"Touya, look at this." = Normal speech.

'Touya, look at this.' = Thoughts/Telepathy.

(One hour later.) = Time skip.

~Yo, it's God. ~ = Phone call.

"Come forth, fire!" = Chanting.

[Kingdom of Belfast] = Title/Place/Rank/Weapon Name.

{Gate} = Spell name.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(The main stress of [Reflet].)

After the conversation, the party of Touya, Sally, Yae, and Kohaku decided to take a stroll around the town of [Reflet]. It was a good day to take a stroll and with no urgency to pick up a quest. Now was the perfect chance to relax for a day.

Though, relax may be too strong of a word right now.

Coincidentally, It was a busy day today, many people were flooding the streets of [Reflet] and so the crowd was bigger than usual. Nevertheless, Touya and co navigated through with expert ease, owing to their extended stay here.

However, Yae's ears picked something up, a faint, yet unmistakable sound that she knew herself all too well. Passing through a street, Yae suddenly ran first, surprising her friends as they ran to catch up to her and wondered what made her stray from the group.

Their yells and calls fell to deaf ears as Yae kept running ahead, Touya wondered what got into her as she usually never had this much tunnel vision, with a few exceptions, but none of those were present and so he was confused about what made the usually calm and level-headed Eashen female ran off as she did.

Whatever the case, thinking about that wasn't gonna give him any answers.

Chasing her down wasn't too much of a hassle, though trying to avoid crashing into pedestrians was the harder part. Thankfully, Touya and Sally were skilled enough and fast enough to react before they could potentially collide with any unsuspecting bystander.

This, however, did not mean that he didn't bump into anyone. Turning around a corner, Touya crashed into someone, both of them falling to the ground as they tumbled about. He tried to lessen the fall by twisting his landing but that only served to skid them across the stone street.

Once they finally stopped being victims of the laws of action and reaction. Touya hastily got up from the ground and extended a hand to the person he unfortunately crashed into.

She was a raven-haired female, her striking red eyes caught his attention but he was more focused on helping her back to her feet. She accepted the gesture and let him hoist her up.

"Come on, Master! Yae's getting away!" Sally's voice snapped him out of it, he turned back and saw that Yae was indeed running far ahead of them. Groaning, Touya turned and ran after her.

He didn't even have the time to say if she was okay, too little time for that lest he loses sight of his friend, he just hoped that whoever that girl is, hopefully, she wasn't injured by the collision.

He shook his head and focused on catching up to Yae, that was more important right now. Once he did, they were greeted by her crouching down next to a crying child, comforting them as they wept.

"Yae, you okay there?" Touya asked, Kohaku in his hands while Sally stood behind them.

"Yes, however, this child seems to be lost and alone." Yae nodded and gestured to the female child crying.

'Even I didn't hear her, is there some kind of motherly instinct in you, Yae?' Touya mused as he knelt next to the child as well, "Hey, you okay? What's your name?"

The child didn't answer as she kept crying, completely ignoring Touya's question, the teenager sighed as he tried to rack his head on how to get the child to speak and tell him how to help her.

During this, Sally crouched next to him and took Kohaku from his arms, and held her in front of the crying child. A second later, the child stopped her tears and moved her hands away from her eyes, she was greeted by the cute white face of Kohaku.

"What's your name?" Kohaku asked, the child extended her hands, motioning for Sally to hand over Kohaku and she did, the child held the small divine beast by her armpits.

"...Lim, my name is Lim," Lim answered, bringing Kohaku close and hugging her.

"Gotcha, so your name is Lim? Why were you crying?"

"...I lost my mommy…"

"What color was your mom- em, What was the color of her clothes?"

"Umm… Green? Hm! Yeah,- Green."

"Okay, I'll handle the rest. [Search: Lim's Mother]." Touya chanted, yet he came up empty, he groaned in slight frustration and shook his head.

"How was it?" Yae asked.

"Nothing, this wasn't like that time I used on the Repel Spider, I can't seem to find her, too many variables." Touya shook his head and tried to think of a solution.

'Just like with the Repel Spider, the description I'm going off of is too minimal. Plus the fact that I'm looking for someone in green doesn't help that… If only I could use my phone's map to help- Wait a minute.' Just as Touya's mind wandered, an idea unsuspectedly sprung up. He took out his phone, "Let's see here, [Enchant: Search]."

A small magical circle appeared and his phone glowed. Opening the map app, he quickly inputted the words and a waypoint appeared.

"Bingo! Got it!" Touya blurted out, catching the attention of everyone, he then pats Lim's head, "Come on, I know where to find your mom, let's go meet her, shall we?"

After minutes of walking through the crowded streets of [Reflet], Touya and co found a woman who was frantically asking any passersby about a lost child, seeing that she resembled Lim, it was safe to assume that that was Lim's mother.

Lim broke off from the group and ran towards her mother, the sound of her child caused the distressed adult to turn and see her child running towards her, opening her arms she let the child hug her tightly, one that the mother returned, thankful to the gods that her child returned to her safely.

Seeing as their job was done, the party said their goodbyes, wishing for the two to be careful next time, and went on their way to whatever they were doing before all of this happened.

"You know." Touya started, walking through a crowded street, "You shouldn't have run off like that, Yae, you worried us because of it."

"Yes, I apologize for my actions." She tried to bow, but Touya motioned for her not to.

"Well, apology accepted, though that does make me wonder." Touya nodded but then struck up another question, "How come you heard Lim's crying? I didn't even hear it."

"Oh! Well, back in my hometown, there were no shortages of children running and playing." Yae smiled as if she was recalling some fond memories, "And as it comes with children, many would sometimes injure themselves from either tripping or roughhousing too much."

"Yeah, but how does that answer my question?"

"I would attend to them of course, on my way to the dojo or even passing by, I would recognize the cry of a distressed child." She answered.

"Wow, you must be great with kids, huh?" Sally finally decided to chime in. Adding herself to the conversation.

