Gathered around the little girl, the entire castle staff had their eyes fixed on admiring the cutesy girl, rumored to be their master's kid with a wandering merchant named Fay Rue. And while the rumor brought many problems with it, it was still better to keep the fact that Haruki could reincarnate people a secret.
"Awww, look at her cheeks so fluffy!" Said the demi-human cat maid, Sam.
Even though he had known her since moving into the caste, for some reason having the girl surrounded by people had his heart racing an uncertain rhythm.
'They've just been playing with her for an hour now.' Standing by the door, Haruki had watched them all enter one after the other to get a look at their master's child, and then with great contentment played with the sleeping beauty for about an hour.
"Look! Look! Her hair is glowing again!" Added a demi-dog girl with her tail happily wagging side by side.
"Owhhhhh!" Like a pair of curious children, a group of twenty maids had surrounded the little girl, and whenever a few left her side, they were quickly replaced by a new pair of maids who had been waiting for their turn.
'Hah…I'm done.' Deciding to get them all out, Haruki glanced up at the ceiling to check for Arachne guards. There as he noticed a pair of giant spiders, he blew out a whistle to get their attention.
"Empty the room," he ordered, and the spider queen's children jumped down onto the unsuspecting maids.
"Ekkk!" The moment they noticed the spiders over them, each one of the maids began squealing at the top of their lungs.
Terrified of the critters, they brushed them off of their head and headed straight for the exit door. Once the spiders chased the girls out, Haruki closed the door so nobody would disturb the little girl anymore.
"Dark dome shield," by the use of mana he encased the angelic girl inside a shield bubble. "Greater demonic spies, Lulu, tormentuous dungeon, stay in hiding and protect her from anything that could cause her harm."
Standing over her by the bed, Haruki used his shadow hands to tuck her into a blanket. Retreating away, he watched as the girl breathed through her tiny mouth and the blanket rose and fell with each breath.
'A daughter, huh?' Even though his appearance was that of a young man, Haruki had lived long enough to want at least some children of his own, and smothered by that very feeling, he was more than ready to accept her as such. 'I still haven't given her a name, it's a father's job to give their child a name, right?'
Trying to come up with a suitable name, he spent a few minutes standing by the bed just glaring at thin air, but when nothing fitting came to mind, Haruki decided to consult the girls about it instead. Making his way towards the exit, he couldn't help but spy one last glance at the innocent sleeping beauty.
'I can't biologically father children being an incubus, so this might be the only way for me to experience parenthood.' With his eyes locked onto his adoptive daughter, a warm smile crept up over Haruki's face. 'I should go now.'
Reluctantly, he headed out of the room. Making sure to plant a few clones to guard the room, he headed in the direction of the crown room. Waiting for him were the most stunning women from around the duchy stripped naked to the butt. Biting their lips from the sidelines upon seeing Haruki they tried to get his attention. However, looking up straight ahead at the throne, Haruki was focused not on the demonic citizens but the group of his aides who'd just recently replaced the councilmen.
"How did everything go at the town square?" Haruki asked, walking up the stairs to take a seat on the throne.
Seated on the left armrest, Asuka was accompanied by Riley standing behind her, and on the other side of the seat was Margarette dressed in a slitted dark dress that showed off her long and slender legs. Taking a seat between the girls, Haruki was handed a bunch of documents by Margarette before she got off the armrest, and turned to face Haruki.
"We killed about a dozen demons conspiring to rebel against you, master," grabbing Haruki's hand, Asuka slipped it under her dress. "I got so wet watching them scream ahhhh."
Delighted by Haruki's touch on her wet pussy, she too bit her lips down as her master plugged his fingers deeper in. Having gotten down on her knees, Margarette on the other hand, began kissing Haruki up and down his neck before nibbling on his right ear.
"So the councilmen escaped, after all," reading through the report, Haruki wasn't all that surprised by the course of events that had taken place.
Being the last few of the humans, both Rom and Arnold had fled the duchy with the help of the silver storm and the rest of the adventurer's parties Haruki was familiar with.
"It was bound to happen, but now you don't have to consult anyone about your decision before implementing them," Margarette pointed out, glancing over an obvious fault.
"That's why I assigned you all as my new council, but the fact that just three adventurers' parties were enough to help those two escape can be a massive problem later on," setting the reports aside, Haruki pulled back his hand from the girls and began wondering how to deal with the situation. "Kane broke the necklace and led the charge for the escape is what's bothering me. He obviously no longer cares for Mariya, and since the whole of Laria has turned into a demon's den, he or the parties he's leading are bound to spread the news about the true nature of the duchy."
Although he knew the news wouldn't make it to the emperor since his whereabouts were an enigma, even if they told the king, Marquis Gorgan, the first target of Haruki's revenge, then every plan of his would have to be fast-forwarded into action.
"Perhaps, we should finally go on the offensive, starting with the dissolution of Daria into your duchy?" Riley suggested.
"And how will that benefit us?" Haruki questioned, not entirely sure about Riley's plan.
"The Marquis kingdom only consists of three duchies, one of which being Laria, the once frozen tundra, Daria the land of commerce, and Aria, the land of warriors, " taking a step forward, Riley moved in front of Haruki.
"I know all that, I used to live in a village in Aria," Haruki replied, still not sure where Riley was heading with her explanation.
"Even if Aria's army is bigger than the other two duchies, if we combine our forces we can easily take over all three pascals of lands constituting this kingdom." As soon as Riley finished speaking, Margarette chimed in as well.
"Not to mention, the king's castle lays in Aria so it'd be wise to combine forces of both of these lands," With Margarette's input, Haruki felt somewhat more confident in the idea, and yet having something grander in his own mind, he decided to improve on their plans.