The Mage of Primordial Chaos

I summoned my Chaos katanas, letting the power of Chaos course through my body, and the Butler adopted a fighting stance in preparation. A black flame engulfed my body, but Zhao Xiuying didn\'t seem concerned at all for her own safety despite standing so near me. Rather, she seemed quite interested.

"W-Wait, sir!" The servant cried, jumping in between the Butler and I. "Please! There is a peaceful way to go about this."

"Peaceful?" I snarled. "Your family\'s young lady has been getting in the way of someone else\'s life, and now you are trying to force said someone into marrying her. Is this how one of the Eight Great Families of Fragment acts?"

"You should feel honored, yet you are hateful instead?" Butler Zan snorted darkly. "Tell me, boy. Where is our young lady lacking? Beauty, figure, or talent? I admit her personality is somewhat troublesome to deal with at times, but given the proper care, she can be a very sweet girl."

"Does it look like I care? Your young lady can be all those things… but I still do not want to marry her. There are already women by my side—I don\'t need more."

"Truly ungrateful brat…" Butler Zan muttered.

"Heya, Big Brother Xuan Kai!" A voice suddenly called out from behind me, and I spun to see Qing Yue running over happily, diving into my arms. "Eh…? What\'s going on here?"

"Uh… let\'s just say… a minor inconvenience," I said, patting her head. "A girl I met randomly started following me, and I couldn\'t shake her off no matter what. So, uh… I came here to \'return\' her to her home."

"And?" Qing Yue prompted, asking for more.

"And… now they want me to marry her."

"…" Qing Yue blinked, then burst out laughing.

"Pfft~hahaha! Big Brother Xuan Kai, you really are a girl magnet, y\'know?"

"It\'s not like I want to be one…" I muttered, averting my gaze. "Look, maybe you can convince her to…"

"Oh, isn\'t that…" Qing Yue\'s eyes widened when she saw Zhao Xiuying, and she hurriedly ran over to give her a big hug. "Mm! Heya, Xiuying!"

Zhao Xiuying blinked. "… Hello."

My mouth hung open, but neither Butler Zan and the servant were surprised.

"Y-You two… know each other?"

"Mhm!" Qing Yue nodded and turned back to me. "You see, while you were… gone, Xiuying actually came over to the Long Family residency to ask about you. That\'s how the other girls and I became acquainted with her. She\'s a nice girl, y\'know?"

"What…? Ask about me? But why…?"

"Ah… so you are Xuan Kai," Butler Zan said with a laugh. "You should\'ve said sooner, kid!"

I turned to look at him. "What\'s that supposed to mean…?"

"The young lady recently asked the patriarch and matriarch if they knew about someone named \'Xuan Kai\', and after research, they told her the Long Family would have more information. Thus, she went there. But as for why she is looking for you… I\'m not sure either."

Zhao Xiuying blinked at me. "Xuan Kai… alchemy, constitution."

"… Alchemy constitution?" 

It was then that it hit me.

"Oh… you mean… my Golden Pills?"

Zhao Xiuying nodded. "They, interest me. Dual, refinement."

Ah… it all comes together now. She wants to perform dual refinement with me so she can learn how to make Golden Pills as well…

"Hehe, I don\'t know what any of this is about, but if you were to marry her, I wouldn\'t mind, Big Brother Xuan Kai," Qing Yue said with a smile. "I\'m sure the others wouldn\'t either, considering we\'ve already become friends with Xiuying."

"Uh, well… marriage is not a laughing matter," I said. "And… dual refinement either. Once you do it with me, you can\'t do it with anyone else."

I said it like it was a matter of morals, but in reality, with my Chaos Curse, it was impossible for her to engage in sexual activity with anyone else after doing it with me. If she tried, both her and the other partner would die.

"That\'s why… I want you to think about this carefully," I continued sternly. "First of all, if you are only looking to have sex with me so you can refine Golden Pills, I can\'t comply. That would hurt both you and myself. Second, if you truly want to marry me because you like me wholeheartedly, then let me just warn you right now—I already have many other girls by my side, many of which you\'ve already met yourself. That means I can\'t spend all my time with you."

