Lucian, not noticing Acheron's gaze, looked at Bronya, Seele, and then at Kyuushou and the others before descending to the ground.
"Bronya, Seele, Izumo is the name of this planet, and it's also under my rule, just like Koolur."
"I had suspected it, but I still needed to confirm it with you."
Hearing Lucian's explanation, Bronya responded respectfully, but just as her words fell, the sound of rushing footsteps suddenly resounded.
"Master!"
"Boss!"
Kiana was the first to cheer and rush over, followed by Kyuushou and the others, who also hurried over and gathered around Lucian in surprise and delight.
"You're back so fast? Where are the gifts?"
"Don't tell me you haven't even left yet?"
"Boss, why do these Jarilo's people not know us?"
One after another, their questions drowned Lucian.
"Alright, here's what happened…"
Lucian rubbed Kiana's head, swept his gaze across everyone, then briefly explained the current situation to all of them—about the truth of Izumo, his connection with it, and the special history and bonds between him and them.
Even though there had also been some unpleasant truths in his explanation, such as how Izumo should have been no more, or how the guardians, except for Acheron, should have all died, all of that was already over, because now Izumo still existed peacefully, and the guardians were all here.
After listening to his explanation, Kyuushou and the others remained surprisingly calm, mainly thanks to the dreams they had experienced earlier.
Now, they finally understood the meaning behind those dreams.
Earlier, they had experienced horrible dreams in which everything they held dear was reduced to nothingness, yet when they woke up, they found everything still intact. Now that Lucian, their husband, had given them a reasonable explanation, they chose to believe it and accept it calmly, since what mattered now was not the past, but the present.
"Mei… you've been through so much… Hiks… All those years must have been so hard on you..."
After hearing about Acheron's experiences from Lucian, Kiana could not hold back her tears and clung tightly to her, refusing to let go, not caring in the slightest that Acheron had once slain her male variant.
"Mei, you've suffered enough..." Kyuushou said with a helpless smile, patting Acheron's shoulder. "From now on, we'll shoulder everything together—sisters united!"
As Kyuushou's words fell, the others stepped forward as well, hugging and patting Acheron, thanking her for carrying everything alone for Izumo.
They all knew that Acheron was the gentlest among them.
Forcing a gentle woman like her to personally kill all of her own people and companions was unimaginably cruel. Fortunately, she had met Lucian, and because of that, everything had changed for the better.
Still, upon learning that their earlier dreams were actually fragments of real history, and that Izumo, supposedly already vanished after being swallowed by the Shadow of IX, had crossed through history itself to reach the current time, they couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of awe toward their husband.
At the same time, seeing all of her sisters alive and well, Acheron's emotions were extremely complicated, far beyond description.
On one hand, it felt as though they had only parted yesterday, so everything felt ordinary, almost mundane.
On the other hand, it felt like a lifetime had passed, as though she were reuniting with old friends long thought dead.
Faced with such an absurd mixture of feelings, Acheron, her emotions tangled and complicated, could only let out a faint, gentle smile.
Now that their reunion had ended happily, what came next was the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Jarilo-VI, which had to be started over.
Everyone then arrived at Lucian's residence on the hillside south of Shuten Castle, where Bronya and Seele, acting as the delegation of Jarilo-VI, began coordinating diplomatic affairs with Kyuusyou and the others, discussing trade routes, tourist entry permissions, and other related matters.
Lucian, returning once more to the familiar house—the old residence where he had lived with the guardians for many years—couldn't help but feel slightly nostalgic, even though he had technically just left yesterday. Now that he was back, he remembered that he actually had quite a few residences scattered throughout the Izumo Kingdom.
"I'll go prepare some tea and snacks. We can talk while we eat."
Acheron spoke gently, her eyes now holding vitality, no longer lifeless, no longer filled with detachment.
However, perhaps because she still retained memories of being the Self-Annihilator Acheron, from time to time, she unconsciously still showed an expressionless look out of habit, which made her resemble the previous, nonchalant and detached Acheron.
Lucian actually thought that was not a bad thing.
Mei and Acheron, both within one person—it was truly a perfect 'gap moe.'
Meanwhile, on the sofa, Bronya, upon hearing Acheron's words, felt her thoughts begin to stir as her mother's words echoed once again in her ears.
'Work hard to occupy a place in his heart...'
Bronya anxiously looked at Lucian, who was surrounded by his thirteen wives—all of them beautiful and powerful—making the pressure on her shoulders enormous.
In the end, after pondering for a while, Bronya decided to start with small things.
While listening to Kyuusyou's plans, Bronya quietly paid attention to Lucian, who was playing mobile games with Senti on the sofa.
Knowing that Lucian liked a special type of coffee bean exclusive to Belobog, Bronya always carried some with her, hoping that wherever she met him, she could let him drink his favorite coffee.
Now was clearly the right time to use the coffee.
Soon, when the discussion came to an end, Bronya finally felt that the opportunity had arrived.
Excusing herself, Bronya went to the kitchen and personally brewed sixteen cups of coffee, then brought them to the living room to share with everyone. After placing the tray filled with cups of coffee on the table, she took a personally adjusted cup with a carefully tuned flavor and personally delivered it to Lucian.
"Lord Lucian, your favorite coffee. I added three spoons of sugar."
