"Are you absolutely sure that the Capital is in dire straits much like this town? We have traders going to the capital as we speak." The stress levels that William was enduring was pretty high as of late with all the work he's had to do to keep Esta from going under, but this new revelation brought to him, was something on a whole new level. Amaterasu was looking pretty mournful herself, this was her domain we were talking about. To think things were going this badly, it could be considered an understatement to say that Amaterasu was feeling stressed out herself. It was safe to say that my original plans of just travelling to all of the shrines would be put on hold for a while.
"Do you know how bad the malice has gotten to the capital in comparison to Esta when we arrived?" I chimed in with this question to help put things into perspective.
"The capital of Taiyo is much larger in size in comparison to Esta my dear. What I can say is that it's been tainted a lot more than Esta but it doesn't cover the entirety of Taiyo, Though because of that I can't pinpoint the exact source of the tainted malice."
"Right, so we have time to put things right then. Now you mentioned there was another place with one of your shrines that was tainted with malice, where is that? Is it on the way to the capital? If it's on the way, we can purify whatever is corrupting it."
Amaterasu smiled in relief, she must have thought that I was going to abandon it due to priorities. William was thinking much differently though.
"If it's too out of the way Gaël, we can't have you go purify that place first."
"I understand, which is why we need the names of the other two towns or villages." I looked at Amaterasu, she smiled back at me and stated:
"One is a small village called Lothian, the other is a large city called Malgion." William's eyes relaxed at the mention of those places.
"What do you know of those places William?"
"Lothian is on the way to the Capital of Taiyo to the west of Esta. It's managed by a Goddess and her husband who is the Lord of Lothian. Malgion, however, is on the other side of Taiyo, close to Susano-o's domain, near enough on the western border as a matter of fact."
"So we're going to have to leave Malgion and deal with Lothian and more importantly Taiyo."
"I'm perfectly okay with that plan, Malgion is not in dire straits at the moment, We can prioritise everything appropriately." William calmed down even further with The Goddess's plan and sat back in his chair and sighed a breath of relief.
With a brief moment of reprieve, William stood up.
"Gaël, before you leave I would recommend preparing as much as you can, also register yourself at our Adventurer's Guild, you'll have to start from the bottom rank of G, but I'm sure you'll climb up in no time. I have work to do to get this town back up and running with your orders."
I nodded happily
"I will do it, you won't have to worry about that. Let's get going Amat."
"Yes Dear." Amaterasu jumped off the couch she was lounging on and linked my right arm and we left William's office to go meet the rest of the girls.
William saw this interaction and was dumbfounded for words, to think a mere mortal would have an all powerful Goddess swooning over him was just unheard of. He fell back into his chair and decided to ponder whether he should find a woman for himself who would look at him like the way Amaterasu looked at her chosen one.
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When Amaterasu and I left the Guard house, Amaterasu brought me to the Adventurer's guild, where we met some unexpected resistance.
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to become an adventurer?" The receptionist at the counter bowed respectfully at my outcry. Her eyes closed to muster as much respect as she could.
"I'm sorry sir! Our Guild Master at the Capital of Taiyo who runs all of the guilds throughout our Goddess's domain on YoruSora has forbidden anyone of Court Nobility or higher to become an adventurer. The reason being is due to their funding and wages they receive from the royal palace at the capital brings an unfair advantage over other Adventurers who have to scrape by and start at the bottom." I couldn't believe any of this and neither could Amaterasu who at this time was now in my soul to avoid any further conflict.
"But I don't have any official status to my position, I've not been given any position or ranking officially as of yet."
"That's true sir but as you have succeeded over our previous Lord who was a Court Noble due to the size of this town and his family's Heritage. You now have his responsibilities thus cannot become an Adventurer. If you wish to change this you must go to our capital and discuss it with the Guild Master himself." I couldn't believe it, how on earth am I going to make the extra cash to help fund the town?
'It's not the end of the world my dear. There are other ways to help fund our town and besides. With the food we brought back to help tide the town over until trade comes to town. How about we get to prepare Ruby and Sophie for our adventure to the capital? They're going to need it.'
