Pec entered Jack’s chambers.

Jack hadn’t paid much attention to the young faun. Pec had white woolly hair and horns on his forehead. But most notable, he had the legs of a goat.

So this was the guy who wrote the meetings’ minutes.

“My lord, you said you needed help with some letter I believe?” Pec spoke softly.

“Yes, I hope this will stay between us.”

“Indeed, my lord.”

“Good good,” Jack handed the letter to Pec.

He read it in silence, showing no emotion in his face.

“I see…” Pec said and returned the letter to Jack. “I understand your predicament.”

Jack smiled. “Exactly.”

“This letter is problematic to you, my lord.”

Jack was confused, “Huh?”

“You want to respond to Octavia while at the same time not causing jealousy to the other consorts in the harem.”

“What?”

Pec now looked confused as well, “My lord, am I missing something? I thought you brought me here to give you advice on how to navigate a response to Lady Octavia’s letter without the other [Concubines] being offended that you’re taking favourites.”

Jack never even thought about it that way.

“Am I understanding your situation correctly?” asked Pec.

Jack didn’t want to admit his lack of foresight, “Of course. Of course.”

Pec smiled.

Jack scratched the back of his head.

He never wanted a harem. There was no such thing in the game. But for some reason, the System included a harem when they got transported here. And none of the NPCs have found this weird.

Jack had a suspicion that this stemmed from him being a [Demon Lord]. Maybe [Demon Lords] in general have harems.

Jack wasn’t certain.

“So what’s your suggestion then?” he asked Pec.

“It would be inappropriate for me to give suggestions concerning the harem, my lord.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

“But if I were you… I wouldn’t want to come across as having favourites. The politics in the harem, I’ve heard, can be vicious. Your focus is much needed on guiding us through our new predicament.”

Jack nodded. “You speak wisely, Pec.”

Pec, whose face has been showing little emotion, smiled briefly. “Thank you, my lord.”

“You may leave. Make sure those minutes are sent to the archives.”

Pec left.

The last thing Jack wanted was to dive into harem politics. He didn’t want his life to resemble a historic k-drama show.

So Jack rang the bell on his table and dinner was soon served.

Outside his window, he could see lightning strikes and the howling of the wind made the window frames vibrate.

“Seems like the storm is bad outside,” Jack tried striking conversation with the servants standing by who were waiting for him to finish his dinner.

All these servants wore a white long sleeved shirt with black pants. They looked tidy and very professional in their attire.

One of them nodded at Jack’s comment. “It’s quite bad outside but we’re safe inside.”

And the conversation ended just like that.

Jack had a five course meal for dinner. He ended it with a delicious scoop of ice-cream with hazelnuts. Simply delicious.

The unfortunate thing is that they don’t have cows to produce fresh milk. Even with preservation magic, all the milk stored in the palace is likely to be the first item to spoil.

Once he was done and his table cleared, Jack returned to his bed.

His room lit up bright white followed by a thunderous clap.

The storm seemed to be getting worse. Anyway, he was safe in his room.

Jack closed his eyes and fell asleep.

…

“My lord… forgive me dearly for waking you up…”

Jack opened his eyes reluctantly. Was it morning already?

He felt so tired.

“My lord, please wake up.”

Jack sat up and looked at the individual who woke him up.

It was Leofric.

“Leofric? What’s the meaning of this?” Jack grumbled.

“My lord, I bring unfortunate news. One of the [Scouts] has gone missing. I believe she was returning to the palace and got lost whilst flying into a thunderstorm.”

Jack looked outside. The wind was still howling and lightning strikes appeared frequently.

“May you authorise me to go find her?” Leofric asked.

“It’s too dangerous out there. You’ll probably also get lost.”

“We can’t leave one of our own, my lord.”

Jack sighed. “No. I’ll go find her. My level is higher than yours. And I have the spell [Gate] to teleport me directly here after I’ve found her.”

Jack got out of bed.

“My lord, it’s unthinkable you’ll put your life in danger like that. Please send me instead.”

“My word is final.”

Jack opened his [Inventory] and put on a coat that would protect him from the rain and cold. Then he put on the Amulet of Resistance.

In general this amulet protects the wearer from elemental attacks. But his specific use of it now was to protect him from any potential lightning strikes.

While Leofric and then later on Isoldea tried talking Jack out of the idea, his mind was set.

He had the highest level of any one of them. He was more equipped dealing with the dangers of the storm.

“My lord, can you not rethink this. Maybe you can search for this [Scout] after the storm has calmed down,” Isoldea pleaded with him.

Jack shook his head. He made his way to the courtyard and [Summoned] a Griffin. He mounted the creature.

“Isoldea, you’re in charge of the palace while I’m out.”

The Griffin spreaded out its winds and propelled them up in the air.

Jack cast a Magic Sphere to protect the creature from possible lightning attacks. The only thing on Jack’s mind was quickly finding the [Scout] and returning back to bed immediately.

Leofric told Jack the general direction the [Scout] took off in. So now he had to retrace her steps.

The storm thundered angrily as he flew into it.