In-A-Gala-Da-Vida (Part 6: The End of Harem Knights?)

The Gala had shuffled their ways back to the tables after King Jeronim had announced his intentions to start his speech. The throne that had sat empty for so long now housed the royal rear once more. A commanding hush emanating from the powerful man as he scratched his short beard once more, waiting for the crowd to settle in place before addressing the court.

“Hello my friends!” His warm smile always seemed to come from his deepest and scariest frowns, “Esteemed nobles, Harem Knights, and all those who grace my gala tonight, if it has not been said before I welcome thee.” He graciously nodded his head to the crowd who all clapped at his words.

“This guy really knows how to ham it up for the crowd.” Divane ironically commented from her floor space, earning an annoyed hiss from Sena.

The King continued, “Another year gone and here we are to celebrate the lives we help create. Tis a year with many surprises, and I must say there are some fresh faces here that I definitely did not expect to see,” He seemingly gazed directly at Darkness. Giving him an awkward smile back to the man she’d seen so many times in her life while growing up… now reuniting at this breeding event.

“But with a year of surprises, comes change. Changes that allowed me to even be present this year instead of sending my letters from the front lines to be read out to you all…” A melancholy seemed to pass over his face a little, “I’ll cut to the chase. I can confirm the rumours are real, the Demon King is gone.”

Shock and awe struck the crowd. It was one thing to be excited by rumours, it was another to hear the words actually come out of the man’s mouth itself.

“I cannot say how, or who it was that finally rid this land of the menace, but I have confirmed with my own two eyes that the Demon King is definitely gone. My son is going to go on a quest against his final associates, which I will join him on after my duties here conclude, but rest assured the final menaces scouring the land will be brought to justice!”

“Amazing, to think that it actually happened…” Sena mumbled amongst the crowd’s shocked whispers.

“I wonder who did it?” Aqua asked, “Was it that one guy with the sword? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“He’s… sat right behind you.”

Aqua turned to see a responsive Mitsurugi light up when she gazed upon him. “No, not him. The one that Kazuma stole the sword from.”

“Still him, Aqua.”

Ignoring his slightly depressed whine, Divane drove the conversation back, “Hmm, how strange. I would have thought throws of angels would have welcomed me back to Heaven if the quest to defeat the Demon King is truly over.” Divane commented from her laying position.

"You only left last night, maybe everything's still a bit chaotic up in Heaven?" Sena pointed out.

“Or perhaps they all hate me so much they’d prefer to see me rot down here! I’m sure their eyes are positively glued to the heaven screens, watching my downfall and wretched existence with such glee! My fall from grace is truly the best fall, everyone’s saying so.”

Darkness just hissed at her magic item, “Please keep quiet during the King’s speech!”

Though unbeknownst to her, there were some words Divane said that certainly affected one member of the group…

The King was still beaming at the rabble he’d caused. “Yes, my friends! I know the news is truly glorious, and I’m sure there are many questions but please listen once more as there are further announcements regarding this wonderful new world.” He explained, taking another chance to stroke his beard, “This may seem abrupt, but our priorities need to shift. Rebuilding Belzerg needs to be our top priority to repair what was broken by the decade long war. It will be a long and difficult process that will no doubt fall to my children, and their children-MY GRANDKIDS!?” He suddenly choked, biting his knuckle in sheer tearful glee as he imagined such tiny creatures. Jeronim quickly shook himself out before continuing, “Erhem. We may never heal from the wounds the Demon King created for us, but we can start by reducing the focus our Kingdom had on our military… including the Harem Knights.”

“We started the Harem Knights for two reasons. One, it was so that we didn’t draft all eligible men away from the populace for us to be left with no one to have kids, and secondly as a way to let some of that next generation have some traits from some of our greatest physical specimens.” Jeronim seemed rather troubled by these ideas, frowning at his own words, “It isn’t a pretty notion, but with such a dwindling population and threats to our land, I believe it was the right thing to do.”

Darkness was enamoured by the whole speech, obviously. Still blaming herself for the world she was in, but hearing this fatherly figure in her life say that it was the right thing to do… gave her a little hope.

“But we must not hold so tightly in times of peace!” His voice boomed through the hall, “People must be free to love whoever they want, and have no incentive to sell their bodies to us. Therefore, at the end of this month: no Harem Knight will be able to add anyone new to their harems.”

“WHAT?!”

“I SAY!”

