...

Later evening, Alexander's Bathhouse

After their rendezvous, all Cold-Snout girls were excited to share their experiences. Still, it became so hot over the day that staying inside one of their rooms was almost unbearable. As such, they quickly went to Alexander's bathhouse to get the sweat off them and cool down a little.

"Why is the Leonandra fief so warm?! It feels no different than a smithy, and did I imagine it, or did it become hotter as it became darker?!" Matilda said as she sniffed Alexander's herb paste. She smiled while using it on her hair and fur.

On the other side of the Bathhouse was Emma, shampooing Vanessa's hair while looking annoyed at her, "The Leonandra fief always has a month or two where it gets hot, and the weather suddenly becomes warmer during the night."

Vanessa tried to look up, but Emma pressed her head back, "Don't! We have no idea how much Alex's paste burns if it gets in your eyes! The last thing I want to do is to get a healer because you got blind..." After getting scolded, she tried to wrap her tail around Emma, but it got pushed away, "...it's wet and feels yucky."

Vanessa peeked at her sister, finding her behavior weird, "Everything okay? Did Alex do something to you?"

Emma frowned, "No..." Matilda interrupted her, smirking, "...she obviously fell in love." After saying that, she poured a bucket of water over herself, washing off the paste.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow when looking at Matilda, who still smirked, and back to Emma, tilting her head slightly to glance at her, "That's not true, right..." She could see how much her sister blushed, "...no way."

Matilda came over and put down two full buckets of water beside them, "Is it so weird, though? I like him, too."

Emma looked at both interchangeably, frowning, "I like him, but I am not in love, and he needs to be changed a lot before becoming someone worthy."

Vanessa tried again to look at her more closely, seeing how much her tail waddled around, opening her eyes widely in disbelief, "You really fell..." Emma interrupted her, sounding increasingly annoyed, "...don't."

While Matilda was slowly going inside the pool and sitting down to relax, she casually remarked, "What's the big deal? He has Dad's blood. We can share him, but I will not be the first one, not my forté."

Vanessa also shook her head, "Me neither... I would rather do what Iris is doing. What was it called again?"

Matilda leaned back, stretching slightly, "I think she is a musician and gives concerts for free for commoners."

"That's right, but I think I will become the fir... brbrbrbr..." Before Vanessa could continue, Emma took a bucket and poured the water over her, which made her cough.

Vanessa looked at her, confused, "What is your problem?!"

While going to the pool, Emma poured the last bucket over her and went inside nonchalantly. While her sisters stared at her, she clicked her tongue in annoyance and looked back at them, "I also really like him."

It was silent till Matilda and Vanessa started to laugh, "What's so funny?"

Matilda smirked at her, "So, you wanna be the first wife?"

While Vanessa also entered the pool carefully, she nodded at Emma, "I am fine with it, too. It's too much for me."

Emma stretched her legs out and crossed them, pressing them a little too hard together while looking down at her hands as she moved the water around, "I also want to, but there is the one from the Nine-Fire household. What's her name?"

Matilda immediately remembered, "Patricia, and she is a psycho. She only talked about Alex and nothing else."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I could smell that she is not made for a harem and would rather poison us before we touch him."

Vanessa snuggled closer to Emma, "Don't worry. She is even younger than me, and after the assassination attempt, everyone would be a little crazy, but I could sense that she is a good person."

Matilda shrugged, "So? I am sure she will be fine with it. Alex is our cousin, so it should be fine..." Her smile widened slightly, "...I really like him, and if everything goes well, I want to take him. There are not many who are like him."

Emma shook her head, "We need to first talk with Patricia..." She looked at Vanessa and Matilda before sighing, "...the last thing we need is to start a fight with a psycho who is training under the Slaughterer..." She shivered slightly, "...let's send her a letter while bonding with Alex. How does it sound?"

Matilda nodded, "Sounds good, but you will write it."

"Yes... " Vanessa nodded while sliding slowly down till her mouth was concealed with water.

"This is the saddest and best rendezvous I ever had." Said Emma, as she relaxed slightly.

