Chapter 271: I’ll tell Rias!
With the dishes put away, Martin made the mistake of picking up a folded dishcloth within Kumoe’s reach.
Her curious head lunged. He pulled the cloth aside, sending her skidding across the kitchen floor before she recovered and dropped into a playful crouch. All three tails swept behind her and knocked against two chair legs.
"Too obvious," Martin said.
The curious head barked.
Her middle sister remained stretched beside Alexandra’s chair, too full to move for anything short of another meal. The right head ignored the cloth and watched Martin’s wrist instead.
He flicked it left. The curious head committed at once, but the right waited for Martin to pull it back before leaning across her sister and catching the trailing corner between her teeth.
Martin stared at her. "You knew I was going to fake left."
Her ears lifted.
The curious head growled at being outplayed and grabbed the other end. Both sisters pulled while the middle continued sleeping beneath them, refusing to be dragged into the game.
Martin tightened his grip. "Three against one?"
The middle head opened one eye. When he shook the cloth in invitation, she yawned and closed it again.
"Two and a half, then."
Alexandra rested one bare foot against Kumoe’s side and ran her toes through the damp fur.
"You’re losing to a full stomach."
"I’m giving them exercise after eating."
"You’re playing with them because you were scared."
Martin looked at her. Alexandra’s smile softened, but she did not take the observation back.
He released the cloth without warning. Both active heads tumbled into their sleeping sister, turning Kumoe into a confused knot of white fur, tails, and offended growls. The middle head finally sat up and stared at Martin with sleepy betrayal.
He laughed, crouched beside them, and scratched beneath her jaw until she forgave him.
Across the room, Elisebeth still had her Spellweaver quest open. She had read every objective several times, yet her eyes kept returning to the same two.
[Exploit an opening created by an ally with an original combination spell five times.]
[Create one original spell by combining three compatible skills.]
Her expression suggested the system had assigned her unpaid labor.
Martin kept one hand beneath Kumoe’s middle jaw and looked toward Alexandra.
"Alex."
She raised an eyebrow. "That voice means trouble."
"Should I tell Rias about the harem plan before we leave?"
Elisebeth’s chair scraped across the floor.
"No. She is coming because of the crystals, Martin. Don’t drag her into something she never asked to hear about."
Alexandra laughed softly.
Elisebeth pointed at her. "Stay out of this. I know exactly what you’re going to say."
"You heard one laugh."
"I have heard enough of your laughs to recognize the one that means you have already decided to interfere."
Martin rose from beside Kumoe. The middle head tried to follow his hand, then sighed and settled onto the floor again.
"Rias is traveling with me because you recommended her. I don’t want her learning afterward that something this large changed between all of us."
"Nothing changed between Rias and anyone," Elisebeth said. "She is my friend, not another woman waiting for Alexandra to explain why sharing you is somehow good for her."
"She’ll find out eventually," Alexandra replied. "You tell her almost everything else."
Elisebeth’s shoulders stiffened. "There is nothing to tell her because I said no."
Alexandra did not answer immediately. She looked at Elisebeth, then toward the Spellweaver window still hanging above her chair.
"You said no to the harem. You also confessed to Martin, created an Epic spell when you saw us kissing, and stayed beside him because you did not want me alone with him. Rias will understand that your answer did not make your feelings disappear."
"The spell was instinctive, and staying was basic supervision."
Martin rubbed the back of his neck. "This is proving why she should know something."
Elisebeth turned on him. "You are not telling her how I feel. I will not have you summarizing the worst hour of my life as ’Elisebeth got jealous and confessed.’"
"I wasn’t planning to speak for you. I’d tell her Alex and I agreed to try something complicated, and that you rejected it."
"That still puts me in the explanation."
"You’re already part of what happened. I’m not going to lie if she asks why the two of you are suddenly trying to kill each other harder than usual."
Elisebeth opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She turned her glare on Alexandra instead, apparently deciding the whole situation belonged to her.
