“Really?” Jae-Eun asked, her interest now kindled. “Why don’t we practice together then?”

Joram noticed a few reactions to that statement, only one of which he was expecting. Aya, of course, didn’t look very happy with that suggestion, as her face went blank at hearing it. The four goddesses looked impressed, though clearly had reservations. Probably worrying over his lack of time and how it might affect their study time with him.

Gran and Gramps didn’t seem to care one way or another, though. But his parents’ interest peaked as they looked from him to Jae-Eun and back. Grammy, though, just seemed as though she was happy to watch the drama unfold.

“Ah, but it was more of a hobby than anything,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “I had many other things to study, you see. Artifact refining and Alchemy took up most of my time.”

“That’s understandable,” Jae-Eun said, nodding. “Though, if you wish to travel in the future, it would be good to start practicing other languages sooner rather than later.”

… I can’t argue with that…. Well, I can. But knowing how to read the languages is also important, even if I can speak with anyone because of [Tongue of the Sun and Moon].

“Then, I’ll gracefully accept your offer,” he said, bowing his head a bit to show his deference. Also, to show Aya that he didn’t want to impose on her ward but was accepting her invitation to “give her face”, as it were. No need to antagonize the murder machine, after all.

“It’ll be nice to have someone to speak with other than Aya,” she said happily, clasping her hands in front of her chest. “Even though there are other students for Zhizun Zhanshi, I don’t really get the opportunity to speak with them,” she said by way of explanation.

Joram was saved from having to comment on that by the Trio messaging him to say that they were ready. He brought them back right away, more than ready to avoid more conversation by shoving his face full of food.

“Well, let’s get ready for some dessert!” He said, successfully distracting everyone from the previous conversation.

The Trio made their way out of the kitchen with empty trays.

Joram blinked, then blushed as he realized that their previous meal and table settings hadn’t been cleared away yet.

“Right after we tidy up!” He said, a drop of sweat running down his back at the looks everyone gave him when they saw the empty trays.

There was some polite laughter at his comment, with his mother reaching out to pat his left shoulder. He braved the situation well, smiling as though he’d been the one to pull one over on them. No one believed it, though.

Soon enough, new place settings were arranged, then came the desserts.

The Trio had done well. There were cakes, cookies, and ice creams served to his guests while Wentian went around holding a tray full of coffee and tea pots and their various condiments. He served everyone so well that even Joram was impressed by his proficiency. Had he gotten a part-time job somewhere too?

“Oh? Did you pick this up from Starfall?” Sophia asked as she sipped on some milk tea.

“Joram is a very good customer,” Alicia said with another bright smile. “In fact, I wouldn’t have been able to get Starfall Café up and running without his help,” she finished, drawing everyone’s attention with that last part.

Every eye at the table turned to him then as he silently cursed Alicia through the Network.

‘What the hell, man?! Where’s the solidarity? How could you throw me under the bus like that?’

He just got laughter back from her.

“Ah, well, you see…” he said, fumbling for a good excuse/lie. “As mentioned, I hail from a long line of food-lovers. Foodies, if you will. We love experimenting with various ingredients to come up with some wonderful dishes,” he said, causing his family to give him weird looks. “It’s not something we like to brag about, so if you could please keep it a secret?” He finished with a pleading smile. “Besides, it was mostly financial aid that I helped Alicia with. She’s the genius behind Starfall Café after all.”

He got a few nods, though some still looked sceptical. Like Aya.

“So, even though you provided the financial backing to start up Starfall Café, you didn’t make any of the… operating decisions?” She asked slowly, glancing over at Bai Lian and Mo Yu.

“Nope! After reading her proposed business plan, I trusted her to run the place well! Now look at it! It’s probably the most popular café on the island,” he said, trying very hard to sell what he was spouting.

“That it is,” Sophia said, nodding. “If it weren’t for some of the by-laws here preventing new businesses from copying the successful models of already established businesses, then I’m sure that there would already be dozens of knock-offs out there.”

“Really?” Joram asked, not knowing of that particular by-law… or any others, really. “I’m glad that there’s such a thing in place. It’d be a shame for unique business ventures to be run into the ground by opportunists trying to cash in on a new trend.”