There was suddenly a solemn silence between them, a rare occurrence considering that gossip was their household's favorite pastime. This made them all professionals when talking about nonsense for hours. Yet, when they all looked at each other, seeing their frowns and wrinkles, they burst out in laughter.

It was weird for them since all three liked Alexander and saw themselves, if everything would continue like before, to make it something more. For Emma, he was a charming and intelligent boy whom she could groom into something she imagined would be a perfect husband. Vanessa wanted only to be close to him and enjoy her life as much as possible. For Matilda, it just felt right. She needed no other reason.

However, because of Patricia, it all became odd. She was an outsider, and everybody knew it would be hard for her to let go of her ways. The Nine-Fire household was notorious for its pursuit of men since it had many more females than males. As such, they also developed an annoying quirk of not sharing them, guarding them like they were made of porcelain should they find someone.

Funnily enough, it was the opposite regarding some insect-kin subraces, where women were a rare good. There, harems also existed, but the other way around. How did they know this? Even though they were not nobility, since insect-kin had none, they copied their household's etiquette and held strong connections with them.

After the refreshing laugh, Emma frowned even more. "So, what should we do if she declines?"

Vanessa raised her head from under the water, sounding much more confident than usual, "Let's be honest and make a deal. She should come around earlier or later."

Matilda sighed heavily, "You didn't spar with her. She is a maniac, almost killing me, and you want to use diplomacy?"

Vanessa looked at her, raising an eyebrow, "I never got how you could find out so much about a person because of a spar."

Matilda smirked at her, "How one usually fights tells me who they are since no weird etiquette is involved. It's just a fight between warriors!"

"Isn't Alex a mage, though?"

Matilda shrugged, "Mages can be warriors, right?"

Vanessa shook her head, "I don't think s..." Emma suddenly interrupted her, who clapped once, sounding serious, "Don't change the topic! I will write the letter, but we must stand against her together! Shoulder to shoulder like a real family!"

Vanessa sniffed in her direction, smiling lovingly at her, "Love."

Matilda laughed before Emma could say anything, blushing intensely, "Haha! Even without a skill, you could figure it out!"

Emma stood up, looking down at them angrily, "So?! What if?! He is the only one who isn't a moron! I don't want to suffer through dozens of balls and rendezvous with some idiots who can't even have simple conversations about policies!..." She became even angrier, "...I don't care about Patricia! There are not a lot of boys out there who can match me, and I am not ready to choose one who is far below me!"

She kicked the water, only to slip and fall, followed by her sisters' laughter. After that little outburst and laughter, Vanessa was the first to calm her down, "Emma, if you really want Alex that much, I will stand behind you, okay?"

Matilda punched her chest once, "Don't worry. I like him enough to give you my support for whatever you want to do with the psycho!"

Emma blushed, nodding at them, "Thanks..."

While Vanessa and Matilda liked Alexander, it didn't mean they couldn't find someone else. They had far fewer ambitions and needs than their little sister, who always had problems with other boys because they couldn't match her intelligence. As such, they would stay with her, as they would be much more impactful together than she alone.

However, what would Alexander want? It didn't matter. The Cold-Snouts always believed that men had no right to decide for their future household. If they loved someone else, just get them into the harem, but otherwise, they were absolute in their female centricity when it came to personal affairs.

It was dismissive toward men, but their strict household norm worked so far perfectly. Their husband's opinions didn't matter as they knew best. Outside, they would listen to him, but that's it. Inside their household, the husband was nothing more than a symbolic figure with no say. Their opinions were absolute.

So was their Father, who was also wooed into the Cold-Snout household and given the position of Lord. Cecilia told them the story of how she had groomed him the moment he entered their household to train his sword arts. They all found it cute and romantic. Seeing Alexander also as someone, they wanted to do the same as the Lady of the Cold-Snout household to their Father, especially Emma, who had already made her plans for the following rendezvous to educate him slowly and steadily.

...

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Later that night, Vanessa's Guest Room

"Hot."

"Too hot!"

"Why is it getting hotter?!"

