I Can Make Everything Level UP

"If the girls are fine with it, what is the problem?" Anna asked. "It is better than leaving one of them heartbroken. That being said, you will hear my complaints if you made those girls cry."

"Yes, ma\'am," Billy nodded.

"Now prepare your hide because Edward can take be quite soft, but not when his daughter is part of the subject," Anna added.

Billy wondered if he should ask his family about what they knew regarding Natalie\'s mother. Natalie never mentioned her, so it was hard to ask directly the person who knew her the most. In the end, Billy decided against that. It probably wasn\'t a good idea to go without having a good idea of who he was going to deal with. Still, if Natalie lived with her, she wasn\'t supposed to be unbearable… probably.

The next day, Billy decided to talk with Edward first since he was the head of the town. He didn\'t know if Kate had told him anything yet, but Billy assumed that she hadn\'t since he greeted him normally.

"Hello, Edward," Billy said. "I have some good news and some complicated news for you."

"Oh? They must be quite something since you aren\'t the type to be roundabout about anything," Edward said. "Is regarding the rewards Jean promised, he sent me a letter recently talking about it."

"Not exactly…" Billy said. "I decided that I am going to marry Kate."

"You will!" Edward said. "That is great!"

"I decided that I am going to marry Natalie as well," Billy said. "They said that they are fine with that, and before you say anything, it isn\'t like a condition that I gave them."

Edward furrowed his eyebrows and studied Billy with a very hard-to-describe expression. He was angry, confused, and conflicted. He probably didn\'t want to punch his future son-in-law, but Billy probably would in his place.

"You have some guys, kid," Edward said. "To come and tell me this first thing in the morning… I thought that you were smarter than that, but I was clearly wrong."

"Well, I am sorry if I offended you," Billy said. "I would have come yesterday if I had the chance, but I hadn\'t. Feel free to punch me if you want. I would do the same in your place."

"That would only make Kate hate me…" Edward said. "Good grief… what were you thinking when you thought this was a good idea?"

"I was thinking about not hurting the feelings of my friends," Billy replied.

"That is very thoughtful of you, and thanks to that, you ended up with two future wives. Explain to me how was that difficult for you?" Edward asked. "You had to put more thinking about how that would create problems for those two and me later."

"I believe that putting their feelings above all else was the right thing to do," Billy said.

"This conversation isn\'t going anywhere…" Edward said and then sighed. "Considering the offer that Jean made, I assume you aren\'t going to settle down here, nor are you going to take my place."

"It is a bit too soon for that," Billy said. "Regardless, there are the issues with the beast tamers, so it would be better if we were relatively close to the frontlines."

Billy explained to Edward about their idea of teaching some people some of their skills to increase their power. They are short-handed, and the help of Riormi state won\'t change that, so working like that was necessary.

"I suppose that is also unavoidable…" Edward said after another long sigh. "Some people might start thinking that we are losing our identity by passing and receiving knowledge to Jean\'s people, but soon they will get used to it. By the way, who are you going to marry first? The ceremony was supposed to be something special throughout the whole night, so don\'t even think about marrying those two at the same time."

"Why do you ask that when I know that you are going to make a scene if I marry Kate after Natalie?" Billy furrowed his eyebrows. "I will talk with them, but they probably won\'t care about the order."

"As long as you are aware of it…" Edward said.

"I am going to talk with Natalie\'s mother now. Where is she?" Billy asked.

"She is guarding the East gate for possible spies," Edward replied. "Jean told me to keep our guard up against them since there is a high chance that they will try to get on our way before the next war to weaken us."

Billy nodded, and he left before Edward could complain even more. He was probably going to do the job of a mother-in-law of being insufferable pretty well… In any case, now Billy had to consider how he would deal with Lucy. The few times he saw her, he gave him the impression that she was a pretty calm person. Still, pretty much everyone has a switch that can return their behavior in 180 degrees. Everything made him think that mother and daughter don\'t get along, but she probably treasures her daughter quite a lot.

Billy found Lucy quietly watching the people leaving and crossing the Eastern gate with her eyes closed. She wasn\'t alone, but it was clear that she was the only one who could find spies among the travelers. No one until now managed to ambush Natalie because her trine was good at perceiving the movements of those around her. Lucy was probably trying to use that technique to find those who were overly cautious while crossing the gate or smelled different from the others. For a while, Billy hesitated in calling her, but he eventually did it.

"Excuse me, ma\'am, my name is…" Billy said.

"Quiet, I am working," Lucy said.

It didn\'t take long for Billy to regret that…