"I believe so." Yae nodded.

By then the conversation derailed a bit and they started talking about random topics while they strolled around town, Touya spotted a restaurant and thought that maybe some lunch would be a great reward for what they did earlier and coaxed the others to join him, they gladly shared his sentiments and entered the establishment.

Getting a table wasn't hard, despite it being a busy day, there were still quite a few tables available.

Sally excused herself, saying that she would be the one to take their orders, and asked if they wanted anything. After saying their preferred dishes, the former assassin left and went to the counter to order their food.

"... There are also sakura trees in our garden," Yae answered.

Touya asked, since he now enchanted his phone with [Search], if Yae could describe her home and have him see if he could find it just by using his phone, to his surprise and amazement, he was able to find Yae's home.

"Your house is in the [Hashiba District] of [Oedo]? Nearby a shrine?" Touya inquired and the young Eashen female nodded.

"That's right!"

'Nice, it seems like I can find anything in the world after permanently enchanting my phone with [Search] , though I still need some details otherwise I can't find it.' Smiling to himself, Touya discarded his phone back into his pockets.

"It's amazing what your smartphone does… Ah! I also want you to try looking for my older brother." Yae coaxed. Nodding, Touya did what she asked and saw a waypoint inside what seemed to be a dojo.

"He's in a dojo. Wonder if he's in a sparring session right now." Touya informed her.

"That sounds very much like him." Yae beamed, then Touya gave her his phone, "My older brother is a calm person, but when dealing with swords, he can't help but be obsessed over it."

"He really loves swords to an extent that he would forget to eat, all that he thought of was to perfect his swordsmanship." Yae reminisced, remembering all the times she and her brother spent together.

"You must really love your older brother, huh?" Touya smiled, being an only child, he never really had the privilege to grow up with any siblings, but he did hang out with his cousins on both sides of the family.

"Yes, I love him because he is a respectable, strong, and kind person." Yae nodded, "In fact, you remind me so much of him, Touya-dono."

"I'm honored to hear that from you, Yae."

"That's why I love-" Just before she could complete her sentence, Yae's mind finally caught up, and a bright red hue appeared on her face.

"You okay there, Yae?" Concerned at her stunned silence. Touya tried to reach out to the blushing female who now seemed to have steam coming out of her ears.

Trying to ignore Touya would make her look bad, but Yae was just way too embarrassed to speak, praying to any god for something to help her out of this mess.

Luckily for her, it came in the form of Sally holding the plates of their food along with a waitress who was helping her with the rest and setting up their table.

"Hey, here's our food!" Sally exclaimed, placing down the food to its respective person and thanking the waitress who helped her, "What did I miss?"

Nobody at the table said a word, well, except for Kohaku who was chowing down on her food, Yae tried furiously to bite down her blush while Touya had a concerned look on his face, seeing what she missed and knowing what it might've been, the form assassin sighed and shook her head.

She really needs to talk with the girls after this, maybe even have Yumina reassure them again.

For now, it was time to eat, she was hungry.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(Inside of the [Silver Moon Inn] at [Reflet].)

"I might be able to use other enchantments on this." Touya mused out loud, fiddling with his phone, after finding out he could permanently enchant his phone with his spells, it opened up a whole web of possibilities he wanted to try.

"I wonder, would [Long Sense] work with the camera?" He theorized, since [Search] worked well with the map app in his phone, theoretically, [Long Sense] should go well with the camera, "No use in guessing, might as well test it out."

"[Enchant: Long Sense]." He chanted.

Just like before, his phone glowed brightly. Deciding now would be a great time to check if his theory was correct, Touya opened up the camera app on his phone and saw an icon that wasn't there before. He pressed the icon and lo and behold.

He was right, the phone was now enchanted with [Long Sense], and he could even see through walls! He snapped a photo and checked it out.

"Nice! It worked! I can see through objects! With this, I can take pictures further and probably even videos with these settings." Touya smiled, he closed the photos app, and went back to the camera, 'Now that I thought about it, isn't this Elze and Linze's room?'

And speak of the devil and she shall appear, Linze entered the room and closed the door behind her. Touya was curious about what she was about to do, however, his answer soon came in the form of Linze unbuttoning her outer shirt and stripping it off.

And then she proceeded to unbutton her undershirt, letting her large and bouncing breasts held together by a bra, loose and out. She was about to unclip the harness of her bra when Touya finally stopped and closed his phone.

A raging blush was on his face. Embarrassed that he just accidentally peeked at his party mate stripping and that he even, if a little, enjoyed it. Shaking his head to rid himself of his dirty thoughts, Touya slapped his face with both hands, biting back the reddening blush on his face and calming himself down.

"T-th- That was not what I was expecting…" He sighed and slumped down onto his bed. An arm was over his eyes as he tried to vanquish those thoughts in his mind.

'They… They were pretty big too-' He let his mind wander until a sudden knock on the door ripped him away from his mindscape.

He straightened his back, sitting up straight as he looked over to the door.

"Touya, can I come in?" It was Linze.

"Ye-yeah! Sure! What do you need!" Touya frantically stood up and ran to the door, opening it up for Linze.

The silverette raised an eyebrow, just what had him so on edge? Something she will never know as she ignored whatever it was and entered his room.

"I was going to ask whether or not you could make me some of those special glasses you made for Charlotte." Linze began, a scroll in her hands as she laid it down on the coffee table, "I brought this scroll at an antique store. Though I can only read a small part of it…"

"Sure, but I need to know what language it is before I can help you." Touya nodded.

"The rest is written in Ancient Magic Script, so I can't quite read most of it."

With that information, Touya was able to make glasses from a few bronze coins he had laying around and a glass bottle, using [Enchant] to enchant it with Ancient Magic Script, and handed the pair of glasses to Linze. She put on the glasses and began to read what was written on the scroll.

"So, what's on it?" Touya asked, curious as to what Linze was currently reading.