After the refreshing bath and sisterly talk, which ended in what one could describe as a united front against Patricia, it felt like someone threw the sun at them when they came out of the bathhouse. Unbearable was the wrong word to describe the Outer Circle they were enduring, as even their water vaporized before their eyes. At least they could've sworn it did.

However, they all had unique ways of dealing with it. Matilda, for example, stood naked by the open window, letting the air cool her up, "I can't believe they live like this."

Emma had a fan and waved at herself while breathing audibly, trying to use any skills she could as her body was the weakest, having the lowest heat resistance, a skill she, fortunately, leveled up in the last hour five times, "I thought it would lighten up later at night, but it got worse."

Vanessa was the only one who didn't use any skills, to her detriment. She lay motionless on the bed, sweating through the mattress and obviously in delirium, "Sweat, hm... do you think Alexander likes to..."

Emma interrupted her, "Please don't. I remember Grandma talking about Grandpa's preferences, and I would like not to be part of something like this."

Vanessa turned her head slightly, blushing. It could also be a heat stroke, but it was impossible for her sisters to tell the difference, "Let's visit him," she said.

Matilda clicked her tongue, sounding annoyed, "I wish, but he probably only just now finished talking with Nila and the Monster. He is probably dead tired."

Emma said stoically, "Yeah, we came a bit earlier than expected. We are fortunate enough that he is meeting us at all."

They should've arrived in a week but were much faster than usual since the weather was dry and easy to get through. If it had rained even once, they would've needed to stay in some inns for a few days, but it never happened. While it was nice not to sleep on some commoner's beddings in rural villages, it also meant that it was somewhat awkward to arrive so early, especially when the host had his hands full with other visitors who were, in their opinion, more important.

It was also a surprise to all of them that he had meetings with them at all, except for Emma, who needed to explain to her sisters that it was to expand Alexander's charity and other projects. If a noble wanted to muddle in another territory, one needed either a strong connection or agreement beforehand. Otherwise, it would lead to political tensions, never mind how good faith the project, business, or whatever was.

Vanessa ignored them, trying to feel her tongue as she touched her teeth and fangs slightly, blushing, "He is nice."

Vanessa's sisters rolled their eyes, clearly seeing that she was getting more delirious and weird as she didn't use any skills. Worse, when Matilda sniffed the air, she frowned, "Can you bring her something to cool down? The heat is slowly getting to her and..." When she turned around, glancing at Vanessa, she sighed heavily, "...she is sweating through her damn tail."

Emma looked at her, shrugging, "She was always a mimosa. She will be fine."

Vanessa chuckled while moving her wet tail, "Huhu, hehe, hihi... what laughter is more cute?"

Both ignored her, with Matilda trying to change the topic, "By the way, what do you actually do here? The Lady is pretty protective, so we can't visit Wolfsteeth with Alex, right?"

Emma humphed and smiled joyfully, "Even better. We can concentrate on ourselves without visiting some annoying theaters. I have had enough of those plays about royalty and how sad they all are. If I see one more time how all those sissies from central Mal-Gil act, I will lose it."

Matilda nodded, agreeing, "Never understood why they were all weak in the first place. Killing some bandits or monsters is not that hard."

Vanessa barely audibly joined their discussion, not all there, "I want to be saved by a heeeeeroooo! I am jealous of Patty... why don't I get attacked by assassins?!"

Her sisters rolled their eyes again. Vanessa was trying to level her [Heat Resistance] up as much as possible so she wouldn't sweat through her precious dresses in the following days. They had enough, though, and were about to drag her to the nearby pond and throw her inside so she would cool down, as she was acting too weirdly.

However, before it could happen, someone knocked on the door. An annoyed voice was heard from outside, "My name is Cloelle, and I am Mr. Alexander's servant. I came with a present. May I come in?"

They looked at each other, only for Emma to say instinctively, "Sure."

But as the door opened, Matilda screamed, "Wait! I am naked!"

