“So,” Reya began, looking around the room as if she were looking at a minefield. “What exactly do you mean by ‘questions, comments, or concerns’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.” I said, getting up to move myself over to Lucina’s bed, which I sat down on. “I want you all to think about and define the relationship we have now in your own heads. Then, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about said relationship, please talk to me about them.”

I saw several of the women in the room open their mouths to speak, and then instantly close them. The tension was still in the air, but one person came forward, self assured and self confident in their decision making, Winter Strafe.

“Hi Winter.” I said with a hint of a smile on my face. Winter did a mock curtsey and replied in kind.

“Hello, boss.” Winter smiled at me sweetly. The Strafe leader and head of my personal guard flipped her silver hair over one shoulder, revealing the nape of her neck. My mind instantly teleported to the several nights we spent discovering her fetishes together, and I got in the mood despite myself.

She placed one hand on her caramel-skinned face and used it as a pressure point to crack her neck.

Not the most lady-like thing I’ve ever seen. I mused, my eyes wandering up and down her body. On the other hand, I can’t say that a casual display of strength isn’t sexy, either.

“If you want my granddaughter, you’ll have to go through me.” Un said bitterly. I ignored him in favor of looking into Winter’s pale blue eyes.

“I’m listening.” I said, gradually extracting what Winter had been wanting to say. She sighed, looked around at the others, and sat down next to me.

“Why do we have to do this all in the same room?” She asked, waving her hand at the other women sitting on the floor.

“It’s a trust exercise.” I stated simply. “We’re supposed to be a team, for all intents and purposes. Especially with what will happen in the near future, I need to make sure all of us are on the same page. Besides,” I said, taking the opportunity to look at all the women present in the room, “what’s the harm in us all having a little dirt on each other?”

“The harm is that they’ll feel like accomplices and not comrades.” X replied, reclining against Lucina in the process.

“Which is why this information session is completely voluntary. If anyone has a problem with becoming closer this way, you may leave now.”

I really did expect one or two people to get up and walk away, but everyone decided to stay in place. Even the newly added Viina Secela frowned a bit, but didn’t move an inch.

“Good.” I said, and looked back at Winter, who sighed.

“Fine.” She said after a bit of silence. “I wanted to express that I am fine with keeping our current relationship as it is.”

“Which is?” X asked, lounging on Lucina’s bed in such a way that her head was hanging off the side.

I opened my mouth to speak, but X asked me to let Winter say it in her own words, so I abided by her request.

When Winter noticed that I wasn't going to answer for her, she gave a long, deep sigh. “Being the Paladin’s head of security, and being able to employ the Strafe family as a result. On top of that… helping me relieve stress every now and then.”

“How does he do that?” X asked innocently, but Winter shot her an icy glare.

“That’s about all I'll elaborate on at the moment.” She said, however the slight wavering in her tone was all it took for the clever Viina to figure out what X was hinting at.

“Starlords above, you really do have an insatiable lust for feminine flesh!” She covered her own body and leaned away from me.

Rolling my eyes, I responded, “I never claimed otherwise, I just said everything you hear about me isn’t necessarily true. For instance, I had no desire to ever do anything with you in the Primal Kingdom. The women in my life are enough for me already.”

I looked directly at X as I said that last part, but she averted her gaze while drumming her fingers onto her stomach.

“I guess I’m next then.” Lucina sighed. She crossed her long, toned legs and sat up against her bed frame. “Let’s get married.”

I nearly choked on the words I was about to say and ended up coughing from the action. I looked at her in confusion, and she flashed me a cheeky smile. “Just kidding. As I’m sure most of you know, we started officially dating before the war game. As it’s only been about two weeks, I think I’d like to experience more of my boyfriend before I come to a conclusion about marriage.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I felt an air of tension leave me. While I did find Lucina incredibly physically and mentally attractive, I didn’t know how to handle the potential of marriage, not yet at least. It felt as though I had finally given up on my crush from back on earth, so it might be too tall of a hurdle to climb in the near future.

X chimed in again. “Experience in what sense?” I knew what she was doing, but I still was slightly annoyed at her every time she popped a question out for whoever was talking.

“In every sense of the word, of course.” Lucina replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Being intimate, trusting each other, the sex… and more sex…” She trailed off, beginning to imagine her own fantasy.

“Is everything about sex with you?” Reya retorted. Lucina shrugged at her younger sister, then made a gesture as if to say, ‘you next.’

Reya sighed, and in contrast to Lucina, who exuded confidence, the crowned princess seemed to shrink a little.

