Moral conundrum.

"What is happening?" asked Brenda. John read to her the three options offered to him and explained that it never showed this before for other people. "And whatever you pick, I still get to choose?"

"Yes, a pop-up screen opens in the air in front of you, and you have to click on it yourself to accept or refuse."

"This goddess has a strange sense of humor. Are the choices offered often like that? Hmm. Do you have a preference or are you letting me choose?" she asked him.

"I really didn't expect it to be like that... I'm sure you will agree that the first choice would be a real waste. The other two are just a question of how honest or pragmatic we want to be... I mean... The crown has a lot of very useful perks and there are no obligations on your part... Of course having just a ring to enter this place would already be a good safety measure, in case of problems you could always retreat here to be safe... This is a hard decision that I wasn't ready for and can't make alone."

"John... There is ****. Your reasoning is good but incomplete for a few reasons. I guess that there is nothing against polygamy in your kingdom, and if all involved are OK with it, I don't see an issue with it, but you forgot two things. The first is that, like you said, these titles are official in this underground magic world and that me wearing it would announce to everyone the relationship that we have; a trinket is not worth the issues it could bring us. The second, and most important of the two, is this: you can take a second wife if you want, of course you would have to marry the first one properly first, but I can't have a second husband. What I did to your father is grave enough, but I can't betray his trust and get remarried. Besides, even if you wanted to do it only to get one of these crowns, wouldn't it **** you to explain this situation to all of the people that you bring here?" she enumerated.

"I'm sorry that I asked. I guess I was too focused on optimization to think clearly about the social aspect of the situation. I'm... not really used to dealing with others and what they think of me. Your choice is the only thing that would work, Mom. Here, what does it say?" he replied after sending the request. His mother got startled for an instant and looked in front of her. As usual John could only see his own pop-up (Anna and possibly other ring bearers could share view on screens, but it mostly meant that his own interface showed him what they saw not that he could see their windows).

"This is a bit disconcerting. Let me see... In short it says that, despite the fact that I am not nobility and that your dynasty started with you, I am granted the honorific title of Queen Mother. I get a ring that lets me go to and from the kingdom and a limited interface. I get no extra magic powers from the ring, and my rank gives me no authority on the realms affairs. The only other perk is that as your mother I am bound by the laws of the place, but while you can give me orders, I can contest them if I judge them unreasonable without it being a punishable offense," she explained. "Did this thing that gives you these options really try to make you marry your own mother while she is already married? Are your choices always like that?"

John looked around and blushed, which made Anna burst in laughter.

"To be honest, there have been a few quests, rewards or options that were on the kinky side. But Gaia seems to mostly offer possibilities not **** outcomes. I had a sort of evaluation at the start of the week. I was more judged on how I used my powers and was able to grow or progress with them than on the morality of it. Did you accept it yet?" his mother shook her head and then extended her finger in the empty space facing her. Suddenly, a small silver ring appeared on one of the fingers of her right hand, and John received a pop-up.

Achievement unlocked: Family business
You just made a member of your family join your kingdom. It's beginning to look feudal. Maybe you should extend it the other way too.
Reward
100 xp
Kingdom Element: Dynastic Tapestry

Kingdom Element: Dynastic Tapestry.
This large embroidered tapestry can be placed in your castle (current location: throne room). It describes the family tree of your dynasty starting one generation above yours. Each person has their portrait, name and titles. New members are automatically added.
Animal unlocked through "to each according to their own kind": Storks.

The title of his mother was now visible when he looked at her. And she was also visible on the kingdom's map.

"This interface is... It looks awesome, but simplified is the thing. I have a clock, a map of this place with my position on it and two buttons for enter kingdom and leave kingdom."

"That is a bit rough, but we knew it wouldn't be as useful as the rings and crowns are. This remains useful. When you enter the kingdom and even if you leave, any other member can leave on the last spot where you opened a portal. Likewise, you can leave through any other way point left by someone else. I used to have Cali or Sylvia leave one at home in case I needed to get home quickly from very far. But if they exit the kingdom through another portal we lose their way point. Without having to hide this from you and your ability to get here, I now have an easy way back home."

"What now?" asked his mom.

"There is something that we need to talk about, but I would like for June to be here as it does concern her too. I messaged her, but she can only come in about two hours of our time. Why don't you go visit a bit of the place. I have things to do, and we will have a lot of time to discuss things later," he proposed.

