Peace and quiet. Without any pressing matters arising, I finally achieve true peace within my heart as even the dragon calms down. I need to balance my two sides, so now it's time for the human to be in full control.

I keep adding and removing points from [Summoning Magic] while I reflect on my knowledge of summoning. The mana training routine is so simple that I can do it on auto-pilot. It isn't a sub-process yet, but I believe that it'll gradually become one over time.

This kind of training is really slow at increasing our mana, so we'll have to do it every day if we ever want to even get close to someone like Grandpa Ryzek when we're older.

Back to Summoning, I start to compare the "intuition" the skill gives and quickly realize that it's similar to wormhole theory, as in, it's possible to punch a "hole" through the "fabric" of reality. The problem is that after that, things go… "abstract," and I can't make sense of it anymore.

A "wormhole" isn't an actual thing that exists or can be recreated through known physical phenomena/processes, making it something entirely magical. There's also the possibility that it violates some primordial law of reality, putting it in the same realm as my [Redirect Mana] when being used to interrupt spells.

Also, the skill provides zero information on this spell, so I can't even try to guess at what it's all actually about. Maybe at the capital, we could find some sort of clue…

"We actually do have to go to the capital sometime soon," Yunia suddenly points out, pulling us all out of our musings. "As the newest Crown Lords, we have to pay our respects to the emperor himself."

"Can it wait until after our wedding?" Alissa asks, worried that she'll have to change her preparations.

Yunia nods gently. "Yes, it can. We're advised to get our own territory under control first before we go to meet him."

Alissa smiles contently and returns to planning our marriage ceremony. She's thinking about all the guests we'll have to invite, then she suddenly frowns because of Hana's and Roxanne's parents.

"Can we have a simple ceremony with just us, and then a party later on when everyone's together?" I immediately suggest. It might take us too long to find Hana's parents, and we don't want them to miss the ceremony.

Hana's heart goes on an entire roller-coaster in a second, the coming depression immediately being blasted away by a high of happiness from my suggestion, then she shouts and earnestly pleads, "Yes! Can we, please? I want… I want my parents to see the exchange of our vows."

"That's acceptable. We might now be able to speed up Confiel's search by throwing our influence around, too," Yunia agrees, her calm demeanor not showing a hint of sadness at the mention of parents.

Neither does Aoi even bat an eye at it. She's so detached from her monster parents that she barely even remembers them anymore.

Then we turn to Roxanne, who seems to be growing increasingly distressed.

"We have to invite her. It'll be worse if we don't," Ciel advises her, then gets up and walks over to the tense succubus to give her a hug.

Of course, I take the opportunity to hug her too, and the situation quickly devolves into a cuddle puddle.

Roxanne deliberately nestles her head between Ciel's breasts, which slightly annoys Hana, but she lets it pass, this time.

Once everyone's comfortable, Yunia adds on another blow to Roxanne's will, "It'd also be proper if we met with her in person instead of just sending a letter. The [Eternal Gate] network extends into Xane, if my memory is correct, so it's now trivial for us to go there."

"Hnn~…" Roxanne whines like a sad dog.

"Why do you fear your mother?" Ciel asks with a very cautious and gentle tone as her fingers run through Roxanne's dark, silky hair.

"I don't exactly fear her, I'm just ashamed of suddenly going back since I never even wrote them a letter," she confesses.

I hug her body tighter while Ciel comforts her, "You'll have to meet her, sooner or later, but we'll be right there with you."

"You can't enjoy anal without stretching the asshole first," Hana wisely advises, and Ciel gives her a brief glare.

"Earthlings use the analogy of 'pulling a tooth,' but okay, I guess that one works, too," I mumble and chuckle.

"Well, Hana's right… I miss my Dad," Roxanne whimpers again and curls up into a ball while Hana gives Ciel a smug smile.

Ciel plays with her floppy horns and reassures her, "The actual ceremony will take a while, so you do have time to get used to the idea of meeting her." Then Roxanne nods slowly.

"How about we meet with everyone's parents? One visit per day," I happily suggest.

Lina suddenly lets out a sharp cry of surprise, "Ah! Can my parents be first, please?!" She desperately pleads.

Of course, nobody can say no to the anguished face she's making.

We all hum in agreement, and Lina lowers her head, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's just that they don't even know if I'm alive…" She meekly explains herself.

I reach over and pat her head with my claws, then I list out, "We'll visit Lina's parents first, then Alissa's, then Ciel's, then Roxanne's. How about that?"

