Touya woke up early the next day. He looked around, as he tried to recognize where he was, only to realize he was in a king-size bed with Sakura and Leen. The previous night, the girls agreed that if someone deserved to be by the side of their beloved husband, that would be them. However, the others dragged their beds as close as possible to theirs.
Touya felt the warmth from his wives and couldn't help but smile in relief, hugging them tight.
Leen woke up first. "Good morning, darling."
Touya smiled as tears streamed from his eyes. "Leen, Sakura, I am so glad that you are okay. I am so happy!"
"Ara, ara, were you worried about me?" mocked Leen.
He hugged her tighter. "You have no idea!"
Leen got a little surprised, but she enjoyed her husband's hug.
"He was so worried that he almost destroyed Brunhild," said Elsie as she was waking up as well.
"Seriously? Great Duke, why?" asked Sakura, as she opened her eyes and rubbed them.
"I made the mistake of unleashing my anger on Kagenou." explained Touya, looking down. "And if it wasn't for Moroha's and Karen's intervention, he would have kicked my butt, or worse."
"Seriously? But you are the strongest in the whole world, Touya!" said Sue,
"Kaimisama explained that we were equally strong." admitted Touya. "But he is the better fighter and knows how to use his power better than I do."
He touched his neck, which now had a horrid scar where Cid have cut it. If it wasn't for his godly physiology, that would have been the end for him.
"Luckily, Kagenou wasn't mad and offered us his help." said Lindsay.
Leen and Sakura nodded as they started to get the full picture.
"By the way, Touya, what are you all wearing?" asked Leen.
The others look at their clothing. By the end of the day, they were so tired that they didn't bother to change clothes before going to bed, so they were still wearing Shadow Garden's slime suit.
"Oh right, Kagenou- Kun explained that as long as we are in his world, we follow his rules when we fight the Cult of Diabolos." explained Hilde.
Leen smiled. "Looking good! The slime suit is amazing in many ways!"
Then the door opened, letting Nu in, carrying a bunch of white towels. "I heard some noise, so I thought it would be okay for me to come in. I am glad to find everyone in good health. Please feel free to use the company's bath facilities. When you finish, breakfast will be waiting for you in the cafeteria."
"Thank you, Nu," said Yumina with a smile.
"Touya-Sama, you can use the personal bath we made for Shadw-Sama. You are his childhood friend, so he said it was okay."
Touya forced a smile. "Thanks. Is Kagenou joining us?"
"Later in the afternoon, he had something urgent to attend to."
"I understand, thank you."
Nu left the tables on the bed and walked away. Touya took the towels and went to the bath house.
Walking through Mitsugoshi, the women in black, dressed like store clerks, bowed before them and showed them the way. The whole place felt more like a palace than Touya's actual palace, but he tried to make sure that it didn't affect him that much.
The girls got into the common bath made for the Mitsugoshi employees, which was all white and golden. With sparkling stained glass, and all sorts of products for both skin and hair, of all scents and colors carefully aligned before them. This was pretty much like a bath house at a high-class hotel, and normally they would just have relaxed, except for one detail.
At the very bottom, someone has made a giant mosaic of Kagenou, naked, exposing his muscles and his 'Excalibur' in all its glory.
"This dude has a huge ego, he has!" Yae said,, looking away.
"I am sure that the only thing about him that is huge is his ego!" joked Leen with a devious smile.
"I bet Touya is waaaay big..." was about to say Sue, but Yumina blocked her mouth. "Hmmmpff!"
"Sue, good girls shouldn't say such things!"
The others nodded in agreement and turned their heads away from the unnerving imagery. Everything was fine except that they couldn't relax with that thing behind them. So, after finishing their bath quickly, they went to the dressing rooms, where the diligent employees of Mitsugoshi had prepared new clothes for them, including very revealing underwear.
"I remember seeing these at the stores in Japan we visited." remembered Hilde, feeling very conscious about the clothes she was wearing.
