about two of the girls on each with how large they were, but I would leave that option up to them if they wanted to or not.

They all rushed over, Ember sitting on my right side, Lavender on my left side followed by Cobalt sitting just past her, with Olive and Sunny sitting on my left thigh, or whatever you would call it, and with Amber and Aqua sitting on my right thigh. “Would anyone like any snacks or drinks before the showing, I won’t be able to supply them during it.” I guess I could, but with all the things I would have to do, I didn’t want to add anything else to my already expansive list of actions for this play alone.

Several voices made several requests, but the most popular or loudest ones stood out above the rest.“Ooh, ooh! Popcorn! And that zest water stuff! And some candy!” Those, amongst some other requests, were the ones that I heard the most and would carry out, and so, I quickly put my ring of pocket dimension back on and reached inside to fetch some of the items.

I pulled out a large bucket of popcorn, and handed it to Ember as she was the only one to request it, which was odd enough considering the lack of times I mentioned it’s existence and the fact that nobody else wanted any, but oh well. I pulled out some small bags of sweets, chocolates, and all other kinds of treats and passed a few bags to Sunny, Olive, Aqua, and Cobalt. Then I reached in and grabbed out some of the ‘zest water’ that they wanted, which was lemonade, but I let the name slip by me. I handed a tall glass to everyone besides Lavender, who refused any food too. I guess she wasn’t a food kind of girl, or maybe she just wanted to pay more attention during the play, which would make things harder on my behalf.

I started my display, and the lights in the room, which were a cross between modern light bulbs and torches, started to dim to an acceptable level. It was bright enough to see the room itself but allowed for my magic to be the main focus. On top of the table, a meter or so apart from one another, four piles of black powder slowly came into existence then rose. Each pile turned into a human figure, then slowly gained color. There were now three men and one woman. The woman looked like a motherly figure, with a man taking the look of a father, with the two others looking like boys. The mother had a very simple set of clothing that I made look like peasant clothing, and the same with the men, with the father having a simple set of suspenders on.

Then, I built up three walls and a roof. The spectacle looked like wooden logs just popped up from black dust that seeped from the table, then started stacking into a half wood cabin, half barn-like structure, with hay on the roof. There were little decorations in the room, besides two doors, a table, and four chairs, the rest was empty space. The mother and father were sitting at the table, and the two boys stood just next to them, as the play had yet to start. Now, it was time for action, and four small boxes of light appeared above each of them, displaying their names. The mother was Isabella, the father was Michael, and the two boys were Noah and Lucas. The show started, and they all sprang to life before our eyes.

“Mother, father!” The two children said together.

“Yes yes, we know, you may leave. But do hurry back before dark!” The father said with heft, and the mother smiled warmly.

“We worry when you don’t come back by dusk! You shouldn’t make your father worry so much! It strains his little heart!” The mother said lightly, causing the father to stare at her with a saddened look on his face.

“H-hey! That’s not true!” He said sniffing slightly, with a small tear forming in the corner of both his eyes.

The mother chuckled lightly, “ Well, off you go now!” She said while motioning with her hands for them to run along.

They did as their mother had told, and soon they made their way outside, causing a shift in the environment, and for the parents to walk to the far left side of the table as the house crumbled and caused trees to spring up. The two boys ran playfully through the forest, skipping and singing a song, which they instead hummed loudly. The trees rushed by on the table, the ones getting close to the left turned back to black powder, and reappeared on the right. They walked for a good moment until they stopped in a clearing, which had two large boulders. The boulders were next to one another, both weighing far more than a hundred men could push.

“Woah! These rocks are so big!” Noah said, his medium length blonde hair getting in his face slightly.

“We should climb ‘em!” Lucas said back, his brown hair was too short to copy what Noah’s hair did.

“Last one up does the laundry!” Noah said back and both the boys started climbing up separate boulders.

Each boulder was a couple of meters in diameter, but for these small boys, it seemed much larger. “Woah! There's something shiny up there!” Lucas said back, as he spotted a silver light coming from between the two rocks at the top.

“Cool! We should take it home and show dad!” Noah said with excitement.

“Yeah! Then maybe we won’t have to do laundry this week!” Lucas said with a cheerful smile that never left his face since he left the house.

The two boys spent a good minute climbing the rest of the boulders, with Lucas beating Noah up by a few seconds.”No fair! You got a good rock!” He complained but readjusted his focus onto the shiny bit that Lucas pointed out.