"It's an ancient magic spell, water-based." Linze informed him, reading more of the contents, "[Bubble Bomb], an offensive magic attack."

Then, she beamed, "I want to try it!"

Touya was a little surprised by her outburst and it didn't take long for Linze to convince him to take her to the [Eastern Forest] nor did she have to, the teenager was glad to help her in any way he could.

Arriving there didn't take long either, the convenience of {Gate} made traveling to places they had already been to make things super easy. Closing the translucent door, Touya watched as Linze stood in a clearing, her wand at the ready as she prepared herself.

"Come forth, water! Ballistic bubbles: Bubble Bomb!" She recited the chant, and a small water bubble formed on the tip of her wand. It seemed that it would turn out well, but suddenly, it deformed and imploded in itself.

'Eh, you don't always get it the first time.' Touya mused.

"Once more!" Linze yelled, trying to chant again and the same result happened. After numerous retries, Linze started to get winded, wobbling in her steps as she tried another attempt at chanting the magic spell.

"Come forth, water! Ballistic bubbles: Bubble Bomb..." Her weak voice called out, but even when she chanted, the magical attack didn't even form.

Dangerously at her limit, Linze wobbled and stumbled, she would've hit the ground and gravely injured herself, but fortunately, Touya was able to catch her before she could crash down to the ground. He held her body close to him and used himself as an anchor to support her body.

"You okay?" Concerned over her condition, Touya tried to comfort her.

"...I'm fine- It's just my mana's severely depleted…" Linze coughed out, trying to reorient herself but to no avail.

'Is this what mana depletion looks like?' Touya pondered as he continued to use himself as a support pillar for Linze, 'I can't let her stay like this.'

Without a second thought, Touya slid his free arm underneath Linze's knees and lifted her, carrying the exhausted silverette in a bridal carry. Opening her eyes after realizing her body had shifted positions, Linze was greeted with the sight of Touya's face. Realizing how close their faces were, the silverette blushed up a storm. She tried to move but her body would not let her, and so she was left clinging onto Touya, burying her face into his chest to hide her embarrassed face.

Opening another {Gate} back to the inn, Touya stepped into the door, he had brought both of them back to his room. Walking to his bed, he gently laid down Linze, making sure to set her down comfortably.

"Tou- Touya-" Linze fumbled. The effects of mana exhaustion were still lingering.

Touya hushed her, a smile on his face as he grabbed her hand with his. Despite her blushing face, it once more blushed even harder than before. Yet he didn't seem to notice as he closed his eyes and mouthed a chant. Going with the flow, Linze relaxed, easing herself as she watched Touya do his thing.

A moment later, a bright glowing aura engulfed her, Linze felt her mana rejuvenate again, the exhaustion she felt from before was lifted and now she felt a whole lot better. Once the light died down, Linze felt better than ever, like she took a well-rested sleep.

"H-how did you," Linze questioned, amazed at Touya's resourcefulness, and that was saying something.

Seems like even after all these months they've known each other, he was still able to surprise her.

"After me and Yumina's talk with the King, we ran into Charlotte on our way to the garden, I asked for some magic tips and she taught me [Transfer] which allowed me to transfer some of my mana to others," Touya explained.

Standing up, Linze did indeed feel rejuvenated from the null spell. Smiling, Linze thanked Touya and asked if she could try again. He chuckled lightly, still concerned about her, yet that determined look she had convinced him to let her go.

So, there they were, at the [Eastern Forest] once more with Linze trying again to make the spell work. She chanted it multiple times yet they all ended up with the same result, failing. Despite that setback, she didn't give up and kept trying no matter how many times she failed at it.

Though, Touya was getting a bit more concerned about her.

"Despite failing so much, you seem to keep going, you don't give up huh?" He said.

"...I'm inept, that's why." Linze stopped, her voice solemn, yet she continued, "I need to repeat the same thing over and over again just so I can memorize the magic spell…"

"It's always been like this, so this is nothing compared to what I've done." She smiled, seemingly not bothered by her failures.

Yet to Touya, he still wanted to give out his own opinion, "That's not true, you're amazing Linze, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to know if I could use magic at all."

His words caused Linze to stumble, making her lose her focus on the spell and blush, for a third time today, the reddening face of Linze forced her to hide it away from Touya, who tilted his head in confusion as Linze stood still like a statue after his praise.

"That's not true… Touya, you could've been taught by someone else, I didn't really do much." She whispered, but it was still loud enough for Touya's ears to pick up.

"That may be, but it was still you that taught me how to use magic, so for that, I'm eternally grateful." Touya shook his head, smiling as he still thanked Linze for all she had done for him.

Deciding to just take the compliment before the redness in her face overwhelmed her, Linze just nodded and mouthed a silent thank you to herself, steering nerves, she let out a puff of air and breathed. Once more, she returned to redoing the chant to get {Bubble Bomb} to work.

Though, just like before, after numerous attempts, the same failed results.

Frustrated, Linze pulled out the scroll, wore the special glasses Touya gave her, and began to reread it, trying to see what she missed that caused her to fail and figure out how to rectify it. Furiously reading the scroll and its contents, she let out a frustrated and tired sigh, placing the scroll on the nearby stump and removing her glasses.

She massaged her temple to combat the growing headache. Worried, Touya began walking up to her, he placed his hand on her shoulder, which caused her to jump slightly but rapidly relax once she turned around and saw it was his hand she felt.

"What's wrong?" Touya asked.

"It's as I thought, the spell is very complex, I can't quite grasp the meaning of the spell." Linze confessed, even this was beyond her, "At most, I really don't understand what the meaning of 'Bubble Bomb' is."

"...Huh? Could you say that again?" Touya coaxed.

"Hm? I mean the magic words have meaning, like for example, 'faia' of 'faia stomu' is a fire spell for…" While Linze kept explaining, Touya was deep in thought after her first sentence.

