~ Chapter 130: An average day as a father and a Dungeon ~

[Illsyore’s point of view]

Two weeks and three days have passed since I last saw Shanteya, Ayuseya, and Nanya. If I calculated right, then by now they had all reached their respective continents. When they left, they claimed that a mere two months was going to be more than enough for them to complete their individual missions, but this was only IF everything went according to plan. In reality, there were far too many things that could go wrong which would force them in the end to prolong their stay there.

First of all, I had no idea how Nanya was going to be received by her fellow demons on the Demon Continent. I worried that she might end up in trouble not only with her own family but the people living there as well. After all, far too many decades had passed since she last walked among them.

When it came to Ayuseya, I held similar worries in my heart. She was a wise woman who could stand her ground against many politicians out there. She was also someone who could undoubtedly put many great warriors to shame. But while her strengths laid in diplomacy and international law, she lacked the cunning side of Shanteya and the savageness of Nanya. The way each of my wives had planned to reach their individual objectives varied from the very foundation of it.

If Shanteya were to go to Teslov, she would have infiltrated the country as a simple traveler and then skillfully made use of the underground information network there. She would have pulled out the weaknesses of all the politicians and important nobles in the country then one by one convinced them to attack each there, until she could safely reach her target and then proceed either through assassination or blackmail of the King. Shanteya wasn’t a woman who could forgive easily despite her lovely smile.

If Nanya would have went after the Phantom Rage Guild, then she would have simply hunted them down one by one no matter their ranks within the organization. She preferred the direct approach, making it public and known how she handled the assassins. She would have destroyed its credibility and also its ability to function, but she would have also taken the most time to complete this goal.

Now, if Ayuseya went to the Demon Continent, if she was a demoness and not a draconian, her method of approach would have been one of political conquering. Before meeting with her mother, she would have made sure she had the backing of various important figures within the country, making it impossible for the Queen of Demons to make a move on her unless she wanted to have her nation suffer greatly and her followers to lose respect of her.

On the other hand, I would probably be the only idiot who would simply barge in and ask for directions at the front gate about where I could find my target. If that did not work, I would extract the information from my captives using various methods of torturing, including dropping them in a pit filled with monsters driven crazy by powerful aphrodisiacs, whatever I figured would frighten him or her the most.

Thinking about it, this wasn’t exactly how a Dungeon like me who was the headmaster of a Magic Academy should have went about doing things, but this was exactly why I needed my beloved wives by my side.

In these past two weeks, I made sure the Magic Academy was running smoothly. The dungeon built for the Adventurers Guild had been opened and not that long ago I finished the last documents that would allow them to open an official Guild Hall here. If it was not for the fact that I was outside the territory of any known country, I wouldn’t have had to go through all of that paperwork, but through those pieces of paper both the Adventurers Guild authority on my island and my diplomatic cooperation was achieved.

In other words, they could run business like any other guild branch around the world. The only difference was that my island acted as a training ground for the Adventurers and not an actual monster parts gathering spot.

The entry fee was quite cheap, just a couple of silver coins or silverettes, depending on the continent they were coming from, and to make the dungeon more appealing to them, I also promised that they if they solved my puzzles and beat my summoned monsters, they would be able to procure certain prizes like new items or a repair voucher for their equipment at one of our blacksmiths.

In order to make sure the dungeon was ready and not over the top like my other ones, I had to offer the guild representatives a quick guide through it, showing them all the potential dangers. They weren’t very pleased with several of my traps, but everything else looked fine to them. They designated it to be doable by an Emperor Rank Party.

The students at my Magic Academy had another dungeon separated from this one. Of course, they could go into this one as well, although, I didn’t see it as that big of a challenge for them. The Adventurers Guild dungeon was supposed to be a training ground for outsiders, who, from what I saw during my journey across the continents, lacked in both skill and power.

To replenish the items inside the dungeon and repair the traps, I devised an intricate system that used the Magic Energy the adventurers themselves donated. They could not enter the dungeon without paying a tax, but to pay it they had to first confirm their desire to enter it through the Adventurers Guild. If they wanted to use the Guild Hall’s facilities, they had to pay a bit of their current Magic Energy, which was explained quite clearly for what reasons it was gathered.

Thus, the materials for the items were bought with the coins collected as entry tax. The Adventurers Guild was in charge of picking the items they wanted to offer as rewards, then all I had to do was make them and then give them to the guild’s representatives. They would use a special passage behind the dungeon’s walls, which would take them at the drop off locations. Of course, I refused to make any outrageous and unreasonably powerful items for them.

Initially, I thought it would be best if they simply retrieved the rewards from the desk but doing so would remove the usefulness of the party members tasked with spotting and disarming traps as well as lock picking treasure chests.

