Chapter 76: Council of Wives Assembled

After the class, Ray returned to his dorm. He felt dead tired and wanted to get a nap but when he returned, he found Roseweisse, Kalawarna, Xenovia and also Ravel in his room waiting for him.

"Hello ladies. What is everyone doing here?" Ray asks confusedly as they, especially Ravel, is the busy one amongst his wives.

"We were worried because you didn't return last night and the two seemed to look guilty and wouldn't tell us what happened." Roseweisse, representing the voice of the group, spoke on their behalf while the other three nodded to show their agreement to her statement.

"Oh, last night… it was nothing. Just a bit of argument. Not something to be worried about." Ray said with a depressed mood at first but immediately put on a smile to reassure his wives everything is alright but none of them buy his words.

The four already know Ray had a habit to reassure them nothing is wrong to matter he finds isn't serious but was actually serious in their eyes.

"As if, better confess now before I dig out the information from you, husband." Xenovia said with a slam on the table to show her disapproval.

"As Xenovia said, I doubt the matter isn't serious for you to go out to drink till you faint. You always drink heavily when you have a problem to get rid of your head." Ravel added after Xenovia as she jumped from the bed she sat and pulled Ray to sit next to her with Kalawarna.

After looking into each of their eyes, Ray knew they wouldn't drop the matter until he told them the problem. Especially Xenovia, who is the most stubborn when she set her mind to a matter.

"Well… last night they were visiting me with Cheshire. Raynare is being forceful to make me accept that girl, Cecilia, who somehow had feelings toward me. You know, the usual way she handles this kind of matter." His wives only nodded but didn't interrupt him from continuing talking.

"I just didn't have the same feeling as the girl and I just left the scene after that because I felt overwhelmed when she tried to guilt trip me into accepting the girl."

His wives looked at each other and had a silent conversation between them for a moment before Ravel was the first to speak.

"Well, I didn't really understand how that was a problem really. As a devil, it's common to see men with harems of ten to hundred." Ravel confessed before looking at the others for opinion.

"I see, I think that because you grow up in an environment like that, Ravel. Ray however isn't. As a reincarnated devil, I can understand why. Ray probably isn't like us devil or fallen angel as we share different perspectives than humans like him." Xenovia explained before giving her points. "For me, I have mixed opinions as after becoming a reincarnated devil, I had a culture shock, sort of, when living with Rias and her peerage. As Ravel said, the devil, especially the strong one, has a big harem to show his influence and power."

"Yeah, it's common for them to fill their peerage with their harem members like my older brother, Riser. Except for me, all his peerage members are part of his harem." Ravel added while agreeing to Xenovia.

Meanwhile, Ray already gets into his comfort position, laying on Kalawarna and using her big melons as his head cushion to rest his head and neck while he listens to his wives explaining their points. He even pops open the lychee pudding that he grabs from his inventory to snack on.

"So, you two are saying that Raynare did that because in her own mind, she is trying to er… make me show my appropriate influence and power by forcing more lovers into my harem. And added with her position as the head wife, is it her duty to make me look presentable to the people?" Ray tried to create an explanation based on what Ravel and Xenovia shared.

"I wouldn't bet on it fully… but it's the norm in the supernatural world that a man's harem is his show of prestige, status and power." Ravel nodded to Ray's explanation and explained the significance of harem in the social circle of high status people. "It's hard to get multiple women to agree to share their man. It's even harder if the woman is of high status. That's why being able to do so and maintain a big harem is a symbol of status. It shows the man is powerful enough to make his womens submit to his will."

"How about Sirzech though? He only has one… nevermind, he is a siscon and an unsuitable example to use" Ray about to point out Sirzech but dismissed after remembering that the guy probably only will have boner over his sister. He wondered how Grayfia could even have a son with Sirzech when his tool is defective.

Meanwhile in the DxD world, Sirzech is having a sneezing spree which causes Grayfia to look at her king weirdly because it's near impossible for Sirzech to catch a cold.

"Hmn… it's hard to find an outlier… Oh! How about Sairaorg? He didn't have a harem as far as I know." Ray pointed out with his words and the transparent plastic spoon that he used to scoop up puddings. Then he waited for Ravel to explain again.

"Hum… Sairaorg if I am not mistaken… he is focused on curing her mother from sleep sickness and besides, he grows up in a different environment than most noble clans devil. He is too obsessed with getting stronger and becoming the clan head to be distracted with matters like love." Ravel explained based on the information she had on the heir of the Bael clan.

Ray shakes his head up and down to tell he understood what Ravel is talking about.

"I see… So, this whole problem stemmed from the difference of mine and Raynare's culture and perspective." Ray thought of the real reason for his problem with Raynare.

"Yes, and we will take care of it. So, don't worry about it. It's the duty of the wife to help and support the husband after all. You just live your life here worry free and let us do the heavy lifting this time.." Roseweisse said and received unanimous approval from the other three.

"What Roseweisse said is correct. You've been busy dealing with the underground businesses, creating the settlement for the people, etc. Now it's your turn to rest and relax here dealing with your school life." Ravel added.

"We also are not taking a no as an answer." Xenovia also added with a stern voice and expression to show her stubbornness.

Meanwhile Ray was feeling overwhelmed from the support from his wives. The last one to show her support is Kalawarna who simply warms her arm around his stomach, making him feel warm from the inside. Though he didn't feel right to let his wives to take care of the problem that should be his. But he did break under the persuasion and warm support from his wives.