“THAT’S ABSOLUTELY PREPOSTEROUS!”

The unhappy bellows of the nobles were well heard by the King. Standing firm against their complaints while waiting for them to fizzle out of their own accord.

“This is not a negotiation, this is a certainty.” Jeronim’s serious voice boomed back, making all the fatcats that had stood up to shout wilt to their seats.

All except one. “My King!” Mitsurugi shouted, “What of those who are already pregnant?! Will they be cut off from the life affirming wealth they were promised?!”

“Oh, I’m not a monster, Sir Mitsurugi.” He replied with a smile, “No, everyone who is already in a harem will be able to keep the same deal they signed on for. A salary, and bursary for the child until they grow into an adult, with benefits. I am simply saying that this month is the final chance all Harem Knights have to hand in paperwork for any final additions to your Harems. I’ll even increase the budget limit temporarily, but after that… well, let’s just say this will be the final Harem Knight Gala we’ll ever hold.”

Jeronim’s words hung heavy in the air. Everyone was thinking about their own future, about the lives forever changed by this decision, and the things that would change with no more Harem Knights in the world.

Some were clearly upset. Muttering words of **** under their breaths towards the king, or holding back tears for the women they couldn’t impregnate anymore.

Others were relieved and happy. Excited about the opening shackles of responsibility, not even wanting to be at this event anymore let alone be **** to breed at least once every few years. Or just happy about the lack of Demon King terrorising the world.

Somehow, all of these feelings and more were felt by our protagonists. With the King wrapping his speech up and telling everyone to enjoy the rest of the festivities the gala was left to mingle with itself for the rest of the evening. Darkness was absolutely bamboozled by the news. This whole event had been made up by her at the beginning of the week, and now everyone was treating this like the end of an era. Which it was, but wasn’t at the same time. It confused her.

“I’ll hand in our paperwork right now!” Sena exclaimed, taking the mass stack of papers she’d brought along in her suitcase and rushing off to the King’s advisor table. A single man writing on a pad that had switched his little sign to ‘applications open’ and now was about to be completely overloaded by the new work.

Divane had mostly lost interest in the room, which just left the one person still sat at the table to tug the blonde back into reality.

“Darkness, Darkness! I really need to talk to you?”

Aqua’s face looked very pained, and Darkness knew that she was one of the few that the Goddess confided in. Plus, it would take her mind off the Harem Knights for a moment, “Of course, whatever you need, Aqua.”

Relief seemed to wash over her briefly, sitting back down to collect her thoughts. “Okay… okay…” She nodded, took a deep breath, slapped her cheeks a little, then looked at Darkness again, “Okay.”

“...okay?”

“Yes. I mean no! I mean, I’m- you know, I wanna talk!” The scatterbrained look was rare for Aqua, though she wasn’t always the best with her thoughts she could usually get them across much more elegantly than this, and it was clearly frustrating her. “Gah! Why is it so hard!?”

A hand gripped hers, “It’s okay, take your time.” The warmth of Darkness let the girl center herself a little, though Darkness still took the chance to help, “Is it about the Demon King? Or our situation with the harem?”

“No, it’s something else…”

“I thought as much,” said Darkness, “How about this, I'll tell you some positive news first and then you can tell me what's been bothering you, okay?"

It did calm Aqua, for only a moment as she then winced a little at the idea. "It's... not about you and Kazuma being a couple, is it? I know you didn't tell me directly but I'm not that dumb..."

"No, this is actually news that includes you," Darkness smiled, "Me and Kazuma were talking, and-"

“-well I want Iris in my harem! DOHOHOHOHO!”

A cold knife of fear suddenly rammed right into Darkness’ gut. She desperately wanted to be there for Aqua, but the raucous laughter from the adjacent table of men had the blonde terrified. All the girl’s words hitting her ears were like ash compared to the beating drum in Darkness’ ears.

“Excuse me for just a second, Aqua,” said Darkness, barely even registering the pained whine coming from the blunette.

Darkness was too busy moving down to the next table over, one of four portly sized men in suits all chatting and laughing away. Slapping the table in how exuberant and elated they all were.

“Can I ask what you gentlemen were talking about?” Her tone was respectful, though with an underlying seriousness that made the men look at her with eyebrows raised.

“Why, Lady Dustiness, you do look radiant this evening,” Said one man looking at her chest with greed in his heart. She felt nothing but contempt for when men of his wealth ogled her, frowning at him while he continued, “We were just discussing the matter of the King’s decree, and what it means for the dear Princess.”