This dungeon was basically their bread and butter, so if they cheated and tried to gain items for themselves, I would know and rumors of ‘no items found’ or ‘bad items’ would spread quickly. An official visit from me was something they would try their best to avoid.

The next dungeon I had planned was something Anette was going to build and manage.

As for the classes the students were attending at the Academy, everything was going just fine, especially the dungeon practice courses. I had to make a small separate dungeon similar to the one that belonged to the Adventurers Guild but not as long and dangerous. It was teaching material basically. The inner floors were designed in a way the students could learn both how to do things right and the consequences of messing up.

A lot of adventurers apparently died because the mage at the back shot a fireball at the vanguard protecting him or used a powerful fire spell inside an enclosed room, leading to them collapsing shortly after from lack of oxygen.

These dungeon practice courses were still a bit of a trial and error even for me, but I planned that for their graduation, every student was going to be able to finish a special dungeon I designed for them, which would test out their knowledge and skill to the max.

How exactly it was going to do that was still something I had yet to think of.

For now, I was just trying out various things and taking notes on how many failed and how badly.

Today as well, I did just that.

“Father... erm... help.” little Bachus cried out.

While I was taking notes on what Savannah had to report about their latest dungeon practice run, the little boy got swarmed by all the girls in the classroom. They cuddled and pet him with smiles on their faces. His cuteness was a bullseye to the heart that melted all of them, and his shyness only amplified this dangerous effect even more.

“Hm? Good job!” I said showing him a thumbs up when I saw him getting embraced by a big breasted girl around 17 years old.

For now, because there was both a lack of students and general education, all of those who attended the Illsyorea Magic Academy were of ages that varied from 12 years old to 34 years old. Those under the age of twelve attended a preschool led by Savannah, which had as main objective to teach them how to read, write, and do basic math.

Furthermore, there was no problem with Magic Energy irregularities in their bodies as I did personal checkups for all of them. By using the various Magic Energy Collector Crystals around the town, their bodies could get used to the flow of Magic Energy and stabilize from a younger age.

“Uuu~” Bachus looked at me with tears in his eyes.

I let out a sigh and put away the notes.

“Come on girls, let my child breathe a little.” I told them.

“But, teacher Illsyore, he’s just SO CUTE~!” a blond girl around 14 years old said as she rubbed her cheeks against his.

“Uuu~” Bachus looked up at me asking for help.

“But he doesn’t like it. I know he’s cute, but you are smothering him... You wouldn’t want him to end up fearing women when he grows up now, would you?” I asked them with a smile.

“CAN WE?!” the choir reply shocked me.

“NO!” I retorted.

I picked up Bachus from the swarm of women he captivated with his cuteness. I didn’t know if this was just him or if these girls were more maternal than most. I just hoped they weren’t some perverts who loved little boys. If it was the later, I had to urgently send them to a morals and ethics class that specified what was moral and what was immoral.

I got a headache just thinking about it.

“Father, are all girls like that?” Bachus asked me as I walked away from them.

“No.” I patted his cute little head. “Right now, they are like this because you are little and cute. When you grow up and become handsome and manly, the way they will look at you will drastically change.” I told him.

“Change? How?” he asked tilting his head to the left.

“Erm, even if I tried to explain, I can’t make you understand through mere words. It’s a matter of experience. You will see when you grow up, so don’t worry about it. For now, just be a cute kid for your parents.” I patted his head.

“Um. Awright, father.” he said.

I went back to Savannah and picked up the notes. “Send me a report on what we talked about tomorrow.” I told her.

“I will.” she nodded and showed me a smile.

Ever since she started teaching at the Academy, she always showed a bright and cheerful smile. She loved this job more than I had expected and for this, the Emperor of the Paramanium Empire was grateful.

“And Bachus, don’t worry about them, they are just acting silly because you are just too cute to resist hugging.” Savannah told him as she patted his head.

“Thank you, but I don’t like it.” he replied with tearful eyes.

The woman kept looking at him with a kind smile on her face and at that moment, my daddy sense was tingling. It told me to get out of there before Savannah fell for Bachus’ cuteness.

“W-We’ll be off! Don’t forget the report!” I said and made my way to the door.

“Ah! Don’t run away!” she told us.

“I’m not running, I’m fleeing!” I retorted as I closed the door behind me.

After that, I tried to avoid bringing Bachus where there were crowds of women and teenage girls. The children, on the other hand, weren’t that bad, they mostly wanted to play with him.

From what Savannah told me, the students had a tough time with the dungeons I designed for the school, but she felt like there was no need to reduce difficulty. Progress came not from taking the easy path but from one filled with problems that needed to be solved, for in the latter, one could train their skills, learn of their weaknesses, and become better at what they did.

