“It’s Marius,” Marius replied honestly, feeling it was pointless to play dumb.
His true feeling was that the worst person had arrived at the worst possible time.
He was still fatigued from unleashing his magic and finishing Mergen with Annihilation.
While his magic power had already recovered, he wondered if he could win against a foe in his depleted state.
“Ho,” Auraniess laughed, his purple eyes sparkling like a child’s.
“I came to find you… you seem a bit lacking in spirit.”
His expression turned suspicious, and he glanced around.
Then, he clapped his hands together.
“I see! You were fighting someone just now, weren’t you?”
Auraniess had deduced this by noticing the residual magic power in the vicinity matched Marius’s.
Marius couldn’t hide his confusion.
He couldn’t fathom Auraniess’s true intentions, especially since he claimed to be looking for him but showed no inclination to fight.
He braced himself, ready to cast magic at any moment, and opened his mouth.
“Yes. Weren’t you here to fight me too?”
He couldn’t think of any other reason Auraniess would be looking for him.
As expected, Auraniess nodded, though his expression seemed reluctant.
“Naturally, I was. But I didn’t expect you to be weakened from fighting someone else.”
He snorted, crossed his arms, and fell into thought.
“Unfortunately, I’m not good with recovery. Iris, Sophia, what about you two?”
He gestured to the beauties flanking him, and they each responded.
Iris, with her red hair, answered first.
“I’m not very good at it.”
Next, Sophia, with her blue hair, replied.
“I can, but I need to bite you once?”
Auraniess made a strange face, showing his fangs. Marius, who had already guessed Sophia’s true nature as a Vampire, looked at Auraniess.
“If Sophia bites you, you’ll likely become a Vampire. Is that acceptable?”
“Absolutely not,” Marius stated firmly. Auraniess wasn’t surprised.
Sophia and Iris merely offered wry smiles.
“That’s understandable. Very well, I’ll wait until you’ve recovered.”
Saying this, Auraniess surprised Marius.
“You will?”
Marius tried to fathom Auraniess’s true intentions but only managed to ascertain that Auraniess possessed a beauty comparable to Lovisa.
“It’s fine. I didn’t come here to kill you. I came to fight you.”
With that statement, Marius realized, “This guy’s just a battle maniac.”
Perhaps then, there might be a way to handle this.
“Yes, well, how about tomorrow or the day after?”
“Will it take a day to recover?” Auraniess tilted his head, looking slightly surprised.
“Is this guy weak?” he seemed to wonder.
“I want to be in perfect condition,” Marius said.
Upon hearing this, Auraniess’s face showed understanding.
“I see. If it’s to face me, then I can understand.”
His smile was so beautiful that it could steal the souls of even men, but Marius was not impressed.
It looked to him like a demon’s wicked grin.
“I can wait for about a day.”
Marius returned home, thinking it was strange to be thanking someone in this situation.
After watching him go, Auraniess spoke joyfully.
“Did you see that? He looked much stronger than Alastor! This will be a good fight!”
“Congratulations,” Sophia and Iris said in turn.
Though they inwardly thought, “The real ones to congratulate are the inhabitants of this continent.”
It wasn’t a problem that Auraniess hadn’t asked for Marius’s location.
With Auraniess’s skill, Six Sense, he could find him easily enough.
He had arrived precisely where Marius was, after all.
“Auraniess-sama, what shall we do until tomorrow?”
Auraniess pondered the question.
“Let’s see… I should get something to eat first. Iris, I want fish.”
“Understood.”
Iris, receiving the command in the form of a request, walked to the water’s edge and casually thrust out her hands.
The outline of her white, slender arms blurred, transforming into red tentacles covered in countless suckers.
The tentacles split into many and extended into the sea.
When she pulled them back, she held several large fish.
“As expected of the Queen of the Sea, always a great catch,” Auraniess praised, licking his lips as Iris offered him the fish.
“Thank you,” Iris replied with a silent bow.
Auraniess chose a fish as large as his outstretched arms, with black scales and a sharply pointed snout – a spearfish.
She grabbed the still-flapping fish with her left hand, lifted it, and bit its head.
