Life's a Pay to Win Game

by swordmaster888

Eminence in Shadow and Mobuseka Crossover. I read some fanfics that had self inserts take over, and some stuff that was like Light vs Shadow. So I since I made the connection of Luxion Light and am not that fond of how the self inserts kinda make the original protagonist needless, here we are. I'm pulling from as many sources these stories have as I can

51. Part 1 EpilogueEnd

A/N: This chapter should be nothing more than fluff. No Christmas stuff, since I kinda missed the mark. But I'll throw in some New Years stuff. What also is planned for this chapter is probably what you expected if you're familiar with what happened in Mobuseka right after. Also, one scene that some people were requesting… no, unfortunately distributing "lemons" is still illegal where I'm from. It pains me as much as it does you guys I imagine.

Next chapter will probably be another "Co-op Game" route thing. I had a couple of loosely connected ideas for it that felt like they'd be fun.

Leon Fou [now Rapha] Barfort: Renowned adventurer and current crown prince. / previously: Hiro (pre:isekai)—Lea of Bart's Fort (The true founder of Holfort and lover to the Saintess Ann and Mary)—JOU_MOU_ (someone who used to work in Luxion's facility.)

Angelica Rapha Redgrave: Daughter of Duke Redgrave and ex-fiancé to Julius/ Previously: Ann of Bart's Fort (aka Saintess Ann and lover of Lea of Bart's fort). / Also goes by Angie to close friends and loved ones.

Olivia: Commoner from the Kagenou Barony. / previously: Mary lover and companion to Ann and Lea. When they had returned from their adventures in ancient Midgar, all three had been attacked by the founding heirs as they all wanted Ann. To save Lea and Ann from such a fate, she teleported them away, and swapped bodies with Ann. / Is also known as Livia by her close friends and loved ones.

Cid Kagenou: fiancé to several famous elves but just a regular mob you'd find anywhere / previously: Minoru Kagenou boy from Earth that would be transported to the ancient times of the current before dying at the hands of his friends due to becoming demonically possessed out of grief. / Also dons the secret identity of "Lord Shadow." Leader and founder of The Shadow Garden. / Mundane Mann, a pathetic looking sword wielder that disappeared many years ago and has returned for the Bushin festival. / Kageno of Mitsugoshi, after an argument with his parents, Cid decides to go by Kageno for a while.

Alice [Kagenou: Cid's personal elf servant, lover, and childhood friend / previously: Beatrice (this is non canon, but all of Shadow Garden had identities before joining so I made a name up for her.) / Dons the secret identity of "Alpha" or "Lady Shade." Co-leader and second founder of The Shadow Garden, first of the Seven Shades. The name "Alpha" is only used by those in Shadow Garden.

Other Shadow Garden Members: All of the seven shades have secret identities. They see their Shadow Garden names as their true names and will use that in their own thoughts. But to everyone not in Shadow Garden that sees them as their secret identities will use those names.

Beta: Natsume Kafka, renowned writer.

Gamma: Luna of Mitsugoshi, owner of said store and many others, richest Woman in the world. Xianyun, Swordmaster of the fareastern kingdoms.

Delta: Sara, certified good girl.

Epsilon: Shiron, amazing musician known internationally.

Zeta: Zetan. Previously known as Lilim, named after the therianthrope hero, Lili.

Eta: Goes by Eta Lloyd Wright, renowned Architect.

Charlie: Known previously as Carla Fou Wayne.

Yankee: Known previously as Stephanie Fou Offrey

Foxtrot: Sherry's mother, real name Lukreia.

Aurora: Called Violet by Cid, and now camps out in his soul/brain. Known as the Witch of Calamity, and the Demon Diabolos.

Disclaimer: I don't own Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs nor The Eminence in Shadow. The only Beta reader here is the elf.

-Vandel-

I had thought that with my last attack foiled and the arm ripped from me, I'd have died quickly. But I suppose I'm too much of a stubborn old bastard to do that. Instead, I was forced to watch and acknowledge that I wasn't even the most dangerous person on the battlefield today, and the fiendish knight somehow still had the energy to team up with that short haired girl in the robes to take down Lord Shadow despite battling me moments prior.

Chuckle*

"I'm afraid, boy, that you'll never know a moment of peace thanks to this. Act like a hero and see those who want none. Something I know all too well."

As I say this, expecting no audience, I find my vision obscured.

Two pairs of red orbs gaze down upon me.

"Vandel…" wept Hertrauda. "To think that you would be reduced to this."

Hertrauda was always the more emotional of the two. Perhaps it is due to her being the younger sister and therefore slightly doted on a bit more by Hertrude and I. Speaking of, the more pragmatic of the two kneels by my side.

"Vandel…" said Hertrude with more control over her emotions in her voice but her eyes no less red. "You've never told us about your past. But given that you're in your last moments don't you think it's time you told us the truth? Why… why did you do all of this? Why… why go so far as to turn yourself into a monster?"

I sighed.

"Are you sure you want to hear this? You shall never know peace once the knowledge is aired."

Hertrude shook her head and laughed sadly. "We have never known peace. I believe that gaining knowledge is the only way we can pave the way towards it now."

I smiled.

"Very well. This is a tale about a researcher that goes back several thousand years… *chuckle* and that is no exaggeration. As I said before, I was a member of what was called The Knights of Round. High ranking members of an organization of researchers. I *cough* don't have the time to get into that. If I had to guess you could ask The fiendish knight for more information. So let me get into the why. Why I chose to prolong my life. Why I, in my desperation tried to end the world.

Chuckle* *Cough* *Cough*

Though I suppose I couldn't do more than destroy two ships.

In any case, as I said before. I once had a wife and child. I can hardly recall their faces now, let alone their names. But I know. I know. I know that they were everything to me…

But I also know that *Cough* they'd never want to see me again. Not after all I've done… it's why even though I had picture of them, I locked it in a safe, never to look at it again.

But I digress. One day while I was working for a government, researching the existence of other worlds… something slipped through. Or rather, lots of things did. I couldn't stop it. No one could…. Or no, I suppose I've always known that it was possible. That was the issue with the group I worked for. We always asked whether or not if we could do something, but never stopped to consider whether or not we should.

Well, even though I rushed home after those monsters that I had helped set loose… I was too late. My home was already gone.

Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

But it wasn't my creations that took them away, no. Perhaps I should have even blamed myself or my fellow researchers. But in my mind I've always blamed the people that forced us to research such a subject.

That is where my rage stemmed from. That is why I have always hated nobility. The people in power, those with the wealth, those who believed that the lives of others were nothing but dispensable… even though they had all perished either due to age or the monsters, I wouldn't rest unless I could see my family again…

Cough*

I believed that if I stayed alive long enough… I'd see them again… or find some way to bring them back… perhaps I'd crossover into a world where they were still around…

COUGH* *HACK* *COUGH*

Heh… as though they'd ever want to see me. The amount of lives I've taken…

The lives I've ruined…

It all got to me. I lost my place in The Rounds. I lost what kept me alive for so long. So, I needed to find something that may reproduce the results. But… I didn't want to do it myself.

Do you know why I originally befriended Sherry's mother? Because ever since I had created the device that helped take my family away from me, I couldn't stand the thought of researching something ever again.

Chuckle*

I'm sorry. Truly I am.

I loved you. I loved all of you…"

-Hertrude-

With Vandel's final declaration of how he did care for us, he faded away. I closed his eyes. I then exchanged a look with Hertrauda, both of us having very tear-filled expressions. We then nodded to each other.

"Goodbye Vandel…" Both of us said as we raised our hands. Throwing the flutes upon his body, then amending our statements. "Goodbye… father."

As princesses, both of us know what would occur if the Kingdom had gotten a hold of Vandel's body. And we could both agree that these flutes had brought enough trouble.

""Agidyne.""

-Sherry-

When… that man… had turned into the monster using my creation, I had thought that I finally met my end. Being surrounded by what I recognized as Stephanie's scent and something else that was strangely familiar and comforting, well I thought I was on my way to a peaceful rest.

To my surprise, I was awoken by Rude and Rauda later, the expressions on their faces telling me exactly what I needed to know.

He was gone.

However, the grip on my person tells me that I'm not alone.

"Stephanie…" I whispered as the woman, who is a very sexy skintight suit, hugged me. "I…"

Stephanie placed a finger over my lips. "Sherry, there's a lot we have to say now. There's even more that needs to be done. But it will have to wait until later okay? Get some rest. Then meet me at this location." Stephanie then tried to leave after handing me a paper, but I took out the last weapon I had on me and tased her. "ASLDKGHASLDKNGAL!"

"Where are going…?" I called out, holding her hand so she wouldn't leave as she knelt on the ground. "Are you going to leave me again…?"

"N-no!" cried Stephanie. "I just have a surprise for you there! Besides you were knocked out earlier by the thingy that Holfort did. You need rest. Proper rest."

"A surprise…?" I acknowledged. I then thought about it and Stephanie had a point. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart and swear to die!" swore Stephanie. I then, reluctantly, let go of her hand. "See you later sweetie!"

…

I felt my face erupt into a bright flame.

"Tsk." Rude clicked her tongue as she walked up to me and grabbed my hand with the one not holding onto Rauda. "I can't believe that girl. Leaving you at a time like this. What kind of surprise could she have in store for you right now? A war just ended!"

…A surprise given by a lover after a war…

I opened the letter and saw that Stephanie wanted me to show up to a house tomorrow night.

…hehehehe

Imagery from books I had found in Stephanie's private collection suddenly flooded my mind.

"SHERRY!?" shrieked Rude as Rauda began to giggle. She then walked up to me and shook me back and forth as I lost myself to my fantasies. "OI! WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING!? HUH!? TELL ME!"

-Zeta-

It was the next day when I saw Foxtrot's daughter show up to our safe house. She was in a trench coat and hat, clearly trying to act inconspicuous. When she knocked on the door, I secretly opened it. Yankee wanted to, but I told her that this needed to be just between those two. She understood but was very pouty about it.

Charlie was also here. Much like 665 she would constantly much on snacks. Recently, she's chosen what's known by The Shadow Wisdom as "popcorn" which has been particularly popular to consume while watching something happening. I stole some whenever she wasn't looking.

The little girl (I know she's the same age as me, but look at her, tiny) walked cautiously into the safe house. There wasn't anything special about it, it really was just a place that people from The Shadow Garden would stay. Some high ceilings for us to hide in, but that's it really. Some of the numbers were responsible for watching over the state of the nobility here—mostly just the princesses—and at Foxtrot's request, little Sherry.