It was Darkness’ turn to raise an eyebrow, looking between them and where the young blonde had been sitting in her throne, “Iris? What does it mean?”

“Well, with the Demon King gone and no hero to betroth her…”

The men on their tables all smirked at each other, nudging the one next to them or ‘subtly’ winking at their others. Sinking would not begin to describe the motion Darkness’ stomach took as she realised their implications. “No…”

“Oh yes! We Harem Knights are up to the task!” One of the more elderly men roared before the whole table exploded with laughter.

Darkness took a step back in shock and horror, “She’s… she’s thirteen!”

“We know we can’t rightfully claim her now,” One of them said, twirling his handlebar moustache, “But you heard the King’s announcement, this is the final month of our tenure! Iris won’t stay young and out of reach forever. We were just going to propose to the King that she should join his favoured Harem for some training!” They all began nodding like their ideas made so much sense it was simply a matter of fact.

“Some harmless fun! While preparing her for her future!” Another agreed.

“She’ll enjoy the experience! I hear the cute princess is rather sheltered~”

“Easy there Johnson! The King hasn’t picked your Harem yet!”

The table once more exploded in laughter, slamming the table and having a merry time discussing their ideas for grooming the princess.

And for the second time in Darkness’ entire life she ran off to the bathroom to go throw up.

Kazuma had just come back from putting Iris to bed when his girlfriend ran past him, “Woah, Darkness! You- okay, lady’s room, can’t follow you in there.” He said before continuing back to his table, only finding an uninterested Divane lazily lying behind the table, “What’s happening?”

“The King has saved your monetary bacon, dear Kazuma.” Divane explained while slurping down some grapes she’d apparently found, “The Harem Knight programme is dying, but you shall be permitted to add any women this month to your harem with no risk of going to jail.” Kazuma was wide eyed, though Divane still just yawned, “A satisfactory end to your pathetic human problem of money. Though I do wish you would still throw me on the street. Imagine the filth I would be coated in after a few weeks as a homeless bum!”

“Wait. We did it?! We actually fucking did it?!” Kazuma gawped, falling back in his chair while moving the hair from his forehead. “That’s… unbelievable! No jail time! Money for all the kids, and we barely had to fight for it!”

He was so astounded he didn’t even call himself out for setting flags, instead just wondering where everyone had gotten to…

Darkness had stopped vomiting in the royal toilet, now breathing heavily in front of the sink with only her reflection as company. Karen had come in earlier to try and gloat, but seeing Lalatina’s rage was enough to crack the marble she backed out quietly.

“Vanir… can you hear me?”

During a single blink, the image in the mirror changed. The Darkness that had reflected her was no longer where she was standing. She was still present, but the mirror Darkness had a very iconic mask on and was leaning against the toilet doorframe. An expression of boredom on her mirror face under the mask.

“What is it, you annoying woman?”

“Rewind time.”

The response was quick enough to make even Vanir raise an eyebrow.

“Excuse Moi?”

Darkness’ anger and determination did not waver, she pointed directly at the mirror demon with confidence on her decisions. “I’m done, the week is basically done, right? Well, the sale is over.” She reached up, to attempt to remove the earrings again, “I don’t want these anymore, I need to give the earrings back right now and you need to rewind time back to before you ever gave me these cursed, life destroying, GAH!” Her frustration was palpable since they still would not budge from her lobes.

“...Moi wonders if that’s a slight overcorrection, what is it that yo-”

“HOW can it be an overcorrection?! I fucked up EVERYTHING!” She roared back at him, knuckles going to her forehead and squeezing as hard as she could, “If it wasn’t for me not THINKING then I wouldn’t have given power to the people I hate most!” The thumping attack she then used against her head was enough to shake the castle just a little, Lalatina’s strength mixed with defence always did make weird things happen.

Her masked visage yawned, “Very well.” the sudden shift threw Darkness for a second, “Give moi ten minutes and we shall both return to that moment before the explosion wizard left. You may return the earrings and your time with the big penised boy will cease to exi-”

“STOP!” She yelled instinctively, reaching out to her own reflection just as someone tried to enter the room before leaving. “Gah! No, I… I can’t be selfish, I have to give up Kazuma for the safety of everyone! …right?”

“Art thou asking Moi a question? Or telling Moi to reset time?”

