Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
November, x787.
After Alfonzo and Amar'e finished their bath, they arrived in the living room only to find all the girls sitting together and chatting animatedly. Immediately after seeing his mother, Amar'e began to struggle, clearly wanting to be in Elicia's arms.
"Well, I guess he likes you better." Alfonzo said with a smile.
"Fonzie! Welcome home!" Elicia said excitedly as she shot up from her seat on the couch and dashed towards Alfonzo and Amar'e.
Then, once she was in front of her two favorite people in the world, Elicia took Amar'e from Alfonzo, showered him with kisses, and wrapped Alfonzo in a hug with her free arm. Meanwhile, the other eight women approached at a much more leisurely pace.
"Welcome back, Fonzie." Cana said with a smile, leaning in for a kiss after Elicia pulled away. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." Alfonzo replied while pulling Cana into a hug.
"It's good to see you, Alfonzo." Erza said as she was next to get a hug.
"You, too." Alfonzo said before pecking Erza on the lips.
Like that, the greetings, hugs, and kisses continued. Then, once he hugged the last of his lovers, Sun, Alfonzo and the ladies took seats on the couches in the living room..
"So, what were you girls up to?" Alfonzo asked curiously. "I was expecting to see, at least, some of you when I got home."
"Oh, we went grocery shopping." Marin replied with a smile while leaning against Alfonzo's right side.
"Grocery shopping?" Alfonzo asked in a tone of mock confusion. "You guys can do that?"
"Oh, stop it." Ultear said, playfully swatting Alfonzo's right shoulder as she spoke. "We're not completely hopeless, you know."
Hearing that, Alfonzo stared pointedly at Ultear. And after a few moments of receiving Alfonzos stare, Ultear looked around the room for support. However, whenever she made eye contact with the other women, they all looked away. The only exception being Shizuka. However, instead of giving Ultear the support she was looking for, Shizuka smiled while clenching her fists in front of her large chest.
'That's not the kind of support I was looking for, Shizuka.' Ultear thought to herself.
Seeing the reactions of his lovers, Alfonzo chuckled good-naturedly.
"Anyway, what took you all so long?" Alfonzo asked curiously. "I was here for at least an hour and a half before you guys got back."
In response, all the ladies exchanged glances. Then, after a few moments of silent conversation, Mirajane was the one to answer Alfonzo's question.
"We couldn't agree on what to get." Mirajane said in a bashful tone.
"Yeah, we all wanted you to cook something different for dinner." Sun added. "And well…"
"They ended up arguing in the grocery store." Lucy said with a deadpan.
That caused all the other women, except for Shizuka, to look away in embarrassment.
"So, what did you end up getting?" Alfonzo asked curiously.
"Oh! We got Seering Bull ribeye!" Shizuka said excitedly while raising her hand energetically, causing her breasts to shake gloriously.
"So, it'll be just like the first day in the old mansion, huh?" Alfonzo asked with a smile.
"Yup." Elicia said, nodding her head vigorously and causing Amar'e to giggle at the abrupt shaking.
"And what about sides?" Alfonzo asked.
That question made all the women freeze. They had completely forgotten to buy anything to go along with the main course.
"*Sigh* I should have known." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. Then, he raised his head and looked at the Ceiling before speaking one word. "Grayfia."
In the next instant, Grayfia appeared behind Alfonzo with a burst of speed.
"What can I do for you, Master Alfonzo." Grayfia asked politely.
"She's even faster than I am." Mirajane said while narrowing her eyes slightly.
"She's faster than most of us." Cana added. "And to think, she's only a maid. I bet she would have made one hell of a wizard."
Ignoring the other ladies' chatter, Alfonzo turned his head and looked up at Grayfia.
"Could you please take a trip to the market and pick up some things that would pair well with Seering Bull ribeye?" Alfonzo asked with a smile.
"Of course." Grayfia replied with a polite bow.
Then, once she straightened her back, Grayfia strode towards the living room's exit with a purpose.
"*Sigh* Hiring those maids was such a good idea." Marin said. "We really can't do anything other than fight and break stuff on our own."