“That’s precisely why that law was made,” Sophia said, getting excited. “There were no few businesses in the past that went under because of that very problem. They’d have great success initially, but then other businesses would pop up and steal their business model, theme, or copy their product. Eventually, the whole thing would collapse due to everyone trying to undercut everyone else, resulting in lack of profits. Which would lead to them cutting corners on their products or services, which then led to fewer customers. Eventually they would all go out of business,” she finished with a slight frown and a shrug.

“Ah, that would indeed be a problem,” Joram said, knowing how that happened on Earth all the time.

“Anyway,” Grammy said, interrupting the flow of the conversation. “Thank you for providing such a wonderful dinner, Joram.”

“You’re welcome, Grammy,” Joram said with a smile, but then got a Look from Gran; probably for addressing her mother so informally. He turned back to his guests and said, “Thank you all for staying for dinner with me and my family. But unfortunately, duty calls. We can speak again later to set up times where we can meet for our tutoring sessions.”

He stood up at the end, prompting everyone else to also stand. It only took a few more minutes before he managed to say goodnight to everyone and see them off at the front door. Once done, he closed the door and heaved a great sigh of relief…

… that turned into a sigh of resignation when he turned and beheld his parents.

“So,” his mother said, leaning on the piano. “Tell me about those nice young ladies.” She said with such a smile that it immediately sent a chilled down his spine.

“They’re Alicia’s friends,” he said, then proceeded to explain her plans for her questing team. “So, really, they’re barely even acquaintances since I just met them today,” he finished, raising his hands up palms forward as though he was physically fending off their interest.

“Then what about the young princess? She seemed especially eager to spend more time with you,” Grammy pitched in, obviously throwing for the opposite team.

Giving her a look of profound betrayal, he spoke.

“Again, she’s part of Alicia’s team. We went out and did one quest together. That’s it. Well, I did share some insights in how I see the world, but that’s it. Simple,” he said, not quite looking any of them in the eye as he walked over to the piano and started messing around on the keys.

“Joram?”

“Yeah, dad?”

“Are you really that dense?”

*Insert discordant mashing of piano keys here*

“What makes you say that, dad?” He asked, feeling profound pain in his heart at his father’s question.

Joram could perceive his parents exchanging a look between them before his mother spoke up.

“Joram, dear,” she said, using that tone she used to use before she found out that he was a Reincarnator; the one where she was trying to break some difficult news to him while trying to take the sting out of it with a kind tone. “That’s not how a young woman looks at a young man when she only wants to practice language with him.”

He suddenly felt an even more intense chill run down his spine a moment later. Joram concentrated more on his field of perception and noticed Bai Lian and Mo Yu’s gazed fixed on his back.

Are those two now bro-cons? He asked himself as he shook the feeling off.

“Bah, you’re reading it wrong,” he said, waving his parents’ concerns off. “She’s just excited to share some nostalgia with someone ‘her age’.”

That was when he noticed not only his grandparents shaking their heads in dismay, but also Grammy.

“And the other girls?” His father asked. “They looked like they’d like nothing more than to toss you into a sack and bring you home.”

“What?” He asked, deadpan.

“Joram,” Gran said as she walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You may have lived at total of years nearing my own, and it pains me to say this, but you’re an idiot.”

Joram’s mouth dropped open when he heard those words. He looked over to his parents and found them nodding. He turned to Grammy and also found her nodding. With a bit of desperation in his movements, he turned to look at the Trio and, to his horror, also found them nodding.

“It’s our failing for not having properly educated you,” his mother said as she gave his shoulder a light squeeze. “Not only are you a very attractive young man,” she said, much to his horror, “but you’re also talented beyond what your fifty-some-years-”

“Fifty-four.”

“- would normally see in anyone, Reincarnator or not. Especially since you’ve only just reincarnated less than nine years ago. You haven’t had time to fully integrate into the culture of this world you find yourself in,” she finished only for his father to continue.

“I think that you underestimate the allure of a handsome young man whose talent is above the clouds,” he said as he approached to stand by his wife. “Not to mention someone who’s selfless enough to help complete strangers without asking for anything in return. I could see it in those girls. Three of them looked like they were wondering what you’d be asking in return for your help, but the other two were just too enamoured with you to care, it seems.