“What is it?” Lucas said back after they stood next to one another looking at the silver-colored shiny stick that was in between the two boulders.

“Looks like the knife that dad uses for cutting meat!” Noah said with his tongue sticking out slightly, as he remembered the wonderful taste of slightly fatty wolf meat.

“It looks stuck!” Lucas pointed out, as he tried to pull it out from the two stones.

“Let me try!” Noah said with confidence, and then promptly failed to pull it out either.

“No luck, guess we’re stuck with laundry,” Lucas said defeated, before correcting himself. “Guess you’re stuck with laundry.” And with that addition, Noah looked rather sad too.

The shiny stick that was between the two boulders was a silver dagger, with a rather short blade, only 20 centimeters or so, and a simple and small handguard. The blade was about halfway buried in between the two stones, but the blade wasn’t crushed or malformed, even with the force. The handle and guard were brass colored and were rather well crafted as well. The two boys looked at the stick and each other for another minute before sighing together. They both knew it was a pointless affair to try and withdraw the stick from the two stones’ grasps, but they wouldn’t stop trying until the sun was about to set.

“Come on! Let’s try together!” Noah said, and they both put their small hands around the handle and guard.

They pulled with all of their might. First, they tried going directly upwards, then they tried to wiggle it around, then they tried twisting it, but all failed. Yet they still tried, even after an hour or so, which was sped up because nobody wants to watch two young kids fail to pull a dagger from two stones for hours, but they tried one last time. The sun was almost set, and dusk was upon the forest, giving them little time. Noah held the handle and the guard with all of his strength, as did Lucas, and together they pulled one last time. The dagger jumped, and it was finally removed, and the two boulders moved slightly and crashed into each other right after. The two boys kept their balance and together they stood upon the rocks, both holding the dagger up in the air with pride.

They ran home with all of their remaining strength and made it as the sun finished setting and night fell upon their small home which reappeared as the trees fell away. “There you guys are! I’ve been worried sick!” Their mother said as she opened the door.

“We’re sorry mama!” The two boys said together, and the father came walking over.

“I’m just glad you’re- What is that!” The father cut off his sentence and his voice filled with fright.

“We found it between two rocks!” Lucas said, their mother patting both of their heads lightly as she walked them inside.

“You should have been more careful! What if you tripped and fell with it! Or cut yourselves picking it up!” the father obsessed over their safety but eventually gave them a big hug after they put the dagger on the table.

The family hugged until they all started to disappear, into black dust, dissolving from the head down, very slowly. The surrounding house followed and slowly turned to dust that seeped back into the table. This lasted for little over a minute, and they all bowed deeply as it happened. The story wasn’t over, but that was the ending that I told myself while in-game, and my brother told me of the true ending when I was a little older. Apparently, a dark wizard was so mad about his dagger being stolen, he started attacking villages, they slew him, blah blah blah. The story was a stereotypical fairy tale, but the way it ended now, was more than an acceptable conclusion, not a great story without the other half, but still decent.

The story was about how friendship, love, and determination would help you succeed in life, and I think they all got that message, as Lavender leaned against my side and spoke softly. “Touching.” A single word, but she had very small tears in her eyes, which was odd as it wasn’t sad, but maybe heart-warming?

“Yay! That was great! Much better than being told the story!” Olive said as the rest of them cheered and clapped for the puppets.

“That was great! I didn’t know magic could be used like this!” Ember said, her eyes now alight with passion.

“Thanks for the praise, I think.” The show was a reward in and of itself, but hearing compliments was a great reward as well, but that wasn’t the only reward I got.

[Titles Gained: Puppeteer, Actor, Play Master, Magical Actor, Magical Play Master, Entertainer] [Awarding 35 Attribute and Skill Points]

A little extra for a job well done, but that was only the easy portion of the play, if I included the other half, which was more than half of the story, the play would become far too difficult for even my magic to perform perfectly. “Why don’t we have dinner,” I asked them, which they all stared at me with stars in their eyes.

“Yay!” Sunny exclaimed, waving her arms in the air after I had disposed of the food and drinks that they had finished, and all but Ember’s popcorn was finished. “What kind of food will there be?” Olive said with an adorable look of curiosity on her face. “Yes, let’s eat,” Lavender spoke softly and firmly, acting as a mature older woman. “Food, food!” Both Aqua and Cobalt said together, both had a knack for food after all. “Why yes, I suppose we could,” Ember spoke as if she was disinterested, but I could tell she wanted to, as her eyes were lit up like the rest, even Lavender’s eyes were for that matter. Amber stuttered as she always did, but did eventually answer. “Y-yes of course!” With the decision being unanimous, and our bellies empty, with me not even needing to eat but still retaining the ability to, we set out to the dining hall.