"Sure, after all a ten hours night becomes more than sixteen hours here. I really want to chat a bit with these girls that you rescued."

"I need Vesta for what I have to do. Sylvia, why don't you show her the glade and the fountain?" he explained. "Oh, and Mom... The dress code here is extremely relaxed, to the point where most people are more often seen naked than wearing anything, so don't get surprised by what might happen."

Everyone except for John and Vesta was soon on their way to the glade to take a dip in the fountain.

"Alright, Vesta, let's get to work. Let's see how much we can do in half an hour," he announced.

"But, my king, didn't you say we had 2 hours?" replied the confused elf girl.

"We have lots of things to do; I can't use all of our time for this glass thing."

They went to the forge and got to work. John discovered that for some of the pieces it was easier to simply create some mold on the ground and to use his powers to stop the molten glass to stick on it. John also noticed a number of lumps of metal on the ground, where Vesta had dumped some former scrap metal that had got molten and cleaned of the slag.

While working, John was not doing only this. He had opened the new book on dwarvish language brought to him by Tricia and was quickly absorbing its content. He had received no offer to learn the language when touching the book, but the Scholarly Mind perk from the ring made him understand and memorize its content about as fast as he could read the pages (and this was very fast, being a quick reader).

By the end of the 30 minutes, he had six square panels of fused quartz of one square meter, and he had finished the book and was starting to read aloud the dwarven runesmithing book, taking notes of what he was understanding when he spoke. The concept was weird; he knew how to pronounce it, but not exactly what it meant, but once spoken, the crown automatically made him understand it. The process, though, would be longer and more arduous, but he had a lot of free time.

A few tests had revealed that he could easily weld pieces of this hard glass together, so he had decided to build a few of the vats and the containment area with multiple panels that would then be welded in place. But for now his mana was pretty low, the heat and occasional sparks had increased his fire resistance by 2 levels, getting it to lvl 7.

"Alright, that's OK for now; I don't have much mana left to continue; we'll continue later. Follow me," said John. He led Vesta outside the castle through the door in the armory where he planned to set a training ground. For now, it was only green grass. John removed his slime suit and, after hugging Vesta, summoned a trash bag full of water above their heads from his inventory. The bag broke instantly and drenched them in water while a few invisible hands scrubbed them a little. This cold shower was only to remove the worst of the burnt sand and metal smell from them.

John was still holding her slim, naked body against his own, with an hand on her ass. The cold water had done little to counter the usual effect that naked women had on him.

"Now that we won't stink up all of the castle, let's remedy a great injustice. It's been a long time coming, but it's your turn to go on a ride!" he told her. If it wasn't for the fact that her brand new nanosuit would make it impossible, John could have sworn that her eyes literally lit up hearing this. She jumped with her arms around his neck to kiss him and closed her legs around his waist making him carry her. After a few seconds, John realized that she would not let go, and he began slowly walking inside and down to his bedroom. As he progressed, his now fully erect member kept poking the Elf between her legs, and the wetness he felt here was not only water.

"Seems like someone is excited," he joked.

"You can talk! You keep poking me with that stick!" she replied, laughing, her head resting on her arm over his shoulder.

"And you haven't seen half of it yet."

All that she had experienced in the kingdom so far was his shadow Clone, and while it was identical to him in shape, it lacked the texture and warmth to make the thing feel real. But now it was different: the tech artifact offered by Tricia was perfectly relaying everything she would feel while protecting her lover from the fire that burned inside her.

His bare fingers were brushing against her naked flesh (the nanosuit felt to her as if she was wearing nothing, simply adding a layer to her skin). He entered the bedroom and fell backwards on the bed, ending up with the Elf girl riding on top of him.

"We can do whatever you want, any preference?" he asked her.

"Actually, my sister and the others have said something strange I have to check..." she said, dismounting and crawling on the bed to get closer to his cock. His enhancements on his crotch had ended making his cum taste not only good but delicious according to the girls. And a blowjob was something that was way too risky to try in her former state.

Like he had felt on his clone, the youngest elf sister was also very talented with her tongue. Her tribe had no taboo on nudity or sex. The idea of celibacy for priests had been a good bit of laughter for the two sisters when they heard of the concept for the first time. With slow strokes, animated tongue play and a profusion of slurping noises, the little tease was trying to coax a shot of this supposedly exquisite nectar out of his dick. And with her body pretty far from him, he had to resort to spectral hands (on the little mana he had left) to play with her tits, ass and pussy while waiting for her to finish.