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“Joram,” his father said, now giving him a very serious look. “With great power comes great responsibility. -”

Joram’s brain broke then at the unintended quote from his father.

“- So, you’ll need to be very careful how you interact with those young women in the future. Because, as much as your mother and I are looking forward to having grandchildren of our own, we think it’s still a bit too soon.”

Shift.

Shift.

He didn’t need to see his face to know that it was scarlet as he looked up at the black sky filled with majestic stars above the mountains where he’d first arrived with Altaea.

There was still a fair amount of snow as it was still only late spring.

He walked over to the large double doors he’d made so long ago and spoke.

“Speak, friend, and enter.”

He was glad to see that the enchantment was still functioning well, as the line of script glowed before the doors silently slid open to reveal the still-illuminated training hall he’d made.

Joram didn’t know why he’d fled here. He’d just been too… mortified by what his parents were saying. He’d never been a person with much self confidence, especially when it came to dealing with the opposite sex. The best he’d managed for decades before finally getting married was a couple of make-out partners that didn’t last because he’d been too terrified to open up enough with someone to take the next step. Like, getting a proper girlfriend, nevermind anything that came after that.

He could see himself in his field of perception, so he took a moment to examine himself.

He was taller than any woman he’d met so far, and as tall as most men he’d met. He knew that he was still growing, so he’d likely get well over six feet tall, possibly close to two metres tall. He was also broad in the shoulders while keeping proportionate in the lower half. He’d seen many men only concentrate on their upper body development, and he had no intention of becoming one of those “chicken legs”. He was, however, still filling out, so he was confident that he’d be evenly proportioned.

He then concentrated on his face, taking note of the almost square jaw and relatively high cheekbones. They didn’t stick out, but worked to emphasize his relatively large eyes, giving him a bit of a babyface. His eyelashes were long and outlined his large almond-shaped eyes in a rather complimentary manner.

His hair was shorn shorter than most, only a few inches long, but was a bit messy. It was now a deeper indigo with very subtle purple highlights in it that would probably make people think that his hair was purple if seen in the sunlight.

Even his complexion was smooth, his skin tone pale. He no longer had the almost incandescent white skin he’d originally been born with. He was still pale, but his tone had changed to… ivory with an olive undertone? He wasn’t very good at describing skin tones, but at least he knew that he could actually get a tan in this body. Even if he hadn’t spent much time outside lately….

Overall, he supposed that his mother was… right. He did cut a handsome profile.

But were the women of this world so… naïve? Did they really only think about looks and talent? Or would that be “shallow”? At any rate, how could anyone just “fall” for someone so easily? Sure, a crush was expected no matter the world you found yourself in. But if his parents were to be believed, things were much past that point.

He’d often wondered if, in those stories/comics he’d read, it was just poor writing that had many a woman falling for the main character with very little interaction or development between the two… or if in all actuality Earth had just become too jaded with the advent of mass media and social media. Had the people of Earth just been desensitized to, well, everything?

Was it normal here to run into someone and decide: “Hey, that’s the person for me!”, and just run with it? Is that why ridiculous things like the Goddess and Hero Rankings were a thing? Or was that just a symptom of the culture here? That the weak and unexceptional ones would be overlooked in favour of the exceptional and talented ones?

As he was thinking, he made his way over to the rock garden and sat on his favourite sitting stone. It was a good place to have a good think, almost as good as a porcelain throne.

“Hahahahaha!”

He laughed out loud at that thought. Surely it was a decent place to work through one’s thoughts when working other things out. But one just didn’t sit on a porcelain throne that long. The stone was much better suited for deep thoughts.

Then Kinkade and Asura showed up across the garden from him, sympathetic grinds on their faces.

“Thought you could use a chat,” Asura said as she sat on the rock in front of her.

Kinkade gave the “what she said” look and head tilt as he sat on the rock beside her.

“Am I really that dense?” He asked, hoping that it would wind up being a rhetorical question.

“Kinda, yeah,” Asura said, dashing his hopes. “But hey, take that with a grain of salt. My actual life experiences are much fewer than yours,” she said with a rueful grin.

“Yeah, but you’ve got Altaea’s memories and stuff to go by,” he said, leaning forward.

