John was staying in the mansion.

A change of ceiling was nice once in a while, but he hadn’t been home long enough to incite that particular urge. Teasing Moira wasn’t it either. She could have slept in the room one over and not heard a thing. He had taken the usual precautions to make sure his lifestyle did not interfere with any of his guests’ stay. If there was any good reason to stay then it was that he wanted to honour Aclysia’s effort to put all this together for him.

He would have lied if he said that was the main reason. No, what mostly made John stay in this corner of his realm was that he had personally gathered many of the strongest and most volatile elements of it here. Justinian had it out for John in particular, but there was no telling when he decided that Tach, Nach and Tachia were deserving of his wrath as well. If any of these people clashed and he wasn’t there to stop them, the devastation would have been incredible.

Best to stay in the area. The Ambassador Double could hold the home affairs for a few days.

Courtesy of his decision, the harem had also made one. John wasn’t exactly sure what machinations had happened in the background, but the split was too neat to be the product of simple spontaneity. Of the 24 women he would call his, 12 were with him on Servitude Island and 12 were still in the Palace. Well, he was including Lydia and Lu Zhi in the 12 for the Palace, so it was 10, really.

With his main body were Aclysia, Nathalia, Eliana, Gnome, Salamander, Siena, Sylph, Undine, Nia, Metra, Nahua and Lee. Back in the Palace then were Rave, Momo, Lydia, Scarlett, Beatrice, Lorelei, Nightingale, Delicia, Hailey, Lu Zhi, Claire and Ehtra. There was some sorting regarding who was required to keep the government operating at full efficiency. Other choices would make no sense if this was not deliberate. He couldn’t imagine his first fiancée would stay with his (even perfectly accurate) Extension unless it was part of some agreement.

The Gamer could have asked. He preferred not to know for absolutely certain, in a weird way. It was part of that broader trust he had in his harem as a whole and in its parts. To be certain that they were having their own meetings without him was calming. It would have been horrifying if he thought they could be plotting against him, but that only crossed his minds as a hypothetical while he was pondering the situation at large.

‘Blessed is the man who is loved,’ John thought, just as his character was slammed off the stage.

“YES!” Lee exclaimed and jumped onto the seat of the couch. “In your face!” Using one grip of the wireless controller instead of her index finger, she poked the Gamer’s cheek. “Your title belongs to me now!”

“You won 2 out of 5,” John drily pointed out.

“Yeah, but I had a no-hit victory, so that counts double.”

“I don’t remember making that rule.”

John just looked at her. Lee, against general expectation, was not naked. Instead, she wore the maid outfit. Not the same one as Aclysia and the other maids, it had to be said. That one was reserved to the core maid cadre, by decision of the head maid herself. Lee was simply not up to the standards of the Artificial Spirits. That she needed to sleep was the biggest hindrance there. Beatrice, Momo, Delicia and Ehtra each had a host of additional responsibilities and yet they found time to join the housework because they had eight additional hours each day to play with.

John did not doubt that Lee could have joined the proper maid cadre if she had dedicated herself to the craft. The recent conflict had shown just how valuable it was that Lee spent upwards of six hours a day just training and researching. Only one to three hours a day were spent cleaning.

Until Aclysia deemed she had gained the necessary experience, Lee therefore wore a more casual version of a maid outfit. Funnily enough, since she was the only non-maid maid in his harem, it was exclusive despite being a step down in the servant hierarchy. The skirt was short, she did not have the garter belt and straps to join the stockings that clad her thunder thighs, and her top was all around plainer. A buttoned-up black shirt with enough white elements to give it the maid feeling, that was it. No gloves either. It was almost more appropriate for a strip club than housework – almost.

“Where did the woman go that sassed me out for showing her where the washing machine is?”

“Still right here, dude, do you need your eyes checked?” Lee smirked. “If you want me to turn back into a full couch potato, just say the word.”

John amusedly blew air out his nose. “Another round?” he asked.

“Much as I hate to intervene, Master, I require Lee for a moment!” Aclysia shouted over from the open kitchen. As per usual, the space to prepare food was separated from the living space by only a line of counters. John just preferred it that way. It was easier to get food out of the kitchen that way and he could watch his maids work, which was always nice.

Lee hopped off the couch, dropping the controller into John’s lap in the process. One arm on the backrest, the Gamer followed his dark-haired gamer girl as she made her way to the kitchen. “How can I help, head maid?” she asked, her tone delectably disciplined. Perhaps she wasn’t part of the core maid cadre, but she was closer to it than anyone else in the harem.

Although a certain newcomer was swiftly making her way into that rank as well.

“I want you to show Nahua the proper techniques to slice these meats and vegetables,” Aclysia stated and gestured to something hidden behind a variety of pots, from John’s perspective. The instruction given, Aclysia then took a step backwards.

Lee blinked once, registering that this was as much a test of her own abilities as it was supposed to be schooling for Nahua. After that miniscule hesitation, she moved into it. There was a bit of a blush on her face, but she was certain in her movements. It was always adorable to watch the gamer girl display her human mixture of self-awareness and confidence.

