The next few days passed astonishingly quickly.

The Selkies also astonished him when they accepted Avi’s invitation to move to the Realm. Sure, there’d be a bit of terraforming to do to get an area suitable for their habitations arranged but, ultimately, that really wasn’t an issue for him. Or Avi.

That left him with a half-finished village on the coast doing absolutely nothing. Well, he could probably turn the place into a retreat or something. Maybe a resort. It was certainly picturesque enough, and with a few wards placed a good distance out, he was sure that the local pests wouldn’t be an issue.

Then, when the last of the Selkies had taken the “transfer platform” to his Realm, they’d decided to head back the next day. Of course, after they’d quickly finished up the various requests he’d picked up for them all. With those done, he was reasonably certain that they’d all rise at least one Rank, which would go a long way to getting better quests in the future.

Sure, they’d still remain as a B-Class team, and Avi’s as a D-Class team, but having their Ranks in those Classes go up was very important. It showed reliability, competence. And thus, better pay. You wanted to reward competence, after all.

So, after having distributed their fair share of funds to their accounts, Joram made his way back to the Aneath manor, though with more people than he’d thought would come along because they were “bored”, or any other obvious excuse to keep spending time with him.

“So, who’re they?” Xixi asked after she and Zanth had hurried into the parlour where he’d waited for their arrival.

“You’ve met Bai Lian, Mo Yu, and Wentian,” he said, motioning towards the Trio as he inwardly winced at how sharply Xixi regarded the three of them. “You’ve also met Avi. So, the rest of my friends are, in no particular order, Emily, Renna, Jae-Eun, and Aya,” he said, motioning to each one with an upturned palm. “We just got back from out training camp,” he explained, though got an odd look from his two cousins for his efforts.

“So, why’re they here?” Zanth asked, genuinely confused, though Xixi nodded as though she too were wondering why four extra bombshells had come along for the visit.

Joram smiled to hide how much he wanted to wince. He’d had an inkling that Xixi wouldn’t take the extras well, nor could he really blame her. Though, having a nine-year-old glare-not-glare at him with such… effectiveness, really hit home for him just how mature she’d become over the past couple of years. Sure, she’d always been more mature than her years would suggest, but now it almost felt like he was in the presence of a mini-human adult rather than a child.

“They’ve wanted to meet my family for a while now, so I thought ‘why not now?’,” he said, shrugging away his discomfort. “Besides, they’re my seniors here, so they should be able to give some good advice that I might not think of,” he finished with a rueful grin.

Which wasn’t hard, for he was anything but a normal student who would have needed much more help orienting himself to Academy life. Due to not really caring about things like making friends- which seemed to have happened anyways- and attending extra-curricular activities… other than Questing, that is….

Anyways, kids who would effectively be entering Grade 4 would need a bit more help getting their bearings, not to mention finding their way around their schoolgrounds, getting their uniforms, as well as any school supplies that they might need.

“Grammy already got us what we needed,” Zanth said with a shrug, piercing his chest. “But if you want to show us around, that’d be nice,” he said with a smile that was quickly reciprocated by his friends, especially Aya.

He noticed that she kept eyeing Zanth’s bo-ken, his wooden practice sword, with great interest. On the other hand, everyone but Avi had taken more than one look at Xixi’s necklace.

“Where did you get such a stunning necklace?” Jae-Eun finally asked, leaning forward slightly in her chair, though she kept the exact and prim posture of a princess as she did.

“Oh, this?” Xixi asked as a sly look briefly flashed across her face before being replaced by a radiant smile. “Jo made it for me for my birthday,” she said, beaming the brightest smile he’d ever seen her smile… that contained a sense of such sharpness that he could swear that the Law of Swords had somehow snuck in there. Perhaps even the Law of Vorpal, if such a thing existed….

Every eye but Avi’s turned to regard him with one expression or another. Wentian’s was a fascinating combination of appreciation, slyness, and… expectation? Was he looking forward to seeing how it all played out?

Bai Lian and Mo Yu just smiled and nodded as though they’d expected nothing less of him. Likely because they’d already witnessed more of what he could do than the rest of the group. Emily, though, seemed a bit jealous and slightly… pouty? Renna, though, just nodded as though everything was as expected.

Jae-Eun, though, very obviously looked down at the communication ring on her hand, the one who’s centre jewel matched her eyes, and smiled, sending a slight chill down his spine.