“If you really wrote and chronicled her life, you’d understand that she wasn’t exactly the paragon of self-awareness,” Asura said, shaking her head. “You think you took a long time to get married? It took her a good hundred years before she realized that guy was into her.”

“Ah.”

“You know,” Kinkade said, raising his hand like he was in class. “I’m still blocking eight calls from connecting, Avi included,” he said, giving Asura a weird look.

“Yeah, well, I may have picked up your trick Kinkade,” Asura said with a shrug. “Anyways. You’ll need to be very careful with how you treat people from now on. Women especially. From what I’m getting from Avi, there’s a lot of chatter amongst the ‘goddesses’ about tonight’s dinner. And how they’re looking forward to their next meeting with you.”

“Ah. Crap on a cracker.”

“Don’t forget about Bai Lian and Mo Yu,” she added just as he was about to head back home, stopping him dead.

“What?”

“I’m just saying,” she said, then shifted away, leaving Kinkade to shrug helplessly before following.

“Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?!” He yelled up at the dome high overhead, his voice echoing several times before dying out to leave him in silence.

* * * * *

“He’s a bit of a late-bloomer, isn’t he?” Ivaryn asked from beside her on the couch.

Sulia looked over to her husband and smiled.

“Well, I didhave to practically chase you down before you agreed to court me,” she said, a soft smile forming as she recalled her time at the Academy with Ivaryn.

“Just say’n,” he grumbled good naturedly. “Even I picked up on the looks you were throwing my way.”

Sulia patted her husband’s lap.

“Girls?” She called over to Joram’s two… servants? She’d seen them with Asura in Joram’s Realm, then out and about later without her. She suspected who they might be, but trusted Joram’s judgement.

The two young women started slightly at being addressed suddenly, but then slowly approached. She noticed that the slightly shorter one steered wide around her grandmother, which only firmed her suspicions.

“Please, have a seat,” she said, motioning to a couple of chairs that she pulled over with a bit of [Telekinesis]. It wasn’t much, about all she could manage at the moment, but it seemed to have an effect on the two girls.

Girls, huh? They feel as though they’re the same age I was when Joram was born, she thought, shocking herself. They both looked to be in their late teens, but their body language hadn’t… evolved to what she’d expect from someone older.

They both sat, the taller one with considerably more grace than the shorter one. Possibly due to better etiquette training?

“Where are you from?” She asked flat out, causing both to blink in surprise before the shorter one’s chin nearly dropped to her chest as she stared intently at her hands clasped on her lap. The taller one, however, kept her chin up and her gaze steady.

A bit more confidence there.

“I am from Zhizun Zhanshi, Sky Lotus Sect,” she said, not surprising Sulia with the first part. “My junior sister is from the Diamond Jade Lotus Sect.”

Sulia noticed that her parents’ eyes sharpened at that while her grandmother didn’t seem to react. Either she was very good a hiding her reactions, which was the most likely, or she’d already known this.

“What are you doing with my son?” She asked, noting that Ivaryn seemed a little too relaxed for it to be natural.

“We’re serving him,” the tall one answered simply.

Sulia just about swallowed her tongue when she heard that. Not just for how the young woman said it, but how she’d noticed their looks at Joram and their reactions to the other young women eyeing him up.

“Why?” Ivaryn stepped in for her, probably because she was still having trouble forming words.

“We owe him our lives,” she once again stated simply, though a bit of… pride seemed to creep into her tone when she said that.

“Please, elaborate,” Ivaryn said, still appearing to be relaxed to anyone but her.

“From what I have gathered,” she said, looking her straight in the eye. “My junior sister was the first person the young master brought back to life, followed by my senior brother and then myself. We all swore to serve him after that.”

Sulia looked over to where the young man was inconspicuously clearing the table before being thrown into the spotlight. He looked at the young woman with a look of bitter betrayal before dashing for the kitchen with his heaping tray of dishes.

“They’re loyal to Joram,” the Matriarch said from her left where she’d taken Joram’s place at the large musical instrument. “Joram already gave me a talking to for… questioning Bai Lian there,” she said with a wry twist of her lips.

Sulia looked over to the shorter of the two whom the Matriarch pointed out. She very much seemed as though she’d rather be anywhere else, and her staying well away from the Matriarch now made sense.

