"Welcome! Your highness, it's a delight to see you so soon."
"Please, it has just been a few hours at most."
"And this is exactly why it's a delight."
After being welcomed once again by a row of maids, though this time they were decently dressed, which was honestly quite a shame, Sol entered the ducal house while bantering with the Duke.
Over the last few days, Sol had managed to develop a somewhat friendly relationship with the three Dukes.
But his relationship was different with each of them, obviously.
For Tyr, he believed in his love for the Kingdom.
For Arachne, he believed in her love for his father.
As for Hermes...He didn’t believe in him at all.
Merchants only moved for profits. As long as Sol showed high potential and had enough power behind him, Hermes would be his greatest ally.
On the other hand; if Sol was in a perilous situation, Hermes would be the first one to flee.
Sol did not mind it. In fact, he was even a little happy to not be surrounded by people that fanatically loved and supported him.
Otherwise, he would begin to wonder if their thoughts had been affected.
After this, the party was a delight.
Hermes had invited a few nobles who were in his factions and Sol made ties with them.
This was another thing that Sol could and would do nothing about.
All nobles had factions.
Higher nobles commanded lower nobles and those lower nobles commanded even lower nobles.
This was inevitable. After all, Sol couldn’t possibly take care of all the nobles alone.
In his previous world, it was necessary for a king to always be wary of the factions becoming too strong.
Such worry, while not unnecessary in this world, was clearly much less dangerous.
At the end of the day, the worst they could do was usurp a part of his power.
They couldn’t harm him without putting themselves in danger. Of course, there were always outliers, like Loki Gorfard, who was ready to gamble his life just for a shot at power.
In the end, what mattered was that he kept control. As for his children, he simply hoped that he would be there for them and also hoped they wouldn’t be some 40 years old creepy NEET.
‘I really need to have a talk with those goddesses.’
As the night went by, Sol danced, laughed, and did all the political things that were oh so boring but oh so necessary.
Sometimes, he would think about the meeting between his girls that should happen about now and would hope there was no bloodbath.
Once the party began to wind down, the invitee either left or stayed in rooms reserved for them.
Sol meanwhile, followed the Duke in a dimly lit hallway, while Nuwa followed behind him.
Nuwa, while still unable to be much help as a maid, was at least taught the common rules of the high society.
Thanks to that, she had not been an embarrassment to him. Though he wouldn’t have cared even if she had.
Since she was his maid, whatever their thoughts were, the best they would have been able to do would be to give some chuckle and try to ease the awkwardness.
This was the advantage of being the highest power.
Once they finally reached their destinations, Hermes smiled at him and left. He did not know what Theresa wanted to speak about with Sol, but as long as it wasn’t something that would harm him, he did not care.
One of the most important lessons he learned was that people should learn to mind their own business.
Looking at the departing back of Hermes, Nuwa, who had been silent all this while said, “I do not like him.”
“Oh, Why is it?”
“His eyes. Even though he seems to be smiling or laughing, his eyes always have that cold glow.”
Sol chuckled and patted Nuwa's head, “Forget it. Most people we will meet will be like this. People who genuinely care for you are rare and should be cherished well.”
Nuwa did not push Sol’s hand away as she looked at him, “Then, do you care about me?”
Sol was surprised at her question but didn’t miss a beat, “I honestly didn’t care about you at first. But now I do.”
Sol knew that Nuwa had a beast-like instinct that did not lose to his own.
In front of such a person, honesty was the best bet.
“Just a little though.”
Poking at Nuwa’s cheek, he gave a faint smile and finally opened the door.
He was immediately assaulted by a heat wave.
‘A forge?’
*Clang* *Clang*
The sound of the hammer hitting the anvil filled the room.
Indicating Nuwa to close the door behind her, the two of them walked deeper into a forge.
Once they reached the innermost room, they were surprised by what they saw.
A nearly naked Theresa was currently lifting a hammer that seemed awfully heavy and beating a still red metal so fast it left afterimage.
Sol knew that while dwarves weren’t particularly talented in most magics, their bodies had a lot of resistance against natural phenomena.
Their skeletons had a higher density which made them heavier.
Their skin could be compared to low-quality armor and could absorb shock.
Their lungs had a greater capacity than normal and they could stay in zones with lack of air without problems.
They were resistant to high and low temperatures.
In short, it was like they were created for survival.
Some people thought it was a gift of the goddesses. Some other thought Dwarves developed those abilities after generations of living high in the mountain, working deep in mines, and passing their days forging weapons.
Shushing Nuwa, Sol observed Theresa as she worked.
All she was wearing was some sort of transparent negligee that left nothing to the imagination.
Despite her lack of womanly curves, Sol had to admit that Theresa had a sort of charm that made her really attractive.
Unfortunately, this charm was generally hidden by her goofy attitude.
Now though, as he watched her seriously work on forging, her face shining under the light of the fire with a fine layer of sweat, he could only admit that her serious side was attractive.
He did not know if she had heard them entering, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t disturb her until she was done. Anyways, he didn’t plan to go back today.
After all, the atmosphere should be quite stifling there.
[Babel tower]
Currently, the round table that was used for discussions between the nobles and the king was used for a different reason:
The first meeting of the women in Sol’s life.
None of them wished to use Medea’s world since it was her home ground. The same went for Camelia and her church.
That’s why they finally decided to use the tower as a neutral ground since it belonged to Sol.
The people present were Lilin, Setsuna, Camelia, Chloe, Milia, Persephone, Medea, Freya, and Lilith.
Looking at all those splendid women, Lilith felt an indescribable emotion, raising her hand she asked,
“Sooo. I more or less understand why you all are here. What I don’t understand is, why–I am here. I am not one of Sol’s lovers.”
She had been dragged in this whole mess for no particular reason by Camelia and Persephone.
On the side, Chloe nodded shyly.
“The same goes for me.”
She felt incredibly uncomfortable in this room, she had never met most of them, but the concentration of power was simply insane.
“Fufufu~! Sol stated clearly that this should concern all the women important to him, or–Perhaps you two do not want to be close to him? If so, you are free to go.”
‘Scheming bitch.’
Snarling at Camelia’s provocative ways of formulating her words, Lilith, who had already stood up, sat back obediently, while Chloe deflated.
“*Ahem* Since this is done, let’s speak about important matters. All the women reunited here are women who have a more or less deep relationship with Sol. Some are loverslovers, some are friendsfriends, some are family. But no matter the reasons, we all care for Sol and we wished to protect him. At least--that’s my opinion.”
Saying so, she threw a look at Persephone and Freya.
Camelia had been surprised to see the two.
After all, it means that Sol had an unusual relationship with them.
‘3 out of the 4 witches. This is Sol for you.’
In the end it didn’t matter, what mattered was,
“Sol wishes for us to have better relationships. So I have thought about it, but I couldn’t find a solution. After all, most of us don’t even know each other. But, there is one thing we all have in common–Sol. As such, I propose that each of us introduce herself then say one thing she knows about him or what we love about him.”
Camelia had only one goal for this gathering.
Becoming the leader of the harem.
If she could do so, she would become so much more useful to Sol. More than just a strategic weapon.
(AN: CH 98 for Theresa being shown smithing. What is Theresa forging again? Will Camelia’s plan go well? Those are very hard questions.)
