Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"All this time, you had only one thing you wanted from me. You tried so hard, you fought so hard, but in the end… you didn\'t even ask that. Heck, you kidnapped the Ross family to piss me off so I could kill you in anger.

You did all that to die. And since then, you have been trying to owe me favours so one day you could use it and ask me to kill you. Do you have any idea how tense I was?!"

"As I said, I assumed you wouldn\'t do that since you never did that. How was I supposed to know that—"

"That\'s enough. I don\'t want to talk about it." Rudy released an annoyed sigh.

There was a moment of silence, and the mood was awkward.

"So…" Lu Bela lowered her gaze and kept her face to the side instead of looking at Rudy.

"You would have actually killed me if I had asked you to?" She asked in a calm voice, but she couldn\'t hide her curiosity.

"Yes. I promised you that I would do anything, so that included everything. I realised it must be tough for you to live every day. As sad and reluctant as I was, I would still have killed you.

Even if you had asked for the most impossible thing— which is joining my harem— I would have let you. I was ready to go to that extent and you asked for the simplest thing possible."

"..." Lu Bela\'s heart fluttered after hearing that.

"Not to mention, I only wanted the castle since it\'s the only thing I legally paid for. I have no interest in the city. In fact, I was going to get rid of it. But then you mentioned how much this city meant to you, so I changed my mind.

I was going to give you this city as a reward, in addition to my promise, of course. And yes, you can have as many rooms as you want in the castle. There are thousands of rooms, am I right?"

He turned to Lu Bela to confirm.

Lu Bela nodded. "A bit more than that, yes."

"I don\'t think I would ever be able to explore all the rooms if I tried. And by explore, I mean, spending a night there with a girl. I don\'t plan to have a thousand girls in my harem. That would be too much, even for the Lord." He scoffed softly.

"Is it too much? I am sure you can satisfy them all."

"Of course I can. But think about it, that\'s a ridiculous number! I may be able to remember their names thanks to my memory, but the chances of the girls remembering the names— or even their faces— are close to none."

"Heh!"

"What\'s so funny?" Rudy raised his brows.

Lu Bela was usually quiet, and her chuckling at something Rudy stated seriously was a rare event.

My apologies in advance, but when I was supervising of the construction I assumed you were intending to fill the castle and the entire city with your harem.

"You have got to be kidding me. There are thousands of houses and buildings in this city. How can you expect me to have such a huge harem?"

"I didn\'t think of you thinking of them that they would think about thinking what you would think about them thinking about you."

"..."

Lu Bela smirked from the corner of her lips and asked, "You didn\'t get that, did you?"

"No shit!"

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"What?"

"I mean… you could have all the women in all the worlds in your harem… if you wished…"

"Well, yes."

"So why don\'t you?"

"What\'s the point of it?"

Lu Bela shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Then let\'s stop having this conversation, since it has no meaning."

"You are the one who started it by inviting me to join your harem."

"I didn\'t invite you. I said I \'would\' have allowed you if you had wished for it. There is a big difference between the two."

Lu Bela smiled wryly and muttered, "But you know I am an artificial human. Our emotions and feelings are fake, sometimes non-existent. Our body can\'t function like normal humans. We don\'t have a soul. We are incapable of truly loving someone."

She looked at Rudy with teary eyes and continued, "I can never fall in love with you. Even if I assert my love through words, those would be hollow words with no genuine feelings behind them."

"To me, you seem more human than humans. If it makes you feel good… I would try to find a solution for you and all of UnderBlades."

"Huh?"

"To make you all real humans."

"Is something like that even possible?"

"I don\'t know," he shrugged softly. "But nothing is impossible for me."

"I…"

Rudy brushed his finger against Lu Bela\'s cheek and let her tear drop on it. Then, he showed it to Lu Bela and asked, "What is… being human to you?"

"It\'s…"

"If your body can create genuine feelings or you get a soul, would that make you human?"

"You can\'t explain soul."

"Let\'s call it spiritual data storage, that stores all the spirit data."

"If you can make us true humans… I would love to wait for my death…"

Rudy got up and said, "Have you arranged the interior in the room? Like, couches, beds, television, air conditioners… you know the list."

"I didn\'t, but they are ready to be placed in whatever room your harem decides. I thought it would be for the best if you let them arrange the rooms the way they want."

"Yes, that\'s an excellent decision. I will send Rias, Niti, Maria, Mia, Angelica, And Lilim here."

"Huh? I thought you had more in your harem."

"Yes. I will send the others when they are available. Actually, I need your help to create a teleportation portal."