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Currently, Sekke came back home with Secre and Anna. He wanted to prepare himself for the meeting, but Vanessa was passed out drunk, so he could not ask her for her opinion on clothes. The same was the case with Finral. He was the only normal noble in his squad, so his advice would have been good, but he too was passed out.
So because of that, he had no choice but to let Secre and Anna help him prepare. Anna, though a peasant, had interacted with a lot of nobles in her squad and had visited the Vermillion castle multiple times since she was now directly under Mereoleona's tutelage. Secre used to serve the 1st Wizard King, who was a royalty, so there was some hope there.
"I am going to bathe, rest up for a while. Do not under any circumstances tell Mom and Dad about it just yet. We will go shop for clothes after this," explained Sekke.
The two nodded, and Sekke went in to get a quick bath. He wanted to leave right away, but the other two wanted to get a bath as well since they were sweaty too.
Once done, Sekke took them straight to the capital and went straight to a clothing store.
There, after checking out dozens and dozens of outfits — much to the nitpicking on the girls' part — though in the middle of it, they started enjoying dressing Sekke up, so it took a little longer than expected.
After they were done shopping, they got back to the Black Bulls HQ.
"I missed this place... I don't have time to be nostalgic right now!!!!" exclaimed Sekke and rushed inside.
"Seeeekkkkeeee," called Henry in his signature slow-motion way.
"Henry! Long time no see. I am sorry that I am being rude when we are meeting again after a long time, but I really am busy and messed up real big. I need to prepare. Where's my room?" asked Sekke, knowing that the layout of the whole building changed on a daily basis.
"Thhheeerrrreeee," pointed Henry as glowing indicators formed on the walls that led to Sekke's room.
"Thanks a lot, dude. Here, get a full refill," said Sekke and gave a lot of mana to Henry, filling his body with power in an instant.
Henry's whole body felt vitalized by the sudden rush of mana.
He looked at Sekke and gave a grateful smile. With the HQ empty, he was running low on mana since there was no one there to give him some.
Sekke, Secre, and Anna got into his room, and Sekke got nostalgic once again.
"...It's just like how I remember," muttered Sekke.
"I took care of it. It is our room, after all," muttered Secre as she came beside him and held his hand.
The two smiled and stared at each other.
"Ahem, ahem," Anna gave a fake cough to break the atmosphere.
Secre raised her hand as her grimoire flipped and formed a sealed space around Sekke and herself.
5 minutes later:
The sealed space shattered. Out stepped a panting Secre and a very awkward-looking Sekke, clothes slightly disheveled and lips… suspiciously shiny.
"Sorry for the... wait. Let's start—" said Sekke, but he felt his hand being grabbed by Anna, who stared at him with her expressionless face.
"Just her is not fair," said Anna as she grabbed Sekke's face and gave a kiss to him.
Though because of her inexperience, she lost her breath soon and stood panting.
"Amateur," said Secre flatly. She took the courtesy of making a sealed space for the two of them but was surprised that Sekke broke it so soon.
"…Okay! Lesson learned. Let's focus, tell me what all should I do and not do in front of nobles and royals," Sekke said, coughing awkwardly.
"Be respectful. Talk in a normal tone. Don't be loud. Don't pick a fight yourself," said Anna.
"Royals are suckers for hierarchy. So don't try to undermine that. They are the overseers of the kingdom. Don't make fun of their tastes. Be at your best manners. You don't know much etiquette, so that cannot be helped, but be your confident self. That's the best you can do," said Secre.
Sekke heard their words and nodded. That's what he was going to do anyway, so there was not that much of a difference.
"They will surely cause trouble since you are reeling in both direct-lineage Vermillion ladies. So be prepared for that," mentioned Anna.
"True. They will surely say, 'Why should we go forward with such a ridiculous arrangement for a commoner,'" said Secre and pondered.
Exodia materialized beside them in his chibi form.
"My King is a Mana King and an overseer of a whole world. Who could be of a higher rank than him? He is stronger than all the people of this world," stated Exodia.
"...That might help, but leave it as a last resort. Pressuring them into submission is not a good way to set up a relationship with someone's family," replied Secre.
Exodia fell silent. He didn't think that through.
'As expected of My King's lover!!!!' thought Exodia.