I was the one to set up the surveillance.

I…

I had a special interest in reuniting a family, I suppose.

Little Sherry adjusts her coat as she calls out. "Stephanie… are you there…?"

Stephanie, or rather Yankee, was in fact here. She was sitting next to me, nervously gripping a stress ball she made with the slime that usually would make her mask.

"H-hello…? I don't have the taser anymore." Called out Sherry. She began to wander around, looking at the place which clearly had been used every now and again. She didn't ever look up, although given that the shadow wisdom states that people seldom do without due cause, I suppose it's only natural. "I mean, I still have some weapons, but that's just because I wanted to be safe. Hertrude wouldn't let me go without it."

But before Sherry could go on, a door opened. We all silently fell to the ground as we saw her walk into the room. The lights turned on. And from our place in the doorway we saw the inside of the room. There was only two people, Sherry…

And her mother.

Foxtrot stood with her back to the door. From the refection of the window she was standing in, we could tell that she pressed her lips in a thin line and her hands were folded in front of her and clenched even tighter. Her hair was shown, so Sherry knew that it wasn't Yankee waiting for her.

"H-hello?" tried Sherry. However, she didn't dare get closer. Whether due to caution because of what she went through the previous day, the sight of someone she doesn't really know, or the lack of Yankee… well, it was clear that Foxtrot had to make the first move.

And so she did. Slowly, Foxtrot turned on the slime hidden beneath her dress. To anyone else, she'd appear like a normal woman. A woman with pink hair like little Sherry, if a bit darker in shade and longer. Where as Sherry's hair goes to her shoulders, Foxtrot's goes just a little past that.

"Hello… Shirley…" said Foxtrot as her face was only slightly turned to Sherry. Sherry immediately seemed to relax, but she appeared to be confused as to why. "Or no… you wouldn't recognize that name would you…?"

Sherry said nothing, but her limbs went limp at her sides. She may not recognize that name, but she was slowly recognizing everything else.

"But… but if you did. You'd know that's the name… that's the name…" Foxtrot turned around fully. When she saw Sherry standing before her, she began to tear up. "That was the name I gave you…"

Nothing was said.

Nothing really could be said.

But Foxtrot had to try. "You don't have to use it… Sherry's just fine… I wanted to be with you, but I couldn't. There… there was so much going on and I could barely do much other than watch over you… Please, I want you to know… *sniff* if… if you ever felt that the moon was watching over you, if you ever found yourself in bed when you fell asleep at your desk… whenever it wasn't Stephanie, it was me. I… I watched over you, not as much as I wanted but I never stopped loving you-"

"MAMA!"

Sherry had rushed her mother for a hug, nearly knocking them both to the ground. They were doing their best to burrow into one another. Finally, being able to hold one another after so long.

I found Yankee and Charlie each dabbing their eyes with tissues, offering me one as well. I needed it. After all, through blurry eyes, I could almost see a pair of golden panther therianthropes.

Once I cleared my eyes, I saw the pair still holding on to each other but now staring at one another.

"I… there's so much to say… I can't tell you everything exactly," said Foxtrot, "But… I was saved. That day the ships crashed, I was saved at the last minute after Vandel had left."

Sherry nodded and adjusted her coat, likely getting ready for a long story.

"It's going to take a bit to say everything, here why don't I make us something to eat? I've wanted so badly to cook for you again." Said Foxtrot as she stood up. She then reached out a hand. "Here, let me get your coat. This home gets pretty warm at times."

"Oh…" said Sherry as she adjusted her coat. "I'm… I'm good, Mama. I'm a little cold actually."

"Oh no, I can turn on the fireplace." Fretted Foxtrot.

Sherry waved her hands, "N-no it's nothing really. I… I just kinda want to wear a coat, you know? Makes me look cool."

"S-sweetie…" said Foxtrot hesitantly. "Maybe if you had a coat that fit you better. But in an oversized one like that you look like you're…"

Sherry started to nervously sweat. Charlie and I sent teasing grins to Yankee, who in turn slowly was turning pink. The combination of her green hair and pink face reminding me of some exotic fruit Gamma gave me the other day.

"You…" said Foxtrot through gritted teeth, "You were expecting Stephanie… and dressed accordingly."

"M-mama! I… I'm happy to see you but you can't get angry over my relationship…" Sherry probably remembered how she was connected to Stephanie. "Stephanie makes me happy! Really, really happy!"

"How happy, huh!? Show me what you have under there!" Foxtrot then proceeded to overpower Sherry and force the coat open. I grabbed the tissue box and shoved several in Yankee's face and I saw the white paper quickly turn red as we were greeted by the sight of Sherry's hot pink "battle" gear.

… Huh. On the inside of the coat was also a collar with the name 'Stephanie.' Neat. I thought it was the other way around.

Foxtrot let out a loud gasp at the scandalous sight. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-you…! You're way too young to wear this!"

"I'm 18!"

"You're too small!"

"It's not my fault that I didn't inherit anything from you!"

"You have my hair and eyes!"

"Why didn't you give me the height and curves!? If there's anything that ruins today it's the realization there was a chance I could've had those!"

"Clearly you don't need them if this is what you're wearing young lady!"

I decided that I'd seen enough and got up, leaving Yankee who was slowly bleeding to death from her nose and Charlie who was furiously munching on some popcorn.

…

…

What I'd give to have an argument like that with you, mother.

-Cid/Shadow-

It took a bit of convincing, but thanks to the acting lessons I had been giving the girls everyone believed me when I said that I borrowed Lord Shadow's ship by acting super pathetic and offering tons of money to the numbers that helped me drive the ship. They agreed since keeping both nations alive was in their interests, as was allowing the Shades to evacuate. It also helped that as soon as the psychic attack wore off, we were unceremoniously dumped onto the ship Leon's dad was commanding. Soon after we went home to Holfort.

The girls from Fanoss had left to check on Vandel, saying they'd contact us if anything important came up. Speaking of girls that were in Fanoss, I'm not exactly sure why, but after we got back to the kingdom Zeta showed up and demanded lots of petting. I saw no reason to turn her down but was a bit disappointed that she seemed to only need 30 minutes of cuddling.

…

These girls really do have a chokehold over me.

"It's nice to see you finally admit it cutie~." Cooed Violet.

Anyway, Leon and I were only in the kingdom long enough to have everyone tell us it'd probably be a good idea to make a quick appearance before vanishing until after the new year came in. I didn't want to deal with any political BS, so after Leon and I made an appearance through his ship projections where we announced having won the war, I naturally went to go check on my very pregnant fiancé. I also took Leon with me since he apparently scares everyone right now and if he stayed in Holfort people would probably get nervous.

I couldn't help but question why that didn't apply to Livia and Angie, who were very much involved in everything. But they just said that it was different because they were the Saintess. They're more of a known factor while Leon is the biggest wildcard this side of my other half.

"Alpha?" questioned Violet.

Lord Shadow. Alpha doesn't complete me, she compliments me. It's much healthier that way. Also, it's cooler if we're both our own characters that come together.

Oh, that reminds me though. Can you possess Delta next?

"Hm? I suppose so. Why?"

Because after that awesome display you pulled as me, you're going to need her strength and durability for all the things I want to do to you.

Violet let out a squeaking sound before disappearing.

I chuckled to myself quietly before finding my attention pulled to Leon who was pulling off a perfect "protagonist looking out the window as the credits roll after the climatic final episode" pose.

"Something wrong man?" I asked, curious to see what he'd say after everything was set in done.

Leon chuckled. "What isn't on my mind right now?" I motion for him to keep going and he adjusts his seat so that he's leaning forward, not quite staring at me but not staring at the floor either. I'd say he's staring at the teapot, but he appears to be looking even past that. "I mean… I just can't believe everything's technically over. As far as Alto Liebe goes, this is the part of the game where you get a huge chunk of text explaining what happens after the final boss before you get to the final CG of the game. There's some dialogue for a time skip wedding scene, but that's about it…"

"You're finally free."

Leon smiled uncertainly. "I… I guess…? As far as I know the game didn't have sequels so everything from here on out is just up to me… well me and everyone else. Plus, it's not like everything happened the way it did in the game. We didn't fight Lord Shadow for starters."

"Oh yeah, by the way how are we going to explain that to everyone?"

Leon shrugged. "I'm not sure. But I'm not entirely sure we need to worry about that."

I squinted my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well as far as everyone knows, Lord Shadow is powerful, but he's also just a Dark Knight. The fact that we fought him after everyone and still beat him probably makes everyone think he's weaker than he really is."

What.

"I mean we even had like three airships and 6 armors fight Vandel, it was just you and me against Lord Shadow. Plus, not a lot of people were watching us do it, most of them were still affected by Livia and Angie's first psychic attack. That's not even mentioning all the people who probably don't want to acknowledge that someone as strong as Lord Shadow could exist. I saw some of the reports being written, none of them were including his use of constant tier 4 spells."

"That's…" I wasn't sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, I wouldn't have to worry about being thrust into some worldwide limelight as Cid, at least any further than being the shared husband of all the girls. On the other hand, Lord Shadow was totally downplayed. He's a total loose thread that was just kind of written off…

…

Leon spoke up, looking into my eyes. "You know Cid. Even though we may have helped break him free of whatever darkness we believe may be there, I have to wonder… What would a Lord Shadow saved from the shadows look like?" Leon gazed out the window and set up a grand return. "How long until we see him again?"

Leon truly is my best friend.

-Leon-

As the transport ship provided to me and Cid by Mitsugoshi touched down in the Kagenou territory, I found myself tackled to the ground by a black missile.

This weapon of mass destruction with two giant sweater canons was my lovely fiancé, Claire Kagenou.

"Leon! Leon-Leon-Leon-Leon!" With her face in the shape of (XD) Claire furiously grappled me. My face burrowed into her chest and due to my fatigue, and honestly lack of a fight put up, I found myself not moving. I did, however, hear some other people show up and they managed to pull me and Claire.

Although Claire was attached to me like a Koala, I at least had my vision cleared. I pat Claire's head as I greeted the others. "Mr. and Mrs. Kagenou, glad to see you again."

"Mr. Kagenou?" laughed the man, "Please, call me father. After all you've done for us and with how happy you make Claire, you have my blessings!"

"Fufufu~" laughed Mrs. Kagenou, "With how attached she is to you perhaps we should begin planning he wedding?" Mrs. Kagenou the ominously squints in my direction, "and baby names?"

