By the time they arrived in Halaima, Konrad felt drained—but in a brand new way.
After the three initial rounds with his soon-to-be wives, he passed out. They granted him a few more hours of rest, but then interrupted it by practicing on him—with their mouths.
Taking turns.
Heaven and hell at once.
As long as his body reacted to their teasing—and oh boy, it did, even after his mind blanked out—they kept going. He considered himself lucky that Gabrielle didn't slow down time, at least.
That would have been too much.
"It would be amusing to freeze you during your climax, but if you can't move your body, it'd be less enjoyable for us." Was her explanation. Either way, they still had plenty of opportunities.
They traveled overnight, changing horses at the stagehouses.
Konrad got no such breaks; he had to endure the girls by himself.
As the morning came—with a dozen miles left until the town—he begged them to let him practice magic instead. His mind was finally fresh after all those weeks of overworking himself.
But his body?
"What happened to you?" Welf asked with an amused laugh, despite his efforts to fix his hair.
"Couldn't get enough sleep with all the jostling," Konrad lied. "Where are Maple and Alastair?"
A tall blonde got the blacksmith beat with the answer.
Or rather, with a question of her own.
"M-master, are you going to get married?!" Stella demanded as if the world was collapsing.
Which, well—it kinda was.
"Stop with this master bullshit before you'd even start," he said, holding a hand up. "And yes. I guess Maple forwarded my message at the very least. How are the preparations going?"
The former sister's face fell.
"I-I know that I'm not worthy of the Prodigy, but—"
Oh for the spirits.
This girl—she used to spit this word out as a mockery.
She was tough as nails, strong, menacing, and now?
Well, now she was even scarier, as only a mentally unstable necromancer could be.
"I'm not doing this for fun," Konrad snapped, but Welf snorted behind him.
Okay, there was some fun in it, too, even too much—
"But you'll abandon me," Stella claimed, tears gathering in her eyes.
That's when Lily and Gabrielle left the carriage behind him. They shot glances at the blonde, filled with everything from amusement to jealousy. His harem was a literal powderkeg.
"It will be a political marriage only," the angel claimed, but hooked her arm into Konrad's.
"Speak for yourself, meow marriage is the real deal," the demoness purred, already on his other side. "And so far it seems we're more than enough to keep my Konny satisfied, so who knows?"
He yanked his hands away, taking a step back.
"Stop teasing her," Konrad scolded. He didn't need a necrotic episode before the nobles from Aset caught up. "I won't abandon anyone—unless they betray me."
"Look who's popular?" Welf laughed, slamming his back.
Yeah. This was a new type of problem he'd never had to face in his past life.
From a lonely, overworked loser, he became a powerful mage with a harem—while even more overworked. Was there no in-between? A normal life that he could actually control?
"I almost feel bad for you," Lily claimed with a pout. "So which one of us gives a better head?"
Blood rushed to his face—then, as he was about to turn to snap back, it all drained away, too.
A dozen more Schwertburg carriages arrived. This time with the Duke of Aset stepping out of one himself. Whether he heard Lily's question or even understood it, Konrad couldn't tell.
But he was angry, that much was obvious.
"So this is the place you'd keep my daughter at?!" he yelled, approaching with menacing steps. He wouldn't stop until he blocked the sun, towering over Konrad. "Unacceptable."
"Father, please," Gabrielle pleaded, roleplaying as the innocent little noble girl again.
It could have worked if her long brunette hair and frilly dress weren't so disheveled.
And it wasn't even that long ago when Konrad's main fear was getting executed by her dad.
He couldn't do that anymore. Right? Right?!
"We've been through this," the angel—more angelic than ever—said. "The corruption of the Church ruined this place. But my dear husband-to-be will fix everything right up."
While leading an army against the nomads, defeating the world's Demon Lord, and oh—
Pacify his supernatural haremettes, with one of them already crying.
He had a lot of responsibilities to juggle, and almost no control over them. Lily's light kick at his ankle dragged him back to the present, though. He had no time to wallow in self-pity.
"As Lady Gabrielle says," Konrad claimed with a bow. "We are still in the middle of rebuilding."
"You blame the Church, but we could use their strength now," the noble scoffed.
"Why bother when we have a mage of our own?" Lily chirped, hooking into Konrad's arm again. "We have Konny the White, who even saved the Silver Mage, so—"
She wanted to get him killed; he had no doubts about it anymore.
"Magic isn't everything," the duke spat, stepping even closer. "The Church could bring its bishops and armies, too. This boy couldn't even field a complete men-at-arms so far."
"And that incomplete one beat yours in a fair fight," Welf joined in as well.
The two Blood Moon not-siblings might've wanted to help. But it took only one glance at Gabrielle's face to know that trouble was brewing.
"Fair fight, you say?" Lord Scwertburg boomed. "I'll give you a fair fight, right here, right now."
"I thought we'd been through this," Konrad groaned, but the man already unsheathed his sword.
"Father, please," the angel hooked her arm into his father's this time. "You agreed that he can lead the armies. Fighting him now would be treason—"
"I agreed to that, not to give you to this whimp," the noble scoffed. "Draw your sword, Halstadt."
Konrad sighed. He didn't even know where his blade was at this point.
But with the magic he'd unlocked in the recent days, he wasn't exactly worried about duels.
While blowing off some steam, he could have shown the rest of the nobles that he wasn't someone to mess with. Not his style, but he wasn't the one to start it, either.
"Are you sure you want to fight the White Mage?" Helena entered the scene, her eyes sleepless and grey. "A literal dragonslayer? And with all these witnesses around?"
She didn't sound like she was against the spectacle, but she gave him a fair warning.
"His magic is of no consequence to me," Lord Schwertburg claimed, pulling out a golden amulet. Not the first one Konrad had seen, but it seemed much more ornate than the rest.
"Fine," the princess regent sighed. "Let's get this over with, then. A duel for Gabrielle's hand."
People and their duels.
Konrad was still trying to analyze that amulet, but couldn't get a reading on it.
"Lady Gabrielle is her own person," he said to buy time—and anger her father. "She'll decide who she wants to give her hand to. But this will be perfect to end a generational rivalry."
"Aye," the duke nodded. "Let's see if she still wants you after I beat you without your tricks."
That wasn't the real question here.
But he got curious about what that magical artifact could actually do.