Well, they didn't have an orgy that day, but Konrad almost had a stroke when Princess Helena entered the room. It was already crowded with women, but she didn't seem to care at first.
"I bring great news, Lord Halstadt," she greeted him with a smile.
Vargas trailed her with two of her guards.
But his 'senechal', as the princess designated him, had a very sour face.
"The king of Kasserlane is willing to relinquish his ducal title of Halaima for you," she said. And that did sound great—until she continued. "On a few basic conditions, of course."
"Please don't tell me it's even more taxes," Konrad let it slip before catching himself.
The tonal whiplash was already too much for him to handle after the earlier confessions.
And all the girls were still there, surrounding him.
Helena even took a few curious glances around.
"No, the size of your realm won't change. It wouldn't make sense," she said, almost sounding offended. "But he brought it to my attention that you haven't achieved knighthood yet."
"Um, yes? Since I was a commoner until recently," he muttered.
What was a knight, anyway?
He knew they existed, but how did they come to be?
If retaking Halaima wasn't good enough to earn that title, he had no idea what he needed to do.
"Yes, yes, with your sword skills, I doubt it would cause you any issues," Helena nodded. He couldn't help but think that she read his mind, again, but hoped she could not.
At least, she didn't address the elephant in the room. Yet.
Or rather, the five elephants, still surrounding him like they were his official harem now.
Wait. They were.
Was this something so normal in this world that the princess wouldn't even bat an eye?
Gabrielle clung to one arm while Lily flanked his other side.
Eyna was all business, consulting with Vargas, but shooting obvious glances at him.
As for the dragon and the necromancer—
Konrad wanted them out of there, and fast. But he couldn't find the moment to speak.
"With how important Halaima is, you need more than stewardship to run it. Individual sword skill is all nice to have, too, and your magic is impressive, but—"
He almost missed Helena's droning, if not for her 'buts' giving him a painful deja vu.
"You have to be a gifted strategist, so that the king wouldn't have to send a general here."
Uh-hum. There it was again. He had to prove himself, like he hadn't done it over and over.
"I took the fight to the Church while outnumbered, and—"
The princess waved him off mid-sentence.
"A great achievement, but we can't make it public," she said.
Konrad furrowed his brows.
"I know you don't like them, but the Church is integral to our kingdom," Helena explained with a sigh. "We can't exactly pass around the news that you ousted their corrupt officials."
"Oh," was all he could say. So they wanted to sweep this whole thing under the rug.
It made sense. And the princess did promise to talk to, or about, the Church back home. Given her souring expression, she must've done that, and didn't leave satisfied.
Well, he appreciated it, but it mattered little when she gave him yet more extra work.
He was already muddied with it.
"Don't worry, Konrad, my brother already recognizes your talent," she stated. And yet, that wasn't enough. "He only wants to justify his actions towards the rest of the nobility."
"He won't ask me to conquer another kingdom, right?" he asked, already fearing the worst.
He didn't even think about Kasserlane's surroundings yet.
The duchy itself gave him enough of a headache as is.
His main concern was to solidify his stance within and become stronger. There was a demon lord he had to defeat soon, and the clock was always ticking. Like right now—
"It's a formality," Helena murmured. "You're to hold a tournament and prove yourself in public."
"What?" Konrad's head snapped up.
He might've been too lost in his own thoughts and had to double-take.
"A tournament? Here?"
His inner logistician was already sweating hard. What would that entail? Bring people into Halaima? Provide them with food and lodgings? In the state the city was in?!
"Yes, in a month, before the harvest begins in earnest," the princess nodded.
She was serious. And this wasn't even all.
"I trust you can handle it," she chirped, looking excited. "It doesn't have to be fancy, but it must have at least two competitions. One is personal duels, the other mock battles."
Konrad didn't need a huge imagination to figure out what the first one was, but—
"Mock battles?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.
"Oh, yes, and you also have to raise a company of soldiers to compete in that—and win."
This was getting out of hand. To fund all that, and even win—against whom?!
"I've organized a two-hundred-man militia around Halaima," Vargas interjected. His face was still sour, though. "We can call up another three hundred as levies, and five hundred auxiliaries."
"No, no." Helena shook her head. "I meant a company of professionals. Your men-at-arms."
"Men-at-arms?" Konrad had no idea what that meant, but it sounded expensive.
He knew very little about medieval warfare and organizations. With his modern understanding of logistics, these things always felt backwards to him.
"Your house guards," Helena explained, like she was talking to a child.
"A standing army," Vargas added, noting, "every noble house has one."
"Like a bodyguard?" Konrad asked, already calculating the costs. If the militia didn't cut it—
"Yes, more or less. You need no more than a hundred men, that's usually how much competes in those mock battles," the princess said. "Any less would put you at a disadvantage."
"A hundred?!" Professionals, he had to hire, feed, train, and arm, too—in a month.
"I'm sure the Blood Moon contingent would be happy to volunteer," Lily interjected with a smirk. So far, she was quiet by his side, but she was listening. "They lost no men until now."
"Well, they are excellent warriors," Vargas confirmed. "All forty of them."
And there, Konrad could already see the problem.
"Your Highness, you saw the state Halaima's in," he bargained. "It'd take years to rebuild. It's not worthy of a tournament, and to raise an army from scratch and win with them in a month?"
"I can arrange a small loan from my father," Gabrielle offered. "And some workforce."
It was helpful, but also not. He wanted excuses, not even more obligations.
"Oh, you are—" Helena yelped, her eyes going wide with recognition. "Lady Gabrielle von Schwertburg in the flesh. So the rumors were true?!"
Konrad didn't know how to feel about her expression.
If anything, this must've complicated things even further.
"Yes, my apologies, Your Highness, I should've introduced myself, prim and proper." The way the angel smiled and bowed sent a chill down his spine. "I'm the future Lady Halstadt."
There it was. Complication. And it didn't stop there.
"And I am, too," Lily rushed to announce. "I'm kind of a nobility within the tribes as well."
At least she didn't start with her usual chunibyo crap, but—
"T-two wives?!" Helena took a step back.
Konrad was about to make up some bullshit excuse, but he wasn't fast enough.
"Dunno about marriage, but we're all his haremettes," Maple announced, in front of royalty.
And that was how Konrad learned that harems were, in fact, not the standard in this world.