I laugh nervously and rush past them, dragging Cid with me. "Hey, it's been a while since we've seen Alice, right? Let's go find her, I'm sure she'd want to see you're okay."

With Claire's directions given to me by her whispering into my ear, I found Alice's room, quickly threw Cid in, and then ran straight to Claire's room with her in my arms and her squealing happily.

-Cid/Shadow/Minoru-

After removing myself from the carpet after Leon left me to go… flirt with my sister, I was greeted by what looked like either a fort made of pillows or what one would expect a sultan with a harem to sit on.

In other words, Alpha was sitting less on a mattress and more a horde of pillows. And Beatrix was just adding more. There was a both a humidifier slime and a dehumidifier slime provided by Epsilon no doubt. Several stacks of books likely provided by Beta. A record player not yet available to the public likely provided by Eta and Gamma. Some trinkets and artwork that depict either something abstract or what's clearly a doodle of Alpha with a smaller version of her and me, likely drawn by Delta who has been getting better at drawing lately. I also see a few things that Alpha likes that are hard to obtain, likely provided by Zeta.

Alpha spots me from her spot on her mountain of pillows and stretches her hands out to me. "Darling~ save me~"

Not able to resist Alpha's cute whining I march over and fish her out. She greets me with a chaste kiss and then burrows herself into the crook of my neck.

"Ah, Cid." Greeted Beatrix. "It's good to see you're okay. When you left earlier I was a bit worried."

"Nah, there's no way I'd get hurt or anything." I then smiled and held Alpha up a bit more, "Not when these two are waiting for me."

Alpha kisses me on the cheek again. Then she straightens herself and slaps me across the face. There's no real strength behind it but I assume I deserve it. That or it's the hormones.

"How dare you leave me!" cried Alpha as she pointed to her belly "Just look at what you did to me!"

I take a second to realize that Alpha's belly has grown a bit.

…

She's been pregnant since September, if not August.

…

I touch Alpha's stomach.

And.

kick*

I feel something from inside without having to use magic.

"Eep! What was that!?" shrieked Alpha. Beatrix rushes over but I quickly explain.

"That was them." I said with a smile. "That was our baby."

Alpha and Beatrix's eyes light up and their ears start wiggling. Beatrix looks up to Alpha for permission and when she nods I adjust my hold on her so that we can both have our hands on her stomach.

kick-kick*

Ah.

Ah…

"Hey…" cooed Alpha, "Are you happy to see papa? How come you weren't doing this before? Do you like him more than me?" Alpha then gently chided me. "I swear, they're not even out yet and you must've started to spoil them already or something."

I laughed as I wiped my eyes with one hand, the other still on Alpha's stomach of course. "What do you mean? You make it sound like I have a habit of spoiling people."

Alpha pouts and pinches my cheek, "Oh don't get me started. You always just let all of us do what we want! Because of that I have to be the bad guy and straighten out all of the girls."

Well, I mean they were all very traumatized girls so I didn't want to press any buttons by acting harsh towards them. Things just kind of worked out since then. It's not like I have to worry-

"No matter what you do, you'll never be able to run away from your fate. You'll always become me. You'll always lose everything!"

"Cid?"

"You'll always lose everything!"

"Cid-kun?"

"You'll always lose everything!"

"Cutie?"

"YOU'LL ALWAYS LOSE EVERYTHING!"

"Cid!"

I shook my head, "S-sorry. I was just kind of overwhelmed." I met Alpha's face and smiled to assure her. She nodded and ran her hand through my head.

"Why don't we take a walk around the estate? I imagine both of us are tired of being cooped up somewhere." Suggested Alpha.

I nodded.

Beatrix fretted a bit. "Eh? Are you sure, it's really cold right now."

"Some good cool air would be good right about now." I said. I need to relax right now. "Actually, doesn't Luna have a house built nearby? Why don't we stay there?"

Alpha questions what I mean before nodding enthusiastically "That place, right? That sounds lovely right now."

Officially, Luna had a place in our territory built as a home. She almost never stayed there, but she had it built to the specifications I had given her. My parents visited a couple of times but weren't too fond of the eastern tatami mat style house. I loved it though.

All three, or four—maybe five counting Violet, of us readied to leave for the house. As we went outside I unfortunately briefly heard some sounds come from the window my sister left opened.

I glanced at Alpha's belly, "Sounds like you're getting a cousin."

Alpha swatted my arm gently, scolding me but laughing throughout.

-P2W-

Some days later, underneath a heated table, known in the previous world as "kotatsu," Cid, Eta, and Zeta all cozied themselves. As did Alpha.

"Eta…" said Alpha, only having her legs underneath the table and the rest snuggling fiercely to Cid. "pass me that orange."

Eta, who stood so still that Delta had stacked some of the oranges on her head simply said "…No I don't want to move."

"Don't say that." Said Cid. "You're the closest."

"My arms will get cold if they leave the heated table… I'm curled up inside, like Zeta." Replied Eta.

"Mitsugoshi's heated tables are amazing… You can't get out once your in…" Zeta flopped around, looking less like the leader of The Shadow Garden's espionage department and more a lazy cat.

Beatrix, being the only adult now thanks to Alpha's mood swings making her want to be doted on, couldn't help but sigh at the sight. "…It's a new year but everyone is completely knocked out."

"Beatrix, being lazy during the New Year holiday is a time-honored tradition where I grew up." Said Cid.

Beatrix shook her head. "I know we're in the Kagenou territory but those rules belong back in your family's home. Here we have our own rules. If you're all going to be pigs, then I will put away the heated table. Besides, Alice, the physician said not to expose your belly to too much heat."

"It's just my legs…" whined Alpha.

Eta also began to whine. "Nooo, it's too soon!"

"Beatrix, you demon! Fiend! Elf!" shouted Zeta.

"Yes, I'm an elf. What's wrong with elves?" Beatrix shook her head before pointing outside. "Come on, follow Sara's example."

"Woof!" Delta had been playing outside in the snow that recently fell, happily running and rolling around. "Yay! Hahaha!"

Zeta scowled, "How can she be so worked up in this cold? Stupid dogs sure are stupid…"

Eta nodded. "If we follow her example… the brains of Mitsugoshi will rot… it will be a loss to the world."

Cid just chuckled as he got up. "Indeed, dogs will play, and children will laugh." Cid then lightly tickled Alpha's stomach, causing her to giggle and follow suit.

"H-hey! You're just tickling me!" giggled Alpha.

Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door.

"Oh? That must be Shiron." Noted Beatrix as she left to answer it.

Zeta cheered, "Yay! Food!"

"Shiron's more than our cook," said Alpha, pinching Zeta's face. Zeta lightly bit Alpha's hand in response. Not enough to cause any pain or scratch her, however-

"Ah!" shouted Delta as she grabbed Zeta by her shoulders and dragged her out. "What are you doing!?"

Zeta couldn't stop her, and Alpha simply waved as she was dragged through the snow. "She was just playing Sara, don't hurt her too bad!"

"Okay!"

Beatrix walked back, joined by four others.

"Hey guys!" greeted Leon, "Wait, is that a kotatsu?"

"Do not." Warned Beatrix. "I just got some of them to leave."

Leon looks at Eta who still hasn't moved, and Cid who was stacking even more oranges on her. Cid waves.

"…Surely you understand that not all fights can be won." Said Beatrix.

Leon just shrugged as Epsilon went forward.

"Hey-hey! Darling, listen to this. His highness was just telling me about this food called the "heart's bounty!"" said Epsilon as she went up to Cid and gave him a hug, her eyes beaming with reasons that would become clear to the both of them as she went on to describe it. "Perfect in softness, stretch, bounce, and elasticity…! It sounds like-"

"Like you're describing a pair of boobs." Said Eta.

"No wonder Leon knows how to cook it." Snarked Claire who had seemingly teleported to Alpha and held her head to her stomach.

Alpha pinched her cheek. "No snark near my baby. They're going to inherit enough from their father, they don't need to be taught it on top of that."

"And that's not at all how I described it!" protested Leon.

Iris, who also showed up and hugged Beatrix in greeting, turned to her fiancé Leon. "Well, those weren't all the words you used. But you did use those as well dear."

"Yeah, well I also called them kagami rice cakes. Not this "heart's bounty" thing." Replied Leon.

Cid seemed to consider something, which left him open for a surprise snowball.

"This food popular with men?" asked Zeta as she tossed another snowball up and down. "Because I've never heard about it before."

Delta joined in, "Sara knows all about it!"

Everyone turned to Delta a bit surprised, even Eta.

"You do?"

Delta swung her arms back and forth as she muttered, "This is the second time Sara's seen everyone so surprised…"

"Sara, do you really know about them?" asked Alpha.

Delta nodded happily. "Mhm! Kagami rice cakes are a recipe that have been passed down in the therianthrope villages. It's like a big round mirror."

"Huh… well I kinda want one now." Said Cid.

"Should Sara show you, can Sara go outside?" asked Delta excitedly, her tail swishing and throwing snow all over the room.

"I mean Leon can just make some." Said Claire.

Leon shook his head, "Well, yeah. But part of the reason Shiron dragged me here was specifically about the Heart's Bounty. See, I was kinda curious about what another country's version of the meal would taste like, so I thought about inviting you guys to join me. No better way to celebrate the new year than to go to a shrine, no?"

At this everyone started to get excited.

"It's a bit far from here, so we'll be gone for a couple of days. We're probably going to go back to Holfort right after so if you don't want to join us there I'd recommend preparing your own ship." Said Iris.

"Ooh! Since we're going to a shrine, we should dress for the occasion!" chimed in Epsilon. "Zetan, Alice, you both have kimono's already right? The rest of us should follow suit!"

With that everyone began to make plans.

-Alpha-

As we began to approach the shrine, I started to realize why Delta had known about the location of the rice cakes and why Zeta didn't.

"This is… a sacred shrine, correct?" I couldn't help but utter at the sight before me.

Delta nodded happily. "Yup!"

"There are balloons with characters on them… and colorful but meaningless lights…" I continued as I took in the sights. "What exactly is sacred about this shrine? Is this not entirely a theme park?"

Delta shrugged, "Delta said it was a play place on the way here, but no…"

"Who'd believe something like that you dumb dog! Since when did shrines look like this!?" hissed Zeta.

Delta huffed seemingly about to argue, but then backed down. "No kissies for you, dumb cat."