Her pained expression and biting of her finger told him everything he needed to know. Vanir yawned, still uninterested, “Very well, advice time Moi supposes. Whomst does thou hate the most then? Perhaps is it the Crimson Demon girl that is ever so lonely all the time? Moi can certainly relate.”

“No, obviously not Yunyun! Nobles!” She barked back at him, “If I hadn’t tried to make myself feel better about my nobility… if I hadn’t based this off a flawed idea that that entire side of me isn’t rotten to the core…” she sighed before the anger roared back again, “if I had just thought for five seconds then I wouldn’t have inadvertently given the worst men in the world their own fucking Harems! I’M! A! MORON!”

The room was tense, Vanir masked Darkness still leaning against his post in the mirror while regular Darkness’ ragged rage breathing played as the soundtrack. “Normally no one else heard that…” She added, “And normally this room will be fixed when I leave.”

Masked Darkness just frowned in mild confusion, “You truly do wish to help everyone, don’t you girl? Greed really doesn’t touch your heart.”

“Of course it does, have you not seen how horny I get?” She shot back, “I'm just as bad as everyone out there. Which is exactly why I need you to at least take these earrings off of me.”

The mirror man moved, pacing around the reflected room in thought. “What does thou suggest then?”

“I should rewind it, delete everything that’s happened, take my memories of the week, take all the changes I made, and get rid of them forever…” She insisted, though the anger left her shoulders as she thought about it more. “A dreamy life that I managed to ruin with my own incompetence. At least if you take my memories it won’t hurt as much when I see Kazuma… or at least, no more than it did before…”

An eyebrow raise, but still the man paced, “...so your big problem is that you’ve given them too much power, but these human fools had reign over your weak and **** civilians already, true?”

It stung, but Darkness couldn’t deny how much power the nobles already had, “Yes, but this is all MY fault, I-”

“And while it’s true your words have caused a shift in reality to make women but mere requests away from becoming cattle for their whims, you have an opportunity here that destroying the fabric of time will not offer you again.”

“I… what?”

Her own smile graced Darkness, looking down at herself with a sneer, “Seems to Moi, as a superior outside observer with the ability to see the future, nothing will really change if you give the earrings back now,” Vanir shrugged cockily, “Women will still be exploited and bullied by the mass of noble filth your King has cultivated. This isn’t entirely your fault, but walking away while you have the tools to change it certainly will be. There is but one way to save your whole hole-ridden gender, and you already know how…”

Then the mask was gone, leaving Darkness to look into her own eyes once more. Reflection incarnate once more, it was just her and the words Vanir had left.

“...you’re right.”

“Phew, I managed to give our paperwork in,” said Sena as she sat at the table, “They were a little concerned of the size of it when I did, but after a brief counsel with the King I was able to convince them that Mistress Darkness, Mistress Aqua and Master Satou Kazuma were right to invest in.” The secretary sighed in relief, “We just have to hope that the ladies you’ve impregnated all show by the end of the month.”

“Yeah, seriously. Though if they’re covering the majority of the bill I’m sure we can find ways to make right for the last few stragglers,” Kazuma hadn’t stopped beaming since getting the news. Not only had he had the best sex day of his life, there was no consequences! Everything was going to work out!

“I OBJECT!”

Everyone turned suddenly to the strangely timed objection. A very angry blonde had emerged from the toilet corridor and was stomping towards the King who was trying to eat some of the food.

“Oh no.” Was all Kazuma could say as his heart dropped.

“Mmf! Hello Lady Lalatina!” The King beamed with a slight cough after quickly swallowing the last broccoli puff on his plate, “Erhem, may an old man ask, to what do you object?”

“King Jeronim! I demand you reconsider your decision to close the Harem Knight programme!”

The room was all focused on them, a crowd circling them that was a little too dense for Kazuma to burst through despite his attempts.

“The war is over, Lady Lalatina.” Jeronim replied, keeping his movements slow, “Surely you cannot expect us to breed warriors forever?”

“No, I’m not saying that at all. But to close the entire Harem Knight seems premature as well!” She shot right back, “Are there not more Demon King Generals behind dark corners? Those that wish to destroy this land with their own armies, and lay siege with no mercy in sight?!” Her finger pointed at him directly, “And what of the Demon King himself? You say he is gone but show no proof! No knight that slayed him or head as a trophy! What if it is a trick to lower our guard before they destroy this castle?!”

