[Nightmare]

Helix opened his eyes slowly.

He felt multiple soft objects on his body.

The young man raised his eyes to the heavens and whispered a thankful prayer to the non-Elise gods.

"I'll never tire of this." He chuckled.

Helix reluctantly nudged Marie.

"Huuuuuha?" She grumbled.

"It's time to wake up, sweetheart." He replied with a gentle smile.

"... Sweetheart?" Marie muttered in a sleepy daze.

"Yes, sweetheart."

Marie's smile lit up, and she searched for Helix's lips like a homing missile.

He gave her a gentle kiss.

Then he nudged Charlotte.

"Guhhhhh. Five more minutes.

Unless it's Hellie.

Then just take me." She grumbled.

Charlotte was truly still half asleep.

So her outburst was genuine.

Helix chuckled in bewilderment.

"It's me. Wake up.

I have bakery treats being delivered.

Let's eat before going to practice."

"Did you say baked and treat in the same word?

If you did, you better be willing to accept the consequences." Charlotte warned sleepily.

Helix didn't know what to say.

"Come on. Time to get up." He chuckled.

Marie sat up.

Her red hair was messy, and she wore a white bra.

Charlotte followed.

She reached one area in the air, puffed out her chest, and yawned.

She was wearing a green bra.

"I love this cliche." He chuckled.

Helix reached over Marie to gently shake Riley.

"Hey, Riley. Time to wake up, beautiful." He said with a gentle smile.

"Huh? Helix?" Riley whispered.

"Yes. It's me." He smiled.

"I'm not that beautiful. But the compliment makes me extremely happy.

It's an amazing way to wake up. Thank you." She replied with a dazzling smile while sitting up.

Helix was stunned, and his eyes settled on her black bra.

He sighed when he realized leaving bed wasn't negotiable.

"I'll be back. Tilly will be here soon with the baked goods.

So I'll need to greet her."

Helix quickly dressed and headed downstairs.

"Morning!" A bright smile greeted him.

"Good morning, Tilly." Helix yawned.

"Gotta say, kid. I admire you." The middle-aged man chuckled.

He had brown, thinning hair and a kind expression.

"Hmmm?" Helix asked quizzically.

"It takes a big man to admit when you're wrong.

But when you do, it makes the misses happy.

Or in your case, the misseses, you lucky dog." Tilly replied casually.

"Who says [lucky dog] these days?

Also, wait… what?" Helix asked with a narrowed gaze.

He was officially awake.

"Hmmm? Tilo came in earlier to request a favor on your behalf."

Helix groaned inwardly.

"I see…. Thank you, Tilly." He replied while hesitantly accepting the box.

He walked away awkwardly.

When he looked inside, his eyes took on the form of a dead fish.

—

"What are these words written on the doughnuts?" Marie asked.

Each doughnut had a word on it.

"I'm

Harem

You

Women

Have

Of

Created

A

To

Wi

Lu"

Helix played off the situation coolly.

"Hmmm? That's for you to discover.

I've partially eaten some of the words to give it more flare." He replied with a slight smile.

The young women took turns suggesting combinations.

"This is our guess. I'm [lu] to have created a harem of [blank] women [wi] you." Charlotte announced.

"Are we right? You've eaten a whole doughnut. Very sus~picious."

Helix gave her a mysterious smile.

"I think it's much better to let your imagination go wild." He replied.

"Let's get to practice before our master beats us senseless.

Before you ask—no, I'm not joking.

He doesn't have an ounce of simp in his body."

Riley chuckled, and Marie was nervous.

Charlotte was still staring at the doughnuts with a pondering expression.

Helix started sweating as he watched her.

When the group turned the corner, they all were slack-jawed at what they saw.

During the hunting expedition, Tilo had [renovated] the training arena.

It was no longer a 30 x 30 feet dome but a 30 x 30 [meter] dome.

Helix chuckled when he saw it.

He couldn't tell whether it was purely in anticipation of Marie and Riley's Nightmares or partially a petty stab at his water trick.

When the group entered the dome, Tilo sat on an earth throne with a hand on his chin and a bored face.

"Why are you so glum, master?" Helix asked.

"Hmmm? I thought you three would be a bit… more lively." TIlo commented bitterly.

"Why's that, master?" Helix asked with a gentle, predatory smile.

TIlo narrowed his eyes on the boy.

It was officially a mental battle to see who could pull off the bakery charade in their favor.

Tilo didn't want to expose that he was the person behind the false message.

However, he wanted to stab the young man for what he did.

The problem was that he didn't know whether he had given the young girlfriends the doughnuts.

"Here, master. We left you some doughnuts." Charlotte announced with an uncharacteristic poker face.

Tilo's eyes trembled when he saw the box approaching him.

He hesitantly grabbed and opened it.

The doughnuts left were: [Wi women have created you a harem].

Tilo's eyebrow twitched.

Realizing he was losing, Tilo resorted to a pyrrhic victory strategy.

"Hmmm? Thank you ladies!" He replied with a bright smile.

"However, I'm interested. Who took a bite out of the [we] doughnut, and what did it originally say?"

Tilo pressed a finger against his lips.

His message was, [did you do this, ladies? Or was Helix involved]?

It was a clever strategy because he could always fall back on an argument like [I was wondering if Helix led the charge].

"I did." Helix replied boldly.

"I wanted to switch up the message for a bit of fun."

Helix gave him a smug expression.

He was telling the truth and protecting himself at the same time.

Tilo's eyes narrowed.

The two were officially playing Petty Chess.

Unfortunately, Tilo had already determined pyrrhic victory was his strategy.

"Hmmm. You switched the message, [I'm sorry that I created a harem of lustful women without you] into a message for fun?" Tilo asked with a deadly smile.

The women gasped.

"What was I supposed to do when my petty teacher intercepted my baked goods to leave behind a misleading message?" Helix sighed.

The women looked at the men with complex expressions.

No one knew what to say.

Except—

"Woah! Hold up!" Charlotte yelled.

Helix and Tilo started sweating profusely.

"Hellie, did you switch up a message that [savage] into a mysterious love note that captivated our hearts?" She asked.

"... Yes." Helix sighed.

"That's… delightful! What the hell?

Your charm stat is level 87 at a minimum!

Who can nom their way out of a sticky sitch like that in only a few minutes?

I'm genuinely impressed!" She announced with glittering eyes.

Marie and Riley thought back on it and came to the same conclusion.

They started giggling.

Tilo's face caved into a frown.

"What did the message end up saying?" He sighed.

"This is our guess. I'm [lu] to have created a harem of [blank] women [wi] you!" Charlotte announced with a puffed-out chest.

"AKA, I'm lucky to have created a harem of beautiful, stunning, amazing, powerful, sexy women with you!"

The other women also puffed out their chests with pride.

"He removed a [sorry] and made it a compliment.

That's how real men handle sticky situations with their women!" Charlotte announced.

"That's right!" Marie confirmed.

"I'm not sure how men usually deal with situations.

But I like this approach." Riley giggled.

Helix gave Tilo an expression that read, [I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on either].

Tilo shrugged and gave him an expression that said, [I'm going to kill you, but I'm not taking this as an offense].

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)