Mad scientist… get, I guess?

Eh, we'll force him to go through the Seekers and let them judge whether or not Aisco is ready to become a Blood Slave. Right now, I'm too fascinated by the javelin shooters to worry about him.

We recovered eight of these monsters. They are huge cannons made with the legendary glossy brown alloy darksteel and enchanted with a head-sized Fire gem at the base of the barrel. The bore is so wide and long that two adult dragonkin could lay down inside it, and the gem so densely packed with mana that it would make the Chimera proud.

While fearsome and powerful, it's an over-engineered piece of shit. The cannon needs to be made entirely out of darksteel so that it doesn't explode when it fires; the javelins also have to be reinforced with a darksteel core and even buffed with the [Reinforce] Blessing spell, otherwise, they get blown to pieces by the explosive force of the propulsion or the drag created by their not very aerodynamic shape; and the javelins use a disposable Fire gem at the base of their shaft for even more propulsion, but it shatters on use.

These weapons are expensive even for us, but for a Wicked man with a (rather justified) paranoia about security and more money than he knows what to do with, this weapon system is quite reasonable. It's not like the Wicked expected to use it twice, so even the cannon itself could've been made disposable, but I believe the leader mage occasionally played around with them. The cannon's durability was likely designed to be astronomically high just because of that.

We won't be able to use them even for our castle's defenses since they're way too dangerous, too inflexible with their use, and too big of a target in case of an attack. What they're good at, though, is killing Lords. They can go through [Wind Shield] and most types of armor while leaving little time for any kind of reaction, so if we or the golems use it with [Equip], we'll have an instant-kill trump card.

The idea appeals to me so much that I order three more to be constructed for Hana, Ted, and Suzy.

We also recovered fourteen [Abyssal Fire] flamethrowers, and it's quite simple to adapt them to be handheld, so we all get one. They aren't made to be reusable since the nozzle is gradually consumed with use, but Lina recruits our enchanters, and they immediately get to work on a fix for that issue.

Since we defeated the High Circle ourselves, we get all their loot, but aside from their staves, there isn't much else that's exceptionally valuable or ridiculously eccentric like the javelin shooters. We recover plenty of gnomic [Fire Arrow] auto-crossbows and other, assorted, simple defensive enchantments, but we'll gift them to the villages in our territory as part of our social programs since they'll benefit more from those things than we will.

The rest of the loot, such as their vault, research, and materials, are split with the Templars, though they give up their share of the materials in exchange for more coins. The research will be shared openly, so it isn't counted as part of the negotiations.

We also set apart some of the loot found in Glorampina in case Herbaco asks for a share of it later on.

And with that, we end Operation Extinguisher, then Hana and Roxanne come back from the negotiations to have lunch.

Hana sighs tiredly and massages her neck muscles. "Okay, negotiating with nobility is a lot harder than fighting them," She remarks wryly.

"You didn't negotiate with actual nobles," I point out, then I grow some tentacles to massage her shoulders for her.

The sight and touch of my tentacles have conditioned her to expect lewdness, so she moans sensually, and her lower parts starts to get warmer as obscene images flood her mind.

"Yeah, well… the Templars… act almost… like… nobles…" She slowly replies, enjoying the massage very much.

"Hey, hey, me too," Roxanne calls out, and I delightfully obey.

Ciel stares at the tentacles absentmindedly, but I ignore her for now. I want her to ask for it.

"It'll never stop being hard, but you'll get used to it," I comfort Hana as I extend a tentacle around her face and part her lips, then I invade her mouth and wrestle with her aggressive tongue. She smiles fearsomely and gives me a look that says that after this meal, she'll return my caresses in her own way.

"Gods, you've been so caring lately that my womb is demanding your seed!" She exclaims through [Bind].

"I absolutely hate it when others harm my women," I casually reply in kind.

"Except when you do it."

I nod. "Except when I do it."

