***The Crystal City***

***Angrod***

“Daddy, can I go to Sandra's place and play with the quintuplets?” Seria looks up to me with begging eyes that could melt not only hearts but entire planets.

I don't know why or how, but ever since she met our childhood friend's wild brood, she wants to play with them on a daily basis. If it weren't for the fact that I sent the bunny girl on a very important mission, I would immediately say yes and allow someone to ship Seria and her brother off to Sandra's homestead on Chimera.

No matter how you look at it, this party isn't a place for my children, but everyone is so busy lately that nobody had the time to look after them, which meant that Seria and Aengus got to stay with us.

I smile good-naturedly, trying to buy some time while thinking of a way of how to refuse Seria without causing a scene. It's impossible to send the child to my friend's house without competent supervision.

Sandra, together with Tanja, Rose, and Iris, are on an important mission. Her husband, Sven, is currently overseeing the mobile fortresses which are stationed above the Crystal City.

There is Gabriel, but I would never entrust the guy with my kids. Doesn't matter that I've known him since childhood... no, that's exactly the problem. What if Aengus picks up one of Gabriel's hobbies? I can't risk that.

Nix, Irith, Arthur, Nicosar, and Katrine are all here at the party. It would be awkward to call one of them over. There is also the issue that having many members of the royal family in attendance is the only thing that keeps the ambassadors from dogpiling Celes and me.

My mind wheels as I mentally go through all the names I know. Maybe Drem, the captain of my guard?

No. Someone has to look after the Eternal Palace on Chimera.

Who else is there? Is my circle of friends and family really that small?

Thankfully, girl number four of Carne's harem interrupts us. “Kyaa! She is so cute! Is that one of the rumoured children?”

Girl number two coos in delight and nods her head. “Carne! I want one too!”

It would be really helpful if Carne's women wouldn't all look the same. Their dresses are the only thing that separates them from each other, so I decided to simply number them from left to right. Otherwise, they share the same delicate features with generic brown hair and a button nose, combined with clearly athletic bodies. Either they are all sisters or they had a cosmetic job done on them to avoid favouritism due to their looks.

The dangerous comment of wanting kids immediately causes a drop of sweat to form on Carne's forehead, his expression turning into a smiling mask. “That's not so easy...”

“How old are you?” Girl number three bends over the table to greet Seria, her eyes twinkling with the hope of a future motherhood which she yearned for her entire life.

“Next month I will be eight and my brother is nine!” Seria reports dutifully while giving them her cute little princess smile. Of course, I know that her behaviour is completely faked! She may have forgotten a lot of her old memories, but beneath it all, she is still a false snake. New personality or not.

Once she is grown up I will have a lot of trouble with getting rid of her boyfriends. Most of them for their own sake, that's for sure, but I also have to find a way to silently dispose of any petitioners who I do not approve of.

The trick will be to do it without her finding out.

“Kyaa! Carne! We need one like that!” Girl number one giggles and bounces in her seat.

“As I said, that's not so easy!” Carne's expression says it all. He sounds a little like a broken gramophone record as he sees the end of his paradise approaching.

It could be an opportunity for payback. Earlier, he tried to flirt with Celes, so fair is fair. A harem is very desirable as long as you don't have to deal with kids. Well, surprise! On my world, children are included in the relationship!

“Actually it's very easy!” I start casually. “You just have to forget about birth control and do him. Since we created an artificial Void Zone in this system, it's essentially the same situation as on Chimera. You only have to make sure to stay for at least two weeks on this planet. That should be enough time for a random soul to catch hold of the foetus.”

And if not... I can always release a few on purpose.

“We've cleaned up most of the souls after the battle, but there should still be some floating around.” I smile at the ladies whose eyes are beginning to sparkle. “If you want to make sure, you should ask my wife here and get some of her chocolate for him.”

Carne looks at me like I just hammered the last nail into his coffin.

Celes materializes a box out of nowhere and hands it to the first harem girl. “There you go. It's my special recipe!” My wife's eyes are half-closed in malicious joy. Looking like upturned crescent moons, they give me the impression that she is doing this as much for the women's sake as to teach Carne a lesson for his earlier behaviour.

Then I turn to Seria, remembering that her brother is also lacking a supervisor. “And where is your brother?” I look around with a concerned expression, searching the party for him.

