Vala, Window, Delphi, Cami, Clawdia, Honey, Chloe, and Eliza… check.

Lavi, Claire, Mariet, and Valkyria remained.

Well, there were the others, too. Postia, the cow, slime, bee, ram… Clawdia’s mecha? What about Mariet’s body and Lavi’s possessed arm? They needed fanservice, too.

But when it came to my humanoid wives, only four remained, and the next one was already within my sight.

Mariet.

As I only recently learned, Mariet was not simply playing the role of an undead maid. She was genuinely hundreds of years old, formerly dead, and lived as an actual maid for some noble. Clawdia was a perverted cat with a fetish for wanting to be treated like a maid because she viewed it as degrading. Claire was Mariet’s maid—well, butler, because she wanted to be one as far as I could tell… but there was also a fetish element to it for her, too.

But Mariet?

Mariet was a real, genuine maid.

Treating Clawdia and Claire like fetishized maids made sense because that was playing into their fetishes. That was fanservice to them.

But what was fanservice to a girl who was a maid because society made her one whether she liked it or not?

What was fanservice to a girl from centuries ago who lived her life in service to somebody else, and not out of some perverted desire?

The answer was simple.

After walking up to Mariet, I stopped right in front of her and looked down at her in silence, causing her to tilt her head to the side with a curious look in her typically lifeless eyes.

And then.

I kneeled down in front of her and grabbed her right hand, bringing it in front of my lips to place a kiss on the top of it. “Are you ready for your fanservice, my lady?”

Before Vala brought me to our personal pocket universe, saying something like that would have made me cringe.

But not anymore.

Nothing done in pursuit of making my wives smile could ever make me cringe.

As for Mariet, her lifeless eyes lit up with a bit of a spark as her pale cheeks took on a hint of red. Despite how easily she could be a pervert, she looked like she had no idea how to handle being treated like a proper lady.

“I… shouldn’t,” Mariet said. The smile on her face wasn’t one of pure happiness. Sure, she looked happy, but I could also tell she was uncomfortable. “I… should serve… you. It is… not my duty… to be… served.’

“Bullshit.” That was all that needed said, really, but she looked like she needed more of a response from that since she blinked a few times and tilted her head again. “You’re one of my wives, Mariet. Not only are you one of my wives, but you’re my equal, and all that matters is how you want to be treated. Nothing else matters. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be one of the queens?”

“I… was only a queen… in name. I never… acted like one. That’s why… I always cleaned… the mansion. Claire… used to get mad… at me… for doing her job, but… it’s my job. My purpose… is to serve.”

“Your purpose is to be happy and live a life that you want.”

“But—”

“No buts.”

Mariet looked down and said, “I’m… sorry. I’m ruining… your fanservice… for me.”

The more she talked, the more I realized that I hadn’t given Mariet’s position enough consideration before. Even though I might not have known about her being a former maid hundreds of years ago, I still should have talked to her sooner about her behavior as a maid—as a servant. That was how she behaved. Sure, she might have enjoyed the lewd acts herself, but she dedicated herself to serving me. Nothing was ever about her. It was always about me, and she didn’t care. She preferred it that way. Being my servant was what she was comfortable with.

What man wouldn’t want a girl who was unwaveringly loyal and subservient to him for no reason other than him existing?

Me. Because I had morals I believed in.

Sure, I liked how Mariet acted, but not the why of it. If a woman was going to treat me like that, then I wanted to be damn sure that I deserved it. That was the kind of behavior that was only deserved after slaying a dragon to save a princess, and I only knew how to sleep with dragons, not slay them.

So, I came up with another idea.

“Mariet,” I said, “I’ll be right back.”

Mariet had no idea what I was about to do and nodded her head.

Then I—

WAIT

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO DO

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PLOT HOLES YOU MIGHT CREATE BY DOING THIS? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SORT OF PHILSOPHICAL QUESTIONS MIGHT RISE FROM THIS? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THINGS MIGHT BE FOREVER CHANGED? YOU CAN’T JUST DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS ON A WHIM.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s incredibly based and I fully approve and it makes you even… even hotter.

BUT STILL. THINK ABOUT THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THIS.

“I’m not the one who has to worry about the consequences for my actions right now,” I told Window.

hot

BUT STILL. IF NOT THE CONSEQUENCES, THEN THINK ABOUT THE VOLUME. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A VOLUME WHERE WE MAKE PROGRESS AND NEW WAIFUS GET UNLOCKED AND STUFF? THEN NEXT VOLUME WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE WHERE WE EXPAND ON THE WAIFUS WE ALREADY HAVE? RIGHT NOW YOU’RE NOT DOING THAT. RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE TURNING THIS ENTIRE VOLUME INTO ONE ABOUT THE WIVES WE ALREADY HAVE INSTEAD OF GETTING NEW WIVES.