Many were mumbling in agreement with her, but even the King’s soft side seemed to be affected, “No! Not the castle! Little Iris lives there!” He whimpered before coughing, “Erhem, perhaps you have a slight point… so you think it should all stay open?”

“No,” She replied confidently, sparking more crowd whispers, “I say we have a contest to decide who is the most worthy to stay a Harem Knight!” Darkness yelled, turning to address the circled nobles themselves. “The exalted position of the King’s solitary breeding house, since the Demon King has been slain! Everyone will put their entire bursary fund on the line for this contest, and whoever wins will become the undisputed noble breeder for the land!”

The crowd was yelling now. Some agreed with the terms, some were completely outraged with the suggestion. Stuffy old men all barking orders or requests at the King.

In the midst of the chaos, someone grabbed her arm, “Darkness! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Let me go, Kazuma.”

“They were going to give everyone a bigger budget!”

“I can’t-”

“We were in the clear!”

“I can’t be responsible for these men getting power over innocents!” She violently snapped back, tears in her eyes and a fierce glare that gave Kazuma pause. The crowd’s yelling and the screaming all faded away from the two as she looked at him with such pleading eyes, “Kazuma, I beg of you. I cannot be… these men are so… I just-!”

“Okay, okay. I get it,” He said with a calming tone to let Darkness take a beat, “I’m definitely not going to argue with you if you’re going to look at me like that.”

Her face rubbed against his hand, smiling at his trust, “Thank you, Kazuma.”

“No problem.” He gave a slight sigh before lightly dragging her down low enough to kiss her forehead tenderly, “you say we need to win a contest? I’ll win us a goddamn contest.” They shared a smile and another quick peck before disconnecting, “You know, if the King agrees.”

Determination was reforming in her soul, Darkness turned with purpose towards the overwhelmed Jeronim. “Oh don’t worry, he would normally.”

“They refuse to talk because they don’t care. Not about you at least.”

“Shut up.”

“Ooh, acknowledging me are ya? Been ignoring me so long, I thought you'd forgotten. Deny all you want, but at the end of the day you’re just the extra in this story. A fool with no point to existing.”

“I-I have a point!”

“Perhaps as a failure. A joke of a Goddess. You’re supposed to be the most powerful, yet how much help were you when that big succubus attacked? How about how easily you were captured by the chimera's goons?”

“...”

“And last, but certainly not least: Darkness went to heaven all alone to face the one person you never could stand up to. While you stared at that boy's dead body, pitifully useless.”

“...I… I wanted to…”

“Oh, well, good intentions are always enough effort.”

“......”

“Why don’t you just go home? Run away? Hide in that void away from everything and everyone? ...or do you want to finally fight. Back.”

The hall had shifted arrangements quite a lot since Darkness’ announcement. Tables were moved away from the grand doors that lead to the bulk of the castle, though Harem Knights were still using them as places to get psyched up with their nobles. Everyone had about twenty minutes to discuss strategies and plans. A vague notion of what was to transpire had been given, but half way through the twenty minutes the objective had finally been hastily created for the contest.

“Everyone, please lend me your ears! The rules of the Harem Knight contest are here!” yelled Jeronim from his throne, a couple maids bringing over a large magical blackboard with rules down one side and a ‘points’ total on the other. Many names of houses were on there, including the Dustiness-Ford and Donnelly houses, though they all had 0 next to the totals, “This castle has now been set up for a large-scale sexual contest, as befitting for a quest to find our most virile noble knight.”

“Hell yeah,” Kazuma pumped his fist, “Something I can definitely beat Mumbypumby at.”

“This castle has so many various halls and rooms, that I so often get lost finding my room,” The King jovially continued, “But today, all but a few rooms of the castle have a lovely feminine prize inside! A woman to be seduced, with points to be won for the total amount a Knight can seduce in the time limit!”

“Ah, how unfair for you tiny humans. Had I not been tied to one harem I would be similarly used and abused~”

Darkness clenched the bridge of her nose, “I swear I never had these sorts of thoughts. How messed up were you before you joined us?”

Once more the King continued, Jeronim’s hand landing on the blackboard, “The women you are to be seducing have been put into three categories: Maids, Knights, and Important People. Maids is obvious, knights similarly but it also includes any wizard or member of my staff, and important people are rare events. A foreign diplomat and her daughters who arrived specifically to find their perfect Harem to join are somewhere in the castle; they have agreed to join the contest as well.” He stroked his long beard thoughtfully before suddenly darkening intensely, “Iris is also sleeping in the castle, and if ANYONE GOES ANYWHERE NEAR HER I SHALL RIP YOUR NECK WITH MY TEETH PERSONALLY! IS THAT CLEAR?!”