'Huh? The English words aren't translated by the glasses? Or is it because I know English that I didn't see it as a problem?' Touya mused, trying to figure out why the glasses didn't translate the meaning of 'Bubble Bomb' for Linze, nevertheless, Touya came up with a solution to the problem.

"Well, you probably know what bubble means, so I think you're stuck on trying to figure out what a bomb is." Touya relayed.

"Bomb…?" Linze tilted her head in confusion, which he found to be absolutely adorable.

"It's a thing that explodes, it's like that {Explosion} spell you used to clear out the debris back in the ruins." Touya explained, Linze finally getting what he meant, letting out a knowing 'ah' in response.

Nodding at his statement, Linze smiled and went back to chanting the spell again, this time, thinking of the information Touya gave her to help her better visualize the spell. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Come forth, water! Ballistic bubbles: Bubble Bomb!" With a mighty shout, Linze chanted the spell, just like before, a small water sphere materialized on the tip of her wand but this time it formed completely.

Once it had stabilized its shape, it lunged forward, hitting the nearby tree which set it off, upon impact the spell exploded, the large explosion destroyed what was left of the tree and any that were near it, the wind kicked up by the blast was also felt even from where Touya and Linze were standing at. The sound of water falling and the pressure from the blast was immense.

"I did it…" Linze whispered, stunned, that she was finally able to make the spell work, "I did it!"

"Come forth, water! Ballistic bubbles: Bubble Bomb!" She yelled one more, and another {Bubble Bomb} formed, shooting out of her wand and into another set of trees, destroying them.

'What an explosive spell.' Touya thought.

Linze turned around, facing him as she smiled at Touya, one so bright that he couldn't help but return with his own, Linze suddenly bent her waist and bowed. This act surprised Touya as he tried to get her to straighten up and stop bowing.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have known what to do. Thank you, Touya." She thanked him.

"Ah- Please don't, I didn't do much. I only gave you advice, everything here was all you, Linze, be proud of that." Touya waved his hands, trying to spin the praise away and back to Linze who deserved all of it for her efforts.

Despite all her efforts, she can't help but fall for him harder than ever, the way he praised her, how kind and considerate he was towards her and the others. It didn't take a genius to know that even she would fall for him. Linze stood upright from her bow and gave a bright and sweet smile.

Maybe she should consider Yumina's offer.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(A day later, at the [Silver Moon Inn].)

"Damnit…" Elze cursed under her breath.

In front of her laid her gauntlets, both of which were in a grave state of disrepair. One of the gauntlets was in pieces, the fist part was in shambles. Elze sighed, now she had no weapon to use as these were her best and only pair of gauntlets.

And how did this happen, you may ask?

Well, during a monster subjugation quest, Elze came up close to one of the rock-like monsters and slammed her fist against it, the resulting action was a cracked monster as well as a cracked gauntlet among other things.

Thankfully, the quest went on without many problems, other than her weapon's destruction of course.

"Well, have you made up your mind?" Touya asked.

When he found out about Elze's gauntlets, he offered to fix them for her using his {Modeling} spell, but the older silverette didn't immediately accept. Which he found to be surprising. Usually, she would but something told him that she had her reasons.

"As much as I want to, I'll probably break again if I use it on the same type of monster last time, so I might as well buy a better one." Elze sighed, "And these were my best ones too…"

"Have you gone to Barrel-san's shop for some new ones?" Despite being one of the only shops to sell weapons here in [Reflet], the [Eight Bears Weapon Shop] was one of the best to buy equipment for adventurers here in the town.

"I did, but the same type of gauntlets won't be restocked until a week later," Elze informed him.

"Sounds rough."

"Yup." She popped the letter p, "Brawlers like me who specialize in taijutsu and other forms of hand-to-hand combat are a minority in this country. So the demand for weapons for us is low."

With a mighty huff, Elze suddenly shot up from her chair, surprising Touya with the sudden movement, she then turned to face him with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"Which is why I have decided! Touya! Take me to the capital, I can't wait for another week!"

"Wait, why me?"

"Because! You're the only one who can get me there and you know where to get them!"

She could've just asked him gently, but he didn't really mind it.

Once he opened a {Gate} to the [Alephis] , both Elze and Touya made their way through the main streets and onto their destination, the same place where Touya bought his gauntlets and boots from, [Berukt].

Arriving there was no hassle, with Touya memorizing the way along with using his phone's map meant that they made their way there in just under 3 minutes. Entering the shop and presenting their medallion to the employee.

She asked what they needed, when they said a pair of gauntlets, she gladly took them to the section where all the enchanted gauntlets were. Two pairs caught Elze's eye and asked to take a closer look at them. The employee obliged and took them off their racks and placed them down on a table.

She presented the pair of gauntlets and started to explain their properties. She grabbed the blue colored gauntlet first.

"These are the [Gauntlets of Reflection]. They're enchanted with a wind attribute so they can reflect incoming arrows or other ranged attacks." She explained, "Unfortunately, they cannot block any magical attacks however it does have a high magical defense to compensate."

She placed it down and grabbed the other one, the red-colored gauntlet.

"On the other hand, this is the [Powerfist Gauntlets], it's able to absorb and accumulate mana and store it. Once it's filled with a certain amount of mana, it's able to discharge a single destructive attack." She began and continued to explain, "It will take some time to accumulate mana but at the same time it'll enchant the gauntlet, making it more resilient to damage as well as protecting it from its destructive punch."

'So in short, it's a charge attack like in games.' Touya pondered in his mind, 'So the first one emphasizes defense while this one has the better offense. I wonder which one Elze will choose, defense or offense?'

"I'll take both of them," Elze said nonchalantly.

"Huh?" How many times has he been surprised lately? Touya lost count, "You're gonna buy both of them?"

"Why not? I can always use one of each in both hands, so I might as well buy both of them." She clarified, putting on the gauntlets on, the red one on her left hand while the blue one on her right, "Yup, these should be fine."

