How rough he could be with a woman at the end of the first trimester was a question not even Rykard knew the answer to.

  Miyo was not visibly inhibited by the baby bump. Flexible and nubile, she moved about very well. She threw attacks his way that he usually would have countered with a throw or grapple, but could only block at this time. Admittedly, blocking her was easy. He had become much faster since they st sparred.

  Stepping outside of her range or just letting her swings bounce off his forearms, he eventually had her beat just by exhaustion. That was the one definitive decrease he could note: Miyo had more lung capacity before she needed to breathe for two.

  “In terms of pregnancy, you are doing really well,” Rykard observed.

  “A fact you should be most thankful for,” the vixen responded. “If I suffered any of the host of other complications that can accompany being gravid, I would-” The redhead suddenly raised a hand to her mouth. Rykard hit her with the Restoration magic before she could empty her stomach all over the floor. “-would be less than charming to be around,” she finished. “I’ll sit down…”

  “You do that,” Rykard carefully pat his first woman on the back. Besides the various forms of morning sickness, none of the haremettes were suffering much. As a matter of fact, they were glowing.

  Rykard had reason to believe that he was somewhat to thank for that. Yes, they were all in prime health and well-nourished as well, so they had maximized their chances for a uncomplicated progression of their pregnancy. However, his sheer presence radiated so much magic and esoteric favour that, by alchemical and restorative power, they benefited from having been impregnated by him specifically. Those weren’t just any children growing inside them.

  Miyo sat down near the edge of the field of red sand. There, the other haremettes were doing various exercises on a bed of moss that Mena had conjured for them. Their range of possible motions was somewhat limited, but they did want to stay in shape and Rykard appreciated it. Magic meant that the peasant’s issue of women gaining some weight during pregnancy was greatly diminished, but it wasn’t entirely eliminated.

  Also their boobs were getting bigger. Those that already were well endowed in less notable ways, for obvious reasons, but they were still getting bigger.

  “Shall we, Sir?”

  The question pulled Rykard’s attention to the sole woman who was not part of the pregnancy club. Lyvia was standing across, hands folded behind her back. In pce of the armour of her own scales, she was wearing a tight cropped top and tiny pants, both of them tailored by Hey. Rykard wore a simirly tight bck pair of leggings and no top. Everyone wore simir fashion. Sparring nudely was fun until someone fell.

  “Yes, let’s see how you fare,” Rykard said.

  The sudden aggression by the monstergirl managed to catch Rykard off guard. One moment she stood there, all disciplined, the next she was charging with reckless abandon. A swipe of her hand caught his wrist and pulled him into the tackle of her shoulder.

  The king had the wind knocked out of him. Before he could recover, her tail wrapped around his legs. One yank and he fell.

  At the st moment, Rykard’s instincts kicked in. He caught himself on his hands, then twisted his entire body around, escaping the grasp of her tail. A flying knee nearly connected with his face. Leaning to the side saved him from that embarrassment, but the tall military woman simply adjusted her approach. The proud stance she has turned into a graceless fall. A calcuted fall, an effective fall, but a graceless one.

  Pinning his shoulder under the flying knee, she was on top of him for a pivotal two seconds. Enough time to wrap her additional limb around his leg before he could roll over once again. A tussle began, the kind of wrestling in the dirt that was reserved for true struggles for victory.

  Lyvia knew she could not win against him in a struggle of strength and endurance. What she went for was using her slender physique and equally long limbs to dey him. Simultaneously, her long and powerful tail was winding its way around him like a boa. Before he knew it, both his legs were tangled up.

  Lyvia acted with unpredictable aggression again. First she let him get on top, then she rammed her elbow into his sorplexus. Wheezing, he was powerless for just long enough for her to wind out under him. Her tail’s grasp prevented him from properly maneuvering after her. Then, he had her knee on his back.

  “I yield,” Rykard said and the pressure disappeared. With a smirk, he rolled back around. “You really are everything I summoned you for.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” Lyvia stated. Her face was as unmoving as ever.

  They both knew that a proper fight would not have ended like that. Even with the constrictions of the rules of a spar, Rykard could have kept going and likely won just because he was heavier and stronger. He could have struggled in the grasp and eventually thrown her off. However, the skill with which she had put him in submission had made her the winner of the bout.

  Rykard did not need to win against his women all the time. What fun was there in that?

  “Wow, Lyly, you are like, super duper fast!” Helenn bbbered. “We’ll be super safe with you around at all times! Yup, yup, no one will dare set foot on our property!”

  “Between the Buiga and Rykard’s reputation, no one should be foolish enough anyhow,” Lyvia stated. “Compliments are no excuse to escape your training. You owe 20 squats.”

  “Awwww, but I don’t use my legs anyway!”