"Are these things common in this world, or did Kagenou-Kun bring them from Japan?" asked Lsie.
"I don't think I want to know." sighed Lu.
The others nodded in agreement.
They went downstairs where Touya was waiting for them, already dressed.
"Please, take a seat, honorable guests!" said Gamma, greeting them at the dining hall.
"Ehem, thank you for your hospitality. How can we pay you?" asked Touya.
"Please, don't worry about it. You did more than enough by hosting Shadow-Sama and our group in your world. Not to mention you showed us how we should apply Shadow-Sama's wisdom of the shadows."
"You mean our knowledge from Japan?" asked Touya.
Gamma smiled with a dreamy expression. "Call it however you want! But come to think that as we get stuck by creating a company, when we could do much more like making a whole nation from scratch. This is why Shadow-Sama seemed so disappointed every time we showed him our achievements! He hoped we saw beyond. Thank you for showing us the way, Touya-Sama!"
Touya forced a smile as Yumina patted his back to comfort him, as Gamma continued with her rambling. "We will start the project right away at the Kingdom of Oriana. Rose-San, 666, has given us the permission to proceed. The wisdom of the shadows will be the key to finally get her people on her side."
"Did something happened?" asked Touya, worried.
"Touya, don't start getting your nose into this world's affairs too!!" scolded Lindsay.
Touya looked at his wives and lowered his head. "Sorry, bad habits die hard."
Gamma laughed it off. "Ohohoho, I appreciate your offer for help, but we have everything under control. Oriana was the first kingdom we freed from the influence of the Cult of Diabolos, and their influencing the public's opinion was only to be expected. But don't worry; with strike after strike, their pathetic attempts to sabotage the queen are getting weaker every time."
"Oriana is Shadow-Sama's greatest victory so far. We won't let them take the kingdom back," said Nu with a sinister smile.
Touya didn't insist. If Shadow Garden said they were taking care of it, he would rather stay out of all that. This world wasn't his, and he has witnessed Kagenou's strength firsthand. He could trust that he would fix his world with his games eventually.
He and his family went to have breakfast when he noticed two girls entering the dining hall. Beta, who they already knew, and a girl with black hair and red eyes. They greeted Beta, when Touya stood up out of nowhere, almost spilling his coffee, and walked toward the new girl.
"Nishino-San?"
The girl with the black hair turned to Touya, and gasped in surprise.
"Mochizuki-Kun?"
The two started talking to each other until Touya groaned. "Please don't tell me you died and reincarnated in this world too!"
"Huh? Of course not. As a matter of fact, Kagenou saved me from a sudden death... twice. Once before he got hit by that truck, and the other after our world went to hell. He saw that the best option he had was bringing me here."
Touya frowned. "What? Our old world went to hell? What happened?"
Nishino sighed. "Let's just say you chose a good time to die, Mochizuki-kun. Our world is not the same as what you knew. Not anymore."
Beta looked at Touya. "You can take a seat, Mochizuki-Sama. It seems that this will take a while."
Touya nodded, as his wives came closer when they saw the worry on their husband's face.
Then, during the next hour, Akane Nishino started to tell Touya about the most recent events in their world. Starting with the coming of the magical beasts, and how those things decimated the world population. Of how people started to awaken their dormant magic power, turning into 'Knights' and how humanity has created settlements and fought to survive.
"Touya..." said the girls, hugging him when they noticed his state of mind.
"I don't want to get into details about how all started, but the thing is, I was the first knight in Japan, and I accidentally killed lots of people," continued Nishino. "Some people tried to take revenge on me, and they almost got away with that. I would have died if it wasn't for Kagenou-Kun. He brought me to this world, and I've been living here since then."
Beta nodded. "We kept her under strict surveillance for a while, but now she is free to go around Mitsugoshi freely. But she wants to get out, she needs an escort."
