Sword Art Online Integral Factor - The Demon Lord Of Aincrad - On Hiatus -

Chapter 2 - Five Lovely Ladies, with a likely Sixth on the horizon..

In the end, I ended up having to take up residence in the Forest Elves' Summer Palace with Alexis, Koharu, and the two elven princesses. Of the two, Princess Evelyn of the Forest Elves was by far the more clingy and more beautiful of the two, and given her age being of around less than 100 years old, kind of suited her. She was also the more shy of the two, for some reason, and so whenever I was around with her along with other nobles, she just hid behind me. Was I concerned? Yeah, and rightfully so, given that before I was done with Aincrad, I would personally vanquish and purge the Forest Elf Nobility of two dukes, five barons, 1 archduke, and at least 10 lords. I mean yeah, some of them sneered on me now, saying how a lowly human such as myself could never be the equivalent of the Great Demon Lord Monschau, who I had still yet to learn the backstory of. Still, some of them were nice to me and would become some of my most trusted confidants later on.

The other princess was the older, just as beautiful, and gracefully elegant Crown Princess Bet'lizh of the Dark Elf Kingdom, who I called "Elise." She was the big sister to Evelyn at the Summer Palace, which to be fair, Alexis and Koharu were big sisters to her as well. I don't know why, but probably due to Harem Attraction, Kizmel had forcibly argued to become my bodyguard. With the invulnerability I had now, I thought it was rather weird to have a bodyguard, but I didn't say anything about it. And besides, I already had Crawford and Brandon as excellent covering mates on the boss fights and dungeon clearings. But hey, as they say, the more the merrier. The rest of the group had decided unanimously, when they had gotten word of my new circumstances, to move into the Summer Palace with me and the girls. Since Floor 1, the dynamic of the group had only changed a bit. Fritz had finally confessed to Clara, after he had nearly died saving her life from the hands of the Floor 2 Dungeon Boss, which set me upon it like a berserker and finished it off before it could kill them. Selena and Crawford's relationship was still going strong, even in the face of the changing circumstances happening around them, me, and the rest of the group. As for the remaining girls in the group, I could detect signs of who would likely be the next girls added to the harem, well after I found out who the 4th girl added this time was. (AN: Yes, I changed it from three to four.) Of the girls, it was Elizabeth and Kelly that showed the signs of being the next girls to fall for me, because I could see the fluttering of butterflies rising from their stomachs in their eyes whenever I locked eyes with them. To say that I was a magnet for girls right now was an understatement, really. To me, it was due to the sword I found by luck, pure and simple. And yet, by itself, it kinda flipped my opinion of Aincrad sort of upside down. By how much remained to be seen.
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Much to the Elf Kings', Kizmel's, the princesses, and most of the nobles' chagrin, being a member of the Assault Team meant I couldn't just stay at the Summer Palace and act like a noble. It was "unbecoming of me", as Crawford once said. He knew just as well as me that with my abilities, my real place was on the battlefield. After the Fallen Elf attack earlier, I was totally on guard and taking precautions, using myself as bait to take down any Fallen Elves that might try to pick me off, while leaving Kizmel, Crawford, and the other guys behind at the Summer Palace to protect the girls. Besides, I had Kirito and Asuna covering my back while on the team, though Kirito was reluctant to do so, which allowed me to basically do my thing on the front lines without worrying of anyone taking me from behind. Nevertheless, it was when the Assault Group went into the dungeon at the old Elven Temple did I find the fourth girl Harem Attraction had selected for me on this particular floor and the Fallen Elf I would later fight for the Floor Boss.