Arpious of the Planes
Chapter 96 "Love Counseling"

I spectated the arena for the rest of the day. It wasn't just Akitos party that evolved, but also most of the soldiers that returned from the war. It was a mix of High Elves, Children of the Forest, and Sirens. Richard's evolution was very unique since the sirens were just plain sirens, not a variant.

Their stats had a drastic increase, complimenting the newly obtained skills that gave them a huge advantage over most opponents. Also, their stats helped improve hand-to-hand combat and their efficiency with weapons.

"M-master, Miss Mia has collapsed from exhaustion," I hear a voice come from behind me.

I turn my head and see Yin kneeling on one knee. Also, sensed the rest of the assassin corps was hiding in the shadows around me.

"Why are you so nervous?"

"Y-Yin was a bad girl so I thought Master doesn't like me anymore," Yin says, looking down.

"I'm still pretty pissed but I hope you act like an actual leader next time and take responsibility for the actions of your subordinates,"

"Yes, master,"

"Alright, now what is this about Mia collapsing?" I ask.

"Well, Miss Mia hasn't slept in a long time on top of working so hard, so she collapsed out of exhaustion,"

"Okay, take her to her house and I will replace her spot. I have nothing else to do… Oh, can you also check on the status of the adventurer's main guild building? I saw that most branches were built, but I haven't seen the main building," I say.

"As you wish," Yin says, slipping into the shadows.

I flap my wings and fly over to the reception area with a very long line full of werewolves and dryads. It was near the edge of my kingdom so it was out of the way, unable to disturb my citizens.

"Since Mia has collapsed from exhaustion, I'll be taking over," I say to the first person in line, which was a werewolf.

I sat down on the wooden chair and looked at the wooden desk in front of me. It had a few leather sheets with all the jobs in my kingdom. Also, there was a bit of blank space at the bottom in case anybody wanted to create their job that we don't have yet.

Finally, there were a few sacks of gold coins right next to me, so the newly accepted citizens have something to survive off of for a while.

"What job do you want?" I ask with a smile.

The werewolf looks down at the pieces of leather and says,

"I would like to be a blacksmith. I may not look at it, but I was the best blacksmith in our moon kingdom," the werewolf says, flexing his slightly big muscles.

Makes sense. He may not look that muscular but if you look closely, you can see how dense and compacted his muscles are, giving the illusion of a normal, slightly built werewolf with the strength of a beast.

"Okay, here's one gold coin and head down the street and then take a left. You should see a massive building with a hammer on the front, which is the best blacksmith in my kingdom. If you were the best blacksmith in the… Moon kingdom? Is that what you called it…? Then you should be able to get easily accepted," I explain while plopping a gold coin on his hand.

"Thanks, there's no way I will fail the application," the werewolf says, practically skipping off.

It seems some citizens are excited while… some are not so happy about this situation.

"Oi, you fucking bird. Can I just leave this kingdom and do my own thing?" The next werewolf in line asks.

"You can leave, but that would make you an enemy of my kingdom. And of course… I would have to kill you," I say with a smile.

"Urk… f-fine I'll stay… j-just give me the soldier job," The werewolf says before grabbing the gold coin out of my hand and leaving.

Seems they're not as brainless as I had expected.

This went on and on. Repeating the same process for the rest of the afternoon. By the time it was to take a break for the day, I had about 10 more werewolves left in line and the dryads patiently waiting.

As the sun was starting to set, I saw Aimi in the distance, creating tents from her threads.

"Mia can you help me out- OH! Your highness, please forgive my rudeness," Aimi says, seeing me, sitting on the wooden chair.

"It's fine. I'm going to come back tomorrow since Mia needs the rest. Keep up the good work,"

"Y-your highness! Your dress should be finished within the next few days!" Aimi shouts as I flap my wings.

"Thanks," I say, taking off towards my castle.

…

"Why can't you evolve during the day? Wouldn't it be faster?" I asked Kumo who was scarfing down an insane amount of food.

"*munch* *munch* For some reason, your body reacts differently when you evolve while conscious compared to evolving while asleep. Maybe the amount of pain you're put through translates to the aura and bloodlust that tries to devour anything in its way, just like what happened to you," Kumo says.

"So you're scared of what you might do?" I tease.

"Shut up. I don't want to kill any citizens by accident," Kumo says in between bites.

I thought she would give a better reaction than just "shut up."

"Anybody feeling anything besides Kumo now," I ask once again.

"Yeah," Aika and Homura say at the same time.

