Arpious of the Planes

[Day 68]

After waking up, I immediately hopped out of bed before any of my wives woke up. Taking a bath by myself is such a privilege now as I'm not getting violated in bed and even when I'm trying to relax and enjoy myself.

As I walked to the bath, my maids already understood my intentions without me having to tell them, so I immediately strip and dip into the steaming hot spring with the sound of streaming water echoing throughout the room.

"Report," I mutter as the exhaustion from last night slowly washed out of my body.

"As you wish… The Uxtan Kingdom hasn't moved yet, and since Mistress has given us the confirmation that we can work with the assassin corps, we found out that they have observed them and gathered a lot of information... And there are a few large threats we have discovered," The fire harpy maid who was massaging my back says.

"Continue,"

"As you wish… We have found 2 potential threats that are extremely dangerous while the others are just minor things that Mistress doesn't need to pay attention to as of now-"

"Wait, no, tell me those now before the 2 potential threats,"

"As you wish… The most suspicious thing the corps has observed is the increased trade rate between the kingdoms that we have found. They are trading many weapons as if they are preparing for war, but it isn't confirmed. It might be a misunderstanding, but it isn't something that should go over our heads,"

"Okay, but how are you getting this information when I told the shadow and air corps to observe only the Uxtan Kingdom?"

"Ah, forgive me for not specifying. This was information relayed to us from the assassin corps members returning from all of their stationed positions within each kingdom,"

"I see… now continue,"

"As you wish… the 2 large potential threats begin with the king absorbing the Aether Stone that he bought from another kingdom. The descriptions from the assassin corps are as followed: 'His aura is monstrous,' 'His body has grown by twice the size, making him looking a beast,' 'His muscles have grown greatly, and with each swing of his sword, it looks as if a mountain is being cleaved in half… And those are only a few of the descriptions relaid to us,"

"Aether Stone, huh? That's interesting… and what was the other one? Nether Stone?"

"Mistress is correct. Would you like me to explain what they are… or at least from what we've gathered so far,"

"Please,"

"As you wish… An Aether Stone is created deep underground where a concentration of blessed energy resides and gathers. And for the Nether Stone, it is pretty much the same, but instead of blessed energy, it's cursed energy,"

"How does blessed and cursed energy concentrate?"

"Forgive us. We don't have that much information on the stones yet besides what I've just explained,"

"It's alright, now move onto the other large threat,"

"As you wish… for the final large threat that we have discovered… a powerful mage that seems to have hidden away from the battlefield and stayed in the kingdom is sacrificing mages to raise his power.

We don't know what skill he is using to increase his power as none of us have [Inspect],"

"How do you know his power is increasing then?"

"We observed him for only half a day and found out that every time he sacrifices a batch of 10 mages, he fires a fire skill at his maximum power. And each time he repeated this, it grew even larger and hotter.

It is not my intention to be rude, but I must alert Mistress to be careful as you subconsciously underestimate your opponents. Mistress thinks she is all-powerful, but from what I've heard… not only might the sword king be stronger than you, but also this mage… So I beg of mistress to be careful," The fire harpy maid says.

"Huh?" I blurt out with my blood starting to boil.

My blood didn't boil from excitement but anger.

Somebody can contest against me? Fights aren't fun unless you are overwhelming your opponent… I guess they are fun if you're evenly matched, but if the opponent is overwhelming you... That's not fun at all.

"But I can't back down, can I…" I mutter to myself with my eyebrows furrowing.

"I-I-I'm just concerned for Mistress's safety… so please don't underestimate your opponent," The fire harpy maid stutters, slightly regretting her comment.

"I know… It's already hit me that I've been underestimating my opponents subconsciously… or just looking down on them. Now what I said to Zehar basically means nothing as I have the same problem as well," I mutter.

For the rest of my time in the bath, I tried to imagine a fight with somebody on par with me… but the first thing that came to mind was the fight with myself.

That was the deadliest fight that I had ever been in, and if I didn't build up so many allies, I would've died right then and there.

Soon I left the bath and changed into a black and white dress that reached my ankles. And just as I started to slip on my jewelry, there was a knock on the door.

"Who are you? We already have enough maids in here to help Mistress," An elven maid asks.

"... Mom?" I hear Zehars voice from across the door.

"Oh, sweetie, come on in, I've already changed,"

Soon the wooden door slowly opened with Zehar walking into the changing room with baggy clothes on, which I assumed were his pajamas.

"Mom? Can you train me with Luna and Freya today? I feel like repeating fights in the colosseum isn't doing anything,"

"Of course, but sadly Luna and Freya are taking a break today. Their muscles are too sore, and even though I could use Ichimei on them, I would rather not as I want them to get used to the pain… so they're taking a break today.

I honestly thought they could go on for longer, but seeing as they passed out right before dinner, I thought they deserved a slight break. And their other mothers agreed to it as well- oops, I'm ranting…."

"Nah, it's fine… *yawn*... Well, I'm going to take a bath, and I'll be right to the training room. Just wait for me," Zehar says, yawning before exiting the room.

"Make sure he knows breakfast comes before that," I say to my maids.

"As you wish," They all replied while bowing deeply.

…

"Okay, would you like to learn a weapon or keep to your same fighting style?" I ask Zehar, who stood in front of me.

Breakfast had just finished, and my son and I immediately rushed to the training room. Of course, I was excited that I got to spend time with my new son, but I wasn't the only one who was excited as Zehar had a huge smile on his face with eager eyes.

"I want to learn a weapon," Zehar responds.

"Okay, then which one are you most interested in? Scythe?"

"I don't know as of now, and scythe… it seems boring. You spin it around and then slice it towards your enemies… seems boring if I would have to say so myself,"

"Then what would you like?"

"Hmmmmm…"

Zehar sat down on the dirt ground as he pondered on what weapon to choose.

From what I've seen, he's probably going to choose daggers as that's pretty similar to what he used in the fight against the 3 next heroes. But, who knows, he might surprise me.

"I think a bow would be nice… and is it possible to learn another weapon?"

And he surprised me…

"If you want… What other weapon do you want to learn?"

"Something similar to daggers would be nice. I want something that I can use to defend myself at any close range, either it is just my arm's length or right near my chest,"

"So daggers are the obvious choice then,"

"Really?"

"It's your choice,"

"Okay, then I'll choose daggers…." Zehar says, a face brimming with excitement.

He looked completely different from when he was my servant.

"Yin, come out," I mutter, feeling the presence of somebody in the shadow right next to me.

"Yes, Mistress…" Yin responds after rising out of the shadow.

"Teach him how to use daggers… oh yeah, and speaking of daggers, let me see the soul equipment that Aiso made for you. I only got quick glimpses during the war,"

"As you wish," Yin responds before summoning both of her daggers.

[Soul Equipment - Spined Black Daggers]

[Set Owner: Yin]

[+10 Strength]

[+50 Speed]

[Enchants: None]

…

Both daggers were black as night and about 20 centimeters from the end of the handle to the blade. They were double-sided and had 5 pretty large holes in both blades, serving as an easier way to cut through flesh.

And finally, some needles served a similar use to brass knuckles on the edge of each handle.

"Okay, Yin will be teaching you how to use daggers for the next couple of days, and since I have nothing else to do, then I'll plan for the war. I think most of the soldiers have recovered," I say.

"Wait, I thought you were going to teach me?" Zehar asks, his excited expression slightly drooping.

"Nah, I can't use daggers,"

Zehar sighs before glancing over to Yin.

"Prince, we will start with the warm-ups then," Yin says with cold eyes and a cold voice.