Chapter 62: Politics as Usual
The bedroom inside the newly evolved manor was dark, quiet, and entirely too crowded.
I lay flat on my back, staring up at the heavy wooden beams of the ceiling, completely incapable of sleep.
The physical and emotional exhaustion of the last few days should have knocked me out for a week, but my mind refused to shut down.
To my left, Reika was curled into a tight ball, her fox tails occasionally twitching against my ribs like a fuzzy metronome.
To my right, Celeste slept with a rigid, defensive posture, one hand instinctively resting near her casting focus even in her dreams.
Valka was sprawled across the foot of the massive bed like a fallen soldier, her breathing slow and heavy, while Astra occupied a quiet corner of the room, sitting slumped in an armchair with a blanket pulled up to her chin.
It was exactly the kind of scenario a younger, stupider version of myself would have called a fantasy masterpiece. I had everything I thought I wanted. Safety, comfort, and an incredibly powerful group of women tied directly to my existence.
Yet, I felt less safe than I ever had before.
The internal spiral started naturally, dragging my thoughts down into the dark. In less than a few months, I had gone from a baseline human survivor to a walking magical catastrophe.
Every single time I increased my power, the world didn’t get easier to manage. It just made me more visible to the things that wanted to eat me.
The lingering psychic imprint of the ancient predator from the forest still sat like a cold stone in the back of my brain. I wasn’t just a guy scraping by anymore. I felt like an unstable, heavily armed kingdom trying desperately to pretend it was a person.
The pressure of being entirely responsible for the four women in this room pressed down on my chest. They weren’t just companions; they were tied to me politically, magically, and emotionally. If I cracked, they went down with the ship.
Beside me, Celeste shifted, a low murmur escaping her lips as she pulled the blanket higher. As my thoughts drifted into darker territory, the ambient mana in the room rippled. On the nightstand, the solitary candle flame gave a violent, unnatural flinch before settling back down. My core was leaking, even here.
Before I could spiral any deeper, a bright pink glow shattered the darkness.
The system panels materialized abruptly, hovering a few inches from my nose without me even thinking about invoking them. The neon light cast harsh shadows across the sleeping faces around me.
[ QUEST: POLITICS AS USUAL ]
[ Travel to the city of Ashurea ]
[ NOTE: 5th HAREM CANDIDATE IS WITHIN THIS REALM ]
I stared at the glowing text, my jaw tightening.
Politics.
The word alone sounded infinitely worse than dealing with mutated forest monsters or ancient draconic predators. Monsters were simple; they just wanted to rip your throat out. Politics involved paperwork, lies, and people pretending not to hate you while they figured out where to stick the knife.
The wording immediately unsettled me. The system had used the word candidate instead of member. It implied a choice, a test, or perhaps a threat. Even worse was the phrase within this realm. It didn’t say she was nearby. It implied scale.
It also forced me to accept a deeply uncomfortable truth: the system already knew exactly who these people were before I ever crossed paths with them. It was actively tracking individuals across the map, waiting for me to stumble into them.
My eyes fixated on the name Ashurea.
I knew enough about the local geography to know Ashurea was the largest human-controlled city within several hundred miles. Not a town, but a sprawling political and magical trade hub where noble houses, adventurer guilds, mercenary factions, and entrenched religious powers all overlapped.
If anyone powerful wanted information about the weird magical anomalies happening in the wild, the rumors would funnel directly into that city.
The timing was atrocious. I didn’t feel excitement about a fifth girl. Instead, a cold wave of worry washed over me. What kind of woman did the system think belonged near a walking disaster like me? Was she going to be an ally, a weapon, an absolute logistical nightmare, or all three?
I scrolled down, looking for a countdown, but the quest screen remained bare. There was no time limit.
Which somehow made it feel even more threatening.
Morning arrived with gray light filtering through the curtains. The girls woke one by one, immediately shattering the quiet stillness of the night.
Reika noticed the system screen first.
"Oh, look at that," she teased lightly, poking my cheek with a dull claw. "The glowing box wants Master to find a fifth wife. Are we not keeping you busy enough, or do you just have a hoarders mentality for pretty faces?"