'Fine'
With that, I calmed down and I thanked the receptionist for her service and left the building quietly. I heard laughing being bellowed through the walls from outside the building. I guess I live in a different world to what I would have liked to have lived in.
We later found Ruby and Sophie back at the house fitting on new combat gear that Serena gave them. They told us that the guests are currently sleeping in a guest room that the new Maid of the house provided for them as per mine and Sarah's instructions. Ruby told us that they will both be down later after they have gotten their guests settled in.
Their new armour looks great, it's near enough the same armour that Serena uses but it was made to fit their forms completely. The only difference was that they asked for a version where their entire top half covered up so they averted the eyes of the men. Something I didn't mind at all, I think Serena's only confidence in wearing her armour that way was because she would beat the life out of any man who approached her in a way she didn't agree with.
"What do you both think of your new combat gear you two?" I asked them out of genuine curiosity, I know Amaterasu would make them their own special gear but it would only last as long as their own strength demanded. The armour she made back when I fought monsters way back when didn't last at all because it took all my strength to both maintain and summon. Which means in the meantime, like this Spear I bought. I'm going to need a set of man made armour.
"I know what you are thinking dear, but to tell all three of you a secret. Once you hit 10% of my power, you're going to be able to form a special piece of armour for yourself. Either that or you can use it to keep your weapons out permanently without extra mana or energy cost." I was taken aback from this statement. Why didn't she tell me before?
"That information wasn't needed at the time, I gave you your armour and you have not needed anything extra since then as you have kept a relatively low profile, to the best of your ability, while you have been here."
Ruby decided to cut in with her own thoughts next.
"So, this special armour we get, will we be able to design everything ourselves in how we want to look?"
"Yes you will be able to design the armour in any way you see fit to help you fight. Whether it be heavy armour, cloth, silk. It will follow the same colour scheme as your blessing, you won't really get much of a choice there, but it will protect you all the same." Amaterasu lectured lovingly to us all.
"It sounds like you two are pretty happy with what you have now. It's not the best you're going to get but it will have to do, until we work on your powers to gain better armour."
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Around the same time when Gaël and Amaterasu were reporting to William, Yuna decided it was a good time to report to Tsukuyomi as well. She moved to the temple of Amaterasu, got to one knee and called out to him.
'Yuna, I'm glad you called, I tried reaching out to you not too long ago, around the time when the Malice from Esta disappeared. How has the situation been since then?'
Yuna reported everything that has happened to Esta, telling him about Izanami taking over the town, William's brother Winston Jr. being conscripted into the Guardsman at the capital to teach him a valuable lesson on how not to neglect his duties. Finally on how Gaël has certified himself as the un-official Lord of the town and all the good he has done to help the citizens.
'It seems that dear ex-wife was onto something when she picked her chosen from the original world.'
'Original World?' Yuna questioned curiously.
'Yes, there's a planet called Earth and we gods originated from that world. The belief in us Gods was how we came to be. When their belief in us was lost, we created the world of Lurra and that was how we were able to manifest ourselves into physical beings. Both the good and the bad. Order and Chaos, without Earth. Izanami and Izanagi would never have been born and then through them, Amaterasu, Susano-o and myself were born. As well as our distant relative Kagetsuchi.'
Yuna was in deep thought, this was the first for her on how important belief in the Gods would be for her.
'That said, our strength comes from our numerous followers in quantity. If you were to stop believing in me, I wouldn't just up and disappear. It would take my entire following in me to stop believing in me, for me to disappear.' Yuna nodded in understanding. She now understands further on the situation with Amaterasu.
'I wish to make a request to stay here with Gaël and I want to help him.'
Tsukuyomi raised an eyebrow at this sudden declaration.
'Oh? Is there a reason why?" Yuna blushed and grabbed her arm. Tsukuyomi smiled at the sight. "Have you finally managed to find someone to fall in love with?'
'Was I really that transparent?' Tsukuyomi laughed, it was a soft laughter.
