AN: Sorry about another delay, I had to make major last-minute changes.

This pair of chapters now exceeds 19k words together (using this chapter's full, NSFW version), almost equivalent to four typical chapters. And that's before taking into account how much revising I had to do.

Please remember to leave a review if you've got any thoughts you want to express.

Elt had finished the apple and started pacing around the room when two of the women re-entered.

"Elt…" Wilmarina said. She still looked a little nervous, yet there was a clear determination in her eyes. "We've come to a decision."

"It's a crazy idea…" Mersé admitted. "But right now, everyone in Lescatie is doing crazy shit. Might as well…" she blushed, an expression Elt had almost never seen from her, "give it a go ourselves."

That left Elt dumbfounded. He spent a few seconds trying to come up with a reply, but then three more arrived.

"So we're all together once more," Francisca said. She glanced at Wilmarina and Mersé. "And it appears we all came to the same decision."

"Elt, after discussing your plan among ourselves," Sasha said, "we've decided to… decided that we should…"

"That we should try out your plan," Primera finished. She was red-cheeked as she said it, but she was still being bolder than usual.

…Alright, Elt thought, trying his best to calm his racing heart. Got to say something, myself. Can't leave them hanging.

"Thank you… for taking it seriously," Elt said. He was tempted to add that this was much more than he deserved, but that'd make these five women quite annoyed with him. "Again, this is a lot to take in. We can talk about the details some more here, and after that, I think it'd be best if we all left to keep thinking about it, and to talk about it with friends and family." There was no sense in rushing things, after all. "Then we could meet up again tomorrow—"

"No, Elt. I think… I think we've been waiting for too long."

Elt and four others turned, with no small amount of surprise, towards the heart priest who'd said these words.

"I-I mean…" Sasha stammered, wringing her hands with embarrassment. "We've all had feelings for you for long periods of time… years, in some cases… If we've come to this decision, then… perhaps there is no need to wait any longer."

Wilmarina raised an eyebrow. "But if you're suggesting that we move even faster than Elt wants… oh!"

Wilmarina blushed. So too did the other women.

"My, my, I didn't expect a former priestess of the Chief God to have such ideas," Francisca said. She looked at Elt with a surprisingly predatory gaze for a monster based on a butterfly. "But I certainly have no objection to that…"

"B-B-But, if we actually go through with th-this…" Primera said, but there was an undercurrent of eagerness in her voice. "Won't we have to decide on an o-order?"

The five women—specifically, Sasha, Primera, Mersé and the pair of Wilmarina and Francisca—glared at each other competitively. It was clear that all of them wanted to be first here.

How did it come to this!? Elt thought desperately. And why are they all interested in… this!?

And then Elt remembered something he'd heard four days ago, when a lilim had dropped by for a personal visit.

"Lust is usually associated with monsters, but humans have it as well, both men and women. And being taught to repress lust doesn't mean you get rid of it, it just means you build it up more and more… If you have someone who's been repressed a long time, and they see a chance to finally scratch that itch… they miiight just latch onto that chance with both hands."

"That's… there's no way any of them are like that!" Elt protested.

"Perhaps I'm wrong here," Druella said. She took out a certain object. "Still, you may want to take this. You may not need to use it, but it always helps to be prepared, just in case… And, in addition…"

"Elt?" Sasha said, bringing the young man back to the present. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like this. Again, your choices are important. If you're not comfortable with—"

"I… wouldn't exactly… say that…" Elt said.

Elt and the five women—his five lovers, now—blushed. This was a topic they hadn't talked about in much detail before, had tried to avoid thinking about before. Even now, they still retained some Lescatian sensibilities about… carnal matters.

"U-Um, I wasn't really expecting this…" Elt said. "But recently, Druella talked to me, and gave me something… that might help."

Elt reached for a bag which had been lying on the floor next to his chair. He pulled from the bag a bottle holding a bizarre liquid: blue and black constantly shifting and swirling without ever mixing together.

When Elt brought out this bottle, all of the five women had looks of recognition in their eyes. Quite notable when they wouldn't have known of this potion until a few weeks ago at the earliest.

"Druella said this is Doppelganger Potion," Elt said, forcing down a new wave of nervousness. "She said it's one way to s-settle problems like… the one we're… facing… So, is everyone… sure about this…?"