Zeta faltered. "Wha-wha…? Hey…"

Delta just ignored Zeta, pouting but swinging her arms still. "Sara doesn't know the complicated stuff, but this shrine's actually got a thing called history. Literal decades of the stuff. Back then, New Year events were supposed to be quiet—"

Suddenly a voice called out, from what I saw it was a rabbit therianthrope (not one I knew) speaking from atop of pedestal. "Welcome! Try some Mitsugoshi sweet sake, made from fermented rice!"

I couldn't help but react to this and flagged down the rabbit.

"Mitsugoshi? You there, do you have a moment? Does this shrine have some connection with Mitsugoshi?"

As my arm was looped with Cid's I heard Leon question Cid over this. "Shouldn't you two know about this?" to which Cid simply shrugged.

The rabbit nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! We wanted to revitalize our village and have fun like therianthropes are supposed to, and well long story short Mitsugoshi supported our idea."

I nodded and cupped my chin in contemplation. "I see… So that's how it is."

Through Mitsugoshi, the carefree and cheerful nature of therianthropes had been combined with Cid's Shadow Wisdom. Given the nature of some of these constructs, perhaps some of Leon's as well, likely given through Cid though. A strange reaction between the two has led to the birth of this unusual shrine. I had thought it strange that someone other than Mitsugoshi had created a theme park, but if it was sponsored by us then it makes sense. Gamma must have funded this. Or Cid signed on something without looking again.

I pinched Cid's arm and he playfully winced.

A fox therianthrope from behind a stall then called out. "Come, come! Warm your innards with some super spicy red kitsune udon noodles!"

Next a raccoon therianthrope "Try our green tanuki soba noodles heaped with veggies to drive off any nasty bugs for a healthy new year!"

I immediately grabbed the sash of the kimono we wrestled Delta into.

"Awoo! This kimono is so constricting…" Delta whined and then tried to growl before she saw it was me and started pouting. "But I'm hungry…"

I smiled. "It's good that I can easily use your kimono sash as a leash."

Delta then perked right up. "Hey-hey! They're selling sweet sake over there! Can I drink some? Can I?"

I pondered it for a second before turning to the stall owner. However, realizing what I caught onto, Cid asked for me. "Excuse me, does this have alcohol in it?"

"Of course not! Anyone can enjoy this deliciousness!"

Cid saw me eye the warm drink as Delta began to help herself and shook his head.

I put a hand over my baby. "I hope you know I will remember this." I warned playfully. There were many things I haven't been able to eat anymore thanks to you. Oh well, I'll just have some next year.

"Oh? Is she going to participate in the Great Ize-athlon?"

We turned to the stall owner at their question.

Claire asked the question this time. "The Great Ize-athlon…? What's that? How does someone participate in something like that?"

The stall owner happily explained. "It's three fun contests based on ascetic exercises, passed down in the Great Ize Shrine. The Great Ize-athlon rolls them into one, for everyone to compete in."

"Huh… just for fun?" asked Epsilon.

The stall owner shook their head. "Nope, there's a prize. Whoever clears the Great Ize-athlon with the best results gets kagami rice cake."

Everyone had perked up at this information. Admittedly, I wanted to win one for Cid myself, but given my child I don't think competing among Therianthropes was a good idea for their safety. So I looked to my aunt.

"Beatrix, can you win on my behalf?" I asked.

Beatrix nodded resolutely, "Anything for you."

"Hey!" cut in Claire with a pride filled shout. "I'll compete too! If you and Cid both want something then it's my job as your big sister to get it!"

"I'll do it too! Make sure you watch over me, okay Cid? If you do I might give you some later." Epsilon batted her eyelashes in Cid's direction but shot me a grin as well.

The stall owner then grinned. "You all better race over to the reception then, they're going to close to new entrants soon, so you'd better hurry! Good luck!"

We then began to rush over, Cid even picking me up.

-Epsilon-

Gah! I can't believe that everyone wants to compete now! How am I supposed to get my hands on the heart's bounty now?!

I know that Cid is happy with my natural body, he even insists that every time we're intimate I show it to him at some point, but I need these! My slime body isn't just for Cid anymore, it's for me too!

…And Beta maybe. That ditzy pick-me klutz. Her and her stupidly sexy tits.

…

They even fucking went up a size… Grr…

Anyway, when His highness let me try one of his homemade kagami rice cakes I got a good handle on them and realized it was exactly what I needed. I had to eat it quickly as I didn't want him, Claire, or Iris to think I was weird for groping it. He then mentioned how he wanted to go visit the Great Ize shrine and mentioned the Heart's Bounty they were offering, mentioning he wanted to try it himself.

I realized that if I won the prize I'd get exactly what I wanted and an excuse to not immediately have to eat it.

But now everyone wants to get it!

Ugh, at least His highness and Princess Iris decided to sit out due to not wanting to get noticed. Zeta also sat this one out, no idea why but she looked kind bummed about something.

…

I'll prepare some mackerel the way she likes it later.

For now I'm going to make sure to do my best and win the Great Ize-athlon. Luckily all I have to worry about is Delta. I mean, Beatrix and Claire are also competing but I doubt that I have too much to worry about. So long as these games are actual games and not just tests of strength or speed I've got this in the bag!

At least even if I lose, there's not much I have to worry about. I don't care what anyone says, no matter what, today's going to be a good day!

-Shirley/Sherry-

It was a bit surprising to meet my mother after believing that she was killed for so long. But after learning about Vandel's betrayal, and that she had been alive the hole time, and that apparently the war was going on the entire time I was having my small crisis… well I think things are all moving way too fast for me to bother processing.

I know I'm happy. I mean, I have my mom, both childhood friends, and my girlfriend. Oh, and her hungry friend that laughs at us sometimes. She's cute.

But at the end of the day Vandel was my father. He essentially kidnapped me, but he raised me with care. So, for that I'll at least make sure he and his stuff isn't desecrated. Rude and Rauda already cremated him on the battlefield apparently, but Vandel's stuff is still in his room. He probably even has some hidden stuff that people would want to get their hands on.

We've all been busy with Miss Angelica and her friends, doing our best to set up Fanoss to become a duchy once more rather than a kingdom. We all wanted it to be a kingdom originally, but we lost too many people thanks to The Shadow Garden showing up in the middle of the war and assassinating much of the nobility for us to run the country on our own.

On the bright side, this meant that we were left alone for the most part whenever we weren't trying to govern. The citizens were a bit unhappy, but with the technology his highness had we gave a heartful message to the masses about how we were betrayed and lied to.

If there's one good thing about Vandel dying it's that we can use him as a scapegoat. Using his very real crimes of letting the king and queen die, kidnapping me for his research that let him turn into the monster, and then throwing all the other nobles under the bus… well we didn't have to worry about a revolution.

It also helped that the Mitsugoshi girls, who are reportedly very cute, stopped by and handed out supplies and started talking business.

Heh.

If Mitsugoshi existed back then, would Fanoss have tried to invade Holfort after seceding?

…

Well not like that matters.

Like his highness said, we have to let go of the past and let the scars heal!

"Got it! Hah! You ass, making it our birthday!" cackled mama with a tinge of sadness.

"Our?" questioned Stephanie.

Mama waved as she opened the safe. "Shirley and I share a birthday."

I gasped. "We do!?"

"Mhm. July 9th." Clarified Mama.

For the past 30 minutes mama had been trying to open the safe we found in a secret room that Vandel had. Vandel didn't even have much left in the room. I suppose that Lord Shadow and that lady did say this was Vandel's last life after being kicked, so he probably didn't have much anymore.

"Let's see here… notes over the eye of avarice, some old human language stuff…" mama began to rifle through a bunch of papers found in the safe.
"Huh…" hummed Rude.

Rauda couldn't help but question, "Why was it that your birthdays were the code to the safe?"

Stephanie's friend Charlie piped up, trying to be quiet so Mama couldn't hear her. "Hey before he betrayed her was Vandel and your mom…" Charlie then made certain gestures involving her finger going through two others. Stephanie smacked her over the head.

"I'm into younger guys." Said Mama as she continued, ignoring all of us jumping, "But I mean, I did think he was a bit of a silver fox. I guess if things lasted longer, I might have asked him to stay the night if you know what I mean."

"Mama!" I cried "that's so gross!"

"You girls asked! Besides I thought you were an aduuuuuult~!" teased Mama. "Vandel didn't try anything either. He probably just wanted to make it easy for you to open this."

Charlie folded her arms, "I mean, I guess? But it's not like he expected any of this to happen, right? Maybe the date was something else?"

Stephanie raised her hand again but I stopped her.

"It's fine s-sweetie." I said, enjoying as Stephanie immediately melted.

"Huh? Shirley can you come over here? There's a box in the far back. I already checked with magic, and it's safe. But I can't reach it." Said Mama.

I walked over to the safe and reached for the what appeared to be a wooden box underneath the bottom shelf. As soon as I got it I stood back up, curious as to what was in it. Everyone crowded around me, also curious.

But when I opened it…

"Sherry? Are you crying?"

I shook my head.

"Ms. Lukreia? You too."

I looked over at mama and saw tears going down her face as well. She met my gaze.

"Hey, Stephanie, Rude, Rauda, notice anything about this painting?" I asked.

They all took a good look.

"Well… for a portrait of you and Lukreia done in color, it's strange that the hair color is wrong. I mean it'd be one thing if you both had red hair here but they made it black for some reason." Noted Stephanie.

Rude continued, "Not to mention Vandel looks younger than I've ever seen him here, and for someone who apparently never tried anything with you, Ms. Lukreia, he seems pretty close to you."

"And look at the brush work," finished Rauda, "Or lack thereof really. I'm a princess and I've never seen a painting so masterfully done! Did the craftsmanship move you to tears?"

I shook my head again.

"These aren't my tears."

I closed the box once again, and put it on the pile of stuff to burn.

Vandel… Father… I imagine if it's true that once you burn things you send it to the land of the dead, if seeing this painting once again would be its own form of hell for you.

-Cid/Shadow/Minoru-

Leon, Iris, Alpha, and I all had fun cheering on everyone. I have to say, if we had televised the Great Ize-thlon it'd have looked like some kind of game show given how ridiculous and varied all the things were. It looked so fun. If they were competing over something important I might've joined in as Lord Shadow or something.

I mean, first they ran away from some giant balls like Indian Jones mixed with the running of the bulls. Delta and Claire won that one, Beatrix probably would have done better if she was used to running in a kimono and Epsilon wanted to try and not get dirty or lose her boobs.