'You were, but it's not a bad thing, I'm glad you've finally managed to soften up. Your expectations were always far too high when it came to men, ever since you went on your journey away from your parents to find a partner. I was suddenly thinking you would never find anyone for yourself.' Yuna was getting embarrassed hearing this, her tails waved frantically around and her face blushed furiously from this. 'I hope you introduce me to this Gaël soon. I wish to give him my blessing to help him look after you and make you happy.'
Yuna's face was shocked at the sound of this.
'He already has Amaterasu's blessing. Is that not going to cause a rift with her as well?'
'Only out of petty spite from our history, but no. I'm not going to give him the same blessing as the one I gave you to allow you to use my power. A marriage blessing, one that allows him to protect you at a moment's notice and you will be able to speak to him like you are talking to me right now. Telepathically.'
'Thank you so much Tsukuyomi. I'll be sure to inform Gaël and Amaterasu as soon as I get back to them.'
Tsukuyomi laughed again. Now that pleasantries were over and he was able to relax again knowing that Yuna was safe, it was time to get to business in his mind.
'Okay I have 3 missions for you.' Yuna stood at attention to this as if Tsukuyomi was actually there. 'Malgion, Lothian and Taiyo are in danger. They have been taken by the same kind of Dark Malice, I don't know if it's my mother again, who's trying to take control of those locations. The strongest signal I picked up was from Lothian, so I'm worried about what's happening there. Essentially, I want you to purify these locations. I worry for Malgion but I think it may have already fallen by the time you get there to assist. If it has, I want you to move to objective number 2. Take Gaël to the remaining shrines to reclaim them, the last objective I have for you is to investigate my brother Susano-o. Not that I don't trust him but this amount of chaos being caused is not beyond him. He did complain to father when he gave Amaterasu the governing role among the three of us.'
Yuna listened intently at these mission objectives he was giving her. To Yuna, this mission was going to allow her to stay with Gaël so this had to be completed no matter what. Her tails didn't sway at all during this entire time with how focused she was.
'Do you understand your objectives Yuna?'
'Yes Tsukuyomi, I understand completely.'
'Good, I'll dismiss you for now. I hope I'm expecting children from you in the future. The fact I get to see one of my followers and Amaterasu's followers together in the future can only strengthen the bond between our Factions. It should benefit us both greatly.' Yuna at this point was a little nervous at this thought. Tsukuyomi was just marching to the beat of his own drum, she ended up laughing and cutting the communication off as Tsukuyomi went off on a love rant.
On the way back, Yuna was thinking to herself as she walked back to the mansion to give Gaël and Amaterasu the news.
"Children, I've never really thought of myself as a mother before."
The notion scared her, for as long as she could remember, she'd always been an assassin. A tool for taking out Tsukuyomi's threats, if possible maybe she could actually use her skills and talents for the greater good. She toyed around with the idea of a new life, it was a new feeling but not an unwelcome one.
It wasn't long until she made her way back to the mansion, when she got there she found Gaël, Amaterasu, Sophie and Ruby in the front room where the sisters were trying on their new armour.
"Ah, Yuna has returned. Is everything all good on your end?" Amaterasu chirped happily to her.
"Yes, everything on my end has gone well. I reported to Tsukuyomi on everything that has gone on with the Town." Amaterasu's eyebrow perked up at the sound of this.
"So what did the ex-husband say?" Her patience levelled out towards the end of that question.
"He said he wants to meet Gaël, to give him his blessing at our partnership, that they should meet soon. This won't be the same as your blessing with him. More of a marriage blessing to help protect me."
"You don't say, well it's good that he takes care of his subordinates. I will approve of this blessing and in return I will give you the same blessing so you can protect Gaël as well." Amaterasu walked forward to Yuna, she placed her own forehead against Yuna's and then wrapped her arms around Yuna and embraced her in a hug. Bright lights shone as silver and golden lights meshed, blue and orange flames began clashing until they merged to create purple flames. A mark appeared on the back of Yuna's hand. A brand of the moon overlapping the sun in a Solar eclipse.
When it was done, Amaterasu stepped back and showed Yuna her hand.