"Elt… if you drink something as packed with demonic energy as that, you'll turn into an incubus," Mersé said. "From what I… heard, even those demonic energy wards can't protect against it, not against something that affects your body this much. I know you mentioned the possibility in your plan, but… are you sure about doing it this early?"

"W-Wait, something I forgot to say…" Elt said. "Druella also had another suggestion… said I should, um, ask Sasha to call on E-Eros…"

All eyes turned towards Sasha again.

"…I believe I understand Druella's meaning," Sasha said nervously. "Then, I will try…"

Sasha brought her hands together and closed her eyes. This was a sight Elt had seen many times in his life. He'd always admired how faithful and devout Sasha had been.

…And thinking about it now, Elt couldn't remember Sasha doing that much in recent months. At the time, he'd been more worried about Sasha overworking herself. But in hindsight, it had been a sign of her weakening faith in the Chief God.

"Yes, it is I, Eros," Sasha said, speaking out loud for the benefit of the others. "I am calling upon you today for an important matter…"

Over the next minute, Sasha explained the situation to the unseen God of Love. Sasha faltered at several points due to the embarrassing nature of the situation, but she eventually got it done.

"So, I now pray that you may… eek!? P-Please slow down, my goddess! You're speaking too fast for me to… hm? That is… tr-truly!? You would grant your blessing so easily!?"

Elt hadn't seen Sasha behaving like this during her past prayers. It seemed that gods varied in personality just as much as humans.

"I-I see… Th-Thank you for your generosity…"

Sasha opened her eyes again and looked at the others.

"Eros has agreed to… to bless Elt as one of her heroes."

"After just one prayer?" Wilmarina said incredulously. "She is… certainly far freer with her blessings than the Chief God."

"But I've never heard of any heroes of Eros before," Primera said.

"From what I have learned, they were formerly barred from Lescatie, due to Eros and her followers being perceived as too close to monsters," Sasha explained. "Perhaps one or more will visit our country now, but it is still early days. Also, Eros is not nearly as powerful as the Chief God and cannot maintain as many heroes."

"Just what can a hero of Eros do?" Elt asked. "We all know about heroes of the Chief God getting blessed with strength to fight monsters. I've heard stories of heroes of a God of War—what was their name?"

"Ares," Mersé said. "And she's technically a God of Fighting, though I guess there's not much difference. I met a couple of her heroes a while back, fought alongside 'em… but they didn't stick around long. Got the feeling they didn't like being in Lescatie…"

"Thanks for that," Elt said. "So, we all know or can easily imagine what those kinds of heroes can do. But I've got a hard time imagining what heroic powers are needed to promote l-love…"

"My new goddess explained that…" Sasha replied, notably not meeting Elt's gaze. "To simplify her… explanation, they have the same improvements to physical and magical potential as all heroes."

This was presumably why Druella had suggested it in the first place. A normal human would become a monster or incubus immediately from consuming any of the huge variety of monster-created potions—demonic energy wards could only protect against so much. A hero, with the greater spirit energy in their bodies, took far more before they transformed.

"But don't go overboard," Druella had said. "If you're drinking the likes of this every day, or even every two or three days, your body won't have enough time to purge the demonic energy. Becoming an incubus might be fun in the bedroom, but it also means never having any sons, even with the mother—or mothers protected against demonic energy."

"They also specifically have abilities in understanding the hearts of others," Sasha continued, "a-and… making others… happy…"

Elt and several others swallowed. After living and interacting with monsterkind for two weeks, they were now quite familiar with a certain meaning of making others happy.

"It's certainly something that is fitting for Elt," Francisca said. "He has always been an invaluable support for our hearts, from the moment each of us met him."

Elt felt that was exaggeration… yet none of his five lovers said a word in disagreement.

"Even outside of us…" Mersé said. "Elt, didn't you help out some of your friends in getting hitched?"

"J-Just a little…"

During the past two weeks, some of Elt's friends and former colleagues had been looking for romance yet had been too nervous to take the big steps. Elt had spoken with them, encouraged them to try confessing their feelings, suggested ideas for gifts and places to visit with their prospective partners.

…In hindsight, he'd had an ulterior motive as well. He'd been trying to learn as much about romance as possible before his own confession.