“Then I’ll do both. Anyways, be right back.”

TRHDSHTDSHTSD

“Then I’ll do both” SAYS THE MAN WHO—

I snapped my fingers and disappeared from the beach.

It was my first time trying out such a power, but it worked just as I hoped it would despite having no reason to even think it was possible aside from assuming that it was.

Rather than standing on a hot, sunny beach, I found myself standing at the edge of a snow-covered forest with a grand, classical mansion in front of me.

A horse-drawn carriage arrived at the mansion just moments after my arrival. Upon its arrival, a young girl wearing a maid uniform rushed out from the mansion, opened the door to the carriage, and then stepped back while bowing.

It was obvious just from a quick look that the maid I saw was none other than my wife from the past.

Mariet.

Her skin wasn’t as pale as it was in the modern day, but still pretty light. Her long and black hair was almost the exact same back then as it was in the modern day.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure about what to do next. I knew that something needed done, but what? The first idea that came to mind was punching Mariet’s former masters in their faces for treating her like nothing but a servant, but… what then? Snap some money into existence for Mariet and her family? Teleport them into the modern day where they would be free from their worries? Alter the course of history by causing massive societal change hundreds of years before I was even born?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized… maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. I had no idea what was going to happen as a result of anything I did.

And if I was willing to go back in time to help out Mariet, then why not Valkyria and Eliza with that whole war they had to fight to survive through?

I was already playing god in the modern day by rewriting some laws of reality here and there, but if I could do that… wouldn’t I be able to do even more good by going back in time to stop bad things from ever happening? But if I did that, what if I created changes that made me never exist in the first place, and then they got undone anyways?

Maybe Window was right. There might have been too much to consider. But, at the same time, I—

“There’s my Mariet!” an older man who stepped out from the carriage said. “I’ve missed you dearly. Have you kept with your studies in our absence?”

Mariet, the younger and living version of her, nodded and then spoke so quickly and with her words so slurred that I couldn’t even understand a single word that left her mouth. The words were clearly English, and I knew that she was saying real words… but I had no idea what they were. It felt like I was having a stroke trying to listen to her talk.

A woman who was dressed just as formally as the man then stepped out from the carriage and immediately rubbed the top of Mariet’s head. “Slowly, dear. Take your time with your words. There is no rush.”

Mariet gulped and nodded. “A-ah… sorry. I was… really excited. I… missed you.”

The man and woman looked at each other, nodded, and then hugged Mariet together.

“You are simply too precious,” the man said.

“Mariet, dear, what would you like for dinner?” the woman asked. “I would love to make whatever you want.”

Mariet looked uncomfortable hugging them back, but she slowly lifted her arms up to return the hug before saying, “Some… bread is… enough for me.”

“Goodness, when will you learn to be selfish?”

“You… already do… more than enough… for me. I could… never ask… for anything more.”

The man shook his head and tightened his hug around her. “We could never do enough for you.”

Honestly, I was… kind of shocked.

I jumped to conclusions and could not have been more wrong than I was.

I assumed that, just because Mariet lived hundred of years ago and was somebody’s maid, that she was in a horrible situation and forced into the role against her will. But… if the short encounter I was watching was anything to go by, then she looked like she was probably in one of the best positions she could have been back then.

And I could tell. Perks of being a god of sorts. That man and woman genuinely loved her.

But unlike Eliza who chose to look young, and Valkyria who could look however she wanted, Mariet… as far as I could tell, looked like she did from when she died. She still died young.

What if something changed and that man and woman weren’t so nice to her later on?

When I asked Mariet to confirm that she was the servant of some noble asshole, she did say yes. So then…

I moved forward in time enough to skip just a few years.

Mariet was covered up atop a bed, her skin almost as pale as it was in the modern day, and she was coughing every few seconds. Both the man and the woman were asleep next to her, sitting in chairs next to her bed, passed out with their heads resting on top of it while they held her nearest hand together.

It didn’t take much to realize what was going on.

I thought maybe I would get to punch them for turning into assholes, but that wasn’t what happened. They stayed by her side, full of love for her, until the end.

And this time, since I was in the same room as them… I didn’t get away without being seen.

Mariet saw me.

And she turned her head to look at me.

Then she smiled.

“I knew… you would come back,” Mariet said to me.

I blinked a few times when I heard that. “You know me?”

It looked like it took all of her energy just to nod her head. “I could… never forget you. You… saved me… all those years ago.”

I blinked another couple of times. “I did?”

“You… punched my old owner… in the face… told me you were… my husband from the future… and then… brought me to my new masters.”