"Well then, if that's all you're going to get, the [Powerfist Gauntlets] will be 17 gold coins while the [Gauntlets of Reflection] will be 14 gold coins." The employee relayed the pricing to the two. Elze nodded and opened her purse, she counted the coins and grimaced.

"Touya…" She turned to him with a slightly embarrassed face, "Can you lend me one gold coin?"

"Next time, check how much money you have…" Touya deadpanned, but he obliged.

After purchasing the gauntlets, they left [Berukt]. And Touya had to hold the paper bag that housed Elze's gauntlets, which were really heavy, he wondered just what these things were made of to make them so heavy to carry.

The two walked through the streets of [Alephis], agreeing to go sight seeing while they were here, there wasn't any urgency to leave so quickly, so they took their time and wandered around the capital.

"I'm really glad we went to the capital! You can always find good stuff here after all!" Elze beamed, skipping in her steps.

"Hey, Elze, over at that alley, I'll use {Gate}-" Just as Touya turned his attention away from a secluded alleyway, he saw Elze nowhere to be found.

Looking around, he saw her standing near a window of a clothing store, a peculiar outfit that seemed to have caught her eye. She was so in awe of it that she didn't notice Touya standing next to her until he opened his mouth.

"Do you want it?" He asked.

"Huh?!" She shrieked, she turned to form words to reply but all that came out was just some squeaks and jumbled up noises.

"Wh-what- I mean, I mean- Th-that outfit? Yeah! I was just wondering what it would look like on Linze! Yeah, that's why!" Elze spluttered, frantically trying to save face as she blushed, "I just thought I'd be a good older sister and buy her something like that, what do you think, Touya?"

He hummed, eyeing the outfit from head to toe and turned his attention back to Elze, "It'd probably suit Linze, but I think it'll look great on you, Elze."

"Wha-!" Taken aback at his statement, Elze's blushing face further reddened, "What- What are you babbling about, we're twins so there's no point in comparing me to Linze…"

"Is that so? I mean, both of you are really cute, there's nothing wrong with saying that even if you two are twins." He bluntly stated, and that set Elze off.

"C-c-c-c-cute!? Quit your bullshit!" She threw a punch at Touya's general direction to which he simply dodged out of the way.

"Hey there! Watch it! These things are really heavy!" Touya complained, still dodging Elze's punches, "Listen! I just think that outfit would look great on you too, Elze!"

Frustrated and not wanting to embarrass herself any further, she calmed herself down and spoke, "Well that doesn't matter, you don't have to worry about it, It's not my style to wear something cute and frilly like that either way."

Narrowing his eyes, Touya sighed and shook his head, he grabbed a hold of Elze's hand and forced her to come with him, Elze let out a confused "Eep!" as she was dragged into the store by Touya.

"You'll never know until you try! So come on and let's go try that outfit out!"

After her numerous attempts at denying prove to be fruitless, Elze could do nothing but let herself be pulled around by Touya, who was able to talk with the employee at the store and get the outfit for Elze. Having no choice but to compile, she reluctantly agreed and changed at a changing room.

Stepping out of the changing room, Elze figdited, feeling nervous while wearing the gothic red dress.

"Look, see, I told you it doesn't suit me…" She remarked, looking away.

"What do you mean!?" Touya exclaimed, "Don't you see how cute you are in that outfit!? It looks so good on you! Isn't that right miss?"

"I agree, it suits a lovely young lady like her." The shopkeeper nodded her head.

"I-is that so…" Elze tugged the hem of the dress, a bit embarrassed but thankful.

"Can you wrap this up for us?" Touya turned to the shopkeeper.

"Eh?!" Elze yelped, "What a minute, Touya! I'm not buying this!"

"I know, which is why I'm buying it for you, think of it as a gift." He gave her a smile, "I can't just go home with buying you this, after all, a lovely lady should have a lovely dress."

Awestruck by his words, Elze could only stare and blush, happiness filling her and her heart as she smiled back, silently thanking Touya in her head for buying her this outfit, even if she pretended to not want it.

But at the same time, this was making it harder for her to not fall for him, something that keeps getting harder and harder by the moment.

"Thanks…" Elze smiled, just once, she'll let herself be spoiled by the man of her affections.

Touya nodded back, giving a smile of his own in return, a brighter smile, one that sent butterflies in her stomach.

Oh well.

She can let this slide, just for today.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(Some time later, at the [Silver Moon Inn].)

"Uwa! Big sis!" Linze exclaimed, absolutely engrossed by her sister's new dress.

It had been a few minutes after they left the store, with Touya using {Gate} to quickly leave and back toe [Reflet] before the sun came down. The two were immediately greeted by the rest of the party and were eyeing Elze's dress that Touya bought for her.

"Is- is it weird?" Elze fidgetted, shifting unconformably as she was the center of everyone's attention.

"Nah! It suits you perfectly!" Linze shook her head, reassuring her sister.

"It's very cute!" Yae praised.

"Yeah! It matches you well!" Yumina nodded.

"You look good in red, that's for sure." Sally remarked, sitting off to the side. Her usual smirk plastered on her face.

Sitting next to her was Touya, who was smiling triumphantly, proud of himself for getting Elze a new outfit and to have her show it off to the rest of the party. Sally, who caught his joyful mood, grinned ever so slightly wider, she got up from her previous seat and sat down next to her Master.

"Were you the one who bought that dress, Master?" Sally inquired.

"Yup, that was me." Touya nodded, his smile never fading.

"Well, what do you think if Linze wore it? Would it look good on her?" Sally asked, changing the subject.

"Well, as cute as Linze would be in it, I don't think red fits her, maybe if the dress was purple, I think purple compliments her well." Touya explained.

"What about Yae?"

"A more traditional kimono would suit her well. Would really bring out her maturity and beauty more."

"How about Yumina, what dress do you think would suit her?"