Bronya spoke gently while wearing an elegant smile.
Lucian looked at Bronya and smiled back.
"Umu, thank you as always, Bronya," Lucian replied, taking the cup from her hand before sipping it. "Mm, not bad. Your coffee-brewing skills have improved again."
"I'm glad you like it."
Bronya felt a small sense of relief in her heart, and no one noticed that her hand quietly clenched for a moment.
Seele, off to the side, kept yawning, not focusing on the discussion at all.
It couldn't be helped.
Documents, tax rates, trade routes—making her handle these diplomatic affairs was like making an illiterate read the Analects, way too boring and hard for her taste.
Unable to sit still anymore, Seele ultimately stood up and slipped out of the room to stroll around.
Just then, when Acheron had finished returning the tea tray to the kitchen and was walking through the courtyard, Seele, who happened to be passing through as well, spotted her immediately.
In her eyes, Acheron looked harmless, but Seele knew that this tall woman was actually very dangerous—her instincts in this regard were fairly accurate.
"Mei, huh... somehow I feel like I'd get along with her... maybe..."
Seele muttered softly as she remembered how Lucian seemed to treat Acheron differently and in a more special way than the other women.
A thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.
'I wanna see what's so special about her...'
In the end, with this thought in mind, Seele strode up to Acheron, blocking her path.
"Hey, should I call you Acheron or Mei?"
Seele, with a fearless look on her face, asked bluntly, not beating around the bush.
Acheron stopped, raised her brows in bewilderment for a moment, then smiled slightly.
"Either is fine. As long as I know you're calling me, I'll definitely respond."
Hearing Acheron's response and facing her face-to-face, Seele finally understood that she really was special.
Her legs were especially long, her figure especially good, her face especially beautiful, her emotions especially stable, and her personality likewise especially gentle.
Such a perfect woman—if not special, then what?
"Uh… Well… I just wanna ask…" Seele said awkwardly while scratching the back of her head. "What the heck did you eat to grow this much?"
As she spoke, Seele glanced at her own figure and suddenly felt insecure as she realized that, even though both of them had purple hair and the color scheme of their clothes was also mainly purple, she was completely outclassed by Acheron in every way.
"Peaches."
At Seele's question, Acheron answered briefly and directly.
Because she had lost her sense of taste as a Self-Annihilator, only peaches still had flavor to her, so Acheron was basically not lying, since she had indeed only eaten peaches all this time.
"Peaches...?" Seele raised her brows in surprise. "Hmm, that explains it... I don't like peaches, so that must be why..."
Just like that, Seele silently noted it down in her heart and decided that from now on, she would eat more peaches.
"Anything else?"
Acheron asked patiently.
"Are you good at fighting?"
"I'm not good at fighting..." Acheron replied calmly, her gentle smile vanishing, her gaze becoming as still and calm as a lake. "I usually don't draw my blade."
"Not good at fighting, you say? But your sisters keep saying you're actually really strong," Seele said with a frown. "You're lying... You looking down on me?"
In her eyes, Acheron seemed to assume she was weak, brushing her off by saying she was not good at fighting.
"No. I really am not good at fighting."
Hearing Acheron's calm response, Seele grew irritated and refused to let it go.
"In that case, spar with me. If you refuse, then you're definitely looking down on me."
Seeing Seele's persistence and stubbornness, Acheron let out a helpless sigh.
Truth be told, the reason she said she was not good at fighting was simply that she truly had no interest in fighting. From her perspective, fighting was a matter of life or death, not something to be taken lightly.
What if she accidentally killed Lucian's disciple?
However, understanding that no matter what she said would be useless, she decided to humor Seele.
"All right then. Just don't get hurt."
Acheron put her hand on the sheathed sword hanging at her waist.
"No worries, I'm not weak!"
Seele shouted with a fearless smile, then swung her scythe and charged toward Acheron.
"Take this! Check out my new move—Soaring Butterfly!"
===
Several minutes later...
"Ugh… Enough, enough!"
Seele sat on the ground, rubbing the numb back of her neck.
Unlike before, her clothes were now completely dirty, showing that she had rolled around on the ground many times. However, since it had only been a casual spar, there was not a single injury on her body.
Compared to the dirty Seele, Acheron remained truly spotless, making it clear who had been beaten.
'As expected, no woman chosen by Master is ordinary...'
Seele thought solemnly as she gazed at the calm and spotless Acheron, having no choice but to acknowledge her strength.
'Goddammit, she hasn't even taken a single step...'
Feeling helpless, Seele stood up, patted the dust off her pants, then walked up to Acheron and puffed out her not-so-big chest.
"I lost! I'm totally convinced!"
Seele declared with a big smile, glanced around, then leaned closer to Acheron and lowered her voice.
"It's settled. You'll be the main wife! I'll be the second one! No complaints at all!"
Right after saying this, Seele, her face red, quickly picked up her scythe from the ground and ran off like a startled rabbit.
"Hahh, she's still a child, after all..."
Acheron stood in place, watching the direction Seele fled with a helpless smile, but the next second, she paused, blinking her eyes in confusion.
What did Seele mean by the main wife and the second one?
Remembering how Seele's face had turned red after saying that, Acheron pondered for a moment, then sighed softly.
'Lucian's disciple... her thoughts are impure...'
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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