“… That’s more or less it,” Richard said as he wrapped up his report with an indifferent expression.

Lord of Steel remained calm throughout his secretary’s narrative. Even after Richard ended his narrative, Lord of Steel remained silent for a moment. He nodded, then asked several questions about the details of the battle, already aware that his assistant couldn’t see colors when using his far sight.

“Fascinating,” he said after getting answers from Richard. “Based on what you said, that boy isn’t just a First Order Sword-Sage. He should be quite strong. Probably around Fifth or Sixth, if he could go head to head with that little twerp. Refined body seems to be another mystery about him.”

After thinking for a while, he suddenly remembered something.

“Right, Dick, you said there was an oddity as he traveled?” he asked.

“It’s Richard, Sir,” Richard said without even thinking before he answered the question.

“Um, well, yes. I don’t know how to say this,” Richard said, pretending to hesitate in an overexaggerated manner.

After a long enough pause, he smiled, as if he’d just found the proper words to express himself.

“That kid is worse than you, Sir,” he said, still beaming that proud smile.

“You mean he’s devious, devilishly handsome, and you can’t see how deep he really is?” Headmaster said with a smug smile.

“Not quite, Sir,” Richard said, suppressing a chuckle. “What I wanted to say is he goes out of his way to fool around with those willing to prostitute themselves.”

Seeing Smith’s confused frown, Richard continued in a delighted tone. “Meaning, the boy slept with one hundred and thirty-seven prostitutes while he was on the mission. I didn’t know there could be anyone as obsessed with screwing people over as you, Sir.”

Richard spoke calmly and respectfully, but still allowed himself the pleasure of perking his lips up, smirking at his own wittiness.

“Richard, I play political games, not mess around with whores,” Headmaster said seriously, going so far as to call Richard by his proper name.

“Sir, the Duke plays political games, and he’s good at it,” Richard explained. “You, on the other hand, are trying to humiliate and screw over descendants of people you didn’t like two hundred years ago, as well as have them fall from the ranks of nobility. Just like the petty old man that you are.”

“Dick—” Headmaster started, but Richard interrupted him.

“Don’t you Dick me, Sir,” he said, raising his voice. “You’ve been using this boy as a chess piece. Fine. I don’t give a damn, but you sent me to clean up your mess. Do you view me as another piece in your petty little game?”

These thoughts had been stewing in Richard’s mind the whole way back. That Wolf boy almost died on his watch. He probably could’ve acted from a distance and healed his wound, even taken Wolf away, but if that boy’s body was normal, Van Dale’s arrow would’ve been the death of him.

In fact, Richard would’ve died too, if such a missile struck him while fleeing the site with Wolf.

“All right, I’m sorry, Richard,” Smith said, neither showing nor feeling sorry about his actions before swiftly changing the subject. “Getting so many whores isn’t normal. What was he doing with them?”

“He did what people usually do with prostitutes, Sir,” the secretary said disdainfully. “But there were several peculiarities. After renting the establishment for the evening, he first warned the women that he would use an art to make it so that they can’t get pregnant for a year and they would become unable to continue their path as Mages.”

Richard had a weird expression on his face as he said this. He couldn’t understand why Wolf said this to all the women he slept with. He expected the Headmaster to explain, but apparently the old man also drew a blank.

“Women took his words in various ways. Most of them joked about magical experiences and such, but some asked for extra payment, which he made without arguing. Once he was done with a woman, she would fall into deep slumber, while he moved onto the next one until he went through all of them.”

Richard paused. “He didn’t seem to care about the women’s looks, or how old they were. When they were willing, he even slept with the brothel owners. Can you make any sense of this, Sir?”

Headmaster Smith slowly shook his head while his mind raced. He noticed a couple of things, but couldn’t make the connection between them.

“Sorry, I have no idea what he was doing,” the man said. “Sounds too weird to be a simple kink. It could have something to do with his rapid growth. Maybe he’s been doing the same thing since gods know when, and that’s why he’s as powerful as he is. But it doesn’t make sense. Such unrestrained behavior would have stunted his growth as a Sword-Sage. Did you watch him do it?”

Richard made a disgusted face at that.

“I didn’t use Windsight while the boy was doing the deed. Touching them in such a situation would feel… dirty,” the man said, dragging out his words. “I observed what happened using Pastsight. And regarding Pastsight; no, Sir, the boy didn’t show such tendencies when he was in Silver City. He lived quietly, posing as a beggar.”

Headmaster Smith nodded his head, still thinking about Wolf’s warning. It sounded dangerously like a Mage having a—

“But really Sir,” Richard suddenly said, interrupting the old man’s train of thought. “One hundred and thirty-seven women, in just five evenings.”

Headmaster shook his head and chuckled at Richard’s unexpected remark. “Yeah, that Didot girl is either the luckiest or unluckiest woman in the world.”

***

As for that unlucky Didot girl, the two weeks Wolf spent on his mission were hell. The idiot left a note saying: “I’m off to kill some troublemaker. It’s easy money. See you in a couple weeks.”

Anna was furious, but then she caught wind of who exactly that troublemaker was. She despaired when she realized Wolf went after a near-Sword-Saint. Her insane boyfriend finally did it. He killed himself over some stupid reward money.

Anna couldn’t eat or sleep properly, and when she slept nightmares plagued her. Wolf was dead, and the Sword-Saint was coming after his loved ones, meaning her.

