It’d been long enough, I decided. After protecting the scroll the entire way from Obsidian Isle to Ebonreach, my home country, the time to read the scroll had slipped past me completely. Now that the girls were having breakfast downstairs, I had a little wiggle room to check it out.

I sat down at my desk in the corner of my room, scroll in hand. The large paper had been rolled up and tied together with a nice red string. In the center of the knot was a stamp with a big “I.H.” on it. Upon pulling the string to unravel it, a single item clinked to the surface of the desk.

I hadn’t been expecting anything to be in it and wondered if it had always been there…and how it hadn’t fallen out before, but without any of my questions being answered, I inspected the object.

It was a ring. On opposite sides were decently large gems with some kind of liquid swirling inside. I picked it up and immediately felt a strong warmth emanating from its metallic frame. This had to be special. Did Isolde put this in here?

Realizing I wouldn’t get anywhere without reading the scroll, I did just that.

“Thank you for shopping with us, Mr. Starlin, I hope you had a fantastic experience,” It started. It went on to explain their refund policy she’d already explained before along with the usual stuff she was contractually obligated to say.

Only after that did she finally get to the main details.

“If you see the Ex-Princess looking more uncomfortable than usual, then that’s probably cause you haven’t had sex with her in the last day. If her master doesn’t have sex with her every day, she starts feeling quite uncomfortable down below. I know, what a horrible thing for you.” She joked, but her words became more serious. “I’ve run studies on the spell that was inflicted on her, trying to remove it, if possible, while trying to reverse engineer it of course, but I was never able to figure out how it works. I was able to make a version of that spell that is a lot less permanent, but still not to the same level.

“Whoever inflicted this on her is on a whole different level power-wise.”

From what I understood, Isolde was an unbelievably strong magician. The reason she was able to run a store like hers was because of all the fantastic things she could create with magic alone. Upgrades, spells, potions, any of those things with the added bonus of not being tied down by any regulations. (For better or for worse)

The fact that not even she was able to get rid of it…what kind of power was needed for something like that?

I continued reading. There was a section there about the pregnancy stuff I’d talked to Misaki about…which would’ve been useful to know about earlier. But it reaffirmed what she had told me. All the girls, including the virgins, were unable to get pregnant unless I allowed that to happen.

Useful enough.

“The other girls don’t have anything similar to the sex slave spell, but they do have their own quirks, so be careful.

“The Ex-Celestia, as I mentioned, has the Gift of Eldorin, so you have to watch out for that. No one but the Celestias and those who manage them know the full extent of those powers. The master/servant pact prevents her from attacking you willingly, but if something were to happen out of her control…then…” Her writing trailed off.

Compared to many other people, I had a decent idea of what the powers constituted, so I wasn’t entirely afraid of any possibility that could arise with her. There was a thing or two that could theoretically happen, but the chances were really low.

“Anyway,” The writing continued. “Last, but definitely not least, the twins…” The last part was written in deeper, bolder, lettering:

“Do not separate them.”

A shiver ran up my spine upon reading it. The image of Shiari and Hikari flashed in my mind. Why such a warning for the twins? The two sweetest girls out of the four I brought home. Was there something that dangerous about them?

They’d never been too far from each other, but how far away from each other was too far?

“Last few things, because of the girls you chose, and the positions they used to be in, there might still be people who might be keeping an eye on them. I’m sure you’re more than capable Mr. Starlin but do keep that in mind.

On top of that, here is the gift I promised. It’s an experimental ring from my work-in-progress stash. Putting on the ring will turn it on, and the power it holds is activated by sending mana into it. Now for what it does…” She trailed off once more. “…I will let you know in time!”

Then why did you give it to me in the first place!? I wanted to yell, but it wouldn’t be productive to do so at a piece of paper.

“Just keep it stored away for now.

That is it.

Have fun!” She signed off with her initials.

Rolling the scroll back up, I glanced at the ring. It was clearly a powerful object, at least it felt like it was. What would happen if I put it on…?

“No, no,” I let out as I picked up the ring and stored it in one of the drawers on my desk.

Whatever it was, it’d have to wait.

But what was this about people still possibly keeping an eye on them? Few knew where I was, and unless Isolde told anyone, there shouldn’t be anybody important with that information. The town I lived in wasn’t large by any stretch, so I’d know if there was someone here who wasn’t supposed to.

Guess I’ll have to be on the lookout.

“Well, I should probably join the girls…although I wish we had more for breakfast than buttered bread…”

I made a note to go to the store later and headed out of my room.