Beneath the playful banter, her ears flattened slightly against her head. Her kitsune instincts were fully awake, and I could see the distrust in her eyes. She hated the system’s forced destiny just as much as I did.
Celeste sat up next, her eyes narrowing as she read the text over my shoulder.
"Ashurea," she whispered. "Adrian, that city is a viper’s nest. The corruption among the high nobles there is legendary. Magical slavery, illegal experimentation, economic exploitation... if we go there openly, you will be a massive target."
Astra quietly observed the conversation from her chair, silver eyes tracking the text.
"The system used the word realm," Astra noted softly. "That terminology is ancient. Older magical systems viewed territories through Ley lines and divine influence. The fact your magic recognizes Ashurea as a realm means the system may not be artificial at all."
The room went completely still.
Valka cut through the silence with her usual brutal practicality.
"None of that matters if we get ambushed on the road," she grunted, stretching until her joints popped. "We are entirely too visible. Adrian’s mana output is practically screaming into the ether. The second we step outside, any high-tier mage within five leagues is going to feel him coming."
She was right.
The transition from survival to travel introduced a massive practical problem: we had to move, but we could no longer move like normal people.
An hour later, we gathered around the kitchen table with a regional map spread between us.
"Let’s list the factions that will immediately want a piece of us," I said.
"The noble houses will want leverage," Celeste stated. "They will see a powerful, unregistered human mage with high-tier demi-human companions and immediately try to force you into a contract or political marriage."
"The churches will view you as a heretic," Valka added. "A human wielding draconic resonance without their blessing? They’ll call it a demonic contract and try to purge you."
"And the mages," Astra murmured. "They will not want to talk to you. They will want to study you."
On top of that, there were mercenary guilds hunting high-value bounties, demon factions operating in the shadows, and slave traders who would look at the girls and see a fortune walking down the street.
The city wasn’t going to be a downtime arc where we bought supplies and relaxed at an inn.
It was a meat grinder.
I leaned back in my chair, realizing something deeply depressing. Dungeons and monsters were simpler because they were honest.
Monsters tried to kill you immediately. People waited until it was profitable.
Rumors of our previous exploits were undoubtedly already spreading outward. A human male traveling with a high-tier kitsune, a powerful dark elf mage, a legendary dragon-kin warrior, and a mysterious fallen star? Our group composition alone was practically folklore.
"We need disguises," I said. "Heavy cloaks, mana-suppressing rings if we can find them, and total restraint. We slip in, find this fifth candidate, figure out what the hell the system wants, and slip out."
We all agreed on the plan.
Which meant the universe was going to undermine it immediately.
The reality check arrived less than ten minutes after we stepped outside to scout the perimeter.
We had compressed the manor back into its heavy metal cube, leaving us standing on a ridge overlooking the main trade highway leading toward Ashurea. The air outside the bonded territory immediately felt heavier as my draconic resonance leaked back into the environment.
Down below, a large merchant caravan slowly traveled along the dirt road carrying the gilded banners of Ashurea’s merchant council.
As they passed beneath the ridge, I caught the amplified sound of a crier’s voice echoing up the slope.
"...by order of the High Council of Ashurea! A bounty of ten thousand gold pieces for verified information regarding a human mana anomaly traveling through the southern sectors! Description holds a lone human male exhibiting erratic draconic signatures, potentially accompanied by high-tier non-human entities!"
The crier held up a thick piece of parchment toward a group of passing mercenaries.
"The noble houses seek an audience! Approach with caution, as the target is considered highly volatile and extremely dangerous!"
Beside me, Valka’s hand dropped to the hilt of her sword. Celeste let out a stressed breath, dark static sparking around her fingers. Reika’s tails went dead still.
We hadn’t even started walking yet, and they already had a description of my magical signature.
We had waited too long.
The world hadn’t remained stagnant while we survived in the woods. It had tracked the ripples we left behind.
There was no time for careful disguises or cautious scouting anymore. The pressure cooker had sealed shut, and the heat was turning up.
Ashurea wasn’t waiting for us.
It was already preparing for our arrival.
