Chapter 15
The next hour was spent explaining the finer details to people who had no idea of the history of what a pledge was or why it was even done. In that time, he got up and walked around the ‘pool’. When Nia was wrapping up the same speeches she had given him, Wes’s status blinked in his peripheral for a second, and he heard a pop. He stopped and looked around the room. Nia stopped her speech and looked at Wes with a smile that was so big he thought she was going to claim she wanted to be his mistress next.
Thankfully, she said, “Congratulations, little one. Do not open your status now, wait a moment while I finish this.”
Wes looked among the four others in the pool area, and Nia eased his worries. “Do not worry, they cannot hear me.”
“If you say so.”
The four pledged the 1500-level pledge by themselves. Wes had been stacking up these pledges left and right, so the weight from the four pledges didn’t collapse him. The other four seemed to be hurting from the toll it took on them.
Nia stood up, her dress completely dry even though she had been sitting on a chair made of water. She proclaimed, “Congratulations to the four of you. You have chosen to tie yourself to someone I believe to be a major candidate on the path. You may all go and share with your family that you have pledged, but you may not disclose the levels pledged to them or anyone else. Or you will incur my wrath. Is that understood?”
All four nodded in unison and stood up to make their exit. Nia stopped Dozel from exiting and looked over at Wes. She raised her eyebrows teasingly and said, “I’ll give you another hour to work things out between you two.” She added. “Don’t you dare spoil the reveal, or you will incur my wrath too, Wesley.”
Wes held up his hand and bowed, “Thank you for your kindness, Goddess Nia.”
Nia rolled her eyes and slipped through the fabric of reality. Leaving Wes and Dozel alone together for the first time.
Wes took the initiative and asked her to follow him. He walked directly to his Personal quarters and held the door open for her. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “As you can see, all these rooms can be used by your family. You decide who you want over here. Although I am not temperamental, I do have an occasional odd day where I can be in my own head. What that means for your family, I don’t know. I only ever remember living with my sister.”
“Is your sister here too?” Dozel asked.
“No, she passed away the day things were set in motion for me to be brought here,” Wes answered.
“And how long ago was that, Master Wesley?”
“Now stop that! If I am going to end up on the bad side of many political arguments based solely on my tying myself to you. I at least don’t want you to call me Master. As for my sister, I don’t have a concept of time really. So I don’t know. I was on this one island while doing my awakening quest, and that was for I think a little less then 200 hours. The time I was getting tortured by Argyros was 7 of my planet days, but those were measured differently. So I honestly could not tell you.” Wes had been stream-of-consciousness talking, so by the time he finished, he realized he had dumped a lot on Dozel. “Sorry, just been a long time since I had a non-objective-oriented conversation.”
Dozel, to her credit, took in all his words. “I am sorry about your sister. Thank you for sharing. I will try to hold back from calling you Master, but I was trained for a long time to call whoever I served Master. Everything I did was colored in the name of service.”
“How long were you in training?” Wes asked.
“Since I can remember. My family was expelled and sold from the ChiShiKi Empire. My mother signed a contract to serve, but after getting here, she found she hated it and tried breaking the contract. A great man from the Matriarch’s family stepped in and stopped all of us from being kicked out, and when I came of age, I had the choice of either signing a contract or leaving with my family. I chose to sign because the benefits for them are just too great to pass up.”
“From what I can tell, you are not the oldest, though. Why didn't the older ones sign in your stead?”
“Our cultures are different. From where I am from, the youngest is required to bear the burden of service and inconveniences for the family. The older ones are the wisest, and so they are meant to pass on their knowledge.” Dozel was mumbling the last part as she finished.
Wes felt like she was just repeating what she had been told, but who was he to point out that it was wrong of them? He held his tongue, “Thanks for sharing. If we are going to be spending centuries together, it's best if we get to know each other.”
Dozel’s cheeks became darker with his words. Wes was quick to realize how that must have sounded and said, “That is not how I meant it.”
“It is alright, I know what I signed up for,” Dozel replied.
“Look, I know what we signed up for, but if it's only in name, then that is fine with me. Don’t get me wrong, you are beautiful, but I was just some poor farmer’s son a heartbeat ago and I know I ain't no prize. So all I am saying is if there is one thing you can count on with me. It’s that I will always say the wrong thing at the wrong time.”
“I appreciate what you are saying. I will only comment on it if it does happen. I know what I have signed up for. And you are forgetting that I had to agree to this as well. I wouldn’t have agreed if you were not to my ideals.”
Dozel was bordering on purple at the finish of her speech, so Wes decided to save her. “Noted, now shall we figure out the rest. We have only just taken a couple of steps into the living quarters.”
Dozel nodded, and they continued through the quarters. She enlightened him on a few things. Like the dual offices. One for the head spouse and one for him when he would like to meet outside of his own chambers. It was usually used for meeting with the branch family and or the head servant. The shiny wooden-floored room was meant for exercise and training. The wood was easier to replace for the servants. Less mana-intensive than stone or metal.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
When they entered the large room that led to his own bedroom with the raised platform, she filled him in on the only rooms he had not entered yet. They were meant as rooms for his spouses or his favorite mistress. Only one mistress at a time was allowed in one of the rooms in these commons. This brought up another bout of embarrassment for the two. But they pushed past it, and she told him that only the spouses and immediate blood relatives were allowed in this area. His bedroom was up to his own preference, but she had informed him that some preferred to keep it only for their partners, and others were okay with their children entering as well.
Wes had to ask the next obvious question. “Which room will you take?”
Dozel froze, “Oh, I meant to take one of the rooms in the hallway, but I will have to see which one suits me best. They are all styled differently.”
