Raising A Few Wives in a Beast Apocalypse

"It's the best gift ever! Thank you Big Brother! Now we won't have to be too afraid of running out of mana. Having that weight off our backs will definitely improve our battle tactics. Especially for those like me who had pretty much no physical capabilities at all. I was always afraid of running out of mana and becoming powerless, so I never fought as effectively as possible." Hope was the first to thank her big brother.

She of course gave him a big hug as she spoke. Which was standard Hope behaviour really...

"Yeah! Definitely. With this improved body I can finally go all out with my lightning without fear of hurting myself..." Chloe seconded Hope.

"Yeah... Wait, what? What do you mean you can finally go all out? Are you telling me you were faster than me and Jade at the same level without going all out?" Audrey caught an underlying meaning behind Chloe's words.

She then asked about it with a disheartened look on her face. Which was obviously just to tease Chloe. However, Chloe had long been blinded by her love for Audrey since that event from before, so she couldn't tell that Audrey was joking with her. And so, she panicked.

"No, no! That's not what I meant. I was going all out... That was all my body could manage. I promise, I wasn't holding back!" Chloe tried to explain herself with a flustered expression on her face.

"Oh, so that's how it is? But isn't that just saying your body was holding you back and the rest of us are trash for not catching up even in such a situation?" Audrey spoke seriously as she decided to tease Chloe a bit more.

The girl looked so cute when flustered, so she couldn't help it. She would have already begun pinching her cheeks if that wouldn't expose the act.

"No. I, uh..." Chloe was at a loss for words.

She tried her best to think of what to say, but her brain was drawing a blank.

"Ow!" She cried out when Audrey suddenly lightly pinched her cheek.

"Silly child. Do you think I'd be sad about such a thing? Am I that petty to you?" Audrey spoke gently as she addressed Chloe.

She decided to end the act lest the girl's brain overheated from overthinking...

"No, you're not petty at all. That's why I was so confused" Chloe replied while rubbing her cheek.

"Don't worry, I know" Audrey replied with a motherly smile on her face.

Though the scene looked a bit weird to everyone else since the two almost looked like they were the same age.

Audrey hadn't changed at all in the last two years. It was the other girls who grew to become a bit more mature-looking.

Speaking of which. After two years, the looks of Emily, Chloe, Jade, Layla and Freya had improved to almost match Audrey's.

The two younger girls weren't too far behind and would probably reach the same level in a year or two.

Looking at them gave Muku a headache.

He realised that now he not only had to give Audrey a veil when meeting new people, but almost all the other girls had to have one too.

Imagining the scene gave him the chills. Like was there anything more sketchy and screamed "cult" than one dude travelling with almost ten girls who were wearing veils to hide their faces?

Such a scene would definitely turn heads negatively. Hell, if it were him who saw such a group, he might run away.

Unfortunately, he was part of the group, and as the leader too. So running away wasn't an option...

Maybe he should also wear a veil when the time came?... Pfft, what was he thinking? It wasn't the time for such things.

"Now if you two are done with your mother-daughter bonding can we get on with it? We have readers to satisfy after all..." Muku spoke after getting his head out of the gutters.

"Oh. Hehe. Almost forgot about that. Sure, let's continue" Audrey who was now hugging Chloe with a blissful smile on her face replied embarrassedly.

"Great! Now, I could tell you all about the Force Technique. But I think it would be better to do that when everyone is around during training later on. For now, can you all tell me why none of you have reached R5 yet? Better yet, why is no one at PR4 at least? There should be plenty enough beasts to reach that in a year, right? Is there a matter which got in the way of your ranking up?" Muku continued.

He brought up a topic which surprised and impressed the girls.

"As expected of our leader. You've already figured out that something is going on without us saying anything. Anyway, you're right. There is a reason why we're not as strong as we should have been with the time we had..." Audrey replied as she and the other girls gave Muku impressed gazes.

While they knew very well that he cared, it always felt good to know that he cared so much to pay attention to every detail.

That was a thing with girls. They always needed assurance even when they had no reason to doubt.

Many men like the author have failed to give them that constant assurance. Fortunately for Muku, it came naturally to him. He did it without even knowing that he was doing it. That's how much he cared about them.

That's probably a big part of why most of them fell for him. He wasn't only good-looking, strong and smart, but he also paid sufficient attention to them without being overbearing.

The bastard was a natural-born lady killer!

"Oh? Do tell..." Muku replied as he got ready to listen intently, not wanting to miss a single detail.

He had a feeling that something big was going on...

"Right... So, it all started more than a year ago when weird people in weird clothes came too close to our base... Well, I guess it can be said that it began with NL base. Anyway, it went like so..." Audrey began telling Muku everything.

She told him about their first encounter with Tactoa. Then the explosion Jade caused. Then the black slime and Jade's big brother with his team. After that, she told him about the weird Monarch's brief appearance.

Layla, Emily and Jade had told her everything that happened back then, so she knew enough to tell someone else.

And Emily and Layla were there to correct her if she got anything wrong. But she got everything right, so they didn't say anything.

After that, she told him about how Chris and his group stayed with them for two months before going back.

"Hmm... What an eventful period you all had. I wish I could see that black slime and experience its abilities. Then there's my brother-in-law... I'm sure he said something bad about me. I would have wanted to meet him too and "talk it out" Muku commented after Audrey stopped to catch her breath.

"Who's your brother-in-law?" Suddenly a voice rang out from the stairs.

"Oh? So the sleeping beauty is finally up?... Or should I say sleeping beast?" Muku teased without looking back.

"Tsk. You're lucky I'm out of power right now or I'd make you regret that..." Jade who was obviously the voice's owner spoke as she came to sit beside Muku.

Audrey had long returned to Chloe's side when she was teasing her, so the seat was empty.

"Don't worry young miss, you'll regain your power and we will run it back" Muku refused to back down.

"Tsk. Such a bully" Jade replied while laying her head onto Muku's lap as if it was the most natural thing ever in the world.

She even closed her eyes. Then...

"I'm glad you're back..." Jade spoke softly then literally fell asleep on the spot.

Muku checked and confirmed that she wasn't faking it.

"Did she just..." Muku started a question.

"Wake up from her room just to come and sleep on your lap? Yes. That's exactly what she did" Hope finished the question and answered it too.

Her eyes were burning with envy as she wondered why she didn't think to do that.

The other girls also gave the sleeping Jade envious looks. However, none held any real negative feelings toward her. She was one of them after all.

In fact, they silently thanked her for opening the door. Now they can also shamelessly lie on Muku's lap later on and use Jade as an excuse.

If she did it, then they would also have to do it to balance things out, right? It was only fair...

With those thoughts swirling in their heads. The girls looked at each other with knowing glints in their eyes.

Muku suddenly felt a chill run down his spine but ignored it. There were more important things to deal with.

"Let's ignore Jade for now. Can you please continue, Audrey? From what you said, I'm guessing that it's only after Chris's group left that things took a turn for the worse, right?" Muku urged Audrey to continue.

"Yeah. That's when things took a turn for the worse. It didn't happen immediately actually. I think everything was peaceful for close to two months after that. Well, not peaceful, but you know what I mean. Anyway, one normal day..." Audrey went on to tell Muku everything that happened.