"Rias does not need a briefing on harems," she said after a moment. "She shouldn’t spend the trip wondering whether every normal conversation with you is part of Alexandra’s recruitment strategy."
Martin looked toward Alexandra. "Nobody is recruiting her."
"I have no intention of recruiting Rias," Alexandra said.
Elisebeth watched her carefully.
Alexandra’s lips curved. "At present."
"Alex."
"I answered honestly."
The curious head wandered over with the dishcloth and dropped it onto Elisebeth’s foot. Her expression softened for half a second, but then the right head seized the other end and dragged it across her toes.
Elisebeth pulled her foot away. "Martin, your wolves have chosen a side."
"They aren’t wolves when you want to pet them."
"They are adorable when they behave. Right now, they’re helping her."
Kumoe’s right head gave her a flat stare before carrying the cloth back toward Martin.
Elisebeth watched her go. "She absolutely understood me."
Alexandra rose and circled the table. Elisebeth tracked her immediately, but Alexandra stopped beside her without raising her voice.
"May I offer one practical reason?"
"You will regardless."
Alexandra leaned closer until Martin could no longer hear them.
"The sooner Rias knows, the sooner you can talk to someone who might actually take your side."
"I don’t need her to take my side."
"No. You want an impartial opinion from your closest friend, who also knows how unreasonable you become when you’re afraid of losing something."
Elisebeth’s eyes narrowed. "I hate you."
Alexandra did not bother answering that part.
"And once Rias learns that Martin knowingly agreed to a harem, she would never fall in love with him."
Elisebeth went still.
Alexandra pulled back just enough to study her reaction. Martin could not hear what she had whispered, but the sudden silence concerned him more than their argument had.
"What did you tell her?"
"A comforting possibility."
Elisebeth slowly turned toward him.
Martin stood with his sleeves still rolled from washing dishes, one hand absently tugging the cloth Kumoe had pressed against his knee.
"Rias is too smart to see one decent tank and walk straight into a shared romance."
Martin’s eyebrows rose. "So this is a trap now?"
"A harem is a trap dressed up as honesty so one man never has to make the difficult choice."
Alexandra watched her without smiling. "Then telling Rias poses no danger."
"There was never any danger. She would see through the whole thing."
Martin released the cloth, and the curious head stayed upright only because the right had braced behind her.
"I’m not asking Rias to join anything. I only want to know whether she should hear about it before traveling with me."
"She shouldn’t."
"Why?"
Elisebeth drew a breath, but her answer stalled. She looked toward the window instead.
"Because she’ll ask questions."
"She should."
That took the fight out of her pointing hand. It lowered slowly to her side.
Rias would ask why Elisebeth had confessed after agreeing not to. She would ask why Elisebeth rejected the harem yet refused to leave Martin alone with Alexandra, and exactly how that jealousy had become Diva’s Rejection. Worse, she would probably understand every answer before Elisebeth finished explaining it.
Elisebeth pressed her fingertips against the table. "Fine. I’ll tell her myself."
Alexandra’s eyebrows lifted.
"Do not look so pleased. I am telling my closest friend about a disaster. That is a normal thing to do."
"I said nothing."
"You didn’t have to."
Elisebeth faced Martin. "I’ll speak to Rias in the real world tonight, alone, before she meets you tomorrow. I’ll explain what happened in my own words."
"I want her to hear the full story."
"You want her opinion."
"That too."
"And when she tells you this entire idea is insane, you will listen. Don’t start arguing until she gets tired and gives up."
Martin nodded. "That’s why I’m asking her."
Elisebeth studied him.
He was not grinning or searching for another route toward Rias. His hand had gone still in Kumoe’s fur, and the tension around his mouth made him look more tired than excited.
He genuinely wanted someone outside the mess to tell him what she saw.
Some of the fight left Elisebeth’s shoulders.
"Fine. But when she laughs at you, I’m joining her."
Alexandra returned to her chair without claiming the victory aloud.