Blessedly, Anna’s nightmares didn’t come true, and the idiot returned after two weeks. As soon as she laid her eyes on him, Anna awakened her senses and inspected him. She immediately noticed a huge patched up part of his favorite adventuring clothes. The texture of magically mended items was smoother, and the designs and patterns sometimes had their colors bleed a bit.

To a trained awakened eye, these barely noticeable side effects were glaring. Anna first wanted to scream at Wolf. She’d even prepared a sturdy stick, but seeing that cheerful smile of the son of a bitch who didn’t want to burden others with his hardships, she just hugged him in full view of the public.

“Don’t do that ever again,” she leaned down and whispered into his ear as she buried his face in her chest. “Please.”

Anna found herself irrationally angry, but suppressed the feeling. She wanted to bury her face in Wolf’s chest and cry freely. However, everyone would freely see‌ how ugly she was when tears ran down her face.

Wolf’s thoughts were even more inappropriate than Anna’s. Did they grow a bit? It feels fleshy, not like bunched up fabric.

Anna’s outburst made the relationship public, and in her happiness, she agreed to go to the folded space with Wolf where the youth confirmed his girlfriend really was going through a slight growth spurt.

***

Anna wasn’t the only one who noticed the mended clothes. In ‘Anything Goes’ nine men gathered to discuss what happened. However, their discussion was brief.

“You’ve all received the report,” Elric Hiragino said. “On his mission the boy was fatally wounded. And yet his guardian still made it time to save him and kill the Sword-Sage. I was told his wound was such that it would cause massive bleeding. The kind which would cause a person to faint immediately, if not die outright from shock.”

“At least we confirmed it,” Marquess Beirut said, his voice heavy even though he tried to sound positive. “That means we should give up on this approach, but we’ve already decided to give up on getting him expelled from the academy—”

“Don’t worry old man,” Marquess Hiragino said. “I’m sure all of you have heard of the youth’s obsession. I think we can use it to get rid of him for good. If we can catch wind of the brothel he plans to visit, we could use fertility potions to…”

***

“Bella, dear, you really are a genius,” Edwin praised his daughter a day before her birthday. “You have fully inherited your father’s eye for people. Excellent, excellent.”

Anna silently smiled and received the praise, which somehow once again turned into Edwin complimenting himself.

“After killing Van Dale, that little fiancee of yours paved his future path,” the man continued, oblivious to his daughter’s thoughts. “Last year I found out the Duke was considering taking him in as an official Court Magician, but after this incident he plans to speed things along. The boy will earn himself a barony before he turns fifteen.”

The man paused, and Anna knew this was her cue.

“That sounds great, Father,” she said with an honestly excited smile.

“It really is,” the crimelord nodded. “My sources tell me he’s been receiving dozens of letters of introduction every day. People are trying to throw their daughters at him, but my little Bella was faster and sharper than anyone else. Just like her father.”

Mother is sharp too, Anna thought, but didn’t dare say it aloud. Making such a snarky comment might earn her mother a beating.

“You’ve been together for a year now,” Edwin continued. “When do you think it would be a good time to get pregnant?”

The order disguised as a question sent Anna’s mind reeling. The calm facade she always tried to maintain before her tyrant of a father cracked, then fell apart completely.

“I know Mages avoid it like a plague,” Edwin said, noting, but not giving a damn about his daughter’s expression. “But I’m certain that boy is interested…”

He paused for a moment. Anna still didn’t know about Wolf whoring, but Edwin was well aware. His future son-in-law had visited five places he owned. Even though Wayde’s mother owned Sweet Dream in theory and got all the income from it, everything inside was originally paid for with Edwin’s money.

“… in such topics, don’t tell me it’s not the case.” Edwin concluded.

Anna believed he paused because broaching the topic with his daughter made the man uncomfortable. It certainly made her feel uncomfortable. She could talk about such things with Margaret, but Edwin was a whole different story.

“I— He— We’re still too young. We’re not ready,” Anna fumbled for words and finally said something that could pass for an excuse. Or could it?

“Nonsense,” Edwin said, still chatting relaxedly as he waved his hand. “When your mother was your age, you were already running around and learning letters. It’s not like you have to raise the child, you just have to give birth to it. Servants take care of the rest.”

“But, Father—“

“Don’t you ‘but, Father’ me,” Edwin said, his voice growing stern. “Some women from those letters are beauties, not plain-looking like you. Even that Charter friend of yours tried to steal him away from you. What do you think would happen if the Thonburi girl takes a fancy to him? She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen, let alone a greenhorn like that fiancee of yours.”

The last question completely shocked Anna.

“Matilda’s my friend. She’d never—” she started in shock, but like usual, Edwin didn’t let her say her piece.

“All is fair in politics my dear,” he said glumly. “Listen to your father. You should get pumped up and flaunt a big belly as soon as possible.”

Hearing those words, Anna’s face turned ashen. This was what she feared. Her father wanted to sacrifice her as soon as he’d found someone who suited his plans.

It wasn’t as bad as her nightmares. Not yet. What she feared the most was Wolf turning abusive like her father. She woke up screaming more than once after dreaming Wolf was giving her a savage beating before brutalizing her.

“I— Father—” Anna tried, but couldn’t find the words.

“It’s alright Bella dear,” Edwin reassured her. “Things like this happen naturally. Trust me. All you have to do is spread your legs, and nature will take its course. Trust me.”