“I’ll summon the first dual Hexagon, finishing the first layer around the Estate,” Rykard decided, gesturing to the map as he did. “I’ll leave that to you again. You’ve proven yourself very capable of negotiating the annexation of a Hexagon in my absence. In the meantime, I’ll travel to the canal city. They may be immediately loyal, but I still need to make contact.”

Miyo nodded, as did the rest of the harem. It was going to be a lengthy journey yet again. They knew what they had signed up for when they became his women, however. At least this time they could trace where he went. Future journeys would be much faster once they had access to the ships that supposedly had come with the canal city.

“17 days would be the expected time you need to get there,” Miyo stated plainly. “Certainly you will need a companion on your journey to keep you… entertained.”

Heyla’s moans around his cock made clear what kind of entertainment she was talking about.

Taking Miyo along again would have been a degree of favouritism that even the queen of a harem did not deserve. Looking at the half-starved succubus in all of her beauty made Rykard certain of his first pick. It would be cruel to leave her needful for another near-month. Similarly, he felt he was going to start to estrange the twins if he did not give them some more time with him.

So the choices were made. “Heyla, Melana, Telana, you three will tag along with me this time around.

“”Yes, Master,”” the twins spoke immediately in an elated tone.

“As you wish,” Heyla purred after his cock had popped out of her mouth. Her haughty attitude was coming back, a fact that made Rykard grin. She wouldn’t be the same without it.

The bathing ritual wrapped up soon thereafter and the entirety of the harem set out together. The journey from the Estate to the edge of the Contestant’s Hexagon, with its weird dimensional stretching, was done swiftly. Since the pass that originally had led out of that bit of the landscape back in the Troyk empire parted the mountains in the southeast, they could even follow the road for once.

Just a few hours later, they closed in at the edge of the frame. “Do you have a phrase in mind?” Helenn asked. “Anything cool? Big tech stuff? Glory to Subana, perhaps? Oh, oh, how about ‘all of the buzzing toys Helenn could ever think of’?”

That was exactly ten words, even if it wasn’t the best idea. “I am going with ‘A battlemaid academy, training beastkin servant bodyguards loyal to me’.”

“Is that even ‘legal’?” the cherub of Subana asked. “The ‘loyal to me’ part, I mean? How would that work? How can they be loyal to someone they have no idea they would ever meet?”

“An interesting question, isn’t it?” Rykard responded. “The canal city I was given clearly implies that it is possible to summon Hexagons that are immediately loyal.”

“That was a special gift from the gods though.”

“And there is no harm in sacrificing three words to see if it can be replicated,” Rykard answered with a smile. “The battlemaid academy is the interesting part.”

The wisdom of that, the angel saw immediately - as did the rest of the harem. They were in desperate need of someone skilled at cooking, cleaning, and the general running of the household. Optimally, Rykard would have wanted haremettes skilled at that, but as a temporary measure, he would accept maids of sufficient loyalty. Plus, where else would he find a permanent member of his household that fit the bill? Proper servants didn’t grow on trees, they were as carefully cultivated as any proper aristocrat.

The phrase spoken with the proper intent had the usual effect. It was new to see two Hexagons affected simultaneously, but otherwise, the effect of the runes and the spawning in chunks of soil was the same as ever. Interestingly, Rykard noted that the Grid remained present between the two occupied Tiles, despite them coming from the same place.

The only thing Rykard saw were trees. “That is anticlimactic,” he thought out loud and opened up the map for this new Hexagon.

For once, the structures were clearly on display on the map, which was nice. He waved Miyo and Vylara close. The vampire lady had to lift the veil of her hat to get a proper view of the divine projection.

“Seems fairly clear that the battlemaid academy is located here,” Rykard gestured at the walled-in estate south of their current position (the crossroad between the estate, Aulone, and the new Hexagons called Maclis).

“Did the gods make a typo?” Miyo asked, pointing at the New Eden Estata.

Rykard slightly cocked his head. “Maybe? Who knows what the divine do as genuine mistakes and what they do because they find it entertaining. Either way, there’s a sizable village and farmland on the map too… we don’t really need the extra food, but the extra people could be useful.”