"I think the dress she wore when we first met was the best outfit I've ever seen her in. She was equal parts cute and beautiful in it." Touya said, but then shook his head, why was Sally probing him about the dresses for the others? Why did she ask him for his input?

"Wait, why are you asking me this?" Touya was puzzled. His response came in the form of Sally's grin widening as she motioned behind him, turning around he saw the other four girls standing behind him with blushes on their faces.

"Did you mean what you said, Touya?" Yumina, who was the only one that wasn't blushing heavily, spoke.

"Y-yeah? I mean, I stand by everything I just said…" Touya nervously nodded.

"Then, that would mean you'd buy us new outfits like you did with Elze?" Yumina inquired, without thinking, he wordlessly nodded not realizing he just set himself up to a lifetime of buying new clothes for the girls.

And that sealed his fate, not a moment too soon, Linze and Yae hounded him, asking him when he'll buy them new clothes and where, Touya could only nod and promise when he found the perfect dress for each would he buy it for them.

Off to the side, Sally's smirk resided down a bit, watching as her Master was hounded on by the two girls and their thirst for new clothing wear, Yumina sat next to her. The former assassin raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Wondering what the princess wants with her.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" She said, subtle enough that the rest of the others couldn't hear them, which was a given, seeing as they were hounding Touya but trying to keep the conversion to themselves needed some privacy.

"Whatever do you mean?" She sang in mock innocence.

"It doesn't matter, what you did is make them closer than ever, pretty soon they'll have to acknowledge each other's feelings." Yumina shook her head and smiled.

"Don't mention it. Like I said before, those girls aren't gonna have a second chance if they keep dancing around the subject." Sally returned the smile with her own, albeit a more gentle yet solemn one.

She watched the group interact, Touya with his hands up, trying to derail the subject away while Linze and Yae kept probing him for answers, Elze smiling as he was bombarded with questions and promises. Sally smiled, even though she started on less favorable terms and was with them for only a few months. She still felt at home and less lonelier than she was ever since she was stuck at her prison.

She was never the one for sentiments back then, it was just her work and murdering anyone Plotemaios thought was a danger to his vision. So, Sally never made an effort to connect with her fellow coworkers, something she came to regret years later.

Yumina narrowed her eyes, trying to get a feel of Sally, the former assassin was still an enigma to her, despite her non-hostile intentions, Yumina couldn't help but feel there was still something more to her than what she let on, but to what extent? That was what she was trying to find out.

"What about you?" She asked a simple question.

"I'm fine, it's not like I'm in need of changing my appearance anyways." She answered in a simple manner.

Yumina pouted, clearly not liking the answer Sally gave her, the former assassin just giggled at her expression and waved it off, saying that she'll think about it, for now, she's comfortable with the clothes she has now. Backing off for now, Yumina nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

Soon enough, the two began to join in on the teasing of the sole male in their party and losing themselves to the mood of the conversation.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(Several days later, at the royal capital, [Alephis].)

"Is… is this the place?" Touya watched in amazement as he finally saw the 'gift' Tristwin gave him.

In front of him, was a large white mansion, that was about three stories tall, four if you count the rooftop, it had a big garden at the front with a fountain, while not as big as the one at the castle, it was still bigger than anything Touya has ever had.

He remembered about it, and a letter from the King prior to their arrival here, this was the gift that Tristwin gave him, saying that this was his reward for saving his life. Still, this house was bigger than he ever expected.

And this mansion would be where they would be staying now.

"Yes, this is the place Father told us where our new home would be, the western district, palaran avenue 2A, this is the outer ring section of the capital, it's a place where wealthy people reside in." Yumina explained, carrying with her was the scroll Touya received for the instructions to get to the mansion, she was also carrying Kohaku in the other hand.

"This house is not too shabby, right? I'm glad this will be our new home." Yumina smiled.

The others went around to check the garden, Sally was skipping in her steps as she made her way towards the front porch. Behind her was Linze, who was curious about the front porch as well. Yumina on the other hand surveyed the area, her eyes helping with the scan, she smiled as everything seemed to be kept to standards and her father spent no expense.

Touya could only groan to himself, he now just realized what accepting this mansion meant, it was basically him accepting the proposal for marriage and that he now was obliged to marry Yumina. He facepalmed, letting out a drawn out sigh as Tristwin had gotten to one up him.

Welp, no use complaining about it now, he might as well just see where this goes.

"With a house this big, cleaning it all up is gonna be a headache…" Touya groaned as he walked towards the front door of his new home, "Even with six people living here, it's still too spacious."

"Huh?!" Yae, Elze, and Linze all gasped at the same time.

"What?" Touya tilted his head, wondering why the three were taken back by what he said.

"Um… Touya-dono, when you said six people. Is it by any chance that the rest of us girls can also live here?" Yae inquired.

"Yeah? What do you think I meant?" Touya nodded.

"Because the King was the one who gave this to you, isn't this house something for you and Yumina to share?" Elze commented.

"We'd be intruding, this place is for you and your important person, we don't wanna be rude by invading that sacred place…" Linze added.

"Important person?" Touya started, "I think of all of you as my important people, not one above each other, sure, I may be engaged to Yumina, but I still think of you guys as family, someone I want to be by my side."

Awestruck by what he said, the trio blushed, trying to find a way to speak but their words died in their mouth as the raging blush on their faces threatened to be more prominent, looking for a way to calm down and to save face. The three rushed inside.

"I-I want to take a look at the first floor!" Elze shouted, running up the stairs.

"M-Me too! I wanna look at the attic!" Linze ran with her, not wanting to face Touya alone.

"I shall check the kitchen!" Yae added, running towards the kitchen area, leaving a confused Touya, an amused Yumina, a blank-faced Kohaku and a smirking Sally.

Turning to said raven-haired female, Yumina walked up next to her, "How about you? Anything to add?"

"Nope, even if Master buys a smaller or bigger house, I literally live rent-free in his head." Sally's smirk widened, she giggled once she heard Touya groan and mumble something about her.