‘Looks like Nahua is coming to her decision,’ John thought. ‘Not that it is a surprising one…’ Since making her decision to become his woman three days ago, Nahua had appeared to be interested in this path. Her declarations in her speech and after about ‘serving’ and ‘being of use’ had been pretty clear on the underlying message.

On one hand, John was still a bit hesitant to put her in the maid outfit because of her cultural significance to the Aztecs. On the other hand, if he isolated her because of that, he would keep broadcasting to the world that she was an outsider that could never be truly integrated. There was a balancing act to strike there.

‘The headaches of politics,’ John thought and watched Nahua mimic the various cutting techniques Lee demonstrated. Since he had boosted her Mental Stats as well, Nahua had every bit the mental capacity to pick things up rapidly. She was also somewhat skilled with a knife courtesy of past experiences with… surgery was the flattering way to put it.

Nia sat down next to her man. “Thinking about a walk?”

“I wasn’t, but that’s not the worst idea.” Arm naturally wandering around her waist, John pulled the lithe blonde closer towards him. She was light and naked and put her hand on his to guide it to the fine silver lines. Almost invisible against her white skin, they spread outwards from her spine, over the entirety of her back, and past her sides and shoulders to the rims of her stomach and chest.

The lines forked, split, and reunited like the veins of a leaf. As Nia’s powers as a blank had grown, so had they spread over more of her. She had a degree of control over them, keeping them at the current spread most of the time. When she seriously used her powers, they spread all the way to her eyes these days.

John brushed over the lines and Nia cooed. They were, essentially, anti-magical circuits, used to sense the various changes of mana in the air and the people around. Like most senses, this one too could be hijacked for erotic purposes, if the stimulating impulse came from a person that was trusted enough.

“Any specific reason you suggest it?” John wanted to know.

There was the usual delay between his question and Nia’s answer. The pariah wasn’t stupid; in fact, she probably had one of the most analytically sharp minds in the harem. Pure Intellect may have placed her firmly behind women like Delicia, Momo and Scarlett, but the Stat as a number failed to account for such things as modus of thinking and natural inclinations.

“I believe Nahua needs additional time with each of us and Lee deserves more of your time for her contribution,” the blank finally displayed her answer.

“What about you? You saved both Liakan and Singed – and during the final confrontation you still managed to mask the presence of key members of the fight.”

Nia brushed over the swing of his neck. “I do better alone than most of us,” she answered with a little smile. “This is enough for me.”

‘Not any less reason to give you more,’ John thought, his lips occupied with seeking hers. No reason not to make out with her until they were done in the kitchen. While she may have been without taste or smell, Nia was not without warmth. Both her body and soul were alight in his arms and what more could a man wish for?

The gentle dance of their tongues came to a halt when Aclysia nudged his mind. The signal preceded her addressing the room at large. “I have elected to prepare casseroles. It will take roughly two hours for everything to be cooked properly.”

“That’s so loooooooong though!” Sylph complained. “Weren’t we going to have stew? Like, in thirty minutes? I demand access to the snacks! The delay justifies my annexation of the sweets drawer! I have casus belli on the munchies!”

“I will, indeed, permit limited access to the snack drawer,” Aclysia declared.

“What?! For realzies! I was just babbling!” Sylph zapped over to the kitchen and stopped hard at the edge of it. She knew better than to actually step into Aclysia’s domain uninvited.

While the air spirit received her chocolate rations, Lee and Nahua stepped out of the kitchen. A little poke in the ribs by the pariah nudged him to move. The harem had essentially made this decision for him and he was going to oblige.

“Do you two want to go on a quick trip?” he suggested.

Lee and Nahua were both surprised by the suggestion. They must have been so focused on their given task that they had missed the obvious scheming going on around them. “Where to?” the gamer girl wanted to know.

“The mainland,” John answered simply. “Might be difficult to find a boat with a Mobile Barrier Generator, so you will need to change though…”

“We don’t need one,” Lee boasted.

“Oh?” John gave her a very interested look and the strongest Fateweaver in the world pushed her chest out. “You can do that now?”

“I have my – not reproducible – ways.” Her nose rose a little higher. “I am just that good.”

“That you are, a walking miracle,” John agreed whole-heartedly. “Nahua, you coming along?”

“If I am asked to.” Nahua’s smirk took the total submission out of those words. A good thing, as it showed she had taken his words to heart: if she was going to be a servant, then she had to choose that life every day. The only kind of slavery John liked was the kind that consensually started and ended in the boundaries of a sexual setting.

They left the mansion and made their way to the harbour. A number of vessels were anchored in it. Necessary structures to prevent any mundane officials from asking too many questions about any boats that popped up on the lake had been in place well before John came along, so the regular way of getting around the place was to sail through the real space side of things. John may have had relatively easy access to Mobile Barrier Generators but even he did not have the resources to equip the boats in a place that rarely if ever needed them.

They took one of the smaller vessels, a fishing boat for up to six people, and set out. John held a spark of scepticism in his mind until he saw all around them the iridescent lights that came along with Illusion Barriers separating or merging.

“So, when did you discover this trick?” he asked, once he was certain they were in their own Mobile Barrier.

