Chapter 172 Chill time... again
172 Chill time... again
Days spent with family are the best, and Adam agrees. However, he recently learned that his family is expecting an addition. Specifically...
"Wow! You're really pregnant!" Sierra exclaimed with admiration, poking Amarantha's belly.
"You found out by poking her belly? Seriously..." Nyx said sarcastically, lying on the couch with her head on Adam's knee, who was reading the company's financial report. "You should consider a career in hospitals."
The Nymph Queen made an unusual decision to move into Adam's estate indefinitely. On one hand, he was a little puzzled about her intentions, but on the other, he had no objections, so he allowed it. He couldn't leave his mother-in-law helpless... according to Sierra's words.
Currently, they were in the living room, which was incredibly crowded. Amarantha, Sierra, Nyx, Gaia, Anna, Seraphina, Aurora, Ekaterina, Chloe, Claire, Shizuya, Mary, Elyra, and Elara. In short, all the important people in the estate had gathered, causing unbearable noise. Surprisingly, Adam managed to work fairly efficiently in such a noisy environment. It seemed he had grown accustomed to it.
"Hmph! Of course, I can tell, even if I don't poke her belly! I just thought her belly had gotten bigger and decided to check. And I turned out to be right," Sierra said with a smirk. When she noticed the joyful smile on Amarantha's face, she joked, "Why are you so happy? It's not because of the pregnancy; you just gained weight."
"What the heck?!"
"Hahaha."
Adam tilted his head and dodged the book thrown at Sierra by Amarantha, but she managed to avoid it. However, this scene had become routine, so he just turned the page of the report, made notes, and planned his next steps in his mind.
"But you did gain some weight," Elyra suddenly said, plopping down on the couch next to Adam. She rested her head on his shoulder and grinned mischievously. "You've been eating a lot of sweets and pretty fatty food for a week. These are the first signs of a diet, baby girl."
"Where did you even pick up such strange words?" Amarantha asked with an annoyed expression. Then, she caught Sierra looking away out of the corner of her eye. "Sierra..."
"W-What? I didn't do anything, I just tossed a few extra words here and there. Who knew kids would memorize what they shouldn't? It's their fault, not mine!" Sierra said, wrinkling her face and laughing out loud. "The problem is in the problem, but it's in me!"
Smiling, Adam decided not to comment on that. He put the documents in his [Inventory] and, cracking his neck, began to caress Nyx's cheek, who made a strange sound: "Hya!" It was a funny reaction, but one that only Adam heard. The others were engrossed in their conversation.
Despite having a lot of work, he wasn't in a hurry. On the contrary, he simply delegated all the less important tasks, which his subordinates-traders could handle without his direct involvement. He chose to nobly sacrifice himself for his family. This wasn't an excuse for his aversion to work.
"Adam, how's the construction of Elysium going? I heard there were problems with some idiots who wanted to sell information about the city on the black market," suddenly asked Elara, placing a cup of coffee and a vase of candies in front of him. "Here's your coffee. And your favorite candies."
"Thank you, dear. Regarding that matter, I think the problem was easily resolved with Amy's help, who prevented any attempts to profit from that information," Adam said, cracking his neck and grinning wickedly. "He got quite the punishment. I suppose seeing your family on the verge of slavery should sober him up instantly."
Elysium* - the city that Adam was building exclusively for his family. The plan was to equip the city with the most powerful protection and keep everything secret. The workers currently involved in the construction and planning of the city would receive their payment after erasing their memories of this place. This offer attracted many, as the payment was simply staggering, so there were plenty who agreed to this adventure. Consequently, there were also those overcome by greed.
"Harsh, but I guess that's how you deal with greedy people," Aurora responded to his words, comfortably settled on another couch. Next to her were Gaia and Seraphina. She squinted and crossed her legs. "I suppose such idiots won't understand anything even after death unless their mistake is explained to them in detail. Though you have no patience for that, right?"
"Of course not, my dear. Why waste time on idiots? It's better to just kill them or burn them," Adam replied, patting Nyx on the shoulder.
"N-n-n..."
Although she didn't want to slide off his lap, she had to do it since he wanted to have some coffee. After opening the wrapper, Adam threw candy into his mouth and started chewing it. The taste was reminiscent of a chocolate bar with roasted peanuts, caramel, and nougat, all covered in milk chocolate. In short, it was delicious.