“Alright, alright, let’s go eat. I’ll whip something up for you girls, just enjoy it.” I said, getting a surprising amount of responses.

Each of their voices was chock-full of concern and surprise, all saying roughly the same thing, albeit worded differently. “There’s no need!” and “The maids will do it for you!” and even Olive said, “I can do it for you!” I guess none of them wanted me to cook for myself, but there was no holding me back, at least when I'm trying to be nice that is.

“It’s fine.” They all tried to stop me anyway, but I just ended up lifting Aqua, Sunny, Cobalt, and Olive off of my legs and placed them on the ground as I stood up.

“My lord, this might be out of place for one such as me,” said Lavender, but she continued as I nodded, “but it might come across as rude to the maids and butlers that you do not want them to cook for you or us.” Her speech was mature and concise, and she was completely right.

“I see, very well then,” I said, and asked Vron to message Kraken, the head chef of the castle.

I will see it done, my lord. He said mentally and went silent again.

Kraken was a half-octopus demi-human. To put simply, he was half-octopus, half-human, with the face that had features of both. Having eight arms is incredibly useful for a chef, and he was set to work best alone or with few people, so having extra arms for more tasks matched that pretty well. He was rather large, standing at nearly two and a half meters, with a few meters in diameter, maybe three or four depending on his arms. We called him Kraken, because, well, he was basically one, albeit, more humane than the original folktale’s one. His body was covered in red octopus skin, with suction cups running down his eight arms. His long arms ended with quad-fingered hands, without suction cups, but still looked like an octopus’s. His head, which was most similar to an octopus’s, had two large black balls, with a large head, but a humanoid mouth.

It has been done my lord, what food do you want? Vron said to me while I was in thought.

Let me ask. I quickly turned my attention to the Star-mates, who were all just quietly looking at me.

“What would you ladies like to eat?” I knew there was going to be a plethora of answers, but Lavender cut everyone off.

“Whatever you offer us is plenty.” She might be taking my role as a guild master and their lord a little too seriously.

“Please, order what you’d like, it is of no issue.” I guess I really should be playing the part of a proper leader if I am going to be one.

“Alright then, we will all take turns placing a request if that is alright with you, lord.” I should start acting better like I had tried when I first came to this world.

“It is of no issue, speak your request and Kraken will receive them.” Well, Vron would just hear them and message Kraken, but it was basically what was happening.

While they placed their orders, my mind went elsewhere, but I still paid attention. It has been roughly four months since I have come to this world, and it seems as though the guild and all of its NPCs are functioning as they would in Sugarea, but further analysis would be required to know for certain. As it sits, the NPCs still follow Ayers and my requests, just like in Sugarea, but also follow orders from higher-level NPCs in the guild. I believe Angry Bunny and Royal Squid were the ones that created and managed the NPCs’ settings and lore. I read countless pages of text that they wrote about them, but not on every NPC, as there were close to a thousand.

There were clear ranks and statuses for each NPC though, as Angry Bunny gave me a brief run-down of it. She followed the idea that a higher level was equivalent to high status, so naturally, the higher level NPCs were better suited for leadership. Premium led the guards and was set to lead the military if any raid were to take place, like in the past. Planthra was in charge of the healing squadron of the military, and also provided several bonuses with the castle itself. Misfortune was in charge of the two dozen mimicoids that were in the castle, along with the stealth-based NPCs. Titan was in charge of all the brute force NPCs, those who could tank or have great stature and resistance. There were other NPCs of high rank, each that lead a smaller subdivision of NPCs.

Rubidia for example, a half-human half-zheln, and completely adorable. I didn’t have a thing for little girls, but with all of the young and cute women that were among the NPCs, you would be forced to conclude that a few of them are adorable. I’m getting off-topic, Rubidia was a well-adapted magic caster, one with a good ability to teach magic to a complete novice. But that was about the extent of her power, as she was most akin to a bratty child that always acted like she didn’t care, while obviously showing that she cared. An interesting NPC, but she was quite talented, even if she had a rather complicated character design.

Lord, they have finished their requests, Kraken has accepted them. Now it is time to place your request. Vron informed me, and I snapped my attention back to the present.

