Chapter 464 – Picking Up an Angel

*** Yuki ***

"Nakuma, please, just sit down or relax or something," I beg.

"No, you're pregnant. I need to make sure you're ok and comfortable. We need to be careful with your kids. You're heavily pregnant. I will not risk the kids. I can't," Nakuma says.

She wants me to die. She actually wants to kill me! "Stop patting and pushing and everything else! Please. I'm fine. I'm not even showing yet."

"You are," Nakuma says. "I can tell."

Of course, she knows the exact size of my stomach. "Only you can tell I'm pregnant without using a Skill or mana! Let me be," I say.

"No, I need to check on you. Stop squirming, this will only take an hour. Later on, it will take longer, since I can't check on the individual kids yet. Just sit still, and everything will be fine."

I'm going to die.

*** Alzi ***

"The tea is really good again," I say.

"I'm glad you are enjoying it," Nanoka says. "Eterna, how is it for you?"

"Better than I thought it would be," Eterna says.

"There's no need to lie about it," I say, petting her silly head. "You asked for more before I did. It's ok to like things your wives make."

"Fine, it was nice," Eterna says. She still melts into me the best she can whenever she can. She's a pretty nice blanket, warm and comforting. Even offers a bit of extra protection. I can't be like Nanoka and just run into some place and start doing what I want, but with Eterna around, I can. Well, I do own most of the world with the thrones I have. Lensa would be stupid to try to stop me from doing as I like in her lands as well.

Still, I feel better having Eterna or Geta around.

"Always happy to host you," Nanoka says. "Now, where do you want to go next? I did offer up Yuki, as you wished, but there is a blond girl who should be free now. Maybe you should give her a visit and see if she's ready to come home. Nakuma is, well, taking care of Yuki right now, so she can wait. I can only be so biased towards my people."

"Yeah," I say. "I do need to see Isda more than Yuki. I can just poke my head into Yuki's room before I go to bed tonight to make sure she isn't about to die or something."

"Nakuma isn't about to let Yuki die," Nanoka says. "No matter how scared Yuki is about it. Do you want anyone else to come with you to see Isda? I think her maid is already there. Kou, Sarania, or Shyla should come along as well. Eterna and being in the temple should be enough protection if we want to keep the group small."

"That would be good," I say. Sex is dead now, so Isda has to be free. It would be good to reunite her with our kids. She didn't mean to hurt me. I believe she truly wanted to help me, but through that asshole's influence, she just made mistakes. They hurt a lot, but they were small things. Things that were easy to influence. Errors that I think she would've noticed if she were fully in control.

I've forgiven people for doing much worse without some Goddess instructing them to hurt me, so I can bring her back into the family. The Dryads are running around again, so why not an angel? Geta can watch over her.

"Great, Kou is right outside, so we can take her with us for the maid," Nanoka says. "Eterna, can you stand for a bit? I think we'll have to let Isda take your spot for a few minutes."

"Fine," Eterna says. "But I get it back when she's done."

"We'll see," I sigh. I'll have to be careful never to get Yzzorres and Eterna pregnant at the same time again. I'm not looking forward to seeing what problems they'll cause when they're both in their weird pregnancy moods.

"My Empress," Kou says, opening the door. "I can try to handle Eterna for a bit. I think my tails should at least provide some of the warmth her body desires. Or Lady Nanoka? You are pregnant with my Empress's children, after all, so you would be a better replacement."

"This bird isn't going to accept me hugging her," Nanoka says. "Just come over here, and we'll get to the temple. Playing silly tricks on the ladies of the house, like Eterna is going to hug me over you or Alzi. She won't even admit she loves my tea."

"I do not!" Eterna says.

"Do you think I can't feel your mana siphoning even more into your cup right now? You love it, and that is perfectly fine. Your Mother got into your head too much, it seems," Nanoka says.

"You called me old," Eterna says.

"We are old! I hope I don't get like this when I get farther into my pregnancy. Just gag me if I do," Nanoka says.

"That's a great way to earn more kids, Lady Nanoka," Kou says. "Best to just teleport us over before this fight grows bigger."

"That is a wonderful idea, granddaughter," Nanoka says, and then Fertility's temple appears before us. "Sorry for insulting you, Eterna. It seems my silly granddaughter should've been my main focus."

"My Empress, shall we go in? We want to make sure you have time to be with your kids with all of your bodies," Kou says. "A Priestess will likely be nearby to show us the way if they've moved her. This way."

"Thank you," I say. "Nanoka doesn't need a gag to get more kids from me if she wants them."

A Priestess opens the door once I'm done teasing Nanoka, ready to show us the way to the little angel.