"Bring some gifts for them. It's a basic gesture, but it does make a good impression," said Vritra, materializing as Sacred Gears.
"True, but what could we actually give to royals that do not lack anything," muttered Anna.
All of them stood silent, not knowing what to do for that.
"Maybe I might have something in my inventory," said Sekke as his grimoire started flipping.
[Bronze Creation Magic: Eternal Safe]
A giant bronze safe materialized in the room.
The gate opened as Sekke entered inside.
Secre and Anna looked at each other before they too entered the safe.
Once all of them were in, the gate closed and the safe disappeared.
Inside the safe, Sekke fiddled with a transparent display, and soon the space around them changed into a huge warehouse filled with many shelves.
"When did you organize all this?" Secre asked, amazed.
"During those six years. Had to keep busy somehow," Sekke said casually.
Anna shivered. "So much mana… this feels like standing inside a dungeon."
His safe was filled with treasures from various dungeons he cleared during his time as a Magic Knight, as well as a lot of treasures from the land of the dead. Since the world was destroyed and had to be remade, these things were supposed to be destroyed as well, so Sekke took them for himself. Of course, the Will allowed it.
"So much mana..." muttered Anna, shocked by the mana filled in this room. All the treasures gathered there were releasing their mana, and it made the room completely filled up with it.
Secre nodded as well and looked through the stuff — weapons, magic items, potions, elixirs, armors, and many more lined the shelves.
"Feel free to look through them, though don't touch anything without informing me; some of the stuff here is cursed," said Sekke and browsed through the whole place.
Secre and Anna nodded and decided to tour this place as well.
Secre looked around for a while but suddenly spotted something that caught her eye.
A small bronze statue of a weird-looking bird and a small figure of herself beside it.
She smiled at that.
'He was too lonely there,' thought Secre.
Near that, she also spotted bronze figures of his parents and himself.
"....How cute," muttered Secre as she chuckled, seeing 'their' small family.
"It won't be this small now..." muttered Secre, realizing that he will now be with 3 more girls.
"Cheer up, Secre, you will still be his top girl. Don't give up," muttered Secre as she lightly smacked her cheeks to hype herself up.
After an hour of going through all his stuff, Sekke and the other two came out of his storage.
"This will be good, right?" asked Sekke, holding the gifts in his hand — four 200-year-old bottles of alcohol that he got from the other world.
"It should be," Secre said. "Expensive, classy, and not too over the top."
"It's the best choice. It's normal and not too overwhelming for a gift." said Anna. Sekke was about to gift them some overwhelming magic items but was smacked by Secre, making him drop the idea.
Suddenly, they heard a commotion from outside and went to check what was going on.
In the common area of their HQ, Leopold, Fuegoleon, and Kirsch were talking to Henry.
"There you are, my rival!!!!" yelled Leopold, noticing Sekke.
"Ah~ You got even more beautiful in the time we didn't meet," said Kirsch with a blush on his face.
"Sekke! What is the meaning of this?!?!" asked Fuegoleon.
Noticing the three Vermillions, Sekke was already guessing what was going on here.
Sekke walked down to talk to them, with Secre and Anna slowly following behind.
"I can expl—"
"Is our sister forcing you? Tell us right now?" asked Leopold.
"Yes. If that's the case, then I will help you escape this kingdom. What is going on with her head?" said Fuegoleon.
Kirsch was hugging himself in bliss, overwhelmed by the beauty of Sekke's mana.
'Ok. That's not what I was expecting.'
"Calm down. I was not forced into it.....right?" muttered Sekke and started thinking.
.....He was forced into this by Mereoleona.
"I knew it!" said Fuegoleon.
"Even if she wants to fight him, forcing a marriage on my rival! Absolutely preposterous!" added Leopold.
"Hey hey, don't jump to conclusions so quickly.....they are not entirely wrong," muttered Sekke again, shocked by the situation.
But soon, he shook his thoughts and raised his hands to stop the two brothers.
"It's not what you both are thinking. It's true that she was slightly forceful to push for this, but it kind of got to that point because of our mistake. We are just trying to fix this," said Sekke.
"Is that really true?" asked Leopold.
"You don't have to take her side. I know we cannot defeat her, but stalling her, that we can definitely do," said Fuegoleon.
