Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 675: Three Demands, I Want You, NTR (?)

"Lord Isaac, we want to invite Lady Emily to join our party on our journey to search for the materials we need. At the least, we hope she would explore the Great Dungeon with us," Reiner said.

Isaac listened without interrupting. Reiner explained that the deeper they went into the Great Dungeon, the higher the concentration of mana became, and with it came rare herbs, minerals, monster materials, and other resources that could not be found in the lower Areas, or wilderness.

Their problem was their own strength, because even if they knew where valuable materials could be found, they might not be strong enough to reach those Areas quickly, while Emily would make the difference between struggling through the dungeon and reaching those places with confidence.

Isaac nodded slowly. Inwardly, however, he was frowning. He understood their situation and could verify everything they had told him with little effort, so there was almost no reason to believe they were lying.

Their request was also being made for a good cause, and if the materials they gathered could help the Ascender of their kingdom, it would save hundreds of thousands of people, so Isaac had no intention of allowing his personal feelings to interfere with that. Unfortunately, there was one problem.

They were asking for his wife.

Isaac knew exactly where the dark feeling in his chest came from. It was one of the instincts he had inherited as a dragon, and although he had already accepted that possessive side of himself, knowing the reason did not make the feeling disappear.

If he had to compare it to something more familiar, it would be like someone from another business company walking into his office and politely asking him to let Selene join their company for a while. Even if they had a perfectly reasonable explanation, Isaac knew it would irritate him terribly, and depending on the circumstances, he might even punch the person who asked.

The same was true now. They were not trying to take Emily away from him, and their request had nothing improper behind it, but the part of him that considered Emily his own did not care about such distinctions.

Still, he was not going to let that unreasonable instinct cause trouble for innocent people. There was no logical reason for him to be unreasonable, except for the simple fact that they had asked for his wife.

"I understand what you need. Emily will not be able to help you. That said, I will do it," Isaac said at last.

"Huh?"

Reiner stared at him in surprise, and the others looked equally confused. Even the Saintess seemed unable to understand what Isaac meant.

Isaac smiled faintly. "Are you doubting my strength?"

"No, never, Lord Isaac. That was not what I meant," Reiner replied with a strained smile.

Isaac could tell they were, in fact, doubting him. It was understandable because he had rarely displayed his true strength in front of other people, while Emily’s power was much easier to guess from what she had already accomplished and the speed at which she continued to grow.

So Isaac decided to remove their doubts.

He raised one hand.

The space around him suddenly distorted, and a Mirror Dimension began to unfold. The change immediately put the adventurers on alert as weapons were drawn, while the Saintess gripped her staff and began gathering mana around her body.

"Relax. I pledge it on my name as Isaac Hargraves that I have no intention of harming any of you," Isaac said.

The adventurers hesitated before lowering their weapons slightly. There was no supernatural power attached to making such a vow, and Isaac’s words did not force them to trust him, but his position did matter.

Isaac was becoming a major businessman, and his agricultural projects were already known to Reiner’s group. His companies were expanding rapidly, and his reputation was becoming increasingly valuable.

If an adventuring party suddenly disappeared after meeting Isaac Hargraves, the consequences for his image would be considerable. That was enough for them to stop resisting.

Isaac smiled. The Mirror Dimension fully unfolded.

With a simple movement of his hand, Isaac used Telekinesis strengthened by evolved Aura and tore open the ceiling of the building. Stone and wood were lifted away as though they weighed nothing, exposing the night sky above them.

Then enormous black dragon wings emerged from Isaac’s back. Before anyone could properly react, Telekinesis wrapped around the entire group, lifting their feet from the ground.

Isaac spread his wings and gave one powerful flap. The group shot upward.

Within an instant, the city had become distant beneath them, and the adventurers found themselves far above the ground. Reiner managed to remain calm, but when he glanced toward the Saintess, he noticed that she was trembling as she clutched her staff tightly against her chest.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

The Saintess nodded, though her face had gone pale. It was obvious that she was afraid of heights.

