Rudel's current situation was somewhat normal in his life, but only when it involved his fiancées. However, at this moment, they weren't the ones present—it was Alicia's older sisters.
Annerose and Rosemary were hugging Rudel, burying their large breasts in his face.
"Umm, girls, what are you doing? If this is a joke, you're going too far."
"D-do you like this, Marquis?"
"This must have surprised you, Marquis, but please listen to us," said Annerose as she stroked Rudel.
Rosemary was lightly bumping her chest against his shoulder, being the most embarrassed of the two.
"We are also embarrassed, Marquis," said Annerose, her cheeks completely red.
"This is something we would do with our husband, but certain things happened, and now we're doing this for you."
Rudel extricated himself from that breast sandwich and asked both for an explanation.
"I'm sorry, but I don't like being touched by women I don't trust."
They were surprised by that response.
"I didn't expect someone with your reputation to be so reserved."
"Mary, the Marquis isn't what we thought. What do we do?"
"Anne, I'm very embarrassed."
Rosemary asked Rudel to lie down.
"Marquis, please lie down; we'll explain our reasons for seducing you."
"Is it necessary for me to lie down?"
"Please."
Rudel turned over to lie down.
(The sensation was very pleasant, but I don't want it to show how happy I was.)
Both proceeded to give him the explanation for their actions.
The first was the older sister, Rosemary.
"We felt a lot of interest in you since our little sister Alicia likes you. In this world, political marriages are normal, but we heard you are a special case."
"'Weird' would be the correct word," Rudel expressed about himself.
"It's as you say, you're very eccentric. Imagine our surprise when our little sister said she wanted to be the concubine of the kingdom's hero."
Annerose now spoke instead of her sister.
"We love Alicia very much, so we wanted to know what kind of man you were. She surely told you about her ex-fiancé, what happened with him, right?"
"Yes, she told me that yesterday before sleeping."
"Well, she isn't the only one in a similar situation."
"How do you mean?"
Rudel didn't understand what she meant when she explained, very embarrassed.
"Our fiancés abandoned us during the war. Rather, they fled like cowards with their families, taking all their wealth with them."
Annerose began squeezing Rudel's back with force.
"For so many years, I tried to be a future, lovely wife, when that idiot, at the first opportunity he got, left me! The worst part is we were going to get married before the war, but he left with his maid, saying, 'I love her.' He told me that while I was already at the altar, with all my family and friends watching."
"Ouch!"
Rudel cried out in pain from Annerose's forceful abuse. Rosemary removed her hands so she wouldn't hurt him further.
"You should be thankful that, at least, yours left you for another woman... Mine did it for a man."
"..."
An uncomfortable silence filled the place.
"I think I should have realized it when he asked me for my makeup and dresses, using his younger sister as an excuse. I found out later that this younger sister doesn't exist and that his family hid the secret, along with their debts, before fleeing."
"At least he said goodbye to me... accompanied by his boyfriend..."
"I'm very sorry."
"It doesn't matter, I've gotten over it, and it's better they left if they had such a secret."
"Our family was going to have to pay their debts, so you not only saved the country but also our family and reputation."
"But there's a problem here, Marquis, and it involves you," expressed Annerose, trying to turn Rudel over. He didn't want to turn over, but Rosemary helped her.
Rudel pressed his hands firmly over his lower parts so they wouldn't see.
Both sisters placed their pendulous breasts on his face and looked at him firmly.
"The problem here, Marquis, is that we are over twenty years old and don't have a husband yet."
"Women our age already have children and are married. Our parents said there's no hurry, but they have each other and got married at eighteen."
"We don't have partners and are in a situation where we'll be spinsters if we don't get engaged."
"That's why, thanks to Alicia who came to talk to us, we came up with this idea."
After removing their towels, both approached him, joining their naked bodies.
"We know the Marquis is a man who has multiple women by his side."
"We also know they are all beautiful and have large breasts."
"Alicia also brought two girls she knows, and you brought three maids. All well-proportioned and beautiful."
"So, Marquis," both sisters spoke in unison, "wouldn't you like to have two twins as wives?"
"No man has touched us until now, so you don't need to worry about our purity," commented Annerose, giving him a kiss on the neck.
Rosemary wasn't left behind, even if she was embarrassed.
"W-we also have studies. For example, Mary is an art teacher, and I'm a foreign languages teacher, so obviously you don't need to worry about us being a burden."
She bit his ear, and with that, Rudel stood up; he was in a panic.
"G-girls, I understand what you're saying and doing, but you must understand this."