'Can you hear my voice you two?' Yuna's eyes widened at hearing the voice in her head. Gaël was fine and simply nodded. 'You two should now be able to communicate telepathically at all times now, you will also always be able to know where Gaël is at all times if you focus on him. Ruby, Sophie. You two should be able to hear me as well. You have had my blessing for a while but you have not exercised your right to speak with me due to Gaël not knowing the source of this ability.'
"I heard Amaterasu's voice in my head!" Sophie exclaimed. Amaterasu gave her a wide motherly smile.
"That you did, little Sophie, Ruby, come here so I can give you the same Marriage blessing, that is." Amaterasu looked at me.
"I accept Ruby as my wife as well." I nodded.
Ruby's eyes beamed with happiness, jumped and kissed me. I caressed her in my arms. I whispered into her ear.
"As far as the bedroom activities are concerned, I would like for us to take it slow and get to know each other that way it's better for us both, are you okay with this?"
"I am… Dear, I'm incredibly happy with this. I hope I can make you happy in the future."
"Same here to you too, I hope I can make you all happy." With a final peck on my cheek, I let her down and she moved over to Amaterasu and did the Marriage blessing act. Ruby's flames changed colour to pure Orange like my own and Amaterasu's flames.
"I hope I'm not intruding." Everyone's eyes shifted to the entrance to the main hallway where the stairs were and there they saw Sarah and the new maid standing there.
"Not at all." I stepped forward with a smile to welcome them in. "Is this the new maid in training Sarah?"
"Indeed, I was just finishing going through all of her duties. Would you care to introduce yourself to your new Lord you will be serving?" The woman next to her was fairly young, she moved forward slowly and gave a deep bow of respect. Her chest dangled heavily below, no cleavage to be seen but I could tell they were big, still not as big as Amaterasu's though. Her hair was brown and braided, she had dark blue eyes and she was quite the beauty to behold. Her skin was pale but more out of a lack of proper nutrition than as if she was healthy. If I didn't already have Yuna, Ruby and Amaterasu I would have taken her for myself to look after her.
"My name is Katrina, I'm 21 years old and I have a son who's 2. Clarice was hiring for the new Lord, told me the pay was well and that there was live-in accommodation at the job."
"Were you the only one she hired?"
"I was yes, as I was the only one out of all the maid candidates that could cook to a good enough standard."
"Welcome aboard then." I smiled gently and welcomed her.
"If you don't mind me asking, where is the father of your son?" Her expression dropped immediately.
"He died not too long after my son was born, he went out hunting for game to bring back to feed us and the monsters got to him." I bowed my head at her loss.
"I'm terribly sorry you had to go through that, no worries. You're in good hands now and so you know. Your son comes first before your maid duties, I do not want to get in the way of you raising your child." Katrina smiled brightly and bowed deeply again.
"Thank you my Lord, I'm ever so grateful for your kindness."
"You're very welcome. I hope you can make yourself at home here. Allow me to introduce you to everyone else who is living here."
Introduced her to my wives, to which she got onto her knees immediately when I introduced her to the Goddess Amaterasu. Amaterasu laughed and allowed her to rise again, she felt for the poor girl's back for all the bowing she was doing. I then introduced Sophie to Katrina to which, Sophie's bundle of energy took off and started telling Katrina about all her favourite foods.
It was at this moment Sarah stepped forward and required my attention. We both stepped out of earshot to talk.
"I am ever grateful to you for allowing me to step down from these duties."
"Don't worry about it, you will be stepping up to more important duties as Amaterasu's priestess at our Shrine in Esta. You're doing us more of a favour with this. Do you need any blessings or preparations to take up your mantle again?"
"No need my Lord". She proceeded to show me the back of her hand which revealed the brand of the sun.
"Well I hope you take care of yourself and don't make yourself a stranger, you're very important to us."
"I will not be my Lord, with this Blessing I can also communicate with you from a distance, I will share with you any findings I have and I will also update you on the state of Esta while you are away from the town."
"Good, spend as much time to get Katrina trained up properly so you can leave her in good hands with us. You will be paid for your time of course."
"With pleasure, I'll be sure to bring Katrina up to speed."
"Get her fed first as well. She doesn't look too healthy and I don't want any of my employee's including yourself going without."