"My parents?" Ciel questions confusedly.

I smile warmly at her and hold back a chuckle. "I mean, Arantos, the Head Priest, is kind of your dad."

Ciel scratches the back of her head embarrassedly as she mumbles, "Oh, yeah. Well, I was planning to suggest that we visit him, anyway."

"Let's wait for a few days to rest up, then we'll start visiting them all," Yunia suggests, and we all agree. Just two or three days to make sure that all the important matters are taken care of.

Our bill for using the [Eternal Gate]s to cross the continent multiple times might become expensive, even for us, but we won't be doing it for too long, so it's an acceptable expense.

Our morning continues on in silence. We only get a note from Sandoro reporting that there are multiple priests and a few commoners praying in front of the Shell, on Prasa de Ananci, where the divine beam of light shined down on us.

They're actually praying for us, which is a bit weird to think about, but I find it more amusing to think that if that plaza actually becomes a holy site or something like that, we might have to change its name. I'm not much of a history buff, but it does make me a bit giddy when I think about how we're making history and what my descendants might have to say about me.

Even a few Chimeras are seen praying, so I think Teresina is probably quite happy with how they're starting to convert.

Then, for lunch, we invite Oritiki and her husbands.

I wish I could watch her getting railed again and have some fun of my own or with one of the girls while I watch them. I found it to be a truly beautiful sight to see such a big, strong woman getting double-teamed by these two ripped guys.

"Well, I'm glad things haven't changed much," Oritiki suddenly blurts out.

"What?" I ask absentmindedly, breaking out of the spell that her cow tits cast upon me.

"The 'Divine Intervention.' I thought you'd be…" -She scratches her horn in thought- "I don't know, 'worshiped,' by the others." Then she shrugs.

"Oh, that," I hum, still a bit absentminded.

"Not everyone is that pious," Ciel responds with a gentle grin.

"So I should worship him, or something?" Oritiki probes further.

Ciel is taken by surprise and opens her eyes wide. "Wait, are you converting?"

Oritiki awkwardly gestures with a frown as she tries to articulate her thoughts, "Those were the Gods who did that… time stop? And the beam of light? If they do have some power over the realm, then maybe I should pay my respects to them?"

Stolen novel; please report.

Not-Thor agrees emphatically with her, confidently sharing his opinion, "Yeah. That 'event' was pretty intense. If the Humanoid Gods really are that active, then it makes no sense for us to ignore them."

Hey, that's the same reasoning as mine.

Rei, the warthog husband, exhales loudly, his large nostrils visibly flaring. "Their power over our Fate should be much stronger than their power over the physical realm, right?" He wonders with a stern tone.

"You don't really have much of a Thread for them to influence, though," Ciel points out.

But Yunia counterpoints, "Their Threads are still there, just cut. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use [Precognition] on them."

"If I throw a rock at you, would you be able to see it?" I blurt out a question.

"Yes, because the rock is still being affected by your Thread."

Well, that's rather interesting. I guess this is why the spell can see the actual weapons attacking her and not just the physical bodies wielding them.

"So, only something like a natural phenomenon could ever ambush you?" I question further, trying to be quick to not derail the conversation entirely.

Yunia nods gently then gives me a subtle smirk. "Or something that moves faster than I can react to."

Like me, heheh.

"Anyway, you said that their Threads are still there," I return the conversation back from my tangent.

"I don't know how the Gods manipulate our Threads, but I know that the Chimeras still have theirs, just 'cut,' somehow," Yunia repeats.

And Ciel clarifies, "The temple doesn't know precisely what having a 'cut' Thread means, so they want to prevent something bad from happening by encouraging the spirits to move on to Paradise. The Gods also don't like people forcing the spirits to remain in the realm, so it follows that it isn't exactly a good thing for them."

Then Oritiki expands on that point, "We do know that spirits can become 'evil' after staying in the realm for too long, like with the Vengeful Spirits you saw around Whakamutu."

"Or Fallen Aremut," Lina quietly adds.

"Gih," Gify chirps offhandedly.

"Or they merge with nature spirits," Oritiki repeats with a wry smile.

I hum in thought and point out, "Well, we don't know if all spirits that remain on land for too long become evil. I mean, you didn't."

Oritiki takes a sip of her cup and crosses her arms, forcing up those large, alluring, black tits. "Ah, I see. I guess that's true, but [Trap Soul] does make our spirits a lot more 'stable,' if the Spirit mages are right."

