“It’s when someone has more than one spouse,” Selene said with a sigh. “That’s also called polygamy.”
“Oh…” Gabrielle paused. “Yes, it’s perfectly possible for a woman to have her own harem. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Her words caused an even greater ripple of shock to run through her friends.
She didn’t understand why everyone was so surprised by a woman having a harem. Huh. And now she knew what Michelle meant when her sister kept bragging about getting the harem end. Anyway, there were lots of Angelisian women, soldiers in the military, who had multiple male spouses. Papa always told her that the strong attracted members of the opposite sex. She hadn’t really understood what Papa meant until meeting Alex.
Alex was strong and brave and kind, which was what attracted Gabrielle to him, but she wasn’t the only one who was attracted to those traits. Jasmine, Selene, Kazekiri, Ryoko. They were also attracted to Alex. It was just like Papa had said.
“I can’t believe I’ve been living in this solar system,” Serah muttered.
Ryoko nodded. “Screw my parents’ shop. Once I graduate from Primary, I’m getting out of this solar system and making a harem.”
“Ho-how shameless,” Kazekiri muttered.
Selene just sighed.
Lunch continued on, and the chatter of the other students surrounded Gabrielle and her friends.
4
Alex wondered if he would ever get used to putting on his Angelisian crisis suit. He supposed he would, eventually, like when Ariel managed to crack the seals on his memories and core. However, until that time came, he would need to put up with excruciating agony as the suit sealed itself to his pores and synchronized with his nervous system.
The Angelisian crisis suit was a body enhancement unitard created by Gabrielle, worn by the Angelisian military, and made from a sentient plant found only on Angelisia. It was an impressive piece of tech, capable of enhancing the body by stimulating the nervous system. This sped up the neural synapses reaction time and pushed a person’s physical prowess to the absolute limit, allowing for tremendous power and speed. However, it had limitations.
Angelisian crisis suits protected people against elemental damage. They nullified electricity, were heat and cold resistant, and regulated a person’s body temperature. On the other hand, they couldn’t protect against physical damage. Slashing attacks and blunt force trauma would still hurt. Despite this, they were excellent suits. He could see why the Angelisian military had adopted them as their official uniform.
The suit that Alex had put on was translucent, so no one would realize he was actually wearing it. Even the fabric had been adapted to simulate the sensation of bare skin. Gabrielle had made this one just a few days ago after he talked to her about how MacArt had his suit removed when he’d been incarcerated in the Mars Penitentiary.
He liked this invisible version because it gave him an edge during combat. He wore his regular clothes over the crisis suit, black pants, a white shirt, and a dark gray hoodie, along with a pair of black spacer boots. No one would even realize he was wearing a body enhancing suit now. If something like the incident with MacArt ever happened again, he would be ready.
Since it was just him and Nyx that day, he spent most of his time in the lab, working on his invention, the D-sphere. It was based off Gabrielle’s D-glove. Well, it was inspired by the D-glove. It wasn’t anywhere near that complicated. The principles behind it ran more along the lines of the D-box, which was the precursor to the D-glove that Gabrielle, her sisters, and now he used.
Nyx was present while he worked. She sat beside him, watching his hands as he fiddled with his invention. He guessed she was bored and, having nothing better to do, decided to watch him.
He was having some issues calibrating the D-sphere’s ability to create a separate dimension inside of it. The problem was that he was trying to create this without using Gabrielle’s design, which he knew for a fact worked. Sure, using her original blueprints as a template would have made his work easier, but he was trying to make this from original parts and recreate the ability to make a dimensional space inside of an object without help. This was a test to see how much he’d learned.
The parts look good, but…
Alex finished fusing together some of the last few circuits inside of the device. He was using Mr. Welder, which was a giant spherical object that used a combination of anti-gravity technology with precision machinery. Objects floated inside of the sphere, and Alex used a pair of joysticks to control the precision lasers and welding technology inside. Not only were the joysticks very precise and easy to manipulate, but the screen floating above him gave him a perfect view of what he was doing. This made it easier to do precision work.