While being naked was not too frowned upon in itself, it was only so for commoners and between family members. Etiquette for nobles and their servants stated that one shouldn't do it, as part of it was copied from other races and cultures, seeing it as more proper. Thus, most of the estate wore much more clothing than those in Wolfsteeth, where commoners would cover up mostly their private parts while such a heatwave was ongoing.

However, such etiquette wasn't only followed by nobility as many tried to copy them, like their names or fashion styles. Because of that, many loved to wear open summer dresses as the Lady did at the estate or choose the same names as their rulers did for their puppies. Because of that, many Alexanders or Alexandras were running around, for example.

The door stopped, and Cloelle sounded as if she were holding her laughter back, "I know, Ms. Matilda. Everyone in the estate can see you. Thus, the present from Mr. Alexander."

While Matilda tried to put on her sweaty gown while blushing, Cloelle seemed to have enough and opened the door. She entered with a large serving trolley. She brought it to the middle of the room and went to the window, closing it, "Don't let the heat inside. It feels suffocating."

Emma shrugged, "We don't have such hot weather in our territory."

Cloelle nodded to her, obviously ignoring them, and went over to the trolley. Vanessa straightened up and stared at it as a waterfall of sweat flowed down her forehead, "Alex brought us a gift?!"

"Yes, first of all, my dear young Ladies..." They chuckled a little at that joke, "...Mr. Alexander prepared for you lemonade."

She opened the tray on the upper compartment of the serving trolley and gave everyone a glass of lemonade with some ice cubes. They looked at it suspiciously, but Vanessa was the first to taste it, shivering slightly and smiling, feeling relaxed, "So sweet!"

Emma and Matilda looked at her and also tasted it, feeling much more refreshed. Emma asked curiously, "Plundering the ice box while such a heat wave was ongoing? Will Alex be okay?"

Cloelle took two massive jugs from under the serving trolley, one filled to the brim with ice cubes and a spatula sticking out and the other with lemonade, and put them on the small table inside the room, "Mr. Alexander is a mage and made all the ice cubes himself..." She smiled at them, "...so please do not worry, and please enjoy his gift."

They opened their eyes wide, but before saying anything, Cloelle looked around, clearly confused, "Will you all sleep together?"

Matilda drank the lemonade out, clearly not liking the sweet taste. Thus, she put only ice cubes in her glass while answering, "Depends. If this will stay here, I will, too."

Emma nodded while sipping, "Absolutely..." She looked toward the lower compartment of the serving trolley, seeing a metallic bucket with smoke coming out, "...may I ask what this is?" she said, pointing at it.

Cloelle ignored her. She put on two leather gloves, took two thick towels, wrapped them around the bucket, and moved them into the middle of the room, "My young Ladies, please give me a second, and you will see..." After putting down the bucket, she threw the towels over her shoulder and started concentrating, closing her eyes.

After a few seconds, she opened them again and said something the girls didn't understand. A weak wind blew around the bucket and into the whole room. It became suddenly much colder, making it much more endurable.

Vanessa looked first at the bucket and then at Cloelle, "You can also do magic?!"

Cloelle nodded with a tiring smile while glancing to the side how Matilda closed in onto the bucket only for the maid to yell at her, "Stop! Nobody will touch it! It is very dangerous, and you could lose your limbs!"

Matilda immediately stopped and smiled sheepishly at Cloelle, "Got it."

Cloelle nodded at them, "I need to excuse myself since I need to visit the Silver-Tail Lord and Ms. Nila."

Before she left, Vanessa screamed at her, "Could you please pass on to Alex that we are very thankful for his present?"

Cloelle turned around and smiled at them proudly, "Thank you, but Mr. Alexander is already sleeping. Please do it yourself in the morning. He will surely be happier to hear it directly from such adorable Ladies..." She nodded again slightly, "...if you excuse me."

After the door closed, they immediately moved closer to the bucket and started chatting through half the night while enjoying their lemonade. However, while Vanessa was getting as close as possible to the bucket while holding a glass full of ice to her forehead, and Matilda was chewing on some cubes, Emma wasn't too happy.