"I am someone who needs to know the other person. I'm not going to make a woman my wife if I'm not interested in her. I like to tell all my girlfriends that I love them, which is why I can't accept a woman I don't love."
"Besides, Alicia is your younger sister, and I wouldn't want to ruin our relationship."
"Actually, Marquis, it was Alicia who suggested this idea to us."
"That's right. If it weren't because she saw you with that big-breasted maid, we'd still be bitter at home for not getting a fiancé."
(Alicia saw us?! Where the hell was Ixion to prevent it?)
"So Alicia is in favor of this?" asked Rudel, very anxious.
The girls responded naturally.
"Obviously. She loves us very much and said that if you accept her, then there would be no problem accepting other women."
"We also believe that great men deserve to have several women; that's why they are important figures in the world and leave their history carved in stone."
After hearing Alicia's decision and the determination of her older sisters, and counting on his male libido, Rudel gave them a chance.
"T-the important thing here is what my girlfriends also say. I don't want to have problems with them or with you if I end up accepting you."
"I'm a man, and all of you are very beautiful, so it's normal for me to be interested in women like that. But I want to have a happy marriage with all of them, and jealousy fights are something I don't want. That's why I ask you to understand and give me time."
"Does that mean you will accept us!?"
Both sisters were about to shout with happiness.
"I realized that after my fourth girlfriend, it's no use making excuses like 'I can't accept more women' since it wouldn't make sense. If I'm going to have more women, at least I want them to respect each other."
"Besides, with the Campbell's' backing, my resort could grow without a problem and also drive away scammers and pirates from your territory."
"I really like you, Marquis! No, Rudel-sama."
Annerose jumped to hug him, and Rosemary did too.
"A-and me too, Rudel-kun. I promise to be a good wife."
Although they were older than him, their heights weren't so tall, so the weight of their bodies made him slip.
When they fell to the floor, the girls noticed something.
Rudel's manhood was pointing to the sky, and both blushed.
"You know, Rudel-sama. You say you need to tell your girlfriends, but is it necessary to do it later? Right now, your manly needs are present."
"Our mother taught us about this, so if you want, we can make you happy for a while. Anyway, we will be your concubines, so accumulating too much would be bad for your health, and this way we'll practice when it's our turn."
With nothing more to say in that situation, Rudel said:
"Please, use your breasts, and don't tell Alicia. I feel she'll be disappointed in me."
The sisters smiled and removed their towels.
"Don't worry. Alicia is a woman, after all."
"But she is more innocent, not having much male company. So I ask that with her, you spend more time creating an atmosphere; for us, this is the perfect atmosphere."
After saying that, Alicia's sisters proceeded to indirectly declare themselves Rudel's concubines after what they did to him.
◇◇◇
The next morning, Alicia and the others went to Rudel's room.
There they found something unexpected to their eyes.
Sitting on the sofa wasn't just him; Alicia's sisters were hugging each of his arms.
Lecia and company made faces that showed they couldn't believe he had done it again.
Alicia was happy to see her sisters happy.
"Congratulations, older sisters!" she said, very content.
Annerose—Anne, as she wanted to be called now—smiled at her sister.
"Thank you, Alicia, for giving us this opportunity."
Rosemary—Mary—backed up her sister.
"Once we return home, we'll tell our parents. But you must also win Rudel-kun's affection."
"Rudel-kun..." Lecia murmured, seeing how Rudel was surrounded by more women.
Ellen brought her hand to her mouth to hide her words.
"A sea of women. That's undoubtedly the correct word to use here."
Sara was already used to it, so she didn't care about seeing this.
Wendy was surprised, but Rosetta was even more surprised.
"Huhhhh!" she screamed in panic upon seeing this.
"M-M-Marquis Bradford! Why did you accept them without any problem, but you ignored me?" she said between tears. Rudel averted his gaze from her, which shattered her.
"It can't be!"
Rosetta began to cry, seeing her opportunity slip from her hands.
Ixion entered the place and said:
"Master, so you decided to follow my advice and take the kingdom through multiple women?"
"Of course not! It's just that I won't deny I like being with pretty girls, but I'll be faithful to my ideals above all."
"That seems fine, but let me remind them of this."
Ixion used a frightening tone for all the girls.
"I don't care who wants to be with the Master, but you should know that betraying him and trying to appropriate my technology is a grave sin. So if you want to keep your heads attached to your bodies, you'd better be good wives."
Everyone felt intimidated by his words, but Alicia was the only one who wasn't afraid of Ixion.