"Hngrr~!" She moans and growls sensually at the same time, and her legs start rubbing against each other.

"Wolfy also finds it hard to speak to other nobles, so it's good that we're starting to share his burden," Alissa sagely declares.

"Which is also a burden to me," Yunia points out, sounding a bit bothered.

"You do enjoy acting haughty and being mean to others, though," Alissa retorts cheekily.

And Yunia snorts snobbishly. "It's still a lot of work."

"Fair enough."

While we talk, Aoi stuffs her face with the roasted meat while everyone else favors the soups, instead.

After lunch, Hana steals me away and gives my body a thorough loving. Since she's so violent, both of us tire out quickly, and after a short rest, the time to continue the exploration of the folder of Cycles finally comes!

This time, Mimi and Istante, our quartermaster, are present to discuss the allocation of funds and the founding of the Royal Land Engineers division that will build infrastructure throughout the High Forest. Dawn of Fire was quite rich, so we have some starting capital for the Shell project.

"What is this spell…?" Istante asks, mesmerized by the exotic mana exuding from me.

"I don't think we should ask…" Mimi wryly replies.

Istante pales and bows at a right angle. "Y-yes! I apologize for my insolence," she stiffly announces.

And Mimi stifles a chuckle. "I also don't think you need to apologize so strongly."

Istante raises her head, and her eyes meet with Ciel's kind pair as her angelic face is graced with a warm smile, then the stern elven woman swallows heavily and blushes as she straightens again.

"We're very easygoing, for Lords, so don't worry too much about such things," Ciel appeases her.

Istante nods diligently and states, "Thank you, and I apologize for apologizing." Then she flashes a smile.

"Good, you're already learning," Almaria praises her kindly, and the atmosphere remains casual for a while before the talk of business dries up our humor.

Silvano is uncharacteristically quiet. After every High Officer gave him "that look" during the after-action report, he started acting as would befit someone of his station, though we're sure that it'll only last for a short while, and then he'll go right back to being the cheeky bastard that he truly is.

The fact that he actually agreed to train with the rookie Lordsguard for a half-cycle pleases me greatly, too. Nobody puts my Companions at unnecessary risk like that. They're mine and Hana's pseudo-harem, so they're the last of our soldiers who could be treated as disposable.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

As I continue strolling through the Cycles, I notice that the Realms are going from abstract paintings to white noise. It's like the "energy" is congregating into something that vaguely reminds me of galaxies, very clustered galaxies.

Then I see them move. The dots blink, merge, separate, or move in circular patterns, creating kaleidoscopic patterns of colors that mesmerize me for a short while.

Maybe they're planets, maybe they're atoms, maybe they're planet-sized balls of energy developing gravity after the Big Bang. Considering how old Rupegia is, I don't think these Realms are young unless the folder was sorted by new first and I've been going down towards older Cycles.

It suddenly strikes me that these Realms remind me of John Conway's Game of Life with the way the "energies" move. There seems to be some sort of logic to them, but I don't really want to spend too long investigating these Cycles, so I move on, and the following Cycles soon stop moving, becoming remarkably similar to galaxies again as a black, empty void starts to grow between the clusters of "energy."

But the clusters continue to grow smaller, becoming little dots of light as more and more of the dark void occupies the leftover space, then the dots disappear, and all I see is darkness.

I stop to investigate these dark Realms, and while they still give me the feeling of "incompatibility," I sense that I can "expand" them endlessly. My cone of view doesn't enlarge, it's just that I can sense its "borders" growing further and further away.

Then I start to see the little dots of "energy" again, and I realize that I've just been "zooming in" on the Realms, not "expanding" them.

As I move on to the next Cycle, the "zoom" level remains, so I continue to "zoom" at the same time as I "scroll" through the Cycles, and the dots of energy start to grow instead of shrink.

They "grow" at an excruciatingly slow pace, though.

As time passes and the end of the day approaches, I decide to focus on zooming just to see what the little clusters of energy look like from close up.