Ciel grins and proposes, "Well, you don't have to worship Wolfy, but it doesn't hurt to pray to Gods, does it?"

"Nope," Oritiki and her husbands all grunt in sync, then take a sip from their cups.

This talk makes Ciel delighted, but my sadism flares up, and I smirk evilly as I ask, "How's the [Soul Manipulation] progressing?"

Oritiki freezes, her cow face twitching as she holds back her emotions. "It's progressing," she answers with a hoarse voice, her tone full of pain.

Hana happily grins as she's reminded that she has the time to "help" with their training today.

Today, the elven veggies have been sauteed in not-sesame-seed oil, giving it that subtle and delicious taste of sesame. Yunia doesn't recognize the oil, so I guess it's one of Krysta's experimental dishes. It's really good, so no complaints here.

I'm really happy with how hard she tries to come up with something different for each meal, and I'll definitely fight the elven chefs if they ever have some beef with her.

In the afternoon, I have a meeting with the High Officers. I spare the girls from having to attend the boring office ritual, and they disperse, off to their own devices.

When I enter the meeting room, the Officers all stand up and bow. It's a bit odd, but Yunia advises me to not stop them so that they know that there's a certain "distance" between us.

I mean, I literally came inside Poosh while tongue kissing her and could've impregnated her if not for the Fertility Ring, but I guess I just have to keep sex and work separate.

I sit down and notice that only Silvano is missing, which Alcander immediately points out, "He's late," he grumbles in disapproval.

I glance at my pocket watch and calm him down, "I'm actually a bit early, so let's not be unreasonable."

"I'm of a mind to include Sir Silvano in the training with the rookie Lordsguard," Sandoro speaks his mind.

But I'm somewhat skeptical, "He hasn't done anything actually bad yet, but I'll agree to it when he deserves some 'punishment.'"

Sandoro obediently lowers his head and defers to my judgement, "As you wish, your Highness."

The dragon in me definitely approves of the honorific.

"Ah, yes. You can call us 'your Highness' or 'Lords' as you wish since our dynasty hasn't been recognized yet," I casually remark, then I turn my head towards Sai and smirk as I tease her, "Anyway, I'm actually jealous of you, Dame Sainalai. I couldn't even get the Mendecassa sisters to look at me during dinner."

Sai suddenly holds back a chuckle and grins widely. "Your Highness, the sisters were staring very intently at your… member when you pulled it out, and you also had quite a few beautiful women coming up to you, so it's not like you didn't have any fun yourself."

I lean back and flick with my wrist a bit snobbishly. "Well, yes. It's just that the sisters are on another level. They really make me excited."

Sai nods and closes her eyes as she reminisces, "Yes, those long fingers of theirs are very… dexterous." She sighs nostalgically and smiles faintly.

Sandoro and Alcander share a worried look while Almaria has a completely neutral expression and Poosh smiles warmly at us.

I stare at Sai, the memory of the sisters playing with her pussy and modest breasts is still very fresh in my mind… and now I really want to fuck her, too. Ciel even has to stop her casual sharing of thoughts with me because that memory is actually making her quite horny.

"Until I have a taste of the sisters myself, I'll treasure the memory of you and them together quite fondly," I calmly state.

And at that, she giggles softly like the vixen she is. "Please do," she coos, her voice a pitch higher.

Oof. I'm definitely going for this loli, too.

Then Silvano comes in a minute later, smirking like the daredevil he is, and the narrowed eyes of reproval from half of the Officers blunts his attitude a bit.

I clear my throat and begin the inescapable, dreary, ritual, "This is the first regular meeting between the Lord and the High Officers. To start, please tell me what you're all working on."

"I'm training the mages in [Ritualism] so that they'll be able to use siege spells," Alcander starts.

And Silvano follows, immediately sounding very bored, "I'm training the Terraformers."

"I'm working with the Nature mages to improve the Sky Docks and carve your heraldry all over the castle," Almaria categorically asserts.

"I'm working with the Chimeras and the priests to give them a better, combat-related [Solidify]," Sai happily reports.

Poosh's tone is a bit serious and deliberate, which seems a bit unusual for her. "I'm… 'training,' the influx of female staff to a new standard that I'm establishing," she calmly declares and adjusts her round glasses.

