I wake up to a warm and pleasant feeling of something brushing against my lips. As I open my eyes, I catch the smiling face of Cornelia slowly moving away. Her unkempt hazelnut hair, currently lying on the sides of her face, reminds me of the events that transpired during our recent time together.

“Good morning, Al.”

I stare at her charming expression for a moment and glance around. We are together in my bed, covered by bedsheets up to our chests. Finally, my eyes land on Cornelia’s body, and more specifically, at her beautiful breasts which are on full display to me due to her lying on the side. We are close enough for the covers to create a cave between us.

She, of course, doesn’t miss that detail and moves her right hand to her chest and makes the bouncy peaks jiggle a little.

“Gosh, stop staring at them so much or Sirgia will get jealous,” she announces playfully.

I chuckle, move my hand to her belly and slowly trace a path downwards. Cornelia’s gaze follows it for a moment and her cheeks get a bit rosy. While she might be expecting a different kind of affection, I change the trajectory around her underbelly and move my hand to her back, then stop on her plump butt.

Giving it a gentle squeeze, I pull her whole body closer to lean against mine and steal her lips with a passionate kiss. She seems a little surprised by the different than she predicted turn of events, but quickly begins to reciprocate the intimate contact. We play with our tongues for a good three minutes before splitting up.

“Good morning, my beautiful Ice Queen.”

Cornelia giggles. She moves a bit lower to rest her forehead against my collarbone and snuggles to me lovingly. I pat her head from behind, kindly grazing her back from time to time.

“I’d have never thought that feeling the warmth of another person would be so blissful. Now I understand all those girls back at the academy who chose to spend time with their boyfriends over studying magic.”

“I’m really glad you didn’t.” She looks up at me and I use that chance to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Because I wouldn’t be able to meet you otherwise.”

She smiles even wider and hides her face in my chest to cover the increasingly red cheeks.

“You damn playboy. Flirting even after you’ve already subdued me.”

I brush through her hair with my fingers.

“Does us expressing our feelings and having sex forbid me from saying pleasant things to you?”

She pulls herself up to match my face and stares deep into my eyes.

“You just love seeing me lose my cool after you assault me with compliments. Admit that,” she says with a playful smile.

I give her a swift peck. “No, I just love you.”

She clearly hasn’t been expecting such a bold statement out of nowhere as her eyes widen in surprise and her mouth begins opening and closing. We both were pretty roundabout with our words yesterday, and I guess I should at least say it properly so she doesn’t have to assume or wonder as she did before.

“I s-see… That’s good then… I too…” She gets quite flustered, but takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself. “I love you too.”

We join our lips for a much gentler kiss this time and then just lie down in each other’s embrace.

“I’m so happy…” Cornelia mutters while brushing her hands over my chest.

“I’m happy that you are happy then. But besides that, how do you feel?”

Ending our long session of cuddling, she slowly raises herself to a sitting position and stretches her arms upwards while releasing a seductive, prolonged moan. I’m pretty sure that was fully intentional. With my hand supporting my head as I lie on my side, I gaze at her alluring figure.

“A little bit sore around certain lower parts, but that’s to be expected since it was my first time. Although, I feel kinda refreshed and… stronger?”

While she makes a thoughtful expression, I sit up too and gently place my hand under her navel, invoking my Rejuvenate skill.

“Mhnnnn…”

A soft moan escapes Cornelia’s lips as I pour my mana into her body. She kisses my cheek after I’m done.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mind it. And well, the other thing might be due to us finally properly connecting. You remember my skills.”

She nods and summons her icy-blue status window, scanning through it with her eyes. She suddenly stops and freezes.

“EHHHHHHHH?!”

Her sudden cry of surprise startles me a bit. I should get used to all the girls reacting in a similar way when they discover the additional stats they receive from me after fully consummating our relationship. I would have thought that Cornelia wouldn’t react this strongly since she knew how it works.

“Come on, don’t surprise me like that. You knew about the stat—”

“I’M TIER 4 NOW!”

My mouth stays in the position it stopped during pronouncing the word for like a few seconds. The thing is, she was Tier 3 just yesterday.

“Oh shit.”

“YEAH, OH SHIT!”

