“Azel, what do you plan on spending your savings on?”

It had been two weeks since Gaius came to Damask to work as my subordinate. And as of right now, Minerva and I were participating in our nightly ritual of venting and massages. Although Sekh did occasionally come by to join in on our conversations, it was normally just the two of us together. 

“I’m mostly saving to purchase a home later. Well I’m also saving up in case anything unexpected pops up, like if my horse gets injured.”

“A home?” Minerva asked while tilting her head. “I actually have an estate dedicated to me in my family’s will. We can use that as a home when we retire, if you want.”

Rubbing the back of my head, I began to smile awkwardly. 

“Sorry, but I’d like to acquire my own home, particularly one in this region.”

“I understand,” Minerva said while waving both her hands in front of her face. “But what type of house are you planning to purchase?”

“Something reasonably large,” I answered. “Definitely larger than a cottage, though a mansion would be too big, not that I would be opposed to a mansion. I think a merchant’s house would be the closest thing to what I'm envisioning.”

Of course this would take a while since a merchant’s home costs around 40 solidi while a large estate would cost two hundred or more solidi. As for my current finances, I am in possession of 41 solidi, 67 denarii, and 32 numi.

“Luxurious then,” Minerva remarked. “I’m assuming that you want Sekh and I to live with you.”

“Obviously,” I replied. “And let’s not forget about kids.”

Blinking a bit, Minerva started to blush in response, though she looked quite happy. 

“Kids. That does sound nice.” 

“Oh and we might have to keep a room for Zeph,” I said half jokingly. “If things continue at this rate, she might just end up as a spinster. And considering how her family is all the way across the world, we probably have to take care of her.”

“You know, there’s also the possibility that you seduce her, not even intentionally,” Minerva pointed out. 

After pausing to consider her claim, a slight frown appeared on my face. 

“Yeah, that’s an actual possibility, unfortunately.”

“‘Unfortunately?” Minerva giggled. “Are you that opposed to it?”

“Something like that,” I answered after some thinking. “It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s the fact that I might also fall in love with her. But I want to focus as much on the people already in my life as I can. Even if I have a hundred lovers, what’s the point if I can’t make them happy?”

“I can see why Sekh says you’re cute,” Minerva said warmly. “As for me, I trust that you’ll make the right decisions. So just follow your heart.”

“Where’d you read that?” I questioned Minerva, prompting a laugh from her. 

“You got me there,” she replied, dodging the question. “Well I’m sure that Sekh will have a more firm opinion on this.”

“You should ask her about it then,” I told her while snickering. “She’s already suggested implementing a limit on women with big breasts.”

“Why exactly?” Minerva asked, while not so subtly looking down at her own chest.

“She said it’s necessary to maintain balance in the world,” I laughed. “Anyways, try asking her about it. She might even give you a different explanation.”

For some reason, Minerva clasped her hands together while her wine red eyes shone brightly.

“Then how about the three of us go on a date together?”

“Sure,” I answered. “Since you’re proposing the idea, do you have any suggestions?”

“We can look at the available properties in Damask,” Minerva replied. “We won’t be buying a house, but we will get a better idea of what we want.”

“That sounds good,” I said with an easy grin. “I’ll talk to Sekh about it and we can arrange a later date.”

Sometime after Minerva and I finished our usual activity, I went back to my room where Sekh was waiting. Seizing the opportunity, I consulted Sekh about the date Minerva proposed. 

“She’s getting bolder,” Sekh remarked with a cheeky grin when I finished my explanation. 

“We’re making good progress in that case,” I remarked. “So do you want to come with us then?”

Whipping her tail back and forth, Sekh flashed a bright smile. 

“Absolutely. Maybe we can even find a good love nest while we’re at it.”

“Love nest,” I repeated with mild disgust. “Brings me back to the time I was with the other heroes.”

“Were they being ironic?” Sekh asked me while tilting her head.

“Unfortunately not,” I answered. 

“Truly unfortunate,” Sekh agreed. 

But what was fortunate was that our off day was only a day away. As such, we didn’t have to wait long until we could start planning for the future. 

So on the morning of our break day, the three of us assembled on the bottom floor. While Minerva was wearing a vibrant purple dress, Sekh and I simply wore a combination of colored tunics and white pants.

“Dressed to impress?” Sekh asked Minerva teasingly. 

"I thought it would be suitable for today," Minerva replied while glancing at me.

“Well I’m certainly captured,” I commented, flashing a warm grin at her. 

“Yeah I agree, she does look good,” Sekh added while going over to Minerva to hug her. 

Since Sekh had latched onto Minerva, without much resistance from the elf, I simply went over to them and pulled them into a bigger hug. 

“My final verdict is that you’re both cute. So let’s get going.”

Afterwards, I was followed by the two, rather happy, girls. And because we were looking for more luxurious houses, we ended up searching primarily within the inner district of the city. 

Most of the houses in Damask that were available for sale were singular buildings, often being surrounded by a fence or similar structure. 

“I think this is probably the best house we’ve been to so far,” Minerva commented while we were checking out a house. 

