Showing the guard my adventurer's license, we freely entered the city, finally dropping our guard from our week-long protection quest. "Finally, we're home. Now we can eat proper meals." Slightly distorted and deep, Yuki stretched her two top-most arms while her bottom two patted her armor, where her stomach was, causing the others to nod in agreement.
"Well, you're the one who likes switching it up, Yuki. I'm fine with just attacking the dungeon; we'd be able to eat proper meals more often." Side-eyeing Yuki, I shrugged my shoulders, causing her to groan. "Ugh, but fighting monsters gets boring so quickly. I'd go insane if we just fought monsters." "I concur." "You don't even fight, Jasmine." "I-I'm a part of this party still; my opinion counts." Awkwardly huffing, Jasmine folded her arms while eyeing Vanye.
"I don't like dungeons, too confining. It's hard to truly fly underground." "I don't care. I am fine with either option." At Talis and Lazuli's words, I glanced at Vanye, spreading my arms, surrendering. "Welp, it's 3vs2, Vanye. We lose." "I'm confident in our chances." Lowering her voice, Vanye slowly unsheathed her sword while looking at Jasmine, who squealed before quickly hiding behind Yuki.
While Vanye was chasing Jasmine around Yuki, I stretched slightly before separating from the group. "I'll turn the quest in; you guys can head home." Waving at them, with only Lazuli waving back, I took the left-most path, heading to the adventurer guild.
Arriving several minutes later, I entered and quickly noticed it was noticeably quieter than usual, a rare occurrence. 'Perfect, I'll be in and out.' Approaching the receptionist, I turned in my quest, adding it to our perfect record before departing.
Stepping out of the guild, I took the streets to the noble district, where I then arrived at home a few minutes afterwards. "Count Alexander." Closing the gate behind me, a passing servant bowed, causing me to wave my hand as I walked to the mansion.
Once inside, I headed straight to my room, removing my armor and clothes before entering the bathroom, joining Yuki in the shower while hugging her from behind. "Hmm, tastes like plums." "Ahh"
As Yuki moaned from me licking her back, I left a few hickeys before grabbing a bar of soap. "Why'd you lick my back? That's weird." As Yuki side-eyes me, I just shrugged my shoulders while washing myself. "I don't know, just wanted to. I mean, you have a sexy back."
Giving her sexy, muscular back a once-over, I leaned forward, washing my hair. "You're weird." "Oh, please, licking your back isn't the weirdest thing I've done." "That's why you're weird." Chuckling lightly, I flicked my head back, flinging my wet hair behind me before grabbing Yuki and pushing her against the wall while I dropped to my knees, spreading her legs.
"Excuse me." "C-Can't I at least use the bathroom first?" Ignoring Yuki, I used [Expand] on my tongue, practically transforming it into a snake as it danced about inside. "Ahhh G-Goodness, y-your tongue. J-Just drink it." As Yuki released everything into my mouth, I drank what I could before standing up while wiping my face.
"That's probably the weirdest thing I've done." Smirking at Yuki, she just silently stared at me before shaking her head and mumbling under her breath.
Once we finished showering, we left the bathroom and got dressed, and since there was still plenty of time until dinner, I headed off to my new favorite hobby. "Alex, want to have sex?" Sitting on the edge of the bed, Yuki lifted her shirt, revealing her phenomenal breasts, bigger than watermelons. "Why ask after we finished showering?" Raising an eyebrow, I tied my hair back while Yuki crossed her legs. "Because I felt dirty." "Yeah, but you smelled good."
"I smelled like someone who hadn't showered properly in a week." With a twitching expression, Yuki stared directly at me. "Okay, maybe not good, but the smell is very stimulating." "I won't deny that." Looking at me while licking her lips, I smirked and approached her, kissing each of her breasts before shaking my head. "No, sorry, I've got something I want to do."
