Part 3

The knight-maid that brought me the breakfast then also brought me into the throne room, where all the other knights were gathered already.

Sitting down on my throne, I already accepted my fate.

The princesses are about to come in, and I’ll become their trophy... worst king ever...

“The princesses have arrived!”

Everyone knelt at that, making way for them.

Slowly the first one walked in, wearing white knight armor detailed with beautiful feathers.

“Welcome the princess of the Valoria Empire, our Royal Knight Leader! Princess Miyuki Valoria!”

My mind stopped, and my jaw dropped.

Next a holy saintess entered, clad in a white robe with golden threads, holding a golden staff.

“Welcome the princess of the Celestia Kingdom, our Saintess! Princess Aiko Celestia!”

Whaaaaat!?

After her, a fearless wolf girl strutted in, wearing a stunning light blue dress. Compared to the others, it was quite an unexpected attire.

“Welcome the princess of the Sylpharia Federation, our strongest! The Wolf Princess Tsubaki Sylpharia!”

Miyuki, Aiko, and Tsubaki!? What is going on!? Then that means...

Gulp.

I stared at the door with anticipation.

To my shock, a girl wearing a sage robe and holding a staff walked in. I recognized her right away.

“Welcome the princess of the Ignis Dominion, our Grand Sage! Princess Sakura Ignis!”

Sakura! I knew it! But wait...

“Since when have you all become princesses!?”

All four of them stepped forward, holding out their right hands and getting down on one knee.

“I’m here to marry you, Shunpei!”

All four of them shouted at the same time, startling me.

Marry me!?

“Wait, wait, wait! This isn’t the right time!”

“Same old Shunpei, huh?”

Miyuki sighed.

“Hehe. He is the one we fell for, after all.”

Aiko added.

“Well, no matter what. I’ll be taking Shunpei!”

Sakura proclaimed as Aiko and Miyuki glared at her.

While they were busy bickering, Tsubaki used that opportunity to dash towards me.

Jumping straight for me, we crashed back into my throne, and she landed on my lap.

“Tsubaki!”

The other three finally noticed, but she just stuck her tongue out towards them.

“Tsubaki, you need to be careful. You can’t just jump around like that while wearing a dress...”

“Why not?”

She innocently looked up at me.

Should I tell her!? But she’s so pure... I can’t bring myself to-

“How about we take this somewhere more private?”

Miyuki said as she got closer with eyes that made shivers run down my spine.

“Y-yes!”

So all five of us headed to my room. Why my room? They outvoted me four to one...

As we sat down to continue our talk, Sebas and one of the knight-maids interrupted us to bring us tea and snacks before leaving us alone.

“So let’s continue... marry me, Shunpei!”

Huh!?

The fact that all four of them asked me to marry them only just now sank in.

“Miyuki... I’m overjoyed that you’d consider me as a potential partner... but that’d be a horrible idea.”

“Exactly! Shunpei is my prey!”

Tsubaki jumped right onto my lap again.

“I’m sorry, Tsubaki. But I can’t marry you either.”

“Why not!?”

“Because-”

“Let me guess, you’re worried about your current situation impacting us?”

Aiko took the words straight out of my mouth.

“Exactly... I’m the King of the failed kingdom of Midgard now. If I marry any of you, it’ll impact you significantly.”

Tsubaki, angered by my response, took my arm and bit into it.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

But knowing I deserved it, I didn’t even try to fight it. Not after rejecting them like this... Especially after we haven’t seen each other in so long.

“Grrrr. I don’t care! You’re mine!”

“B...but-”

“She’s right, Shunpei.”

Aiko said.

“Do you really think something like that would stop us?”

Miyuki added.

“Just let me take care of everything... I’ll handle all your worries right away...”

Suddenly Sakura hugged me from behind and whispered into my ear.

“No, I can’t do that. You’re finally in amazing positions after we’ve lived so long at an orphanage. I couldn’t stand being the reason you’d even risk losing that!”

All four of them looked at each other and nodded.

“Then you leave us no choice.”

Miyuki glared at me with a deadpan expression.

“Aiko, how much was the total debt again?”

“248,775 gold pieces, but that’s just the debt.”

“Perfect, find out to whom exactly, and let’s pay it off entirely.”

“Wait! What-”

Tsubaki pinned me down with her legs wrapped around me.

“From here on out... Midgard belongs to us!”

Haaaa!?

“You can’t just-”

“Yes, we can... or are you able to defend your kingdom against us?”

Sakura whispered into my ear again.

“Still! Why!?”

“Because you belong to us... and always have!”

Hearing them say that so perfectly in sync made me worried... Is this normal!? I don’t even know whether I should be happy or not... I’ll never be able to pay them back for everything...

“On the way here we also heard about an impending famine...”

Miyuki grumbled.

Aiko stepped up with a wide smile, clearly realizing the potential of fixing my situation.

“That’s because the tax has been too high, forcing the farmers to overgrow, sucking the soil of all its life. So I have the perfect solution for that.”

Miyuki raises an eyebrow knowing that there’s bound to be a catch.

“Let’s hear it.”

“I’ll use my holy magic to revive the soil while also sending over new tools from my kingdom. Solving the famine and, with that, also opening up the possibility of exporting the harvests.”

“With enough time, that could indeed solve most, if not all their problems...”

“And so, with that, I should become the righteous owner of Midgard.”

“Huh!?”

Tsubaki interrupted, dashing over to them.

“Isn’t that better for everyone? It’d mean less work for you all.”

“No! I know exactly what you’re trying to do, Aiko! Grrrrr. You’re not getting Shunpei that easily.”

That’s when Miyuki and Sakura realized what Aiko just tried to do... but instead of stopping her... they got a different idea.

“Oh. If that’s the case, then I’ll just use my overwhelming manpower and fix the fields myself. I could also use my army to protect Midgard from further invasions... so, I’ll just take Midgard off your hands. It’d be no big deal.”

“Huh!?”

Tsubaki glared at them both.

“Luckily, I already brought just the thing we needed.”

Sakura took out a vial with red liquid inside.

“What is that?”

They asked her.

“An ancient Water Serpent’s blood.”

She smirked proudly.

“And how will that help with anything?”

Miyuki shook her head.

“Exactly, are you just coming out as a vampire!?”

Tsubaki exaggeratedly jolted backward.

“What!? No! This blood contains highly condensed mana from the serpent! Enough to replenish the entire kingdom’s soil!”

“Waste of money.”

“Waste of effort.”

“Poor serpent...”

All three of them retorted one by one, first Aiko then Miyuki and lastly Tsubaki.

“It doesn’t matter! All that matters is that I am Shunpei’s wife! And as his wife, I will be the one to fix Midgard and rule it with him!”

“Absolutely not.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Did you fall asleep? Dreamwalking is dangerous.”

With that, they continued on arguing about who was my rightful wife...

“What about-”

“Shut up, Shunpei! This is between us!”

Haaaa! But isn’t it also about me!?