Vol 2 Chapter 18 – The Oath【Vol 2 — Youth in the Midst of Calamity】

I forced the vial into my pocket and pushed my feet forward.

My whole body was screaming in pain, but it had been easing up gradually with time.

This much I can handle.

Whatever else was going on, I had to stop Sophia and Aria first.

And Lucas — I couldn’t call for him yet. My dependable old man would have to wait a little longer.

“Sophia, Aria — just wait a second!”

The two of them were locked in a reckless, no-holds-barred magical battle. I found a gap in the chaos and threw myself between them.

“Will-… kun…”

Sophia’s murmur reached me — quiet and full of hurt.

The next moment.

“— Wi… l.”

An explosion of sound and force detonated right in front of my face.

Sophia had fired that spell straight at me without a moment’s hesitation — and Aria’s barrier had apparently shielded me from it.

I went rolling from the shockwave that leaked through the barrier.

Right — Sophia was fighting Aria right now, but her actual objective was to kill me.

My body was trembling.

I’m scared.

Someone who had always been close to me. Someone I’d thought I cared about. And now she was trying to end my life.

— Terrifying.

Even so, I had to do this.

Because I loved her.

Holding onto that thought, I moved to push forward again.

“Aria-chan!!”

That anger-soaked cry rang out right at that moment.

Not Sophia’s voice. That still-young, childlike voice —

“— Elena.”

“I finally, finally found you… Hey, Aria-chan. What’s going on? Hey — where is he, Elena’s onii-chan, where did you — ……”

Seemingly oblivious to the battle raging right in front of her, Elena staggered toward Aria, still calling out.

Then, suddenly, Elena’s shoulders gave a sharp jolt — and she noticed me.

“— Onii… chan.”

Her blank, stunned expression shifted — and just like that, became a smile.

I understood now.

That childlike smile that looked no different from her usual one — it was soaked in the same madness that had taken Aria and Sophia.

“Onii… chan… Onii-chan, onii-chan, onii-chan.”

Elena staggered toward me. A pulse of magical light struck the ground at her feet and kicked up a blast.

“Stay away from Will.”

“Will-kun belongs to me, you know?”

Aria and Sophia said it almost simultaneously. Elena — who had somehow avoided the shot — turned her gaze toward them.

Tee-hee. Elena flashed an adorable little smile, then raised both palms toward Aria and Sophia.

“Don’t — get in my way —”

A flash detonated, then another — overlapping — the loudest blast and the biggest shockwave yet.

“Th-that was close…”

I hadn’t expected Elena to show up right now.

I immediately reversed the foot I’d been about to step forward with and put distance between myself and the battle. A wave of relief washed over me — I no longer needed to throw myself into that impossible fight.

I let out a long, slow breath.

No more hesitating. No more wavering.

Aria, Sophia, Elena. All three of them were here.

With that confirmed, I channeled mana into the ring.

The next instant — nearly no delay at all — he appeared.

A faint light emerged, converged, and took shape.

Lucas was looking down at me with his usual air of arrogance.

“Finally called for me, huh. What took you so long, you idiot.”

I answered immediately.

“— Help me build my harem.”

“Say what?”

“Please.”

I bent into a perfect ninety-degree bow — a sincere, from-the-heart appeal.

If he turned me down here, I would literally die.

When I snuck a glance up at him, Lucas was staring toward the girls with a deeply pained look on his face.

A long, heavy sigh reached my ears.

“So. What do you need me to do.”

◯

“First, move the three of them somewhere away from here. Somewhere with no people — a forest, deep in the mountains, anything.”

“Fair enough. Causing a scene like this in the middle of town is going to bring its own set of problems.”

Lucas nodded and stepped forward, raising one hand.

Was he going to teleport them directly?

Even so, what a thing to be capable of. This was the bearing of a man you could count on.

“By the way.”

His focus still locked on the girls, Lucas spoke to me.

“I’m not going to press for details given the situation — but how exactly did you end up in this mess.”

“…It’s all my fault.”

“Hahhh… What a pitiful son I’ve got.”

