—Cole POV—
Teleporting to the location my wives were, I found them nearly twenty platters deep into dinner. Finding the five women gnawing on pork ribs, they turned to look at me with a bone in their mouths. Rubbing my forehead with embarrassment, the women put the bones down on their plates with apologetic looks.
"How many times have I asked you all to not do that in public? The last time you did this we got banned from very nice restaurants.", I reminded them.
"Hehe…but they are so tasty!", Alpha remarked shifting around nervously.
"I am sure they are, but we can take them home with us.", I argued looking at the other patrons, "Let's stick to eating just the meat for now. Save the bones for later when we are back home."
Agreeing to do so, they piled their bones up on a separate plate for later. Ordering a lager and some fried fish, I looked over at Naofumi who was on his third mug of beer. Much more relaxed than when I last saw him, I asked if he was feeling better now.
"Yeah, I feel recharged.", he acknowledged, "So…what did the King want, he have some crazy request for you?"
"He wanted me to marry Malty to save her from the King of Faubrey.", I replied with an amused expression, "We had a nice chat…the other three Heroes, the King, and Malty all see things my way now."
Choking on his beer, Naofumi almost fell out of his seat in shock. Turning to me, Leona asked if I was marrying that bitch from this morning. Telling me she'd accept my decision no matter what, it was clear she was only putting up a front for me. Scratching her fluffy ears, I told her that Malty wasn't going to be joining us in any lifetime. Giving me a happy smile, she leaned in so I could scratch both ears.
"I told her to fuck off, after kicking the crap out of the Heroes and the King.", I chuckled as my lager arrived.
"Dude, you should have brought me along! I would have loved to see their expressions!", Naofumi protested finishing his drink, "I owe Motoyusa a punch in the face for badgering me this morning!"
Apologizing for leaving him out of the action, I informed him that he should no longer have any trouble with the Crown. Informing him that I revealed Malty's crimes to the King, she would most likely be put on house arrest for the foreseeable future. Asking me what I told them, I said it was best if he didn't know given the severity of the crime. Letting the topic go, he inquired about how the exploration went today.
Telling his party about our discovery, Senko was amazed that I was able to revive Ancient Ones without any mental issues. Informing her that we met with the Prime Minister, I remembered that I had to give Naofumi a message from him.
"Anyways, if my wives haven't told you yet, the Prime Minister of Siltvelt has extended a formal invitation to meet with you. He requested an audience with you after the Internation Conference completes in a few weeks.", I told him, "Just let me know, and I can teleport you there instantly."
"Siltvelt…that's the Demi-Human nation you told me about that worships the Shield Hero right?", Naofumi clarified with Senko, "Is there any reason you can think of that I shouldn't go?"
"That is correct, I highly recommend you take the Prime Minister's offer. In Siltvelt you will be treated with far more respect than you get here.", Senko assured him, "There are many things in Siltvelt that I can show Raphtalia and you."
Rubbing his chin, he said that being treated nicer was a very tempting offer. Given the fact he was seen as a Demon here, I understood why he felt that way. Assuring him that his safety would be guaranteed there, I couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"Is something funny about that?", Senko asked me.
"Safety from people that want to kill him, I agree with you on…as for safety overall", I said with a grin, "I think we both know how the nobility will react to his presence."
"What does that mean?", Naofumi inquired.
"Remember how I mentioned that Demi-Humans view the Shield Hero as their savior? Past Shield Heroes have always ended up with harems, usually consisting of many Demi-Human women.", I told him, "The nobles are certainly going to send their daughters to meet with you, these women will try to seduce you by any means necessary. Take it from someone who has been in your position…always be on guard with them."
Having been a Hero myself, I had seen all the tricks of the trade they would use. Wearing daring clothing and perfumes, tempting you with food and alcohol, spiking your drink with love potions, sneaking into your bed before you get in…the list goes on and on. Most of the noblewomen were after the prestige of marrying the Hero, only the ones I married wanted to marry Arthur the person.
"A harem huh…", he said unsure if he wanted that, "You make it look easy, but I assume you have a mutual understanding with them?"
"Oh yes, my wives hammered out the details themselves without my input. Before you say anything, I wasn't involved because I was doing a million other things at the time. Effectively they let me do as I want so long as I continue to love them, don't abuse them, and always listen to them if they have complaints.", I stated glancing over at my wives, "So far we have done a pretty good job keeping things together. Sure we have our moments where they get on each other's nerves, but at the end of the day we are one family."
Nodding their heads, my wives agreed wholeheartedly with that statement.
"Even when someone bites us…we always forgive them.", Leona said punching Purlin in the shoulder.
"Yeah…every time!", Purlin added punching Leona back.
Ordering more food for them, before they got into a fight, I left Naofumi to figure out what he wanted to do with the invite. Changing the topic after that, the two of us started discussing what our original worlds were like.
—3rd Person POV—
Receiving an update from the Shadows, Queen Mirellia reviewed the information they had received from Cole. Reading every piece of information that had been brought to her, she crumpled up the papers and looked out the window.
"My Queen…", the messenger said knowing the contents of the messages.