Her wording worries me a bit. "As long as it's all 'voluntary'…" I try to articulate, but I don't really know how to properly advise her right now.

"It'll all be under the watch of the Gods," Poosh assures me, and I decide to observe her work for a little longer to see what she'll do before trying to discuss this matter further.

After scratching my horn awkwardly, I turn my eyes to Sandoro and motion for him to continue.

He's earnest and very pleased with himself, smiling proudly as he says, "I'm integrating the Chimeras with our forces. The spirit soldiers, pilots, and Celestial Horns all require different protocols to become truly effective in warfare."

"I see…" I grab my chin in thought.

I try to get the Officers to work together, such as having Sai talk with Sandoro about what, exactly, he needs from [Solidify], then I "encourage" Silvano to engage more with the exercises by "suggesting" that he spar with Hana. I also talk about the girls' projects, like Alissa's desire for illusion mages, Roxanne's alchemical needs, Lina's airship industry, and Aoi's metallurgy.

There are a few concepts regarding leadership that we need to iron out. Sai may be a researcher, but she has the least experience actually leading people, so she needs to be prepared for actual warfare even though she's just a Spirit mage.

It's mentally draining having to guide people so that they work together, but it frees up Yunia's workload by a lot, so I'll gladly do this for her.

With all those topics addressed, I broach the last one, switching my tone to be deadly serious, "One last thing. Soon, I'll be trying out a very dangerous spell, and I'll want all of the High Mages to participate to help me contain it in case things go wrong."

"What spell?" Alcander immediately asks, his curiosity piqued, just a split second before Silvano can ask the same thing.

"It's a lost spell of [Summoning Magic], but I don't know much about what it does."

Alcander frowns and shares a confused look with Silvano as he questions, "How did you learn to cast a spell that you know so little about…?"

But Silvano presses me with another question, his eyes wild and excited, before I can even answer the first one, "Is it related to your Gift?"

I nod subtly, maintaining an impassive expression. "Yes. It's why I know so little about it."

Poosh and Sandoro aren't mages, so they can't help out with the experiment, but they're still very interested in it regardless. I assume it's because of the words "danger" and "Gift," respectively.

"What will our purpose be, exactly?" Almaria questions, seemingly the one with the most professional demeanor right now.

"Interrupting it. Whatever happens, the spell must not be completed," I seriously warn them.

"Ominous…" She hums grimly.

I can't hold back my smirk. I don't want to explain everything about my Gift, but it does end up sounding pretty ominous from how I've described it so far. "Indeed. It's really dangerous, which is why we'll prepare as many safety measures as we can."

"Is it really necessary to cast this spell?" Sandoro asks, his face stiff as he tries to hold back his disapproval.

"Yes. I've been guided to it by the Gods," I calmly state, and that settles some of their tension while also feeding their curiosity.

Sandoro rubs his chin in thought, now a lot more open to the experiment than before. "I see… Shouldn't we ask for the help of the priests, too?"

I shake my head and dismiss that suggestion, "Any information about this is too sensitive to involve outsiders, and Ciel can handle whatever healing might be necessary. Also, I'm only telling you all about this experiment because you're my Blood Slaves; it's that secretive."

He lowers his head respectfully and backs down, "As you wish, your Highness."

Then I turn to Almaria. "We'll use your [Interruption Field] since it's stronger than Yunia's, but we also have to make sure that it won't accidentally kill me since I have [Mana Body], so I want to start testing that out with you as soon as possible."

She subtly nods, completely composed and professional, then I glance at Sai as I add, "And your soul healing, too."

The cute loli excitedly agrees, and we wrap up the meeting.

I take them both to an empty room to moles-… test out the Field with them.

Conclusion: it works, perfectly so, but it hurts so much that I don't hold a shred of doubt about it being able to kill me. Like, Jesus fucking Christ on a bike playing with a kite. It. Fucking. Hurts!

Oh, yes, it also interrupts any spell that I try to use without a problem, so I don't think the other safety measures will actually be necessary, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Sai's little hands gently touch my chest as her spirit hands massage me. Having this cute little loli giving me a worried look as she heals me almost makes it all worth it, almost.

I don't even have Gify here to help with the pain because she won't get anywhere near the blood circle of a [Disruption Field], so I instead rely on the girls to comfort me a bit. I've also confirmed that I'm definitely not a masochist.

We put a stop to the testing early, and I spend the rest of my day cuddling with Alissa and Ciel to heal the echoes of pain from my mind.