Then they did a card shoot game, which kinda made me miss the hanafuda cards back home. Epsilon won this one with Beatrix only behind by a few seconds. Actually, Beatrix would've won that one but flipped a card that said "start over" several times.

Finally they ended up playing what was called a "Hagiota Deathmatch." The rules were basically the same as in my old world; essentially, each person got a gets a paddle and a calligraphy brush. Two people face each other i match where they have to hit a shuttle cock between each other, and if landed on their side they lost. When you lost the other player got to draw on your face. There were some therianthrope rules like being able to throw ink in the other person's face though.

Delta had chosen to use two Hagiota's and ended up losing to Beatrix, who finally got used to moving in her Kimono. It was surprising but she managed to dance circles around Delta, smiling in a smug way that must be inherited by all women in their family given how similar it was to Alpha's smug smile. I imagine that was part of the reason that Delta got nervous half way through and lost.

Epsilon and Claire ended up facing each other as well, and while Claire put up a good fight Epsilon ended up winning by coming up with some trick shots.

Claire ended up huffing and forcing Leon to dote on her relentlessly. Iris had helped clean her face. Although Iris did have fun teasing Claire saying "Maybe our final match should have been with Hagiota's" since Iris did end up losing. Claire didn't bother bragging about it since Iris was a little injured in the head and so things weren't as fair.

Anyway, Beatrix ended up letting Epsilon win, as Alpha figured that if they fought it'd get ugly fast.

Delta pouted but Zeta, who was strangely sad all day, brought her a bunch of food. Delta gave her a kiss as thanks before she demolished the food, which seemed to perk Zeta right up.

As Epsilon left to the ship to do whatever it was she wanted with the Heart's Bounty, the rest of us decided to go and ask the shrine if they could share the recipe with us. Given our connection to Mitsugoshi I figured they wouldn't mind.

But duty called.

So with a quick explanation I had left Leon to escort the girls to talk to everyone.

I'm now on my way back from the restroom and saw the strangest thing. It looked like a slime monster… if it was made out of a kagami rice cake.

Unsure of what to do, I kinda let it wreak havoc for a bit. Eventually though, a visiting adventurer seemed to intervene. He was tall and athletic looking, which was fitting. However, he had tan skin and slicked back hair. Honestly, if it were dyed blonde I would've killed him on the spot. But thankfully he seemed to be a good person so I let him do his good deeds.

He did put up a decent fight, but since he wasn't armed by anything but a shotgun he didn't do much other than contain the thing. Honestly there was no way he could've fell the monster on his own. Like maybe if Leon was the one holding the shotgun, but not this guy, he was way too weak.

Because of that, I decided to step in.

"Megido!" I shouted, causing the monster to trip up and expose its core. I then charged quickly and barked an order. "Hey! You, adventurer! You know how to go all out?"

"I don't know any other way to fight!" He laughed.

"Then follow my lead!" I shouted.

We ended up performing an all-out attack, something I've done with the Shades and Leon before (although it was just during training stuff since it's hard to pull off in real battles) but was strangely surprised that this random adventurer was able to keep up the pace, even if I was still just Cid.

Eventually we ended up felling the thing. But my battle didn't end there.

"Hey, where the hell were you. You're pretty strong, you could've helped prevent people from getting hurt." The dude treated me with hostility.

I looked around to see that everyone was fine and even laughing it off.

"Okay, so these therianthropes are a bit sturdier. But if this were anywhere else by the time I got here someone might have gotten killed!"

Ugh. This guy seems annoying. "Give me a break I just got finished fighting a war."

"Huh?"

"You know, the war between Holfort and Fanoss? I was one of the soldiers. I guess that it'd be more accurate to call it a battle? In any case I'm sore as hell and didn't exactly feel great about seeing a monster on a day where I'm supposed to be relaxing with my family."

The tanned guy seemed to feel a little bad about this. "Oh… sorry man. Yeah, I guess it makes sense you'd freeze up at first…" He then extended his hand to me. "Name's Serge, an adventurer."

I shook his hand. "Call me Kageno."

-Leon-

After getting the recipe for the rice cakes I went back to Holfort with Claire and Iris. I managed to enjoy a peaceful meal with all of my lovers and family back home. Cid said he wanted to celebrate for a bit longer back home, since he was expecting some people to bring back some ingredients or something, but promised he'd show up for some kind of ceremony. What ceremony you ask? No idea.

I mean my family was all excited, but I know that Jenna and Miauler already eloped. I even saw them working at a Mitsugoshi in Midgar.

…Hm… Is Nicks getting engaged?

On the political side of things, everything with Fanoss was settled pretty quickly. According to the girls, the kingdom agreed to peace with the principality, as other countries were gunning to invade at every border but Midgar's, and even then the king of Midgar would likely just stay neutral. We didn't have the forces or supplies to deal with Fanoss more punitively. Still, we did essentially force Fanoss to join the kingdom as a duchy.

All things considered the treaty we forced them to sign was a bit humiliating, given the reparations for their transgressions and a guarantee of military support for the kingdom. Fines would be levied against them if they failed to comply. The kingdom would also be sending one of its own to keep an eye on them.

Any border lords that weren't rallied by me and tried to switch sides weren't let off easy either, but Fanoss would be suffering the repercussions of their actions for centuries.

But things didn't end with that, I had a chance to talk with Mylene as well.

And well… that's when I learned the truth behind how society was functioning, especially the academy.

"It began with the archduke's rebellion. You know by now that when a person is on the defensive, it puts them at a serious disadvantage, yes?" started Mylene.

"Yeah, we basically invaded Fanoss and even with the Giants they summoned we managed to push them back quite a bit." I said.

Mylene nodded. "The archduke caused great suffering for the royal family. We feared another noble might follow his example. We feared another noble might follow his example. Although you are a prince now, you were originally a regional noble. So surely you understand that anyone above a baron rank can rapidly amass military power."

"Right, by increasing the number of airships at their disposal. I heard that years agoo they used to accumulate power by conquering neighboring houses."

Airships gave attacking combatants a clear advantage in this world and Suspension Stones made it shockingly cheap and efficient to create and maintain airships even if you didn't have your own Luxion assembly line. So with their cheap airships, regional lords could gather power and duke it out with each other for more land—always on the offensive, never having to defend. Even a baron could be a threat to the kingdom if they were resourceful enough.

In this world the real strategy is quantity over quality for the most part, it's just that most people—and by that I mean commoners—don't bother. It's cheap for anyone that's not poor. It's cheap for nobles, in other words.

Mylene confirmed that was how things had once been. "Some regional lords holed themselves up in their own regions, but many grew bold and launched attacks on the capital itself."

Those stupid enough to try had been defeated, but as the defender was at a constant disadvantage, the kingdom had suffered significant losses.

"The kingdom established the academy as a way to demonstrate is power outside of battle. We could discourage regional lords from ever opposing us by showing the difference in our strength."

Luxion had mentioned something along those lines once I think. But what did that have to do with the truth underlying the world? If I remembered right, Luxion had also said something about the kingdom pushing the burden off onto men.

"And," continued Mylene, "the kingdom designed an additional strategy. In order to further chip away the power of the regional lords, they strove to instill a new value system."

"…What do you mean?"

"Do you understand why women are treated immensely better than men in this country?"

"Can't say I have more than a few theories."

"Because of all the war, even if you count the therianthropes men were short in supply." She said. "It isn't as noticeable at the academy—partly because of the therianthropes but also because we allowed nobles from other countries, but after graduation, the imbalance becomes dramatically apparent. In fact, women can't get married at all."

That just brings up the question: why did women have more power when it came to marriage? Normally, simple supply and demand would put men in the position to pick and choose. Wait a minute. Was this male population shortage the reason Zola tried to marry me off before I entered the academy?

The pieces began to fall into place.

"We arranged things so nobles who attended the academy would develop the same set of values. Cruel as it was, we enforced the tradition of absurd favoritism towards women in this kingdom."

"…You did this… on purpose…" I uttered, almost unable to believe what I was hearing. "What's the point of doing that? I mean, come on! By undermining the nobles like that, they wouldn't be able to perform as assets when you actually need them."

If it weren't for Mitsugoshi and the broadcast, I know for a fact so much more of the kingdom would've tried to switch sides.

"I understand your feelings but please try and be calm," said Mylene, "Our predecessors admittedly failed to predict those complications. They only hoped that with shared values and a sense of camaraderie, the regional lords would lose a bit of the sedition impulses they previously fostered. However, the effect of their policies far exceeded their expectations. Women… grew arrogant."

I couldn't help but scoff, "Okay sure, maybe at first but I know for a fact that a bunch of the boys were contemplating a revolution whenever they weren't busy spelunking in the dungeons to get degraded by the girls. Did no one ever stop to think 'Hey, maybe we should fine tune this a bit'?"

"They didn't think it necessary at the time. In fact, if I were alive back then, I probably would have missed the unintended consequences as well. The political outcomes were too convenient for the kingdom to think too deeply about it. The regional nobles were drained, financially and mentally, and wealth was concentrated in the capital. Revolts all but vanished." Mylene's tone was flat. "Also, the kingdom had one other objective for establishing a center for education."

I tuned out Luxion when he brought this up, but I know he mentioned it before.

"By establishing the academy, we devised a means for the common people to receive an education alongside the nobility. You understand what that means, don't you?"

I nodded, and even grimaced a bit.

But Mylene smiled. "In a few more centuries, this world will no longer need the noblilty."

Not sure how to feel about that. My 21st century soul wants to say that's a good thing, but the commoner in me is outraged at how many centuries off this is, and the crown prince I am now feels a bit short changed.

"When the academy was first established, our predecessors thought to revolutionize our political structure over the course of several centuries. Well, I'm sure they felt it was the only way forward."

In other words, since they royal family had grown tired of dealing with the nobility, they figured they might as well overhaul the political structure of the country. I don't know if I should be impressed with their forward thinking, or rage at their passing of the buck. Honestly given what I know about how the nobles here think, I know that they were really just washing their hands of it.

Mylene sighed. "But of course, as you know the girls of noble families of earl rank and below run amok, letting power go to their heads. The situation has devolved far beyond our expectations. We had hoped that with the influence of other nations things would be mitigated a bit… all it did was have the good noblemen become… what was it again? "passport men"?"

I wonder if I fall under that considering Claire and Iris. Whatever, that just leads us to the present. "How brutal."

