A/N: This is a notice on the votes regarding adding Evelyn as a second wife. The motion failed by only a few votes. It wasn't just due to spamming this time. A lot of it had to do with both sides creating new accounts just for the vote. I checked nearly all accounts, only to see a very large amount of them were created within the last few days of the vote and had only one comment, which was a '+1' for my vote.
This occurred both for and against, so it wasn't just one side fudging the numbers and it's also why I decided to take a break during the vote count and write a chapter of my new book 'Heart of the Universe' which is about the reality warper in Marvel.
Check it out if you please but remember to read the notice beforehand so you won't be disappointed. It's a harem book, so everyone who is disappointed about this one being monogamous might enjoy it there, though it's not a pokemon harem and rather small.
.~.~.~.
"Ugh!" I groaned as I sat up from the bed. "My body isn't supposed to be able to get tired... why am I so exhausted this morning?" I asked aloud, still rather groggy.
I put my hand behind me on the bed to support myself, only to stop when I realized I was touching something soft.
"This is Velzard's boobs!" I recognized the sensation immediately before turning to my left and seeing my naked wife, sprawled out on the bed in her voluptuous form, covered in my fluids. To be honest, it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. I went hard in an instant but decided to control my libido and let her sleep in. Velzard was clearly worse for wear than I was after our several-day tryst in bed and needed the sleep. Hopefully, though, she wouldn't sleep for several months like she normally does, as it'd be rather awkward for her to wake up only to have to immediately give birth. She'd lose out on the unique motherly joy of carrying a child to term, despite the many discomforts along the way. Skipping only to the most painful part while gaining none of the experience and still being weakened from it was pointless. If that was the case, we'd probably have just sprung for a surrogate.
Surrogates were actually quite extensively researched by Twilight. I learned all about how he'd created various races by combining human and monster or human and fairy genetic materials together to form different species. For example, by combining a human's sperm with the egg of a fairy of fire and implanting it into a fairy of water's womb, one could create the race of Fair Oni. There were drawbacks to this process, however. Most experiments done in this way would, after several generations, eventually lead to the offspring degenerating into monsters, which was how the original Fair Oni degenerated into Kijin and then into Ogres and Goblins. /1\
It made sense when I really thought about it. That would explain why Goblins evolve into Ogres eventually, so theoretically a Goblin with enough potential could evolve into a Fair Oni if they got strong enough.
I wasn't sure if something like this would occur with our offspring though. Our child would undoubtedly have been a Dragonoid regardless, so it's possible it would be thousands of years before the first of our Great-Great-Great-Grandchildren would devolve into monsters. And that's only IF our child decides to have children of their own.
The other major issue with that thought process was that we'd need to find a surrogate mother who was strong enough to endure the extreme burden bearing a Dragonoid offspring would place on their body. No normal woman would be strong enough. The only women I could think of that could and weren't already in a relationship, were Lilith, our adoptive daughter who we wouldn't use even if we could, for obvious reasons, and I guess Evelyn.
She'd have been the ideal choice, but Velzard wanted to carry our next child herself, which put a stop to that train of thought. If not, then to keep our relationship from becoming too complicated we'd probably just have adopted again as we did with Lilith.
I shook my head, banishing those thoughts from my mind. I felt guilty just thinking about them. Velzard went through such anguish during our fight over the topic of wether or not to have her carry our child in the first place, it felt like a betrayal to all of the courage she must have mustered to actually go through with this. And yet, here I was, still mentally trying to come up with an excuse not to have her weaken herself in case something happens and I lose her.
I smiled wryly at the notion. I really didn't deserve Velzard. She was such a strong person. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Despite having numerous insecurities, especially regarding our relationship, she was still strong enough to constantly put herself out there and be dragged around the continent by her no-good husband and his selfish whims. /2\
<
I smirked at that. 'So she knows I'm selfish huh?' I quipped in my mind before responding in seriousness to my skill trying to cheer me up.
'I know she doesn't think of me like that, she's too sweet to, but it's the truth. I haven't exactly been treating her as an equal up until now. I often forget that she is her own person and not just an accessory to me whenever I'm making decisions that affect both of us. That's why I got into such a big fight with her over having a child, I think. Because she was expressing a desire counter to my own, which doesn't happen very often and I didn't know how to respond to her feelings properly.'
I gave out a tired sigh. 'God I'm such an ass...'
<
'Are- are you being cheeky with me?' I thought hesitantly.
<<...>>
"Huh? Didn't think that'd be a thing but ok?" I said aloud as I stood up off the bed.
I waved my hand, using the most powerful magic in the universe, Primitive Magic, to clean off my wife's unconscious body and make the bed. I gave my shoulders a roll and stretched out wide, letting out a very satisfying yawn as I did so and smacked my lips a few times before making my way to the closet.
I picked out a nice set of clothes, an all-black sleeveless shirt and matching trousers with golden details. It was what you might call my 'default outfit'. The one I wore constantly and almost everywhere. It was a bit funny how a lack of industrialization affected the world. Because there weren't any textile factories, there wasn't any way to create cheap clothes en-mass, so the average person only had two or three full outfits at any one time unless they were wealthy or royalty. Evelyn, for example, seemed to have a new outfit every time I saw her nowadays, whereas while I was growing up, I only had two sets of clothes until I started training under Veldanava.