"Please…give me some time to process this.", she told the messenger.
Leaving the room, along with the other Shadows, Mirellia began to weep over the death of her only son again. Having given up hope of finding the culprit years ago, she couldn't believe that her eldest child would kill her brother. Knowing full well that her husband and she had let the Church grow too powerful over the years…she felt partially responsible for his death.
'I will see that the Church pays dearly for hurting our family.', Mirellia thought as she looked up at the sky, 'The problem is Malty…I don't know what to do with her. Killing her brother and plotting to kill Melty, I can't let this go unpunished but I don't want to kill my daughter.'
Pulling up a chair, she sat down and began to think of a way to prevent her from sentencing Malty to death. While the Queen thought hard about how to avoid her death, the Church was in a frenzy trying to find a way to eliminate the proof Malty had of their crimes. The spies in the castle had relayed what Kessler had done, and how easily he defeated three of the Heroes.
"We have to do something about that man!", one of the Archbishops shouted, "He will ruin our plans for removing the monarchy!"
"Calm yourself, we have yet to meet him so there may be a chance he is open to negotiations.", the Pope insisted, "We can't recklessly engage him, he has already shown he is stronger than the Heroes currently are. Not only that, he has no fear of retribution from the Royal Family…he must be incredibly strong to warrant such reckless behavior."
"Agreed, that said, Princess Malty is the biggest issue at the moment. She has years of evidence that she could turn over to the Crown on our criminal activities. If we don't silence her quickly, I am afraid we won't have time to gather our forces.", a Captain of the Guard reminded everyone.
Acknowledging that something needed to be done, the Pope considered his options. Since Malty was confined to the castle, for the time being, ambushing her in the city or in the wilderness was out of the question. They had people in the castle that could poison her, but that would just confirm their suspicions that the Church was involved.
"We will need to contact the Assassin's Guild, and set up a contract for her head. She has enraged enough nobles that we can easily frame one of them for her murder.", the Archbishop spoke up.
"I will arrange a meeting at once, we will need to eliminate her before the Queen or Princess Melty returns.", the Captain of the Guard stated.
"Go with haste, I want this matter resolved within the next three days.", the Pope ordered.
Going their separate ways, the men flipped back to their public personas and acted as if nothing was amiss.
—Cole POV, Home—
Returning from the Shield Hero World, Eri and Kota were eagerly waiting for me. Taking a seat on the couch, I ask them what they wanted to talk about. Presenting me with an invitation to their Christmas Program, the two of them asked me if I could take some time to go.
'Crap…I have been too focused on work again. I completely forgot that Christmas is in a few weeks, I have to buy presents!', I thought knowing I need to take a day off, "The program is in two days, right? I will take the whole day off so I am free to be there."
"Really!", Eri shouted with excitement, "Sandy Claws will be there too!! Can we take pictures with him?! I want to tell him what I want for Christmas cause I didn't write him a letter!"
"Haha of course we can, to celebrate the occasion we can also go out to eat. I will take you both where ever you want to go.", I promised them.
Looking at one another, they turned back to me with a decision already in mind.
"We want you to cook dinner!", they pleaded.
Blinking several times, I asked why they wanted me to cook. Usually kids would want to go to a fancy restaurant or a fast food place with a play area so telling me they wanted my cooking made me suspicious. Glancing over toward the kitchen, I saw several sets of eyes peering out at us expectantly. I knew it had been a while since I cooked food, but I didn't expect them to use the children to ask for it.
"I presume you all are the reason they want me to cook?", I asked my wives.
"Well blame your amazing cooking.", Sith remarked, "It's not our fault you cook amazing food! You haven't cooked us a full meal in months, and we really want a full-course meal."
Going to give them a lecture about asking the kids to do this on their behalf, Eri cut me off before I could.
"We haven't tried the delicious meals our mommies talked about…can we not try them?", Eri inquired with a devastated expression.
"Of course you can!", I agreed in a panic, "Just let me know what you want to eat, and I will make it."
Telling me to make something with bacon and meat, I could hear my wives celebrating in the kitchen. Hanging my head in defeat, I patted the two children on the head and told them to go get ready for bed. Running off to get ready, Ryuko walked over with a smug grin.
"You really are a sucker for the children.", Ryuko teased me, "The children really are going to be spoiled because of you."
"Uh huh…I bet you were one of the ones responsible for this, weren't you?", I asked walking over to her.
Since Eri and Kota weren't in the room, I reached behind her and firmly grasped her butt. Hearing a cute squeal come out of her, she turned bright red out of embarrassment. Leaning forward, I playfully bit on her ear.
"Tonight's your turn.", I whispered, "I hope you plan on taking tomorrow off."
"You will be gentle, right?", Ryuko asked looking at me.
Giving her a grin, she quickly repeated the question again.
"Better plan on taking tomorrow off.", I said letting her butt go with a playful smack, "I have been waiting a while for some payback, you owe me for all the teasing you have been doing to me. Before you ask…there won't be any trojans tonight."
Watching her face turn several shades darker red, I swore I saw steam pour out of her head. Running away from me, she fled to the bedroom trying to hide her embarrassment.