Exting my room, leaving a sulking Yuki alone, entered a random room before using [Teleport], appearing within the vault, where I proceeded to sit down and close my eyes, meditating.
It took only a few moments for me to calm myself and enter that state of tranquility, where only my very being existed. There was nothing to do while in this state other than to focus on oneself; sometimes I'd quietly focus on my heartbeat, other times I'd relive priceless memories, or I'd reflect upon past actions.
During the first few weeks, while I enjoyed meditating, there was no improvement to be made; it was only after a month had passed that I began noticing progress, and it wasn't solely down to my will.
While my will grew in strength, the most noticeable increase was my control over it; before, it was rough and loose, like controlling a new limb, but now I was much more precise. I wouldn't say I had absolute control, but I was pretty confident that next time I attempted to create an artificial mana crystal, failure wouldn't be because of my lack of control.
Now, outside of my will, the most considerable growth has definitely been the skill [Meditation]. I had always linked that skill solely to mana, but that wasn't the case, seeing how during these past weeks, it leveled up three times, which made it my second legendary skill alongside [Mana Manipulation].
Not only that, two of my stats, intelligence and perception, have grown, not a significant amount, but it was enough that it was noticeable.
Within weeks, I've gained so much, and all I did was meditate; not meditate to regain mana quicker, but truly spend time meditating. However, despite all those improvements, the most significant gain was realizing what having a child would entail.
'The fact I only realized it a week ago bothers me.' Bringing my meditation session to an end, I opened my eyes, gazing at the vault door before lying back, facing the ceiling while rubbing my face. "Ugh, I need to tell them." I was somewhat hesitant to inform my wives that I had to put the whole children stuff on hold.
I mean, except for Michelle and Jasmine, the others didn't openly express it, but they were excited to become Mothers; hell, Yuki was probably the most excited. Sometimes I'd hear her trying to decide on her child's name.
"I should be prepped to be punched." Deeply sighing, I stood up and teleported out of the vault, appearing just outside Talis and Vanimo's house. Knocking on the door a few times, I waited for several minutes before finally deciding to open it myself; once inside, I headed upstairs, where the sound of copulation was unmistakable.
'I swear Vanimo has more sex than I. How does he even manage with that frail body of his?' Scratching my chin, I closed my eyes and opened the door.
"Eek! A-Alex!? W-What are you doing here!? Knock first! Talis, stop!" Yelling at me, Vanimo tried to get Talis to stop, though, unlike him, she didn't have shame and continued with the sex. "Ahh, w-what do you want Ahh A-Alex?" I rubbed the bridge of my nose in exhaustion. "I have something important to talk about with my wives, so could you guys not eat with us?" "Y-Yes, j-just leave please!" "Yeah, sure, I don't Ahhhh m-mind."
Nodding, I promptly closed the door and opened my eyes. "I need to find a better best friend." After a few moments, I left their house, walking back to my mansion before heading to my office, where Jackal found me.
"Oh, Alexander, where have you been? I've been searching for you since you guys returned." Glancing at Jackal, I opened the door to the office, entering while he followed. "Nowhere important. Anyway, what did you need to speak with me about?" Dismissing his question, I sat down at my desk, donning reading glasses.
"Does this make me look more experienced?" "No. Anyway, here is last week's spending." With a shake of his head, Jackal handed me a piece of paper, prompting me to skim over it, before looking at the final cost. "Except for the armor, we haven't really bought anything, so the total is relatively low. Merely the salary of our meager staff." Nodding, I handed the paper back to him. "Thanks. Though you don't have to show me the spending from every week, change it to every month." "Got it."
Saluting, Jackal left, earning a faint smile from me before I plopped my head on the desk while sighing. While feeling depressed, the door to my office was suddenly opened. "I-I apologize, Count Alexander. I wasn't able to stop her." Raising my head, I glanced at the maid, who was apologetically bowing before glancing at Kurama, who sauntered towards me.
"Hey, pookiebear!" "Terrible timing, Kurama."