"And what does she expect from me, if I go through with this?" Elt asked.

"Only that you continue as you always have," Sasha said. "As well as… performing the new duty of… making the five of us h-happy…"

It was hard to believe such a convenient offer. Yet Elt had also found the new state of this church unbelievable at first, and it had proven to be reality. The fresh apple in his stomach, something only nobles could have eaten in the past Lescatie, was more proof of that.

"…Then, I'm fine with it," Elt said at last.

"S-So, if we're all in agreement…" Sasha said. "I shall begin…"

Sasha approached Elt and placed her trembling hands on his forehead. That caused the other four women to watch her very intently.

"Eros, deity who rules over all love," Sasha chanted. "I call on you today to grant this mortal your blessing!"

A warm feeling emanated from Sasha's hands and spread through Elt's body.

"Grant him your blessing, so he may advance your goal of all finding love!"

Elt felt his body brim with energy and vitality. If he'd had a good night's sleep, exerted his body to the point of euphoric fatigue, and eaten a delicious meal, he still wouldn't feel as tenth as good as he did now.

"Grant him your blessing, let another join the ranks of your heroes!"

There was a flash of pink light, one that was more soothing than blinding. When it subsided, Sasha took her hands away from Elt's forehead.

"How do you feel now?" Sasha asked, looking fearful.

Elt looked down at his hands. "I feel… fine. I mean, I don't feel like there's anything wrong… if anything, I feel great! Like I could… could go out and run ten laps around the city without breaking a sweat!"

"The spirit energy emanating from you is clearly stronger now," Wilmarina noted.

"Still not up to our standards, though," Mersé said. "It'd take you years of training for that."

"But he should already be able to… perform adequately today," Francisca said, her lips quirked in a slight grin.

That set off another round of blushing. At this rate, they were going to collapse from all the blood repeatedly rushing to their heads.

"Druella also gave me some protection…" Elt recalled. He reached into his bag again and pulled out two bracelets of red-coloured metal. "Wait, hold on. With the plan we agreed on, Mary and Fran will sh-share me together, but—"

"She'd be monsterised quickly if we shared a bed," Francisca said, sounding disappointed. "It's a shame, but for today at least, we should… do this separately."

And then Elt had another surprise. He saw Wilmarina slowly, shamefully, reach into a pocket of her dress and take out a gold ring. From the context, these accessories could have only one use.

"Mary, you… already obtained one?" Francisca said, her eyes wide. "But you didn't mention this at all!"

"Buying this… was something… I couldn't possibly admit to anyone…" Wilmarina said, looking more embarrassed than Elt had ever seen before.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Well, it seems like we all have whatever preparations are needed…" Sasha said delicately. "So, unless anyone has changed their mind…"

Elt expected at least one woman to change their mind at this point. It would have only been natural. But none of them spoke up or altered their expressions.

"…then it seems we're all in agreement," Sasha said. She swallowed nervously. "So, Elt, if you're truly sure of this…"

Elt looked down at the potion bottle. He thought again about this whole situation.

Just one month ago, Elt had still been an ordinary soldier whose home was in the slums. His only aspirations had been to stay alive, keep his comrades alive and give support to his family.

Now, Lescatie had no slums anymore, nor much need for an army. The once-ordinary soldier was now together with five gorgeous women, two of them monsters, and they were about to something… sinful beyond belief.

"I'm… sure," Elt said, doing his best not to sound eager.

"Then, considering how Doppelganger Potion works," Sasha said, "there would be one original and several temporary bodies. So we ought to arrange things to prevent any… jealousy over who is with the original Elt."

"Good idea, but how the hell do we arrange that?" Mersé asked. "At least, we'd have to not be around when he actually drinks it. And no matter what, Elt'd still know who the original him is with. He'd still feel guilty about…" she blushed, "picking one of us…"

"Hmm… what about this?" Primera said. "We all write our names on pieces of paper, fold 'em up, and put them in a bag, and shake the bag a lot. Then Elt takes one paper out. Then none of us will know which Elt is the real one, and he doesn't have to try picking one of us. It's a simple idea, I know…"

"Sometimes, simple ideas are what work best," Sasha said. She looked around. "It seems none of us has any objection, so if we just write our names down and leave…"

They began following Primera's suggestion. Elt faced away as the five women wrote their names and dropped them into a bag.