“He does indeed make wonderful jewelry,” Jae-Eun said, raising her hand to show Xixi and Zanth the ring that had somehow made its way to her ring-finger!!

Xixi blinked, then blinked again as Zanth just nodded, not seeming to catch onto the significance of the ring’s placement. Just before Xixi could say anything, though, the door to the parlour slid open to reveal his parents.

Who were smiling for all they were worth.

“You should have let us know you were coming!” Sulia said, gliding over to him as he quickly stood up before embracing him in a great-big hug.

“We just got back,” he said as he returned the hug, then clasped forearms with his father. “I thought that I’d help them get a few things for school, but it seems that Grammy beat me to it,” he finished with another rueful grin.

“Yeah, by a few months,” Ivaryn said as he grinned at him with a sharp look. “Now that you’re here, and with nothing to do, why don’t you help me with a few things?”

Joram didn’t miss the malicious glint in his father’s eyes when he mentioned “help”, throwing up more than a few flags for him.

“It would be rude to leave my friends alone,” he started, but stopped when his mother smoothly interjected.

“Oh, it won’t be an issue,” she said, smiling in the way women, and especially mothers, did when they’d brook no arguments. “Go with your father. We’ll all take our time getting acquainted.”

With his fate sealed, Joram just nodded before being practically dragged out of the parlour by his father. Several minutes later found him in his father’s office and sitting in the chair in front of his desk feeling like a kid being interrogated by the principle or something.

“So, the prodigal son finally returns,” his dad said, not actually using that reference, but it roughly translated that way. “So, spill it.”

Joram blinked at his dad, wondering what he was talking about.

“What’s up with… everything,” his dad narrowed it down from a universe of possibilities down to just a galaxy’s worth.

“Could you be more specific? There’s been lots going on…” he said, not quite knowing which activity he’d been up to recently that his father wouldn’t be concerned about.

“The Belladonnas?”

“Ah,” he said, nodding, which got him a very sharp look from his father.

“What else should I be worried about?” he asked, making Joram wonder if parents here had some sort of connection to the Law of Family, or something, with just how easily they were able to suss-out anything from just a word.

“I wouldn’t say ‘worry’,” he hedged, wondering why he was acting as though he was guilty of something. “Besides the Belladonnas, I took in some refuges a couple of days ago,” he said, then explained about the Selkies and their plight.

Ivaryn was quiet for a minute as he processed everything he’d shared before he nodded, then shook his head. Then nodded again as though he was having an internal debate, or perhaps listening to the angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Whatever was going through his head, it seemed as though it ultimately didn’t wind up being a huge issue because Ivaryn just ended up sighing before speaking.

“It’s good that you’re caring enough to help others in need. But. Please think things through a bit more before just inviting more people into your Small World,” he said, then shook his head. “It’s not like it’s impossible to break into Small Worlds, so please be careful about it in the future. It is, after all, a refuge for the Clan, and our family.”

Joram nodded, understanding his point. From what Avi had told him, even Grammy had been able to briefly punch a hole through to where he had been resting in Avi’s little clinic after the Core and Psionic Star incident that had rendered him unconscious for months. And she’d only been in the 6th Tier back then.

What would happen if an Immortal, a 7th Tier Cultivator or Practioner decided to try to break in? What about an 8th Tier Emperor or Empress? He wasn’t sure how many of those legends were around, let alone free to do whatever they wanted to do. If they decided to pursue someone who he’d taken in, what could he do to stop them? Especially if they were proficient in the Law of Space or something similar.

Currently, he couldn’t properly fathom just how powerful an 8th Tier existence was. Intellectually, he knew that after stepping into the Late Tiers- 7th and up- the gaps in power between Tiers was even more profound than at lower Tiers. Like, punching above his weight class, as it were, hadn’t been too difficult for him so far. But if he really ran into a 7th Tier Mage bent on doing serious harm to him, he wasn’t sure he’d survive the encounter.

Especially if they were in the mid-Ranks of 7th Tier.

Tier 4 Mana, or Immortal Qi, wasn’t something to take lightly, after all.

”Well, I can confidently say that, at the very least, a 7th Tier Mage won’t have an easy time breaking in. Even then, I’ll certainly be alerted to such an attempt, which would give me time to prepare something nasty for them,” he finished, grinning in such a way that his father blinked at him.

“Well, just be careful,” he said, then shook his head fractionally before continuing. “So, onto the real topic at hand,” he said, shocking Joram more than a little bit.

If the Belladonnas and Selkies weren’t what he’d been worried about….