Though most of the ladies agreed with Marin, they were too embarrassed to say so.
After that, a few hours past. In that time, Grayfia returned with the necessary ingredients. Then, Alfonzo, Grayfia, and Maria began cooking dinner. Meanwhile, the other maids attended to the ladies of the house while they chatted and played with Amar'e. Then, after some time, Alfonzo, Grayfia, and Maria served dinner and the ten residents of the mansion ate and chatted happily.
After dinner, Elicia put Amar'e to bed, leaving Grayfia and Maria to take care of him for the night. Then, Alfonzo and the ladies, except Shizuka, who was not yet ready for a sexual relationship, went to Alfonzo's room. And they spent the next few hours helping Alfonzo work off his excess energy from not having sex for several weeks.
The next morning, Alfonzo woke up covered in female bodies.
"*Sigh* I've missed this." Alfonzo said while releasing a content sigh as he looked at all the women sharing the bed with him. "But without Miyuki staring at me when I wake up, I kinda feel like something is missing."
Shaking off that thought, Alfonzo carefully climbed out of bed, doing his best to not wake up any of the ladies. Unfortunately, as they were all quite strong by now, the attempt failed miserably.
"Hmm… good morning." Lucy said groggily. "What time is it?"
"It should be just after six." Alfonzo replied. Then, after looking at the clock hanging over his workshop's door, he continued. "Yup, just after six like I said."
"*Yawn* It's so early." Sun said, sounding extremely tired. "Why are you getting up so early."
Leaning over, Alfonzo kissed Sun on the forehead, making her smile sweetly.
"Because I need to train." Alfonzo replied. "After that, I need to head back to the Hidden Leaf."
"Then, I' shall join you." Erza said, sitting up as she spoke, causing the blanket to slip down and reveal her body.
"Sure." Alfonzo said. "I'm gonna go wash my face and put on my training clothes. I'll meet you in the training room."
"Huh? You're not going to the guild hall?" Cana asked in a confused tone.
"Nah." Alfonzo said as he strode towards his bathroom. "If I go to the guild hall, I can think of at least two people who will challenge me to a fight, for sure. And there's a third with a strong possibility of doing so, too."
As he spoke, Alfonzo could not help but think of Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus, in that order. And he really did not want to deal with their challenges today.
"Well, that's good." Mirajane said. "We'll be able to get the most out of the little bit of our remaining time together."
Hearing that, the other girls smiled.. Then, they all got out of bed, as well, before heading to their own rooms to change into their training clothes and wash their faces.
By the time everyone had gotten out of bed, there was only one person who did not move from beginning to end. And that was naturally Elicia. However, after a few minutes without the warmth of the others, she began to stir. Then, she started patting the mattress around her. Finally, after not finding anyone, she opened her eyes with a pout on her face.
"Why do they all have to get up so early?" Elicia asked in a discontent tone. "Doesn't anyone appreciate a good night's sleep anymore?"
"Of course we do." Alfonzo said while walking out of his bathroom. "But when you have the title of the strongest guild in the kingdom, sleeping in is a luxury."
In response, Elicia whined before hiding her head under her pillow.
Smiling at his first wife's antics, Alfonzo walked over to his closet and pulled out a set of training clothes before getting dressed. Then, he made his way back to the bed, pulled the pillow off Elicia's head, and kissed her on the forehead.
"so, are you gonna train with us, Lici?" Alfonzo asked with a smile.
"Ugh… Fine~~~." Elicia replied discontentedly. "I need to check on Mar'e, anyway. So, I'll do that while I get ready."
Smiling even wider, Alfonzo wrapped Elicia in the sheets. Then, he picked her up and carried her towards the door.
"Good, let's go see how my Little Man slept." Alfonzo said happily as he walked.
Hearing that, Elicia smiled as she snuggled into Alfonzo's arms to make herself more comfortable.
Fifteen minutes later, after leaving Amar'e in the care of the maids, Alfonzo and the ladies met up in the training room on the lowest basement level. Before they could start their training, however, Lucy drew near to Alfonzo.
