Bella says “Oh. Then what are you talking about?”

  “Well, if Lin is going to have two sister-wives, that has got to change your relationship with Lin.”

  Bella says “Not really. I will still be Lin’s lover. If the other two have the inclination and want to join us occasionally, that is fine by me. In fact, I would be fine with being lovers with all three of them.”

  “Well, I know Myria is bi, but I don’t know about Mercy yet.”

  Bella says “She probably is, otherwise she wouldn’t be so ready to share you. If she isn’t now, she probably will be soon. I don’t see anyone resisting the temptation of Lin and Myria together.”

  “That’s true. Either way, I will have a lot of fun finding out!”

  Bella says “Yes, I am sure that you will! You are talking like you have made up your mind, haven't you?”

  “As long as nothing strange happens, yes I probably have. I don’t know about Mercy, but I love Lin and Myria. I will marry Mercy just to make the two of them happy. Besides, Lin was right, Mercy will be a much better ruler than the two of them. Having Mercy as my queen will make the kingdom stronger and take a lot of the pressure off of Lin and Myria.”

  Bella says “That is a mature and logical way to look at it. Don’t tell Lin, she will immediately know that you didn’t think of it!”

  “Oh, ha ha! Don’t worry, I am not planning on telling either of them.”

  Bella says “No? When do you plan to tell them then?”

  “I am going to stick to my original plan and take some time to get to know Mercy. I am going to wait until Myria gets back and has a chance to meet Mercy. Then I will have a conversation with the three of them and see if we all agree.”

  Bella says “So, you are going to let them think that the three of them convinced you? That’s a good plan!”

  “Thank you. I will also follow your advice and tell Mercy everything and then let her make the final decision.”

  Bella says “Good. That is the best way to avoid anyone getting hurt.”

  “You are really wise. I don’t suppose you want an advisor position in the new government?”

  Bella says “And have you running to me anytime you get one of your wives mad at you? No thank you!”

  “Well, you can’t blame me for asking.”

  Bella says “No, I guess I can’t. I will just stick with being the royal tattoo artist and the lover of whichever queen wants me.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “There are definitely worse jobs!”

  Bella says “There certainly are! So, now what?”

  “Well, I get the feeling that they are going to be chatting for a while. So I am going to go get a few tasks out of the way. Why don’t you go join them and get to know Mercy?”

  Bella says “Okay, I will do that. When should I tell them you will be back?”

  “It should only take me a couple of hours, but to you guys it will be ten or more.”

  Bella says “Right, the time dilation. That is so hard to get used to!”

  “Yeah, it is, but it is also really useful! It is the only reason I ever have any time to spend with my kids.”

  Bella says “Agreed, but it is so hard to get used to! Anyway, go do your things, I will tell Lin and Mercy when you should be back.”

  “Thank you.”

  As Bella heads to join Lin and Mercy, I leave the castle and head towards the stone quarry. From the air the quarry is really easy to spot, a gray mark in an otherwise green landscape. The quarry has already removed most of one hill and has started on a second.

  There is not as much waste stone as I was expecting, they are probably using it for something. They are probably breaking it down into gravel to use on the roads or something like that. However, that doesn’t really affect me, there is still plenty of stone around the quarry.

  I was only looking for waste stone to make some use of it, but it is fine since they are already using it. Instead, I move to the side of the quarry where the remaining part of the hill is not being worked. As soon as I land a foreman comes over to welcome me and inquire as to what I need.

  When I explain that I need a mass of stone the foreman quickly tells me to take anything that I need. However, I make him tell me what area of the hill is the least useful to them. Once he does, I head over to that area and flood all of the stone with my mana.

  Instead of doing it one by one, I shape all of the stone at the same time and form dozens of obelisks. They are only roughly shaped, but I can easily fix that later before I enchant them. I repeat the process several times until I run out of mana and then put all the obelisks into my ring.

  I made a mistake and didn’t leave myself enough mana to open a gate, so I fly to the mountain. By the time I arrive and land on the mountain my mana has recovered a lot. I scan with my mana and lock onto the obelisk that I built in the center of the capital.

  Once I am locked on, I can tell exactly where all of the nodes for the formation need to be placed. I fly over to the closest one, land, and start digging until I reach the correct spot. When I take an obelisk out of my ring and put it in place I feel a click in my head.

  Leaving the obelisk there, I fill in the hole I made and then fly to the next location. About half of the obelisks need to be placed from outside the mountain, the rest go inside the cavern. Luckily, nothing that lives on the mountain is crazy enough to attack me as I am moving around.

  Still, it takes me a few hours to place all of the nodes on the outside of the formation. Then I move into the cavern and spend another hour placing the rest of the nodes. When I put the last one in place, I feel the thrum of energy as the formation activates.

  It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but now it is done and I can see how effective it is. I leave the cavern by following the new road made to go to the trade city, but I stay connected to the system. After leaving the mountain, the connection stays strong for almost three miles.

  I move past that until I lose connection, then land, and then take out one of the obelisks. Unfortunately, it won’t connect to the system and I have to backtrack for it to connect. Once it does, I spend a bit of time testing it and find that it has a range of a little over two miles.

  To be safe, I place the obelisk about a mile and a half past where the good connection ends. The overlap means I will need more obelisks, but I would rather have good coverage. With that figured out, I head to the trade city placing an obelisk every three miles.