"Alright, then…" Sasha said, now wrapping up the snacks on the table since they were no longer needed. "E-Elt… we'll now be going to four separate rooms. So please… when you've taken a name and drunk the potion… visit u-us…"

The women filed out of the room and into a corridor. Every single one glanced nervously at Elt before they left.

This is it, then. It's time to take the leap…

Elt pulled out the stopper of the bottle, raised it to his lips and began drinking. The Doppelganger Potion itself was cool, yet it immediately made his body heat up.

The taste isn't b-bad… but… GUH!

Elt staggered, and he instinctively pressed a hand against a nearby wall for support. Blobs of blue and black appeared from his head and hands, from all of his exposed skin, and landed on the floor around him.

Then the blobs coalesced, their colours changed, and four perfect copies of Elt appeared in the room…

…perfect except for lacking any of the clothes the original Elt wore.

This was mentioned in the book, too… Since the potion's only meant for… one thing… the inventor didn't see any reason to make it copy clothes too…

Looking at the copies was vaguely similar to being surrounded by mirrors. However, mere mirrors didn't duplicate one's sensory input. Elt kept his hand on the wall for a few moments as he adjusted.

Elt decided that all five of him should stand up at once. They did so, slowly and carefully. All felt similar sensations as their bodies straightened.

Next, he tried to just raise the arm of the original body, and he succeeded. It felt like raising just one finger of one hand normally, making each body comparable to a limb.

Over the next few minutes, Elt practiced moving each of the bodies. He could make some walk while others stayed still, could make one close his eyes shut while the rest blinked normally, could make all five look at completely different parts of the room.

Even with five bodies, I can control them all like this… Is it because I've also got five brains now?

And a potion like this isn't even rare or expensive, it's just one of the things monsters use for… Really goes to show how hopeless our war against them was.

Then Elt remembered that four of his bodies, the new ones, were naked. And even with what lay ahead, Elt's sense of modesty wouldn't let him just approach his new lovers naked. He needed some kind of covering.

The original, clothed Elt moved to a storeroom and took out some robes from a dresser. Even if the Fullmoon Church had been extensively renovated, he'd already been living here for over a week post-renovation, so he understood where everything was.

The original Elt returned to where his copies were. He stripped bare and then, together with his copies, put on the robes. Two of his copies put on the demonic energy-warding bracelets.

Now, time to take out a name…

Next, Elt reached into the bag. Several bits of paper lightly scratched his hand. He pulled one out and unfolded it.

…Hmm. This is… I guess it doesn't really matter right now. But at the end…

That's something to think about later. It's time to go. Can't keep them all… waiting…

-ooo-

Around sunset, Elt and his five lovers finally left the bedrooms.

There were some envious gazes directed at Primera. She was the one who'd left her room with the original Elt. The others had left their room alone—save for each other, in Wilmarina and Francisca's case.

Oh crap… Elt thought. This isn't going to cause an argument, is it!?

However, the six of them walked down the corridor without a word. A few did inspect themselves nervously, as if to make sure their hair and clothes were back in order.

Only when they returned to the previous meeting room did anyone speak.

"Well… that was quite the experience," Wilmarina said quietly, not meeting anyone else's gaze.

"Understatement of a lifetime…" Mersé muttered.

"But it seems like all of us enjoyed it," Francisca said, comparatively cheerful. "It let us discover new… facts about ourselves."

Everyone other than Francisca fidgeted in embarrassment. For his part, Elt just wanted to sink into the floor and disappear from view. But he had to remain firm for just a bit longer. After all, this was his idea to begin with.

Well, the ring hand plan was his idea. Progressing to this… step of it so quickly had been Sasha's idea.

"So… is anyone having second thoughts now?" Elt asked, unable to keep the trepidation out of his voice.

"After doing… all that together, you're asking if we've got second thoughts!?" Primera said.

"It's a fair question to ask," Sasha said. "And, to give you an answer, Elt…" She took a deep breath. "I have not changed my mind. I am still willing to keep trying this plan of yours."

Elt froze in surprise. He'd been prepared for any number of them—potentially all five—deciding to reject his plan at various points.