“Okay.” Alex breathed out slowly as he powered down Mr. Welder. “Time to see if it works.”
A small panel opened in Mr. Welder, and Alex reached in, grabbed the D-sphere, and pulled it out. As the panel slid closed, he wandered over to the testing ground.
Because a lot of his and Gabrielle’s inventions had a bad habit of exploding, they had decided to create a place where they could test their new devices without fear of causing property damage. It used a similar concept as the simulator. The space was separated by a transparent bubble, which acted as a phaser that shifted people from one dimension to another one. Nothing outside of the bubble would be harmed.
On a side note, Alex had noticed that Gabrielle really enjoyed screwing with dimensions and spatial distortions.
I should probably be worried about that.
Setting the D-sphere on a small pedestal, Alex backed away several meters before holding up his wrist and pressing a small button on his IDband. A light on top of the sphere blinked once. It blinked again. Okay. Good. That meant it was activated. Now he needed to—
“Is it supposed to blink that much?” asked Nyx. She had followed him and was standing on his left.
“Huh?” Alex looked back at the D-sphere and noticed, with some shock, that was it rapidly blinking. In fact, the light flickering in and out was picking up speed. “Oh… that’s not good.”
Acting without thinking, Alex grabbed Nyx and shielded her with his body just as the D-sphere exploded. If it had just been a regular explosion, this wouldn’t have been a problem. The issue was that the very space around the D-sphere was warped. Reality bent around the explosion, undulating and twisting as everything within a several meter radius was sucked into what appeared to be a black hole.
Alex dug his feet into the ground, but even so, he was sliding back. Thankfully, Nyx was there. She transmuted her hair into several spikes and impaled the ground, using them as hooks to keep them from moving further.
Reality eventually returned to normal. The black hole, a false black hole creating by the warping of reality, disappeared as all the energy that created it was spent. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Then he looked longingly at his now destroyed D-sphere… or, well, where it had been. It wasn’t there anymore.
“Well,” he began, “that was a failure.”
Nyx just nodded.
They had spent a lot of time in that lab, about two hours all told. When Alex looked at the time, he realized that school would be ending soon.
After taking a quick shower, he and Nyx left the house and walked toward Atreyu Academy. They arrived at the gates just as everyone was leaving. Dozens of students streamed out of the front gates, barely paying them any mind as they passed together in clumps, chatting up a storm. Alex and Nyx stood there and waited until Gabrielle arrived with Kazkiri, Selene, Ryoko, and Serah.
“Hey,” Alex greeted everyone.
“Alex!” Gabrielle collided with him and gave a bone crushing hug. “I missed you!”
“Erm…” Alex set aside his discomfort and patted Gabrielle on the head. “Nice to see you, too. How was school?”
“It was okay. Classes were boring, but I liked spending time with my friends!”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Alex smiled
as Gabrielle took a step back, and then he addressed everyone else. “Thank you for looking after… erm… why are Kiri-Kiri and Ryoko holding hands like that.”
“Don’t ask,” Ryoko moaned.
“It’s Gabrielle’s fault,” Kazekiri grumbled.
“Huh…”
Alex looked at Gabrielle, who explained what happened. He tried his hardest not to facepalm as she told him about how she used a device to literally fuse their flesh together.
“Gabby, I know you wanted them to make nice, but you should probably avoid using anything that could cause molecular damage if it goes wrong.”
“Don’t worry!” Gabrielle gave him a thumbs up. “This is one of the inventions I made that doesn’t explode.”
“Right…”
Selene and Serah left first. Selene was needed at her family bakery, and Serah didn’t like men. Kazekiri and Ryoko left soon. Ryoko had tried flirting with him, but the girl she was stuck to dragged the dark-skinned female off. It seemed they would be spending the night at Kazekiri’s house. The last he saw of them before they disappeared into the crowd, the two were arguing about something, though he couldn’t hear them so he didn’t know what it was about. After that, Alex, Nyx, and Gabrielle stood by the front gate and waited for Alice, Jasmine, Michelle, and Ariel to show up so they could go home.