She doesn’t even try to hide her excitement. As far as I know, she was sitting at Tier 3 for a good few years, not being able to advance in any way. With her wide knowledge about magic, she reached that point pretty quickly, but then it stagnated for a long time.

I leave a soft peck on her cheek and decide to not disturb the passionate scholar in the way of learning more about her new possible skills or whatever changed. It’s time for me to check the Partners menu and my own status. Then, I’ll glance at hers too, just out of curiosity. I’m so glad that I have insight into my girls’ statuses.

I open the first window.

 

 

「Okay, so we have 4/5 straight from the start. It’s not that unexpected considering the fact that we both had something for each other, with her most likely being way more invested than I was. Now I wonder if all mutual lovers start at the 4th step as fresh lovers or something similar to what the relationship type states. 5/5 should be the highest form of mutual love, at least that’s what the Title says. Well, can’t test that unless I get close to someone with strong feelings towards me and vice versa and the chances for that are quite… almost zero. Anyway, this should be a huge boost to my stats.」

Next, let’s see them. I’ll leave the best for last. I will most likely want to compare our windows, so time to summon full status.

 

 

I glance all over the numbers and nod to myself in amazement.

「Uhuh, that really is a damn huge boost. If I recall correctly, my INT was at +8. Her stat must be at over 40 with the 40% transfer. No wonder, Tier 4, hah. But, it’s not like I should say anything. I’m Tier 2 and some of my stats are over 60 now. Insane. No other words. I was right to consider this Class broken. Especially the fact that ALL my stats doubled on tier-up. With my disposition of them, it should be like 3-4 points per lower ones and up to 10 for the main ones. I can’t wait to see what happens when I advance again. But, it’s not like it will happen anytime soon. I just barely did recently.」

Finished with admiring my new numbers, I swipe the pink window to the left and summon Cornelia’s status in front of me.

 

 

「As I thought, Tier 4 stats are no joke, 47 INT. And now she even has like 30% additional points there from me. Her magic should see a visible increase. And goddamn, those are some skills… I’m not going to go over all of them right now, gotta familiarize myself with them at some other time.」

Having the windows side by side allows me to compare our statuses with ease. And all the information in front of my eyes confirms what I figured out not that long ago in the bath. At first, I thought that I would be surrounded by powerful beauties while remaining a supportive weakling, but looking at my stats now, some of them are higher than Cornelia’s even with the bonus she receives from me. Tier 2 has higher stats than Tier 4. She only beats me in her INT and that’s to be expected.

I might actually be on the path to the powerful support type. And I’m not even quite sure about that with my Formless Blade Arts and Voidal Bondage. It really feels like this Class is overcompensating the low base stats way too much. I wonder if my guess about it getting so OP due to me not limiting myself just to one race is right. Well, I should ride the lucky wave for as long as I can. You never know when things may turn to worse.

“—l… Al… Al!”

A very overjoyed feminine voice brings me out of my contemplation. Making the colourful windows disappear reveals an ecstatic face just behind them. Cornelia looks at me with pretty much sparkling eyes and an infatuated gaze.

“Yes?”

She pounces on me, pinning me down onto the bed and landing on top of my chest. A rain of kisses all over my lips soon follows. She squeezes me so hard that her breasts want to create a cave-in in my lungs. It’s not unpleasant though, quite the opposite. The soft mounds rub against me with each erratic movement she makes.

“I love you! I love you! I love you so much!”

I chuckle in between the ferocious yet gentle kisses. The new discovery has completely pushed her tsun side back into the depths of her mind. I’m not blaming her for getting swept up like that. She most likely had given up on trying to advance. I roll us over so that she is under me now.

Cornelia quickly locks her legs behind my waist and entwines her hands behind my neck, giving me a very amorous gaze.

“Are you going to take me again? You beast! But I don’t mind. I’m all yours!”

I shake my head while smiling. “Calm down, girl. You are high on euphoric emotions.”

With her latched onto me, I raise both of us up and step off the bed. I begin spinning around with her in my arms. Cornelia arches back while laughing joyfully. When I stop, she leans forward again for a passionate kiss. 

“Let’s not waste the whole day in bed. You can have a piece of me whenever you want from now on,” I tell her with a smile.