“That does sound like something I would do.”

“You… don’t remember? Then… does that mean… I won’t get to be… your wife when I… die?”

“No, no, don’t worry. I promise you, you’re still my wife and we do all sorts of things together. You especially love biting me in the future.”

“Biting… you? Okay. I’ll… keep that in mind.”

“Mariet. Whatever is wrong, I could cure it. You don’t have to die here. You can live out a whole life of happiness with these people.”

I thought that might sound appealing to her, but she shook her head. “They have… already done… so much for me. I don’t… want to be… a burden on them… anymore. And I’ve… looked forward to being… your wife… ever since I was… a kid.”

“That makes me sound like a suspicious guy. Please be careful with how you phrase things. I don’t need Window yelling at me for something else.”

Mariet giggled and coughed. “You are… suspicious. You came… out of nowhere… punched my old… master in the face… then disappeared with me. You abducted… a child… from her owner…”

“Please stop!”

Mariet giggled some more before coughing even harder than before. But, as soon as she saw that her coughs were disturbing the sleep of the man and woman who looked after her, she forced herself to hold them in. “I… love them, but… I want them to live… their own lives. They have… spent years… taking care of me.”

I wanted to explain to her that I could make their lives far better without her having to die, but… I had my own idea in mind, so I wouldn’t fight her on that that. Instead, I lifted her free hand up and placed a kiss on the back of it. “You know, you’re a tease for not telling me about how you already knew me.”

“Oh. I don’t… tell you?”

“Nope. You act like you never knew me before.”

“Heh… I’ll… keep that in mind.”

I… realized what I did too late. “You really are a tease, aren’t you?”

“Only for… my suspicious future husband… and abductor as a child…”

“You really better never bring that up in the future. Window will hear it.”

“No… promises.”

I sighed and let go of her hand. “Guess I’ve got to go punch your old master in the face. Can you at least save me some time and confirm that he deserves it?”

“He… does.”

“Good. Do you remember the exact date it happened?”

Mariet nodded and told me everything that I needed to know.

With that, I snapped my fingers and was off to abduct a child.

A short time later and I reappeared on the beach just seconds after I left it.

“You’re a bully,” I told Mariet who was still standing right where I left her.

“What… makes you say… that?” Mariet asked.

“I know. I know that you know me. I just went and punched your old master in the face, abducted you as a child, and dropped you off at that old couple’s mansion.”

“Oooh… you finally… know. I was… wondering… when it would… happen.”

“You’re a tease for keeping that from me this whole time.”

“You said… I would.”

“But you didn’t have to actually do it!”

“Keeping it secret… made it… funny.”

“You’re definitely a tease.”

“Now… you understand… that this whole life… is already fanservice… right? This future… you have given me… is already more than enough… I don’t… deserve… anything else.”

“Both back then and now, you’re still horrible at being selfish and accepting kindness from others. How am I supposed to deal with you on my own?”

“You don’t… need to do… anything. I will… be happy… if you let me… continue serving you. That is… all I need.”

I sighed, shaking my head and crossing my arms over my chest. “You really are too much for me to handle on my own. I need some help. Fortunately, I know a couple of experts when it comes to pampering you and forcing you to be selfish.”

Mariet tilted her head once again. “Who… are you talking… about?”

“Before I returned here, I checked out a library back on Earth. There was a book about old cases of disappearances that were never resolved. One of those books featured your previous masters. They only had a single page dedicated to them, and it said that they disappeared shortly after the death of the servant who they treated like their own daughter. So, in the end, I’m not fucking around with time. All I’m doing is making sure that things happen like they’re supposed to happen. No rules about interfering with the timeline have been broken here.”

Mariet still looked confused.

So, to make it more obvious what I was talking about, I snapped my fingers.

Mariet’s former masters, the married old man and woman, appeared next to me.

“If I may say so myself,” I said, “I think I’ve outdone myself with giving you fanservice.”

Apparently, I was so extremely outdone by myself that I got completely ignored as Mariet and her former masters stared at each other in disbelief.

It took less than five seconds before the crying and group hugging began.

Drake.

“What?” I asked. “Can’t you see there’s an emotional moment here? Don’t ruin it.”

You made me curious, so I checked out a history book of my own.

“That quickly?!”

Did you know that there’s an old rumor in one of them about a weird man who appeared out of thin air, punched a noble in the face, and then abducted the child servant he bought?

“She told me he deserved it.”

So it was you.

Well, it’s probably for the better, because that guy was later executed for some pretty messed up stuff.

But still.

You kidnapped a loli.

“I… I did it for the greater good.”

“I kidnapped a loli for the greater good.”

We’re so getting canceled.