Then we receive word that the Gilbiks have arrived.

I immediately force Roxanne to interrupt the spell before Lina can tell us to continue. Showing the Gilbiks the respect that they deserve is more important than this.

It did seem like the cluster of energy I was getting closer to was just a star-like mass of energy, too.

We only have to wait in the Hub Room of the castle for just a minute, then the door to the Imperial Network opens, and a thick dwarven man in full shining plate comes through, followed by a dwarven mage and the three very stiff Gilbiks, who are wearing such lavish and cute clothes that Lina is certain that they were gifted them from the Lord who housed them for these past few days.

The dwarven knight and the mage stop before us, then they perform the standard imperial salute by clenching their fists over their chests. "Crown Lords, I'm here to deliver the esteemed Gilbik family into your care," the knight soberly announces.

"We welcome them into our home. Thank you for taking care of them," Yunia politely replies.

The knight nods, and the mage pulls out multiple trunks in front of us, then they salute again and leave.

Lina rushes towards her parents and pulls them into a hug. "You came!" She exclaims happily.

"Of course we did," Omume replies matter-of-factly.

Fuda also joins in, with a bit of awkwardness, and after a warm moment, the four of them break the hug.

"We have a mansion prepared for you in the inner ring, I'll take you there," Ciel offers with an angelic tone, almost gushing from seeing our little wife so happy.

"Mansion…?" Toulin repeats stiffly, and Lina preemptively lands a hand on her mother's back in case she faints again.

Ciel smiles apologetically. "It's not the largest mansion of the inner ring, so you shouldn't be too overwhelmed, but we only have mansions to offer you."

"T-thank you, and please, lead the way," Omume takes over before his wife can pass out.

Lina gently pushes her mother forward, and she starts walking with wobbly steps, then they immediately begin talking about their stay with the dwarven Lord to take their minds off of the astonishingly drastic change in lifestyle that they're going through.

With the Gilbiks here now, we'll be increasing Mimi's workload a bit more since we have to prepare an enchanting workshop for them. We'll give them a loan with zero interest to get them started, and then we'll sell the rights to my table football and air hockey sets to them.

Though they're going to be part of our clan, we'll keep our finances mostly separated from theirs so that the Tribunal won't have reason to complain. The benefits of being in our clan will be more than just financial security, so much more.

Without anything else to do, I decide to kill time by modeling the doll golems' faces.

The girls have occasionally dived into my memories of Earth (with Gify's help) in search of cute girls to inspire them as they imagine what the golems should look like, and I think we've settled on designs which we can all agree on.

Ted will be a brown-skinned, curly-haired, bear-eared cute girl, while Suzy will be Lina's pale, red-eyed, vampire sister. Of course, they're both going to be lolis, so Ciel's input was quite valuable here.

For Jarn, Yunia had the strongest reaction to the ideas since the golem wears her face, so it had to be something magnificent, and since we already have quite a lot of draconic influence in our family, we decided to go for the second most common animal that tends to be chosen to represent pride, the lion. A mane-like hair similar to Hana's that ends in small drills, a cute, bushy lion tail, and round, furry ears all resonate with Jarn's bimbo-ness, bringing her closer to the perfect female body.

Though the final form of the golems has now been decided on, their bodies are still made of metal, so they're hard and inflexible, and their faces are unemotive. We need to start researching how to give them flesh bodies so that I can fuck them.

And for that, I call for Almaria.

"I think you should leave the organization of the Royal Land Engineers to Alcander. At most, you should evaluate the skill of the candidates, but your expertise will be best applied somewhere else," I start with the rationalization for my proposal.

"And where would that 'somewhere else' be?" She astutely asks as she immediately catches on to my implication.

"I want you to create fleshy bodies for the golems that I can hug, kiss, and have sex with," I bluntly lay it all out.