Wes was embarrassed. “Shit, no, you can sleep out there if you want to. I was thinking about that top mistress talk, and I guess I would have to say you were the top right.” Wes nodded, “Well, just take what makes you the most comfortable.”
Once again, Dozel nodded her purple cheeks in agreement.
“I don’t have a lot of time before the Matriarch comes back, and I want to see if I can grab something to eat. I suspect I won’t be eating again for a while.” Wes said while rubbing his stomach.”
“If you are hungry, I can make you something.” Dozel offered.
“No, it's alright. I can just grab a piece of something I tried yesterday before you guys got here.”
“Nonsense, one of my duties is to feed my Mast… I mean feed you. I am capable of making you something that will fit your appetite. Wait here.” Dozel sprinted off before he had a chance to stop her.
Wes took a step back and watched her run away. “Man, I get what you meant, Marney. Some girls will just steal your heart and soul and leave you with nothing but a smile.”
“She was wise, your sister I mean.” Nia appeared out of thin air next to him.
“What the hell, how long have you been there?” Wes asked.
“The whole time, of course.” Nia giggled.
“I thought you said you were giving me an hour?”
“I didn’t say anything about leaving you alone. How else am I supposed to keep you honest? I didn’t want you spoiling the big reveal. Nia smiled.
Wes chose to ignore her lack of trust in him. “I suppose you would like me to open my status while we wait, then?”
Nia shook her head in agreement while stepping toward the raised platform with the table and seats for his mistress and wives. Thinking in those terms made Wes contemplate why anyone would need so many wives. Unable to hold himself back, he asked the person he suspected of setting up this arrangement. “Why would I need all these rooms for spouses?
“Hah, I was wondering what your take would be. Argy will be sad he missed it.” Upon reaching the top step of the platform, she waved her hand. All the chairs and the large round table were replaced with a small square table with four chairs, one to a side. “One of the things you will come to find as you grow old, like me, is that life can grow boring. Often, we find ourselves wanting something, anything really, to break up the monotony of life. The more powerful you become, the more constraints are put on you by others.” Nia pulled out the chair that had its back to the entrance to his personal living quarters. She sat down in a great big huff. “Please take a seat.”
Wes was about to sit in one of the chairs closest to her, but Nia stopped him. “No, you go to the chair that faces me.” She pointed.
Wes followed her directions, reminding himself internally that even though she is nice. She still is a god that rules over this whole system, probably.
When Wes sat down, she continued what she had been saying. “You have formed your first bond with that little girl. But eventually she may die, or you both may grow bored with each other. Or more likely, you will grow apart. The only thing that can be certain is that you and her will change.” Nia leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “I need you to understand this. With my pledge, no, even with just Runar’s pledge, you will reach Sub-Prime. I suspect it will be quick, but even if you do nothing, you will still level up. If you lived here your whole life and never left, you would still reach my level eventually. That is insane. But even if you gathered a level every True Year, you would still live for thousands of years. That is a lot of True Days. A lot can happen in a day, as you have come to find out. Imagine what can happen in a year or two, a decade, or a hundred years. What I am trying to say is that even if you wanted everything between you and that little girl to stay as it is right now. Eventually, you or her will want more or less of each other.” Nia smiled big. “That is, unless you have a true love like me and Argy.”
Wes raised his eyebrow, “You saying that you or he doesn’t have any other spouses?”
“He did try for a time, but sadly, they all seemed to turn up missing at some point.” Nia laughed.
Wes gathered himself, “So why did you force Dozel on me then?”
Nia raised an eyebrow, “What makes you think that I forced her on you?”
Wes gave a look that signified he wasn’t buying her little act.
Nia raised her arms. “Fine, you caught me. You know, sometimes you come off incredibly dense and other times not so much.” Nia sat back in her chair. “This will seem quite extreme but hear me out before you comment.”
Nia waited for Wes’s agreement before continuing. After he nodded yes, she said, “My wish is to have you make me a couple dozen grandbabies with one of my daughters.”
Wes went to break what he had just agreed to, but found pressure on his shoulders reminding him to stay seated.
Nia continued, “I know what you are thinking. I am not using you. Well, I am, but I have offered you a lot, have I not? I didn’t do that with this in mind, but after thinking on it while you slept, I could not find another way. It goes against everything in me to try and trick someone or force my will on them. I prefer that people want to work with me, and I do mean work with. That they agree to anything themselves. Me being here in the system will attract a lot of attention eventually, and I will be forced to separate from you. My strength is not unchallenged; the closer I am to you, the more attention I will place on you.” Nia paused and thought for a moment. “It's more likely that by my being here, my enemies will poke around, wondering why. But going back to the whole baby factory idea. I have had many daughters, and thirty of them are not spoken for. Seventeen of them have no other children at all. Eleven of them have never been married. I will start by bringing those Eleven to you, and you can decide after seeing them. But my main point is that they will be able to protect you while Argy and I are off distracting people with our beauty.”
Wes felt the pressure lift from his shoulders, “What the fuck are you talking about. You want me to have kids with eleven of your daughters?”
Nia giggled to herself. “Ideally, yes, but I doubt that they will all be interested in you. Wasn’t lying when I said I don’t like to force anyone into anything.”
Why not just put Coren or someone stronger with me?” Wes asked.
“The only thing you can trust in this universe is blood,” Nia said.
“Why would you ideally like to make babies, though?” Wes prodded.
“You know, when I read Rocen’s report about you being trained by Argy, I found it funny, but I see that me having to fill in the details that he did not will be a headache. Your bloodline will be more valuable than any other in the universe. Your bloodline offers free levels my boy. Your traits can be passed down to your children.”
Realization dawned on Wes. “Oh hell no.”