“He went for that girl over there. He said that she is cute and it looks like she is about our age!” Seria points towards the ambassador for the Path.

Celes was taking a sip from her wine when our daughter dropped the nuclear bomb on us. My wife coughs, barely able to avoid splashing the wine all over herself.

Harem girl number four clears her throat and touches her cheek. “Oh, dear. You are aware that Miss Miruliru is a little bit older than she looks?”

I follow Seria's pointed finger and find Aengus chatting up the ambassador of the Path who is enduring the child's attention with a troubled expression. Aengus seems like he is in a world of his own, talking to the loli without concern.

Maybe she will re-evaluate her appearance in the future?

Seria only frowns upon hearing the woman's friendly advice. “How much older?”

“Millennia,” all four harem girls reply at once.

“Maybe you should join him and the girl,” Celes suggests to our daughter. “Miruliru is a strange one, but I think that her heart is in the right place. It would be a big help if you would go and help your brother entertain her.”

Celes shifts in her seat, then adds discretely, “And find a way to point out that the ambassador is outside your age-group.”

Seria nods gravely, a devilish grin splitting her face which causes everyone at the table to shudder. There just are expressions which shouldn't be seen on a child's face. “Oooh, that will be so good! Aengus will never live it down once I start teasing him about hitting on a granny!”

“Seria!” Celes's reprimands her with a warning tone, and the child instantly reverts back to her cute persona.

“No worries. Your cute little angel will take care of it! We will show the ambassador how to have fun!” She turns to Mawu, bowing apologetically. “And I will have to introduce you to the quintuplets some other time, Mr. Mawu. The last time I tried to, you just ran off without saying goodbye.”

The ambassador winces upon being called out on bad etiquette and Seria quickly walks towards her brother.

Celes only glares at me. “That smile earlier, she has that from you.”

I salute Celes with my glass and down it in one go, deciding that I need more alcohol to endure the rest of this party. “Your word in my ear. Let's just hope that it is just the smile which she inherited from me. The looks are definitely coming from your side.”

“You... are evil people. Do you really think that sending a second one after Miruliru will make the situation any better?” Mawu smiles at us, the left half of his face twitching a little.

The man just can't deal with children. Seems like he still remembers his long and thorough discussion with Seria about gods, Chimera, and where the kids come from.

The man kept dancing around the topic, not realizing that Seria was mercilessly playing with him. She may look a little too young for it, but she perfectly understands the answers to those questions. Mawu fell for the assumption that Seria and Aengus are similar to normal children.

I avert my gaze from Aengus and Seria, who are now ganging up on the ambassador of the Path, just to find that the other side of the table is now empty. “Huh? Where did Carne go?”

“While you were looking away, his four confidants carried him off like a cow on its way to the slaughterhouse.” Mawu shrugs his shoulders and takes another sip, apparently getting a little tipsy from the wine.

“Hah! We won't see him before tomorrow then.” I grin, catching one of Carne's girls skipping towards the exit.

“More like a few minutes.” Celes takes a delicate sip from her own glass. “I gave them the fast-acting stuff. Can't have them miss the entire party. He will be a little raw afterwards, but that's not my problem.”

I wince, so she used the stuff which she normally holds back for quickies.

“Do you think he will start cursing his harem?” Mawu puts a good face on the matter.

“That's for sure. That's for sure.” I grin and refill my own glass. “Maybe one or two of them will have twins or triplets?”

“You are drawing a very dark picture of his future,” Mawu replies nonchalantly and gets up. “If you excuse me, I can't hog you two all to myself for the whole evening. The other ambassadors are already staring daggers at me.”

We continue drinking wine as the various representatives present themselves at our table in order to discuss the state of the multiverse. Strangely enough, we are actually having fun until a certain person manages to find her way in front of us.

Elsaria, Leader of the Tuor, is a small woman.

Her size gives her nonetheless a certain allure, emphasizing her womanly assets. The even features of her face make her beautiful without causing her to be outstanding in any way, almost generic. The fair complexion of her skin is neither too dark nor too light and the same goes for her hair which shifts colours in the light – although tending towards the gentler spectrum.

One could say that she is a universal beauty, desirable to everyone, outstanding to none.

Even I can feel myself being drawn towards her pouty lips... if it weren't for Celes's heel which is digging into my calf. Oh, and her fingernails pinching the skin of my hand. And her tail poking... I reach back and catch the naughty appendage, yanking it onto my lap to hold it there so that my wife is forced to slide her chair even closer to me.