“So, I noticed how most of those girls were acting around you,” Ivaryn said as his expression grew incredibly serious, causing Joram’s stomach to slide to his feet.

* * *

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Sulia watched as Mitsui Aya took Lysanthir and Xiora to the side and started watching Lysanthir go through his forms with the practice sword that Joram had given him a couple of years back. Xiora, though, hadn’t been happy to have been sent along, but seemed to quickly warm to having a 6th Tier- Mystic Realm Practioner- willing to teach them a few things regarding the sword.

Avi had been helpful enough to provide both Xixi and Mitsui Aya with a similar practice sword, presumably to make things easier to them all.

Now that she’d been studying Joram’s way of cultivating Mental Strength- Psionics- she could tell that those “practice” swords were anything but simple wooden sticks.

“Mother-in-law,” Emily greeted her finally, bowing at the waist more than Sulia thought appropriate for a princess.

Then, to her astonishment, both the High Elf, Renna, and the Zhizun Zhanshi girl, Jae-Eun, echoed her greeting, also bowing in the same way as Emily. Though, Renna’s was slightly deeper than Jae-Eun’s, making her wonder if Jae-Eun was also a princess or something equally ridiculous.

“Let’s start there,” Sulia said, now keenly interested in just how far things had gone for her son, and them. “Why ‘mother-in-law’?”

It didn’t get past her that the three… kids from the extermination squad had also bowed in deference to her, much lower than the three beauties in front of her. Nor had it passed her notice that the two girls had also nodded slightly when the three students had called her “mother-in-law”.

Before answering, the three girls exchanged looks and, interestingly enough, Emily wound up taking the lead for the three of them.

“We,” Emily started, waving at both her two companions, then at Bai Lian and Mo Yu then, interestingly enough, towards the Academy. “We all have decided that we’ll marry Joram,” she finished simply, prompting a frown to Sulia’s face.

“Who’s ‘we’?” she asked, less-than-pleased with this new revelation.

It was enough that he’d gotten forcefully engaged to Emily, even though she seemed like a nice enough girl. It was quite another that she’d included at least four other people in her gesture.

“All but one of the Study Group has decided to marry Joram,” Renna said, stepping in to save a suddenly daunted Emily.

“… and how many people is that?” she asked quietly, suddenly calling into question everything that she knew about Joram.

“To summarize, that would include the original members of the Study Group: Jae-Eun here, Alyraele, Daleira, and Gabrielle, though Sophia seems to be happy enough to remain fast friends. Then there are, what I call, the second generation of the Study Group. That includes myself and Emily, but also Faenwyn and Kassandra. I’m not sure about a few others who aren’t technically part of the Study group, though.

“Anyways, I would say that, including myself, there are at least nine of us who’ll be wives, while due to Jae-Eun’s family circumstances, she’ll need to be registered as a concubine. Possibly a few other concubines, though I’m not entirely certain at this point in time,” Renna finished, thoroughly shaking her state of mind.

Even though she’d chosen to be monogamous, she was no prude. She was well-aware that the majority of the world practice polygamy, especially the upper echelons society. That Joram had chosen to go the way of polygamy after having been raised in the Clan was more than a little surprising, especially after having shared about his past upbringing and previous world’s views on polygamy. Which, once more, brought into question everything that she’d thought she’d known about her son.

Then, after a few more minutes of thinking over things, some of which she wasn’t happy about, she finally spoke.

“You’re aware that Joram already has a fiancé?” she asked quietly as she gave a subtle glance towards Xixi.

She knew that the three practitioners already knew about Xiora and Joram’s engagement, so their lack of reaction didn’t surprise her. That the three students in front of her only blinked a bit before nodding really made her wonder about things.

“We’re aware,” Emily said, nodding with a slight smile.

“You’re also aware that Joram, for all he appears to be an adult, is only nine years old, right?” she asked, trying to once more throw them for a loop, and felt a slight satisfaction when Jae-Eun blushed slightly.

“We are,” Renna said, nodding slightly before lowering her voice to no more than a whisper before continuing. “We also know about… his past,” she finished, returning the shot she’d taken with interest.

It took Sulia a few more minutes of silent contemplation before she touched the connection that she shared with Joram.

‘Joram?’

‘Yes, mother?’ he replied, sounding… hesitant.

‘I feel that we need to spend an evening catching up on current events,’ she sent, then closed the conversation so that she could once more focus on the young women sitting in front of her.