She nods and jumps down from my waist, staying in a warm hug for a short while longer. Cornelia slowly cools down and more clarity returns to her eyes and mind, and obviously, she almost instantly blushes when thinking about her unusual outburst. I chuckle again while brushing my fingers through her hair.

“Don’t be ashamed, it’s a huge step forward for you so naturally, you would be happy.” She sighs with a smile. “So, got anything good? I assume yes?”

I try to move her attention away from the embarrassing things and it works flawlessly. Cornelia steps back from me.

“Very, very good. I only have the general idea behind my abilities, but they sound awesome. Ah, but the insane boost from you is even better! Some of my stats pretty much doubled!”

“You don’t need to flatter me, hahaha. Come on, show off a bit.”

She smiles and starts focusing mana inside her body. She straightens her hands down and to the sides and closes her eyes. I observe as her skin turns light blue and her hair pretty much white. If not for the Human ears, you could have easily mistaken her for an Ice Elf. After she opens her eyes, I notice they turned crystal blue too.

“In this form, my control over ice increases by a lot and I’m able to cast spells from that school of magic much quicker. It’s a passive called Coldblooded, but it’s like a permanent active skill with a switch. It doesn’t drain my mana, but it’s a bit weird to stay in this form. I feel cold, but it’s not from the temperature but from the mana itself. I guess it needs getting used too. There are many other small benefits of this change too.”

Impressed, I step closer and grab her hand to graze my fingers over her skin. It’s cold as frozen hell. I shudder just from the short sensation. Cornelia snickers and slowly moves her other hand towards my crotch. Even without direct contact, I can already feel the merciless winds of Jotunheimr crashing against my junior.

“Uhuhuhuhuhu—coooooooold!”

I hastily jump back and cover my nether regions with both hands. Cornelia laughs impishly.

“I finally have a way to tease you back, you bully~.”

I show a wry smile. “Please, just don’t go full snowman on me in the middle of it, okay?”

She laughs again. “I’ll think about it.”

“Great. I think this is neat. What’s Frostweave about then?”

She raises her brow, slightly surprised, while she turns back to the colourful Cornelia, but soon remembers that I looked at her status just recently. She places a hand under her chin and ponders for a moment. A smile soon appears on her lips and she positions her hands in front of her, making a triangle out of her fingers. A small hexagon of ice appears in the space and a whitish mist leaks out from it towards her body, travelling over her skin.

The smoke arrives at her chest and nether regions and in the next moment, I watch as silky-smooth, white underwear with light blue details forms on these parts. The pieces emanate a faint whitish mist around them. She releases the spell and places her hands on her hips, wiggling her waist from side to side as to present her creation to me.

“Woah. It looks beautiful. Isn’t it cold?”

“Nope, not even in the slightest. It feels like any other high-quality material. Much more durable and protective too. Panties and bra aren’t the only things I can weave out of my ice mana now and this material has supposedly enormous fire resistance and quite decent physical one. I need some practice, but I feel like I should be able to create pretty much anything I can imagine in detail,” she explains, turning around to seductively waggle her butt and gives me a smile while looking over her shoulder.

An idea pops up in my head. “Hey, you can cast Mind Bridge, yes?”

She furrows her brows at my question. “Yeah, why?”

“I want to try something fun. Cast it on us and start the skill, but try to not look at what thoughts I’ll be sending you. Just let me take control of the crafting process. I have quite a vivid imagination.”

Cornelia thinks about it for a moment, furrowing her brows even more, most likely suspecting some ulterior motive behind my suggestion, but her curious nature wins the battle and she agrees.

After connecting our minds, she closes her eyes and focuses on the skill while I send clear and detailed instructions into it. It’s much easier than I expected. It’s like creating something in one of those 3D graphic apps but in your mind. I design the clothing with enormous attention to detail, checking if I’m not straining Cornelia on the way. It ends in success.

Sensing the end of the process, she opens her eyes and sees my stupidly wide smile. She squints her eyes at me and takes a deep breath before looking at herself, most likely expecting to see something perverted.

She slowly lowers her head, “Wha—?” and takes two steps back in complete shock.

She is currently wearing an unimaginably beautiful wedding dress made out of that majestic white material with light blue details here and there. It’s a masterful one piece, not even slightly erotic. Well, maybe besides the fact that almost all wedding dresses are quite seductive to some extent, but the cleavage is not that big, just perfect to accentuate her womanly charms. Two over-the-elbow sleeves wrap up her arms, both with amazing patterns. The veil perfectly matches the whole set, creating a semi-transparent long cape. 