She looked at the door while frowning. For her sisters, it didn't mean much that some random maid could do magic since Alexander could do it too, probably desensitizing them, but for her, she knew that it meant much more, which she needed to find out more about, 'It can't be, right?'

...

An hour earlier, Alexander's room

Alexander sat on the bed before three large metal buckets. He concentrated heavily, wanting to create liquid nitrogen to cool down his guests, as he had already received multiple complaints from his maids that someone was flashing at the window.

He, himself, had never any problems with the heat like most Moorgrelians who had some roots here. Only newly arrived ones would complain about it.

Even funnier, he found a particular gimmick for skills because of his talk with his new retainers, who would also tell him that it was unbearable. If one had natural heat resistance from the beginning, one needed to reach a much higher threshold in the beginning to acquire the specific skill. It became challenging to level it after he got [Heat Resistance]. Yet, the changes were also massive, as much as he could test it.

Meanwhile, all the newcomers seemed to have an easier time getting the skill, and the change was also somewhat massive but not to the same degree as his.

For Alexander, while the system tried to be fair, it couldn't discriminate too much, as natural aptitude was always a hurdle, even in this world. But again, it only was if one looked at edge cases. Most didn't care about things like these and only trained their skills to a certain point. Once they could do their job satisfactorily, they stopped. Only people like him tried to reach ever greater heights. There weren't many like him out there.

Regardless, he now wanted liquid nitrogen, and all he needed to do was to separate pockets of nitrogen atoms from the air into the buckets and stop them moving as much as possible. How hard could it be?

"Mr. Alexander, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Nah, I am much stronger now, Cloelle! Look and cry in front of my power!"

The wind moved around the buckets, freezing the air around them. Alexander sweated heavily but smiled, knowing that he could do it.

Alchemy was the application of mana toward nature. As such, the more one knows about nature and how it works while controlling one's mana toward a certain idea, the more one can fulfill it. The less one knew, the more mana needed to be used automatically to substitute for the lack of knowledge.

Alexander couldn't understand how it worked exactly until now and how his mana could grasp the esoteric image in his mind to finish the contraption. It was far outside his current knowledge, making him concentrate more on the application side, which wasn't much easier.

For example, he never created a contraption without substituting any mana, which was somewhat within expectations. Not substituting meant that he would need perfect knowledge, and everything perfect was impossible in the first place.

As such, over the years, he developed a way to do it as efficiently as possible by trying to memorize certain things, like calculations or images he worked on for years, which made the process less mana-consuming, only to call on them, changing some variables for the situation.

It was stupidly dull as he heuristically tried out thousands of different approaches till he found the best one, knowing fully well that it was not the end. For example, a water ball contraption with a diameter of 1m would cost him no more than five mana points, while a fireball would cost him eight. It meant he had less knowledge about fire than water, or so he thought.

When he once tried to extract tritium from water, he knocked himself out almost immediately, as the mana he needed to substitute was too much, making him immediately unconscious.

After a couple of tries, he stopped. Being too frustrated, he slowly tried things that were easier for him, gradually working towards more crazy ideas. One of them was liquid nitrogen, and he decided to try again.

After minutes, the buckets suddenly condensed some droplets, giving out cold air, which made him smile even more. As such, he became cocky, trying to quicken the process.

Every bucket was suddenly filled halfway with liquid nitrogen, but this was it. Alexander rolled his eyes behind his head and plopped onto the bed, entirely unconscious. In his last moment before losing consciousness, he made some mistake in his hastiness, losing all his mana immediately, 'Fu...'

Cloelle stood there for a minute in silence, contemplating her life choices, only for her to sigh in the end, "Just great."

It wasn't the first time Cloelle witnessed Alexander's experiments and how he knocked himself out. She warned him not to create liquid nitrogen again as it was the fifth time he became unconscious, waking up with a massive headache the following day and crying to her or Francesca about how unfair the world was.

She put on some leather gloves and took thick towels to move the buckets, as before instructed by her Alexander, to the serving trolley's lower department, leaving the room. Later, she would return, use the cleaning spell on him, and change his clothes, as usual.

'I need a raise.'