Berengar's elated smile immediately fell by the wayside as he heard one of his wife's shrill voice call out to him. Without a doubt, the redheaded beauty was pissed at the sight of over a dozen little kids following their mother, who was an exquisite beauty in her own right.
"Berengar!"
Of course, Linde knew who this woman was, the Valkyrie Brynhildr, who was the mother of Siv. But she was unaware that her husband had been breeding with the woman nonstop for over twenty years. This was something that pissed off the woman like nothing else, because she always prided herself on the balance that existed within her husband's harem.
She herself had five kids, as did all of her rivals, but now, all of a sudden, a woman came into the picture who had completely thrown this balance of power out the window. This caused not only Linde to be outraged at this sudden betrayal, but at all of his other wives and concubines. Who gazed upon the platinum blonde and blue-eyed children with fury.
Berengar led Brynhildr over to his other wives, and introduced the woman properly, expecting that they would be distracted by the beauty of the valkyrie.
"Ladies, this is my wife, Brynhildr. Though our marriage isn't recognized in the eyes of men, the gods have seen fit that we are indeed married. And these little tykes are some of our children."
Linde's mouth fell agape when she heard the word "some" and she was quick to interrogate the man about the actual number of offspring which he had with the valkyrie. All the while, Brynhildr wore an awkward smile and said nothing.
"Berengar, just how many children do you have with this woman?"
Berengar honestly did not know the answer to this question, and because of that, he looked over at Brynhildr, who seemed mildly disappointed over this, but nonetheless answered for him.
"Berengar and I have twenty-six kids together so far...."
This news shocked all the women, who gazed upon the medal which Brynhildr had received for siring so many offspring with awe and envy. After all, they all had five children, which meant they only qualified for the bronze tier of the mother's cross of honour. Yet Brynhildr's was not only made out of solid gold, but was also encrusted in diamonds and enamel.
It was truly the most envious Linde had ever felt in her life, and she was not the only one. Itami was also aggrieved by this news. She quickly stepped forward and voiced her disbelief over this shocking news.
"Twenty-six! You have twenty-six children with this woman!?!? How is that even possible? Did you start fucking her the moment she became fertile?"
Itami seemed to be unaware of Brynhildr's supernatural identity, and because of this, Berengar was quick to explain her unique situation.
"No no no, Ai, you misunderstand. Brynhildr is a valkyrie. She is immortal, and because of this, she is eternally fertile. When we met, she was already thousands of years old, and looks the same now as she did then!"
Naturally, Ai was aware that the gods existed in this world, as she had personally had a run in with them herself. She was also indeed aware that Berengar had a mistress in Iceland, but she had never actually been informed that the woman was practically a goddess in her own right. This naturally made Itami extremely angry at Berengar for keeping such a thing from him. Which she was quick to voice.
"You slept with what is essentially an angel, and didn't tell me? What else do I not know?"
Berengar felt extremely awkward at the angry stares he was given, and the shouts that multiple of his women who immediately began to bicker amongst themselves about who was truly his favorite.
"Big brother, I thought you loved me most of all!"
This comment by Henrietta immediately caused Linde to flash her sky-blue eyes at the woman. She quickly scoffed before expressing her dissatisfaction with Henrietta's words.
"Oh please, everybody knows that I am Berengar's number one, and always have been! I compromised with five children to keep the rest of you happy, but this bastard went out of his way to have twenty-six children without even letting me know! Words can not be expressed how pissed I am!"
Yasmin immediately butted into the conversation and staked her claim.
"You're his number one? Funny, I remember you being threatened by my position, and learning how to cook for yourself only because our husband treasured my abilities as a wife beyond yours!"
Berengar immediately realized that this sudden realization threatened to bring down his harmonious harem he had painstakingly built over the last thirty-plus years, and thus he quickly shouted at the top of his lungs to get them all to cease their bickering.
"0i! Be quiet! All of you! I have something to say!"
The women immediately ceased their bickering and did as they were told. Decades of conditioning had led them to behave themselves around their husband when he raised his voice, and Linde was no exception to this.
Berengar then looked at all of his wives and lovers with a bit of pity in his eyes before explaining his reasoning.
"You are all mortal women, and as each of you should be aware by now, the chances of a fatality occurring when giving birth drastically increase after the fourth child. And I could not bear the thought of losing any of you, so I limited the amount of children we may have together as five per woman.
But Brynhildr is immortal, it's impossible for her to die, she is practically a spirit in corporeal form. We decided not to use protection, and to roll the dice. And, thus, we have the large family that you are gazing upon.
I never brought this up, because I knew it would have this effect on you all. Now you're all trying to compete for first place? Hasn't this already been settled? You are all my favorites! I value you all equally, and though this hasn't always been the case, it certainly is now! So quit your bickering and accept reality for what it is.
Maybe if you were all immortal avenging angels like Brynhildr, we'd all have one hundred kids together, but that is not the reality we live in. So I don't want to hear another thing about it. Now, accept your new sister properly, before I get angry!"
Berengar then grabbed hold of Brynhildr's hand and kissed her in front of his other wives and lovers. His speech had a large impact on their minds. After all, Berengar had never admitted that he had learned to love all of his women equally over the past few decades. Luckily, he had chosen to store that card for a time when it was needed, because these words seemed to cause all the women to blush in embarassment.
Although Linde was still bitter about not having as many children as Brynhildr, she understood Berengar's reasoning after some time with her thoughts, and thus she sighed, before approaching the man and hugging him.
Where all ten of his other women began to do the same. One by one they approached Berengar, and hugged the man, accepting this new reality that was suddenly forced upon them.
And once they were all together, Berengar finally smiled before saying the words which forced all the women to forgive him.
"You know what this means, though? You all now have another dozen plus kids to raise. After all, my kids are all of our kids. Isn't that the way it has always been?"
The sudden realization that they could all be doting mothers to a bunch of little kids again, even in their old age, was an idea that kicked the maternal instincts of Berengar's harem into overdrive. They were quick to forgive their husband and fawn over all of his kids with Brynhildr. An act which surprised the beautiful valkyrie who thought she might need to keep her kids away from Berengar's other women.
With this said, Berengar brought the kids into his beachside villa, and began raising an entirely new generation of his offspring as their father. He and Brynhildr would continue to reproduce until the man was on his death's bed.
By then, there would be several dozen demi-god-like beings running around Germany. Many of which would go on to make a name for themselves as some of the Reich's most promising talents. Even more so than Berengar's first generation of children, which he had with his five wives.
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