Reivan used his pinky finger to dig out any earwax that may have caused him to mishear his mother's words. But as a prince, he was expected to preserve perfect hygiene as much as possible and even had numerous servants to monitor and help him maintain it.

Naturally, his pinky finger remained perfectly clean no matter how much he dug.

"I said," Vianna raised a brow, a smirk on her face. "Come. I'll help you pick out your future concubines."

'I didn't mishear!'

"Wait, wait, wait..." Reivan chuckled dryly as he tried to dissuade his mother. "I'm thirteen..."

"I know." Vianna rolled her eyes. "You think I'd forget how long ago it was since I squeezed you out of my belly? It hurt a lot!"

"I'm pretty sure I'm too young for this...!"

"I understand. That's why we're picking out future concubines. Future. Relax~!"

"Also, my bloodline is special since all of my children will have Royal Armaments! I can't just make kids willy-nilly!"

"You don't have to worry about that either. I've done my research. The moment we declare your other kids as part of the Kimiku clan instead of the royal clan, their royal armaments won't be a threat to the throne's inheritance. Rather, aren't you the biggest threat to Roland's future rule? Yet, you two get along so well! Don't mind the small stuff too much!"

Knowing how stubborn his mother was, Reivan tried to seek help from the only other adult in the room. "Uncle! Please say something!"

To his pleasant surprise, his uncle really did help him out this time. "Vianna, that's enough joking around. You're scaring the boy... er, the lad."

"Pff." Vianna's serious face broke and gave way to a wide grin. "I was just kidding, Rein. Geez. I hope this serves as a lesson not to agree to anything without hearing the full story first."

"Oh..." Reivan sighed in relief then chuckled. "You almost got me there. I really thought we were gonna pick out concubines."

"We're still doing that. Just maybe not today."

"Eh?"

"Anyway." Vianna moved over so she was sitting on the edge of Reivan's bed. Then she patted the spot next to her. "Come."

Reivan hesitated but still obeyed.

"Okay. You're now physically, an adult." Vianna thought for a bit before rephrasing her statement. "Well, you've reached the bare minimum of what can be considered such, but you get the idea. It's good enough! Now, we have to have... the talk. Oooh, I've been waiting so long for this..."

"No need for that." Viktor grinned. "The boy already knows."

"He does?" Vianna tilted her head in confusion. Then she looked at her son with wide eyes. "You do?"

"I uh... Yes. I read about it somewhere..."

"Books are amazing," Vianna murmured in admiration, but her voice came out tinged with disappointment. "I feel like I got a parental moment stolen from me by pieces of paper..."

'Hah. Blame porn.'

"Anyway, my son. Since you already know how kids are made, that makes things easier. What your uncle and I expect of you is precisely that."

Suspicion crept into Reivan's face as he asked, "Can you be more specific...?"

"Okay." Vianna nodded. "We need you to make babies. Lots of them. More is better!"

'I was right! Shit!'

He'd read where the conversation was going and lamented how he'd guessed correctly.

"But I'm too young..." Reivan countered.

"It's fine!"

"No, that's not okay. I'm only thirteen."

"I said it's okay~! We'll pick out pretty ones that suit your tastes. There are already lots of promising volunteers! All of them are gorgeous! You'll love them!"

"Really...? Maybe it'll be fine to take a little loo— Uh! I mean, no!"

"You sure are intent on refusing." Vianna tilted her head and observed her son with a strange look on her face. "I would've thought that most boys would have jumped on the idea."

'Are you kidding me? Of course, I wanna do lewd shit with hot girls!'

Reivan was a man too, after all. Sure he was immature on the inside, but he'd lived a long life in the past as a virgin. He'd always been curious about what it would feel like.

'It's just...'

He didn't feel ready to bring a life into the world yet. There was no way he was mature enough for something like that. In any case, he had way too many things he wanted to do, and being weighed down by a child would only delay the fulfillment of those desires.

Sure, he was a prince, and would probably have countless maids to aid him in raising a child. But was that really for the best?

Would he not be the same as his father and mother from his past life on Earth?

He'd never even entertained the idea of having a child. Much less, the amount of children these two elder warbeasts probably wanted him to have.