The house in question was a two story brick building with hardwood interior. Despite the luxuriousness of the building, the furniture was mostly sparse, only a few chairs, tables, and other items being present in the house. Still, the appeal of the home came from the large garden outside as well as the open air construction of the building. 

“I agree,” Sekh added while peering about. “I think that it might be the largest one we’ve visited so far, but not by much. But I do really like the garden.”

“What do you think, Azel?” Minerva asked me. 

“It’s nice,” I replied after some thinking. “But I think it might be a bit small. Especially if we have more occupants.”

“How many more occupants are you planning to have?” Sekh asked with a teasing smile.

“I’m not aiming for a specific number,” I answered. “Especially since I don’t want to force you two to push yourselves.”

With her tail waving about, Sekh strolled over to me and planted a kiss right on my lips. 

“Alright, where’s the blush that I’m looking for?”

The blush in question was, in fact, quite absent from my face. 

“I think you should try a different approach,” Minerva told the now pouting leopard girl, who was rather disappointed by my lackluster response.

“I also agree with that statement,” I added. “Well you got my heart racing a bit, but not enough for what you want.”

“Alright, I’ll experiment with some new strategies later,” Sekh sighed.

After rubbing Sekh’s head for good measure, which prompted a jubilant look from her, I continued to peruse the available houses in the area with my two companions. 

Some time around noon, the three of us concluded with our search and decided to go to a restaurant for lunch. And after some debating, we wound up at the same restaurant we visited when we first became acquainted with one another. 

“Rather nostalgic,” I commented when we sat down on the table together. 

“So Minerva, did you ever think you’d end up in a relationship like this when we first met?” Sekh asked as we were waiting. 

Looking up thoughtfully, Minerva put her hand on her chin before answering. 

“Obviously not. At that time, I was excited that such a capable person would be working with me. But I was also concerned that I might be getting investigated.”

“Well I’ll still be inspecting you, just not in the way that you originally expected,” I commented, causing Minerva to look away shyly while Sekh snickered. 

“So what were your thoughts on me when we first met?” Sekh asked Minerva curiously. 

“Cute and surprisingly not useless,” she answered. “Sorry if this is rude, but I initially thought that Azel just kept you around because you’re attractive.”

“Yeah I can see where you’re coming from,” Sekh almost snorted before leaning back to stretch. “But I try my best to be more than a pretty face, even if I’m arguably the worst fighter here.”

“But you did get me out of quite a few bad spots,” I told Sekh.

“You mean I was saving you from your own dumbass mistakes,” Sekh complained. “I swear, you’re not making it easy for my heart in both good and bad ways.”

“Look, I made those supposedly bad choices because I knew that you were there to back me up,” I explained. “And it wasn’t so bad that I would have died, I would just end up more scratched up if anything bad happened.”

“One of the world’s mightiest warriors by the way,” Sekh snorted while glancing at Minerva with an amused look. 

“Wait till you meet the others,” I said before lightly poking Sekh on the nose. 

“Oh, so will you introduce us to them at some point?” Minerva asked excitedly. 

“I’ll get to it eventually,” I answered while rubbing the back of my head. 

Sensing that I was uncomfortable with the matter, both of them smiled and quickly diverted the conversation in a more enjoyable direction. Soon after, our food arrived, which paved the way for further small talk.

The week after our date, life continued on as usual. We went to work, came home, complained, and repeated the process.

But that stability soon fell apart. 

It was a regular day of working at the citadel when a servant came rushing into my room with wide eyes. 

Seeing the horrified look on the woman’s face, I quickly stood up and put my hands on her shoulders to reassure her.

“Take a deep breath. Now tell me, what’s going on?”

“The Doux, he’s...he’s passed away,” the woman replied, her voice notably strained. 

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to fully maintain my composure as my eyes began to widen and my arms shook ever so slightly. 

“Please take me to him,” I requested the woman. 

The two of us marched towards the Doux’s room in silence, a somber air having already filled the great hall. Upon entering the room, I saw the sight of a physician crouched over Isaac’s bed, the Doux not moving a muscle. 

Stepping towards the bed, I gestured for the physician to allow me to observe more closely. When the man moved aside, I bent down next to Isaac’s body and clasped my hand on his wrist. 

No pulse. And just to make sure, I opened up his eyes, which were now completely lifeless.

“Sorry,” I told the physician. “But I wanted to ascertain it with my own eyes.”

“It’s fine,” the man brushed off. “It was so sudden that even I couldn’t believe it. Honestly, I let you check because I was hoping that I was wrong."

“I see,” I sighed. 

A while later, Gallus showed up at the room, going through the same process as I had before, possibly hoping that Isaac would miraculously wake up.

Once the whole staff of the citadel had been notified, a group of higher officials assembled in the great hall to discuss how to proceed. As we sat in the room, all of us looked at one another with tired faces.