That also gave everyone present pause. Had Joram defended the young woman because they “served” him, or for other reasons? The fact that the taller one had referred to Joram as “young master” hadn’t escaped her either. Then she just went with her next thought.

“Are you both hoping to become my daughters-in-law?” She asked bluntly, watching their reactions very carefully.

The shorter of the two, Bai Lian, reacted the most to the question. She went red from the neck of her robes all the way to the hairline on her forehead, giving away her thoughts on the subject. The taller of the two, on the other hand, managed to keep her composure much better than Bai Lian had.

That said, her face still turned scarlet, but the colour was contained to her cheeks. Unlike her junior sister whose eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets, she kept her gaze locked upon her own.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think that the young master is worthy of pursuit,” she said with great dignity… for a young woman.

Sulia couldn’t help but goggle at that.

“Did the fact that he’s not even nine years old slip by you?” She asked incredulously before Ivaryn could place his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her.

“I am content to wait,” the young woman said. “Besides, he’s very mature for his age.”

Before Sulia could explode at that, the Matriarch spoke up.

“Enough,” she said, cutting through the tension like a knife through jelly. “This discussion is pointless without the young man in question being here,” she said, which really got a reaction from the two young women, their heads snapping around to stare at the Matriarch in shock.

“I suspect that we all knew that once Joram ventured out into the world that he would draw droves of hopeful women like bees to a vast field of flowers,” she said, a slight curl on her lips. “It doesn’t matter now, even though it is some years before we expected it to happen. Even though our clan tends towards monogamy, that is by far the exception to the rest of the world.

“If Joram can handle having more than one wife, then so be it. But I very much suspect that, as Ivary pointed out earlier, he’s a bit of a late bloomer. Not to mention his… inability to deal with emotions very well. So, I suspect that even if he had dozens of women chasing after him, they wouldn’t get very far with him,” she said, then turned to the two young women.

“As for you both, I have no intention of interfering with things between you,” she said, causing everyone’s eyes to widen in shock, theirs included. “That said, I think that Joram will prove to be challenging to the point of frustration for you both, or anyone else for that matter. I’ve noticed that he’s… rather prudish when it comes to dealing with women,” she said with a wry twist of the lips.

Sulia couldn’t help but stare at her grandmother. Where’d she even gotten that impression from? Yes, Sulia realized that she’d been away for most of Joram’s life, but still! She’d thought that Joram had been more direct than “prudish”, especially when he was with Tillia. Could it have just been childish flirting? Something Joram had expected to just be brushed off?

“We’ll take things as they come,” Bai Lian said, speaking up for the first time. “The young master’s virtues are sufficient to kindle anyone’s admiration in him. As my senior sister said, we’re content to wait,” she finished, then seemed to lose courage, for her head dropped fast so that she could once again stare intently at her lap, her cheeks reigniting in embarrassment.

“What is your name, anyway?” The Matriarch asked, evidently having gotten fed up with not knowing her name.

“I am Li Mo Yu. You may call me Mo Yu,” she said with dignity as she looked the Matriarch in the eye.

“OK then,” she said, nodding to herself. “Xiao Bai, Xiao Mo. If you can snare my great grandson, well, I’m sure you’ll be happy. But know that he’s already engaged, so at best, you’ll be second and third wives; possibly concubines. But I guess that would depend on Joram,” she said, shocking everyone present, her parents included.

“That said, even though I wanted to make him my heir,” she paused for the shocked gasps from her descendants, “he refused, so you won’t be marrying into the line of succession. Though I’m sure that he’ll found his own clan that will rival any on this continent or yours.

“So, support my great grandson. Protect him. Teach him. Be the shield he needs as he goes on his quest. He’ll need you, and probably more, to help him get to where he feels he needs to be. But I warn you now, do not toy with his feelings. For I will promise you, and anyone else who would do such a thing, I will visit such wrath and destruction upon anyone who dares such a thing that they’ll wish that they lived in the time of the Great Cataclysm instead,” she finished with such intensity that everyone present sat straighter as the colour drained from their faces.

Sulia gulped, not knowing where the Matriarch’s conviction came from, but was glad that she loved her great grandson enough to make such a promise.