Shaking her head, Yumina left her to her own devices, she then approached Touya, who was still confused about the reactions of the other three. He sighed and shook his head, no use trying to figure them out now, he might as well check out the house he was given.

"I want to become your wife and spend the rest of our days together, Touya." Yumina's voice made him turn his head, "I fully intend to have you fall for me as I have for you, however, I don't intend to monopolize you, this is exactly what I wanted to happen."

"Here, hold onto Kohaku and wait somewhere, maybe the living room perhaps? I'll go speak with them." Yumina handed the small divine beast to her master and ran off, likely to find the girls, wherever they were.

"What?" Touya voiced his confusion, trying to rack his brain on a response as he watched Yumina go deep into the mansion. Sensing his confusion, Sally appeared next to him.

"Don't Worry about it too much, Master. I'll go ahead and join Yumina with the others, see you later~!" Sally commented, she too went into the mansion, leaving Touya and Kohaku by themselves.

"Master, shall we visit the garden?" Kohaku asked, looking up at her master.

"Yeah, I think we should." Touya nodded, he made his way towards the garden, while it wasn't as grand as the one at the castle, it was still well-kept and beautiful to look at, Touya smiled as he let go of Kohaku, letting her stretched her limbs as she walked around the grassy ground.

For Touya, he just sat on the grass. It was surprisingly comfortable, he found himself relaxing on top of the grass, he watched as Kohaku ran around, jumping about in the garden. With that in mind, he let his mind wander, thinking about his situation and how he got here. It has been little over 5 months since he came to this world, and so far, he can say for certain that he enjoyed his stay, sure, he was a little homesick and that he missed his family, his mom and dad especially, but there wasn't much he could do.

All he can do now is enjoy his new life here.

But then, that begs the question of his relationship with the girls. Don't take him for a fool, he wasn't blind to their affections, but that didn't mean he was going to pursue them either, at least, not right now, he wasn't even sure about his own emotions as well. Then there's the thing with Yumina which he didn't really wanna think about but then he remembered the words God said to him a while back.

'Please consider their feelings, but also consider yours, this is your life after all.'

He never really gave too much thought about those words, but now, after time had passed, he began to realize what they meant to him and his overall romantic situation.

"Master. May I ask a question?" Kohaku's voice ripped him out of his musing, he turned his head slightly and saw the small tiger sitting beside him.

"Sure, shoot."

"What is your relationship with those girls?" As if Kohaku was reading his mind, she asked him a question that even he was trying to find the answers for, "I know your relationship with Lady Yumina and Sally are of Fiance and Master respectively, but the others I can't quite get a grasp of."

"I… Can't answer that, Kohaku, I don't even know the answer myself to be honest, but I know they're very precious to me." Touya answered, as much as he could.

"Yes, they sure are, but they're very much infatuated with you." Kohaku added but then shook her head, "No, perhaps infatuated is not the right word, they very much seem to have feelings for you."

"I know that it's just…"

"Just?"

"Just… I can't really return their feelings right now, I don't even know about my own too well to answer theirs…" Touya sighed, trying to massage his temple, "I'm not trying to think of it too much, right now all I know is that they're very important to me."

"Human emotions seem to be very complicated. As a beast, a male would gather a harem of females to secure its status as the leader as well as the alpha. This is very apparent with you Master." The divine beast remarked, "As someone who is my Master, as well as being very powerful, it's no surprise you have gathered a group of females to your pack."

"It's not as easy as that, Kohaku." Touya sweatdropped at her idea of an analogue, "And I'm not gathering a harem! I'm just surrounded by women…"

"If you say so, Master." Kohaku conceded, satisfied by his answer and now just rolled around the grassy ground, which Touya found to be cute, kinda like how a house cat would when it was bored.

A few minutes had passed and Touya saw the girls leaving the house, all of them saw him lying on the grass ground of the garden. He greeted them with a wav of his hand and motioned them to come close. He sat up straight and smiled.

When they did, Elze and Linze were at the front of the group, "S-say, Touya, is it really okay for us to live here?"

"Yeah? Absolutely." Confused, Touya answered their seemingly nervous question.

"You won't change your mind and just kick us out, right?" Linze asked.

"No, I'd never do that."

"You would treat us just like how you treat, Yumina-Dono?" Yae added.

"Naturally, why wouldn't I?" Touya nodded.

Whatever fears they had seemed to have disappeared when he said those words, they smiled brightly, like a heavy burden was lifted from their chest. Off to the side, Yumina and Sally smiled warmly. Glad to know that Touya said exactly what they wanted him to say.

"See, as I told you before, your fears are but for naught, take your time to sort out your feelings, we have plenty of time." Yumina smiled, walking in front of the group.

"I agree."

"Yes."

"I understand, Yumina-Dono."

"Then!" Clapping her hands together, Yumina began, "Shall we go and choose our rooms?"

"I want the room on the corner of the second floor!" Elze raised her hand, calling dibs on the room she chose.

"I'd like the room next to the library on the third floor." Linze added in.

"I would like to take the one that faces the garden on the first floor." Yae commented, eyeing the garden as she spoke.

"What about you, Sally?" Yumina asked, the raven-haired female hadn't spoken ever since they had the discussion prior.

"I'll take the one next to the stairs on the first floor."

"Despite everyone choosing their rooms already, there are still plenty of empty ones." Touya pondered, "Say, Yumina, you said back then you had some people in mind, are you gonna call them up or…?"

"Yes, I was thinking of doing that right now. Why do you ask?"

"Because there's a carriage up ahead." He pointed at the direction of the carriage, Yumina turned her head towards the front gate and indeed saw a carriage making its way towards their new home.

She wasn't the only one who's attention was turned, everyone present also gazed at the direction of where the carriage was at, and was curious on who it might've been. Minutes later, the carriage stopped and they all got a good look at the emblem on said carriage.

It was the Duke's, Alfred.