"I'm very much in love with him, so I don't understand why you have to threaten us. You're right to protect Rudel-san from evil women, but you shouldn't use that tone."
"If any of my sisters or the girls I brought were manipulative women, I wouldn't have allowed them to meet him."
Ixion, upon hearing Alicia, was amazed.
"She has Airi's personality but Alisa's reasoning. Master, Alicia is an excellent future wife; without a doubt, if she had a company, she would be the most suitable to run it."
"I'm surprised you say something good about someone."
"I've investigated these women beforehand to deduce their roles."
"Alicia is excellent to be the face of a company."
"Her sisters are not only teachers, but the older one is also a pharmacology student abroad. The other twin is trying to start her own art business, so both are very prepared in different fields."
"Wendy is an accountant, like her father, and his assistant, so she is excellent for any company."
"Rosetta, despite being a secretary, is the right hand of the director, who is her mentor. So if he delegates part of his work to her, it's because she is very competent. Even if she has the personality of a gold digger."
"Hey, that's not true!"
"All of them are excellent options as concubines... except you, because you have nothing without me."
Rudel tried to grab him, but he fled.
"I said that to take them, I need to get to know them. Only two... three remain. So I need more time, and I like spending time with Alicia."
Alicia was glad to see that Rudel did want to take her as a concubine, so she came up with something.
"In that case, Rudel-san, would you like to go to a dance? Well, it's more of a merchants' gathering that is held here, but there are always dances, so it would be a good opportunity for you to get to know us better there and also to establish a bond with them."
"Master. Alicia is surpassing Alisa as a wife option. Let's hope she doesn't find out about this, because it would undoubtedly be bad for you."
Rudel thought the same as Ixion but said nothing because it would be harmful. But he accepted Alicia's invitation, and everyone went to that merchants' party.
◇◇◇
The party was on a ship that sailed around the territory.
Merchants' parties have always been like that; the reason is unknown, but many estimate it's to flee in case of war or a pirate attack.
Rudel was surrounded by the girls, who served as a shield to protect him from the merchants who, as soon as they found out he was here, ran to him to make business deals.
Rudel had nothing to negotiate yet, so he couldn't sell them anything.
Alicia hugged Rudel, asking him:
"How do you feel about this? Not even when my father is nearby doing they act like this."
"I don't like strange old men surrounding me, but I like even less hearing what others say."
Ixion, who was invisible, reproduced what the distant merchants were saying.
"I wonder what he did to have so many women around him."
"Is that the demon king of the kingdom?"
"He is. The same one who took the supreme kingdom as his own."
"Does that mean we can negotiate with him about the country's resources?"
"The problem is that the Ten Powers are blocking anyone who makes trade deals with the kingdom, and if you want to do business with them, you'll have to ignore the kingdom."
Alicia, seeing how bad he felt because of how they spoke behind his back, decided to take him to rest.
They went to an adjoining room where there was no one but waiters smoking; they were startled to see her, and she told them to carry on while she seated Rudel in a decorated chair.
"I understand that sometimes it can be exasperating to deal with those people, but you should relax and leave those problems to us," she said with a smile.
"Thank you."
"I'll go get a drink for both of us. Would you like a non-alcoholic drink? I don't tolerate alcohol."
"Please."
Before Alicia went for the drinks, she noticed two people heading toward them.
"The Olston family."
"Huh?"
Two men approached; they were tall and thin. The older one had the face of someone who could sell even his own mother, and the one beside him had bowl-cut hair and a gaze lost in Alicia's breasts.
"My, my, it's good to see you again. Daughter of the Campbell's."
"Good day."
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Count Olston."
Alicia, who always smiled, this time made a face of slight annoyance.
Rudel stood up and asked who they were.
Alicia whispered to him:
"He is Count Nathan Olston, a renowned merchant and rival of our family."
"And he is his son, Jim Olston, his only heir."
Count Olston addressed Rudel.
"You must be Marquis Bradford, correct? The famous hero of the kingdom."
"I would like to express my most sincere gratitude for saving the country."
"Truly, if it weren't for you, I would have lost everything I've earned. I am deeply grateful to you."
Despite saying that, Rudel couldn't sense honesty in his words. He had known people like that in his previous life: they said one thing with a smile, but it didn't reflect their true feelings.
"Rudel-san, please, be careful with them."
Alicia warned Rudel, but he didn't need that warning.
"A pleasure to meet you, Count."
"We just came to say hello. Enjoy the evening; we are leaving now. We've already done everything we needed to do."
Both father and son left the place.
Rudel asked Alicia directly:
"What's wrong with that guy? He's very strange."
