Connubiality, p.20
Connubiality, page 20
Shortly after they set off, Xeal introduced the five ex-captains to the ladies, to mixed reactions. Rina and Alea looked at them in disgust, Enye, Mari and Lingxin seemed concerned, while the rest seemed indifferent for the most part, as Kate had a look that said she was plotting. On the other side, Xeal could see frustration in most of them as they assessed Xeal’s wives and other love interests, and found that they didn’t measure up in physical appeal. The glow that surrounded them after a spa day where they got done up to look their best, didn’t pull any punches in that battle either, and Xeal mentally thanked Queen Aila Lorafir for having the idea. After that, the five ex-captains were shown to other accommodations as Xeal and his group took over the captain’s quarters that was fairly inadequate for their whole group, but was far better than the other options. Even after the ship had been cleaned as best as it could since it had been captured, it still needed more work before Xeal would feel fine sending a full crew out on an extended voyage in it. To remedy this, the naval players who would be sailing the ship moving forward would be doing a full refurbishment of each ship over the next year. To ensure that trade wouldn’t be delayed, or disrupted, Xeal intended to only have one ship in drydock at a time. While this meant that the crews would need to deal with certain inconveniences in the meantime, Xeal wasn’t concerned as they would only be onboard for a bit over a day at a time.
They all got comfortable, with the bed being taken up by Enye, Lingxin, Mari and Dyllis, who were snuggling tightly to fit. There wasn’t enough room on the floor to spread out, so the rest of them propped up against a wall, or the side of the bed, like Xeal, Gale and Aalin as they prepared to log out.
When Xeal returned, he found that at some point Bula, Rina and Alea had left and like always, Eira was quick to notice that he had returned and didn’t hesitate to claim his lap. Xeal knew that the frown she wore was due to how she had wished that she could have been like this the whole trip. Xeal just smiled as he let her enjoy a few minutes like this, as the others who had just logged in did the same before it was time to step out onto the deck for the day.
The whole of that day was spent with Xeal simply spending time with each of his ladies one on one, or two on one for Luna and Selene. It was early afternoon when a disturbance broke out on The Siren’s Melody, as a group of the prisoners made a desperate bid for freedom by jumping out of the gunports. Xeal frowned as he watched the group of around 20 try to make it to shore, which was a half mile away, while still in chains. From the looks of things, none of the elves planned to go in after them, even though they were likely to make it to shore and escape, if they weren’t targeted by an aquatic monster. Seeing this, Xeal called for Sylmare as it was her ship, and the acting captain of his own vessel, which would pass by the group shortly. When they both arrived a moment later having both been watching the same show not far away, Xeal gave out his orders.
“Captain, get us as close to those fools as possible and ready the nets. Sylmare, use your magic to ensnare them into swimming towards us.”
“Will do.”
“You act like it is a simple matter to get them to turn around. If you wanted to cause them to shift to the right, or left, that would be simple to do. If I had time to, I could make them turn around after four such maneuvers spaced out over five minutes or so.”
“Make them see a group of monsters in front of them, something native to these waters that would cause them issues as they are now.”
“You underestimate them if you think that will get them to turn back. You have to remember, they were our crew. They will expect an illusion like that.”
“Just do it.”
“Fine, you’re the boss after all.”
The next moment, a multitude of small fish, that Xeal knew were a swarm-type monster which were similar to piranhas, appeared in the water. As the escapees noticed them, like Sylmare had said, they didn’t turn back and instead kept heading straight for the swarm and Xeal smiled as she went to give him an “I told you so” look. This confused her, until Xeal threw something with all his might, that landed in the swarm illusion, a few seconds before it and the escapees reached one another. Just as they celebrated calling the bluff correctly, they found themselves being hit with an electric shock that caused them to spasm involuntarily for a moment. This moment was just as The Siren’s Song came alongside of them and the captain shouted for the nets to be tossed out, entangling all 20 of them. The look of shock on Sylmare’s face as she looked at Xeal was priceless to him, as he spoke.
“They are the five of yours’ crew, so I will put the five of you in charge of making sure they learn a lesson in the brig, but don’t do any permanent damage.”
“You’re a monster, you know that?”
“I do indeed, though I am sure they would have learned of your special treatment eventually anyways.”
“That would be fine, but this soon will make them think that we sold them out.”
“But you did. None of you made any pleas for any of their lives when you made your deals. The five of you only care about the five of you, don’t pretend otherwise. It is why I will never sail on any ships in the open sea with you. The moment a perilous situation came up and the only option was to have you handle it, you would bet on me being desperate enough to give into one of your demands. Now do as you’re told.”
Sylmare looked like she had swallowed a fly, as she left and grouped up with the other five ex-captains who followed the prisoners below, while Xeal returned to spending time with his ladies.