“Alright, your orders have been placed, let’s go eat,” I said, and they all looked at me curiously.

It wasn’t long before Lavender asked a question I should have expected. “Lord, if you don’t mind me asking, how can you eat with your current condition?” I should have seen that coming.

“I have my ways, don’t worry about it.” With those simple words, she bowed lightly and nodded. “Let’s eat.” And with those last words, I teleported all eight of us to the main dining hall.

It wasn’t long before the food was done, and I prepared a spell. I placed my right hand on my face, and with it, came a bright flash of black and purple light. After the quick moment, I pulled my hand from my face to reveal an actual face. Simplistic features, much like my actual looks, but I didn’t keep it the same for several reasons. I now had bright blue eyes, semi-short brown hair, and no facial hair. The spell hadn’t finished, as the face and hair was only the first part of [Illusionary Face]. It took a few seconds more, but by that time the spell had finished and my entire skull was wrapped in the flesh once again. The attention of everyone in the room was piqued and they all looked at me in awe.

The maids all blushed slightly, the butlers seemed to tense a bit too, even Kraken and the Star-Mates seemed to feel the same way, but why? “So beautiful.” One of the maids said from across the room, and she covered her mouth directly after, causing her blush to grow rapidly.

Vron, can you tell me what’s happening here? I had no clue, but perhaps Vron did.

It would seem that with a charisma as high as yours, you appear as an irresistibly attractive man. It also seems as though that without a face, your charisma is severely lowered. As such, with a face, even an illusionary face, your charisma stat has been restored and its true effects are now being revealed. Or at least, that is my understanding on the matter, I could be wrong, or only partially correct. That does make an awful lot of sense, but how come Aeyrs didn’t appear beautiful all the time then?

Thanks, Vron, I appreciate your help. Well, that would have to wait until later, I’ve got bigger problems to deal with.

“Is there something wrong with my appearance?” I said calmly, my voice sounded deep but with actual tone for once, also thanks to [Illusionary Face], as it gave a fake voice as well.

It was only a second or two after my words that everyone seemed to unfreeze and stopped staring so hard at my face. “Apologies, lord, it’s just your face… It’s breath-taking.” Lavender said with a blush before covering her face.

“I-is that so, well. Thank you for saying so.” This was a little awkward for me, as my voice was now not monotone, and could reflect the state of my mind.

“Alright, before the food gets cold, why don’t you all eat while it’s still hot,” Kraken said as he walked over with eight plates of food, which he quickly set down in front of each of the star-mates. “And you, lord Ashen, what can I get you?” He said while rubbing two of his hands together like an eager waiter.

“Let me think.” I waited a moment, but nothing came to mind, so I just said the next reasonable thing. “Surprise me.” He nodded and walked away, going back to the kitchen.

I couldn’t believe how fast he made all of their meals, in little over a minute or two. It was impressive, but that was the skill set that he was bestowed with. I looked over the meals that everyone got, and was rather impressed. Ember got a large steak and some vegetables. Cobalt and Amber both got soups, Amber got mushroom soup, and Cobalt got soup made from some magical crops. Sunny got some desserts, a bowl of ice cream, lava cake without actual lava, and some brownies. Olive got a very diverse salad, with plenty of colors other than green, and Lavender got something similar. Aqua got a rather simple meal, just a sandwich and small stew with meat and vegetables. The smells of all of them were spreading to my now existent nose, and I smelled all of the wonderful flavors.

None of them ate yet, likely waiting for me to get my food so we just waited for a moment, talking to pass the time. “Lord, what have you been doing these past few months?” Sunny said with a single finger pressed against her cheek as she tilted her head slightly.

“Well, quite a lot has happened. How much would you like to know?” I asked back after looking upwards for a moment to recall the events.

“Wherever you’d like to start,” Sunny said with a smile and bright eyes.

