Emperor's harem: Transmigrated with SSS mana talent

Morning came softly. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The fire had dwindled to glowing embers.

A faint breeze slipped through the mouth of the cave, carrying with it the scent of damp moss and distant death.

Kael was at peace.

For exactly three seconds.

Then—pressure.

Around his neck.

Tight.

Strangling.

His eyes snapped open in full survival mode. Instincts screamed:

Enemy attack.

Someone’s trying to kill me in my sleep.

He jolted upright—

—or tried to.

Instead, he found himself wrapped in a vice grip of limbs and... mumbling?

He turned his head in panic.

Elara.

Murmuring softly in her sleep.

Something about "don’t take my teddy..."

Her arms were locked around Kael’s neck like she was trying to fuse him with the mattress.

Kael wheezed, blinking in disbelief.

She’s cuddling me like a stuffed toy.

He reached down with one hand to push her off—only to find that hand wasn’t available.

Because Selene had it.

Firmly.

Clutching it in her sleep like it was some sort of emotional support chicken nugget.

Kael croaked, "Help—hfff—this is not how I wanna die—"

He flailed his trapped arm, wrestling against Selene’s death grip.

No good.

He finally wrenched one hand free with all the grace of a man escaping quicksand and tapped weakly on Elara’s back like a defeated MMA fighter.

Tap out.

I surrender.

Please don’t send me to the afterlife with hickeys and a snapped neck.

Still no response.

So Kael did the only thing left.

He screamed.

"AAAAAAA—!"

Selene’s eyes shot open.

She blinked.

Saw Kael’s bright red face halfway buried under Elara’s very loving chokehold.

She screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Elara twitched.

Then screamed, too.

"AHHH!—Wait, WHAT?!" She jolted awake and tried to stand up—

—only to stomp directly on Kael’s stomach in full panic mode.

"OH GODS!" Kael yelled, curling into a wheezing ball.

"Why—why is pain my love language?!"

Elara stumbled back, horrified.

She looked down at Kael, who was half-curled on the ground, face flushed, hair a mess, one eye twitching.

"...What are you doing, Kael?"

Kael didn’t even lift his head.

"Just surviving," he wheezed.

"Surviving this cursed life one chokehold at a time."

Selene snorted.

"Our princess really is a dream sleeper," she said, grinning.

"Strangling people in your sleep? Impressive. Truly princess behavior."

Elara’s cheeks went red instantly.

"I didn’t mean to—!"

Kael coughed, waving a limp hand.

"At this point, I should just wear armor to bed."

Silence fell.

Then Selene laughed again.

Elara finally huffed, throwing her arms up.

"Oh, come on, you two," she muttered, clearly done with the chaos.

She pouted dramatically, spun on her heel, and stormed toward the cave entrance.

"I’m going to collect wood before I strangle someone in their sleep for real."

She disappeared outside.

Selene blinked.

Then stood up with mock pride.

"Fine. Then I’ll go fetch water.

From the dangerous, possibly haunted stream.

Alone."

She shot a sideways glance at Kael.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Congratulations. You’ve both unlocked side quests."

Selene stuck out her tongue and ran off.

Kael was left alone with only the echoing silence—and the lingering smell of burnt bark.

He stared after them for a long beat, expression blank.

"What the hell is wrong with those two..."

A voice echoed faintly from his sword.

"They’re bonding," Yue said dryly.

"Which is terrifying."

Kael turned toward the blade, deadpan.

"Oh, you finally decided to talk. Thought you fell into a coma."

Yue’s voice groaned,

"No, just trying to preserve what’s left of my brain. Those two are a walking migraine."

Kael sighed, grabbing his coat.

"Well, looks like the glorious job of hunting falls to me.

Because naturally, I’m the only emotionally stable one left."

He paused at the cave entrance.

"Gods help me."

And with that, he trudged out—into a forest full of beasts, curses, and chaos.

Kael moved quietly through the duskwitter forest, the air sharp with frost and the distant stink of damp fur.

Low-level beasts skittered from the underbrush now and then—things with too many eyes or not enough legs.

He cut them down without effort, their bodies collapsing in squelchy little heaps behind him.

He didn’t bother taking any.

"Disgusting.

I’m not eating something that looks like it lost a fight with evolution."

He kept moving, lazily carving marks into tree trunks as he went—half navigation, half passive aggression toward nature.

"Just in case the forest tries to gaslight me into getting lost."

The deeper he went, the darker it grew.

Night was beast time.

Kael knew that.

Higher-rank monsters got bolder when the sun dipped low.

They liked the dark.

They were the dark.

But Kael didn’t care.

He could take down a Rank 3 beast with his full strength—easily.

He just really, really didn’t want to.

Because unlike the beasts, he was tired. And sore.

And slightly traumatized by his sleeping arrangements.

So, when the underbrush rustled ahead and something heavy moved through the trees.

He paused as the creature stepped out.

It looked like a boar.

If a boar had lifted weights, eaten other boars for breakfast, and then walked headfirst into a vat of steroids and rage.

Definitely Rank 2.

"Great," Kael muttered.

Kael squinted at the beast.

It wasn’t charging.

It wasn’t snarling.

It was... grazing?

The oversized, muscle-packed boar casually munched on a patch of grass, utterly unbothered by Kael’s very threatening presence.

Like Kael was just a mildly annoying tree.

Kael lowered his stance slightly, confused.

"...Is it ignoring me?"

Yue’s voice hummed from the sword at his side, amused.

"Maybe it just knows you’re not worth the calories."

Kael’s eye twitched.

"Shut up."

Without further ceremony, he raised his hand and cast Arcanum Vortex—a spiraling blast of compressed mana roared forward, aimed squarely at the boar’s smug, grass-chewing face.

The air rippled.

The ground cracked.

Impact imminent.

But the boar?

It blinked once.

Then stepped to the side.

Gracefully.

Almost... politely.

The spell missed entirely, blasting a crater in a tree behind it.

For a second, there was only silence.

The boar turned its head slightly.

Snorted.

And let out a noise that was definitely a laugh.

Kael stood frozen.

Did... did that thing just chuckle?

"...What."

Yue lost it.

He could hear her wheezing from within the blade.

"Oh my gods—it dodged like a damn ninja—and mocked you."

Kael’s eye twitched again.

Harder.

He pointed at the boar with barely contained rage.

"That’s it.

You’re on the list."