"Indeed," agreed Mylene, "But one could also see that it means regional nobles' fortunes are concentrated here in the capital. These women who want to live in luxury in the city continue to play a convenient role for the royal family. That's why there is such a great burden on men on the kingdom, and well, that's why you are such a notable person. For better or worse."

Right, going from baron to crown prince, gathering forces in the background, not even mentioning my adventuring stuff. Well, I was exactly the kind of person the kingdom hated honestly. It makes sense I had to leave for a couple of weeks after the battle with Fanoss.

Plus, thinking back to the Kingdom's logic—faulty as it is—the kingdom didn't trust the nobles. So, it designed a future where aristocrats were obsolete, and they let the noble girls run wild at the school because, hey, they'd be thrown out soon enough when the inevitable class system revolution came.

Ha, that must be the reason that high class girls like Angie, Clarice, and Deirdre weren't allowed to own slaves. Their families must have either known or had their suspicions. Basically, if their daughters were kept in check, they'd keep their neck when the new government came along.

And hey! Worst case they could use the royal airship's psychic attack to brainwash everyone.

Honestly, back when I first got to the academy I could have never expected its messiness was the result of intentional political maneuvering. I'd have to tell Luxion about this later and ask him to explain the finer points to me. From there I could decide how to deliver this information to the others.

Also…

"Is that the reason you had let Livia enroll in the academy? I know her teacher originally wanted to send her a scholarship before I personally asked for one."

"We thought it was time to move on to the next step of our long-term plan. The nobles needed to feel threatened. We intended to start with Olivia and gradually increase the number of common folk enrolled every year. Honestly, you personally asking the king was exactly the kind of narrative we needed to ensure her safety. While we would have enrolled her by herself originally, I know that my plan of having Julius and his friends watch out for her would've never worked. But I suppose when every move you make is with an eye to the future a hundred or even two hundred years from now, you'd be blind to the present."

Some part of me wants to laugh. I mean, even if it weren't for Marie…

"Your plan…" I started to laugh darkly, no humor behind it. I think I saw Mylene flinch. "Your plan is contingent on so many 'what if's' that I can't help but laugh!" There are so many bad endings in Alto Liebe! I've personally suffered through each and every one of them! It'd be one thing if Livia were just a commoner, tragic and each memory makes me sick, but Liva's the Saintess! In Alto Liebe it was just her! "You're right! You guys were blind! 'Each and every step made with an eye to the future' is just another way to say you couldn't even bother looking down on the commoners!"

I was briefly reminded of my little brother. I got up and started pacing around the room.

"I was instrumental to fighting Fanoss, you agree right?"

"Yes, if it weren't for you and your friendship with Lord Kagenou we would've likely been fighting our best at the capital and lost much more men that we did."

"Livia was instrumental, losing her at any point or her changing sides because the academy wouldn't have accepted a commoner and bullied her or worse would have been disastrous, yes!?"

Mylene nodded sadly. "Yes… even if she weren't one half of the Saintess we would've lost one of the greatest minds of our Kingdom."

"Plus!" I added throwing my arms out, "If Julius and his friends were ruling over this nation there's no way that they would've kept up with your plan! Influence from behind the scenes be damned, those idiots would've ruined everything you set up!"

Mylene shed a tear. "I know."

I sighed deeply. I wanted to hit something…

Hm.

"Close your eyes." I demanded.

Mylene did so without questioning it.

I walked up to her, took something out of my bag, and then placed it on her finger. Mylene adorably widened her eyes in shock, the tears welling up there doing things to the sadistic part of my brain. Not done I took off her crown, and presented her with a tiara.

"It must've been hard, right?" I asked, kneeling before Mylene with the softest gaze I could muster. "You aren't even from this kingdom but its future and present were resting almost entirely on your shoulders with no support from any side. And on top of that you had to deal with being a mother to children with a father who constantly pushed his work off on you and always cheated on you."

"L-leon-kun…" Mylene did her best not to sob, softly hiccupping with a flush face and biting her bottom lip.

I smiled. "The Old Humans had a term for what you wanted to set up. It's called centralization. I may not agree with everything you had planned, and I'm sure Angie is going to have some choice words for you…" I helped her place the tiara on her head. "But no matter what, we're going to go through everything together. You aren't alone anymore my queen."

"Leon-kun!" Mylene tackled me to the ground and began to kiss me with fervor I've never seen before, practically ripping off my clothes and doing her best to service me.

As for what I ended up hitting? Well, the royal peach, several times.

-P2W-

There, of course, ended up being a ceremony in which all the people who ended up dying were lamented properly. Everyone had given a few words, and Mitsugoshi gave ample funds. Speaking of which, even though Mitsugoshi now has what's essentially a private military company, people assume it belongs to Leon given that they all only followed his orders. People are still reeling from the fact that said company is comprised of now highly trained therianthropes.

Cid theorizes that the weird rice cake monster from the Great Ize-thlon may have had sinister intentions behind it, but he didn't bother looking too deeply into it.

In any case, after Leon and Iris gave some parting words on behalf of their countries and Cid and Luna (Gamma) gave some on behalf of Mitsugoshi things were mostly settled. Anything that could be handled in the short term, was. They could only plan and otherwise play by ear from here on out.

But, Leon and Cid's trials and tribulations weren't done for the day.

"No!"

"Luxion, this was your doing wasn't it!?"

Both men balked as they witnessed a familiar looking heart-shaped stage with a heart-shaped background. They both stepped back, looking for the entrance of the room they had walked into, but found it blocked by Delta and Claire. They then looked at the windows only to find some armors waiting outside.

"Knock each other out?" offered Cid.

Leon shook his head, "I don't think the machine cares if we're conscious."

[It does not. Although your score may be totaled lower than it should if you aren't conscious.]

"How did you even get this damn thing?! I thought the Weiss was destroyed!" Leon shouted at Luxion.

(It was~ However, Luxy-poo found the schematics within the device for everything. Mistress Angie and Mistress Livia used their override codes that you gave them and that allowed us to recreate the device.)

Cid raised his hand, "Does that include the annoying voice?"

(It does~)

"But wait, seriously this is a bad idea! I… I-!"

Leon found himself cut off by Iris. "I-I-I don't expect to have as high of a score as dear Livia or Angelica."

Epsilon went next. "And since we're not pregnant like Alice obviously our scores would be a bit lower."

Clarice joined in, "Not to mention that we've only known each other in this life, whereas you've known Livia and Angelica for at least two."

"This isn't about trying to get a leg up on anyone. I…" Gamma stuttered as she stared shyly at Cid. "I'd just like to know for sure that I have a place in your heart."

Cid and Leon then looked at one another. Then at the waiting girls. They were all wearing white dresses simple in design yet fitting for each of their bodies. Not quite wedding dresses yet clearly formal in nature. Olivia, Angelica, and Alpha were all absent as they all had already gotten scores earlier.

That meant for Leon: Iris, Claire (who put her hair in the ponytail he liked), Clarice, and Deirdre.

For Cid: Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta. Cid was somewhat thankful that Nu, Victoria, and Lambda weren't here. There was also the issue of Violet, who he is unsure could be picked up by the device.

"Mou…" pouted Violet "How unfair…"

Oh hey Violet. Thought Cid. You've been gone ever since you possessed Delta.

Violet pinched Cid's cheek. "Of course I was. That night you were unhinged. You were like some desperate howling monster. You frightened me." Violet then whispered into Cid's ear. "Do it again."

Distracted by Violet, Cid didn't notice that he had already been moved by Beta onto the stage. When he came to it was too late.

"Woohoo! Let's get this thing rolling!"

[For the record we had gotten rid of its racism towards demi-humans.]

(Oh, and it never bothered to explain the scores right? It's basically like this:

25 is an acquaintance at best or a stranger at worst.

2650 is some level of fondness, more like a friend if anything.

5175 is where we get into the territory of crushes and puppy love.

7680 Is a really strong affection, like people who are not quite friends yet not quite lovers.

8190 Is at the level of people who started dating for a while.

9199 is people who are probably engaged.

100120 would be newlyweds in the honeymoon phase.

120190 is people that are happily married.

191200 would be a couple that has been married for years.

Anything beyond 200 wasn't really calculated for, I think the multiple live thingy the mistresses and Master had going on messed with the systems.)

"I guess we shouldn't hope for anything over 200 then." Noted Zeta.

Claire nodded, "Well whatever my score is. I'll just make it bigger." Claire then glared in Leon's direction, "But if you somehow have me at anything lower than a 76 despite everything we've done… I'll cry. This is a threat."

"Okay! I'm done warming up! For the busty elven woman with silver hair and a mole on her cheek we have a 95! For the middling gentleman we have a 100! Did someone say rom-com protagonists? I could see at least 100 chapters of a will they won't they or 50 of nothing but fluff! Or 20 with smut!"

Beta was shocked. "Wha-wha!? But-but I-"

"Devotion," said Cid as he held her hands and cut her off. The words coming out of him faster than he could think about what he was saying, "and love are two separate things. You are devoted to me, and I don't doubt at all that you love me. But…" Cid looked her in the eyes and smiled, "I… I think it's only recently that we've started to really get to know each other…"

Beta smiled. "You're… *sigh* you're right. I… We should go on dates more often."

With that the two kissed.

"Whoop! Look at that now both are at 102! How cute! You're going to make each other so happy that reading about you would be boring!"

"Damn, if even Natsume wasn't at 120 then…" noted Zeta.

Eta smiled. "We'll… just make… the score higher later…"

Zeta huffed but nodded. "You're right."

Beta and Cid walked off the stage together, cuddling as though they were walking on a date.

Leon was then dragged by the back of his collar by Claire.

"Okay! For the feisty (read: rabid) woman we have a score of 85! For the gentleman who looks like he should try some sleeping pills we have a score of 99!"

"…You really love me." Said Claire, in a soft voice Leon usually only hears when it's the two of them and no one else.

"I…" Leon nervously chuckled with a blush. "It looks like I do…"

"It looks like?" said Claire, punching his shoulder lightly.

"I do." Said Leon with that boyish smile Claire always loved. "I do."

"Oh? Was the black haired woman's heart not the same color? She's now up to a score of 92! You must have a tight hold on her leash! Or maybe you like it when she bites mwehehehe~!"

Leon subconsciously reached for the spot on his neck that Claire usually goes for as the two of them walk off the stage. Claire smiled smugly at the sight. Next, Gamma walked up with Cid. She tripped a few times out of nervousness as they went up the stairs, so Cid sighed fondly and carried her bridal style until they were in place.