Qing Yue snickered and whispered into Zhao Xiuying\'s ear. "Hehe, Big Brother Xuan Kai says it like he\'s some sort of playboy bad guy, but really, he\'s quite the caring, perfect-boyfriend-material type when it really counts."

"Shut up, Qing Yue," I said harshly, earning me a giggle from her.

"Xuan, Kai," Zhao Xiuying whispered.

"… Yes?"

"I\'ve, decided. Let\'s, get married."

"…"

I sighed. "Even if you\'ve made up your mind… we still can\'t get married yet. Not until a few years more, at least. But I guess… in the meantime, you can live with us if you want, and get to know both me and the others."

"Hehe~" Qing Yue giggled softly. "That\'s another member, added to the list."

I raised an eyebrow. "What list?"

"Your harem, of course!"

"Ugh… should\'ve known."

"Take good care of her, boy," Butler Zan said as we began heading away. "I won\'t forgive you if you mistreat her, got that?"

"Relax, old man. If she thinks I am mistreating her, she can simply leave and find someone else. Unless she asks for it, I won\'t lay a finger on her."

"Hmph."

With that, Qing Yue, Xiuying, and I headed back to the Long Family\'s manor. I never did retrieve my money from the bank, but I could do that tomorrow. I had the receptionist\'s number anyways.

"Really… I don\'t understand girls," I muttered on the way there. "How can you just up and decide to marry a person you\'ve only met for a few hours?"

"It\'s more than just a few hours, Big Brother Xuan Kai," Qing Yue said with a wink, latching onto my left arm. "Xiuying goes to the same school as us, so I\'m sure she\'s bee observing you from the shadows for a while now."

I turned to Xiuying, who walked by my right side. "Is that… how you found out about my special alchemy aptitude when I myself didn\'t even know about it yet?"

Slowly, she nodded. I sighed.

"Still… just because you like alchemy, doesn\'t mean you should sacrifice your entire marriage for it…"

"I\'m sure she knows, Big Brother Xuan Kai," Qing Yue said gently. "Your alchemy constitution or whatever is part of it, but if you were some kind of thug, Xiuying definitely wouldn\'t have approached you. Love at first sight does exist, y\'know~"

"Right, right…" I took a deep breath, then remembered something. "Oh yeah, I did say I had a surprise for you all, didn\'t I?"

Qing Yue nodded happily. "Yep~ and the other girls and I have prepared a nice, cute surprise for you too, Big Brother Xuan Kai~"

"… Hm. Well." I fished out a necklace with a blue jewel embedded inside, then handed it to Xiuying, who blinked at it in surprise.

"That\'s my \'surprise\' for you. I would feel bad if all the other girls had something but you didn\'t now that you\'re part of us, so uh…" I cleared my throat. "I saw you eyeing this while we were walking past a store earlier."

"But when, did, you…" She murmured, confused, staring at the beautiful blue necklace in surprise and admiration both.

"Made it just now, in my pocket," I replied. "Metal Magic. It\'s not a replica of the one in the store, but it\'ll do for now. Tomorrow, I\'ll get you the real thing. Matches your earring, doesn\'t it?"

"…"

Zhao Xiuying was quiet for a good while as she stared at the necklace replica in her hands. Qing Yue snickered.

"See? Told you. Big Brother Xuan Kai is quite the boyfriend, isn\'t he?"

"Shut up," I reiterated, rolling my eyes. But then, to our surprise, Xiuying reached up to her ear, and tapped on the blue gem.

"…!" Qing Yue and I covered our eyes as a bright flash of light ensued, centering from the gemstone. When it finally dispersed… I found myself staring at a pair of long, pointy ears.

"What…"

"Woah…"

The ears twitched a bit, and Zhao Xiuying tilted her head towards us. She was already beautiful enough, but now she had this royal air to her, this nature-endowed beauty that could only belong to an elf—and not just any elf either, a High Elf.

"… You, showed me, yours. I, will show, you mine."

"That sounds really weird, but I\'m not going to question it," I said. I figured she was referring to a \'gift\'. I gave her a gift, so she\'s giving me one in return, in the form of revealing her true self…

Qing Yue giggled. "Hehe~ looks like you\'ve got an elf in your harem now too, huh, Big Brother Xuan Kai?"

At this point, it really was like I was collecting women from all the different races… sigh.