"Hey, Alfonzo, mind sparring with me for a bit." Lucy asked with a smile.
In response, Alfonzo raised an eyebrow. It was rare for Lucy to ask him to spar. But she seemed so confident that he could not help but be curious.
"Sure." Alfonzo replied. "So, how do you wanna do this?"
"No magic. No weapons." Lucy replied quickly. "And since you're so much stronger than me, I can empower my body with magic power. But you can't."
Alfonzo raised his other eyebrow in response. Still, he nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, the other ladies were looking forward to this sparring match. For a while now, Lucy had been practicing Savate. And she had sparred with quite a few members of the guild. And today, she was ready to show her progress to Alfonzo.
With the sparring match decided, the center of the training room was cleared. While Elicia, Cana, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Sun, and Shizuka took up positions to observe from the edges of the room, Alfonzo and Lucy stood opposite each other at its center.
Both fighters took what appeared to be boxing stances, while Alfonzo's was orthodox and Lucy's was south paw. However, as the one who taught Lucy the basics of Savate, Alfonzo knew she was in an orthodox Savate stance.
"Come at me whenever you're ready." Alfonzo said with a serious expression on his face.
IN response, Lucy nodded as she took small steps towards Alfonzo. Then,, as soon as she was in range, Lucy's front leg, her right leg, lashed out at Alfonzo's knee.
Taking a step back, Alfonzo avoided the kick, making Lucy's leg sweep past. However, Lucy quickly arrested her right leg's momentum. Then, she threw a crescent kick at Alfonzo's righ shoulder.
This time, instead of dodging, Alfonzo swatted Lucy's kick away with his right hand. However, as soon as Lucy's kick flew past Alfonzo, she quickly drew her leg towards her body. Then, after shifting forward on the ball of her left foot, she shot a powerful side kick towards Alfonzo's abdomen.
And just as she said, Lucy had empowered her kick with her magic power. As a result, the kick was fired off at a speed that Alfonzo was unable to avoid without the use of his magic power. So, he did the only thing he could, he lowered his left arm into the kick's path.
*Bang!*
And when Lucy's foot collided with Alfonzo's arm, the sound was much louder than the sound of flesh meeting flesh had any right to be. On top of that, Alfonzo was forced two steps back to bleed off the momentum of the kick.
"Holy shit!" Cana exclaimed in surprise. "She actually managed to push him back.'
"Yes, there was a lot of power behind that kick." Erza added with a nod. "Without the use of magic power to strengthen my body, that would have hurt, even me, quite a bit."
"Yeah, I guess those thick thighs are good for something, huh?" Elicia said with a smile.
In response, Lucy momentarily glanced at Elicia with an annoyed gaze.
"Don't look away." Alfonzo said as soon as Lucy's head turned.
In the next instant, after Lucy turned back to face Alfonzo, she saw an overhead right aimed at her left shoulder.
Reacting quickly, Lucy leaned her body to the right. Then, she parried Alfonzo's punch with her forearm. However, she was thoroughly surprised by how heavy Alfonzo's punch was.
'He's so strong.' Lucy thought to herself as she had to use much more force than expected to parry Alfonzo's blow. What would have happened to me if he had been adding magic power to that punch?'
Despite the thoughts running through her head, Lucy was able to lash her left leg at Alfonzo's torso. Then, when he blocked it with his elbow, she reloaded by drawing her left leg back and throwing a kick towards Alfonzo's chin.
Tilting his head back to barely avoid the kick, Alfonzo was forced to take a step back when Lucy twisted her leg before bringing it down in an axe kick.
*Bang!*
The force of Lucy's axe kick was enough to make everyone feel the floor vibrate. However, Lucy did not slow down at all as she pivoted on her left foot and lashed her right foot at Alfonzo's head.
Once again, Alfonzo was forced to block. However, before Lucy's foot made contact with his left arm, she pulled her foot back to reload. Then, before Alfonzo could react, she threw another side kick at his torso.
*Bang!*
This time, Lucy's kick landed properly. As a result, Alfonzo was lifted off the floor, flying back a few feet. Still, the kick did not seem as if it damaged him very much, the proof being how he landed stably on his two feet.