The coachman stopped the horses, bringing the carriage to a halt as the Duke and Sue stopped out of the carriage, surprised by their visit, the group greeted the two warmly and apologized for not organizing for their visit. Alfred laughed, saying that he didn't mind, he did visit unannounced after all.

They all went to the garden, taking a seat at the various chairs scattered around the porch, Sally came back bringing with her tea that she was able to prepare, Touya thanked her and said that she shouldn't have, the former assassin shook her head and said that this is was a servant was suppose to do.

Still, Touya thanked her for the tea.

"Firstly, congratulations on your new home, I can see that it's a very cozy one at that. This also makes us neighbors now, let's look after each other from now on." Alfred praised, taking a sip of the tea, finding it delicious despite the short amount of time to make it.

Yumina and Sue conversed amongst each other, catching up on things they had experienced.

"I was surprised when I heard of your engagement, big sis Yumina!" The younger Belfast started. "And to think you'd fall for him at first sight!"

"Truly isn't it? I must say that it was the best decision of my life." Yumina giggled.

"I considered making Touya as Sue's husband." Alfred confessed, saddened that he was beaten to the punch, "However, you beat me to it, looks like you and my brother don't waste time, huh?"

"Hm, you considered such a thing, Father?" Sue inquired, the older man nodded, she hummed before a smile overtook her face and rested her face on her palms, "Well, if it's with Touya, I'd happily accept it, being together with him sounds delightful!"

"Is that so?" Alfred raised an eyebrow, before he smirked and turned to Touya, "What about it, Touya, care to marry my daughter along with Yumina?"

"Hey now, don't get carried away-"

"Very well, I shall withdraw for today." Alfred said in mock sadness, he then brightened up before adapting a more spurious look, "As you know, the negotiations with the [Kingdom of Mismede] have bore fruit. The success of the meeting has landed us with an alliance and all that's needed to be done is to relay the message to their King with ambassadors of our own."

"Yeah, we discussed this with the King, he wanted Yumina and I to be representatives of [Belfast]." Touya informed him.

"Precisely, though ideally a conference between Kings would be the preferred circumstance, with the journey being as treacherous as it is, Monsters, bandits and outside interference make such a meeting to be harder than it should be, which is why ambassadors exist and where you two come along."

"...So you can use Touya's {Gate}?" Linze added, the Duke nodded, glad to see someone catch onto his words.

"Exactly, thank you for seeing through my words, Linze." He praised her.

"As you know, because of this high importance of a quest, you will all be promoted and compensated by both the guild and the royal family. You will also be joined by the [Knights of Belfast] along with the Mismede's ambassador's escorts, this will deter any would-be assassin."

"Yumina and I already accepted this, how about you guys?" Touya turned to the rest of his party, all of them nodding, he nodded back and returned his attention to Alfred, "We accept."

"Thank you, with you and your party, I expect the journey to be a success." Alfred thanked them.

"But would it be alright?" Yae pondered, grasping her chin.

"What do you mean, Yae?"

"About allowing the knowledge of {Gate} to spread." The Eashen female clarified, "It's a magic spell versatile enough for anything, from crossing great distances to infiltration. You can just waltz into a palace without anyone noticing, would that not mark you up for assassination because of the potential danger you propose?"

"Hey now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I have been using {Gate} subtly…" Touya argued.

"If there was someone like you back in my era, Master. Plotemaios wouldn't hesitate to have me kill them." Sally's blunt words sent a shiver down Touya's spine, while he did think of the possibilities, they all ended up with someone dying, "But a good barrier is enough to stop {Gate}, don't you remember when we first fought each other?"

"Yes, as your companion has said, {Gate} is not infallible even Charlotte can confirm, a strong magical barrier is enough to deter the effects of the null spell. Haven't you noticed how you couldn't jump from here to the Royal Castle?" Alfred explained.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, I couldn't enter the Royal Castle at all with {Gate}." Touya nodded.

"Even a weak barrier can somewhat mitigate the effects, for example, all over the Royal Capital various weak and strong barriers are placed. You'll be able to jump out from the capital but not jump back into it." Alfred added.

"...Still Touya can open a {Gate} when he is inside of a weak barrier and allow troops from the other side of the spell in." Linze argued, "So, as previously mentioned, it may be best to not let such knowledge spread…"

"Hmm… You make a valid point… Very well, we shant let no one but a select few know as to not arouse suspicion." Alfred agreed, "However, we can make a compromise, Touya, can you make something similar with {Gate} as you did with those pair of glasses you gave to Charlotte?"

He nodded, something like that shouldn't be too difficult with his skillset.

"Huu~ I wanna visit [Mismede] too." Sue whined, realizing that with all this talk about the Kingdom, she wouldn't be able to join them on their journey.

The other laughed, Touya reassured her that when all is said and done, he'd have her join him the next time he visited, which brightened up her mood and coaxed him to promise her. He nodded and promised her he would.

Some time passed, the conversation going to either the Belfast Royalty catching up with each other or speaking about random topics.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

Honestly, I did not think this would be around 10k words when I split this apart, but seeing as it is, I can't really do much.

Now, this marks the end of the first arc as well as the last chapter for 2022, I gotta say, I did not think this would get as popular as it did, I originally wrote this back in like, 2019? But I kept rewriting the first draft, until I came to the one that I liked the most, which is the first chapter of this series.

On another note, the harem plan I had? Yeah, I got bored of it and said fuck it, Imma see just how much I can fit in a harem until it becomes a chore to write it, with that being said, the original plan of the original 9 brides with an additional 6 more is scrapped, I'm now open to seeing how many I can fit before I crash. This however, doesn't change the line-up, it's still the same as before just unrestricted now, which means the Babylon Sisters and Regina now have an actual chance to join the harem.

Is it a bad idea? Perhaps, but it's an idea I like. I never really stick to a plan despite drafting it, hell, the chapters from 4-6 were way off from the plan I had for them.