“We will, as before, aim for a peaceful takeover, milord,” Vylara assured. “It should be much easier with our queen present. Her brilliance will shine our way to victory.”

“Ever the charming handmaiden,” Miyo responded, her cool tone mildly bashful.

“You are rather capable,” Heyla agreed. “I will miss our conversations.”

“Then return swiftly and bring our Rykard back with you.” The redhead waved her hand, causing Vylara and Helenn to follow her, while Melana, Telana, and Heyla remained with Rykard. The mage put his arms around the waists of the twist and faced south-east.

“Shall we, then?” he asked.

Rykard reached out to the Conjuration Realm and tugged. After the journey to the Divine Game, he had plenty of practice in summoning carriages and the like.

Something in the way his will threaded through the veil felt smoother than usual, further than usual, and more receptive than usual. He did it with the same ease that a mastercraftsman wielded his tools. For a split second, he mindlessly treated the Conjuration Realm as an extension of himself.

Before he even realized what he had done, the Conjuration Realm answered.

In a flood of golden light, a carriage manifested that even the gods would have considered exquisite. Its wheels were of mithril, the body of a material that Rykard could not even place. It was completely black, had a texture like wood, but reflected light like polished stone. Inlaid were extensive decorations of gold, forming intertwined branches, from which leaves formed from gemstones hung. The entirety of it was as large as a house, possessing no less than eight doors, each with its own flight of stairs formed by hovering platforms.

While the carriage itself was gorgeous, the thing drawing it was truly jaw-dropping. It was a stag, of sorts, ten metres tall and elongated of body. Ten legs ending in dark hooves extended from its long-furred form. Each bit of fur was a long strand of woven night sky, sparkling with the silver of moon and stars. The head of the being was surrounded by an ever-changing collar of sand and gemstone ground to a fine powder. Its antlers endlessly grew, yet never changed in length, forming a fractal tree.

The moose beheld its summoner with wise eyes. The rest of its features were completely black, like the shadow of the moon during an eclipse.

“Rykard… what did you just do…?” Heyla asked.

“Proven once more that I am ludicriously more powerful than even I consider?” the mage responded and walked towards the cosmic animal. It bowed its head in respect. He didn’t even know what it was. No amount of studying books or meditations had revealed to him a majestic being like this. “I wished I could put a name to you… perhaps I will in due time.”

The stag let out a low humming sound.

“Come then,” Rykard gestured for the rest of his harem to follow. In doing so, he noted that the three that had departed had turned around. He grinned at them. At least no one had missed his moment of accidentally surpassing even his own wildest expectations.

The stairs bent to let them all climb into the carriage as quickly as possible. The inside was even larger than the outside. The first room was an entire park, with its own animals, its own trees, and a water fountain at the centre that was as large as Rykard’s bedroom. Birds chirped invitingly.

“How do we steer this carriage?” Melana asked.

“Steer?” Rykard laughed at the question.

“Sister,” Telana was right there with him. “We do not steer this. We get taken where this entity wants to take us.”

“But don’t we have a place to be?” the priestess asked.

“Sometimes you accidentally summon a demigod and then you just see where it takes you,” Heyla answered, her sarcastic tone fully acknowledging how ridiculous what she had just said was. “Let’s see if this rolling wonder has a place to linger. I would appreciate some wine.”

Rykard was first busy with fucking the three women on every surface that fancied them. Heyla was incredibly turned on by the casual display of power. The twins weren’t as straightforward in their inclinations, but it did have an effect on them as well, and watching him pound the big-titted succubus silly certainly had as well.

Then they were busy with exploring the carriage. They eventually decided that there was no use to doing so. Doors just took them to where they wanted to go and they found whatever they wanted to find. It was very much like the accommodations in the Divine Game had functioned, just at a (somehow) larger scale.

Once he had fucked all three of his companions silly, he found his way to the roof of the carriage. Surprisingly, he found that the ten-legged cosmic stag was trodding along at a leisurely pace. Faster than he could have ever walked, certainly, but not so fast that the speed caused any notable air resistance white he stood up there.