“While I did enjoy my foray into the world of bdsm, to an extent, I will say that it is decidedly not for me. I could perhaps enjoy it every once in a while, but something like what you and Lucina need is not something I will ever understand. Perhaps that is why I’m becoming increasingly fine with just leaving our relationship as friends.”

“What happened to wanting him wrapped around your finger?” X accused, to which the crowned princess merely scoffed.

“I didn’t want him around my finger, I wanted him to support the royal family in the future. It doesn’t matter who’s finger he’s wrapped around, so long as he’s wrapped around someone's finger.”

“Can we please stop talking about people wrapping me around their fingers?” I quickly asked, garnering a small smile from the surrounding women.

“Aw, don’t be such a downer.” Reya grinned, and gave me a small nudge on the shoulder. “I’m excited to find out how I’ll address you from now on with the new lack of sexual tension around us.”

“That’s only you.” I stated matter-of-factly. I turned to the last two who hadn’t spoken yet. Akahime, and Viina Secela.

Viina started by saying, “I really haven’t known you long enough to come to any sort of conclusion about anything.”

She shook her head and looked back at X. “Unfortunately, I am under contract right now so I guess we’ll just have to tough it out and see where we land from there.”

I nodded, and turned my attention over to the one person who hadn’t uttered a word yet: Akahime.

The Luong Empire princess looked around the rest of the people in the room, and took a deep breath before she began to talk. “I’d like to try and start a relationship with you again, after having screwed it up badly the first time. Instead of being selfish and drug addled, however, this time I will properly talk with you and explain my reasoning, no matter what subject it may be.”

I nodded slowly, but X had to open her big mouth again. “And? What kind of relationship do you want?”

“...” Akahime paused, giving me a sidelong glance before scratching her cheek. “Well… I don’t know. Apparently he got together with a past version of me, but that’s not something this body has experienced yet, so-”

““Aaah!”” Reya and Lucina both exclaimed in unison, trying to do their best not to expose the ‘secret’ Phoenix System belonging to the Luong Empire. Luckily for everyone involved, they had either already figured it out, or didn’t care about Akahime’s circumstances enough to question her, so the topic was silently dropped.

“Anyway, I’m fine with things being the way they are now. I don’t feel as though I’ve done nearly enough to make up for the trouble that I caused you before.”

“Well,” I started nonchalantly, “the previous you paid for that debt with her own life, although it was accidental.”

Although Reya and Lucina were present for that, and Akahime had listened to the retelling from the elder Metron Princess, Viina and Winter were currently far more engaged than they had been a minute ago.

“I’m sorry,” Viina said, inching closer to and poking Akahime’s body. “She died? As in, ‘death’ died? I don’t see it.”

“Quit it.” Akahime swatted the Primal Kingdom’s former princess away, and straightened her posture once again.

“That explains so many things.” Winter muttered to herself. “I always wondered how the princess of another country ended up in the metaphorical dog house in such a way that she became a maid.”

“Well, now you know that I sold them out to a yakuza sect and was assassinated as a result.” Akahime shrugged matter-of-factly.

Winter paused for a moment before releasing a sigh and shaking her head, but Viina seemed to take the confession much more like that of a normal person.

“You... what?” Viina uttered. When Akahime opened her mouth to explain, the former princess held up a hand to stop her.

“You know, I’m thinking it’s better if we just skip over it and I take your words at face value.” She sighed.

“U-understood.” Akahime coughed, and like clockwork, X metaphorically stepped into the conversation and steered it in another direction.

“Well, now that we’ve got all that settled, let’s get to planning on how to get to Princess Venus.”

“That's right.” Lucina nodded. “We’ll start dividing our roles. Reya, I just want to get in front of this now. The Kingdom needs you here as the crowned princess. You’ve already fulfilled your yearly quota for military activities in the Primal Kingdom, so-”

I tuned them out as I could see in Reya’s eyes that she was already beginning to plan a counterargument. Instead, I sent messages to Winter and Viina respectively, instructing the former to gather five of the most skilled Strafe members, and the latter to begin her research on the Phoenix System. Of course, I didn’t call it by name. Instead, I sent her a file of schematics that X had taken during our time in the Luong Empire.

“Really? My first job is a hypothetical?” Viina sighed.

“It will be important to you in the future, and bring you one step closer to the medical breakthrough of your dreams, trust me.”

She sighed, and headed to the coordinates for the lab I sent her. ‘Are you going to tell her that the base you’re sending her to will be on top of the floating island once we activate it?’ X’s voice came through my head.

She’ll find that out later. I grinned. I looked at the sisters, who were still arguing. For now, we need to have that debriefing about the next half of the Trials of Damocles. It’s time to hear from Starlord Alexstasia.