“Very well, I guess I should start from the beginning. After we all arrived in this world, I met with Aeyrs, and we went to investigate the surrounding area. We went to a human settlement and signed up for the adventurers guild that was there, and little after that we slew a red drake, a young one but still. After that, we met with the nobility and the king of the adjacent country, made diplomatic arrangements. After that, I displayed my power to him and a large royal vanguard, while all the same showing that power to our former enemies in the demon lands. With a handful of spells, I killed roughly 120,000 demons around level 100 and resurrected them. After that, I met with the demon lord, Xylith and made more diplomatic arrangements, then started to build a city in the demon lands for the remaining population, while all the same building up a town I got from a noble that I resurrected. I fought off a few dozen gods, summoned the dragon god Oronix and I am currently keeping him as a pet. I killed a few hundred thousand elves and helped out in a war waged between two nations on the Fireplex Continent, just south-west of here. After all that, I discussed the topic of marriage with the former demon lord Xylith and we are to be married tomorrow. I believe that just about summarises it.” The look on everyone’s faces expressed their complete shock and disbelief of what I said, but they recovered a few moments later when Kraken came out with the food with a dumbfounded look on his face, as he heard my entire life’s story in this world so far.

“Excuse my language, my lord, but holy shit,” Kraken said before he placed a large plate with plenty of variety of foodstuffs.

“It’s quite alright Kraken, I know you are the kind of person to not hold back your language.” He sighed briefly and smiled before bowing and walking away. “Please eat up, don’t wait for me.” With my words, a very brief moment of silence followed which was quickly followed by the sounds of forks and spoons being used to eat away at the delicious bounty before us.

I stared down at my food, which was a large plate of many things. The main portion seemed to be meat, likely cattlebear meat, a rare delicacy as cattlebears were rather hard to come across. There were also plenty of vegetables to go along with the meat, with as many magical crops as there were non-magical ones. There was a hearty soup present, along with a large loaf of soft tender bread. There was a small mug of honey mead that was also given to me, which I didn’t think would get me drunk with my countless defenses against poison and drugs, so it would just be the taste that would be appreciated. The combined smell made me feel pure bliss for a moment, then I started to consume my meal.

With a bite of meat to start, it seemed as though every maid and butler in the room, that were all eating as it was dinner time, all paused to look once more in suspense. Even Kraken awaited a reaction, to which I smiled lightly and continued with the rest of the meal. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their meal, even I was for that matter, so it was natural for a conversation to be started over such a calm and relaxing meal. It wasn’t the fact that the Star-Mates wanted to converse that was intriguing, but rather the subject matter that truly piqued my interest as they started to talk about me.

“To think he was already engaged,” Aqua said seemingly saddened.

“I know, first he doesn’t speak to us now he’s getting married.” Cobalt pitched in.

“We should respect his decision.” Lavender put simply.

“Still, doesn’t it seem like we’ve grown apart?” Olive said much sadder than Aqua had.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve grown apart, he had so much to do, but at least he’s spending time with us again!” Sunny said with a smile towards the end.

“I’m just glad he is spending time with us,” Amber said quietly.

“I’m sure he can still spend plenty of time with us, marriage doesn’t restrict that entirely,” Ember said, trying to reassure everyone.

“I just don’t want him to leave us again!” Aqua said, a small tear forming in both her eyes.

“I’m sure he won’t, he’s not like that,” Amber said hugging Aqua, which looked more like her trying to get her short arms to go halfway around her stomach.

“He wouldn’t leave us without good reason,” Lavender said, her voice sounded mature again.

“Besides, we can’t be with him all day long anymore, he has important issues to tend to,” Ember said, waving her fork slightly to gesture.

“But to think, he was already going to be married, so soon after we saw him again.” Cobalt said, returning the topic to discussion.

“For all we know, they could have fallen in love at first glance,” Olive said, causing everyone’s gaze to fall on me for a moment then back to each other.

“With a face as pretty as his and a caring personality to match, there would be no chance for her not to fall in love,” Ember said, a small glint of fire in her eyes.

“True, there would be no contest unless she was blind,” Olive added.

“I just want our lord to be happy. No matter who makes him that way.” Sunny said with a bright smile.

“True, we should just hope for lord Ashen to be happy,” Lavender said with her now acquainted mature voice.

“If he’s happy, I’m happy!” Amber said, throwing her arms into the air, causing the rest to chuckle slightly.

The conversation died down for a moment, and the mood was right for me to add in my line. “You ladies make me very happy, and I wouldn’t leave you for the world, or any other. Marriage won’t end the relationship we’ve built after all these years. I want to spend as much time with you as I can, but we both know that couldn’t be. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ever spend time with you, I just can’t spend as much time as I had in the past. I hope that is enough for you all, I do wish to spend the same amount of time as I had in the past, but sadly this world doesn’t allow for that.” I had such a great relationship with them, and I’d hate to lose it just because I couldn’t spare an hour or two every day.