  “Sir has demanded thick thighs. You will maintain them, Helenn.”

  “Get out of here with your facts!”

  “No.”

  Rykard chuckled at the exchange, then stood up. Him and Lyvia engaged in a few more semi-serious bouts after that, the majority of which she won. It was less that he was worse than her at hand to hand combat and more that she was at the top of her game.

  When they transitioned from fights to just exchanging punches, they also switched to talking. “I know, Sir, that you are busy with all of the other requests that you are definitively getting to,” Lyvia began a new topic.

  “Is that sarcasm I hear?”

  “Perish the thought,” the admiral drawled in a dry tone. “Your track record on the matter speaks for itself.”

  “And yet you are about to add to the list.”

  Lyvia nodded robotically. “If you find it in your interest, I would request that you find me a Bckstone Trident.”

  “Bckstone?” Rykard asked. He had never heard of that material before.

  “An exceptionally rare substance. Legend has it it is created when a god is killed by their peers for transgressing against the current order.” Lyvia swung her tail against the side of Rykard’s leg. Prepared for this strike, he did not budge. “Regardless of origin, it is know for porizing magic. It can either amplify supernatural phenomena or nullify them. As one incapable of proper magic myself, a weapon that nullifies magic would aid me greatly in being effective against your enemies.”

  “Why a trident specifically?” Rykard asked.

  “A tradition of my house. According to mythos, several Bckstone Tridents have been scattered across the many worlds for leviathans of importance to wield. I believe, in your service, I fit in that category, Sir.”

  “You most certainly do,” Rykard purred. “I’ll add it to my to-do list.”

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  The rest of the day passed them by with the usual lewdities and levities employed. Rykard checked on the various projects his women were up to and before he knew it, they were gathered for dinner. The meal fresh in their bellies, it was time for Rykard to make a decision. He looked at the map again.

  There were three pns he regarded as reasonable. Either he could use his new carriage to make his way to the unknown Contestant in green to the north-east or the Contestant in brown to the south-east. Beyond those two unusual options, there was also the one to just keep doing what he was doing.

  All had their merits. Taking out Contestants was likely to be a more involved process. The earlier he did it, the easier it was likely to be. Giving them time would only let them build up alliances against him. However, taking on one Contestant would also allow all others to grow in strength in the meantime.

  Continuing the expansion of his own realm had many benefits. For one, Rykard knew his potential outpaced everyone else. As long as he kept growing his own power, he was going to stay ahead of the field. Confidence that he would always remain unchallenged was reasonable but might best be taken with a grain of salt. Maliande, Tess, Altana, and Benhuldran had all dispyed prestigious power and given the pressure to beat him, they may find at least the might to be dangerous through effort and desperation. A dog did not need the brawn of a man to tear the throat out, only a modicum of comparable power and luck.

  ‘What to do?’ Rykard wondered.

  After a short contemption, he made his decision.

  “I’ll go to the north-east. Best to take the competition out early.” Miyo and Hey groaned openly, Helenn mumbled something, Vyra shook her head, the twins and Lyvia all sighed in unison. “What?”

  “Just go on ahead,” Miyo drawled in a sarcastic tone. “Ignore that you agreed to two more of our requests, none of which you have addressed yet.”

  Rykard did cringe a bit at the very clear criticism. “It makes tactical sense,” he defended his decision.

  “Go on ahead,” the cool beauty repeated. “It does make tactical sense. However, do take this warning: if you keep promising us you will bring us what we ask of you and never do it, your word will lose value.”

  Slowly, Rykard nodded. As the man of his house, his word was the most important thing he could give. Any retionship lived and breathed on the basis of trusted communication. If they stopped believing that he would do things he said, well, then he was gradually dooming this project of his to failure.

  That being said, Rykard did truly believe this was the correct course of action. “I’ll carefully consider what I do after I return,” he promised.

  That was good enough for them. For now, his word still had weight. The damage was gradual, not instant, and he could recover if he did finally do what they had asked him to do. Suggesting that he pced a Hexagon for them to take care of themselves only would have added insult to injury. They were women entering the second trimester, to tell them to take care of their own desires while he went out and did what he wanted was the short way to divorce.

  Simirly, he couldn’t really leave them with a Hexagon to negotiate with in his absence. At minimum, they would have needed to travel three days from the Estate to it and back. Without him around, that would be a journey on foot, since they still cked carriages and the horses to draw them.

  Lyvia was the only woman that he could have tasked with this and, for all her qualities, a diplomat she was not.

  ‘Accumuting drawbacks of knocking up everyone and the growing expanse of my realm,’ Rykard thought. He didn’t regret any of that. It was just the reality of his current situation. ‘For now, I should consider who accompanies me. Plenty of room for them in my carriage.’