Chapter 22: The deal is set

-with Lucias and Mash- 

[Title: Harem Emperor acquired]

[Harem Emperor - A title given to those who was able to max the affection of 1000 girls at the same time. Significantly increases affections and love of all harem members towards the holder]

"What?"

Lucias muttered in confusion from the sudden notification that appeared in front of me, causing him to stop in his tracks, confusing Mash who was leading the way.

"What's wrong Master?"

"Nothing... I just got a weird title"

"Title?"

Mash asked while tilting her head, walking closer to him to read the notification that appeared in front of Lucias.

"Harem Emperor? As expected of you Master"

Mash praised as she leaned closer to him, wrapping her arms around his right arm.

'1000 girls?? When did I...'

Lucias thought in confusion as he racked his brain to remember, but found nothing as he had no memory of doing such a thing.

'weird...'

-meanwhile back at the base-

"Did you know?" (Seiren #1)

A seiren with soft blue wavy hair says as she swam closer to the other seirens.

"What?"

"The news that was circling around the entire kingdom, I heard that it can bring massive change to our race" (Seiren #1)

"The Queen overheard the conversation between the two most powerful beings in the faction... I think they're name is Ophis and Great Red" (Seiren #1)

"According the the Queen, the True God, Lucias, seems to have almost infinite amount of soul essence inside his body... Kind of like something incredibly powerful is sealed in it..." (Seiren #1)

"Infinite?! Then that means!!"

"Yes, he can easily impregnated all of the seirens without killing himself due to his incredibly amount of soul essence, right now the Queen is negotiating with Asia-sama to allow us to mate with him" (Seiren #1)

She says causing all of the seirens to gather in their location with excitement from the sudden news.

"Wow... A child with Lucias-sama... I can't wait!"

"It's not going to be easy though... I heard that the Queen was almost killed... but she still persisted and kept requesting it everyday... I really hope that our request will be granted"

"Me too..."

-Back to Lucias-

Lucias trembled as he felt a chill ran down his spine from the unknown fear that gripped his heart... like he was in grave danger.

"What's wrong Master?"

"... I think someone is watching us"

Lucias says before activating her detection magic to see if any hostile figures are around them but was shocked when he found nothing.

"Is it just my imagination? Am I that paranoid?"

He scratched his head in confusion from the sudden fear that he felt... but knowing that nothing was targeting them, he threw it at the back of his head as they continued to search for Kuroka and Cerberus' mana signature around the town.

"... Searching for a recruit in this place will be really difficult"

He muttered while looking around the peaceful streets.

"I need information about this place or else I can't come up with a plan to get them out of this dimension... I have no choice but to use [God's Eyes] to look into the past memories of the citizens of this dimension"

Lucias said as he stopped in his tracks while staring at the large modern Japanese styled home beside them.

"Master?"

Mash asked while following his line of sight, looking at the large house in front of them.

"Found them"

He says with a light smile on his face before pressing the doorbell of the house, waiting for someone to answer the door.

"Who is it?"

A tall man with messy black hair asked as he opened the door, looking at both Mash and Lucias standing at the entrace of his house.

"Sorry for disturbing your time but, have you seen a nekomata with black ears and tail, and triplets with white hair and red eyes?"

"You mean Kuroka and Cerberus? May I ask who are you?"

"My name's Lucias Frey, and the girl beside me is Mash Kyrielight... Do you know where Kuroka and Cerberus are?"

Lucias feigned ignorance while smiling at the tall man in front of them.

"Oh, so you're 'that' Lucias-san, please come in"

He says while opening a way for them, inviting them to come in.

"Then, sorry for the intrusion"

Lucias and Mash then entered the house with the man guiding them towards the living room, in where they saw Kuroka eating snacks at the sofa while crying.

"Lucias..."

She whispered in a sad tone while looking down on the floor as he munched on the snacks placed on the table.

"Now now, Kuroka-san don't be sad, I'm sure Lucias will come and take you back"

A Mero said with a worried expression on her face as she looked at the depressed nekomata on the sofa.

"Did Smith-san find any clues of his whereabouts?"

Centorea asked Rachnera who was standing behind the sofa with a frown on her face.

"They found nothing, which is troubling since they are planning to send them to another host family"

"Everyone we got visitor"

The tall man said causing all of the girls attention to focus on him as he entered the room together with Lucias and Mash.

"Lucias nya!!"

Kuroka shouted in excitement as she immediately pounced on Lucias as soon as she recognized him causing Lucias to immediately hug her in his embrace.

"Lucias nya, I missed.. you nya"

Kuroka says in small pauses as she cried in his embrace, tightly hugging his back, afraid to let go of him.

Lucias who saw her tears felt a slight prick in his heart. He gently caressed her soft hair before giving her a kiss on her forehead to comfort her.

"I missed you too, Kuroka"

Lucias said while wiping the tears off her eyes with his thumb, gently smiling at her direction.

The girls around the room looked at him in surprise from his sudden display of affection before staring at the direction of the tall man inside the room.

"Hmm?"

The tall man muttered in confusion while gazing at their expression as he felt cold sweat ran down his back from the bad premonition that he felt from the gazes.

"Thank you for taking care of her in my absence... I don't know how to repay you for what you've done"

"No it's ok"

"But still, thank you"

Lucias bowed down his head at him, showing his extreme gratification.

"If you want anything just tell me, I'll do my best to fulfill it"

"Lucias!!"

The triplets screamed in excitement as they entered the house, immediately jumping at him causing him to fall on the ground as his head smashed into the floor, creating a large dent on the ground.

"Lucias-san!?"

