Chapter 26 - Road to the harem

After the incident at the academy we had the interrogation of the knights.

The academy was closed to search the places where the invaders entered.

Obviously, the academy was closed. But not forever, it only concluded earlier the first cycle of the school year.

I also had to take the exams on my own and somehow finished them with regular grades.

Now I was in a carriage on my way to the Duchy Rosenberg.

There was no money to buy a limousine or rent one, it was cheaper this way since it belonged to my future house.

That's right, in the future I will be the next boss, a duke, one without power as I still haven't received the antecedent surname von.

"We will soon arrive home."

We were almost four days in carriage, we stopped at a resting place to eat something and stretch our legs, the horse must also sleep.

We didn't even take the bullet train as it is much more expensive.

Oh, and I speak of "we were" because of the people inside.

On one side we were; my person clearly and my girlfriends.

The main character of the game, Lily, a commoner and nice girl with a heart so pure you feel it purifies you.

Her hair was a long light blonde that was pulled back in pigtails near her neck, her clothes were a play of colors with her white skin and red lips.

Near the window was the villainess, my fiancé, Elize von Rosenberg. Or Eli for short.

Her hair reached down her back, it was bright blonde and her eyes were a beautiful plum-red color. She looked like a pretty foreign doll.

Their faces are beautiful and their smiles full of life, but right now that smile was blurred and very self-conscious eyes were visible.

The reason for that was right in front of us.

"Gosh, really a high-class carriage is different from a thrifty one! The rich are different from us thrifty people."

"I-I don't think that's so-! Ah, my tongue."

Two beautiful and unexpected girls were sitting with us.

No, we're not giving them a ride. Actually, it's kind of hard to explain since I don't understand it myself.

But the girls who are not my girlfriends are classmates.

The girl eating popcorn has light brown hair with a bob cut style, very popular lately.

Her eyes are turquoise and her clothes give the feeling that she's headed for the mountains.

On the other hand, the one next to her is totally different.

Her hair is light ash blonde, a very, very rare hair color even for this world.

It's long down to her hips, wavy because of how fluffy it looks, she has most of her hair tied in two braided buns that make her look like a little mouse, very adorable.

And even more so if you combine it with her amethyst eyes.

Her skin is the lightest of all present, almost like a snow princess.

She bit her tongue by accident and was now drinking water so it wouldn't hurt.

She was very cute for some reason.

"Eli, could you explain again how we got to this? I forgot."

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Eli was on cloud nine, this time I'll pay attention to him and not think about the tasty food we ate just now.

"You should already know their names since they're your classmates, but I'll repeat it again."

Her hand pointed one by one in a manner of introduction to a lady at a ball.

"This person is Celia von Algrand, the only daughter of Count Algrand."

"Although we already knew each other, we interacted little, but all the same, greetings⭐!"

She greeted me with a sign typical of the friendly girls in my old classroom, even closing her eye and sticking out her tongue to mimic one.

"And this is the only daughter of the marquis and member of the 10 holy wizards, Evelyn von Exner."

"P-pleased to meet-!"

She bit her tongue again, she's an awkward girl. No doubt it's the charm of awkwardness.

But what were they doing here?

As we were about to board the carriage to get to my future territory, we met them in a nearby carriage.

Coincidence or harassment?

The first without a doubt.

Who's harassing poor people?

Continuing with Eli.

"What business do we have with them, something to do with summer homework perhaps?"

Eli seemed unresponsive.

I focused my gaze in search of an answer from the person who would help me the most.

Cid, who came because I dragged him.

My other friends, Cliff and Derrick couldn't come even though they wanted to.

I won't lie, I don't want them to see Eli's mom. I know them well and I know what they would do if they saw her.

While Cid had nothing to do at the palace.

Now that he is the third prince in the line of succession, annoying people harassed him almost daily.

Miraculously, the incident with Xerxes improved his reputation and not mine.

That's right, I'm still a background character, someone who doesn't stand out.

Everyone thinks it was Cid who defeated those five and Xerxes.

That's good, I won't be harassed by annoying people and instead Cid will stop being a shadow.

Am I not a great friend?

I received a reward since they know I was with him.

The first was that I was promoted from rank D to rank C as an adventurer.