Isaac noticed it as well. He realized that he had made a mistake.

He immediately activated his Sovereign of Land skill, strengthening it with evolved Aura to increase range, and reached toward the ground. The distance was considerable, but it was still within his control. The earth trembled.

Across the ground below them, roots began breaking through the soil, pushing past houses and buildings as they rapidly grew upward. Several structures collapsed under their force, but Isaac paid no attention to the destruction as the roots intertwined with one another and formed an enormous pillar reaching toward the sky.

Its circumference was so large that even a thousand people would have struggled to wrap their arms around it. The massive structure continued growing until it reached the adventurers, then stopped directly beneath their feet.

Isaac adjusted the roots with his evolved Aura, shaping their upper surface into a stable platform before carefully lowering the entire party onto it.

The adventurers landed safely on the massive platform formed from intertwined roots. For several seconds, none of them moved, as though their minds were struggling to understand what had just happened.

Reiner was the first to walk forward and look down at the city beneath them. He then slowly turned around to look at the enormous structure supporting them, and only then did he seem to realize how ridiculous its size actually was.

The roots had formed a massive pillar in the middle of the city, rising far above the surrounding buildings. It was so large that people from several miles away would be able to see it clearly, and the fact that Isaac had created it within seconds made the entire thing even more difficult to comprehend.

"You created something this large in only a few seconds. Lord Isaac, are you an Ascendant?" Reiner asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"He has to be. The mana pool I sensed while he was using his skill was unfathomably deep," Daren added. He stared at Isaac with disbelief, clearly trying to understand just how much power the man standing before them actually possessed.

Isaac only smiled as he looked at them. He noticed that the Saintess was looking at him with gratitude, and after a moment, she moved her mouth as though she was saying something to him.

Isaac could understand her words because of the translation item they were using, but her lip movements were different from the language he knew. He could not make sense of what she had silently said, and the Saintess quickly realized her mistake before discreetly lowering her head.

Isaac smiled wryly. Although he had not said anything about it, it seemed that she understood why he had created the platform, since he had noticed her fear of heights and wanted to give her a stable place to stand.

"Now, I will prove my strength," Isaac said.

"What—"

Reiner’s words never finished because an unfathomable amount of heat erupted from Isaac’s body. His throat began to glow, and golden flames resembling molten gold poured from his mouth before rapidly expanding outward.

The flames quickly became a vast sea of fire. They swept across the distance toward the city, and a tremendous explosion followed as the attack reached its destination.

One fourth of the city disappeared beneath the attack. The adventurer party became completely silent, unable to find the words to describe what they had just witnessed, especially because Isaac’s city was already enormous after he had fused four other cities into it.

Isaac calmly looked at their expressions. Originally, he had needed to transform into his dragon form to use Dragon Breath, but evolved Aura had allowed him to use the skill even while remaining in his human form.

Isaac had to admit that evolved Aura was an incredibly useful ability. It had already allowed him to do things that would normally be unable to do.

"Now, do you trust me?" Isaac asked.

The group immediately turned their gazes toward him. Their eyes contained shock, awe, fear, disbelief, and countless other emotions that Isaac could not easily separate.

When they had first met him in his office, they had treated him with respect, but they had still looked at him as another person standing on roughly the same level as themselves. That was no longer the case, because now they looked at him almost as if he were a deity.

"Yes, Lord Isaac, we trust you. There is no doubt about that," Reiner said quickly.

Isaac nodded before waving his hand. The Mirror Dimension began repairing itself around them, restoring everything that had been destroyed by his attack.

A moment later, the group found themselves standing inside Isaac’s office once again, with no sign of the destruction remaining. The adventurers looked around in silence before turning their attention back toward Isaac.

"I will help all of you collect the materials you need, whether they are inside the Great Dungeon or somewhere outside it. I will also help you fight the Ascendant, but I have three requirements," Isaac said.