“Lord, please don’t be saddened,” Sunny said, her bright smile faltered slightly.

“Lord, don’t force yourself to spend time with us,” Lavender said, her mature tone also fumbling.

“Please Lord, we just want you to be happy!” Amber said, small tears rolling down her cheeks.

“We just want to make you feel as happy as you made us feel lord,” Olive said, her normally calm demeanor seemed to break down slightly.

“Any time spent with you is worth more than life!” Ember said, her actual voice didn’t alter but rather the light in her eyes, as they seemed to dim slightly.

“We love you and everything you do for us,” Aqua added, her tears forming trails across her face.

“Please Lord, whatever it takes to make you happy, we’ll do it, just don’t leave us!” Olive said, and they all rushed over to me.

With one large group hug, I confirmed my standing. “I’m never going to leave you girls, so please, don’t leave me.” I held them firmly but held back my strength as to not hurt them.

[The Crystal Fire Skull has reached level 3 of 20] [Awarding 200 Attribute and Skill Points] [Tertiary Ability Unlocked: Active Mask]

Another level up? Vron?

Nothing. “We won’t ever leave you, Lord!” All seven of them said and cried nearly all in sync.

Father, I have been upgraded once again. Sorry for my absence. Vron’s voice seemed to have life embedded into it, much like how mine now had a tone.

It is alright Vron, what upgrades did you get? Last time he got the ability to separate from me and became a separate entity, I wonder what he could get this time?

Although it is rather limited in uses, I gained the ability to alter my voice and speech patterns. Vron started to sound more and more like a younger man talking to his actual father.

The embrace lasted for a few dozen seconds, and slowly eased up over time. “I love all of you, don’t get me wrong, and if I could marry all of you I would, but that just wouldn’t be right.” I should have thought my words through carefully, as they all looked at me wide-eyed.

“I don’t see a problem with marrying all of us,” Aqua said plainly.

“I don’t either.” Olive pitched in.

“Powerful men normally have many wives.” Cobalt added as well.

“It is true, and we would all be able to spend more time with him,” Lavender said with her usual mature voice.

“If that’s what he wants that is.” At least Amber wasn’t completely absorbed into the idea of me marrying eight women.

“Polygamy is common in certain regions of the world, but I don’t know about here,” Sunny said with an abnormally pleasant smile.

“And many wives would be necessary to please our Lord fully,” Ember said, her thoughts were easily guessable.

“Hold on, that’s not what I meant-” I tried to say before they hugged me ever so tighter.

Even the maids looked interested, but I wasn’t particularly interested in marrying hundreds of women all because I was marrying one. Besides, I enjoyed Xylith enough to attempt a marriage, which was rather fast but it was necessary. Some could say it was a political marriage, but we still loved each other, just her more than me. Sure it wasn’t true love per se, but still, I did feel something towards her, but calling her my soulmate or destined wife might be a little far fetched. Still, I’m not going to marry the Star-Mates, not because I didn’t want to, I kind of did, but because it wouldn’t be right to taint them. I didn’t want to corrupt the creations of my close friends, and most certainly didn’t want to engage in those activities that Ember implied with them, it just wouldn’t be right.

Vron, can you help? At all? Maybe I shouldn’t have said that to him, as he separated from my tail and created his body a small distance behind my chair.

It took them a quick moment to realize his presence, but when they did, things took a turn.

“Wait! There’s two of you!?” Nearly they all said in harmony.

“Let me explain,” I said while scratching the back of my head.

“Greetings, Star-Mates. I believe this is the first time we’ve met.” Vron said with his young voice.

“Lord. what is going on?” Olive was the only one to ask.

“Well, let’s see. Maybe I should start from the very beginning this time.” But before I could continue that thought, vron cut me off.

“I am not lord Ashen, but rather his son in a way. I inhabit his tail, but I am not him, rather, I am an artificial soul, one that he created."

“An artificial soul?” Olive asked, once again leading the responses.

He went on to explain the entire process of how soul fragments from slain creatures transform into a complete soul under the right circumstances, and how he was created. It was rather interesting, to say the least, but that got me thinking of creating more, or at the very least, of upgrading Vron’s soul to the very maximum and then beyond. If he was a part of me, he should be treated as such. I started to think endlessly about it and added another objective to my list. And with that, my plans for the future were set in stone, and the world would have to bear with me for just a little longer. I have many plans to accomplish, so why not start with the very same one I ended on back on earth, slaying bosses and crafting...