Cornelia is so astonished that she doesn’t notice me coming closer. I grab her by the waist and pull her to me. 

“What are you—”

Before she has a chance to react, I steal her lips with a very soft kiss. We stay like this for a moment, until she gets so embarrassed and red to forcefully cancel the spell and appear naked in front of me again.

After the kiss, she rests her head on my shoulder. I can feel her heart pounding like crazy.

“You jer—… dummy…” she whispers softly.

I chuckle and it makes her squirm in embarrassment even more.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t hold back. I tried to visualize the grandest dress I could imagine though. Did you like it?”

“My heart is not yet ready for things like that… but… it was stunning… you damned tease...” 

“Now, we are even.”

She exhales audibly and then chuckles. Oh, she loved that. This little tsun-masochist.

“Okay, let’s leave it at that. Unless you want to fight back?” I glance at her and she shakes her head with a smile. “Good. If we take any longer, I have a feeling that the door won’t hold the weight of three people and fall inside at any moment.”

Cornelia looks at me with wide eyes and then turns to the door, finally noticing the presence of three other entities just behind them. She can now feel my other Partners much clearer after we did the deed. Still not as good as I can, but good enough.

I expect her to get all flustered and panic, but she swallows her saliva and sighs heavily while rubbing her forehead. She recreates the underwear back onto her body and urges the girls to come in. I quickly grab the nearest clean shorts to not flash my package at them first thing in the morning.

The door opens and Safi, Emi and Sirgia walk in. They are all in their maid uniforms. Emi launches herself at Cornelia and jumps into a hug. Cornelia allows the lively slime girl to embrace her. Safi stands back while smiling and Sirgia hides by her side, also smiling faintly, but a bit anxiously, most likely for being found out eavesdropping.

Turning my face to Cornelia, I scratch my head. She notices my gaze. “What?”

“I’d have thought you would be a bit more angry or embarrassed,” I say.

She chuckles wryly. “Why should I be angry when they were the ones who encouraged me to step forward.”

I nod my head. “I see. I knew it was too calm and empty in my room last night.” I move my gaze over all the girls. Safi just keeps smiling kindly and Sirgia averts her eyes while blushing.

“I almost completely ruined everything though…”

I step closer and hug Cornelia from behind while Emi still keeps embracing her from the front.

“No matter what you would have said back then, I already made up my mind to reach out to you that night.”

She leans into me more and sighs in a bit of relief. She then pats Emi to let her go and walks towards the other duo with her. Cornelia hugs all of them together.

“Thank you. I should have been more honest with my feelings much earlier. I’m really happy now.”

Seeing all of them together like that somehow makes me feel warm inside. I know that Cornelia is quite special, but there’s a Human, a Dwarf and two Slimes being close with each other in front of my eyes.

Safi glances at me and waves her hand so I smile and join the group hug. The five of us cuddle together while those girls that can speak, giggle happily. Since it looks like they are pretty fine with this relationship, I give each of them a good morning kiss. Sirgia still gets a little shy to act openly with others around, but I can see her slowly getting more open with those girls present.

“Damned casanova.” Cornelia playfully hits my stomach with her fist. A teasing smile is present on her lips. “Acting all lovey-dovey with 3 other girls just after our first time.”

She then laughs and we get one more group hug. It ends quite fast, the moment Sirgia notices six dark-skinned heads popping out from the door frame to my room and gets so embarrassed that she hides behind me. Cornelia gets a little panicky too and we split up, giving the uninvited spectators wry smiles. Only the slimes don’t seem to care.

The trio decides to take a bath together. Even though Emi tries to drag me with them too, I convince the girls to go relax by themselves. I bet they will have a much easier time talking about stuff without the subject being present. The perpetrators of yesterday’s situation definitely are curious about details.

Our breakfast together passes in a bit awkward silence. Cornelia might have been fine with the slimes and Sirgia peeking on her, but getting caught almost naked in my embrace by the elves is a bit too much for her yet. They should have closed the door after walking in, hahaha.