The young women who could have all been her younger sisters, especially given how much of an age-gap there’d been between her and her third brother, Cyran. Given that the difference in age between her and those in Joram’s “Study Group” was even less than what it had been for her and Cyran, well…. She was only thirty-two this year, which made her wince internally due to Renna, the High Elf, being at least four times her age, on par with her own mother.

Well, that wasn’t fair. Elves were known to mature over a longer period of time than humans, or any other race, really. Looking at Renna again, she realized that, comparatively, she wasn’t much “older” than Jae-Eun. Effectively, she’d be compared to a human in their late teens. Which, if she was being honest with herself, was more than old enough to decide one’s future, especially with whom they wanted to marry.

“So,” she started, the paused a moment to further organize what she was about to say.

“So, just how far have things progressed between you all?” She asked, paying very close attention to their reactions to her question.

Both Emily and Renna managed to keep their expressions from revealing anything, but they failed to fully suppress the blushes that lightly coloured their cheeks. On the other hand, Jae-Eun looked… petulant, though she also failed to suppress a blush, though she seemed to have had a bit more training, or practice, at doing so.

What was more interesting to her, though no less shocking, were the reactions of Bai Lian and Mo Yu. They, too, had gone through much training, having grown up in a Sect and all that. But, as a woman, it wasn’t hard to notice when another woman reacted to thoughts of their lover.

That realization, even though she’d long noticed how they looked and acted around Joram, was a bit much for her to handle just then. To combat the sudden waves of emotion, mostly of visceral anger and resentment, bordering on hatred, she quickly began the meditation that Joram had taught her that allowed her to centre herself. But most importantly it allowed her to regulate her physiological reactions, allowing her to quickly shut off the sudden outpouring of chemicals her brain was overproducing because of the remembered trauma.

Which led to her quickly partitioning those thoughts and emotions away until she could properly deal with them. Especially since she knew that she was no match for 5th Tier Practitioners. Nor, did she think, would Joram appreciate it if his mother got into a life-and-death fight with people that he was obviously close with.

After a few moments, and when she’d successfully calmed herself, she looked back to the three students in front of her, ignoring the to “servants” so that she could keep calm enough to once more converse civilly. She saw that the three of them were looking at her with more than a little bit of concern etched into their expressions.

“Then it seems we’ll need to spend a bit more time together from here on out,” she said, drawing heavily upon the diplomatic training she’d gone through as she’d grown up. “But for now, I must excuse myself. Please, enjoy our hospitality while you wait for Joram to return,” she finished before standing up and giving them a slight bow before leaving her guests with Xiora and Lysanthir.

Yes, there was certainly a lot to catch up with, and go over with Joram. Not just with how his studies were going, or even with his new relationships. But, with what she considered the most important thing: just what in the hells was he planning?!

She knew that Joram still blamed himself for not being able to protect Tillia, not to mention everyone else who’d been taken that day. She also knew that he was here, ostensibly, to gain enough power so that he would- hopefully!- survive his trip to Zhizun Zhanshi to rescue everyone who’d been taken. But.

What in the hells is going through his head?! Why is he entangling himself with all of these girls? Why is he now sleeping with the enemy?!

She had to pause a moment to once more collect herself. The shaking in her hands had spread to the rest of body, threatening to cause her to trip, or to even just collapse then and there in the hallway. Once steadied enough to walk again, she quickly made her way to her cultivation room and promptly sat on her cushion before once more falling into meditation.

She would need to sort through all of what she was feeling, as well as to work through the obvious trauma that she was still being affected by before she could hope to come close to accepting Joram’s decisions regarding those two women.

Thus determined, she got to work.

* * *

The walk back to his little manor house wasn’t the most pleasant walk he’d ever had, nor was it the worst he’d ever walked. But it was damn awkward.

Bai Lian and Mo Yu had kept at the back of the group as they walked, then had excused themselves as they passed the street that the Skyfall and Dawn Star cafés were on, citing a need to check on things there. He could see Avi supressing a grin before she agreed with her two employees and setting off with them.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Avi had sent as she had walked off with the pair.

Emily now resided with Avi, so she’d stayed with him the rest of the way. Renna had said that she wanted to spend time with Emily, so her reasoning was normal. Jae-Eun, though, threw him off by wanting to accompany him to speak with him more.