Either Elsaria didn't catch our interaction or decided to ignore it, because she points behind herself where Nix is waiting with two members of Elsaria's entourage, wearing a disinterested expression. “Why am I the only person on this party who is under permanent supervision!?”

“Supervision?” I ask, playing dumb.

“Your guard. She isn't leaving my side for even a second!”

Celes blinks slowly, her eyes wandering between Nix and the ambassador. “Nix isn't a guard. Aren't you happy to have the attention of a member of the royal family?”

Elsaria's eyes widen for a mere second, but she immediately returns to her temper tantrum. “It is when she actively intercedes in every attempt to negotiate with the members of other societies.”

I tilt my head, noticing that the room quieted down as everyone's attention was drawn to the little scene involving us. “Nix, is it true that you disturbed negotiations with other guests.”

Nix bows to me. “I only kept pointing out that releasing one's aura at a peaceful meeting is rude.”

“I did no such thing!” Elsaria protests.

“You did,” Nix replies without emotion. “It was minute, almost imperceptible, but you did.”

I raise an eyebrow. Seems like Nix's training is going well. I can only congratulate myself. “So, she didn't use mind magic?”

Elsaria snorts. “Is that what the others told you? Laughable.”

Nix shakes her head. “I didn't notice anything of the sort, although the people she was talking to immediately become more pliable once she applies her aura. It was akin to a succubus using her skill of temptation. Though, if that were the case I should have recognized it. I didn't notice her using any active magic, nor passive magic, aside from her aura.”

“There you have it!” Elsaria smiles and raises her chin. “It's not my fault if people like me. So, would you please call back your watchdog?”

“Hmm.” I frown.

After what Mawu told us and what I heard from the follow-up intelligence report, I really thought that mind magic was involved, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What other ways are there to influence a god? If I follow Nix's observations, then that would suggest that Elsaria's ability is somehow connected to her divinity.

“Her divinity doesn't root in a concept, but in an emotion,” Celes answers the question for me. “At a guess, I would say that it is something like Desire.”

“I have never heard of that,” I reply, but Elsaria looks like a deer caught in the headlights. So Celes is onto something?

Someone to our left clears her throat, and to my surprise, I find Lada standing next to us.

The former Council member somehow avoided my attention up until now, and even managed to sneak up right next to us without me even noticing. “It is very rare, but there are gods whose divinity roots in human emotion. If that's the case, their aura can affect those who are exposed to it.”

I glance sideways, studying Lada who looks a little bit guilty. Having it pointed out so blatantly, I also notice that there is the slight shimmer of a barely released aura around her.

“So, being a Goddess of Love and Harmony, you...”

Lada immediately claps her hands together and starts kowtowing to everyone. “I am so sorry. So sorry, everyone. I just thought that these peace-talks are so important for the future of the multiverse... I just tried to provide a peaceful atmosphere to give all of us a good start.” Lada immediately retracts her aura, taking with it the relaxed atmosphere in the room.

The guests start murmuring, some clearly offended by the subtle influence which was forced onto them. It doesn't help that Lada is somewhat seen as one of the former suppressors. Her status in itself as our counsellor was accepted, but I doubt that anyone who doesn't know her personally would have an easy time accepting that a former enemy is running free.

Celes directs the attention back to Elsaria. “So, your divinity is something along those lines? You can also influence people? But judging by the reports, what you are doing is a little more invasive than what Lada did. And it seems to last or people would return to normal on their own once they are outside your vicinity.”

I hold onto Celes's hand. “If the influence is subtle enough and lasts for a long time, the victim might change for good.” It was exactly what happened to Myrm when the Council played its game with us. They applied a subtle mind-altering effect to the amulet which bound us to their service.

The effect would cease as soon as it was overpowered by a sufficiently strong magical field. A minor inconvenience for any magic user who didn't know about it. But for someone like Celes, who only uses internal magic, it was akin to mind-washing. It took a few centuries, but by the end of it, Myrm was a no-compromise extremist with a god-complex towards the Council.

Elsaria allows herself a superior smile. “It's not my fault if everyone can't help but want me. Seeing that you all disapprove of my natural ability, there should be no reason to hold back.”

And with that, she releases the full might of her aura.