Sadly, there was someone else who found them first.
“Gabrielle and Nyx! Ah! I must be blessed to be graced by such beauty after school. Truly, for a man such as myself, who has often been called the King of Beauty, seeing a pair of lovely young flowers is a blessing in and of itself.”
This guy…
The person now kneeling before Gabrielle and Nyx was a pretty boy with tousled blond hair, blue eyes, and the pleated pants and blazer that boys wore to Atreyu Academy. For whatever reason, sparkles surrounded this boy. Likewise, he appeared to have purposefully narrowed his eyes as if doing so made him look more seductive… or something. Alex didn’t really get it.
Gabrielle looked at the boy, blinking several times as she tilted her head. “Who are you?”
Alex would never get over Gabrielle’s reaction to Jameson, or Jameson’s reaction to Gabrielle. The way his sort of fiancée kept forgetting all about the noble jerkwad made him want to giggle. Likewise, watching Jameson’s face rapidly pale as his eyes widened in shock was priceless. In fact, just because it was so great, Alex took a quick snapshot with the camera function on his IDband. He’d see about getting it converted into a digital photo for later.
“H-how cruel,” Jameson wept shamelessly. “How could you forget about me? It is I, Jameson de Truante, the King of Romance, the man who is going to steal you away from that vagabond Alexander and make you my bride!”
“Jameson… Jameson…” Gabrielle crossed her arms and scrunched up her face. Finally, it cleared. “Wait. Did you say ‘de Truante’?”
“Yes! The de Truantes are a noble family dating back to the age before the new calendar. Our ancestors were amazing people who pioneered space travel and made it possible for others to follow in our footsteps.”
As the man waxed poetic about his family’s great history, Alex recalled a bit about the de Truantes, who were indeed well-known for owning several trade routes through the Sol System. These routes were used primarily by traders and merchants. The de Truante family’s success in finding those space lanes, which cut down on the time it took to travel the solar system, were what had made the family so successful.
Jameson looked at Gabrielle, hope shining clearly in his eyes as he continued talking up his family name.
“That means you’re related to Jasmine, right?” asked Gabrielle.
And just like that, all the hope vanished as Jameson realized the reason Gabrielle was so interested in his family name.
Alex burst out laughing.
This was the scene that Alice, Ariel, Michelle, and Jasmine arrived at. Alex saw them pass through the gate first, and he greeted the group with an easygoing smile.
“Hey, how was school?” he asked.
Jasmine huffed as she flicked her long, drill-like curls behind her back. “Oh ho ho ho ho! It was easy, of course. For one such as I, who has often been called the Queen of Education, attending classes is simpler than snapping my fingers.”
“It was troublesome,” Alice yawned.
Jasmine de Truante was Jameson’s little sister, but unlike Jameson, who had no redeeming qualities that Alex could see, Jasmine was a nice girl with a few cute quirks. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, which was a genetic feature of the de Truante family, and they complimented her aristocratic features. Her hair was done up in numerous drill-like curls. She only came up to about his chest. While she was short, that merely enhanced some of her more prominent features, like her bust, which strained against the white-collared shirt of her school uniform.
Alice was his little sister. She looked nothing like him, though. Her hair was brown and her eyes were the same color and half-lidded, as though she was perpetually bored. She was about the same height as Jasmine.
Jasmine spread her legs apart, placed one hand on her hip, and brought the other to her mouth. “Oh ho ho ho ho! It was only troublesome to you because you couldn’t be bothered. You should learn from my example. I am the Queen of Precedence, after all! Oh ho ho ho ho!”
Alex ignored the pair as they bantered and focused on Gabrielle as she greeted her two sisters.
“What do you think? Did you have fun at school? Did you make any friends?” Gabrielle’s eyes sparkled as she spoke with her sisters.
