But with the determination to carry that load with me, I continued to walk further.

As we moved on, the chattering of the people inside was audible.

There were not many people outside now, most of them were the maids of the castle.

Soon, we both entered the palace, where a group of well-dressed maids welcomed us.

They were brimming with the aura of modesty, truly fitting for those working for the empire.

We passed by them, heading inside, where all the guests were gathered, each holding a glass of wine or some edible things with them and chatting among them.

But even on them, the clear grouping was visible.

Most of them were nobles, but there were some commoners as well; they were actually free adventurers who were renowned for their strength.

Clearly, they were separated from the nobles, and even among them, their groups were divided.

It did not seem like a gathering at all, where people could get to know each other.

The situation was the same for the nobles, too; even among them, they were separated by the hierarchy, even if they were trying not to show it, but it was clear.

I wasn't surprised to see dragons and elves here, too. After the council was formed, all the races of this planet had finally come to live in unity.

This began after I emerged as the rank 8 mage, though.

This shows that people need a very strong reason to live together, and for them, the reason was survival.

If after my death, the other races haven't tried to invade, then I am sure they will be fighting among themselves to reign over this planet.

Well, for them, they will never get that opportunity.

"Look, she is there. Let's go to her."

Mother said to me after checking through the huge crowd, she was looking for someone, and this someone is someone we all know.

As her voice rang in my ears, my attention was shifted to the direction where her fingers were pointing, towards a woman with long golden hair, shining with the lights of the chandelier.

Her long hair was cascading down to her hips, her bright smile seemed to illuminate her whole body, her long pointy ears were something that separated her from everyone present here, even among the crowd, she was someone who would easily get attention from everyone.

My eyes were glued to her, skimming through her whole body.

Her golden dress, made from the purest of purest silk, embroidered with intricate jewellery, was softly drafted on her curvaceous body.

Her hourglass-like body was clearly visible, even with the dress she wore, and she complied with the elegance that she was exuding; her beauty was accentuated even more.

Most of the men were looking in her direction; their intentions were very clear, but none of them dared to say anything or do anything because of her identity.

Mother noticed the way I looked at her, but she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she pulled me over to her, heading to meet with Ayesha.

She passed through all the people, not even glancing at them, who were giving her curious gazes, the same as what happened outside.

All of them were surprised to see the hero that they had heard so much about.

She stopped right before Ayesha, holding a bright and true smile on her face and hugged her.

"Ummm~ I missed you so much." She said.

Her action made everyone look in her direction.

Their initial reaction was 'who is she embracing the saintess?' but soon all of them noticed who she was.

Both of them were so close to each other for such a long time that neither of them thought too much about it.

But I did.

Mother never acted out like this before. She has been elegant and sophisticated before. Heck, I haven't seen her hugging Ayesha like this throughout my 10 years of long life.

After a few seconds of being in each other's embrace, mother finally separated from her.

With the same smile and excitement on her face, she said, "You look really beautiful today. A certain someone wasn't able to take his eyes off you."

She gave me a side look when talking about this 'certain someone'.

So she was actually jealous that I was looking at Ayesha?

Did she forget what happened to me when I saw her before?

But more than me, they were gathering the attention of all the people present here.

These two have always been the talk of the town... no, talk of the whole planet, no matter the race.

More than half of the people on this planet are their admirers. And there is no doubt about it at all.

These two are probably the most beautiful women on this planet.

It was fine up until they were the ones getting the attention, but when the fuck did it shift to me?

It feels weird when you get looked at like this by everyone.

Same as before, there was only one question on their mind,

Who is the man standing between our goddesses?

But more than that, I didn't care about them at all, nor was I in any way worried about them. I was actually getting concerned by the mad beast inside me, which has been growling for a while now.

[Hggggggggggg~ hggggggggggg~]

What do you even want right now?

I asked, clearly, this was being too much for me.

Now a minute ago, I was determined to face the burden of this, and I am getting overwhelmed after just a fucking minute?

How can people even handle multiple women in their harem?

I am already struggling to handle just these few. It would have been better if I had just had a sexual relationship with them; there wouldn't have been the issue of them getting jealous for attention at all.

***

Thanks for reading, everyone.

I will upload the other chapter soon, after I finish my dinner. Does this feel like a deja vu? You must be imagining it.

Wait for a while.

Stay tuned for more...