I slipped on a white robe and looked at myself in the mirror. 'Yup, definitely look like Merlin.' I thought before quietly slipping out of the room and walking down the hall to the kitchen. It was time I start preparing for breakfast. This was a hobby of mine I'd picked up. In a world without the internet to watch anime, read fanfics, or listen to free music, a man's gotta find something to do in his free time, right?
I actually secretly learned how to cook to impress Velzard when I studied in the Heavenly Star Palace for the first time, but since I didn't become extremely good at it until after I got [Mystic Eyes] and was able to analyze things better, however, I became a master at it when I gained [Solomon].
Velzard's memories were used as the basis for the artificial consciousness that resided within it, so it was able to give me in-depth know-how on how Velzard liked her dishes and her favorite foods. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but her absolute favorite is pancakes, the first thing I made for her back at the Heavenly Star Palace when trying to impress her originally.
<> [Solomon] commented.
'That right?' I quipped back at it, pretending not to notice the slightly embarrassed tone in its normally monotonous voice.
Once I arrived at the kitchen, I began to cook up a storm. Bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits with gravy, baked beans, hashbrowns, sausages, slices of ham, and of course, a small mountain of pancakes topped with fresh fruit and syrup with butter and honey.
It took me a little over an hour to make, but thanks to the borderline reality-warping power of Primitive Magic, I was able to keep everything hot and fresh despite cooking everything slowly one at a time. I turned around and began to set out the table for the small feast we'd all be consuming.
Between me, Velzard, Lilith, and Ramiris, we'd all destroy this feast. That's right, Ramiris is living with us currently. When she heard of the Adventurer's guild, she came rushing in, wanting to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, she was impressed. So much so, she started a process of transforming minor spirits with developed egos into fairies that would accompany various adventurers' parties they liked.
It was kind of like everyone having their own version of Paimon or Navi but less annoying and able to help in combat with their spirit magic. It was extremely popular, and now in every Guild location, you'd see various different types of small fairies the size of Ramiris in canon, hanging around and playing good-natured pranks. Most would even help out the understaffed guild workers in exchange for a roof over their heads and some food if they weren't a part of any party.
Due to this, Ramiris didn't spend as much time in the Dwelling of the Spirits as she used to and lives with us now, as I didn't want my best friend to be homeless as she did her work.
I walked out of the living room where all the food was laid out on platters and into the hallway. "Food's ready!" I called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
I heard a rustling from behind the doors as Ramiris and Lilith both simultaneously opened the doors and ran into the hall, only to smack face-first into each other. I chuckled for a bit and watched the two bicker in their own good-natured way.
"Watch where you're going tits!" Ramiris yelled.
"Me? You were the one who ran into me you no-good neet fairy!" Lilith countered.
"Hey! I have a job now!" Ramiris went on the defensive.
"Only 'cause papa took pity on you!" Lilith argued, slowly slipping into her more childish way of calling me, as she often did when arguing with Ramiris.
"Hahahaha~! You're still calling him 'Papa'?" Ramiris mocked.
Lilith went red in the face. "O-of course not! Father is a great man and I'm an adult now, so of course, I don't still call him that!" She argued.
I smiled lightly at her 'papa' comment but decided to end this conversation while it was still civil. I clapped my hands together loudly, amplifying the volume with [Law Manipulation] to draw their attention back to me.
"Alright, that's enough of that. The foods' going to get cold while your arguing." I said.
The two of them nodded their heads meekly. Lilith seemed to be slightly embarrassed that she got into a stupid argument in front of me while Ramiris didn't want to cause any trouble for me since she was staying here rent-free. They both got up and ran past me and into the dining area to eat. I shook my head thinking 'what am I ever going to do with them?' and walked back into my room, looking at Velzard who was still groggily coming out of dreamland.
My expression softened as I saw this and I approached, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "Come on now Snowflake. It's time to get up and eat." I said putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Muh~ Five more months..." She groggily said, eyes still closed.
"I made pancakes~"
"Gyuu~" Velzar's face contorted to a troubled expression, eyes still closed. "Pancakes or sleep... ugh! Pancakes it is! I'm having a craving for them all of a sudden." Velzard gave up on trying to resist my calls to wake up and sat up.
I smiled broadly. "What's wrong?" Velzard asked, noticing my smirk.
"Just admiring the view." I quipped before giving her a quick peck on the cheek, getting up, and walking away.
"View?" Velzard asked before looking down at herself and seeing she was completely naked. Her face became slightly red, as she was still rather bashful about our sexual activities despite actually wanting to do them more often than not.
.~.~.~.
/1\:
In Volume 17, Rain mentions that mixing spirits like that is what caused ogres and goblins to exist, so I made an educated guess.
/2\:
Velzard loves selfish guys. She loved Guy despite the fact he never really showed any special care for her in the original webnovel. So now that she has a selfish husband like Alaster who actually treats her very well, most of the time, she'd never come to love another person like Guy, even if Alaster dropped dead tomorrow.