The man panicked as he ran towards his location but was stopped by Lucias who was raising his hand into the air, indicating that he was alright.

"It's been a while, Cerberus"

"Mn!"

All of them nodded in unison while rubbing their head on his chest as they pressed Kuroka between them.

"Nya..."

"Oh? Is there a guest in the house?"

A woman with pale brown eyes and long black hair wearing a white dress shirt with a black tie, a black blazer and matching professional skirt, black pantyhose and heels asked as she entered the room where everyone was gathering.

"Smith-san, we already found their Host family, so you don't need to investigate anymore"

"You found him? That's a relief, I was getting tired from that extra work"

She muttered in confusion as she set his eyes on the teenage boy inside the room, being pressed by the 4 girls on the ground.

She tried to remember any volunteers with his facial features causing her to raise her guard while pointing a stun gun at his direction.

"... Who are you?"

-with Tiamat and Yami-

"What's your decision, Najenda?"

Tiamat asked while staring at the women in front of her as her and Yami was surrounded by the members of night raid.

"I talked with the others and... they agreed with your proposal but with a few conditions"

"Then... Tell me those conditions of yours, Najenda"

"First, we are not allowed to be ordered anything against our will, but this condition is only effective if that member has a reasonable excuse for not following the order"

"Sure, we we're planning on doing that anyway"

"Second, if any of the members feel threatened or in danger, they have the privilege to quit or they will report it directly to us so that we can take proper actions. Those are our conditions, if you don't agree then that's unfortunate..."

"We agree with your conditions but the limit will extend to 5 years Najenda"

".... I guess it's not a problem, but you have to provide the daily necessities of the members to live their life, and once you break any of conditions, the deal is over"

"Sure, then shall we seal the deal?"

Tiamat says with a smile while Najenda took out a pile of documents where the contract is written on together with the conditions of both party.

"Sign this contract and we're good to go"

Najenda said before standing up from her chair and walking towards them, handing them the contract as both Yami and Tiamat read all of the details of the contract to see if there is anything wrong.

"Do you sense anything strange with this contract?" (Yami)

"No... It's just a normal paper... I can't sense any magic placed on the contract so I think it's safe"

Tiamat says before signing the contract in her hand along with Yami before giving it back to Najenda who gave them a copy of the contract.

"This is your copy, don't worry everything is the same on both contracts, we plan to keep our words, I hope the same applies to you"

"That's my line"

Both of the shook their hands indicating the formal establishment of the deal between them causing Tiamat to smile widely as she immediately said her plan to overthrow the current rulers of the empire.

"Since the contract is sealed, let's immediately start the plan, I don't want to waste time anymore"

She said before projecting different images of people towards the members of night raid.

"Aren't you rushing a bit too much? We need time to prepare the soldiers for the rebellion, we can't rush it or else the army will experience a decrease in strength"

"Who said that we need the army? Didn't I tell you? I'll handle everything, moving hundreds of soldiers to the Empire will only attract the attention of those bastards and expose our plan... The people in this room are already enough"

"... I won't allow any of them to be placed in danger from your risky plan, Tiamat"

"They have the strength to handle the normal soldiers of the empire, Najenda... We won't risk putting them in danger when we still need them"

Tiamat assured as she stood up from the chair and turning her back to the people inside the room.

"I want you guys to take care of the small fries, we will deal with the royal guards, Jaegers, the survivors of the Elite Seven, and Honest... Expect results after 2 days, Najenda, we will give you the current emperor and Honest if you want to torture them"

She said before both her and Yami entered a wormhole to teleport in a secluded spot inside the empire.

"I hope I didn't make the wrong decision" (Najenda)

-with Justice and Ingvild-

"Let's welcome our new member, Kuro"

Justice says in a loud voice towards Hestia, Bell, and Haruhime who was inside the church, resting.

"... This presence..."

Hestia muttered in shock from feeling a familiar yet ominous presence coming from the black haired girl standing in front of them.

"You noticed? This is the one eyed black dragon that killed your grandfather Bell"

"Justice..."

Ingvild sighed in exhaustion as she held her forehead with her right hand from the sudden headache that she felt while the other 2 looked at her in shock from her bluntness.

"Grandfa..."

Bell muttered as she suddenly cried on the spot, causing her to lose her the strength on her limbs as she fell down on the smooth floor of the church.

"Bell-kun, don't cry..."

Hestia gently whispered while hugging her tightly in his embrace, trying to comfort her and stop her from crying.

"Justice..." (Ingvild)

"What? She will learn about it anyway so it's much better if she know it early on" (Justice)

She shrugged her shoulders before hitting several spots on Bell's body to make her body calm down.

"I'm surprised that she didn't attack her, knowing that she killed the person that raised her" (Justice)

"Well... She did become a lot softer ever since she became a girl... Maybe it's because her mentality became weak from the shock that she felt when she became one... I guess" 

Ingvild muttered with worry as she stared at Bell who was staring at them with upturned eyes.

"Is anyone... here?"

A monotone voice called out from outside the church, breaking the messy atmosphere that was forming inside the church.

"Yes, what is it?"

Ingvild answered as she opened the large gate of the church, revealing a girl with golden hair and eyes wearing an armor consisting of a head guard, breastplate, arm guards, hip guards, and knee guards.

"Aiz Wallenstein, why made you visit us so suddenly?"

"I was sent here... by our Goddess Loki... she told me to deliver a message... she wants to talk with the Iron Fist..."

"Hmm... Then we will go after we deal with our problems, Aiz-san. You can go first"

"Ok"

She nodded before leaving the church as Ingvild grinned for the smooth sailing of their plan.

"They took the bait"