"Yes my Lord, as you command."
"Good, now let's go back in before my women get suspicious." We both laughed at that statement as we made our way in. Katrina and Sophie were nowhere in sight, Ruby, Amaterasu and Yuna were standing there waiting for me to come back in.
"Nothing to worry about girls, just a business meeting."
"Business meeting?" Yuna and Ruby both questioned with puzzled faces.
"In my world, it's a meeting between colleagues done in private about work matters." Amaterasu gained a mischievous smile from this.
"Here I was thinking we'd have a new sister wife." The jealousy emanated from both Ruby and Yuna with this statement.
"Hey, hey. Three is enough as it is. Before I met you three I didn't have a woman in my life at the time." They calmed down from this defence statement, both Amaterasu and Sarah laughed from this interaction.
"So Gaël." Yuna stepped forward.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to name who the head wife is among the three of us?"
"I have thought about it, and I think it should go to the woman who first came into my life. I feel as though it's only that Amaterasu gains this title while she's around. Though you will be second in command, as Amaterasu will not be able to be around at all times, especially while she resides in my soul. Is everyone okay with this?"
"I can accept this. Will she be taking your bed chambers tonight then?"
"She will be yes. I want time to build on mine and Ruby's relationship before she joins me and you shared my bed last time."
"That's perfectly fine with me Husband of mine, I want some time with you for myself tomorrow night as a compromise though." Everyone agreed to this, with everything settled, we all had dinner together, Sarah then left for the shrine before. To which we say our goodbyes before we all settle down for the night.
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The next day
The bell rings from the guest room. Katrina who's up early to do her duties and look after her Son, moves to the source of the ringing bell.
"Looks like our royal guests are awake."
She opens the door to find the couple there laying in bed together with wide happy smiles on their faces.
"Is there anything you need, your highness?"
"Yes, I would like to thank your master who is taking care of us. Would you mind fetching him for us?"
"Right away your highness".
Katrina was super nervous, first a Goddess and now Royalty. She had never been in the presence of such high-class people before. Her palms were sweating and her knees felt weak in anticipation.
Katrina was about to knock on her Lord's door when she heard the sound of moaning. A sound she was all too familiar with from experience. Does she knock, or does she wait. Should she wait? She should probably wait until they are finished. A sudden sultry voice appeared in her mind.
'Come Katrina, we can feel your presence out there.' Gaël and I are finished.'
Katrina was startled by the voice but the warm sensual feeling of ecstasy wooed her to come into the bedroom.
When Katrina entered, she found them both in bed covered only to the waist. The smell of divine sex in the air was intoxicating and subconsciously moved her hand to her chest to try and keep herself in control and to steady her breathing. Gaël's voice managed to snap her out of it.
"Katrina, how can we help you?"
"Your guests have awoken and wish to speak with you."
"About?"
"They wish to thank you in person for helping them in their time of need."
"Okay then, tell them to start getting ready, we will have breakfast together and we can talk then." Katrina bow'd to her Lord.
"Yes my Lord, I will let them know and I will get started on breakfast for everyone."
"Thank you Katrina, we will meet you down there." Katrina was about to leave until she turned back to say something?
"Yes, my maid?"
"Was that a spell on me that made me want to join in with you two?" Amaterasu grinned from hearing this.
"That's not a spell my dear, that's my divine radiation, think of it more like a charm for those who are already in the mood for it." Katrina went bright red with a severe amount of blushing and immediately left the room.
"You have my permission dear husband, You just need Ruby's and Yuna's permission first as well as Katrina's consent of course."
"Thank you my dear wife, but I don't think I will be making moves on her as of yet when I've not had a chance to enjoy Ruby and all three of you at the same time yet." Amaterasu's eyebrow shifted and a smirk appeared on her face.
"Give me your children, my handsome husband."
"As you wish for my beautiful wife."
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A little later on, everyone sat at the dining table. With me at the head, I have the Prince and his wife to my left. To the right of me, Amaterasu, Yuna, Ruby and then Sophie in that order. Then finally Katrina with her son, who I managed to convince her to sit down with us after some coercing. I told her I didn't like things remaining too formal and that she should sit down to feed her son with us from now on. With everything settled Fumuhito decided to speak up.