Although my real rank should be A, but many don't believe I did anything and I just took advantage, advantages of not standing out. No one defends me or expects anything from me.

The second reward was a large amount of gold coins.

Money is good and more so when you are poor, but back to Eli who now looked at me.

"What's going on?"

"You know we were in a camp, don't you?"

"Yes."

"This happened last day."

◇◇◇

Eli was summoned to a room at the hotel where they were staying.

She and Lily were sharing a room.

Once they returned to class, the principal informed them that, at the palace's request, Eli was demoted to the second homeroom.

Anyone would be sad if they knew he was demoted, but not them.

The reason was because he would now be next to their best friend.

"Lily-chan!"

"Eli-chan!"

They both hugged each other after learning that they would be classmates. Neither would ever be alone again.

The capture targets were back to normal as well, but that was of no one's interest.

When Eli entered a large room, two men were waiting for her sitting on different couches.

One was stocky, red hair faded, an X-shaped scar on his cheek. Watching Eli enter, he quickly stood up and said.

"Nice to see you, Miss Rosenberg, I am the Count, Leonard von Algrand!"

"Nice to meet you."

Eli greeted him.

The other man stood up after she greeted the other guest.

After he stood up, you could see how tall he was, slender, gray hair combed to the sides, a neatly shaved small beard and black eyes.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, daughter of the duchess, my name is Gregore von Exner, I am a marquis and the eighth seat of the 10 holy wizards."

"A pleasure to meet you."

Eli didn't understand the presence of these men here, until one of them spoke first.

"I'll get right to the point, I already wrote to your mother and the reply came to me some time later. The contents of the letter were-"

The old man was interrupted by Leo, who was an adventurer and was once Razel's companion in hunting a spider queen.

"Miss! Would you like to have a concubine for your fiancé!!!?"

"... Huh?"

Eli wasn't processing what she said until Gregore explained.

"I'm sorry that man left you this confused."

"Hey."

"You see. I heard about what happened, and no doubt it's thanks to the goddess for the blessing you received."

"Thank you for your words." Eli said.

"For that reason, is that I wrote to your mother if she wished to have vassals."

It was normal for a smaller household to seek alliance with a larger one. For that reason, the head of that household would offer the future or current head his most beautiful daughter to take as a concubine.

But Eli felt strange.

(Why would a house of a marquis seek to be our vassal? And even more so, one that belongs to one of the holy wizards...)

"You'll think it's odd that a marquis of my position would do this, won't you?"

"..."

"Don't worry, it's nothing weird or bad. Just so you know, my household was one of viscounts until recently. It was thanks to my position as a holy mage that we were made a marquisate."

"In short, even if I am part of the 10 holy mages, I am still a low-ranking noble with no connections. Rosenberg Household needs vassals, right?"

"There is no better option than this. Your mother agreed."

Before Eli could speak, Leo interrupted her.

"I was going to say something similar, but in my case it's because her fiancé is the Razel boy, isn't it? I know him and we get along great, nothing would make me happier than for my daughter and him to give me grandchildren."

Eli heard the word grandchildren from a man who wasn't her father, and felt a little strange.

For her, raising her ruined house was the priority now that they were out of debt.

Therefore, allies and vassals were important. There was only one choice to make.

"I thank you deeply for your wishes. I, Elize von Rosenberg, will be delighted to have your households become part of the Rosenberg faction. We will welcome your daughters as concubines, so if there is no heir or distant relative on your side. Your children will be named after your family name, is that agreeable to you?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Certainly!"

Both men replied.

Eli's face showed happiness that his household was slowly getting back to normal.

But, hearing that she has to share her fiancé with other women gave her a stomach ache she didn't enjoy.

◇

Now that she knew everything, there was only one thing to say.

(Ehhhhhh! Concubines? These two?!?)

(Taking my classmates as concubines feels weird. And even more so because we never pass words).

Well, I can't complain about their looks since there's something they all have in common besides being beautiful.

"Ah, a pothole." Cid said.

The carriage gave a slight skip in the air, but that slight skip was enough for me.

I activated my Hawkeye, and watched as if in slow motion, as the eight pairs of meat balloons bounced up and down a bit.

Thank you very much, and all the more so because these two girls also possess large breasts.

But really?

I wonder what this vacation will be like now that my harem has increased without my knowing it?