Although the chain of command was left mostly stable, mainly because I had more or less taken over, there was the issue of notifying the central government. Additionally, we discussed that one of the greater issues was that the death of the Doux might lead to instability within the region, due to local leaders attempting to take advantage of the chaos. To add salt to the wound, there was another issue of border friction with the Zayid territories to our east, who had been causing us problems by dumping their bandits onto us. 

And although things would certainly stabilize after a while, I knew that the first week or two would be incredibly busy and hectic. 

But before I concluded the meeting with the citadel staff, I realized another issue that hadn’t been mentioned yet.

“Does anyone know if Isaac left behind a will?” I asked the makeshift council. 

As the participants looked at one another in confusion, I came to the conclusion that we might have another problem on our hands. 

“Have someone search the Doux’s records to see if he left something like that behind,” I ordered. “If he didn’t leave one behind, then it’s not that big of a deal. We’ll just have to file a report of his possessions to the central government and his family in that case.”

After racking our heads once more to ascertain that we didn’t forget about something important, our makeshift council bid farewell to each other and went home for some much needed rest. 

Because I spent so much time working, I arrived home quite a while after dinner. As a result, when I opened the door, Sekh immediately rushed over to check if I was alright. 

“Sorry, I was really busy today,” I told her while stroking her head. 

“I’ll heat the food back up for you,” Sekh said before kissing me on the cheek, then scrambling over to the kitchen. 

Despite eating only leftover soup and bread, I could feel an incredible sense of bliss now that I was in the comforts of my home. But once I finished my dinner, I decided to call Sekh and Minerva over to my room to inform them about Isaac’s death. 

“Absolutely do not tell anyone else about this,” I told them after I finished my explanation. “The news will get out eventually, but I want to slow the spread of information as much as possible, just in case someone sees an opportunity to stir up a commotion.”

“Got it,” Sekh replied as she nuzzled against me. “I know you’re going to be busy now, but try not to push yourself. And don’t worry, I can take over your cooking duties for a while.”

“Thanks, I love you,” I said warmly. “Oh and Minerva, I know that you’re busy, but is it possible that you can help out the administration for a bit? I just need you to help hold things down while the situation stabilizes. It’s fine if you’re busy then , I won’t hold it against you.”

To my surprise, Minerva came over to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. 

“Don’t worry about it, Azel. I don’t have too much work here at the Bureau now so I should have a few extra hours a day to help at the citadel. Now I know that you’re worried, but just take it easy. We’re going to get through this together.”

Hearing this, I felt a warm tingling sensation welling up within my chest. Smiling gently, I clasped Minerva’s cheeks and planted a light kiss on her lips. 

“Love you.”

Naturally, Minerva blinked before turning red while staring awkwardly at me. 

“Good job, Minerva,” Sekh commented. “Oh, was that your first kiss as well?”

“Yes…,” Minerva mumbled in response. “Does it count?”

“Fuck, I don’t know,” Sekh laughed. “But you got a romantic moment, so you should consider it a win. What do you think, Azel?”

“All I know is that my heart was racing,” I answered while leaning back to stretch.

“Then it’s a win,” Sekh concluded giddily. 

The next few days were filled with work. Not only did I have to personally write a report to the emperor about Isaac’s passing. More importantly, I was also responsible for overseeing that the other local administrators were notified and that the chain of command was not disrupted. 

However, Minerva’s presence did greatly improve things for us. Although she didn’t receive her certificate from Tyros yet, she already had the necessary skills, and more, allowing her to expedite our work rate. 

And because Minerva was able to perform so well on the administrative side, she managed to free up a massive amount of time for me. As such, I was now able to mount a personal visit towards the border with the Zayids in order to assess the situation. 

Taking a swift party of horsemen, among them was Gaius, I quickly rushed east to determine how things were faring. 

As we made our way eastward, I spent some time talking to the locals about the current state of affairs. While most of what I heard was the expected ‘I got taxed’ and ‘spring is coming soon,’ I also heard that Stygian dissidents were congregating in the Zayid territories. But whether these dissidents would challenge us was still very unknown. 

Upon arriving at the border, which was incredibly vague due to the lack of any significant barriers, my party began to patrol the surroundings for any abnormalities. 

After consulting with the border troops manning the few watchtowers along the border, we ascertained that nothing unusual had occurred, at least not to our knowledge. 

However, I also took the opportunity to cross the border to consult the Zayid patrols about how things were going on their end, not that I was expecting much cooperation. 

So after some traveling, I managed to arrange a meeting with one of the Zayid border patrol commanders to discuss how things were going. 

“Never thought an esteemed hero would be seeking me out,” the man remarked as we met on an open plain, both of us sitting atop our horses. 

“Perhaps you should get a painting to commemorate today,” I suggested with an amiable smile.

“That’s too much for a poor soldier like me,” he replied. “But onto the topic that you came here for. As of right now, nothing has changed in this area. Of course there are always bandits, wayward mercenaries, and monsters, but that’s just the norm in Stygia.”

“Funny how we would consider this a good thing,” I remarked. “Well thanks for the information. And I hope we can reach a point where dangerous roads aren’t considered to be the norm.”

“I hope so too,” the man answered, an almost distant look in his eyes.