Blood spurted out, staining her mouth and clothes, but she paid it no mind.
“Mmm, as expected, it’s best to eat fresh fish by the head,” she said, smiling with satisfaction. Then, she gestured for Sophia and Iris to eat as well.
Sophia bit into the fish’s belly and began to suck its blood.
Iris, like her mistress, bit into it directly from the head.
The three beautiful women ate the fish crudely, creating a peculiar sight.
“H, hiss! Monsters!”
A sudden voice startled them, and all three pairs of eyes focused on the source.
A middle-aged man, dressed like a fisherman, had collapsed from fear.
His eyes were fixed on Iris’s hands.
“Ah, right. I forgot to change them back,” Iris said, realizing she had forgotten and transforming her tentacles back into human arms.
“He looks like a fisherman,” Sophia remarked. Auraniess seemed uninterested.
“He looks weak and boring. We’re monsters, as you say, so hurry up and run!”
He waved his hand dismissively, like shooing away a dog, while still biting into his fish.
The fisherman fled for his life, but no one pursued him.
Neither Sophia nor Iris cared that Auraniess wasn’t interested.
After finishing their meal, the three gathered the remains and burned them.
It was important not to litter in the sea.
“Thank you for the meal,” Auraniess said, bowing to the ashes and the sea. Sophia and Iris followed suit.
“Now, my stomach is full, but I have free time until tomorrow. Are there no other strong individuals besides Marius?”
Sophia answered Auraniess’s question indifferently.
“Even if there were, Marius would have already defeated them.”
“If anyone remains, they are likely insignificant,” Iris added, agreeing with Sophia. Auraniess pouted.
“You never know. Melinda could command familiars, couldn’t she? The people of this continent might be doing the same.”
Iris thought it wasn’t impossible, but Sophia was skeptical.
“Then I don’t understand why Marius was here alone. If there were enemies strong enough to exhaust him, he would have brought them. Since he didn’t, it must be because the only ones available were impediments, right?”
“Grrrr…” Auraniess was unable to refute her and growled in frustration.
Iris attempted to placate her master.
“Well, well, it’s been a while since we’ve been on this continent. Why not look around and see what kind of creatures are here? Perhaps there are future strong individuals.”
Upon hearing this, Auraniess’s mood immediately improved.
“That’s right! The future is what matters!”
Sophia said nothing more.
Marius returned home and went to have breakfast.
He was greeted by his two new wives and three familiars. The three maids, Emma, Aina, and Remika, were busy moving around.
“Welcome back.”
Welcomed by five beautiful women and girls, Marius felt a sense of peace.
Emma, noticing Marius, approached him with a skillful gait that was neither hurried nor slow.
“Welcome back. My apologies, please wait a moment.”
Marius waved his hand magnanimously at the Maid, who apologized with a contrite expression
“It can’t be helped. I did get back sooner than expected.”
He remembered he forgot to greet Frederick, but decided it was fine.
He realized his senses had become quite numb in this regard.
“Did something happen?” Lovisa noticed Marius’s slight difference from his usual demeanor.
“Yes, a little. … You noticed?”
Marius was surprised. Lovisa seemed a little proud.
“We’ve been together for quite some time.”
She then looked meaningfully at Barra, who looked displeased.
The battle between the women seemed to have already begun.
Seeing Barra’s face, Marius seemed to understand something.
(Was Lovisa always like this?)
He had often seen characters in fiction become jealous the moment they became affectionate, but this was his first time witnessing it in reality.
Then, El toddled over and whispered in his ear.
“If you’re worried, I’ll keep an eye on them?”
She then smiled.
Her eyes seemed to say, “Aren’t I considerate and great?” and her tail wagged as if expecting something.
Marius gave a wry smile and patted El on the head.
“I’ll leave it to you. Please mediate before things get worse.”
“Yes.”
El happily replied after being petted.
Zofi and Al didn’t understand what was happening, but they understood that El had outmaneuvered them and bit their lips, glaring at the back of El’s head.
It looked like a battle was about to start here too, which made Marius feel weary.