When I returned home, I found Zoreya cradle holding Natrasku. She wasn’t wearing her usual full-plate armor but a simple yellow dress. The little baby was already fast asleep, sucking his thumb.

“Hello.” I said.

Zoreya placed a finger over her lips and shushed me.

“He’s asleep. After I put him in his crib, I will go to the living room.” she said in a whisper.

“Alright.” I nodded and then quietly backed out of the room.

Bachus merely peeked inside when I opened the door.

“Let’s go find Anette and Tamara.” I told him.

“Mommy Tamara is in the kitchen. I can smell food.” he said with a smile.

“Is that so? Then let’s go see what she’s cooking.” I said as I picked him up in my arms.

Bachus used his little hands to cling to me as we walked into the kitchen. There, we saw Tamara wearing nothing but an apron.

I covered Bachus’ eyes immediately.

“What are you wearing?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Nya? An apron, silly!” she replied with a smile as she turned around and leaned forward a bit, allowing me to have a perfect gaze at her cleavage.

Now, this image was powerful enough on its own because of the naked apron theme and Tamara’s beautiful body, but she also sported a pair of cat ears and a tail, which gave me a critical hit.

“Didn’t you think that Bachus might walk in here and see you like this?” I questioned her.

“Nya? No. The children never come to the kitchen.” she replied tilting her head to the left and twitching her adorable cat ears.

“What if it was someone else, like a stranger?” I asked.

“Nya! I would have ripped their spines out, silly!” she replied with a giggle.

“Scary... Bachus, make sure never to become like your mommy Tamara. Treat life preciously.” I said while still covering his eyes.

“Mhm.” the little boy replied with a small nod.

“You don’t like what you see?” she asked turning around and lifting her tail up.

“I liky but not when I’m carrying childy.” I said with a forced smile.

“Nya~!” she came over and licked my left cheek.

That was a cat kiss.

“Come over when the children are asleep.” she giggled.

“Sigh... We’ll see. What do we have for dinner?” I asked her.

“I’m trying out a new recipe for beef meat stew. For Bachus I made something good so he can grow up to be big and strong like his father!” she said as she waved her tail in the air.

“Alright.” I said with a nod and then left the naked chef to finish cooking before I lost my cool and jumped on her.

I had no excuse as an adult, but it was humanly impossible to resist that sort of temptation for too long!

With a sigh, I went over to Bachus and Anette’s room. I left my oldest Dungeon daughter together with Kormian, my youngest Dungeon boy. She wanted to give him a few lessons on how to build stuff and improve his magic, basic stuff.

“Father!” she called out in joy when she saw me entering the room.

“I’m back, Anette.” said Bachus as I let him down to go over to his sister.

“I’m back, children. Did you play nicely?” I asked them.

“Yes! Brother Kormian is good at building but not that good at magic. I’m teaching him well!” she said proudly.

“Is that so?” I said and looked at the Dungeon boy.

“Yes, father.” he replied.

He was a Dungeon of a few words.

“Father, when is mommy coming back?” Anette asked.

“She said two months, didn’t she? So, I’m guessing there’s one more month?” I replied as I walked up to the two.

“I want mommy to come back soon...” said Kormian.

“Me too, little one, me too.” I showed him a smile.

“Father misses our mommies?” asked Anette.

“Of course!” I nodded to her silly question.

How could I not miss them? They were my beloved wives.

I played with them until the food was ready. I showed them what they could do to improve with building stuff. For now, they were practicing how to leave their Crystal Bodies and absorb matter from deep underground in the area I told them to. Unlike me, their Inner Minds didn’t have even a single spec of matter they could use.

When Tamara called us over to eat, I took Bachus to the living room and the two Dungeons began to absorb Magic Energy from the receptor I built. The food was just as always, a delicacy I could enjoy all day long.

After we ate, I read a story to the children and then put them to bed. Bachus was very tired after his adventure today and fell asleep almost immediately. Anette was still quite full of energy and didn’t feel like going to bed just yet. She wanted to read or play with her magic some more. The spirit of adventure and exploration was burning brightly inside her, something she most definitely got from me.

Before I went to my room to embrace Tamara in a night of hot passion and love, I walked down to my laboratory and worked for a bit on some of my projects. I did not intend to take too long; I was going to work within my Inner Mind using the accelerated thought method.

The first thing I looked at when I was there was a fighter jet of my own design. It still had a few bugs in it, but I hoped to fix them soon. This technology, just like the one in the yacht and the armored SUV would not be made accessible to anyone other than the members of my household until I believed that the world was both ready and willing to accept it.