Now curious, and extra wary of what Aya might do should the topic get weird, he soon found himself in his living room, sitting in his favourite chair while Jae-Eun and Aya sat across from him on the couch that had been shifted to rest in front of him. For his part, Wentian did his best discreet butler impersonation by promptly serving them tea and scones before vanishing as though he’d never been there.

“So,” Jae-Eun started after taking a small sip of tea. “I know that you want to eventually make your way to Zhizun Zhanshi. Which works out rather well for what’s to come,” she said as Aya enjoyed her own tea while nibbling away at what smelled like a cinnamon scone.

“And what’s coming…?” he asked, now a bit wary of where this was going, especially with how insouciant Aya was being.

“Well,” Jae-Eun started, then blushed slightly before getting a determined look on her face. “As you know, the man I choose to be with must take me as a concubine. That said, my parents will probably want to have an extravagant wedding for me as I’m their youngest child.

“That said, they’ll also want to spend time with you getting to know you,” she said, then seemed a bit uncertain before continuing. “And also appraising you to be sure that you’ll be both a good match for me while also being an asset to the Empire,” she finished in more of a rush than he thought a princes should be in.

But then again, she was still fairly young, as things go. So, being nervous about bringing home her “boyfriend”, as it were, shouldn’t have been terribly unexpected. Especially since her parents were the Emperor and Empress of the Plum Blossom Empire… not your average parents. It was especially tricky given the penchant for annoyed emperors and empresses to have the target of their ire executed.

“It might still be another year before I am confident enough to head over there,” he said, hedging a bit.

Not that he was nervous or anything…. Ah, screw that. He was downright petrified of meeting her parents. He wasn’t sure how strong there were, nor what assets they could call upon, but he was certain that an Emperor wouldn’t be weak, nor would the foundations of the Empire be anything but exceptionally solid. So, making sure that he- at the very least- broke through into the 6th Tier as a Mage, but also into the 7th Tier as a Mentalist before heading over, was a must.

Which, considering that he’d been sitting at the peaks of both Tier 5 and Tier 6, meant that it wouldn’t be long before he broke through as a Tier 6 Mage. After that, he was certain that getting to Tier 7 as a Mentalist would be easy enough.

Why was he so sure? Well, he’d actually been suppressing his Mentalist side for fear of what might happen if his two cultivation bases were more than one Tier apart. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue for a dual-cultivator like him, but having his Psijic Star had thrown him into untread paths that he had to take very slowly if he wanted to survive, or even prevent himself from getting himself into a cultivation dead-end.

“And that’s fine,” Jae-Eun said, nodding as though she’d expected his response. “I just wanted to be sure that… you wouldn’t object…” she said, finally trailing off while looking more uncertain than he could remember ever having seen her.

Which made her look so adorable and vulnerable that he very nearly reached out to give her a hug. Or a pat on the head, as they’d do here.

Aya, though, still looked as though everything was right and proper with the world as she happily devoured another scone with delicate and proper little bites… that looked like someone had fast-forwarded a video of someone eating. Really, it was quite impressive how she managed to eat so fast while remaining “proper” and not letting a single crumb escape from being devoured.

He looked back at Jae-Eun and had to re-task M3 to help him find the right words, and how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“Jae-Eun,” he stared, then leaned forward so that he could convey the sincerity of his words. “You’re a fantastic young woman. You’re talented and kind, with a sharp mind and keen intellect.

“That you’ve decided that I’m the one for you, especially with how many exceptional people you’ve undoubtedly met over the years, is beyond flattering to me,” he said, then paused as he saw Jae-Eun’s eyes begin to well up with tears, causing him to get more than a little flustered.

He quickly looked over at Aya and found that she’d stopped devouring scones in favour of intensely starting at him. Now more confused than ever, he decided to just finish what he had been saying before… all that.

“So, yes, I’d be happy to meet your parents to see what they think of me,” he finished as his heart did something weird; a bit like stopping, but also managing to pound in his chest as though it wanted to get out and see the world.

“I understand that it’s a lot-,” Jae-Eun started, seemingly on auto-pilot before realizing that he’d said something other than what she’d been expecting.

She stopped, blinked a few times, then seemed to melt into a puddle as tears started flowing down her cheeks. He glanced at Aya, but found that she was once more back to her scone munching, though she spared one hand to pat Jae-Eun on the head.

Oh. Ohhhhhh! Crap, I suck at this stuff, he thought as he finally realized that what he’d said had sounded like he had been about to reject her.

Thanks for that, M3, he thought, then just about facepalmed.

M3: Hey, I’m still you. Don’t expect miracles.