(Isn’t maintaining a harem more trouble than it’s worth?)
He had heard and read that maintaining a harem was quite difficult.
At the time, he had only thought, “Is that so?” or “Aren’t there more benefits?” But it seemed it wasn’t that simple.
“For now, those who fight will be put aside for later.”
He stated clearly.
Without him needing to specify what he meant, a spark of understanding lit up in the women’s eyes.
“We’re good friends, right?”
“Yes,” Barra and Lovisa said, forcing a smile at each other.
“We are too, right, Al, El?” Zofi said. Al hurriedly nodded, but El grinned.
“Well then. It depends on how Zofi-sama and Al act.”
“Th. This guy…” Zofi glared at El’s ominous aura, but El remained unfazed.
“In this case, Zofi-sama would be the villain, you know?”
“Th. This…” Zofi was speechless at the unfairness.
“Don’t get carried away,” Marius said, swatting El on the head.
“In this situation, El is the villain.”
Zofi and Al breathed a sigh of relief, and El nodded solemnly.
It wasn’t that El didn’t understand, but she was probing for what Marius would get angry about, without showing it.
However, Marius knew who was truly the most cunning and devious.
And El knew that Marius couldn’t be fooled by lies or deception.
Therefore, Marius thought, it wouldn’t escalate into a major issue.
“By the way, M. Marius,” Lovisa said shyly, speaking to him again.
“You haven’t told us what happened, after all.”
Marius scratched his cheek and looked away, unable to evade the question.
At this reaction, the other women’s eyes narrowed.
“W. What is it? M. Marius,” Barra stammered, likely not out of pure innocence like Lovisa.
Zofi and the others said nothing, but their expressions showed they wanted him to confide in them.
Marius thought it wasn’t something he needed to hide, and while preparing himself for their reactions, he said.
“I met Auraniess.”
The effect was dramatic.
Not only did his two new wives and three familiars freeze, but even the three maids who were serving froze in time.
After what felt like an eternity, during which Marius deeply regretted something, Zofi was the first to recover.
“A. Ah, Auraniess… Auraniess?”
Next, Barra groaned.
“A. Auraniess… Is it that Auraniess?”
Then, Zofi, fear dawning in her eyes, murmured.
“The harbinger of war, the unfettered disaster, despair upon encounter, his name is Auraniess…”
Marius thought, “Is this what they are like?” given the reaction exceeded his expectations.
Auraniess had a rich background, even by the game’s developers’ standards. He was a race called Tyrant, the rulers of the land before monsters ran rampant in ancient times. As monsters appeared and his kin were killed by high-ranking monsters like dragons, he was the only one who continued to defeat the high-ranking monsters, becoming the oldest Demon, and the first Demon Lord.
He who remains at the apex, that is Auraniess.
Humanity, awestruck by the Demon Lord who reigned at the top for so long, called him with reverence.
“Auraniess, the Eternal Conqueror.”
“What is that way of calling him?”
The women tilted their heads, as if this name wasn’t recognized in this world.
“No, it’s nothing. I’m scheduled to fight him tomorrow.”
“N. No way…”
The blood drained from the faces of everyone who heard this.
“M. Master. You don’t know Auraniess’s strength, do you…?” Zofi pleaded, her face on the verge of tears.
Seeing this, the other women had no room for jealousy.
“I know,” Marius replied calmly.
“He said he was bored because other Demon Lords were mere trivialities, and that’s why he was looking for me. In other words, he’s strong enough to defeat Demon Lords as if they were mere trifles.”
Demon Lords are just trifles.
The group could only imagine how terrifying that was.
“If I defeat Auraniess, peace will finally return. Then, we’ll have more time for sweet moments.”
Saying this, he gently patted the hair of Zofi, Lovisa, Barra, Al, and El in turn.
Seeing that Marius was as usual and not tense at all, the women finally began to calm down.
“You have a chance of winning, don’t you?”
Marius nodded at Lovisa’s question.
Seeing this, life finally returned to the women’s faces.
Marius had no choice but to nod, but sometimes silence is golden.
The day before his confrontation with Auraniess, Marius spent his time as usual.