The rest of the day passed without incident as they finally arrived in Eboro City around 9:00 that night, where they were met by a contingent of royal guards who went about offloading the prisoners. Once they were off the ship, they were met by Taya, who took charge of the five ex-captains and in the morning, she would be introducing them to the naval players who they would be working with. Xeal had given them the order that they were to follow her orders and the orders of their new captains, so long as they didn’t contradict with one of his own. With that taken care of, Xeal took his wives and headed home, after bidding everyone else farewell and promising to spend some time leveling up with them in the new year.
The following morning was the last day of the year in ED and as such, there were events in every country to commemorate the completion of the second year in ED since launch. However, Xeal had no intention in taking part in any of these events as while they were fun and a few of the exclusive rewards were decent, he had other things to take care of. First and foremost, he needed to meet with King Victor about the elven embassy, before doing the same with Viscount Weawen. As Xeal entered the study that King Victor had moved into after his coronation, Xeal had to hold in a laugh at the stacks of paperwork that hid the surface of the massive desk that King Victor was sitting at. When the king noticed Xeal, he happily set down his work and smiled as Xeal bowed as he spoke.
“It is great to see you hard at work, my king.”
“Drop the ‘my king’ crap and get over here and help me get through all of this. Just underline any requests and circle any important information before placing them in a pile according to how urgent it is.”
“It looks like they are trying to work you to death, Victor. Is this a normal amount of work, or has something caused the increase?”
“Hmm, let’s see, someone spent the last two years exceeding all expectations and has opened three new areas to our kingdom, even if things are still a bit limited. About a quarter of these are just requests related to that. Then there are all the countries asking for permission to meet with you, which my father had been shutting down until your marriages. Now that you are finally back from all your honeymoons and your trip to the elven lands, I will need to see which ones are still interested, as I suspect that most wished to add a princess to your bed. Honestly, you should just hide away from the world until you are forgotten, as I feel that many of them might still push a third, fourth, or fifth daughter on you if they have them. I can go on about how all of this is your fault if you like.”
“And I still have seven quests left on your list to complete.”
Xeal watched as King Victor looked at him like he was daring Xeal to keep talking about adding more work to his desk, before he sighed and spoke.
“I know why my father handed the crown over to me so easily now. He knew that you would just keep adding to this workload.”
“I could lend you Enye and Dyllis for any of these that involve me, especially the meetings from other countries.”
“Enye would be a major help, but Dyllis’s station isn’t one that I could allow her to assist without more scrutiny than it’s worth. The only reason I can do it to you is how much of this would need to be discussed with you before completion anyways. So, I hope you didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, as I would like to handle all the ones in this drawer at the very least today.”
Xeal looked into the drawer of the desk that King Victor had opened and saw at least 100 files inside with his name and different titles, like Cedian, or Marquess Rais. Just looking at the folders made Xeal sweat as he thought of the pile of work back at his guild and all of the wedding gifts that still needed to be opened. All he could think of was that this could be the system trying to slow him down as he laughed nervously.
“Well, you see-”
“Xeal, you asked for this meeting so don’t even try to escape. After all, I know what your plans for tonight are.”
“Yes, and I’ll be there, but there is just one thing that I need to get done after I discuss my reason for being here and I am not sure how long it will take.”
“Oh, do tell me exactly what you need to accomplish…”
Xeal went into the details of the request for land inside Nium to set up an elven-controlled teleportation gate and the plan to use Dragon’s Heart city. King Victor seemed concerned over the message that not having the embassy in the capital would send, but came around when Xeal pointed out the issues with it being in the capital. It took a bit more of a back and forth to convince him not to have it in Eboro City due to its already established elven population and proximity to the elven lands, but Xeal was able to spin those as negatives. He argued that having it on the border would send the message that the kingdom was against elves wandering the kingdom and that it could see the elves move from the city to the new embassy area. So it was that King Victor sent for Viscount Weawen to discuss the idea and what it would take to implement it. In the meantime, Xeal felt like he was chained to a desk as he dealt with one file after another, until they started to blend together.
Finally, Viscount Weawen arrived just as lunch was being served, looking a bit confused as to why he had been summoned. Still, after giving his greeting, King Victor invited the viscount to join Xeal and the king for their lunch, before handing things over to Xeal. Xeal smiled as he launched into the details of the embassy once more, as his father-in-law looked a bit overwhelmed by the idea.
“So, you’re saying that my city would play host to the elven diplomats and act as a waypoint for anyone looking to travel to elven lands.”
“That is the general idea.”
“My city will be overwhelmed. Who is going to build the annexes to house the influx of non-elves wishing to do business with them?”
“It shouldn’t cause too much of an influx to occur, as only goods that can be transported through a teleportation gate will flow through the city and even that will be heavily restricted. It will not be a portal meant for public, or commercial use, at least at first. I would suspect that a bit of commerce will happen out of convenience, involving those that have access to the portal, but that is it.”
“Is this going to become essentially a private path for you to visit the elven lands, Xeal?” inquired King Victor.