Fifteen metres above the ground, the king could look far over his domain. He wasn’t nearly high enough to look over the mountains surrounding his Estate, nor to penetrate deeply into the terrain of Aulone, but he could still view far and wide. Down the path of the Grid that they followed was the river-flatland of Moydra, where he had found Vylara.

‘We’re going north-east,’ Rykard realized. It wasn’t the wrong direction towards the canal city, just the less efficient path. ‘We’ll see where this goes.’

For three days, he and his travel companions lavished in luxury. Everything they wanted just appeared around them. That would have gotten boring in due time, but for three days it was wonderful. Between the opulent food, the games, and the lovemaking, they sat on the roof together and just talked.

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Telana stated. She stood as close to the edge of the roof as she could, beholding the broad back of the stag. “I kind of want to try and ride it…”

“I want to know how it can still be here,” Heyla stated instead, “Conjurations should not last this long without proper summoning procedures or the supporting will of a god.” She gestured at herself. “I would know.”

“I believe this entity supports itself,” Rykard answered. “It certainly isn’t much of a draw on my mana. It feels as if it’s keeping to contract to assure me of its benevolent intentions.”

“Of course it is benevolent, look at it!” Melana declared, her feminine voice more forceful than usual. “It’s adorable.”

Rykard looked at the ever-dark silhouette of the creature’s head. No matter the time of day or night, not a single light ray could touch it. “Majestic, yes. Awesome, certainly. Divine, possibly even. Adorable? You have some strange tastes.”

“Well, she loves you, so,” Telana threw in.

“So do you, sister!” Melana declared.

“Already at love, hm?” Rykard asked, causing the fraternal twins to send him embarrassed glances. “This is only the sixth proper day we had together.”

“W-we know what we feel!” the redhead declared.

“A-and there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” the white-haired sisted added.

“Then why are you stammering, little ones?” Heyla teased.

“It just slipped out!”

“It’s her fault!” Melana pointed at her sister.

“Hey, since when are you pinning the blame on me?”

“If the cat fits in the box…”

“Cats fit in all boxes,” Rykard pointed out. “That’s one of their primary attributes… admittedly, Telana does share that with them.” He looked directly at the redhead. “You certainly know how to fit in every position I want you in.”

Scratching her wild, ivy-woven mane, Telana just mumbled something. Talking about lewdness was easier for her than her feelings, clearly. “Still not sure where we’re going though.”

“East,” Rykard stated the obvious and gestured at the ocean before them.

North around Aulone, then directly east, the cosmic beast had brought them. It had slowed further as they went. By now, it was practically trodding, even taking pauses in between. It was clearly delaying for something, although Rykard had no idea what that something was.

He enjoyed the view instead. The ocean he had placed was an expansive body of water. Vast and blue, it stretched from horizon to horizon. Its colour was the honest, dark marine colour of a body of water that hid in it a great depth and potential dangers. Rykard loved the sight, for how familiar it was, and for the lack of Grid. It was still on the map, but no hard borders between Tiles showed around the water, not where the Coastal Tiles met the water and certainly not in the water itself. It would have made the boats somewhat useless if there were indestructible stone paths in the way.

They were about halfway to the coast. Left and right of them were the unexplored, untamed Coastal Tiles. They were covered in wildlife, be it in the form of forest clusters or the wide, half-open spaces between them. Rykard had seen several deers and even a pack of wolves. There was plenty of natural resources there - and the dangers that came with them. He wondered just how dangerous or rewarding it could get.

Suddenly, the cosmic stag threw its head back. It howled that high-pitched, particular howl of its kind, interwoven with the majesty of a thousand lifetimes lived in grace. The slow pace of the past couple of days was replaced with a rapid acceleration. Hooves clapped on the divine rock, the sound reverberating and rippling as silver light around them.

Wind howled, then went silent. A magical shield around the roof of the carriage prevented them from being blown off. “What went into it?” Heyla asked, trying to get her red-black cascade of hair back under control after the air had messed it all up.

Rykard laughed when he spotted the answer. “We’ve reached the anointed time!”

An armada was drifting over the horizon.