Every single one of the massive cast of the gala nodded intensely and quickly at his rage fuelled yelling.

“Normally she’ll stay asleep all night, no matter what she hears.” Darkness added under her breath. “And everyone will normally follow these rules to the letter.”

And then his smile returned and the big man’s anger was nowhere to be seen, “But you won’t earn points just by finding these women! You must seduce them like I seduced my wife in the field of flowers I found her in…” The man reminisced briefly before an advisor bumped his chair, “Erhem, yes. So, maids are worth a one times multiplier, knights are worth a two times multiplier, and important people are worth three. What do I mean by this? Well, any sexual act performed on these people will be rewarded points thusly:” His gesture at the list was easy to read, though he read it out anyway.

• Hand stuff: 1 point.
• Breasts: 2 points
• Oral: 3 points.
• Vaginal: 5 points.
• Anal: 6 points.
• Something kinky: 10 points.

“Now, I warn you, not every woman in the castle is going to agree to something kinky, and you only get one chance to choose correctly. For example, the important people are very unlikely to agree, though there is a chance. If your seduction skills are high then you could net yourself 30 whole points on those women alone.”

“I wonder what he means by that?” said Mitsurugi, “Surely sex before marriage is kinky enough?”

Karen had been studying him for a while, still hung up on something in her mind, “...I’m beginning to see what Darkness means…”

“There is a bonus rule to this, which is variety! If you can hit every single sex act on this list then your current score will be doubled! There is no limit to how many times you can do that, so if you can find the right combination of girls then you should be able to win a very large amount of points! This shall run for the rest of the gala, which is about four hours. We have our ways to keep score so all you have to do is aim for the best possible total and win!”

A tubby man who had been wiping his brow all night spoke up, “And what of the prize?! I want to know what happens if we win or lose!”

With a continued smile the King was happy to explain, “The prize is being the King’s one and only Harem Knight group. With an increased budget to match their new title. As for the losers, well, they will no longer be a Harem Knight or own a harem at all.”

A wave of worry passed through all the men, mostly from their lack of power they’d so recently been rewarded with. “And our harems? What is to happen to them?”

“Again, they will be still rewarded with their full salary for any children they’ve sired,” The King’s assistant explained, “And will be given the opportunity to switch harems to the winning knight’s. The losing harems will be immediately disbanded.”

“And normally the losing nobles will have to only have sex monogamously, with their significant others.” Darkness added, which only seemed to add more worry to the situation for many. Husbands and wives that definitely didn't want to be together physically anymore would now be **** to drop any and all concubines and trysts they'd cultivated as powerful nobles.

“Your highness!” the loud shrill of Karen filled the room, much to Darkness’ irritation, “I say the Dustiness-Ford Harem should be disqualified immediately!”

“What?! Why?!”

“Two knights!” She retorted, pointing to both Aqua and Kazuma, “That’s far too easy for them to get the biggest score! It’s unfair to my little Mitsu-chan!”

He sighed at her, “Please stop calling me that…”

"And Kazuma's creepy!" Cremea added from their table.

"Yeah! He shouldn't even be here!" Fio agreed.

Kazuma himself just rolled his eyes, "Oy vey. Those two are here?"

The King stroked his beard once more, “Hmm, how about this. The Dustiness-Ford pair will keep this ruleset,” He gestured to the board, “but we’ll double the point value for everyone else. That way the pair can potentially earn more points but are at a significant disadvantage. Fair?”

Slamming his hand on the table, Kazuma yelled back, “No! Not fair! That means a kinky important person is worth 60 for them and only 30 for us!”

“But you could both get one at the same time, meaning you’d also earn 60.” Mitsurugi pointed out.

“He said that they’re a rare event! How the hell is that supposed to happen?!”

“That’s right, you’ll never be able to pull it off,” Karen sneered, hiding behind her man as Kazuma growled at her, “You may as well give up, my little Mitsu-chan is definitely winning this for me!”

Before any more qualms could be raised, the King clapped his massive hands to snap everyone’s attention to him, “A wonderful sense of rivalry! I love it!” His laugh bellowed through the room, “Let’s get to the starting line! I want this contest to start IMMEDIATELY!”