"I would like to formally thank you for saving our lives, Gaël was it?"
"Yes my name is Gaël Brand, as you know Katrina is my new hire maid here. Then there's Sophie next to her who is the sister of my third wife Ruby, my second Wife Yuna and then finally my first wife Amaterasu, the goddess herself."
"Oh." The pair were dumbfounded at the mention of Amaterasu.
"Please be calm, we are of the same level here in this household."
"Yes, very well then." Fumuhito and his wife Nobuko calmed down with Amaterasu's permission.
"So Prince, I have a question, what are you running away from? When we found you, you two were practically at death's door."
"We were on a trip to Lothian, to meet with the Goddess Benzaiten to discuss trade agreements but when we got there. Monsters were running rampant and her husband was on a rampage. A lot of people have died in that village."
"Do you know what happened there that caused her Husband to go on a rampage?" Ruby spoke up this time to question the prince.
"We do not know, all we know is that the entire place is now encased in a sphere of purple aura, like a magical barrier now. When we left for Esta, we were attacked by monsters who chased us away from Lothian, it was when you found us that we managed to fend them off, but not without heavy cost."
"We're going to be heading there as soon as we possibly can once we're all prepared properly. Is there anything I should know before heading there?" Fumuhito broke out in a cold sweat at my declaration. With hesitation in his voice, he finally responded.
"Benzaiten's husband is a Dragon."
"A Dragon?!" Sophie's eyes were sparkling at the thought of this.
"You don't say. So I'm going to have to quell a Dragon."
"Can you do it? If you're able to do it, we should be able to re-occupy the village."
"I'm going to need to do it, reward or not. One of Amaterasu's shrines is there and I need to reclaim that for her."
"Very well then, what will become of us when you leave?"
"I'll introduce you to Clarice before you leave, she can find you somewhere nice to stay while you recover here in Esta. We will be heading to the Capital shortly afterwards for the same reason. So you can stay in the town for as long as you need until you need to return to the capital." Fumuhito bowed his head out of gratitude.
"Thank you for allowing us this."
"Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help you out."
After breakfast was over, Sarah arrived shortly to carry out her training duties for Katrina, Ruby, Sophie, Amaterasu and myself went to the training grounds. There Amaterasu trained us in our magic, So much so that Sophie and Ruby had attained 3%. The moment of feeling I could describe it for these two was like the 'penny dropping for them'. Once they caught onto the technique, that was it then. They absorbed the information Amaterasu gave them. Amaterasu also sparred with both Ruby and Sophie while she was at it with their martial training, like she did with me. By the end of the day, they were finally able to dodge some Amaterasu's attacks.
In turn, Amaterasu taught me two spells, I hit 10% and gained the ability to breathe fire. Amaterasu wanted me to train with this ability to concentrate this fire and compress it so it became a beam. That was going to be a ways off until that happened though. I also gained a spell to drop a shock wave of heat which I could only describe the effects of it stunning my opponent for a moment. I dubbed the name of this spell as orbital bombardment because I knew for a fact with enough training of this spell. The strength was going to be nuts. Finally with me reaching 10% I gained not one but two pieces of armour, I suppose they technically shared the same slot but they turned out to be wrist guards. When they appeared on me. Their golden colours were brilliant-ly tacky. I hated the look of these guards. Amaterasu sensed my disdain for them and couldn't help but laugh, she told me that I was not going to be able to change the look of them until later on.
I hoped I could change them soon, I didn't mind the golden look but I wished It was more like a golden trim. At least have it look more tasteful. On the plus side the detail on the wrist guards design was incredibly intricate. It had rays of light on the outside along with flare waves coming from my hands and reaching up my arm.
When we got back I showed Yuna the guards and she laughed as well. She assured me that the rest of the armour was probably going to make the look fit. I took her word for it and she hugged me. We spent an intense night in bed now that we were prepared for our trip tomorrow.
In all honesty, I'd be lying if I didn't say my nerves weren't getting to me.