She doesn't even react, and I'm not sure whether that's good or bad, but she just becomes pensive as she hums in thought, then she glances at the golems, who are slowly molding their metal heads through [Manipulate Metal]. "I assume you want them to look like humanoids, right?" She tentatively asks.

I nod and let my tail sway strongly as the awkwardness takes control of it. "Yes, but I… have sex with dryads, so I don't mind if they look like one of them or even a nature elemental. Consider a perfectly humanoid body as the end goal with a body that's a least 'sex-able' and mildly attractive as the minimum."

She stares at me inexpressively as she continues, "We also have to consider ways to deal with damage from the repeated use of [Clean], wear and tear, and slicing and piercing."

"Yes…" I stiffly reply with a nod.

"And the body needs to be supple, tender, and lubricated."

I nod again. "Yes, and also, I want the face to be able to move in humanoid-like ways so that it can show emotions."

"Hm…" She hums in thought, then a smile creeps up on her face. "I assume I'll also be modeling their genitals?"

But I mask my emotions and remain stoic. "Only for the doll golems. Jarn's body is already fully modeled as a combination of parts coming from three of my wives."

She raises an eyebrow, then she turns her head and stares at Jarn for a long moment. "No penises?"

I smile subtly. "No… Jarn actually has a few, and though they're all modeled after mine, there's hardly any need for them when the real thing is so much better," I fail to stop myself from bragging.

Then she raises the other eyebrow and turns back to me. "Uh-huh…" She hums dryly, and I almost blush, almost.

"What are your thoughts on this project?" I coolly question.

She adjusts her small round glasses on her cute little nose. "Doable, but the maintenance of such bodies will be expensive and delicate."

"Perhaps we can teach the golems to do that themselves?"

Jarn's red-hot head suddenly turns towards us a bit creepily. "Yes, that'd be ideal," she remarks as she continues to mold her hair.

But Almaria frowns softly. "I thought they were terrible with [Nature Magic]."

I smile wryly and suggest, "Perhaps, but as long as you can explain how their bodies work through math and logic, they should be able to maintain it themselves."

She averts her eyes and enters deep thought. "Hm…"

"Our magical talent lays strictly in the recreation of mana-less, natural phenomena," Ted explains, but Almaria doesn't seem to fully understand what she means yet.

So I start to elaborate, "If you can explain how the plants grow, their internal structure, which nutrients they require and such, maybe they can bridge the gap of knowledge themselves."

Then Almaria brightens up and nods. "I see. If I stick to traditional plants instead of the more mystical and exotic varieties, I can explain how they work in detail."

"Do you have something in mind?"

She pulls out a light green piece of not-paper and a mini-palm-leaf not-quill with a *poof*, then she starts making notes as she lists them off, "Succulents for the flesh, rubbery sap for skin, watery sap for saliva, perfumed flower oil glands to lubricate the genitals, and wood for bones. It's only the facial muscles that will be difficult to recreate since plants don't really move without magic."

The not-paper actually grows as she writes, becoming longer and longer like a scroll while the not-quill pulsates as it produces more and more black ink, and I stare at them with curiosity as I find these kinds of magical gadgets to be quite intriguing.

I continue to deliberate as my eyes remain glued to the not-quill, "Perhaps they don't need muscles since they move in the same way that an earth elemental does, but I think their expressions would probably require a degree of control that isn't really common in their daily lives, so something to 'guide' their movements would be useful, like if the grain of wood matched the grain of the muscles."

"God-Ruler Arreira taught us how to move with precision," Ted begins doing their thing.

"And though expressions will be new to us," Suzy follows up, like always.

"It doesn't seem to be impossible," Jarn finishes.

"I see…" Almaria breathes without taking her eyes off her notes, then she suddenly stops and slowly raises her eyes to meet mine. "Your Highness, you have [Mana Body], correct?"

I nod.

"Then I could add a function to convert your magically-charged semen into energy for bodily repair," she flatly proposes.

"That's an excellent idea," I calmly reply, then we flash a smile at each other.