"Yeah, I haven't been able to get out for a while because my designated escort was in a mission with Kagenou-Kun, I mean Shadow-Sama." explained Nishino.
Beta nodded apologetically. "Sorry to leave you along for so long, but rules say that missions given directly by Shadow-Sama have priority."
"I understand, Beta-Sama. Don't worry, and as you can see, I used the free time to master this world's language. Now I can communicate without a problem."
"Keep it like this, and soon we will allow you to go out on your own," said Beta.
Nishino smiled.
"So, she is not your prisoner?" asked Touya, worried.
"I am here by accident, Touya. Besides, I have to become strong enough to be able to fight side by side with Kagenou-Kun. I know I will never be able to pay him for saving me twice in a row, but I will do anything to help him."
"And when she finally learns how to control her power, she will be given a place among our ranks." said Beta.
Nishino smiled.
"Now it's your turn, Mochizuki-Kun, what about you? The last time I saw you was on the day you were killed by that lightning. Did you reincarnate like Kagenou-Kun. And nine wives? Who would say you would become such a player!"
Touya blushed. "How do you know they are my wives?"
"I'm not blind; I can see the rings." said Nishino.
With that, Touya had no choice but to tell her a quick summary of his adventures so far and how he crossed paths with Kagenou. Nishino raised an eyebrow. "See? You died at the right time. Is this your bonus for reincarnation? I am a bit jealous."
Touya smiled, but his smile was short-lived as he started to think about what happened to his family. Guessing what he was thinking from his expression, Yumina hugged him.
"Remember, they are protected by a god. They are safe."
"I know, but I am still worried."
Then he turned to Gamma. "Question: When can we leave?"
"You can leave right now if you want." said the woman. "But Alpha-Sama recommends that you stay a couple of days so we can keep Leen-Sama and Sakura-Sama under observation. We are not sure if they were able to do something to them during their captivity, and if they become possessed, they can be cured right away."
Touya remembered what happened with the fairies, shivering and nodding. "Thank you!"
"So can we go visit the city?" asked Elsie.
Gamma seemed a bit worried. "I wouldn't recommend that. Nu!"
Nu approached them with a newspaper in hand that she gave to Touya. Touya had to use his spell 'Reading' in order to be able to read that world's language, and he didn't like what he saw.
SHADOW GARDEN STRIKES AGAIN
The terrorist organization known as Shadow Garden has targeted a mansion of another noble, resulting in the destruction of a tenth of the city, two thirds of the noble's district. What started as a normal night turned into a major disturbance when members of Shadow Garden murdered several royal knights out in the open, then burst into the mansion of one of the wealthiest men in Midgar.
Princess Iris brave efforts managed to identify some accomplices of Shadow Garden who aren't part of the organization, however, they are working with them and attacked Princess Irish, who is still recovering at Midgar General. Any information that will lead to the capture or death of one of these associates will be rewarded by a million zeni.
And right underneath the article, there was a detailed picture of Touya, Yumina, Elsie, Lindsay, Yae, Lu, Hilde, and Sue.
Touya groaned as he crumbled the paper into a ball and threw it away. "This is just great!"
"I must say that whoever made these sketches is very talented!" said Lu.
"Say what you want about Iris Midgar, but she has an excellent memory." said Gamma. "Especially after being humiliated. But most of the times she humiliates herself."
"This is why I told you to join the attack with the rest of us, but noooo. You wanted to charge right through the front door!" said Nu, rolling her eyes. "Well, I guess you got the job done, but this is why we operate from the shadows. However, if you really want to go out we can give you some slime makeup. It will take a while but we can give all of you a new face."
"How did you manage to find that many uses for slime?!" asked Elsie, weirded out.
Then Touya changed the subject. "So where is Kagenou?"
"Shadow-Sama had an urgent family matter to attend. He will come later today."
***
Claire Kagenou was sitting on her brother's chest, with her hands firmly around his chest.
"How many times I've told you not to miss any of my tournaments?!"