"Count Olston is a noble and merchant of dubious reputation."
"That's what you tried to tell me, but exactly what do you mean?"
Alicia explained in detail about them.
"They are indirectly related to the Rossini's, the traitor Balzac, and the Herring family."
Upon hearing all those names in the same sentence, Rudel was petrified.
Because if doing business with one of them was already dubious, with three it was very bad.
"I don't know exactly what he sold them, but my father said that after the fall of these two, their finances dropped by 60%, and after what happened with the Herrings, he has closed businesses."
"For some reason, I feel this will end very badly," said Rudel, scratching his head.
Ixion quickly flew to his side to tell him:
"Master, bad news. A pirate attack is imminent."
"What do you mean?"
Rudel reacted negatively to Ixion's statement.
"They are using the clouds to approach stealthily; in three minutes, they will attack us."
"I suggest evacuating as soon as possible."
Rudel looked at Alicia and said to her:
"Alicia, can you lend me an armor and your subordinates for a moment?"
"Huh? What are you going to do?"
"What I do best: kick ass."
"Ixion, I need—"
"I anticipated that and brought a copy of Battler from home, but it has no defenses, so a few light hits can destroy it."
"I'll be careful then."
"Rudel-san, are you sure you don't want to leave it to the territory's knights?"
Rudel showed his usual smile that he used in situations like this.
"It's not that I don't trust them. But when there are problems and I'm involved, it's better to attack first before ending up floating in the sea."
"You have so much experience with it that you surely have some kind of trauma, right?"
"I do not have traumas with the sea!"
Alicia told the captain of the knights the information Ixion gave her and, without making a sound, gathered the knights, and they all went out from under the ship.
Just as the time ran out, the pirates appeared, but they were being attacked by Rudel and the others.
The pirates didn't expect a counteroffensive, so they were quickly defeated with missiles and bullets coming from everywhere.
The people inside the ship watched as Rudel and the others defeated them without spilling a single drop of their own blood.
Rudel watched the ship falling into the sea, which had a pirate flag with a winged shark.
But Ixion captured this conversation as the captain sank into the sea.
"This wasn't part of the agreement!"
Rudel didn't understand what the pirate meant by that.
But they all returned to the ship, where he was praised by the merchants and the girls. However, those words didn't leave his mind.
◇◇◇
Once at home resting, Alicia and her sisters received news.
They were all in the dining room with Rudel.
"Young ladies, your father and the others have arrived and want to see you urgently," said the maid.
Alicia and the others went to see their family in the guest room, and their father ran to hug them.
"My little ones, I'm glad to see you all safe!"
"Thank heaven!"
"Dad, we're fine; in fact, nothing happened to us thanks to Rudel-san."
Edgar saw Rudel entering the room and also hugged him with joy.
"Thank you very much, Marquis, for protecting my daughters! My family is my greatest treasure, and losing them would be the worst tragedy of my life."
Rudel asked Edgar something that puzzled him.
"Marquis, you arrived very quickly. The attack was less than an hour ago, and you arrived very fast."
Edgar was also puzzled.
"Less than an hour ago?"
"But we were informed the attack was during the morning, and we came quickly to see you."
Alicia and her sisters were astonished by that lie.
"But the information is wrong. We were attacked just a short while ago."
Rudel analyzed the situation and deduced the following.
"Something is happening here, and something very serious."
◇◇◇
The same person was in the room, but this time watching their surroundings.
"How did everything go?"
"It went as we planned, but different."
"What do you mean?"
"The Count Bradford, now Marquis, right?"
"Well, that guy defeated them, but we achieved our objective: getting the whole family to go to their territory."
The person hidden in the darkness smiled from ear to ear.
"Good. Now we will proceed to execute the plan."
The man on the other side of the conch was also smiling.
"That's right. All the wealth and trade deals of the Campbell's will belong to me.
________________
Important detail. I've finished the draft of volume 3 of What If, so I can start it today and next week I'll announce when it comes out. There are only 3 chapters; I wanted at least 8, but that's how it turned out.
Remember that What If consists of ideas discarded from volume 4 onwards, so the result will be different from what was seen in the original novel.
Volume 4 will be released after volume 9 or 10, as I want it to end after the main novel because I've figured out how to bring them together in the same universe.
________________
The fanservice is once again for Alicia's sisters, and if you didn't notice, they are references to the twins from my new otome novel: I Reincarnated into an Otome Game and Now I'll Make a Harem of Villainesses, which is on hiatus until I finish Ixion and Razel:
Rosemary
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/139308121
Annerose
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/137721474