In combination with the black coffee, which was very bitter, it made for a great combination. Oh yes, a few more details.
Adam's plans were expanded due to the increased attention to his company. Veridia had garnered a reputation as a good company, while the CEO, Adam, had a fairly decent reputation for business. It could be said that many of the businessmen had less than stellar pasts.
And so, he was able to expand the range of goods he intended to sell. First and foremost, coffee was added, which was considered a luxury here, and then came the sweets. Although Adam didn't remember much about the ingredients and the process of making sweets, with the help of Wikipedia, he managed to get somewhat closer to the familiar taste of some sweets.
Undoubtedly, Avalon played a crucial role in this difficult adaptation as he managed to understand from Adam's vague instructions a way to reproduce the taste. After fifty-two attempts, they finally achieved a satisfactory result that satisfied Adam.
By nature, he had a sweet tooth, so he was incredibly delighted with the return of legendary sweets. Next, he planned to bring back the coconut-filled bar that he had loved the most in his childhood.
"What are you thinking about, Mr. Busy Businessman?" Suddenly, a voice sounded near his ear, and turning his head, Adam accidentally bumped his nose with Sierra, who was beaming at him.
"Mother-in-law... for heaven's sake, can you not appear so suddenly? An ordinary person in my place would have had a heart attack," Adam said sarcastically, pinching her nose.
"Oops, sowwy, sowwy!" she cheerfully said, apologizing. Judging by her satisfied face, which resembled a mischievous child, Adam concluded that she didn't care.
Turning his gaze around the room, he noticed that most of the girls had gathered in one place. They surrounded Amarantha, asking about her well-being and trying to listen for any signs of movement from the baby.
"I think it's best not to tell them that at this stage, the baby hasn't formed enough for them to feel any movement," he thought, innocently smiling. "Although it looks amusing from the outside, so I'll just keep quiet."
***
Night had fallen. Adam gazed at the bed, or to be more precise, at the two king-sized beds placed next to each other, with some skepticism. The reason was that the beds wouldn't accommodate so many people, and there were 12 people, not counting himself.
"I understand the others, but... mother-in-law, why are YOU here?" Adam asked, rubbing his temples.
"I noticed that the girls were having fun, so I decided to join in!!~" she replied, laughing.
Shizuya wasn't with them today, as she had chosen to spend time with her sons, while Ekaterina had taken her place after a lot of convincing. In general, they had to work hard to fit everyone in. Adam was already contemplating ordering a custom-made bed; otherwise, with so many people, they would have to get very close to each other.
"The more I think about it, the more my head hurts. I'd better just go with the flow," he thought and began to undress.
It seemed that nobody objected to the idea of Sierra sleeping with them either. Even the nymphs, such as Anna, Gaia, Nyx, Seraphina, and Elyra, took it quite calmly, although Adam wished they would teach their queen the concept of "morals." Although, who was he kidding? He liked it very much.
And so, following the tradition of Adam's home, he was the first to lie down, and then...
"Well, how should we decide the sleeping arrangements? Chess, checkers, cards, backgammon?" Amarantha initiated the conversation, gradually pulling out the mentioned games. "I want to settle it with chess."
"Hell no! You're very good at chess. Let's go with cards!" Elyra immediately objected.
"What's that? I've never seen it before," the newcomers expressed their surprise.
Adam just smiled and buried his face in the pillow, pretending not to listen. Truth be told, he had gotten so used to this that he didn't even react. The first time it had made him laugh like crazy, but when he realized they were serious, he laughed even harder.
In any case, sweet dreams awaited him now, and the wars, as they say, would be left to others.
***
Early in the morning, as the winter chill crept in through an open window left by someone, Adam found himself in what could be termed an awkward situation. In short, his mother-in-law was lying directly on top of him, her legs wrapped around his waist in a leg lock. Her ample bosom was exposed, while her younger sister was on top of his younger brother.
"Maybe a financial crisis awaits me?" he thought, not understanding where his luck had drained to.
But the most perilous aspect of this situation was not that she was undressed and wore only cute bear-print underwear. More importantly, he had an erection.
"..."
He was left only to figure out what one could do in this situation. Alas, life had not prepared him for such unusual morning bonuses.
To be continued...