"Please tell us what they are," Reiner replied. His eyes carried both nervousness and excitement, because if Isaac truly was an Ascendant, then gaining his assistance would be an enormous advantage for his kingdom and the neighboring kingdoms struggling against their enemy.

"One, I want to solo-clear the Great Dungeon Areas as much as possible. It will not take too much time, so you do not need to worry, but you will not enter a new Area with me while I am clearing it. Of course, I will collect materials while I am there, and once I have cleared an Area, I will bring you in so that you can search through it properly and collect whatever materials you need," Isaac said.

The entire group froze.

Sarah, the Saintess, was the first to speak. "...Solo clear?"

"Yes," Isaac replied with a simple nod.

Sarah pressed her lips together before carefully choosing her next words.

"I do not mean to doubt you, Lord Isaac, but that is not something that can normally be done. Even experienced parties struggle when entering a completely new Area, so clearing one alone would be extremely dangerous," she said.

"It is possible. You do not need to worry about it, and if I cannot clear a new Area every five days, then you are allowed to begin exploring that Area yourselves," Isaac said.

Sarah remained silent. The others also exchanged uncertain looks, clearly finding it difficult to believe that someone could repeatedly clear completely new Areas alone.

Inwardly, Isaac knew that doing so would be extremely difficult. Emily was gone, and without her, it not be enough to make the process as fast as he wanted. However, Isaac had the Happy Bunnies. They were monsters, and he had never bonded with them, so there was a good chance that using them would still count as a solo clear.

Normally, non-bonded monsters could not enter the dungeon with an adventurer. Isaac, however, possessed an absurd cheat that made such restrictions meaningless.

The Soulbind Pendant.

"What is the second condition?" Reiner asked after a moment. His voice was more cautious now, as though he was trying to prepare himself for whatever Isaac might demand next.

"I want a friendly alliance with the Kingdom of Veloria. Also, I want a Tier 2 City if the enemy Ascendant controls one," Isaac said.

Reiner’s expression changed slightly, but he quickly nodded. "That can be arranged."

Tier 2 Cities were extremely valuable, but there was little point in protecting their pride over individual cities when an enemy Ascendant threatened the entire region. If they failed to defeat him, even the cities they already controlled could eventually be lost.

"And the third condition?" Sarah asked. She looked at Isaac carefully, apparently trying to determine what kind of demand could possibly come after his first two conditions.

Isaac turned toward her. A faint smile appeared on his face before he answered.

"You."

The adventurers froze. They were experienced enough to understand exactly how those words could be interpreted, and Daren’s expression immediately darkened.

"How dare you talk about Sarah as though she is some—"

"Daren." Reiner’s voice stopped him. The excitement and hope that had been visible on Reiner’s face were gone, replaced by a serious expression as he looked directly at Isaac. "What do you mean by that, Lord Isaac?"

Isaac looked at him calmly before answering, "I want Sarah to join my religion order."

The words immediately caused the atmosphere in the room to change.

Reiner’s expression shifted. "Sarah serves the Goddess Witra, and she belongs to the High Temple of Veloria. She cannot simply leave and join another religion order because you asked her to."

"These are my conditions. If you do not want to accept them, you are free to leave," Isaac replied without changing his expression.

His words were clear enough. If they considered the Goddess more important than his help, then they could simply return and ask Witra for assistance instead.

Isaac knew that he was being unreasonable, and there was even a possibility that he would antagonize a Goddess by making such a demand. However, he had already become irritated when they asked him to lend Emily to their party, and he was not in the mood to be accommodating. Since they dared to ask for his wife, they should be prepared to do the same. An eye for an eye was what Isaac wanted.

As for the Goddess, Isaac was already tired of constantly having to watch himself because his opponents might be too powerful. He already had the God of Axe as an enemy, so adding a minor Goddess like Witra to that list did not seem particularly frightening.

The adventurers eventually left without finalizing the agreement. Isaac gave them time to think, although he had no intention of changing his conditions simply because they found them difficult.