"You're really good at this," he encouraged her. And while trying not to giggle too much faced with his remote teasing, she redoubled her efforts.

She didn’t have to wait very long for her reward. And after getting a mouthful of it, she was **** to admit that the others had not pranked her; it was far better than how the males of her tribe tasted and even better than some of the food she had eaten in her life. To her amazement, John was still hard; his sex drive would have made him a god amongst her people both in term of size and performance.

Taking advantage of the situation, the pale elf straddled John and slid herself on his dick, smiling wider and wider as his large member entered her pussy. Sex with her king, like with his Clone before that, gave her this feeling of being totally full that she had never experienced before her exile.

"Comfortable?" he asked.

"Ohh, fuck yes, you have no idea..." she replied, her eyes rolling slightly as she lost herself in the feeling.

"Ohh, I don't know. I feel pretty good myself," he told her, beginning to thrust upward with his hips, helped in it by the bed. Daphne getting born from it had in no way reduced the helpful nature of the piece of furniture when it's occupants were having sex or were simply sleeping.

With each thrust, Vesta let escape a small gasp, but rather than move away, to escape it, her own hips were pushing down accompanying each move for maximum penetration. Slowly first, then faster and faster until she was joyously bouncing around like in a rodeo and moaning as loud as she could with absolutely no restraint.

John had came too, but his special attributes meant that it wasn't the end of the adventure, merely a reason to slow down a few seconds before continuing. After a few rolls in the bed, some tickling and caresses and a lot of fun they tried other positions, ending up with John fucking her doggy style on the bed. She was clearly tired, panting and having trouble recovering from the repeated orgasms.

"Could we try the other thing? You know... The other hole?" she asked him. It was a true surprise for him. He had only had done it once with June who seemed to know what she was doing. He was afraid to hurt her, even with his bonus.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to harm you. You might have done it before, but like you said, I'm a lot bigger than the ones you were used to."

"The nanosuit should protect me a little bit. Basically, if it should hurt me, it won't fit in the first place."

John decided to trust her and Tricia. He still used his Clean spell to make it safe and hygienic. The large quantity of cum dripping from her pussy served as a lubricant. He gently probed her ass with a spectral dick before putting his flesh and blood one in; once sure of her reaction, he went in with caution.

When he was inside and sure that he was not hurting her, he started to stroke in and out, until she began to moan and shout.

Her skin was warmer, a lot more than simply from excitement or exercise. And her hair was beginning to glow.

After shooting another load of cum inside her ass, he removed himself from her with a plop sound that made her giggle and then burst into laughter.

"Vesta, are you ok? You are starting to heat, is there a problem with the suit?"

"Sooooo goooooooooodddd... Says... Can't read... Ohhh... I'm so full, everywhere.... Says reaching limits of containment..." John looked at her: she was obviously in no shape to think clearly, but it was serious.

"I don't know if you understand me right now, but you have to be careful and inform me when you get a warning from the suit. It could have ended badly! I could have been badly hurt. Now just rest for awhile, you need to cool off."

John touched the bed and tried something: he focused on a particular shape that he desired. It was successful; the bed soon hollowed itself to form some sort of low bathtub around Vesta. John emptied two bags of water in it, trying to make the bed understand that it should not drink it all as long as someone was inside of it. The cold water quickly rose in temperature to reach that of a comfortable bath, warm but still able to let Vesta dump heat into it.

John exited the bedroom through the door that had been left ajar the whole time and was welcomed by the other girls gathered around the dining table and having tea. As soon as he appeared, fully naked, smeared with various bodily fluid, he received a round of applause.

"You have been in there for more than an hour, that is really impressive," said his mom. It was a bit embarrassing for John to know that he had had an audience to what was a private moment.

"Ohh, Brenda, you made him blush. Do you know that he loves to do that to me? He finally gets a taste of his own medicine," added Anna.

"That's because you make my heart melt each time you blush. It is so cute when you do it," he explained. Anna had probably watched the whole scene in the bedroom from the gallery, but he wondered if she had shared the view with his mother...

"June is ready, do I send Cali to take her?"

"Yes, it's time to discuss some serious matters."