The sigh of someone who’d already known and was thoroughly past being surprised.

“Well. Cleaning up after your kids is what parents are for.”

The moment Lucas murmured those words, the scenery changed.

In a flash — no delay, no disorientation — just a seamless, instantaneous swap in what my eyes were seeing.

“…!”

“Good thing they didn’t notice me. Made it easier.”

I was in a forest somewhere. Dense trees and thick undergrowth pressed in on all sides — not a single soul in sight.

Lucas stood beside me, completely unfazed.

In the direction of our gazes — there they were. All three of them, confused and disoriented, with no idea what had just happened.

All three were glancing around, eyes darting in every direction, the battle momentarily suspended. I expected them to spot us right away — but they didn’t.

While I was puzzling over that, Lucas answered without being asked.

“I’m concealing our presence. Unless they actively search for us, we shouldn’t be found for a while.”

I was genuinely impressed by how casually he said it.

Hiding from those three…

I was still marveling when Lucas turned to me and asked, “What’s next?” — and I told him.

“Knock all three of them out.”

“Can’t.”

“…What? Why?!”

Lucas looked at me like I’d said something monumentally stupid.

“Don’t ask the impossible. You think I can take on all three of them at once?”

“Chickening out?”

“Damn right I am! Do you have any idea what you’re asking?”

“Like what.”

“In mage-versus-mage combat, one against many is suicide. No single fighter wins against multiple opponents unless the ability gap is enormous.”

At that, I glanced over at the girls, still visibly disoriented.

“Those three are prodigies the likes of which you don’t see often. One of them alone — maybe. But all three together? That’s beyond me.”

Wait — that’s a problem. For what I was planning to work, all three of them needed to lose consciousness at the same time.

“But you said — you said cleaning up after your kids is what parents are for! What happened to playing the cool dad?!”

“Impossible is impossible.”

Bad. Bad bad bad. What am I supposed to do? And why is this man just standing there with his arms crossed like that?!

I cut a sideways glance at the vial stuffed into my pocket. The red liquid shifted with a quiet slosh.

I checked on the girls and realized I was running out of time.

They were looking for me.

If they knew I was somewhere in the area, fine — but if not, they might start searching and leave this spot entirely.

“…Two against three — what if it’s that?”

“…Come again?”

Damn it all!

“I’ll be the decoy — you handle the rest, please!”

“— Hey!!”

I shouted it and bolted.

Almost immediately, I felt it — the moment I crossed out from under whatever magic Lucas had been using to conceal our presence.

Aria’s, Sophia’s, and Elena’s gazes snapped onto me all at once.

Whatever happens, happens.

◯

I ran through the forest and closed the distance.

Sophia’s, Aria’s, and Elena’s eyes were all fixed on me — the fact that they’d been suddenly teleported into a forest seemed to matter to none of them at all.

“Ahh, Will-kun, thank goodness —”

A murmur that carried pure, bottomless relief. There was still a fair distance between us, and yet every word reached my ears with perfect clarity.

Before I’d even registered it, a curtain of ice knives filled my field of vision. Without warning. Without a single sign.

A volley of blades aimed at my life — closing in fast.

But before they could reach me, a roaring whooom of flame surged upward — and the knives vanished.

Elena and Aria stepped in front of me, facing Sophia — positioned to protect me from her.

But there was no sense of alliance between them.

The looks they were trading with each other were razor-sharp.

How had things come to this?

I thought about it.

It’s my fault. I kept stringing them along — kept up that half-hearted, non-committal attitude the whole time.

But I wasn’t going to regret it. I might come across as the worst kind of person — but I’d done exactly what I wanted to do.

Building a harem had been a dream of mine since my previous life — and the time I’d spent surrounded by them had been genuinely, honestly the best.

So. Given that I’d landed in a situation like this — how did I really see things?

In other words: out of these three girls, who did I love?

Right now, I could answer without hesitation.

All of them.

Oblivious? Dense? Can’t make up your mind? Don’t understand your own feelings?

Ha. To hell with all of that.

I swear it — here and now.

No matter what it takes — I will build a true harem.

By any means necessary.