Still, if he was going to have kids, he would want to have plenty of time to watch over them. To watch his children grow. To be there when his children needed him.

Reivan absolutely didn't want to have a kid just so he could leave raising it to some other person. Even if that person was better at raising children than him, he wanted to be the one to raise his kids.

Now just wasn't the time for that.

"I'm sorry, Mother, Uncle. But I'm just not ready for that kind of responsibility right now."

None of his elders reacted violently, and Vianna even pulled him into her arms and cooed. "My little boy's really put a lot of thought into this, huh? How responsible of you. Don't worry too much though. We are well aware of human standards, and won't expect you to take actual action until you're at least eighteen."

"I see." Reivan heaved an internal sigh of relief that he still had plenty of time to mentally prepare himself for parenthood. "Thank you."

Viktor took this chance to chime in with a knowing smirk on his lips. "Of course, if you willingly go out looking for ladies, we won't be stopping ya!"

"I won't!"

Reivan protested, but even he didn't know what the future would bring. The relentless advances from Ouroboros women — especially Elsamina — didn't make it any easier for him to maintain self-control. If they caught him at a bad time, he might take them up on their offers and pounce on them.

'Maybe they'd lay off of me if I gave them more concrete proof that I'm thirteen...'

Part of why the women approached him so blatantly was due to his physique not matching his age. Most from Ouroboros were convinced that he was older than he stated, somewhere around fifteen to sixteen years old. As far as Arkhanians were concerned, this was already adult age and a fraction of the girls he'd saved from Balor's brothels were in this age group.

'Should I make a fake identity card of some sort...?'

Reivan heavily considering the idea. But a part of him actually liked the women's advances, so he hesitated a little. After thinking about it some more, he decided to maintain the status quo.

'It ain't bad to be fawned over.'

In the end, he could not refuse his baser instincts as a man.

"Anyway," Vianna chirped and clapped her hands together, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Let's go take a look at the candidates."

"Eh? But I thought we agreed that—"

"I changed my mind! And anyway, we're just gonna talk with them a little." His mom assured him as she stood up, lifting him under her arm like a sack. "Besides, it's necessary to inform them whether you'll accept them as future concubines or not. We don't want them to wait for nothing, after all!"

"Hrm," Viktor grunted in agreement. "It's also necessary to hammer out the details of your relationship."

"Details...?" Reivan raised a brow. Seeing as he was restricted by his mother, he'd grown resigned to his fate and was more curious about the intricacies of what they'd prepared.

"As concubines, their main duty will be to bear your child in the future," Vianna spoke with great enthusiasm. "So we must make sure that this is further clarified to them. They must then agree to adjust their lifestyles to healthier ones so as to make the childbearing process smoother."

Viktor also threw in his two cents. "There is also the possibility that their mindsets are similar to some concubines from our homeland. In which they will bear you one child and leave with a tidy sum of money afterward."

"What? That happens?" Reivan asked, wide-eyed.

"Most of the concubines in our homelands were like this. The sums would usually be enough for a peasant woman to live half of her life well, so it was a common practice for particularly pretty or strong women. In this way, the clans get favorable blood mixed into the clan, while also not having to deal with another power player."

'Oh, that makes sense. If the concubine ended up giving birth to a strong or capable child, they could possibly usurp actual blood-related clan members. Smart.'

Vianna giggled. "I was so surprised when I discovered that human concubines become part of the family even after giving birth. Humans confuse me sometimes."

Viktor snorted. "That's why you were so protective of Rodin, huh?"

"Shut up."

The meeting with the concubine candidates did not last all that long.

Apparently, today was meant to be an introduction of sorts. And there would be future meetings to come.

As expected of the women who answered the royal family's call, all of the girls were from respectable households. Of course, the lack of nobility and whatnot meant that the candidates were the daughters or granddaughters of knights, prominent merchants, scholars, or bureaucrats.

Unlike Elsamina and her girls, the candidates did not throw themselves at him from the very beginning. Rather, some of them seemed to have come to appraise him.

This changed after a bit of conversation though.