"Hm? Mimosa likes you, so I don't see a problem with that, but from where did Mereoleona-sama get involved in this?" asked Kirsch.
He knew that his sister liked the man standing in front of him because he saw her cry herself out and blame herself for him being locked back into the Shadow Palace. When he tried to calm her down, his sister broke out crying in front of him and confessed her feelings.
He didn't want to see her sad, so he was going to help convince their parents to allow this relationship, but having Mereoleona added to the mix... now that was an issue that he could not resolve on his own.
Kirsch and the other two Vermillions stared intently at Sekke, wanting answers.
Sekke sighed and led them to the sitting area so that they could talk things through.
.
.
.
After Sekke was done explaining, the Vermillion boys sat with their arms crossed, trying to make sense of what they were told.
"So after drinking till your brain can't function, you and your girlfriend went to a private room," said Leopold.
Sekke nodded.
"My sister followed you two, and she too was drunk and...." said Kirsch, not saying anything further.
Sekke nodded.
"Anna Flare from my squad did the same, and who knows when my sister joined you all," finished Fuegoleon.
Sekke nodded again.
"And when you all woke up sober in the morning after all the banter... my sister of all people suggested this idea?" asked Fuegoleon again.
Sekke nodded.
"..."
All three Vermillions were speechless. What kind of shitty good luck situation was this?
"Elder sister.... I can't believe she would suggest such an idea," muttered Leopold.
"I can understand her wanting her prey close by part, but to say that his face was to her liking," muttered Fuegoleon, not able to picture his sister saying such words.
"My dear Mimosa was so bold..." muttered Kirsch.
All of them went silent once again.
"...So you are taking responsibility for what happened?"
"Yes. I may come off as someone who doesn't take things seriously most of the time, but I am not someone who would run away if I did something wrong. I know that I was too drunk, but that does not excuse what I did with them. Mereoleona-san only helped formalize things. So please let me go through with this," said Sekke as he bowed his head to the three brothers.
They looked at Sekke, not knowing what to say. He was being sincere, and it was also not weird for nobles to be involved with multiple partners.
"You are taking a huge responsibility, Sekke-kun. Are you sure you can keep everything under control?" asked Fuegoleon.
"I promise all three of you, I will make sure that your sisters remain happy and that not a single harm reaches them. I vow this on the name of the Dark Lord," said Sekke in a serious tone.
"Sigh Well, she is now your problem. Best of luck. Mother and Father will most probably accept, considering this is the only chance to have my sister get married," said Fuegoleon.
"They might be too happy to do it," said Leopold.
"The real problem lies with our parents. Father absolutely dotes on Mimosa," said Kirsch.
All of them looked at Kirsch.
".....I will try to mediate things a bit. Worst case scenario, Mimosa might need to step up and express her feelings. It might make his heart waver. Mother probably won't be that reluctant, but you need to land in their good books to let them allow it," Kirsch said in a serious tone.
"We will try to help as well. Our sister has shown interest in you. I will make sure things end well," said Fuegoleon as he stood up.
"As you said, Elder Brother. We will go make a good image of you in front of our parents! My rival! I will make sure that you become my brother-in-law!!!" exclaimed Leopold.
"...I didn't think about that. If he becomes my brother-in-law, then I can..." muttered Kirsch as a creepy grin appeared on his face.
"Thanks for the help. How long would you all need? I will arrive by then," said Sekke.
"Come to the Vermillion estate in 3 hours. We will try to arrange a good stage for you," said Fuegoleon as Leopold and Kirsch nodded and stood up as well.
"Leopold! Kirsch! Mission make our sister's lover be liked by our parents in no on!!!" yelled Fuegoleon.
"OH!!!" yelled the two of them and walked out of the Black Bulls HQ.
Sekke saw their retreating figure, mentally thanking them for their help.
.
.
.
Three hours later:
"Greetings everyone, I am Sekke Bronzazza, the Dark Lord, nice to meet you," greeted Sekke and not a moment later was trapped by wooden restraints.
"...So you are the bastard!!!" yelled one of the men with a sword in his hand.
Sekke looked at the three Vermillions who promised to set the stage for him.
'What the hell did you guys do?!?!'
The three simply looked away, not making eye contact with Sekke.
Mission make our sister's lover be liked by our parents — Failure