"I had to take a break for the rest of the day after my first sparring match. I just felt so sluggish and slow so I figured I was pregnant… not that I'm complaining about having a baby," Aika said with a smile.

"I've been feeling really tired as well. For some reason, I didn't feel it this morning, but now I feel it greatly. I feel like I was just hit by a dragon's claw," Homura says, putting her fork down and laying her head on the table.

"Oh, speaking of dragons, I'm planning on trying to kill it the day after tomorrow," I say nonchalantly.

"I'm not even surprised anymore," Aika says with my other wives nodding in agreement.

"Also, Sophia over there has been waiting the entire day for something. I think it was something about feedback?" Aika says, looking past me.

"I-its fine. M-master you don't have to bother-"

"Alright, first of all, you obtained some new skills but aren't using your previous skills… before I continue, are you evolving tonight?" I ask, seeing that she participated in the war but still hasn't evolved.

"Y-yes I am," Sophia says while bowing.

"Okay… well that scraps most of the feedback I had planned… I would recommend incorporating your high efficiency in close combat with your plants and summons. You could do much better if you also have a whip crafted for you," I suggest.

"Thank you very much, Master!" Sophia says, deeply bowing.

To be honest, that was just common sense. I really did have better feedback that used her strength stat instead of her low magic stat, but it seems it was pointless.

Also, Sophia was caught up in her excitement since she said one other thing.

"M-Master, I-I have something to say…" Sophia says, shaking nervously.

I think I know what she is about to say. It seems Lucy knows as well… oh, is she jealous of me. Does she have a crush on Sophia? There's no way that sulking face towards Sophia was not stemmed from jealousy.

"I-I like you! L-like a lot!" Sophia says, her milk chocolate skin blushing profusely.

I had thought about making her my wife, but I've never actually loved her. I liked her as a servant and maid. I don't want to have a wife that I never loved and just accepted since they are powerful.

"Thanks for the confession and I admire your confidence, but I will have to reject your confession,"

I can see Sophia has not much of a reaction. She probably already knew this was going to happen.

Also, I would say her love towards me isn't actual love, it's more of the admiration and respect towards a hero you were saved by. In my case, I technically saved her people and gave them new routes in life that they would've never dreamed of having before.

"But... you should try to talk with Lucy more,"

Sophia's face was shocked at my suggestion. Were they not on good terms… It seems Lucy likes Sophia but Sophia doesn't like- actually more like despises her. Sophia's face was almost that of disgust and when I turned to Lucy, I saw tears well up in her eyes.

"*sigh* I don't know what happened between you two, but I'll speak on behalf of Lucy… if you don't mind of course," I say turning to Lucy, which gives me a nod of confirmation.

"Sophia, I don't know what Lucy has done that deserves her to be despised, but I'll say that she has a crush on you. And before you reject her, let's hear both sides. Sophia starting,"

Never thought I'd be doing love counseling.

"I don't like Lucy because she took my spot as leader of the maids. I worked so hard and tried so hard to get your attention but she just came out of nowhere and took it from me. I know you expected something else from me, but I still can't get over the fact that she took my spot that I tried so hard to obtain!" Sophia vents, almost yelling across the throne room.

"I-I'm sorry. I never thought about that. I would always see you sulking after I got the position but I failed to realize why. I tried so hard to become the leader since I wanted you to recognize me. This might sound weird but it was love at first sight, but you never even glanced at me so I thought maybe if I worked hard enough, you could recognize me...

W-we don't have to be lovers, h-how about we just restart our relationship and be friends… possibly?" Lucy says, holding back tears.

So fucking cringe… love at first sight… wait, didn't I just have love at first sight with Treyni…? Whatever...

My wives were watching this quarrel like they were at the movie theaters, leaning back and enjoying the show.

It seems Sophia felt slightly guilty from Lucy's face since she ended up saying,

"F-fine. How about we start as girlfriends and if any of us feeling uncomfortable we can break it off,"

"R-really!" Lucy says, giving me glances as she runs across the room.

"Woooh!" Aika shouts.

"This brings tears to my eyes," Homura says, wiping non-existent tears from her face.

Kumo just continued to eat and eat. I was slightly worried that she was going to get fat.

Lucy hugs Sophia who was slightly blushing in embarrassment. I gesture for my wives to let them have their moment as we take our exit from the room.

"I'll let you have your little moment for a bit but don't forget you're my maids, make sure to clean up the table," I say as me and my wives walk towards the bath.

…

"Goodnight," I say, kissing my wives before we tuck under the blanket and enter the land of dreams.