"Not bad." Alfonzo said with a smile while rubbing the spot on his abdomen where Lucy's kick connected. "That would have really hurt if I hadn't been strengthening my body with the Techno Organic Metal for so many years."
Hearing that, Lucy could only smile wryly as she retook her stance.
"but now, let's see how you do if I get a little more aggressive." Alfonzo said as he pushed of the floor and sped towards Lucy.
In the next instant, as soon as Alfonzo was in range, Lucy lashed her right foot towards Alfonzo's abdomen. However, Alfonzo did not slow his charge. Instead, all he did was lower his left elbow into the kick's path.
And just like she did before the kick that landed, Lucy abandoned that strike to load up for her follow up. However, before she could unleash another powerful kick, Alfonzo was pressing his abdomen against the sole of her foot.
"You can't let your opponent get in so close, Sweetheart." Alfonzo said with a grin.
Then, Alfonzo wrapped his left arm under Lucy's bent right knee and swung his right arm upwards, hooking it under Lucy's left armpit.
"Oh, crap!" Lucy exclaimed in panic.
"Up we go." Alfonzo said as he twisted his body and lifted Lucy off the floor.
*Bang!*
Then, in one motion, Alfonzo twisted his body and slammed Lucy onto the floor behind him, causing the floor of the training room to shake once again.
"*Cough!* *Cough!* Ow!" Lucy groaned as the wind was knocked out of her.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo lay on top of Lucy watching her catch her breath from closeup. Then, once she stop coughing and her breathing evened out, he stole a quick kiss.
"You've improved a lot, Lucy." Alfonzo said with a smile. "You just need more experience."
"Thanks." Lucy said while smiling through the pain. "but did you have to slam me into the floor so hard?"
In response, Alfonzo chuckled. Then, he climbed off of Lucy. A moment later, he reached a hand down towards her, which she quickly grabbed, before pulling her up to her feet.
"Oh, that wasn't all that hard." Alfonzo said with a wink. "I'm pretty sure I've slammed you harder than that in the bedroom."
Immediately, Lucy's face reddened as she started pounding her fists on Alfonzo's chest while he laughed uproariously at her reaction.
Meanwhile, the rest of the ladies approached with Shizuka arriving first to check Lucy for injuries.
"Don't worry, Shizuka." Lucy said with a smile while Shizuka's hands lit up with her magic power. "I'm alright. I'll probably just have a bruise on my back."
"Don't argue, Lucy." Shizuka said in a serious tone. "I'm gonna check to see if you're okay, and that's that."
After a couple of years being with Shizuka, everyone knew not to mess with the usually ditzy nurse when she was doing her job seriously. So, Lucy remained silent until Shizuka was finished.
"Fonzie's right, though." Elicia said after she arrived by Alfonzo and Lucy. "If Fonzie was really going hard, he could have dented the floor with that takedown."
"Seriously?" Lucy asked as her eyes opened wide in disbelief. "But aren't these training rooms made of some kind of Adamantite and Orichalcum alloy?"
"Yeah, I need to find a way to make them more durable." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
Lucy's mouth opened wide to match her eyes while she tried to internalize that information. Meanwhile, Shizuka continued to [Heal] Lucy's back while the other ladies discussed the spar. Then, once Shizuka said that Lucy was fine, everyone other than Shizuka began their training. Shizuka, on the other hand, only worked on magic power control while keeping watch for any injuries.
After the training ended, Alfonzo and the ladies changed into their normal clothes. Then, after giving his wives and fiancées hugs and kisses, and holding Amar'e for a while, which made him contemplate staying for another day, Alfonzo eventually left through the front door before being covered in violet electricity and shooting off into the sky in the direction of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Now that I think about it, I still haven't seen Lucy's [Soul Armament], Zodiac, after it's been released." Alfonzo muttered to himself while flying through the air at high speed. "Oh well, I'll have to see it next time, I guess."
After flying for a few more minutes, Alfonzo realized something else.
"She didn't say [Lucy Kick] even once during that spar." Alfonzo said to himself with a chuckle.