Michelle smiled as she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers. “I had a decent time at school. I did meet a lot of new people, though it’s too soon to call them friends. They were nice, though the kept asking about my wings and ears. I had to tell them they were accessories since we’ve been told not to reveal our alien nature.”
Ariel huffed. “I would never call those sycophants friends. They were only interested in staring at your tits.”
“That does not mean much coming from the girl who has no tits,” Michelle said.
“I dare you to say that again!”
“Give it time,” Alex said. “I’m sure you’ll make friends eventually.”
“I’ll do my best to follow your advice.” Michelle tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at him.
“Piss off.” Ariel didn’t seem to appreciate his words like her sister did.
Alex wondered how odd they looked to the people walking by. There was a group of beautiful girls congregating around one guy, and there was another guy kneeling on the ground and crying his eyes out. People surely thought they must have looked weird. Alex couldn’t hear the words being spoken, but he saw several people glance at them and begin whispering as they walked by.
“Are you sure you don’t want to attend school, Nyx?” Alex asked the girl by his side.
Nyx shook her head, though she didn’t say anything, or rather, she couldn’t say anything.
“There you are!” someone called out among the crowd of onlookers.
It was like magic. Every single person stopped what they were doing and turned toward the voice. Alex couldn’t see anything at first, but soon, the crowd of students parted to reveal…
What the heck?
He walked forward, a young man around his age with wind swept dark hair and dazzling green eyes. Clad in, of all things, plate mail, his greaves and shoulder pauldrons clicked together as he strode forward with a confident gate. Light reflected off his chest plate. The crimson cape thrown over his shoulders swished as he walked forward. A sword hung at his side, sheathed in a scabbard made of glittering gold.
Is he staring at Gabrielle?
The boy was, indeed, staring at Gabrielle. He walked up to her, a stern-looking woman at his side. Gabrielle gazed curiously as the boy knelt before her. He took one of her hands in his and gazed up at her with a look that made Alex want to gag and punch him in the face at the same time.
“
Gabrielle, my love, my life, how I have longed to see you again,” he said. “I have never once forgotten the days we used to spend together during our youth. Oh, Gabrielle! Come! Let me take you away from this dreary, backwater world!”
Alex wasn’t sure what to do. This guy was clearly one of Gabrielle’s marriage candidates. He was dressed in ridiculous clothing, had mentioned taking her away from this backwater planet, and seemed to know exactly who she is. On the other hand, his assault was so straightforward that Alex didn’t know if he should respond with violence or just let things play out.
“I’m sorry,” Gabrielle apologized with a bright, cheerful smile, “but who are you?”
The young man stared at Gabrielle like she had just farted in his face. His expression, those wide eyes and gaping mouth, was about even funnier than when it happened to Jameson. Alex even imagined an aura of gloom appearing around the boy, hovering about him like a raincloud drenching his hair. It was an unusual image for him to conjure.
“H-how could you not remember me?!” the boy asked. “We spent an entire month together when we were little! Do you remember nothing of those times? You said that we would always be friends!”
“Did I? Hmm…” Gabrielle went into what Alex recognized as her deep-thinking mode. Her eyes became squinted as she crossed her arms and gazed into the distance. He thought the way her nose wiggled was cute. “Sorry, but I don’t remember you.”
“That… cannot be…”
As the young man slumped onto his hands and knees, laughter rang out from Jameson, who, like the dead rising again, stood up with renewed life. Continuing to laugh, he flicked his hair out of his face and gazed at the boy decked in armor with a superior expression.
“How pathetic. I do not know who you are, but to come here and speak so extravagantly, only for my sweet Gabrielle to not remember who you are is beyond sad. You poor, thuggish fool.”
The boy in armor raised his head and glared at Jameson. “I see. You must be him.” Standing back to his feet, he pointed at Jameson. “Alexander Ryker! I challenge you to a duel for Princess Gabrielle’s hand in marriage!”
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 6 Page 4