Perhaps because they were assured that they weren't volunteering to wed some ugly hedonistic brat, the candidates became much more enthusiastic after conversing with him. Reivan couldn't even remember how many invitations to tea parties he accepted.

In any case, he would be meeting them individually on separate occasions. But when he asked them what they wanted out of the marriage — not expecting them to be entirely truthful — they all answered honestly.

Some simply wanted the prestige, some liked his face, some did it for their family, some just wanted a partner who would take care of them, and some just wanted to live out the fairy tale of marrying a prince and living in a palace.

Reivan was a bit put off, but he eventually understood. Nobody would fall in love with his personality at first sight. Naturally, they came here with their own agendas and it would be up to him and his concubines to decide if their relationships were purely transactional or something special.

After sending the beautiful women off, Reivan sat on a sofa, considering his option while the two elder warbeasts watched over him with knowing smirks.

"Oh, right. I've been meaning to ask you since a while ago..." Reivan turned to his elders, who'd gone through the same ordeals that he did. "Even after supposedly unlocking my qi, am I still supposed to be... y'know. Horny?"

Vianna and Viktor tilted their heads and then looked at each other before both of them frowned.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Nope. My thing softened up like a rice cake after my qi was unleashed."

"Right." Reivan nodded to himself. "Thanks."

'Shit.'

He was still horny.

After the little meeting with his potential concubines, Reivan was treated to a meal together with most of his extended family. Mimi was noticeably absent, and Jiji had absolutely no idea what ordeal two of her elder siblings just went through in the past few days. She was simply happy that her favorite brother had returned from who-knew-where, pestering him to spoil her like she usually did.

Surprisingly, Stella had returned from Fort Alexander at some point. With a fresh batch of interesting war stories and an obvious craving for her husband's juices, Stella's very existence convinced Reivan that it was mating season for certain groups of humans as well.

Rodin and Roland were looking more and more alike by the day, in particular, they both had very heavy bags under their eyes despite all the medicine Reivan provided for them.

Naturally, Vianna was as beautiful and graceful as usual. She was now smirking at Reivan while pointing out pretty maids that apparently welcomed his... advances, but for the most part, she remained unchanged.

'So peaceful...'

It would have been Reivan's favorite type of atmosphere if not for the incessant heat in his loins.

'When does it stop, I wonder?'

It was nowhere near what he experienced before unlocking his qi, but it was still quite an annoyance. Luckily, his... son, did not see fit to stand up for him. He was afraid he'd embarrass himself in front of his future concubines, but luckily, no accidents happened during the get-together.

'Is it because I'm a hybrid?'

Being the world's first hybrid, Reivan lacked a knowledge base about his unique race. While [Supreme Insight] granted him ample information, the ability didn't concern itself with relatively minor details like this — even though such details held significant importance for Reivan.

'Whatever. it'll die down.'

At least, that was what Reivan told himself. His current priority was enjoying the meal he was having with his beloved family — even though one of the cat sisters was missing.

After the meal, Reivan could now return to his previous duties. Despite his discretion in steering clear of Elsamina and the enigmatic Serpent's Haven, his plate remained full with tasks at hand.

He still had mental and physical training regimens to stick to, spies who were doing their best so far away from home to manage, and general lessons as a member of the royal family to take.

The demands his duties left him with were overwhelming, but he pushed through.

So, when night came, Reivan didn't waste any time. He was eager to crawl into his own bed and get a good night's sleep to recharge his energy.

"Ugh..." Reivan groaned, unable to sleep even though he really wanted to. Instead, he'd been tossing and turning for hours. Somehow, even after using [Effect Reproduction] to replicate the strongest sleeping pill he ever took, he still couldn't fall asleep.

Rather, he just made his situation worse because his body wouldn't allow slumber to claim him — despite his immense drowsiness.

'Fuck...! Why am I so horny!?'

Even when he bit the bullet, asking the Sword Star to look away from him for a few hours while he... relieved himself, the heat within Reivan's body would not abate.

He was so absurdly thirsty for a woman he felt like he would literally go insane.

"Son of a fucking...! I've had enough of this shit!"

With anger, embarrassment, and some other emotions mixed in, Reivan kicked his sheets off and jumped out of bed.

'Fine! I just have to do it right!?'