"Okay then… I guess." Ray said as he sank his body deeper on Kalawarna and decided to take his nap like this.

"Then we will go now, Kalawarna can accompany you today. I'll handle her portion for today, so rest while we take care of the problem." Ravel said and gave Ray a goodbye kiss before the others did too and teleported away.

"Um.. I'm staying here with you. So, don't worry and sleep. I know that you are tired." Kalawarna said as she tightened her hug a little to allow him to feel the warmth of her body.

Though Ray didn't reply with words, Kalawarna knew that Ray was feeling comfortable as his body relaxed on her as he drifted into dreamland.

———

After the class ended, most students of class 1-1 were discussing Ray piloting ability which is beyond even most top pilots. However they draw the line on the First Brunhilde, Chifuyu Orimura. In their mind, Chifuyu is the best and no one can beat her. Only Laura knew the real answer within the class 1-1.

Cecilia and Houki isn't exception from the group of students that are discussing the topic. They all decided to find Chifuyu in the teachers office after the class ended and asked Chifuyu to allow them to watch the recording again. Some have purely academic reasons to watch and possibly learn his piloting technique like Laura but Cecilia and Houki weren't part of that group and instead wanted to watch the recording to engrave the image of his amazing piloting skill into their mind, basically fangirling. Though Houki does have another reason, which is to measure Ray as her rival. She wants to use Ray as her measuring tape.

Houki was a Kendo champion but she didn't become a world champion like the canon because she lost the only drive to lift her sword and the reason her hate for her sister turned to despise. That she once had the thought of killing her sister Tabane to get her revenge.

When she was still younger, she and Ichika lived together because Tabane suddenly received a request to take care of Ichika. She slowly grew together with Ichika as a childhood friend but it changed somewhere and the friendship turned to love.

Houki and Ichika always train together in Kendo and they have a healthy rivalry between them. They always competed with each other but one day Ichika promised or a bet but also a promise to Houki that she will become his girlfriend if he can win the Kendo championship in his school and Houki happily accepted it.

Disaster struck however, during the Finale of the Kendo championship, Ichika fought all the way to the final but the final was cancelled because that very same day is the day IS was announced to the world or the Shiro Kishi incident where one IS manage to defeat combined military might of multiple major superpower nations.

Since that day, Houki hated her sister for depriving her boyfriend. Ichika was so devastated by that incident that he forgot about the whole incident like the memory was removed from his head.

But, the worst is the day Ichika was swooped up by an angry mob of women years later when Chifuyu was in Germany to fulfill her part of the deal for their help to save Ichika when he was kidnapped. Ichika was captured and brutally beaten in front of her eyes by the angry mob then crucified by tying without the nails involved and paraded to be stoned until 'someone' saved him then Ichika went missing from her life until now when he suddenly appeared again but lost all his memories to amnesia.

This time, even if Ichika is not Ichika anymore on the inside. Ichika is always Ichika in her mind and she will instead complete the unfulfilled promise in her own way. She wants to win against him in swordsmanship and win his heart.

———

After spending a few hours in the teachers office, everyone finally took turns watching the recording as Chifuyu forbade them from taking a copy of the recording.

After that, Cecilia and Houki decided to go to find Ray and apologize for crossing the line yesterday until he ran away from the academy, returning the next morning dead drunk. Ray is all in the international news, being covered as the sole male IS pilot found dead drunk on an inhabited island somewhere in Europe.

When the two of them, including Laura, arrived near Ray's room. Laura returned to her own room next to Ray's that she shared with Houki. Only Houki and Cecilia enter Ray's room and manage to secure a copy of his key card using the original one they borrowed from Raynare yesterday.

What greeted them immediately was the peaceful sleeping Ray and another lady that Ray resting his head on. The eyes of the woman are closed and they look like something out of painting with how the light angled and their position.

Immediately when the door shut behind them, Kalawarna's piercing yellow eyes glared at the two girls that dared to disturb her beloved, peaceful sleep. They can feel the piercing death glare digging into their eyes, then into their skull with open hostility. Houki's well trained instinct tell that a wrong move will end her up in a body bag but Cecilia simply petrified into a statue as she didn't dare to even breathe.

From the way Kalawarna is intimately hugging Ray, they conclude the woman is another one of Ray's wife. This one is the most terrifying one they met before as Kalawarna is the first to greet them with open hostility like this. Kalawarna then did something that caused their memories to lapsed but they didn't notice it as Kalawarna put a sleep magic on Ray to deepen his sleep before wiping the memories of Houki and Cecilia of them seeing her using magic.

"Who and what are you two doing here?" Kalawarna asked sternly without dropping her hostility toward them but less than before.

The two apologized with a 90 degree bow before excusing themselves. No one stupid enough to face a person that clearly have no qualms about killing them. Especially after the death glare from Kalawarna and her current scowling face that show her immense displeasure to them.

—————

(I know I promised to finish this tonight which by the time I finished this is 2 am. I went to watch some Fubuki clip, the vtuber. I planned to watch for a bit but ended up spending almost two whole hours.

Also, only after researching for this chapter that I know why Houki in canon hates Tabane, she introduced IS the same day Ichika said if he wins the kendo championship, he will confess to Houki and blue balled Houki.)