"Can I get a drum roll please?"

No one did anything.

"I'll do it myself! Now playing drumroll .mp3 da-dum-da-dum-da-dum: da-da-da! For Klutzy McGee-"

"Hey!"

"We have a score of 102! For her sugar baby we have a score of 90! If I were you, I'd do my best impression of a house-spouse and make sure she's happy with you!"

Gamma smiled happily at this, although Cid was scowling at the accusation of being a sugar baby. It wasn't wrong per se, but wasn't exactly flattering to hear either.

"Did Luxion and Cleare give the thing information? How did it know-"

"Darling…" called out Gamma, capturing his attention with the way it broke. "I'm… I'm so glad…! *Hic* you love me! You really do love me faults and all!"

Cid softened, and pinched her cheek playfully before wiping her tears. "Of course I do, dummy. You should no better than to doubt me at this point. I've never lied to you… well, not about stuff like this at least."

Gamma giggled and went to kiss Cid on the lips, she tripped but fortunately Cid caught her and gave her a deep kiss while dipping her.

"Damn, you really are a sugar baby and his sugar mama huh! Because you're up to a sweet matching 110! Eh? Eh?"

Leon turned to Luxion as he went up the stage with Clarice, "Did you really have to keep the voice?"

[Cleare insisted.]

"Can't deny your wife anything huh?" snarked Clarice.

[I enjoy seeing you squirm Master.]

"Huuuuuh!? Is that a pair of delinquents on my stage!? Huuuuuuuh!? Oh wait no, they're way too pure. Well the lady has a score of 100 while the gentleman has a score of 95."

"I guess that makes sense." Said Clarice with a smile, her usual snark or teasing left behind for a pure angel in Leon's eyes. "We're just engaged right now… but in my mind we're already married."

Leon couldn't find his voice but brought Clarice in close and kissed her forehead, sending her into a fit of giggles. She returned it with a bunch to Leon's face.

"Oh? The gentleman went up to 99! I don't really get the point but it's there!"

"Oh? No score change for you?" teased Leon.

Clarice smiled, "I wasn't sure I could love you anymore than I already do. But I have plenty of time to learn."

The two kissed again before walking away.

"And what do you mean 'I don't really get the point' At least say something funny!" Cid tsukommi'd as he and Delta walked up next.

"Yeah!" cheered Delta, "Wait what are we doing?"

Cid pet her head. "This device measures how much we love each other apparently."

"Oh, Sara doesn't need a device to tell me that." Said Delta. "Sara already knows bossman loves her lots!"

"Wha—hey! Don't say stuff like that! If you don't need me then I'll be thrown away, isn't that terrible? Wouldn't you all miss me?"

No one said anything. Unfortunately for the device, Olivia wasn't here to be polite.

"How mean… *sob-sob* Anyway. The good girl has a score of 190 while her owner has a matching score! I know a dog is man's best friend but to think a dog could also be best girl… the future is such a fascinating place."

Cid turned to Delta who seemed unaffected. He then furiously patted her head and gave her a deep kiss. Delta's tail wagged so hard that Leon and Deirdre had a difficult time walking up to the stage due to the wind generated.

"Ohohoho! How lovely! I suppose I should expect something lower, I'm not as honest as a dog after all." Said Deirdre.

Leon couldn't help but question, "Isn't there a phrase 'lied like a dog' or something?"

"Oh? Is there?" questioned Deirdre, "I've never heard it before."

"Stop debating things that don't matter. You know what does? Your scores! For the lady there is a score of 150! For the lad there is a score of 99. By the way have the same people been going on here? I don't judge but I have a infidelity protocol if it's applicable."

Deirdre flipped her hair and smiled beautifully. "Fufufu. Much like Clarice I have already cemented you as my husband in my head and heart dear Leon. I understand that so far we are only engaged, but that will change soon enough." Deirdre then turned around. "Now greet me like you usually do."

Leon blinked. "In front of everyone?"

"Did I stutter?"

Leon just shrugged and raised his hand before bringing down fast.

Smack!*

Deirdre tittered delighted as her and Leon swapped places with Cid and Epsilon.

As the machine took its score Epsilon took Cid's hands. As she was clearly nervous, Cid rubbed his thumbs over Epsilon's hands to reassure her. She smiled gratefully.

"Let's see here, a woman with twin tails and proud personality and a boy that looks like you could find him anywhere… well I guess when you're the representation of specific tropes it makes sense you have scores matching those of the people from earlier! 95 for the lady and 100 for the man!"

Epsilon hugs Cid. "I'm a bit disappointed I have the exact same score, but that just means you love me too."

"And that we should go on more dates. I'll do my best to schedule it." Said Cid as he hugged back. "I gotta play the role of the cool boyfriend after all."

"You're already the coolest person in the world to me."

"Oh wow! The woman's score is now 102 but the man's score is 105!"

Epsilon was very tempted to shout out 'Ha suck it Beta!' but knew that may affect Cid's score for her and decided to say nothing.

Leon came up with Iris next. She was very red and unsure if she should show her face.

"Okay! For the living tomato we have a score of 80! For the gentleman trying to hold her we have a score of 86! You're so cute I could just eat you up! Although I guess that's something the lad says to his lady quite often."

Still with her face rather flush, Iris shoots puppy dog eyes at Leon, "Perhaps… I could reserve a date first? I do spend the least amount of time with you after all."

Leon laughed joyfully, "Hey, I don't mind. I feel pretty similarly after all. Now that the stuff with Fanoss is over we should have some more time to see each other."

Iris beamed as she walked down hand in hand with Leon. Cid then walked up with Zeta.

"Uh. On second thought maybe we don't have to do this." Said Zeta. However Cid grabbed her hand and prevented her from leaving.

"If you wanted to leave you would've helped me escape earlier." Chided Cid.

"Gasp! Is that a cat girl!? My creators loved cat girls! Anyway, miss neko has a score of 81 while the guy she's with has a score of 90!"

"I… I guess we have to hang out more often." Said Cid.

Zeta, who was a little miffed at her score started to pout but didn't argue.

Cid fretted a bit at this and drew Zeta in close, whispering, "Lilim, all this means is I want to know more about you."

"I suppose it's fitting you're part cat, when you're just as fickle! Miss Neko is now at a score of 100!"

"Thanks… darling." Said Zeta with a smile. "I guess I should leave you here now so Eta can-"

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, revealing the current queen of Holfort behind it.

"Uhm, Leon-kun. Are you in here? I wanted to ask about the armor that's just staring in the window. It's starting to make some of the servants…" Mylene then spotted the stage. "By the Saintess' fat tits and ass who the fuck decided to salvage that thing?"

"Your fellow wives." Said Leon as he picked up Mylene and forced her to the stage. "I'm doing this to you because I'm not going to tolerate anyone using those expressions considering Angie and Livia."

"For the gentlemen we have a score of 100! For the lady we have a score of 85! Woo! Now doesn't this look like a scandal!? My sensors say this lady is old enough to be your mother! Or is that the best part for you? Mwehehe!"

Mylene covered her face in embarrassment and booked it out of the room. If you got a good view of her face though, you'd see her fighting a smile.

Leon looked at everyone. "I… I should probably go after her. We good here?"

"Do you want to see what Cid gets on his last fiancé?" asked Clarice.

Leon shook his head and ran out. "Nah I'm good. See you girls later, love you!"

With Leon leaving, the rest of his fiancés decided to file out, leaving Cid with his. With some quick goodbye's and an exchange of keys, that just left Cid to go up with Eta.

"For the gentleman we have a score of 95! For the Lady we have a score of 150! Speaking of, the lady is super cute with something sinister lurking… I wonder what that says about the man that loves her so much? Do you know or is this like, a surprise?"

Eta began to chuckle like a villain before pointing at Cid.

"I… love you more…!" she taunted as though she summoned the forbidden one.

Cid raised his arms like he was being hit by a beam and losing all his life points and collapsing to the floor.

"Oh? It looks like the gentleman is now at 102, and the lady 152!"

-Leon-

The morning after I had done the love scoring thing with the other girls I found myself in a luxurious suit while my family surrounded me in a waiting room, even Merce, Jenna, and Miauler.

"Nicks isn't the one getting married." I realized.

"No." cried Nicks.

As our mother comforted the lonely man our younger brother, Colin, peered up at me. "Leo, you look super cool! Like a prince!"

I ruffled his hair as I replied. "I am a prince you doofus."

"I'm surprised you aren't complaining or anything." Noted Balcus.

I shook my head, "I'm way too tired to do anything like that. Besides, I imagine it's Angie and Livia waiting for me right? I have half a mind to sprint down the aisle."

Jenna and Finley both pinch me.

"You better not if you know what's good for you! Girls dream of engagement parties like this, don't ruin it for them!"

"Even if the wedding is going to be more grand you should know better than to be our silly brother right now. Be the cool big brother that led the war efforts!"

Merce giggled and gestured towards the door. "Well, now that you're ready things are going to get started soon… brother."

I just sighed and headed for the doors, as soon as I heard some music start I pushed them open and walked in.

When I pushed them open, I saw basically everyone I knew. In the front rows were Clarice, Deirdre, Iris, and Claire. All four of them were wearing the same white dresses from yesterday. I think I also saw Mylene, who was wearing a mask as a disguise. Behind them on the right were the families of all the girls. Duke Redgrave and his wife stood out in particular, glaring at me as if daring me to say or do anything to fuck this up. Olivia's parents were seated by them and too busy fighting tears at the sight of their daughter getting hitched to notice that though.

On the other side was Cid and a very pregnant Alice who waved at me. Cid's other fiancés were there as well, and very clearly were happy for me. Eta was even sitting up straight; I didn't know she could do that.

As my family went to the right I saw Daniel, Raymond, Hermoine, and Elouise all smiling expectantly at me. Dan and Nana politely waved as well. Near them were some of the Mitsugoshi girls I've worked with, like the military leader and Nicoletta. Beside them I think I even saw Rose, albeit with a new haircut to probably help disguise her better.

Finally, as the music that cued me in began to end I walked to the front.

When I stopped at the front with the two girls, Angie whispered as the priest—who was my tea master surprisingly—began to read, "Sorry for springing this on you without any warning."

"Yeah," I whispered back, "couldn't you have talked to me about it first?"

Livia giggled and bumped my hip with hers playfully, "We wanted to surprise you like you did us when you gave us the rings and tiaras."