The dark-skinned beauties don’t seem to mind our relationship. I’m pretty sure they know a bit or two about the things around here already. I hope they will be able to fit themselves nicely into our little community and they won’t feel weird with me courting so many girls around them. But from their previous reactions, I assume it should be fine. They seem to be quite understanding.

Later, I visit Sirgia so we can examine the gift for the Queen for the last time and prepare the appropriate packaging. I write a personal note with some additional explanation and throw it inside, alongside the manual or instruction I’ve composed myself too.

The device turned out great. It looks beautiful and both functions work flawlessly. The small protrusion too. This will do great. If used properly of course. Let’s hope that this little act won’t end up in my head rolling if Ross is even slightly mistaken. Why are all his requests always somehow endangering my life?

 

※ ※ ※

 

On the day of the meeting, I leave the mansion with Cornelia. Obviously, I get into my butler outfit. It’s much more appropriate than the adventuring gear.

We first stop at the Noble district to purchase a nice paper bag for the already exquisite looking box. The less the people around will see, the better my chances of not getting beheaded. 

Cornelia helps me choose the pattern. She says that the Queen loves foxes so we can go with a pretty crystal fox on the bag. She mentions that the Queen has a huge collection of crystal figurines depicting various wolf or fox-like animals and beasts. I trust her intel and we get one. 

We split in the castle. I go to the place mentioned in the notice I’ve received and Cornelia tells me that she will check some things around and then meet me after I’m done in the chamber where we’ll be supposed to talk with the Queen. 

「I have a distinct feeling that every time she left to check something at the castle, she went straight to the Queen. Let’s hope that she doesn’t spoil her about our plan. I could bet they are like besties.」

The slave trader that welcomes me seems like quite the normal person. I don’t know why, but I always expect them to be lowkey evil or something. Talk about stereotypes. It’s easy to forget that in this world, slavery is pretty much a business with rules and restrictions. Too bad the demi-humans are often treated like criminals or trash.

Since it was the King who introduced me, the man has no issues with my story about being someone freshly on the path of slave trading, without much experience with seals, and we spend a few hours with him teaching me some mana weaving techniques and details about slavery sigil structures.

I accompany him during part of his work and observe how he removes the master from the contract and then voids the slavery mark completely. Unfortunately, just from looking, I can’t get anything useful about the former process. From his heavy focus and him needing the help of some book, I can clearly see that it is way more complex than the other thing so I give up on trying to steal the techniques visually.

He then lets me try to remove the masterless seals, and within a few tries, I manage to get some practice alongside the theory. I quickly catch on the proper way to do it. He also teaches me some more useful facts and tricks about slavery. It might be good to know a thing or two when dealing with other merchants. I haven’t been at Selina’s for some time. I guess I should show myself sometime soon.

After we are done, I’m escorted by the butler I remember from our tour of potential brothel locations to the place where the Queen is waiting. This time, I’m led to a different section of the castle than where I usually meet people.

He opens the door for me and I enter a beautiful chamber. Its furniture and walls are out of whitish materials, with some silvery metal here and there, and blue details and patterns. It’s really bright here due to all the white.

In the middle, Cornelia sits on one of the sofas by a coffee table. The Queen is seated on the opposite side. They turn their faces to me. I make a courteous bow.

“Greetings, my Queen, and respectable Magician.”

Cornelia rolls her eyes but I don’t miss the little smile that flashes on her lips for a short moment. 

“Took you long enough. Do you think the Queen will wait for you forever?” she scolds me, but I can sense the playfulness in her tone.

“I apologize for this offence. I promise to do better in the future.”

Wondering if she will react in any way, I sit quite close to her, but she only raises her brow at me a bit. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be teasing her too much in front of the Queen.

Moving my gaze to the person in question, she seems to be curiously glancing at us, especially at Cornelia. The Queen wears the same, beautiful dress I’ve seen her walking in the last time we met. She must really like it.

“Well then, Sir Carter, what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you?”

She sounds as nice as always. I do sense a bit of tension from her though.

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, my Queen. I thank you wholeheartedly for sacrificing a bit of your precious time to meet with me.”

“There’s no need to keep up the titles. You are quite a close friend of my son and I consider all his friends mine too. Just call me Lianne.” She shows a kind smile.