"This way, Queen Alzi," the Priestess says, bowing her head a bit. Are they supposed to do that with Queens? "Isda has been hoping you'll visit her soon. Our Goddess agrees that it will be safe for her to leave. She said something about a transfer being mostly complete. I don't know if our Goddess has told you what that means, but I hope it is the progress you were looking for. Isda's had a rough time in here, but she has been dutiful in her prayers. I won't say what you should do with her; I just wanted to give you all the information."

"Thank you," I say. The temple is a lot more crowded than I've seen it in the past. Both at Death's shrine, which has been added, and people praying to Fertility. I do need to start working on getting her to help people conceive. If it is easier for others to have kids, then I can hide away with my harem more.

Kitsune may lose her ability to keep her affinity locked to the Kitsunes, but that's her problem, not mine. She's the one trying to be greedy, keeping that locked up. I'll have to deal with so many kids with that affinity; some other parents can handle all the tricks as well. Destruction is already a problem, and I really don't need to see what dragons mixed with kitsunes get up to with that Goddess.

I may have to send Destruction up early if I can get over how cute she is.

"Pretty busy," I say.

"Yes, I thought it would be more somber with Death having a shrine here," the Priestess says. "She's normally hard to reach out in her crypt. But you've brought a lot of hope to people again, and our Goddess is speaking again. It's so nice to hear her voice after so many years of silence. It's given us all more energy. And the pregnancies are coming in. They feel very different from the fake pregnancies we normally do. They're a lot more draining, but also a lot more rewarding."

"Happy to give you the real feeling," I say. "You all look cute with the bellies."

"Thank you, our Champion," the Priestess says. "Right in here. If you need anything, I'll be here for you."

"Thanks," I say.

She cracks open the door, and I hear a bit of crying come from the room.

I haven't been avoiding her. It was just one day. Has she been that lonely? Was the pregnancy that hard on her?

I step inside and see Isda curled up with her maid. I can't really tell if she's really sad or just tired or stressed, since their faces are hidden. But it would make sense for her to be unhappy.

"Hello?" I say.

"Alzi? Sorry. Things feel weird right now for me. Thank you for coming by," Isda says, untangling from her maid.

"Come here," I say, opening my arms. "I've been told it's safe for you to come home. I've been forgiving a lot of people who have done worse than you did. I'd enjoy you helping out in the family."

"That would be great," Isda says, stumbling into my arms. "I'm sorry."

"You're fine," I say. "The Goddesses screwed us both over. But it's over now, and that's probably a big part of why you're feeling weird. Sex is gone."

"That's it? Did you kill her? I thought Fertility had just completely cut me off from her. I was sleeping, and when I woke up, I felt a bit empty. I- What happened? What happens next?" Isda asks. Her maid gives me a small smile, straightening out her uniform.

"What happens directly next is that we're going to go see a bunch of kids," I say. "In the farther-off future, I think I'm supposed to become a Goddess. Is that still what you want?"

"Yes," Isda says. "That would be nice. I don't like this empty part of me, but I also don't want it to be filled with anyone else. You're the right one. I know it."

"Ok, then let's go see our kids," I say. "I've got Nanoka with us. She's pregnant now as well. A lot of women are pregnant, but I think you know about most of them already. Sex did one good thing. She brought you to me. We'll work on improving our relationship. I have a lot of women I need to do that with. But I think we'll get along easily."

"I'll help," Isda says. "I can do that. Hearth wants me to do that. I just know she does. I'll help you with improving those parts of the family. I feel that I can do that again."

"Don't go for anything too big," I say. "You have a number of little kids who want your attention, too, and they should get it before the wives do. Let my extra bodies handle some of the work of building the relationships in the family. The kids are more important."

"I can do that," Isda says. "I'll do that. Thank you, Alzi. I love you. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused. I'll work hard to make sure I don't hurt our kids."

"Then let's get home," I say. "I have a list of things this body wants to do, and I'll be dragging you around for some of them. I'm sorry for having you be so isolated."

"It was the right thing to do," Isda says. "I'll be fine. I'm ready to go home with you. Thanks for coming to get me."

Well, that went a lot faster than I thought it would. It looks like I'm creating a group of women to drag around today. It's an interesting group. My youngest wife, coming around with my oldest wives, if you ignore Yzzorres. But I don't think she really counts, sleeping all the time and not being on my oversized list of wives.

"Well, Eterna, it looks like we're changing course again," Nanoka says. "I'm glad to welcome you home, Isda. I think you'll like the changes."

"We move around too much," Eterna says. "There's a perfectly good bed right here! We can sleep."

"Kids are silly," I say. "Ignore her. I'm going to need someone to create a chart for who can be pregnant at the same time for me."

"I'll work on it," Isda says. "That sounds like fun."

"It sounds like torture for me," I say. "Kou, you'll have to help me stick to the chart."

"I'll make more belts, My Empress," Kou says.