Because I absolutely lied to Amn, my wives are that scary and I don’t want to anger them. I explain that I am just going scouting because King Vex wants verification that the island is real. Lin and Mercy don’t have any problems with my intention, but Asuna begs to go with me.

Since it won’t be dangerous and I can’t resist those eyes, I agree to take her with me. So, I take Asuna with me and make my way out of the palace until I find an open area. Then I drop shapeshift and return to my normal form, but I suddenly feel cold.

Asuna moved to the top of my head when I shapeshifted and she froze herself to me. The cold was a surprise, but it doesn’t hurt me and it will keep Asuna from falling off. Trusting her to keep herself secure, I take to the air and circle around above the city.

There is just enough light left to get a good look at the city and I figure Asuna will enjoy it. Other than the view, I expect this trip to be rather boring for her, but it was her choice to come. After getting a good look at the city, I head out over the water and set course for the island.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think about how I look and I manage to scare a ship’s crew as I fly over them. Oh well, it is too late to do anything about it now, so I just keep flying. It takes me about an hour to fly to the island and by then the sun has set, but I can still see.

What I see is exactly what I was expecting, a large island with an active port and town. The goddess didn’t trick me or give me bad information, the island is exactly what she said. In fact, I could wipe it out right now and complete my quest, but then the girls might get mad at me.

Not for attacking the town, they would be mad that I said I was doing one thing and then did another. I will be back tomorrow to deal with it, I can wait at least that long to stick to my word. I do a quick circle of the island to make sure there is nothing unexpected and then turn back.

Based on how long it took me to fly here, I am guessing that I will be missing most of dinner. Not that I mind, it will be mostly diplomatic talk and Mercy and Lin are better at that than I am. In fact, if I happen to miss dinner entirely, that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.

I almost get my wish, when I get back dinner is over, but the mingling is just starting. I quickly locate King Vex, surrounded by women, and when our eyes meet I give him a nod. He immediately calls a guard over and sends him running off to relay his orders.

That should ensure that the ships leave first thing in the morning, not that it affects me. The caravan should be leaving before the ships even reach the port, so I won’t even hear about it. However, once I clear the place and rescue the slaves, it will cease to be my problem.

With the message delivered, I turn my attention to the rest of the room to see what’s going on. Mavel’s daughters are all hovering around Vex, except for Mavabel who is with Lin. That fact worries me a little, but not as much as it would have before the deal with Leafa and Damona.

Since we are adding the two of them, I doubt that Lin is going to be looking for another wife for me. At least for the time being, maybe after things settle down again I will have to worry. Then again, who knows what Lin might be planning, or what is going through her mind?

I am not about to underestimate her, or think that I can understand the way that she thinks. Although, I really hope she isn’t shopping for more wives, I have too many women already. Adding a dryad and a succubus is going to make things complicated enough as is.

Mercy and Lin are chatting away, they are completely in their element with all these people. It is not just our group, nobles of King Vex’s court are here mingling as well. It seems like they were here for dinner as well, which makes me glad that I missed it.

The other rulers don’t seem bothered at all, in fact they look like they are having fun. I want nothing to do with this kind of crowd, but I’m not sure if I can just walk out. I am an emperor now, what are these people going to think if I leave just after arriving.

I quickly locate Amn and head over to chat with him and Shiro so I can avoid the others. Lin and Mercy will do any diplomatic talk that is needed, I just need to avoid causing problems. Unfortunately, hearing all the nobles talking about me, causing trouble is exactly what I want to do.

Hearing a bunch of snide remarks, it makes me want to do something to shock the nobles. I am in my dragonoid form, with Asuna curled around my neck, and I hear a comment about me wearing fur. Asuna lifts her head, looks at the person who made the comment, and growls at them.

As soon as people realize that she is a living thing, I get surrounded by women who want to pet her. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of the nobles brought their daughters and they all want to pet Asuna. She of course is loving the attention, but I don’t like being surrounded.

Asuna even climbs down off of my shoulder so that she is within reach to get petted. That just encourages the women to crowd closer and Amn and Shiro do nothing to help me. The only good thing is that now that I am surrounded I can’t hear the snide comments anymore.

It feels like forever, but it’s probably only about ten minutes before Mercy comes to save me. She does so by taking Asuna from me and all the girls follow her as she moves away. The crowd of women around Asuna is actually bigger than the crowd around King Vex.

Unfortunately, as the crowd of girls moves away, it exposes me to the rest of the nobles again. At this point, they have learned who I am, so there are no more snide comments. Instead, they are all fake smiles and false compliments, exactly the things I hate the most about nobles.

It is a good thing that I don’t actually care about diplomatic relations with this side of the continent. I only last a few minutes under the barrage of insincerity before I start giving rude responses. Luckily, I only really have to be careful of my interactions with King Vex and the other rulers.

King Vex himself actually comes over to save me after a few minutes and a lot of ruffled feathers. Although, he might just be using me as an excuse to escape his own crowd of women. Not that I can blame him, they are eyeing him like a side of meat that they can’t wait to eat.