“I got the idea for it during the god-lock,” Lee answered. He could hear her justified smugness, even if he did not turn around to look at it on her face. A Mobile Barrier guaranteed they did not have any regular obstacles or viewers, which was good, but it also meant that anyone else around in a Mobile Barrier would be invisible until they merged. Consequently, preventing a crash required him to notice any melding quickly. “No one is going to meld with this one either,” Lee assured him.

“The difference between a genuine Fateweaver and my simple abilities,” John complimented and glanced over his shoulder.

“Ehehehe.” Lee laughed, between creepy and cute. “Yeah, I got a whole glimpse into the fundamental forces of it all during the god-lock, so… I think I might be able to replicate some stuff.” She scratched the back of her head. “Mechanically I can probably write a report on it but practically I’m not sure if anyone will be able to replicate it. It’s just too big of a scale, you know?”

John nodded. As dissatisfying as that was in terms of research, much of magic was similar to weightlifting. No matter how hard they tried, most people would never even get close to Olympic standards and very, very, very few would be able to contest for a medal. Be it for reasons of esoteric skill or raw power output, much of what they could do on their level was unreachable for the average person.

“Still, you should write it down and give it to Magnus,” he said.

‘Magnus?’ Nahua asked mentally.

‘You should ask out loud,’ John answered nicely but firmly. ‘Get to know them at their pace.’

“Magnus?” Nahua repeated out loud. “Who or what is that?”

“What?” Lee asked with a laugh.

“I’m but a stoopid little demigoddess, I don’t know what matters of technological or magical wonder you have floating about,” Nahua said in her ditzy tone. “It’s, like, all of the weird stuff, you know? I still look out at the Hudson Barrier at times and just stare at the skyscrapers and stuff, yeah?”

“And I did revive a god the other day,” John reminded.

“Aaaaand Master revived a god the other day,” Nahua agreed. “Sooooo, who or what’s a Magnus?”

“My big brother,” Lee reported, still giggling. “He’s, uhm… he didn’t inherit Dad’s talent.”

“…And your father is…?”

“Oh… yeah, right, it’s rare that I meet someone that doesn’t know.” Lee cleared her throat. “Alright, did you get caught up on the history of the technological development of Protected Spaces and Fateweaving?” To that Nahua nodded. “Alright, my father is Magoi Magus, he’s one of the High Fateweavers. Well, was, he is practically retired now. Point being, he helped develop Fateweaving and perfect it for widespread use.”

“He must be incredibly wealthy and powerful,” Nahua remarked.

“He was and is,” John answered. “He made the smart call of aligning with me right as the Fateweavers started to dissolve in terms of being an independent organization. Internationally he has less influence now but in Fusion he is the foundation of our Fateweaving schools. He did some initial teaching, then handed most of it off to Magnus.”

“Why him, if he is the child without talent?” Nahua asked the expected question.

“Because I suck at people,” the gamer girl answered. “Like, I am really bad. Until pretty recently I wasn’t even sure what I was doing with my life.”

“Magnus, on the other hand, may not be strong but he is dedicated. He has been working to compensate for his relative lack of talent by studying theory intensively. That makes him a good teacher to the average person. It also means he’ll be best at reading out anything that could be useful to the average person out of the revelations Lee had.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh… another question, if I may?” Nahua stretched, the bottom of her revealing tribal outfit slipping down and revealing the Lover’s Will mark in its entirety. “I was under the impression that you’re this powerful because of this?”

“I am – but I was talented before.” Lee wasn’t boasting anymore, just explaining things normally. “I probably would have peaked around level 150 or so without John, which, as I understand, is very high for a Fateweaver since it’s an art more about skill than raw power. The Perk got me out of ‘really talented’ and into ‘absurdly powerful’ territory. I think all of us humans in the harem are that way?”

“If we’re going by raw level cap, Lydia would have been the weakest out of everyone,” John reported. “Strongest would have been Nia or Hailey.”

“Really? How interesting,” Nahua said.

The engine of the boat died down as their Mobile Barrier melded with the larger Protected Space on the main island. It was a category 2 Abyssal city, which meant that it was a notable cluster of Illusion Barriers and Protected Spaces that were individually isolated but connected by being mostly known in location and history. Springfield was also such a city and New York had been before John installed the IMBA and made it a category 3.

The city had existed before John had taken over, but it had grown a lot since then. Basically, it had existed as the home of all the people that were in decent enough standing with the local power holders to remain safe but not good enough to be protected. That, of course, left them open to multi-sided exploitation and internal struggle. Simply put, it had been one giant cesspit of gang wars.

Sorting that out had been a struggle and John was pretty sure he had either killed or incarcerated 20 to 40% of the population, while being lenient. The area remained a hotbed of crime to this day, which perhaps was a sign that his leniency was a bad idea. It had also only been a couple of years, though, so he wasn’t too stressed about the situation. The overall trend was positive and his current presence was forcing everyone to keep their feet still. As long as he could sell them a better vision, he expected them to come over to his side eventually. If not out of conviction, then because of money.

“Let’s look around the place,” John said and disembarked.