Combat Maid Harem

Courage swallowed a mouthful of saliva and lifted his staff up.

"Sun Flame!"

A huge ball of fire appeared and crackled with lightning on its surface. It shot towards one of the targets on the training grounds. It left traces of lightning and embers of flames along its tracks.

"Mm." Lawrend nodded his head.

*BOOM!*

The ball of fire hit the target and exploded with arcs of electricity scattering about. The fire continued burning brightly before slowly dissipating into nothing.

"Impressive. You have made quite a good spell there," Lawrend said.

His words were genuine. Courage's True Mage spell might seem lackluster compared to the spells he had made, but it was a great start for him. It would definitely be possible for Courage to use his spell in the future.

With his guidance, Courage could succeed him in terms of creating a Supernova spell.

"Thank you, Imperial Father," Courage replied, feeling slightly smug.

"Next."

Zio fixed his mage cloak before stepping forward. He glanced at his mother, Aleshia, for a bit before focusing his eyes back on Lawrend. He was clearly nervous.

"F-Father, I don't have an affinity with any of your elements, but I made an interesting spell," Zio said.

Lawrend nodded his head in response.

Zio took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He pointed his staff at the ground in front of him and it slowly started glowing an eerie dark blue color.

"Abyssal Pond!" Zio shouted.

A meter-wide area in front of the staff rippled like water. The surface quickly turned dark until no light escaped. It looked like someone had taken a hole out of the ground and there was a bottomless abyss there.

Lawrend stared at the abyssal pond with his elemental eyes. He immediately understood how it worked. It was a combination of Zio's Darkness and Water magic.

"Interesting. Have you already made a better version of this?" Lawrend asked.

"Yes, Father. I had already made one for High Mage and almost done for Arch Mage," Zio replied.

He lost his nervousness after seeing that Lawrend didn't dislike his spell.

"Show me."

Zio nodded his head. He felt more confident now.

He tapped the abyssal pond with his staff and the surface rippled once again.

"Abyssal Nightmare!"

"ROAAARRRRR!!"

The surroundings shook violently. The abyssal pond expanded to ten meters with Lawrend inside of it. And then a dark claw reached out of the pond. It used the surface of the lake as its support as it pulled itself out of the dark abyss.

A monster with tentacles, glowing purple eyes, and a humanoid body stared at Lawrend.

"IIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

The monster screamed and then suddenly burst into darkness mana and water mana.

"..."

"W-What happened?" Zio asked in confusion.

The monster he summoned out of the abyssal pond suddenly collapsed into its composite mana without him controlling it to do so.

"It's your spell. How could you not know?" Lawrend retorted.

"It was supposed to attack you…" Zio muttered dejectedly.

He knew his father was strong enough to take on an attack from his spell. He planned to put Lawrend inside the abyssal pond so he could show the prowess of his spell.

"It saw me and understood it was futile to attack. I'm impressed," Lawrend suddenly said.

Zio lifted his head up and widened his eyes.

"Really, Father?"

"Yes. I like your creativity. I've never encountered a spell like that before," Lawrend said.

"Thank you!" Zio responded, full of happiness.

"Next."

Zio canceled the rest of his spell and returned to his spot.

And for the last person, Straw. She looked around before running up with a smile on her face.

"Father, my spell is very simple. I watched a storm and created a spell based on it," Straw said with excitement in her voice.

Grape watched from the sidelines with a proud smile on her face. Even though Grape couldn't become that much powerful in magic, she still managed to have a child that was talented enough to put many to shame. It made her feel proud and successful.

"A storm spell… Interesting," Lawrend responded as he eyed this cute little feline daughter of his.

"Nyaa! Storm Wind!"

Straw pointed her staff to an empty part of the training grounds. Thunder clouds appeared ten meters above the ground and a tornado formed under them.

*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*

*ZAP!*

A sliver of a lightning bolt shot down to the ground. And then it repeated several dozen times.

"If you had an affinity for water magic, you would've made an even better spell," Lawrend said with regret in his voice.

Those thunderclouds could have increased the efficiency of the lightning bolts if they also rained water. It was a huge missed opportunity.

"Nyaa! I might, but I also hate water, nyaa!" Straw nodded her head and bared her fangs.

The thought of using water magic irritated her. It was in her blood to hate water since she was still a catgirl.

"Return to your position," Lawrend ordered.

Straw left and returned to her spot.

Lawrend stood up and looked at his children before saying, "Great. Each one of you displayed great usage of magic. I'm glad you were all able to grow so much without me guiding all of you. As long as all of you keep it up, you will all become leaders of this world."

The eight nodded their heads in understanding.

"Fu, fu, fu! I will corrupt your enemies, Father!"

"I will be your sword."

"I will become stronger than Mother, Fathew!"

"I will do my best!"

"I will burn them to nothing!"

"I will work hard to inherit your throne!"

"I will make my mother proud!"

"Nyaaa!"

The eight declared their desires loudly. A wide smile formed on Lawrend's face. As their father, seeing his children so motivated melted his heart.

It was another reason for Lawrend to free himself from the soul contract he made with the Goddess. He had no idea how he would do it, but he would surely find a way.