"…Me too," Primera said. Despite her own obvious nervousness, she brought herself to look Elt in the eye. "This way, we all get a chance at being happy."

"Still think all this is weird…" Mersé said, rubbing the back of her head. "But, Elt… you did put a lot of thought into this, like I said before…" She averted her eyes. "And… I did enjoy that… As long as nobody else messes this up, we might be able to make this work."

"It's true there'll be many challenges ahead," Wilmarina said. "But my feelings for you remain unchanged. I'd like to keep walking this path with you."

Wilmarina blushed a little at the end of her response. Elt blushed as well; he hadn't expected the sweet, innocent Mary of his childhood to act as she just had in the bedroom.

"And our recent experience has certainly not given me second thoughts," Francisca said. "Elt, I too wish to keep walking this path with you. And please don't worry about external obstacles. I will do my best to make my family understand, and I'm sure the others will do the equivalent on their ends."

Elt nodded. He hesitated for a few seconds then came up with some more words of his own.

"Alright… so, we all decided to keep going with this, but right now, it's getting late." He gestured towards the orange sky visible out a window. "If we stay here too long, our friends or families might wonder what's going on…" That elicited a blush from several women. "So, like I was saying before, we should take the night to think about this."

Wilmarina nodded. "There is one errand I need to do as soon as possible… talking to House Mystiv to help them understand their son's… child's plan. Though it might be too late for that today, I should still try to do it as early as possible tomorrow morning. I'd like to retire for the night."

"And I must return to the palace before my family has even more time to fear for my safety," Francisca said.

"I'll head back to my place—but hold on a second," Mersé said, looking at Sasha and Primera. "You two still going to sleep here? In the same building as Elt?"

That made the atmosphere tense. Elt, Sasha and Primera all lived here at the church, sleeping in separate rooms, but after all that had happened today… their relationships would never be the same again. As for Elt's plan, that included several ideas on how to tackle this problem. However, each of those ideas required some degree of preparation.

"For now, I'll just sleep at the barracks!" Elt said quickly. "Some of the soldiers're still doing that, out of habit! It's not a bad place to sleep, it'll be fine! I'll also get to chat with them about how they're doing!"

"That's not going to solve things forever…" Primera pointed out.

"It should be okay for now, while we're all still sorting things out," Elt said.

"If that's alright with you, Elt…" Sasha said. "But before we all part, would anyone like a quick dinner? It might not be up to some of your standards…"

"No, your hospitality is very welcome," Wilmarina said. She bowed her head politely. "Thank you for the offer, Sasha."

"You and I might be quite sated already, Sasha," Francisca said. "But I'd certainly like to taste the same cooking Elt was raised on."

"Y-You honour me too much…"

Thus, Elt and his lovers all made their way to the Fullmoon Church's new kitchen. This was furnished with the latest technology, such as a stove that produced flames without any fuel save mana, or a locker that kept the food inside cold to prevent spoilage.

While Sasha took charge of dinner preparations, driven by years of doing the same for the orphans, Elt and Primera helped as much as they could. The other three watched the proceedings curiously. In Fran's case, she started out watching but then tried cutting some ingredients towards the end, just for the experience.

The sight of a butterfly-winged princess staring at the chopping board she'd cut in half was something Elt would never forget.

Once cooking was done, they sat down together in the church's dining room—yet another example of the renovators' enthusiasm. The dining room had a table and chairs sufficient for sixteen people, and space for twice that number if more furniture was brought out from storage.

As they ate and drank together, an eclectic mix of humans and monsters from various backgrounds, Elt couldn't help but smile.

Father, Mother… I wish you were here to see this.

Maybe it's not what you were planning for me… you probably never planned for me to be with Mary at all, and definitely not with a princess. I never told you about Fran in the first place.

But we are happy together. And, even if it'll take a while to be sure… I think we can make this work.

AN: I've decided for some time that this story won't have 100% monsterisation of the main cast by the end. Something is to consider is that while monsterisation brings many benefits for regular humans, heroes have many of the same benefits already. Heroes thus have far less reason to go through the change and suffer the downside of being unable to have sons thereafter (not so bad on an individual level, dangerous if everyone in a society does it).

"By the end" only applies to this story's end. I've been toying with the idea of a sequel focusing on their married lives, which might have them deciding to monsterise eventually.