I smiled. I appreciated the thought, I really did. I in no way resented them for this. But…

"With how this is basically a wedding I just wanted to have a little more say is all…"

At this they both winced. "Sorry…" said Angie as she put her arm around mine, "You're right. This is much more than a simple engagement. But if it was officially a wedding we'd have to invite the entire kingdom. We had to plan this secretly… we should've at least asked Luxion to subtly ask for your tastes."

I bumped Angie's hip like Livia did to me earlier. "Hey, none of that. I didn't say I hated anything… but if we do a vow renewal ceremony or something, I get to plan it deal?"

Angie and Livia beamed.

"Deal."

…

"You sure you won't get fed up with me and wish you'd never go through with this?"

Livia smiled. "That won't happen."

"I'm going to have enemies everywhere now, you might be protected as the Saintess but I will only be valued by other countries dead you know."

Without missing a beat Angie said, "I was training to be the queen. I was prepared to face such a fate, and if it were for you Leon, I'd gladly face the doors of hell."

I wanted to swoon.

Angie mockingly glanced at the door. "If you want to run, there's the door."

"If I run at this point I'd order Luxion to shoot me on the spot, and he'd probably have to get in line behind everyone else." I said, causing us all to smile again.

I smiled so hard that I closed my eyes.

When I did, I briefly saw my parents, the ones from my past life. I saw my old girlfriend. I saw my old friends. I saw me.

"What even made you girls fall for someone like me?"

It was too late to try and excuse it as Lea, Ann, and Mary's memories. Or perhaps it'd just be obviously stupid to.

"I fell because you're you," said Angie with full sincerity. "I want you, Leon. Be my husband."

Damn, you really want me to swoon here. I thought you want me to be the husband, yet here I feel like the wife. "Y-yes ma'am."

Livia snuggled into me cutely. "I've also fallen for you, because you are you." She then took a smile that screamed danger. "And I'm never letting you go."

Livia…?

…meh, I know what I'm getting into.

"Do as you wish." I said as I felt my face hot as though standing underneath the sun for hours, "I'm not running."

Livia and Angie beamed again. "We will!"

I mean, I love both of them.

There's no reason not to, since I love them.

Although I've been tricked into this, it ain't all bad.

"Anything else you'd like to surprise me with?" I asked as we walked out the venue

Livia and Angie looked at each other and then waved to our friends. Cid and his wives started to walk over.

I looked to see what was going on but they forced me to turn around and see them holding up a familiar piece of pink and white plastic.

I jerked my head to the right looking for Luxion.

[Congratulations on your engagement master.]

(Congrats~!)

"You know that's not what I want to talk about!"

[Ah, are you referring to the pregnancy tests? I had them constructed some time ago. Congratulations on beginning the repopulation efforts of Old Humanity master.]

-Cid/Shadow/Minoru-

I caught Leon before he fell, having prepared for this. Apparently it'd look bad if any other woman caught him even if they are in a relationship with him, and since I was technically the best man (we didn't line up since Leon had Angie and Livia on both sides) I was supposed to support him.

I looked on the dumb grin on his face with amusement before turning to Livia and Angie. "I guess you would know how he'd react, congrats."

If Livia and Angie heard me they didn't respond given they were both all but howling with laughter at the sight of their shared love's state.

I turned to my girls. "I don't suppose any of you have anything to add?"

"Actually…"

My eyes widened as I saw Gamma also pull out a pregnancy test.

"Um… the two lines mean yes, right?" asked Gamma.

As I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head I heard the laughter grow stronger.

-Leon-

It's been about a day since the engagement ceremony. I spent most of last night with my fiancés after I woke up, although they did their best to tire me out again right after.

In any case, we ended up charting a ship to go to my family's home before spending the rest of the break before the new school year at my territory. That's not going to happen until tonight though, so for now I decided to do something special.

See, when I first got to this world there was something I did to try and keep track of everything. I wrote the entire plot of Alto Liebe into several journals. I remember publishing the first few under Natsume and she told me that the others would be ready to go whenever, if I wanted to even publish them like that.

In any case, the journals are now back in my possession.

These are the last things I have that really cement me as Hiro. Sure, there's Marie I guess. But the thing is, Alto Liebe is done. Everything from here on out is over and done with.

So.

"Magna."

From the deck of the ship I was on I turned the journals into stone.

"Gry"

I then used gravity magic to send them into the air.

"Ziodyne!"

With my strongest electric spell I then made sure they were erased off the face of the planet.

"Sayonara, Hiro."

…

…

"What was that?"

I turned around to find Marie.

"Those were the journals I wrote the second I figured out how to write. It contained everything I knew about of Alto Liebe. Since it's kind of the last thing I had to worry about when it comes to the past. I figured I'd finally begin to move on, you know? Symbolic and all that."

"Oh… even the sequels? Don't you need those?"

…

"The what."

Marie shrank back due to whatever expression was on my face.

"The uh… the two sequels… I guess you died before they came out but…"

I marched over to her and began to shake her back and forth in the air. "YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS SHITTY GAME THAT WAS REVIEW BOMBED TO HELL HAD SEQUELS. AS IN MORE THAN ONE!?"

Marie shoved me off, "Look, I know! But it's true! Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't catch on, you wouldn't have even seen the Land Guardian until the third game… although it didn't turn into that monster ship there either… and Princess Hertrauda was the main antagonist there!"

I slumped against a nearby chair.

…

"Wait, what about the second game?"

Marie rubbed her arm. "Well…"

"Just say it."

"The second game didn't even take place in Holfort. It happened in another country. Alzer."

"…Did they-"

"They also had a world ending threat there, yeah."

…

"If it makes you feel any better the stories happen at basically the same time so they should only be near the end of the first year, you don't even start anything then! Like there was more of a focus on friendship because there's no harem route there!"

Marie's words fell on deaf ears. I gazed out to the sea, a tear dropping from my face.

Alzer…

Ugh.

-?-

I gazed out to the sea from the balcony of my room, looking past the roots of the tree and the three towers.

"Hiro…" I cried. "I miss you…"

A knock from my door interrupts me.

"Miss Louise, dinner is ready, would you like to attend."

"Is Serge home?"

"No, master Serge is still out adventuring."

I take another look back at the sea, sighing softly.

"Hiro… I… I know that was you as Leon… but is that really the last time I'm going to see you? Or do I have to wait until my next life… or…" I licked my sharp teeth. "Or… do I just have to wait long enough in this one? I've been told I have the time."

.

.

.

A/N: Man I did not have to make this chapter this long.

So let's sound off.

Pregnancies:

Alpha is about 3-4 months along and therefore has her belly showing and the baby is kicking. Gamma, Livia, and Angie are all about 1-2 months pregnant.

New Reincarnations:

I can't believe no one pointed this out, but every time I mentioned that Hiro's girlfriend that left him had a bob cut I was trying to hint that it was Louise. I mean, I like her but I don't really like incest so I changed things on her end a bit. There's a legend in Japan that says soulmates will be reborn as twins, I think, so I used that as a sort of justification.

Oh, and would you believe me if I said I wrote the Sherry's part of this chapter asking myself "what would be the meanest thing I could do to Vandel?" Because yeah, Sherry and Lukreia are the reincarnation of his wife and daughter, but because he never looked at the photo he kept of them (since he thought he didn't deserve to) he never realized.

This also basically ends Sherry's part of the story until I see her appear again in the canon light novels and get any good reason to reinclude her. I might have Lukreia show up again, and do plan to have Shadow talk to her at least one more time, but yeah that's basically Sherry's arc over for now.

Next chapter I write will probably be another thing for Co-op game. Till then, Happy New Year, and thank you for reading.

Now let's answer comments:

QQ

Someone ani: Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too. Thanks for reading and always commenting.

Bladist: Lmao, yeah I reread the chapter the other day and realize I forgot Greg's name. What's funnier is that I had to look up Chris' name, and was confident I didn't miss anyone.

I don't think I'll do Nicks, but replacing Carla as Marie's friend sounds good I'll consider it.

Well, I won't say much but the cult used to be bigger. Essentially after Minoru and his loved ones died Lea, Mary, and Ann pulled a Boudicca.

SB

MWKillKenny84: Thank you! As for the arm, yeah it's gone. Violet destroyed it herself and managed to get a little bit of her memories thanks to that. had no comments.

Ao3

Wolfpaladin: Colin is also, like, eight. So like even if I sometimes like a size or age difference, I don't think I'd be comfortable writing Onee-Shota stuff.

Both Aurora and Luxion were disgusted with the armor. Aurora because it'd be like seeing someone try and hit you with armor made of your like, dead skin or nails. Luxion because he canonically flips out when he sees demonic armor/ new human magitech.

I think Iota was the first to show up in the game, although I haven't gotten that far in the story.

So there are long term repercussions, but I didn't want to get into them in this chapter since it's essentially an epilogue. It'd make more sense to delve into them while in Alzer.

Would you believe it if I said I had Aurora!Shadow spam the tier 4 spells specifically just so I could have that reference? Lol.

DivineDemonDragon: the references are some of my favorite things to include, so thanks! And I do, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Rainsensei: thank you!

Totntotbt: Lmao, Livia is the one person in the world that can actually hurt Cid, just emotionally.

It wasn't a specific limb, more like gathered dust or other stuff that falls off.

I hope I addressed mostly everything. I did forget about Alexia but everything that could be addressed short term I think I got to. I guess I could've also had a few paragraphs explaining how they grieved Vandel properly, but I felt like it was something that wouldn't really hit them until things settled down in Fanoss for real.

Zola… kinda is only mentioned offhandly in canon until she shows up again in Volume 8. So I just didn't bother with her right now. Same for Erica. I could see her being a B-plot thing in Holfort while Leon's in Alzer though. Or maybe helping during the John Smith arc…? Decisions, decisions.

BOY4_GOW:

No, they used it multiple times while searching for a place to settle. They did stop by Alzer at a time, before it was even Alzer, but didn't stay there.

Yup, Luxion hates all demonic armor. If it weren't for Cid wearing Violet's bracelet he'd be able to detect her and try and destroy it.

Come to think of it, how many round table members have been fought so far in canon? I know Mordred in the black Rose arc and one in Volume 5 or 6 but I'm not sure.

This is something that can't be addressed short term I think. Even if it's now January in this fic, those kind of big things would have long term effects spread through a ripple effect type of thing I feel. For now, while people are still recovering from the war/ battle (I have no idea how long it actually lasted in canon but I feel like at most a couple of days) they aren't thinking about it.