“No, at least I hope not, though it could very well be that way for a while, as Queen Aila Lorafir opens up to its use more and more. While that is the case, just justify it as it being there for quick deployment of elven forces in case of war.”
“We will need to have two of our best royal knights on hand at the teleportation hall to ensure that the gates can be disabled should the elves invade as well.”
“My king, surely you don’t think that they would take such action,” responded Viscount Weawen.
“No, and if they did, it wouldn’t be on their queen’s order from what I can see but, you can never be sure and if we didn’t take such precautions with them, then it would be an insult if we ever did with others.”
“Victor is right. I would place the elves invading as extremely unlikely. However, only a fool doesn’t take simple precautions. That said, should they do so, you should surrender immediately and just trust the royal guards to do their job.”
“I see and is that alright with you, my king?”
“Yes. You will not have the means to defend your city most of the time against them. Your focus should be on surviving and ensuring that your citizens are taken care of as best as you can.”
“Very well, I’ll agree…”
Viscount Weawen, Xeal and King Victor continued to discuss several more details, until a good framework was established. By the end, a packet was ready to be sent to the elven lands for Queen Aila Lorafir to look over and the day was all but gone. Xeal smiled as he bid King Victor and Viscount Weawen farewell, as he headed home to get ready for the night. When he arrived at his mansion, he found six beautiful women all dressed in evening gowns and wearing the jewelry that Xeal had given them as part of their courtships.
“I take it Victor roped you into dealing with some of the backlog involving you,” commented Enye.
“Yep, and you have been voluntold to spend some of your free time each day helping him with anything involving me. Especially anything that could lead to an attempt to add another wife to my life. I tried to get him to let at least Dyllis help out but, he said that the nobles would have issue with that.”
Enye sighed as she frowned before responding.
“And I had been doing such a good job at avoiding being trapped behind a desk for almost a full year. I suppose that I shall accept it until I give birth. Oh, and on that note, tonight we will be announcing that all four of us have conceived as we have all missed our cycle, except Dyllis who is currently late, so we all had a cleric of Eileithyia confirm it while you, Aalin and Gale were out today.”
Xeal blinked a few times as he took in the reality, while also sighing as he responded, and he recovered much quicker than when he had learned that he was going to be a father in reality.
“That is wonderful news, but you could have sent for me to be present as I would have liked to have shared the moment with all of you. In the future, please let me know anytime that you are going to have a checkup regarding our children.”
Xeal didn’t give Enye or the others time to respond, as he pulled them all into a hug as he kissed each of them and let them know that he loved them and reiterated how happy he was about the news. Once he was done, Enye finally was able to find a moment to respond on the matter of not bringing Xeal with them.
“I do apologize. I failed to consider the sensibilities of your kind as this is normally something that husbands don’t prioritize. As far as being there for all appointments, that might be a bit inconvenient for you. Though you should be there for many as we will be hosting a senior cleric and four of her apprentices starting tomorrow, until after we give birth. At which point, only the apprentices who will act as wet nurses will remain with us indefinitely. I am a princess and you are a duke after all.”
“I am going to need to make sure that there is at least a functional shrine to Freya and Eileithyia in the new city, that I really need to come up with a name for soon.”
“That would be for the best and if you don’t want something like beast-man city to stick, you should really think of something soon,” commented Enye.
Xeal just smiled as he took Enye on one arm and Mari on the other, as they left his mansion and made their way to the royal family’s gathering for the end of the year. When they arrived, Xeal and his wives were among the first to do so and it wasn’t long before Queen Nora came over to talk with them as she embraced Enye.
“Enye, sister, it is so good to be able to call you that and I can’t wait for our children to grow up together, and Xeal, thank you once more. I know that Victor would have hidden forever if you hadn’t been around.”
“It is good to see you as well, sister,” greeted Enye. “How has life with my brother been?”
“It would be wonderful if he could escape his desk, though he says that you are going to help alleviate that issue soon.”
“Yes. Much of it has to deal with my own husband and he is far too busy with all of us and his own duties to lend his direct assistance, so I will be doing his portion as much as possible.”
“I am sure that Xeal is going to let you know how much he appreciates all of your help.”
“I will of course ensure that she knows just how much I appreciate her, even if she already knows,” interjected Xeal.
“Good. Now let me greet all of the other sisters that you have brought with you…”
It took a good while for Nora to get done chatting with Xeal’s wives, as it was clear that she had spent plenty of time with them while he was elsewhere, though she wasn’t as close to Aalin, or Gale. During all of this, King Victor was able to make his way over to Xeal and they started their own conversation as they waited for their wives. This inevitably turned into talks about business that needed to be handled, particularly about the city development and the need to make contact with the dwarves, sooner rather than later. When they were finally done chatting, Enye pulled Victor aside and had a whispered conversation that made Xeal smile as he looked at Queen Nora out of reflex, before they separated. At that point most, if not all, of the expected guests had arrived, to include the retired king and queen, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Xeal smiled as they made their way over to the pair as he spoke in greeting.
