The dinner ended with Axel postponing his reply to the two.

Of course, they understood his position and knew that this was no simple matter, so they agreed to his request. The two girls and a maid backed off, leaving Axel alone for that night.

Afterwards, he lay on his bed, arms crossed behind his head like a pillow, as he stared at the ceiling... coping.

Regarding Teruria, after hearing the details, it was practically forced now. There was no running away from it. Furthermore, the teleporter would be fixed the next day, so he literally had no time to prepare his heart at all.

Breaking the Witch's Kiss could only be done by the one with more mana in the relationship. In short, only Axel, who had a hundredfold of Teruria's mana, could break it. However, men couldn't be witches, and only a witch could break a Witch's Kiss. Thus, they'd hit a dead end.

'If I want to break the contract, I can raise Teruria's mana instead...'

Thinking so, he stared at the inventory panel, where the max-level Greater Mana Potion Level Max was stacked. Right now, he has 26 of them. If he let Teruria drink it all, she'd gain 260 points in mana, closing the gap by a quarter, but...

'I doubt it'd work like that.'

Mana Tonics lose efficacy the more of them you use. This effect from the potion should be the same. Axel was quite sure of that even without testing it.

If he really wanted to, he could spend hundreds to thousands of bottles on Teruria, costing trillions to a quadrillion in the process, but...

"I can't afford such wastefulness at the moment."

He wasn't so desperate that he'd like to break up with Teruria instantly anyway, but it was more of a preference issue— a light trauma from how his wife left him behind, using him as a scapegoat.

But logically speaking, getting married to her was also a big plus. Not only would he get associated with the Witch's Royal Family, but he'd also get their support. It would boost his credibility and let him gain access to more resources.

Thus, it wouldn't be a loss to be tied with Teruria.

However, Eve's case was a bit different.

At present, Eve was basically powerless. A princess who lost her own kingdom. One whose royal lineage had been wiped out, leaving only her as the sole bearer of the bloodline.

The only plus in accepting her offer of becoming a royal consort was that he'd solidify the Valkyrie Knight Order, which was led by those related to her.

"But if I marry her, then that would mean I'd become a King..."

Every man dreamed of becoming the king of their own kingdom at least once in their life. Of course, Axel was no exception... but that was a story from when he was still a kid.

Now that he was an adult, he could understand the weight of the position and the responsibilities that came with it.

"But..."

At the same time, the privileges and authority gained would more than balance out the negatives.

However, becoming the king of a nonexistent kingdom was more of a gamble than anything. In the first place, they didn't even have enough hands at the moment, their population not even reaching three digits.

What kind of kingdom would that be? That's even less than a village, much less a city!

Still, he couldn't straight up refuse Eve's offer.

Becoming his consort now meant he'd become king cheaply. If he refused and, by chance, Eve made it big later on, he'd probably be out of her radar as a consort already. Thus, this might be his only chance at properly becoming a true king.

And just like that, throughout the entire night, Axel was stuck in deep thought.

…

"No zombies appeared?"

Morning.

As soon as Axel went out, he was greeted with this news.

"Yes." Arianne nodded, a frown adorning her face. "We were confused too and stayed up all night. However, no zombies made it to the wall at all."

"Weird..."

Axel paused, thinking of a possible reason why... and realized something. "Wait, did the zombies perhaps get spawned beyond the new wall?"

"Huh?"

Arianne tilted her head in wonder before quickly realizing something. She ran to the nearby wall and stood on top, squinting her eyes as she stared far ahead.

"No way..." She gasped. "Sir Axel... you've finished building the walls already?!"

"Ah, did I forget to report this to you girls?" Axel scratched his head awkwardly. "I finished the four walls yesterday before coming back."

"..."

Arianne couldn't believe her ears.

Normally, even with a hundred laborers working on it tirelessly, construction should take a month at the earliest for such a grand wall. And Axel, all by himself, finished it in a single workday! This went beyond amazing and was almost unbelievable!

"So, that means the zombies were summoned beyond the wall and couldn't break through it. Then morning came, and they melted away under the sunlight... is that right?" Axel wrapped up the entire chain of events like a detective.

Arianne could only nod, agreeing with his conclusion.

"It definitely went like that." She said. "But... there should be Giant Zombies among them. How did the walls hold out for an entire night...?"

"Ah, that?"

Axel smiled, feeling proud.

"I made the walls so dense that they're basically unbreakable. If you want to crack the wall, then you'd need to bring a ton of dynamite and blast it in a concentrated region to make it work!"

Of course, he was exaggerating.

However, the walls wouldn't budge at all, even when hit by a Giant Zombie's fist. That alone was a great achievement, knowing how much strength those beasts possess.

"Dynamite...? What's that?"

Of course, Arianne didn't get the reference at all.

Such explosives didn't exist just yet in this world, after all.

"Just a figure of speech." Axel shrugged. "Rather, can you help me call Eve and Teruria? I have something to tell the two of them."

"The two...?"

Arianne paused before nodding.

"I understand. Then, please wait in the middle of the camp."

"Alright."

Arianne ran off, heading to the Workshop a short distance away. On the other hand, Axel headed straight to the middle of the camp, where the bonfire would usually be set, and sat down, waiting patiently.

About ten minutes later, the girls arrived. However—

"I called for Ria and Eve but..."

Axel's smile twitched.

"Why is everyone here?"

—Instead of three, all sixteen girls were present!

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