“As you wish, my Lady. Feel free to use my first name as well.” She squints her eyes a bit. “Hahah, pardon me, but I just can’t hold myself back from not calling such an elegant beauty a Lady.”

She squeezes her delicate hands together, which are lying on her hips, and a faint blush appears on her pale face. I hear a stifled chuckle from my side and feel an elbow hitting me to the side. The Queen doesn’t miss that and glances at Cornelia who does her best to look composed.

~I thought… you weren’t going to… seduce her…~

I shiver a bit when Cornelia’s sensual voice reaches my ear through the Sweet Whispers skill.

~Doesn’t mean that… I can’t be nice to her… or… is someone… jealous?~

It’s her who jumps a little next. Lianne stares at our weird reactions a bit confused. We both smile wryly and she continues.

“So, Alastair, Cornelia, what’s the reason behind this visit?”

We look at each other with Cornelia. Fortunately, I prepared a decent story for this occasion, to try and not include the King in the whole ordeal.

“First of all, I want to apologize, Lady Lianne.” She raises her brow. “Last time we encountered each other, I almost bumped into you.”

“Oh, no, there’s no need to apologize. I was deep in thought too.” She waves her hand and smiles.

“Perhaps, but that’s not the main thing I want to apologize for. You see, during that time, I’ve noticed that you don’t seem perfectly… well.” Lianne furrows her brows. “So, I wanted to apologize for sticking my nose into someone else's business. Especially since that someone is the honourable Queen. Saying all that, I just want to mention that I really hate leaving people who I can help alone.”

I wait for a moment to see her reaction or hear some words, but Lianne keeps quiet, waiting for me to continue. I can see the curiosity and a bit of anxiety slowly building on her face.

“That’s why, assuming that I guessed the issue that has been gnawing on my Lady’s mind correctly, I prepared a gift that could possibly help relieve your stressed mind and body at the same time. And I asked Cornelia to help me arrange the meeting. I can’t inconvenience Ross all the time.”

I stand up, materialize the paper bag and walk to the other side of the table where she is sitting. Lianne grows much more anxious at me arriving at her side but tries to act like nothing's wrong. I extend my hand to her to help her stand up.

The Queen hesitates, but I urge her to comply with a smile. She takes a deep breath and stands up with a nervous smile. I pass her the paper bag and pat Lianne’s shoulder while gazing into her calming eyes.

“There’s a little something in this box, which I believe should work great to treat your condition, Lady Lianne. Just make sure to not open the package when you are not alone. I suggest unpacking it… hmmm… I don’t know… perhaps in the bedroom?”

She receives the bag and glances inside, spotting the exquisite, rectangular box. She then moves her gaze at me and nods with a charming but wry smile. Moving her eyes behind me, she most likely glances at Cornelia and her eyes suddenly go wide.

The curiosity starts eating me from inside. What could she be doing behind my back to shock the Queen so much? I can’t turn around right now. It would look really rude. I’ll have to question the mischievous magician later.

Lianne returns her eyes onto me and a much more fervent blush paints her face. “T-thank you… I’ll let you know the results of the treatment at a later date...”

She steps back hastily and I don’t hold her down. It’s quite hard to believe that someone so fragile is a sex-maniac. I wonder if her personality changes too. A few dangerous images start floating in my mind so I quickly regain my focus.

After I sit back on my spot, Cornelia tries to hold a friendly conversation with Lianne, but the latter keeps getting distracted, most likely lost in her thoughts, imagining what could be inside the box.

We take our leave. If Cornelia hinted at her something behind my back, it’s no surprise that Lianne would be thinking all about it. On our way back, I grab Cornelia by the waist.

“So, what the hell did you do?”

She moves her gaze away. “Nothing.”

“That was quite the nothing there with how wide her eyes went.”

“Must be because of your scent. You got quite close there.”

“Yeah, right. Spit it out or say bye-bye to the chains.”

Cornelia shoots her gaze back at me instantly with a semi-shocked and semi-pleading look.

“That’s not fair!” She visibly hesitates for a long moment and sighs. “I showed her—mwhhnnn?!”

I stop her mid-sentence with a kiss while pulling her closer. I chuckle after we separate.

“Let’s say this covers your little mischief.”

Cornelia shakes her head and chuckles too. We arrive back at the mansion and get to work. Almost everything is now ready.